Results tagged ‘ Zaun ’
Melvin’s Offseason Moves
It’s unbelievable how fast time flies by, doesn’t it? In only 5 short weeks the Nationals will take on the Americans for the All-Star game, getting us to the halfway-point of the season. Then, only 2 weeks after that the trade deadlines appears. And less than six months ago, Doug Melvin was busy making moves to make the 2010 Brewers playoff contenders. Being this far in the season, let’s take a look at how those moves have fared out so far. I will look at the signings of Greg Zaun, Doug Davis, and Randy Wolf as well as the partings of Mike Cameron, Jason Kendall, and Braden Looper.
Parting ways with Jason Kendall to sign Greg Zaun to a 1 year deal/2nd year club option.
There was one thing for sure that Kendall was that Zaun is not-reliable and durable. Kendall started over 130 games both years he was with us. In 2009, he started over 150 games! That’s pretty unheard of for a catcher. However, his pitchers had one of the worst ERA’s in the the league, he didn’t throw out runners, and he couldn’t hit for the same high average that he had done previously. Something wasn’t working, and there definately needed to be a switch. In steps Zaun, a switch hitting catcher who cost $2 million more, but could do all the same things Kendall could do with a little better bat. We were fooled on opening day when he threw out the first runner who tried to steal on him. We hoped he would break out of his early-season slump. But I think most Brewer fans were not too hurt to see him go to the DL. Kottaras has a lot of talent, and we were already to see Lucroy make the big jump to the majors. The kid just seems like a ball player. Like he is supposed to be there.
The harsh truth of the matter is, Kendall and Zaun both do nothing well. Kendall played in more games, but maybe that’s not such a good thing in hindsight. Our young guys are getting a chance to step up and prove themselves. I’m going to call this one a good move not based on Zaun being better, but that it has given our young guys a chance to play.
Signing Doug Davis and Randy Wolf
The Brewers definately needed some pitching, but it was not a year for the pitcher on the free agent market. Of course Melvin holds the wild card for trades with Fielder in his back pocket, but it might be too early to play that one. It’s no mystery that Doug Davis builds teams around hitting and doesn’t either know a lot about pitching, or doesn’t care about it. As we have in times past (Francisco Cordero) Melvin brought in a pitcher he has previously known, and Davis fits that mold perfectly. Davis and Melvin go all the way back to Texas before the obvious match up of being in Milwaukee together for 4 years. But there were a lot of other pitchers out there, most notably Jarrod Washburn, who is still out there! A hometime guy who had said he wanted to go to Minnesota or Milwaukee, never got a chance in his hometown. Maybe he was asking too much money, or maybe it wa something I don’t even know about. Someone we did get was Randy Wolf.
I know the numbers don’t back me up, but I like Randy Wolf. I like him a lot because he reminds me of a sort of anti-Jeff Suppan. Follow me on this for a second: Wolf- a lefty, Suppan- a right. But that is just the obvious one. Wolf is a hard working, blue collar kind of guy. Suppan was on Young and the Restless. But my favorite differance is ownership. When Wolf pitches a bad game, he blame it on HIMSELF and talks about how he needs to do better, even when he wins! He’s a Milwaukee kind of guy and he works hard to gain respect. Suppan on the other hand makes up excuse after excuse. This was a quote Suppan had last Sunday after he blew it against the Mets.
“”Basically it was a matter of execution. I was just up in the zone.
That first inning I was trying to get a ground ball, got it, but it’s
up the middle (on Castillo’s hit). With the home run (by Pagan), it was
a changeup, first pitch, but it was just middle, middle.”
It was just middle, middle?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?! JUST?!?!?!?!?! That means it’s a terrible pitch Jeff! Seriously, sometimes I feel like I am taking crazy pills!
Anyways, I would say that the Wolf pick was good and the Davis pick marginal at best. I still think we should go after Washburn.
Not going after Cameron, or Looper
The casual fan looks at Looper stats and says wow! He won the most games of any pitcher for the Brewers in 2009. He MUST be good. And the rest of us would say, have you ever watched a game? It’s surprising that Looper wasn’t on the DL with neck inflammation after turning his head so many times to watch the ball leaving the ball park. The guy wasn’t that good, gave up a league leading amount of homeruns, but got crazy run support. Not going after Looper was a good move.
Time will tell if Gomez is the centerfielder of the future. He seems to be a little too streaky and injury prone, but we needed to get some kind of value for Hardy since Escobar was on the way up. I think we got pretty fair value, and Gerut and Edmonds have filled in nicely when Gomez has been injured. Having Cameron would of created a dead spot in our line up, but most importantly would of cost way too much to keep him. I consider this a great move.
Random Thought of the Week
I’m sick of hearing how the one hitter thrown by Galarraga should be overturned and it should go in the record books as a no-no. That’s why you play the game and that’s why we have umpires. What about all the times that umpires call the guy out at first after a super sweet play in the hole by the short stop even though he was obviously safe? Better yet, what about 2 years ago when C.C. Sabathia threw a one hitter against the Pirates, even though the one hit came on a comebacker that C.C. dropped and should have been an error? Stuff like this happens all the time, and that’s the beauty of baseball-the human element. Unlike NFL and their replay, baseball is in the moment, under the lights, with millions watching. And you only get one chance to make the call.
Great Start? Still Some Concern
So the Brewers are off to a nice 2-2 start. Looking at just the first series against the Rockies they took 2 of 3 from a playoff team. It was great to see the Brewers come out flying but I have some concerns about what I saw during that series. Of course I’m being a little picky but these are issues that need to be worked out if this team really wants to make the playoffs.
Yovani’s pitch count
I really like Gallardo and think he is an ace type pitcher. My one knock on him last year was he threw too many pitches and would tend to walk guys too much. On opening day he only walked two, which was great to see. He still threw 109 pitches in only 6 innings which means he’s still going deep into counts. I paid close attention during that game and noticed he seemed to always start behind in the count. He just didn’t seem to get ahead of guys on a regular basis like an ace should do. Ubaldo Jimenez was up 0-1, 1-2 on almost every hitter it seemed like. He attacked the zone early and put the hitters in defense mode the rest of the at-bat. I have plenty of faith in Gallardo and I’m not trying to say he’s not going to be an ace this year, he will be. I just would like to see our ace go deeper into games and start attacking hitters. He needs to impose his will on the hitters and make it into the 7th and 8th inning on a regular basis.
Edmonds in the 5 hole??
I talked about my issues with the constant lineup changes in a previous blog and hoped to see a more consistent lineup this year. So what does Macha do on to start the season? Throw a wrench into the whole thing and move McGehee to the 6th spot in favor of Edmonds? It made no sense to me and I’m hoping it is not a sign of things to come. Macha needs to just let the players settle into their spots in the lineup and let them hit. While I’m not thrilled with the way the lineup is set Macha just needs to let it be. Edmonds has done a great job working counts and seeing pitches but he’s not a threat like McGehee is. McGehee is going to put the ball in play and make you pay if put runners on in front of him. Edmonds still strikes out too much to really make a team second guess walking Prince. Let McGehee drive in runs and protect Prince. Edmonds can work the counts and frustrate pitchers as they’re trying to get through the bottom of the order.
Defense behind the plate?
I like Zaun and Kottaras a lot and think it’s a nice upgrade over last year but they’ve not looked sharp blocking balls. Zaun had the blunder on opening day that cost the brewers an early run. I couldn’t tell but there should have been more communication from Gallardo or McGehee showing Zaun where the ball was but you can’t let that happen. Kottaras allowed two balls to get by him in his one game. This is a disturbing trend in just the first three games. I’m going to chalk it up to new catchers getting used to new pitchers and hope it’s just that. They’ve done a great job throwing runners out which is something we didn’t see last year. Now they just need to keep pitches in front of them and not allow runners to get free bases. It also does not allow a pitcher to throw their best breaking stuff. They might worry if they put one in the dirt it’s going to the backstop and the runners will move up 90 feet. A pitcher cannot have that thought in their head as they pitch. They need to be able to trust their catcher to make a play when need be.
Of course there is a lot to get excited about from what we’ve seen so far this year. I just remember last year when we got off to that great start and everyone was talking playoffs again, I know I was. We ignored small issues that could have came back to hurt us later int he season. As the season moved along those issues (lack of depth and Suppans struggles) really slowed us down and derailed our season. Yes it’s early in the season and I normally don’t put too much stock into the first couple series as a sign of things to come. Now is the time to figure out what we have and what needs. Let’s not wait until we hit that first slump and we act surprised about some of the Brewers struggles. We figure them out now we limit the length and amount of slumps the Brewers will hit during the year.
-Ross
Random Baseball Thought
So something very interesting happened on Opening Day this year that has never happened in the history of the game. Ian Stewart became the first player in the history of the game to hit a home run in his first at-bat on his birthday, on opening day. Yes this is an obscure pointless stat but it’s a reason I love baseball. The game has been around for over 100 years and still every year you’ll see things that have never happened.
Opening Day, Alaska Style
As this being my first opening day far away from Miller Park, I had to try and make the best of what I could. Being 3 hours behind, I knew that it would mean for an early morning, but I was ready for it. Here then, is how a Brewer fan followed the Brewers on opening day. (Please note that I do not get the game on my own TV at home, which greatly hinders my choices for opening day.)
6:45 a.m.- Wake up, throw on some clothes, and make the ten minute drive to school to get my sub lessons ready for the day. I’m not going in to work folks.
7:31 a.m.- After checking my emails and reading some Brewers stuff at school, I shut down the computer, head back home, and cue up “Brewers Brewers keep turning up the heat” and “Catch the fever” also a Brewers song. If you don’t know the songs, search for it on YouTube. Anyways, here I am blasting Brewers at 7:31 in the morning, waking up my fiancée, and doing a Brewer dance. Time to get some food in me, if I’m going to make it through the whole day.
7:48 a.m.- Non-alcoholic smoothies. I was contemplating putting alcohol in, but we only had dark rum or amaretto. I was looking more for something like vodka or tequila.
8:11 a.m. -After a shower to wash away the demons of the 2009 season, I contemplate which Brewer outfit to go with. I finally decide on the “Bring back the mug” shirt, white Brewer jacket, and a hat. But the hat was a dilemma all in itself. I have about 4 Brewer hats, but narrowing it
down to one was tougher than expected. I got it down to 2, the current Brewers hat and the hat from the Chuckie Carr era. After a quick text to Ross, we agree that the current hat is the way to go.
8:28 a.m. -For the third time this morning, I triple check that Brewers game will be playing at the Peanut Farm, a local establishment who plays almost every sporting event that is on. Yes, it’s playing, and yes with the Brewers announcers. I wish the game were starting right now.
9:45 a.m.- We arrive at the Peanut Farm, and take our seats next to a nice big television. The waitress comes over and asks if we want anything and before she can get all the words out of her mouth I ask for a nice big Bloody Mary. But I am shutdown (which should have been a sign of things to come). They do not serve alcohol until 10 o’clock! Can you believe it! In a city where the sun doesn’t go down for 6 months, you have to wait until 10 in the morning! I have never missed Wisconsin more than at this moment.
9:49 a.m.- We asked the waitress to switch the big television to the Brewer game, and 2 minutes later the manager comes over and asks which game we wanted to watch. Really? I am head to do in Brewer garb, Tessa has on her Brewer track jacket and shirt underneath, we are the only ones in the place wearing Brewer gear… You really don’t know which game we want to watch? Really?!?!?
9:55 a.m.- Tessa and I start to discuss nicknames for the 2010 Brewers. She submits “Bam Bam Braun”. I get it, it’s catchy and all. But he already has a nickname. It’s the Hebrew Hammer. His Wikipedia page even says that’s what his nickname is, so you know it’s official. Even though Bam Bam Braun is catchy, I have to respectively disagree.
10:10 a.m.- Strike one by Gallardo. Seconds later there is an infield hit that Weeks flips to Escobar and they barely miss the runner. If this is what I see on the first play, we are in for some treats as far as turning double plays goes.
10:14 a.m. After not getting any base runners during spring training, Zaun nails the first guy who goes. Perfect throw, right on the money. I propose a new nickname: The Killer Z. It’s either that or Bernie, since he looks just like Bernie Brewer. Either way, Kohl’s needs to start stocking t-shirt jerseys of Zaun.
10:15 a.m. Bloody Mary. Finally!
10:27 a.m. Edmonds is old! He can barely get the barrel of the bat around on Jimenez, who is throwing some gas. That’s what happens when you take a year off, I guess.
10:36 a.m. Rockies 1-0. Zaun does a bad job blocking a ball in the dirt, and then can’t find it so the runner scores from 2nd. I contemplate why I even thought he was deserving of a nickname. The Killer Z let me down.
10:37 a.m.- A lack of concentration and Yovanni leaves a 3-0 fastball right down the middle. I think Stewart hit it about 600 feet.
10:40 a.m. First Chef Jerry Garcia sighting! I miss this about Wisconsin television-the commercials. Chef Jerry Garcia teams up with Piggly Wiggly to make some delicious Brats for todays game. I like that they keep it simple for opening day.
10:44 a.m. Escobar gets a hit with 2 outs, allowing the pitcher to bat in the same inning. I don’t like the fact that every time Escobar gets a 2 out hit, he can’t steal, in fear of getting thrown out and the pitcher starting the next inning at the plate. That’s why we bat pitcher 8 and Escobar 9.
10:58 a.m. Either Braun is wearing a smaller jersey, or he’s been lifting and training pretty hard over the offseason.
11:20 a.m. 3-0 Rockies
11:38 a.m. 4-0 Rockies.
11:50 a.m. 4-1! Braun hits a laser to left field that scores Gomez, who got to second on a wild pitch. Here we go!
12:20 p.m. Ross texts me and says to put on the rally caps. A little early in the game, but I oblige and turn my hat inside out. Gomez homers and I learn to never question another Brewer fan when they ask you to put on a rally cap. That should be like an unwritten rule or something.
Gallardo’s final line: 7 innings pitched, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks. Not bad at all, but not good enough for today.
12:42 p.m. Narveson gives up a lead off double that you would think would end up hurting him pretty bad. However, 6 minutes later he is out of the jam by pop up, pop up, ground ball. I like this kid, even though later in the game he does finally give up a run.
1:10 Bottom of the 9th, here we go!
1:11 Weeks hit by pitch. Rally Rabbit!
1:12 Wild pitch. This just might happen…
1:14 Gomez bleeder to right. Men on 2nd and 3rd, with the 2 best hitters in the National League.
1:17 Braun gets a sac fly to cut the lead to 5-3. Now first base is open and they do not have to pitch to Prince.
1:18 Prince hits a line drive that is going about 100 mph and Tulowitzki comes up with it. 2 outs.
1:20 With Hart on deck, Edmonds lines out by hitting the ball almost as hard as Prince.
Final: 5-3
This is the first opening day that the Brewers have lost in a long time, and it’s kind of weird. I’m used to saying “162-0!” But now I’m just “You can’t win ‘em all anyways!” It really changes your perspective. I just hope the Brewers can win one of the next 2 or I’m out 20 dollars (If gambling was legal).
-Ben
Random Thought of the Day:
There was a commercial during the Brewer game yesterday that was talking about the Butler Duke Championship game. They were interviewing a Butler kid and he says ” I don’t know what’s bigger: Beating Duke, or winnning the National Championship.” Really? You can’t figure out which one is bigger? Let me hel
p you: WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. Ridiculous.
Your 2010 Milwaukee Brewers Lineup
So, I’m still banking that one of these days Doug Melvin is going to call me up and tell me he is so impressed with my blog and my loyalty to the Brewers he is going to give me the keys and let me drive the Brewer Express to the playoffs. Seriously. I have dreams about this at least once a month, but usually as the season approaches, they get more and more consistent. So Doug, if you ARE reading this, I’m going to give you a little free advice-call it me helping you on good faith. If I were to be in charge, this is how I would set the line up for this season…
1. Rickie Weeks, 2b
Rickie Weeks was our leadoff hitter last year before he went down. And you know what? Both he and the Brewers were on a record setting paces. Weeks was being mentioned in MVP talks and the Brewers were winning lots of games. So I ask you this: Why change? We can argue what a “prototypical” lead off hitter should be, runs above average, puts the ball on the ground, can bunt, plays above average defense, the list goes on. But why not Weeks? A guy who can hit for power and hit in the gaps, has showed improvement on defense every year, and has great speed. Plus, he is an intense guy who gets along with his teammates. He’s a spark plug who will get lots of at bats and for the Brew Crew, that might be a good thing.
2. Carlos Gomez, CF
After hemming and hawing for a while, this was not as big of a decision as I made it out in my head to be. Gomez was traded for our number 2 hitter. He has great potential, and would be able to move Weeks around the bases while being protected in the lineup by Braun and Prince. In other words: He’s going to see pitches to hit, very hittable pitches. Let’s see what the kid can do and let him loose in one of the safest spots to hit in all of the National League.
3. Ryan Braun, LF
If you are like me, you’ve thought at least once what our team would look like if Braun could play defense. We would have 3rd base locked up for a long time, and we would be trying to find an outfielder. Maybe we don’t make some of the other moves we have made since Braun made the switch. Either way, he was our 3-hole hitter, and will always be our 3-hole hitter.
4. Prince Fielder, 1b
I hope that at least once this year, Prince lays down a bunt to third base when they play the over-shift on him. I’m also hoping for another sweet celebration when he has his first walk-off. And I can’t wait to see what happens when he breaks his dad’s single season HR record.
5. Casey McGehee, 3b
With Gamel going down, this is even a more simple choice. McGehee did wonderful in this spot last year, and I don’t see why it will not continue. The truth is, Prince will be pitched around as much as possible this year, no matter who is hitting behind him. The goal is to not let that be an option, and for Casey to come through when they walk Fielder in front of him. Not too worried.
6. Corey Hart, RF
With his new goggles and his weight loss, I see Hart doing better things at the plate then last. He is one of our best base runners, and can bunt, hit for power, and hit for contact. Probably all in the same game. Hart has the ability to mold his game offensively as the Brewers see fit. I just hope he can stay out of hitting into double plays and striking out too much.
7. Gregg Zaun, C
Zaun was not brought onto the team for his bat, so his role in the 7-hole will be to make sure the pitcher always gets up in the same inning he bats. You’ll understand when you see who I am batting seventh. Zaun wlll have to able to hit some bad balls for basehits, and he MUST not hit into double plays. A seasoned veteran, I feel like these are 2 things that should be easier for him than anyone else on the team. By the way, does anyone else think he kind of looks like Bernie Brewer?
8. Pitcher
Our pitchers did a lot better with bunting in ’09, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.
9. Alcides Escobar, SS
Escobar has great speed and is getting better with his on-base percentage. Batting him 9th allows more opportunity for him to steal bases. If he was our lead-off hitter or our #2 hitter, he would have to stay put once Braun and Fielder were up, which is smart baseball. But in the 9-hole, he can steal while our #1 AND our #2 hitter are up. He can jump start the top of the order and cause problems by getting lots of attention from pitchers in their stretch. A win-win for everyone.
Starting Rotation
1. Yovanni Gallardo-our ace in the hole.
2. Randy Wolf-please don’t be another Suppan!
3. Doug Davis-good to have you back double D!
4. Dave Bush-I’m excited to see the many phases of your facial hair this year
5. Manny Parra-Totally earned the starting spot. My hat is off to you, sir.
Mr. Melvin and Mr. Macha, if you decided to go with this line-up and NOT give me credit, I’ll understand. Just send me those free tickets in the mail.
Random Thought of the Day
-Gregg Zaun has his own website. That’s so cool. Click HERE
-Ben
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