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Jim French Stepstool

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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool

  1. Jim French Stepstool
    That's nothing. I became a curmudgeon when I was still playing.😒
  2. Jim French Stepstool
    Only one boneheaded pay from the home team tonight. In the graphic showing Brewer pitchers w/6 shutout innings in their M.L. debut, it mentioned Jim Slaton in '74. Slatons' rookie year was years before that. What stuck out to me about Gasser vs Myers was they both try to fill up the zone, but Gasser does it with the sweeper, and does it effortlessly. And of course threw strikes w/the FB too. Glad to see Frelick get the late hit & RBI's. If I had to guess, I'm thinking he got on top of a lot of fastballs at the minor league level that he should be taking up here. He's fighting it right now, but I think it would be wise to let his story play out. Methinks Hoskins & Adames are going to get a LOT of RBI opportunities if that top 3rd stays healthy. Loved their ABs tonight, especially Adames. A word on Chourio: I'm guessing that anyone privy to what goes on 3,4,5 hours before the games would see a lot of concentrated work with him, Dawson, and Timmons, correcting & polishing up something mechanical. And they deem this work to be more fruitful than going to Nashville & cuffing around AAAA pitchers. Just a guess.
  3. Jim French Stepstool
    It's times like these that make me sad that Vieira has no options remaining. After the early work he did, I really miss Bukauskas.
  4. Jim French Stepstool
    The top one-third of the order looks really formidable (waiting to see what it looks like vs a LH starter). As long as Hoskins can do Hoskins things & Adames retains some semblance of the AB quality he's shown in the first 37 games--I'm not thrilled with his work the last two nights, but small sample to be sure--they'll give people problems.
  5. Jim French Stepstool
    And here I was trying to be funny. Sveumrules & Bruised, lots of nice data there. Thanks for digging.
  6. Jim French Stepstool
    Since the Wilkin-Boeve combination has pushed him to the OF Ernesto Martinez has been unconscious (8-13). Coincidence? More comfortable playing OF? Concentrating better now that he can no longer gab with opposing baserunners?
  7. Jim French Stepstool
    I just saw that, too. The significance of that can be argued of course, but I found it interesting. In fact, I think you should start a thread about that very fact. I'm sure the ensuing conversation would be fantastic.😉
  8. Jim French Stepstool
    If they can get back to more competitive ABs & putting pressure on the opponents that'll go a long way. On the offensive side I think that's vital for us, regardless of the level of competition. The kid replacing Contreras has done a pretty nice job in the minors throwing out base stealers. Don't care. Gotta run when the opportunity presents itself. Now that he's leading off, If Turang is on base you have a guy following him who can be devastating hitting behind the runner.
  9. Jim French Stepstool
    That, and incorporate the SB & even the bunt when the situation presents itself. Other than the first game in Chicago it seems like we've gone away from that just a little bit. If Turang stays in the leadoff spot (at least vs RHP) & does there what he's done up to this point that looks to me like a formidable top 3. Then it's up to people like Adames, Hoskins, Sanchez at times & whoever can step up among the younger guys. When the dust settles I see something like OWBC mentioned. 10-15 range.
  10. Jim French Stepstool
    If Sal can consistently get deep into counts, not chase & get back to spraying the ball a little more like he did last season I think he could be pretty valuable even w/o much power. "Fighting himself" actually describes what I see from him pretty well.
  11. Jim French Stepstool
    I like all of this, except I didn't think Black looked completely overwhelmed. He got in a few bad counts, took some borderline pitches that were called strikes, then overcompensated by chasing, which he seldom if ever did in the minors. All in all I don't think it was a bad handful of ABs, but he certainly needs to go back down rather than get the paltry opportunities he would with Yelich back.
  12. Jim French Stepstool
    And your replacements would be? (keep in mind there's a 40-man roster to deal with). NOTE: I'm not a big Bauers fan, I panned the trade when it happened. But I don't think it's over-the-top to say they might have 2-3 less wins than they do just on his defense at 1B alone. He made a handful of plays in crucial situations Hoskins may or may not have made & Black almost certainly wouldn't have. Even though I didn't like the acquisition I'm trying to be open-minded about his play on both ends of the floor, to borrow a hoops term. And the defensive end is usually overlooked on fan boards.
  13. Jim French Stepstool
    Out-executed today, and it wasn't close. Three sac flies, one of which advanced TWO runners. And a perfect throw from LF which kept us from tying the game up. And I admit this is a bad time to rag on Adames after yesterday, but on the opposite side of the big-moment moxie we just have to live with the other stuff--like not touching the ball w/the runner on third & one out in the opening inning. Then in his last AB, he's 1st-ball swinging vs Stratton on a ball he couldn't even pull (weak grounder to 2nd), leading off the inning down 1 run. Now, it turns out Stratton was throwing strikes, but on the 1st pitch he throws we don't know that. He's been walking a LOT of people this year. Just a really dumb AB. Then throw in the slip in CF by Perkins........ I thought I saw Sanchez play a really good game at 1B. Still trying to process whether I actually saw that happen. Turang obviously looked great leading off. But flip a coin as to whether he'll be there vs a LHP. And if they're going to use Contreras & Yelich hitting behind him as an excuse for not running him as often, then just hit him 8th or 9th & be done with it. So we get a starter through 5 at 63 pitches, and STILL need the BP to cover nine outs---twelve if we were tied or leading. Blame the offense for not giving him a 3 or 4 run lead, I guess. Still, it's maddening.
  14. Jim French Stepstool
    I don't know if it'll be half the time, 75% or whatever, but we'll probably see a goodly dose of Yelich DHing. That keeps Black on the bench quite often. Better he get 4 AB a day. It also means w/the late game moves you may need Bauers to play a corner OF. I'm also on board w/Turang leading off. As long as he keeps the same approach & they don't suddenly put the brakes on him on the bases ("Oh, gee, we can't take the bat out of Contreras' hands!!!") it should work well.
  15. Jim French Stepstool
    I speculated about that the other day--maybe a balky elbow or something. I'm in favor of Ortiz getting the lions' share of PT, but have to admit Dunn has looked better at 3B than I'd ever have imagined.
  16. Jim French Stepstool
    You really hafta keep running him out there as long as he's sound. But it's getting painful & exasperating to see Ashby struggle so badly. Then there's Yoho, who I agree obviously needs to climb. With not only the short starts in Milwaukee, but other places as well, it's downright fun to see so many relief arms doing extraordinary things in the system.
  17. Jim French Stepstool
    He shoulda been in N'ville to start the season if you ask me. Looks like Boeves' floor right now is AA, Wilkin is back, so Martinez is playing jumbo OF. And hopefully Carlos D isn't out too long. Looks like they'd really benefit from freeing up the DH spot. Not a whole lot left for Clarke in AA.
  18. Jim French Stepstool
    I think 'disarray' might be a little too strong, but you're right about the workload & people not spending enough time in their designed roles. I think they miss Wilson in the pen more than many realize. He was terrific in that role last year. Of course they don't have much choice at this time.
  19. Jim French Stepstool
    I remember liking the idea of keeping everyone in their previous roles, and the guy who would have to step up to allow that to happen would be Uribe, and if not him then Megill. So I half predicted it.😛
  20. Jim French Stepstool
    I've ragged on Adames often for his lack of plate discipline, which has been better this year. But he certainly isn't afraid of the moment. Really needed that. I'm sure it's worked at times, but I really hate the "attack early" strategy when it isn't dependent on reading tendencies early in the game, hopefully getting some baserunners, and then doing it situationally. Then I have to listen to levering & Rottino lamenting about Lugos' low Pitch count. Well gee guys, I wonder why that is?? BTW, the back-to-backs were two ABs where we DIDN'T put it in play early. Fantastic, veteran AB by Sanchez ahead of the HR. I just hate Megill. His acquisition didn't move the needle at all.😄
  21. Jim French Stepstool
    My biggest negative was Perez having a clear shot w/a LHH at the plate. Should've been an element of surprise there, obviously there wasn't (or not enough). Perez had a great pitch to throw on, too. I've seen pitchouts not gotten rid of that quickly. Turang not being a DP guy & therefore getting Hoskins up there w/runners on is a great point.
  22. Jim French Stepstool
    Trying to think along w/Murphy, in the 8th you had a pretty good chance of Chourio getting a good jump off 2nd. And he probably did, as Perez got rid of the ball really quickly (of course) & put it in a perfect spot (of course) & it was still bang-bang. Doing it w/a LH at the plate, that could be criticized I guess. In the 9th, I'd like to have seen them run, but Perez is one of the few catchers out there that makes you hesitate a little. With Perkins on 1st, you had the only guy who centered on a ball all night at the plate. But yeah, I'd have run. Personally, I think it was much more inexcusable not sending Perkins on Sunday in the 6th(?) inning.
  23. Jim French Stepstool
    If everyone starts being productive (and healthy) I think a trade involving an OF that brings back pitching would supersede having the flexibility of optioning. The trick is having someone that would be an attractive part of a package, and Perkins could be that. Is Chourio going to get comfy at the plate? Can Mitchell become & stay available? There's always some risk. But the numbers are there IMO.
  24. Jim French Stepstool
    There's an old adage about if your opponent is hanging himself, don't cut the rope. We haven't been getting our share of breaks, but that happens to everyone over the course of a season. What you need to do is take advantage of the potential breaks that DO present themselves; that helps the luck change. In the ninth. KC was stuck with Chris Stratton trying to close the game. Ten walks in fourteen innings. And he walked the 1st & 3rd men he faced. In between, Adames got ahead 2-0 & then swung at ball three. The next pitch he chased out of the zone as well. That changed the whole feel of the inning for me. I can't begin to remember the number of times we'd have a pitcher struggling to throw strikes in the late innings & the opponents wouldn't even think of chasing. Willie has had a pretty nice season, but today he cut the rope. Koenig giving up a HR to a LH hitting middle INF, that's so ridiculous you almost expect it the way things have been going. The HBP & walk w/one out probably hurt more. Then you need a grounder. The next two batters hit grounders; of course neither is hit at an INF. There are some bad breaks in there but not taking advantage of situations is much more prevalent. Much more.
  25. Jim French Stepstool
    I'd feel better if Miz had 2-3 more starts in AA similar to his last. But your throwing the ABS factor in there, I dunno.......... makes you think a little bit. They ARE pretty aggressive in promoting pitchers in '24. Sounds more & more like Gasser gets a start in KC. Looking forward to it.
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