Hoffman's courtesy inning theory vs Macha

[AdvantageSchneider]

So I read in the JS this morning that Hoffman has not pitched in a game in 6 days. So the TH rightfully asks him if he's getting rusty and needs to get into a game. And Hoffman says no, he's not 28, he wants to save his bullets, he doesn't know when he might need to go out there 3-4 games in a row and he did warm up one of those 6 days so he doesn't need a courtesy inning to keep himself sharp.

 

So what does Macha do today when the brewers are up 20-0, brings in Hoffman.

 

So now I'm wondering, is everything Hoffman said to TH just some lines Trevor was feeding TH, or does Macha just ignore or is ignorant about Trevor's wishes?

 

I also thought it was odd that he brought in Hoffman considering that Parra was already in the game and hit for himself, but only pitched 1 inning. I would think you would want to keep Parra stretched out a little bit since he either our long man or our 7th starter.

 

Here is the link to the article. The part about Hoffman is in the second note.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/91778739.html

[pretendastronaut]

For what it's worth, Schroeder was saying on the broadcast that they basically call down and ask Hoffman if he wants to come in and pitch and if he does, they let him pitch. Who knows if that holds any water, but it's worth mentioning as a possibility.

[AdvantageSchneider]

Thanks. Didn't catch the game today so I didn't hear that. That's still kind of odd that Trevor would tell TH that the day before, and then volunteer to mop up the 20-0. Maybe he was pulling TH's leg.

[dadofandrew]

I assume he pitched today because he has 24 hours to rest, plus about 8 more. Yesterday, he would have only had about 16 hours between outings, had he been needed today.

 

Macha's use of his relievers is almost always setting them up to succeed. While sometimes they do the job and sometimes they don't, his obvious planning ahead and long-term use is near perfection.

 

Then you have LaRussa, who runs out of arms in the 10th inning, yet never gets called on it.

[rluzinski]

I thought it was interesting that Hoffman threw nothing but fastballs today. 11 fastballs to be exact:

 

Batter 1: 83, 83, 84, 84, 84, 86 MPH

Batter 2: 85, 86

Batter 3: 85, 85, 85

[BREWCREW5]

I thought it was interesting that Hoffman threw nothing but fastballs today. 11 fastballs to be exact:

 

Batter 1: 83, 83, 84, 84, 84, 86 MPH

Batter 2: 85, 86

Batter 3: 85, 85, 85

I don't. Its not like this is the last time we play them this year. Why show them the goods?

[nate82]

I thought it was interesting that Hoffman threw nothing but fastballs today. 11 fastballs to be exact:

 

Batter 1: 83, 83, 84, 84, 84, 86 MPH

Batter 2: 85, 86

Batter 3: 85, 85, 85

When you are up 20-0 you don't have to throw your best stuff. I bet all of them or nearly all of them were strikes that caught a big portion of the plate.

[dlk9s]

I have absolutely zero problems with Macha putting Hoffman in today. None.

[thumperden]

It makes perfect sense to put him in there and work on locating his fastball. I'm guessing that was the purpose of bringing him in at all. I haven't seen to many games this year. Does anyone know what pitch he's getting hammered on? If it's his fastball, then it's pretty easy to figure out why he pitched nothing but fastballs.

[RobDeer 45]

I like the move and I know people say "what if he has to save the next three games?" Well worst case scenario we have someone come in for a save on that third day. I think he needed that and I'm glad he had a clean inning.

 

As for his comments I have no idea but I would think that as a vet macha would listen to him. I'm sure they talked about it and agreed on what they did.

[monty57]

That is interesting, Russ, and I think thumperden hit it on the head. He's been getting hammered this year because he hasn't been locating his fastballs, so the hitter's have been sitting on the change. Yesterday he had nothing to lose by "practicing" locating his fastball, which he did pretty well. The Cubs' advance scouts will note this, and Cub hitters won't be able to sit on the change when/if they face him this weekend.

 

As far as batting Parra and then replacing him on the mound, he did the same thing with Vargas. I think Macha was trying to show that he wasn't rubbing the 20-0 victory in the Pirates' faces. He had Hart on the bench, and he could've pinch hit with the bases loaded, but I don't think Macha wanted to do that to Pittsburgh. I'm not a big Macha fan, but I can't fault him for this.

[thebruce44]

So I read in the JS this morning that Hoffman has not pitched in a game in 6 days. So the TH rightfully asks him if he's getting rusty and needs to get into a game. And Hoffman says no, he's not 28, he wants to save his bullets, he doesn't know when he might need to go out there 3-4 games in a row and he did warm up one of those 6 days so he doesn't need a courtesy inning to keep himself sharp.

 

So what does Macha do today when the brewers are up 20-0, brings in Hoffman.

 

So now I'm wondering, is everything Hoffman said to TH just some lines Trevor was feeding TH, or does Macha just ignore or is ignorant about Trevor's wishes?

 

I also thought it was odd that he brought in Hoffman considering that Parra was already in the game and hit for himself, but only pitched 1 inning. I would think you would want to keep Parra stretched out a little bit since he either our long man or our 7th starter.

 

Here is the link to the article. The part about Hoffman is in the second note.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/91778739.html

 

I think you really misunderstood the article.

 

It explicitly states that Hoffman and Macha both said he would get some work on Thursday. Then when asked about the downtime Hoffman weighed in on the risks that are fairly obvious, that saves usually come in bunches. Read it again. Its pretty obvious Macha and Trevor are on the same page that he was going to pitch and that Hoffman was just answering questions to say that he wasn't too concerned about the downtime.