Brewers Sign Jorge Julio- 1 year/$950,000: New Closer?

[Ennder]

I'm not sure I blame him for using Julio, he has to use him eventually and we seem to always be in close games. I blame the person who decided to keep Julio on the roster though because he shouldn't be on it. The guy has proven that he can't pitch.

[naivin]

Yet McClung pitched an inning which means he was available...we had five pitchers available in the bullpen to bridge the gap and Macha chose the worst one.

McClung was available out of necessity once Julio screwed everything up. Sometimes, a manager can also send a message to the GM, to the effect of, "get this guy out of here and get me someone I can use" by putting them in that situation. Lou Piniella was able to drastically reshape the Cubs roster in his first couple years by doing just that type of thing.

[Invader3K]

I think this was Macha giving Julio his last chance, to a point. He had ample chances in that inning to at least show something, but all he showed was that you can't count on him at all.

 

It's just a matter of who they call up now. Dillard would be a good option, but I guess he just pitched on Sunday. Someone on the JSOnline blog suggested Mike Burns (Nashville's closer). I guess he is pitching well down there right now, though I don't really know anything about him otherwise.

[patrickgpe]

i think gamel will now have to go down for the 10 required days until the DH is needed and they will bring up Wright or Green. Burns would be a good option but he is not on the 40 so someone would have to go. If you DFA Julio that can happen, I just don't see it happening.

[sargennm]

After how long they waited on Mota to turn it around last year even though everyone was calling for his head, and then he did sort of turn it around in the second half ... well, I don't think the move to bring in another pitcher is going to result in a Julio DFA.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I'm with trwi7 on this one. While I get that Soup disappointed and DiFelice was hurt, why couldn't Coffey or Villy go 2 innings? McClung pitched so he was available. It was a 2 run game, no way I go with Julio there and not having a quick hook backup plan was bad planning. We had an off day last Thursday so the pen was fresh going into the weekend. This he's my 7th or 8th inning guy stuff was the same thing that got Yost into trouble. Gotta pin last night on Macha. I'm still with you Ken, but your explanation while reasoned, was a bad plan.

[JJHardy7]

Leaving Julio in that long last night reminded me of Yost. I wasn't a Yost 'hater' as much as some around here, but to me one of his biggest flaws was how he left pitchers in too long.

[endaround]

And if you have Villanueva go 2 innings but the game gets called in the 8th to resume tonight you're screwed. Villy likely can't go at all today then and whoever you use to finish game 1 you don't want to use in game 2. Given how slippery the ball was the game likely should have been called. Would I have risked it? Probably but its not really that clear cut.

[patrickgpe]

i am sure they were hoping he'd pitch his way out of it, if the pen wasn't so depleted he wouldn't of been in anyway. Taking him out with getting no outs defeated the purpose of bringing him in. It did get to the point where he had to go, but I'm sure that was Macha's thinking.

[trwi7]

And if you have Villanueva go 2 innings but the game gets called in the 8th to resume tonight you're screwed.

The game is only resumed if the game is tied. If either team has the lead that late in the game, the game is just called and whoever's winning at that time wins the game.

[endaround]

They've changed the rule-almost all games are now resumed

[trwi7]

They've changed the rule-almost all games are now resumed

 

I don't think they have. I've seen plenty of F/7 or F/8 or F/6 games this year indicating that they just call the game if there's a long rain delay and that they don't resume it the next day if a team has the lead.

[Daubs]

I'm with trwi7 on this one. While I get that Soup disappointed and DiFelice was hurt, why couldn't Coffey or Villy go 2 innings? McClung pitched so he was available. It was a 2 run game, no way I go with Julio there and not having a quick hook backup plan was bad planning. We had an off day last Thursday so the pen was fresh going into the weekend. This he's my 7th or 8th inning guy stuff was the same thing that got Yost into trouble. Gotta pin last night on Macha. I'm still with you Ken, but your explanation while reasoned, was a bad plan.

I think Macha didn't want Coffey or Villy to go more than one inning to ensure they'd be available today and, possibly, tomorrow - the same reason Macha (probably) didn't really want to use McClung.

 

The "quick hook" was somewhat squashed by the fact the bullpen phone wasn't working and it took a minute or two to get the proper hand signals out to the pen.

 

Now, could last night have been deemed an "emergency" enough to use McClung anyway in the 6th? One could argue that. But if last night was the final straw on Julio, then something "positive" may have come out of that situation. It always bothered me that Julio was only used when the game was out of hand - and having a pitcher like that on the roster came back to bite Macha in a bad way last night.

[1992casey]

If the top half of the 5th inning has been completed and the home team is ahead OR if the bottom half of the 5th inning has been completed and either team is ahead, the game can be called and considered official. (The World Series now appears to be an exception to this.)

 

If the visiting team takes the lead in the top half of the fifth or a later inning, and the home team doesn't have a chance to complete the bottom half of the inning, the game is suspended. This situation used to revert to the last full inning, producing either a tie or a home team win. This change was made a couple of decades ago.

 

Tie games are suspended. They used to be replayed from the start. This change was made a couple of years ago. The Brewers and Marlins were the teams involved in the first suspended tie game.

[JJHardy7]

I guess my point is though if Julio can't be counted on he shouldn't be on the team. Sure the bullpen has been used a bit, but if a guy comes in and pitches that poorly he shouldn't be on the team. It pretty much was 'punting' IMO. I wouldn't mind them calling Dillard up at all. If the bullpen is going to be worked a bit, it might make sense to have another long relief type guy in there.

[Daubs]

I guess my point is though if Julio can't be counted on he shouldn't be on the team. Sure the bullpen has been used a bit, but if a guy comes in and pitches that poorly he shouldn't be on the team. It pretty much was 'punting' IMO. I wouldn't mind them calling Dillard up at all. If the bullpen is going to be worked a bit, it might make sense to have another long relief type guy in there.

Completely agreed on the underlined point, I think it's a waste of a roster spot if you have an arm in the bullpen that can only be used in blow-out situations.

 

I don't think Macha was really punting the game, though. Julio did have effective outings recently and he was probably hoping to (1) spare a few arms for later in the series while (2) hoping Julio could continue his string of good outings. The factor that makes Julio's last three outings different from last night is the fact they were not high pressure situations. The Brewers were at least four runs ahead in his last three appearances.

[Schmidlap]

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/46723267.html

 

Per TH, our prayers have been answered....Julio DFA'd and Burns up.

[AJhawk50]

Julio released; Burns summoned

[patrickgpe]

happy and surprised that they ate his contract.

[Daubs]

happy and surprised that they ate his contract.

I'd only imagine your surprise if they'd eat Hall's contract!

[JJHardy7]

I don't think Macha was really punting the game, though. Julio did have effective outings recently and he was probably hoping to (1) spare a few arms for later in the series while (2) hoping Julio could continue his string of good outings. The factor that makes Julio's last three outings different from last night is the fact they were not high pressure situations. The Brewers were at least four runs ahead in his last three appearances.

 

I guess my point is that it was somewhat clear (at least IMO) that he wasn't pitching well. I just don't like guys 'working through things' when the game is on the line and more and more of the opponent baserunners get on base.

 

Herm Edwards once said, 'You play to win the game'. I just don't know if the Brewers did that with Julio pitching last night.

[TheCrew]

I guess my point is that it was somewhat clear (at least IMO) that he wasn't pitching well.

He hadn't given up a run in his last 4 appearances which covered 5.2 innings - It was time to put him out there and see if he was going to be able to perform in close games, At some point it had to happen.

[rluzinski]

A team's 7th best reliever isn't very good by definition, so what are you going to do? I didn't like seeing Julio called upon there but I can understand Macha's thinking. I doubt his replacement is very good, either.

[giffted1]

He hadn't given up a run in his last 4 appearances which covered 5.2 innings - It was time to put him out there and see if he was going to be able to perform in close games, At some point it had to happen.

But over those 5.2 scoreless innings he had 5 walks. It was more luck than actually figuring anything out in regards to his control.

[TheCrew]

He hadn't given up a run in his last 4 appearances which covered 5.2 innings - It was time to put him out there and see if he was going to be able to perform in close games, At some point it had to happen.

But over those 5.2 scoreless innings he had 5 walks. It was more luck than actually figuring anything out in regards to his control.

Yet he still hadn't given up a run, luck doesn't get you out of those jams..... his last outing he struck out 2 - I'm not saying Julio is good, but he pitched well enough to warrant getting a shot in a close ball game, even more so when the bullpen has been overworked in the past week.

 

At some point, he had to be given a chance, otherwise why carry the guy on the roster? He got his shot, failed and now he is gone.