I'm not a fan of Dale Sveum's rotation and bullpen plan.
-Short rest: Pitching Sabathia on short rest today commits Sveum to pitching Bush on short rest again, if he wants to use him again during the regular season. I understand why Sveum would like to utilize the two pitchers that are pitching the best at the moment, although Sabathia hasn't exactly been effective in his last two starts, and while Bush pitched well against the Cubs on short rest, the rest pattern also forced him into a shorter start with a low pitch count....
Bush (career 3 days rest): 7 GS, 37.7 IP, 40 H, 30 R, 24 K/11 BB; 7.16 runs average
Sabathia (career 3 days rest): 2 GS, 10.7 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 8 K/3 BB; 4.21 runs average
What's the big deal? These guys don't pitch on 3 days rest enough to make it a sound strategy that promises the effectiveness the Brewers need on the mound to get into the playoffs.
-Bullpen: ....which means that the bullpen needs to be used more. Sveum is going all in with the bullpen, and I'm not sure why. Whether or not the game is a 1-run defecit, a 4-run lead, a tie, or a SVO, Sveum is pitching his big guns.
Sveum will need to change his bullpen usage, otherwise he won't have one should the Crew make the playoffs.
-Gallardo: Someone in the Brewers' PR office needs to coordinate Sveum's, Powell's, and Gallardo's statements...from the article on the official site:
YoGa says: "I haven't swung the bat, I haven't ran the bases, so starting is kind
of 'out there.' We'll see. I just hopefully want to go out there and
hopefully get a couple innings and help them out"....
....and (my emphasis): "As far as pitching, my arm is in shape, so I guess that's pretty
good," Gallardo said. "Fielding your position, covering first base,
that's the way that [the injury] happened, so that was going to be a
little bit of a challenge for me to get over it. I feel confident. It
was a main focus to take more [fielding practice] and cover first base."
Sveum says: "[Gallardo] is built up enough to do whatever we want from him," Sveum
said. "We'll make those decisions as the next few days unfold."
From Powell's 5th inning chat (my emphasis):
| Q:
|
Tony
from Beaver Dam -
Are the Brewers possibily mortgaging the future by bringing Yo back so
soon. Most ACL injuries are related to contact sports but coming back
in 5 months seems pretty quick. |
|
Jim: |
No I don't think so, Tony. The knee is sound if sore. The Brewers are
well aware that Gallardo is the next ace of this staff and doing
something that would hurt him could kill next year's team. They have
proceeded with great caution and will continue accordingly. I think he
can help as long as they don't ask too much of him. I'm glad to see him
back, personally. |
So how sore is the knee? Like, "I just bumped my knee on the coffee table" sore, or "I haven't completely rehabbed a severe knee injury and that could force me to compensate in my pitching delivery and hurt something else" sore?
Hm. I sincerely hope Gallardo's ride to the stadium gets lost in West Allis for the next 5 days.