Jim French Stepstool
-
Posts
5,709 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
22
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Events
News
2026 Milwaukee Brewers Top Prospects Ranking
Milwaukee Brewers Videos
2022 Milwaukee Brewers Draft Picks
Milwaukee Brewers Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits
Guides & Resources
2023 Milwaukee Brewers Draft Picks
2024 Milwaukee Brewers Draft Picks
The Milwaukee Brewers Players Project
2025 Milwaukee Brewers Draft Pick Tracker
2026 Milwaukee Brewers Draft Pick Tracker
Store
Downloads
Gallery
Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
-
............Or if we could take away the Ashby walk w/one down in the 7th. Or Kuhnel gets any one of the next three hitters after getting the K in the tenth. Or, or, or, or............ Good times😛.
-
Very nice piece, and good comments from Lane. It's frustrating when you get a few failures in those situations because that stuff can infest a whole lineup. Get back to passing the baton, trusting the next hitter, being willing to take the walk if it's there. And personally, I hate changing the mindset when there's RISP, runner on 3rd w/less than two outs, etc. Just show the same fundamental soundness you should try to show in the 'normal' ABs.
-
Blake Perkins "hitting streak"?
Jim French Stepstool replied to cragi's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
He's been perfectly acceptable from the R side of the plate throughout his career, as reserve OFs go. And the Brewers do a good job of trying to limit his ABs to that side. Perkins went through a bad stretch when he looked lousy at the plate from both sides, had some baserunning mistakes, popped up a bunt or two, etc. Hopefully that's all behind him, because unless a trade is made for an OF it looks like he's here until Lockridge can return & the most optimistic call on that is late July.- 1 reply
-
- 1
-
-
2026 Misc MLB News Thread
Jim French Stepstool replied to Frisbee Slider's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
..........helped by a HR on Saturday by Anthony Seigler, of all people (as @markedman5 mentioned). For now at least, they're feeling a little bit better about dealing with Milwaukee. -
Cooper Pratt Appreciation Thread
Jim French Stepstool replied to Jim French Stepstool's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
So now we see how he responds to his first really bad stretch---if you can call two games a 'stretch'. First handful of games--don't try to do too much, fundamentally sound swing decisions, use RF--check. Get more confident after drawing some walks & picking up a few base hits, prove to pitchers they need to throw you strikes which results in getting a couple pitches you can hit hard to the pull side---check. Get a little overconfident, forget what got you off to the nice start & let the pull side get into your head, maybe try to do too much as the team struggles to score.....and commence chasing. Check. A bad couple of games, but then again only a couple. Let's see if he can get back to a little more basic, humble approach. -
Ragsdale must be on the cusp of Biloxi, right? Boeve has been playing quite a bit of OF but seems to me there's room if they move Hurtubise back to AAA.
-
There are 5-6 candidates for either filling out the back of the rotation or being bulk BP guys. It'll be interesting to see who fills what role---or maybe 'all hands on deck' for awhile, piggybacks, spot starts, etc.
-
That's actually some pretty good food for thought. The times they show him on screen he looks more like an observer than a manager, which is understandable given what he's been through.
-
And while he's not at the level of Henderson, I believe Carlos Rodriguez is at roughly the same rehab schedule. It's a tough stretch. The BP has had issues, and they still have 14 games in 15 days or whatever it is. Let's see people get healthy; let's see Koenig give them some quality from the LH side. I don't remember but can only imagine what some of the posts looked like when they embarked on the long stretch w/o a day off last year & they got through it very well. And that was without two defined leaders in the rotation.
-
Damn, that's a nice post. I don't think Vogelbach has the appropriate amount of influence to be a scapegoat. That doesn't mean he's a good hitting coach; I have no idea. I DO know many of the ABs over the last couple of games were in no way, shape or form anything like his approach as a hitter. I mentioned Fischer in another thread. The only way I see him coming to Milwaukee in '26 is if he continues to hit HRs at a ridiculous pace AND there's a crapload of ABs available in the DH slot, which would mean Yelich getting hurt. At this point they aren't going to play him at 3B. I agree that it starts with the ABs currently on the roster being better; which is no pipe dream because they HAVE been better, often vs pitching much better than what we saw the last two days.
-
I understand the reasoning behind that. We wanted to get Bauers out of RF & strengthen 1B. But yeah, it wasn't a lead, it was tied. So while I get it it's certainly something that can be questioned in the moment.
-
You could've: Not used Contreras when you did & have Hamilton hit vs a LHP, or Left Contreras in the game after he PH. In that case Ortiz is coming up in the 6-hole. It sucked getting hamstrung like that. But welcome to modern baseball, where you only have four bench players & half of your roster has to be pitchers.
-
I'm not sure but I think it has something to do with thumbscrews.
-
That's what people need to understand. The earlier you make a trade, the more it's going to cost you. That's why in June you see a team pick up a Joel Kuhnel, or the team we just played grab some people for their staff that we made look much better than they actually are. But when you lose a couple, that all takes a backseat to 😫😫DO SOMETHING 😫😫!!!! I'm sure they're talking to other teams & have been for awhile. But they aren't going to engage in desperation.
-
I think they need some good fortune re starters' health-----as do the other 29 teams. After that...........Sproat, Gasser, Drohan, Crow. Henderson. Hall, if his recovery is on track. I'll throw Patrick in there. There's room for 3 or 4 of those names to give you some bulk innings, even considering who's needed in the rotation. That's what needs to be sorted out in the weeks to come IMO. And in a playoff series there are some piggyback options there as well if needed. Ashby has had a crappy weekend, but I'm not as concerned as some on here going forward. Pissed off about the free baserunners, yes.
-
I can't speak for anyone who's actually said that, but maybe their optimism is tied into the realization that it ISN'T October & the roster won't be what it is now. I mean, I can't think of a year in recent memory where they didn't make moves. Let's see what those moves entail. If anyone thinks they're going to stand pat & will be fine---well, not even the Dodgers stand pat these days.
-
The massive difference in the two teams today was maturity in their ABs. It's frustrating because the approach has been much better than this in the past. The bad swing decisions, the chasing. Walks & pressure have always been a big part of their success. Too many times the last couple days that's been replaced by "Gee, this guy has bad numbers, this guy was just added, this guy was released earlier-----let's see how far I can hit the ball." That bothers me much more than the RISP thing---they've been more than OK in that department earlier. But the over-anxiousness contributes to that struggle too, of course. Like Kuhnel's bad tenth. Easy takes, but still when a guy is hanging himself, you don't cut the rope. Contrast that to Bauers hitting the foul pop w/the bases loaded--one pitch after a bases-loaded walk. I didn't like Frelick not running w/two out in the 7th. Yes, it was a LHP, but still. Try to guess right, get a jump, if you get picked, OK, you leave Contreras in the game & he leads off the 8th. But apparently it was a 1 AB cameo for him today, other than that he had a full day off. Woodruff wasn't Cincinnati good, but still very solid, reminiscent of his best outings last year before he went down. I guess the hitters' background in Milwaukee is pretty bad, too😊 .
-
I read through all this, and a lot of it is good analytical stuff. But the old catcher in me can't help but come back to the same lament---why in the world was he throwing a hittable 0-1 FB to Steer? If he retires him maybe we're not having this conversation. But big picture, yeah, he needs better command & his #1 pitch doesn't seem very 'commandable'.
-
The underlined works against this acquisition IMO. I get the gut feeling SF would want much more than we should be paying for someone who I don't think is a particularly good fit for the next three years. If he was a rental I'd like this idea much more. And given the team control there's a good chance SF doesn't really want to deal him. I'd certainly check in on Ryan. And I could predict we'll add a BP arm but that's like predicting there will be water in Lake Michigan next month. Here's a wild thought: If Fischer keeps threatening cars in parking lots over the next month & Yelich doesn't get hot during that time, is it possible we could see a 'back tightness' IL stint in August? I wouldn't bet on it due mainly to Fischer's swing-and-miss issues but at this point in his career DH is the one spot he could fill w/o having glove concerns. Far-fetched but interesting to think about.
-
It's now pretty apparent why they like Kuhnel. He appears to be one of these guys who can work, rub a little dirt on his arm & be good to go the next day. So we'll see if he can do that & get, you know, outs. I'm interested to see what the roles are for guys like Gasser, Sproat & Drohan over the next couple of weeks. Sounds like Rodriguez & Henderson are on the cusp of rehab assignments, with Crow maybe not far behind.
-
Yes, especially if he's going 2-3 innings. And as far as going fewer pitches but more often is concerned, he's never really done that. It just feels like they're flying blind with Patrick right now.
-
Ashby has been pretty rubber-armed; he's been in a bit of a funk but I really don't think at this point it's an overuse thing. It seems as if they'd like to use Patrick more often AFA number of appearances in a week is concerned, but without really knowing how it affects his recovery time. So in his last 2 appearances he's walked five; in the previous 6 times out he walked two. So far, so not-so-good. They'll hafta figure this out.
-
No it isn't. But I'll go back to the 2-day off thing in this particular case. Forty is a doable pitch count for him, but keep him on the sked he's been successful with. Is he OK Wednesday & tonite if he threw 20 in Atlanta & Cincinnati? Maybe.........? Yeah, using him for three innings in Atlanta was a point of contention right off the bat, for sure.
-
To me a significant thing about this game was Patrick being poor in back-to-back outings---both after two days rest. I'm not sure that he's never worked before w/that amount of rest but I know it's not the norm for him. Something to take note of. Other than that........for all the attention to the spectacular, the eye-candy, you could argue the key to the whole thing was the back-to-back walks worked by Bregman & Busch. And they WERE worked. Even a slight amount of chasing by either & that could easily be a scoreless inning. A couple of good grind-it-out ABs, something we're good at--when we do it, that is. Lots of talk about trusting each other & passing the baton. That approach gets lost too often. You COULD argue for Koenig coming in for the Happ AB that inning. Ashby was warming earlier but by then you're trailing & most likely not using him. Oh, and what's with all the dugout shots of CC? Did the director think he's PJ Fleck?
-
I'm probably being overly optimistic, but in Yelich's last AB----seeing him actually stay on a breaking ball over the outer part of the zone & driving it to RCF---MAYBE a hot streak comin'?
