Parra called up; Spurling leaves for family emergency

trwi7 · Post #1 » by **trwi7** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:51 pm

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art ... 328/SPORTS

Post #2 » by **MickeyDavis** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:57 pm

Spurling wasn't too bad, but I'm happy to see what this kid can (and can't) do. Hopefully he can make the adjustment from starting to relieving.

goirish2107 · Post #3 » by **goirish2107** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:38 pm

hopefully everything is alright with the Spurling family. i figure it to be a net gain, just to be able to shake up the bullpen a bit and see what the kid can do it'll help us in seeing what we need in a trade, if one were to happen

goirish2107 · Post #4 » by **goirish2107** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:56 pm

update: evidently melvin said that they are holding up on making the call up official for two reasons. one, the spurling situation may resolve itself today, and two, they want to see the results of sheets' mri

Post #5 » by **MickeyDavis** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 3:00 pm

Weird, Melvin was just on the radio and didn't mention this at all. He said if Sheets missed a start or two they may have to make a roster move but said nothing about Spurling/Manny.

goirish2107 · Post #6 » by **goirish2107** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:10 pm

MickeyDavis wrote:Weird, Melvin was just on the radio and didn't mention this at all. He said if Sheets missed a start or two they may have to make a roster move but said nothing about Spurling/Manny.

hmmm....i read it this morning on brewerfan.net a couple people said they heard melvin's comments from adam mccalvey. i think

Garden of YiDen · Post #7 » by **Garden of YiDen** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:20 pm

I pray that Spurling and his family are allright. But on a baseball note, why Parra? What ever happened to Zach Johnson?

brewcityboii · Post #8 » by **brewcityboii** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:28 pm

why Parra? What ever happened to Zach Johnson?

Parra has been unstoppable in AAA and he threw a perfect game.

Parra >>>>>>>>>>>>> Johnson

http://www.last.fm/user/DPF55 · Post #9 » by **Buck You** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:31 pm

Garden of YiDen wrote:I pray that Spurling and his family are allright. But on a baseball note, why Parra? What ever happened to Zach Johnson?

Zack Jackson you mean.

Garden of YiDen · Post #10 » by **Garden of YiDen** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:34 pm

ReddBogutCharlieV wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Zack Jackson you mean.

Sorry. Don't know how I spelled Zack wrong considering that's my name and I use a K at the end.

trwi7 · Post #11 » by **trwi7** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:36 pm

Garden of YiDen wrote:What ever happened to Zach Johnson?

I believe he was eaten by a shark off the coast of South Africa.

As for Zach Jackson he has a 4.72 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in Nashville.

trwi7 · Post #12 » by **trwi7** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:37 pm

ReddBogutCharlieV wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Zack Jackson you mean.

You mean Zach Jackson.

Garden of YiDen · Post #13 » by **Garden of YiDen** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:38 pm

trwi7 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

You mean Zach Jackson.

Let's just call him ZJ.

http://www.last.fm/user/DPF55 · Post #14 » by **Buck You** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:43 pm

Garden of YiDen wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Let's just call him ZJ.

I agree.

Ayt · Post #15 » by **Ayt** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:42 pm

Zach Jackson isn't a very good pitcher is what happened to him. He was extrememely lucky while in the majors last year which is why his ERA was "only" 5.43 despite a truly barfworthy WHIP of 1.63.

He had an ERA of 4.12 in AAA last year. This year it is 4.72.

His main problem is he doesn't strike anyone out and he walks too many people. In 215.2 IP in AAA he has walked 86 batters and struck out only 128. K9 is a great indicator of whether a guy has the "stuff" to make it as a MLB pitcher, and ZJ's numbers in that regard are quite bad. A K9 of 5.35 in AAA is not even close to getting the job done, and that doesn't even factor in the high walk number and relatively high HR allowed number. If you don't K anyone you sure as hell better have an extremely low BB9 and HR9, and ZJ doesn't.

In short, Jackson doesn't look like much of a MLB prospect at all unless he can up his K rate by quite a bit. The good news is he did improve a bit this year compared to last, going from 4.88 in 2006 to 5.82. Unfortunately for him, that still isn't acceptable and neither are his other numbers relative to his very low K9.

Here is some perspective:

Code: Select all

          K9     BB9   HR9   WHIP
Gallardo  12.8   3.3   0.47  1.04
Parra     9.0    2.8   0.25  1.11
Balfour   14.2   3.1   0.42  0.93
Jackson   5.82   3.5   0.75  1.45

All of the guys above other than ZJ have great numbers, with Balfour getting a break as a reliever and the fact that he's 29 (bet you all didn't know that; he was very injury prone and eventually missed all of 2005). I tend to look at these numbers when scouting out young players, at least statistically. The K9 is especially important since it a great indicator of how good a guys stuff is and how well he'll be able to translate that to the majors; too low of a K9 and the guy simply will not cut it in the majors. BB9 would be the next one since it shows how well his command is. WHIP would be the next one after those two, though BB9 is obviously a part of that and guys with a low K9 also give up a lot more hits since so many more of their pitches are put into play. HR9 is interesting just to see if minor league guys are able to get a hold of one occasionally.

Both Parra and Balfour look like they are definitely ready to get a shot in the majors, as they are finally getting now. They both have sick numbers in the minors in the stats that I consider to matter the most. We all know how Gallardo has looked. His only real issue is the BB9, but its actually pretty good for a guy with such a sick K9. BB9 is a number that also tends to go down a bit as pitchers get older, and Gallardo is extremely young for a guy that has been so dominant.

Jackson, on the other hand, may be a career minor leaguer or a AAAA guy if he can't improve on the numbers above. Next year in AAA will be a huge year for him because he did show some improvement this year compared to his first year in AAA.

I personally don't expect him to amount to much at all. The Brewers are pretty fortunate that Parra has turned it around so well. He, Gallardo, and CV all look like guys that would easily break the rotation on most teams. Gallardo especially for obvious reasons.

http://www.last.fm/user/DPF55 · Post #16 » by **Buck You** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:11 pm

^^Wow... he really went down in the dungeon. Do you think he has any trade value left?

Ayt · Post #17 » by **Ayt** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 11:45 pm

ReddBogutCharlieV wrote:^^Wow... he really went down in the dungeon. Do you think he has any trade value left?

Who knows. I obviously don't think much of him, but there are teams that don't necessarily look as deeply into stats as others. I could see some teams liking his potential if we make a move later in the year. Gwynn, ZJ, some other ****...