So what's next with the pitching staff?

[danzig6767]

Who gets bumped from the rotation, McClung or Bush?

 

Stetter get sent down?

 

My guess is McClung to the pen. Stetter is the only one i can see getting sent down, but that's a shame because i trust him more than Gagne or Mota.

[davego]

I'm just guessing that Seth will go to the pen. I'd rather it be Dave Bush. I was sort of thinking he would be there @ the start of the season. Anyway, I'll say McClung to the pen and Stetter goes down.

[JohnBriggs12]

Just a guess, but I'm thinking they could send Dillon down for some AB's and go with 13 pitchers for the next couple weeks, or until somebody complains of some soreness. Maybe they float McClung or Bush on the trade market. Who knows?

 

It would be tough to send down Stetter as well as he's pitched, though he'd probably stay sharp pitching more often at AAA and they know he's going to be big asset in September.

[FVBrewerFan]

Suppan may miss a start or two to get himself right, maybe just shut down until after the break. If that doesn't happen, it may make sense to send McClung down to AAA where he can continue to start, and be ready to serve in that role for the Brewers when called on. I don't think Stetter gets sent down, as long as he's "right" they need that 2nd lefty in the pen. Option 3 would be send McClung to the pen, and send Villy down to AAA to stretch him out to be a starter later in the year. (The same thing they did with him last year.)

[endaround]

McClung can't go to AAA. He's out of options.

[lukevan]

IMO McClung will likely go back to the pen, Bush has thrown more ML innings than Seth, has been with the Brewers longer and is pitching pretty darn well over his last 6 or so starts. I'd guess Stetter would go back down or Mota goes on DL.

[FVBrewerFan]

McClung can't go to AAA. He's out of options.

 

My bad, then I could see Villy going down and putting in a few starts. Bring him back as your 5th starter for the stretch run. Also a good contingency plan if any of the Big 3 gets injured.

[JohnBriggs12]

Shutting down Suppan until after the break makes sense to me. But they can do that with 13 man staff instead of DL'ing him. I'd send down Dillon for some much needed regular AB's.

[davego]

Could be time for Mota to 'be hurt.'

[tristarscoop]

It would be nice if the guy who got "sat" was Suppan. In all the discussion of Bush vs. McClung all I can think is that I'd rather have either of them over Suppan.

[PrinceFielder28]

I'm with Davego...some small injury for Mota is coming. Or even better they get rid of him.

[Thurston Fluff]

I wouldn't surprise me at all if Villy got sent down to get regular work. We have a long man with Bush or McClung and there are better options for setup roles than Villy. I'd have to think McClung is the one who goes to the pen. Not only is Bush more of a known commodity who is pitching well at the moment but McClung is also more accustomed to the pen than Bush. Suppan is struggling but I think he gets the ball every fifth day regardless. His biggest asset is his ability to do just that. He may have struggled a few starts now but I don't see a veteran like him just falling apart. I don't think what he did his last couple starts has any merit in predicting what he'll do his next start.

[hawing]

I've been periodically chanting "Mota, Mota, Mota" to myself ever since I realized that this pending acquisition sets up the opportunity to demote him (thus de-mota-ing the Brewers).

[brwrsfan]

I'd take an "injury" to either Mota or Suppan at this point, as neither has really pitched himself into a secure roster spot at this point. On Suppan...maybe he does have some sort of small injury or something? He's been getting absolutely shelled in the last 4 starts.

[jhart05]

Could be also that they skip a few of Parra's starts.

 

At this pace, isn't he going to run out of innings before September?

[wibadgers23]

I agree with everybody around here. Even though it's not going to happen, Suppan needs to "get hurt" or go into the bullpen. The guy hasn't proved anything since he got here. And now we are making a serious run at the playoffs. We can't afford to keep sending that guy out there.

[bjkrautk]

Stetter has been called up twice already this season; he appears to be the 'last man in' for purposes of evaluating the bullpen. My guess is that McClung goes to the 'pen, Bush stays in the rotation, he's been the better of the two as a starter, especially since McClung has failed to go 6 complete in both of his last starts.

 

I'm not a big Dave Bush fan, but you have to hand it to him that he's been pitching much better this past month. Plus, out of his 18 starts, he's managed to at least go 6 innings in all but 5 of them. As someone who was at the game Saturday night, it was encouraging to see him pitch so well when he didn't have his best fastball (I never saw him touch 90mph on the day) to complement the offspeed pitches.

[Patrick425]

At this pace, isn't he going to run out of innings before September?

I know I questioned this before, but people talk about these innings as though it's some sort of MLB rule or something. It's just a guidline. I'm not saying that Yost pulls a Dusty Baker on Parra and I know I'm going to get a lot of disagreement on this, but imho when the team is in a pennant race, you have throw out that innings limit garbage to a certain extent.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I wouldn't surprise me at all if Villy got sent down to get regular work.

I think that would be a great move. We could stretch him out again to be our 5th starter in August/September. We all know how that turned out last year when we did this. Why not do it again?

[MickeyDavis]

Manny will be getting a nice break the next two weeks anyway. He'll start just one game this week and then have most of next week off. If we allow Sheets to stay on his regular day he will pitch Wednesday and Manny gets bumped to Thursday. This allows us to split up our lefties.

 

It also allows us to have C.C. and Ben pitch the last two games of the St. Louis series and lines it up for C.C./Ben/Manny to start the first 3 games of the Cubs series.

[paul253]

Bases purely on performance, it should be Suppan...hes been horrible the past few starts wheres as Bush has had 3 amazing starts out of his last 4. McClung has been consistant all year and seems to be the only starter other than Sheets that doesnt walk like 30 guys per start.

Suppan usually ends the year well, so once Bush goes back to normal, we can flop them.

I also wouldnnt mind seeing CV in the minors, but only if they're going to make him a starter again. We are going to be in heavy demand for starters next year, so he would be a nice addition. Otherwise, make him your 8th inning guy and groom him for that role in Nashville.

[razzzorsharp]

I could see Mota having a "dead arm" type of issue.

[JohnBriggs12]

I doubt they send down Villanueva at least right now. With Suppan's short start yesterday, they need a long man tonight. In the team website, they don't have Parra listed pitching any game so maybe they'll skip his one start, option him out, then bring him back after the break, presumably to control his innings a bit. I don't understand that myself. At 92 2/3 innings 88 games into the season, he doesn't project beyond about 175 innings anyway barring the playoffs of course.

[mletto157]

Shouldn't it be less of an innings count, and more of a pitch count? I mean, even when he's gone only 5 innings, he's thrown like 115 pitches...

[Fear The Chorizo]

I wouldn't mind the Brewers skipping/pushing back Parra's next start, since C.C. is slated to pitch on his next scheduled turn and the guy C.C's most likely to replace in the rotation is pitching tonight (McClung). I'd give Parra a start against the Reds on the weekend series and maybe push Suppan out to give him some extra time off, too. Depending on how the schedule looks following the allstar break, if the Brewers can line their rotation up to include C.C., Sheets, and Parra slated to pitch 3 of the 4 games against the Cubs the end of the month, I'd be more than pleased.

 

Parra has thrown a ton of pitches to get through the innings he has thrown, and Suppan's been scuffling lately, much like he did last summer - I think both could use a bit of a break around the All-Star break to be ready to roll in a few weeks.