Capuano DL'd : Torn ligament in left elbow (reply #88); no surgery FOR NOW-try 3-4 weeks of rehab (reply #161); Tommy John surgery Thurs., May 16th (reply #192)

[Blindcheck]

Apparently, Capuano left the game early today with soreness in the elbow.

 

With Gallardo starting the year on the disabled list and potentially Capuano having an injury, the Brewers might be happy to have this depth in the rotation to start the year.

 

My guess (if the Capuano situation warrants some time off)is that the Villanueva will start the year in the pen for the month of April to limit his innings and the Rotation will look like this until Gallardo comes back...Sheets, Suppan, Vargas, Bush and Parra...With Parra as a the fifth starter, you can limit his innings somewhat. The decision to keep Parra or Bush in the rotation won't have to be made until Gallardo comes back and Villy will be ready to step in for vargas about May 15th or so.

 

 

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080317&content_id=2436595&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

 

Edit---Added the link

 

Edit--- Amended title with update --1992

[splitterpfj]

It's too bad about Capuano, I wonder if he's been feeling this, or if it just happened today? I'm glad the Brewers didn't just dump a pitcher somewhere, that's never a good idea.

 

It'll be interesting to see how the team manages the IP of both Villanueva and Parra this year, I expect a lot of shuffling over the first half of the season. It's too bad everyone's not ready to go 200 IP, but at least the team has more than 5 arms to pick from.

[brewtank34]

this really isn't helping our situation out for trading for prospects...but it is quite nice to have this depth.

I would rather have: Sheets, Suppon Parra, Villanueva, Vargas w/Bush in the Pen. Carlos has definitely earned a SP role.

[Blindcheck]

I would rather have Villy in the rotation as well, but I think we need to watch his innings this year, yet, so starting him in the pen for a month and a half and then let him make 25 starts and he should be alright in his innings.

 

Also, if Vargas can start off decent, a team might give us a decnt prospect as he might be coveted as injuries occur during the season.

This can he an opportunity to showcase Vargas before we hand over the job to Villy.

[Fear The Chorizo]

This helps to explain his lack of velocity - I was getting nervous that the Brewers were seriously considering keeping Capuano in the rotation because he was a veteran. Hopefully this clarifies the rotation situation a bit. Part of me thinks he might be given the Elmer Dessens treatment this season - have a minor injury that allows the Brewers to put him on the shelf (DL) for an extended period of time, then see if the team needs him during the season once he's 100% healthy...if he gets himself healthy and the rest of the rotation is performing, give him a spot start or two in the minors as rehab assignments or even a spot start/long relief role in Milwaukee as a trade showcase, and then trade him at the deadline for whatever you can get for him. Honestly, an injury to one of the scuffling veteran starters was probably the best thing that could have happened for roster management - as long as the veteran starter wasn't sheets, that is.

[don1481]

I would rather have Villy in the rotation as well, but I think we need to watch his innings this year, yet, so starting him in the pen for a month and a half and then let him make 25 starts and he should be alright in his innings.

Why? Villanueva's pitched 122.2 and 182 innings in 2007 and 2006, respectively (between the minors and bigs). I'd say he's pretty much good to go for about 190-200 this year.

 

[AmyintheSouth]

Part of me hopes this is just being extra-careful about any sort of twinge due to it being spring training, given how much I'd like to see Capuano be successful, but part of me sort of hopes this is something that's been going on that just came to a head today in order to at least partially explain his ineffectiveness.

 

I'm really glad no pitching has been traded yet -- these things just seem to happen when a team starts out thinking they can spare the depth.

[jackalope02ca]

We are now officially one injury away from having to trade prospects for a Capuano/Vargas type pitcher.

 

This is why you should never be in a hurry to move your depth pitching. Anything can and usually does happen.

[RyDogg66]

I believe we are still two injuries away before we have fewer than 5 starters.

[Blindcheck]

I would rather have Villy in the rotation as well, but I think we need to watch his innings this year, yet, so starting him in the pen for a month and a half and then let him make 25 starts and he should be alright in his innings.

Why? Villanueva's pitched 122.2 and 182 innings in 2007 and 2006, respectively (between the minors and bigs). I'd say he's pretty much good to go for about 190-200 this year.

 

 

 

If you give him 34 starts and he averages 6 2/3 innings, he will end up with 220 innings...and that does not count any post season...Add 3 starts in Post season and you are looking at 240 innings....

 

That would be a huge jump from 122 innings and even 182 innings the year before.

 

25 starts at 7 innings a start would put him at 175 innings...add 15 innings of relief in April and early May and you are at the 190 innings, you mentioned...If Villy is as good as we think he will be, we don't want to blow out his arm in Early september and have to rely on Vargas to get us through September and October when we could have reversed it and had Vargas take some of the starts in April and May to keep Villy's innings down.

 

 

[don1481]

If you give him 34 starts and he averages 6 2/3 innings, he will end up with 220 innings...and that does not count any post season...Add 3 starts in Post season and you are looking at 240 innings....

 

That would be a huge jump from 122 innings and even 182 innings the year before.

 

25 starts at 7 innings a start would put him at 175 innings...add 15 innings of relief in April and early May and you are at the 190 innings, you mentioned...If Villy is as good as we think he will be, we don't want to blow out his arm in Early september and have to rely on Vargas to get us through September and October when we could have reversed it and had Vargas take some of the starts in April and May to keep Villy's innings down.

 

I'm gonna be honest here: I don't see any chance of Villanueva averaging close to 7 IP/start over the course of an entire season. 6 IP might be reasonable for Villy; Gallardo only averaged 5.88 per start with Milwaukee last year, for example.

Ben Sheets, for example, jumped from 161 as a rookie (10 in AAA, 151 in MIL) to 216. Mind you, he was hurt for some of his rookie season but that's still a big jump in IP. And he proceeded to fire off 3 straight seasons of 215+ IP.

Applying the same argument about Parra (he needs to be kept out of the rotation to lower his risk of injury) doesn't apply to Villanueva IMO. Villanueva lacks Parra's injury-riddled past. He's thrown a lot more innings. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

 

Villanueva should be fine for 34 starts at 6 IP/start - which would be like 204 IP.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I love it when Cappy gets hurt. It will help our rotation just as it did last June.

[razzzorsharp]

Classy post TWR. We all love injuries.

[logan82]

I love it when Cappy gets hurt. It will help our rotation just as it did last June.

I guess that's why our record after his injury was better than before.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I guess that's why our record after his injury was better than before.

Yeah and Sheets getting hurt had nothing to do with that. We got to insert Yo in our rotation so it obviously made it better.

[logan82]

TuesdaysWithRillo wrote:

Yeah and Sheets getting hurt had nothing to do with that. We got to insert Yo in our rotation so it obviously made it better.

I certainly missed your hatred for Capuano over the winter.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I don't hate Capuano. I just hate his 85 mph fastball.

[LUKE232323]

This could be a blessing in disguise, because I think it forces Parra into the rotation (he's earned it, he's done everything they have asked up to this point and more). Villanueva is a lock. That leaves the last spot to start the year between Bush and Vargas. Personally, I'll take Bush there.

[logan82]

I don't hate Capuano. I just hate his 85 mph fastball.

Then why do you constantly wish injury upon him and cheer when he is injured? If he is really as bad as you seem to think he will be eventually found out to be the fraud that you think he is. I appreciate the fact that you want to see the Brewers win, but to be happy when somebody is injured is just completely classless.

[Roscoe Chill]

Yeah, I guess I don't know what people who are asking what happened to Capuano's velocity are talking about...What velocity?

[DougJones43]

Anything that increases the likelihood of Claudio Vargas starting games doesn't make your team better.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Before he started pitching poorly, Capuano was routinely 88-90 mph with his fastball. Dropping to the mid 80's may not seem that significant, but he relies on the difference in velocity between his heater and his changeup - the smaller that gap gets, the easier it is for hitters to adjust to different pitches. it's not that he could just rare back and blow people away, but 90 complementing a mid 70's changeup is alot quicker to a hitter's perspective than 85. of course it didn't help when he wasn't locating his fastball well, no matter how hard he was throwing it.

[Ennder]

Take it with a grain of salt of course but pitch/fx says his fastball averaged 86.4 in 2005, 86.8 in 2006, 86.9 in 2007. His overall velocity is about the same as always.

[danzig6767]

Anything that increases the likelihood of Claudio Vargas starting games doesn't make your team better.

Watching him pitch the other day, Vargas threw more changeups in that game than i remember him throwing in five games combined last year. For the most part last season, Vargas was throwing just fastballs and sliders the vast majority of the time. Seeing him a few days ago throwing his change very often along with good location on it, i couldn't help but wonder if Claudio and Maddux worked on the pitch and he now has a better feel for it.

The big problem i saw for him as a starter last season was since he threw so many just fastballs and sliders, nothing he was throwing was much of an offspeed pitch to keep hitters off balance. Even worse was his fastball is generally only in that 90-92 range and his slider isn't a special one, so he's quite hittable and thus Vargas nibbled so much. Him throwing that very effective change all the time the other day made him look much tougher to hit. Hopefully it wasn't just a fluke type day and Vargas is able to have an effective changeup most of the season.

 

[aracko]

I am probably as big of a Vargas fan as there is. This guy is a winner. I know they say round here that clutch doesnt exist, but id say that he definatly comes up big in big situations. Maybe not cluch but able to reach another level or concentration when the pressure is on. hed be great as a closer quite honestly if he could figure out how to get the walks down. He might not pitch complete games, but there are alot of great pitchers who dont go deep into games.