Shaun Marcum right now is not himself, and he is costing the Brewers a chance to advance to the World Series. In his last six starts (four regular season, two postseason), he has given up 30 runs in 33 innings pitched for a 8.18 ERA. He has a had one great start in that time frame (8 IP, 1ER), but besides that, there has been many nightmarish starts for Marcum. He is a detriment to the Brewers, and their success right now. I love Shaun Marcum, he is a good pitcher, and I have loved watching him throughout the season, but that shouldn't change what needs to be done. The window for success in the playoffs is so small that everyone needs to be performing at the top of their game, if they are not, they need to be replaced.
Ok, you may be saying, hypothetically if the Brewers do replace Shaun Marcum, who is this pitcher who can produce better. Here are three options to make up for a Marcum-less rotation:
1. Pitch everyone on short rest, and make your playoff rotation a three-man rotation (Game 3 Gallardo, 4 Grienke, 5 Wolf, 6 Gallardo, 7 Grienke)
2. Marco Estrada (3 Gallardo, 4 Grienke, 5 Wolf, 6 Estrada, 7 Gallardo)
3. Chris Narveson (3 Gallardo, 4 Grienke, 5 Wolf, 6 Narveson, 7 Gallardo)
#1 shouldn't happen, and won't happen. The organization, I believe, doesn't feel comfortable pitching Grienke on short rest. End of story.
#2 is what I believe the Brewers should do even though it may cause a lot of second guessing especially if they are wrong. Also Marco Estrada should only start if the Brewers have a 3-2 game lead going into Game 6. Marco shouldn't be the pitcher trying to stave off elimination especially in his first postseason start. If that situation occurred, and it failed, Roenicke would never hear the end of it. But if Estrada does lose a start if the Brewers have the lead, they still have Gallardo at home to go to the World Series. I will take that ten out of ten times.
#3 is another decent option. Chris Narveson has proven to be an average starter throughout the year which is still an improvement over what the rotation has given us so far. But as a starter, Chris Narveson (4.54 ERA, 1.41 WHIP) has been inferior to Marco Estrada (3.70 ERA, 1.09 WHIP) especially at home (Chris Narveson home: 4.23 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, Marco Estrada as a starter at home: 2.74 ERA, 0.87 WHIP).
Desperate times call for desperate measures. I believe that Marcum needs to take at least one start off to regain his composure. If Estrada does good, ride the hot hand. If Estrada struggles, replace him with Narveson, if Narveson struggles then you can go back to Marcum.
Marco Estrada should start in game 6, especially if the Brewers are leading 3-2. Even if Estrada can only pitch around 70 pitches, it will still be around what Marcum has pitched the last two games. Narveson can then come in until the 5th or 6th and set up Saxrod (SAito, AXford, k-ROD).
As we Brewers fans know all to well, playoff appearances don't come around to often. Loyalty to a player, in this case Shaun Marcum, should not trump what needs to be done in the playoffs to win the World Series.
Go Brewers and Please Comment.
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