A fourth ugly start to open the season has put Corbin Burnes’ spot in the Brewers’ rotation in jeopardy, writes Tom Haurdricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “I think we’re going to have a longer conversation this time, and try to figure out what the best way to get him on track is,” said manager Craig Counsell after today’s loss. Counsell wouldn’t guarantee another start for Burnes and spoke of how he thought Burnes threw the ball well but had some mistakes punished in his first few starts; regarding Wednesday’s loss, however, Counsell suggested that Burnes didn’t throw as well and left far too many pitches in the middle of the plate — an assessment with which Burnes himself agreed. With Freddy Peralta hitting the injured list, bouncing Burnes from the rotation would create even more uncertainty in a starting staff that is already accompanied by plenty of questions.
Here’s more from the division…
- The Reds don’t expect Alex Wood to make his team debut until sometime in May, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Acquired to help round out a revamped rotation, Wood hasn’t pitched in a game setting since late February due to back spasms. A setback at the end of camp pushed his timetable for a return back even further, but he’s now slated for a bullpen session Saturday. The lefty will need multiple rehab starts before he can be considered a big league option, though for the time being, Wood tells Nightengale he’s only focused on coming out of his upcoming bullpen session feeling strong. Given how long it’s been since he’s pitched in a game, the latter half of May seems more plausible than the early portion for a return.
- The Pirates’ lack of a move to truly address shortstop this offseason has led to some early questions at the position, as Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette addresses in his latest mailbag column. Trade acquisition Erik Gonzalez is hitting just .217/.308/.304 through 54 plate appearances, while prospect Kevin Newman has made a pair of errors in 17 innings a year after grading poorly there in a small sample of 182 innings. Brink notes that Cole Tucker could be a consideration at some point, but he likely won’t be promoted until he’s past the potential cutoff for Super Two status in mid June. Brink also notes that moving Jung Ho Kang to shortstop and playing Colin Moran at third base full time doesn’t appear to be in the cards now. He goes on to look ahead to next year’s free-agent market as well as Tyler Glasnow’s success in Tampa Bay in a column that has plenty of interesting info for Buccos fans.
Bob Nightengale is one of the biggest hacks in media history.
Do you know the difference between Bob Nightengale and Bobby Nightengale, one from USA Today, the other from The Cincinnati Enquirer?
Maybe one and the same? Both Gannett papers.
Bobby is Bob’s son. Bobby was in Lawrence, Kansas for a few years before heading to Cincy. I always appreciated his columns.
Bobby’s work is very good! I was just pointing out to “Chinwood” that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
It’s simple. Make Corbin Burnes a reliever again, before it’s too late and his career is ruined.
Good stuff overall but throws too many cement mixers in the zone that get whacked. They’ll eventually fix that.
these Brewer flamethrowers are lighting up the world like everyone predicted
Cmon it has only been a couple of starts and definitely not enough to call them busts. I have a feeling that John Smoltz assessment of them has some weight
when they play the Reds the Brewers pitchers will look like Cy Young candidates again.
And possibly Silver Sluggers! The Brewers pitchers have combined to hit .406!
But I still think Lorenzen got hosed for the SS award last year.
I live in TN, so going to an MLB game is at least a 5 hour drive and an overnight stay. Last year, I took my oldest son to his first MLB game, Brewers in Cincinnati. Guess which one…..
Shhhh…don’t ruin the Brewers fortunate pixie dust run of six weeks in 2018. Their fans still believe this staff can replicate that and that the farm remains loaded. Neither of course are remotely accurate.
I’m perfectly fine with them holding down Tucker until mid-June-ish. Gonzalez is at least doing good defensively. All he needs to do is keep the seat warm for Tucker.
Both Galvis and Beckham signed very reasonably and are off to great starts.
Would rather have either than ChisenDL
Nobody projected Galvis or Beckham to perform this well to start the season. Before this year, Galvis had a .252/.296/.377 batting line between 2015 and 2018. Beckham only had one good 50 game stretch with the Orioles before he arrived in Seattle. It’s not like either were much better options than Erik Gonzalez.
Freddy Galvis is an awful hitter, but he is a good defender and is always healthy, at least.
Freddy Galvis and his .335/.365/.606 slash one would like a word with you lol.
freddy has done that before month or two of awesome and then falls off a cliff at the plate.
Aha i know im certainly expecting him to fall back to his 90 OPS+ bat eventually. He’s been a nice steady performer though for a lineup that features 5-6 black holes consistently.
.255 is great compared to what Erik does.
Erik’s not even good at defense. People just assume he is because he doesn’t have a bat.
The fact that they viewed him as anything more than a util bench INF is a joke.
I could not figure out why the Bucs didn’t pick up Jose Iglesias this winter. He was such a cheap pickup (Reds signed on a minor league contract – 2.5mil when in majors with another 1 mil in incentives). Iglesias is an exceptional defensive SS and is no worse with the bat than anything the Bucs have been running out there at SS for years. I thought he was a perfect fit to help that team get the most out of a really stellar pitching staff. Guess he was too pricey for the Bucs, eh? LOL That owner is a joke. Doesn’t deserve a single fan.
Or Galvis or Beckham.. especially Beckham considering Neal loves him some former 1st rnders.
Just a joke that Erik was looked at as anything other than a util bench player.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I understand small market teams and all. The Braves maybe signing Kimbrel for $45M/3 is a tough decision.
But you cannot allow your season to get undermined, because of an expected issue, when you had a pretty good solution, for $2.5M/1. No matter how small your market, $2.5M is still pocket change.
How about Meadows success in Tampa as well as Glasnow? Also, Neil passed on Freddy Galvis saying that Gonzalez is comparable to Freddy. Ummm. #Fail
I mean, he was before this 18 game stretch in Toronto. Galvis was a sub-.700 OPS batter with a decent glove at SS. If that’s all Gonzalez had to match, I would just go with what I had.
The Meadows / Glasnow trade has the chance of being one of the worse in Pirate history. Just hope Archer does as well as Glasnow so it is not totally lopsided.
I can understand giving up on Glasnow but there was no need to move Meadows.
He showed he was ready for major league pitching during his short stay.
I want to know why Cole, Morton & Glasnow turned into dominant aces elsewhere…
Searage may be able to get pitchers to find success, but he’s absolutely not getting the most out of them.
thats not how you value trades. Unless archer falls off the wagon again, its still a decent trade.
Beckham over Moran. Moran and the rest were a horrible return for Cole. Gonzalez will figure it out I believe. They should just start selling assets and see what they have in the minors. The closer has some value, as does Archer and s few others. Horrible pair of trades. I actually thought they should have traded McCutchen a few years back along with Polanco and a year or two later they could have traded Marte. They’d be well on their way to a rebuild with those and a couple other trades, Cole for a real return for instance.
Those trades are working out well. Musgrove, Moran and Martin are off to a great start. Also Crick has been great since he arrived for Cutch. Diaz, polanco and dickerson will give the offense a boost when they return and then we’ll see if they can continue to play this well.
I think Pirates are actually in good shape as far as pushing for a wildcard.
Just sad they could be in GREAT shape had Neal just made the right moves this winter.. AKA one of Beckham/Galvis instead of/starting over Erik… And Adam Jones instead of ChisenDL.. for cheaper
This analysis is as bad as this analysis claims those trades to be.
pirates have the 6th best record in the mlb lets talk crap about how bad they did in the off season lol. Srsly its early. Erik’s bat has picked up some life. Its not like hes going to win a batting title or anything but he gets anywhere *near* league average thats okay.
more worried about fielding. hes been pretty good with the range but seems like the infield chemistry just isn’t there
Well that’s the whole point.. he’s not good at anytging.. some people call that : Worthless.
I could see if people were saying why not sign Keuchel/Machado, but we’re saying Beckham/Galvis 2 guys who signed very cheap and are twice as good as Erik.
…and everybody knew it
Gonzalez is more of a utility/bench player, and playing him every day is not gonna produce results more than what PIT is getting. Bucs could do worse for sure. I know CLE would love to have him back right now based on the less than anemic production they’ve gotten at SS so far this year.
They’d be getting less than anemic from Erik too so I don’t c the point
Somebody had mentioned on this site a while ago that Tucker is the chosen one and that now seems to be the case.I figured that he would need this year to get ready at AAA but he has started well and perhaps can come up in June.
Gonzalez can become the super utility man that every team needs with 8 man relief corps.
Not sure what they will do with Newman but he has to become more dependable in the field. Jordy Mercer may not have had a lot of range but he only made ten errors last year and was a dependable work horse.I think that the two shortstops already have five or six between them.
I do agree though that Iglesias would have been the best one year alternative at the expense of Newman.
time for albers to go
All pitiful, whiney Pirate fans: they are tied for first you know; Gonzalez is 27, Galvez 29, Beckham is 33. Cole, Morton, & Glasnow are not dominant aces, get real. Glasnow has serious control issues; if he’s finally fixed them, good for him. There was at the time of the trade no place for Meadows to play; the 4 man OF rotation killed all 4’s numbers. Meadows will end the season .285, 20 HR’s, 80 RBI’s; same as all Pirate OF’s do nearly every year. Wait a few years before calling it the worst trade in Pirate history, geez.
…..and Tucker has been called up.