SoCal Brew Crew Fan

I love big Seth, but I agree he's too valuable in the pen. I also wonder about his ability to go deep into games. Last year in 11 starts (I'm excluding the late season spot start) he was 4-4 with a 4.50 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 29 BBs & 49 Ks in 58 innings. He was 5/11 in quality starts, although you could probably cut him some slack on the first couple where his pitch count may have been limited. He never finished a 7th inning. He was solid, but likely doesn't project much beyond a 4/5 starter. Considering it would take a few starts to ramp him up, I'd rather stick with Manny or if he needs to go to AAA to sort it out, bring up Dillard for a few starts. I think you need Parra's upside as the season goes on.

The bullpen has been lights out since Trevor came back. The offense as a whole is still above average, although some of the 21/26 wins success was riding Rickie's hot bat. Braun, Fielder and Cam are all-stars or close and Hardy & Hart are starting to pick it up. Counsell as a supersub has been Kapler-esque thus far. They still center the offense around the longball which means they'll be a little streakier as has been the case so far. The starting pitching has been solid although the last couple weeks has been tougher. Quality Starts is certainly a flawed metric, but makes intuitive sense for this team if the offense is above average and the 7-9 inning bullpen are solid. Just keep it close through 6 and they'll win more than their share. They weren't delivering those the first two weeks of the season or the last two, yet were in the middle month...big correlation with our streaks. I think the defense is the underrated piece of the equation here. Our defense went from bad in 2007 to ok in 2008 and has been one of the league's best in 2009. We have a number of pitch to contact pitchers so it's imperative that we are solid in the field. Melvin's move to sign Cam & move Braun to LF along with the maturity of younger players has paid big dividends. I guess that is also a reason I'm not as ready to toss Hall to the woodshed for Gamel quite so quickly. I'd take Gamel's bat, especially against RHP, but the dropoff in glove may overwhelm what is picked up. I'd platoon them, but add a start here and there for Hall and make him a late game defensive sub...just like Macha is doing. The added runs, pitches and stress on the pen from a lousy defense was a big part of the downfall in 2007. Gamel has the athletic ability to be a decent fielder at some point, but this is 2009 we're talking about. Our starting pitching is adaquate, but they need this defense to maintain it's level of performance.

Untuck'em...nice job Trevor & Seth!!!

DFA Bill Hall? C'mon people get a grip.

We need Seth in the pen. If our starters are going to keep going 4-5 innings, he'll get plenty of work. Plus, he's not a guy that can go much past 4-5 himself.

Those were some good pitches Seth...wow...nice job!

What has happened to our starting pitching? These guys are really falling apart.

A little role reversal tonight...nice. Let's keep saving the bullpen Braden.

This team is all about the long ball...atta boy Ryan!!!

According to Cot's he signed a 3 year deal for $15.75MM with a club option for 2012 of $10.65MM ($1.25MM buyout). If they have a cheaper replacement, why not. They aren't going anywhere for some time, might as well get some prospects. Hernadez was #5 & Locke #8 on last year's BA top 10 list for the Braves. Not sure how current that is.

Braun would be my only Brewer to start at this point. He's probably a close 3/4 OF with Beltran...could go either way. Ibanez is a clear #1 with Upton #2. I like Cam to be on the team too. Hoffman should be on the team as well, but I might start K-Rod or Broxton. They are all fairly close. Prince could get on the team as well, but he has two clear cut guys at first well ahead of him. Too many pitchers in front of Yovani. My NL Starters would be: C: Yadi (only because of the D...no problem with Benji or Martin either) 1B: Pujols 2B: Utley (Hudson & Sanchez are solid, but Utley is in another world at the plate) SS: Ramirez 3B: Zimmerman OF: Ibañez OF: Upton OF: Braun SP: Santana RP: Broxton

Very well put. As and aside (maybe this isn't the right thread for this), when looking at FIP it seems to show the Brewers starting pitchers have been luckier than they are good. Bush, Suppan and Looper all look worse than Parra, who doesn't look that good himself. Does the FIP just not adjust properly for the type of pitch to contact types that the Brewers have or does it show it's just a matter of time before their ERAs reflect their FIP and our starting pitching is about to blow up? Could it also show the Brewers defense is dramatically improved and has been a key part of the pitchers success YTD? Trying to learn here...any thoughts?

His next scheduled start is Sunday in Atlanta.

While I'm still a longer term believer in Manny, looking at it from the context of the entire rotation makes you wonder what step to take. Going into the year, expectations for Manny ranged from a weak #2 to a strong #4. Soup is perfectly adaquate as a #5, but to contend through the year we can't handle 2 #5s for an extended period of time. Replacing Manny with Dillard or McClung can be perfectly reasonable replacement types, but their upside isn't much beyond a #5 starter. Losing McClung in the pen also hurts since he's been good out there and probably couldn't go deep into a game as a starter putting more stress on the pen. I'm fine seeing what Dillard can do, but I'm not sure he can be considered much of an upgrade over Suppan either so we still would have 2 #5s. Our starting pitching has begun to show some mean reversion over the last couple weeks. If the Brewers are going to contend in 2009 one of two things need to happen with their starting pitching. 1) Fix Manny - either give him a few more starts to work it our here or send him to Nashville for Dillard...it's probably not a huge difference as long as he can come back as a 2/4 type guy or 2) Make a move. The biggest upside scenario would be if they make a move without having to move Manny, and he is able to right himself down the stretch. In that case will they be willing to shelve a pitcher with a $12mm contract? I'm not out to bash Soup, contract aside he is what he is which isn't bad for a fifth starter, but there are scenarios where he could wind up as the obvious #6.

Maybe we've been spoiled by Gallardo and Braun, but such are the struggles of young players. Since Manny missed time with injuries he's probably a year or two younger than his age. Whether it's mental or mechanics or both he needs to get it figured out. The question is can he get it done during the season or does he need a trip to Nashville to do it. The Brewers are in a win now mode and if he's not one of the top 5 options or doesn't get paid $12mm per year, at some point they may need to make a move. I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, but it has helped some other guys before. Dillard is certainly proving his worth down at AAA. I still wouldn't trade him for Peavy.

Hats off to Mike Burns tonight...solid effort at a much needed time...if only we had you 24 hours earlier.

Hart has been swinging the bat a little better...kind of curious that he's out. Other than that...let's roll. This is going to be Manny's big boy night...7 strong to Villy & Trevor Time.

Great point logan...that's why everyone was rooting for Gregg to blow up so they would be forced to put Marmol in the closers role and out of the most valuable role that he has right now. Statistically everything points to putting the best pitcher in the highest leverage situation, but there is probably something to having the one closer in the 9th for the emotional significance. Hoffman seems to provide that, but as an example if Villy is our best reliever outside of Hoffman, he should be used when the situation warrants not just the 8th inning guy like Yost would do. I think that's a positive that Macha has shown for the most part. I wouldn't have had a problem setting Hoffman up for the 7th last night after Coffey for the 6th with a 2 run lead...use him for the meat of the order rather than waiting for the 9th if you are really in a pickle with the pen.

My sig didn't even make it 24 hours...thank goodness.

I'm with trwi7 on this one. While I get that Soup disappointed and DiFelice was hurt, why couldn't Coffey or Villy go 2 innings? McClung pitched so he was available. It was a 2 run game, no way I go with Julio there and not having a quick hook backup plan was bad planning. We had an off day last Thursday so the pen was fresh going into the weekend. This he's my 7th or 8th inning guy stuff was the same thing that got Yost into trouble. Gotta pin last night on Macha. I'm still with you Ken, but your explanation while reasoned, was a bad plan.

I thought they would want to keep Dillard stretched out in case they needed another starter, but he would be solid in a long relief role. Swindle has been dealing at Nashville, but has had two rough stretches in Milwaukee. Either option is better than Julio. I'd sign Jeff Cirillo as a pitcher before I let that hack out there again.

Yet he wound up using three other pitchers anyway down 3 runs instead of up 2. I'm not buying it. It was a bad decision that was poorly executed and had no backup plan. And if Julio had anything to say to Kendall I hope it was where to forward his mail.

All in mop up duty. His outings in Minny weren't bad, but he was still walking guys and it took way too many pitches. The guy just isn't good.

This one is partially on Melvin too. There is no way this guy should have been on the team at this point. He should have been DFA'd a month ago, but using him in a close game? Why is it everyone on this board saw this coming and Macha didn't? I just don't get it. I can't get the Brewers feed on Gameday so I'm listening to the Marlins guys...they can't believe we went with Julio either.

Had to change my sig...