Trowekamp

Well Manny only went 1 2/3 so he must already be in the bullpen.

I still assert he needs some time in the bullpen to get right and let McClung start for a couple of months. His small sample size is getting larger.

Does anyone else feel like we are about a half a season from an explosion of prospects.. between the expected promotions from Brevard to Huntsville and the return to health of Rogers and Braddock and the influx of young pitchers from last year's draft and power arms from this years I am starting to get a tingle like when Prince, Hart, Weeks, Hardy, and Braun where going through the system but on the pitching side..

Do you think they will move Braddock up as well? They can still limit his innings as needed in AA but he at least faces better competition... I don't see Rogers moving yet as he still needs to improve on his walks a little to justify the move. Also does someone get bumped up to AAA from Huntsville or get moved down?

Huh.. 1-2 changeup and result is a weak grounder.. who would have thought that.. maybe to the previous 5 hitters they could have thrown it once in that situation?

Mark DiFelice please return quickly..

Why not throw the change up there in stead of a curve.. after he just crushed your fastball foul why not go with your best pitch..

There goes Villy's no hit streak..

The Reds have a better record than the Cubs though. But, I still hate the Cubs. My thoughts exactly..

Yes grading on a Parra curve it was a B start.. on a Gallardo curve it was a D? I just think it is two different approaches on how to get Manny where we need him and his talent should be.. I prefer him coming out of the pen for awhile and others prefer he keeps starting. I will agree that I don't think there is any reason to send him to AAA as he has already proven he can get hitters out there.. he just needs to figure it out at this level.

10 baserunners and 2 HR's in 5 and 2/3 innings and and 5 er's.. Maybe in Coors field that is fine.. But yes compared to his last start this was a major improvement but considering that was the worse start by any starter this year it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. My personal rule. Anytime your ERA is over 2 runs higher than Suppan you probably shouldn't be starting.

I agree but running him out there every 5 days to give up a bunch of runs and strain our bullpen to me isn't the best choice. I prefer the MN method with Liriano and Santana and let him gain confidence in the bullpen and then put him in the rotation at the end of the year or next year if he shows he can learn to be aggressive. Much more faith in McClung right now.

Ball definitely seems to be traveling today that Gerut ball just kept carrying..

If this is what now passes for a solid start then that probably tells us all we need to know on whether Parra should remain in the starting rotation.

I agree.. if Lee left we would probably have 30 -35 million to play with and still have Gallardo as your ace.. having Gallardo and Lee for this year and next would be awesome but I don't think Escobar and Parra would get it done.. Maybe both of them for just Lee would get Cleveland to bite. Maybe... 2012 the kids in A/A+ should be ready so you would just have to Philadelphia Philly it and try to out homer people 4 out of 5 games 2011

No but he had the guts to run in front of Fielder on a popup.. bet he wouldn't have done that if it was a cheeseburger.. and yes I know that is a poor joke and tried to stop myself twice from typing it but couldn't.

The concern for me is that if the season goes into October that is so much stress for his arm at his age. Verducci brings up numerous examples of how you pay for it the next year. With a 4 run lead I may have let Chris Smith pitch an inning tonight.

Yes.. I was going to work out and watch the last hour but now I am going to eat ice cream! Thanks Yo!

But may need to work the next couple. Also while I don't agree with only using him in save situations he is 41 so why use any mileage if you can avoid it. Remember how Torres wore down last year?

To be honest I think it is just the democratic way that when someone identifies something they feel is wrong or dumb they feel a need to change it or keep pushing until it is changed. You may disagree with what they feel is wrong or how they address it but I am glad they are passionate about it or there really wouldn't be a need for BF.net. Of course if this turned into nsbb I wouldn't like that either I think for the most part there is little for anyone to complain about on the type of posters compared to other blogs / boards around the net. Just got to jsonline a couple of times and you will realized who has a disease.

True but if you pull the outliers (best and worst game) he is still disappointing to me. The lack of strikes as Ennder mentioned is concerning. I just think a couple of months in the bullpen to build confidence in going after hitters and being more agressive could be good for him and keep him fresh for the second half and give McClung a chance to see if he can leverage what he has learned in the pen. If this team gets into the playoffs it needs pitchers who can miss bats (Gallardo, McLung, and Parra) more than pitchers who don't (Bush, Suppan, and Looper)

I say it is worth sending Hall to the minors in the event some dumb team claims him or he is dumb enough to refuse. Either way the Brewers save $10 million on salary between this year and next. I would rather have Heether up at this point. For those that say he is hitting .300 versus lefties the problem is the other team doesn't guarantee the will keep the left in all game. Also people say that but how much was the first month versus that last. And yes one month is a small sample size a small sample size on recent results trumps a small sample size on historical results in my opinion.

The problem with saying Bill Hall hits lefties is that fact that he gets lots of at bats against righties when the lefty leaves the game. If Macha had a strict you will never bat against righties rule for him (like a you will never bat after the 7th Kendall if we are behind or tied) then I would feel better about it.

I will back track a little here and say compared to my expectations, my hopes were he would be slightly above .500 with a 4.25 - 4.50 ERA and if you take the last 4 months he is nowhere near that though I am sure someone will make a small sample size argument though I would like to know at one point a small sample size becomes a big sample size : ) . And I believe McLung Starting and Parra in the pen is a better situation for them. For those (not you rluz) who want to keep start Hall how can we continue to give away 3 at bats (Hall, Kendall, P) each time through the lineup. If you are going to start Hall then play Rivera. On Hardy yes he has been better that last month but I was saying when you look at his entire season he has been disappointing so far but I expect him to do better.

I was looking through the stats yesterday and couldn't believe this team is 9 games over .500 as we approach the end of the first 3rd of the season. I went through the lineup and there are only 2 positions that are exceeding expectations CF (Cameron) and 2B (Weeks / Counsell / McGehee), 2 that are around what you would expect at 1B and LF with Braun and Fielder and the rest below expectations at 3B (Hall), SS (Hardy), RF (Hart), and C (Kendall) though I know it is tough for Hall and Kendall to be below expectations, I expected at least a .230 batting average. Then bench of (Duffy, Nelson, and McGehee before he started) contributed nothing and Rivera barely plays. When you look at the rotation Gallardo has been a pleasant suprise while Parra once again disappoints and Bush, Suppan, and Looper are what they are.. the bullpen has been absolutely fantastic when you factor out Julio's and Swindle's throwaway innnings. So I started wondering what the Crew would have to do to keep up the pace the last 2/3 of the season. I think it is safe to assume Hardy and Hall will heat up but I see a regression to a career mean for Counsell and Cameron. In addition, I think it is safe to say outside of Villy everyone else in the bullpen will end up with a higher ERA than they have now so to me that leave 3 areas where they need to focus: 3B, C, and SP. At 3B, I think it is time to send Hall to the minors to let him regain some confidence and I would platoon Gamel and Heether indefinitely. I don't think they would have much trouble replacing Hall's production and likely easily exceeding it. If someone claims Hall oh well I believe that gets them off the hook for next year's salary and I don't see him refusing the assignment and giving up $10 million in salary. At catcher I think it is time to let Rivera catch more. I don't get the argument where Kendall's defense is making up for his pitcher level bat. I don't see Suppan, Parra, and Looper benefiting and he has regressed in throwing out runners. I would at least have Rivera starting to catch once more per rotation if not splitting them evenly. Finally, I would send Parra to the bullpen and let McClung start. Sending Parra to the minors is useless as he already knows he can get AAA hitters out and needs to learn to be agressive with major leaguers. Maybe a stint in the bullpen will give him that knowledge. Also if gives you another left-hander in the pen. I think Big Red has earned a shot at starting and he would at least give you Looper / Bush numbers which would be an major improvement over Parra at this point. Other than that I think the rest of the roster is in pretty good shape now that they brought in Catalanno and Gerut and evicted Julio. What do you think?