Jim French Stepstool

Drohan has been announced as the starter for game 1 vs SF. It appears the role you mentioned above for Drohan (long man for RHP) would slide to Hall. Even if Drohan continues to start you don't really NEED four LHP in the BP, so we'll see what they want to do once Koenig gets added.

Good points, but I still think you'll see them have a true mopper-upper in the back end, whether it's Woodford, McGee, Rodriguez, whoever. When you get a game like Saturday or the middle game vs LA, I think they'd rather use one arm for 3-4 innings whenever possible. Just going by what they've seemed to prefer. Filling the pen with people who are a little more proven but who you don't want to use for more than 7-8 hitters could also work.

Wouldn't have thought Mitchells' K rate was that high in May. Seemed lower to me, I guess it was hidden by some of the loud ABs he's turned in lately. Those pitching numbers---and NOT COUNTING todays' performance. Just wow.

If they did what you suggest, I wouldn't mind that. It just doesn't seem to be their mindset at this time. What I'd do is check Lara's box scores & see if they slide him over to RF on occasion. He's only played there five times this year; if it starts to happen a little more often they might be considering something.

What's frustrating is before hitting the IL he played in a couple games in LF, so they were thinking that post-op he could go out there on occasion. It would really help the overall versatility of the roster but like you said it looks like that's back to a no-go.

Yeah. What sucked today, was Hamilton & Ortiz were both effective in their first couple trips to the plate & Yelich followed with two miserable ABs.

Because Lockridge is hurt & they aren't going to bring Lara up here to play sparingly. He's also most likely better than Jones, and I'm pretty sure they don't trust Leonard's glove anywhere. I'm not trying to defend Perkins' play, I agree it's been pretty much indefensible. Just trying to answer your question.

And as we move forward, this could very well be a deciding factor as the summer drags on. Perkins used to fit the 'little things' category but has been rough going back to midway thru last season. Today, you had a new pitcher & new catcher out there for the 9th. Trying to pick up 3rd base w/one out is a very solid idea. But he really telegraphed it. Rengifo needs to hit to stay, at least at the level he displayed in the past w/LA. He had the seven-hits-in-three-day stretch awhile back but cooled right back down. Plus, if/when Pratt and/or Williams gets here I get the feeling this staff really likes the idea of a Joey Ortiz around as someone to help ease them in.

What can you say when a guy isn't throwing his normal---if you can call 102-103 "normal"---fastball after the first couple innings, but still puts up zeroes thru 7 innings. In that ballpark. No walks. And it sounds weird to say given they were shut out on 3 hits, but I really thought the Astros' approach vs Misiorowski was quite impressive. I don't think the term "The sky's the limit" has ever applied to any pitcher more than this young man. Just so impressive. My first thought re the offense was that they swung the bats better than 2 runs on 4 hits would suggest. Turang could've had a three-hit day himself with a modicum of luck, and there were a few others as well. As for Yelich.........no one can deny the times he's come through in the clutch, even in his limited chances this season. But it continues to amaze me how someone who's performed at his level can seemingly out of nowhere put up such incredibly ugly ABs. Twice more today, when you needed contact. And not even the chasing this time, just swinging through stuff that had plenty of the zone. Frustrating. Favorite numbers for the month of May: .731 winning %---best May in franchise history. 0.23---Misiorowski's ERA for the month.

I guess the justification (if you can call it that) is you're talking about a very limited role, so you'd rather have the vet who isn't a part of your long-range plans sitting around gathering dust. Gasser's future (they hope) is as a starter so a little different category. If Woodford WAS part of their plans he'd probably be on a shuttle himself, although I doubt that's much consolation to Gasser. I agree in this particular case you probably won't even need a long man for the immediate future.

It's important not to give extra outs at Ten Run Field, or whatever they're calling that place these days. The defense has had a leaky weekend; let's get that cleaned up. I originally expected Sanchez to catch yesterday instead of today. In hindsight it would've been nice to have Contreras playing today since Chourio is also sitting.

Right now Woodford is immediately available & Rodriguez isn't, which I'm sure you understand as the reason. I think the time will come when Woodford is let go & replaced either by Rodriguez or McGee. Rodriguez has developed a nice little changeup, but boy he leans on it an awful lot.

IMO one of the two fills a role. Jake Woodford types have filled the back end of BPs for a long time. But both seem redundant. Rodriguez has shown a nice changeup in limited work, but can he stay sharp as the 13th man? It would've been easy to cut ties with Woodford after he struggled last Sunday vs LA & wasn't available for days after that. The fact they didn't tells me they're OK with him in the back-end role. Perhaps Rodriguez hangs around until one of Koenig/Woodruff is deemed ready.

Anderson could go, he's always been a rubber-arm type. I think Drohan is available, just not for 3 or 4 innings. Megill & perhaps even Uribe again. From the pitching side of things I think the key today is can Sproat finally climb the mountain of getting through five, and if he can't then how does the 'bridge' perform. Just a few words on the run prevention mantra & how a weakness can cut you deep: Last night the Brewers had two runners tag & advance to 3B on medium-ish fly balls to CF. We more than likely lose if we weren't able to expose that vulnerability. Great job of preparedness & advance scouting, allowing us to overcome our own mistake (the bad throw from Rengifo).

That didn't sound like enough games to me. BREF has him at 199 games at SS in his career; more than any other position. It shows him with 10 errors last year, but in 54 games & at the AA level. In AAA last season he played SS in 16 games with one boot. This season, it has him with 5 games at SS & errorless. I do agree the two they have on the roster right now are better there, as well as Pratt obviously.