sveumrules

Dan Jennings? Take a look at his 2019 numbers. I remember trwi7 saying we should have just gotten Luis Avilan & saved the pick. Take a gander at his stats. Boone Logan was 33, coming off 0.5 bWAR in his previous three seasons & signed to a one year deal. Claudio is 27, coming off 4.8 bWAR in his three previous seasons & is under control for two more years after this. It's almost like it's a completely different situation than Boone Logan aside from which arm they throw with. Claudio was primarily acquired because he has a rubber arm & over the last three seasons averaged 1.7 BB9/0.5 HR9, both among the best in the league. He is currently at 3.4 BB9/2.1 HR9. Just like when many posters were freaking out about our entire pitching staff after a fluky bad first few weeks (which has since stanilized considerably as the sample has grown), so too are many posters assuming Claudio's most recent 20 IP are more predictive than the 200 IP which came before.

If you think Bud handled the pressure of the ECF any better than Bledsoe that is certainly a valid opinion. I personally think Bud was more to blame than Bledsoe for the results of these last four games. I'll take the under on 60 wins for next year & I'll say push for reaching the ECF again.

League ERA/total HR in the post strike era peaked at 4.77/5693 in 2000 then bottomed out at 3.74/4186 in 2014. During that time frame the the average year to year change in season HR total was around 294 with a low of 79 & a high of 475. Since then the season to season HR totals have fluctuated by 723, 701, 495, 520 & now on pace for 900ish for an average year to year change around 628 HR. Those are some wild year to year swings compared to the relative stability demonstrated over the preceding 14 seasons which encompassed a transition from the peak of the steroids era to the valley of post PED run scoring.

Eddie Sedar, 2 for 2.

Great send by Eddie there. That's why he is one of the top 30 third base coaches in MLB.

There is nothing controversial about the take that Bledsoe has been bad in the ECF. I never disputed that or tried to make a case otherwise. What is controversial, or at the very least far from certain, is if those struggles in a very small number of games automatically equates to him not being able to handle pressure, which is the assertion made in the thread title. As far as Bud goes, I'm not saying he can or can't handle pressure because I don't believe there is any way to truly know, but the facts are the facts in ATL... His teams got worse every year following their unexpected 60 win season. He acquired Dwight Howard on purpose. He got stripped of POBO. We'll see how Saturday (& hopefully Monday after that) goes, but if Bud comes out doing the same things he's done the last three games & just hopes that it works this time, a case could be made that his response to the specific pressures of the 2019 ECF were more detrimental than Bledsoe's were.

Seems like you're the one saying those things and it's ONLY you questioning Coach Bud's coaching ability. Had the Bucks gone 6 vs the Piston's and gone out in the 2nd round, you'd have a point. But to be shocked that they're in a competitive series vs a 58 win team(a team that's been to several ECF's and has only failed to get by LeBron) and trying to somehow turn his success in Atlanta without a real star player against him somehow is laughable. And calling a man a quitter is.....well, it's something I'd expect to see on twitter, not so much on this forum. Cheap shot and completely made up to say the least. I didn't call anybody anything or make any declarative statements based on conjecture. OP did. I laid out series of observations & asked questions (with tongue planted firmly in cheek, props to BillScottCanRake). Big difference. If it is okay to declare Bledsoe can't handle pressure after 4 ECF losses why isn't okay to question if maybe Bud can't either after 6 ECF losses (not to mention three straight seasons of diminishing returns following the one fluke season that he built his entire reputation upon)?

It isn't just that they lost to LeBron, that would have been fine, they got swept as a 1 seed, guessing that's pretty rare. So rare it may indicate an inability to handle pressure, which infected the entire team from the coach on down. Scary if true.

So what you're saying is in 2014, when there was no pressure as an 8 seed, Bud's team did fine. Then they come out of nowhere the next season to win 60, playing with house money & exceeding expectations all year, but when the pressure finally showed up to perform for real in the ECF against LeBron, they wilted. Next you've got the top 4 & 7 of the top 8 guys from your 60 win team back the following season, pressure is on to prove the 60 wins weren't a fluke & getting swept by the Cavs was, but you only manage 48 wins. Now Bud is really feeling the pressure, at least he must have been feeling something since he acquired Dwight Howard on purpose. Predictably the Hawks win even less games. Finally with the pressure really piling up after two seasons of diminishing returns & getting stripped of his POBO title, he appears to quits on his team & they win an Eastern Conference worst 24 games. So maybe he can't handle pressure & is a quitter to boot?

Budenholzer's first 60 win/1 seed got swept out of the ECF. If the Bucks lose this series it will be his second 60 win/1 seed not to advance to the Finals. Almost every time they show him on the sidelines he looks exasperated. Maybe Bud can't handle the pressure either?

During the regular season Middleton was only 70th in clutch points. He was 9/24 (.375) on clutch 3PA which was .003 below his normal %. He was 13/37 (.351) on clutch FGA which was .089 below his normal %. If Khris has the playoff clutch gene how come he performed worse than Bledsoe under pressure during the regular season?

Regular season crunch time isn't the same thing as playoff crunch time. The thread title is "Eric Bledsoe can't handle pressure", he handled it fine during the regular season. If your assertion is Eric Bledsoe can't handle the specific pressure created only by playoff crunch time, ok, generally only the very best of the very best can & we've always known Bledsoe isn't in that category.

During the regular season Bledsoe had the 44th most clutch points in the league, more than CJ McCollum, Jayson Tatum & Al Horford to name a few. He was 7/17 (.412) on clutch 3PA which was an improvement of .083 over his regular %. He was 25/54 (.463) on clutch FGA which was .021 worse than his regular %.

Hader still listed as the pitcher on Gameday?

Japanese league has a limit of four foreign players per team, I believe, so only so many guys could go this route before available spots start to dry up. I'd also imagine that most Japanese teams will still prefer to bring in AAAA veteran types to fill those slots over younger players with no pro experience.

It started early, it may not be over for some time if it stays tied.

I'm at work, but following along on the internet has been enjoyable.

FanGraphs currently has us 23rd at -2.4 runs on the bases to this point. The Padres are currently last at -5.9 runs on the bases to this point.

Or the money we lost that we could have used to take a flier or two. And I really don't care what stats you throw up there, Claudio is not in the same league as Knebel. I remember there were the stats floating around trying to show how he was comparable to Kimbrel, Knebel, and Jeffress. He's a soft-tossing lefty who played for a bad team. I'm not going to argue the merits of WAR because it's a great tool, but it's not flawless. I hated trading the 39th pick for a guy like Claudio when we did it and watching him pitch for a half makes it far worse. Give me Dan Jennings, the 39th pick and the slot money that comes with that every day....and I'm sure Stearns would do the same if he could go back. Sure, some picks turn out after 39, but far more bust. I just looked at #39 because that's the pick we gave up. Again, I'm sure the front office has performed much more comprehensive versions of the exercise than the one I just did on a message board & determined that the certainty provided by Claudio over the next three years is more valuable to a team in the midst of their competitive window than a pick around the #39 range in any draft, & maybe even especially this one if it considered weak like AndThat said. I'd also imagine if they were intent on moving the #39 pick for that reason that they shopped it around & though Claudio was the best of the possible returns. Dan Jennings? The one that had a 13.50 ERA with the Nats before he got sent down to AAA & is currently in designation limbo? There is no doubt that Knebel is a more talented pitcher than Claudio, that is why he was drafted higher & has been more highly regarded throughout their careers. & yet, over 2016-2018 Knebel had 4.1fWAR/3.7 bWAR compared to 3.7 fWAR/4.8bWAR for Claudio. So there production has been comparable & Claudio will certainly outproduce Knebel this year. We have Claudio for three years. I highly doubt Stearns has buyer's remorse when Alex still has almost 90% of his tenure as a Brewer still remaining.

Got a Rasmussen question in the Longenhangen chat today, but unfortunately didn't get an answer... Ronnie 12:49 Is Drew Rasmussen the primary cause of the Global Helium Shortage? Eric A Longenhagen 12:49 lol, that's very clever all time chat question

Sammy Sosa hit 60+ HR three times & never led the league in any of those three seasons.

They don't have blocking numbers at BPro for 2019 yet, but over his previous seasons as a full time catcher Grandal has stacked up like this.. 2018: 22nd of 117 (+0.8) 2017: 96th of 111 (-1.4) 2016: 31st of 104 (+0.3) 2015: 92nd of 109 (-0.7) 2014: 90th of 105 (-1.1) So in three of five seasons (plus two postseasons) he's been among the worst blocking catchers. In two other seasons, including the most recent he has been fine. On the opposite side of things are his framing numbers, which are pretty consistently excellent... 2019: 3rd of 79 (+4.7) 2018: 1st of 117 (+15.7) 2017: 4th of 111 (+26.2) 2016: 2nd of 104 (+28.0) 2015: 1st of 109 (+26.2) 2014: 7th of 105 (+15.3)

Is it just me or does everything look brighter on the telecast tonight?

The only relevant fact is that Eddie has remained employed by the Brewers through multiple regimes. The current regime has had four offseasons to replace him & has chosen not to each time, while many other coaches have fallen by the wayside. Any individual fan's opinion (or even the collective opinion of all fans) is still less relevant than what his employers think of his job performance. That his employers continually choose to bring him back leads me to believe they find his performance acceptable or better, so not bad.

Both his ERA (pretty meaningless at this point given the small sample) & his xFIP (much more meaningful, especially given Claudio's history of elite HR prevention) are above league average. By ERA- he is 118th of 181 qualified relievers to this point. By xFIP- he is 80th of 181 qualified relievers to this point. So, much closer to average than plain awful.