Fear The Chorizo

Getting a runner over to 3rd with less than 2 outs creates a ton of offensive advantages for a team that having a runner at 2nd and no outs doesn't. From 3rd with 1 out, a run can score by: hit sac fly sac grounder/safety squeeze suicide squeeze wild pitch/passed ball a 1-base fielding or throwing error balk From 2nd, with 0 or 1 outs, a run can score by: hit horrible 2-base fielding or throwing error Giving up an out to move the runner to 3rd by a sac bunt isn't the best option during many game situations, but late when 1 run can win the game it's tough to argue against bunting in that spot. Plus, there are certainly occasions where playing small ball early in an inning leads to a crooked # getting put up if the team executes. Bunting guys to 3rd leads to intentional walks or infielders shifting in to cut off the runner at the plate. The added baserunners, infield positioning, and pitching strategies that are required for those defensive strategies make it easier for a batter to get a hit and blow the game open. Putting stress on a defense and on the pitcher is a big advantage if you have hitters capable of being selective. All that said, the problems this Brewers team have are a lack of bunting skill and a lack of selective hitters to take advantage of these situations even if they are executed. RR's in a no-win situation when the team can't execute small ball or occasionally put up a crooked # by getting on base more often. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Unless it's a pitcher sac bunting, small ball with this Brewers team is bordering on insanity right now. It'd be nice to mix the strategy up a bit, even if all that accomplishes is making the opponent and fans wonder what the hell they're going to do next...

Even if Bianchi is successful, what are the chances Segura and Schafer get him in? IMO much better with a runner at 3rd and 1 out compared to them needing a base hit to score Davis. The infield comes in with a guy on 3rd and creates a ton more holes for grounders to get through, too. Going up trying to hit a sac fly is the worst thing to do in that situation - try to hit the ball hard and hope the defensive adjustments made with a runner on 3rd improve your chances to score that run, whether that be by sac fly, base hit, or drawing a walk to give the next hitter a chance to do damage. Or, put a squeeze on right after a sac bunt and watch everyone's head explode on this board!

It was also Bianchi up at the plate, not Ryan Braun - if the situation is a runner on 2nd and no outs, tie game in extra innings, weak hitter up at the plate, there isn't even a decision to be made. You try to bunt and get the runner over the 3B with 1 man out. If a guy like Bianchi can't execute a sacrifice bunt, that's on him. On the other hand, this team appears to be poor at bunting, and it's terrible at being selective at the plate...not a good combination to try and play small ball and drive runners in with sac flies. If a pitcher gets a guy at 3rd with 1 out, obviously he's not going to give a hitter anything easy to hit into the OF - that leads to a walk and the potential for a big inning if the hitter actually is selective. The decision to pull Smith out of the game yesterday is what cost them - that combined with having an offense that simply can't seem to score in bunches. Even during this 3-4 road trip, the pitching gave them a shot to win 7 of those games...the offense needs to start scoring more runs. I mean, two of those wins were because their pitchers supplied the offense (Peralta against Cincy and Lohse against STL). If those unlikely hits don't happen we're talking about a 1-6 road trip and huge concerns. A big part of that is not having Braun anchoring the lineup for 1/3 of the team's games thus far. If he only plays 110 games this season, his current pace, there's zero chance this team makes the playoffs.

In the last 11 games, the Brewers have a 7-4 record, and have gone 3-1 in extra inning games (13 extra bullpen IP). During this timeframe, Wang appeared in both games that were "out of hand" late (4-0 cubs loss and 9-3 cards loss), and logged 4 innings. The brewers don't have a single game during that stretch where they exploded on offense and allowed the pen an easy ride to victory. If Wang, Wooten, or any other bottom of the bullpen arm throws more often than what Wang did during this stretch, the Brewers probably lose several of those games....they sure as heck don't win more. Part of the problem lately with taxing the bullpen, and frankly for most of this young season, is the lack of offense. Only in the Phillies series did the offense put games out of reach, and many of those runs were scored very late in the game after key relievers were being used. It's not that they're not scoring enough to consistently win, there just hasn't been the occasional 7-9 run outburst after 6 innings in a game that gives a starter and the pen the night off from having to grind out a victory. Part of that, quite frankly, is because the rest of the pen's been unsustainably fantastic - outside of Henderson/Wooten last night. It's the reason the Brewers are the only team in baseball with 20 wins so far this season.

You think 4 innings in 29 games is "eating innings" and "saving the rest of the pen"?? It's actually 6 IP....over 4 appearances.

Just for some perspective, here are Johan Santana's and Wang's comparative splits for their 1st month in the majors after being Rule 5 guys and making MLB 25 man rosters. Johan Santana - 21 yrs old 0-2 record (3 starts), 15IP, 5 game appearances, WHIP 2.4, K/BB ratio 1.0, Opp BA 0.400, ERA 10.20 Wang - 22 yrs old 0-0 record (0 starts), 6IP, 4 game appearances, WHIP 2.5, K/BB ratio 1.5, Opp BA 0.419, ERA 15.00 for reality check perspective, the Twins finished that 2000 season 69-93, so they had every opportunity to keep Santana around without it impacting postseason aspirations. Fiers or Nelson would be terrible alternatives for Wang's spot on the roster, because it would unnecessarily burn a year of service time for them to pitch in equally low-leverage innings, in Nelson's case cost them minor league starts that hamper development, and limit the organization's starting pitcher insurance in case one of the MLB arms misses time...and we may soon see that sort of callup happen over the next few days with Garza's thumb issue. The argument right now has to be whether replacing Wang with Wooten/Figaro/Burgos on the 25 man means enough from a W/L perspective to warrant taking a young LH pitcher with a good arm out of your organization. IMO the Brewers record would still be 20-9 whether Wang made the roster out of spring training or not, so to me it's worth keeping him in Milwaukee...at least for now. I think the bigger decision will come whenever Gorzelanny's able to come off the DL - if the team's still playing well, they're not going to carry 4 LH relievers. Both Duke and Gorzelanny give them flexibility to go multiple innings and have MLB starting experience. At that time, the decision would come down to choosing whether Duke or Wang sticks around. If I'm not mistaken Duke could be claimed on waivers by any other MLB team if he's sent down/released, so sticking with Wang at that point would likely mean losing Duke altogether, not just sending him to AAA.

Well, at least the Brewers have 3 OF on their roster who can actually play...something they've waited about 1 week to finally do. I'm assuming this means they fully expect to put Braun on the DL once Schafer's ready to come off on Saturday - at least we got to see Herrera and Reynolds play OF

Last season's World Series winner, the Boston Red Sox, only had 5-6 relievers give them more than 30IP for the entire regular season. Tell me, who was that last bullpen arm on their roster that enabled them to get over the hump and win it all? The 2012 Giants got 160 of 162 possible starts out of their opening day rotation, basically unheard of production from their starters. They only had 6 relievers give them 30IP+ for the regular season, too. Wang has 6IP through 28 games...that equates to about 35IP for the season if he stays up all year with the team and avoids the DL. If anything he's gotten too much work as a bottom of the roster bullpen arm. Wang isn't the reason the bullpen usage for key relievers is alarming. It just looks that way without factoring in how many close and extra inning games this team has played to start the year, with very few off days sprinkled in between. Of the first 28 games, only 11 of them ended with the score being outside the "save" range of 3 runs. Many of those close games got out of hand late, when key relievers were already involved. Wang's 4 appearances all happened during non-close games. The Brewers have also played 5 extra inning games already this season - I don't see the Brewers keeping up that pace & playing 29 extra inning games for the season, as the all time record is only 31, by the 1943 Red Sox. Any bullpen would get burned out if they have to pitch 15 innings of extras each month. Even with keeping Wang in Milwaukee all season, the Brewers still have flexibility with the AAA/MLB shuttle guys (Wooten, Figaro), starting pitching insurance (Fiers, Nelson, Burgos), and proven relievers working their way back from injury (Gorzelanny) to keep guys rested.

A Braun DL stint coupled with a Gindl promotion seems like a good idea, too - Once Schafer's back having both him and Gindl available would be nice to get Davis and Gomez a day off. It would be nice having somebody other than weak-hitting backup utility IF's starting games in RF. And that doesn't mean I want Reynolds out there instead. If Braun can't play tonight he needs to get DL'd.

I say 15-13...the pitching continues to keep them in most games, but the inconsistent offense due to pesky nagging injuries sputters through May - which costs them 3-4 games against a favorable schedule.

So I take it that they think Braun may play tonight? I'm hoping that's the case, because the other scenario would be ARam returning to play 3rd and the Brewers starting Mark Reynolds in RF. I'll be ticked if Braun's unable to play the next few games and then finally gets DL'd...although I guess Herrara could be immediately recalled in that situation, or Gindl could get moved up and actually provide some semblance of a corner OF bat. Overall I'm ok with carrying 13 relievers, because it's likely to only be for a couple games until Schafer's back, and it's happening at a time when the pen needs the extra arm.

Wang is essentially taking Figaro's or Wooten's roster spot in Milwaukee right now. Fiers has been fantastic at AAA, but he needs to stay there unless starting pitcher injuries force Melvin to begin calling up starters. To me, I think he's more valuable to the organization as starting pitcher insurance and/or deadline trade bait to acquire corner IF/bench help. Is the current dropoff between Wang and Figaro/Wooten big in terms of who the better MLB pitcher is? Right now, absolutely - both Figaro and Wooten are much better MLB pitchers currently. However, the actual impact of W/L between keeping Wang on the MLB roster or replacing him with Figaro/Wooten is probably negligible. If Wang continues to get some innings every week while getting work in during side sessions, and RR does a good job at managing the rest of the pen, it's not the end of the world. The Brewers aren't going to sustain 20-8 performance all season long. Other pitching staff decisions will need to be made once Gorzelanny's healthy, dealing with other likely injuries that every roster goes through, and optimistically when Nelson has nothing left to prove in AAA. At 20-8, there's no reason right now for Brewers management to just throw their hands up and send Wang back to the Pirates. Getting the position player portion of the roster sorted out so they actually have a bench that's available to play is much more important, IMO.

He was scheduled to start tonight for Nashville, if he does then he won't be the guy, he wouldn't be ready for innings again until Sunday. Yeah, I'm just spitballin' in my head...looking for ways to actually have a bench RR can use, a bullpen that has a long guy option until Wang is rested again, or finding a couple reliever prospects that the Brewers could send Pittsburgh's way to make a deal for Wang so he can develop in the minors where he belongs right now. If arms like Jungmann and Bradley are deserving of promotions to AA and AAA, then some of these other minor league pitchers should be squeezed out, anyway. Wang's got the TJ history, so I'd like to avoid sending him out for 70-pitch mop up sessions at inconsistent intervals...which appears to be what his MLB role currently is.

If the Brewers actually stop running themselves out of potential big innings and opt to field a bench of position players that aren't walking wounded, maybe they actually score some more runs and make a handful of all these close games not as close - which would render the roster angst about Wang moot at this point. I think you have to take the long view with Wang, which actually IMO meshes with the "contend now" view - being on the MLB roster doesn't help his development or this team's chances to contend, so I think it's actually worth overpaying the Pirates to work out a trade and get him in the minor leagues. The kid just soldiered through 3IP and 70 pitches after Garza didn't have it and left with a thumb bruise/blister/thing. It's obvious that Wang isn't a MLB caliber pitcher right now, but it's also obvious that he has MLB-caliber arm talent. I would be very interested in what the Pirates would want in a trade so the Brewers could send Wang down without losing him. I would be willing to part with one or more of the AAA/AAAA relief arms or starters, even one with good production but a limited MLB ceiling, in order to make that trade happen. Not talking Nelson obviously, but the Brewers are going to need to make room in the upper levels of their minor leagues to accomodate some deserved pitching promotions for prospects they have alot invested in.

Kudos to Wang for giving them 3 innings...now the pressure's on Estrada and Peralta to turn in solid outings because their "long guy" just threw 70 pitches. Even if Wang isn't DL'd, which I'm not sure how realistic a faux injury actually is, I'd like to see Figaro recalled and Braun DL'd if he's not going to be able to play tomorrow. Give the pen another arm to work multiple innings in case a starter scuffles the next few nights - you get Schafer back over the weekend so you could shuttle Figaro right back down, and hopefully both ARam and Segura return to the lineup tomorrow night, too.

They've been playing with fire since Maldanado started his suspension with how shorthanded their roster is. Hopefully today's game knocks some sense into the decisionmakers to get 25 players who are able to play in the dugout for tomorrow night.

this will be on of those Pythagorean record destroyer games....

sounds like a blister, which wouldn't be surprising given the humidity and the fact Garza was throwing about 65 pitches per inning.

hoping at this point that Wang can work another 2 innings (would be a miracle, but here's hoping), or at least till his spot in the lineup comes up. Did Garza get pulled because he just didn't have it today, or was there a more obvious injury concern?

right about now's where having an extra arm like Figaro or Wooten in the pen sure would beat Ryan Braun's oblique sitting on the bench. I'm normally not a proponent of carrying 13 pitchers, but that's better than carrying 12 and a bench full of wounded position players.

Should've DL'd him Saturday night or Sunday and avoided some of the clown college lineups over the past few days. They'll probably do like they always do and wait another few games before retroactively DL-ing him. I think Schafer can come off the DL Saturday, so that's my guess when they finally make a move. I'd still like to get Gindl up, too, so Gomez and Davis can get a day off sometime soon. Wouldn't be surprised if this oblique is longer than a 15-day stint of missed time, which would make the delay of putting him on the DL even dumber. GOMEZ!!!

CHEAP BURGERS!!!

cmon Lyle...get him over to 3rd, whatever you do

Did anyone hear in pregame, were any of the walking wounded available to at least pinch hit if necessary?

The dreaded leadoff walk...