Which Brewers starting pitcher has most to prove in 2012?

With Monday being the first official workout for Brewers pitchers and catchers at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix, it's time to start thinking baseball. More specifically, I really wanted to take a closer look at the starting pitchers on the Brewers staff in this post. As I talked in a post last month, all five starters return from last season. Usually with everyone back complacency could be a factor in performance this season. But with this group, all five have something to prove. With the status of Ryan Braun up in the air, the team will lean on the pitching staff to carry them through the time he is out.

We'll start with the man that proved he was the ace last season, Yovani Gallardo (Baseball reference stats). He was the man that the team turned to in the playoffs to get big wins and throughout the regular season was a horse, winning a career high 17 games and was the first Brewers pitcher to strike out 200 batters in three consecutive seasons in team history. His 3.52 ERA was a career high for a full season. Most importantly, he walked just 59 batters, or just 2.6 per nine innings. That's a full one batter less than his previous best set in 2010. The big number for Gallardo, and this is what he has to prove is the 207 innings he threw last season, plus the 26 innings he threw in 12 days in the playoffs.. That's 44 1/3 innings more than his previous high for a season. Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci has come up with the "Verducci Effect" which tracks the jumps in innings a pitcher makes from year to year. Anything over 30 for a 25-and-under hurler has a good chance of resulting in injury or regression the following season. So, he's got that and a season to show that he is in fact the true ace of the staff this season.

After Gallardo, Zack Greinke proved himself last year, after getting the ire of fans with his basketball injury during spring training. After missing all of Spring Training Greinke took only three starts in the minors before he made his Brewers debut May 4. While the Brewers played well behind him when he took the mound, his performances were lackluster at times. The Brewers went 10-5 in his first 15 starts (he went 7-4), but his 4.84 ERA was not Greinke-like (Game logs). His strikeouts were there, but he'd get wreckless at times. The second half of the season was where Greinke turned the corner and showed why he has a Cy Young award in his trophy case. From July 27 on, Greinke was 9-2, leading the Brewers to an 11-2 record during that stretch. He posted a 2.77 ERA, struck out 87 while walking just 27 (Game Logs). Those were the numbers fans were expecting out of the gate. This season, he's got to make it through the spring and then start the season with the same effort he finished last season with. If he does that, he will push Gallardo and have a shot to win an NL Cy Young. Oh, and how can I forget he is a free agent after this season. So he's auditioning for a possible contract. Now, the Brewers are rumored to want a deal with him and it sounds like something he would welcome. We shall see how that pans out.

Shaun Marcum is the middle man in the starting rotation and could take the cake as the most interesting and maybe the one with the most to prove. I can't remember a guy having a regular season like him and then tanking that bad. He pitched just 9.2 postseason innings and allowed 17 hits and 16 runs, all earned, during that time. Yeah, it was bad. That makes what he did during the regular season seem out of place. It was rather stellar. He went 13-7 and posted a 3.54 ERA which was .02 behind Gallardo as the best of the staff (Game Logs). His 200.2 innings were a career high. But, when it comes down to it, the awful outings he had in Phoenix in the NLDS and the two outings in the NLCS against the Cardinals are the black eye on his 2011 season. Like it or not, that's how it is. Add to the fact that he's also a free agent adds to the mix where other teams will be keeping an eye on him. When it comes to the Brewers signing him, I really only see them signing either he or Greinke. Not both.

Randy Wolf was as consistent a No. 4 starter last season as there was in the Majors. He hadhttp://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2149688284499501924#editor/target=post;postID=7026812923272109016 the most innings during the regular season with 212.1 innings pitched and his 3.69 ERA is the fourth lowest of his 12-year Major League career. He struck out 134 hitters while walking 66, but allowed just 214 hits for the regular season (Game Logs). Those numbers aren't jump-off-the-page great, but they are pretty good. During the Brewers run last season when they took over the NL Central, Wolf was the focal point. He won five straight decisions in late July into early August. He was the tough-luck loser last season at times, losing five games on the season when he allowed three runs or less. What does Wolf have to prove? He too is a free agent after this season. It seems unlikely the team will resign him as he will be 35 this season. Last season he was the pitcher they wanted when they signed him prior to the 2009 season.

Chris Narveson is back to close out the rotation and after listening to a discussion on ESPN Radio in Milwaukee Monday, one would think he would be the guy that could become complacent. But Drew Olson doesn't see that happening with him. I say he has something to prove because the pitching staff for 2013 is going to be retooled and if he wants to be a part of it and move up from the No. 5 slot, he'll have to work at it. At one point in 2011 Narveson was 2-4 through May with a 4.68 ERA. Once the calendar turned to June, Narvey turned it on. He went 9-4 the rest of the way with a 4.32 ERA (Game Logs). That's about what you would want out of your No. 5 guy.

So, after all that, it seems pretty clear who the guy with the most to prove is. That's Marcum. The postseason can define guys. If there were ever a reason people, or fans, can point to and say "That's why the team didn't go to the World Series," it's him. The biggest way to make us as fans forget about that is to have the same regular season he had last year. General Managers across the Majors will also have to say he is the most interesting because he was an innings hog last year. It was a personal high for him, but it showed the elbow had healed after his Tommy John Surgery. If he backs that up again and something can't be worked out to stay in Milwaukee, a big deal awaits him next season.

What do you think? Comment and let me know!

Fate of Brewers season doesn't entirely lie with Braun

With Ryan Braun finally getting his day to appeal his positive test for a banned substance, the National League MVP and the Brewers can finally start to put the final pieces together for the 2012 season. Will the Brewers have their superstar left fielder or not though the first two months of the season? We will find out shortly.

Maybe it's the optimist in me and believer that this season will be just as special as the last, but part of me thinks the Brewers can hold the fort down while Braun is away and keep the National League Central crown within reach if he is out for the worst-case scenario of 50 games. Don't get me wrong, Brauns .332 batting average, 33 home runs, 111 RBIs and 33 stolen bases will be hard to replace in the top third of the lineup on top of the loss of Prince Fielder, but for 50 games and 57 days, the Brewers can weather the storm. Here's how.

When Rickie Weeks went out in August last year, fans, myself included, feared things could go south, but the pitching emerged to carry the team to the NL Central title. That will have to happen at the start of this season. All five starters return and all have something to prove.

Yovani Gallardo is ready to prove he is a true ace, even if he's not the pitcher on the staff with a Cy Young Trophy in his trophy case. As good as he was in the playoffs last year, is the level I expect to see Gallardo all season. He was inconsistent at times last year letting his pitch count get the best of him and force him out of games early. I'd expect to see that as a point of emphasis from the start of Spring Training.

Zack Greinke, you know the guy who does have a Cy Young, wants to put the rough spring from last year behind him and I expect him to come out of the gates strong. While Gallardo was shining in the postseason last year, Shaun Marcum was busy flipping his glove in disgust as he lost all three starts in awful fashion. (Can't forget the glove flip in Phoenix!). The kicker on top of it all for Greinke and Marcum is both are free agents after the season and are auditioning for big money elsewhere.

Randy Wolf is in a similar boat in the final year of his three-year deal. Last year he was the guy that was the most consistent pitcher during the season, but got little to no run support in some of his best outings. Finally Chris Narveson is back in the five-hole at the back of the rotation and has to prove himself to a point to maybe earn a chance top step up on the rotation with possibly two or three of the other guys leaving the rotation after the season.

As for the offense, the thought with filling the shoes of Prince was not to drop it all on one guy, but to spread the load throughout the lineup. That has to be the mindset of Corey Hart, Weeks (who should move up to the No. 3 spot in front of Aramis Ramirez) and everyone including the new guy Nori Aoki.

Only time will tell how things unfold, but the pieces are in place for the Brewers to be at least within shouting distance of the top of the division if Braun is out for 50 games at worst or (what I'm hoping for) a 25-game ban. The pitching is the key to the team, especially the starters out of the gate.

WW 193: Roadtrip can still be salvaged in Miami for Brewers

First off, I know I've been gone for a while. I've been writing some freelance high school baseball stuff for another Web site and doing it in the time I would have normally posted on here. So, I have a free night and figured I'd get back to updating things on "The Way."


After losing two of three games in Cincinnati this week, all the talk surrounding the Brewers is that the team can't win on the road. Well, they can't win in Great American Ballpark to save themselves, going just 2-12 in the last two years. Those are just awful numbers and may be playing mind tricks on the team. It was something the guys on 540 ESPN's D-List talked about with Tom Haudricourt a week or so ago and kind of makes sense in that the guys end up trying too hard. In baseball, you can't do that much if at all because it shows and works against you.
Looking at what is coming up in Florida against the Marlins, all is not lost and they could put some things together to get home with a .500 road trip when it is all said and done. Randy Wolf goes Friday and we should expect Wil Nieves to get the nod behind the plate. With him back catching Wolf, the lefty has allowed just seven hits in the two games. Ricky Nolasco is a guy the Brewers usually hit pretty well, so I'm not worried about how things shake out there.
On Saturday, Yovani Gallardo looks to follow up another gem last Sunday when he pushed his record to 7-2 on the years and watched his ERA drop to 3.89 on the season. Yo was the pitcher of the month for May and seems to have put the hiccups (that's what I'll call them) behind him in the last two weeks of April. Ricky Volstad didn't walk a bunch of guys in his last outing, but got rocked by the Diamondbacks and lasted just 3 1/3 innings. The Brewers offense should be able to deliver something similar. He's just 2-4 with a 5.91 ERA, too, so I see the bats having a chance to come around.
Sunday's game is the one with the biggest chance for a Brewers loss, in my eyes, with Chris Narveson going against Anibal Sanchez. Narvey has been bitten by one bad inning again this season, especially lately. Sanchez has been dominant of late, including his last outing where he went eight inning and gave up six hits and K'd eight.
Finally, on Monday Zack Greinke gets the nod and we are all still waiting for the dominant Zack to show his form. As it's noted in the MLB story I got the probables from, the Brewers are 5-1 in games he starts, so it seems even if he's just slightly above average, they play well behind the guy.
I know I focused a lot on the pitching, but it wasn't that bad in the two losses early in the week. If the offense can find a way to tack on the runs late in the game Wednesday, they win the game and the late rally means nothing. It's what they did Tuesday in earning the win and snuff out any chance of a comeback the Reds seem to have in close games there against the Crew.
Corey Hart continues to be hot at the plate despite his bout with dehydration and some are even hinting of a move for him to the No. 5 spot behind Ryan and Prince as opposed to in front of them. I'm not sure if that means going with Gomez and Morgan in front of them full-time. If so, I'm not sure I'm behind that. Gomez has done some good things and I'm not sure a platoon in the No. 2 hole is a good idea.


Just a short bit on the NBA Finals as it's on in the background behind me. I picked the Heat to win in six, but was hoping for some fight from the Mavericks. Through the first half, they are shooting much better and should be in this in the end. Hope they can steal this one and head to Dallas.
I'm loving the word that Cavs fans are printing up shirts and getting behind the Mavs. I say I love it because it's so comical, but I'm not sure I would be proud of the fact you are rooting against one man. I know he burned you, but get over it.

Now it's time for the Nussie Hunter. I good friend of mine got married over the weekend and when I saw the news Tony Romo did, as well, I couldn't resist to have more fun with Candace Crawford. Burlington's favorite native son has surely done himself well. She's amazing. I'm not behind the fact people are ripping him for having a bridal registry that included $10 and $20 items. Not everyone he knows is rich. Give him a break there. Makes complete sense. Anyway, here's Candace. Enjoy!

Brewers pitchers... Not sure I can trust any of you!

Another loss today by the Brewers has Wilber's Way making its May debut. Being shutout for the third time in four games has me changing a bit of what I was going to write here.
Regardless, the Brewers have now lost 8 of their last 10 games and were outscored by the Padres 21-2 in four games. So while pitching was a question mark coming in, the offense made sure to not let us forget about it having problems and being inconsistent.
Doug Davis, who has had his problems, was not so reliable in Game 1 of the series and the guy that came on in "relief" of that one was Jeff Suppan. When all was said and done, the Padres won 9-0.


Dave Bush  did pitch pretty good in Game 2 of the series, giving up just three runs in seven innings of work. But the offense couldn't get anything going and fell 5-0.
It marked the first time since 2005 the Brewers had been shut out in back to back games.
It was the best starting pitching showing since Yovanni Gallardo was solid against the Pirates on Monday night at Miller Park, but this time the offense did not back the up. Just the bad luck of baseball.

The Brewers did get a win Saturday night behind Gallardo. But even that was a chore. Yo went seven innings and struck out 11 on 118 pitches and had to hit a home run, his fifth of his career.
Hawkins, who has seen his share of troubles came on in the eighth and Trevor Hoffman, who you all know about his struggles, returned to the city where he saved 552 games, and closed the game out.


That sets the table. Now I have to ask the question. Who do you trust on the mound for this team? The problem has been mainly the starting rotation. Here are the lines (From Baseball-reference.com):
Yovanni Gallardo: 3-2, 36 IP, 40 K, 16 BB, 32 H, 15 R, 12 ER, 3.00 ERA
Randy Wolf: 2-2, 37.1 IP, 27 K, 16 BB, 41 H, 18 R, 16 ER, 3.86 ERA
Dave Bush: 1-2, 29.1 IP, 15 K, 12 BB, 30 H, 17 R, 15 ER, 4.60 ERA
Doug Davis: 0-3, 22.1 IP, 24 K, 10 BB, 38 H, 23 R, 22 ER, 8.87 ERA
Jeff Suppan: 0-1, 14.1 IP, 11 K, 3 BB, 22 H, 14 R, 13 ER, 8.16 ERA
Chris Narveson: 1-0, 15 IP, 12 K, 9 BB, 22 H, 12 R, 11 ER, 6.6 ERA
Now you can't take everything by those numbers, but know this. The team ERA ranks 13th of 16 teams in the NL. The staff has given up the second-most hits in the National League. That heps rank them 14th in the NL in home runs allowed (33).
Where was the help Doug Melvin was supposed to bring in? Nothing has changed from last year, at all. Now people claiming Doug Davis should be taken out of the rotation, are crazy. Who are you going to put in that spot? They made the one move with Narveson going in. I'm sure we'll see Manny Parra starting at some point this year, but not in place of a healthy but struggling Davis.

Like I said, this isn't going to be all about the pitching. The last three series' dating back to getting swept by the Cubs, then dropping two of three to the Pirates has worn on this team, which has lost 8 of 10.
The offense, up until this point, was one of the best in baseball. The numbers show that.
After checking Baseball-Reference.com, I found some pretty interesting numbers that I didn't realize (maybe because the pitching was so awful).
The Brewers are second in the NL in runs scored (128), first in doubles (56), fourth in homers (28), first in on-base percentage (.355), third in batting average (.273), second in slugging percentage (.452) and second in OPS (.807).
Those are some pretty staggering figures. To me, that says this 10-14 start is something that is on the pitching. Yes the last week has been rough for the hitters. I'm not going to put it on all of them, but I am going to single out one guy, Rickie Weeks Now I'm not coming down on Rickie, just pointing out some numbers.
Since the Brewers drilled the Pirates for that 20-0 win on April 22, Weeks' average has dropped from .344 to .258.
It's been seven games since then and during that time Rickie is 4 for 34 (.118 AVG), with 17 strikeouts, just one RBI (which came on his home run) and he's taken only five walks. Here's the link, again on Baseball-Reference.com. For a team built around Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, having guys on base in front of them makes them dangerous. That makes Rickie getting on base imparative to the success of the team. It doesn't help that Macha is still struggling to find a suitable guy to put in the No. 2 spot. With Carlos Gomez and Jim Edmonds hurt, that has made things a struggle and put guys you wouldn't necessarily want in front of Ryan and Prince.

Ok, enough on the Brewers for now. That will resonate throughout Monday for me. We need some funny to lighten the mood. Leave it to Jimmy Kimmel and his unnecessary censorship. Damn funny!


I'm pretty sure these next two ladies are Brewers fans and would be very interested by the success of the team. Yep, the Maxim Hometown Hotties Contest is in full swing and we got a double feature of Nussies for you.
First is Franklin's Andrea. She likes Wii (take a look! Haha.) And Susana is from Richfield, which is like 15 minutes from me. The links take you to their profiles. There were a handful of other Wisconsin girls that made the initial cut. Be sure to check out the rest of the Hometown Hotties.
Here's Andrea.


Here's Susana

The myster of the No. 5 starter gets clearer

Finally, things start to get a little clearer. With today's news the Brewers put Jeff Suppan on the DL for the next 15 days, the mystery that is the Brewers fifth starter is getting a little clearer.
Dave Bush got named the fourth starter Monday, leaving lefties Chris Narveson and Manny Parra.
That question might have gotten a little clearer yet Tuesday with both of them pitching. Narveson pitched today and extended his shutout streak to 12 innings and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the process. I'd have to say he's showing he belongs in the rotation.
Parra pitched two shutout innings today, following up Narvey against the Angels. Here's Tom Haudricourt's story from the J-S.
With all that, I'm not sure which way the Brewers are leaning. They don't have to make a real decision until April 15 when that fifth starter has to pitch. I'm not sure that is a good idea. I'd almost say go with the hot hand and let Chris take the ball and let everyone know he's it. In the meantime get Manny ready to come in from the Pen. He needs to be coddled mentally and needs that support. Why drag him along and let him get all mind kcufed like he did at times last year? That would be my move. Plus they'll need him ready when and not if one of the original five goes down with injury and misses a start. Hopefully they won't be out long, but not everyone will make every start. That's just the percentages.
Give Narvy the ball!


While we're on the subject of the pitching, the rotation, aside from the No. 5 starter was named Monday. And Yovanni Gallardo will be pitching Opening Day. He'll be followed up by Randy Wolf, then Doug Davis and Bush in the No. 4 spot.  I'll be honest, I'm really liking those four. Add Narvy to that mix and I'm pretty confident in all five going out and getting the job done. We'll have to see when the season starts who gets hot and throws well, but they've given me a bit of confidence most of the spring. Wolf looked vary sharp in his last outing (I saw it on FS Wisconsin).

Speaking of the Opening Day starer, the Brewers unveiled a handful of commercials today and I must say they are pretty dope. MLB.com doesn't allow for embedding. Let me know which spot you think is the funniest and best. I really liked the Prince one and the pitchers playing darts one. You'll see. Here's the link.

On a subject of pitchers. I really like Randy Wolf. He's got a bit of a following. And I'm considering becoming part of it in Section 223. Could you imagine this? Oh yeah. It could get fun!


And now to your favorite portion of the broadcast. Yep, the Nussie Hunter. Keeping with the baseball theme, it's Alyssa Milano. Nussie Hunter said he really liked this picture. Well, it's a hot chick in a Cubs hat. Wait, that's Alyssa. Damn. If that's the only thing wrong with her, I might be able to over look that. Haha.
Either way, here's Alyssa.