TooLiveBrew

He'd have to be passed through waivers & traded after the deadline though, iirc, since he was signed as a FA

Yesterday was not my day on the Brewerfans. Somebody keep me away from a keyboard. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif Chamberlain & Buchholz I just didn't know about (just saw them as recognizable examples -- plus the Brewers haven't let signability get in the way too much in recent years)... but the Cam thing... sheesh.

I meant graphics-wise. I can't comment on anything else, since the only time I've played '10 on PS3 was on a demo at Best Buy http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

I really don't think anybody would have a problem if we had 3 talented pitchers with some upside, and then had guys like Wolf and Bush to fill out the other spots. Add Narveson & Parra in, & we basically do. Narveson has worked his way into the rotation, but it looks like Manny will have to wait until someone gets injured to get his shot.

Oh, whoops. Misread your question. 84 is the staff's ERA+. I am dumb.

Did you mean "high floor'"?Hah. Yes, of course. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

The scarier thing, to me, is that his fastball velocity is down more than 1.5mph so far from his career average. I think the injuries have finally caught up to Benny beyond just missing time on the mound, and while it stinks the way it happened, I'm glad the Brewers didn't re-sign him.

How many other teams have gotten to play 2 series against the Pirates? Also, what's the OPS+ against the pitching staff this season? Not sure on the Pirates question. The team's pitching OPS+ entering play today was 84. I was just responding to a post specifically discussing the offense.

I just don't think he will react that rashly. Like I posted in the "Too early to be demoralized?" thread, it's taken a poopstorm of massive stature for this team to be 10-15. It's hardly directly Macha's fault, but when a team doesn't play well the manager is always the lightning rod. I dislike many decisions Macha makes, but I will absolutely not suggest that firing the manager after the first month of the season will do anything positive. Would batting Gomez lower in the lineup & utilizing Edmonds/Hart in the 2-hole have meant winning two or three more games in April? Probably not. Would not starting Suppan twice (which was flat-out idiotic, imho) have guaranteed wins in both those games? Of course not. It's April. Player performance is always all over the place, and you have things like San Diego leading the NL West. If the team were 15-10, you would absolutely not have a thread calling for a contract extension for Macha, so to be honest I really don't see what all the fuss is about aside from the fact that we're wacko-diehard fans & we've been waiting all winter for baseball! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif And one more rambling thought -- to the comments on Macha's lack of emotion, I really could care less if a manager is stoic or a spittle-flying-in-faces fireball. Overall if I had to pick one side of the spectrum over the other, it would be stoic. I actually think that's one of Macha's stronger qualities as a manager. Just because he doesn't turn red when he argues with the umps like Ned doesn't mean he doesn't back his players. Try to read his lips some time he argues a call. He doesn't tend to pull any punches over bad calls, but imo he just keeps his body language in control (which probably keeps him from getting ejected most times, honestly).

I'm still upset that we didn't trade away players like Cameron, Hoffman, Looper, Counsell, Kendall, etc last season as we could have received some value, especially from Cameron and Hoffman. Fwiw, Cameron was a Type B free agent, so the Brewers essentially traded him for a late-first round pick by letting him walk in free agency. Type Bs return one sandwich-round pick -- unconditionally, so there was no risk of losing the pick like in the Sabathia situation -- between rounds 1 & 2, for anyone that wasn't aware (not saying you aren't, Monty). It was frustrating to not see anyone moved, but my guess is the potential returns on guys like Counsell/Kendall/Cameron/Looper weren't very nice. Especially in Cameron's case, I doubt we could have gotten anyone of a supplemental round caliber. Joba Chamberlain, Clay Buchholz, Gio Gonzalez, Huston Street, and for a Brewers example, Jake Odorizzi were all supplemental round draft picks. Of course many supplemental round guys don't make it, either, but if the options for return on Cameron were even close to underwhelming, I'd rather the org. play it the way it did & just take the draft pick. Prospects fail too. The one I can't wrap my brain around was not dealing Hoffman, but something tells me Melvin had him in his plans for 2010 at the time. what it would take for you to be a seller (i.e. would you sell if we were around .500, would we need to be God-awful bad or would you never be a seller) I would be comfortable selling if the team is around .500, or roughly in the same position they were last season around the trade deadline. what would be your priorities during this season? I assume you mean what type of return(s) I/we would be seeking in trade(s)? I would say pitching, pitching, pitching. Cast a wide net, and gather up as many pitching prospects as possible, high ceiling guys & high floor guys alike. I'd also probably look into true centerfield prospects, middle infield, & catching (rookie ball or high-A level on catchers). Who do you think are likeliest to be traded and what will we target? I may have not understood the previous question, since I basically answered part two here above. Hart, Bush, Gerut, even Suppan (for a team decimated by injuries) are all guys I could see getting moved. I really don't think Melvin will deal Fielder this season. Zaun, Edmonds, Counsell, Inglett, Davis, Vargas, Hawkins, & Hoffman would probably be candidates as well, but since they were all signed as free agents, iirc they'd have to clear waivers after the trading deadline in order to be moved. EDIT: See TheCrew07's post...

Who is it that you're referring to? I just don't really remember the trades made this past offseason (aside from Hardy/Gomez)

The team's OPS+ entering play today was 115... and while today's game was horrid, the offense was still well above league-avg. in the first month of the season.

Every team goes through stretches in every season where they go 10-15. This just happens to be right out of the gate, so it sticks out like a sore thumb. It sucks, but I'm definitely not demoralized. Let's not make too much of this. Through play today, Brewers opponents boast a combined 81-70 record, which is a winning percentage of .536. We've had a tough schedule overall so far, and the team hasn't exactly come bolting out of the starting gate. I think Ennder's post above (#68) summarizes the situation perfectly so far. I mean, yeah -- if Prince is going to OPS under .750, Zaun/Gerut under .600, Escobar under .700, and Davis is going to post an ERA around 9, Narveson/Vargas/Hawkins around 7, & Hoffman over 10 -- then this team is in serious trouble. But soak that in. That's what it's taken for this team to be 10-15. There is almost literally no chance any of these guys will continue to be this bad, and the team's record will start to reflect that as the season rolls along. EDIT: Oh yeah, and Edmonds & Gomez have missed time due to injury. Edmonds was the team's 3rd-best hitter going by OPS+ heading into play today.

Doesn't Attanasio live in SoCal? If so, his attending games wouldn't mean much (if anything) more than just that he was attending games.

I haven't purchased '10, but I still play '09 from time to time on my PS2. Just played a game tonight, actually. The game is nothing compared to the PS3 version, but if you're used to Gamecube, I think you'll like it just fine.

Thanks for sharing that. Looks like a solid recruit.

Sorry, Menotti. It's always hard to lose a friend like that. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

The reason he was had for such a good price is that many/most don't think he can be a starter, due to his diabetes & BB problems

It was great to see Hoffman back on his old form again tonight. Let's hope the command issues are a thing of the past.

Like MH mentioned, thanks for the follow-up post. Definitely tell Angel everyone's rooting for him.

I'm not turned off from Salome -- quite the contrary, it's good to learn more about what's going on behind the scenes. However, I think Coach Steve grossly overstated the case of folks being against Angel. Clearly no one is rooting against him here. I can understand feeling like he's getting left behind with Lucroy's emergence, and of course the Brewers' brass never seems to miss an opportunity to... miss mentioning Angel. This is important to bear in mind. While I won't disagree (& I doubt he would either) that Coach is clearly never going to stop believing in & sticking up for Angel, I think it's more than fair to say that he has little or no reason to lie or mislead when it comes to his former player. I will freely admit to being one that assumed the ADD med. explanation seemed pretty shaky at the time of Angel's suspension, but I believe that says more about the culture of drug abuse in baseball than it does about my opinion of Coach & his objectivity. Look at Edinson Volquez -- maybe he really was using meds to help increase the chances of conceiving a child, and not abusing PEDs. I sure as hell laughed at that notion, but honestly it could just as easily be legit. Coach: I didn't respond directly earlier, because I didn't want to pile on. But since I've rambled on now, I'd like to say to you that I found the "golden boy" quote about Lucroy -- & a few other comments in your post -- very off-putting & unnecessary. I'm certainly one that's guilty of condescending, probably more than my fair share, so I can't claim to be holier-than-thou. I know you've been met with some pretty negative receptions here at times, and I think that's unfortunate. I think it's great that you still drop in from time to time & provide interesting insight (like Angel's situation), but I really don't think anyone insulted Angel or laughed about his battle. It's nice to know you always have his back, but we certainly aren't out to forget him or see him fail. If anything, I think the amount of interest in this topic highlights just how much many here think of him. I hope he can get well & get back on the field this season. I'd have to think mashing the baseball would be good therapy. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Angel is the Devil I hope that someday Salome mashes MLB pitching to the extent that we can get this phrase into use

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0bT23wU0hX0kb/610x.jpg Yes. The perceived seriousness of this post absolutely cracked me up.

C'mon, TLB, that sounds a bit condescending. If it really was that easy why even have a guy doing it full time? I apologize (in general, and specifically to Beast Light) for the condescension -- didn't intend that at all. Re-reading it, I definitely should've said it differently. My only point was that it's not overly difficult to go back & do something like check Cot's Baseball Contracts or MLBTradeRumors or similar sites to come up with alternatives (or ask TheCrew07 http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif) I really dislike when fans throw around the 'Anybody but THIS guy!' line without bringing anything/much to back it. Imo it's always important to keep context fully in the discussion. But for people to get into the "you can't criticize Melvin" unless you know exactly which players and which deals can be made seems to much in the vein of sycophant to Melvin. I don't believe you can't criticize Melvin, I just believe that declaring a given player worthless or whatever, without examining realistic alternatives, is just fans venting and/or soothing their own tempers. Overall, I believe Melvin is easily in the upper half of GMs in baseball. Depending on what you think of him, that could just be an indictment of how poor MLB GMs are overall. I think the Brewers could improve, but imo they'd have to go the unconventional route (see Andrew Friedman of the Rays). If I had to guess, I'd say the chances the team would worsen itself at GM by making a change are greater than the chances it'd improve itself.

Why can't I seem to like very many Brewer managers? I'm sure I'll just barely beat logan on this one, but probably because 99% of them are practically identical. Same mistakes, same cliches, etc.