TooLiveBrew

Just want to say good call to marty22. He posted on Friday that he thought Hawkins was injured

This is awesome, even though it doesn't relate at all to this team. - You didn't SAY it! - Oh, yeah... I forgot - I wrote it on the pad!

McGehee wasn't playing well when Gamel was called up -- in fact, he wasn't really even playing. Gamel was called up May 13th, and through that time, McGehee's OPS was .375 over 16 PAs. When faced with playing the organization's top hitting prospect, Macha went with McGehee, and completely stunted Gamel's growth that season in the process. Although I do fault Melvin for not getting Gamel back to AAA.

If not for your avatar, I would've never known it was you

I like the signing of Hawkins, but that's largely because I think bullpen roles are a waste of time & often counterproductive. Hawkins is another hard-throwing arm to add to the bullpen -- depth is a good thing. I'm confident he'll get his mechanics ironed out sooner rather than later. hey messed things up further by using the bullpen to stash not one but two starters to preserve the notion of "starter depth". That never made sense to me. Now there's no room for one lefty specialist to get out the Ethiers of the world. I don't blame Macha. I do blame Melvin. I completely agree with this part. It's just one more reason why releasing Suppan was, and still is, the right move.

Wow, if we could get Montero for Prince, I would be ecstatic. I don't see the Yankees parting with him, honestly. The organization is absolutely enamored with him, and rightly so. I think the return from BOS there is way too high, but I'm not familiar enough with LAA's system to comment on that deal.

He has the worst lines in that commercial, too.

I think what Bucky was referring to is the fact that McGehee's OPS for the past 14 days is below .600

The team was solid on defense for at least 2009, can't remember about '08 perfectly but I think they were solid then as well. I can't remember which inning last night, but I specifically remember a ball hit back up the middle, just left of 2B, that was hit basically right at Escobar. I think Macha doesn't employ as much shifting as Yost did, but to say that he does basically none of it is misguided imo.

I agree with you two that this is a move rooted in over-reaction. Both to their current 2B situation, and Castro's performance in AA. TheCrew07 makes an important point in noting that the Cubs don't have to worry about money wrt to their prospects' promotions/service time. It's an enviable position. I just can't see Castro proving this move sensible, and it really seems like Hendry is grasping at straws to try & salvage this season (see: Zambrano, Carlos to bullpen). The funny thing to me is that I honestly don't think Hendry is expecting Castro to produce at a ~.750 OPS & ~5+ UZR/150 level, which, like Smith notes, is what it would take to justify the move. I really think Hendry just basically thought, 'Well, crap. He's got to be better than what I've got up here. Call him up. He's our top prospect.' I have to admit, it's going to be kind of fun to watch the Cubs really suffer from those bad contracts & aging players we've discussed in recent seasons. Soriano is likely done being a useful player, since he's absolutely horrific on defense (signed through 2014 at $18M/yr.). Lee is probably on borrowed time, but at least this is the last year of his contract ($13M for '10). I think Ramirez will still be a good player for another season or two ($15.75M this season, $14.6M player option for '11, $16M club option/$2M buyout for '12), but he will probably be overpaid. Fukudome ($13M this season, $13.5M for '11) without question will not be worth his money. That's like a how-to book for irresponsible spending. But to add onto that, there's Hendry taking on Carlos Silva -- and his remaining minimum price tag of $25M through 2011 -- because the Cubs wanted to make a villain of Milton Bradley. I guess I just hope the Cubs keep Hendry as GM. http://i.imgur.com/l5mzS.jpg

Link, courtesy FanGraphs & author Bryan Smith.

Nice to see. However, I feel like with each tidbit we get on his defense, it becomes more & more apparent that there's an ice cube's chance in hell of him sticking at second base. I'm not one to use errors (esp. MiLB errors) to evaluate defense, but I honestly don't think I've read one positive bit on Lawrie at 2B. I wish the Brewers would just stick him in the OF already.

Maybe this isn't news to anyone, but a guy threw a perfect game less than 24 hours after 2K Sports announced their contest. He won $1M. He claims to have never played the game before picking up the demo in preparation for the game's release & this contest. http://kotaku.com/5532947...-gamer-starting-a-family

My guess is the starting OF will be Braun, Gerut, & Edmonds/Hart. I'm fairly certain Macha will play the inferior defender in CF when both Gerut & Edmonds are in there, though. I'd guess Hopper gets called up, even though I'm hoping for Heether or Stern.

Gameday had him at 84-87 all game. Nothing higher than 87. Yeah, that's what I kept seeing, and why I was/am concerned. And it's not just this past start.

One thing I've noticed this season is that Dave Bush, while never accused of being a flamethrower, has slipped down into Davis/Suppan territory in terms of fastball velocity. Here are his average fastball velocities (per FanGraphs) since joining the Brewers -- 2006: 89.22007: 88.72008: 88.72009: 87.92010: 86.1 (this was prior to tonight's game, but he looked right around this number if not a bit lower) A drop in overall velocity in '09 makes sense, since he pitched after getting drilled in the elbow (& injured) with a line drive. But with much of last season to recover, followed by an entire offseason & full Spring Training, what are we to make of his even slower velocity this year so far? Could it just be something mechanical? Is he still building strength back coming off the injury? He's only in his age-30 season, so I can't believe it's an effect of aging.

Boise, Denver, Austin -- all such terrible cities to pick from!

That would be my ideal solution to life after Prince. Gamel at 3B & McGehee at 1B.

I don't believe McGehee can handle 2B. He's not a good defender at 3B, and 2B requires mobility.

Nice http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif If anyone hasn't watched the clip MLB compiled of various broadcasters' two cents on broadcasts & interviews around the league, be sure to check it out http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7839517

I believe we have a LouisEly sighting behind HP ... appx. 4th row center, with a blue sky & clouds Brewers shirt on. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

His slash stats right now are actually better than any of his previous season marks. I've been very impressed with Gomez's progress so far; it's not his fault Macha keeps batting him second. My candidate is also Rickie Weeks.

It's obviously worked for some other guys (Adam Wainwright being a great example), so could it work for Soria? Wainwright was a starter all through the minors & only spent the '06 season in the 'pen as a rookie. Soria made a total of 5 starts in the minors (0 in the majors), and that was in 2005. I have serious doubts that he could be effectively stretched out to be a starter at this point when you consider workload, injury risk, etc.

I also think Gamel would have a little bit of an advantage at first base being left handed. Mat is a RH thrower, as all non-1B infielders are nowadays

His velocity has been way down, so it's either mechanics or an injury. He was absolutely dominant last season & has great stuff, so I'd expect him to rebound.