Breaking Down the Brewers' Player Grades from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recapped and graded the individual performances of every Brewer that saw significant playing time throughout the season.

Grading is extremely subjective, so no "true" grade for any one player exists. Still, some of the grades doled out by the Milwaukee JS were a tad bit misguided and need to be addressed.

Casey McGehee (JS Grade = B)

The article writes that McGehee was the biggest surprise on the team. The former Cubs prospect hit .301 with a .360 OBP, 16 HR, and 66 RBI—settling in behind Prince Fielder in the five hole in the batting order.

McGehee finally gave Milwaukee a consistent threat behind Prince. It forced opposing teams to pitch to the young slugger, especially in September, when Casey enjoyed perhaps his finest month at the plate.

My main gripe with the grade is that players such as Alcides Escobar and Claudio Vargas received higher marks. A Rookie of the Year candidate in the National League, especially one who was not expected to contribute to the big league team coming into spring training, deserves more than a B grade. He was worth +2.1 WAR in 116 games, for goodness sake.

The only negative coming from McGehee is his defensive performance, which can largely be attributed to a bad stretch in July and bulky knees that severely limited his range. Expect better defense in 2010 from Casey.

Bernie's Crew Grade: A-minus

Rickie Weeks (JS Grade = Incomplete)

Milwaukee's second baseman receives an incomplete, even though he had more plate appearances than players such as Mat Gamel, Alcides Escobar, Frank Catalanotto, and Mike Rivera—who all received grades.

Then, we got this little gem:

Weeks has worked hard to improve his defense but still rates as a below-average defender.

Rickie compiled a +4.7 UZR in 2009. He may have committed six errors in only two months of work, but his plus range more than makes up for a careless play or two throughout the season. It is certainly much easier to glance at the error total or his .964 fielding percentage, but his range factor per game was up over 4.5 for the fifth straight season.

There is so much more to defense than the error total.

Bernie's Crew Grade: B

Jody Gerut (JS Grade = D)

Talk about holding a grudge.

The Milwaukee JS chose to ignore Gerut's second half, in which he hit .279/.343/.459, and opted to dwell on his horrible start to his Brewers career. 

The "bad" Jody Gerut showed up in Milwaukee for the first two months. The "good" Jody Gerut began to surface once garnering more playing time in the second half. In fact, Gerut outperformed Mike Cameron at the plate over the final two months of the season.

You would never know that from the JS article, though.

Bernie's Crew: C

Dave Bush (JS Grade = D)

It is difficult for me to justify marring Bush's injury-plagued season with a "D" grade.

As Tom Haudricourt and Anthony Witrado noted in the article, Bush seemingly had turned a corner on the mound halfway through the 2008 season. From the middle of 2008 to the Florida game, in which he was struck in the arm by a Hanley Ramirez line drive, Bush had compiled a 3.99 ERA in his previous 22 starts. He almost tossed a no-hitter against the Phillies in May of this season.

That line drive, however, marked the downward spiral of his 2009 season.  

Bush struggled with microtears in his triceps muscle in his right arm, which caused serious arm fatigue. He attempted to pitch through the injury in June but eventually landed on the DL with those microtears.

The issues did not improve after returning on Aug. 27, however.

The right-hander occasionally flipped up a gem of an outing, but he could not maintain his velocity or production from start to start. Milwaukee finally decided to shelf him for the final week of the season due to his arm fatigue. He continuously went in for tests to determine if he had more damage to his arm than previously thought, but doctors kept diagnosing him with the microtears and "dead arm."

Hopefully, an offseason of rest and recuperation will allow Bush to rebound and reclaim his No. 3 or No. 4 spot in the rotation. I just simply cannot justify doling out a "D" grade to a pitcher who helped anchor the rotation prior to his injury. The Dave Bush we saw after early June was not the real Dave Bush.

Bernie's Crew Grade: C-minus

Braden Looper (JS Grade = C-plus)

Braden Looper was horrendous in 2009.  

His ERA may have been a "shiny" 5.22, but his FIP ballooned to 5.74—not to mention the fact that he surrendered the most long balls in the National League with 39. His strikeout rate dropped to 4.62 K/9, while his walk rate jumped to 2.96 BB/9. 

Braden Looper received a C-plus from the Milwaukee JS because he logged 14 wins and managed to make 34 starts throughout the season. His 8.97 average run support per game made sure he collected 14 wins. It had very little to do with him actually pitching well.

By the way, Looper cost the Brewers almost $4M in 2009 because he was worth -0.9 WAR. That definitely has "C-plus" written all over it.

Bernie's Crew Grade: D-plus

Seth McClung (JS Grade = D-plus)

If we throw out the 7.1 innings in which the Milwaukee Brewers misguidedly placed McClung in the starting rotation, the big right-hander compiled a 3.95 ERA in 54.2 innings.

Does McClung seriously deserve a "D-plus" for seven innings of work in the starting rotation (can we declare that experiment officially over?) and an injured elbow in the second half?

Obviously not. He was a very useful cog in the Brewers' bullpen, going multiple innings and providing Ken Macha with a rare power arm. Remember, McClung owned a 3.24 ERA on June 24. Milwaukee simply needs to learn how to utilize Seth properly. You would think after two years they would have it down by now.

Bernie's Crew Grade: C-plus

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