Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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Very strange to see the team high-fiving & congratulating each other after the 27th out, with a starter standing out there. I know Priester didn't actually 'start' but you know what I mean. That's how using an opener can work, if you can generate enough breathing room w/the offense. Nice to see. I thought it was a mistake to not let Hall stay through Schwarbers' AB in the fourth. I'm guessing it was imperative for them to have Priester come in w/o baserunners. One oppo HR, and one absolutely crushed to RF. That has to get you a little excited. Durbin is a gamer. Realizes he has no cannon but makes up for it w/the quick release. Still wondering if he can stick at 3B but he had an impressive day.
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I'll be interested to see what the plan is re Hall tonight. With Priester following him I'd like to see them try to get Hall at least once through the order. Where is the line drawn? Does, say, three innings cause you to cross over from opener to piggy?
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And go with zero INF backups?
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Very nice writeup. Yeah, a switch-hitting version of Frelick, That's not a bad call for Lara. His recent hot stretch at Biloxi is very, very gratifying & really re-establishes him in the teams' prospect rankings. Despite the tender age, I'd love to see him get a week or three in AAA at the end of the year, given the "AAAA" nature of the OF there. It would be terrific to have the options that organizational depth at catcher could bring. If Quero can re-establish, Dinges continues to polish his defensive game & Luis Corobo builds on his work in the ACL.............likey.
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- luis lara
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A very good point that gets overlooked, which is a little strange since it was such a big part of their success in recent years. So far this year it's been one of the big differences between "Eh, they're a .500 team" & the national pundits asking "How do they keep doing this?"
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I have to believe everyone (Henderson, Hook, Murphy) is fully aware of the need to monitor rest/availability regarding the pen. As I've mentioned before, so much of this is on the starters. Milwaukee is in the bottom 5 or so teams in MLB in avg innings per start. Peralta was in the mid-fifties in pitch count after two innings today, and he's one of the people you'd hope could give you some length. That has to change (as do the outings where a starter is doing OK pitch-count wise but gets pulled). The parenthesized is, of course, due to the dreaded "third time through" monster. Teams will always have pitchers capable of throwing 2 or even 3 times through an order. Milwaukee actually could build a staff like you suggest, once people get healthy. But I think the L vs R thing later in games will always supersede. I wouldn't be surprised if someone tries it someday though.
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As for BP decisions today......I thought one difference could've been one inning out of Mears, then start the 7th with Alexander & go 2 or 3 innings with him--sort of like what Boston did. I'm not a huge fan of Alexander but you're to the point where you HAVE to get some length out of someone. Maybe it keeps Abreu in the ballpark in the 7th, too. Let's remember there really isn't much opportunity to 'sell now', unless you can find a single buyer & get that much better of an offer than if you were to wait. The trade market will get much warmer down the road.
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I made room for it on my mantel. It's sitting up there next to 'cromulent'.
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Another guy that I'm tempted to hang the 'winner' tag on. It's not as easy a fit as it is for Frelick, because we just don't know if he can stick at 3B moving forward & therefore we don't know the true defensive value. But 21 RBI on the season--a season that didn't start (up here) until April 18th (I know many analytics people scoff at the RBI stat; I disagree). It's a lot of fun to see the confidence & comfort level grow before our eyes.
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After watching him for awhile in his rookie season I came to the conclusion that the kid is a winner. To me it's an intrinsic thing & that people trying to measure it through analytics are wasting their time. I think he's taken a huge step this year with his ability to compete, and compete well, vs LHP. And despite Chourios' struggles w/the glove I think we're seeing reasons why it was always advisable to leave Frelick in RF. It sure paid off this week especially.
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Going back to Ted Williams' time, although he wasn't the most pleasant guy to talk to or interview. If you're a sports reporter in the northeast you're kind of a different animal.
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Maybe an in-game direct line to the dugout through a mini ribbon-board, things like "Please refrain from chasing sliders that are below the knees & a foot outside". Sign me up.☺️
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That's the aspect I hate about the whole options remaining, 40-man roster thing. I would even assume they're talking to teams about trades--not a blockbuster or anything, but something to alleviate the possible logjam. I say 'possible' because with this organization & injuries you never know. Kind of like what they're certainly trying to do right now with Payamps, probably w/o much success.
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I hope all of you who complain about them never having "breather" type wins are happy. A nice, comfortable four-run spread. Have to admit, with Koenig in the pen, Alexander as a mopper-upper, Hall & Ashby coming back & Hudson trying to get right at AAA, I didn't see the sense in picking up Rob Z. But so far so good; he's been terrific.
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Agree 100% with the bolded.
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I wonder if part of this is his added strength during the off-season leading to a little bit of a mind shift. I see him being, at times, a little more aggressive on 2-0 or 3-1 at inopportune times than I would personally like. Lessening the things you can impact a game with (speed, reaching base any way that you can, going oppo, the occasional bunt) in exchange for hitting 10-12 dingers instead of 5 isn't my idea of Turang at his best. His K total is almost half of last years' & we're only a third of the way through. Also IIRC his slump sort of coincided with the upper-respiratory thing he picked up, and he only sat one game. Might've sapped him for a week or two.
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............And in the same division as NYY. If there was such a thing as Redsoxfanatic.com they would've called for DFAs quite a while ago. I didn't see Saturdays' game & only saw a little over half of Yesterdays, but checking the boxes & highlights it looks like whatever corner Durbin & Ortiz are capable of turning, they might be heading around the bend. The bottom of the order getting on base for the top has often been a recipe for good offensive runs in the past. We can always hope. I won't spend much effort on defending Pat Murphy. His getting Ashby up Friday & then not using him was ugly. But I'll maintain he wouldn't look nearly as clueless if this rotation would give him 6 innings a little more often (and yes, he needs to trust some of these guys more often when they're at 70-80 pitches instead of bringing the hook. That's part of it). And I don't think being w/o Mitchell & Perkins at the same time can be stressed enough. Just one of them available & you're probably not knocking on the door, but you're most likely over .500 & you don't get so many people wanting to jump off a bridge.
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This looks like the most likely scenario to me. If the organization can finally get smiled upon regarding health, there's enough depth especially in starting pitching to feel pretty good moving forward. If that health is realized there will be interesting decisions coming up before the deadline, even if they're still looking to make a push. You can always find teams looking to add to the rotation, and we might be sitting pretty in that regard.
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If that becomes chronic, then you have a problem. If it's just on occasion, hell, teams usually have 17, 18 man staffs if you count the shuttle. Another ass-covering move is to have a starter or two that's immune to the system, like a Woodruff pre-injury. It isn't foolproof, nothing is. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone semi-commits to it one year. Another intriguing idea is the 'opener' that can go once through the order as opposed to one inning (Dan Plesac might've been terrific in such a role if it existed then. Today, maybe a Yoho). Try to take a starter that goes sour after 90-95 pitches through the 8th. Thirteen-man staffs give you some possible options. Mad scientist stuff.😉
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I looked at it yesterday & don't remember the exact placing, but they're somewhere like 26th in MLB in # of innings per start. Combine that with a reluctance to throw relievers more than an inning--or lack of people capable of doing it well--and this is the result. It's to the point where you could justify arguing for full piggyback. Five starters, four or five people to come in halfway through---and go 3 innings or more---, and your 3 or 4 "late" guys if needed. Honestly, you could see them being able to do it if enough people could get & stay healthy.
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I was all for him getting the call. And no, he wasn't given any kind of a consistent run but IMO he looked pretty bad at the plate. Collins' #s aren't good vs LHP but It's a low bar, & I guess with him being more of a contact guy from both sides this is what they've chosen to do until people get healthy. I'm guessing they gave Cam a few games to see if what he did in Nashville would continue here, and when it didn't made him a placeholder on the roster until an OF comes back or someone (Seigler? Dalbeck? Rosario?) appears to be a better option. Is only a few games fair? Not totally.
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If this continues, they'll sell. But don't expect young players with big-league experience.
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Yep. Bottom line, you're sorta screwed when you're missing two OFs who happen to be your top 2 CFs, your 3rd best CF is far & away your best RF, your former mainstay in LF doesn't seem to be trusted out there & the others are pretty much relegated to LF. Oh, and Cameron hits .370 in AAA, comes up here & does next to nothing, and your best OF prospects are nowhere near ready.
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This place was a house of horrors for Milwaukee years ago. Despite winning yesterday it looks like that go-around might be coming around again. There's no way Pittsburgh puts up the quality of ABs against everybody else that they have the last two days. Loved the 0-2 swing on a slider at the ankles from a guy who looked pretty bad all night at the plate--and looked pretty bad THAT AB, up until the last pitch. Then throw in Reynolds & Frazier putting on their George Brett & Pete Rose costumes whenever it's a clutch moment. Just unbelievable. Not that we were good, but geez.......... I feel for Murphy, BP decisions notwithstanding. The pen is getting overworked, so OF COURSE you have to cover extras twice in three days. And when we needed length, our anointed ace needs to burn 18 pitches to retire Henry Davis twice. Ugh. Bauers vs the LH looked ugly, twice. Hindsight, I guess you use Collins & leave Monasterio in the game. To me this is more frustrating than the Megill meltdown in Arizona due to the way this team just seems to elevate at the plate when they play us.
