Melvin in Green Bay

[greeg35]

Best line of the night:

 

"3/4 of you here tonight are faster than Estrada"

 

He sounded more in favor of Villanueva out of the bullpen (which I think is a change). Suggested lineup included Cameron second. He dished out more Escobar love and about 1000 "and that's"

[TooLiveBrew]

He sounded more in favor of Villanueva out of the bullpen

 

I feel sick.

 

Suggested lineup included Cameron second

 

Woo[t]hoo! Now I feel better. Thanks for the info, greeg. I'm sure it was a sweet event to attend.

[sbrylski]

Apparently, my friend Weston, who writes for the GB Press Gazette, interviewed him. I've got Weston's blog linked in my sig, though he hasn't posted anything yet. Hopefully I can get the transcripts off him, or he posts it.

[Mass Haas]

Unfortunately, the Gazette's non-blog coverage only focused on the steroid / suspension aspect of recent acquisitions.

[trwi7]

"3/4 of you here tonight are faster than Estrada"

What an insult to the 25% of people he said were slower than Estrada.

[aracko]

Wow - what an amazing BP.

 

Gagne

Turnbow

Riske

Villanueva

Shouse

Parra

Dillard

Mota

Mclung

Torres

 

Rotation

---------------

Capuano

Sheets

Bush

Yovanni

Suppan

Vargas

 

Everyone of those guys has huge upside and potential. Thats 16 pitchers. There are still some big moves to come.

[MillerParkSouth]

I love Dave Bush, but he better have an awesome spring (and Cappy too) if they're going to put Villanueva in the pen. What does he have to do to get a rotation spot???

[Invader3K]

I think it's way too early to pencil in spots four and five in the rotation, yet. Spring training is going to decide how things shake out, I'm guessing.

[Fatter than Joey]

Spring training is going to decide how things shake out, I'm guessing.

 

Outside of injuries -- I really don't think so. If a pitcher's mechanics look off -- then you are probably right, but I'd hate to see Vargas win a spot because he had a 1.35 ERA in ST. (Unless he is doing something different)

[rluzinski]

Wow. I completely forgot about this. DAMNIT.

[Wesrob1]

I love Dave Bush, but he better have an awesome spring (and Cappy too) if they're going to put Villanueva in the pen. What does he have to do to get a

rotation spot???

 

I think that it would be a temporary move just to raise the trade value of Vargas, Bush and Capuano. Villanueva will be in the rotation by the end of this season(barring injury), I'm sure of it.

[MillerParkSouth]

^^^ be that as it may, don't you think it'd be a better idea to just go with your 5 best pitchers from the outset of the season? I'd hate to see us throw away some games in a tight division simply to boost Cappy's trade value.

[Tbadder]

I would think there's enough info on Villy to prove he should be a starter. This really disappoints me. I thought Melvin was smarter than that. I guess we all have blind spots.

 

I doubly don't understand Melvin's comments based on what he said before about all the new aquisitions being able to go two innings at a time. it would seem the bullpen would need less of the converted starter/long inning kind of guys.

 

All the Escobar talk reminds me of Melvin touting Rottino. I hope it's not that kind of "kiss of death". I'm really rooting for this kid. I hope he "fills out," gains strength, and becomes an all around offensive player to go with that slick glove.

[sbrylski]

^^^ be that as it may, don't you think it'd be a better idea to just go with your 5 best pitchers from the outset of the season? I'd hate to see us

throw away some games in a tight division simply to boost Cappy's trade value.

Villnueva at best, over the first 10 starts:

ERA - 3.50

IP - 70

Runs Against - 27

 

Bush at worst, over the first 10 starts:

ERA - 5.00

IP - 60

Runs Against - 33

 

At worst, its six runs and 10 bullpen innings over the first two months. And Villanueva's likely not a sub 4 ERA pitcher, at least not right now, based on peripherals. The difference between them would most likely be negligable.

 

[Patrick425]

Suggested lineup included Cameron second

 

Woo[t]hoo! Now I feel better

Was that supposed to be in blue? Cameron 2nd? Yuck!

[Ennder]

 

Suggested lineup included Cameron second

 

 

 

 

Woo[t]hoo! Now I feel better

Was that supposed to be in blue? Cameron 2nd? Yuck!

 

Best OBP of any player likely to bat 2nd on the team if you look at his road splits for his career. Hardy and Hall stink at getting on vs righties and Kendall who knows. Don't really see who else would bat 2nd unless you use Hart up there.

[trwi7]

Don't really see who else would bat 2nd unless you use Hart up there.

 

Which would completely contradict why Ned is switching Braun and Prince. So I don't think Hart is an option to bat second.

[Jarjohm]

Cameron is a stolen base threat too. That's part of what they said made him attractive. Why would they move Braun behind Fielder so Braun gets more stolen base opportunities and then put Cameron, who is a much more proven stolen base threat, in the spot in front of Prince?

 

I thought they'd put Hardy in the #2 spot because he had pretty good success there last year and it falls in line with the stolen base thinking.

[Patrick425]

Don't really see who else would bat 2nd unless you use Hart up there.

I guess I just assumed Weeks and Hart would be in the 1,2 position. I never understand why people bring up lifetime stats when talking about what a player will do next year. Should we look at Greg Maddux's or Sammy Sosa's lifetime stats to determine what they will do next year? Cameron had a .328 OBP last year and has had only 1 season with an OBP above .350 in the last 4 years. Hart's first full season as a major leaguer netted him a OBP of .353. I'll take my chances on the guy that not 34 and on the downward side of his career in the number 2 hole. I'm not a big fan of Cameron and I would have him hitting towards the bottom of the order.

[Ennder]

Keep in mind Cameron has played in extreme pitcher parks too. Looking at road OBP.

 

Cameron - .341, .350, .370 the last 3 years.

 

Hardy has a .321 career OBP and a .308 career OBP vs righties. Against lefties I could see him hitting 2nd but not really vs righties.

 

As for moving Hart, I want him behind Fielder and Braun for the protection factor and to drive in runs more than for SB. We just do not have a lot of guys who hit righties well at all so we have to make the most of them against right handed pitchers.

[Gopher74]

At worst, its six runs and 10 bullpen innings over the first two months. And Villanueva's likely not a sub 4 ERA pitcher, at least not right now, based on peripherals. The difference between them would most likely be negligable.

Yea, but how much longer are we going to hear that about Bush? The bottom line is that he doesn't pitch up to his peripherals. The fact is that he's simply not as good as his peripherals would suggest.

 

And I think there's a big difference between Villanueva and Bush. Villanueva's more reliable and more consistent at this point whereas Bush could go out and give you 8 Innings of 2 hit ball, or he could go out and give up 6 in the first inning.

I doubly don't understand Melvin's comments based on what he said before about all the new aquisitions being able to go two innings at a time. it would seem the bullpen would need less of the converted starter/long inning kind of guys.

Just saying that they CAN go 2 innings doesn't mean that they will everytime out, it means that he's got a bullpen that's versatile which is always a good thing. And it's always better if a guy is able to go 2 innings, such as Torres, Riske, and Mota can.

 

I would think there's enough info on Villy to prove he should be a starter. This really disappoints me. I thought Melvin was smarter than that. I guess we all have blind spots.

I think maybe we should wait and see what actually happens before we try to interpret what he said and call into question his intelligence.

 

All the Escobar talk reminds me of Melvin touting Rottino. I hope it's not that kind of "kiss of death". I'm really rooting for this kid. I hope he "fills out," gains strength, and becomes an all around offensive player to go with that slick glove.

 

I don't recall Melvin talking up Rottino as much as you do apparently. I do remember him praising him for his work ethic, and his versatility, but I guess I don't see a very clear correlation between the two. Rottino was never really anymore than a utility type player who was never going to be a big part of our future. That's why they moved him to catcher so that it'd increase his value. He's a player who's going to hopefully fill a niche for us. Escobar is a player who could be a future start for us.

 

Anyway, I think it was more Yost who was a fan of Rottino. I just remember him really talking him up in ST the last couple years about what a hard worker he is, and how when they tell him to do something, he does it without any questions asked, and is willing to do whatever it takes to help the team and get better as a player.

 

But like I said, he was never in the same league as Escobar. He was more of a "little engine that could" and Escobar is the blue chipper.

[pete]

Didn't Hart have a really high average with runners on? Seems like a great fit for the five hole. Plus he steals bases! Move him behind Prince!