Rotation

[MVP2110]

So Roenicke announced that Gallardo, Estrada, Peralta, Narveson, Fiers is going to open as our rotation. What do yall think? I personally like it. Its about what i expected. I love our depth this year with Rogers, Thornburg, Burgos, Hellweg.

[RobDeer 45]

I can't say I'm not a little nervous right now about this unknown. I'm excited to see young guys getting a shot here this year instead of below average vets. I think Narv deserves a shot and we'll see how he does. It makes the most sense to me and so I'm excited to see how tough these guys are.

[JohnBriggs12]

Rogers may never be right after being pulled out of rotation at the beginning of September in perfect health on a 3 game winning streak. It made no sense then. It makes less now. My guess is he's going to want out.

 

They obviously are very concerned with the confidence of Peralta. They basically gave him no real competition this spring. Thornburg and Hellweg were sent down very early (before the return of Gallardo and Estrada) as was Burgos who's outstanding work in the WBC seems to have meant nothing. Melvin also quickly dismissed reports of interest in Harang.

 

I'm less apprehensive than most on Narveson and Fiers. Narveson was solid in both 2010 and 2011, and if healthy, he deserved the inside track. Fiers did fade a bit down the stretch but that's not uncommon for guys used to shorter schedules. I like his makeup.

[monty57]

So Roenicke announced that Gallardo, Estrada, Peralta, Narveson, Fiers is going to open as our rotation.

 

With the implosion of Rogers, this was pretty much set as the rotation. I'd hoped Rogers would at least be good enough this spring to make an arguement for his being in the rotation but... he didn't. With MLB-ready guys in the AAA rotation, I could see the Brewers looking at the bullpen as Rogers' future. Even though Rogers will be a Brewer to open the season, if we have an injury in the rotation, I'd have to think that at least Thornburg and Burgos would get starts ahead of Rogers.

 

There are obviously a lot of question marks with this rotation, which is the reason that no one outside of Milwaukee thinks the Brewers will be better than 3rd or 4th in the Central. This season will be very telling as to the future of the Brewers. If our MLB SP outperform the critics we could sneak into the playoffs this season, and if the MiLB SP outperform the critics, the future will look a lot brighter.

[Thurston Fluff]

There are obviously a lot of question marks with this rotation, which is the reason that no one outside of Milwaukee thinks the Brewers will be better than 3rd or 4th in the Central. This season will be very telling as to the future of the Brewers. If our MLB SP outperform the critics we could sneak into the playoffs this season, and if the MiLB SP outperform the critics, the future will look a lot brighter.

 

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. I understand there a re a lot of ifs but I also know there are a lot of players with potential to offset them. We don't need every player to pan out to make things interesting. I really am excited to see what our home grown pitchers can do for the team this season. WE haven't had that here for quite some time.

[endaround]

Peralta is another Brewer prospect being rushed.

[MNBrew]

Peralta is another Brewer prospect being rushed.

Really? I can't justify agreeing with that in any way. His improved outing today, while only one game, proves that he's not totally raw or mentally unable to deal with where he's at (at least more so than had he had another shaky outing -- we ought to be seeing this progress, after all!).

[PrinceFielderx1]

Peralta's ability to get over that mid season huge bump in the road last season should be all the proof you need that he's ready for a real shot in the Brewers Major League rotation. He's the 1 other pitcher besides Gallardo that I'm not concerned about.

[homer]

Rogers may never be right after being pulled out of rotation at the beginning of September in perfect health on a 3 game winning streak. It made no sense then. It makes less now. My guess is he's going to want out.

 

really?

[Ennder]

Rogers was never a serious candidate to start, he is Manny Parra without the talent. This rotation doesn't' come as even a tiny bit of a surprise. I don't like the lack of depth at all considering our franchise seems to stress an over the top delivery which does limit BBS but inflates HR and increases the odds of injuries. I don't like our odds of not needing at least 2 more starters outside of our projected 5 and I don't' see where those 2 starters are coming from.

[MVP2110]

Rogers was never a serious candidate to start, he is Manny Parra without the talent. This rotation doesn't' come as even a tiny bit of a surprise. I don't like the lack of depth at all considering our franchise seems to stress an over the top delivery which does limit BBS but inflates HR and increases the odds of injuries. I don't like our odds of not needing at least 2 more starters outside of our projected 5 and I don't' see where those 2 starters are coming from.

 

Actually the depth I am not to worried about. If someone other than Gallardo gets hurt I think we can slide in Thornburg or Burgos or maybe even Hellweg and be just fine.

[DoubleSwitch]

Peralta is another Brewer prospect being rushed.

 

This is just absurd. He's almost 24 years old and he's spent over a season at AAA.

[endaround]

Peralta is another Brewer prospect being rushed.

 

This is just absurd. He's almost 24 years old and he's spent over a season at AAA.

 

And showed in AAA he still has huge control issues. He walked 4.79 per 9. That is terrible. And its not like he was striking out everyone else. His K/BB ratio was under 2.

[brewmann04]

Willy looked good yesterday glad to get to see him pitch on TV finally.

[Ennder]

Rogers may never be right after being pulled out of rotation at the beginning of September in perfect health on a 3 game winning streak. It made no sense then. It makes less now. My guess is he's going to want out.

 

really?

 

Yeah I wouldn't buy that explanation. People are always trying to create reasons for issues. Rogers stunk more or less all season, has a little good stretch and then apparently stinks in spring because they took him out of the rotation. Which part of that sentence makes no sense?

[TURBO]

I've said it before, and I will continue saying it now. If Narveson is one of our top 5 starters going into this season, we are in trouble. Coming off major surgery, starting him out in the bullpen makes a lot more sense to me than thrusting him into the rotation to see how he does. I would rather see Rogers in there to see what we have in him than to see Narveson in there to be nothing more than average at best. Boring.

 

Every game counts, and having him in the rotation, and at #4, screams honoring veteran grittiness. I have no faith in the guy, he was no better than average before his injury, why would we think he can even match that after injury?

 

Just didn't want to see him anywhere near our starting 5 this season.

[RobDeer 45]

I've said it before, and I will continue saying it now. If Narveson is one of our top 5 starters going into this season, we are in trouble. Coming off major surgery, starting him out in the bullpen makes a lot more sense to me than thrusting him into the rotation to see how he does. I would rather see Rogers in there to see what we have in him than to see Narveson in there to be nothing more than average at best. Boring.

 

Every game counts, and having him in the rotation, and at #4, screams honoring veteran grittiness. I have no faith in the guy, he was no better than average before his injury, why would we think he can even match that after injury?

 

Just didn't want to see him anywhere near our starting 5 this season.

 

Is his injury a death sentence? I guess I have no clue on success after a surgery like he had. I guess if I'm looking at him being around where he was prior, that would be a number 4 or 5 starter wouldn't it? Throwing out more questions than statements.

[Ennder]

It isn't a death sentence but shoulders are the toughest injury to come back from as it is the top of the kinetic chain. Everything starts in the shoulder and flows down the body so a shoulder is the start of the chain. Something like an elbow is much easier to come back from.

 

It isn't the end of the world to me if he makes the rotation but he should have to earn it, not just have it handed to him. We don't really have good options though so we probably should have brought in another arm.

[Warning Track Power]

I've said it before, and I will continue saying it now. If Narveson is one of our top 5 starters going into this season, we are in trouble. Coming off major surgery, starting him out in the bullpen makes a lot more sense to me than thrusting him into the rotation to see how he does. I would rather see Rogers in there to see what we have in him than to see Narveson in there to be nothing more than average at best. Boring.

 

Every game counts, and having him in the rotation, and at #4, screams honoring veteran grittiness. I have no faith in the guy, he was no better than average before his injury, why would we think he can even match that after injury?

 

Just didn't want to see him anywhere near our starting 5 this season.

I tend to agree with this. In 2011, when we had a Gallardo, Greinke, Marcum top 3 and our #4 Randy Wolf was arguably the best of the top 4, you could carry a Narveson as your #5. While I think that Estrada could fill the Marcum role at #3, I don't see Peralta being Greinke (16-6, 3.83 ERA, 1.2 WHIP) or Fiers being Wolf (13-10, 3.69 ERA, 1.32 WHIP) in 2013. I'm not saying Rogers would be either but I think Narveson's 2011 is the absolute peak of what we can hope for from Narveson in 2013 (11-8, 4.45 ERA, 1.39 WHIP). Realistically, I think we can expect Rogers and Narveson to post similar #s in 2013 and I like the idea of giving Rogers the chance to succeed before we relegate him to the bullpen and start Narveson.

[Ennder]

I actually expect Fiers to have a sub 3.8 ERA so I'm absolutely fine with Gallardo, Estrada and Fiers as a top 3 though they might wear out towards the end of the season. I don't have much faith in anyone else to fill out #4 and #5 for 2012 though. I think Peralta will eventually be good but he still struggles too much with his control for me to have faith in him for 2012.

[brwrsfan]

Rogers could excel in the bullpen. It allows him to throw that high velocity heater without holding back. Also with his injury history, it could make a lot of sense.

[Thurston Fluff]

I don't know about that for that. For a heater to be effective it needs to be in the strike zone on occasion. I'm not sure the pen is the best place to help his control issues.

[brwrsfan]

We can't afford to have him starting and being ineffective. Put him in the pen, use him in low intensity situations and see what happens.

[Thurston Fluff]

No we can't afford to have his starting if he isn't effective. I'm just saying if he isn't a starter I don't think he profiles as well to being a reliever simply because he can just focus on throwing his fastball. Fact is I'm not sure he has much value to us at all if he can't start. Getting mop us duty isn't a bad idea to see if he can get straightened out but I'm not holding out much hope that will be enough to get him on track. He had control issues as a starter with regular work. I don't see that going away by irregular work a few innings at a time. It seems more like a way to stash him in a last ditch effort to get something from him. I think looking into a trade for a bench player might be the better way to do that. Assuming of course that trade is out there to be had.

[jerichoholicninja]

I can't see a team trading anything worthwhile for him. Might as well just stash him in the bullpen until he totally bombs or he's arbitration eligible.