Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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I mentioned Zamora a week or so ago. Apparently he has no extra-base pop, which wouldn't deter me as long as he put up #s even remotely similar to what he's doing AFA avg & OBP are concerned. But it looks like the FO has little to no confidence those numbers would translate. He makes contact. If he continues to reach base I personally wouldn't dismiss him but it seems unlikely. I think the Black-3B ship has long since left the harbor. And they're going slowly with Wilken, which I think is smart given his career path to this point.
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I was thinking more along the lines of him bringing at least a lottery ticket from someone later in the summer, provided he stayed on the same track as his last month or so. But his last few times out are putting a damper on that. In that event yeah, a DFA is certainly in the cards.
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Just my 2 cents re Levering-------of all the TV PBP guys we've had he's probably in the middle somewhere. What I'm finding entertaining about him these days is listening to his full-blown crusade to defend Yelichs' ABs. It's sometimes subtle, sometimes more blatant, but it's becoming a pretty consistent monologue. He's the Brewers' announcer, yeah, but there's such a thing as overdoing it. And Jeff, if you're out there..........no, the pitches that he's missing aren't THAT nasty.
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As for your first point, yeah. That needs to start happening. The trust has pretty much emerged with Peralta & it needs to expand to others. If Miz makes it up here this summer, whoo boy will there be complaining on BF when HE gets lifted because he'll probably be protected. Payamps was lousy his first 2-3 weeks, people clamored for the DFA, and he turned in 8 or 9 great outings. Now it seems to be going south again. When he's right he's a valuable asset. They really can't afford to jettison guys like that w/o giving them a chance to regain effectiveness and, therefore, value. If this is the start of another stretch like he had earlier, he'll probably go.
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If I could give you half a thumbs up, I would. 1st paragraph is golden. As for the second, LA, NY, CHI, PHA-----there are a lot of organizations that can afford to damn the service clock. We can't. A couple of the pitchers at N'Ville, I'll give you that. But pitching isn't the main problem. If there were people at AAA that could make a difference we wouldn't have signed Dalbeck & Rosario.
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A big part of the reason why we give up three runs or less might just be that we create favorable matchups by using multiple pitchers. Don't get me wrong; It frustrates me too when we constantly seem to be in 'overworked' mode in the BP. Somehow, someway we need to get beyond starters being pulled in the 5th & 6th innings. It would help if they had a margin for error (3-4 run lead) but that seldom happens, and if someone is available out of the pen then we're in "win today" mode. The other thing that can be exasperating is constantly using someone for only one inning. But today we saw why. Mears throws six pitches to get out of the 7th. I'd have run him back out there too. But being trained to warm up quickly, pitch, and sit doesn't seem to jibe with getting back up again. Some guys can do it but it looks like most of our 'winning BP' guys aren't in that mold. Or we don't want them to be because then you lose someone for 2-3 games. But IMO it all comes back to getting 6 or more out of your starter, a lot more often than what's happening now.
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When does Arnold start to receive some criticism
Jim French Stepstool replied to brewers888's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Sure, but as they advance to a higher level, the spread that they lead by shrinks. Way to sugarcoat.☺️ -
When does Arnold start to receive some criticism
Jim French Stepstool replied to brewers888's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
The best I could do was taking a ball to the face during pregame. Don't ask........... -
Six hits, three of them HRs. A throwback Doug Melvin-era win. I half expected Kameron Loe to come out for the 8th, followed by Axford. With all the high-velo guys around today, it's a lot of fun to see someone sit at 93-94, locate w/three pitches, & stay one step ahead of the batters. Great job by Henderson & Contreras. Caleb Durbin must lead all MLB 3B in swinging bunts hit in front of him w/2 strikes on the hitter. Geez..........
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When does Arnold start to receive some criticism
Jim French Stepstool replied to brewers888's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
As long as Borbon DOES do a great job in that regard, sure. I guess my larger point is that, if he is great at it, I don't know how successful we'd be at retaining him. Sedar, when he moved across the diamond, was in a position of having to make in-game decisions on the fly, moreso than any other staff member. IMO he was not very good at it. If not for that responsibility he was probably fine. I coached a lot of 1B. Believe me, there's an art to yelling "BACK!!!"😁 -
2025 Minor League Transaction Thread
Jim French Stepstool replied to Jim Goulart's topic in Brewers Minor League Talk
The first one is a no-brainer. Andersons' promotion is exciting and, at least to me, unexpected. -
it's interesting in that Philly has a need, & it's a need we could theoretically fill w/o decimating our pen as there are other options. I like the sound of some of the Phillies prospects brought up in the thread. But it would certainly be construed by many as punting if such a deal was made this early. I guess I'd start with Bohm & see where it goes from there.
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When does Arnold start to receive some criticism
Jim French Stepstool replied to brewers888's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Your last sentence raises what I think is a great point. Living in the world the Brewers live in financially, there are some areas you might not be able to throw money at the way some other organizations do. I've felt for awhile some of the major league support staff is done, comparatively, on the cheap. I think the game in Cleveland where the starter had to leave early illustrates that. They had to pivot to a new arm coming in & looked totally lost. It's how you wind up with Ed Sedar as your 3rd base coach. A delightful guy, but......... I had the same suspicion about the staffs on some of the affiliates, but some of the minor league guys here who live & breathe with the farm system would know better than I about that. -
I dunno, I don't think there's an OPS low enough to persuade them to put Black at 3B. If they stick him there during his minor league stint that might signal that their considering it but I'd be very surprised. He isn't in a great spot long term. At 1B they like Blake Burke, Luke Adams is getting comfy vs AA pitching & E Martinez is kinda intriguing. In the OF you have 2 LHH (one on the IL), switch hitter (IL) & a LH OF-DH with a lot of time left on his deal. He could shoehorn his way into playing time with some of the people that are out, but I'm actually surprised he wasn't dealt at the deadline last year or the off-season.
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After how he performed in short stints last year & the health history, I'd keep Ashby as far away from starting as I could (save for spots as an opener of course). But it looks like the organization may be thinking otherwise.
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I was watching at home. I know you don't always get a true indication of crowd noise & reactions that way, but the way things are going recently I was listening for boos by the 5th inning or so & didn't seem to hear any. And it was a large crowd, even if some were Twin fans. Have to admit that at this point, if I was there & the reactions were along the lines of "Oh well, lah de dah, who's turn is it to buy?", That would tick me off.
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If this continues, no doubt. But everyone is screaming SELL!!! SELL!!! & in order to do that, you have to also have a buyer---preferably several. I doubt this is the right time to max out the value of your assets. If it comes, it'll probably be a ways down the road.
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If Monasterio played SS regularly I think we'd see a difference and defensively, it wouldn't be a positive one. That said, there's nowhere else to go unless you recycle Dunn who's played quite a bit of SS recently. It doesn't sound like they're all that high on Freddy Zamora and rushing Pratt isn't a good idea. I think we'll see Mona in the lineup more often but not every day. Oh, and Capra will probably go something like 6 for 11 in his first few games for the Sox.
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Their command hasn't been good so far, but you have Ashby & Hall making their way back, plus Hudson trying to figure things out, plus Jay having success in AAA. I don't have a problem with Zastryzny per se, since it was a cash deal. Fortunately we didn't give up any talent for him. Even a lottery ticket would've been a head-scratcher to me.
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After Tuesdays' game I mentioned Donnie Ecker, who was fired as the hitting coach at Texas. But when you have an in-season move like that there's often some kind of connection between the new hiree & someone in the organization, and I don't know of any. Had they not broken out on Wednesday, I thought maybe we'd have had something happen during the off day.
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First off, I think dropping Chourio to the 6 hole is asinine. What's fueling his atrocious ABs right now isn't going to be fixed by him hitting ahead of Jake Bauers (yes I know he's swinging the bat well right now), or Durbin or whoever. If the discipline doesn't improve it won't matter WHO he hits in front of, but now you've got a 21-yr-old ticked off about being dropped down (as per Murphy) who is going to try his damndest to prove he's 'better than that', & I don't exactly see that mindset resulting in any better ABs any time soon. Bad idea. I believe the BABIP tonite was over .300. So there's that. Turang had a 3-hit game with any luck at all. He & Contreras swung it well. That's about it.
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I'll take that bet.
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I think they're a better team defensively w/Bauers in LF instead of Yelich. Who would've imagined anyone ever saying that?
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Unscientific, but maybe Bauers looking at more pitches.....even if some of them are strikes.....is part & parcel to the success he's having. Whatever his approach is between his ears, I wouldn't want to see him mess with it.
