Tuesday's Frosty Mug
by Kyle Lobner on Jun 30, 2009 9:36 AM CDT
in News
50 comments
Some things to read while fixing your shirt.
Trevor Hoffman notched career save #572 against the Mets, a day after Mariano Rivera picked up his 500th save against them. The Elias Sports Bureau (via TheJay) reports that the Mets became the first team ever to be closed out by Hoffman and Rivera on back to back days. Rivera also picked up an RBI during his save: Baseball Reference remembers Hoffman's first RBI.
Last night's win combined with a Cardinal loss to give the Brewers sole possession of first place in the Central. It was also one of the more memorable nights in the career of Casey McGehee, giving Tristarscoop over at Cute Sports all the more reason to love him.
Mike Burns gets another shot to prove he belongs in the rotation tonight, when he'll have the unenviable task of facing off against Johan Santana. Now that Manny Parra struggled in his last start in AAA and Dave Bush is still out until after the All Star Break, both Burns and Seth McClung could be in line for extended auditions.
Ken Macha defended the Brewers' advance scouting operation after Ryan Braun suggested the Brewers struggled on Sunday because they didn't know much about Giants starter Ryan Sadowski. There's probably some truth to both sides: I'm sure the Brewer advance team is doing the best they can, but there's only so much they can tell you about a guy who's never appeared in the majors.
Whatever they're doing for Prince Fielder, though, they should keep doing. The Hardball Cooperative lists Fielder among their "3 Up" this week: Fielder entered play yesterday hitting .352 with seven home runs in June.
Another busy day down on the farm:
- Jeremy Jeffress is serving a 100 game suspension for what was previously reported as his second failed marijuana test, but it's actually his fourth. Jeffress was given a warning and education for his first positive test and a fifty game suspension for his second positive test. While serving that suspension, he failed another team-administered test before receiving his most recent suspension for a fourth positive.
- Eric Arnett pitched two shutout innings last night. He says he'd like to pitch more but the Brewers are taking it slow with him.
- Brewerfan.net has a new Power 50 up. There's not much change at the top, but this is the first one to include several of the 2009 draftees.
- Cameron Garfield is Between the Green Pillars' prospect of the week.
Should Yovani Gallardo be an All Star? It might turn out to be a moot point. Matthew Pouliot of Circling the Bases left Gallardo off of his projected NL roster because, assuming the rotation continues as projected, Gallardo would be unable to pitch in the game. Pouliot does predict Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Trevor Hoffman will make the squad.
On Power Rankings:
- The Brewers jumped 8 spots to #6 in WhatifSports' Power Rankings.
- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star moved the Brewers up from 12th to 11th.
- Inside the Majors has the Crew falling 3 spots to #9.
- Souvenir City has the Brewers at #12.
- Kerry Whisnant has the Brewers at #17.
Around the majors:
Astros: Brandon Backe declined an assignment to the minor leagues and will become a free agent.
Cubs: Placed Aaron Miles on the DL with a hyper-extended elbow.
Phillies: Placed Antonio Bastardo on the DL with a shoulder strain.
The Brewers won't see it in this series, but the Mets are trying something interesting with their rotation: When Oliver Perez comes off the DL, he's going to piggyback starts with Tim Redding. This is a relatively common practice in the minors, but it'll be interesting to see how it works out in the National League.
The Ian Snell saga continues in Pittsburgh: While Snell has clarified/backtracked on some of the things he said following his first AAA outing, Pirates GM Neal Huntington is calling the decision to sign Snell to a multi-year deal a mistake and it looks like Snell will be changing addresses sooner rather than later. Over in the FanPosts, 16 Lezcano wants the Brewers to pull the trigger on a move for Snell.
Interleague play is over (except for one makeup game) and the end couldn't come soon enough for several teams, including the Brewers. If you'd like to see a permanent end to interleague play, though, don't hold your breath: Brian McTaggart has the reason why it'll never go away:
He's a former Brewer farmhand, has a freakish trait and throws a knuckleball. If I know anything about the average BCB reader, I know those three qualities make this story on RA Dickey a must read for them. (h/t Twinkie Town)
Oh, and happy birthday to Tony Fernandez, who played in 28 games for the 2001 Brewers and turns 47 today.
Drink up.
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Why does this have to be the case?
but there’s only so much they can tell you about a guy who’s never appeared in the majors.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
by tcyoung on Jun 30, 2009 9:53 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Well, for one,
What Jordan said in the below comment is notable. The Brewers didn’t know this guy was going to make a start until a day or two before he did. If they had known a week in advance, they could have sent someone to watch his previous start, etc.
But second, a lot of the material hitters use to prep for a pitcher simply isn’t available for a minor league guy making a surprise appearance. In Macha’s comments, he mentions that there wasn’t video available to use to prep for Sadowski. As a career minor leaguer, most of the Brewers on the active roster had never faced him before, and if they had it was in the minors, so video of those ABs probably aren’t readily available.
And, simply put, the Brewers don’t have enough hours in the day and feet on the ground to develop a full, 100% accurate scouting report of each of the roughly 150 AAA starting pitchers and 100 or so AA starters that could be called upon to spot start this season. At best, scouts have seen these guys pitch once or twice.
"The reports are that he is getting better. The definition of better is nebulous."
by Kyle Lobner on Jun 30, 2009 10:28 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
The surprise start argument is valid
I’m not sure how many scouts we have, but shouldn’t we have at least 1 video for each team’s, say, top 3 pitching prospects. I think we should be able to have that for all NL teams by this point in the season.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
by tcyoung on Jun 30, 2009 10:39 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
It's probably just a matter of (not very much) time
Some teams have either cut back on advance scouting, or sort of re-classified the kind of work they do. A couple companies out there not only archive video of MLB games, but slice and dice them by play. So, imagine if you went to baseball-reference, and in addition to being able to see a gamelog, and splits, and all that, for every game, or for every split (w/RISP, vs. LH, etc.), you could watch a video sequence of all the PAs that fit that criteria. That’s what they have.
So…some teams can do the equivalent of advance scouting without leaving the office.
I don’t know to what extent the same services are available for AA and AAA, but if they aren’t available now, they will be soon. When that happens, it won’t matter if it’s uber-prospect Tommy Hanson or nobody Ryan Sadowski, teams will have the video of every start they’ve ever made at the AA level or above.
Also, cheese.
by Jeff Sackmann on Jun 30, 2009 10:49 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Nice
And that’s exactly what I was getting at. I would just think that if a player in an opponent’s farm system had a chance of being brought up to the majors, the Brewers would at least have video of one game he pitched in the minors. At least, then the players could see what his pitches look like.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
by tcyoung on Jun 30, 2009 11:00 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Right
And that’s what they might have: one game. But compared to the level of info and resources they have on a consistent major leaguer, one game is a tremendously small sample size.
"The reports are that he is getting better. The definition of better is nebulous."
by Kyle Lobner on Jun 30, 2009 12:05 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
but it would usually be much more than that
If a company starts tracking all AA and AAA games, slicing and dicing on a PA-by-PA appearance, they’d have 27 Sadowski starts in the last three years, a total of over 1,000 plate appearances.
Also, cheese.
by Jeff Sackmann on Jun 30, 2009 2:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
...Jeff says, as he shops for a digital camcorder
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jun 30, 2009 2:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Ha
I think a company or two has a pretty big head start on me. I did think of setting something like this up for the top college programs, though.
Also, cheese.
by Jeff Sackmann on Jun 30, 2009 2:51 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Not living in college baseball country, I have no idea about this sort of thing
But how many college teams have some sort of broadcast contract with a TV channel, even if it’s just something sporadic like the Timber Rattlers?
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jun 30, 2009 3:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don't know either
but I think most teams record the games themselves, even some (most? I don’t know) of the smaller schools. That’s the feed I’d want anyway — I’d want to have one of those boring single-angle shots like you see in high school scouting video of guys taking batting practice.
Also, cheese.
by Jeff Sackmann on Jun 30, 2009 4:43 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
All I know is Nebraska
We get about a half-dozen Husker games a year on public television. We’re not exactly full-on college baseball country, but there’s a pretty passionate niche.
by Cheeseandcorn on Jun 30, 2009 8:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Weird
It was like Macha was defending his major league advance scouting team and ignoring the fact that they knew little about the minor league pitcher. I guess it would be tough, though, as they only found out he’d be pitching after he made his last start in the minors.
I last May, still no more than Nick Neugebauer not.
by Jordan M on Jun 30, 2009 10:20 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Did Braun say anything more than this?
“It’s never easy,” Braun said of facing another unknown. “We didn’t have a scouting report, so you just go up there the first time through the lineup and get a feel for what they’re trying to do, what their pitches do. You never know if a scouting report is going to be accurate or not.”But he threw the ball well. He deserved to win today, that’s for sure."
I really don’t see where he said anything that should make his manager want to pick a fight with him through the media. Really strange. I’m not really liking the way Macha handles any of this stuff.
Also, what’s with Braun saying they didn’t have a scouting report, and then in the next breath that scouting reports are fallible?
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jun 30, 2009 2:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
4th failed drug test?
Really? 4 times? At what point do you think, ‘Gee, I’ve already failed some drug tests, maybe they’re going to test me again? Maybe I shouldn’t take a hit off this joint?’
Million dollar arm. Ten cent head.
by Brew Angel on Jun 30, 2009 11:08 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
The only problem with cutting him, is in the one in a million chance that he becomes the next Josh Hamilton…
by Saberilliterate on Jun 30, 2009 12:15 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I still don't understand what this would accomplish.
I last May, still no more than Nick Neugebauer not.
by Jordan M on Jun 30, 2009 1:30 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
He'll be someone elses problem when he's banned for life next year.
by Mykenk on Jun 30, 2009 3:45 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Then he's gone
You’re not paying him anything more than a basic minor-leaguer at this point because he’s already got his bonus. If he gets banned, then he’s gone. If you cut him, he’s gone without any possibility of helping out in the future. I would bet that every team in the majors would look to acquire him if he were released.
I last May, still no more than Nick Neugebauer not.
by Jordan M on Jun 30, 2009 5:47 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
In Jeffress's case, we can say
Million dollar arm. Nickel bag head.
Also, cheese.
by Jeff Sackmann on Jun 30, 2009 11:24 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
a stretch
but I’ll put it on the board
"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."
by Hyatt on Jun 30, 2009 11:51 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
4 failed tests
he goes through much more than a nickel bag.
Coffey is surprisingly fast, as is the Polish Sausage
by molitorfan on Jun 30, 2009 7:33 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sheff
I’ll be at the game tonight in my LF heckle 10-pack seats. Does Sheffield always play LF?
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
by tcyoung on Jun 30, 2009 11:09 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Amazing
There’s something inheritely funny about Suppan. Can’t put my finger on it…
captainbok: What do you like the most about milwaukee
Jeff Suppan: Captain Bok, that is a great question. Does "Bok" mean Book of Knowledge? My favorite thing about Milwaukee are the Brewers.
by JAMOOL on Jun 30, 2009 1:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
It's been removed
What was it?
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jun 30, 2009 2:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oh, I guess the URL gives it away, eh?
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jun 30, 2009 2:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
It was terrible
but also awesome.
"If lovin’ Braun is wrong, I want to be a repeat offender!"
RIP Nick Adenhart - Stop Drunk Driving
by kirbir on Jun 30, 2009 2:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
My favorite part
was when they would throw in Billy for Free. According to Home Run Derby, the bidding made it up to 20.50 before Ebay pulled it.
"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."
by Hyatt on Jun 30, 2009 3:43 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Wasn't a Brewers pitcher on Craigslist last year?
I think i had it bookmarked for humor but was take down.. “For sale: One pitcher, slightly used” ?
by pharom on Jun 30, 2009 3:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think I recall
Rickie Weeks being for sale a couple of years ago.
"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"
by roguejim on Jun 30, 2009 3:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yes, thank you!
That has been bugging me all day: http://cutesports.blogspot.com/2008/08/rickie-weeks-craigslist-ad.html
He was doing so well this year too =(
by pharom on Jun 30, 2009 4:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Pirates traded Wisconsinite Eric Hinske to the Yankees for former Brewers farmhand Eric Fryer
They’re also apparently about to trade Nyjer Morgan for Lastings Milledge.
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jun 30, 2009 2:13 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Deal is done
Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett for Milledge and Hanrahan is basically highway robbery for the Pirates. They’re trading a AAAA outfielder and a spare bullpen arm for a talented (and problematic) outfielder and a pitcher that has been victimized by a .431 BABIP against.
Two good trades for them today – Hinske is also more or less freely available talent and they turned him into a couple of longshot lottery tickets while saving $300k.
by kingcharlesxii on Jun 30, 2009 4:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Has anyone ever...
Has anyone ever seen a formal SABR / Baseball Prospectus kind of study of how pitchers making the debut or 1st MLB start do?
I looked around on the web some and couldn’t find anything.
(I did, however, find comments of the “why can’t we ever beat a AAA pitcher” kind at fan web sites for at least a half-dozen different teams, so it’s not just the Brewers.)
by robertearle on Jun 30, 2009 2:23 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
All you need is Baseball Reference
Here’s all MLB debuts by starting pitchers against the Brewers, and overall.
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jun 30, 2009 2:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
And I'm expected...
And I’m expected to do the math on all that?!? :-)
Thanks.
by robertearle on Jun 30, 2009 3:50 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Well, you can import all that into Excel pretty easily
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jun 30, 2009 3:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
At least the math is in our favor...
"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."
by Hyatt on Jun 30, 2009 4:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I remember that game
…and i remember being pretty excited that we might have the next great starter on our hands. Check out no. 61, too – - interesting.
Brewers fan lost in South Carolina.
by SCBrewer on Jun 30, 2009 5:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
The July 2nd international signing period is just days away
Lots of updates in my FanPost.
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jun 30, 2009 4:36 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
If the Cards start to tank
Think they’ll trade DeRosa again? I imagine there aren’t many people traded twice during the same season…
"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"
by roguejim on Jul 1, 2009 1:48 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Mike Piazza on line 1...
"The reports are that he is getting better. The definition of better is nebulous."
by Kyle Lobner on Jul 1, 2009 6:43 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Dave Kingman
King Kong was traded twice and waived & claimed once during 1977.
It was a great selection of awesome.
by battlekow on Jul 1, 2009 2:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
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