New strategies to try to save the season?

[JohnBriggs12]

I'd flip flop roles for McClung and Bush. I'd send Parra down until he makes 5 solid AAA starts and regains his confidence. The first guy I'd replace him with is DiFelice who I'd give 3 starts before I'd look at either Weaver or Narveson.

 

I'd also find ways to get Dillon in the lineup 3 days a week batting him 2nd. some at 3rd, and some at 2nd. I'd move Hall to short occasionally and let Dillon play 3rd. I'd play Rivera a little more. Kendall is already wearing down. He's soon to be 34 and should not be playing day games after night games. I'd leave Counsell on the bench.

 

Other possible moves. Flip flop Hart and Cameron in the batting order. Cameron is not disciplined enough to hit 2nd and Hart is not protecting Prince right now.

[Tbadder]

Shift the emphasis to the long term plan. You've got to play this hand, but it's time to move on. And I don't mean move on like there's no hope at all. Keep playing, demand production, but shift the thinking. Get off the long term large contracts to Braun and Fielder and put your money into the 2008 draft by taking players who demand more than slot value and drop down the board because of it. Explore trades but don't overreact--Hardy, Hall, Hart all have value and someone might still over pay if we're patient.

 

While I agree that shifting the lineup won't result in more runs scored then why not try it anyways then? Can't hurt right? I'd try:

 

Hart

Weeks

Braun

Fielder

Cameron

Hardy

Hall

Pitcher

Kendall

 

My reasoning? Let Weeks take pitches for Hart, and force Rickie to bunt more so the 3rd baseman respects him. Rickie should see more fastballs then.

[Thurston Fluff]

Changing the order in which they don't hit won't help.

 

So true. Interesting how right Yost was that Prince batting in front of Braun wasn't their problem. I'm starting to wonder about the job Skaalen is doing. I'm usually the last one to think coaching or managing haas much to do with it but they really are taking bad approaches and he has been in charge of that for more than a year now.

I think prolonged hitting slumps end up harming the pitching. If pitchers always have to be perfect it has to effect their approach. Being afrains to give up any runs has to make a pitcher pitch differantly after a while. Maybe get the offense going and the ptiching will follow. What we need is for someone to no hit us I guess.

[jason21nl]

I have a good idea. How about hitting the ball the other way? how about with 2 strikes, shortening your swing and make contact? maybe making the defensive plays that you should make? how many times has a ball been hit in the hole that Weeks boot, only to be called a hit because he had to actually move hit feet? get back to the basics.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Shift the emphasis to the long term plan. You've got to play this hand, but it's time to move on. And I don't mean move on like there's no hope at all. Keep playing, demand production, but shift the thinking. Get off the long term large contracts to Braun and Fielder and put your money into the 2008 draft by taking players who demand more than slot value and drop down the board because of it. Explore trades but don't overreact--Hardy, Hall, Hart all have value and someone might still over pay if we're patient.

Interesting point you made...take players who demand more than slot value and drop. This might be where the "value" is in the draft. Overpaying for a couple younger guys is not something that would cripple the franchise like a "Zito-esque" contract. Some of these college guys might make it to the big club sooner than some in the past, making them overall values since they'd still be cheap their first 6 years. The other side of the argument is the 2005 draft was such an anomaly that clubs shouldn't expect the type of fast track success that group had in the future.

[Big Reed]

I think we have discovered the problem.

 

We need to bring the dip n dots back. I believe the problem first started when ittibits was introduced to miller park. now all the hitters want itibitty batting averages to go with their itty bits.

[jnatro]

Let's go radical...here's the lineup

 

Fielder (will get pitches to hit and walks a lot)

Hart

Braun

Cameron

Hall

Hardy

Kendall

Pitcher

Weeks

 

Make Torres or Mota the closer

[DonMoney4Mgr]

Everyone seems to give Doug Melvin a pass. What has he really accomplished? The Reds trade for Volquez is better than anything Melvin has done. Antonassio should of taken the 10M they paid Gagne and offered it to the Oakland, Minnesota, or the Florida GM. This Organzation has NO PITCHING! Fire Melvin now.

[DrWood]

just put all the names of the position players in a hat and draw them out in the order they will hit. we have enough guys that can play multiple positions that you'd typically have someone who could play each position. Here's a first random try:

2b Rickie Weeks

3b Craig Counsell

CF Tony Gwynn

C Jason kendall

LF Joe dillon

ss JJ Hardy

1b Prince Fielder

RF Gabe Kapler

That looks pretty ugly, but play a game, if the guy does OK, keep him in that batting slot and fielding position. If he doesn't do well, select a new random guy.

[jhart05]

I wouldn't say they have NO pitching. I think it's good enough for what they expected to get out of the offense.

 

I do think they expected too much out of Villy and Parra. Neither has ever pitched more than 150 innings, or gone thru an entire season as a starter.

 

But, it is hard to pitch when you feel you have to be perfect all the time, because you're not getting support from your offense.

 

If the offense was even close to what they were last year, we wouldn't be having all these discussions.

[Thurston Fluff]

I do think they expected too much out of Villy and Parra. Neither has ever pitched more than 150 innings, or gone thru an entire season as a starter.

 

Maybe we did expect too much out of them but I think we can expect more than they have given us so far though. I believe they will be better than they have been so far. Like you said they have yet to go through an entire season. Maybe we just expected too much out of all the players. Some of us, myself included sort of had visions of every one of them being allstars. Maybe some of them are just average players who looked so much better due to how crappy a players they replaced

 

But, it is hard to pitch when you feel you have to be perfect all the time, because you're not getting support from your offense.

 

Why is it when others say the same thing as I do it sounds so much clearer than I did? Time for more writting classes I guess.

[shelmark]

Bring up Gamel and play at 3B; in a related move install plexiglass in front of box seats along first base line.

[joepepsi]

I think Ned has to start playing his bench and let the starters know their job isn't guaranteed.

[jhart05]

But, it is hard to pitch when you feel you have to be perfect all the time, because you're not getting support from your offense.

 

Why is it when others say the same thing as I do it sounds so much clearer than I did? Time for more writting classes I guess.

LOL. Sorry, man. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

Didn't mean to step on your toes there. Just didn't read all the posts here before posting my own.

[joepepsi]

I can see some tinkering with the lineup, but I doubt it will change things much. However, I think it's clear the all righty lineup is hurting them. There have to be more lefties in the lineup. If that means one of the "stars" sits down once in a while, or, be still my heart, is traded, then so be it.

[jhart05]

I believe the players have to figure out how to turn this around themselves. I don't think a new manager or coach can really do all that much.

 

I have to believe the offense is going to bust out of this slump soon.

 

I believe when they do, the pitching will be able to relax and they will follow right along.

 

I believe this WILL happen here in May. (Don't care who is on the schedule. It will happen. It HAS to happen.)

 

I believe they have the players on the roster right now to still win the division. (Course with the loss of Yo-yo, a Don Sutton-type trade sure would help.)

 

I just plain ol' still believe this team can do it, I guess.

 

 

Go Crew!!

[jjlong19]

New to BF.net, Thanks for having me...Great Topics...Love the show.

 

What I'd like to see:

 

Rickie be Rickey, I don't think so. Get the bat horizontal out in front of you every so often. Believe me it helps. Can some please show Ned the FSN broadcast from last night? Particularly the part where Rickies' Pop mentioned he should lay down a bunt once in a while.

 

Pitching staff, stop trying to set the MLB record for K's in a game every time out. There is a novel concept out there to 'pitch to contact'. Go for the K when the count is 0-2 and 1-2, otherwise use your defense. It's easier to pitch to contact then it is to strike out a batter when you're down 2-0, 3-1.

 

Somebody please bump Ned, the needle is stuck. If I hear one more time 'He made a couple of bad pitches, otherwise he pitched well.' it's going to kill me. Also, "I don't think they're pressing" should be the new slogan for the 2008 team.

[craigharmann]

After much thinking and research, here's what I've come up with to save the season.

 

1) Hit the ball so that the other team can't field or catch the ball

 

2) Don't swing at pitches that are either in the dirt, the other batter's box or out of the strike zone

 

3) Pitch the ball so that the other team either swings and misses at the ball, or hits the ball so our fielders can catch it or throw them out.

 

4) IF the ball is hit on the ground to a fielder, stop the ball with your glove and make a good solid throw directly to the base.

 

5) Score more runs than the other team.

 

If the Brewers can follow these simple steps on a regular basis, this will help save the season.

[Ennder]

Everyone seems to give Doug Melvin a pass. What has he really accomplished? The Reds trade for Volquez is better than anything Melvin has done. Antonassio should of taken the 10M they paid Gagne and offered it to the Oakland, Minnesota, or the Florida GM. This Organzation has NO PITCHING! Fire Melvin now.

 

I dunno about the Volquez trade, sure he is pitching well but Hamilton is having an MVP type season as well. We would have been fine with pitching if we didn't have two pitchers go down for the season before May 5th.

[rluzinski]

That looks pretty ugly, but play a game, if the guy does OK, keep him in that batting slot and fielding position. If he doesn't do well, select a new random guy.

 

Your random lineup just benched one of the only guys hitting at all (Hart) and put one of the wiorst hitters on the team in the 3 hole (Gwynn). What's one game going to prove anyway? A week doesn't really tell you anything, afterall. Any baseball fan knows that anything can happen over the short term.

 

If people want to swap the lineup around just for the heck of it, I don't have a problem with it, since it's not too important anyway. But to start benching good hitters for bad ones for the sake of change is a bad idea.

 

It's easier to pitch to contact then it is to strike out a batter when you're down 2-0, 3-1.

 

I've never been sure what people mean when they say "pitch to contact". I think it is just used to describe a pitcher who doesn't strike many batters out. If you are a groundball pitcher you'll be OK with good defense. If you are a flyball pitcher, you are probably screwed. With the infield defense as it, trying to induce groundballs might not be a great idea anyway.

 

And if pitching to contact simply entails throwing more of your off speed stuff as oppossed to your fastball, doing that when behind in the count will just mean more walks.

[Thurston Fluff]

And if pitching to contact simply entails throwing more of your off speed stuff as oppossed to your fastball, doing that when behind in the count will just mean more walks.

 

Unless you're pitching against the Brewers. They have pretty much been fed a steady diet of changeups, many out of the zone, this whole series so far.

 

Didn't mean to step on your toes there. Just didn't read all the posts here before posting my own.

 

you didn't at all it's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

 

P.s. welcome JJlong19.

[Diskono]

Bring up Gamel and play at 3B; in a related move install plexiglass in front of box seats along first base line.

Better yet, how about those nets that bounce the ball back to you, that kids use to practice pitching?

 

[DrWood]

That looks pretty ugly, but play a game, if the guy does OK, keep him in that batting slot and fielding position. If he doesn't do well, select a new random guy.

 

Your random lineup just benched one of the only guys hitting at all (Hart) and put one of the wiorst hitters on the team in the 3 hole (Gwynn). What's one game going to prove anyway? A week doesn't really tell you anything, afterall. Any baseball fan knows that anything can happen over the short term.

 

If people want to swap the lineup around just for the heck of it, I don't have a problem with it, since it's not too important anyway. But to start benching good hitters for bad ones for the sake of change is a bad idea.

Russ, I wasn't really serious. Swapping the lineup around for the heck of it was the only point of pulling random players. "Shake them up and hope something changes" is the best suggestion I can make right now. Even Hart is not hitting to expectations because of his low power output.

 

[Thurston Fluff]

I do have to wonder if Yost's patience with the payers as they were learing to play makes him less able to all of a sudden turn around and really get on guys for poor play. I'm as big a fan of Yost as any but sometimes players get so used to one way of being treated by a person that makes them less receptive to the same person treating them differantly when the situation calls for it. I think perhaps what might do some good is if those veterans Doug brought aboard to help the younger guys started to get on them a little for poor play.