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Bush vs. Parra: Why the Brewers messed up

By Jesse Motiff | April 27th, 2008

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Like most Brewers fans, I was stunned Sunday afternoon. First I have to sit at Miller Park and watch our offense not do much of anything and lose a tough game in 10 innings. Then, as my buddies and I were driving home, I heard Breaking News. The Brewers were optioning Dave Bush to Nashville. No, not sending Manny Parra to Triple A or cutting ties with Derrick Turnbow, but sending a quality arm to the Minors. I know many fans are fine with this move as many have given up on Bush’s ability as a starter. I, however, think this is a grave mistake by management.

Now I will admit that Parra has better upside that Bush and his ’stuff’ potentially could be upper-rotation type of stuff. Parra is three years younger but does have a history of arm problems while Bush has proven to be quite durable.

In four starts this season, Bush has averaged 5 2/3 innings while allowing 4.5 runs a game. He’s made one quality start this season. Not great numbers by any means, but nothing wrong with that from the man who is your number 5 starter. Bush has gone at least 5 1/3 innings in each start and has never pitched fewer than 92 pitches.

Parra has made five starts, including Sunday, and has averaged a little over 4 1/3 innings per outing while only giving up 2.6 runs a game. Parra has no qualities starts this season and has not pitched longer than 5 1/3 innings in any start. He’s only made 90 or more pitches three times.

Now on the surface you might say, Jesse, Parra gives up far fewer runs than Bush. I won’t disagree with you at all, but Bush is a stronger pitcher at this point in time and therefore, more important to your team. Parra will shut down a team for a short period of time but never for the long haul. He has not built up his arm strength to go deep into games. Bush will give up more runs but pitch you deeper into games and be less taxing on an already overworked bullpen.

I think Parra would be best served as the long man right now with Bush serving as the fifth starter. Derrick Turnbow should be sent packing as evident by his horrible outing on Sunday. Turnbow gave up a hit and walked to batters while recording no outs. Luckily, Mitch Stetter came on and pitched out of the bases loaded, no outs jam.

I commend Dave Bush for taking his demotion like a man and staying a good teammate in the process. I’m positive he will get another shot in Milwaukee to prove his value and he will get the job done.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Manny Parra, Dave Bush, Milwaukee Brewers, Brewers Bar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Bush vs. Parra: Why the Brewers messed up”

Lisa Gray says:

April 28th, 2008 at 3:04 am

not sure this was ned’s decision….
David Hannes says:

April 28th, 2008 at 3:09 am

I think you will get at least one of your wishes–that Bush gets called back up and Parra sent down. The statements by Yost suggest that they think Bush can improve as a starter at the AAA level and return later in the year as a starter…part of the problem is that they want both Bush and Parra to be starters and in a rotation and send neither to a bullpen…I suspect that they think Parra’s are will tire as the season rolls on, while Bush’s will not.

I’m sure the market for Turnbow is rather minimal at this point, as he’s making closer money and is not being used as a closer, nor provides much indication that he is better than the C grade closers already out there,
Ghoul11 says:

April 28th, 2008 at 6:21 am

I’m torn on this one. You make valid points. Bush really needs to improve though. Just because his arm is strong to go the long haul doesn’t do much good if he can’t win games. What does he need to work on? He’s been in the league long enough to figure it out. Has he not reached his potential?
hobo hal says:

April 28th, 2008 at 9:23 am

Bush is not a quality arm. The stronger arm comment is confusing. Bush sometimes throws in the 60s, he should go much longer and so far he hasn’t done much better than Parra.

If it was a matter of someone taking the ball and giving up 3-4-5 earned runs in a short start, there are a bunch of options in AAA.

Additionally, Parra is getting better and Bush is pretty much the same guy as last year.

I just wish that somewhere among the Bush fans was a discussion of why so much affection. Instead its a rehash of BB/9 or K/9 or the utterly worthless observation that he won 12 games twice. If he isn’t going to win much this year, he should take his millions and go.
David Hannes says:

April 28th, 2008 at 11:47 am

With Bush, you pretty much know what you are going to get–he almost always gives up 1-2 earned runs the first time through the order, then has a couple good innings, and then gives up another 2-3 runs before getting yanked–almost always 3, 4, or 5 earned runs in 5-6 innings–great if you are facing weaker pitching, but problematic if your offense is struggling or facing good pitching.

The appeal of Parra, et. al., is the thrill of the unknown–Parra is more likely to give you 7 scoreless innings…as well as giving up 5 ER’s in 3 IP.

I have to admit I am more of a Parra fan than a Bush fan…and I would hate to see Villanueva get jerked around like he did last year. Parra will get a few starts to prove he belongs in the rotation…if he stumbles, Bush will be back. Nice to have 6 decent starters to choose from.
Bush vs. Parra debate « BrewersNation says:

April 28th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

[…] Brewers Bar believes that Parra should have gotten sent down because he cannot go deep into games. Citing the bullpen’s heavy workload, Jesse asserts that it would be better to have Bush go six or seven innings and give up a run or two more than stick with Parra who will tax our bullpen. Parra certainly has better stuff than does Bush. That does not mean he should stay in the bigs, however. […]