Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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We were .500 vs them coming into tonight. Which means they were .500 against us. One could argue they're better now after the acquisitions, but that hasn't played out yet.
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That's a great nugget. Credit to Montgomery.
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Yeah, the "bad teams" that some think it means very little when you beat them. If they fall short of the post-season (still a big if) they can point to the week when they had to get over being ********* & emotionally devastated because "our friend Josh isn't here anymore".
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IMO, at some point they may decide Frelick is going to play basically every day vs RHP. That's when you'll see him in Milwaukee. They aren't going to bring him up & have him fill the Davis role (nor should they). The kid's certainly making it hard to ignore what he's doing right now.
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Offensively, things hinged on Yelich & Adames basically being defeated by Montgomery & Molina in the 1st & third situation when they could've turned the momentum. Overall, they've had a ton of games this year where they swung the bats worse than tonite. Seven or eight hits and could easily have been 10 or 11. Lauer with another weak launch to his night. Should've been back-to-back walks to start.
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I love a farm system that has middle infield depth throughout. We seem to be developing that. Predicting a big bounceback year for Valerio in '23. Shoutout to Corey Ray. After the rollercoaster ride his career has been, reacting poorly after being sent to Biloxi is something a lesser competitor might fall prey to. He obviously isn't doing that.
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#4 IMO is a huge part of it, particularly the walks. even the hit batters. Sunday for example, Burnes has two out w/two strikes on the hitter then hits him. No big deal, except that's followed by an 8-or-9 pitch AB & walk. So now you're facing two extra hitters. You could easily make the argument the HBP cost him (via pitch count) a full extra inning of work. Multiply that by several games, & it makes a huge difference not only in runs given up but in the BP workload, and in who you have to use & when. That stuff just filters down & affects the whole staff more than people realize. Agree w/ the Adames comments. He seems to "get it" as far as his approach, then after a couple ABs backslides again. Whenever I hear one of the "most HRs by a shortstop in MLB" comments I want to throw something. It's the mentality of over-valuing something like that that I fear leaks into his consciousness & causes the wild inconsistencies. As to #5, I think it's the players who need to move on. Hard as it may be to put behind you the feelings of confusion or disagreement with the trade, it's mandatory if you want to accomplish anything. It's (probably) already cost them a week of bad baseball. Reporters & (some) fans moving on, good luck with that. Sometimes you just gotta ignore stuff.
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That's the thing. If they're hell-bent on the "run prevention" mantra--which I'm totally on board with--then a run here, a run there should make all the difference. That doesn't even speak to yesterday though, when one run WINS YOU THE GAME. Just a horrible sequence that I'm guessing no one even asked about post-game.
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Good post, I agree with much of it. But actually Johnathan Davis pinch ran for Urias & was on first. There's a lot you can do there, the most obvious of which is giving Davis a chance to run. Unless you were going to do one of the rarest of things in Brewer baseball--put on a hit-and-run--there's no way you swing at the first pitch there. Caratini most likely CAN'T bunt, sadly. But he can pull the ball, which gets a runner to third, IF said runner is on second, which is why you give Davis a chance to run. Just poor baseball from the neck-up. I too get frustrated by the "He can't bunt, it's not as easy as it looks" line. It isn't easy to center on a mid-to-upper nineties fastball either. But the work is put in to do that. It isn't "easy" to hit a lot of home runs, but at the beginning of the launch-angle craze, I'll imagine a lot of guys invested many days to overhaul their swings. It might not do you any good in trying to win a particular game in a certain situation, but it might pay off come arbitration or FA time, which sadly might be the priority.
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I want to see San Diego fail
Jim French Stepstool replied to edfunderburk's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
An astoundingly good point that not enough people realize or think about. I wonder if SD's strategy is due to being in the same division as the Dodgers--that they feel their only hope is to create some kind of "dream team", topple them somewhere in the 2 or 3 year window, then disappear into the desert while they wait for the next cycle. I liked them in '84 when they knocked out Chicago. -
Is there room to add him to the 40? I'd rather see Feliciano get work at AAA then sit up here.
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BA isn't the most important single thing, but it isn't any less significant than a lot of the other stats that have been created in the last couple decades. I like Turang. But Peterson played a lot of 3B before getting hurt & I don't believe he has any experience there. If they were going to promote him for that role they probably would've thrown him there some at N'ville. Peterson has been missed for sure. People make fun of some of the utility guys we've had, some of the "grinders" or "gamers" as they're called, saying how Counsell likes them because they remind him of himself. Looking at the approach of some of our hitters at times makes me appreciate a guy like Jace even more.
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I think he put stock in Tellez & Adames being here all season & Yelich rebounding power-wise. Also Urias continuing to get better, which I won't fault him for since I expected the same thing. While a supporting-cast bat, Narvaez has been a lot quieter this year too.
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He actually made some terrific moves last season. And the Yelich trade, despite his power outage, was a terrific trade. At the deadline, when the wheels are spinning faster & there's a lot of teams trying to do a lot of things at once, not nearly as impactful this year or last as far as immediate help is concerned. Coincidence? I don't know.
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The majority of the bad stuff that happened this week, happened while Hader would've been sitting on a chair in the bullpen had he been here. Then there's the theory of how it affected them mentally, which would mean this whole week was self-inflicted. Not much by way of excuses, that's for sure.
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I think they have an organizational change of attitude regarding that, and IMO it's long overdue. You can see it in the drafting & some of the personnel decisions. You can get to the WS with this type of an offense, but your pitching has to be unusually strong, with a lot of versatility & depth in the bullpen. With that versatility & the "old rules" with regards to pulling pitchers Counsell came one game from pulling it off in '18.
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SD's #6 prospect was traded for Drury. Would've loved to acquire him, but that translates into someone we probably weren't interested in dealing. I wouldn't have either, unless they could do a package. That's what frustrates people, you just don't know what it would've taken.
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I watch approaches at the plate. I enjoy the "game within the game". Of the five most moronic, dead-from-the-neck-up ABs of the season, Adames may have had four of them. He embarrassed himself in the 10th.
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If you're talking about the last week, they're clearly a bad team. I've seen times this season where they're clearly better than bad. Overall, they're 58-50. One-third of the season remains. I've kept saying they need to get back to what makes them successful. Right now, you score 5 and lose. You score 7 & lose. You get a good start, and score 2 runs in nine innings. You find ways to win, you find ways to lose. If this continues, sure, they're pretty bad.
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I'm guessing Ashby starts at least until Houser is ready.
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Starters need to be better, that's the strength of the team. For all the consternation about Hader, the folks who are on the mound before he gets into a save situation (if he were here) need to get us there.
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I think so. A guy who can eat innings if need be. I think we'll see someone replace him soon, Cousins is a decent bet. Perdomo is throwing in N'ville too.
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We've had a pretty good success rate with picking up pitchers who were struggling & getting quite a bit out of them (Pomeranz, Lyles, Gio Gonzalez to a lesser extent) so I'm OK with taking a flyer on McGee. But he wasn't good before coming here & there's folks on rehab--a lot of them--getting close to being ready. So the string may be running out for Jake.
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Through two-thirds of the season, I think "most underperforming" is fair. The frustrating part is, if you're only allowed to point at one or two areas it's where they've hung their hats. Pitching & defense. I've seen at-bats in Pittsburgh last week where we seemed to be pitching a hitter as if there were two men on, 1B is open & you're protecting a one run lead in the eighth. And it was actually early or in the middle of the game, with no one on or a runner on first or something like that. And I'm talking Burnes & Woodruff as well. Just freaking weird.
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Dunno about the message it sends. It does hamstring you. Was it 4-3 at the time? Just way too early for sure.
