It was two weeks of April. I'll give him credit for switching hitting styles, but I highly doubt it elevated his game that much... it would seem more likely a combination of that along with a career year. I'll agree he's probably better than his 2004 and previous numbers, but I'd be surprised if he tops 1.000 again. We'll see.
exactamundo. last year soriano, batting exclusively leadoff, had a bit more than twice the ABs with the bases empty than he did with runners on: 435 to 212 ryan zimmerman, batting in the 3/4/5/6 spots had his AB's evenly split ~310-300 Nick Johnson, batting 3/4/5 (mostly 4th) had an approx. even split ~260-230.
he had like 100 rbis last yr...with an anemic offense which was probably REALLY anemic towards the bottom....he could easily top that with chicagos lineup (not to mention hitting in Wrigley vs hitting in RFK)
yeah, he had 95. imagine how many he would have had in the 3/4/5 holes? 110? 120? i mean, he finished with over 40 HR's and a slugging percentage of .560. i can not imagine batting that guy leadoff. just seems wasteful to me.
on the flip side...maybe he sees less pitches in the 3, 4 and 5 hole....when the guy is a huge threat to steal a base, he is going to see his share of pitches....and pitching around him so that he can lead off the game or inning with a walk, isnt the best idea....i think he will continue to see his share of pitches with guys like Lee and Ramirez batting behind him
how can you say the rest of the NL is much worse? you can just look at our division and see that we will be fighting the brew crew for 2nd. their staff is clearly better from top to bottom and they don't have the closer issue like we do. coco cordero isn't stellar but lidge is a head case. seperately...why does nobody care about about woody's ERA and WHIP away from petco? 5.26 ERA and 1.54 WHIP over 145 1/3 IP isn't #3 starter numbers. we need THREE of the farm hands to step up in a bad way. i just can't see woody being dependable at all as a #3 starter with his declining innings and poor splits. who knows maybe we will get lucky and nieve will bust out, sampson becomes a servicable 5, and wandy implodes quickly so he doesn't destroy our team. GO ASTROS!!
he said the NL is worse than it was in 2002/03, before roger and andy. 83 games won the NL Central in 2006. we'll see how much everyone really improved.
I think our season may ultimately come down to how well Nieve and Sampson can come through for us (after I believe Wandy is pulled out of the rotation). This is a wide open year and its gonna be fun. Can't wait until Monday.
I think this is it. I believe both Texas and Washington tried to bat him third. I don't think there's another hitter like him. He's got the power of a clean-up guy, the speed of a lead-off guy, but the kind of free-swinging approach that hurts both. He rarely walks, strikes out at a ridiculous pace, but is too good of a baserunner to pitch around unless there is slower runner on-base in front of him.
Im suprised nobody has mentioned the Brewere's pitching staff yet. It's by far the best in the NL Central! Maybe the entire NL. Just like we we're a couple years back, they have the ability to play small ball and win on any given day. Our division is gonna spend half the year beating up on eachother. 85 wins should seal the deal for a playoff lock if that's all it takes for the division. Trading for another pitcher will be a non factor again this year. So many teams will still be in the race just like last year, it would cost the so called winner an arm and a leg for most likely for a a rental. Just wait for the Dontrelle Willis sweepstakes to heat up! If we end up sucking, we will hit the mega jackpot with Jennings, if his ERA is around 4.0, and possibly Lidge as a set up man or closer. Heck, we might even get alot of offers for Woody if he's average beacuse of his experience. We could rebuild pretty fast. However, i'd much rather win! But the options are very intriguing if we tank. Rotation has positive spin Starters have looked strong By RICK BRAUN rbraun@journalsentinel.com Posted: March 17, 2007 Phoenix - The Milwaukee Brewers entered spring training feeling pretty good about their starting rotation. Brewers/MLB Photo/AP Dave Bush and the rest of Milwaukee's starters have given the Brewers some strong performances recently. Beginning with last Monday, the Brewers starters have gotten into a run of strong performances that has to have manager Ned Yost smiling. Dave Bush pitched four innings of one-hit ball in a "B" game Monday, and Carlos Villanueva pitched four innings of two-hit ball in the "A" game. A day later, Ben Sheets threw five innings of two-hit, shutout ball. On Thursday, Jeff Suppan threw five innings of no-hit ball. On Friday, Claudio Vargas became the first Brewer to go six innings, turning in the first "quality start" (at least six innings, no more than three earned runs) of the spring. The only stumble came Wednesday, when Chris Capuano gave up seven runs but allowed only a couple of hard-hit balls. On Saturday, Bush went five innings plus one batter and allowed three runs on seven hits in an 11-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics. "We felt good about our staff coming in," Yost said Saturday morning. "We know that they have a chance of being a very solid five-man rotation." As the rotation shapes up, it appears to be Sheets, Suppan, Capuano, Bush and Vargas, and each has at least 72 major-league starts under his belt. And then there's Villanueva in reserve should anyone get injured or falter. "We're going to be in the ball game just about every day," Yost said. "They're going to give us a chance to win every time they step on the mound, and that's the important thing." And if the starting pitching resembles in the regular season what it's done in the past week, things should be pretty interesting around Miller Park deep into the season. "There's the potential to be really good, that's for sure," said reliever Derrick Turnbow. "The guys that we have certainly have the capabilities to go out there and pitch deep into games all the time and giving the team a chance to win. "Benny has a chance any time he goes out there to dominate a game or possibly throw a no-hitter. I think it's something where when they brought all these guys in as starters, they knew they had the potential to do this. This past week we've seen a little surge of it." A year ago the Brewers felt pretty good about their rotation, too, but some questions lingered about the health of Sheets, who started the season on the disabled list. When Sheets again went on the disabled list from May 10 to July 25 and Tomo Ohka went on the DL for approximately the same period, the Brewers struggled mightily. This time, Sheets is as healthy as he has been in spring training since 2004. He had back surgery after the 2004 season and his 2005 season ended with the torn latissimus dorsi muscle in the back of his shoulder. In past camps the Brewers brought Sheets along slowly. In this camp he's doing everything the rest of the starters are doing, including all fielding and hitting drills. Strong bid: Conventional wisdom in baseball usually dictates that a young starter who doesn't make the rotation will go down to the minors and start every fifth day. That might not be the case with Villanueva if one reads between the lines of some of Yost's comments. When it was suggested that young pitchers - Villanueva is 23 - most often benefit from pitching in regular turns, Yost left some room for interpretation when it comes to Villanueva. "He's different than a young guy," Yost said. "You can see where pitching every five days would have a benefit for a guy like (Yovani) Gallardo, for Manny Parra, (Mike) Jones - some of these younger guys. But Carlos is at the stage of his career where he knows what he's doing. He knows how to pitch and he's ready to be in the big leagues." Bearing the heat: With the Phoenix area having experienced record heat over the past week or so, Yost said he's had to make some adjustments to keep his players from wearing down. "The sun just drains you," Yost said. "Especially these last couple of days I would not extend these guys out. I let 'em play five innings and then get another group in there to play four." Yost was unable to do that Saturday with centerfielder Bill Hall because he had only two extra outfielders with the team at the Athletics' complex. Yost also said he has cut back batting practice from about an hour to 40 minutes on mornings where the team buses to a road exhibition game. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=578864
I agree with you. I think they are the team to beat in the central. Francisco Cordero pitched really well for them in the closer role last year, so they have some good bullpen depth to go along with their starting pitching. Ben Sheets is still one of those guys who promises more than he delivers, but they have a lot of starters to throw out there. As much as it pains me to say it, I think the Dodgers are going to be trouble, too. The Astros will stick around, but I wouldn't say they are favorites.
Not to mention how much Busch improved in the 2nd half last year. He's around as good as Sheets is now! He's beginning to come into his own. Or even more scary, he already did last year. I agree with you about sticking around. However, i think our whole division minus Pittsburgh (who hasn't been above .500 since Bonds left....lol) will be cramped all together, playing .500 ball vs each other. Each teams have their own holes to fill. And with FA prices skyrocketing again, trades values will always follow. I don't see anyone in our division making trades, instead just calling up people from the minors. That could be how it all ends. Not the team with the best farm system, but the best one for them to temporarily plug their holes with.
