On a night where Jacob Misiorowski felt like throwing up every time he threw a curveball, most of Brewers’ fandom felt the same way watching the latest Trevor Megill ninth-inning implosion this season that cost the team a chance to end their five-game losing streak.
It was the second straight outing for Megill where he gave up a crooked number in the ninth inning. Last Friday, in a tie game against the Nationals, Megill allowed four runs and struggled to field his position against a number of bunts. He got another opportunity on Tuesday, this time staked to a one-run lead, and allowed three runs.
The Brewers must make a change in the ninth inning.
Manager Pat Murphy was asked if he’d consider making a change and he said yes. When pressed on if he will make that change, Murphy said, “We’ll see. I don’t know for sure. I like to talk to other people about it. I mean, obviously you can’t have a guy go out there six times and three times not to do the job. The way he’s throwing the ball now, he doesn’t deserve it. But he can earn it back. But what are we gonna do? Who’s throwing the ball good back there that deserves it more? So we’ll figure that out. We won’t make those decisions after a heart wrenching loss like this.”
That’s certainly an understandable position for Murphy to take. He didn’t want to make a full declaration last night in the heat of the moment after a tough loss but instead wants to talk with his assistant coaches and come to a consensus and a plan for that ninth inning. Plenty fair, but the admission of considering it is enough to recognize that it probably should happen.
Megill, to his credit, spoke to reporters and was quite blunt about his performance.
“Just some dog(expletive) out there. That’s about it. Definitely way better than that. Pitches could be a lot better. Pitch execution could be a lot better. A lot of things could be better,” Megill said.
However, Murphy also raised another good point: Who do you replace him with? Abner Uribe would seem like the obvious candidate, but he gave up a run last night and struggled in the outing before, too. Angel Zerpa, who started strong, has also not looked as good of late. The leverage arms the Brewers have relied upon all seem very unreliable at the moment.
So, while you can move Megill off the closer’s spot, there may not necessarily be a ready-made replacement to take it over.
Murphy also wanted to defend Megill as well and spoke out about the fans booing Megill during that ninth inning.
“But the fans booing him after he saved 30 games for this team. A kid that’s been through all that he’s been through and what he did the year before to help us win the division and then what he did last year, and then came out with an arm injury and still pitched, and pitched one of the biggest innings of (NLDS) Game 5, and for them to be booing him up there. That’s just not, not our best fans. That’s for sure. We have great fans, but let’s remind them of that. Are they OK to be disappointed, but sometimes young men go through tough stuff. I was disappointed. And that those people wouldn’t support him when he’s going through that stuff. Does he probably care? No. Is it expected? That’s fine. But let’s not forget these aren’t machines out there. These are people. I thought that was in poor taste, but I’ve done things in poor taste, too.” Pat Murphy said.
The home fans booing their own players is never a good sign for anyone. The players, the fans, the coaches — no one is happy about the situation.
The only way to solve it, really is to play better and pitch better. Winning cures all.
The best way to get there has got to be to move Trevor Megill out of the closer’s spot for the time being. As Murphy said, he can earn it back, but the key word is “earn.” He’s not pitching well enough to deserve to keep it, despite what he did for the team last season. It’s a new year. The closer position, almost more than any other spot on the team, is a ‘What have you done for me lately?’ kind of position. What Megill did last year was great, no one can take that away from him. But with what he’s done lately, the Brewers need to make a change.