Brewers call up Chris Smith; place DiFelice on bereavement

[trwi7]

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[Yeti73]

Congrats to Mr. Smith. Makes sense and gives us some 'relief' for the Braves series. Lets hope that Bush can go deep tomorrow to give us some breathing room.

[jjfanec]

Smith deserved a call-up but this is not how I wanted to see it happen. Hopefully he can pitch quality innings. The bullpen has been saved a little the last two nights by stellar long relief outings.

[Never Outhustled]

Smith might be a better bullpen option than Burns, these 2 will be duking it out for 1 spot. Burns obviously jumped in front with his 1st outing, but Smith has some pretty sick AAA numbers so far this year.

Toby touted the signing of Smith the day it happened, so I'll give props to him here. Good call.

[JohnBriggs12]

Smith might be a better bullpen option than Burns, these 2 will be duking it out for 1 spot. Burns obviously jumped in front with his 1st outing, but Smith has some pretty sick AAA numbers so far this year.

Toby touted the signing of Smith the day it happened, so I'll give props to him here. Good call.

If Parra doesn't pitch well Sunday, he should be the one headed to Nashville, not Burns or Smith. McClung's making a solid case for a rotation spot with two 3+ inning outings in his last 3 games. It's not a stretch to think he could go 75-80 pitches in a start.

[endaround]

McClung's been more lucky than good.

[Ennder]

McClung's xFIP is 5.10 and he has walked just about the same amount as Parra on the year. Only difference between the two is in LOB% which is at least partially luck though not fully I'd imagine.

[strawbossisevil]

Endaround, when you make comments like that could you please provide the statistics backing up your opinion. To make just the simple one line posts (I´ve seen a couple of them this morning) seems really snarky ("it´s true because I say so") when you provide nothing to back that opinion up.

 

Thanks Ennder for the stats, hopefully McClung is able to keep up the "luck" that he has had so far for the rest of the season. I think he is capable of putting up better secondary numbers.

[JJHardy7]

Endaround, when you make comments like that could you please provide the statistics backing up your opinion. To make just the simple one line posts (I´ve seen a couple of them this morning) seems really snarky ("it´s true because I say so") when you provide nothing to back that opinion up.

 

Agreed. It's almost it's as if endaround says something and it's true because he said it and there is no need for other opinions.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, it does get a bit old.

 

Anyway, I think McClung is too valuable in the bullpen to try and mess with right now. I have a feeling he would have trouble getting past the fifth inning or so, which isn't what the Brewers really need in a starter at this point. I guess I think, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

 

I am curious to see Smith pitch for the Brewers. Looks like he's been having a very solid year so far in AAA.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I love big Seth, but I agree he's too valuable in the pen. I also wonder about his ability to go deep into games.

 

Last year in 11 starts (I'm excluding the late season spot start) he was 4-4 with a 4.50 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 29 BBs & 49 Ks in 58 innings. He was 5/11 in quality starts, although you could probably cut him some slack on the first couple where his pitch count may have been limited. He never finished a 7th inning. He was solid, but likely doesn't project much beyond a 4/5 starter. Considering it would take a few starts to ramp him up, I'd rather stick with Manny or if he needs to go to AAA to sort it out, bring up Dillard for a few starts. I think you need Parra's upside as the season goes on.

[LouisEly]

McClung's xFIP is 5.10 and he has walked just about the same amount as Parra on the year. Only difference between the two is in LOB% which is at least partially luck though not fully I'd imagine.

 

Luck, or that McClung can get away with walking guys because his stuff is that good that they just can't hit him hard. His .637 OPS-A and .313 SLG-A this year back that theory up (think about that - his SLG-A is lower than his OBP-A). I doubt that xFIP accounts for how good a guy's stuff is and weights walks and OBP too heavily and SLG-A not heavily enough.

 

From what I've seen, McClung is throwing 95mph fastballs and 75mph curveballs, and that type of speed differential with a consistent delivery is very difficult to hit.

 

Edit - staying on topic, congrats to Smith. Can't be worse than Julio, so let's see if he's DiFelice II.

[monty57]

It's kind of nice that we have some decent young bullpen arms. Hopefully this will keep Melvin from making some of the expensive bullpen mistakes we've seen in the past few years.

 

Good luck to Smith. I hope he can keep up what he's been doing in AAA.

[rousieboy]

I would like nothing more than to see CSmith, DiFelice, Dillard, Burns turn in decent preformances and save us some cash moving forward...Go get 'em!

[NYChez]

The DiFelice elbow/bereavement situation easily cost the Brewers 2 games this week. Hopefully he's back and near 100% by Tuesday. The other setup guys need some rest.

[stoutdude04]

I know it will be tough, but hopefully he comes back with his mind on the game as well. As tough as it will be, I hope he takes the time he needs to come back 100% mentally. I was reading on nsbb that Dempster's daughter has had a rough go of it so far this year and that might have been hurting his concentration earlier in the year. Family problems are always tough to deal with.

[Invader3K]

No doubt.

 

Has Macha used Smith yet? It seemed odd that he used Villy again yesterday instead of Smith or Coffey or someone like that.

[hawing]

Coffey had already appeared in Sunday's game by the time Villa was on. But yeah, after the game, once I remembered that Smith and Burns were (presumably) available, I wondered what made Macha opt for a third day of Villa instead.

[BrewCrewForever]

I think Macha just had more faith in Villa for a 3rd straight day then going with Burns or Smith fresh in a pressure situation.

[DHonks]

Smith should have entered and not Coffey. Early innings, thus saving Coffey. But that's just yet another questionable move by Macha. Hopefully he gets into a game, but it seems doubtful