Posts tagged YovaniGallardo at FanHouse

Now that the Brewers have added CC Sabathia to their starting rotation, they have a bit of an overflow in the starting rotation. When Jeff Suppan returns from the disabled list after the break, the Brewers will have six pitchers for five spots. Normally that would mean that either Dave Bush or Seth McLung would be the odd man out, and relegated to long relief out of the bullpen.

That is, if Ned Yost wasn't a visionary who plans on forever changing the game of baseball as we know it. Will the world be ready for it when Ned breaks out the platoon starting rotation after the break?

"I'm thinking seriously about matching up," Yost said. "You look at numbers and try to put each of them in a position that they can be successful. 'Bushie's' numbers are starkly different between home and road. McClung's better on the road: a (4.95) ERA at home compared to a (3.28) on the road."

In Yost's playing and coaching career, he has never come across anyone who has managed his rotation in such a manner.

"I think it makes sense," Yost said. "I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. All I'm trying to do is give us the best chance to win every day. . . . I'm trying to do what's smart."

You know, during his time in Milwaukee, Yost has done quite a few things that have made me sit there and scratch my head (the latest incident would be sending Yovani Gallardo back out to the mound after a collision at first base). Still, the longer I sit and think about this platoon pitching situation, the more I like it.

If Yost goes through with this and it works out well for the Brewers, platooning your starters will be the new pitchers batting in the eighth spot in 2009.

Manny Parra has always been a talented young lefthanded arm in the Brewers organization. He has struggled for the early part of this season though, particularly with his walks, and more particularly with his BABIP. As you may recall, I was bullish on Parra's chances earlier this year (although it's taken some time for him to really come around).

Parra's stupidly undervalued right now -- people were sweating him when he got run in the rotation but now that his stats are out of whack (5.40 ERA, 1.85 WHIP), everyone wants to bail on him. Realistically, he's young, so you have to expect him to struggle some, but he's also been unlucky in that he's "allowing" a .361 BABIP so far in 2008. Optimistically too, he's K'ing more than a batter per inning; he needs to get his walks down...

He did not pitch well that week. And frankly, he did not pitch well for several weeks. But four of his last five starts have suddenly been pretty freaking good.

He got shelled at Washington with seven hits and six earned runs -- the fifth start. But in the other four, he has racked up over 25 innings pitched while only allowing three earned runs and striking out 24.

I'm always wary how to approach these "successful surgery" stories. I mean, it's great that Yovani Gallardo's knee surgery went well, but it doesn't mean he's coming back any faster. On the good news spectrum, it's like losing your house in a hurricane, then finding $100 lying on the street. It's always sweet to find $100, but that money isn't bringing your house back. Anyways, here's what the Brewers had to say about the surgery:

"[Dr. Raasch] said it was very, very straightforward," Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash said. "It went very well."

[...]

Ash would not offer a timetable for Gallardo's return from the second surgery.

"He rehabbed well from the first one," Ash said. "This one is more extensive, obviously. We'll see how it goes. ... What will dictate how quickly he comes back is how he re-learns to use the knee."

The first surgery being referenced is the scope that Gallardo had done during spring training for a torn ligament in his other knee. And Ash sounds really hopeful there, but don't let that fool you. Gallardo's out for the season barring some kind of miracle rehab. Miracles are nice, but counting on them is just bad business.

When Yovani Gallardo tore his ACL early this month, the Brewers decided to explore all of their options before ending the budding ace's season with surgery. Unfortunately for both the Brewers and Gallardo, surgery now appears to be the only option. Accordingly, Gallardo will go under the knife early tomorrow morning.

While this isn't a surprising announcement, it still has to be disappointing for the sliding Brewers. Without Gallardo, their rotation is composed to Ben Sheets and a cast of supporting characters that are much better suited for the bottom of the rotation rather than taking the #2 slot on a team that's competing for the playoffs. It's early to say that the Brewers are screwed without Gallardo, but things just don't look good,

Right now, Jeff Suppan is the club's best starter other than Sheets. He's got a 4.63 ERA, a 1.56 WHIP, and only 21 strikeouts in 46 and 2/3 innings. There's some hope that Manny Parra will step up and help fill the void, but he hasn't even made it through 33 innings in seven starts. I want to say that he's getting stronger as he adjusts to the big leagues, but that's just not true. Incredibly, things get even bleaker when we move past those two and into Carlos Villanueva/Dave Bush territory. Honestly, even with all the good players the Brewers have, it's hard for me to think of a more devastating injury for them than this one.

In general, most baseball fans respond to the early-season unexpected in the same way: with a shrug and an, "it's early." That's fine to an extent, but when does that stop? I'm asking, particularly in regards to the NL Central where the Cardinals sit up top with a 20-12 record and the Brewers sit at 16-15, almost as close to the 12-19 Pirates as the division leading Cards. Clearly, anything can happen from this point on in the season, but is it still "early?"

Honestly, I don't know that it is. The Brewers have some serious problems that can't be glossed over by Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder finding their missing swings. Their rotation was dangerously thin before Yovani Gallardo got hurt, and now they've got no real #2 to step up behind the oft-injured Ben Sheets unless Manny Parra finds his stride. The bullpen is just as suspect, with Eric Gagne leading the league with five saves. You can say it's early, but we're almost to the quarter pole and this team has some real problems.

So what about Cards? 20-12 is nothing to sneeze at, but much of their early season success has come with Todd Wellemeyer, Kyle Lohse, Joel Piniero, and Braden Looper doing good impressions of league average starters. How likely is that to continue? It can't be that likely, can it? These guys, and the Cards, are coming back to earth.

Do you hear that? It's actually the sound of Cubs' fans smiling. I didn't even know you could hear people smile until now.

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep breaths, Brewers fans and fantasy owners. Yovani Gallardo is headed to the 15 day disabled list with a torn ACL that he suffered during yesterday's game against the Cubs. And 15 days is something you might be praying for in a few hours/days when the team makes the call on whether or not he'll have surgery.

Because real life is a bear, I was not able to watch the game. Fortunately, we have video after the jump -- the commerical is only eight seconds long. And as Snyds was able to watch the game, because he makes millions off of TGSOE, he relayed that after the ridiculous fall that Gallardo took, he never hit more than 85 mph on the gun, 78 with offspeed stuff. Yeah, that's right. He went back out on the mound after this.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Milwaukee Brewers (15-12) at Chicago Cubs (17-10) - 2:20 PM ET

So I'm flipping around my MLB extra innings package late last night and I see that they're still playing baseball in Chicago ... and I have to squint because the number on the screen can't be right: 19 runs? Really? The Cubs put up 19 against the Brewers? Alas, it was true. It shouldn't be that surprising. The Cubs were 13th in baseball in batting average last season and 18th in runs. This season, thanks in part to the acquisition of Kosuke Fukudome, and in part to the Cubs dedication to taking more pitches, they were second in both categories before last night's 19 run shenanigans.

The Brewers haven't been hitting as well this season, but they did win the first game of this series in Wrigley 10-7. So who better to calm down all this offense than Yovani Gallardo, who was injured to start the season but has a 0.64 ERA in his first two starts this season, and Carlos Zambrano, who's 4-1 so far with a 2.21 ERA? Maybe the wind will blow in too.

As noted by Lackey and E, respectively, there are things happening in the Brewers' rotation this week. Yovani Gallardo is on the way in (right now, actually) and Ben Sheets might be on the way out. Milwaukee is a stout offensive team, so you absolutely want to be concerned for who is manning their rotation from a fantasy perspective.

Yovani Gallardo
Gallardo whiffed batters at an 8+ K/9 last year but has not pitched, until today, in 2008. This means he might be undervalued already. No question about it though -- if he's available, you go pick him up ASAP. He needs to cut down on his walks and fly balls allowed from 2007, but he has all the skills to be a future ace and a dominant fantasy pitcher, as shown by his one earned run against the Reds in his first start back last night, before Eric Gag-ned it.

Ben Sheets
Even after experiencing tightness in his right triceps, Sheets is sitting quite pretty at 3-0, with 24 K's in 28 innings and a ridiculous 0.96 ERA and 0.64 WHIP. He's as much Mike Tyson as he is Glass Joe (he also has a .183 BABIP, fwiw), so you have to think about dealing him if you get someone interested, particularly in a 2:1 to upgrade. It's probably best, especially in H2H leagues, to sit him this week as his status is up in the air.

Manny Parra
Parra's stupidly undervalued right now -- people were sweating him when he got run in the rotation but now that his stats are out of whack (5.40 ERA, 1.85 WHIP), everyone wants to bail on him. Realistically, he's young, so you have to expect him to struggle some, but he's also been unlucky in that he's "allowing" a .361 BABIP so far in 2008. Optimistically too, he's K'ing more than a batter per inning; he needs to get his walks down but he's a great two start option with the Cards and Marlins on tap this week.

Ah, the circle of baseball life in Milwaukee. Before the season started, I thought that in order for the Brewers to compete with the Cubs this year, they'd need both Yovani Gallardo and Ben Sheets healthy for the better part of the season. Right as rain, Gallardo started the year on the DL and is making his debut today, two days after Sheets came out of a game with "soreness."

Perhaps the most telling sign of Sheets' condition is that to make room for Gallardo, the Brewers didn't demote a pitcher. Instead they sent Joe Dillon down to AAA, which leaves them with fourteen pitchers and only eight position players on the roster today. That's some serious imbalance, even this early in the season. I suppose Ned Yost won't be doing much pinch-hitting today.

Anyways, it doesn't seem like Sheets is going on the DL. Instead, Dave Bush is getting bumped for Gallardo's start today, then Bush will start in Sheets' spot, pushing Sheets back a day and giving him six days rest. Assuming Sheets is healthy by then, some reliever will probably be sent down to AAA to try and restore some semblance of a major league roster.

The biggest concern today is, of course, Gallardo, who should provide some key backing in the case that Sheets does go on the DL. He had minor knee surgery during spring training, but he's looked pretty sharp in three rehab starts. His health is just as important to the team as Prince Fielder busting out of his slump.

Ben Sheets is broken again. The extent of his damage his unknown -- so far, it's only "soreness" -- but it's Ben Sheets, and he's hurting, which is by now an April/May tradition. So it bears mentioning.

As usual, Sheets was dominating before he had to leave the game. And now the Brewers are worried:

"It's just sore," Sheets said, acknowledging he was a little worried. "It's really sore. It's kind of a crampiness in there."

"He could have continued easy, but this is not a time to take a chance," Yost said. "He was throwing good, but I'm not going to take any chance with Ben Sheets in April. I'm not doing it."

This might be nothing, but it still feels sort of sad. You can just hear the desperation in Yost's quote there -- it's like his dog has rabies or something, and he doesn't know what to do. The guy can't squeeze even one healthy year in, which feels more like a freak thing than anything else. It's strange.

Luckily for the Brewers, they have future ace Yovani Gallardo returning from injury soon. Garbage in, garbage out, I suppose, though both players, when healthy, are anything but.