Brewers Pitching Since the All-Star Break

[Thurston Fluff]

I agree with this -- I think Parra could be a good reliever, but I think there is not a lot of hope for Parra as a starter.

 

There are only a handful of pitchers that have gotten as many starts as he has, while sucking so loudly.

 

When a left hander has good stuff it isn't all that uncommon to get a lot of chances. Jorge Dela Rossa comes to mind. His horrible year in 06 got him another 23 starts in KC in 07. That 5.82 ERA in 07 got him another 23 starts in 08 where he posted a 4.92 ERA which got him a starting spot this season. That 4.92 ERA is higher than Parra's the same year. Given Parra is a year younger there is no more reason to think he can't ahndle a starting job if given time than JDLR.

 

While I think Parra can still be at least a serviceable starter yet I don't know how useful it is to have him and Narveson on the same starting staff. They both have performed at a 5th starter level at best so far and having two of them developing at the same time is harder for a staff to compensate for. Given my druthers I'd stay with Parra and see what I could get for Narveson.

[mletto157]

I agree with TBWS. ERA is pretty much the worst possible stat to look at in this case. I mean, the only way you get a run with the bases empty is if someone hits a homerun - so naturally a pitcher would have a better ERA with the bases empty than with, say a man on 3rd (who could score off a weak single). You have to look at BA, SLG, OBP, or better yet, OPS against him in these situations to really make a conclusion one way or the other.

[Fatter than Joey]

When a left hander has good stuff it isn't all that uncommon to get a lot of chances.

 

Left-handers don't even need to have good stuff to get a lot of chances.

 

Jorge Dela Rossa comes to mind.

 

JDLR is the poster boy for giving every pitcher more chances than they need.

 

Given Parra is a year younger there is no more reason to think he can't ahndle a starting job if given time than JDLR.

 

If we say 2008 is JDLR's "breakout season" JDLR need ~270 IP to get to where he is today -- Parra will be well over 450 IP by the end of this year. Parra has had every chance and more than JDLR. If you play around with the play_index at BRef, and read our discussion on brewcrewball -- you will see that Parra has had as much of a chance (providing as poor as results as he has) than just about every pitcher in MLB for the last 50 years.

 

All that said, JDLR is not Parra. It is hard to continue justify giving Parra starts, (IMO) looking at the "JDLR-story" and ignoring Parra's results -- Look at Parra's last 10-11 starts, they are remarkably similar -- Can't get out of the 5th inning, throwing 100 pitches, etc...

 

I do think Parra could be a decent reliever -- and that is what should be explored.

[GAME05]

it's to this organization's credit that the only two guys i can think of that we let go a little too early are JDLR and Ronnie Belliard. At the same time, maybe that also means we've been holding onto guys far too long and allowing them to lose games at the ML level to watch talent that is never going to materialize. when you've got a team with the talent ours does, maybe it's more appropriate to start cutting ties with nonperformers and take some risks with replacements. i'm more inclined to find the oldest pitcher in the minors who still hasn't gotten his ML shot yet and replace Parra with him. that'd at least be more fun to watch, especially since we'd only really be asking him to replace Parra's current numbers.

[logan82]

If there was a reasonable replacement for Parra I would be more in favor of taking him out. He has gotten the plethora of opportunities mostly because our other options are probably worse in my opinion. Also, why burn service time in a lost season?

[NYChez]

It still amazes me that Manny Parra and Dave Bush have gotten much worse after 2008 - from being young #3 types with decent upside to barely hanging on to stay in the big leagues.

[mletto157]

Don't you think for Manny, if it really is his flat fastball that is making him so bad (so what happened in 2008?)... couldn't it be something as simple as having him throw a 2-seam instead of the 4-seam he's been throwing this season. I remember in the minors he could throw both...

 

 

It's pretty simple to know why he has gotten this many chances... he can throw mid 90's as a lefty and has all of the following pitches: 4-seam fastball, 2-seam fastball, splitter, change, curve, and slider (and didn't he also have a cutter? I thought at one time or another he could throw 4 different fastballs for strikes). Pretty hard to give up on someone like that - especially after his "rookie" year of 2008.

[endaround]

He also has a K/9 rate of over 9 this season and a K/bb of 2. That isn't great but it isn't de la Rosa here. De la Rosa had a BB/9 of 8.08 his last season in Milwaukee.