Tuesday, October 21, 2008

2008 Brewers Recap...Part 2

All right, enough Brett Favre talk. The man has solidified his billupsdom for his latest stint of chumpfoolery. Let's get back to the Brewers.

Let me throw some "historical" names out there for you:
Victor Santos, Wes Obermueller, Ben Hendrickson, Glendon Rusch, Ruben Quevedo, Allen Levrault (?!?), Bill Pulsipher, Steve Sparks, & Angel Miranda.

Pretty fun list huh? You want two more? Ok...how about...Bob Scanlan & Paul Rigdon.

Remember these tools? Over the last 15 years or so, they have at one point or another been the unofficial "4th or 5th" starter for the Milwaukee Brewers. I still have nightmares involving some of these guys.

You can probably tell where this post is going. It's safe to say that the 2008 Brewers' 4th or 5th starters put these guys to shame. Dave Bush, Manny Parra, & Seth McClung...would you send any of those guys up top to the mound instead of these 3? I don't think so.

In particular, I'm here to give a little love to my man Dave Bush. Probably the most underrated pitcher on the staff, quite possibly the most underrated player on the entire team. In terms of VORP, he was the 3rd best pitcher we had on staff this year (behind Sheets & CC). He also had the 33rd best VORP of ANY pitcher in the entire National League. Think about that. The entire National League. 16 teams. That's a lot of dudes taking the mound. Good ERA as well. For starters that threw at least 160 innings, Bush had the 32nd best ERA in the NL.

Will Dave Bush ever be an all-star? No. Barring injury, will he ever be a #1 or #2 starter for any team? No (well...maybe the Pirates or Nats or something). Is he a "dominating" pitcher? No. What he is...though...is just a "solid" compliment starting pitcher. A solid 4th starter, particularly for a team like the Brewers. He will continue to be relatively cheap (2.5M in 2008...will go up again in arbitration). , he takes the ball every 5th day (assuming our new manager doesn't decide to "platoon him"), doesn't walk guys, and pounds the strike zone. He's been here 3 years now...let's look at his standard numbers:

2006: 32 starts, 210 IP, 4.41 ERA, 166 K's v 38 Walks
2007: 31 starts, 186 IP, 5.12 ERA, 134K's v 44 Walks
2008: 29 starts, 185 IP, 4.18 ERA, 109K's v 48 Walks

Again, to reiterate...All-Star? No. Underrated & solid? Yes.

We've reached an age in being a sports fan with all the blogs, forums, & talk radio that there ALWAYS seems to be something to complain about. Dave Bush always seems like one of those guys that gets picked on. "Ahhh...he isn't that good" or "Oh well...who's pitching the 6th inning tonight." It gets tiring to listen to...when fans (particularly of the Brewers) need to just enjoy what certain guys are giving you on the field, based on their ability.

And you know what...if you still feel like complaining about Dave Bush, go back up top and read the names in the 2nd paragraph again. Trust me, having Dave Bush as your #4 starter isn't bad.

3 comments:

highplaya said...

Too many baseball fans don't understand that it is impossible for a team to have 5 CC's in there rotation. There is a ton of value in a 4 or 5 who makes every start and gives quality innings. Thats how Suppan got his contract, although that didn't work as well as we would have like this year. Dave Bush is big time underrated and will probably get a pretty big contract by someone when he is a free agent.

Clown said...

I must admit that I was not on the Bush train until this year. He was very solid in '08. He seems to have really matured and has excellent control now. I look forward to seeing him in the rotation next year.

I agree that he is one of the most underated players.

Anonymous said...

I went to two games this year for the Brewers, Bush started both of them: the first was that walk off win against the Braves at home, the second was the crushing of the (g)Nats. In the Braves win he gave up two home runs, both were solo shots though, in the first two innings. After that no Brave made it around. In the other win, he gave up one run in the first and that was it. It seems once he gets past the first inning (sometimes the 2nd or 3rd), he is on total lockdown mode. I remember following a game where he gave up a grand slam in the first inning, then a lead off triple in the second, and the guy never made it home. If he can work out the 1st inning bugs, and keep the rest of his game play the same, he'll be a very good pitcher to have, not that he's bad already.