David Riske- This is your wake-up call

[FVBrewerFan]

I think we all understood Gagne and Mota were high risk/high reward signings. Riske, on the other hand, seemed very safe. I didn't expect dominance, but I did expect consistency. If he can get it together, it would make everything fall in place in the bully. Villanueva/McClung for long/middle relief, Stetter your LOOGY, Shouse LOOGY+, Riske set-up man and then Torres. Not a lights-out bullpen, but probably good enough.

 

Riske is below his career (and recent) numbers in virtually every category. ERA, WHIP, BB/SO, etc. If his arm isn't right, that's a problem. Otherwise, it's reasonable to assume he can return to form for the stretch run. C'mon David, we need you!

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Great point FV. I agree 100%. In the wake of not re-signing Coco...the Brewers went out and deepened the bullpen with a quantity of arms, hoping a couple would stand out. So far that's been Torres. Riske was the "safe" choice among the group. Very steady career stats, and an ability to pitch multiple innings with consistency. Maybe it's been the injury so far, but he could really become the key in the second half. He has looked better recently. Someone needs to step up in that setup role...Riske is our best shot. It truly appears the Mota and Gagne experiments have unfortunetly failed. My guess is Mota is gone after Soup comes back from the DL. They'll keep trying to get Gagne back, but he has a long way to go before he can be placed in a high leverage situation. That leaves Riske.

[RU Rah Rah]

Riske's mediocrity has sort of flown under the radar, but I don't think it could in the second half -- not with Gagota being relegated to the scrap heap (one hopes).

[kmcasper23]

I wish they would bring up Pena. Major Leaguers have not seen him yet so I would try to sneak him in there to see if he could be effective. Plus it sounds like after early struggles he really righted the ship and has been very good as of late.

[datrain711]

riske's blowups have flown under the radar this season. He really needs to get it together.

 

I'm really tired of the dual personalities of our bullpen. One night awesome, the next night awful.

[adambr2]

I wish they would bring up Pena. Major Leaguers have not seen him yet so I would try to sneak him in there to see if he could be effective. Plus it sounds like after early struggles he really righted the ship and has been very good as of late.

I hope you didn't see his line from last night. Ugh.

 

[Ennder]

Riske's K/9 over the past years have been 5.94, 5.73, 6.72 and this year it is 5.59. He is 1 K off of his 05/06 pace and 4 Ks off of his 07 pace.

Riske's BB/9 over the past years have been 1.86, 3.48, 3.49 and this year it is 4.34. He is 3 BB over his 06/07 pace. His FIP right now is actually the exact same as in 2006.

 

He really isn't that far off of expectations. The biggest difference is last year he stranded 90% of the baserunners who he faced and this year it is a more normal 73.5%.

[Tbadder]

Mota has to go, period. We can't afford to carry him on the roster, not with the up and down Gagne. I think they should bring back Dillard.

[BrewCrewForever]

I remember how excited I was about this pen at the start of the season. Those days are long gone, it's about as shaky as it was last season. Torres has been great but other then that a lot of ups and downs. Maybe if and when McClung goes back to the pen he could be that 7th and or 8th inning guy to get to Torres?

[RU Rah Rah]

I remember how excited I was about this pen at the start of the season. Those days are long gone, it's about as shaky as it was last season. Torres has been great but other then that a lot of ups and downs. Maybe if and when McClung goes back to the pen he could be that 7th and or 8th inning guy to get to Torres?

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I seem to remember seeing that Mota, Gagne, and Turnbow added up to $16 million in salary this year. Riske is, what, $4 million? So that's been pretty much $20 million right down the drain.

 

[brewman04]

Riske is a second half pitcher

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I think Riske is going to be our 8th inning guy for the rest of the year along with Villanueava depending on who is the most rested. A clear indication of that was Yost going with Mota in the 6th, Gagne in the 7th, Riske in the 8th, and Torres in the 9th on Monday in St. Louis. I think that move by Yost was a direct way of Yost telling his team what the Depth Chart is in the pen.

 

Closer/Best Pitcher - Torres

8th Inning - Riske/Villanueva

Middle Relief Option 1 - Gagne

Middle Relief Option 2 - Mota

Lefty Specialist - Shouse

Long man - Bush/McClung

 

None of that is set in stone, of course, and Gagne was warming in the 9th inning last night in case if C.C. ran into trouble, but I think that is because Yost wanted to give Gagne a shot in the 9th inning to see what he's got. For now we'll call Gagne our backup closer... gulp.

[monty57]

TWR, I wasn't listening really attentively, but I think that's pretty much in line with what Melvin said on 620 this morning. Therefore, Riske had better be at the top of his game for the rest of the season.

 

As far as Mota, I have a bad feeling that they want to get to the Sept call ups with him before bringing up Stetter/Dillard/DiFilice who could all outpitch him at this point. Maybe it's just so no other contending team picks him up, although I think that would be a blessing at this point.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

TWR, I wasn't listening really attentively, but I think that's pretty much in line with what Melvin said on 620 this morning. Therefore, Riske had better be at the top of his game for the rest of the season.

Do you or does anyone have a link to the radio segment?