Brewer Pitching Staff

[Patrick425]

I was trying to figure out which pitchers had the best chance to break camp with the big league team. Here are the locks (I think?):

 

Gallardo

Parra

Suppan

Looper

Bush

Hoffman

Riske

Villanueva

McClung

 

That's 9. How many do they usually bring with them? 12? Others who I figure have a pretty good shot:

 

Morlan (Rule 5 - correct?)

Dillard (out of options - right?)

 

Then the rest battling are:

 

Swindle

Stetter

Julio

DiFelice

Coffey

Wright

 

I'm usually not very good at these things. Does anyone think that any of the "battlers" I have listed already have a spot locked up? Seems like there will be a lot of good competition and I keep hearing rumors of the Brewers interest in adding another (Chad Cordero, Izzy, or J. Cruz among the possibilities).

[PaulRigdon]

Stetter will make the team for sure...he's lefty.

 

Gallardo

Para

Bush

Suppan

Looper

 

McClug

Villy

Stetter

Riske

Dillard

Coffey

Julio

Hoffman

[Patrick425]

True - didn't think about that. Also, I think I'm wrong regarding Dillard being out of options.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

If Chad Cordero is brought on, and it sounds like the Brewers have interest, that could complicate things even more.

[JohnBriggs12]

Stetter will make the team for sure...he's lefty.

 

Gallardo

Para

Bush

Suppan

Looper

 

McClug

Villy

Stetter

Riske

Dillard

Coffey

Julio

Hoffman

 

I agree with you on Stetter, but no way they start the year with 13 pitchers including 7 righthanders in the pen.

 

Right now Julio and Coffey are 11th and 12th pitchers unless Riske isn't completely healthy. Any one or two of Dillard, Swindle, or Morlan could knock out a Coffey or even a Julio. I'm thinking their not certain Riske is completely healthy, hence the interest in Cordero and or Isringhausen.

[fondybrewfan]

The Journal Sentinel just said that Gallardo won't be the #1 starter because at Macha puts it "He doesn't want to put such a burden on such a young pitcher." Count me in as saying that is a pretty stupid argument. He also said it isn't fair to have Gallardo go against the other teams ace pitchers all the time. Yeah that will happen on opening day and that is about it. Macha sure doesn't seem to be showing a whole lot of logic in this decision. What is he going to give Dave Bush the opening day start against Lincecum because he doesn't think Gallardo can handle it? Yeah that shows a lot of confidence in Yo. Gallardo isn't going to be the 5th starter so this decision probably has little to no affect on his workload so this just seems like a dumb idea by Macha.

[chuckiehacks]

I don't think Cordero complicates anything since he most likely won't be ready to pitch at a major-league level on Opening Day. From the articles I've read, it sounds like teams are looking to give Cordero a minor-league deal and that he hopes to be ready sometime early in the season.

[yoyo49]

i would really like to see yo pitch opening day on the 7th, so he can go again against the cubs on the 12th. aside from pushing yo back to the home opener (no. 4 starter), he is going to miss the cubs series because macha doesn't think he can handle the burden of being an ace. i really do not understand that mindset.

[Ennder]

I think what Macha said makes perfect sense. You don't put the extra burden on the young guy coming off an injury and early in the season off days, rainouts etc are so common that the #1 starter doesn't mean a whole lot in the first place. I guess I fail to see the problem with it.

[yoyo49]

yo was able to handle the burden of a virtual must-win in the last week of the year against pittsburgh (after missing the previous 4.5 months) and the first brewer playoff game in 26 years. the tab of "opening day starter" will not rattle him.

[logan82]

Being the #1 starter only matters for the first game of the year. The only other thing that matters is who is the 5th starter because they are the one to get skipped. Like Macha says, things get all jumbled up after a few weeks.

[yoyo49]

yo should start on opening day for two reasons: 1. your best pitcher should have the best opportunity to pitch as many games as possible during the year and 2. i'd like to see our best pitcher against the best team in the division. i understand it gets jumbled after a while, but aces traditionally open the year for a reason.

[davego]

What Logan said. I don't understand the fixation with who is 1, 2, 3 or 4.

 

I wonder if the 'Crew would like to carry 2 LHRP? If so, I'd think Coffey, Dillard and Juilo are going to battle for the last 2 spots. Chad Cordero could really increase the competition in the pen.

[MillerParkSouth]

are people forgetting that we open the year in San Fran? Yo will still pitch against the Cubs I would think. Yo won't be starting the first game of the season, but he probably wasn't going to be starting the home opener anyway.

[logan82]

1. your best pitcher should have the best opportunity to pitch as many games as possible during the year

 

Every starter will get the same number of starts unless they get their turn in the rotation skipped or they get injured.

 

2 i'd like to see our best pitcher against the best team in the division.

 

We will face every team in our division enough times that it will probably even out over the course of the year.

[topper09er]

are people forgetting that we open the year in San Fran? Yo will still pitch against the Cubs I would think. Yo won't be starting the first game of the season, but he probably wasn't going to be starting the home opener anyway.

Starting on April 7th we have 6 straight games against the Giants and Cubs, so the only way Yo will pitch against the cubs is if he pitches on opening day and then he will pitch the series finally against the cubs on sunday, april 12. If Yo starts game 2 against the giants he will miss the cubs and start the series opener against the reds on mon, april 13. This is why people would like to see him start opening day against lincecum. The giants offense is so terrible they are beatable every day even when lincecum is pitching, and how sweet would that be for Yo's confidence if he beat the defending Cy Young champ on opening day. If they giants win no big deal, he was the best pitcher in the league last year.

[JohnBriggs12]

Why not start Gallardo in the home opener against the Cubs #4? In fact why not hold back the Brewers 1 and 2 to face the Cubs 4 and 5, then take your chances with a lesser guy against Zambrano, who if he's on will likely beat any Brewer starter and if he's off any Brewer starter could beat him.

[fondybrewfan]

Being the #1 starter only matters for the first game of the year. The only other thing that matters is who is the 5th starter because they are the one to get skipped. Like Macha says, things get all jumbled up after a few weeks.

I get that rotation spots get jumbled up in a matter of weeks but it makes no sense that Macha doesn't want his best pitcher to start opening day. I could careless about rotation spots but it seems odd to me that he will intentionally not pitch Gallardo despite him probably being far and away our best pitcher.

[yoyo49]

logan, why not start gallardo on opening day and eliminate all of the "unless"es and "probably"s. every starter will not get the same amount of starts--the pitcher who starts on opening day has a better chance of starting the most games--just simple logic. regarding the second point, it is not about everything evening out over the course of the year. it is about our best pitcher facing the best team in the division on opening weekend. i know its early, but every game accounts for 1/162 of your season.

[TooLiveBrew]

True, but I'd rather have him start against a divisional rival (esp. CHN) than the Giants.

 

And I just want to say how encouraging I find our pitching situation heading into the season. We seem to have strong talent in the rotation & bullpen, and we appear to have depth both places, too. Well done this offseason, Mr. Melvin. To be sure we don't have anyone to replace what Sabathia brought last second-half (& his talent in general), but adding Looper was a very nice move to improve over replacement-level.

[yoyo49]

he can start on opening day (4/7) AND against the cubs (4/12)

[davego]

Yoyo49,

 

the top four guys in the rotation work on (usually) the same day during the season. The #5 guy steps in as needed so guys don't have to work on short rest. I know you know that, but that's why the difference between that amount of starts (if everyone stays healthy) is at most one start over the length of a season (from #1 to #4). So, there is little if any measurable difference between 1-4. Given that no team last year had all there top for take all the turns scheduled, that 'difference' really disappears.

[yoyo49]

yeah, i do understand that the difference is minor, but with every single game being so important to the brewers last year, i want our best pitcher to have the most starts (even if it means just one more than the others). i feel like i am beating a dead horse, but starting gallardo on opening day and on sunday against the cubs just seems like the logical, obvious choice.

[endaround]

Actually it isn't minor. The #1 and #2 guys get 35-36 starts if fully healthy and they skip #5 starts. While #5 starters are 28-30 starts. That's 20-30 innings of work or 15-20% more innings.

[yoyo49]

sorry, i meant the difference between 1-4 starters as davego described