Houser down, Zagurski called up

[djoctagone]

don't worry . . . no player with a z name has ever lasted more than one season with the brewers.

 

eddie zosky (1999), pete zoccolillo (2003) and gregg zaun (2010) say hello.

[jerichoholicninja]

Gonna go down the Orf hole again...

 

So a 35 year old with an ultra crappy major league career gets called up and the reason is he put up good numbers in AAA. Yet, much younger players that would fill pressing needs on the major league roster (Orf & Ramirez) also put up great AAA numbers and don't. And this isn't really a dig at Counsell and Stearns. Lots of posters saying Orf won't get called up because the organization doesn't care how good his numbers are, they just don't see anything in him. Here we have an over the hill total failure as a major league pitcher get called up and the reason given is that "he's got good numbers".

[Lathund]

It's a temporary move. So if you're going to add someone to the 40-man roster, you make it someone who you don't mind risk losing when DFAd when that spot is needed for Miley or Nelson or a new signing or whoever. Of course that's not the reasonn that CC or DS will give in an interview, but that plays a major part.

[brewers4eric]

I was driving to the game on Wednesday and I was passed by a white sedan on I-94 near the state fair grounds. The sedan had personalized license plates with the Brewers logo and "ORF" as the lettering. Based on that encounter, I expected Nate Orf to be on the 25 man roster for the series finale against the Royals.

[Roderick]

Gonna go down the Orf hole again...

 

So a 35 year old with an ultra crappy major league career gets called up and the reason is he put up good numbers in AAA. Yet, much younger players that would fill pressing needs on the major league roster (Orf & Ramirez) also put up great AAA numbers and don't. And this isn't really a dig at Counsell and Stearns. Lots of posters saying Orf won't get called up because the organization doesn't care how good his numbers are, they just don't see anything in him. Here we have an over the hill total failure as a major league pitcher get called up and the reason given is that "he's got good numbers".

 

This is temporary. They added Z because they don't care about losing him when they take him back off the 40 man roster. That is not the case for Ramirez or QTC. As soon as one of Albers, Miley, Davies is ready Z will be gone. Or if they actually use him in a blowout, they might rotate him for Lopez right away so they have a fresh arm in the pen.

[rickh150]

Gonna go down the Orf hole again...

 

So a 35 year old with an ultra crappy major league career gets called up and the reason is he put up good numbers in AAA. Yet, much younger players that would fill pressing needs on the major league roster (Orf & Ramirez) also put up great AAA numbers and don't. And this isn't really a dig at Counsell and Stearns. Lots of posters saying Orf won't get called up because the organization doesn't care how good his numbers are, they just don't see anything in him. Here we have an over the hill total failure as a major league pitcher get called up and the reason given is that "he's got good numbers".

 

This is temporary. They added Z because they don't care about losing him when they take him back off the 40 man roster. That is not the case for Ramirez or QTC. As soon as one of Albers, Miley, Davies is ready Z will be gone. Or if they actually use him in a blowout, they might rotate him for Lopez right away so they have a fresh arm in the pen.

 

 

And I continue to believe that if Orf gets back on a hot streak, the Brewers will give him a cup of coffee. Maybe it will be a week or two when an injury or two pop up, but stats still count.

[jerichoholicninja]

Gonna go down the Orf hole again...

 

So a 35 year old with an ultra crappy major league career gets called up and the reason is he put up good numbers in AAA. Yet, much younger players that would fill pressing needs on the major league roster (Orf & Ramirez) also put up great AAA numbers and don't. And this isn't really a dig at Counsell and Stearns. Lots of posters saying Orf won't get called up because the organization doesn't care how good his numbers are, they just don't see anything in him. Here we have an over the hill total failure as a major league pitcher get called up and the reason given is that "he's got good numbers".

 

This is temporary. They added Z because they don't care about losing him when they take him back off the 40 man roster. That is not the case for Ramirez or QTC. As soon as one of Albers, Miley, Davies is ready Z will be gone. Or if they actually use him in a blowout, they might rotate him for Lopez right away so they have a fresh arm in the pen.

 

Miley is the only one who needs a 40 man spot and I honestly have no idea where he even fits on the MLB team when healthy. Even so, to activate him they could dump Asher, Franklin, or Sogard or move Franklin to the 60 day DL. I understand how the roster manipulation makes sense to call up Z over others but choosing him specifically makes so little sense. If they wanted a mop up guy they could have brought back up Asher or Lopez and kept a 40 man spot open. Heck, if they wanted a crappy old guy they could later DFA and lose nothing if claimed they could have call up Dillard.

[brewmann04]

I don't understand the move at all he looks like a softball pitcher to me. Yes Nick will give them an extra bat to use.

[jjgott]

Zagurski looks like he couldn't have any other last name but Zagurski

[MrTPlush]

That didn’t work.

[YelichPosse]

Can we get a mulligan? Lol - maybe DS has a few too many and texted the wrong guy to come up?

[AJOHNSON104]

Not using Zagurski in the 8-1 blowout resulted in having to use him today in a close game. Bad idea and planning. Not the sole reason they lost today, but you never know if things could have gone differently in that big inning.

[brewmann04]

It was nice that he got a call up but he should see colorado springs

[JohnBriggs12]

He got squeezed on what should have been a 3rd strike to Votto, then Thames misplayed a flyball into a double. Then he would have come out.

 

That being said, almost every team has guys who show up in the majors at some point that are super fringy.

[PeaveyFury]

I agree with JohnBriggs.... two very bad breaks made that outing worse than it could have been. That said, his stay will be short as the shuffle will continue.

[adambr2]

Gameday shows each ball to Votto clearly off the corner. It has been a poorly umpired series but we are picking the wrong battle repeatedly here. It was not a strike. He was close but missed the spot. Close does not count as a strike.

[Invader3K]

It was nice that he got a call up but he should see colorado springs

 

He has, which is why they called him up to begin with.

[JosephC]

"Fresh arm" thing looks more and more questionable. Zagurski was called up on the 28th. The previous day the relievers that pitched were Jeffress (6 pitches), Hader (13 pitches) and Houser (26 pitches). The day prior to that the relievers that pitched were Jennings (28 pitchers), Barnes (17 pitches), Hader (2 pitches). So Knebel and Williams each had two days off, Barnes and Jennings each had a rest day and Jeffress went on to pitch each of the next two games so he obviously was available. They were in such need for a fresh arm that Zagurski ended up sitting on the bench for two days. Yeah, I'm sure they just brought him up in case the starter collapsed on the 28th (which was Guerra by the way, who has been pretty reliable this year), but in the end they didn't need the fresh arm because the guy spent two days on the bench and then Milwaukee ended up using him when Houser would have been a better choice. And as far as the lefty/lefty matchup, I still would have rather had Houser because Houser has the look of an actual legitimate MLB pitcher where Zagurski's track record shows that he is not.

[Outlander]

When they only have 7 bullpen guys like they have now I would rather they keep a guy like Houser who has shown he has the stuff in his time in the majors. Puts the team in a bad position when 2 of the 7 are lefties that Counsell can't have any confidence in.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I agree with JohnBriggs.... two very bad breaks made that outing worse than it could have been. That said, his stay will be short as the shuffle will continue.

 

To be fair, if the roster was being managed properly, we wouldn't have had a 1st baseman playing lf to misplay that ball. This all goes back to roster management.

[superfly]

This is a rare case where captain hindsight is absolutely legit. That's the type of game that can kill a team's momentum IMO, there is no excuse for calling a guy up with that sketchy of a track record and deploying him in that spot. It's not fair to him and it's most certainly not fair to the team.

[PeaveyFury]

Gameday shows each ball to Votto clearly off the corner. It has been a poorly umpired series but we are picking the wrong battle repeatedly here. It was not a strike. He was close but missed the spot. Close does not count as a strike.

 

Gameday may show it as a ball, but it was a strike at other points in the game. Gamecast shows pitch 6 (ball 3) as a strike, and in a virtually identical position as pitch 2, which was a called strike.

 

If an umpire is calling a strikezone inconsistently, there's plenty of reason to pick that battle.

[adambr2]

Gameday shows each ball to Votto clearly off the corner. It has been a poorly umpired series but we are picking the wrong battle repeatedly here. It was not a strike. He was close but missed the spot. Close does not count as a strike.

 

Gameday may show it as a ball, but it was a strike at other points in the game. If an umpire is calling a strikezone inconsistently, there's plenty of reason to pick that battle.

 

I don't get this argument. Because he called it wrong at other points in the game, we should be upset that he didnt call it wrong at that point? I get that you'd rather see at least consistency out of an umpire if he's bad, but consistently wrong is still wrong.

 

Bring on the roboumps, I'm tired of these guys being such a focal point of baseball.

[PeaveyFury]

Adam, he called it inconsistently even in the SAME AB. I looked on Gameday as you did, and pitch 2 is a called strike in the SAME SPOT. I don't think hoping for consistency over the course of 4 pitches is asking for the moon.