Hawkins activated, Villanueva optioned to AAA (Post # 31)

[battlekow]

Haudricourt

[dlk9s]

I'll tell you what, I'm actually looking forward to seeing how Riske does when healthy. He's a decent enough pitcher - we just haven't seen him in one piece.

[And That]

We're a little over a third of the way through the year and the only people still in the bullpen from opening day are Villanueva (who almost didn't make the team) and Hoffman (who surely didn't expect to be where he is in the pecking order now). Amazing.

[chadomac]

It's funny how at-the-time I thought the Riske signing was one of the best FA acquisitions we'd made in the past 5 years or so. Things didn't turn out so well.

[Thurston Fluff]

At the time it was a good signing. He was healthy and had a long enough track record to think he was as safe a bet as you could get. It just turned out bad. Still time enough to make something of his time here. He may be exactly what this pen needs. A fresh veteran with an established ability to get people out might go a long way to stabilizing the pen. Kind of like a trade without having to give anyhting up.

[Dragonbait]

This is a 'meh" for me....

[sheethead]

I'm wondering if Hawkins will ever pitch again. Melvin sure was shooting fish in a barrel this year when it came to 35+ year-old players who will collect their final paycheck on his boss' dime.

[monty57]

So basically Hawkins becomes our new Riske.

 

I hope Riske can pitch like we hoped for when he was signed. It's not his fault he got injured, so hopefully he can earn some of his salary during the rest of the year. I really didn't anticipate Hawkins going to the 60-day DL (I thought it would be Zaun). Hawkins' arm problems must be much worse than the "dead arm" he was first diagnosed with. Didn't the trainers say they couldn't find anything wrong with him?

[RockCoCougars]

Riske was a bad signing, another blunder by Melvin. He was just a guy with average to below average stuff who had a few years with really good control and got rich. I find it painfully ironic that Melvin's long term bullpen blunder #2 replaced long term bullpen blunder #1 on the 60 day D.L. (yes, I know that two years isn't exactly long term, but good grief.... please no more multi-year contracts to setup guys).

[uwisfan]

Riske was a low-risk, decent upside signing and the guy had decent stats (like Hawkins). I don't think the team could have anticipated the injury problems in this one. All in all, it didnt cost anywhere a Looper or Suppan did

[JohnBriggs12]

Riske was a bad signing, another blunder by Melvin. He was just a guy with average to below average stuff who had a few years with really good control and got rich. I find it painfully ironic that Melvin's long term bullpen blunder #2 replaced long term bullpen blunder #1 on the 60 day D.L. (yes, I know that two years isn't exactly long term, but good grief.... please no more multi-year contracts to setup guys).

While I agree it was another bad signing, Riske actually used to throw pretty hard and he's had spotty control issues from time to time.

 

Who knows when Coffey returns, but basically it appears whenever he does, it will either be Riske or Smith that goes or both assuming at some point they will get back to 12 pitchers. Frankly I wouldn't want to see Riske in anything but mop up duty.

[trwi7]

All in all, it didnt cost anywhere a Looper or Suppan did

Umm, what? Riske costs over twice as much as Looper did.

 

 

[Funketown]

I'm wondering if Hawkins will ever pitch again. Melvin sure was shooting fish in a barrel this year when it came to 35+ year-old players who will collect their final paycheck on his boss' dime.

I think GM's often take out insurance policies against injuries on a lot of their signings, although I'm not sure about Melvin. That would apply to Riske as well, I'd think.

 

 

We can criticize the Hawkins signing all we want, but I still think it's a mile ahead of the Riske signing. In three years before Riske came here, he posted 6.2 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, and 1.2 HR/9 with about a 40% fly ball rate. In three years before Hawkins came here, he posted 6.1 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 0.8 HR/9 with about a 30% fly ball rate.

 

Both were bad signings, but Hawkins is (and was at the sign of signing) a significantly better pitcher than Riske. Despite being overpaid, Hawkins is a solid reliever and it's really too bad that he'll be out this long.

[Invader3K]

How is it that a guy has to go on the 60-day DL with "right shoulder fatigue?" Something screwy is going on here. This whole song and dance with the Brewers collective injury situation is getting rather old. I guess at this point in the season it doesn't really matter much, though.

[TheCrew07]

How does he lose 5 mph on his FB in a week? Back to back 40+ pitch outings?

[CheezWizHed]

How is it that a guy has to go on the 60-day DL with "right shoulder fatigue?"

 

Its called HIPAA. Frustrating as fans, but they really don't have to tell us what is really happening, if they don't want to.

[PeaveyFury]

He was just a guy with average to below average stuff who had a few years with really good control and got rich

 

Riske had 5 straight years with an ERA below 4. He was signed to stabilize a bullpen that was one of the weakest parts of the team in the 2007 season. You can call it a mistake because he got injured and it hasn't worked out, but it wasn't a bad signing at the time by any stretch.

[Invader3K]

There was nothing to indicate Riske would be injured this long either. He had a pretty spotless health history, as I recall; and it seemed like a solid move at the time. Maybe a slight overpay at the time, but it really isn't one that's hurting the franchise even now. It's the fact that there's all this other dead money on the books (Suppan, Hall), that makes it painful.

[logan82]

If I remember correctly Riske blamed Maddux trying to get him to throw a curve ball(or some other pitch) for his injury.

[1992casey]

I think GM's often take out insurance policies against injuries on a lot of their signings, although I'm not sure about Melvin. That would apply to Riske as well, I'd think.

 

Somewhere along the line, I believe it was reported that Riske's contract wasn't insured.

[Invader3K]

I think I heard insurance is usually only taken on bigger contracts.

[tigerbrew]

Riske's contract was not insured, Hauricourt mentioned it in one of his articles many months ago.

[RobDeer 45]

Ya I think this wasn't a bad signing but more like bad luck. I hope he can come back and be at least average. It would be a nice boost.

[kramnoj]

Hawkins could be back this week. I really don't know what the Brewers are going to do to make a spot for him.

 

Villenueva has only had 5 apperances in July. I thought he might be an option to go down, but I thought there was discussion that he would have to clear through revocable waivers first.

 

One option would be for Bush to be traded this week, and then Hawkins could be called up to replace him. We might as well trade him, but I'm not really aware of a market for him. I think the best option for him to be traded is to be packaged with Fielder so that he is the White Sox 5th starter with Hudson+ coming back. I just don't know how likely that is.

 

Braddock could be sent down. That is the easiest thing to do, but he has pitched well, so that really doesn't support the message that players will create their own playing time.

 

The Brewers could try to trade away Riske. Heck, they could just give him away. He's going to be gone, and the Brewers are going to need to clear another spot whenever Davis is ready to return.

 

So, predictions, expectations, hopes? What do you think is going to happen, what do you think will happen?

[jwill535]

I wouldnt be shocked if Braddock doesnt see a DL stint here in a bit