We'll track the latest outright assignments right here…
- The Brewers announced that they outrighted Tim Dillard to Triple-A Nashville, pending the right-hander's acceptance of the move. Dillard appeared in 34 games for the Brewers this year, posting a respectable 4.38 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 37 innings. The Brewers will recall right-hander Tyler Thornburg and promote infielder Jeff Bianchi in related moves.
The Colonel’s kid is farmed out.. A shame.. Actually.. It was the Chicken Colonel, because he looked kind of like the Col. from KFC with his blonde hair and goatee as a player with Boston decades ago.. His dad, Steve that is…
Good for Bianchi. Hoping he does well.
Hopefully this leads to Randy Wolf being demoted to the bullpen. I appreciate what Randy brought to the table the previous two years, but he’s on his way out the door, and Thornburg needs to start.
that would be surprising based on ron sticking w guys for a long time, see izturs, betancourt, conrad, etc but it’s better than my ideas.
a) we traded Grienke or
b) marcum is going to be out for an extended period and they want estrada in the pen
Yeah… that’s just what I would do.
Putting Thornburg in the bullpen makes the least amount of sense. I’d go Greinke, Gallardo, Estrada, Fiers, Thornburg – no lefty, but who cares? Assuming Greinke is dealt, Peralta can be called upon, I would think. He’s had a rough year, but he needs a good look in the Big League rotation.
What kind of role is Thornburg going to fill?
Comments from Doug Melvin indicate Thornburg will pitch from the bullpen, but that he is not ruled out as a starter later on “if we need him.” In other words, bullpen for now, but starting if we trade Greinke.
It was a foregone conclusion he’d be brought up in the case of a Greinke trade, but I don’t think this signals one is imminent. Thornburg has stuff that will help them out of the pen in the upcoming do or die stretch against the teams ahead of them. If the get back in it, don’t be surprised if at some point he replaces Wolf in the rotation.
This serves the dual purpose of controlling his innings now too. I’m sure they want to see him getting his feet wet as a starter later on.
hate this move for thornburg, he needed to stay at aaa for the rest of the year hes just not ready for the bigs
This move doesn’t make much sense unless you’re definitely moving Greinke &/or Marcum/Wolf… I agree with leaving him in AAA for the experience and keeping him in a rotation. Don’t put him in the bullpen; that’s a waste of time for a guy that needs to be stretched out and groomed as a starter.
As for the infielder moves, keep ’em comin cuz what we’re doing with what we have now ain’t working. If we’re in this limbo should-we-sell-or-are-we-gonna-win-20-of-the-next-23-games phase, then why not see if someone OTHER than Izturis/Ishikawa/Green/whatever-other-has-been-will-never-be can hit…
Have you watched this bullpen? Thornburg is a huge upgrade. Wolf is hanging on by a thread so there is another spot in the rotation he could take. They want Thornburg ready from day 1 next year as a starter. He’ll have pitched too many innings in AAA to be used in September with the big club and he needs that experience more than facing AAA hitters.
Surprisingly Tim Dillard had strong peripheral statistics, he just didn’t have a big league demeanor in my opinion – couldn’t get the job done in high pressure situations. In agreement about not happy seeing Thornburg stuck in the pen, seems to be a similiar situation as Manny Parra’s 5 years ago and we all saw how that turned out.
The main difference between this situation and Parra, I think, is that Thornburg has got a steady head on him. It’s been made plainly obvious over the years that Parra does not have a steady head. He loses confidence very quickly and then fails. I think Thornburg is mentally stronger than that and should do well in the bullpen. Besides, pitching him in the bullpen allows us to limit his innings, keep up his strength, and let him get used to facing major league batters to prepare him to be fresh down the stretch and ready to start next season. I don’t really see a downside to pitching Thornburg from the bullpen right now, especially with how bad our pen has been this season.
Parra has talent but no head is correct. It could be possible that Estrada goes to the bullpen too and Thornburg starts eventually. If Greinke is traded I hate to see him go but he will only go if they get more than the what the value of the picks they would get. Plus if they keep him have more time to negioiate. I still think they need to give Greinke the money unless hes asking for astronomically money. Who is out there that is a free agent this year thats better? Next year will lose Marcum and Greinke if neither is signed. two big holes! Gotta get those young arms some experience if we aint going to pay for pitching and spend more on hitting next year.
( Fiers has been stellar so far. If he is that kinda pitcher for the future there is Marcum’s replacement or Wolf’s upgrade. )
unless you work in the Brewers or some other front office i don’t know how you can state with certainty he isn’t traded.
yup, pitching him a couple innings over the next 2 weeks will serve him very well if he were to take over a rotation spot and would need to then stretch his arm out again.
agreed, we just have no way to be sure, haudricourt just quoted melvin about the stretching out thornburg issue so they’re thinking about it too.
enjoy the game friday
I hear you, however, at some point it’s sink or swim time. Fiers was not setting the world on fire at Triple A this year either, but he’s looked good in 40 innings of Big League ball.