First Quarter Grades: Pitchers

With the first quarter of the season over, I figured we'd take a glance at what we've gotten from each player so far. Here are the first quarter progress reports for the Milwaukee Brewers. Some of these guys are going to need to get these reports signed by a legal guardian, yeah it's been that bad.

Ben Sheets: A
Sheeter has honestly given me a lot more than I expected. He looked dominant in almost every appearance this season, up until the seventh inning of thursdays game. We won't admit to this, but I think a sizeable portion of us were hoping he'd only pitch slightly better than average this season, making it a lot easier for us to condone trading him. Instead, Sheets has put us between a rock and a hard-place. Imagine where this team would be without his starts...

Jeff Suppan: C+
Suppan has given us exactly what we should expect from him, so part of me wants to grade him higher. I refrain from doing that though because up until his last start, Soup didn't step up when we needed him to. At this point in his career especially, he's no more than a 3rd starter at best, but after the loss of Gallardo we really need him to take the mound every five days and give us quality starts. He's done that for the most part this season (except for starts against the Mets and Cubs). I'll still take a wait and see attitude, as I've said many times Suppan is a guy we paid to pitch in August, September and hopefully October, not April-July.

Yovani Gallardo: Incomplete
He looked fantastic in all three starts before a torn ACL derailed his season and ours. You can't give out a grade after three appearances though. For all we know, he could have gone out and gotten shelled the entire month of May. I highly doubt it though.



Dave Bush: D
As one of Bush's biggest supporters, I've been extremely disappointed with what I've seen from him this season. We all knew he was prone to the big inning, but it seems like he's given up a big inning in every start this season. He hasn't been able to get past the 6th, but more than that he's not keeping his team in games. He needs to turn it around big time. Ideally you'd look for him to win 10 or so games and have an era between 4.5-5. 1-4 with an era over 6 isn't gonna get it done. Hopefully the demotion to AAA served as a wake-up call.

Carlos Villanueva: D+
Villanueva has looked a lot like Bush this season. The continuing them for the Brewers pitching staff, he hasn't been able to get past the 5th inning frequently enough. His best starts came in his first and last start, other than that he's looked awful. I still maintain I'd like to see this guy as a closer. When you look at his splits his most effective early and then tails off big time. I'm still hopeful we'll see that happen at some point this season. I don't think anyone can argue he looked very good out of the bullpen last season. To me, he just doesn't seem like a starter. He gets beat up too much the more guys see him.

Manny Parra: C-
Of all the guys in the back of the rotation, Parra has looked the best. Hasn't been quite as good as they need him to be yet, but he has the best chance of the three to turn things around. I still don't like him beginning the season at the major league level, but they've at least used him the right way. He hasn't racked up too many innings - partially because of ineffectiveness and partially because Yost and Maddux have kept him on a short-leash. I'm thinking Manny will start to get things going and hit his stride once the calendar turns to July. From here on out, they're really going to need him pitch like a second starter, barring an acquisition of another guy.

Seth McClung: B+
I think we've all been pleasantly surprised with what we've seen from McClung thus far. We knew he threw hard, but we all fancied him as a potential set-up guy if he could ever put it all together. He's been so effective in the long relief role that we're now beginning to question if he could be an effective back of the rotation starter. It will be interesting to see what they decide to do with McClung as the season goes on. How many of us expected McClung to be released or demoted within a month or two? My hand is up.

Derrick Turnbow: F-
Do we even have to talk about him? Talk about a guy that has just lost it, Turnbow went from being an all-star closer, to an effective setup man, to an effective middle reliever, to absolutely unreliable. All this over the span of two and a half years too. Hopefully he can get things straightened out in AAA, but I just don't see it happening with this franchise.

Mitch Stetter: C+
Up until his last three appearances, Stetter has been extremely effective. More than that, he's shown he can be more than a lefty specialist, going more than one inning on three separate ocassions. I'd give him a B or a B+ had it not been for his last inning of work, you simply can't walk guys as a reliever, Turnbow and Gagne have shown us that. We'll see him again at the big league level soon. I like the fact that they demoted him after a bout of wildness, it sends a message to players that you need to perform at a high level to stay on this team - although I'm sure they're getting mixed messages when they see Dick Weeks continually start and leadoff.

David Riske: B-
Riske looked great early on and then hit a rough patch a few weeks ago. He seemed to get that corrected, but then went down with a hyperextended elbow. He's proven to be a very valuable arm as he can go multiple innings, multiple times a week. I'm hoping the injury is not as serious as it sounds. Historically, Riske has always been a slow starter. If Gagne can't rebound, he's probably the best viable option they have to replace him. He doesn't throw overly hard, but has decent movement on his pitches. More than that, he throws strikes.

Brian Shouse: A
I said it yesterday, but I'll repeat, I'm continually amazed at Shouse. He's 39 years old, doesn't throw hard and doesn't have great stuff. He just throws strikes and gets guys out. Without question one of Doug Melvin's best pick ups, Shouse has gotten even better this year, showing he can pitch an inning plus, and he has even been effective against righties. There's a saying our group of friends has coined, "Shouse Gets Outs". Are they selling Shouse jersey-T's yet?

Salomon Torres: A-
A true rubber arm, Torres has been great this season. Thank god he decided not to retire. He can go multiple innings, has closed before, pitches with an attitude and brings toughness to the mound. He has picked up some tough outs for us. He really has been a godsend in the setup role. He'll walk guys ocassionally, but nowhere near the alarming rate of Turnbow and Gagne.

 

Guillermo Mota: B+
Mota has been great this season, especially when you consider the cost of acquiring him was that slow turd Johnny Estrada. He has some nasty stuff and has been extremely tough on righties this year. He's arguably been one of the best set-up men in baseball. Mota was cruising along until Yost decided to let him close a game. We saw this in Florida and New York, Mota can't close. Keep him in the setup role. Let Riske or Torres close if you're not going with Gagne, but not Mota. Overall he's exceeded our expectations though. Again, we got him for Johnny Estrada. The same Johnny Estrada the Mets then promptly cut.

Eric Gagne: C-
Not to toot my own horn, but I was the first to point out that I thought Gagne was tipping his pitches about a month ago. I'll say it again, explain to me how Patterson took him yard on a good pitch, then Encarnacion takes him deep on a good pitch followed by Paul Freaking Bako taking him deep on his first pitch. It was as if he knew it was coming. Then the free swinging Astros draw walk after walk on good changeups (which he was getting squeezed on by the way).
I think Gagne has three things going on. 

1. He's tipping his pitches
2. He's not getting any calls
3. He's got a dead arm

We've already address his pitch tipping.  After his name appeared in the Mitchell Report, he's not getting calls anymore. How many times have we seen him throw a good pitch that could go either way but it's called a ball. I haven't seen him get the benefit of the doubt once this year. I think its the umpires way of sticking it to a guy who cheated. You can't necessarily complain about that. 

Thirdly, I think he's got a dead arm right now. If I were the Brewers, I'd stick him on the DL and give him some time off and bring someone else up. He just doesn't look the same as he did in Texas, he looks fatigued. We saw it with Linebrink last year and we're seeing it with Gagne now. Put him on the DL with "forearm stiffness" and give him two-three weeks to rest his arm. 

For all the blown saves, he hasn't looked awful. He's walked too many guys and put way too many runners - especially leadoff men - on base. Each time he looks like he's turned it around and about to get it going, something happens. I'm still hopeful he can turn it around, but I really think he can only do that with time off. Otherwise he's just going to continue to get shelled. He has blown 5 saves, but lets not forget he's picked up 9.

Overall Grades

Starters: C
Relievers: B-

The starters grade is boosted by Sheets, while the relievers are brought down by Turnbow. We'll see what, if any progress is made at the half way mark.