Monthly Archives: April 2008

This actually happened?

Posted on April 29, 2008 by | 2 Comments

Posted by Steve

Someone at brewerfan came across this little nugget fromYahoo Sports. I guess I’m a bit late on this, but it is still absolutely worth mentioning.

3B Bill Hall was out of the starting lineup Sunday despite collecting five hits in the previous two games. Manager Ned Yost wanted to give either Hall or 2B Rickie Weeks the day off to let INF Craig Counsell see some action. Yost put the names of Hall and Weeks in a baseball cap and had Hall pick to see who would be out of the lineup. Hall picked his own name, and thus had to sit.

This actually happened? I mean, Yahoo is reporting this, so that means it’s real, right? If so, this is right up there with the mosquito that made Ned give Gabe Gross the steal sign.

Does Ned realize Weeks and Hall are starting over Counsell for a reason? If neither Weeks or Hall need/want/deserve a day off, why would he do this? And for the love of Dusty, couldn’t he come up with a better way to decide who to sit? You know, like, a baseball way? We just drew names from a hat to choose the draft order for our fantasy football league, and even that seemed a bit archaic.

Can you imagine being Hall or Weeks when Ned approached them with this? I’d love to know what they said to each other afterwards.

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Posted in Ned Yost... Sha-wuuhhh??

Looks like someone has a case of the Monday Cornucopias

Posted on April 28, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Posted by Steve

Cornucopia time.

  • Worst weekly segment ever? I was out of town over the weekend and only heard the weekend games on the radio. With two day games during the week, I only caught one or two broadcasts on FSN for the entire week. This means that one week after the inaugural Piggly Wiggly Scouting Report of the Week by Bill, there will not be one today. I’ll either post one later this week or just come back with one for next week.
  • I just posted on Friday that the Brewers’ average with runners in scoring position would not stay that high for long, and boy, did it crash hard over the weekend.  One for 26 against the Marlins in three games is brutal.
  • Dave Bush being sent down was surprising and a little unsettling to me. Apparently the team decided they didn’t want to move him to the bullpen and preferred to keep him starting. That’s fine, but they demoted the wrong starter. Manny Parra has not lasted longer than 5 1/3 innings in any start this season. The more sensible decision would be to move Parra to the bullpen and DFA/trade Seth McClung or Derrick Turnbow. Parra could give the Brewers a true long reliever and could also limit his innings so he’s not cashed by September. The fact that McClung and Turnbow hold roster spots over Dave Bush is puzzling at best.
  • Speaking of Turnbow, I’ve finally run out of patience for him. When he has control he’s very good, but he so rarely has control anymore that he does more harm than good. He walked over six guys per nine innings last season, and is nowhere near the plate once again this year—he only has had one good outing. It’s probably too late to get anything of value for him, but still, if I could find someone willing to take his salary, I’d do it and move on.
  • Rickie Weeks has been pretty unlucky so far this season. His numbers are pretty poor right now, yet there is enough reason for encouragement. He is last among NL second basemen in batting average, yet fifth in OBP. This is because he is number one in walks/plate appearance. Yost says he isn’t concerned by Weeks’ poor numbers, which is encouraging. Ned said he’s been hitting the ball hard but just an inordinate amount of balls are right at people, and Weeks’ low BABIP of .214 definitely backs that up. It indicates his batting average, OBP and slugging will start rising soon, and he’ll once again be an elite offensive second baseman.
  • Mike Cameron returns tomorrow, and not a day too soon. Here’s hoping a good hitter batting second has some sort of trickle-down effect on the rest of the offense. Weeks should see better pitching with a non-scrub batting behind him, and Braun and Fielder should get more PAs with guys on base. Plus I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by the defense in center. Nobody has really looked awful, but nobody has really made an exceptional play. I’m really looking forward to watching Cameron play center for the Brewers.
  • Ben Sheets is scheduled to start in Chicago tomorrow. I certainly hope the Brewers are sure he’s 100%, because otherwise I’d rather he not pitch yet. It’s going to be pretty cold in Chicago tomorrow; I hate to say it, but I’ll be holding my breath watching Sheets pitch. If things go well, this will be pretty much the first time the Brewers have had Sheets and Yo in the rotation together, and it makes things a LOT better.

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Posted in Cornucopia of thoughts

They’re winning because of defense?

Posted on April 25, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Posted by Steve

It hasn’t been a very aesthetically pleasing start to the Brewers season. Their offense is stuck in a rut, their bullpen has been hit-or-miss and the back end of the rotation has been mediocre.

Among national league teams, the Brewers rank 12th in batting average (.248), 11th in OBP (.314), 9th in slugging (.399) and 12th in OPS (.713). The pitching stats aren’t much prettier: Ninth in ERA (4.07—granted, the fact that a 4.07 team ERA ranks ninth in the league shows that offense all around the league is down the first few weeks), 10th in WHIP (1.40) and 8th in OPS against (.730). Like I said: ugly. Somehow, though, the Brewers still sit at 13-9. You can’t really blame luck a whole lot either, because they are outscoring opponents 105-93.

There are really two reasons for the winning record so far. Despite struggling in the main offensive categories, the Brewers are tied for seventh in runs scored. This is because of their .303 average (16 points ahead of the second place team) with runners in scoring position, a number that is unlikely to remain so high throughout the season.

It may seem surprising, but the other reason is their defense. Error counts are not a particularly good way at all of measuring defense, but it’s definitely not bad that the Brewers have the third fewest in the NL (10). Without question, the Brewers are making fewer mistakes and getting to many more balls than they did last season.

Not surprisingly, the biggest reason for this has been substituting Bill Hall for Ryan Braun at third base. I figured Hall would be able to be average defensively, but he’s looked very good so far. He is easily the Brewers’ best infielder right now.

Side note: As much as I love his offensive game, Rickie Weeks is still very bad defensively. Sure, he’s only got one error, but he rarely makes a difficult play. Anything that’s slightly tougher than routine tends to get by him, and he continues to spike his throws to first on a regular basis. That ‘you can’t assume a double play’ rule has saved Rickie from being the league leader in errors for second basemen. The next time I hear a Brewers announcer say something like “Rickie has just gotten better defensively each year, and is playing solid defense!” I’m going to verbally correct him as if he was present.

Anyway, the difference between Braun and Hall is already amazingly apparent. Last year when the Brewers got out to their hot start, it was because of their offense. Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy were first and second in the NL in home runs, and the pitching overall was also a bit better. If the Brewers got off to a poor offensive start like this last year, they’d have been well under .500.

The most encouraging part is that offense is the team’s strength; it’s going to improve, and probably sooner rather than later. And while the hitting with runners in scoring position won’t stay so high, there is reason to believe the defensive performance will. Mike Cameron’s return this week will only improve it, actually. It’s why I’m confident this team will see a nice improvement over last year’s win total.

Now, if those frickin’ Cubs would only slow down…

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Posted in Milwaukee Brewers 2008

This trade is a head-scratcher

Posted on April 23, 2008 by | 4 Comments

Posted by Steve

Immediately after the game on Tuesday, the Brewers traded Gabe Gross for minor league pitcher Josh Butler. I didn’t know much about Butler, so I probably can’t comment on whether the Brewers’ got fair value for Gross, but they probably did. After skimming over some numbers, Butler seems to be a big guy with a nice sinker who gets ground balls. He’s 23.

As for losing Gross, well, it frustrates me quite a bit. The Brewers traded a good fourth outfielder for a minor league pitcher and downgraded their MLB squad in a year where they are trying to make the playoffs. This is not likely to make a big difference if nobody gets hurt, but the Brewers could be in a lot of trouble if one of Braun, Cameron or Hart goes down for a significant amount of time. Gross offensively brings things the Brewers need more of: patience, power off the bench and left-handedness. Tony Gwynn Jr., his replacement, only brings upgrades over Gross in defense and speed (rather than, like, hitting), and if he needs to play full time the Brewers’ offense will take a hit–see here.

Melvin admitted that acquiring Butler helps replenish the system of minor league pitchers after trading for Scott Linebrink last year, but isn’t that what their compensation picks for Linebrink and Cordero are for? Why give up a solid bench player when you’re trying to contend?

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Posted in Milwaukee Brewers 2008, Transactions

4/22 Game-winner

Posted on April 22, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Posted by Steve

Right now, he’s clearly between sets of skull-crushers and deep in thought.  He is an artist; he is a cartographer; he is a mystery.  He is Kapler.

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Posted in Beefcake Kapler

Introducing a new segment

Posted on April 21, 2008 by | 1 Comment

Posted by Steve

We will be starting something new at danandsteve.com/Brewers! Brewers! Keep Turnin’ Up the Heat!/seldom-used-yet-still-functioning stevealtstadt.wordpress.com (We really should do something about the “name” of this blog).

Introducing the first installment of “Bill’s Scouting Report of the Week.” The plan is to get one up every Monday. We’ll look back at the week’s broadcasts and pick our favorite “scouting report” from FSN Brewer analyst Bill Schroeder.

Since this is the inaugural BSROTW (Bill’s Scouting Report of the Week), allow me to give a background and list a few disclaimers. Bill’s Scouting Report is given at the beginning of each game for each starting pitcher. FSN shows three bullet points, and Bill expands on them. The points can be broken down into three categories: Legit, Wrong and Bizarre.

Sometimes they are useful bits information about the pitcher—He works in the low 90s, has a hard biting slider, lives on the outside corner, etc. These are legit.

Often times though, the points he make have nothing to do with the pitcher’s arsenal or tendencies—for example, before Saturday’s game, Bill said (paraphrasing), “The Brewers are 3-0 on days Suppan starts this season, so when he pitches, they win.” These points are wrong. You might recall Suppan’s outing in New York where the Mets crushed everything Suppan threw, yet the Brewers managed to come back and win.

Then we have the third category, which is my personal favorite. This category features wacky points that are barely even understandable. Until Bill explains the point, it is impossible to even determine its intended meaning. These points are bizarre.

Now for the disclaimers. I am fully aware that this is likely not totally Bill Schroeder’s doing. I imagine before the game he comes up with some things to say, and someone on the FSN crew converts them into three points to put on the screen. On the other hand, the points from the wrong category often indicate that Schroeder does not always do a very thorough job of preparing, so he certainly is largely responsible. Second disclaimer: A big reason these are so funny is because they are called scouting reports. In other words, the points would be much less funny if they had a more accurate name, such as “Bill’s Notes.” Finally, the third disclaimer: I realize there are several analysts throughout the big leagues who are much worse than Bill.

————————-

Now that I’ve got that noise out of the way, I give you last week’s Bill’s Scouting Report of the Week. The winner is Manny Parra on Thursday’s start against the Cardinals. A general word of advice to make these as humorous as possible: Read the points first without any explanation, then picture Jim Skaalen, the Brewers’ hitting coach, using them in place of an actual scouting report while sitting down with the hitters in a pre-game meeting.

Establish curve

Goose egg in first

Dana Demuth

Wow. Alright, let’s break it down one by one.

“Establish curve.” That’s not so bad, as Bill explains that being able to locate the curveball is a big key for Manny. However, this is not part of a scouting report. It’s more of a “key to the game.”

“Goose egg in first.” Now we’re getting crazy. It’s contradictory, since these scouting reports are geared towards a more casual fan, yet I imagine there are some casual fans who aren’t even familiar with the term ‘goose egg.’ So that has to look pretty funny to those people. Secondly, how is this a report on Parra? So far, this is just a list of things Parra needs to do and not a scouting report. Bill’s saying that it is crucial for Parra to not allow runs in the first inning. This is important for all pitchers and is in no way unique to Manny Parra.

“Dana Demuth.” My early favorite for “Point of the Year.” If there was no explanation provided, it would be mind-boggling. First of all, many fans won’t know who Dana Demuth is. Turns out, Demuth is an umpire who was behind the plate for this game and is known for having a pretty small strike zone. So, somehow, this goes into Bill’s scouting report for Manny Parra. This was also one of his points for his scouting report on the opposing pitcher, Kyle Lohse. This one definitely falls into the bizarre category.

So, there you have it. Check back every Monday for the rest of the season. There are sure to be some dandies.

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Posted in Bill's Scouting Report of the Week

Now that Prince has hit a HR, can we stop wondering if his vegan diet has drained him of his 50 HR power? Please?

Posted on April 18, 2008 by | 1 Comment

Posted by Dan

Let the record show I was not one of the people questioning Prince when he started the season with 53 AB without homering. Last year, he had 3 streaks of 50 AB’s without a HR and he ended up with 50. So we can finally put that to bed. But on to two things that I actually am a little concerned about. First, is the Brewers inability to hit RHP, and second is Yost’s inability to understand a platoon.

First off: The Brewers are OPSing .617 so far this season vs RHP. I understand it’s early and that the offense is struggling. But going forward, I see the teams lack of a left handed bat outside of Fielder, causing them to fall into more dry spells than a team with this offense (on paper) should. If you look at how the Brewers faced against RHP last year, you certainly are left underwhelmed: Hall .713; Hardy .729; Weeks .787. Hart did OPS .824 vs RHP and Braun posted an .845 OPS (compared to a 1.400 OPS vs lefties!) To be clear, I’m not panicking, just noting that the Brewer lineup is filled with righties who do not hit right handed pitching very well. If you go back to last year, the Brewers did finish 12th in OPS against RHP. But you take away 355 AB’s with an .807 OPS against righties by Geoff Jenkins and that number and rank is going to drop. I think it is something worth watching.

Secondly: Earlier this week Yost was going to “ride the hot hand” by starting Gabe Kapler over Gabe Gross against Braden Looper. I understand Gross has been struggling and Kapler has been hot(just look at the pictures below!), but I just don’t like this. Yost was bailed out when Kapler ran into the wall before the game (???) and injured his shoulder. Kapler owns a career .725 OPS vs righties and should not hit against them. Again, I’m not going to roast Yost for this since it’s not like the left handed half of the platoon has been tearing it up, but he did this with Jenkins last year. It started as a Mench/Jenkins platoon. Predictably, Jenkins started off mashing the righties to the tune of a .944 April OPS. (I cant find splits to back this next claim up, I’m not going to lie, BUT…) I seem to remember Yost doing exactly what he’s doing this year. He started “riding the hot hand” and playing Jenkins more often against lefties and his OPS declined throughout the rest of the season. (By month: .944 .852 .735 .752 .786 .657)

It’s early and these are hardly major problems, but I think they are two things to keep an eye on. Ultimately, the Brewers are 9-6 and not playing up to their offensive potential and are still without Mike Cameron for another two weeks.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Cornucopia of Thoughts, 4/17

Posted on April 17, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Posted by Steve

Haven’t posted in a few days, so there are a few things worth covering. Hence, the cornucopia of thoughts.

  • Not going to lie; I am relieved that Gabe Kapler hasn’t played much the last couple days. I needed to get in at least one non-Beefcake Gabe post before posting another photo. Just be glad there are no photos of a scantily-clad Prince Fielder readily available on the internet, because he’d be up there after today’s game.
  • The Brewers have a very interesting decision to make with the return of Yo Gallardo on Sunday. As many as five pitchers have made their case to be replaced, and by “make their case” I mean pitched poorly. They can either replace a reliever and send one of the current starters to the bullpen, or send a current starter to AAA. The only two starters who are safe are Ben Sheets and Jeff Suppan. Until a few days ago it looked like Dave Bush might be the odd man out, but then Carlos Villanueva and Manny Parra each had poor outings. I think the fact that Bush would need to clear waivers will keep him on the big league club, but Parra or Villanueva might see the minors for awhile. Villanueva has not had a good outing yet this year, and he’s getting pulled from the game far too early. It’s only three starts, but I have a feeling either Parra or Villanueva will be out of the rotation for a bit. Seth McClung could also be demoted, but he was probably the MVP of today’s game with three scoreless innings, so who knows how big a part that will play. McClung would also need to clear waivers.
  • Hernan Irabarren had a nice stint in the big leagues for a few games in limited playing time. I don’t see him starting anywhere down the line, but he should eventually be a nice bench player.
  • It is pretty nice to be sitting at 9-6 considering the offense hasn’t done much of anything recently. I’m not worried about the offense much, as it’s still the strong point of the team. I don’t care much for the approach of guys like Braun, Hart and Hardy so far, but again, it’s early.
  • I’m off to La Crosse for the weekend to hang out with some friends from college (man, that makes me feel old. I have “friends from college”). Can’t wait to grill out and watch/listen to the game on Saturday at the old stomping grounds.
  • The guys at Right Field Bleachers are running a “Welcome Back Geoff Jenkins” campaign for his return next week, and they asked us to help spread the word. They’re encouraging people to go to the game on Wednesday, and if you want they have some downloadable signs to print off. Personally, I’m not one to bring signs to a game, but I’ll be there. Jenkins was one of the only bright spots to those terrible teams in the early 2000s. He had some really good years, he always played hard and frequently played through injuries. I’ll always remember him limping through September of ’05 with an injured back when the team was simply playing for a .500 season. Some former Brewers have been bafflingly booed upon their return to Miller Park, and I’d be disappointed and embarrassed if they booed Jenkins. So, at the very least, don’t boo him next week.

Image taken from JSOnline

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Posted in Cornucopia of thoughts

I may have rushed into this

Posted on April 13, 2008 by | 1 Comment

Posted by Steve

I swear, I’m not happy about all the Kapler photos.  It appears I may have not thought things all the way through when I decided to do it.  I figured by the end of the season there would be a handful of them on the site, and it might be a little humorous.  I now have legitimate concerns about what people will think of this site–that is, if their browsing filters even allow them to access the site anymore.  But of course, I’m not going to stop posting them, because why would I mess with the Kapler mojo?

Another homer and two doubles today.  He’s just on fire.

I’m sorry.

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Posted in Beefcake Kapler

Sheets vs. Santana

Posted on April 12, 2008 by | 3 Comments

Posted by Steve

Well, this one didn’t really play out the way you might have guessed. Early on it looked like Sheets was going to be in for a rough day. His velocity seemed way down, and he got roughed up a bit early. Then I realized that Santana’s fastball was also regularly at 87-88, which led me to assume that FSN’s gun was slow.

After a miserable few days, the Brewers offense did a pretty nice job against Santana. They made him throw a good amount of pitches to get them out, and were able to take advantage of his mistakes with the long ball. Then once Sheets settled in, he kept the Mets off balance for most of the day.

All in all, a pretty good way to bounce back from a Nelson Figueroa egg-laying.

Huge homer for Kapler today. I’d prefer not to fill this site with photos of a nearly naked dude, but right now he’s just not leaving me any choice.

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Posted in Beefcake Kapler, Milwaukee Brewers 2008