Thursday's Frosty Mug

Knuckleballers do have a mix of (usually slow) pitches and most of them didn’t start off that way, and then there’s the guys like Drew Storen who know how to throw it and want to do it as a trick pitch but aren’t allowed to….

I understand the “don’t leave him in there to get hammered” argument, but it happens to a lot of good pitchers (not trying to pass Wolf off as a good pitcher), sometimes you have to take one for the team. Sure, it makes Wolf look worse than he actually is (hard to believe), but it’s necessary. The (new) bullpen has been one of the strong points of the team, and it’s ability shouldn’t be wasted in games like last nights. lord knows they can’t keep this performance up all year, might as well prolong the inevitable as long as possible.

To Wolf’s credit, he didn’t look/sound like he was frustrated with being left out there, it sounded like he was frustrated with how he was pitching, which is the appropriate reaction. I still like Wolf, even if he sucks. Can’t really expect this nightmare of a season to be a true indicator of his performance level. It might be, but I’d bet against it. We’ll see what happens with a new pitching coach (hopefully), but there’s no reason to give up on Wolf yet.

Wolf is cashing his paychecks? Right?

He and his agents were the ones that drove up the asking price, so he should be expected to suck it up if he doesnt pitch well and earn his big paycheck.

After the team appeared in 4 of 5 World Series, Connie decided to make money by not spending on players. The 1915 club went 43-109, committed 338 errors leading to over 200 unearned runs, on top of an ERA of 4.29 (ERA+ of 68). A record 24 different pitchers started at least one game for the club and 10-22 Welden Wyckoff was the best of the sorry lot. Future Hall of Famer Herb Pennock was waived in June (although he was pretty bad that year). 1916 saw even worse results as the team went 36-117, the worst AL record ever. Whitey Witt committed 78 errors at short. Jack Nabors had one of the worst seasons ever, going 1-20. He roomed with Tom Sheehan, who went 1-16. They finished 8th, 40 games behind the 7th place Senators.

I think Connie also subscribed to the philosophy of staying in the race just long enough to make a profit before selling like mad in other years.

That standard baseball curse, I’m not even going to argue whether it’s real or not, there’s enough lore to support its existence; how does a person go about actually removing it? Are we supposed to appease the entity that cursed us? If so, whodunit, and what do they want?

In the offseason, maybe. Right now, not a chance. I don’t want an interim guy making organization changing trades. Then again, I’m not all that keen on letting a lame duck make those trades either.

Just wondering, what do you think the “new” philosophy should be? The whole “draft lotsa pitching” thing only went into play a couple years ago, so we don’t really have the experience period needed to determine whether or not the current philosophy is working anyway.

And to answer your question: No, he won’t do it, and no, he probably shouldn’t.

But I think it time for him to go. I’m just about ready for a fire-sale at this point.

I don’t think we necessarily need a new organizational philosophy. We’ve just been built around offense because that’s what we have. A few year from now when we’ll have a rotation of Gallardo, Odorizzi, Heckathorn, Scarpetta, Peralta (way too optimistic, I know) we might seem like we’re more built around pitching.

What we really need are scouts who can actually identify pitching talent.

I do not think that Attanasio will pull the trigger mid season, but he definitely should at year end. And with that change should come a full house cleaning. This should have been done when Attanasio took over, imo.

I think that one of the problems that may arise with a philosophy change though (a much needed on that suits the smallest market in MLB) might now be met favorably by Attanasio. I think they need to build around pitching and defense, with home grown players, with a continual moving out of players once they get too expensive. And NEVER bringing in high priced free agents

Unfortunately, Attanasio likes to spend money on salary for the team to improve it, but this is a short term philosophy. Building for the long haul isnt sexy and the ESPN’s and FOX Sports people dont like it because it takes time and its a gradual process. But the Rockies, Marlins, Rays, Padres are all teams that take this sort of approach, and they are winning.

I’m looking at this as a positive as it will deplete their farm system even more than it already is.

Also, Pujols sucks.

(testing my theory that any time you type in “pujols sucks” on an internet forum 5-10 Cards fans will show up to yell at you)

Trading for Oswalt is a ridiculous idea. Go for it, St. Louis!

Exciting!

I think Minor tops out as a #3 starter and Hudson as a solid #3. I.e. Minor would have to work his way up to being a #3.

In the end I kind of see Mike Minor as a Capuano/Suppan type, who lives on control and the best pitch is the change up. And with a guy who tops out in the upper 80s with his fastball, the second that command goes, or on days that the corners are missed, its just a batting practice pitcher.

At least with Hudson you get a low 90s fastball, and above average change up, and an average slider.

I lost about half an hour on it this morning. Kept meaning to put it down and come back to it, but I was entranced.

in the opening paragraphs it was the contestant

on the last page it was the ringer.

I suppose probably neither knew, but that should have been a bit more clear. And how did they know the ringer didn’t know? Was he interviewed (by the writer or by the show)?

backtocali in this very thread:

I do not think that Attanasio will pull the trigger mid season, but he definitely should at year end. And with that change should come a full house cleaning. This should have been done when Attanasio took over, imo.

I pretty much agree.

It is actually quite good.

at not having drafted and developed albert pujos.

The Brewers were never meant to be slap-hitters and use small ball to create their runs. The Brewers are a slugging team. the ultimate goal of the offense is to score runs. The Brewers are the 2nd best team at doing that.

Both methods can produce runs, but the Brewers lean towards slugging rather than BA. Sure, we’d love to see ducks on the pond for Fielder, but when Weeks hits a HR to lead off the game, Fielder doesn’t have to get him home. :)

That’s what counts right? Do you get an award for best BA?

You’ll have to meet us halfway here. We all recognize and observe that the Brewers aren’t hitting with runners in scoring position. It’s worth noting, however, that their team BA, in general is .261 on the season. They’re really not doing substantially worse with RISP than in general.

If you’ll be a little open-minded you’ll recognize that their OBP is .352 with RISP. A 100-point difference between the two stats doesn’t indicate that they’re swinging for the fences. They’re, in fact, looking at pitches and taking their walks when they don’t see something to drive.

To generalize Fielder’s power stroke and Gomez’s …. well, whatever you’d call what Gomez does … to the entire team isn’t really representative of their offense.

Any time you win by >1 run, you’re scoring too many, and those runs should not count in the statistics. Stupid stat padders!

(and the defense), not the hitting.

Using Inglett instead of Gomez, though?

They should be hitting a series of meaningless singles.

It’s because the pitching sucked once again and the game is out of reach.

Is it the trade McGehee, or no longer have atrocious defense part?