Bullpen numbers

[adambr2]

Cover your eyes...

 

CL Axford - 5.60 ERA

SU Rodriguez - 3.90 ERA

RP Parra - 4.41 ERA

RP Dillard - 4.45 ERA

RP Veras - 3.90 ERA

RP Perez - 5.14 ERA

RP Loe - 3.16 ERA

 

I'd feel better if we had at least 1 or 2 dominant guys to build the pen around and then go from there to build the rest of the pen. But it's just complete mediocrity all the way around.

[danzig6767]

We were so spoiled last year in the pen

 

It's just so brutal being a fan of a team with a bullpen performing terribly. There literally isn't a single guy in that pen right now where i don't feel impending doom when brought in during a close game.

 

That's why i rarely get mad a Roenicke for moves he makes with the bullpen this year because i often find myself thinking i don't know who i'd want used either in situations once the starter exits. Loe had been solid prior to last night, but in general all of these guys simply put on to many baserunners and baserunners spell trouble in close games.

 

You obviously can't win in baseball without at least pretty good starting pitching, but a bad bullpen can sink you almost as much and the Brewers pen has struggled from the get go this year.

[TooLiveBrew]

Roenicke said in the postgame presser tonight that 'we didn't have anyone else who could stop them' (not 100% sure that's exact) meaning after he pulled Thornburg. I thought that was about as harsh as I've ever heard him publicly about players.

[3and2Fastball]

this season is an exact example of why you don't give closers multi-year multi-million dollar contracts unless their name is Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman

[adambr2]

I really don't know what they are going to do next year to fix this. A lot of people don't think that Thornburg has the stamina to make it in the rotation, so he'd be a nice addition to the bullpen, but being our #1 pitching prospect, I'd hate to see him wasted in the pen.

 

Really, relievers are hit and miss every year, so I generally see putting a lot of FA money into the bullpen every year as a bad investment. So I'm not really sure what they should do going forward other than make Stan Kyles a scapegoat.

[FVBrewerFan]

Maybe it's just perception, but it seems like most teams we play have 3 or 4 guys coming out of the pen with really good numbers, and nasty stuff to back it up. While I agree it's not wise to spend a lot of money on the pen, I'm troubled that the Brewers can't ever seem to develop or find any of these guys.

 

Caught lightning in a bottle last year with Saito and Hawkins, and Melvin was wise to walk away instead of offer big contracts to aging bullpen arms. The problem is, he didn't find adequate replacements. Then to make matters worse, KRod and Ax are struggling. I fully expected these guys to drop off a bit from their numbers last year. KRod is about what I expected, but Ax's fall-off has been dramatic.

 

I've always believed the bullpen was one area of the roster that a small market team needs to focus on. You can't always sign every big bat and startingpitcher, but you should be able to build a very effective bullpen every year. In fact, it's critical for a small market team.

[jerichoholicninja]

The Brewers need to hire Andrew Freidman just so they can put together a cheap and effective bullpen. That guy's a genius (or incredibly lucky).

[JohnBriggs12]

I mentioned this in the game thread but Melvin gave away a pretty handy guy in Villanueva prior to 2011. The Brewers got nothing in return when no PTNL was ever named Why? Because he was ready to get $1.4 million in arby in 2011 and Melvin didn't want to pay it? I'm frankly still scratching my head over that one especially seeing Parra still out there.

 

Villanueva isn't your classic mid 90's flamethrower that everyone seems to covet (though did anyone notice he was consistently hitting 92 last night), but he's durable (unlike Parra), can go multiple innings, handles lefties and righties equally, and has stretches where he's very, very good (again unlike Parra). He's also a guy who's very competitive on the mound. Who can forget that time he confronted Albert?

 

He's a FA after this season. For a reasonable price, I'd like to see him back. He's still only 28.

[adambr2]

Villanueva was coming off of a 5.34 ERA in 2009 and a 4.61 ERA as a reliever in 2010 for us. I don't think anyone was really that upset to see him go at the time.

[RockCoCougars]

I think things are just evening out from last year. In all my years of watching Brewers baseball, I never saw a bullpen perform anywhere close to what they did last season. Aside from a few hiccups from Loe early on, it was lights out. This makes the substandard performance from this season look even worse by comparison.

 

The one that I'm actually the most concerned about is Axford. I expected K-Rod to be a bit shaky and watching Veras has been a white knuckle ride, but Axford doesn't seem the same. Not even mentioning the fact that he is having big time isses throwing his off speed stuff for strikes, it just looks like his fastball has lost some life to me. He's not blowing away many guys this year like he has in the past. I'm not sure whether that's because guys are sitting on the fastball and laying off the curve or what.

 

Basically Brewer closers have had a one or two calendar year shelf life over the past twenty years. It seems that more often than not, a guy comes from nowhere, dominates for a stretch and then blows up. Hope that isn't the case here.

[markedman5]

Axford's problems can be summed up by this blurb from last nights blown save. He is constantly behind in counts because he can't throw his curve ball for strikes and his fast ball command hasn't been great either. Walks are obviously way up too.

 

They didn't repeat the feat in the ninth, but came close. Rasmus hit a 3-and-1 fastball down the right-field line for a game-tying home run, and Bautista hit another 3-and-1 fastball for another homer to right that gave the Blue Jays the lead.

[GormanHarvey]

 

The one that I'm actually the most concerned about is Axford. I expected K-Rod to be a bit shaky and watching Veras has been a white knuckle ride, but Axford doesn't seem the same. Not even mentioning the fact that he is having big time isses throwing his off speed stuff for strikes, it just looks like his fastball has lost some life to me. He's not blowing away many guys this year like he has in the past. I'm not sure whether that's because guys are sitting on the fastball and laying off the curve or what.

 

I'm not sure how you can say that about his fastball? Without looking up his average fastball velocity vs last year, I would say it has just as much life on it and probably more. His fastball has always been straight so its not a matter of losing any movement. I think its simply of factor of not locating the fastball as well, and really not being able to throw his curveball and slider for strikes. A lot of times last year, he set up his better located fastball with his off speed stuff, thus more "blowing away" hitters. I know he hasn't been getting his big curve over for strikes much, but to me it seems he has almost abandoned his slider on top of that. Bad combo, but I think he will turn it around.

[jerichoholicninja]

I made this point earlier in the year too, last year was the outlier for Axford. His walk rate last year was 1.0 lower than his career rate and this year it's 1.5 higher than his career rate. His HR/9 is 1.0 this year versus .4 for his career and .5 last year.

 

Even when he came up I wasn't a huge fan, he threw too many balls, which has been his problem this year and wasn't an issue last year. With his age and inconsistency I really hope Doug moves his this winter. Someone will be willing to overpay for him.

[RockCoCougars]

 

The one that I'm actually the most concerned about is Axford. I expected K-Rod to be a bit shaky and watching Veras has been a white knuckle ride, but Axford doesn't seem the same. Not even mentioning the fact that he is having big time isses throwing his off speed stuff for strikes, it just looks like his fastball has lost some life to me. He's not blowing away many guys this year like he has in the past. I'm not sure whether that's because guys are sitting on the fastball and laying off the curve or what.

 

I'm not sure how you can say that about his fastball? Without looking up his average fastball velocity vs last year, I would say it has just as much life on it and probably more. His fastball has always been straight so its not a matter of losing any movement. I think its simply of factor of not locating the fastball as well, and really not being able to throw his curveball and slider for strikes. A lot of times last year, he set up his better located fastball with his off speed stuff, thus more "blowing away" hitters. I know he hasn't been getting his big curve over for strikes much, but to me it seems he has almost abandoned his slider on top of that. Bad combo, but I think he will turn it around.

 

I don't know. You are probably right about the location thing, and I'm surprised that his velocity is up. It just seems that guys are getting good wood on the ball this year when last year they looked pretty helpless. I'm sure that it's easier to blow guys away with a fastball when they are looking for a hammer curve that splits the zone in half.

[jjfanec]

Villanueva was coming off of a 5.34 ERA in 2009 and a 4.61 ERA as a reliever in 2010 for us. I don't think anyone was really that upset to see him go at the time.

 

Not to mention his numbers this year point to some luck. In 33 IP he has walked 21 guys and given up 26 hits. His ERA should be higher with those numbers. Carlos's last two years with us and peripherals suggest he is Manny Parra