Welcome Manny Parra

[JJHardy7]

Nice to see Parra strike out 3 in 1 1/3 innings of work...even though it was mop up duty. Hopefully we get to see him more this weekend - while we're the ones on top. Congrats Manny!

[LUKE232323]

Spurling is crap. If the Brewers goal is to win more games and lose less, they will keep Parra up and send Spurling to AAA. And no, I do not care if someone claims Spurling off waivers.

[Ennder]

I don't know if I'd say crap. He has a 3.03 ERA even though it probably should be more like 3.50. He has a very strong GB%, doesn't walk all that many and his K's are hovering near 6 per 9 IP. His BABIP is .331 which probably means he's been a bit unlucky with hits. Spurling has been a solid end of bullpen pitcher.

[bullox]

Yes, in his 1 1/3 inning of work, Parra showed that he could have a Johan Santana type of career. (to borrow someone else's previous analogy)

[LUKE232323]

No one said he would be Santana. But first, he's a lefty, which we could definitely use another, and secondly he has much better stuff than Spurling does. He brings more to the table than Spurling does. Spurling does have a 3.03 ERA, but looking at his other numbers, that is misleading.

 

I really hope they keep Parra up.

[shelmark]

I would think it would be Ballfour that goes down. He is clearly overmatched at this level.

[zingsheim]

Yea Balfour looked overmached the other night, Parra looked good., I hope he will be one of the future greats we have to look forward to.

[brettac1]

Parra's going to go back to AAA, I would assume.

 

It's pretty impossible to say that Balfour is overmatched. He hasn't even thrown three innings yet, that's pretty ridiculous, as far as I'm concerned.

[homer]

Balfour has great stuff. He made one bad pitch the other night. I don't know where the word 'overmatched' comes from. Even Cordero gets hit once in a while.

[DHonks]

i can't imagine parra is sent down seeing as they have the doubleheader next weekend. I'd imagine Tony Gwynn, jr or Gross goes down

[davego]

That is a good point. We may see 13 pitchers thru the doubleheader.

 

It is nice to have that 2nd LHP. Sure is nice to alo be talking about not having enough room in Milwaukee for all the major-leauge level pitchers on the roster.

[shelmark]

'overmatched' was probably a poor choice of words, but c'mon, great stuff?? He throws low 90's with a slider, nothing special at all. His fastball is usually up in the zone, and that is a poor combination with a slider. It needs to start on the same plane. He needs to relax and throw strikes, which he has not been able to do at the MAJOR league level. My overmatched word was probably not appropriate but Great Stuff is just as ridiculous, if not more so.

[shelmark]

Brett...he may not have thrown 3 innings yet, but he is 29 yrs old and has not shown success in the big leagues before or after the surgery. Not sure how many innings you want him to throw before we can make a judgement, but for the sake of our team I hope it isn't too many.

[dadofandrew]

Balfour certainly is just another guy at this point. He has to locate his fastball and rarely throws that slider for a strike. He only throws 1-3 mph faster than Suppan and Capuano for heaven sakes, he's not a dominant 2 pitch guy.

[homer]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Balfour is the second coming of Catfish Hunter or anything, but he's pitched one inning. Too little info to make a judgement one way or the other.

 

And didn't he top out at 94mph?

 

 

edit: didn't watch yesterday's game. I didn't know he pitched again. My bad.

[dadofandrew]

I've seen 89-93 from Grant...but he might have hit 94.

[owbc]

I don't understand how either can be judged on one outing. Chris Saenz had a career ERA of 0.00 after one outing, so maybe we should have kept him?

 

Seriously, it seems clear that Parra will be better in the long run, but Balfour is the right choice right now so that Parra can get starts in Nashville.

[shelmark]

I'm not judging Balfour on one(actually two) outings. He has a limited history but he has not had the same success at major league level as minors. He walks far too many and when in Minnesota before the surgery his ERA was over 4; way too high for a reliever. He did hit 94 yesterday according to the FSN graphic.

[brettac1]

Spurling is clearly overmatched.

[bullox]

Every Brewer pitcher that gave up a hit today was clearly over matched in that at bat.

[JJHardy7]

Moves will have to be made regarding the pitching...but you can't blame them for Zero runs. The offense needs to get going (see all the 1 run wins after the all-star game). Maybe Hall comes back and is the spark?