CheezWizHed

Lohse

Well, he did lower his ERA... He has been a puzzle wrapped in an enigma this year.

I think we can all agree that Jimmy hasn't peaked yet. If we think he is going to get better, there isn't any reason to trade him. I think you (at minimum) pitch him this year and see where he ends up. And I wouldn't ignore the value in a contract that buys out his arby years and first year of FA. If its in line with a #3 SP, I'd go for it. Yes, you take a risk if he gets injured but you can't run away because of some risk either. Salary controlled contracts are attractive to teams if you get to the point of trading him.

When .364 .429 .576 1.004 says hello from the bench or disabled list it doesn't do anything for a team. It's not about Ryan's production - it's about his health - as well as the money that he makes. Braun makes a lot of money (roughly $15M a year, plus $4M deferred each year) - not outrageous amounts - but not insignificant. Some teams can take that, some can't. But as noted - back surgery, thumb, core and wrist issues. Teams will be wary of a guy they can't count on to be in their lineup. Especially a guy who does cost a lot of money. Doesn't mean a deal with Braun can't be worked out - it's just going to be difficult considering the circumstances. Let's say we take on the deferred $4M and let the other team take the $15M each year. If you get Braun 75% of the time at 1000 OPS and fill in with Player X at 700 OPS 25%, you still get a LF hitting 925 OPS for $17-18M. Most teams would take that. Will he stay at 1000 OPS for his contract? Not a chance. But if he is hot this year and fills a hole that might mean a WS bid, people do strange things...

My guess is he stays there all year. He's young, and I can see them stretching out his starts more in the 2nd half of the season. Same thing with Peralta, I predict they split up that combo for the 2nd half of the season, then they're both in high A (wherever that is) next year. My thoughts exactly. I could see a bump up if they weren't in the piggy-back rotation, but just as part of building up the arms, I doubt they go this year. Maybe they get their own rotation spot in the second half at Appleton.

I'm surprised the ump lets him bat on an 0-3 count... But if they do, I'd give him the green light, too!

Left handers tend to get more chances because there are less of them. Perhaps that lends itself to the perception that more develop late?

And its rather deceiving also. The two QS both were 6IP with 1ER. The non-QS was 6.1IP with 5ER. It sells short his two good outings and "hides" his bad outing. Oddly, Houser hasn't had anything close to a QS (6 IP, 3 ER). He has been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; either giving up 0 or 1ER in 5-6 IP. Or giving up a run/inning or more.

In some ways, Orf seems like he could be what the team wants Colin Walsh to be - 3B/2B/OF. Doesn't switch hit, doesn't walk like Walsh (but he's no slouch), but he seems like he'd be a better fielder and a more accomplished hitter (at least at this point). One might say that Walsh walks (or tries to walk) too much. There is something to be said for swinging at good strikes... Orf's career MiLB walk rate of 12.5% is plenty good. I bet they give Walsh a bit more time, but I wouldn't mind seeing Orf at the MLB level sometime this year.

The team is worse than last year -on pace for 66 wins - and the farm system has under performed. Yes it's too early to give Stearns a grade but based off the non draft tools it sure isn't great. As other's mentioned, most of Stearn's trades (Khris Davis, Adam Lind, Segura) were mainly to bring back future talent because its not about winning this year. But if you are taking last year's record in account, don't forget about DM trading away Fiers, Gomez, Ramirez and Parra last year too. They were all a big part of our win total last year too. And all of those were for future talent, too. Villar is what we all thought he would be when he arrived in Milwaukee; a placeholder for the postion until Arcia arrives. You are correct that was the consensus opinion when he arrived. But I think he is more than just a placeholder now. If he can keep up his current level of offense, I can see him easily taking the starting 2B or 3B position when Arcia comes up. And be the backup SS also. Sneed was one of my favorite underrated pitchers (for the mustache alone, but also for performance). But this was an excellent trade. Not every one of Stearn's trades is going to grade out as a win. No GM bats 1.000. But I like his approach. He is looking under every rock for adding players, even if they are long-shots. He is taking varied approaches to trades in an effort to find the best talent (Lind's trade grew on me, just because it was so unexpected). Time will tell if he is a good GM. But I certainly like the early approach. Certainly, the biggest two weapons a GM has is still an open question for Stearns: FA and Draft. Technically, he managed FA last year, but with the mode we are in, signing Chris Carter doesn't qualify as an indication of how he will use it in the future.

Jimmy's MiLB career normally went like this: 1) First year at a level: 4+ ERA 2) Second year at a level: < 3.00 ERA (2.74 at AA and 1.46 at AAA Nashville) Given that he has had about 1.25 seasons at the MLB level going into 2016, this is the year to see what he can do. So I think its premature to trade him. I think his peak is still coming. As for his results this year, his rate stats are remarkably similar except this BAA (.242 vs .216) and BABIP (.285 vs .239). Typically you might look at that alone and say that he is going to regress at some point. But I noticed another difference. His is throwing his splitter more this year (36.4 vs 49.4%) and all of his other pitches less: FB: -3.7% Slider: -5.0% Knuckle Curve: -3.3% While I suspect that he won't keep his BABIP quite this low, I'd suspect that being able to throw more splitters while keeping his K and BB rates flat has contributed to part of his lower BAA. Edit - And while at fangraphs digging up the above information, I found this articlefrom 2 weeks ago (hence the slight change in stats). They spotted some of the same trends that I did, plus a couple more.

How about consistent improvement?

Out of curiosity, I looked at what Fangraphs PitchFx had to say about Jungmann. About 85% of the time he is throwing a fastball or curveball. The other ~15% is between a two seam FB and a change. Between this and last year, he fastball is dropping an average of 2 MPH (91.9 to 89.6). Consequently, people are hitting it more often (.298 vs .404 BA) and harder (.496 vs .788 SLG). Consequently, he is throwing less FBs (59.3 vs 56.1%) this year and more Curves (25.05 vs 33.89%). A major difference is that this year he is getting far fewer Ks on his curveball (49.6 vs 29.4%), although they are still swinging at it outside the zone at nearly the same rate: (34.7% vs 31%). So between his FB speed drop, K rate drop (5.7 vs 8.1 K/9IP) and BB rate increase (5.7 vs 3.5 BB/9IP).... it still sounds like an injury or mechanics issue. It reminds me a bit of when Gallardo back in 2013. His FB dropped down a bit and his K rate responded similarly. Granted, he was better to begin with, so dropping off hurt, but he didn't implode.

Jungmann's ERA bounced between 3.53-4.33 in going from A-AAA ball in three years (AAA-Nashville). Then last year, he spiked to 6.37 in Colorado Springs, had sub-3.00 ERA for 15 starts, then blew up in Sept with 7.00+ ERA. And imploded completely this year. He isn't the #1 or #2 pitcher that he looked like for 15 starts last year. But he is certainly better than the results he is getting now. I'd expect him to be able to be a 4.00 ERA type pitcher in the MLB level right now. I think its fair to say that something is wrong right now and health or mechanics are the most likely culprits.

Taking 2 of 3 from the Cubs and nearly sweeping them.

Welcome Magnum and great first post. The main concern with Khris was his age, not his contract. Yes, he is under control until 2020, but he is already 28 also. Yes, he has great power, but he also has a long swing that doesn't project well for him in aging. And if you look at his overall production (offensive and defensive), he is really only an average LFer. If you look back in our minor league forum, you'll see that I was one of the bigger Khrush supporters as he was coming up. But I realize his limitations too. A great 6th round draft pick, a good and fun player to watch coming up, a good player for a few years at the MLB level, and a good trade at his peak value. I don't know what to make of Santana yet. He has less power, more Ks, more BBs, better OBP, better defense. This is his first full year in the MLB, so I wouldn't expect his best yet. I expected a 750 OPS type player this year and just like when Khris broke in, some patience will be required. I think he can make himself a 800-850 OPS player in the future with better defense. Its way to early to say he doesn't belong. Neither Ks nor HRs are the indicators I'm watching. Production comes in multiple varieties and good players aren't all one type of production either.

A little shaky to begin, but TT calmed down and nailed it down. That FB to the warning track was for the drama. Give the Cubbies hope and crush it again.

No two situations are the same. Maybe JJ got to the ballpark and realized his arm is tired and he wasn't ready to go today. He is a human, not a robot.

113 pitches isn't that much either. Probably don't want him doing that every time out, but if he is strong, why not? He was showing evidence of getting tired that seventh inning (splitter hanging), but with our BP heavily used last night, getting one more inning from the SP was big. But even being tired, he was at 94MPH. I think he was a bit pumped.

Whenever I see Carter hit, I think, "I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid." Am I the only one? I keep waiting for Guerra to get smoked, but keeps pitching well. Nice pickup.

Whoa... Gennett at bat with sunglasses and his goatee just gave me a Geoff Jenkins flash back. I snapped out of it when there was no big leg kick.

They said the thought process was that you'd rather take your chances that the game might get tied up when your team hits in the bottom of the inning than risk the Cubs taking the lead with a bases loaded hit. But the guy at first doesn't impact that. With that defense a grounder up the middle scores the run. With a guy at first, that same ball is a double play (or at least a chance)

Did cc just manage to over- think? I'm good with going against the book on some things, that situation though just screamed for loading them up with a slow runner coming up next. And the run at 1b means nothing. Would love to hear cc reason later, but I have a feeling fsn will skip that so we can hear Augie talk about a tough night for the bahwclub. A lefty up next is the only reason i can think of. But that isn't really compelling.

Jimmy isn't winning 20 games this season. Jimmy still had a great outing.

Why not walk Russell here???