Fear The Chorizo

big W to avoid the sweep and keep things rolling. Pitching continues to be really, really good early on! I'll take 11-4 during any stretch of a baseball season, especially to start a year.

That's probably not true. FYI. Of course it isn't true, but a weak grounder and two miserable strikeouts just made it look so much worse than two lineouts and a deep flyball.

Only the Brewers can score just 1 run with a bases loaded, no-out situation where the pitcher walks a run in.

I think the Brewers should be close to cuttin him and bringing up Gindl, since Braun's thumb is looking like they'll need to have an extra OF onhand...

Which is why our system is so bad. Everybody has guys like we do. What separates a good system from a bad is star talent. exactly - I'm not saying it's a good thing that many recent Brewer 1st rounders project to be anything but quality MLB players.

In regards to 1st round pick misses, it goes back to something I posted earlier this year on a similar thread - every year a team's 1st round pick, regardless of their draft position within that round, is likely that organization's highest-rated player remaining on their draft board. Their selection is the guy who they feel has the best chance at becoming an impact player at the MLB level. Sure, teams find impact talent in later rounds of each draft, but some of the signing bonus/slot stuff that has caused talented players to be passed over in years past has ended, or at least evened out the draft playing field somewhat. IMO, if a team's scouting/management can't consistently draft guys capable of producing at the big league level with their 1st pick, there's no reason to expect them to find quality prospects on draft picks in later rounds using their methods to evaluate amateur talent. The sheer quantity of draft picks each year gives any organization odds to find a good player here and there just by dumb luck. The good drafting organizations get production out of their 1st round picks, and the rest of their developmental prospects fall in line behind them in the rankings. Honestly, the Brewers current prospect list looks like what many of the better organizations' systems would look like if you took their last five 1st-round picks off their list.

all in all, an appearance that should allow RR to give Wang another appearance or two before May gets here...God I hope so at least!

late to the party, but is is accurate for me to assume the combination of the Brewers being overly aggressive swinging at balls and Davidson's notoriously horrible strike zone are playing equally big parts of striking out 12 times in 8 innings of ABs?

It's been 12 games, most of which have come against teams with highly-regarded pitching staffs. If pitchers are attacking the strike zone, hitters can be aggressive. If the Brewers start getting pitched more cautiously, the walk rate will climb. They're tied for 10th-lowest in team strikeouts, so that tells me opponents aren't just throwing unhittable pitches up there for Brewer hitters to be overaggressive and strike themselves out. At this point if the Brewers were at the bottom of the league in both walk rate and strikeout total, that would be much more alarming. The MLB-wide gap between teams with the most and fewest strikeouts is 65Ks. Interesting that the MLB-wide gap between teams with most and fewest walks is much smaller - 36. Plus, almost 1/2 the league has played at least 1 more game than the Brewers. More team AB's means more overall walks. Things will even out. I don't expect the Brewers to lead the league in drawing walks, but if their contact rate and k-rate stays in the top 1/2 of the league, it's not the end of the world if their walk rate is below average.

With Kintzler going on the DL, if the Brewers continue to not use Wang, I can see them going with an extra reliever on their roster and just dropping Weeks - no offdays for another 10 days, and even though Lohse almost threw a CG some of the key relievers still need breaks from time to time. I really hope the pen doesn't get fried to start the year. If Weeks isn't released to make room for a reliever, than I agree that unless an injury forces the Brewers to further shuffle the roster, he's around until a better internal option is available to take his place.

The Reds have significant pitching injuries (Latos, Chapman among them) that have shuffled both rotation and bullpen roles staffwide. Losing Choo cost them one of the few guys who got on base a lot. Hamilton is lightning fast but the jury is most definitely out on whether he'll be able to hit major league pitching well enough to play everyday. They're off to a rocky start for sure, but there's plenty of talent there to turn things around. Basically, the start to the Brewers and Reds 2014 season are polar opposites of one another.

when the April 2014 schedule came out, I think there were probably none of us that figured the Crew would be 9-2 after tonight...that's why I love baseball! KRod's been unreal, but he needs at least a game off - Sunday almost sets up like Wang needs to make his first appearance regarless of game situation. No off day for almost 2 more weeks...

I feel like this is the tired KRod inning from getting so much work to start the season....don't have a good feeling right now.

c'mon Krush, break this thing open

gotta remember Segura's got that shoulder issue that was never allowed to heal at the end of spring training...he's probably trying to play through it and it's likely affecting him. ...this team is unbelieveable right now!!!

The Brewers typically only sell when they absolutely have to like they did with Greinke. They did deal Hardy for a young but still developing Gomez before they had to, but I guess Escobar was ready in their minds to man short until he went in the package to KC for Yuni B...I mean Greinke! Greinke was then dealt for Segura, who isn't the defender Escobar is but is likely to be a more complete hitter. I agree on the Estrada thoughts - when healthy he's been good, and is another one of Melvin's solid acquisitions made with little fanfare. Estrada's problems are staying healthy and not having stuff that will age well. If there's a starter I'd love to see traded this season for anything of value, it's Estrada. I don't want to see him getting an extension to stay in Milwaukee. I also see the logjam between AA and AAA, particularly in the bullpens, as an issue that's going to lead to the Brewers losing control of some arms that have big league potential. Keeping marginal prospects in the minors to delay their arby clocks and allow them to develop as pitchers makes sense on occasion, but you shouldn't do that with all of them and then also sign a pile of veteran AAAA guys to take innings away. The 40 man roster can only keep so many players from being pilfered by other organizations via rule V or minor league free agency, particularly with blocked relief prospects.

Because Thornburg's year of service time as a starter in his early thirties will probably have more value than he will bring out of the pen this year So instead of keeping him on the big league roster that's frankly built to try and win now when he's shown the ability to contribute as both a starter and reliever at that level, you'd rather send him to AAA this season for the possible benefit of an early 30's season as a starter under team control? That early 30's season is about 6 seasons-worth of time where the risk of potential career-impacting injury to a pitcher with a small build and big arm can occur. I get it if this team was at a different point in rebuilding, but at some point you need to give MLB roster spots to guys who have earned them. After Thornburg's solid stint in the majors late last summer, IMO it would've sent a bad message to the rest of the young arms already fighting for innings amongst themselves at AA and AAA currently. Thornburg's in a late inning relief role right now, but that's not saying he won't be starting in Milwaukee at some point this season. A guy like Wooten could probably do just fine in a relief role, but he isn't the type of pitcher who should block a more talented arm from a spot on the big league roster when they're ready to contribute. On the other hand, for people on the board who have been skeptical of Thornburg's MLB potential long term, doesn't his potential trade value look pretty darn good right now? For proponents of trying to sell high on guys with hard to determine ceilings, I bet Tyler could land a pretty solid corner IF prospect if Melvin wanted to listen to offers right now.

Thornburg's 25 - I'm not concerned about him burning through service time, since this is likely at the start of his prime performance years. If he's good enough to help the major league ballclub, this is his time to establish himself in the big leagues. Guys his size who pitch like he does are highly unlikely to pitch effectively beyond their early-mid 30's anyway, so why bother having him burn innings off his arm in the minors when he can be a factor in the majors? Now I don't want RR to continue running him out there 3 out of every 4 ballgames and burning Thornburg out from overuse, but I do want to see him stay in Milwaukee if he keeps performing well.

There are plenty of examples of teams who have been able to get their young arms big league experience starting from the pen, before transitioning them back to being starters. The Twins and Braves come to mine right away, along with the Rays (didn't Price initially close for them or serve as a late inning guy?). I have no problem with these guys in the pen, as long as it keeps their innings load in check and they don't get run into the ground with consecutive appearances. If a hole opens up in the rotation, I think Thornburg and Smith have to be top of the list to start - unless a starter in AAA is just flat-out ready to pitch in the majors. The question on Thornburg's ability to be a starter was whether he had enough pitches to get hitters out multiple times through the order. If he's improved that changeup and command of his fastball, I'd say he has every chance of becoming a solid MLB starter. Still, many scouts have considered Thornburg's best role as a reliever for years.

Not thrilled to see Thornburg in again but he keeps mowing them down. Life is good as a Brewer fan when the biggest argument during game threads lately is which big lead late in games is enough for a Rule 5 guy with mid-90's gas to get on the mound.

I don't want to get greedy, but if the Brewers keep the Phils off the board in the 7th, I'd love to see Wang get on the rubber for the 8th.

Gomez is a completely different player offensively than he was 2-3 seasons ago with Milwaukee...Granted, he's not going to hit 0.350 for the season, but right now I'm hard-pressed to think of another CF I'd want on my team, unless Trout decides to play there everyday.

sounds like Moore has at least a partial UCL tear and is weighing trying to rehab it or opt for surgery. I know Billingsly tried to avoid surgery only to eventually need it - to anyone who knows, have there been examples of pitchers with partially torn UCL's that don't opt for surgery and end up avoiding going under the knife entirely, or do they just delay the inevitable surgery a few months? I think Matt Harvey was faced with the same choice late last year and ended up getting surgery.

regardless of what happens to Rickie this season, I think it's safe to say he's not reaching the # of plate appearances needed for his option year to kick in as long as Scooter stays healthy. I'm thinking the Brewers are shopping him and hoping like heck they can get a team to at least pick up some of his 2014 salary - or give them a prospect with a little upside if the Brewers eat that money. If they can't get a trade partner and either injuries or performance forces the Brewers to free up his roster spot, they'll just release him before too long.

I like what you did there by splitting up numbers to fit your argument...I can do that to. From when baseball started to roughly the year 2000, let's say 100 years for the sake of simplicity, there was a total of 15 players who hit 500 HR in their careers. I omitted Bonds and McGwire, because quite frankly they're the faces of the steroid era. That list includes all time greats, all of them sure fire hall of famers. In the past 14 seasons, including McGwire and Bonds, there have been 11 more players who hit 500 HR. That list includes known juicers (Bonds, McGwire, Arod, Sosa, Palmeiro, Man Ramirez), Sheffield, Griffey, Frank Thomas, and Jim Thome. Even in the era of small parks and juiced baseballs, half these guys don't reach 500 HR without PEDs prolonging and enhancing their primes. The pile of players from 1965 through 1971 that you sarcastically remarked were juicing? Who knows for sure, but I do know one thing - a majority of their careers were played with 162-game seasons, and during league expansions that watered down pitching talent. Getting an extra 8 games a year to hit HR couldn't have hurt their chances. Also, I wonder if you realize 4 of the 7 that hit 500HR during that period wouldn't have been able to play MLB had their careers started a generation or two earlier, before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. And aside from the color barrier a few decades earlier, there was also that thing called WWII that hampered a good number of career totals for some great players who would've had a shot in the 40's and early 50's.