TooLiveBrew

How about some good things to talk about? I know the team isn't exactly making that easy lately, but every team slumps. - Gallardo's 8 inning, one hit mastery over St. Louis. - Greinke makes his home debut tonight, should be electric at Miller Park Anyone else? My hope is this thread can hang around for the whole season, & be somewhere to escape the inevitable frustrations that come with having high expectations for the team. To go along with the Gallardo one-hit performance, this made me smile in McCalvy's game recap:

[boggs] played great in Spring Training. He's played great in Nashville. I don't understand why this team even bothered with him if they had no intention of giving him a shot even if he performs well. He's the 2 hole hitter they need. Sheesh. Seems pretty simple, doesn't it? Roenicke needs to settle in & really get out of his own way imo. Stop trying to gameplan for every situation with the lineup, plug your 5 best hitters in the top 5 spots, & let them hit.

Thanks for the photos, Hammer. Hope you had a good time!

can we trade Kotsay for the 2000 version of him? Sadly, I think that's all it is. RRR remembers *that* Kotsay, & clearly doesn't think his range is a problem in the OF. Kotsay in CF would be just... bad.

Corey made that diving catch in RF a few days ago, and was wincing a bit as he got up. I was worried at the time, but hadn't thought about it again until now. I know myself well enough to know that I tend to prepare myself for the worst when it comes to player injuries/health, so I have to talk myself down most times.

Those are interesting points, DHonks. I know his reputation with the Twins was that his physical abilities made up for less-than-stellar instincts (from some ChiSox fans I know & trust).

Ugh. Guess we'll have to wait to hear what the injury is for Peralta.

I agree that it's still early, but yeah -- the Brewers seem to be pretty conservative when it comes to pushing players. I wish they would be a little more aggressive.

Well, in my opinion, he's better out there then Cammy was. Based on how highly regarded Cammy's defense was here, that may make Cargo the best defensive centerfielder that ever played. I said in a different thread (heh, can't remember which one) that I would put Carlos up against any other CF in the league in terms of defense. I think he's as good as there is out there right now. I love watching him patroll the OF. Do I think he's Willie Mays, once-in-several-generations good? No, but that's not a very useful standard. I mean, if that's the bar, then we should be laughing at just about every hitter not named Pujols.

Macha: personality and communication ability of a wooden post Don't forget not being comfortable playing young players. Earlier in this thread, I said I missed Macha. I do miss his lineups & offensive gameplan. I don't miss his lack of ease with young players, as any manager of a mid- or small-market team is going to have to feel good about playing guys that are "unproven". Roenicke has had a lot of good things to say about several of the Brewers' AA & AAA players so far, which I find encouraging.

Have fun! Wouldn't mind seeing Tyler Roberts -- how he carries his 226 lbs. on his 6'0" frame. Stosh if he tosses. Thanks! I don't remember Roberts looking heavy from my looks at him

Ross, for sure. Mike Walker... Reggie Keen (flying around the field in some capacity, if you can)

I love watching Gomez in the field. I would put him up against any CF in the league in terms of defense. I hate watching Gomez at the plate. I would put him up againts Wil Nieves in terms of worst hitter on the roster. At least Gomez has power, I guess. It really isn't a hard decision, but RRR is being stupid about it. Bat him 8th or 9th, heck even 7th. RRR doesn't seem to understand lineup optimization, he constructs his lineups around Situational Hitting™.

When asked which wine was the more expensive when given two choices Ah, I should've gone back & re-read that article. I didn't remember it was only out of 2 choices.

I am the biggest Hart hater (and biggest Weeks supporter) on this site but I will give him time. It is far too small a sample. I'll be patient for once. This post needs to be saved forever. I can't believe what I just read!

I just blogged about how upset I am with the Brewers lack of a running game, despite all of Roenicke's talk this spring training that it would be more aggressive. No way! The manager said before the season that things were going to be different! Carlos Gomez! Erick Almonte! I miss Macha. He could at least make out a lineup.

if you subscribe to the idea that there is no known way to to tell whether one thing is "better" (whatever that may mean) than another thing, than any distinction between things of the same type is lost. One thing I noted about the initial article that was linked was that (iirc) 48% of tasters could differentiate. So, to say that people can't tell the difference isn't even correct. 1 of every 2 tasters could.

So the real issue now becomes how did Green beat out McClendon to begin with? Are other or most MLB teams run with such a propensity to keep the guys who are out of options, talent be damned? It's getting really annoying with Melvin & the Brewers. Better player available... but he has an OPTION left! You can keep the crappier player too!

The irony to me is simple...people always say to use the metrics Of course, no one says this, but you can't be a contrarian without saying "people always" do. People say use both, & do your best to make an intelligent decision.

In terms of talent, & not what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, Pujols-Holliday is a better duo than Fielder-Braun imo because Pujols is the best hitter -- by quite a bit -- of that elite group.

Would like to see him get closer to the .360 OBP of '09 than the .337 OBP of '10 I think 2010 is a much better representation of what to expect from Casey than '09. If he can reproduce roughly a .340 OBP, I will be happy.

As I've said before, I think defense is overrated here. Tell that to Zack Grienke. The bad defense last night is an example of how it taxes your starting (aka best) pitchers unnecessarily. McGehee & Betancourt don't cover much ground, some goes for Prince. So that leaves one plus defender in Weeks, who's actually probably closer to average. Ground balls finding holes is a huge part of what gets called luck, and as you saw in yesterday's games, can be a big difference in runs scoring or not.

Farris is a pretty funny dude.

Is it Sveum's approach to teaching our players? I seriously doubt Sveum is telling our players to go up pull the ball out of the stadium like it looks like they're trying to do so often. No real weight can be put into Hart's struggles so far imo. Gomez is, simply put, a terrible hitter. I don't think any hitting coach could break through that. In defense of Dale, one change he made with Hart was to get Corey to hold his hands lower in his stance. Weeks also lowered his hands in the 2010 season. I think in Rickie's case, his breakout season was not much more than just staying healthy. But between seeing something like lowered hands, which looks like a Sveum tactic, and the players talking about how much Sveum has helped, I think he's probably to be credited somewhat. Players entering and/or being in their primes is probably a far more important factor, though. Should Sveum also be criticized when Brewers hitters go up to pull the ball out of the stadium like it looks like they're trying to do so often? Perhaps, but like he's probably just a small part of the success, he's also probably at most a small part of the failure. And how do you analyze it if Dale is actively telling players to stop trying to pull the ball &/or hit the ball out so much, but they're just ignoring him? On Gomez, simply put, he's a terrible hitter. I don't think any hitting coach could break through that. I would feel ok if our manager would just stop being a knucklehead about it & bat him 8th or 9th. His defense has been nothing short of spectacular, and he's just a joy to watch in the field. He's probably never going to figure out how to have plate discipline, he just doesn't seem to see the ball well out of pitchers' hands. If he does, yes, he's going to be an amazing player. For now, bat him 8th or 9th, & let him run wild in the field & on the bases when he actually does reach. It's not that hard, but somehow Melvin found a manager who's determined to make it difficult.