The missing piece to this bullpen -- Gallardo

[adambr2]

As good and exciting as this team is, they have a major flaw -- the bullpen. To prevent another bullpen meltdown costing us a shot at the postseason again, we seem to have enacted Operation Don't Let The Relievers Pitch '08. That's been good to some extent, but I think we can probably count on needing the pen during the playoffs.

 

Which of our relievers would you actually feel good about entering a playoff game? Torres, most of the time? Shouse, maybe against lefties? We have no setup man. Gagne is hit and miss, and Mota, as good as he's been lately, is not the answer.

 

If he's ready, we need Gallardo. He fits the mold of a late inning reliever as either a setup man or closer and has uncanny poise for a young pitcher. Even thrown into the fire during a playoff game, I'm confident he can handle the pressure.

[endaround]

If McClung gets "injured" and Stetter goes to the bullpen for the playoffs things will be fine. Gallardo has hardly pitched this year and its hard to get him enough time to be ready to face live competition.

[jeffy]

Which of our relievers would you actually feel good about entering a playoff game? Torres, most of the time? Shouse, maybe against lefties? We have no setup man. Gagne is hit and miss, and Mota, as good as he's been lately, is not the answer.

 

I don't watch other teams enough to know this, but I would not be surprised if similar comments could be made about most bullpens in MLB.

[zurch1818]

I just heard on SC that he was very successful in throwing a 50 pitch simulated game yesterday.

[trwi7]

I just heard on SC that he was very successful in throwing a 50 pitch simulated game yesterday.

So is a simulated game like an actual game where he's throwing all his pitches how he normally would in an actual game or is it basically just throwing BP?

[TooLiveBrew]

I don't watch other teams enough to know this, but I would not be surprised if similar comments could be made about most bullpens in MLB.

 

I don't claim to be an expert on every other team by any stretch, but that point is basically true. I think most MLB teams would love to improve their bullpens. I think adding Rauch was huge for the DBacks. Between him & Dunn, they are a different team from the one that was having a hard time staying over .500

 

*If* Gallardo is ready to face live competition, I agree completely that he'd be a huge addition to the bullpen... especially since he'd be yet another arm that can go multiple innings.

[adambr2]

Another question is, is he eligible for the playoff roster? I'm pretty sure he is, as he was still considered part of the 25 man roster but did not take up a space because of being on the 15 day DL. He was never moved from the 25 man roster to my knowledge.

[colbyjack]

There has been a lengthy Gallardo discussion here:

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=13662

[LaprilOne]

I post as a guy who is rehabbing a knee - a much worse injury (quad rupture) than Yo, and I am no where near a young major leauge player. (Very no where!)

However, I have learned much about knees through 7 months of rehab.

Yo's arm is probably great. What the team will need to evaluate is the running, fielding, twisting, pivoting that a pitcher has to do. His knee stability is a major an issue.

I have to believe the team will be ultra conservative with his health.

[kramnoj]

I just heard on SC that he was very successful in throwing a 50 pitch simulated game yesterday.

So is a simulated game like an actual game where he's throwing all his pitches how he normally would in an actual game or is it basically just throwing BP?

 

I was going to post a somewhat educated guess, then I decided to Google and see what I found. Here is the first link that I saw: http://www.slate.com/id/2121262/ Basically, it is what it sounds like. Hitters face the pitcher, although there aren't any fielders. The catcher or a coach calls balls and strikes and one of them says what happens when a ball is put in play (out, single, etc). Once the pitcher records three outs, he goes and sits in the dugout for what half an inning usually takes (in the linked article, it so happned that Prior and Wood needed to pitch a sim game, I think normally it's just one pitcher and they just take a break for 15 minutes or so).