Melvin's End of Year Press Conference

[Thurston Fluff]

his power of a soggy french fry

 

Nothing to add but that made me laugh. One has to wonder if soggy fries really have less power than crisp ones?

[Fatter than Joey]

If he's not the guy, they should package him up and trade him while he has some value for someone that does have those qualities.

 

Agree 100%, His stock is as high as it ever is going to be.

 

One has to wonder if soggy fries really have less power than crisp ones?

 

Yep. I have done the research to qualify soggy french fries as powerless.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

One of the things I liked was when Doug talked about adding one or two "professional hitters" who work the count and draw walks.

I'll say it again . . . .

 

Look at Arizona's post season roster . . . .3 catchers.

 

It's a buyers market on Carlos Quentin

[Blazer25]

If the result of all that is an increase their groundball rate, I wouldn't disagree but that's not how Suppan lowered his HR rate this year. Perhaps there's something else contributing to the decrease in HRs but I don't think any pitcher coulds sustain a 7.3% HR/FB rate, certainly not when half their games are in a HR park. Not even close.

Russ

 

I'll concede to some of your point but sinker/ changeup guys don't just throw groundballs. Most of the ground ball pitchers are power sinker/slider guys like Webb, Lowe, and Schilling.

 

Command guys like Soup/Maddux/Glavine often pitch to contact but survive by getting guys to make "bad contact".

 

Often guys who are effective command pitchers will get as many weak pop-ups as ground balls. This may lead to some of the 7.3% number for Soup.

 

I do concede that it is a hard # to sustain especially in The Keg.

 

I wouldn't chalk all of Soups success to happenstance though. I think you're seeing some of the effects of his evolution as a command type pitcher.

[rluzinski]

Often guys who are effective command pitchers will get as many weak pop-ups as ground balls. This may lead to some of the 7.3% number for Soup.

 

I have no doubt that pitchers have some control over balls in play but what Suppan did this year with respect to HR/FB came out of the blue and was much too extreme to expect a repeat of it next year:

 

HR/FB

Suppan, Career: 11% (about average)

Glavine, Career: 8.9%

Maddux, Career: 12.2%

 

Suppan, 2007: 7.3%

 

The crazy thing is, Suppan's infield flyball % was the lower in 2007 than in any other season in his career. It just screams fluke. Obviously, I hope I'm wrong.

[RobertR]

One of the things I liked was when Doug talked about adding one or two "professional hitters" who work the count and draw walks. I have long advocated adding another Kevin Seitzer, Mark Loretta, or Fernando Vina type of hitter to take over in left field. I also wonder if this means the Brewers have decided to shop Bill Hall.

It's probably worth noting that Melvin had that type of hitter in his initial plan. Corey Koskie. Being able to stick Koskie at 3B and Braun in LF is in some ways the solution to two problems, but that's not to be.

 

Robert

[Thurston Fluff]

It's probably worth noting that Melvin had that type of hitter in his initial plan. Corey Koskie. Being able to stick Koskie at 3B and Braun in LF is in some ways the solution to two problems, but that's not to be.

 

I ownder how much Cirrillo would have helped this season. Of all the poor career choices someone could make his taking the MN offer turned out to be one of the worst. He could have had more PT here than anywhere and for some odd reason only hits when employed by the Brewers.

[dadofandrew]

Cirillo can't hit RHP, and the Crew seemed the only ones able to figure that out...of course, the Twins always played Jacque Jones every day too. Jeff's a fine platoon player still, but overmatched versus all but the weakest RH's.

[logan82]

Maybe Cirillo wcould have helped our pen this year.

[RobertR]

I'm thinking Cirillo is enjoying being in the post-season for the first time in his career just fine. He'd have been nice to have around, but using Graffanino in his place probably didn't cost the Brewers much of anything, even if I'd have preferred a backup corner infielder to two backup middle infielders.

 

Robert

[LouisEly]

"I am not prepared to make a change with Ned at this point."

 

Thank God he didn't say, "I am not motivated to make a change with Ned at this point", or he for sure would be gone.

 

I did think he somewhat contradicted himself when he said that starting pitching was a disappointment last year, but they are deeper at starting pitching than most teams and have had teams already calling about their starters. OK... but I think someone brought it up that Yo and Villy can be #2/#3 type starters, and someone else hit the nail on the head when they said that the Brewers had "one #1 and a bunch of #4/#5 starters". I think both of those are true. A lot of people said that so-and-so "is a great #4 starter"... but the problem is that we were saying it about 4 of the Brewers starters. They didn't have a real #2 or #3. I think Yo and Villy can be that #2/#3 starter quality, coupled with a healthy Sheets, and that can make a big difference. I also think that Parra can be a #2/#3 quality starter, but he will probably start the season in the pen. The weak free agent class though can push up the trade value of starters like Cappy, Bush, and Vargas.

 

One interesting thing about Gwynn... he has a close bond with Fielder (both sons of famous baseball players), and IIRC with Weeks (both on the same AAU team), and if they trade him I'm wondering if that will affect the happiness of Fielder and Weeks in Milwaukee. Unlikely... but you never know.

[logan82]

One interesting thing about Gwynn... he has a close bond with Fielder (both sons of famous baseball players), and IIRC with Weeks (both on the same AAU team), and if they trade him I'm wondering if that will affect the happiness of Fielder and Weeks in Milwaukee. Unlikely... but you never know.

I am sorry, but this is a business and I would risk hurting Fielder's and Weeks' feelings to better the team. It could always be spun, and probably will, as "giving Gwynn a chance to play every day."

[Postseason2006]

Cirillo can't hit RHP, and the Crew seemed the only ones able to figure that out...of course, the Twins always played Jacque Jones every day too. Jeff's a fine platoon player still, but overmatched versus all but the weakest RH's.

Mench can't RH pitches either and do you think Yost figured that out. "Well, he was only 0-2 against Dempster so...."