Jim French Stepstool
-
Posts
6,157 -
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 Tracker: Picks & Bonuses
Store
Downloads
Gallery
Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
-
Yeah, I heard about Haywood & Mandell having issues. They're two pretty good bookend tackles to build on IF you can get them on the field. Thx about the Sama mention. I read weeks ago about him joining & completely forgot.
-
Certainly not a lot of optimism for 2026, and understandably so. I was a many-years season ticket holder, could recognize any name on the two-deep (and quite a few below that) and had a nephew who usually attended the games with me & had a friend on the team. Fun times. Now.......I'll grudgingly accept the portal & what it's done to college basketball, mainly because it's much easier to keep track of the effects of half a roster being turned over & how it fits the program when you're talking about 14-15 total players. 35, 40, 50 new players a year? Forget it. I'll watch this years' Badger team & hope for the best. If you're taking on Notre Dame, the first week is as good a time as any, I guess. AFA personnel, from what I understand the overall depth at QB is decent & more attuned to what they'll try to do offensively. The O-line can actually be competitive provided everyone is & stays healthy; not much depth. TB Darrion Dupree had a few moments last year & MIGHT have a little more growth in him. And in both quality & depth, LB appears to be easily the most attractive unit on the team. 'Sides that I got nuthin'.
-
Other than going a hitter or two too long with May IMO he used the BP the same he would've in any other game where they fell behind by 2-3 runs in the middle innings, regardless of who the next opponent was. I suppose you could've gone with Hall in the 5th, but the only LHH coming up in the next few was Nimmo & he has reverse splits.
-
Might come down to, if you need a 4th starter in a series do you want to go L or RHP. Since 2021 he's only come out of the BP twice so who even knows if he can get ready on shorter notice as opposed to someone like Wilson or one of the lefties. So he could be in danger of being left off, or if he does a better job of working from ahead then sumpin else.
-
I was curious as to why Vaughn would PH leading off an inning, until I realized he was going to get a 2nd AB by staying in to play 3B & contribute to Texas expanding their lead (although I agree that while it was a bad feed, it certainly was Turang's error). I too would've left May in to start the 5th inning, but thought he should've been pulled for Anderson immediately after the leadoff walk. He wasn't good, but didn't exactly have a shamrock jammed in his back pocket either. Duran turning on the pitch he hit out & still keeping it fair was sort of ridiculous. And on the double in the 2nd inning, Mitchell clearly appeared to be deferring to Chourio. Can't do that on a gapper if you're the CF. But yeah, mostly a case of May not being good. Coulda been a bigger number vs Rocker, but when facing someone who was as reluctant (or unable) to throw strikes as he was, there was too much over-aggressiveness. Then guys like Alexander & later Junis can really use that against you.
-
I think those questioning May's contributions in the post-season are missing a rather large point---his presence can keep the other starters on a lighter sked in the regular season (and save innings for a very young rotation) for pretty much as long as they want/need to, And THAT can indirectly benefit you greatly in the post-season regardless of what May might or might not do in October. Now they aren't as reliant on a BP day or having to tap someone like Crow who doesn't have the vet pedigree. You'd love to have kept both young OFs but that's what it took to get both pitchers; I'm sure we didn't overpay on purpose. On paper Romero is more of the 'post-season' pickup than May. I think folks need to remind themselves that the appendectomy wasn't some huge surprise the Cardinals foisted on us. It looks like he won't be added until September & I suspect the FO realized that could be the case. If that's enough reason to think it was a bad pickup that's fine, but it also flies in the face of the May complaints of him not making us 'better' in October. Personally I'd have loved to have made the deal by including either Frias OR Ragsdale, along with someone like Jose Anderson or Handelfry Encarnacion. But I imagine that would've been a no-go.
-
Fair enough. I'm putting a little more stock on the takes than you are given the moment, the fact he's still not 22 & that Junis probably isn't the easiest AB for a youngster--he's not what you'd call conventional. IMO those were easier takes if he's, say, leading off the inning. He's shown he's capable of more so I suppose I'd back off 'good' but still go somewhere north of 'meh'.
-
I focused more on the fact that he took it full after going 0-2. He didn't quite recognize ball four on the 3-2 check swing & went too far. All things considered I'd lean more toward 'good' than 'bad' when categorizing the AB. I'll grade it tougher when he's 24.
-
Quite a nice situation with him right now. He hasn't been used much lately, and when he has he's had some outings like tonite----first two outs on four pitches. 'Pen is lined up nicely with Uribe & Romero both on the cusp of returning.
-
I got a pretty big kick out of Luis Lara tonite. He's shown once again how the athleticism & instincts allow him to make plays, despite him needing mucho polish. Really looking forward to seeing him lock down his OF responsibilities after hundreds & hundreds of reps cuz he mostly gets the job done now w/o them. Then there's the two hits w/RISP, and for my money if you can ever credit someone with a 'good AB' while striking out with the bases loaded, the one in the bottom of the 8th just might qualify. Drohan battled on a night where he wasn't very good. And if trying to get a 3rd inning out of Patrick was a mistake, then it's one I would've made too. I was hoping for three from him when he entered the game. The leadoff walk probably ticked me off more than the HR.
-
He certainly does. I've always felt that a hitter, to effectively ambush early, needs to 'earn' good pitches to hit early in a count. And the way you do that is by showing that you're willing to be disciplined & lay off stuff not in the zone. That'll increase the chances you get an early cookie. It's sort of a chicken-egg thing. You're right, he definitely does a lot of damage on 1st pitches. He also needlessly puts himself behind in the count at times. I guess the bottom line is he's still 22 & has much room for growth.
-
He was noticeably slipping after planting. The grounds crew was out there at least once. They did what they could but after the first couple innings you could see he was never comfortable & I believe it got into his head a little. Fell behind hitters too, for the first time in a long while.
-
Murphy pushes managerial buttons, and sometimes gets criticized. Over six months, that occurs with any manager. But the emotional buttons, that's more subtle & it seems to be a real strength of his. Even something like the feel for giving Chourio yesterday off. His style & this roster is such a good fit.
-
Among all the positives, there were two things I especially loved tonite. First, the final inning from Miziorowski. It reminded me of his Ks vs Ohtani & Freeman w/ the bases loaded in LA. Different hitters, different situations, even the pitch selection was different. What was the same was that in both instances he looked an awful lot like an ace--a longtime, veteran ace. Getting two tough hitters in LA, and tonite dealing with the footing, with falling behind hitters, yet he gives them one more inning & does it efficiently. So impressive. The other thing was the Pratt sac fly. After the Mets scored two runs, that was a real 'restore order' AB for the team. After the Frelick K & falling behind in the count himself, huge moment & he came through. D L is on some kind of a roll. And a great job by Senzatela having to get four outs.
-
Always interesting vs a LH starter. Bauers has looked good vs them; at times great. Will he get back in the lineup? Can Sanchez step up vs the side he's pretty much here to face? Will Chourio bounce back after a horrible day at the plate followed by a day off? Turang seemed to be seeing the ball better yesterday; much better swing/take decisions. We know Chourio is usually going to be in the lineup, so it'll be interesting to me how the Mitchell/Frelick/Lara dynamic plays out, especially after Frelick reached four times last nite.
-
May coming back & starting soon would be terrific for the reason you mentioned; you wouldn't have to bump everyone back but it's a nice option to have. As mentioned earlier, Gasser really was a life saver. Wagoner is now back after being down a couple weeks. I like him quite a bit but unless you have a rash of injuries in September I don't think he plays a role until '27.
-
You can add one pitcher, but can't go over 14 w/regards to a pitching staff. I've never paid attention to other teams' additions but assume adding one pitcher & one position player is standard. I agree Baddoo is probably the one to go if they need 40-man room.
-
Seeing as how they're using Sanchez these days you could make a strong argument for Naylor, pending any stupid service-time issues mentioned above. If he gets going offensively in Nashville, Lockridge would also be a strong possibility. Last night was a good illustration of how he could have value aside from PR & defense---we had four bats on the bench to begin the game, all LHH. The same Lockridge argument could apply to Adams, but I think he'll have to get & stay quite hot to be considered. This all leads to my annual rant about the expanded rosters. Forty was ridiculous, but IMO 28 is too thin. Thirty would be nice. Even for teams not in a playoff hunt, where you would have a chance to look at another young'un or two.
-
For all the railing about hits w/RISP, there was a lot of immaturity late tonite in situations where you didn't necessarily need a base hit. Lara & Mitchell need to simply be better in the 9th inning. Then I have to listen to Rottino talking about 'lifting one to the OF'. If that's the approach then you're most likely taking yourself out of your usual approach, which IMO is pretty moronic. I wish Morel was trying to 'lift one' in the 10th; I suspect our chances of getting out of the inning would've been much, much better. And Chourio in the top of the 10th........such a talented kid, but the good stretches followed by the backsliding, wow. His last trip to the plate was downright comical. And while the offense cost them this one, Harrison made a horrible 0-2 pitch on the Lindor HR.
-
They could certainly go back to a 5-man if they wanted to, but they're so close now to 9-1 I wonder if they're just going to bite the bullet for another week until they can then add an extra arm. Either way the decisions will be interesting. Romero & Uribe should be added soon, Crow has been good & Sproat seems to be on a roll.
-
I agree. No matter how he approaches the ball on the Murphy grounder, that was one whale of a divot that blew up & I don't know how much difference anything would have made because he has to charge it regardless. Let's all be glad Misiorowski wasn't pitching that night, what with his (at times) reliance on grounds crews.
-
Rengifo providing little to no offense when he was here is a large factor in all this.
-
The bolded. Yes, we gave up 3 infielders. But IMO two of them are fairly comparable to Hamilton. And as for Durbin, if you were able to acquire the 2 pitchers included WITHOUT including him it would've been a steal for the ages. As it was, the deal was clearly worth it.
-
I'm a bit surprised Uribe is going on rehab; I thought he may rejoin the team straight off the IL. I expect it to be similar to Pratt. A quick cup of coffee & then back up. With Jett Williams quite likely done for the year, I'd like Ornelas to decide to hang out in Nashville. Not that he was a world-beater when here, but as with Shewmake there was a reason they chose him over the other AAA options (for those not aware, Bae stuck around & is with the Sounds).
-
Sure. Their performance is certainly tied into that. It definitely does go further than personal numbers on the days May pitches. In Romero's case, not only does it deepen the pen but if Hall continues to perform w/o walking hitters then the two of them allow you to pick n choose a little more with Ashby which can be huge.
