Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I'm not sure but I think it has something to do with thumbscrews.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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😊 .
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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'.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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'?
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Yeah, and there was something else related to that. I don't remember exactly, when he steals a base or scores a run they have only one loss in those games, something like that. Even with the huge HRs last night & Misiorowski's performance, I'd almost be tempted to call it the David Hamilton game. The huge two-out RBI triple, pressuring the defense into a mistake with the steal & bad throw (certainly wasn't his fault he was stranded at 3rd), and a very strong game defensively.
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So, ten games in for Pratt in the bigs. I'm not sure you can realistically expect better than what we've seen so far. He had decent but modest numbers in AAA but one thing that stood out to me was the discipline---walks & strikeouts almost 50-50---and so far he's maintained that here. Now, his propensity to not try to do too much & go to RF is being augmented a little; a couple hard hit balls to the pull side recently. Even if someone is ready to play at the highest level, it may take a little time for a player to convince HIMSELF of that & I've seen none of that from Pratt. And along with the overall defensive skills, the hands seem really soft & exceptional. The DP to end the series in Cincy could've easily been bobble....panic....snatch....never get a handle. Very cool response in a pressure situation. I'm waiting for the pitchers to get a 'book' on him & see how he adjusts. But right now he's not chasing & is very willing to use all fields so that book might not be so easy for opposing pitchers to read & execute. I've been very impressed.
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For those who didn't see it on the minor league transaction board............Koenig added, Yoho returned to Nashville.
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They seem seldom if ever deterred from "We're going for it!!!" mode. Funny but when they showed some patience & cultivated a number of good prospects, that's when they reached the series.
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2026 Misc MLB News Thread
Jim French Stepstool replied to Frisbee Slider's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
And if that happened, hoooo would be next? They tried CC, Trebelhorn, Sveum, Jim Lefebvre who were all on the Brewers' payroll & all at least briefly managed here. Kenny Macha? He seems a little Madden-ish. -
Looking at Josh Adamczewski's season numbers for the season---a really fun exercise---I noticed that along with the eye-popping offensive numbers he's picked up 6 OF assists in just under 50 games in high-A. That's not something you see every day from a LF, not to mention one who came up as a 2B. People talk about Fischer possibly being in Nashville this year. Adamczewski might have as good a chance if not better.
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They've been winning games over the last week or two. Flip side is that anyone who's seen footage of the Mets lately might wonder if ANYONE can lose to that team right now. You'd like to take advantage of their having played 3 games in the last two days while the Brewers' BP--and everyone else--had a day off yesterday.
