Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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Wilkin getting hit in the face & having to spend a portion of the year trying to hit AA pitching while wearing a mask hurts in that regard. Not to mention Boeve starting out red hot, then going down (not that he'd be in the 2025 picture though). Don't know if there's a 3B out there that would take a one-year deal, which is probably what they'd look for if needed.
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True. I'm not a huge stat guy because with so many numbers out there, you can get them to say almost anything you want. But baseball is a marathon like no other sport, so I'll look at trends but still put a lot of weight on overall performance. Ax grinders can start-stop at certain dates to please themselves if they choose. And especially when the team looks bad for a stretch, I'll certainly take the overall numbers over the occupational hazard anyone on a message board has to endure---ignoring the marathon aspect in favor of "This guy should be fired", "That guy should be DFA'd", and my personal favorite, "DUH!!! when do da Packers start?"
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As in all other trade deadline years, I'll give my opinion as to whether they should've picked up this guy or that guy, as long as I know what it would've taken to acquire him. We can make educated guesses but we never really know. And, comparing a team giving up let's say their #5 & #17 prospects & comparing it to our #5 & 17 is really haphazard.
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Some very good stuff there. First of all, a lot of people get all caught up in the glitz of the last day before the deadline, with the cameras rolling & all the commentary. They made moves beforehand. Taking a flyer on Keuchel made sense & cost them nothing, so it not working out was a wash. We'll see how Civale does moving forward, but that made perfect sense because they dealt from the middle INF pool in the lower minors, which is extremely deep. They did their homework on Mears & IMO that was a good to potentially very good move. What I didn't like about the Montas trade was giving up Junis. Methinks the Reds felt pretty good about acquiring Weimer & we could've added someone different. And Wiemers' recent performance suggests he's a long way from being totally given up on. That said, with the ability of Hook & Henderson to squeeze more performance out of some pitchers than you'd think they could, I don't get some of the negativity re Montas. Let's let that play out. As to WHY they weren't more aggressive, I think you nailed it. On paper, '25 & '26 look very promising. I think the FO views '24 as an overachieving year where you certainly can get in, making a run is definitely possible, but not probable. Other than MAYBE looking a little harder at IKF I think they responded pretty well.
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Tues. 7/30 - Grab a Six Pack (of Games)
Jim French Stepstool replied to Joseph Zarr's topic in Brewers Minor League Talk
Is there something about the grass in left field? Tyler Black 6 PA, three hits, three walks. -
In a playoff series they would lean VERY heavily on their bullpen. If it's 100% healthy it could be effective, & it'll be nine or ten deep. With days off baked in they'll need Rae, Peralta, probably Civale & maybe Myers to keep them in games for 4-5 innings. The defense will have to be superb, as it usually is. They more than likely won't be scoring a lot of runs given that playoff teams usually have good pitching, not because we're incapable of scoring runs. The offense, more than anything, is inconsistent & maddingly poor at making corrections & adjustments. Facing a top flite staff exacerbates that. Your first paragraph is spot-on. Many forget what things looked like on March 30th.
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Really good post. Good hitting coaches can't make chicken salad out of, you know, but they can do things that might shorten up or minimize the inevitable cold stretches, especially with a young group. And with the access to video, some of the stuff does seem inexplicable. It's one thing to be pitched differently & adjust, but none of the changes you've noticed could possibly help. A Hoskins, a Yelich, maybe even a guy like Sanchez can understand what's going on & make corrections. Turang & (IMO more glaringly) Ortiz-----you see them struggle, and maybe it's unfair but I look into the dugout & see Connor Dawson & Ozzie Timmons in there with their charts & don't feel a lot of confidence.
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He's looked much better, plate-discipline-wise, all along but wasn't doing much with the balls he's gotten to hit. That's starting to change now. Still looks over-anxious to me w/men on base. It just sucks he's had so few ABs the last year-and-a-half. Probably a big part of why he looks about to turn a corner, then stalls a little bit.
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Ross wasn't good tonight, even in the first couple innings when he put up the zeros. He gets an awful lot of the plate w/o much effective movement. Elder, 6-something ERA & all, was really impressive. Our ABs were poor early, then got a little better but not better enough obviously. I know it's frustrating when a guy trots out bad numbers & we don't hit him, but anyone that didn't see he was locating & mixing really well tonight was watching the game on radio. What he was doing earlier to put up the bad numbers, I have no idea. But Ross, I have to wonder if he's still here when the ILs return.
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Yeah. Whatever damage they could do in the post-season has a 2018 feel to it, regarding bullpen usage. Be fortunate health-wise & there are a lot of people you can throw at an opponent. That's part of the reason I lamented losing Junis in the Montas deal.
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I think it is. If he returns to Milwaukee I don't see much need for him at 1B, they're probably scared stiff to put him anywhere else in the INF (and rightfully so), so any need for him to bring along a glove if/when he arrives would most likely be in the OF. @Brewcrew82 is correct though, not much of a need there. That's why If he gets PT up here while Yelich is out I suspect they just plug him into the DH role.
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Not to mention the guy he would be ostensibly replacing was largely DHing. I saw he had a little run in CF recently. His being in LF now certainly has some significance. And that 'little more time to breathe' might just clear his head at the dish, too.
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As in past deadlines, I don't lament not getting this-or-that guy unless I know what the cost would've been. At least I didn't read anything about 'moving the needle' this year. I'll admit I would be interested in knowing if we looked into IKF & what it would've taken. He would've been a nice fit.
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OMG I would've soiled myself if I knew that he was pulled. Sigh of relief.
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That goes hand-in-hand with adding tiers to the playoffs & creating a scenario where so many can claim to be 'in it'. It does add the intrigue of two contenders maybe making an 'old-school' deal that might benefit both, but yeah, it's a different animal.
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Kiner-Falefa has the versatility they like, if they want to upgrade from Monasterio. I like Rengifo but leery at what the cost would be.
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He is. I guess I wouldn't mind either hand but I didn't understand how a lot of people seemed to be married to the idea of them looking for a LHH. Does anyone out there need a 2nd catcher?
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Brewers acquire Frankie Montas
Jim French Stepstool replied to Jastro's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
I have two thoughts: the above, followed by why in the world would Cincinnati want Junis for two months? I guess I trust the organization if they feel they can get something done with Montas, but I'd much rather have kept Junis & tried to substitute a pitcher more of the ilk that we gave to Colorado. Looks like Cincy wanted the hometown boy. Not a Daniel Norris-for-Reese Olson thumbs down, but a thumbs down. -
I don't know anything about him other than what I've learned post-trade. But they sure seemed to be looking for either that or a changeup w/two strikes. So far so good. Nice sequencing & no fooling around the edges with (at the time) a 3-run lead.
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All season I've been beating the drum for keeping Chourio in a "less stress" spot in the order, even when he started heating up. No denying the talent, but at age 20 I thought it the wise thing to do. Ummmmm, yeah. Nevermind. The specialness of the kid is really coming through. Even on some of his outs, you can see the comfort level. Painfully slow, and still not a constant, but Hoskins appears to be getting there. Not only the power, but laying off & fouling off breaking pitches he had no chance on awhile ago. A really magnificent idea on the bunt right after the triple in the seventh. But a really lousy bunt. Would like to know if the idea was Turangs' or the dugouts'. Maybe not pitch to Ozuna the next two days.
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I certainly wouldn't have minded Paredes. But say what you will about Morel, if Tampa wanted a ML-ready 3B with some HR pop back in the deal we had nothing to offer. I'd like Wade but have no idea what he'd cost.
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Trevor Megill to 15 Day IL with Lower Back Issue
Jim French Stepstool replied to wiguy94's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
My theory is that we just put these guys on the IL to satisfy our front office fetish to pick up bullpen arms every deadline. Seriously, with Megill out my immediate concern right now is Williams. He seemed to have little idea where the changeup was going yesterday, and was visibly upset by it walking off the field. The last thing we need is a rough outing or two, followed by a "It's still spring training for Devin" refrain. -
I'm good with him getting some ABs, especially to spell Contreras for what's to come. But underneath the HRs & impressive early production there's a LOT of strikeouts which underlines that he probably isn't some kind of 6-or-8-week answer. By this time tomorrow I'll guess we'll be minus a catcher.
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I kinda felt the same way about him as a player. He was a hard worker & showed great toughness in light of the injuries he sustained, but overall left me wanting a bit. Maybe due to the high draft status. As managerial material, I panned his appointment at first but he's grown on me somewhat. Not many opportunities to hear what he has to say but what I have heard I've liked. And they say Murphy was adamant about him in that role so there's that. If he's a leader he'd certainly be a quiet one, in the mold of a Yount or a Cooper. At this point, if something happened to Murphy & he was thrust into the first chair it might be a bit concerning.
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True, & I'd be OK with it. I just wonder if their focus has turned away from that just a bit in light of adding a pen arm & Yelich being out. But the last 24 hours before the deadline is an eternity. You certainly can't rule anything out.
