Milwaukee Brewers 2011 - 25 in 25 - Kameron Loe (16 of 25)

Brewers pitcher Kameron Loe does draw comparisons to the Addams' Family butler Lurch. At 6'8" Loe is the tallest and most intimidating force in the bullpen. Lurch is pretty intimidating himself and most like will scare the bejesus out of representatives from the Church of Latter Day Saints when the come door to door looking to spread the good word and collect donations. Lurch would scare them Lutheran. When Loe stands on the mound he gains 10 inches, putting him at an impressive 7'6" of pitching dominance. It's not too hard to throw pitches on a downward plane from that height to induce ground balls, but you still need to have control to be able to locate your pitches effectively. Lurch was 6'9" tall and stands a full inch taller than Kameron Loe, but I doubt that he could strike out Aramis Ramirez. He could probably break him in half because Lurch was some kind of monster or some shit, but I don't think Major League baseball would allow a pitcher to rip people in half as a way of getting them out. That's the kind of plate appearance that would land you on the permanent DL.

So it takes more than just being tall to pitch a baseball, just like just being tall does not make you good at basketball. Sure it helps, but you also need to have talent and athletic skill. In 58 innings in 2010 Loe struck out 46 batters and walked 15. Now I'm no math whiz or anything, but that looks like a 3:1 ratio, which is pretty damn good if you ask me. And that doesn't take into effect the number of times that he got a hitter to ground out or hit into a double play. There is a stat for that somewhere because there is a stat for everything in major league baseball. If I wanted to find out Kameron Loe's ERA in Miller Park weekday day games when the temperature was below 65 degrees and the roof was closed and the circus was in town and the vending machine was out of Snickers bars that day and he showered that morning and he took the side streets to Miller Park instead of the freeway on days when he was wearing a black undershirt I could find that information out. But that's not why you come to a site like this. You come here because I say that Kameron Loe looks like Lurch from the Addams Family. Now that's some hardcore journalism and sports analysis that you won't get anywhere else. I promise you that.



Kameron Loe was part of the bullpen shakeup that took place in May that saw guys like Claudio Vargas get cut, LaTroy Hawkins go on the DL and guys like Mitch Stetter get sent to the minors. When Loe arrived with Axford and Braddock the bullpen started to take shape and everyone assumed their roles. Despite another year in which the bullpen was overworked due to short games by the starting pitchers, the bullpen was once again a strength of this team. And the guys that made it a strength are returning for another year.

Kameron Loe is very important to the bullpen because he will serve as one of the set up men to closer John Axford. Along with Takashi Saito and and the situational lefty Zach Braddock / Mitch Stetter (depending on which one makes the roster out of Spring Training) he will be bridging the gap from starter to closer and I for one am more than happy to have him there. You need a guy who is going to be able to pitch a couple of times a week and be effective when he does. Guys like that, the "workhorse" are tough to find. Todd Coffey was that man the last few years but unfortunately he was due to make more money in 2011. Since the majority of the budget is going to starting pitching and Prince Fielder, younger cheaper minor league players have to step up and take on that role for a fraction of the cost. It did help that Loe performed well last year so that we were comfortable letting Coffey go. But can he repeat in 2011? "I hope so" (with fingers crossed.)

With injuries to Greinke, Marcum and Parra the Brewers have only 3 healthy starters as it stands today. Greinke and Parra will open the season on the DL but Marcum looks to be good to go. But we do need to find a 5th starter before the season opens in 10 days. One named tossed into the hat was Kameron Loe because he has previously started games in both the majors and the minors. But manager Ron Roenicke instantly dismissed the idea because he believe Loe is too valuable as a relief pitcher. There is this saying that no pitcher wants to be a reliever, they just fell into that role because they couldn't cut it as a starter. Kameron Loe seems to have found his role as a shutdown reliever which is sometimes harder to find than a starter who can go 6 innings and have a 4 ERA. Just look at Manny Parra's performance as a starter vs. a reliever and you could have another case where someone just isn't cut out to start games at the major league level. Here's hoping that Kameron Loe continues to excel as a reliever and puts up numbers similar to this in 2011:

2-3 record, 3.16 ERA, 64 innings pitched, 52 strikeouts and he will answer the door at the Addams Family mansion when when friends and family like Cousin IT come to visit. Now if only Loe would play the Miller Park organ then I would know that he really was Lurch masquerading as a Major League pitcher.

We all hope that Kameron Loe has a 2011 season that is comparable to the 2010 one that he had. The same can't be said for veteran reliever LaTroy Hawkins. In the winter of '09 signing Hawkins to a 2 year contract was a bit of a head scratcher to me. And my worst fears came to life as Hawkins only pitched in 18 games in 2010 while sitting back and collecting a paycheck the other 144 games. He's supposedly healthy in 2011 after having shoulder surgery in August last year, but he has yet to appear in a Spring Training game in 2011. That doesn't matter because money talks, and his $3.25 million dollar salary in 2011 says that he needs to at least try to help us win games. How effective will this 39 year old be? Is he fully recovered from his injury? Does anyone even give a shit? Is the sasquatch just a blurry creature and there's nothing wrong with the cameras that have tried to capture his image? Will I answer all of these questions and more tomorrow? Are you even reading this crap anymore? Who knows, but that my friends, is a topic that will be covered tomorrow. Roll out the Barrel! We'll have a Barrel of Fun!

- pookon -

www.pookon.com
email: pookondotcom@gmail.com