Thursday's Frosty Mug
by Kyle Lobner on Oct 1, 2009 9:33 AM CDT
in Milwaukee Brewers News
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PrintManny Parra will make his final 2009 start in a few hours before "trying to forget" the 2009 season and moving on. If the impending end of the baseball season and a Manny Parra start weren't enough to depress you today, the former Hackers passed along this note: Three of the worst five starters in Brewer history (by ERA) are in the rotation right now, and project to be again next season.
One of the three, though, is done for 2009: The Brewers have changed plans regarding Dave Bush, who is no longer expected to start on Saturday. With Bush out, Yovani Gallardo shut down, Josh Butler sent home and Mike Burns likely done for the season, Carlos Villanueva could be called upon to start a game this weekend.
Even if the Brewers are short a pitcher or two this weekend, don't expect to see Seth McClung, who has pitched just one inning (ten days ago) since returning from the DL. McClung says he can see the writing on the wall and wonders if he's being set up to fail.
We probably also won't be seeing Corey Hart, who's likely done for the year after suffering compression fractures in the fingers on his right hand while sliding in headfirst on a pickoff move Tuesday (FanShot). If Hart's season is over it'll be another forgettable one, but it's worth noting that he raised his OBP by 35 points this season, out of the "embarrassing" zone and into "could improve." Of course, his power numbers also fell and his OPS is actually down from last season.
Prince Fielder's 44th home run last night was his 100th run of the season, making him the first Brewer ever to reach 100 runs, 100 RBI and 100 walks in a season. The feat has been accomplished 179 times in baseball history, but Fielder and Albert Pujols will likely be the only ones to do it this season.
While all of the playoff races are nearly over and many postseason awards have already been locked up, the NL Rookie of the Year race remains wide open. Over at The Hardball Times, Jeff Sackmann handicaps the field of candidates, and ranks Casey McGehee third.
At least this is the last morning of 2009 where I'll wake up and have to write about another Jeff Suppan start. Suppan was Suppan again last night, but because he hit a batter, Plunk Everyone has an incredible note on him:
Seth Smith got hit by a Jeff Suppan pitch, making Smith the only left fielder batting left handed to score a run after reaching base on a plunk thrown by a right handed pitcher in the month of September this year.Without the internet, we never would have known.
Are you ready to start looking ahead to the hot stove season? Charlie Marlow has a look at the Brewers' financial commitments for 2010, and some expected arbitration outcomes.
MLB FanHouse dropped the Brewers one spot to 19th in their power rankings.
Around baseball:
Indians: Announced that manager Eric Wedge and his coaching staff will not be retained for 2010.
Jorge Says No! continues to look at upcoming free agents and their likely salaries, and projects Randy Wolf to get three years, $31.5 million this offseason. He also downgraded his projection for Doug Davis to three years, $21 million.
Before the season, we talked about Detroit, Cleveland and a handful of other teams that could struggle economically this season, but the biggest decline may actually be happening in Toronto, where the Jays cut "several dozen jobs" from the business side of their front office following their final home game Sunday. The team also cut 33 jobs in December. There are several franchises in baseball that don't have a lot going for them, but the Blue Jays might have one of the bleaker futures.
In the weeks following the end of the regular season, we'll probably spend a fair amount of time discussing prospects before eventually re-evaluating our Community Prospect Rankings. When we do, I'm guessing this will come up: Baseball America has compiled the average stats for every minor league, to show which leagues are hitter and pitcher-friendly. The PCL was pretty hitter-friendly this season, while the FSL and Midwest Leagues favored pitchers and the Southern League was close to neutral.
Looking for a history lesson today? Wezen-ball has a look back at the expansion teams of 1969, the process that led to their creation and their successes and failures. This post also has an interesting look at how the NL franchises ended up in San Diego and Montreal.
If you have MLB.tv and you're looking for something else to watch this weekend, here's something: Former Brewer knuckleballer Steve Sparks will be filling in on FS Houston broadcasts this weekend.
That's all I have for you today, unless you need tips on smelling nice.
Drink up.
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Hmm...
Seems like Seth isn’t part of our long term plans eh? I’d rather see The Clung out there then Weathers. Clung seems to have more upside then Weathers, plus if he fails it’s easier to say McClung’d then Weathers’d
Packing up for our trip to St Louis (Bought the tickets before the start of the season). Anyone have any advice on what to do?… besides hookers.
I was going to say hookers
but I will tell you what not to do. DO NOT go to the Arch. They have this freaky animatronic museum there that just creeps the hell out of me.
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
this, more than anything, is making the end of the season depressing
not just because of McClung (but it’s not helping) but because of Gamel, and the overuse of players like Coffey and Kendall and McGehee…not saying that all of those players are bad, but it’s obvious that Macha has favorites and his doghouse, and he’s going to doghouse guys even if it’s detrimental to the health and performance of his favorites.
i like McClung
i think he’s an okay pitcher, especially if used right. plus he just seems like a good enough guy. i was at a spring training game and a lady got hit with a batted baseball, and he was in the bullpen area and helped tend to her until EMS got there.
Forest Park
As a transplant, its one of the few redeeming qualities. Very few.
you may have to write about another Jeff Suppan start after all
the latest McTweet
#Brewers’ Suppan could start Sun. in STL. Needs 1 more for 11th straight season of 30 GS. Only Livan Hernandez (12) has longer active streak
"my goodness"
I don't find this funny at all
what a way to leave a bad taste in your mouth for the entire offseason than to have Jeff Suppan start the last game of the season.
"my goodness"
by BrewHaHeather on Oct 1, 2009 10:26 AM CDT up reply actions
Psh, no one will remember the last game of the horrible season.
Let’em trot out Soup on 3 days rest for no apparent reason. Could be worse.
Let me show you the upside
It’s one more shot for Suppan to have a catastrophic arm injury so he won’t be able to pitch in 2010.
by Getting Yosted on Oct 1, 2009 10:46 AM CDT up reply actions 2 recs
Does the crew have insurance on his arm if that happens?
by Saberilliterate on Oct 1, 2009 11:46 AM CDT up reply actions
If they can't get their $12 million worth in quality...
then gosh darn it, they’re going to get $12 million worth in quantity!
Well DM did say
He said that Looper had 13 wins, that has to say something. So when a player is vastly under-performing you point to abstract and non-skill related things.
Looper: 13 Wins.
Kendall: Calls a good game.
Suppan: Takes the ball every 5 days.
Parra: One pitch away from getting out of it.
It's all part of my master plan.
Or, there’s a bomb on my bus and if I don’t post 5 useless stats on the internet every week, it will explode.
Or, I found an ancient map to a stash of free-mason treasure from colonial times, and in order discover the location of the hidden vault I need to decipher a series of clues, the key to which are all improbably hidden among the stats of the 2009 baseball season. But dark forces conspire against me, like evil catholic albinos, and guys with eastern european accents you can’t quite place and a guy name Hans who might be a terrorist, or he might be a thief, or he might work for a secret government agency that only the President and 4 janitors knows about. They all know I’m on the trail, and I have to communicate through the internet with the only people I can trust, but at the same time I have to bury the real information with decoy stats that have nothing to do with the true issue. And I keep getting distracted by Omar Vizquel’s plot to kill Craig Biggio by becoming a matador and making Biggio think it looks fun, knowing full well what would happen if Biggio was faced with a charging horned bovine.
What was the question?
by plunkeveryone on Oct 1, 2009 1:01 PM CDT up reply actions 3 recs
"You look at the whole season," Suppan said.
“You don’t look at two starts. For me, I try to stay in the moment, so tonight I’m just going to think about this game and then later on take a look at the whole season.”
Um, Jeff — as someone who has been watching the whole season, you probably don’t want to look back.
Well, when you look at the whole season, you can safely say he was the fourth best starter on the team, which... yeah, was his job.
The fact that the entire staff underperformed helps.
The fact that the entire staff underperformed ...
is the only reason Suppan wasn’t publicly flogged this year.
That he did. Barely.
Two below replacement level starting pitchers, yours for the low low price of only (approximately) $20 million!
Kind of feel bad for the guy
He is no doubt and upstanding human being and an all out nice guy without a doubt.
He has to know how badly he has pitched for this team since signing the big contract. There has to be a self consciousness going on there.
But in the end, the organization (Mark A and Melvin) got exactly what they should have known they were getting. They grossly overpaid for that performance. If anyone, its the front office who should be flogged over his performance.
taking a look at 2 starts is the only way his season can look redeemable.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Cincinnati
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Houston
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Milwaukee
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
St. Louis
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
(updated 2.12.2012 at 7:02 AM CST)
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