joepepsi

I agree you don't want to project September performances too far into the future. Still, I think Narveson has shown enough thatit's safe to let Looper go and spend the $5.5 million on someone else. I'd love to see the Brewers sign someone like Lackey and still get a solid pitching prospect or two for Hardy.

What is the average National League average for ERA among starters this year? I can't find it anywhere.

This is the gist of the Brewers season. I made basically the same point on the preseason prediction topic. Yes, Suppan makes a lot of money and he is getting worse, but he wasn't the problem. For his career he's been an league average starter throwing 197 innings a year on average, making 31 starts. He certainly has been an innings eater over his career. He missed a month this year, otherwise he'd probably be around 180+ innings. I suspect moving forward he'll battle more injuries and be less effective when he does start. It won't surprised me at all if he retires after next year.

Yup. Bush's ERA is also two run higher than last year and he missed about 10 starts. His replacements for those starts posted ERA's in the 6's as well.

DJ43 you pegged it from the start. Good job. I think they covered for the position player injuries just fine. Had they lost Braun or Fielder it could have been devastating. The hitters they did lose were sort of average-ish and not that difficult to replace. Despite Hardy's terrible season, overall the offense was a bit better than last year. If a team can play around .500 when their 3-4-5 guys are on the mound and better than that with the 1-2 guys, they will compete for the playoffs in this league. For me 2009 was all about the horrible performances of Bush and Parra. In 2008 the team won exactly half of their 58 starts, when they were sort of the 4-5 guys. This year they had 10 fewer starts and the team had a .438 winning pct when they did start. Their replacements, Burns, Villy, and McClung were terrible, although Burns went 2-2 in his 4 starts despite an ERA approaching 7. Overall those 5 have made 59 starts going 25-34. Back out those 59 starts and the team was 52-48. Add in those 59 starts at the Bush/Parra 2008 winning pct and you have the team sitting around 82-77 right now. Not very sabremetric I know, but an interesting exercise nevertheless. Bush had never been injured in his amateur or pro career. He was coming off a very solid season. It was reasonable to expect improvement from Parra, not for his ERA to rise by two runs! But injuries and down seasons happen to players and teams every year. Despite Bush and Parra's horrible performances, they were still the best option when they were healthy. So their poor performance and the lack of depth to replace them is the bottom line to Brewers failing to compete for a playoff spot.

The pitching coach is probably the only coach on staff that makes a real difference. Maddux is one of the best in the game. I'm sure the Brewers' results suffered a bit without him around.

Honestly, I forgot about him until he came in to pitch last week. Was not. He was terrible in his two starts and his last 4 relief appearances before going on the DL. Pretty typical for pitchers to look crappy right before going on the DL. For most of his season he was fine; the same old Seth McClung we've seen since he arrived. I don't he's arbitration eligible; I think he's a free agent. He's already had his 3 arby years, '07, '08, '09, according to Cot's. Wait, that must be wrong, he'll have just a little over 5 years service time after this year. Clarification, please? At any rate I wouldn't just cut him loose. He's worth keeping around if he'll agree to something in the $2.5 million range. That's cheaper than Weathers, who really hasn't been any good.

Another cool day in Colorado? Brewers are doing their best to get out of town fast.

I understood the grading to be players 2009 production vs. their individual past performance and compared to the rest of the league at that position. Gallardo had a very good, but not great season. He finished 19 in the league in ERA, 25th in WHIP. He was tied for 4th with most K's, but was 2nd with most walks. Overall an impressive first full season, but just shy of the level of his past performance. I suppose you can argue is was an "A" season for first full year from a 23 year old starting pitcher. Compared to the best starting pitchers in the league he was maybe a half to full step below. Upon consideration I'd give him a B+. He's not quite the pitcher we hope he'll be, but he's a damn fine pitcher all the same. Hardy deserves a D. His hitting has been and remains terrible. So bad that he was kicked off the team for a spell and won't even have enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title. If you compare him to the 10 regular NL ss who do have the requisite number of plate appearances, he has the 10th worst OPS, narrowly beating last place Renteria by .020 points. Even if his defense was Cesar Izturis good, there's no way it can make up for that crappy performance on offense. At least not enough to make him an average, or "C" shortstop in the league.

I've kinda sorta defended Suppan for a while, but he looks done as a major league pitcher.

Since May 31 Cruz is hitting .235/.317/.477. I doubt Brewer fans would be happier with him over Hart. This possibly, due to Hart's injury, but in 2007 and 2008, Hart was the more valuable player. There are only 4 games remaining. Play Gerut everyday in RF. Send Corey home. Now.

Pretty sure his point is even if they are a good pitcher with a low K rate we already have enough of those types and in theory at least a more balanced staff would probably be better. So they aren't just seeing the same basic pitcher every day.Pitchers with K rates of 7+/9ip tend to be more consistent and have longer careers. Suppan has had remarkable longevity given his career rate is 5K/9ip. I guess this is due to his good health. Anyway, a higher K rate tends to mean better command, higher velocity, better pitcher. Even if the career results don't reflect these advantages yet, it's more likely a high K pitcher will develop into a more successful pitcher.

Trenni was sportin' a new 'do at the Twins/Tigers game last night. She was looking mighty fine. I don't like the Rockies and I think it's because of jealousy. On paper they don't look as good as the Brewers, or at least not any better. But everything has gone right for them. I've always thought Tracy was a very good manager. Maybe that's what good managers do, make their team look lucky.

I agree. There is nothing nice to say about the judgemental tone on the topic. Maybe it's time to shut 'er down?

Wow you last two posters are cold. Yeah, for $20K a year under the COBRA plan he could get coverage for up to 18 months. After that, good luck, 'cause with a kid who has a pre-existing condition like this, he'll never get coverage again.

Oops, I didn't realize Lackey has been pitching all year! Thought he was injured, but he's healthy. I think he is by far the best option. He is much more than a no. 3 starter. This year he'd be the Ace of the Brewers staff. He should be the focus of the offseason. They should be willing to overpay in dollars and/or years to get it done.

Randy Wolf has a good career K rate. I guess he prefers the West Coast, otherwise, I'd be OK with a 2-3 year deal with him. The smart money is on Webb staying in AZ, either they pick up his option or do a one year reduced deal. I don't think Doug Davis would do well in Milwaukee. I think the Brewers need to look for pitchers with good K rates. Of course this is true for every team. But they have enough "pitch to contact" starters.

Lopez has played his way into a nice multi year deal from some other team. He's a nice, average-ish 2B having a career year. To think he will maintain this level and the Brewers should move Weeks out of position to accommodate him is folly.

Yeah, I remember 2007, but that year Braun, Weeks, and Prince were pretty awful. Plus you had the Hall Experiment in CF, Estrada at catcher, and Mench platooning in the corners. All of them were bad in the field as I recall. I agree there is a big difference between bad defense and very good defense. I just don't think the difference between someone like Gerut, who I suspect would be at least average in CF, and Cameron is that huge. Now if the choice were Cameron or Brady Clark, that would be a different story....

I wish him and his family well. Maybe he can get a job as a bullpen coach or something next year.

I think the Twins are such penny pinchers they don't really care about making the World Series. They want to appear just good enough to be competitive, but don't seem too interested in "going for it" on any given year. In 2006 they looked like the best team in baseball in the summer, thanks to Cy Young type performances from Santana and Liriano, along with solid innings from Radke. When Liriano got injured in late July they stood pat and didn't make the push to get another starter. I think sometimes you have to go for it, like the Brewers did with CC. The Twins don't seem to believe that.

I don't think the Twins are any better off than the Brewers. They have done well at developing their own talent, both marquee hitters and quality pitching, but they never try too hard to get much above average. Their division has been competitive the last couple seasons, but hardly strong. If Toronto and Minnesota switched divisions I suspect their w/l records would change accordingly. I like the Twins but they have drawn 800,000 fewer fans than the Brewers this year. I think in part this is because fans know they will seldom make a big move to get them to the top of the division. They prefer build a competitive but not championship team, then hope for luck and their weak division to help them to the top. The Braves, Cardinals, and Phillies seem like good stable, well run organizations in the NL these days. The Red Sox deserve a lot of credit in the AL. Yeah, they have a lot of money, but Theo has switched the emphasis in the last couple years to the farm system, defense, pitching. Their 2009 payroll is $12 million less than last year, $20+ million less than 2007. Their winning pct is pretty constant these past 3 years. The Angels are also well run and committed to winning. I have admired the A's in recent years, but they have been floundering the last 3 seasons. (Ever since Ken Macha left!)

I didn't listen to as many radio broadcasts as I wanted, usually just the Sunday afternoon games. I thought he was fine.

I agree with Invader. I think Cameron has been great for the team, but the payroll is tapped out. They need to go with cheaper position players like Gerut, Escobar, some platoon at catcher. Since the offense is so heavily weighted towards Braun and Prince, it will probably have little effect on the lineup. As wonderful as Cameron is in the field, I still believe the difference between an average defender and a great one isn't all that much over the course of a season.

The Orioles should sit back and wait all winter while Kendall is looking for work. Then they should make him an NRI in February and have him tutor Wieters. Lopez is going to get a 2-3 year deal from someone.