Sogard and Houser Up, Arcia and Lopez to AAA

[JohnBriggs12]

Arcia 0-3 with 2 Ks so far.

 

His swing needs a lot of help.

 

Will be interesting to see if he's recalled to take Saladino's spot if they need to DL him. He's now 4 for 15 (all singles) with 4 K's all away from CS.

[KeithStone53151]

Arcia 0-3 with 2 Ks so far.

 

His swing needs a lot of help.

 

Will be interesting to see if he's recalled to take Saladino's spot if they need to DL him. He's now 4 for 15 (all singles) with 4 K's all away from CS.

 

Arcia was in fact recalled from AAA, Sogard is starting at SS today though.

[YelichPosse]

[sarcasm]Goggles at SS, great![/sarcasm]

[Fear The Chorizo]

With the early start time and a righty starting pitcher today, I get it. I'm sure Arcia got in either late last night or early this morning. Just really unfortunate that Saladino got injured.

 

I'll be miffed if Sogard continues to get the lions' share of starts at SS though - even if Arcia can't get out of his own way at the plate, he provides superior defense there. If Arcia can't get going to be at least serviceable offensively over the next few weeks at the MLB level, they've gotta address the SS position via trade.

[xisxisxis]

Death by Sogard or Death by Arcia.... What's the difference?

[KeithStone53151]

Honestly, after the last handful of games I'm a bit excited to have Arcia's glove back at SS. I can think of at least a handful of plays that weren't made, that Arcia absolutely makes...and it's only been 4 or 5 games and I haven't been watching all that closely.

[owbc]

Honestly, after the last handful of games I'm a bit excited to have Arcia's glove back at SS. I can think of at least a handful of plays that weren't made, that Arcia absolutely makes...and it's only been 4 or 5 games and I haven't been watching all that closely.

 

Exactly. Which is why Arcia can bat .150 and still be an asset to the team. There's enough offense at other positions.

[topper09er]

Death by Sogard or Death by Arcia.... What's the difference?

 

Defense

[KeithStone53151]

Honestly, after the last handful of games I'm a bit excited to have Arcia's glove back at SS. I can think of at least a handful of plays that weren't made, that Arcia absolutely makes...and it's only been 4 or 5 games and I haven't been watching all that closely.

 

Exactly. Which is why Arcia can bat .150 and still be an asset to the team. There's enough offense at other positions.

 

Especially right now with how well the rest of the team is hitting...and especially considering our next 5 games after today will have a DH. If he continues to hit like a pitcher...it's like we are playing with 8 good hitters and a pitcher the next 5 games, but we get the superb defense.

 

Which speaking of those DH games, we should bring up Choi and send down a pitcher. We have 3 days off and 5 games over the next 8 days after today...the bullpen will get plenty of rest. It might not be a bad spot to DL Davies as we can easily get by with 4 starters for the next week or so.

[trwi7]

If he continues to hit like a pitcher...it's like we are playing with 8 good hitters and a pitcher the next 5 games, but we get the superb defense.

 

I think you overestimate how many good hitters we have.

[adambr2]

Honestly, after the last handful of games I'm a bit excited to have Arcia's glove back at SS. I can think of at least a handful of plays that weren't made, that Arcia absolutely makes...and it's only been 4 or 5 games and I haven't been watching all that closely.

 

Exactly. Which is why Arcia can bat .150 and still be an asset to the team. There's enough offense at other positions.

 

He needs to do better than that, which is why he was sent down in the first place.

 

An elite defender at a prime defensive position can get away with a weaker bat -- you still need to be able to offer SOMETHING. You can't just consistently get away with 2 pitchers in your lineup.

 

We could live with .240/.300/.350/.650, for instance.

[KeithStone53151]

If he continues to hit like a pitcher...it's like we are playing with 8 good hitters and a pitcher the next 5 games, but we get the superb defense.

 

I think you overestimate how many good hitters we have.

 

Villar's OPS is north of 800 in the month of May. I didn't realize Pina was struggling as much as he has been, that's still 7 good hitters. Braun is raking since coming off the DL and I don't think I need to defend the other 5 guys(Aguilar, Cain, Yelich, Shaw, Santana)

[KeithStone53151]

 

Based on that information, I venture to guess that Saladino will be back in 2-3 weeks if they push it.

[xisxisxis]

Honestly, after the last handful of games I'm a bit excited to have Arcia's glove back at SS.

 

And I remember weeks where Arcia's range makes 1 or 2 plays difference over 6 games... A totally small impact. It's also a huge bias in my perception versus what happens across an entire season. So our visual inspection means little as in most cases there are sampling errors and biases. Sure Arcia is by all metrics a better defender than Sogard, but there is value to a hitter who can work an 8-10 pitch count and sometimes get a BB versus a week hitting SS who grounds out on pitch 2 or 3 and needs a full eclipse of the moon for him to work a BB. And I have been a huge critic of Sogard, but I have also been a huge critic of Arcia and as I indicated earlier, the difference between them is still a bad choice...

 

 

Exactly. Which is why Arcia can bat .150 and still be an asset to the team. There's enough offense at other positions.

 

That's true today, but wasn't true 2 weeks ago. For most of the season the Mendoza triplets (Arcia, Villar/Sogard, and Catcher) were putting up abysmal numbers and killing innings and games. There's a reason the Brewers already have so many shutouts. It's only recently that the offense from the bottom of the order has been enough to tolerate Arcia's anemic bat. As long as Pina and Villar hit average for their positions, the offense can and should tolerate Arcia's week bat. However, Arcia needs to work on his hitting and if he continues to provide nothing then this is a better time to straighten him out than September...

[young guns]

Which speaking of those DH games, we should bring up Choi and send down a pitcher. We have 3 days off and 5 games over the next 8 days after today...the bullpen will get plenty of rest. It might not be a bad spot to DL Davies as we can easily get by with 4 starters for the next week or so.

Nah, they will just be able to get Santana, Braun, and aguilar in the game together. No need to bring up choi to continue to sit one of those 3.

[KeithStone53151]

Which speaking of those DH games, we should bring up Choi and send down a pitcher. We have 3 days off and 5 games over the next 8 days after today...the bullpen will get plenty of rest. It might not be a bad spot to DL Davies as we can easily get by with 4 starters for the next week or so.

Nah, they will just be able to get Santana, Braun, and aguilar in the game together. No need to bring up choi to continue to sit one of those 3.

 

Potential rest day for Braun, PH for Arcia in a key spot late in the game...I don't think Choi would start more than 1-2 of those 5 games max, but adding him to the bench for that series adds value in my opinion. We'll see if they do it.

[MrTPlush]

That is really weird to mention Villar in your Mendoza comment when his average bottomed out at .265ish for a short period of time.

 

Orlando Arcia needs to hit better. The Brewers are obviously not okay with how he was hitting. They have the worst SS depth imaginable and they still demoted him.

[istanbultaye]

Although Mendoza line of course refers to a batting average of .200, I think in terms of OPS we can peg the "whatever you want to call it" line at around .600, and Villar had slumped close to that for awhile.

[djoctagone]

Which speaking of those DH games, we should bring up Choi and send down a pitcher. We have 3 days off and 5 games over the next 8 days after today...the bullpen will get plenty of rest. It might not be a bad spot to DL Davies as we can easily get by with 4 starters for the next week or so.

Nah, they will just be able to get Santana, Braun, and aguilar in the game together. No need to bring up choi to continue to sit one of those 3.

Potential rest day for Braun, PH for Arcia in a key spot late in the game...I don't think Choi would start more than 1-2 of those 5 games max, but adding him to the bench for that series adds value in my opinion. We'll see if they do it.

choi was optioned 24 may. he has to spend at least 10 days optioned to the minor leagues. if they put davies (or any other player on the disabled list), then it's fair game to recall choi at any point.

[Brewer Fever]

The Brewers have the most defensive runs saved in baseball. Arcia is a huge part of that. There are other ways to contribute signifcantly to winning other than with the bat. Let's be better than this.

[JimH5]

The Brewers have the most defensive runs saved in baseball. Arcia is a huge part of that. There are other ways to contribute signifcantly to winning other than with the bat. Let's be better than this.

 

All runs are not created/saved equally. There are no ways to win if they don't score.

 

Arcia's defense is tremendous, but the Brewers are 8-17 when they score less than 4 runs.

 

He has to contribute more with the bat to deserve regular playing time.

[tmwiese55]

That's a crazy stat considering how poorly they started with all the errors. ETA: I was reference the runs saved stat.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

The crazy stat is the opposite - when they score 4 or more runs they are 28-4. Ramblings (http://albethke.blogspot.com/) has been tracking this stat periodically.

 

They are nearly unbeatable if they can get 4 runs across. That says a lot about their pitching, particularly the bullpen which does not give up leads.

 

They are also undefeated if they are ahead by the 7th inning.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Arcia's defense is tremendous, but the Brewers are 8-17 when they score less than 4 runs.

 

My guess is that's a very similar winning percentage for teams all across MLB when scoring less than 4 runs. Considering 9 of those losses are shutouts already, I'd say their record of 8-8 when scoring 1-3 runs is pretty darn good and reflective of how great their overall pitching staff has performed despite plenty of starting pitching variability with both who's starting and inconsistent performance.

[YelichPosse]

The crazy stat is the opposite - when they score 4 or more runs they are 28-4. Ramblings (http://albethke.blogspot.com/) has been tracking this stat periodically.

 

They are nearly unbeatable if they can get 4 runs across. That says a lot about their pitching, particularly the bullpen which does not give up leads.

 

They are also undefeated if they are ahead by the 7th inning.

 

THIS is the craziest stat. Think about that... not ahead in the 9th, or the 8th... but the 7TH.