Will this rotation will keep Brewers from playoffs?

[DonMoney4Mgr]

Lets face it, the wheels are turning right now with Melvin and Ash trying to figure out their options for a consistant and dependable rotation for the rest of this year. Lots of question marks for a team with so much "depth" of starting pitching. For instance, Parra can not continue to have short, ineffective outings and expect to stay in the rotation. What is puzzling about Parra is his command (8 walks in 13 IP). He never showed that kind of wildness coming up. Is Gallardo 100%? Did the knee alter his mechanics in any way shape or form? As far as Bush and Suppan, both are back end of the rotation guys that will have high WHIP's and will have ERA's around 4.5 - 5. Villy, although I like him a lot, also does not have dominant stuff. Wednesday his fastball was around 88 on the gun.

 

To sum it up, (excluding Sheets) With the old (bush and soup) they know what they have but it's not that good, and with the new (parra and villy) they don't what they have, and so far it hasn't been good or what they anticipated. So this leads me to this prediction; Mid to late May this is the rotation: 1) Sheets 2) Soup 3) Gallardo 4) Weaver (cringe) 5) Bush (another cringe)

 

side note; why did they release Vargas?

[tosabrewfan]

I think you are overreacting to a few mediocre (mostly not terrible) outings. One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of these games are on the road and the Brewers are still 5-4 in those games. This was an awful road team last year and they are showing improvement. I don't think that Weaver knocks Villy or Parra out of the rotation unless he has a huge resurgance in the next few weeks. In addition, we should probably wait until Gallardo comes back to start worrying about his effectiveness. As far as Vargas, where exactly do you see him fitting into the current rotation? If your late May predication comes true - I will take back everything I've said above and whole-heartedly agree with you, but I don't see it happening.

[Tbadder]

I'll get killed again, and told I'm nothing but pessimisstic, but once again, this rotation is not good enough to win the division or make the playoffs unless another team falls apart through injury or unexpected non-performance. Parra, Villy, Bush, Suppan are all too inconsistent or all unrealized potential. Sheets always misses time, though my gut tells me this year he'll be alright, and Yo-Man is coming off an injury, and while I don't think it'll affect him long term, we still have to wait and see. So once again I think the starters will put undo pressure on the bullpen in terms of total innings pitched, and while I love what Melvin did in obtaining pitchers who can go more than one inning I still think there will be strain there that other bullpens are not under. I think it's inevitable that our pen suffers in the second half of the season.

[Ennder]

Who knows, the Rockies rotation is terrible and it got on a roll and took them to the playoffs last year. There just is no way to know with pitchers. The rotation doesn't have to be one of the best in the league because the offense is one of the best in the league, it just has to be good enough.

 

Sheets is a solid #1 and I don't really expect an injury this year unless it is something little like last year which can happen to any pitcher. Gallardo is a solid #3 with #2 potential in my opinion. Bush, Villanueva, Suppan are all #4 types with Villanueva having a little more upside. Parra is harder to read, I think he has #2 potential but it won't surprise me to see #4 type numbers, yesterday's game I'm giving him a mulligan on because the strike zone was just silly. Parra was hitting his spots perfectly in the first 2 innings and getting everything called a ball.

 

I think it has enough talent to be good enough.

[Tbadder]

In a best case scenario Parra, Bush, and Villy realize their potential. In that case I don't think the Brewers could avoid the playoffs. That's why I think Melvin's hands are tied somewhat.

[zzzmanwitz]

We are 9-6 without our #2 starter. I think we will be fine.

[Ennder]

For what it is worth with Parra, I looked up Dana Demuth and he had the 3rd smallest strike zone in baseball last year. More specifically his zone is small on the left side and on low pitches. That is why Parra was getting pinched all day and Lohse had a pretty normal strike zone as Lohse works the right side and Parra the left. The Brewers also swung at more junk than the Cardinals of course.

 

 

 

 

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/a-zone-of-their-own/

[MessiahRp]

I think Gallardo and Villy will be great, not good once they get rolling this year. My personal opinion is that you's have Sheets, Gallardo and Villy being more than solid (and sometimes spectacular as Sheets has been so far), Suppan will be his average self and then it's up to Parra and Bush to solidify and hold down that last rotation spot (and I think Parra will win out personally).

 

I am not worried about our rotation too much as long as we're getting past the 5th inning more often than last year when we burned our bullpen out by the midway point of the year.

 

Frankly I'm a little more concerned about not having a solid LH bat to put in the lineup with the way we struggle against Righties.

 

Rp

[JohnBriggs12]

If Parra and Villanueva were established starters, nothing would be said after two shaky but not horrendous starts. Add in the Gallardo return hanging over their heads to pitching in a major league rotation from the beginning of a season for the first time and not much run support, and there is some added pressure. But if you don't commit to a guy after 3 good starts, you don't give up on a guy that quickly either. Both have stuff to get major league hitters out and over the course of the season are going to turn in a number of very good starts.

 

That's not to say they won't send either of those guys down to make room for Gallardo. Parra in particular has very little experience at AAA so it might not hurt him to make some starts down there but I'd bet neither of those two (Villy and Parra) will get fewer than a dozen major league starts this season. They may rotate guys in and out of those 4th and 5th spots a few times even depending on teams they are playing.

[splitterpfj]

I think every GM who's ever lived has spent most of his time worrying about pitching.

 

There's no telling yet if the Brewers have a rotation good enough to win it, because we haven't seen Gallardo yet, we don't have enough to go on with Villy or Parra, and there are questions around Sheets, until proven otherwise.

 

Which makes the Brewers pretty much like every other team in MLB. There isn't a team anywhere that isn't counting on young guys, banking on old guys, or hoping to resurrect someone else's castoff. I'd say, on paper, the Brewers have better options than most teams - now let's see if they can do it.

[endaround]

The Phillies' starter ERA last year was 4.91. The Mets was 4.40. The DBacks 4.23. The Rockies 4.58. Not sure why when your number 5 starter could easily match the staff average numbers you're all that worried.

[Thurston Fluff]

The Reds are relying on young unproven talent in their rotation as well. The Cubs have already sent Hill to the pen for a while because of ineffectiveness and Lilly is showing last year may have been the highwater mark of his career. The Cards rotation has played so far abovtheir heads so far it's almost impossible to keep up the pace. There isn't a single team in the division that doesn't have as many or more questions in the rotation as the Brewers.

[DrWood]

I'm not worried about the rotation at all. Injuries could change that, of course.