Brewers Review

Brewers Review: Episode 3 -- Suppan's move to the bullpen, Narveson's first start, some minor league action and Doug Davis' incredible bad luck

2010-05-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

In the podcast, I mention Davis' bad luck and how to account for that luck statistically. FIP or Fielding Independent Pitching is the statistic that I use to look at what a Pitcher's ERA should be without all the bad luck. Here's a more technical definition from the Harball Times: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/statpages/glossary/#fip

If you're curious to see the Pitch data for Trevor Hoffman look here: http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?playerid=1035&position=P

Fangraphs.com has an incredible amount of baseball information. I feel bad linking you there, because I know that you will waste at least 20 minutes clicking through some interesting statistics.

If you would like to drop us a line, please do so. You can comment on brewersreview.podomatic.com, or email us at brewersreview(a)gmail.com.

Brewers Review: Episode 2 -- NL Central News, Brewers Batting Order, Minor Leaguers, and yes, a Milwaukee Brewers Haiku

2010-05-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

Podcast number 2 features a discussion of Edinson Volquez's suspension, Carlos Zambrano's move to the bullpen, Manager Ken Macha's constantly shifting lineup, and Brewers minor leaguers Chris Cody and Lorenzo Cain.

From the brewers.com site, here is how the Brewers 20-0 defeat of the Pirates ranks historically: http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100422&content_id=9500206&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

This a good summary of the Zambrano move with lots of quotes, and the conspiracy theory that Jack espoused: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0422-zambrano-carlos-cubs-chicago-20100421,0,4979197.story

We also kicked around how we would order the brewers lineup. First is my short term lineup. This is what I would use if I had to win one game tomorrow:

1. Rickie Weeks
2. Jim Edmonds
3. Ryan Braun
4. Prince Fielder
5. Casey Mcgehee
6. Greg Zaun
7. Alcides Escobar
8. Corey Hart
9. Pitcher

Realistically, I know that Edmonds shouldn't be pushed to play every day. With that in mind, here is the lineup I would use assuming that Carlos Gomez needs to get the lion's share of the starts in center.

1. Rickie Weeks
2. Alcides Escobar
3. Ryan Braun
4. Prince Fielder
5. Casey Mcgehee
6. Greg Zaun
7. Carlos Gomez
8. Corey Hart
9. Pitcher

We also discussed Lorenzo Cain and Chris Cody's solid start to their season at Huntsville.

Lorenzo Cain's numbers: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=cain--001lor
Interview with Cain: http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7183149
Homerun by Cain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTZEOkHwwvQ

Chris Cody's numbers: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=cody--001chr
Cody pitching against the Iowa Cubs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ZxE5-hhQc&feature=related

As always, we'd love you feedback. If you have any comments or would like us to take up any particular topic in the next podcast, email us at brewersreview(at)gmail.com.

First Podcast

2010-04-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here is our first podcast. We plan on posting a new one once every other week.

I mentioned some things about pitches per plate appearance in the blog, and wanted to follow up with a link to the leaders in Pit/PA last year: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/2009-pitches-batting.shtml

Jim Edmonds' career average is 4.08 Pit/PA, which is well above the major league average of 3.75 and would have ranked him 28th best last year.

For reference, the top three Brewers last year were Mike Cameron (ranked 53rd in MLB), Prince Fielder (68th), and Jason Kendall (100th). The new comer, Carlos Gomez, boasts a meager 3.45 Pit/PA. While this statistic is not the be all and end all of offense, certainly it would help the Brewers to get some more batters in the lineup who are making the starting pitchers throw more pitches. It was fantastic to see Carlos Zambrano have to throw 121 pitches to get through 5 innings.

If you have any things you would like us to discuss, please email the show at brewersreview(at)gmail.com.