I thought the pitching staff was doing ok...

But according to this guy, it's a problem.

3. Brewers (10): Sure, they just beat up on Florida, but Brew Crew has been knocking down the fences and stood up to the Cubs. Pitching remains the problem, but Trevor Hoffman is healthy (for now) at the end.

Sooo...you write for one of the largest newspapers in the country, you list the Brewers as the 3rd best team in all of baseball yet casually mention that their pitching "remains the problem?" In what context?

Starting pitching? Ummm..no. I've mentioned this a couple times the last week or so, but I don't quite see how leading Major League Baseball in Quality Starts is the sign of a problem. How about being tied for 6th in starter's ERA? They are also in the top 10 in WHIP, and for the K/BB ratio and K/9 ratio.

Soooo...again...what there any kind of objective research done to make such a statement? Or was it just a subjective (a better word might be arbitrary) opinion of a guy who maybe doesn't know what he's talking about? Who knows?

Anyway, if you want my OPINION, I can't find too many holes right now in the Brewers' pitching staff. Note that I didn't even bring up the bullpen, which has been lights out since the addition of Hells Bells.

AND: I have no more energy to write anything else on this post, after Gamel's home run and Braun's absurd catch.

Get on the train people. GET ON.

Hat tip to Two Name for informing me about the Tribune article.

Quite possibly my favorite K Bye of all time...

K bye Brad Nelson!

The internet was blowing up tonight with reports trickling out that Mr. Mat Gamel was on his way to Milwaukee. Rumors were rampant if a trade was in the works, blah blah.

Scratch all that garbage. Gamel can hit...and he's up here to stay. Welcome to the show Kid. Oh yeah...I'm 26 now. I can call people kids.

Anyway, the Brewers have been playing so well lately the complete non-productivity of the bench (C3 excluded) has been somewhat overlooked. Yeah we've (I've) had a lot of fun teasing Brad "DFA" Nelson and to a lesser extent Chris Duffy...but how bad has it actually been?

Oh I'll tell you!

Brad Nelson - 0 for 21
Chris Duffy - 3 for 28
Casey McGehee - 3 for 15

Ummm...sure...small sample size...but hey...that's 6 for 64! between the 3 guys! That's .094 combined! Dryhump me!

Good to see some accountability. That's all I got to say.

All those nice stories about Brad Nelson during the spring seem like years ago. I'm not a gambling man (ha!), but I would feel pretty confident he'll never see time again for any team in the show barring injury or a September callup. This isn't personal. I'm sure Nelson's a nice guy and all that. But God, watching him at the plate was just BRUTAL.

K bye Brad. Good luck in all future endeavors.

Passable? Maybe!

Mat Gamel's defense is so bad that even the Tennessean is taking notice, in between Titans rookie minicamp news and prep sports previews.

"He's made some great plays, he's shown he can make the plays," Sounds Manager Don Money said. "But at times, he loses focus on the easy ones. When he dives for a ball, gets up and throws it and doesn't really think about it, he does a lot better. Sometimes he'll boot a ball and I'll just sit there and shake my head. How do you catch a routine ball and then miss first base by five feet. To me, that's just losing concentration."

And:

"I'll talk to him. I'll even take ground balls with him on occasion," the 61-year-old Money said. "I'll tell him, 'you're forcing me to take my glove out of my bag.' "He's learning. He's made a lot of improvement. But it is very frustrating."

And:

While working to make his defense passable at the major league level, Money and the Brewers brass are fully aware Gamel is going to hit his way to Milwaukee.

"Is he going to be a Gold Glove winner, make 10 errors a year? I don't see that," Money said. "Will he be adequate enough to do the job and go out and hit what he's capable of hitting? Yes.
"If your forte is hitting, you'd better hit. If you don't hit, and your defense is off-center, that's another story."

For now, the organization is committed to Gamel at the hot corner.

"We want to make every effort to make third base his position," Milwaukee assistant general manager Gord Ash said. "He's with the perfect guy in Don. We think that's a good match in terms of working with his defense. We'll try to make it work there. If that becomes an issue down the road, we'll address it then."

In other words, no matter what these folks say, Gamel will be playing somewhere other than 3B when he breaks in with Milwaukee, if he isn't traded first. His ceiling on defense at 3B is apparently somewhere between passable and adequate.

Don't Worry, Prince Can Pick 'Em at First These Days

Mat Gamel update after 52 AB:

.423/.492/.827, 1.319 OPS (!), 5 HR, 22 RBI, 15 R

And 7 errors in 14 games. Might be time to find this boy a new position.

Oh yeah, and TG Jr. is slugging .362 after 58 AB. 18 singles and 3 doubles.

September Call Ups

The Brewers brought up a significant number of minor league players to fill up the roster for September.

You all know them, but here they are again:

Gamel, Escobar, & Salome come from AA. Rottino, Gwynn, Brad Nelson (HA!), Joe Dillon, DeFilice, Dillard, & Stetter come from AAA.

Look at the list of these guys, and then look at the current Brewers roster. Then think of the situation the Brewers are in.

With the exception of Stetter, do you think any of these guys are going to have any significant impact on the games in September or the Postseason?

The answer is no.

Oh sure...DeFilice might get some mop up work. Escobar might give JJ a break 1 or 2 games in the 9 inning when we're up by 6 runs. Gamel & Nelson might get 6 or 7 at bats each.

We'll talk about Stetter possibly on the postseason roster some other time. But none of the other guys have a chance. Does anybody honestly think that after a playoff push, with the team playing great, with basically the same guys all year, with the team making the playoffs for the first time in 26 years that Ned Yost would let those same guys not get most of the playing time down the stretch? Does anybody think that Ned Yost would leave one of those guys off the playoff roster?

Not gonna happen people. The September call ups don't mean much this year. Enjoy the buffet and one-sixth of the major league minimum fellas...and enjoy the ride.

Gamel Raking

Mat Gamel was named Southern League player of the month for May. He hit a tidy .387 for the month with 28 RBIs.

As a team, the Huntsville Stars hit .306 for the month. That's fairly impressive.