I'm five days removed from my infamous rant about the 2012 Milwaukee Brewers. They are 3-1 during that time and a poor seventh inning from Zack Greinke away from being undefeated. I'm nervous to come back to the blog for fear of somehow tilting the universe back to the way it was last Thursday, but I woke up to some exciting news today. Rumors had spread - since the news came Monday that Shaun Marcum would miss his start tonight - that perhaps Tyler Thornburg would be called up to start in his place. If you read my last blog post, you know how high I am on Thornburg, along with several other Brewer fans with any knowledge of the Brewers' farm system. Of course, I suggested the possibility of Thornburg coming up to fill in as closer for a little while or to even get a crack at the number five spot in the starting rotation. Well...this morning, Thornburg's high school team tweeted that Thornburg, 8-1 with a 3.00 ERA with AA Huntsville this season, would be getting the call Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Milwaukee Brewers hadn't officially announced the move yet, but I figured it couldn't be long. For one, how long can you keep this decision from the opposing team? Lineups have to be released by within a few hours before game time. Sure, they could wait until then, but what about your fans? The announcement of Tyler Thornburg's arrival to Milwaukee would certainly help fill more seats at Miller Park this evening, which is never a bad thing for your organization. I would be one of those seat-fillers (and I'm still not ruling myself out), but a few things hold me back: lack of a motor vehicle, finding a person willing to drive my ass down to Milwaukee from Oshkosh, purchasing tickets for the 7:10 start time, and a nagging cough that has me miserably laying in bed. For now, I'll assume I'm not making it down...which is sad...but you can bet your life I'll be watching every pitch thrown by Thornburg tonight. Oh, that's right. I forgot to announce whether or not he's officially starting tonight. Well, he is. Around 1 P.M., the Brewers' twitter handle posted the news that many felt was inevitable: that Tyler Thornburg would be starting in place of my boy Shaun Marcum (I told you I'd be a big jinx - he has elbow tightness) against the Jays on Tuesday. (For those of you curious as to who the Brewers sent down to make room for Thornburg on the 25-man and 40-man rosters, Brooks Conrad was designated for assignment. His .075 batting average will be sorely missed by Brewer fans and the organization for years to come)
And who knows? Maybe this Marcum elbow tightness - which is deemed to be not-serious - will turn into a disabled list stint. I'll be the first one to tell you I hope that isn't the case, but it's a possibility. Also, would it really be the worst thing in the world? We saw what happened to Marcum at the end of the 2011 season. He burned out. Of course, this didn't stop the stubborn Ron Roenicke from marching him out three times in the postseason, but let's say he misses a few starts here in late June. Doesn't this mean he'll be a little more fresh at the end of the season? Sure, the Brewers will likely be out of playoff contention by this time, but who knows. Even if Marcum only misses this one start, the fifth spot in the rotation could remain up for grabs. Marco Estrada has been rehabbing in the minor leagues and is due back by the weekend, and he has been the Brewers' number five starter since Chris Narveson went down for the season, and Estrada has since been replaced by Mike Fiers. Nothing against Fiers, who has performed admirably since being called up from Nashville, but he would be the likely option to go back down with Estrada returning.
Now it's time to play everyone's favorite game known as speculation. Let's assume Fiers is sent down for Estrada. Let's also assume Marcum returns for his next start. Do the Brewers then send down Thornburg after his spot start for Marcum? Highly likely, especially if he shits the bed. What also hurts Thornburg's chances is that he is being called up in place of a position player, meaning the Brewers' bench would be short. However, on his way back is Cezar Izturus, who could replace Edwin Maysonet, who really has no business being on the Major League club, but he could also replace a relief pitcher such as Tim Dillard or Juan Perez. But back to Thornburg...could he stay on as the Brewers' number five? I've already accepted the fact this probably won't happen, but in my last blog post, I mentioned that I'd like to see Estrada return to the bullpen as that safety valve should a Brewer starter bow out of the game early, which hasn't happened in quite awhile (knock on wood). I know that's supposedly what Manny Parra is there for, but then the Brewers lose their only (legitimate...see Perez) lefty in the pen because of mop up duty. Estrada taking back over his long relief duty and Thornburg fulfilling the number five slot would happen in a perfect world. But look around you, folks...this world is far from perfect. I know I don't have to look far. I'm still unemployed.
All that's left for the Brewers to do now is bring up Scooter Gennett and Mark Rogers. I thought Thornburg seeing some big league time before September was highly unlikely five days ago, so who knows with Gennett and Rogers? In all reality, they won't be up until September, but better late than never is what I always say. I'm proud to say that I've cooled down since Thursday night when I lost just about every single one of my marbles, but I don't think that blog post should be completely thrown down the drain. I semi-called out Ryan Braun, who had been particularly unclutch over the past few weeks. Look how that one turned out...he hit three home runs in two days, immediately launching himself into MVP talks. And deservedly so. I'm too lazy to look it up right now, but on Saturday, Braun was the only National Leaguer to be in the top six in on-base percentage, home runs, and runs batted in. He was also the only player in all of baseball to be in the top ten in those three categories. Sounds like MVP criteria to me.
Not only has Braun returned to "form," but Axford has also avoided blowing a save, although the bullpen still continues to torment Brewer fans. But what I'm most excited about is my proclamation about Thornburg coming to Milwaukee, and now here he is. He was scheduled to pitch in the AA All-Star Game tonight, but something tells me he'll gladly accept this opportunity as an alternative. Sit back and enjoy his major league debut tonight with the Brewers.
No comments:
Post a Comment