Holy Grant Balfour Batman

[DHonks]

It also doesn't hurt that Balfour is one more year removed from surgeries. I felt bad that we gave him such a short leash, but McClung has been much better than I expected. So it's actually been a wash...a rare trade that works out well for both teams

[Fatter than Joey]

FTJ I know we disagreed about the trade when it happened, but I do agree with how Balfour was handled.

 

I will readily concede that Seth has worked his ass off for us, and has made the most of his opportunity in Milwaukee. Balfour hadn't pitched in the bigs since 2004,

Yost should have done a better job getting Balfour a couple of lower leverage innings to get the jitters out.

 

Mota had a very good April and May, a poor stretch

 

I need to correct you Al, Mota had a bad April -- 10 BBs in 12 IP (not to mention 12 hits as well) -- that's poor pitching by anyone's standard. Mota has been a bad pitcher for the last 3 years or so.

 

and now has been fine since the all-star break, or just after.

 

I will point out that Mota has reduced his BB rate significantly, and that is a good thing.

 

Middle of a race, bring up a guy from AAA, and he's horrible, can't throw strikes, gives up shots, he's gone. This isn't rocket science. The problem was, he was out of options.

 

We are in a middle of a race in 2008, Mota and Gagne were horrible, couldn't throw strikes, gave up shots -- they should have been gone (by Al's 3 game standard) -- but they weren't. They were

given more opportunities, because of their salaries, and DM can't keep his job DFA'ing guys he has tied up $13M in.

 

As you point out Al, Mota was bad, got some time to work it out, and now is pitching better -- you seem to be talking out of both sides of your mouth on this. We are in

a playoff race in 2008 as we were in 2007. Balfour should have gotten more of a chance to work out his initial struggles -- especially when you look at his AA/AAA stats.

[JJHardy7]

I will readily concede that Seth has worked his ass off for us, and has made the most of his opportunity in Milwaukee. Balfour hadn't pitched in the bigs since 2004,

Yost should have done a better job getting Balfour a couple of lower leverage innings to get the jitters out.

 

I agree with you. McClung busted his tail in the off-season and something I've mentioned before, but I'll say again is that he lost a lot of weight in the off-seaon. He still has some more to go, but if the Brewers keep him around and he shows the dedication I think 2009 could be a very solid year from him. I know it seems silly, but with the arm problems McClung had he was more worried about his arm and less about his general 'shape'. Now that he's not worried about his arm I'd expect more pounds to go and hopefully that will help him on the mound. I think that's the main reason he's been somewhat solid this year. I really wish everyone here could see him warm up in Nashville last year. He was throwing as hard as hell and giving all he had behind the ball -- and his velocity would drop pitch by pitch because he'd fatigue -- I swear he was throwing 100 mph last year or close to it in Nashville. I don't think that's the case anymore.

 

I don't know if this has changed, but how fast did Balfour throw last year? I don't recall him throwing that hard in Nashville and it seems to me he's gotten a little 'bump' in velocity, but I very well could be wrong.