LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) -Kenny Rogers threw a pitch and pivoted to get back on the mound to throw another one.
Detroit Tigers pitching coach Chuck Hernandez stepped between Rogers and the bullpen catcher, ending the session on Sunday.
“Get out of here!” Hernandez shouted.
Rogers reluctantly walked away, with sweat on his brow and grass stains on his knees.
“I just keep going until Chuck stops me,” Rogers said with a smile.
Rogers has spent three-plus years of his life at spring training – a fact he said was “scary,” – and still enjoys rolling around on the infield like a kid during pitchers’ fielding practice.
In fact, Rogers said that’s his favorite part.
“I love PFP (pitcher’s fielding practice),” he said. “Why, I don’t know. After I’m done, I don’t enjoy the feeling.”
by two years and Arizona’s Randy Johnson by one.
Rogers looks spry on the field, but acknowledged he isn’t behind the scenes.
“Once I get down on that couch in the afternoon, it’s hard to get up,” he said. “I don’t sit up and stand up. I roll off of it and then I push myself up off the ground. I found that was the easier way to do it.”
The Tigers, who re-signed Rogers to a one-year deal, are counting on him bouncing back after an injury-plagued season.
He started just 11 games last year – his fewest since becoming a starter in 1993 – because of two stints on the disabled list.
Just before the season began, Rogers had surgery to remove a blood clot from his left shoulder and was on the DL until late June. He was sidelined again a month later with a left-elbow injury, which an exam later revealed didn’t include any tearing.
Rogers is happy to report his shoulder and elbow are relatively healthy.
“But nothing I have works the way you want it to,” he said. “That’s the way it is unfortunately.”
Teammate Nate Robertson isn’t buying it.
“I call him the biggest sandbagger on the team because he downplays every thing he does – his golf game, fielding his position, playing cards,” Robertson said.
gloves this decade.
He made his debut with the Texas Rangers in 1989, seven years after they drafted the outfielder out of Plant City (Fla.) High School in the 39th round.
Texas turned Rogers into a pitcher and he went on to play for the Yankees, Oakland, the Mets and Minnesota. After returning for a third stint with the Rangers, he signed a $16 million, two-year deal with Detroit before the 2006 season.
He went 17-8 with a 3.84 ERA during his first season in Detroit and then helped the franchise reach the World Series for the first time since 1984. Rogers held the Yankees, Athletics and St. Louis without a run, becoming the first pitcher to have three scoreless starts in one postseason since Christy Mathewson did it 1905.
Rogers’ injuries led to a 3-4 record last year. He said then that if he didn’t retire, Detroit was the only place he wanted to pitch.
Agent Scott Boras informed the Tigers that other options were being explored.
If Boras simply listened to his client, he probably would’ve gotten his cut. But Boras didn’t, and Rogers decided to represent himself for the first time in his career.
Rogers negotiated an $8 million, one-year contract with the possibility of earning up to $2 million in performance bonuses based on the number of innings pitched.
“I’ve told these fellas, `Call me up. I’ll give you a little break on the price,”’ he joked.
rting ways with Boras was business – not personal – because he didn’t want his services shopped.
“Scott is one of the better agents by far, but you can’t take away all his weapons and say, `Go do the best job.’ That’s unfair,” he said. “So, I felt like fair for me and for him was me doing it by myself without limiting him in those areas.”
Boras said the respect was mutual.
“Kenny is a respected major league pitcher and a valued client for over 15 years,” Boras said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “As directed and required, I reported all inquires of other major league teams to Kenny and he then made the decision to exclusively negotiate with Detroit.”
Rogers said he has entered every spring training the last decade, thinking it was his last.
“Every year, I think that way and I’ve told my wife that and she doesn’t listen to me anymore,” Rogers said. “She’s like, `I don’t believe you and I don’t want to hear it.’ Every time, I’m back the next season.”
Rogers’ relentless work ethic when he’s not pitching in front of fans, Hernandez said, has been the key to his success and longevity.
“It’s no accident that he still performs at a high level at his age because when he comes out here, he still thinks he’s 18. My job is to remind him about twice a day that he’s not 18,” Hernandez said. “It’s kind of hard when you’re a coach and you have to try to slow down a 43 year old, who is trying to do too much.”
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