Quick. Who pinch hits against lefty relievers?

[JohnBriggs12]

I'm searching up and down the Brewer roster, and on those days Hall plays 3B, I can't find one right handed bat who figures to make the team that would be available to PH against a lefty reliever other than Mike Rivera and teams don't use the backup catcher in those situations.

 

Melvin, in his chat yesterday, mentioned Nixon, Gwynn, and Duffy as OF reserve candidates. All of those guys are lefthanded (and bad I might add). He also talked about bringing Counsell back who's another lefthanded bat. Of course with Hall playing third, that puts Lamb on the bench too. I've not even mentioned Nelson or Iribarren. So that's all 5 of your bench guys other than catcher who are lefthanded.

 

Unless the plan is not to play Cameron, Hart, and Hall all on the same days (which doesn't make much sense against a lefthanded starter) the Brewers have no righthanded hitter on the bench.

 

That's great news if your name is Casey McGehee or Vinny Rottino. Because as it stands right now, one of those two almost has to make the team instead of either Duffy or Gwynn. Since both McGehee and Rottino can catch too, their inclusion on the roster would be like adding 2 righthanded bench players as it frees up Macha to use Rivera to hit if he chose to. Bottom line, headed into spring the battle to watch is McGehee vs. Rottino and Duffy vs. Gwynn.

 

One sleeper who's also righthanded is non-roster invite Jason Bourgeois. He has versatility and speed and he's also righthanded. He could figure in the mix too with the way this roster is constructed.

[RobertR]

It's quite possible that Macha won't be as stubborn as Yost about not using his backup catcher as a pinch hitter and Rivera will see some ABs in that situation.

 

Robert

[CheezWizHed]

Who would you PH for? Prince is the only regular lefty in the lineup and surely you wouldn't PH for him... And if any of the RH regulars is sitting for some reason, they would be available.

 

You have a good point that we should still have some RH bench players and maybe are over-emphasizing a LH bench, however.

[Tbadder]

I just think Briggs' analysis of the situation is spot on as the roster stands now.

[Oldcity]

Save for the occasional very good one, the Brewers won't be seeing very many lefty relievers. They'll come in for Fielder and that will be it. I don't see why Rivera couldn't be used in the few situations this would come up.

[fondybrewfan]

I still think the Crew needs some kind of right bat off of the bench, What if for whatever reason Macha double switches and the Pitcher is due up behind Fielder in the 8th inning when a lefty is brought in to face Fielder? What if Kendall got hurt and Rivera had to go into the game? Who the heck is going to hit. I sure as heck wouldn't want Gwynn, Nelson, Duffy, or any of our other lefties hitting in that situation. Just that fact alone would seems to indicate that either McGehee or Rottino are a lock to make the roster or a scrap heap veteran will need to be brought in.

[liveforoctober]

Makes the non Gabe Kapler pursuit even more confusing... huh?

[RightFieldCoder]

Who's batting behind Prince that will be double switched out of the game? If you're double switching Hart or Cam out of the game to bring in someone like Gwynn, you might as well bring back Yost. And if you send Gwynn in to PH and the other team brings in a LHP to face him, you thank the other manager for not saving that pitcher for Prince.

 

The only other "regular" that is lefty is the 3B platoon. And if Hall isn't available to come in (because he's already been taken out of the game) you don't have a defensive 3B to put on the field, so you wouldn't PH for Lamb anyway.

[nate82]

The 25 man roster by position will not have Gwynn on it. Iribarren does everything that Gwynn can do and more. Iribarren can play some of the infield positions and OF Gwynn can only really play the OF and that is about it. The 25 man roster on opening day will probably look like this:

Kendall, Rivera, Fielder, Weeks, Cameron, Hart, Hardy, McGehee, Lamb, Hall, Nixon, Iribarren, and either a FA or someone from the minors.

[RyDogg66]

In this hypothetical situation, who is being pinch hit for when the lefty reliever comes in? I dont see how this is a huge problem as of now our entire lineup is right handed, save Prince Fielder, and how often do you pinch hit for a positional player prior to the 7th inning? So basically we are worried about the two or three times in a season that a situational lefty 1) isnt used in the first 9 innings 2) the game goes to extra innings and 3) the one of our bench lefties has been double-switched into the game and is getting their 2nd at bat.

 

I am not too worried about it.

[RobertR]

While I agree that the lefty reliever isn't likely to present a problem too many times, there are going to be certain scenarios where a righty pinch hitter is helpful. Most likely when there's a lefty starter still in the game in the 6th or 7th and the pitcher is due up and done for the day. I don't think it's asking all that much to have a righty on the bench who will bat every now and then. Even just as depth.

 

Robert

[Weirdos19]

The 25 man roster by position will not have Gwynn on it. Iribarren does everything that Gwynn can do and more. Iribarren can play some of the infield positions and OF Gwynn can only really play the OF and that is about it. The 25 man roster on opening day will probably look like this:

 

Kendall, Rivera, Fielder, Weeks, Cameron, Hart, Hardy, McGehee, Lamb, Hall, Nixon, Iribarren, and either a FA or someone from the minors.

Think you may have forgotten Braun.

 

Actually the only time we'll have to worry about that is when a lefty starts. Against RHP, Hall will be on the bench. I have a feeling Hart may be once in a while too, with Nixon getting a start against better right handed pitchers.

[MNBrew]

I hope this doesn't sound bad to say, but I think the super-obvious is being missed.

 

You're not pinch-hitting most of the time for other position players -- it's for the pitcher, which happens a ton. Who they'd replace in the field often isn't an issue.

 

The Kapler non-pursuit is well-documented. Kapler wanted more regular PT and a chance to start. The Brewers couldn't offer that. Since other teams could -- and did -- it the Brewers' pursuing Kapler for a bench role was moot.

[fondybrewfan]

You are right MNBrew that is super obvious and I did miss it.

 

Facing a good lefty starter in the 8th inning of a close game, pitcher spot comes up, all we have is crappy left handed hitters on the bench. Now what?

[MNBrew]

This is yet another reason I'd prefer having Cirillo over Counsell, even though at this point Cirillo's retired (even though Cirillo is only an emergency SS, Hall can also play there). Cirillo was a pretty solid PH. Even when his numbers weren't as good, he wasn't nearly as offensively inept as Counsell.

[strawbossisevil]

So essentially the situation where we would need a right handed pinch hitter would be when a left hander starts (since when a right hander starts we'll have either Hall or Hart on the bench).

 

Which happens probably about 1 out of every 3 games or so.

 

The game also has to be close in the late innings.

 

Which happens probably about 1 out of every 2 games or so.

 

On top of that it would have to be a situation where they would prefer to use the LH reliever against the Pinch Hitter rather than Fielder who would likely be up in the next inning.

 

So maybe only half of the games that are close would they use the lefty against the pinch hitter, perhaps even less as they would probably only use the lefty if there were people on base.

 

So we are talking about 15 AB per season on average, where it would be preferable to have a right handed batter rather than a lefty. In those 15 ABs, perhaps the lefty gets a hit 20% of the time, while the righty gets a hit 30% of the time. So the lefty would get 3 hits. The righty would get 4.5.

 

So it looks like the difference between an all lefty bench vs. one that has a righty in it, is likely to be 1-2 hits over the course of an entire season. Is it worth spending a million or two million for a bench player for one or two hits?

 

This of course assumes also that Macha won't use Rivera or Kendell as pinch hitters.

[JJHardy7]

So it looks like the difference between an all lefty bench vs. one that has a righty in it, is likely to be 1-2 hits over the course of an entire season. Is it worth spending a million or two million for a bench player for one or two hits?

 

I don't think it can be broken down quite that easily. You're assuming that every right handed hitter stays healthy for the season, but if that doesn't happen there will be a lot of bad matchups/opportunities where having another right handed hitter on the bench. On top of that, the question can be raised as to why are the Brewers were they are right now with their lefty dominated bench.

[fondybrewfan]

What if a right handed hitter is in a terrible slump (Like Corey in September) and Macha wants to sit him but we will be facing several left handed pitchers but only have left handed replacements? Everyone would be fine with either A. Leaving Corey (or whoever) out there despite sucking or B. Having Gwynn/Duffy/Nelson etc hit against lefties and will more than likely fail? Wouldn't it be nice to have a Gabe Kapler or whoever to step and play a couple of days if a starter is struggling?

 

Maybe you really only need a right handed bench bat in 50 AB's over the course of the season. A lefty get 10 hits, a righty gets 15-17. Its only 5 hits but most of those would probably come in late game situations and would potentially be game changing hits.

 

I am just not comfortable at all with not having a single right handed bat on the bench besides your back up catcher. In my mind you are just asking for trouble and will potentially face matchup nightmares night after night. I am sure there are many other instances where it is imperative that we have right handed depth on the bench, I just need some time to come up with them.

[logan82]

Yovani Gallardo. Only half kidding.

[TSack27]

If it is just for the pitcher's spot (when he's reach his limit, not for situational hitting), I wonder if Macha is the type that would send Gallardo up there?

[strawbossisevil]

I'd imagine if someone were to get hurt, then they would either sign someone or bring someone up from the minors. If Hart is struggling, perhaps they bring up Gillespie. If Hardy gets hurt, they bring up, Escobar. Etc. Most of our major prospects are right handed (except for Gamel).

 

I see no reason why you couldn't break it down the way I did. I think if we are honest, the addition of a righty is not worth quite as much as some like to think, especially if Macha uses his backup catcher.

 

I think we have to be so lefty heavy on the bench because we are so right handed in our lineup, it makes sense that we'd be paired up to a point, as it makes our lineup just that much more flexible when giving certain players time off.

[Ennder]

If Hart is struggling it is going to be against right handed pitching and not left handed. Macha hopefully won't be like Yost and will be willing to pinch hit with Rivera late in games. I find it hard to believe that this will be a big deal other than maybe Mike Lamb or Craig Counsell occassionally facing an extra lefty.

[TooLiveBrew]

I agree with Robin19 that if there's actually a platoon at third, Bill Hall is a great bat v. LHP off the bench. If it's late/close in the game, he might make sense to bring in on a double switch.