Home Improvement

I know, the award a day plan hasn't exactly gone smoothly. I was travelling to Canada to promote "A Night in Nova Scotia With Stephen Harper", my latest adult graphic novel. Thanks to the masses who came out to support me, and thanks to Prime Minister Harper for dropping the lawsuit.

Now that that's out of the way, we can get back to work. Which is fitting, since the award for today is not one that anyone wants to win, as we're going to figure out who needs to improve the most in the second half in order for the Brewers to contend for the playoffs. We've got a crowded field, as the past few weeks have demonstrated that the Brewers are a team with many flaws. Our contenders for the crown are: bench production, starting pitching, and relief. Here is the case for all of them:

Starting and Relief Pitching

Yovanni Gallardo has been the sole bright spot in the starting rotation, and has pitched much, much better than his 8-7 record suggests (more on this later). For the most part, the starting pitching has been unspectacular, unreliable, and inconsistent. From one start to the next, who knows what we should expect from the motley crew made up of Jeff Suppan, Braden Looper, Manny Parra, Dave Bush, with cameos from Mike Burns and Seth McClung. While the bullpen has had their moments, as a whole I think they've been really good. When they do falter, I feel it's moreso due to being overworked, a direct result of the underwhelming performances by the starting pitchers. So while we could always use improvement, the bullpen is probably good enough to get us where we need to be. Here are the numbers for the entire staff, compared with the league average numbers:

Home Runs Allowed: 114 (League Average: 86)

Walks: 319 (League Average:315)

Strikeouts: 615 (League Average:606)

ERA+: 93, Third Worst in the Majors! (League Average: 101)

WHIP: 1.399 (League Average: 1.385)

Bench Production

The achilles heel for this team has, for the entirety of the year, been the lack of bench production. This ragtag bunch began with Chris Duffy, Brad Nelson, Casey Mcgehee, Craig Counsell, and Mike Rivera (who I barely count, and thus will not speak of very much). Injuries and a lack of production from Bill Hall have led to me consistent playing time for Mcgeehee and Counsell, while a lack of production cost Duffy and Nelson their roster spots.

The replacements for Duffy and Nelson, Frank Catalontto and Jody Gerut have arrived, Mat Gamel has been promoted, and Bill Hall has been relegated to bench duty. Rather than looking at the bench as a whole, because there are a few bright spots, I will focus on our most egregiously bad performers.

Brad Nelson: 23 plate appearances, 0 hits, 2 walks, .000 Batting Average, .087 OBP and OPS, -74 OPS+, -5.1 VORP

Chris Duffy: 37 plate appearances, 4 hits, 4 walks, .222 OBP, .378 OPS, 3 OPS+, -4.3 VORP

Jody Gerut: 43 plate appearances, 4 hits, 3 walks, .163 OBP, .265 OPS, -27 OPS+, -6.8 VORP

Bill Hall (more on him later): 208 plate appearances, .260 OBP, .595 OPS, 57 OPS+, -7.2 VORP

These guys, all of whom possess negative VORP numbers, cripple our chances of competing every single time they appear in the game.

One move that has worked out, to some extent, is the acquisition of Frank Catalanotto, so I feel it's only right to acknowledge his performance:

Catalanotto: 52 plate appearances, .327 OBP, .731 OPS, 93 OPS+

The bottom line is that we've tried time and time again to repair the effectiveness of our bench, to no avail. It is undoubtably the area where we need the most help. The inconvenient truth, however, is that if we truly want to emerge as a contender, we need to solidify every aspect of the ballclub. And maybe stop playing people who are worse than a replacement player.