McClung, DiFelice and Rivera non-tendered

[Teatoe993]

If you take out those overachieving innings, he was pretty much a replacement level pitcher during his whole stint here, and he wasn't trending in the correct direction.

 

If you take out those underachieving innings he was a fairly decent bullpen arm. I thought he was quite serviceable out of the pen. He sucked as a starter, but was a good guy to bring out in the 6th or 7th innings. Or as a long reliever. And he never really got a chance to pad (or tank) his stats the last month or so of the season when Macha seemed to ignore his presence on the roster.

[endaround]

Why keep him around? He's not suddenly going to become a different pitcher. He has a 4.77 ERA as a reliever and a K/BB ration of 1.12. An OBP against of .365. That's bad.

[thebruce44]

If you take out those underachieving innings he was a fairly decent bullpen arm. I thought he was quite serviceable out of the pen. He sucked as a starter, but was a good guy to bring out in the 6th or 7th innings. Or as a long reliever. And he never really got a chance to pad (or tank) his stats the last month or so of the season when Macha seemed to ignore his presence on the roster.

Yea, I mistyped there. No innings should be removed, but the ones that do help his ERA were a fluke. That was the point I was trying to make.

 

As others have said, he really just was not very good on the field, but an enjoyable guy off. He seems to have really benefited from a couple of high pressure innings in the eyes of the fanbase. I am surprised so many people think he was "good" or even "solid."

[Thurston Fluff]

Why keep him around? He's not suddenly going to become a different pitcher. He has a 4.77 ERA as a reliever and a K/BB ration of 1.12. An OBP against of .365. That's bad.

 

I agree he was not good for the most part but to answer your question about why keep him around is because relievers do suddenly become different pitchers for a year or so relatively often. It seems half the relievers we've had this past decade were that variety. He will get a job somewhere and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he did well for a year or so again somewhere along the line. We can get that type of pitcher for a lot less money so I'm glad they non tendered him but to say relievers don't just turn it around for what ever reason is to ignore quite a bit of Brewer history.

I actually like having a few sub par performing hard throwers coming in to spring if they come cheap and can be stashed in the minors. McClung's problem was his price tag was going up and he couldn't be stashed in the minors until needed. Good guy bad risk. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy the memories of his few good moments in a few important spots.

[LouisEly]

McClung can't blow a fastball by anybody because he has no control. He stunk last year after basically being replacement level reliever the year before. His K/BB rate 1.03! His HR/9 was 1.60. He hasn't ever been good outside of 12 innings for Milwaukee in 2007.

There are times to look at stats as a whole when the big picture is more relevant, and there are times to inspect them more carefully. The last sentence is not true at all - prior to being thrust into the starting role by need on June 27th his numbers were very good. Also, as many pitchers do, they try to gut out an injury and have a couple of bad outings before ultimately going on the DL; this happened during his last four appearances in July prior to going on the DL - 4 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 HR, 6 BB, 3 K. No surprise he went on the DL after that. Similar with Bush after he took a liner off the arm - his next five outings were awful before going on the DL, as were his first two coming back from the DL. Those stretches for both of them were not consistent with their performance the rest of the season. If there performance was consistent with their stats for the whole season then I would agree with you (see: Kendall, Suppan, Hall, etc.). However both had certain stretches of games that were a significant deviation from their performance the rest of the season subsequently resulting in a DL stint, and that's when I question the stats as a whole.

 

I think we've hashed this to death and it's obvious that he has his fans and detractors of his performance. I wouldn't be surprised to see him resurface in Texas with Maddux as his coach again.

[TooLiveBrew]

Yeah, I agree that McClung will easily find another spot. Teams always seem willing to check out guys that can bring mid to upper-90s gas.

[endaround]

His K/bb ration in March/April .9, May 1.38, June 1.43. No he wasn't pitcing well and then got hurt. He had a lucky BABIP of .205 in May driving his ERA down. As he got less lucky his ERA came back up.

[djoctagone]

Yeah, I agree that McClung will easily find another spot. Teams always seem willing to check out guys that can bring mid to upper-90s gas.

not so easily.

 

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