Game 20: Padres (9-10) @ Brewers (14-5) 7:10

[El Duderino]

I think they can make it with Wang, assuming they can stash him on the DL at some point. They can call up/send down the Wooten type back-end junk for a while and have that function like an extra reliever.

I heard Hardicourt today on the radio and Drew Olsen asked about trying to do that. Hardricout said that if the Brewers tried doing this, MLB would look at it very skeptically given Wang is a Rule 5 selection and barely ever pitching. Thus, there would have to be a very legit medical reason to put him on the DL because the league can't allow teams to just claim Rule 5 kids, come up with very dubious injuries, and then stash those kids on the DL or else teams would do that all of the time. I agree with Hardicourt that MLB can't allow stuff like that with Rule 5 selections.

[jr lucosa]

What other option does the team have at second base? If anyone is on borrowed time it's Weeks, at least Scooter hits decently and can make the routine plays most of the time defensively. He was a .300 hitter in the minors and so long as he isn't forced to hit against lefties to often, i think he can continue to keep a say .280-.300 batting average up, but like almost everyone else on the team he doesn't walk enough.

I don't disagree about our options, he's at best about average across the board though, I'm just not yet sold that he can continue this kind of hitting, and if the average starts to slip he doesn't have a nice OBP number to fall back on.

On the topic of Wang, I'm not ready to give up on him after 2 outings. He's very inexperienced, only 1 year in the minors where he only made 12 appearances, there is a reason they gambled on him, and in Spring Training he looked great, first ML outing he looks great, one bad outing against the organization we got him from and some guys think we should give him back? It might take him some time to get adjusted to everything still but I would not give that arm up to keep a guy like say Rob Wooten or Zach Duke, not without him having much more than 1 bad outing.

[El Duderino]

I wasn't saying that i want to give up on the kid, but the team has to use him more then because it puts to much strain on the rest of the bullpen having a guy never pitch. At some point fairly soon Roenicke either has to start using Wang more or the Brewers have to either let him go or try working out a trade with the Pirates. You can't go months with one of the guys in the pen pitching once every 10 games or so, that just tacks on appearances for everyone else.

For example, Will Smith, Thornburg, and Henderson are all on pace for 80 plus appearances. Granted, the Brewers have played in a lot of close games so far, but even if eventually that rate of close games slows a bit, it's still a problem having one guy in the pen who rarely ever is used.

[jr lucosa]

That's a fair point. I do wonder if it was Melvin or someone else besides RR's decision to keep Wang on the roster going into the season because he hasn't handled him very well, in the Boston and Philly series alone he had probably 4 or 5 games where he could've gotten him some work and instead went with guys like Thornburg or Kintzler.

[NeedsMoreCheese]

I wasn't saying that i want to give up on the kid, but the team has to use him more then because it puts to much strain on the rest of the bullpen having a guy never pitch. At some point fairly soon Roenicke either has to start using Wang more or the Brewers have to either let him go or try working out a trade with the Pirates. You can't go months with one of the guys in the pen pitching once every 10 games or so, that just tacks on appearances for everyone else.

For example, Will Smith, Thornburg, and Henderson are all on pace for 80 plus appearances. Granted, the Brewers have played in a lot of close games so far, but even if eventually that rate of close games slows a bit, it's still a problem having one guy in the pen who rarely ever is used.

I really do think its as simple as us having played too many close games and Ron either not trusting Wang in those situations or trying to protect him.

Other than the one obvious game in Philly, there haven't been any situations i can think of where it was a no brainer that they could have gone to Wang and didn't. That said, obviously close games will usually tax your bullpen more so it makes the situation more of a concern.

If we were in 5 run ballgames (winning or losing) all the time I don't think we'd even be having this conversation.

[El Duderino]

Plus, you have very young pitcher barely ever being used and while bullpen sessions are better than nothing, it's got to be very hard for him to do well in the rare spots he'll get used if his live game action is so limited.

So it's becoming a doubled edged sword. Roenicke seems terrified to ever use Wang unless a game is a near blowout, but by rarely ever using him, he doesn't get any chance to refine is skills in real games, making it more likely that he'll struggle when actually used. That in turn will make Roenicke even more reticent to use Wang in any game not a blowout.