Doug Melvin on with Homer

[rluzinski]

The other revealing part of the interview was that Melvin had no answer to who would bat 2nd. Homer commented that he thought it would be whoever they got back either in a deal for Cameron, or signed to replace Cameron.

 

What is the theory that keep prompting people to talk about getting rid of cameron:

 

1. Cameron is a good player and worth more than his $10 mil contract but he's not a good fit for the Brewers, who need a lefty contact hitter.

 

2. Cameron is obviously not worth $10 mil, another team is not only going to trade for him and his bloated contract but also give up talent in return?

[jwill535]

The one thing I found interesting was that Melvin said that the search for a SP would be through FA rather then a trade because he does not want to give up any young guys. This is a reverse of what he has said before.

[greeg35]

Not sure why so many want Hoffman. I'll be glad if we don't pay for a closer, I've never liked that idea given their unpredictability and cost. McClung should either be a starter or the closer this year.

[DHonks]

why not add Hoffman, as he's dominant, goes after hitters, and is affordable

[BADGERJOBOB]

Lots of decent closers out there this off-season and they are on sale. I will be extremely disappointed if Melvin does not take advantage of the market and sign a legit closer for less money than Coco received last year. Heck considering that our starting pitching might be average at best (thats being kind), we could have signed 2 closers and made our relief pitching the strength of this team.

[AdvantageSchneider]

why not add Hoffman, as he's dominant, goes after hitters, and is affordable

He's not dominant, he had a 3.77 era last year. That's barely better than Mota. Hoffman gave up 8! HR in only 45 innings pitched and he was pitching in one of the best pitchers parks ever built. I don't see the dominance last year and the year prior he blew two chances to get the padres to the post season.

 

Why do you think he is affordable? At his age I would imagine he'd rather retire than pitch for peanuts in Milwaukee. He made $7.5 million last year.

[jjfanec]

He's not dominant, he had a 3.77 era last year. That's barely better than Mota. Hoffman gave up 8! HR in only 45 innings pitched and he was pitching in one of the best pitchers parks ever built. I don't see the dominance last year and the year prior he blew two chances to get the padres to the post season.

 

Why do you think he is affordable? At his age I would imagine he'd rather retire than pitch for peanuts in Milwaukee. He made $7.5 million last year.

He also had a WHIP around 1 (McClung was around 1.5) and more than a k per inning. His home runs are worrisome but he had a better save percentage than almost everyone in the NL.

[PeaveyFury]

Hopefully, Mark A sees the light about Doug.

 

That he's a good GM and really deserves to be extended? I absolutely agree, FWIW.

[steve267268]

I'm compLETELY against signing Hoffman. He has been declining for a while but it has been masked by PETCO some. I just wouldn't do it. If we do sign him, obviously i hope he does well and it's possible he could prove me wrong.. but.. i just wouldn't do it..

[rluzinski]

How can anyone criticize Melvin's inaction in the free agency market when they don't even know what his budget is? What is our best guess? He has about $10 mil more to work with. So, he can ONE slightly above average player. We are supposed to be surprised that he's not persuing ever big name free agent?

 

Completely irrational.

[AdvantageSchneider]

He also had a WHIP around 1 (McClung was around 1.5) and more than a k per inning. His home runs are worrisome but he had a better save percentage than almost everyone in the NL.

Dave Bush had a whip of 1.14. I don't know what that tells you other than they are control pitchers that don't walk a lot of guys and might have been slightly hit lucky.

 

He K'd more than a guy per inning last year, but that was the first time since 2003 that he k'd more than a guy per inning and that might be due to he fact that he only threw 45 innings last year and his arm was nice and fresh. In 2007 his K/9 was 6.91. The year before that it was 7.14. Which number are you going to believe is the fluke? The sub 8 k/9 numbers or last year's number in 45 innings?

 

He only blew 4 saves, but he also had 6 losses, so the save percentage might also be a bit misleading.

[sheetswannabe]

Take it as a grain of salt, but Hoffman was darn good away in 08. (Only 15 2/3rds of an inning) but converted 14 of 15 and gave up one homer.

[jjfanec]

Dave Bush had a whip of 1.14. I don't know what that tells you other than they are control pitchers that don't walk a lot of guys and might have been slightly hit lucky.

 

He K'd more than a guy per inning last year, but that was the first time since 2003 that he k'd more than a guy per inning and that might be due to he fact that he only threw 45 innings last year and his arm was nice and fresh. In 2007 his K/9 was 6.91. The year before that it was 7.14. Which number are you going to believe is the fluke? The sub 8 k/9 numbers or last year's number in 45 innings?

 

He only blew 4 saves, but he also had 6 losses, so the save percentage might also be a bit misleading.

WHIP is an important stat for a reliever because in one inning stints less guys on base leads to less runs and less chance for big innings that kill closers. If you look at WHIP you will see all the top relievers (except K-Rod) near the top. Guys like Nathan, Rivera, Papelbon, Marmol, Soria, Wood, and Fuentes were all in the top 25 of all relievers and those are a lot of the guys who had top years as relievers.

As for the K numbers he may not be a k per inning guy but I think he does show the cries that he has lost his stuff may be a little over exaggerated. It seems like every stat is misleading to you except his ERA which is a bad stat to judge a reliever because one 4-run balloons their ERA.

Is he one of the best relievers in the game anymore? No, but he is a better option than McClung and the rest of the in house guys.

[monty57]

As Colby said, Melvin did pursue Hoffman, and for some reason there isn't a fit. All Melvin said was basically "he's a Hall of Famer, so it's hard to say anything bad about him." You can debate whether Hoffman is still good, but the fact is that he won't be a Brewer. Personally, I'm still a little upset that it seems that Wood was the team's #1 target, but they waited until he had an offer on the table from Cleveland before they ever met with his agent. I, too would like to see them get a closer, just because it makes every other BP spot that much better (Villy gets to be "high leverage guy" rather than closer, Riske 7th inning guy rahter than 8th inning guy, etc.).

 

As for the other points, (A) I'm fine with DiFililce as the long man. He showed last year that he was decent, and they're not burning a young guy with potential's pre-arby time sitting on the bench. (B) As of now McClung has to be the fifth starter, but I'd be very surprised if they don't sign at least one more MLB-caliber SPs. I really hope they sign one of the Johnson/Moyer/Smoltz crew and stock up a couple of AAA arms to add insurance when injuries occur. © I hope Hardy is signed long term (he made it clear he wants to be a Brewer). Then, I hope he plays at least this season as SS. If Gamel can play 3B, Escobar can be trade bait next offseason. If not, Hardy can move to 3B, Escobar to SS and Gamel either to OF (trade Hart) or 1B (trade Prince). That's a discussion for next year, though, so there's plenty of time for all of that to work out.

 

Edit: fixed dumb mistake of inserting Hardy's name when I meant Hart

[Brian the Automator]

Doing a little research into Villanueva as a closer, here are some career numbers to look at:

 

Pitches 1-15:

86.2 IP, 72 H, 25 BB, 93 K, 3.63 ERA, 1.12 WHIP

 

I guess I'm a bit shocked that in that sampling he has more than 1 K an inning. The ERA's mediocre for a closer candidate, but the WHIP's not too shabby. His stats in pitches 16-30 are about the same. The more I think about it, perhaps Villanueva would be a better closing option than Hoffman, and while the Brewers still need good bullpen arms, perhaps Fuentes isn't worth it.

[Oldcity]

I still prefer Villanueva in the seventh/eighth inning when he can be used to get more than three outs. I think he's best utilized that way. Of course Yost often used him in garbage time, but I'm assuming that will stop this year.

[Invader3K]

I would rather still sign somebody, and have Villanueva as a fallback, than try to have him start as closer, and have no realistic fallback if he fails (Riske? McClung?).

[TooLiveBrew]

The ERA's mediocre for a closer candidate, but the WHIP's not too shabby.

 

ERA over ~85 IP is just going to vary wildly. That could likely (almost) just as easily have been 4.50 or 2.50. I agree on the K totals for Villy. He pretty clearly has the stuff to be a very good RP.

 

I like the idea of Villy as the relief ace, so I don't want to see him close. Big Red McClung would be my choice at this point, with Villy free to work at almost any point in a game.