Brewers Forced Into An Impossible Decision...

The Brewers are faced with an impossible decision involving Robert Gasser. The offense looks great. The bullpen looks great. A reason why 101 wins are now on the season for the Brewers, but what do they do with Robert Gasser? He's performing like a starting pitcher three for sure, but Pat Murphy and the Milwaukee Brewers seem like they want to go with Dustin May no matter how Robert Gasser does. And it's a pretty impossible decision. In my opinion, it's an easy decision. You go with stats over a name, but hey, I'm not the manager of the Brewers. Pat Murphy is going to be a three-time manager of the year, but we got to trust what he says. But we got to take a look at this situation as a whole. We go to yesterday's contest, take a look at this box score, a nice win for the Milwaukee Brewers. Eight to four in this one. Robert Gasser with a phenomenal performance. I'll flash that after this box score right here. Gasser went six innings of one run baseball, but the Brewers offensively, again, that is set for the postseason. They look fine. There's no questions about who you're putting out there to step up to the plate. Eight runs, 12 hits, a nice little comeback that they needed after it got tied up in the seventh. The Brewers responded in the bottom of the eighth with four runs, clean baseball defensively as well with zero errors. But we take a look right here. We're going to swing on over to the pitchers for the Brewers and start off with Robert Gasser because he's the topic of today's episode. We look at it right here. Six innings, one hit, one run that was earned, and it was because it was a solo homer. That homer was absolutely crushed, but if you said, hey, Taylor, Robert Gasser is going to go in this game and throw six innings and he's going to give up one run, but that's all that he's going to do. I will say that homer could go 650 feet. I don't care if that's all he does. That is fine with me. Obviously 650 feet is impossible, but it's going to be the postseason. Anything can happen, but in all seriousness, nine strikeouts as well. Only walked one batter. It is arguably the best outing of the year for Robert Gasser, and that's the exact time you need it. Recording this September 26th. So yesterday was September 25th. October is just around the corner. The Brewers are a week away from hosting the NLDS. They have home field advantage for the whole playoffs, even all the way to the World Series if they get there. Because of this 101-win season, that could reach as high as 103, but Robert Gasser, he is the talk of the town. He is the talk of the state of Wisconsin, and the Packers are not looking great. The Bucks are going to be rough. The whole state of Wisconsin is relying on the Milwaukee Brewers to give them some joy and happiness, and Robert Gasser has given a great example why he could be the guy. You look at a pitching stat line, and the only places you want to see high numbers are strikeouts and innings pitched. That is exactly where the two high numbers were for Gasser, which is perfect. Again, one hit, which was a solo homer that was earned, and only gave up one walk. We take a look at this streak for Robert Gasser, what he's put together. This is from Adam McAlvey on X. It says, Robert Gasser came on in emergency relief of Dustin May on August 26th and took off from that day through the end of his regular season, including six innings of one run ball tonight. This was posted yesterday after the game. He has a 1.67 ERA over the last 32 1 1 3rds innings, with a .96 whip, a 1.65 opponent average. Absolutely incredible. Is he going to be the three for the Brewers? That's the question we're still asking. He's putting together numbers that make him look like a one in a lot of rotations. It might be a little bit of an overreaction, but that's just what Robert Gasser has been doing. We take a look at that game log. I really want to go game by game here with Robert Gasser to show what Adam McAlvey was talking about. This is in the month of September, where he started off on the road against the Chicago Cubs. That was not the prettiest of outings for him, but since then he's really turned it up. We go to the next game. They go back home, face the Chicago Cubs in this one. The one thing about Gasser has been he hasn't been able to go too deep into outings. We have seen that better over these last three, but you go to September 7th against the Cubs. Only able to last four and two thirds innings, but only gave up one or run, which again was a solo shot. Seems like kind of a common pattern for Robert Gasser. You then go his next appearance home again. This is against Cincinnati, so again, three straight division rivals to open up the month for Gasser. Gasser is able to go five innings, only gives up one run, blocking only two batters and striking out five. A little bit deeper that time with 89 pitches. Then you go on the road against the Baltimore Orioles in what was a huge series because you're still in the midst of the Dodgers still having a chance to take over that one seed. Robert Gasser gets the win in this, his lone win. In the month of September, he goes seven innings of no run baseball. I said this, the six innings that he had against St. Louis yesterday, in my opinion, was his best outing of the season, but you could arguably say the one before that against Baltimore because he went seven innings. He went 107 pitches, so it shows he's able to go that long into an outing. Only gave up three walks as well through seven innings, so his walks are still low, and two strikeouts. A very interesting outing for Gasser because you go to the next one, way more strikeouts and a whole inning less. It's not a concern, but it's not consistent with how his outings are, even when they're good. Again, seven innings, only got two strikeouts, so a lot of things hit in play, but it was working. Then you go to this one, he gets way more strikeouts and only one big hit in play, which was a homer. Again, Robert Gasser absolutely dialing it up. You look at that, that's what, 13 innings over the last two games. If my math is correct, 194 pitches, 11 strikeouts. That is what you want if you can have a guy that could be the number three in your rotation behind one of the best rookie pitchers in the game in Logan Henderson and ahead of Henderson, the best pitcher in the entire game, Jacob Mizorowski. But Robert Gasser, how's he doing it? What are we seeing from him? Robert Gasser didn't appear out of nowhere. He came over in the Josh Hader trade, which a lot of people forget that he was a piece because there was like five pieces in that, and Robert Gasser was not the highlight name of that whole package that the Brewers ended up also turning into William Contreras with trades with those guys, two other teams, yada, yada. We got to take a look at what is Robert Gasser doing? How is he doing this for the Milwaukee Brewers? I'll pull up the big screen once more because this is a stat cast right here. He is using the sweeper a lot, 25% usage on his sweeper that sits right around 80 miles an hour. That is the most used pitch, and when he can control that, his outings are good. That sounds like a no dip Sherlock type of statement. I totally understand that, but you know, when you have a pitch like a sweeper, you could get into some trouble if you hang that a couple of times a game. Runs can come against you very quick. Gasser's been able to control it really well over these past couple of outings. He pairs it with a four seam, a sinker and a cutter that are used pretty evenly as well. Four pitches with 25%, 23%, 22% and 18% usage. He has a slider that kind of gets in there. I think when the sweeper doesn't break as much, it might register as a slider and then that change up 10% of the time. So it really seems like a five pitch mix for Gasser, truly a four pitch mix with a little bit of that change up right there. Nice to see that Gasser's been able to dominate with the sweeper again, an 80 mile an hour pitch that bends being your primary pitch and carving batters up with it shows how effective it is, shows how much that pitch moves. And this is what we've seen from Robert Gasser all season long, or rather, I should say more of these last couple of outings, but the sweeper has always been there. The usage is getting more even, and that is clearly working out for Gasser. We really, really, really love to see that because all of this has just turned into a big question. What do they do with this rotation? Well, we have a news right here from Pat Murphy, kind of talking about Robert Gasser. This is from Cam E. Zier on X. It says, I asked Brewers manager Pat Murphy about his confidence that Robert Gasser can carry his recent success into the postseason. It led to a different kind of answer, a quote right here from Murphy. It says, I mean, you can't predict anybody's success in the postseason. It's a crapshoot. You play 162 to put yourself in position, and then you roll the dice and do what you've got to do. A big reason on that. What is he saying about that? Well, you still got to think of guys like Dustin May and where does he sit in this? He's power. He's basically saying, if you pitch well, you'll get yourself into that roster. Get yourself to the postseason by the postseason. That is a whole different dog. And who has experience in the postseason? Robert Gasser has a little bit, but Dustin May has way more. We look at Dustin May's experience in the postseason. He's not been in the postseason for a long time, but his experience was in a World Series year with the Los Angeles Dodgers when they took down the Tampa Bay Rays. Now, it was the COVID season. Way less of a crowd. You're at a neutral site. Totally different type of vibe than maybe the hype, the true levels that a postseason can bring. But you still can't ignore Dustin May and what he's done in the postseason. This is his entire game log right here on his career postseason stats. And I believe his ERA, if you average all that out, it's right around like a 386. So not too bad at all. Gladly take a 386 from a guy that could be the three in the rotation. But Robert Gasser is really putting together an argument to be the four. But you see the game log right there. You see the very top. That's against the Rays. The one below that against the Rays. So he pitched in two games in the World Series. All the ones against Atlanta, those were in the CS. And then the ones against San Diego, I believe that was the DS before that round. Then you go to the year before against the Washington Nationals. That is a series that the Dodgers did lose because the Nats won the World Series that year. But that is what Dustin May's game log is looking like. A little bit different when we go to Robert Gasser because he's been with the Brewers in the postseason. All of his postseason appearances with the Milwaukee Brewers. Debuted with them, yada yada. These are all of his postseason appearances. Right here. One of them came last year. Sorry, both of them came last year. But one of them came in the CS. He was only able to go two-thirds of an inning. He allowed one hit and shrugged out two and walked one. That's all he needed him to do. But then you go to the one against the Chicago Cubs. That game was on the road when that series turned on a dime against Chicago that had to go to five games. Gasser pitched two innings, gave up five hits, two earned runs, both solo shot homers. So the homer of all is a concern. It's a concern in the playoffs. Even that sample size is two and two-thirds innings. So I totally get if Pat Murphy wants to go with May. But I call it an impossible decision because you go with the younger, less experienced guy that's pitching better or the older, more experienced guy that's gotten way more postseason time that has not been pitching as great. It's a big question to ask. So I want to ask it to you guys. What would you do? How would you use Robert Gasser in the postseason? Do you say, you know what? He's the number three starter. I get Dustin May. You know, I get he has the experience. But he's struggling too much to be the guy out there. Do you expand the rotation to four guys? Do you make it a four-guy rotation? Maybe not in the NLDS because that's only a five-game series. But do you expand it to four when you reach the NLCS? That's a serious consideration, especially with guys like Jacob Mizorowski that you cannot mess around with his health and his rest time. Do you make Gasser an opener? You know, maybe we see what the Aaron Ashby role was last year and hopefully goes a little bit better than the role Aaron Ashby did with the Brewers in the postseason last year. Maybe you put Gasser out there to go through the order one time through, you know, two or three innings. Then you have like Dustin May come in for him and maybe pitch the next four or even vice versa. You make Gasser the long relief. Maybe someone opens for him and then Gasser comes in. I think there's a lot of different combinations that you could have here for Robert Gasser. But it is a pretty tough decision. Gasser looked dominant on the mound. The Brewers will be back in action tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals. I'm not trying to get greedy, but let's go for 102. Why not? The Brewers have a little bit of a rest lineup today. You got guys like Brandon Lockridge in there and then there's a lot of sickness going around Milwaukee. Cooper Pratt being sick. Andrew Vaughn being sick. Joey Ortiz isn't sick, but a little bit concerns on his health there. So I'll make sure to keep you guys updated on that in the future. But that's all I got for this episode of Brewers Digest. The Brewers are looking absolutely great. You want everyone to stay healthy. These last two games don't matter because the Brewers have the one seed locked up, but they were talking about it. They don't want to slow down at all, even in the games that really don't matter. So hoping to see a good performance tonight from the crew. Hoping that Pat Murphy makes the right decision with the starting rotation because it's pretty tough. You go with the more experienced guy that's struggling or the less experienced guy that is putting together, starting pitching one numbers over the past five to six outings. You guys let me know in the comments down below. How would you use Robert Gasser in the Brewers rotation? Me personally, I kind of think he's got to be the three. Also because he's a lefty. I mean, you got righty Jacob Mizrowski, righty Logan Henderson. I think you got to have a lefty in there, but if not, maybe an opener, it's going to be a very tough call. We're going to have to wait and see. We don't even know who the Brewers are playing. Could be the Phillies. Could be the Padres. Could be the Cubs. Or it could be the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks are one game back from the Phillies. If the Phillies blow, they're postseason spot. So Brewers just kind of have to sit back, relax, and watch the rest of the league play for the next week. We'll figure out the health status and everyone's situation when it reaches October 3rd with the Brewers hosting that NLDS. But I've yapped long enough. Go enjoy the game. Hoping for a Brewers win. Going for 1-0-2. Let's root for the Brew crew. Continue this historic season in Milwaukee.