SB Nation User Blog: Ted Simmons Speed Camp

Should I feel proud or ashamed of this?

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:09:43 -0000

Should I feel proud or ashamed of this?

Is Peavy Really Interested in Being a Brewer?

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:21:13 -0000

Is Peavy Really Interested in Being a Brewer?

This reads more like GM/agent droppings to me than reality. Heyman tosses the Brewers in offhandedly (despite their mention in the headline that was likely written by someone else). Peavy to the Brewers always seemed like a relatively bad idea to me given his contract and what I thought we'd have to give up to get him. The apparent terms of the White Sox deal, however, made me think we wouldn't have to give up nearly as much as it once appeared.

With the White Sox, and maybe the entire AL, now off the table, It seems likely to me that the Brewers were dropped as a possibility by the Padres in the hopes of pushing up the price the Cubs might be willing to pay to get him. If so, I don't really doubt that Peavy's agent would play along with the rumor if Peavy's resigned to being dealt sooner or later and he'd really prefer to play for the Cubs as opposed to anyone else. Obviously we know that Melvin was talking to the Padres last week. While I'm skeptical that Melvin is seriously pursuing Peavy, he probably doesn't mind being used to drive up the price the Cubs might eventually pay to finalize the trade.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Tom.

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:56:19 -0000

Hypocrisy, thy name is Tom.

Tom H. might be the least self-aware sentient being in history.

Mets like Sheets.

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:52:49 -0000

Mets like Sheets.

Every time I think this offseason can't get any worse, it does. I know this shouldn't be the deciding factor, but I'd rather sign him to keep him away from the Mets than take the 2nd and a sandwich pick.

But at this point I wonder if the Brewers wouldn't have to offer more money than anyone else just to get his attention.

Weird, but not weird.

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:46:20 -0000

Doug Melvin, June 9th, 2008 (According to Tom Haudricourt):

"Rickie has a weird stat line," said Melvin. "He has a low batting average but some stat people say he's still productive, with the runs scored and that."

Ned Yost, May 7th, 2008 (According to JS Online and other sources):

"See, you guys have no concept. He's a run scorer. There's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."

Hmmm. Somone should tell Melvin that he has no concept, since Rickie's a run scorer and there is nothing weird about him scoring runs despite the low batting average.

Andrew Wagner says...

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:22:35 -0000

Wagner does periodic interviews on Appleton area radio shows to promote his work on OnMilwaukee.com, where he covers the Brewers. He did an interview today where he talked about Eric Gagne and other things. His insights have been hit and miss some times, in my opinion, but he does have locker room access.

On Gagne, he said that Riske might come off the DL first (though not yet), even though Gagne's trip to the DL was for precautionary reasons. Gagne apparently played catch this week and experiences some discomfort again and the workout was terminated. Wagner said he doesn't expect Gagne to be activated any time soon. He also said that Gagne's "one weird guy to figure out", and "I've given up trying to figure out Eric Gagne." The tone in his voice when he made those comments reflected a mix of amusement and frustration, but he went no further in explaining what he meant. He did say that everyone associated with the team seemed to expect, though wouldn't admit, that Torres would remain the closer when (if?) Gagne returns to the active roster.

When prompted, he said that no one in the clubhouse seemed to really be paying much attention to Bill Hall's trade request, and he personally gave Hall a pass for letting his agent speak out because of the number of times Hall's been moved around. He said he sensed no disharmony in the dugout and overtly compared Ryan Braun's comments after the sweep in Boston to Zambrano's dugout fight last year, suggesting it might be the trigger point for a long period of success this year. He was optimistic that Parra's recent performances would continue for much of the rest of the season.

Thought I'd pass it along...

Rambling Thoughts on the Schedule, and other things.

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:26:17 -0000

The Brewers currently trail the Cubs by 7. The Cubs have played 56 games. They are 25-8 at home. It's interesting to note that the Brewers have accounted for half of the Cubs 8 home losses, but the Brewers don't visit Wrigley again until mid-September. Of their remaining 106 games, the Cubs will play 58 of them on the road. They have played just 23 on the road so far, with a 10-13 mark. The Cubs are currently on pace to win 101 games.

The Brewers are 28-28 as of this writing. While there's been a lot of talk about the number of road games they've played so far this year, the ongoing homestand has largely balanced things out. They've played 25 at home (15-10), and 31 on the road (13-18). At the conclusion of the series against Arizona, they will have played 29 games at home and 31 on the road. By the end of their mid-June homestand, the Brewers will have officially played more at home than on the road, though the road trip that follows will reverse that again. Whatever imbalance between home and road matchups existed in April and May (and we're really only talking about 5 games or so) will essentially vanish in the next week or two. So the next time Bill or BA try to pawn off the slow start on the schedule, keep that in mind. That said, if the Brewers are going to take advantage of a spate of home games to make a move, the time is here. June is evenly split between home and the road, while July and September each see the Brewers at home for more games than they'll play on the road. August is the only remaining month in which they will play more road than home games (17/10).

The Cubs and Brewers play just 10 more games against each other, 7 of which will be played at Miller Park.

There's been occasional mention of the season closing series the Brewers have against the Cubs in Miller Park and how that might favor the Brewers if they manage to stay close. There's been little discussion of the road trip that precedes the final homestand with the Pirates and Cubs. From September 11th to the 22nd, the Brewers play 10 games in 11 days against the Phillies, Cubs and Reds.

Ben Sheets has been allowed to throw more than 120 pitches in two of his last 3 starts. I'm probably reading too much into this, but I've suspected since the beginning of the year that the way Sheets was used this season would give some indication as to whether they had any serious intent of trying to sign him. Given his prior shoulder problems, including a brief flare-up this year, I wonder how much less likely Yost would be to let Sheets throw 120+ pitches in an outing if he wasn't heading for free agency this offseason. While I'm on that subject I have to say I'm not sure how a rational person isn't concerned enough about Sheets' pitch count to pull him before the 9th inning tonight, but is concerned enough to pull him 15 pitches later with just one out to go.

Someone mentioned the other day that Fielder didn't seem to have the same joy playing the game this year as he did last season. So it was good to see him charge up the hallway from the clubhouse with a big grin on his face so Weeks and Yost could point out to him how far Branyan hit his solo shot to right.

Food for thought: On June 1st, 2007, the eventual division champion Cubs were 22-30, in 4th place (behind the Cards, Pirates and Brewers), and were 7.5 games back. Not so different from where the Brewers will wake up tomorrow, including the fact that the division leader is on a pace they will not be able to maintain.

Rotation Review

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Sun, 11 May 2008 03:52:48 -0000

So the meeting between Yost, his staff and Melvin which was mentioned early in the week will center around spots 3-5 in the rotation, according to Yost (as quoted in JSOnline). (I don't really believe that's all they'll discuss, but that's what Ned would admit to). Yost said Parra would stick in the rotation, which isn't that surprising given the fact that he settled down after a shaky start the other night, which puts him ahead of Bush and Villy's most recent outings. But it also probably reflects the fact that there just aren't enough alternatives available to replace 3 starters, so one of the 3-5 guys (at least) has to stick.

There's been talk of giving McClung a shot in the rotation to see how he does, and it's hard to argue with that idea given the 6+ ERAs Bush and Villy are currently touting. (Though personally it's my opinion that he's been effective enough in the bullpen that it's a shame to pull him out). Defelice got lit up in his last start at AAA, but has otherwise been decent in Nashville, and given our pitching woes it's hard to imagine that Jeff Weaver won't be brought up sometime before the June deadline in his contract. Are there any other alternatives in the system, because none of the three alternatives I've seen knowledgable people discuss have me all that excited, though the performance of Villy and Bush has been bad enough it's hard to argue against giving them a shot.

If the wheels come off...

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:29:59 -0000

Don't mistake the title of this post. It's barely May and there's a long way to go. I'm still fairly upbeat and far enough in denial to believe that with a different umpiring crew we would have won in 9 today and the talk would be that Gagne is leading the league in saves instead of blown saves. But I'll admit that in a weak moment after today's loss the idea occurred to me that if the wheels do come off and this team drops significantly below .500 before the all-star break, there's a pretty good bet we'll see Gamel and LaPorta up in the majors long before September. Gamel's defense is still awful (according to what I've read, though I haven't checked it in the last week or so) but it seems to me that, if the season turns out to be a wash, getting him up here to showcase or see if he can hit at this level might not be a bad idea. Ditto for LaPorta. I know they're only in AA currently, but aside from the fear of rushing them up, why wait if the season goes south?

Hart in the doghouse?

Ted Simmons Speed Camp — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:45:30 -0000

That's a serious question, because I can't tell. I was at the game today, so there may be some other explanation that's been discussed that I remain unawar of. But the mid-inning double switch that resulted in Hart jogging from right field to the dugout looked pretty strange. Hart sat on the opposite end of the bench from Yost after leaving the field, and Yost made a very deliberate trip down to Hart's end where he had a very short, very one-sided conversation with his right fielder before walking away. Yost's post-game comments on Hart's blunder in the field last night included the following:

"That's his job to know the warning track and the park," he said. "It doesn't matter if the warning track is a mile long or 2 feet long. Especially in your home park, it's your job to know what it is."

Looking at the game situation today, the mid-inning timing of the move itself is hard to figure (at least for me). Stetter opened the inning and retired Izturis before walkng Schumaker, at which piont Yost pulled Hart in the double switch. Wainright had already been pulled by the Cards for Thompson, a righty. Hart had just grounded into a double play the previous half-inning, and like most of the roster, he hits lefties much better than righties.

Stetter's 1st batter was Izturis, so if the intent was simply to do the double switch for offensive purposes alone, the move could have easily been made two batters before. If the move had a defensive purpose to it, at least partially, it makes no sense to leave Hart in for the first two batters, both lefties who would pull to RF, and then hook him for the right hander.

That leaves a couple of possibilities (and maybe more I haven't considered): 1) Yost could have intended to let Stetter have the whole inning initially and thus thought he would have the chance to do the double switch after the top of the 6th, but then changed his mind once Stetter put Schumaker on, thus forcing his hand mid-inning if he still wanted the double switch; 2) Yost either forgot or didn't think of the possibility of a double switch at the top of the inning; 3)Yost wanted to send a message to Hart.

Option 3 would sound completely ridiculous to me if Yost hadn't inexplicably left Hart on the bench for much of late April and May 2007 (blaming a wrist injury that seemed to me to be of mysterious origin, severity and duration). I'm a Hart fan, and I'm probably a little bit paranoid. Option 1 seems to be the likely explanation of what happened today. I didn't see or hear any quotes from Hart after the game, but for what it's worth (and that may not be much), the view through the zoom lens on my camera suggested that Corey didn't much care for being pulled off the field in the top of the 6th inning. There weren't any thrown gloves or anything, but Hart clearly tried to stay away from Yost and then made no eye contact with him when he approached.

It'll be interesting to see how Ned handles the OF now that Gwynn is back, and even more interesting to see what he'll do when Cameron's available. My guess is that Hart's starts and ABs will drop a bit as RF will be the most convenient place to get Kapler and/or Gwynn starts.