Parra Replaces Bush in Rotation Sunday; Bush "not pleased"

[Funketown]

TH reports, http://www.jsonline.com/b...rts/95544709.html. This may either be temporary due to Bush's blister or (temporarily) permanent. With the way Bush has been throwing the ball, I'm hoping it's the latter, and that Parra can finally capitalize.

 

Mods, feel free to move this if you feel the need; perhaps a new rotation thread would be a good call.

[berniebrewer4life]

Sometimes I think Macha is just writing players names on ping pong balls and is randomly picking them for lineups. I hope Parra does well, but this seems to be a lateral movement as far as pitching quality goes.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm glad the Brewers are actually getting an extended look at Parra. When it was announced he was going back to the 'pen, I was frustrated.

[wibadgers23]

Bush is not a happy camper.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/95552134.html

[Invader3K]

Bush "not pleased" about being skipped in next start.

 

"The finger's not an issue," said Bush. "That has nothing to do with

it."

As for the decision to pitch Manny Parra instead, Bush said, "I'm not

pleased about it.

"They just said 'You're not starting on Sunday. They were very vague.

I don't really know what the situation is. I was told I might just

pitch out of the bullpen and get pushed back (in the rotation)."

[trwi7]

Bush "not pleased."

 

Says it has nothing to do with the blister. This team is quickly turning into a laughing stock.

[paul253]

I agree with TLB. Parra needs to be in the rotation and stay in the rotation. At this point, we need to know what he brings to the table. The guy is still young enough and has enough potential to improve and if he does then it will fill a huge hole. That being said, Parra needs to step up and be more aggressive. He is better than he is pitching and it's up to him to improve.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Interesting. Idk why they wouldn't just come out and say that he's being pulled from the rotation then.

[craigharmann]

I think we've finally hit "throw crap against the wall and see what happens"mode. Heck, maybe Soup might get put back in the rotation and see what he can do! This is abysmal to watch. Thankfully I'm watching from afar......very afar!

[Funketown]

Bush has been as bad if not worse than Parra over the last season and a half. Parra is under team control beyond this year. Parra has a higher ceiling than Bush.

 

I don't understand the complaints about this move. Bush's peripherals this year are pretty much identical to Suppan's last year.

 

Manny is as frustrating as probably any pitcher the Crew has had over the past 5 years, but Bush has been Suppan-esque this season. If Suppan had done exactly what Bush had done this season, people would be calling for his head.

[uwisfan]

the team was giving bush room to save face.. if he's going to be angry, be angry about the performances

[TheCrew07]

Interesting. Idk why they wouldn't just come out and say that he's being pulled from the rotation then.

Can I reiterate my theory that there is no long term plan and the organization is just flying by the seat of it's pants?

[pretendastronaut]

McCalvy has some more quotes from Bush;

 

"The blister has absolutely nothing to do with it. I don't know what the rationale is," Bush said. "They didn't even ask about my blister. It didn't come up, it's not an issue and it didn't affect me the other day [when Bush pitched six innings against the Marlins]. I don't really know what's going on."

 

Is he upset?

 

"I don't get upset a lot, so I would say no," he said. "But I don't have any idea what's going on. It was sort of vague as an explanation, so I'm hanging in limbo right now other than knowing I won't be pitching Sunday."

 

Link

[naivin]

Can I reiterate my theory that there is no long term plan and the organization is just flying by the seat of it's pants?

Well, let's see in the first two months of the season they have seen their closer completely blow up, DL stints by their starting C, CFer, 4th and 5th OFer, 3/4 starter, and primary set up man. Do they have a choice but to fly by the seat of their pants at this point?

[zzzmanwitz]

the team was giving bush room to save face.. if he's going to be angry, be angry about the performances

 

Bush has been bad in 2 of 11 outings. Has 6 QS out of 11 (2nd on the team to Gallardo's 8, Wolf has 5). In the 9 games outside of his two blow ups, he has a 3.01 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. I'm not sure what more you expected from him.

[sheethead]

"But I don't have any idea what's going on."

 

Join the club Dave, we are right there with you.

 

Well, let's see in the first two months of the season they have seen their closer completely blow up, DL stints by their starting C, CFer, 4th and 5th OFer, 3/4 starter, and primary set up man.

 

That's what you get when you are counting on a 40 year-old 4th OF, a 38 year-old C, Doug Davis, a 42 year-old closer, a 37 year-old setup man, and Jeff Suppan. Other than that, the DL stint from Gomez was unfortunate, the one by Gerut is completely negligible, but the rest of it was all rather foreseeable to me.

[pretendastronaut]

Bush has been bad in 2 of 11 outings. Has 6 QS out of 11. In the 9 games outside of his two blow ups, he has a 3.01 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. I'm not sure what more you expected from him.

 

 

 

I tend to agree that this whole thing is suspect. I don't see how Bush earns a demotion after his last two outings especially, and it seems from his quotes given to McCalvy that he didn't even come out because of the blister the other night. And I say that as someone who wants to see Manny get a full shot.

[naivin]

That's what you get when you are counting on a 40 year-old 4th OF, a 38 year-old C, Doug Davis, a 42 year-old closer, a 37 year-old setup man, and Jeff Suppan. Other than that, the DL stint from Gomez was unfortunate, the one by Gerut is completely negligible, but the rest of it was all rather foreseeable to me.

But the complaint was that there is no long-term plan...seems to me these are short-term (2010) issues, as most of those guys will be gone in the next year+. I don't claim to know what the long-term strategy is, but I don't think anyone expected any of those guys to be around beyond 2010 or 2011, which to me seems to indicates they are thinking long-term, and using those pieces to get through the next season or two. Their minor league system is not exactly flush with pitching options they could bring up to take their lumps.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Somehow I have a feeling that this is Macha playing matchups again, which makes no sense when it comes to starting pitching.

[naivin]

Somehow I have a feeling that this is Macha playing matchups again, which makes no sense when it comes to starting pitching.

What timing...

 

Not picking on Bush

Miami - We just had our briefing with manager Ken

Macha and he made it clear that he is not signaling out Dave Bush among

his starting pitchers by replacing him Sunday with Manny Parra.

"We're not picking on Bush," said Macha. "We're not saying he's out

of the rotation. He'll be in the bullpen a couple of dyas. We'll see

how things fit after Sunday. We've got the Cubs series next. It's

highly likely he'll be back in there in the Cubs series."

Macha said it was more to do with pitching lefties against the

Cardinals, who have not fared well against them despite all of their

right-handed pop. And Macha said he also wanted to give Parra another

chance after he made only two starts before being removed from the

rotation in favor of Chris Capuano.

"We've not given Manny a fair shake," said Macha. "We asked him to

come in relief in Minnesota when he was supposed to start the next day.

Manny has had a couple of good games against the Cardinals. We're

trying to get him in an advantageous position.

"We're going to have a pow-wow when we get home to see what we're

doing. We've had people in and out (of the rotation), in and out. We'll

see if we can get our best guys lined up.

"We have to see how these guys perform. It's much like the lineup.

It makes itself out. We have the second-highest ERA (5.34) in the

National League. If you want to pitch, step up."

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

So they're having a pow-wow about the zim-zam?

 

OK...now I get it.

[zzzmanwitz]

So they're having a pow-wow about the zim-zam?

 

OK...now I get it.

That's Poppycock!

[Funketown]

the team was giving bush room to save face.. if he's going to be angry, be angry about the performances

 

Bush has been bad in 2 of 11 outings. Has 6 QS out of 11 (2nd on the team to Gallardo's 8, Wolf has 5). In the 9 games outside of his two blow ups, he has a 3.01 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. I'm not sure what more you expected from him.

It's not Bush's results that are reason for concern necessarily, it's everything outside of his ERA that is downright ugly: 4.68 K/9, 4.53 BB/9, 1.40 HR/9. There was a guy who pitched last year and had the following peripherals (4.45 K/9, 4.12 BB/9, 1.39 HR/9).

 

There is no reason to expect Bush to perform any better than a 5.00 ERA down the road, and I could very well see him being more in the 5.25 - 5.75 range.

 

As for the two bad starts defense of Bush, look at just about any pitcher at this point and see what taking out their two worst starts does to their numbers. For instance, Randy Wolf has a 3.38 ERA without his worst 2 starts. Gallardo has a 1.69 ERA without his worst two starts.

[TheCrew07]

seems to me these are short-term (2010) issues, as most of those guys will be gone in the next year+

These are not short term issues, it's always the same issues coming back around, the same scenarios repeating themselves over and over. Does anyone honestly think next year we're magically going to have a young and effective rotation and our problems will be solved? Why would next year be any different than this year? The only thing that would save next season is Butler, Rivas, and Rogers finishing this season dominant and proving that they are ready for a shot. Every we always say next year will be different... why? That's what we were saying in 2008 after Sabathia walked... Melvin has to make a move for pitching. That's exactly was said after Looper, Bush, and Parra failed last season... Melvin has to make a move. That's what exactly what we're all saying now... it's the same pattern repeating over and over and over going all the way back his time in Texas. There's no long term strategy here, there's just continual band aid fixes. Hoffman isn't the cause of the problem, he's an effect. Some people around here have cause/effect flipped on itself.

 

All of these issues go back to the same root cause, a failure to build a rotation with enough talent at the top.

 

Every other issue here is a side effect of that one core issue... wasting money on FA pitching, relying on old veterans approaching the end of their rope, the issues with pitching depth, the overuse of the bullpen, the poor results on the field... all of it goes back to the fact we're still a 1 pitcher team, all of it. Where's the evidence of a long term strategy for the top of the rotation? What happened when Jones, Rogers, and Parra all got hurt? What happened when Yo got hurt and everyone knew Sheets was going to walk? What happened after last season? The answer... nothing different. The same exact approach with the same predictable results. How are we ever going to get a different result if the approach/methods don't change?

 

If impact pitching isn't the answer I'd sure love for someone to come up with a different viable solution. I think about this stuff every single day, and I just don't see how the smallest market in baseball can remain competitive long term without the focus being on the top of the rotation. You think I'm wrong? That's fine, give me a different solution that the majority of us can buy into.

 

Just quit trying to sell me on how unlucky the organization has been. How many years of bad luck does it take to convince people that problem is actually the decisions that are being made and not the baseball gods continually crapping on the Brewers?

[Oldcity]

I'm also not upset about Bush being removed from the rotation. He's no longer an MLB quality starting pitcher. His velocity and strikeouts are way down, and his walks are way up. Either he's injured in some way or just regressing hard.