Posted by Steve
Haven’t said much about other Brewers stuff, largely due to CC mania. Feels like cornucopia time.
- Sometimes I get the feeling that people don’t realize Rich Harden and Dan Haren are, in fact, not the same person. People mix these up as much as any two players I can remember. Normally this just happens with fans, but I couldn’t help but notice this blurb from TH’s article this morning: Chicago followed the Brewers’ acquisition of Sabathia by trading for Oakland ace Dan Haren but Yost said he gave no thought to that tit-for-tat. This means that Tom and at least one editor both missed that. Everyone has brain cramps, but man, that trade was made like two days ago.
- Speaking of the Harden trade, that’s a pretty big bummer. The news of the deal broke just a couple hours before Sabathia’s debut, and it put a bit of a damper on it for me. It’s definitely a risk for Chicago, because Harden makes Sheets look as durable as Cal Ripken, but it’s a risk well worth taking. The Cubs gave up some nice players, particularly Sean Gallagher, but it wasn’t a huge haul by any means. The key is that Harden, unlike Sabathia, has one year remaining on his contract after this season. This just shows how much Harden’s injury propensity hurt his trade value. If Harden stays healthy it’s a steal for the Cubs, but that if should probably be in like 100 pt font. Also, I’d rather see him go to the Cubs than the Cardinals, Phillies or Mets. I’m still targeting the wild card.
- My guess is Ben Sheets starts the All-Star Game, but it’s mainly because a lack of other options. Brandon Webb and Tim Lincecum will only be on one day of rest, so they’ll only pitch one inning, if at all. Edison Volquez should be the choice, but he starts on Saturday against the Brewers and will only be on two days’ rest. Plus I just don’t see Clint “Bootspur” Hurdle going with a rookie, because he’s not veteran-y enough. That leaves Dan Haren, Aaron Cook and Sheets. I don’t see Hurdle going with his pitcher, Cook, because his numbers are only good, not great like Sheets’ or Haren’s. Sheets and Haren have similar numbers (Haren’s are just slightly better), but I think it will be Sheets for a couple dumb reasons: 1) This is Haren’s first year in the NL, and I can definitely see Hurdle holding that against him. 2) Sheets has two more wins than Haren. Bootspur is that “old school” manager who has put Willy “.303 on-base percentage” Taveras in the leadoff spot a mind-boggling 63 times this season because he’s fast, so the odds seem pretty high that he also values wins from a pitcher.
- Moving to another All-Star Game topic, it looks like Corey Hart might win the last spot on the NL team. I personally haven’t voted yet because I can’t vote for Hart over Pat Burrell in good conscience. Burrell’s season is just destroying Hart’s—he has a 1.00 OPS (!!) compared to Hart’s .846. Absolutely embarrassing that Hurdle didn’t select Burrell.
- Guillermo Mota has more than worn out his welcome. Call up Luis Pena or Mark DiFelice and DFA this human pitching machine.
- One day after Glendon Freaking Rusch pwned the Brewers, another old friend will try to do the same. Jorge de la Rosa. I was enamored by him when the Brewers got him, but he just couldn’t get his control together. It was incredibly frustrating to watch. Hopefully he has the same type of outing today.
Finally, we fell behind on Bill’s Scouting Report of the Week with all the trade stuff, so here’s a shortened one. Yesterday’s report for Sheets:
Just Be Ben Priceless. “Ok, Ben. Don’t be CC Sabathia or Dave Burba or Charles Nagy or Jack McDowell. Be Ben Sheets. Got it?”
Curve This Time Referring to last time he faced the Rockies, when he didn’t have the curve. Well it’s in Milwaukee now, so why even bring this up? He’ll obviously be able to throw the curve.
Fastball Early Sheets mainly has two pitches. He throws the fastball the majority of the time. I don’t get this?
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Edit: I didn’t forget about Carlos Zambrano; I actually was thinking he wouldn’t pitch in the game because he recently came off the DL. Wouldn’t surprise me to see him start the ASG either.
