2018 Starting Rotation

[Mr Southpaw]

I was pretty unhappy that the roster shuffle cost Woodruff the start today but have to hand it to Stearns/Counsell, Junior was great and I can't argue with the results. Hopefully we will get plenty more good starts from him this season.

 

Junior needs to get a month of starts to prove that he isn't the pitcher he was two years ago. Ride that horse until he stops running!

 

Keep riding that horse!

 

Get along little doggie! Another five innings of very good pitching!

[Mr Southpaw]

Miley very unimpressive today... giving up three home runs in three innings and four earned runs... at least he did not walk anybody!

[Outlander]

I'm really surprised that Suter has not been part of the AAA shuttle thus far and has received this much lease. Woodruff continues to pitch in line the same days as Suter so the pressure is still on though.

[wallus]

I'm really surprised that Suter has not been part of the AAA shuttle thus far and has received this much lease. Woodruff continues to pitch in line the same days as Suter so the pressure is still on though.

 

He is a key member of the band!

[reillymcshane]

I'm really surprised that Suter has not been part of the AAA shuttle thus far and has received this much lease. Woodruff continues to pitch in line the same days as Suter so the pressure is still on though.

I said this in the bullpen thread - but I want Woodruff in the rotation. Suter can go to the bullpen and fill the role of one of our lefties. Drake can go ... away.

 

This would mean no lefty in the rotation - but such is life.

[rickh150]

I see Miley getting a shot in the rotation with Suter going down. Miley has no options and it is very Brewery to squeeze more starts out of him to preserve depth.

 

Guerra is in the rotation to stay... well, he has at least three guaranteed starts. Woodruff is knocking at the door.... wouldn't be surprised to see him in a long man bullpen role with Drake being sent down or sent gone...

 

Anderson, Davies, Chacin, Guerra, and Miley

Long man Woodruff

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

I see Miley getting a shot in the rotation with Suter going down. Miley has no options and it is very Brewery to squeeze more starts out of him to preserve depth.

 

Guerra is in the rotation to stay... well, he has at least three guaranteed starts. Woodruff is knocking at the door.... wouldn't be surprised to see him in a long man bullpen role with Drake being sent down or sent gone...

 

Anderson, Davies, Chacin, Guerra, and Miley

Long man Woodruff

I think I'd rather Suter stay up as the long man, he's not a starter so knock him down a peg on the pitching pecking order and see if he can be a serviceable long man. I'd like to see Woodruff stay down to stay stretched out in the event of an injury or poor performance in the rotation and he's needed.

[adambr2]

I kind of wish they would just give Woodruff the spot and leave him be at least until Nelson is ready. He's a top 100 prospect with far better stuff than Suter and better stuff than Miley. Yeah he didn't come out fast out of the gates, but no one besides Chase did.

 

Even if not you could make a pretty case for any of Peralta, Burnes, or maybe even Derby being a better bet to cover until Nelson is ready. We finally have some really good depth for the last spot in our rotation and I don't know that we need to be putting this much into a 31 year old reclamation project.

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

I kind of wish they would just give Woodruff the spot and leave him be at least until Nelson is ready. He's a top 100 prospect with far better stuff than Suter and better stuff than Miley. Yeah he didn't come out fast out of the gates, but no one besides Chase did.

 

Even if not you could make a pretty case for any of Peralta, Burnes, or maybe even Derby being a better bet to cover until Nelson is ready. We finally have some really good depth for the last spot in our rotation and I don't know that we need to be putting this much into a 31 year old reclamation project.

Agree, but it seems like they are going to give Miley a shot so I'd rather just keep Woodruff stretched as a starter in AAA if that's the route.

[Never Outhustled]

Just say no to Miley. He's still a bad pitcher, and we have so many better options. We don't need him for depth.

[Mr Southpaw]

Just say no to Miley. He's still a bad pitcher, and we have so many better options. We don't need him for depth.

 

So true, we have like 4 starters in AAA with right at 2.00 ERAs, another 4 in AA and Supak in Carolina. Here is my order of who I would call up...

 

1. Woodruff, no brainer.

2. Derby, I don't care about starting his clock.

3. Houser, clock has already started

4. Burnes, I don't want to start his clock...just yet.

5. Peralta, same as Burnes.

6. Ramirez, Hell I will take 2-3 innings from him

7. Mederios, I really don't want to start the clock of anyone below spot.

8. Ortiz

9. Ponce

10. Supak

11. Miley, ole crafty veteran.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The starting pitcher question also needs to factor in 40 man roster management - of all the arms listed in the previous post, only Woodruff, Peralta and Houser are on the current 40 man. So any other pitcher being called up would require removing someone already on it. Miley's current deal basically gives him and the Brewers the time for him to complete his rehab, then determine whether he's in Milwaukee or whether he gets DFA'd - sure he could accept a AAA assignment for the Brewers, but if he's healthy I'd all but guarantee another MLB team will offer him a shot. My gut tells me something happens with the Brewer mlb pitching staff that at least opens up a temporary spot in the rotation or pen for Miley to make a few appearances as a Brewer, but I don't think he's going to be logging heavy innings through September in Milwaukee.

 

The current Brewer 40 man only includes a few players most of us would be comfortable with simply outrighting/removing and receiving nothing in return in order to add a prospect pitcher like Burnes to it. Also, after this season there are talented guys like Modeiros that would need to be added who aren't ready for MLB but would be lost via Rule 5 if left unprotected. To me, Drake, Sogard, Bandy, Choi, and maybe Wilkerson round out that list - when the time comes to add other young arms to the 40-man or get Nelson back on the active roster, I expect to see a few trades where Stearns tries to send some of the veteran AAAA depth to another team for just about anything that could be stashed down at Helena or low A.

[FVBrewerFan]

What I would do today: Put Woodruff in rotation, move Suter to BP, DFA Sogard. (90% sure he would accept assignment to AAA, if not oh well.)

 

I agree, I don't see this need to "give Miley a try." If it was the beginning of the season, still wouldn't love it but could live with giving him a shot. But we're too far down the road now for an experiment.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

What I would do today: Put Woodruff in rotation, move Suter to BP, DFA Sogard. (90% sure he would accept assignment to AAA, if not oh well.)

 

I agree, I don't see this need to "give Miley a try." If it was the beginning of the season, still wouldn't love it but could live with giving him a shot. But we're too far down the road now for an experiment.

 

To me, the performance of the starting pitching has been a very pleasant surprise. Anderson has been good, Davies has been up and down (two great starts, two bad), Chacin has pretty much been blah as advertised, Guerra has been very solid so far, Woodruff looked ok before going down, and despite a bunch of people wanting Suter gone, he's managed to keep the team in games. I'd love to see the pitchers going deeper into games, but I think these early hooks are a philosophy, and with the success of the middle relief, who can complain?

 

I don't think Miley is going to improve on any of these top 6, and probably not Burnes, Peralta or Derby either. Wilkerson is also on the DL in AAA and should be back soon. With all the depth performing quite well, I think they can safely cut bait on Miley without any repercussions.

[Roderick]

What I would do today: Put Woodruff in rotation, move Suter to BP, DFA Sogard. (90% sure he would accept assignment to AAA, if not oh well.)

 

I agree, I don't see this need to "give Miley a try." If it was the beginning of the season, still wouldn't love it but could live with giving him a shot. But we're too far down the road now for an experiment.

 

Why would Sogard go to the minors? Since the Brewers are picking up the tab, I would bet that some team would put him on their 25 man roster at the prorated minimum wage.

[FVBrewerFan]

What I would do today: Put Woodruff in rotation, move Suter to BP, DFA Sogard. (90% sure he would accept assignment to AAA, if not oh well.)

 

I agree, I don't see this need to "give Miley a try." If it was the beginning of the season, still wouldn't love it but could live with giving him a shot. But we're too far down the road now for an experiment.

 

Why would Sogard go to the minors? Since the Brewers are picking up the tab, only costing prorated minimum wage some team would put him on their 25 man roster.

 

Would they? I'm not so sure. But like I said, even if that happens, oh well. They need 8 in the pen if they're going to continue to have 5 inning starts. Who else goes? Certainly not Aguilar. It's either Sogard or Perez, something has to give. They can keep shuffling a couple guys with options in the bullpen for a while in order to add a fresh arm. Probably what they will do.

[chuckiehacks]

During the offseason, I was excited at the possibility of Toronto struggling and then trading Stroman. While that may still happen, he's been awful.

 

I know it's a small sample, but I wonder if the shoulder stuff in spring training was more than just "inflammation."

[Greenleaf1]

I'm starting to worry a little bit that Miley is going to have the Blazek start of this year where you think maybe this will be fun and then immediately regret thinking you ever wanted him in a Brewers uniform.

 

I think Guerra has taken the spot I would've liked to see Miley in and done much better than Miley ever would have. With 4 spots more or less on lockdown in the rotation right now (regardless of performance, I don't see Anderson/Davies/Chacin/Guerra out of the rotation for at least the next few months barring any injuries or extremely bad pitching), and several promising pitchers ready to be given a chance, I just don't know if it's worth it to give Miley a start or two to see if he can be of any help. I think I'd rather get Woodruff in there and see what he can do. Then maybe come June if we think Woodruff isn't doing enough, we can give Burnes a try.

[JohnBriggs12]

During the offseason, I was excited at the possibility of Toronto struggling and then trading Stroman. While that may still happen, he's been awful.

 

I know it's a small sample, but I wonder if the shoulder stuff in spring training was more than just "inflammation."

 

Hindsight is 20-20, but based on the results so far for all the names mentioned as possible trade targets this winter, the best by far has been Patrick Corbin, who nobody (well not nobody) seemed to want. Could he have been had for Santana? We'll never know. We do know he can't be had now.

[djoctagone]

advantage to keeping guerra on the roster for the rest of the season: he does not burn his final option. if they option him just once, he'll have to stay down a minimum of 10 days, which would push him over 20.

[Greenleaf1]

Having Corbin would be great, but it'd only be for this year and while that'd be great for us right now, I doubt either side was really high on that trade.

 

Based on the Souza deal, maybe the DBacks wanted to use Banda instead of Corbin to go get their power outfielder anyways, so maybe that wasn't as real of a possibility as it might've seemed.

[pacopete4]

Per TomH

#Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin in first 3 starts: 0-1, 8.56, 19 hits, seven walks, 13 ER in 13.2 IPs. In last three starts: 2-0, 1.73, 13 hits, seven walks, three ER in 15.2 IP.

[TJseven7]

Chacin getting back under 4 and Guerra being lights out has made this run we are on.

[FVBrewerFan]

Since this isn't the optimism thread, we just can't ignore we've played three bad/horrible teams. They went 8-1 which is outstanding, beat up on the weak. But I'll give it another month before I start making any conclusions about Chacin or anyone else in the rotation. At least there's hope that this rotation can be just good enough.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Since this isn't the optimism thread, we just can't ignore we've played three bad/horrible teams. They went 8-1 which is outstanding, beat up on the weak. But I'll give it another month before I start making any conclusions about Chacin or anyone else in the rotation. At least there's hope that this rotation can be just good enough.

 

To be a good team, you need to play well against teams that aren't so good. If the Brewers can beat up on the bad teams on their schedule, and play .500 ball against the good teams, they are in the playoffs.

 

Beating up on bad teams is something that previous contending Brewer teams sometimes had difficulty with. Chacin is what he is ... a #3-4 starter who is going to mix in some bad games and some effective games. In a perfect world, when Nelson comes back, and if Guerra continues to pitch well, Chacin is a #5 that can be skipped once in a while. In that role he's fine.