phil bickford claimed by dodgers

[JackNicholson1974]

Obviously this is an extreme example of a small sample size, but I am beginning to wonder about Stearn's decision making if Bickford turns into a serviceable relief pitcher. I am not even talking about being an All Star, just someone who can get you an inning in the 6th or 7th and not look like he is lost.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I don't know. I didn't see anything in Bickford that told me he was anything more than a marginal relief prospect. I saw a low 90s fastball and control issues. If he turns into a serviceable MLB reliever, I'd be surprised, as when he did manage to get his stuff over the plate in his few opportunities as a Brewer, it looked very hittable.

[Jopal78]

I don't know. I didn't see anything in Bickford that told me he was anything more than a marginal relief prospect. I saw a low 90s fastball and control issues. If he turns into a serviceable MLB reliever, I'd be surprised, as when he did manage to get his stuff over the plate in his few opportunities as a Brewer, it looked very hittable.

 

While I agree he didn't look like he had put away pitches with the Brewers, he appears to have made an adjustment with the Dodgers as he has recorded 8 strike out in 5 innings.

 

It's too bad, but it's a cut throat game. Bickford turned pro 7 years ago and hadn't pitched all that much due to drugs and injuries (231 innings). The Brewers were quite patient with his development before turning the page on him. Teams can't simply hang on to players forever waiting to see if they'll put it all together.

[Warning Track Power]

Watching LAD-STL, and Phil Bickford just looked extremely sharp in a scoreless, hitless frame out of the Dodgers pen: 11 pitches, 9 strikes, 2 punch outs. He's off to a great start with LA after a brief stint in AAA.

 

With the rough shape the Brewers bullpen is presently in, the DFA of Bickford seems like one of the more short-sighted moves of the year so far.

 

Was not a fan of the move with dudes like Yardley around.

 

Bickford has been excellent for the Dodgers.

Everything about this. Yardley was smoke and mirrors with poor peripherals and mediocre stuff. Bickford at least had some potential for growth.

[jjfanec]

I think with the current state of the bullpen it is fair to look at moves like this and question our approach. With Williams struggling there are only a couple guys in the bullpen I have any confidence in right now. Bickford sure seems better than a couple guys we are giving the ball to as of late

[Boomer5]

In looking up Bickford I noticed Jimmy Nelson is also pitching well for the Dodgers

[AKCheesehead]

Bickford actually picked up a save yesterday for the Dodgers, as the game was ended due to weather.

[nate82]

Not that I wanted Bickford DFA'd but on Sunday he came in in the 9th and recorded no outs for the Dodgers. Jansen had to come in and clean up the mess Bickford made. The Dodgers were up 5-0 and won the game 5-3.

 

Bickford doesn't look ready for MLB yet as he still has some command problems. Would have liked to keep him but at some point you have to let a player go.

[Simba2020]

Not that I wanted Bickford DFA'd but on Sunday he came in in the 9th and recorded no outs for the Dodgers. Jansen had to come in and clean up the mess Bickford made. The Dodgers were up 5-0 and won the game 5-3.

 

Bickford doesn't look ready for MLB yet as he still has some command problems. Would have liked to keep him but at some point you have to let a player go.

The guy hadn't given up an earned run in 8 appearances with the Dodgers prior to yesterday to go along with 1 walk and 10 strikeouts.

[MrTPlush]

Are we going to start getting updates when Bickford doesn't pitch too? So much talking about a guy when he pitches bad/good and he has a grand ole 7 innings with the Dodgers.

[sveumrules]

Are we going to start getting updates when Bickford doesn't pitch too? So much talking about a guy when he pitches bad/good and he has a grand ole 7 innings with the Dodgers.

 

There were posters saying it looked like a bad decision to deal Knebel after 3 1/3 innings.

[Oxy]

Are we going to start getting updates when Bickford doesn't pitch too? So much talking about a guy when he pitches bad/good and he has a grand ole 7 innings with the Dodgers.

 

There were posters saying it looked like a bad decision to deal Knebel after 3 1/3 innings.

 

If the castoffs were scattered around the league in Baltimore and Miami and Detroit, nobody would care. However, it's a little bit crazy that 3 guys who we had ended up on one of the deepest, most complete teams in MLB history who really didn't even need bullpen help and yet these guys are getting a shot AND having success there. If you don't find that at least interesting and at most concerning then shrug your shoulders ignore the posts and move on, but I don't think it's odd at all to update how these players are doing within the appropriate thread.

[sveumrules]

Are we going to start getting updates when Bickford doesn't pitch too? So much talking about a guy when he pitches bad/good and he has a grand ole 7 innings with the Dodgers.

 

There were posters saying it looked like a bad decision to deal Knebel after 3 1/3 innings.

 

If the castoffs were scattered around the league in Baltimore and Miami and Detroit, nobody would care. However, it's a little bit crazy that 3 guys who we had ended up on one of the deepest, most complete teams in MLB history who really didn't even need bullpen help and yet these guys are getting a shot AND having success there. If you don't find that at least interesting and at most concerning then shrug your shoulders ignore the posts and move on, but I don't think it's odd at all to update how these players are doing within the appropriate thread.

 

I think the fact that an organization as astute as the Dodgers apparently thinks the Brewers have come far enough at pitching development under Stearns & company that players we can no longer afford the financial risk on due to injury concerns (Nelson/Knebel) or fall victim to roster crunch due to depth of options (Bickford) to be an extremely encouraging change from the previous thirty plus years of Brewers pitching development.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Are we going to start getting updates when Bickford doesn't pitch too? So much talking about a guy when he pitches bad/good and he has a grand ole 7 innings with the Dodgers.

 

There were posters saying it looked like a bad decision to deal Knebel after 3 1/3 innings.

 

If the castoffs were scattered around the league in Baltimore and Miami and Detroit, nobody would care. However, it's a little bit crazy that 3 guys who we had ended up on one of the deepest, most complete teams in MLB history who really didn't even need bullpen help and yet these guys are getting a shot AND having success there. If you don't find that at least interesting and at most concerning then shrug your shoulders ignore the posts and move on, but I don't think it's odd at all to update how these players are doing within the appropriate thread.

 

I think it's more the optics of the thread itself. To me, it seems like it's being used as an excuse to pile on David Stearns/Matt Arnold for a poor personnel decision.

 

The truth is, those guys have made plenty of questionable personnel moves over the last few years. Choosing to DFA a guy like Phil Bickford is WAY down the list of worst ones, so I'm having trouble understanding the consternation here.

[Sixtofan]

Agree, there seem to be a lot of posts lately geared toward “player x who the Brewers foolishly let go, got a hit last night (or pitched well)” and it seems to be intended to say that the front office is not competent.

 

Didn’t there used to be a thread for ex-Brewers? It would be nice to go back to one consolidated thread.

[Jopal78]

I think the consternation is the Brewers brass decided Bickford wasn't good enough to play for them after a grand total of 2 career innings so they gave him his walking papers, only to have the best team in the league decide he was good enough to play for them and picked him up. Meanwhile, they've been on the hunt for more pitching every since, cycling pitchers through their organization.

 

Bickford the player maybe insignificant, but in a year where the GM and Manager talk about needing arms to shoulder the load after the 60 game season they sure are tinkering around with their pitching with seemingly diminishing returns, yet hanging on to players like Yardley and Lindblom who have longer track records proving they can't pitch effectively in the majors

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I think the consternation is the Brewers brass decided Bickford wasn't good enough to play for them after a grand total of 2 career innings so they gave him his walking papers, only to have the best team in the league decide he was good enough to play for them and picked him up. Meanwhile, they've been on the hunt for more pitching every since, cycling pitchers through their organization.

 

Bickford the player maybe insignificant, but in a year where the GM and Manager talk about needing arms to shoulder the load after the 60 game season they sure are tinkering around with their pitching with seemingly diminishing returns, yet hanging on to players like Yardley and Lindblom who have longer track records proving they can't pitch effectively in the majors

 

Eric Yardley has a 3.40 ERA in 53 career MLB innings, and that includes the unsightly 16 he's had this year. I'm not sure he's a great example of a "longer track record proving they can't pitch effectively in the majors". Up to this year, his track record had proved just the opposite.

 

And they did eventually DFA Lindblom as well, so it isn't like they are continuing to hang on to the junk. Bickford was an extreme bottom-of-the-40-man relief arm. Nothing he showed in his brief appearances gave any sort of indication that he was a future stud pen piece. Maybe he'll hang around for a few years and bounce around, but as soon as the Dodgers get into a roster crunch, his hold on a 40-man spot in Los Angeles is likely to get tenuous as well.

[Jopal78]

I think the consternation is the Brewers brass decided Bickford wasn't good enough to play for them after a grand total of 2 career innings so they gave him his walking papers, only to have the best team in the league decide he was good enough to play for them and picked him up. Meanwhile, they've been on the hunt for more pitching every since, cycling pitchers through their organization.

 

Bickford the player maybe insignificant, but in a year where the GM and Manager talk about needing arms to shoulder the load after the 60 game season they sure are tinkering around with their pitching with seemingly diminishing returns, yet hanging on to players like Yardley and Lindblom who have longer track records proving they can't pitch effectively in the majors

 

Eric Yardley has a 3.40 ERA in 53 career MLB innings, and that includes the unsightly 16 he's had this year. I'm not sure he's a great example of a "longer track record proving they can't pitch effectively in the majors". Up to this year, his track record had proved just the opposite.

 

And they did eventually DFA Lindblom as well, so it isn't like they are continuing to hang on to the junk. Bickford was an extreme bottom-of-the-40-man relief arm. Nothing he showed in his brief appearances gave any sort of indication that he was a future stud pen piece. Maybe he'll hang around for a few years and bounce around, but as soon as the Dodgers get into a roster crunch, his hold on a 40-man spot in Los Angeles is likely to get tenuous as well.

 

Yardley is already in his 30s, he gives up a hit an inning and a walk every other inning on average with a strikeout to walk ratio of 1:1. His ERA is nifty but he literally is a pitcher who puts runners on base almost every time out and doesn’t have strike out stuff. Because of that he’s a fringe major leaguer and it’s only a matter of time until his ERA reflects that.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I think the consternation is the Brewers brass decided Bickford wasn't good enough to play for them after a grand total of 2 career innings so they gave him his walking papers, only to have the best team in the league decide he was good enough to play for them and picked him up. Meanwhile, they've been on the hunt for more pitching every since, cycling pitchers through their organization.

 

Bickford the player maybe insignificant, but in a year where the GM and Manager talk about needing arms to shoulder the load after the 60 game season they sure are tinkering around with their pitching with seemingly diminishing returns, yet hanging on to players like Yardley and Lindblom who have longer track records proving they can't pitch effectively in the majors

 

Eric Yardley has a 3.40 ERA in 53 career MLB innings, and that includes the unsightly 16 he's had this year. I'm not sure he's a great example of a "longer track record proving they can't pitch effectively in the majors". Up to this year, his track record had proved just the opposite.

 

And they did eventually DFA Lindblom as well, so it isn't like they are continuing to hang on to the junk. Bickford was an extreme bottom-of-the-40-man relief arm. Nothing he showed in his brief appearances gave any sort of indication that he was a future stud pen piece. Maybe he'll hang around for a few years and bounce around, but as soon as the Dodgers get into a roster crunch, his hold on a 40-man spot in Los Angeles is likely to get tenuous as well.

 

Yardley is already in his 30s, he gives up a hit an inning and a walk every other inning on average with a strikeout to walk ratio of 1:1. His ERA is nifty but he literally is a pitcher who puts runners on base almost every time out and doesn’t have strike out stuff. Because of that he’s a fringe major leaguer and it’s only a matter of time until his ERA reflects that.

 

I don't disagree. He's a fringe MLB junkball arm, just like pretty much every other sidearmer before him. Just pointing out that, for as little as he seemingly brings to the table, he's managed to post pretty decent results for the most part.

[djoctagone]

Bickford was DFA'd because he was out of options and it was early in the season; they hoped to sneak him through.

phil bickford had already burned his second option when the brewers tried to outright him to the minor leagues. any team who claimed him could've optioned him again at any point this year, and he still wouldn't be out of options.

[Sixtofan]

I am happy for Bickford as long as he doesn’t do well against us. He looked so scared when he was pitching for us, he really didn’t inspire any confidence.

[timpep]

The way I generally see it is that every team is going to make some "mistakes" on trades and signings and letting guys go for nothing. When I look around the league I see a lot of guys having success that the Brewers basically let go for nothing. This could be a knock against Stearns but I actually see it as a compliment. At this point in the season the Brewers have arguably the deepest starting 9, the best bench, best rotation and best bullpen. The fact that we have castoffs performing well all around the league is pretty astounding, considering the talent the Brewers currently have on their 26 man roster.

 

Stearns/Arnold had a rough year last year, but this year.. oh my. Pretty amazing stuff.

[monty57]

The way I generally see it is that every team is going to make some "mistakes" on trades and signings and letting guys go for nothing. When I look around the league I see a lot of guys having success that the Brewers basically let go for nothing. This could be a knock against Stearns but I actually see it as a compliment. At this point in the season the Brewers have arguably the deepest starting 9, the best bench, best rotation and best bullpen. The fact that we have castoffs performing well all around the league is pretty astounding, considering the talent the Brewers currently have on their 26 man roster.

 

Stearns/Arnold had a rough year last year, but this year.. oh my. Pretty amazing stuff.

 

Agree. There are always going to be mistakes, but Stearns has made far more good moves than bad ones, which is why we the Brewers are something like 97% favorites to win their division on their way to their fourth straight playoff appearance.

 

As to Bickford, I've always cheered for him, mostly because he was the "prize" we got in exchange for Will Smith. I'm glad he's found success, and wish that success could be for the Brewers. But as long as Stearns continues to field playoff-caliber teams year-in and year-out, I won't be too concerned that he lets some guys get away.

[Oxy]

The way I generally see it is that every team is going to make some "mistakes" on trades and signings and letting guys go for nothing. When I look around the league I see a lot of guys having success that the Brewers basically let go for nothing. This could be a knock against Stearns but I actually see it as a compliment. At this point in the season the Brewers have arguably the deepest starting 9, the best bench, best rotation and best bullpen. The fact that we have castoffs performing well all around the league is pretty astounding, considering the talent the Brewers currently have on their 26 man roster.

 

Stearns/Arnold had a rough year last year, but this year.. oh my. Pretty amazing stuff.

 

Agree. There are always going to be mistakes, but Stearns has made far more good moves than bad ones, which is why we the Brewers are something like 97% favorites to win their division on their way to their fourth straight playoff appearance.

 

As to Bickford, I've always cheered for him, mostly because he was the "prize" we got in exchange for Will Smith. I'm glad he's found success, and wish that success could be for the Brewers. But as long as Stearns continues to field playoff-caliber teams year-in and year-out, I won't be too concerned that he lets some guys get away.

 

The problem is that Bickford is young, cheap, and has options. Cycling through older journeymen type relievers is fine and can work when you have good scouts and coaches, but it's way easier to just hold on to young cheap talented players. Obviously, Bickford is a young, cheap talented player. My guess is that his history of non-compliance with certain rules about substances somehow got in the way...or some other off the field issue that the Brewers weren't cool with. Even with that, it's a shame we got NOTHING for him. Save for our starters, Hader and Williams there isn't a pitcher on our 40 man who the Dodgers would even THINK about trading Bickford for right now. That's too bad.

 

EDIT: Considering the cost of Hader, I'm not sure the Dodgers would even trade Bickford for him. They probably would, since they ARE the Dodgers, but a normal team with a normal budget would definitely have to think about it.

[OldHeidelberg]

Well I am pretty sure they would trade him for Hader but man I hate seeing this thread bumped. It’s just weird you would let a talented pitcher go with options to keep guys like Godley.