Jim French Stepstool

About a week ago I brought up the idea of Turang-Ortiz-Yelich at the top, that I don't expect it anytime soon but maybe later, or in 2025. Right now they just seem really happy with Contreras hitting ahead of Yelich.

You always have to be willing to deal from organizational depth. But right now I'd rather it not be a guy who projects to be a corner INF. That said there's Black, Wilkin, Adams so it's not like that cupboard would be bare. It's at least worth a mention b/c Boeve HAS been playing every day.

I have a good friend who is from Milwaukee & a longtime Brewer fan. He lives outside Chicago & works for one of the network affiliates there. Let's just say he's enjoying his job these days.

May have been you. Too lazy to scroll back😛. Yes, in a pinch I agree Black at one of those spots would be preferable to prying a Rowdy or a Vogelbach away from their potato chips.

As to the subject of this thread, It's a head-scratcher. More variables than you usually see when moving toward the trade deadline. Some random thoughts: Someone mentioned Black possibly becoming a versatile piece---2B, 3B, OF. This could solve a lot of issues, but IMO the chances of that are zero. He looked OK yesterday, but there isn't even sufficient evidence he can reasonably handle 1B. I think they're committed to Hoskins at 1B. Even if he heated up enough that someone would be interested there's no way they're finishing up the season w/two LHH 1B. And a team wanting him is contending & therefore not parting with a starter. I look at Frelick, Mitchell, Black & Perkins and think the team would LOVE for someone to have a particular interest in one of them, if it would help assemble a package for a starter w/more than rental status. As always (it seems) the key is Mitchell. His health issues probably hamstring his trade value, and if a trade leaves him w/a prominent role in the OF, can he stay on the field? I hate the idea of adding to the bullpen. I'd much rather rely on a Clarke, Herget, or Yoho, one of the current IL guys, or Williams coming back effectively then spending prospect capital on someone not all that better. And if an OF DOES get traded & you need to have someone move up in the pecking order to provide shuttle depth, get Isaac Collins on the 40-man. Switch-hitter, even splits, can play a little INF in a pinch. Might come in handy.

I saw it. It was horrendous. Someone said he was hitting poorly recently. He really hasn't been IMO. He's been finding base hits & is actually starting to barrel up some balls, something he wasn't doing earlier. Power? No. Able to play vs either hand pitcher? No. But a bit of a bum rap I think.

I've heard Mitchell has put on some added bulk. Good to see it hasn't affected his speed. I'll be honest, the thing that excited me most about tonights' N'ville box score was Mitchell coming to the plate six times w/o striking out. That (and health obviously) is the last piece to his puzzle--contact.

I see that so far this season King has hit 6 batters while only walking one. That's efficiency.😁

Down to the wire, but they kinda lost the game in the 1st. Bryce had one of his starts where his alarm was set 15 minutes later than everyone elses'. More telling than the HRs was missing on 4 straight to Arraez to open the game. Then it turns out Turang cost us big time on the momentary bobble. Rare for him. Then, I actually thought a 2 strike FB to fool Machado wasn't a bad idea, but you have to put it on his hands or a little off the plate. Unfortunately Wilson put it in the worst possible spot. After that, just a back N forth, frustrating, exhilarating, entertaining game. Didn't read the early pages of the IGT but I imagine the b****ing was curtailed somewhat by the two whipping boys coming up big in the ninth. Ortiz-----I don't remember the last time I saw a 3B throw a batter out from the OF grass. That kid is something.

Thanks for the info. I was aware of Rodriguez but never looked into him deeply enough. About 1 walk per 9-10 innings along with the length he's providing, at age 18, that's exciting.

I know Yoho is a relatively late bloomer as a pitcher, but my goodness, a $10,000 bonus---------when did we sign him, 1964?😄

Absolutely. I think you're using the word "chance" simply because the throw tonite went into CF. Think of how many pickoff attempts DON'T get thrown away. Now think of how many batters you see reach base w/two strikes. I'm sure the first number is much tinier than the second one. The runner was caught napping & was hung out to dry. With a runner in scoring position they'll "chance" a throw to 2nd in that instance every time, trust me. As would other teams.

Eleven pitches, then eighteen. Then a day off, and only five last night w/o warming up a long time since Payamps screwed up quickly. I thought he'd be called on tonight if needed. Not tomorrow though.

If you can get an out on the bases you take that every time whether ahead in the count, behind, whatever. That always beats needing to retire a hitter. And they had him dead at 2B with any kind of a decent throw.

U-rah-rah for the knuckle curve. Makes a HUGE difference when you can plant that in a hitters mind. I thought Peraltas' first 50 & last 50 pitches were a real interesting contrast. Typical Freddy of the last handful of starts followed by top-of-the-line Freddy. When he overcame the balk call & bad pickoff throw in the 6th to put up a zero, that arguably was the most important sequence of the game. Mayyyyyyybe Hoskins is starting to emerge. Couple of positive trips tonite. Beginning to wonder how many 2B-SS-3B glovemen there are out there, better than ours. Can't be many.

These highlights illustrate the biggest asset Frelick possesses, and that's the combination of athleticism & extreme, extreme toughness. The play he made in NY last year is another great example (not hard to imagine the guy playing hockey). The arm is subpar, yes. He provides little power, and it's hard to imagine him ever playing regularly vs LHP. But as much as his performance at the plate leaves people wanting, he still finds ways to pick up enough base hits that his numbers aren't terrible. Whether it's here or somewhere else, I think he'll have a career as a contributor. Just the type of kid I would be uncomfortable betting against.

Gotta forgive MLB Network for not having anything on O'Rae. He was from Canada & not projected to go to anyone in the northeast😉. Given the potential need in the rotation I think Woessner is a pretty good guess. O'Rae or even Brown could fill a brief utility role due to someones' IL stint but that would more likely be answered by someone of the 'AAAA' ilk already on the 40-man at that time. So I'd guess Woessner. I like Adams quite a bit. Maybe if he was a year further along...........

THAT makes sense. I thought it strange they'd add both O'Rae & Valerio to Biloxi. I absolutely love the type of game O'Rae brings to the table, but this'll be a very stern test for him. Never dreamt for a moment he'd be seeing AA this soon.

I actually thought it would be a 1-3 day stay on the roster, then see ya. Didn't expect him to be here this long. He certainly can't be used for the next couple days so this may be the swan song.

Just. Wow. I wonder what kind of history Hernandez has regarding working back-to-back days. Didn't look good, but he looked hittable yesterday too. Payamps really disappointed me. Regardless of a couple hard-hit balls there's zero excuse for walking Rengifo. Maybe Megill is losing a little steam. Maybe. But we're looking at 14 saves from someone who in his career had fourteen less than that in April. He's been a Godsend. But he can't forget about mixing in the breaking ball. Myers, 1 ER in his last 20.1 innings. Who saw that coming?

Chourio has been swinging the bat better, everyone can agree with that. But he played eight games in a row before sitting last night. I mean, he HAS been playing regularly. Let's see what Murphy does moving forward. You're right, it's tough to predict how this gets parsed out. Plus, I know he's been a whipping boy on here, and I think it's curious how he doesn't barrel up more balls, but Frelick is 9 for his last 30. Don't know where his ceiling lies as he's still figuring things out but as a bottom-third-of-the-order guy he hasn't been terrible.

A lot of people seem to be assuming Mitchell is definitely coming back to Milwaukee. I think there's a decent chance he does at some point, but I don't think it's imminent. And if he doesn't improve on the high K rate he ain't solving anything.

Plenty of guys come off the IL & return w/o a rehab stint. Plenty do the opposite. He felt playing a few games vs high-A pitching wasn't going to do anything to help him get ready. The End. I'd be perfectly fine with a team being able to order someone to go take some rehab swings if they felt it's for the best. But in these days of the tail wagging the dog, that might be counter-productive. At the end of the day, it's a long season & we just need this to play out. Had Rodriguez been just a little better yesterday, had a slow roller at 1B not been botched, had we not made two bad baserunning plays within the stretch of a minute or two, had Yelich not thrown away two favorable counts, we probably would've won. Hoskins hasn't been hitting but he had nothing to do with any of that. If he IS washed up, the day/time that proves it hasn't gotten here yet.

So he didn't say he was "too good to go to Appleton". Thanks. Dude, they're playing at a level that would leave a lot of teams 3-7 or 2-8 in the last ten. They're 6-4. Hoskins looks bad at the plate recently. If you don't think he can turn it around, go for it. You might be right. I tend to think baseball isn't a game where you make definitive judgements in the middle of June, especially when someone has missed 3 or 4 weeks or whatever it was. Had Mitchell not gotten hurt Perkins would be most likely a 5th OF. If Wiemer had done anything substantial in March, Perkins might be running down flies in Indianapolis, Gwinnett & Memphis. And if Black hasn't been a haunted house at 3 different positions, maybe Bauers isn't here. Or maybe he is, but Dunn isn't. Despite the frustrations, I'm enjoying seeing where they are after 72, considering the obstacles.

If you want to parse the game into four categories--pitching, defense, hitting & baserunning--this may be the only game of the season where we were this poor in all four. Rodriguez; I'm glad we have him. But both his starts were eerily similar. He's OK to good for 7 or 8 or 9 hitters then things fall apart. It's too bad they need him to be up here right now. It'll get better, eventually. Perkins has a bad day, which helps to put us at 42-30. We're 41-31 if not for his performance Sunday (not just his play to end the game but the one to close out the 8th too). He's an elite defender who is streaky at best w/the bat, usually closer to mediocre. With him in CF, that's our best team given our options. Unfortunately he has to play both ways & hit too; this isn't football. People need to understand that & deal with it. Since the better players should shoulder a little more of the burden I'll pick on Yelich. Yesterday he showed real smarts, trust & a "move the line" mentality in two late & very important ABs. Tonight he swings at a 3-0 pitch that he couldn't even pull. Pop fly to left. Then he swings 2-0 leading off an inning. Again, pop fly to left. I don't know if it was a lack of intensity or no respect for Plesac or what, but the game was in Anaheim & his brain was in Encino. With the RISP thing, it isn't easy to do this but I believe your best mindset is simply don't change your approach. Sanchez, just a bad AB. Got ahead then Ks on a breaking ball that splits the plate. Perkins & Turang (especially Turang), I'm confident they at least put the bat on the ball & possibly even walk if they're leading off the inning & see the same pitches. Both of them were so obsessed with "gotta put the ball in play" that any pitcher with a brain & some without will just keep throwing splitters ankle high. The team was great early on in these situations. Struggling at some point was inevitable. One little crumb: Peguero & Milner got off the deck a little & looked good.