TooLiveBrew

"Wow, you know about Brewerfan? When I was in the Brewers' organization, 90% of my teammates watched that site on a daily basis during the season!" That is indeed a huge compliment. Pretty cool tidbit, splitter http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

"He lacks the speed for center and the arm for right, but he's acceptable in left field." This, to me, is what sorta damns Gillespie in terms of being much more than a reserve OF in MLB. That's a nice way of saying that he only profiles in LF, and even then doesn't sound like he profiles well. Don't get me wrong, his offense sounds nice to me... but not sure how nicely it would fit in LF once his peers aren't minor leaguers. I should be clear that I don't mean to knock Gillespie, as he obviously has a future as a PH & reserve OF with a NL organization.

Sorry to hijack, but didn't want to start a new thread... Has the Madison team completely disbanded? I see the separate forums are obviously gone

I agree with Robin19 that if there's actually a platoon at third, Bill Hall is a great bat v. LHP off the bench. If it's late/close in the game, he might make sense to bring in on a double switch.

I thought Man on Wire was OK. I didn't think it was as thrilling as some made it seem to be. Decent rental. I disagree. I thought the story was incredible, and as a documentary the film itself imo was fantastic. I also think Petit (the performer) came off as a total jag. Did anyone else like 'Hamlet 2'? I thought it was amazingly funny. Loved it. It was different from what I expected, but still great. Catherine Keener is very good, Steve Coogan was brilliant imo. Good writing... loved Amy Poehler as the hard-ass ACLU lawyer that didn't care about the play itself at all (love that wrinkle).

They're both RHB, though

And actually pitched a full season at 198.1 IP. I think the best-case scenario right now for us Sheets-backers still appears to be that the Brewers are his backup plan, unfortunately.

Interesting post by Chris Neault at The Disabled List Informer on Eric Chavez. "Eric Chavez "Wowing" in the Cage': The decline of Eric Chavez over the past three seasons has been sharp, to say the least. The culprit(s)? To start, he had previously had the labrum in his right shoulder repaired in September 2007, disc surgery in his lower back, as well as a left shoulder labrum repair. His most recent surgery last August was to his right shoulder to clean out the right shoulder joint and to repair a torn labrum (again) that was hindering his ability to move the shoulder in a pain-free manner. The surgery actually was fairly extensive, including a repair to the anterior labrum, a SLAP (a large, front-to-back tear) repair, and a Biceps tenodesis (same surgery that Smoltz and Schilling had). It is no wonder why his production tailed off so quickly, and so profoundly. The 2006 through 2008 seasons saw Chavez hit a total of 39 HR (22 of which were in '06), while his slugging percentage and OPS numbers did a nosedive. In addition, his plate discipline and effectiveness worsened, as his K rates increased and his BB/K ratio dwindled. The perennial Gold Glove third baseman and usual 30 HR/90 RBI contributor seemed to be on the downside of his career. However, this recent surgery has taken quite well. Drs. John Frazier and Thomas Peatman performed the surgery, and they were pleased with the results . There is some optimism that Chavez can resume playing at a high level and being a productive force in the middle of the A's lineup in '09. When asked about how Chavez has been looking in the batting cage, A's manager Bob Geren said , "Everyone I've talked to says he looks incredible, I mean, really, really good. Better than anyone expected." While this is certainly encouraging news, Chavez has not had an overly productive season since 2005. He is now 31 years old, so a return to form is not out of the question, but expectations should still be tempered. It is unlikely that he returns to the 30 HR mark, but if he stays healthy, he should be able to hit just around 20 HR. Another positive note is that the A's lineup will be stronger this season with the addition of Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi. Perhaps Chavez will see some better pitches this year and see his stats rise as a result. I have always been a big fan of Eric Chavez - the way he plays, the outstanding defense, and the fact that his teammates admire him as a leader and great clubhouse presence. I've always had a way of gravitating towards blue collar players like him. That being said, lets be realistic with expectations: .260-.270 average, 20 HR, 75 RBI - basically, a hybrid of his '05 and '06 seasons. While the hometown oohs & aahs should certainly be tempered, Chavez would be a big upgrade over Mike Lamb if he can return to 2005/06 form. And since nothing is a guarantee, the asking price should be held down a bit... but I guess it is still Billy Beane. EDIT: For reference's sake, '2005/06 form' in terms of rates would be appx. .340/.450/.790 OPS overall & appx. .350/.475/.825 v. RHP

Am I remembering correctly if I say that Green's defense is not considered a weakness? I honestly don't care as long as he's at least average in the field. Sucks to have guys that negate much of their offensive value with the frying pan... er, leather.

Not against RHP. We need a solid , left handed bat in the worst way. But his point is that you don't want a net overall negative impact just to do that.

Plus no hint of juicing as he was big when he came into the league. First, he got the same 'fat head' syndrome Bonds did -- the logic is that, since he was already 6'5" & big that he couldn't possibly have used PEDs? Second, the sooner people stop trying to find "the juicers" & the "non-juicers", the better off things will be... especially the HoF debates. 'They all juiced' is a far better way to approach things. Thomas imo should be first-ballot. As much as I hate Kent I think he's a lock too. Agreed. He can go in the Big Stinky Jerk HoF, too.

Thanks for sharing that. I'm just shocked that Gillespie rates out higher than Lucroy, and that BA seems to agree.

Wow, Prince has really let himself go, huh? Brilliant. Simply brilliant. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I think one of the big reasons people are down on Dunn is he has been miscast as a middle of the order bat in the NL when in fact he is a perfect #2 hitter. I won't disagree that he'd score a bunch by getting on base at #2, but there's absolutely no way a guy that gives you 40 HR each season is miscast as a middle-of-the-order bat.

I apologize if I missed something obvious, but was that 'BA' list actually compiled by BA, or was it Haudricourt?

Agreed, X. If Burrell can get $8M AAV over two seasons Dunn should certainly be able to get at least $8M/3 yrs.

I'd take Haudricourt's word over the Capital Times. I'd be very surprised if the Cap. Times could get the same, let alone more, access than TH. EDIT: and I see the Cap. Times article's timestamp is from 7am this morning (basically written last night), while TH's blog timestamp is 3:35p.

It's a good number for a first-year arbitration salary imo. Can't see why Prince would be insulted. Then again, this is the guy that thought it was appropriate to attack a teammate for basically nothing, so...

I hope that Gallardo doesn't play is all I have to say. Yeah. I hope he's smart enough to not push himself too far.

Second, Raines career OPS is inflated by his walks, which is inflated by his lack of height and crouched batting stance. Tell that to Aaron Miles, David Eckstein, etc. Height has nothing to do with it. Clearly Raines had great BB skill, and clearly you are just unwilling to change your stance on him. He was a better player than Rice in all but a handful of seasons once you take defense (& SB value) into consideration. The reason Raines wouldn't get in the Hall is a career SLG of .425. Raines was significantly better at getting on base, which is job one of any batter, and why it correlates better to runs scored. They're probably both right on the fringe of being HoF players... but if I had to pick, I'd pick Raines. No one has ever walked their way into the HOF, and no one ever will. A huge part (arguably the biggest factor) of why Rickey Henderson got in is his skill at walking. Not sure how you can make that claim. It implies that the only value Raines brought was via the BB, which is just inaccurate. Eight times Dawson finished in the top 10 in power/speed ratio Power/speed number is almost 100% a novelty stat. It doesn't really tell you much about a player's value. Dawson was also a better defender - he won eight Gold Gloves; Raines won none. Rafael Palmiero won a GG during a season in which he was a DH. Derek Jeter has won a GG. This describes their fielding impact about as much as Fldg. % This is getting old. Over 75% of the writers do not think Raines is HOF worthy, and they are not an uninformed group. Actually, the ignorance within the BBWAA is astounding at times. Just go over Haudricourt's sickeningly idiotic 'justifications' on his MVP voting for 2008 if you need some tangible proof. Unfortunately, TH's way of thinking is not rare within that group. What gets old to me is people placing arbitrary boosts/penalties on players due to team stats & (often uninformed) awards voting. We have the raw data, and at this point we have the best understanding of it to date. What their teammates do should be immaterial at this point, but sadly that's often not the case.

I can't believe TH (or is it Baseball America?) has Gillespie ahead of Lucroy. I don't even know what to say/think.

New: Gregg Old: Wood Gregg is at least as accomplished a reliever as Wood without the injury risk. I'm sorry, this just isn't close to true. f Bradley goes down, look for Hoffpauir not to miss a beat offensively. Ward on the other hand was stricly a PH in recent years. Hoffpauir is nowhere near Bradley's talent level, and losing Ward is a big loss to their offensive depth. All it took for Hoffpauir to post that line in 2008 was a .489 BABIP!! Fontenot earned more PT by hitting .305/.395/.514 in 243 AB's. Both Miles and Fontenot are better defensively than DeRosa. Fontenot had .996 FP and Miles had a .988 FP. DeRosa made double the errors (8) than Miles and Fontenot combined. Fontenot had a BABIP of .355. There's a razor-thin chance he approaches his 2008 production in 2009. Also, the fact that you still cite FLG% & E as your defensive measuring sticks is probably the single biggest thing that boggles my mind on this board. DeRosa is quite solid with the leather. Chone's projections have him as basically average at 1B/2B/3B. His offensive value over Fontenot & Miles more than makes up for the average defense. Oh, and not sure where 'Miles is a good defender' comes from. Chone has him at -5 at 2B, -5 at 3B, & -11 at SS. That's awful. Fontenot is basically identical to DeRosa at 2B at a +1 (DeRosa is a 0).

Good grief... Dunn for $5M AAV?.... DOUG!

It's pretty pointless to try & argue a player's worth based on team-dependent stats like RBI & R. That's the problem with Rice's election, now that he is in, the writers will have a tough time explaining why he's in and others are out. I totally agree. This is what I don't like. I think for a more contemporary example, this would be a bit like Andres Galarraga or Chili Davis getting in.

if I'm Melvin I'd at least be monitoring his asking price as the days dwindle down without him having a job. Why waste money on a declining player when we already have Mike Rivera very cheap? Pudge's defense isn't some big difference maker at this point iirc, and he's been bad with the lumber the past two seasons. Rivera projects to give you basically the same offense, and since he's younger, is probably the better bet of the two going forward.

I don't know what to expect at 3B, frankly. Assuming it's a Lamb/Hall platoon... probably overall average or below defensively, overally average or above offensively. Lamb career v. RH: .281/.336/.422/.758 Hall career v. LH: .278/.355/.493/.847 (good grief -- if you really want a good scare, check Hall's rates v. RHP in 2008) I agree with others that the Brewers have a small to moderate chance at the postseason in 2009. However, you never know what kinds of injuries might befall other teams.