Should Thornburg be given a shot in the rotation?

[BrewersAA]

He's going long relief for loose today, I think this would slit him to take this spot in the rotation next time it comes up...

 

Anyone think the Brewers might give him the slot for a while and see if he runs with it?

[trwi7]

He was pretty much 88-92 in relief today. Not sure he has the stamina or the stuff to start at this point. He may have avoided TJ surgery but his stuff got much worse.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

Start him. He was rolling as a starter in 2013, and then in '14 he was put in the bullpen. Confidence is one of those unmeasurable stats.

[Jenkins5]

Start him. He was rolling as a starter in 2013, and then in '14 he was put in the bullpen. Confidence is one of those unmeasurable stats.

 

Difference is his arm is not the same. Sad to say but think his future is not a very bright one. He has always had a home run issue in the bigs due to him missing spots a lot and not having much life on fastball. His off speed is not nearly as effective and is reliant on him throwing hard. He has a big looping curve and a slow curve that use to have hitters off balance cause he could throw 93-96 now he struggled to stay in low 90s

[JohnBriggs12]

Start him. He was rolling as a starter in 2013, and then in '14 he was put in the bullpen. Confidence is one of those unmeasurable stats.

 

Difference is his arm is not the same. Sad to say but think his future is not a very bright one. He has always had a home run issue in the bigs due to him missing spots a lot and not having much life on fastball. His off speed is not nearly as effective and is reliant on him throwing hard. He has a big looping curve and a slow curve that use to have hitters off balance cause he could throw 93-96 now he struggled to stay in low 90s

 

At the end of 2013, he was effective starting with a dialed down fastball (92-94), and effective change and breaking pitch. When he got put in pen to start 2014 he just rared back and threw high heat. If he can ever get back to the guy he was two years ago and command all his pitches, he can win.

 

At this point ABL, anybody but Lohse.

[Duckpondbrew]

Put me in the "give him a chance" group. We can't just throw out Loshe and give up at least 4 runs every start. The only other alternative is to look at any and all other options.

[igor67]

I could see hoping for Lohse to string together a couple of starts as not being completely ridiculous, but on balance playing time for Thornburg is more likely to produce value in the future, so I'd go that direction. I wouldn't be completely shocked if they left him in the pen and gave Cravy an extended look either.

[markedman5]

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 4h4 hours ago Milwaukee, WI

For first time #Brewers manager Craig Counsell says Kyle Lohse rotation spot will be discussed.

[Bombers]

Maybe I guess. All I know is they currently own the 3rd pick and we could really use a top 5 draft pick. So sure play him but I hope we keep losing

[DocLuna7]

If there is ever a time to try and see what guys like Thornburg can do in the starting rotation, the second half of this miserable season is probably the time to do it. I am all for releasing Lohse at this point and seeing what guys like TT can do.

[BrewersAA]

I am also very interested in seeing will smith get a shot to start. He and TT were both in line for rotation spots last season and then garza signed. TT earned it and I really like what smith has stuff wise.

[umphrey]

Thornburg has been getting shelled all year. They would be crazy to start him.

[MrTPlush]

Sadly Thornburg's chance to start has come and gone. He is still in the mix, but he isn't next in line or anything(long term). As some mentioned his stuff has really declined which makes such a move even more questionable. Let's see what he can do in the bullpen first at the least.

 

As far as Will Smith...NO. Amazing bullpen piece that should stay that way.

[LouisEly]

Thornburg has been getting shelled all year. They would be crazy to start him.

I believe the same was said about Jungmann. Colorado Springs stats aren't the best way to evaluate pitchers.

[Lee16]

Thornburg has been getting shelled all year. They would be crazy to start him.

 

Crazy would be running Kyle Lohse out there every 5 days to stink up the joint.

[Pugger]

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 4h4 hours ago Milwaukee, WI

For first time #Brewers manager Craig Counsell says Kyle Lohse rotation spot will be discussed.

 

All I can say about this is what took them so long? I feel bad for Lohse personally but that poor guy just doesn't have it any more. Things are sorry enough without trotting him out there every 5 days and watch hitters knock his pitches into the bleachers.

[monty57]

It'd be pretty easy to swap Thornburg and Lohse. Let Thornburg get a shot in a down season to see if he can cut it as an MLB starter, and let Lohse act as a pitching coach/mop-up guy.

[JohnBriggs12]

Thornburg has been getting shelled all year. They would be crazy to start him.

 

Strangely, he was getting shelled in AAA in 2013 too, then put up a 2.03 ERA in Milwaukee. Nothing to lose giving him another shot at this point. Decisions on the 40 man await after the season. Have to see if Thornburg deserves a spot or not. I think he's better as a starter. Not to say he'd be in next years rotation even if he pitches well over 7 or 8 starts, but he'd have some value if he did pitch well.

[reillymcshane]

If the club thinks Thornburg has a future as a starter, I'd jettison Lohse and give Tyler the remaining starts for 2015.

 

Garza, Jungmann, Peralta, Nelson, Thornburg is the rotation for the rest of the year. Add Cravy and Davies into the mix in 2016. You hope Garza regroups next year, and you deal him if there is interest.

[DocLuna7]

Thornburg has been getting shelled all year. They would be crazy to start him.

 

Yeah, he definitely would ruin any chance we have at the playoffs if we throw him out there every five days.

[JohnBriggs12]

If the club thinks Thornburg has a future as a starter, I'd jettison Lohse and give Tyler the remaining starts for 2015.

 

Garza, Jungmann, Peralta, Nelson, Thornburg is the rotation for the rest of the year. Add Cravy and Davies into the mix in 2016. You hope Garza regroups next year, and you deal him if there is interest.

 

I'd give Thornburg August to show what he has. If he doesn't perform bring up Cravy and Davies to make some September starts. Maybe Burgos too if you want to limit service time for guys.

[paul253]

I'd let thornburg start the rest of the year. If he does really well then maybe next year they can put him the bullpen as a long reliever and then send him down to AAA to start. Just keep rotating him between big league reliever and AAA starter. That won't affect his game at all. Oh wait....

[Jenkins5]

Question is who is the best option going forward? Brewers have Davies, Cravy, Wagner, Lopez, and Suter all pushing for a spot in 2016... Is Thornburg still ahead of those guys? If his arm was still the same, I'd say yes, but it's not hard to tell he isn't the same anymore.

 

Next year we got:

Peralta

Nelson

Jungmann

Locked in.

 

Garza will be on market all spring and next season so whenever they find a suitor for him. If not traded in off season, he will be slotted in

 

Then I say Davies will slot in for Fiers

 

If somehow we got lucky and traded Garza, Jorge Lopez would be my favorite dark horse for #5 spot after Peralta, Nelson, Jungmann, Davies.

[tmwiese55]

Simplest thing right now is to let Thornberg get a few starts in Lohse's place. If he struggles then bring Cravy up and give him a few. I was at the game yesterday and was surprised to look up and see his fastball was only hitting 91, seemed to be popping and having more on it, I was expecting it to be 94 or 95. And it seemed to play faster than 91, tt could be his delivery or something I guess. I then also realized I spent 5 innings watch Lohse throwing out BP so anything looks faster than that.

[BrewersAA]

Thornburg has been getting shelled all year. They would be crazy to start him.

 

2 big things on this.

 

1. See Taylor Jungmann...

 

2. Thornburg earned a rotation spot in 13' (like he should have had in 14 and 15 as well) and was not really given a fair look because RR didnt seem to like him, so instead he was sent to AAA and was shelled in similar fashion (confidence? Giving up?) Then in 14 he earned it again and was put in the bullpen in a next man up situation... Okay i understand that. Then this year he was actually pitching really well coming back at AAA and he didnt start getting shelled until he got passed over 3 different times for a chance to start, then it was like a flood gate opened and the runs started piling up. You can only mess with a guy so much and expect him to keep producing in the worst pitching environment in baseball.

 

Tyler Thornburg: 26 years old, 2 time top 100 prospect,

Stats as a Big League Starter ERA: 2.37 Starts: 10 IP: 57.0 K: 45 WHIP: 1.228 K/9: 7.1 K/BB: 2.25

As a big league reliever: ERA: 3.74 Games: 51 IP: 74.2 K: 63 WHIP: 1.420 K/9: 7.6 K/BB: 1.66

 

He never had an ERA over 3.58 in the minors until the brewers started messing with him and his K rates have always been off the charts... All of that considered I REALLY hope the brewers give him a fair shake.

 

 

EDIT

His ERA is also a full run lower than Jungmanns at Col. Springs (why stats there dont matter).

I found this interesting, he's pitched in 5 day games (!) seems like a lot :-/ ... His ERA in those games 7.71 (!!!) his ERA in 12 night games is a much more palatable 4.28... not sure what thats all about but seems to correlate with the Jungmann "Big Game" performer mentality.