Milwaukee Brewers 2011 - 25 in 25 - Manny Parra (19 of 25)

Brewers pitcher Manuel Elizabeth Parra (born Manuel Alex Parra) is next up in this series even though he for sure will not be on the Opening Day roster. You are probably saying "What the hell?" right now, and you have 2 valid reasons for doing so. First off I've teased for the last 2 days that today would be all about John Axford. I'm going to have to push that back another day. Brodey did come over to film the video but I didn't get time to format that and upload it to my hosting site. So John Axford is going to be featured tomorrow. I'm really sorry about that. I know that you were looking forward to that one because that John Axford is so hot right. John Axford. He's a fan favorite and certainly has more people cheering him on and wishing him well than Manny Parra does. Most people in this town are fed up with Parra and most the most part I can understand why. But as you probably know because if you looked up "individual" in the dictionary you would see a picture of me, I'm not like most people. I still believe that Parra can benefit this team and excel as long as he is put in the best possible position to succeed. And that position has him coming out of the bullpen instead of starting in 2011.

Manny Parra came into Spring Training for the first time in a defined role versus him having to fight for a job and put too much pressure on himself. With the starting rotation set with Greinke, Gallardo, Marcum, Wolf and Narveson, Parra would be the long reliever in the bullpen and be the emergency starter if need be. In 2010 Parra found success coming out of the bullpen as a reliever and mostly likely will never start another game for the Brewers. Unless one of the other starters goes down and there is no replacement for that starter in the minor leagues. With "Air" Greinke's dreams of becoming the Bo Jackson of baseball/basketball we certainly could use Parra in the starting rotation until Greinke's ribs heal. But unfortunately Parra came into Spring Training with an injury of his own (back stiffness / problems) and has only pitched to one batter this Spring (although on the positive side he did strikeout that batter). With 1/3 of an inning of work to his credit, even if he was healthy there is no way he could start the season. He's going to have to go on the DL and build up arm strength and stamina in the minors before making this team and helping them win in 2011.

So if Manny Parra has no chance of making the Opening Day roster, why is he taking one of the 25 spots in my countdown that someone else could be in? Because I rule, I am Lord and maker of this site, Kevin and I already filmed a hilarious video and we like to make fun of him. We started calling him Panny Marra (which was first said by my cousin Tommy if I'm not mistaken) and made the connection to the man-boy Peter Pan. This was not a drunken trip over the words like tacker pattoo was, but more of an insult to a pitcher that acts like a kid on an island full of lost boys and an adult murderer with a hook who wants to slaughter kids. And they call this is a children's story. When Panny Marra comes into a game one of us starts chanting "Panny! Panny! Panny!" and then immediately after the other one shouts "Rufi-ooooooooooooooooooo!" I don't know about you, but I'd rather have a "lewd, crude, rude, bag of pre-chewed food dude two-toned zebra-headed, slime-coated, pimple-farmin' paramecium brain, munchin' on your own mucus, suffering from Peter Pan envy!" on the mound rather than the "boil-dripping, beef, fart-sniffing bubble butt slug-slimed, sack-of-rat-guts-in-cat-vomit, cheesy, scab-picked, pimple-squeezing finger bandage. A week old maggot burger with everything on it and flies on the side!" that we currently run out there. Yeah that's right, I picked Rufio over Panny. Even though Panny totally bangarangs Rufio in this scene I would still rather have him lead the Lost Boys into battle even though he tries to shit talk Captain Hook instead of stabbing him when he had the chance. So Rufio went out like a punk bitch when he could have saved the day. But the main reason I choose Rufio over Panny is because I can't stand Robin Williams except in the movie Mrs. Doubtfire. But I still am a fan of Panny Marra and I was looking forward to what he could do as a relief pitcher for the entire year.

But even though I like Panny Marra and I want him to do well, no one is exempt and cousin Kevin and I took to the park in the wee hours of the night to make fun of him. I know that I said the Chris Narveson video is the best one, but this takes a close 2nd. The utter ridiculousness and randomness of it separates it from the other 24 that will be here when all is said and done. You know that when you break into an English accent and start talking King Midas things have gone awry and the booze is talking. And that is when I am at my finest. Take a look.

So it got a little crazy there and a little weird. But do you expect anything else when Kevin and I get together and burn words and lyrics. If you've ever listened to the Back Alley Burners (and why the hell haven't you yet?) you know that once we get drunk we randomly come up with lyrics and record in one take, which set us up perfectly for this video. But Panny Marra can't get drunk before he pitches and strikeout the side in one take, so assuming that he recovers from his injury and pitches for the Brewers this year, he will not be nearly as amazing as we are. Instead his stat line will look a little more like this:

3-6 record, 4.41 ERA, 86 innings pitched (mostly as a reliever but he may get 1 or 2 spot starts),
94 strikeouts and maybe one day will learn to fly, defeat Captain Hook and be the pitcher that we all hoped he would be except in a more suitable role.

So instead of profiling a person that for sure is on the 25 man roster and will be a huge factor in the Brewers success in 2011, I chose to waste some time talking about Panny Marra. But tomorrow's article will be no waste of time. I have had a couple of days to refine and for the first time proofread one of my entries and my John Axford article will be the finest one that I've ever written. And now that I have the video to go with it (which was the icing on the cake the entire time) all of the ingredients are in place to bake one seriously delicious cake. Right now we stand 7 days (or a week for the lay person) away from the start of the season, and the final few roster spots are as difficult to predict as it is to say when I am going to settle down and start a family. Ok, nothing is that difficult because I will name those final 7 players but I will never find a woman willing to let me impregnate her. So check back tomorrow for my article on John Axford. It will be as sweet as the last Friday before Opening Day is. You'll see. It will be epic, 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

25 Brewers in 25 Days : Manny Parra

Manny Parra. What do we do with Manny Parra? That's the question that has to be answered this year. Like a lot of players on this team, he has a lot of potential and upside. But this 27-year old lefthander has yet to really put it all together. The problem with Manny Parra is that is seems to be all in his head. Without knowing him personally, I have no choice but to speculate on things like this. But I have intently watched these players for several years, so I feel like I am qualified to make these claims. And if I'm wrong then no troubles bubbles. After all, this site and these articles are just my opinions backed up for statistical evidence that tries to rationalize it all. And if you don't like it, start your own Brewers blog and counteract my claims. I'd love to debate you on the internet. Glad I got that out of the way. Other players with potential like Rickie Weeks have had a hard time getting there because they can't stay healthy. Manny Parra has been fine physically, but he seems to lose control in certain situations.

He has great velocity and he throws 4 pitches with lots of movement, and back in 2007 at AAA Nashville, Parra pitched a perfect game. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term (I don't know why I'm explaining this because you wouldn't be reading if you didn't know shit about baseball) a perfect game is when the pitcher (or a combination of pitchers) do not allow a batter to reach base and retire 27 consecutive opposing batters. To accomplish this feat (as only 18 pitchers have in Major League History) the pitching and the defense (because if a batter reaches base an account of an error, there is no possibility for a perfect game) needs to be spot on. Granted Parra did this at AAA, but regardless of which level you do it at it is still a pretty impressive feat. That was a little pointless and time consuming, but I felt that it was necessary to point out that Manny Parra is capable of pitching well and we should not give up on him yet.

As I have mentioned before (most likely in the Gallardo or Stetter article, I'm too lazy to go back and look at my own work) the Brewers have historically had difficulty drafting pitchers and moving them up to the Major Leagues. That is why Manny Parra's success with us is all the more important. We don't want to see him put it together as a member of another team. In 2008 he was 10-8 with a 4.39 ERA. Not too bad for his rookie year, but he's certainly capable of being much better. In 2009 he was being counted on (along with Gallardo) to anchor the pitching staff and provide the second half of a very good 1-2 punch. But Manny failed to deliver and was sent down to the minors to figure it out. After he returned he had a few good outings mixed in with the terrible ones, but they weren't enough to make his overall stat line look respectable. He finished with an 11-11 record with a 6.36 ERA. Obviously it was a big step backwards. This year we brought in two new lefties (Doug Davis and Randy Wolf) plus Chris Narveson emerged as a fantastic option at he end of last year and in Spring Training of 2010, so the question is what to do with Manny. He's out of options so he could and would be claimed by another team if we tried to send him back down. For all the reasons mentioned before plus a previous situation including former Brewers prospect Jorge De La Rosa, we need to stick it out with Manny and allow him to blossom in a Brewers uniform.

Jorge De La Rosa was a pitching prospect in the Brewers minor league system. He was ineffective as a reliever and had a 4.46 ERA in 2005. In 2006 he fell off the deep end and sunk to a 8.60 as both a starter and a reliever and he was traded to the Kansas City Royals. After struggling there he found himself with the Colorado Rockies, and in 2009 he went 16-9 with a 4.38 ERA. A lot of people including the Brewers management now feel like we gave up on him too early and we should have given him more time to work it out. But unfortunately 2010 for Manny is a make it or break it kind of year, as we simply do not have the time to allow a starting pitcher have a 6+ ERA. Parra is starting 2010 in the bullpen and could find himself in the starting rotation, but that is to be determined. There are several other factors to be considered before assigning him to that role.

The Brewers already have 2 lefthanders in the starting rotation but that might increase if Chris Narveson continues where he left off last year. Jeff Suppan is currently on the DL which does temporarily open up the 5th spot for Parra, but first he will have to pitch in relief and earn that spot. I do believe that Manny is more effective in a starting role because of his mental instability. It takes a certain mindset to be a reliever rather than a starter because often you have to come in the game in tight situations and get out of the jam. If a starter gives up 3 runs every time they go out and pitch, that's considered pretty damn good. But if a reliever gives up 3 runs every time they go and pitch, that's pretty damn bad. A starter always has a little more leeway because they can start the game by giving up a run or two but then settle down and have a quality start. Manny Parra seems to have some kind of mental breakdown when the going gets tough. Most pitchers find a way to work out of the jams the create, but when Manny gets bad the floodgates open and the runs start flowing for the other team.

But that is where new pitching coach Rick Peterson comes in. If he can work with Manny to stay cool, calm and collected when the pressure starts to mount, Manny can be that #2 pitcher that everyone has predicted him to be. Manny has the best pure talent of any pitcher on the staff, and when he is on he dominates the competition. It is truly a pleasure to watch him pitch when he dialed in, but like I said it's frustrating to see him when he is not. Manny Parra is 27 years old, which seems a little too old to still be considered young. But a lot of pitchers get into their prime in their late 20's or early 30's, and I have a feeling that Manny is about to do that. 2010 will be a very important year for him, and he's going to have a breakthrough year if he puts up stats like this (assuming that he starts, which is what he has to do if he is to benefit the team):

4.14 ERA, 13-10 record, 171 innings pitched, 120 strikeouts and the be Manny that we always knew that he could be.

This is assuming that Manny Parra does find his way into the starting rotation. One player that may have a say in that is Chris Narveson, who came out of nowhere last year and became the answer to the starting pitching woes. Where other pitchers failed to step up and help the team, Narveson succeeded and earned himself a spot on the 2010 Opening Day roster. Like Parra, he too is currently pitching out of the bullpen. But if he pitches anywhere near like he did last year and in Spring Training of this year, it's going to be really hard for Manager Ken Macha to leave him out of the starting rotation. But that my friends, is a topic that will be covered tomorrow. Brewers! Brewers! Keep Turnin' Up the Heat!

- pookon -

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