Marcum trade paying off for Brewers so far

It has been a while since I posted something and I was really struggling to come up with something. I was going to say something about the Brewers great play but the series loss to the Reds made me rethink that. They are playing well but I didn't want to just write about that. The Brewers made some big moves this offseason and the one that seems to be paying off the most right now is Shawn Marcum.

Who would have thought that the guy who only tops out at 89 miles per hour on his fastball would be the most consistent pitcher for the Brewers so far this season? He doesn't have the most wins, that belongs to Gallardo who is on a hot streak of his own but with Marcum on the mound you know what you are going to get each start. He has only pitched under six innings once this season and that was the first start of the year. He strikes guys out, gets the outs when he needs them and keeps the team in the game, exactly what you want from your starter.

He leads all Brewer starting pitching in ERA with a 2.78. He leads all starters in innings pitched with 77 and two-thirds. He as the most strikeouts and the least walks not counting Greinke. The production from Marcum has been outstanding so far this season and there doesn't seem to be any signs of it slowing down.

The thing with Marcum is he uses his off-speed stuff and he is so good at it that it gets really fun to watch. You can see the hitters getting frustrated as they continue to swing and miss at pitches that usually hover around the low 80's for speed. All of his pitches have movement and he has near perfect control of all his pitches all the time. His outing against the Reds strong lineup was impressive as until the 7th inning he had given up only 1 hit. He ended up only giving up two runs on five hits and added seven strikeouts. It was a shame the bullpen couldn't hold onto the win for him.

I was expecting Marcum to do well when we made the trade for him this offseason but I have been impressed and I think he has exceeded those expectations so far this year. For what the Brewers gave up for him you have to be impressed with what we have gotten back. Its been a good start for Marcum and hopefully his strong pitching continues later into the season.