The Rangers’ experiment with former Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb has already hit a snag.
According to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, the Rangers are now limiting Webb to purely flat-ground work in camp because they’re not confident in the strength of his throwing shoulder, which has been giving him problems now for two straight years. He has been banned from the mound indefinitely.
Webb, 32 in May, hasn’t pitched in a big league game since the first week of the 2009 season. He had a 3.24 ERA and averaged 14 wins per year from 2003-2008 and the Rangers forked over a one-year, $3 million contract to him this winter that carries another $5 million in performance-based incentives. But it sounds like the right-hander has a long way to go before he can begin trying to earn that money.
For now, Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux is saying that Webb is only a week behind. We’ll see if that holds.