Luis Cruz not happy with September playing time

[logan82]

Luis Cruz had a few not so nice things to say about Macha.

“The truth is that he (Macha) is very dry, very lethargic, a bit racist…but that’s all passed,”

Then a quote about a new manager.

“It’s not known yet. Hopefully he’ll like Latinos and give me an opportunity.”

Maybe it is just me, but I would attribute his lack of playing time to not being a very good hitter. I wouldn't be upset to see him out of the organization but we have almost no depth at SS in the minors.

[TheCrew07]

He might have had his finest season, but he's already 26 years old, there's a couple of guys like him every year. 1 good season in AAA doesn't mean he deserved more playing time than he got. I wouldn't be surprised if Escobar and Gomez bad mouthed Macha to Cruz, I felt Macha did everything he could to crush Escobar's confidence.

 

Getting back to Cruz, that's certainly nothing you say publicly unless you're certain it's true, and I'm not sure he spent enough time with Macha to spout off like that. I also wouldn't mind if he wasn't with organization next year, his comments rubbed me the wrong way and he only posted a .723 MiLB OPS in his 10th minor league season. Go whine somewhere else, Escobar put up a .762 OPS at the same lvl at age 22.

[logan82]

I guess I could see how Gomez and Escobar may feel mistreated. Neither really hit enough to justify playing more than they did. My guess is that if we had a better backup SS Escobar would have played even less.

[paul253]

Yeah I agree with TheCrew. It'd be one thing if you've actually had some success at the major league level before. But what, he has a good year in Triple A and expects to play 4 days a week as a September callup? Give me a break. If I were Melvin I'd release him.

[davego]

“The truth is that he (Macha) is very dry, very lethargic, a bit racist…but that’s all passed,”

 

...well, I guess it's nice that Melvin is out of his racist stage. What.Ever.

[hawing]

Maybe seeing his #10 handed to Ron Roenicke was the last straw.

[brewmann04]

calling someone a racist is very strong statement.

[Gobias Industries]

Buh bye, Luis.

 

One of the most idiotic things I've ever seen a player say. Maybe he doesn't know the definition of the word racist.

[GAME05]

“It was one of my best seasons in the U.S.,” Cruz told Ballasteros, “but

I wasn’t given the opportunity. I went in September and they flung me

around for another month in the major leagues.”

 

this is the line that sticks out to me most. i guess by those standards, 3/4 of our entire Nashville team should be given steady playing time in Milwaukee, just because they had their best seasons, too.

[Oldcity]

Did he think these quotes wouldn't make it back to the organization? How stupid.

[JoeHova]

I agree with Cruz that Macha seemed dry and lethargic. However, I would have liked for him to have provided at least one example of Macha's racism if he was going to make that claim off-handedly.

[Funketown]

Luis,

 

Gomez and Escobar were benched because they weren't hitting.

 

Yovani Gallardo was not benched because he was performing well.

 

[/blue]Kottaras was benched because Macha hates greeks.[blue/]

 

Sincerely,

 

Doug Melvin

[jrodbrewcrew]

Luis,

 

Gomez and Escobar were benched because they weren't hitting.

 

Yovani Gallardo was not benched because he was performing well.

 

[/blue]Kottaras was benched because Macha hates greeks.[blue/]

 

Sincerely,

 

Doug Melvin

And that.

[craigharmann]

Kottaras was benched because Macha hates greeks.

That was the first thing I thought of when I read the racist comment from Cruz.

[thunderbat30]

Do September call-ups receive major league salary when they are up?

[wibadgers23]

Cruz can pretty much kiss his days as a Brewer goodbye. I actually thought he got a pretty good amount of playing time considering he was a September call-up and was playing behind Escobar and Counsell.

[Invader3K]

Do September call-ups receive major league salary when they are up?

I'm virtually positive they do.

[1992casey]

September callups receive both Major League salary and credit toward service time. Their days on the roster don't count against rookie status; however, their innings pitched and at bats do count against it.

[RockCoCougars]

Pretty hyperbolic if you ask me. If Macha was truly biased against Latinos, no way would he have run out Escobar as much as he did to mostly stink up the joint. Gomez did not deserve as much playing time as he got either. That said, rightly or wrongly, I'd be willing to bet that Cruz was expressing sentiment that wasn't just his own. To me, Macha just seemed to play favorites. Unproven guys that he didn't like didn't play, simple as that (Gerut, Gamel, etc.).

[Mass Haas]

It's a known factor that the Brewers erred in not having a Latino, ot at minimum someone who speaks the language, on their coaching staff last year, and it'll be interesting to see if Ron Roenicke corrects that situation. Both Escobar and in particular Gomez commented that at times they may have mis-interpreted things at points in the season.

[JohnBriggs12]

While it wasn't wise for Cruz to say what he did, there is certainly some evidence to support his contention. Compare Coffey to Villanueva. Coffey allowed 5 ER in his first 2 September appearances covering just 2/3 of an inning. He was trotted out there 8 more times. Villanueva on the other hand had scoreless outings on Sept 4th and Sept. 7th but didn't appear in another game until September 29th despite plenty of opportunities to use him.

 

I also found it curious that Mike Rivera was sent packing after 2 solid seasons as backup to Kendall (one under Macha), then within a week of Macha's dismissal, he's brought back into the organization.

 

As for Gomez and Escobar, I think both of those guys would have benefited from a manager that showed more confidence in them. Both had playing time taken by 40 year olds.

 

It is curious though that Cruz would bring this up. He got playing time at the expense of Escobar who slumped over the final month.

[CheezWizHed]

If anyone cares, here is the un-translated link

 

I'm no Spanish expert, but it looks like the racist quote was pretty direct:

 

“La verdad (Macha) es muy seco, muy apático, un poco racista, pero eso ya pasó”

 

There were some other comments about Escobar and Gallardo that would have been nice to have translated, also...

 

 

Compare Coffey to Villanueva.

Coffey allowed 5 ER in his first 2 September appearances covering just

2/3 of an inning. He was trotted out there 8 more times. Villanueva on

the other hand had scoreless outings on Sept 4th and Sept. 7th but

didn't appear in another game until September 29th despite plenty of

opportunities to use him.

Or it was because Villanueva pitched himself into the minors earlier in the year...

 

I also found it curious that Mike

Rivera was sent packing after 2 solid seasons as backup to Kendall (one

under Macha), then within a week of Macha's dismissal, he's brought

back into the organization.

 

Sent packing as a backup MLB catcher and returned on a MiLB contract off the 40-man. Pretty big difference there...

[RockCoCougars]

Villanueva is another example of a player that Macha buried pretty early on. Once again, though I highly doubt that Macha is racist, it seems that he played favorites and doghoused guys that he didn't like for whatever reason. I used Gamel and Gerut as examples of two guys that he buried, Villanueva is another one. Macha obviously didn't like Fielder and Braun much either, but there was no way that he could bury them. My guess is that Villanueva and Cruz formed a friendship down in Nashville. All that said, while the racism accusations are out of line, Cruz was dead on with the dry and lethargic stuff. I would guess that we will get a lot more pithy comments about Macha once spring training starts. As in any workplace, he may be very smart (baseball wise), but he lacked the people skills necessary to be a good manager.

[mothershipconnection]

There were some other comments about Escobar and Gallardo that would have been nice to have translated, also...

 

It's been a good 5 years since I was competent enough to hold down a conversation, but I've got the gist of it.

 

Escobar: It's difficult to compete for the SS job because he's been given the opportunity. Cruz batted .290, .300 all year, but Escobar is the prospect and they've given him the opportunity.

 

Gallardo: they get along well and have known each other since AA. He's a humble guy who treated Cruz very well during his time in Milwaukee.

[CheezWizHed]

Villanueva is another example of a player that Macha buried pretty early on.

 

Stats speak otherwise. Villy buried himself. Averaging 13 innings per month is a pretty good load for a reliever.

 

I	Split	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	SO/9	SO/BB
	April/March	0	0		0.00	11	0	2	0	0	0	13.0	5	0	0	0	5	0	17	1	0	1	50	0.769	11.8	3.40
	May	0	0		6.43	14	0	2	0	0	1	14.0	18	10	10	2	6	1	20	3	0	2	69	1.714	12.9	3.33
	June	0	0		7.50	13	0	0	0	0	0	12.0	15	10	10	2	6	0	13	0	0	1	56	1.750	9.8	2.17
	July	1	0	1.000	6.30	7	0	0	0	0	0	10.0	6	7	7	3	5	0	13	0	0	1	41	1.100	11.7	2.60
	Sept/Oct	1	0	1.000	0.00	5	0	1	0	0	0	3.2	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	15	1.091	9.8

mothership, thanks for the translation. I was too lazy to look up the couple words I didn't remember. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif