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Jim French Stepstool

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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool

  1. Jim French Stepstool
    I'll defer to you, then, as I'm sure you've seen Murray more than I have. Perhaps I was going a little too much on "rep" based on what I've heard.
  2. Jim French Stepstool
    I just don't think he's ready. His last outing was eye-popping for sure. But one of the things you want a guy with his velocity to be able to do is effectively own the inner half of the plate, and I don't think he's comfortable enough doing that yet. In his last two outings he's hit 5 men. That's on top of the walks. If they look for reinforcements I think Lauer might be next man up. The counterpoint is that I was confident Uribe wasn't ready yet either, and he shut me up pretty effectively😛.
  3. Jim French Stepstool
    😲. Heck, he might find a roster spot someday just to be sent up to hit in the 8th or 9th inning of a tie game.😄
  4. Jim French Stepstool
    Black was 4-30 in his last handful of games for Biloxi, so the dry spell goes back a ways. But he's still drawing his walks, and as you said appears to be re-emerging. I've wondered if moving him around the infield had an effect.
  5. Jim French Stepstool
    Definitely looks like a 2B-OF type that needs to find the right niche. But he's so damn fun to pull for. If he ever develops enough arm strength that you can trust him at SS on a fill-in basis (questionable, I know) I'd bet on him finding a spot on a roster someday.
  6. Jim French Stepstool
    Someone mentioned how Lazar is quietly having a solid year. I think Murray mirrors that among INFs as it's easy to overlook him with all the other SS & 2B types doing good things. Not as flashy & not as able to make the highlight-reel play as his teammate Zamora but IMO much more reliable. They both have a chance because bench guys who are INFs & can play SS are valuable.
  7. Jim French Stepstool
    Nice article. But what it didn't touch on was the Brewers lack of success, luck, whatever you want to call it, vs some of the Dodgers' contact the last three days that went for hits, particularly during the first two games. In comparison yeah, they were very unlucky in this series w/regard to batted balls. Whether or not it made a difference in the results is anyones' guess. Is it a viable excuse for the entirety of the offensive struggles this year? Of course not.
  8. Jim French Stepstool
    It can be hard to describe what one means when they say a player has "it". To me a big part of the equation is when someone jumps to the next level & their play doesn't miss a beat, almost as if they're like "screw it, I don't care that this is a 'higher' level, I'm a ballplayer & I'm just gonna continue to ball". That's the feeling I got watching Frelick when he hit Milwaukee, and it's eerily similar watching O'Rae at Carolina & Lara since he hit Appleton. Just so much encouraging stuff going on in the organization. And it's great to see Eric Brown back in action.
  9. Jim French Stepstool
    The way the game ended is actually fitting. There were two guys in the broadcast booth, at least one frustrated former jock (me), and a handful of bartenders, insomniacs, retired pipefitters, stay-at-home moms, dads, and several bar patrons hanging on to their 4th beer watching the game, and most if not all of them probably knew Phillips wasn't throwing a strike to Adames on 3-2. But Willy didn't know. And why do I get the feeling that Frelick walking twice & stealing 3 bases cements him even more deeply in the cleanup spot?
  10. Jim French Stepstool
    I think it's too early to dump on Santana & give Rowdy all the RHP ABs, but if Tellez can come back hot, then sure. I suspect you'll see some lineups containing both, which means Tellez DH's. That's assuming Hiura doesn't return, which I think is a safe bet, although at this point I'd be OK with giving him a shot. Frelick definitely needs to move up in the order.
  11. Jim French Stepstool
    It might've been a missed opp, but I'd need to know what it would've taken to get him before I'd call it that. Santana has actually barrelled a decent number of balls his last handful of games. The way this week has gone, the fact that he doesn't have much to show for it isn't surprising.
  12. Jim French Stepstool
    He's certainly going to lean on vets like Canha & Santana, there's a precedent there. It's why we'll likely see Tellez in Texas even though he hasn't looked great at Nashville (although he scorched one in his last AB yesterday). But he just as easily could flip Frelick and Santana like you said. I'd definitely do it.
  13. Jim French Stepstool
    Part of me really misses the days when the opposition would b**** about stuff like this. But no, we have Counsell sending Champagne to Roberts before the '18 NLCS. It's weak sauce to complain about luck, especially when you don't play well enough to make it matter. But yeah, how LA got from 1-1 to 4-1 yesterday was pretty ridiculous. Still, I hang my hat on the adage that's it's how you play, not who. Monasterio, Turang, Wiemer-----they all botched plays that ranged from routine to plays you've made plenty of times before. Yeah, we didn't generate offense anyway. But that's why it's important to keep them from going up 3-4 runs. We didn't do that. But I'll admit it wouldn't hurt to send a proctologist to the LA clubhouse before the game to have the rabbits' foot removed from their a**.
  14. Jim French Stepstool
    Counsell likes the L-R-L-R thing. So I don't know if we'll ever see them back-to-back. It certainly would fit their respective skillsets, though. Obviously I have no way of confirming this but I get the impression Yelich has decided he wants to leadoff, play LF, and sometimes DH & doesn't want to deviate from that.
  15. Jim French Stepstool
    He definitely shouldn't. Any HR power he shows will be a byproduct of pitchers knowing they have to throw him strikes or he'll be standing at 1B. All he needs to do is incrementally get better at what he's already good at & he'll be extremely valuable. He also belongs higher than fourth in the batting order, which I assume is where he'll eventually wind up.
  16. Jim French Stepstool
    My biggest takeaway from tonite's game-----I'm really surprised that Freddie Freemans' mom is qualified to be an official scorer. From what I know of Wade Miley, I suspect some items were destroyed in the clubhouse after he left. And I wouldn't blame him. I'd actually think it weird if that DIDN'T happen. I've defended Brian Anderson in the past. But fire away. I don't know how much his poor ABs have to do with inactivity, but he looks lost. There will be some clamoring for Tyler Black, I'm sure. No matter how bad he looks at the plate, Anderson is still their best third baseman, it just comes down to how much they trust Monasterio there, and while I hope I'm wrong I think his solid defense up to this point could be in for a correction. Maybe one of the minor league guys could chime in on how Black has looked at third.
  17. Jim French Stepstool
    Lara I didn't see coming, despite the nice #s at Carolina, due to this being a full age-18 season for him. But he certainly didn't appear over his head in his debut. Both A-level squads are going to be fun to follow in '24. Shoutout to Ethan Murray at Biloxi. He was quietly having a nice season; now it's not so quiet anymore.
  18. Jim French Stepstool
    That WAS interesting. Thanks a lot for making my head hurt lol. Actually, and this is impossible to prove w/o climbing inside a players' psyche, I think a large part of the Brewers' problem in this regard is thinking about what they need to do to deliver the run instead of staying with their same approach.
  19. Jim French Stepstool
    One of my pet peeves for a long time. Some fans seem to view this like it's the NFL or college football. The more talented team doesn't always win championships. That relates more to baseball than any other sport. It's a big part of the reason I take analytics with a grain of salt. There's lots of randomness in this game. The Dodgers & Braves are viewed as the two favorites in the NL, as well they should be. But this ain't Michigan & Ohio State from 50 years ago.
  20. Jim French Stepstool
    Like I said, I feel we would've lost anyway. You can't give that team extra outs especially after dodging the same bullet in the 5th. But Muncy's ball was hit sharply enough to be a DP had it not been placed perfectly. And the critical error by Monasterio, if it were them throwing the ball away, could/would eagerly be attributed to luck. Hernandez hit a shot out of Adames' reach and yes, the tight INF had much to do with that. But none of this touches on the offense, which was certainly sub-par.
  21. Jim French Stepstool
    So, they hit 3 or 4 grounders that find grass. It happens. Betts dunks one into LF that can't be caught because it isn't hit well enough. That happens too. But ALL in one inning? I'd love to get my hands on the dead chicken that Dave Roberts was waving around in the 6th. The undertone of all that, of course, is we would've lost anyway. Monasterio has been a Godsend but the bad throw just opened everything up. Offensively, maybe they lost the battle but won the war, looking at Santana. Barreling up balls from both sides of the plate is pretty impressive. I'd put Frelick in front of him, after he sits vs the lefty tomorrow.
  22. Jim French Stepstool
    That made me laugh because it has a nice ring to it, and is a pretty good comp,too.
  23. Jim French Stepstool
    Jackson ChourioJeferson QueroSal FrelickTyler BlackJacob MisiorowskiRobert GasserBrock WilkenAbner UribeCarlos F RodriguezMike BoeveLuke AdamsEric Brown JrYophery RodriguezJuan BaezCooper PrattLuis LaraJosh KnothEric BitontiFreddy ZamoraBradley Blalock Whooo!! Those final 6-7 spots are TOUGH!!! You could make a solid argument for any 8 or 9 not on my list. Still a big, big believer in Adams. And if he can find consistency to match the defensive talent, Zamora can surprise a lot of people.
  24. Jim French Stepstool
    Agree on all three points. With the emergence of Monasterio it might be a little trickier for Devanney to find his niche here, but as you said he's quietly putting together a resume that suggests a possible contributor.
  25. Jim French Stepstool
    In a recent presser Fickell was saying some real positive things about Tucker Ashcraft, a true freshman. Said he's definitely going to see the field. He also had plaudits for Nowakowski, who moved from FB & I suspect might be their best blocker at the position, and Jackson Acker, who's best chance to see the field might be as a 3rd TB unless someone else emerges (maybe 2-back set in goal line situations).
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