Welcome Back To The Show Chris Capuano

What an amazing story, after having a second Tommy John surgery and not pitching in a MLB game since 2007, Chris Capuano is back. After last nights Brewers win (probably the best of the season thanks to Gallardo/Hart) the Brewers purchased Chris's contract from AAA Nashville. Cappy actually pitched last night for the Sounds, pitching 4 scoreless innings before being pulled to catch a plane. Chris is not on the 40 man roster so the Brewers will have to make two moves, one to clear a 40 man spot and another to clear a 25 man spot. Estrada, Axford and Braddock all have options, but they have pitched very well. Suppan and Vargas could be DFA options. It will be interesting to see what they do. The other question is does Capunao start or come out of the pen? Perhaps he takes Parra's spot in the rotation after Manny starts tonight. We'll see.

Today May 29th, Capuano had an out clause in his contract that he could become a free agent if not called up to the big leagues. And with how well Chris pitched at A+ Brevard County and AAA Nashville (3-1, 1.77 ERA, 33 K's, 4 BB's in 6 starts) it was obvious that the Brewers would promote him. It's a tremendous story of courage, guts and never giving up for Chris Capuano to make it all the way back. A lot of guys have come back from one Tommy John surgery, not many at all make it back from a second. The last time Chris pitched in a Brewers uniform? September 28th, 2007 vs the San Diego Padres. 2007 was a tough year for Chris, but he was very good in 2005 and 2006. Even making the NL All-Star team in 06'. Cappy has always been a fan favorite in Milwaukee because of his performance, intensity and tremendous work ethic. And to make it back he had to use all of those attributes. Welcome back Chris, we missed you. When he makes his first appearance at Miller Park I expect a long standing ovation.

Reader Poll Results

"Who do you think should be the Brewers closer?"

Trevor Hoffman: 0% (0 Votes)

Carlos Villanueva: 0% (0 Votes)

Todd Coffey: 20% (1 Vote)

Zach Braddock: 80% (4 Votes)

Wow, Really? Why Sports Talk Radio Sometimes Sucks.

I'm an avid listener of sports talk radio. It is what I usually listen to in my car. I don't listen to FM radio much anymore, save for Kramp & Adler in the morning on FM 102.1. If I want to listen to music in the car I listen to my iPod. I prefer ESPN 540 in Milwaukee over WSSP 1250. But today while driving to get something to eat on my lunch break, I was reminded why I hate sports talk radio as much as I enjoy it. I was listening to the D-List on 540, they were taking calls and emails on the Brewers. A particular email just drove me nuts and it made me ask myself why I was even listening. The emailer suggested the Brewers trade Prince Fielder and another player to the Astros for Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman and a minor leaguer.

Are you kidding me? Who in their right mind would think it is a good idea to trade Prince for high priced veterans? Yeah, no one should. When the Brewers do decide to trade Fielder, it has to be for 2 or 3 good young pitchers who the Brewers would control for 4 or 5 years at a cheap price. The reason the Brewers have to trade Prince is because he will be expensive and they need pitching. Trading him for one aging pitcher and an aging 1B that will be almost as expensive as Fielder would be is the worst idea ever. And what surprised me was Drew Olson and Dan Needles did not even bring up these points and that the trade would be a disaster.

Now, I hear ridiculous calls and emails all the time on sports talk radio shows, but this one really hit a nerve. I really wanted to call in and rip it. But I didn't have the time to sit on hold and wait to get on the air. Okay my vent/rant is over. I feel better.

Reader Poll Results

"Which pitching prospect has the highest ceiling?"

Eric Arnett: 6% (1 Vote)

Jake Odorizzi: 43% (7 Votes)

Kyle Heckathorn: 6% (1 Vote)

Wily Peralta: 18% (3 Votes)

Mark Rogers: 25% (4 Votes)

No More Trevor Time

On May 18th, 2010, Trevor Hoffman's career officially died. Sorry Trevor, you are a Hall of Famer a great guy and were fantastic for the Brewers in 2009. But here in 2010, it is over. And it ended in the blink of an eye.

Single
HR
Double
Walk
Single

Good Night.

Trevor now has an ERA of 13.15 with a WHIP of 2.15. Not to mention a BA against of .356. 5 blown saves, 1-3 record, 8 K's and 7 BB's. You hate to give up on a guy with his credentials, but you can't continue to put him out there with the game on the line when he has been this bad. The Brewers had lost 7 straight (now 8 straight), had a very well pitched game from Manny Parra/Marco Estrada and it was all ruined within a matter of minutes. I believe the time is NOW for Zach Braddock. Braddock figures to be the closer next season anyway, and the Brewers are 9 games under .500, so what could it hurt giving Braddock the ball now?

John Axford Up, Adam Stern Down

I can only hope this is the first of a few of the bullpen arms from Nashville getting a chance with the big club this season. Axford has been very solid at AAA this season (3-2, 2.02 ERA, 2 Saves, 13.1 IP, 19 K, 5 BB, 1.43 WHIP) after a brief cup of coffee with the Brewers at the end of the 2009 season. Adam Stern was called up when Carlos Gomez went on the DL, he got 1 AB (pinch hit last night) and did not play in the field. With the way the Brewers bullpen has been running through pitchers this was a must.

I'm sure before the season is over we will also see Chris Smith, Tim Dillard and our future closer Zach Braddock called up from Nashville. I think it will be very interesting to see what move is made next week when Gomez comes off the DL. Will Axford be sent back down that soon? Will they cut ties with someone like Suppan or Parra? Should be a tough decision for Doug Melvin and the Brewers brass.

Everyone Gets A Second Chance

Today, that was once again proved correct. Ned Yost was named Manager of the Kansas City Royals. While I often didn't agree with Yost's managerial moves, I always appreciated his fire. Royals fans should expect plenty of scenes like the one above. And judging by how bad their team is, Yost will get run from plenty of games.

Keith Law Chat ESPN.com 5/13/10

Our favorite ESPN.com writer Keith Law had another one of his entertaining and informative baseball chats today. Here were the Brewers related questions/answers. Including one from yours truly!

Jason (Germantown, WI)

Klaw, which pitcher in the Brewers system has the highest ceiling? Eric Arnett, Jake Odorizzi or Wily Peralta?

Klaw

(1:42 PM)

Peralta.

Andrew (Milwaukee)

Zach Braddock of the AAA Brewers taking over the setup-role for the Brewers? Thoughts? This guy is the Daniel Bard (2K/inn) of the NL.

Klaw

(1:53 PM)

Yes. He might be their long-term closer answer. By the way, any time you can pay a closer $8 million to post a 12 ERA, you have to do it, right?

It does not surprise me that Law picked Peralta over Arnett and Odorizzi. He has been pretty high on Peralta for some time now. I know he has mentioned him in previous chats and also in this blog. Says Peralta is developing a really good change to go with his fastball and slider. Wily is off to another good start this season at A+ Brevard County. I would not be surprised if he was in Huntsville before seasons end.

Like Law said, Braddock certainly seems to be the Brewers future closer. And of course you gotta love the snark Law delivers with the rip on the Brewers paying Hoffman $8 mill this season with very poor results thus far.

Embarrassing

That is the only way to describe today's game between our beloved Brewers and the Braves. Actually the entire series was an embarrassment, but today was the worst of the three games. That is of course because I was 1 of 30,000+ that was at Miller Park for today's matinee, series finale. It was my first game of the season, I was pumped. A couple of friends and I bought the tickets before the season started. It's always nice to take a vacation day from work in the middle of the week and go see a game. It's one of my favorite things to do. It's just a shame there was not a whole hell of a lot to cheer about on this day.

The Brewers played pretty much exactly as they did the previous three games of the series. They were in the game till the 6th or 7th inning, the offense was pretty much non existent save for Casey McGehee who continues to impress after his strong 2009. Casey was 2-4 with a double and an RBI. The bullpen crapped the bed and the game got out of hand. Yovani Gallardo was on the hill, it is always a treat to see him pitch in person. He once again had a high pitch count that chased him to soon. He still managed to pitch 6 inning with 6 K's and only giving up 2 earned runs. In the bottom of the 6th the Brewers offense did manage 2 runs to tie the game. But it could have been more, Jody Gerut got caught stealing 3B and Prince Fielder narrowly missed a HR on a ball that went JUST foul.

Then the 7th inning came. Manny Parra comes in, boom! 2 runs given up. 4-2 Braves. Then Carlos Villanueva comes in to pitch the 8th, boom! 2 more runs given up. 6-2 Braves. Hoffman comes out in a non-save situtation to get some work, he gives up 3 runs all earned. 9-2 Braves and that was all she wrote. Ryan Braun did sit out his 2nd straight game after getting hit on the elbow by Tommy Hanson on Monday, that surely did not help the offense. But in any case the Brewers are now 4-11 at home this season. That is very embarrassing, this team used to dominate at home, had one of the best home records in all of baseball. This season they have gotten taken to the wood shed at home and it is so frustrating.

I think today was the first time this season I felt "demoralized". It's not that early anymore in the season and this team is all or nothing. Teams like that don't contend and certainly don't make the playoffs. We still have a couple of months to go before the All-Star break, but if this team is under .500 and more then 5 games out of 1st or the Wild Card I hope they blow up the team and bring up some of the prospects. Trade all the veterans who have no future with the team; Hoffman, Davis, Hawkins, Edmonds, Zaun, Gerut and maybe even Counsell. Get whoever you can for those guys. And then the big one, trade Prince. It now seems very unlikely that he will settle for any kind of "home town" discount, thus we can't afford him. Move him so the team you trade him to gets a year and a half of his services, giving us a good haul back to re-tool and get ready for 2011 and 2012.

With some of the good young prospects (Gamel, Lucroy, Lawrie, Cain, Braddock, Axford,Arnett, Peralta, Rogers, etc), our core guys (Braun, McGehee, Escobar, Weeks and Gomez) and who ever we get back for Prince we should be in good position to contend for real in 2011 or 2012 at the latest.