TooLiveBrew

The only thing, though, is that it's not just a hot streak imo. He's hit well for the whole season, really. I think a lot of that has to do with being used correctly by Macha, but still. Of course I realize you guys are referring to this insanely torrid stretch he's been on, but it's not like he wasn't hitting fine overall prior to this as well. And, to be fair to Corey, the "insanely torrid stretch" covers basically a whole month. His Last 28 days line from Baseball-Reference is .267/.330/.721/1.051

Imo he would need 12 games at most to get the 4 saves (I'm continuing to imagine only using him in 3-run save opportunities). Simple answer to your concern is to not have him finish any more games after that. There is no way he'd need 22 games finished to get 4 saves (plus, if he blows the save, he probably wouldn't finish the game anyway). I say 22 because he is currently at 13 games finished. Anyway, this line of conversation is really irrelevant unless Macha does a big about-face in terms of Hoffman's usage.

Just wanted to bump this thread. Carlos Gomez has been better than expected (or as expected, if you trusted the more optimistic views on him), while Hardy has continued to stink on ice for the Twins. Slash lines as of today -- Hardy: .233/.283/.357/.639 Gomez: .258/.294/.417/.710 It's kind of unbelievable to me how far Hardy has fallen off. This trade is exactly the kind of trade people have been calling for Melvin to make, except obviously it wasn't for pitching. Melvin looks to have done an admirable job in getting a high-upside, cost-controlled player while still selling low.

Go Chris! I'm really excited to watch this. It's just amazing, & a testament of what a hard worker Cappy is, that he managed to get back.

He always makes me think of Mickey Mantle in that regard

That needs its own thread. Gut punch sadness. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

endaround made the good observation in a Transactions Forum thread on Hart that his HR/FB is unsustainably high (21.5% as of today). His career avg. is 12.1%, and his highest full-season rate was 13.0% in 2007.

A large part of the skill of being a good umpire is knowing the rulebook inside & out, and how/when to apply it. The call that Joyce blew is a call that most of us on this forum could have gotten right, but to paint things with such a broad brush & conclude that the whole job is therefore easy is just misguided at best.

And from a business standpoint, I don't think going from 70 to 75 wins is pointless. Fans largely determine how much they pay attention to the next season (and in turn, spend on that next season) based on how good they think the team will be next year. To the average fan, the number of games the team won the previous season is a significant factor in determining how good they think the team will be in the upcoming season. I sincerely doubt that there are any fans out there that are going to be so much more impressed or so much more demoralized by 70 or 75 wins, or 75-80. Maybe Hoffman's 600th is worth something (independent of team earnings) to Attanasio. That's not unreasonable to believe, as we've certainly owners who make decisions that are clearly utility maximizing, rather than profit maximizing. However, I think that the cost of letting Hoffman get that 600th save is quite large, and Attanasio will not be willing to lose that much revenue in order to enjoy watching Hoffman get #600 as a Brewer. I don't think it's worth anything to the Brewers, and I don't think it's worth anything to Attanasio. I think it's worth something to Trevor Hoffman, and as a guy that will be in the Hall of Fame, I think the Brewers should help him get to that round number he wants. Like I said, if I felt this infringed in any way on the Brewers, I would think it completely asinine. Since I don't think there's anything to lose, I'd like to see the Brewers help a HoF guy attain a goal he wants. All the important and/or younger arms in the 'pen will still have plenty of opportunities to work. Like I mentioned earlier, I'd run the guy out there for 3-run save opportunities until he gets those next four saves & then just stop worrying about how or when Hoffman is used entirely.

the ball did kinda rattle around in Gallaraga's glove. That wasn't readily apparent unless you watch the close®-up angle from the 2Bman's p.o.v. Given that rattling around, the play was much closer than it looked initially, but the runner was still out.

I don't know, what's so magical about 500 HR or 3,000 hits? People love big, round numbers for counting stats. I really don't see the harm in finding the dozen or so chances along the way it'll likely take for him to get those last four saves in what I consider a lost season at this point. If the team were contending, I'd be the first one in line to say it'd be ludicrous to put his personal pursuit ahead of the team. Since that isn't the case, I don't see the harm in helping a HoFer run down a pretty counting stat.

Finally adjusted to how people were pitching him and this is what to expect? I think it's a combination of him adjusting to how he gets pitched, & relatively good platoon usage from Macha. The contacts have to help -- perhaps a big reason why he's been able to lay off the low/low & away slider. I think '09 was a big season for Corey, developmentally. I remember reading a comment (this offseason) from him that one thing he learned from last season was to not just take pitches for the sake of taking them, but to take pitches in order to work yourself into a situation where you get a pitch you like, a pitch you can drive. So, while he wasn't very productive at the plate in '09, I believe it went a long way toward helping him become more selective at the plate & kinda slow the game down. It seems he learned the fine line of when taking pitches is better & when swinging away is better. I believe he'll probably regress a little bit, but we might be seeing a Corey Hart that's taken enough of a step forward that he's going to be the hitter many felt he could become.

Just figured if this topic didn't get merged, it would be useful to have a link to the offseason thread about Hart. Link to last posts (edited URL --1992)

Wow, it's so great to see some of the production these guys are turning in. I generally don't check stats much until later in the season (for MLB or MiLB), but this thread has me looking. - Gamel is absolutely back, and I hope he can continue to rake once he gets back to Nashville. - Cain has been on fire, and iirc trwi7 was right-on in highlighting his much improved BB rate. - Lawrie is doing admirably for a 20-yo in AA. While I think he'll ultimately spend the whole season with Huntsville, he's probably not far off from AAA - Heckathorn has been fanatastic (like YoungGeezy noted), and I agree on Odorizzi. He just needs a little more time in A-

Good explanation, battlekow. I'd add that part of why I thought he was lower is that he's been off for so long. Beyond the possibility that his body wouldn't be physically ready for a full workload (obviously he's had the forearm issue), there's the issue of being away from game action for so long. I don't have any problem with Jeffress having to earn his way back up the P50. I think we'll see him in the top 10 again very soon.

*hat tip* I call dibs on first in line to bash whatever knucklehead baseball writer that leaves him off his first HoF ballot, so he doesn't go in unanimously. If ever there were a unanimous, first-ballot HoF guy, Junior's it. What a career.

Link

Baseball can do whatever it wants. I really agree with this sentiment. Is there really anything that 100% prevents the Commissioner from taking on a special review of this game & call? The Indians didn't score a run or anything after the blown call, the umpire admitted he got it wrong (& I'm assuming feels just horrible). The worst part of the whole thing, imo, is Joyce definitely started to pull his right elbow & arm back to punch out the "out" signal... then changed his mind at the last minute to "safe". Brutal. It was so bad, my dad was telling me he was trying to figure out if it made sense in any way for MLB to have wanted this to *not* be a perfect game, and put on the fix. I don't remember seeing such an easy call blown, regardless of the magnitude.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll look for those.

So I got a couple more people's input on the Enigma. Reactions after first taste: - "That's awful -- it's almost like a soda" - "Not my favorite. Tastes like a mix of iced tea, cranberry juice, and ginger ale" So... yeah. Not going to be buying the Enigma again.

I agree, and the organization's recent track record of not being scared off by signability guys makes me feel confident we don't have to worry *too* much

And if you mean Lawrie, they don't have talent that will stick at 2B (Green is a question mark there as well, from what I've read). I like the point JohnBriggs makes about there being viable FA options, but as I'm sure is obvious I am a big Weeks backer. I think if you extend him, the only question is health, and kramnoj sums up his value very well.

Volstad 2009 avg. velocities (per FanGraphs) FB: 91.5 SL: 83.0 CB: 78.4 CH: 84.4 FanGraphs shows the slider as being a new pitch for Volstad (or, at least, he hadn't thrown it in MLB prior to this season). 5.74 K/9 & 3.30 BB/9 for him so far this season... this is a pitcher the Brewers should hit, and this is a game they should probably win.

Teams can and have come back from 10 games below .500 and at least competed for a playoff birth in September. Yes, but I'd be willing to bet the teams that have done this had more starting pitching than the Brewers do now. I don't think the team won't contend because their record thus far is a disaster. I think they won't contend because the record is a disaster & they don't have the horses to spot the rest of the league 10 games or so. This was a team that needed to be lucky (imo) to get into the playoffs this season, and they've been just the opposite of lucky so far.

I guess I hadn't tried a sour before. But "sour brown ale" is not at all how I'd describe Enigma. Like I said, I'd go with "fruity, sweet, & carbonated" ... or what you said about Cran-bic: "A bit too light, generally sweeter than sour, almost like a soda" I'll give it another taste tonight to see if I can be more descriptive