Don't look now, but the Brewers are in first place...again. After a brutal stretch in which the Brewers went 1-7 and dropped all the way down to third place, Yovani Gallardo made a decision that some of you may find stupid, but that I find ingenious. After losing the first two games in a three game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks (and losing back-to-back games for the first time at home all year), Yo decided it was time to mix things up. He was given the option of choosing what uniform the Brewers would wear on Wednesday for his start and Gallardo went an interesting route. Normally designated for just Friday home games, Yo went with the retro uniforms in order to try and change things up. Whether it was the uniforms (it was) or just coincidence, Gallardo pitched brilliantly and Casey McGehee had a clutch pinch-hit three-run homer in the seventh to giving Yo a W along with the Brewers.
Next it was Chris Narveson's choice as far as which uni the Crew would be sporting and naturally he also went with the throwback ball and glove logo. Even though things got a little dicey towards the end of the ball game, the Brewers were able to ride another three-run home run from Home Run Derby participant Rickie Weeks and a strong start from the Narve-dog to a win over the Cincinnati Reds. And wouldn't you know it...the Milwaukee Brewers are 47-42 and tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for first place yet again in the NL Central. I don't care if you believe in jinxes or are superstitious. The stuff makes a difference no matter which way you cut it. The Brewers needed a swift kick in the ass and a breath of fresh air. The swift kick came after Tuesday's loss to the Dbacks when manager Ron Roenicke held just the second closed doors meeting of the season. The breath of fresh air was mixing things up...wearing the retro unis more than once in a week and on totally random days...the same unis that a certain team wore back in the early 80s.
The comparisons between the two teams - the 1982 American League Champion Brewers and the 2011 Brewers - are downright scary. Both relied on the home run. Both had an upper tier pitching staff. Both put lots of runs on the board. Both were terrible with the gloves. You could say that the 2008 team that reached the postseason for the first time in 26 years had basically the same characteristics, but in my mind, this team's defense is a little worse than '08 but has better pitching. In an interesting article from Bill Simmons' new website "Grantland.com," these same comparisons were brought to the forefront. It talked about how the Brewers have an extremely below average defense with the exception of a few players based on the new Sabermetrics statistics. However, the strength of the Brewers' lineup coupled with the key off-season moves that brought in some quality arms has helped overcome this problem. The author then brought up Zack Greinke. Greinke has been a sore subject around Brewers Nation because of his disappointing ERA, which exceeds 5.50. But the fact of the matter is that Greinke plays to contact, even with his high K/9 ratio along with his K/BB ratio, which is among league leaders. What's unfortunate for Greinke is that he has virtually no help behind him with the exception of Nyjer Morgan or Carlos Gomez. To help make up for these circumstances, the Brewers have given Zack Attack enormous run support, which explains his current 7-3 record. With Greinke starting tonight, look for plays that above average defenders would make that the Brewers are unable to execute. Hopefully Greinke is able to receive his usual run support while still having a solid outing.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that the Brewers have enough to overcome their shoddy defense...they just need to figure out how to make up for it by using good defensive positioning, having pitchers pitch batters a certain way based on this positioning and putting up a s--- ton of runs on the board...which has been difficult without Ryan Braun the last five games (2-3). Along with this realization, the Brewers have made a rather noticeable change when it comes to their late game situation. Instead of trotting out the utterly useless Kameron Loe ever eighth inning and watching him look completely incapable of retiring lefties, LaTroy Hawkins was handed this role. In his two games as the setup man, Hawk has allowed an earned run but has two holds...which is really all that matters. Don't get me wrong. I have the utmost faith in Loe when it comes to getting righties out, but he's just not someone that can be counted on to get through an inning or two late when the game is on the line. As you all probably know by now, I have been on the LaTroy Hawkins bandwagon for quite awhile...at least when it comes to him compared to Loe. Currently, the Brewers only have six pitchers in the bullpen because they haven't made a roster move since interleague play (Saito, Braddock, Low, Estrada, Hawk, Ax). What I anticipate happening is Gamel heading back down to triple A fairly soon so that he can continue getting work at first base. I think he was being held over McGehee's head the past couple weeks because of the struggles the Brewers' third baseman has been having. Gamel even received the starting nod at third base a few times during his time with the big league club, but I think McGehee's huge, enormous, gargantuan, spectacular home run on Wednesday was enough to keep him with Milwaukee and for Gamel to head back to Nashville. All for the better. I never wanted to see Gamel up with the Brewers this year anyway, but it made sense to bring him up to DH and to light a fire under Casey McGehee's behind.
So let's hope we see those retro unis on our beloved Milwaukee Brewers Friday night. Knowing Zack Greinke, he probably couldn't care less about what uniform he wears. Aside from Brewer talk, I don't have much for you guys. NBA Lockout. NFL Lockout (not for long hopefully). No college sports ongoing. Yeah. Doesn't leave me with much. Oh well. Let's see the Brewers stay hot into the All-Star break and Ryan Braun get healthy. the Brewers can only stay afloat for so long without the Hebrew Hammer out there.
Showing posts with label Loe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loe. Show all posts
Friday, July 8, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Highs and Loes
I needed to do a shortened follow-up post after my last one now that we've seen "setup man" Kameron Loe choke for the second time in under a week and the Brewers fail to put up a run against their biggest rival. There are a few other things I'll get to, but first: Mr. Loe.
Have we seen enough, Coach Roenicke? There has to be a better way to go about getting the game to the Ax Factor in the 9th with the lead…or at least tied. Why in God's name is Loe in there when it's not even a hold situation? This is normally a time reserved for someone like LaTroy Hawkins (should-be setup man) or even Zach Braddock. Speaking of Hawkins and Braddock, how about these guys share the 8th inning based on who is at the plate? Call me crazy, but I believe that lefty-lefty and righty-righty match-ups favor the pitcher in each situation respectively nine times out of ten. In fact, keep Loe in there for the righties...why not. His sinker is almost unhittable when it's working, which has been occasional this season, but in no way should Loe pitch to a left-handed hitter. Loe has as good of a chance of getting a lefty out as Lebron James has of coming through in clutch situations. With how deep the Brewers' starting pitchers have been getting into games this season, Roenicke should have plenty of well-rested relievers to use for either the seventh or the eighth, and yet we continue to see him march out Loe's corpse and his 5+ ERA. Here's the ultimatum...either let Loe face only righties in the seventh or eighth and allow Braddock to take the lefties or just remove Loe from the setup role altogether and throw Hawkins in there. Clearly, there are other bullpen guys able and willing to take on a task that Loe simply cannot complete. Don't believe me?
LaTroy Hawkins: 16 G, 0.59 ERA
Tim Dillard: 7 G, 1.86 ERA
Sergio Mitre: 19 G, 2.00 ERA
Zach Braddock: 16 G, 2.31 ERA
KAMERON LOE: 36 GAMES, 5.23 ERA
I'd now like to back up to my previous post. I mentioned that I would like to see Mike Rivera to come up from AAA and fill the backup catcher role behind Jonathan Lucroy instead of current backup Wil Nieves. However, whatever Nieves has been doing behind the plate with Wolf, it's been working. Wolf lowered his ERA to 3.20, which is second-best among the Brewers' starting five...that’s saying something. Nieves is Wolf's designated-catcher for lack of a better term, but he is the only Brewers' hitter without an RBI and is hitting .140 in 50 AB. For those keeping track at home, Nieves leads the league in number of plate appearances without an RBI. Ouch. Here's why I can except having Nieves on the roster. He only takes up one spot in the batting order, and he calls a great game behind the plate for Wolfy, who refuses to throw to the youngster, Lucroy (which still bothers me). Still, I would much rather have a happy Wolf throwing to Nieves while having success instead of a frustrated Wolf throwing to Lucroy with the chance of maybe getting another run or two from the offense, but risking a bad outing from Wolf. For now, it's worth it to keep Nieves on the roster. Think of centerfielder Carlos Gomez; his role has basically transformed into pinch-running/defensive specialist...a guy who comes in late to relieve an outfielder or a slow runner on the base paths because of his blinding speed. Josh Wilson and Craig Counsell do this on the infield - Nieves, to a degree, does this behind the plate. I should have thought of this before throwing Nieves into the fire last weekend.
One final note...it seems as though that as of late, the Brewers have done a good job of getting up against clubs with winning records, such as the Cardinals, Marlins and Giants (I know...not the Reds). It can be argued that they have caught a break because these teams haven't had the likes of Buster Posey, Hanley Ramirez and Matt Holliday, but I'm hoping that this doesn't put a damper on the recent success of the Crew. Coming up, the Brewers face a treacherous interleague schedule, having to travel to Boston and New York, host the Tampa Bay Rays and play a home-and-away against the now surging Twins. This is arguably the most difficult interleague schedule out of any team in the MLB and will truly test the Brewers, but I believe their ability to hold their own against the NL's best will carry over to this tough stretch of games. Nevertheless, Roenicke should take a long, deep look at his bullpen and figure out how to utilize some his relievers correctly. RR should be familiar with using a designated hitter since he came from an American League squad in the L.A. Angels, so that shouldn't be a huge issue...it's just a matter of lighting a fire under whoever is suiting up on the left side of the infield.
As long as Milwaukee can avoid a total collapse and keep the ship afloat, they should emerge from interleague play near the top of the NL Central. June 17th to July 3th will show this team's true colors...that I can guarantee.
Have we seen enough, Coach Roenicke? There has to be a better way to go about getting the game to the Ax Factor in the 9th with the lead…or at least tied. Why in God's name is Loe in there when it's not even a hold situation? This is normally a time reserved for someone like LaTroy Hawkins (should-be setup man) or even Zach Braddock. Speaking of Hawkins and Braddock, how about these guys share the 8th inning based on who is at the plate? Call me crazy, but I believe that lefty-lefty and righty-righty match-ups favor the pitcher in each situation respectively nine times out of ten. In fact, keep Loe in there for the righties...why not. His sinker is almost unhittable when it's working, which has been occasional this season, but in no way should Loe pitch to a left-handed hitter. Loe has as good of a chance of getting a lefty out as Lebron James has of coming through in clutch situations. With how deep the Brewers' starting pitchers have been getting into games this season, Roenicke should have plenty of well-rested relievers to use for either the seventh or the eighth, and yet we continue to see him march out Loe's corpse and his 5+ ERA. Here's the ultimatum...either let Loe face only righties in the seventh or eighth and allow Braddock to take the lefties or just remove Loe from the setup role altogether and throw Hawkins in there. Clearly, there are other bullpen guys able and willing to take on a task that Loe simply cannot complete. Don't believe me?
LaTroy Hawkins: 16 G, 0.59 ERA
Tim Dillard: 7 G, 1.86 ERA
Sergio Mitre: 19 G, 2.00 ERA
Zach Braddock: 16 G, 2.31 ERA
KAMERON LOE: 36 GAMES, 5.23 ERA
I'd now like to back up to my previous post. I mentioned that I would like to see Mike Rivera to come up from AAA and fill the backup catcher role behind Jonathan Lucroy instead of current backup Wil Nieves. However, whatever Nieves has been doing behind the plate with Wolf, it's been working. Wolf lowered his ERA to 3.20, which is second-best among the Brewers' starting five...that’s saying something. Nieves is Wolf's designated-catcher for lack of a better term, but he is the only Brewers' hitter without an RBI and is hitting .140 in 50 AB. For those keeping track at home, Nieves leads the league in number of plate appearances without an RBI. Ouch. Here's why I can except having Nieves on the roster. He only takes up one spot in the batting order, and he calls a great game behind the plate for Wolfy, who refuses to throw to the youngster, Lucroy (which still bothers me). Still, I would much rather have a happy Wolf throwing to Nieves while having success instead of a frustrated Wolf throwing to Lucroy with the chance of maybe getting another run or two from the offense, but risking a bad outing from Wolf. For now, it's worth it to keep Nieves on the roster. Think of centerfielder Carlos Gomez; his role has basically transformed into pinch-running/defensive specialist...a guy who comes in late to relieve an outfielder or a slow runner on the base paths because of his blinding speed. Josh Wilson and Craig Counsell do this on the infield - Nieves, to a degree, does this behind the plate. I should have thought of this before throwing Nieves into the fire last weekend.
One final note...it seems as though that as of late, the Brewers have done a good job of getting up against clubs with winning records, such as the Cardinals, Marlins and Giants (I know...not the Reds). It can be argued that they have caught a break because these teams haven't had the likes of Buster Posey, Hanley Ramirez and Matt Holliday, but I'm hoping that this doesn't put a damper on the recent success of the Crew. Coming up, the Brewers face a treacherous interleague schedule, having to travel to Boston and New York, host the Tampa Bay Rays and play a home-and-away against the now surging Twins. This is arguably the most difficult interleague schedule out of any team in the MLB and will truly test the Brewers, but I believe their ability to hold their own against the NL's best will carry over to this tough stretch of games. Nevertheless, Roenicke should take a long, deep look at his bullpen and figure out how to utilize some his relievers correctly. RR should be familiar with using a designated hitter since he came from an American League squad in the L.A. Angels, so that shouldn't be a huge issue...it's just a matter of lighting a fire under whoever is suiting up on the left side of the infield.
As long as Milwaukee can avoid a total collapse and keep the ship afloat, they should emerge from interleague play near the top of the NL Central. June 17th to July 3th will show this team's true colors...that I can guarantee.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Meanwhile, back at the ranch
There may be a lot going on these days around sports, like the NBA Finals (go Mavs), NHL Finals (go Canucks), the NFL lockout (yawn), the College World Series (eh) and the baseball season starting to get in full swing, but for us here in Wisconsin, there isn't too much to cover. Basically, it's the Brewers and more Brewers, leaving me with little to choose from when it comes to Wisconsin sports - the focus of this blog. I don't mind. I love the Brewers and baseball has always been my favorite sport, but some of you may be interested in other topics, although I feel as though I've done a good job of mixing up what I talk about when it comes to the Brew Crew. If you would like to hear me babble about something else, feel free to leave a comment after you're done reading this post. I'll also do my best to brainstorm. For now, baseball is what's happening for people around Wisconsin and thankfully the Brewers are winning, making them fun to write about. Tonight, I'd like to go a different route and look at different places the Brewers should begin to look if they want to bolster their squad for the stretch run as players in the farm system begin to make their case for a call-up and as the trade deadline nears.
The Brewers are in a nice place right now at this point of the season. The days of panic are behind us and the Crew is only a half game out of first place coming into play on Sunday. This doesn't mean it's time to relax; it's time for the Brewers to look for the areas that need improvement. With the Brewers doing so well lately, nothing should be extremely tampered with...only slightly. However, now that the baseball season is nearly two and a half months old, it's time to stop waiting on certain players to hit their stride. It might sound harsh, but you can't wait this long for professional baseball players to remember how to hit a ball or find the strike zone. Having said that, it's time to pinpoint the players that can expect to see less playing time and see where the Brewers should look, whether it be in their system or across the league, for help.
*DISCLAMER* I hope that the four players on this unfortunate list all begin to figure it out more than anyone, but for the sake of argument and to be fair to other Brewer fans who have the same concerns as me, here it goes.
REPLACE: Yuniesky Betancourt
Coming into the season, I knew that Betancourt would be a downgrade from Alcides Escobar in the field, but I thought he would at least hold his own at the plate. Yuni B is 0/2...8 errors, just 3 HRs and a .230/.256/.340 just doesn't cut it for me, although Escobar has arguably been worse if you can believe it. He is the origin for my former fantasy baseball team name "I'm Betan Our Defense Sucks," which wasn't holding true for awhile, but thanks in part to Yuni B, the team defense of the Brewers has dropped into 15th in the Majors (9th in the NL).
REPLACE WITH: Josh Wilson & Craig Counsell
There isn't anything in the minor leagues, so the Brewers need to look elsewhere on their roster. In my mind, there shouldn't be any more of a demotion than to a platoon for Betancourt since there really isn't anything better available, and it appears that a platoon is already in the works. Counsell has started the last two games at shortstop and Wilson is hitting over .300 with 2 HRs ALREADY after being claimed off waivers from Arizona in almost strictly a pinch-hitting role. Also, they are much more reliable in the field compared to Yuni. Betancourt is likely a free agent after the season is over (team option for $6 million), so the Brewers shouldn't bother to look around the league during the season.
REPLACE: Casey McGehee
I'm hesitant to say this because of how crucial McGehee has been to the Brewers offense over the past two-plus seasons, but it just hasn't been working for the Brewers' third baseman. McGehee is sporting a sub-.230 average with just 4 HRs and has 11 ERRORS! Youch. Can you imagine what kind of season Prince would be having if he had any kind of protection? Ok. I can maybe understand if Casey remains playing almost everyday at third, but it's a no-brainer to throw Corey Hart in the five hole so that pitchers feel at least a little compelled to throw to Fielder. McGehee certainly doesn't have King's back so far.
REPLACE WITH: Wilson, Counsell, Taylor Green (AAA)
Like I mentioned before, Wilson and Counsell should be no more than platoon guys and can help give McGehee some more time off, but this Green guy is intriguing. A 25th round pick in the 2005 draft, Green has hit .299 with 8 HR and 32 RBI between AA Huntsville and AAA Nashville. He has slowly progressed through the minors, but the guy is only 24 and in my mind the next in line should the Brewers not look out of their system for another third baseman after McGehee's time ends in Milwaukee (McGehee is arbitration eligible after '11). This is especially true with Mat Gamel being groomed as the first baseman in-waiting after Prince leaves town, even though there has been some grumbling from fans about Gamel coming up to play third...I hope not. DO NOT touch Gamel. Please.
REPLACE: Kameron Loe
Now I'm not saying replace Loe completely; just in the setup role. Other guys have proved that they are much more deserving than Loe for the job, most notably LaTroy Hawkins and Marco Estrada. Loe's numbers up to this point are a 5.28 ERA and a 2-5 record in 34 appearances (most on the club...why?). Sound like setup numbers to you? To even further my case, Loe has proven that he is basically just a righty specialist because of his tailing sinker. Lefty hitters have had their way with Loe, so I think it's safe to say that he should be demoted to a specialist role like Stetter with lefties. Oh yeah, and he's a free agent after the year is up. C'mon, it's your contract year!
REPLACE WITH: LaTroy Hawkins
It's hard to argue with this selection. Estrada has been good as well and can pitch to both righties and lefties, but he also has his share of blown leads and poor performances. Braddock, in my mind, deserves to be the seventh inning guy even as he is coming off of injury, but that role has been undefined all season. Hawkins has a minuscule .059 ERA. I can see how Roenicke may be cautious in using Hawkins since he's coming off injury, but he's proven to have his velocity back and be able to get the job done all season, unlike Loe. You can only give guys in the bullpen so many chances to keep their spot. Even Trevor Hoffman got the boot and now look what the Brewers have at closer.
REPLACE: Wil Nieves
This may be minor compared to the first three guys on this list, but Nieves sees the field once every five starting pitchers and that's only because Randy Wolf doesn't like the way Jonathan Lucroy calls a game. Nieves is hitting a dismal .146 in 19 games, but to his defense it's difficult to get in a rhythm when playing so infrequently (just 16 games all year). Still, there has to be a guy put in his place that is used to this situation who can at least hit at a respectable average, especially if Lucroy goes down with an injury.
REPLACE WITH: Mike Rivera
I've always like Rivera and was kind of excited when I saw that he was back with the team a few weeks ago after spending last season in the Yankees' system. Rivera was always a guy that I thought deserved more playing time and he doesn't deserve the fate the Brewers are giving him. He would certainly be my option to back up Lucroy in the big leagues and undoubtedly the guy I'd call up to be the main guy if Lucroy for some reason wasn't the guy at catcher anymore.
OTHER UP-AND-COMERS:
AAA - 1B - Mat Gamel*
AAA - OF - Caleb Gindl
AAA - P - Mark Rogers*
AAA - P Amaury Rivas
AAA - 2B - Eric Farris
AA - P - Wily Peralta
AA - P - Cody Scarpetta
A - SS - Scooter Gennett*
A - P - Kyle Heckathorn
A - P - Jimmy Nelson
A - P - Tyler Thornburg*
* = guys I'm legitimately jacked up for
During the course of this entry, the Brewers once again defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 5-3. Zack Greinke improved to 6-1 and the Ax Factor shut down the birds in the 9th to record his 17th save. Milwaukee is now 37-28, which is good enough for the 4th best record in the big leagues. Amazing to see how quickly this team has turned it around since getting off to such a slow start, but when guys like Prince and Brauny are hitting like they are with solid starting pitching and a shut-down closer, this should be happening. The Brewers are one victory away from claiming first place in the Central Division. Feels good to type that out on the screen...let's just hope it becomes the norm.
The Brewers are in a nice place right now at this point of the season. The days of panic are behind us and the Crew is only a half game out of first place coming into play on Sunday. This doesn't mean it's time to relax; it's time for the Brewers to look for the areas that need improvement. With the Brewers doing so well lately, nothing should be extremely tampered with...only slightly. However, now that the baseball season is nearly two and a half months old, it's time to stop waiting on certain players to hit their stride. It might sound harsh, but you can't wait this long for professional baseball players to remember how to hit a ball or find the strike zone. Having said that, it's time to pinpoint the players that can expect to see less playing time and see where the Brewers should look, whether it be in their system or across the league, for help.
*DISCLAMER* I hope that the four players on this unfortunate list all begin to figure it out more than anyone, but for the sake of argument and to be fair to other Brewer fans who have the same concerns as me, here it goes.
REPLACE: Yuniesky Betancourt
Coming into the season, I knew that Betancourt would be a downgrade from Alcides Escobar in the field, but I thought he would at least hold his own at the plate. Yuni B is 0/2...8 errors, just 3 HRs and a .230/.256/.340 just doesn't cut it for me, although Escobar has arguably been worse if you can believe it. He is the origin for my former fantasy baseball team name "I'm Betan Our Defense Sucks," which wasn't holding true for awhile, but thanks in part to Yuni B, the team defense of the Brewers has dropped into 15th in the Majors (9th in the NL).
REPLACE WITH: Josh Wilson & Craig Counsell
There isn't anything in the minor leagues, so the Brewers need to look elsewhere on their roster. In my mind, there shouldn't be any more of a demotion than to a platoon for Betancourt since there really isn't anything better available, and it appears that a platoon is already in the works. Counsell has started the last two games at shortstop and Wilson is hitting over .300 with 2 HRs ALREADY after being claimed off waivers from Arizona in almost strictly a pinch-hitting role. Also, they are much more reliable in the field compared to Yuni. Betancourt is likely a free agent after the season is over (team option for $6 million), so the Brewers shouldn't bother to look around the league during the season.
REPLACE: Casey McGehee
I'm hesitant to say this because of how crucial McGehee has been to the Brewers offense over the past two-plus seasons, but it just hasn't been working for the Brewers' third baseman. McGehee is sporting a sub-.230 average with just 4 HRs and has 11 ERRORS! Youch. Can you imagine what kind of season Prince would be having if he had any kind of protection? Ok. I can maybe understand if Casey remains playing almost everyday at third, but it's a no-brainer to throw Corey Hart in the five hole so that pitchers feel at least a little compelled to throw to Fielder. McGehee certainly doesn't have King's back so far.
REPLACE WITH: Wilson, Counsell, Taylor Green (AAA)
Like I mentioned before, Wilson and Counsell should be no more than platoon guys and can help give McGehee some more time off, but this Green guy is intriguing. A 25th round pick in the 2005 draft, Green has hit .299 with 8 HR and 32 RBI between AA Huntsville and AAA Nashville. He has slowly progressed through the minors, but the guy is only 24 and in my mind the next in line should the Brewers not look out of their system for another third baseman after McGehee's time ends in Milwaukee (McGehee is arbitration eligible after '11). This is especially true with Mat Gamel being groomed as the first baseman in-waiting after Prince leaves town, even though there has been some grumbling from fans about Gamel coming up to play third...I hope not. DO NOT touch Gamel. Please.
REPLACE: Kameron Loe
Now I'm not saying replace Loe completely; just in the setup role. Other guys have proved that they are much more deserving than Loe for the job, most notably LaTroy Hawkins and Marco Estrada. Loe's numbers up to this point are a 5.28 ERA and a 2-5 record in 34 appearances (most on the club...why?). Sound like setup numbers to you? To even further my case, Loe has proven that he is basically just a righty specialist because of his tailing sinker. Lefty hitters have had their way with Loe, so I think it's safe to say that he should be demoted to a specialist role like Stetter with lefties. Oh yeah, and he's a free agent after the year is up. C'mon, it's your contract year!
REPLACE WITH: LaTroy Hawkins
It's hard to argue with this selection. Estrada has been good as well and can pitch to both righties and lefties, but he also has his share of blown leads and poor performances. Braddock, in my mind, deserves to be the seventh inning guy even as he is coming off of injury, but that role has been undefined all season. Hawkins has a minuscule .059 ERA. I can see how Roenicke may be cautious in using Hawkins since he's coming off injury, but he's proven to have his velocity back and be able to get the job done all season, unlike Loe. You can only give guys in the bullpen so many chances to keep their spot. Even Trevor Hoffman got the boot and now look what the Brewers have at closer.
REPLACE: Wil Nieves
This may be minor compared to the first three guys on this list, but Nieves sees the field once every five starting pitchers and that's only because Randy Wolf doesn't like the way Jonathan Lucroy calls a game. Nieves is hitting a dismal .146 in 19 games, but to his defense it's difficult to get in a rhythm when playing so infrequently (just 16 games all year). Still, there has to be a guy put in his place that is used to this situation who can at least hit at a respectable average, especially if Lucroy goes down with an injury.
REPLACE WITH: Mike Rivera
I've always like Rivera and was kind of excited when I saw that he was back with the team a few weeks ago after spending last season in the Yankees' system. Rivera was always a guy that I thought deserved more playing time and he doesn't deserve the fate the Brewers are giving him. He would certainly be my option to back up Lucroy in the big leagues and undoubtedly the guy I'd call up to be the main guy if Lucroy for some reason wasn't the guy at catcher anymore.
OTHER UP-AND-COMERS:
AAA - 1B - Mat Gamel*
AAA - OF - Caleb Gindl
AAA - P - Mark Rogers*
AAA - P Amaury Rivas
AAA - 2B - Eric Farris
AA - P - Wily Peralta
AA - P - Cody Scarpetta
A - SS - Scooter Gennett*
A - P - Kyle Heckathorn
A - P - Jimmy Nelson
A - P - Tyler Thornburg*
* = guys I'm legitimately jacked up for
During the course of this entry, the Brewers once again defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 5-3. Zack Greinke improved to 6-1 and the Ax Factor shut down the birds in the 9th to record his 17th save. Milwaukee is now 37-28, which is good enough for the 4th best record in the big leagues. Amazing to see how quickly this team has turned it around since getting off to such a slow start, but when guys like Prince and Brauny are hitting like they are with solid starting pitching and a shut-down closer, this should be happening. The Brewers are one victory away from claiming first place in the Central Division. Feels good to type that out on the screen...let's just hope it becomes the norm.
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