Just a thought, why don't we put Milton to the pen. I think that he could be effective as a long reliever and we would not have to waste his salary. We could cut Santos, send Coffey to AAA, and bring up two of the following (Burton, Majewski, Dumatrait, Gosling, Homer, Livingston, or McBeth).
How about Milton to the waiver wire instead.
How about we just DFA Milton?
I don't give up on Santos yet but that sounds OK for Coffey. Send him down for a wakeup call.
Last edited by BEETTLEBUG; 05-06-2007 at 02:26 PM.
Milton's worst innings have been his first. Don't know how that would benefit the pen.
The whole pitching staff seems to be having problems right now.
Maybe they've all got Miltonitis.
Rob Neyer: "Any writer who says he'd be a better manager than the worst manager is either 1) lying (i.e. 'using poetic license') or 2) patently delusional. Which isn't to say managers don't do stupid things that you or I wouldn't."
He cant go further than 5 innings. I think it makes a lot of sense.
He can go further than 5 innings, but the situations haven't warranted it.
Here's the score after five innings through Eric Milton's 5 starts, how many pitches he threw and how he was removed:
May 3rd: Astros 4, REDS 1 Milton threw 5 innings and 69 pitches and was removed for Pinch-hitter Norris Hopper in the bottom of the 5th.
April 27th: Pirates 3, REDS 1 Milton threw 4.1 innings and 64 pitches and was removed for reliever Kirk Saarloos who faced Jason Bay and Brad Eldred with a runner on 2nd. Milton had just struck out Freddie Sanchez (who doubled off him in the exact same situation on April 8th, so it's interesting that Milton struck him out this time...he was at 90+ pitches last time) after Jack Wilson had doubled.
He's struggled heavily when he starts the game giving up 3runs in the first in each of the last two games, then only 1 run total after that in the other 7.1 innings.
Of significant note is his strikeouts have been low and his walks have been high in those two games (3/5.....K/BB).
April 21st Phillies 2, REDS 1 Again, Milton gave up runs in the 1st. Two runs in the first, though only one was earned due to EE's throwing error. Milton went 6 innings throwing 82 pitches leaving the game down 3-1 though only 2 runs were earned. REDS' batters had 8 K's through 5 innings, 2 Hits, and had hit into a Triple-Play. Milton had a sacrifice in his only at-bat before being pinch-hit for by Norris Hopper.
April 16th Brewers 2, REDS 0 Again, a run in the first, but this one was all on Griffey when with two outs, Griffey made an error on a flyball and Fielder scored. Milton got 13 of the next 15 batters out giving up only a solo homerun and a walk. Narron then made a mistake. Milton was already at 96 pitches and even though the REDS only had two hits and a walk through 17 plate appearances, he let Milton hit with 2 outs and come back and pitch the 6th, even though our relievers had only faced 11 batters in the last two days. He promptly gave up a double to Fielder and was removed. Fielder later scored and Milton ended up throwing 5 innings and 98 pitches with 3 runs only 2 earned.
April 8th, Pirates 3, REDS 0 Milton threw 5.2 innings and 95 pitches in his first start after coming off the DL. He gave up another run in the 6th as he was removed after striking out Zach Duke and in Freddie Sanchez' first game back from the DL, he doubled in Bautista who doubled earlier in the inning. I know many thought Milton should have been removed after getting the 2nd out with the K of Duke. Santos came in and got the next out.
Even though all of these circumstances show that Milton hasn't done poorly, and in fact, did fairly well, he's still probably on a thin rope. As I've said with Sheets, you might not be able to control your offense, but you might just need to step it up a notch if your offense struggles when you pitch. He needs to do as well, if not better than he has been doing, or someone from AAA will get a shot very soon.
Let me restate that....
There's nothing good about Milton's opposing OPS of .808 except that he's used as a #5 starter. Still, I want it to get to the .742 or .740 that Harang and Lohse have, respectively. That .740 OPS by Lohse is better than the .748 that Harang had last year, and would have placed him 18th among starters last year. At this point in the early season, it places him at 35th among starters with 30 or more innings pitched. (only talking about National League of course) This is a big reason Harang never got any votes for Cy Young last year. He gives up way too many extra-base hits and at the wrong time.
I'd like to see Harang take his game up another level and quit giving up the big hit and lower his OPS by the end of the year to less than .710 (Arroyo's, our True ACE, is currently at .567 and Belisle has been phenomal holding down his opposing OPS to .639!!!; not a single National League starter finished with an OPS under .643 last year). Again, it's early, and as temperatures start to rise, so will ERA's and OPS'. A .710 OPS would have place Harang 12th in that category last year among starters (in the NL).
You wonder why the Brewers are winning? They only play 7 innings of baseball, then turn the ball over to Turnbow and Cordero. Turnbow has 22 K's in 13.1 IP w/ one Save and an ERA of 2.02, and Cordero hasn't allowed a single run while racking up 12 saves in 13.2 IP. Cordero's opposing OPS?.....(.261!). Someone mentioned on a thread (maybe this one) that Bush is the Brewers #5 starter. He's actually their #4. Their #5, Carlos Villanueva has 3 wins, an ERA of 2.79 and an opposing OPS of .631 in 19.1 IP.
In a heartbeat, I'd flipflop the roles of Saarloos (.579 OPS) and Milton, because right now Milton's opposing OPS is better than Santos (.893), Stanton (.861), Coffey (.881), and the same as Coutlangus (.808)....and if he gets worse over a month, then, release him. Saarloos has earned the right to start.
Last edited by Eric_Davis; 05-07-2007 at 04:16 AM.
Rob Neyer: "Any writer who says he'd be a better manager than the worst manager is either 1) lying (i.e. 'using poetic license') or 2) patently delusional. Which isn't to say managers don't do stupid things that you or I wouldn't."
I would guess there is possibly something in his contract to prevent this from happening. I think he'd be good in the bullpen, though.
Interesting to see that Milton never had the lead when leaving the game.
Not much run support for Milton in the games he's started.
'When I'm not longer rapping, I want to open up an ice cream parlor and call myself Scoop Dogg.'
-Snoop on his retirement
Your Mom is happy.
Well, I'm sure that would fix the bullpen.
Originally Posted by Raisor
I remember hearing somewhere that his degenerative knee condition requires extended periods of time to loosen up.
I'm not sure he's physically capable of warming up in a moment's notice.
All models are wrong. Some of them are useful.
Bad idea, Milton always does bad in inning #1.
As much as I am unhappy with Uncle Miltie, I have to agree that we have not given him any run support worth a crap. 3 runs total in 5 starts. That is pretty pathetic.
Maybe not fix the bullpen, but it might be a better option for Uncle Milty. I actually kind of like the idea too. Now who would replace him in the rotation? That's another story.Well, I'm sure that would fix the bullpen.
I ahve wondered about htis as well, but fear he struggles in the first inning as it is, takes him 2 innings to get rolling, then he is done in 2 more, dont see the Pen as a safe being for him.
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