Brewers Sign R.J. Swindle

This guy's curveball rocks. Should be a good LOOGY.

sorry brewers fans. This guy is no one to get excited about. He's a AAA pitcher and no better. He was rocked when he came up for us. WHo knows, maybe you catch lightning in a bottle but I doubt he amounts to much.

RJ's peripherals are SICK.

Granted its AAA, but its sick. He should be a solid LOOGY at league minimum.

"sorry brewers fans. This guy is no one to get excited about. He's a AAA pitcher and no better. He was rocked when he came up for us. WHo knows, maybe you catch lightning in a bottle but I doubt he amounts to much."

He had all of 4 innings in MLB, in his entire career. I could pick out a 4 inning sample size of almost any reliever in MLB, and find some pretty awful stuff.

Buster Onley compares him to Matt Thornton. A big coup for the Crew if so. Olney also states no free agents of note will sign until Winter Meetings. Apparently Wood is considering the Indians and Brewers.

Thornton is a pretty bad comparison. He's more like Brian Shouse with more strikeouts and less groundballs and the potential (albeit small) to be decent against right handed hitters.

brewersfan729,

here's a good fairly recent article on him. Guess i was slightly off. He's right about at Moyer with his fastball (barely mid 80's) but has a slower than slow curve and a faster one.

http://www.thegoodphight.com/2008/6/4/545770/rj-swindle-interview

I read that before when looking for info on him. :)

You don't need to throw hard to be successful, especially if you're a LOOGY. Brian Shouse hits about 82 tops with his fastball, but he's successful because of deception and good control. From what I saw of Swindle, he's pretty much a Shouse clone except he has a really slow curveball to compliment his slider and changeup. His splits in the minors show he at least deserves a chance.

I was a big fan of Swindle when he was with the Phils, and his 50something change is really something to see, so I'm pulling for him to do well with Milwaukee.

but really, if you're counting on him as your LOOGY, you've got problems. as the last guy out of your bullpen, give him a shot by all means, but he's really not a guy you want up in the 8th inning of a tie game. I mean, Shouse or Thornton, really? there's a reason why he's bounced around the indy leagues and the minors...

um, no actually, that's not it. keep on wishcasting if you want though.

The market is inefficient. Teams that can exploit inefficiencies can get a lot of production for VERY cheap. I'm not saying RJ is a sure thing, but his stats in the minors are absolutely dominant.

With the exception of one 15 inning span last year, he's been dominant in every level of the minors he's been in for his entire career.

And, a 14/1 K/BB ratio in 2008, VERY low HR ratios throughout his career, need I say more.

Here's another good article on his stats/performance:

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/11/10/658174/f-a-t-of-the-land-r-j-swin