Archive for the ‘baseball’ Category
More baseball updates — Greinke pitches, Hart plays
I wish I had a better update today to report, folks, but here it is.
Zack Greinke, while he looked really good at the start of the first inning, was done in partly by very poor defense behind him and partly because he had to throw too many pitches in the first inning (over thirty) — he lost his first game, giving up 5 runs (4 ERs) in 4 innings. Here’s the story from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/121289033.html
Note that the Brewers were swept by the Atlanta Braves and are currently 1-5 during this recent 10-game road trip. (That means we Brewers fans have four more games to endure before the Brewers finally return home.)
And while Corey Hart is back, and looks good in the field, he does not have his hitting stroke yet and it shows every time he’s at bat. (But I’m still glad he was finally put back in the #2 hole tonight; no way, ever, that Carlos Gomez should bat there due to Gomez’s awful on-base percentage much less Gomez’s propensity to strike out swinging as often as humanly possible.)
Now, the real story of this past game (which was an 8-0 loss to Atlanta) was pitcher Tim Hudson of the Braves; he pitched a one-hit, one walk shutout (both the hit and the walk came to Rickie Weeks, Brewers second-baseman). Unless it was the terrible defense by the Brewers — mind you, Hudson was on his game and the Brewers would’ve done poorly anyway. But it would’ve looked better and perhaps felt better for the Brewers if they hadn’t committed three errors in the field.
In other baseball updates, Vinny Rottino has started to hit at New Orleans; he’s hit .350 in his last ten games and his overall average for the season is up to .235 (remember, he started out something like 1 for 24 or the like, so it takes time to pull the average up). His OBP is a very fine .354 and he has 2 HRs, 7 RBI, 3 SB (no caught stealings, so a perfect 3-3 percentage), has taken 11 walks and has struck out 7 times. So it sounds like he’s having a much better time of it and he is playing often (every day or every other day — maybe in the fourth OF slot?) for the Zephyrs. (Good for him!)
Oh, yes — Rottino continues to hit left-handers better than right-handers, having an overall .286 BA against lefties, with an overall .222 against righties. (There appear to be many, many more left-handed pitchers in the minors than there are right-handers considering Rottino has batted at least four times as much against right-handers thus far this year.)
So at least there’s good news about Rottino, and about Hart and Greinke’s health as both are now healthy enough to play. But otherwise, the Brewers aren’t playing very well right now and it shows. Unfortunately.
Brewers Update, and two novellas by Kate Paulk reviewed by me at SBR
Folks, I just reviewed two excellent novellas by Kate Paulk, both available at the Naked Reader Press (www.nakedreader.com) — they’re called “Knights in Tarnished Armor” and “Born in Blood,” with the first being a really funny farce written in epistolary style (letters to one another) and the other being a very nice prequel to Paulk’s novel IMPALER, also out from the fine folks at the Naked Reader.
Before I get, here’s a link to my review of those two fine novellas at Shiny Book Review:
Now, as for updates: Zack Greinke will pitch tomorrow for the first time in the regular season for the Brewers against the Atlanta Braves in the second game of a doubleheader (as Tuesday night’s game was rained out). This is very good news, and I know I, for one, will be riveted to the television to see how well Greinke pitches.
I also have a political update of sorts; the drive to Recall the Republican 8 netted only six of the Republicans — to wit, the petitions against Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) and Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) both failed. Grothman’s failed by about 5,000 signatures, while Lazich’s was far closer — apparently they were less than two-thousand signatures short there.
I know some of the folks recalling both the Republicans and a few of the Democrats (though I don’t approve of the latter, as I think the Democratic Wisconsin Senators — often called the “Wisconsin 14” — did the only thing they could in leaving the state for three weeks in order for every citizen of the state to get a chance to read Governor Scott Walker’s “budget-repair bill” for themselves), and I know that folks in the Recall Grothman and Recall Lazich camps needed more resources — they weren’t able to start as soon as the others (from what I could tell, the really big efforts to get both Grothman and Lazich out started about two and a half or three weeks after the others yet had to meet the same deadline) and didn’t have the same monetary resources as both Grothman and Lazich are in heavily Republican districts — yet both found many people willing to sign recall petitions to remove both Lazich and Grothman. This bodes well for the future, at least so far as getting a decent candidate of some sort to run against both of these Senators . . . Grothman has not fared well in the media, especially due to his famous “slobs” comment (where he called Wisconsin voters, some from his own district, “slobs” for protesting in Madison against Walker’s “budget-repair bill”), and one would hope that he will indeed go down to defeat in 2012 (which is when his, and Lazich’s, seat is set for re-election).
What it looks like to me is, there will be six recall elections from the “recall the Republican 8” push, and there will be one or two or maybe three recall elections from the three Democratic petitions which were turned in. I am hesitant to say whether or not more than one of those petitions will hold up because in at least one case, a dead person’s name was used and a signature forged on a recall petition against the three Democratic Senators — and I find that disgraceful.
Also, because we have a mandatory recount going on in the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court judicial race, the Government Accountability Board (which oversees that, and the recalls, among other things) cannot do much to look at the petitions against the Dems or the Rs until that recount has been completed. The GAB has mandated that the recount must finish by May 9, 2011, but the Waukesha County folks have already indicated that they wil be unable to do this as apparently many oddities have been found there. (So far, only about 15,000 votes have been counted in Waukesha County according to representatives from the Kloppenburg campaign.) Fourteen counties, including Milwaukee, Dane and Waukesha, have yet to complete their recount; the other counties in Wisconsin have completed their tallies (mind you, Dane and Milwaukee are the most populous counties in the state, so it’s not surprising they have not yet completed thier recount. It is surprising that smaller Waukesha is having so very many problems, but in another way I’m not at all surprised because as I’ve said and written before, Kathy Nickolaus’s procedures, at best, were highly suspect and have been since at least 2004.)
So that’s about it from here; watching the recount unfold, and continuing to read interesting stuff from the Naked Reader Press folks, along with a little baseball watching. (If the economy were a bit better, I’d even say it’s fun — as far as it goes.)
Update: Vinny Rottino
Folks, I am truly pleased to give this update on Vinny Rottino — while he’s still not hitting, it appears that last year, the reason he was sent to AA ball (after succeeding several times at the AAA level) was at his own request.
Peter Jackel at the Racine Journal-Times broke this story, and here’s some relevant quotes from his story dated April 19, 2011, “Rottino Still Chasing A Big Dream,” available at http://www.journaltimes.com/sports/51a2cf76-6a42-11e0-a8dc-001cc4c03286.html :
For a sense of just how serious Rottino is, consider this story:
Just after being signed by the Marlins prior to the 2010 season, Rottino was sent to Class AAA New Orleans and told younger prospects would receive the preference in playing time.
After a few games, Rottino approached the Marlins’ brass and asked to be sent down to Class AA Jacksonville, where he would be able to play every day. That meant willingly forfeiting half the $12,000 monthly salary he would have received by playing at Class AAA to have a greater chance to showcase his skills. In other words, Rottino conceded about $36,000 in salary last year.
“It was the right decision,” Rottino said. “When I came to spring training this year, one of the guys in the front office pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to you last year, but I just wanted to let you know I’ve never seen that before – a guy wanting to take half the pay to play in Double A. I just wanted you to know how impressed I am.’ “
Note the reason for being impressed likely was not just the fact that Rottino has persisted (he’s now 31, a full adult, who knows exactly what he wants and is doing his best to get it), but that Rottino had an outstanding year last year in Jacksonville, batting .307 with 22 steals (and only 2 “caught stealing,” an excellent percentage), 69 RBI, 8 HR and a stellar .385 on-base percentage (OBP).
Rottino did exactly the right thing for himself; he went to AA ball, played every position (he’s an IF-OF-C), hit well, stole many bases, took walks, and proved he’s still “got it.” And with his excellent season, he was named the best utility player in the Southern League at the end of the 2010 season — the first major award Rottino had won in over two and a half years for his play.
Rottino, as I’ve said before, is an outstanding defensive outfielder and a very good defensive infielder; he’s fast, positions himself well, has a good arm and does everything right — he has outstanding “baseball fundamentals,” in short, from every statistic I’ve ever seen (and from the very few times I’ve actually managed to see Rottino play). He can pinch hit, though he’s better if he plays every day, and is a contact hitter rather than someone who hits for power — with his speed, his ideal position in a lineup would probably be either second or seventh.
At any rate, I know I was frustrated when Rottino started on a tear at AAA ball last year, hitting two triples in one game for New Orleans, then was sent down. But now that I know that Rottino requested it in order to get more playing time, and with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I agree that Rottino made exactly the right decision for himself.
But for the rest of us, there’s a lesson to be learned here. Persistence is important. Look how hard Vinny Rottino has tried, knowing his full worth — he deserves a chance to play major league ball. And I believe he will get that chance if he just keeps trying; it doesn’t matter about his age, it only matters about his ability and his determination and his drive. Rottino has a winning attitude and I applaud him for refusing to give up on himself or his talents.
Here’s hoping that Rottino will find his hitting stroke and have a great season in AAA ball.
Baseball (Mostly Brewers) Updates: Marcum, Greinke, Hart — and a bit about Vinny Rottino
The Milwaukee Brewers look to be much better this year with the addition of pitchers Shaun Marcum (acquired in a trade from the Toronto Blue Jays in the offseason) and Zack Greinke (acquired in a trade from the Kansas City Royals in the offseason), but up until tonight we Brewers’ fans had little idea of how well either would pitch as Marcum hasn’t been fully right (he had an arm strain/shoulder injury in spring training if I recollect correctly) and Greinke remains on the disabled list (DL).
But tonight, Marcum pitched extremely well, throwing seven shutout innings in an impressive 6-0 Brewers win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh. Marcum mixed his pitches well and effectively, baffling the Pirates’ hitters while efficiently moving through the Pirates’ lineup — only one hitter reached third base, while Marcum gave up only one walk and four hits with four strikeouts recorded. (In the eighth inning, left-hander Zach Braddock came in and struggled a bit, which was why he was lifted in favor of right-hander Kameron Loe after Braddock only managed one out while allowing two walks with a wild pitch. Loe got the final two outs without undue drama, then left-handed side-armer Mitch Stetter came in and pitched a one-two-three ninth.)
If Marcum continues to pitch like this, Brewers’ fans will warm up to him in a hurry.
At any rate, the news on RF Corey Hart is positive; he took batting practice without pain and is expected to go on a rehabilitation assignment soon to one of the minor league teams in order to prove his injury is sufficiently healed for him to return as the everyday RF. Hart is now hoping for a return to the line-up by April 22, which is when the Brewers’ next home-stand begins. This is wonderful news, especially because Hart had a breakout year last year (Hart was my pick as Most Valuable Player for the Brewers in 2010). Getting Hart back will be a tremendous help.
As for Zack Greinke, he threw 25 pitches in a simulated game and felt no pain, which means his broken rib has probably healed enough that he, too, will be out on a minor-league rehab assignment soon. The hope now for Greinke is that by the end of April, he’ll be ready to pitch for the Brewers.
Please see this update from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for further details:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/119722294.html
And finally, my favorite minor-league utility player, Vinny Rottino, currently remains in the Florida Marlins minor league system and has started the season with the New Orleans Zephyrs, the Marlins’ Class AAA affiliate (that is, their highest-level minor league team). So far the 31-year-old Rottino is batting only .065 with one hit in 12 at-bats, but has a .353 on base percentage due to taking several walks. (Stats taken from Rottino’s games through April 11, 2011.)
Here’s a link from the Racine Journal-Times, where the headline reads, “Pirates give Jaramillo a Chance; Taschner, Rottino still have Hope”:
http://www.journaltimes.com/sports/article_28fa5ae2-6585-11e0-bb13-001cc4c002e0.html
Here’s a relevant quote from the article, including a response from IF-OF-C Vinny Rottino himself:
Since signing with the Milwaukee Brewers as an undrafted free agent Feb. 3 2003, Rottino’s modus operandi has been to play every game with abandon and wait for his chance. His mindset remains the same eight years later.
And after hitting .307 with eight homers, 69 RBIs and 22 stolen bases for the Suns last year, Rottino believes he has positioned himself to make it back to the major leagues.
“I’ve been given an opportunity to play baseball for a living and I know I keep saying that,” said Rottino, a 1998 St. Catherine’s graduate. “I really feel that after the year I had last year, I have a legitimate chance to get back to the big leagues.
“This is an organization where, if you perform well in the minor leagues and they think you can help the major league team win, they’re bringing you up. That’s a lot different situation from a lot of other organizations.”
Note that Rottino has played in the minor leagues for both the Brewers and the Dodgers prior to being signed by the Marlins in 2010. And while I greatly appreciate Peter Jackel’s column (I’d wondered what was going on with Rottino and said so in a blog post from a few weeks ago), Jackel failed to note that Rottino won an award last season from the Southern League (AA) — he won an award for “best utility player/performance.” That, along with his excellent batting average, on-base percentage and the most stolen bases he’d ever had as a minor-leaguer, must be why Rottino is so hopeful of getting a chance with the Marlins this season.
If you are as interested in following Vinny Rottino’s career as I am, please follow this link to Rottino’s minor-league page (where you can find out where he’s playing, how he’s doing and what positions he’s playing, too, for that matter):
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=OF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=457130
I really like Rottino; his attitude is refreshing, and the fact that he’s still in there fighting at the (for baseball) advanced age of 31 is encouraging for anyone who refuses to stop believing in himself (or herself). Vinny Rottino is another example of persistence in the face of long odds, and I hope he breaks out of his early-season slump soon as when he’s right, he’s a good hitter, an excellent fielder (especially in the infield and outfield) and a fast and smart runner. I, too, believe that Rottino has what it takes to be a successful major league player as a utility man/defensive replacement/pinch hitter/whatever — and I hope he gets his chance this year.
Updates — Madison judge blocks budget bill; Tim Dillard pitches well; Vinny Rottino
OK, it’s update time.
First, we have a judge in Madison, Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi, who has temporarily blocked the recent “budget repair bill” from taking effect. Here’s a link to that:
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/state-and-regional/d5edf984-518a-11e0-b180-001cc4c03286.html
Note this is a follow-up article, where it says the Attorney General of Wisconsin will file an appeal on Monday. (I wanted to give the most up-to-date information.) But it says what Judge Sumi did, and why the Attorney General will be appealing it . . . this is the best article, right now, about what’s going on in Wisconsin. (She said that the process of the “budget repair bill” with the Conference Committee appeared to violate Wisconsin’s Open Records Law, just as state Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, had said at the time.)
Next, pitcher Tim Dillard cemented his case to make the Milwaukee Brewers active roster (as a big leaguer, naturally), as he pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief today in a Spring Training game after the starter (whose name escapes me, sorry) ended up only going 1/3 of an inning and giving up four or five runs. (I normally would be more precise than this, but for two things: one, it’s still Spring Training. And two, I haven’t yet seen a box score of this game though I looked. If I am able to find one I will update this post to be more precise.)
I really like Dillard; I always have. Dillard is a right-handed control pitcher, and I’ve thought for years that if the Brewers gave him a chance, they’d be pleasantly surprised.
Right now with the Brewers, two pitchers are unavailable — Zach Greinke is on the disabled list and will miss at least two and a half weeks of the season with a broken rib (and other bruised ribs), and Manny Parra likely will start the season on the DL also because his back is bad and he’s been so far unable to pitch in a game during Spring Training. So there’s room for Dillard, and he’s pitching well at a time he needs to — with a new manager, Ron Roenicke, to impress — so I’m really and truly hoping this will finally be his time.
** Shaun Marcum also has a sore shoulder, though Marcum doubts he’ll miss any time at all. (Just thought I should notate this for the record. **
In other baseball news, I haven’t yet seen anything new on catcher-infielder-outfielder Vinny Rottino, who is now in the Florida Marlins system. He’d have to play outstandingly well to get called up as he is now about thirty-one years old, and he’s eligible for salary arbitration as he’d had cups of coffee in three separate seasons (so far his lifetime batting average in the bigs is something like .208 but that’s misleading). Rottino has speed and plays good defense in the infield and outfield; he was converted to catcher late and is more of an “emergency catcher” than anything else as he does not have a strong rate of throwing accuracy from that position, nor is his defense anything more than adequate as best as I can discern from statistics.
Still, I’m really hoping Vinny Rottino will somehow make it up to the bigs again, because he’s an excellent right-handed clutch hitter, and he plays good defense in the infield and outfield. I don’t know how well he pinch hits, but if he develops that skill as well, he may well prove valuable to someone despite his somewhat-advanced age for a rookie.
Considering Casey McGehee of the Brewers, who is a third baseman, didn’t make it up to the big leagues until he was twenty-six or twenty-seven, and will be twenty-nine this year, and he’s done very, very well, I think Vinny Rottino still has a shot. McGehee, unlike Rottino, has power and a lot of it, but there have been others who have made it due to their defensive skills before (and their hitting skills; Rottino has speed, remember, along with good defense, and he swiped over twenty bases last year in the minors — AA and AAA, respectively) and I am confident that if some team gives Rottino a chance as a utility infielder/outfielder, they will be pleasantly surprised.
If anyone knows how Rottino is doing in Spring Training (I believe he’s with the Marlins’ minor league squad), please let me know as I’ll be more than pleased to update this blog.
Pitcher Zach Greinke Will Start Season on DL
Zach Greinke injured himself playing pick-up basketball right before the start of Spring Training, yet only recently reported the injury to Brewers’ medical personnel. Testing has shown that Greinke sustained one cracked rib and one bruised rib; he’s been playing through that pain all this time, and hasn’t been doing well, so the Brewers decided Greinke should not pitch for the moment because it was aggravating his injury.
The hope is that in four weeks, maybe six, Greinke will be back to being able to pitch, and the Brewers’ staff will go slow with Greinke to avoid making this issue worse. Note that many pitchers have had trouble pitching through pain in the past; it messes up their arm motion, which screws up their overall way to pitch, period, and adds to further problems down the line, health-wise and also performance-wise. Pain is something the body does to warn; if a pitcher feels pain in the ribs, he’s going to alter his motion to avoid that pain, and even a small change in his motion can really cause problems for him down the line.
While this makes sense to me — I’d rather the Brewers be cautious with such a valuable addition to their staff (it’s not every day you get a former Cy Young Award winner to join your team) — many Brewers fans are frustrated. Because Greinke is a new addition to our roster (he was acquired in a trade from Kansas City in the off-season), most Brewers fans have never seen him pitch. (I have, though not in person; I caught a few games here and there during Greinke’s Cy Young Award-winning season in ’08.) This means for now, most Brewers fans are extremely upset because it reminds them of last year — where the Brewers had hitting, and some speed (which for the most part former Manager Ken Macha didn’t use effectively), but really didn’t have much in the way of pitching — and makes them worry that this year will be a repeat of what we already saw last year.
Me, I don’t believe in borrowing trouble, so I’m glad the Brewers shut down Greinke before he inadvertently made this injury any worse. I do wish Greinke would’ve been up-front about this from the start — it doesn’t seem that way from the media attention — but maybe he did say something right away that wasn’t reported. This quote from Greinke (in today’s Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) sums up his position rather well:
“I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now and people always said, ‘You’re going to get hurt.’ It finally caught up to me, playing basketball. I was going up for a rebound and fell on the side. I was hoping it was just bruised. I had a lot of fun doing it but it wasn’t worth it.
“I didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it was. I was thinking it was just a bruise and pitching through it. There’s a lot more negative pitching with it than positive. I’m going to have to take a little bit of time off. Hopefully, not too much time.”
Please read this story for further details:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/117613788.html
And then, read the follow-up, where reporter Tom Haudricourt points out that Greinke’s injury is not a contract violation (yes, some Brewers fans are that riled up about this; some think Greinke is being “coddled” by the player’s union, but I don’t. I think players are people, too, and at least Greinke was trying to stay in shape during the off-season.):
Pitcher Chris Capuano signs with New York Mets
Just a short observation today, folks . . . a few days ago, left-handed pitcher Chris Capuano signed a one-year contract with the New York Mets for what’s been reported as $1.3 million dollars. He’s expected to be given a chance to make the starting rotation, which is the main reason Capuano didn’t re-sign with the Milwaukee Brewers.
I’ve written a few blogs about Capuano in the past; I admire him greatly. He has an outstanding work ethic. He is a very smart man, having a degree from Duke University and being his high school valedictorian before that, and he’s used his combination of intelligence, athleticism and toughness to come back from not one, but two “Tommy John” ligament replacement surgeries.
It’ll be difficult to see Capuano in a different uniform, but I understand his position. He’s best off as a starter; that’s what he’s good at. And the Brewers would not even give him the opportunity to make the team as a starter — I guess they feel Chris Narveson (also a left-hander) was a better bet, though I’d highly disagree — which would upset me if I were Capuano, too.
I plan on continuing to follow along with Capuano’s career; as I have said here many times, he is a study in perseverance. In faith in yourself, in your own abilities, even when life itself seems against you. And he has “the goods” to be an outstanding pitcher, still. Even at age 32. Even after two “Tommy Johns.”
Good luck, Chris Capuano. I’ll be rooting for you.
Brewers get Greinke, Betancourt . . . .
And finally, folks, for my third post of the night, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the Milwaukee Brewers recent trade for RHP Zack Greinke.
Yesterday afternoon, the Brewers traded SS Alcides Escobar, CF Lorenzo Cain, and two minor league RHP, Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress, to the Kansas City Royals for Greinke and SS Yuniesky Betancourt. Greinke is a former American League Cy Young winner (he won in ’09 with a 16-8 record), and is considered one of the best pitchers in the major leagues despite having an off-year in 2010 with a 10-14 record and a 4.19 ERA.
I’m pleased the Brewers went out and got Greinke, because this is the second pitcher the Brewers have acquired in the off season (the Brewers got Shaun Marcum from the Blue Jays a few weeks ago, trading minor league 2B Brett Lawrie for him straight up). He’s an excellent pitcher and should really help the Brewers’ rotation — and as all know, the Brewers’ main problem the last few years has been pitching. Especially starting pitching. (When the Brewers lost C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets to free agency, they took a major step down despite all their good hitters — Corey Hart, Casey McGehee, and of course Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. Hitters can’t do much when the starters keep giving up around 5 ERs a game.)
But I’m not happy the Brewers parted with Lorenzo Cain; Cain had shown some power and a great deal of speed to go along with his excellent defensive skills in centerfield in his brief stint in the majors last year, hitting .308 with a robust OBP of .348 — pretty good for his first 147 at-bats.
The others — eh. I liked what I saw of Jeffress, and I’m sure he’ll have a good career if he can stay away from the illegal substances (he’s been busted twice under MLB’s anti-drug policy for marijuana use), but to get Greinke I have no problem with him leaving. Ditto for Jake Odorizzi, who seemed like a good prospect thus far — possibly the Brewers best pitcher in the minors (certainly the most-hyped), though he was still in A ball this past year.
To be perfectly honest, though, I was glad to see Alcides Escobar go; I felt his defensive play was at best overhyped (Escobar makes great plays, then muffs easy ones), especially compared to the SS who came before him, JJ Hardy (who is an outstanding defensive shortstop, possibly the best in the major leagues, and certainly in the top five when healthy), and his offense was, well, anemic at .235 with a .288 OBP and 10 stolen bases.
When I went to Brewers games last year, everyone I spoke with used the same words to describe Escobar: “Overhyped.” “Flash in the pan.” “Melvin’s an idiot — can we please have JJ Hardy back?” And I agreed — Escobar was described as “the real deal,” or “everything, and the bag of chips besides” — and he just wasn’t. (Perhaps no one could live up to that billing.)
Betancourt would appear to be a step up offensively, as he batted .259 with 16 HRs (to Escobar’s 4) and 78 RBIs (to Escobar’s 41), though he also has a very low OBP at .288. As for his defense, I’d describe it as adequate — he’s another guy who won’t make anyone forget JJ Hardy anytime soon — though as he’s not been labeled a “can’t-miss” prospect, maybe he’ll be less encumbered by expectations than was Escobar.
At any rate, this is a trade that looks very good on paper and I hope it works out well for the Brewers. I know that as a fan, I’m for it.
Updates on Past Blogs: Kratz out, Capuano finishes season.
Today I wanted to write a quick update about what’s going on with some of those who’ve been featured in my past blog entries.
First and best, Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz is now the former DA of Calumet County as he has resigned. As I’d previously written — and hoped would happen — Governor Jim Doyle (D-WI), who used to be the Attorney General of the state of Wisconsin before he was elected as Governor, had started the process to formally remove Kratz from office, which put an enormous amount of pressure on Kratz to resign. Doyle had said in this article from 9/21/2010 (http://www.htrnews.com/article/20100921/MAN0101/309220021/Wisconsin-Gov-Jim-Doyle-sees-Calumet-County-DA-Ken-Kratz-sexting-case-as-very-serious-issue-), which was widely covered by Wisconsin newspapers:
An outraged Doyle said Monday he would start the process to consider removing Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz and that he hopes to make a decision in a month. At a news conference five days after The Associated Press broke the story, Doyle said any prosecutor who would have behaved that way on his watch would have faced repercussions.
“I consider this to be a very, very, very serious issue,” said Doyle, a former district attorney and attorney general who leaves the governor’s office in January.
“It’s one that personally strikes to a lot of things I have worked very hard on in my career: crime victims’ rights and domestic violence. It troubles me deeply that somebody turns to the criminal justice system for help and receives the kinds of texts we have seen.”
And Gov. Doyle delivered, as Kratz, as of today, has resigned his position as DA. Kratz’s resignation was covered widely as well; one account of it is here at this link:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20101004/GPG0101/101004091/1207&located=rss
Kratz’s resignation was quiet and done via press release, which stated:
“It is with deep sadness and regret that I announce my resignation as Calumet County district attorney, effective immediately,” Kratz wrote in a statement. “I have lost the confidence of the people I represent due primarily to personal issues which have now affected my professional career.”
I am very happy that Kratz is gone, and hope the people of Calumet County will now rest a bit easier with Kratz’s resignation.
Next, Brewers pitcher Chris Capuano completed his comeback season; as previous blogs have reported, left-hander Capuano came back this year from his second “Tommy John” ligament replacement surgery in his left arm and pitched effectively, going 4-4 with a 3.95 ERA in 66 innings, starting nine games and appearing in 24. The rest of his statistics are available many places, but I prefer FanGraphs.com, an excellent baseball resource site for the serious fan; here’s that link:
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1701&position=P
Capuano started his final game last Saturday and struggled against the Cincinnati Reds, giving up three runs, ten hits and a walk in 3 2/3 innings. After the game, a 7-4 loss (Capuano did not lose the game due to the Brewers offense tying the game at 4-4 in the seventh inning), Capuano said:
“It was a battle,” said Capuano. “It was one of those games when even when I had them hitting my pitch, they found holes. They hit a couple of balls hard.
“They never took the pressure off me, never really allowed me to settle into a groove. As a pitcher, you’re aware of the pace of the game (3 hours, 39 minutes). I was saying, ‘Let me have a clean inning. Let me move this game along a little bit.’ ”
But as Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporter Tom Haudricourt said at this article (http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/104209094.html):
Capuano wasn’t going to let the shaky outing tarnish the comeback season he enjoyed after sitting out two years following a second Tommy John elbow surgery.
He quoted Capuano, who said:
“Physically, I’m feeling great,” said Capuano, who is eligible for free agency. “That’s everything that I hoped for out of this year. I had an uphill battle today. They’re a good team; they have a good offense.
“I don’t know what to expect (on the market). I’m glad now I can take a rest from throwing. I really haven’t stopped throwing since this rehab program began.”
I’m very, very proud of Chris Capuano, and I’m glad the Brewers re-signed him to a minor league deal last year. Capuano is an outstanding example of patience, resilience and endurance, and I truly hope the Brewers re-sign him for next season as he’s shown he can still be an effective major league pitcher.
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