SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - This is the key fact. Tim Hudson's locker is located between Tim Lincecum's locker and Matt Cain's. Right in the middle. Forget Cain for now. His career is in better shape than Lincecum's - although, it's not that much better.
Think of the Tims being next to each other, Lincecum and Hudson. And while you think about that, visualize this scene.
The other day, Hudson walked across the Giants' clubhouse to the locker of catcher Buster Posey. Hudson's locker is against a wall. They call it Pitcher's Row - all the pitchers are over there. But Posey's locker is in the middle of the room. Think of magnetic north. Think of where everyone must go sooner or later.
So, Hudson went to Posey. Not the other way around. They discussed pitching. Serious talk. Hudson showed Posey his two-seamer and his four-seamer. Hudson was not holding a ball. He was demonstrating finger position, wanted his catcher to see and understand his method. Posey studied Hudson's fingers, studied them as seriously as someone taking apart the rhyme scheme of a sonnet.
Posey asked what Hudson likes to throw on the first pitch of an at-bat. They discussed first pitches. More finger positioning. More looking. They discussed what pitch Hudson uses to put people away.
This was a business meeting between two professionals, a getting-to-know-you meeting. It was necessary because Hudson and Posey will work together for many months and they need to speak the same language, use the same grammar, understand the language of finger position. And Hudson made sure all that was happening.
Back to locker placement. If you were a lazy thinker, a thinker of clich?, you would say Hudson is next to Lincecum to "mentor" Lincecum. You get an image of the Tims sitting in a seminar room at Stanford, and Hudson leading a Socratic discussion.
Baloney.
Lincecum twice won the Cy Young Award. It would be pitiful for him to play pupil. I don't believe ballplayers mentor in the way we imagine - in the way we were mentored in school. Ballplayers learn by watching and listening and practicing. Lincecum needs to watch Hudson. Lincecum needs to listen when Hudson speaks to anyone.
Lincecum's issue always has been professionalism and Hudson is the pro's pro. Hudson is on the team to win games, and his locker abuts Lincecum's so Lincecum can study him. If Lincecum cares enough to study. If Lincecum gets the hint.
Hudson's most important relationship on the team is with Posey. It is not with Lincecum or any other pitcher. One reporter asked Hudson whom he enjoyed talking to so far.
"Me and Buster we've talked shop a little bit about pitching and some things," Hudson said. "Which is obvious. Pitcher and catcher need to have a good rapport and an open dialog with how you like to do things. I haven't had a chance to talk to a lot of the other pitchers on the staff yet. It's a long year and I'm sure there are going to be times we talk shop."
In the business world of Hudson, catcher comes before pitchers. Not even close. Hudson is a businessman in his first days with the new company.
Here is more Hudson. These quotes and scenes emerged during several days in the Giants' clubhouse.
More Hudson on Posey: "He's caught a couple of my bullpens. I'm really really looking forward to working with him. I'm really excited to let him start seeing my game and understanding how I like to do things, how I click. It's going to be a great relationship. I've had a chance to play with some really good catchers over the years and he's a guy, from an opponent looking across the dugout, he's a guy you really respect as a catcher. I'm fired up to throw to him."
I asked, "Is he one of your friends here?"
Hudson said, "One of my friends? He's played catch with me twice. He's getting into that friend category."
Jeremy Affeldt heard our exchange. "You've got to earn it," Affeldt said. Affeldt laughed. Hudson laughed. The writers laughed. But Affeldt had made his point. Tim Hudson will not get accepted on the basis of being Tim Hudson. He needs to earn his standing with Posey, with the team. And Hudson is working hard on earning it - on what you might call the serious business of "earnage."
Lincecum needs to observe all that. And, if he gets the chance, he needs to read these quotes from Hudson. And study them.
On how Hudson's style has changed - he is 38 years old, started pitching with Oakland in 1999. That feels like last century. It was.
"I think everybody has their foundation of what their strength is," he said. "I don't think my strength has changed since I was a young pitcher. My style has changed a little over the years. Every pitcher that's fortunate to have a long career, you have to reinvent some things here and there. I'm no different than anybody else. I've evolved my game into something more than just sinker cutter."
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