TooLiveBrew

Billy just has to be patient. Branyan's never been able to hold on to even a platoon for very long. This confuses me. How are you deciding this? Regardless of that, Branyan is clearly better than Hall v. RHP; I don't think Branyan's past seasons change much about that.

The Pittsburgh TV guys were raving about her (she'd worked with them earlier in her career), saying how happy they were for her & how much she's missed on their broadcasts. They even noted that she's been getting rave reviews with Brewers fans. It was neat to hear.

That is about the .OPS I predicted in the offseason prediction thread for him. I think its sustainable for the rest of the year, as that BABIP isn't even that high. Good stuff TLB. Great point. I agree fully that it's the kind of line Rickie will turn in this season. Given his struggles for the first month+, the AVG is probably a tad high -- I'd guess for him to be in the .250-.270 range, but the other parts look spot-on to me, too. .265/.395/.450 or so is what I think we can expect.

Doug Melvin: making me lose my deeply entrenched faith in him since 2008

Now don't take this as me applauding the team in any way, I think they are terrible. Oh... good.[/sarcasm] I want a manager and a team that have a killer instinct to get EVERY run and every win they possibly can. Maybe if they'd done something like plated 6 runs in a single inning recently you'd feel a bit better. The Brewers weren't holding the man on first, so as Mota delivered the fateful pitch, the runner on first broke for second and would have arrived easily. After the first pitch, the Nats would have had 2nd and 3rd with one out. I would imagine that Yost would have walked the batter to load the bases to set up a force at every base. So, the pitch that Mota threw was a meaningless pitch. Nice call, Ned. Wow. Good original observation, DocBucky, & thanks for the addition, moof. Ned's decision-making has become even less logical. This team needs to try a new skipper. It certainly wouldn't hurt much to try.

Yost is out of gas. This team needs a new leader. I get the feeling that he's just grasping at straws at this point. Why would you change this? It's been working well... now I guess it's time to stop doing the things that made sense?

It's actually been quite a popular boy's name in Ireland in recent years.

I hear them saying how nobody cares about soccer, and they shouldn't be giving updates on things like how Manchester United beat Chelsea. Does the non soccer liking media realize that a ton of people actually do love the sport? Dude... THIS IZ AMERICUH! Why don't you go back to your hippie Euro country, ya commie! Yes, the American ignorance towards the beautiful game makes me angry, too. Also, I think a good way to explain UEFA would be if the major U.S. sports had a March-Madness style playoff system. I know the current ones aren't all that far off, but I think only the NFL comes close to what UEFA offers in terms of excitement & 'win-or-go-home'-i-ness. But it'd be the equivalent of still having the AL/NL, AFL/NFL, etc. divides, and all the top teams in each respective sport's leagues get together for a tournament of awesomeness. I still think it's crazy that it came down to Man U. -- Chelsea for the title match. Gee, I bet no football fans found that obnoxious! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Yep, that'd be one & the same. Go [insert Linfield College mascot here]s!!! Thanks. EDIT: Oh, they're eliminated... I cheer them anyway.

Just digging around baseball-reference.com, and thought I'd share this: Rickie Weeks Last 28 days: .234/.354/.404/.758 (.240 BABIP) Last 14 days: .279/.407/.442/.849 (.313 BABIP) Last 7 days: .364/.464/.682/1.146 (.375 BABIP) Mike Cameron Last 28 days: .239/.307/.489/.796 (.276 BABIP) Last 14 days: .304/.347/.587/.934 (.367 BABIP) Last 7 days: .385/.407/.731/1.138 (.421 BABIP)

What Linfield is that? There's one near where I live in the Pacific NW... just curious. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

That gives the greatest # of PA to our 8th-best regular batter. I am not in favor of that. His OBP really hasn't been good lately, it's just been good for the #9 slot (.338 for month of May). If Yost takes Kendall out of the 9-slot, he'll actually manage to do away with what I think has been his best strategy all season, and one of the few good things I can find in keeping him as manager. Why do we have to keep putting up with this?

Is he still stiff as a board, with arms out to the side like C3PO? I always got a chuckle from that back in the MVP franchise (EA Sports)

I second the request for you to expand a bit Pedro http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

I wouldn't be surprised at all, unless it was from a small market. Adding a 5th year on an offer is what will/would likely set a bidder apart from the rest of the pack. If Carl Pavano can get a 4-year deal a few years back, I'm fairly sure Sheets can get a 5-yr. offer in 2008. Not only why, but how can you possible predict a major shoulder injury to a shoulder that's structurally fine and to a pitcher showing absolutely no sign of injury? But the thing is that there were signs (tricep tightness). This is from The Disabled List Informer blog... an entry from preseason 2007: Ben Sheets, when healthy, is one of the most lethal pitchers in the game. A rocket fastball matched with a damning curveball are simply unmatched in the National League. The rub with drafting Sheets is his tendency for injury over the past two seasons. He suffered with "posterior shoulder pain" and "shoulder strains", which in medical terminology just means "He's got a lot of different muscles that are involved here." The good news appears to be that his musculature and the tendons themselves have not torn. However, one has to wonder if this is the year that the system shuts down. When a muscle is strained, there is damage to its integrity. The fibers become malaligned, and if proper stretching and strengthening does not occur, this lends itself to a greater chance of reinjury. My guess is that Sheets probably does just enough to get back to pitching and then forgets about his rehab. Either that, or there is an underlying instability in his shoulder which requires his muscles to work that much harder to stabilize the joint during throwing. Then there is the offseason low back surgery he had. Being that Sheets is 28 years old, this is young to be having a surgery of this sort, although certainly not unheard of. A "Discectomy" is when pieces of the shock absorbing discs between the vertebrae have to be removed, or excised, through a small incision (about 3-5 cm long) in the Spine. Think of each disc as a jelly donut. The wall has some integrity to it, and the inside is more of a gelatinous shock absorber. When the wall of the disc weakens, the "gel" can leak out and compress nerves, ligaments, joints, and muscles - leading to pain, numbness, weakness, and in bad cases, loss of bowel or bladder control. It sounds like Ben Sheets has an issue with core and shoulder stability issues from a muscle standpoint. This is a possible reason why he had the disc herniation, and why his shoulder continues to get injured every 2 months or so for the past 2 years. This is just one guy's opinion, but he also posited this season that "triceps tightness" was another sign that something was getting stressed to a dangerous point in the shoulder. I am no medical expert, but the first thing I wondered when the triceps tightness was announced was how it may or may not relate to the shoulder, since the triceps runs up through the rotator cuff (iirc).

Yes, or that Mota was asked to go multiple innings... the DAY AFTER he went multiple innings. Honestly, just make the change at this point. Even if it only ends up being a neutral move, it's time to try something new. Yost's mistakes tend to be repeated almost as much as his excuses.

Wasn't the reasoning/rumor on why Vargas was let go precisely that he wouldn't accept a bullpen role or demotion? Maybe I'm making that up.

I fancy myself pretty knowledgeable on the scouting reports of the Brewers prospects, but with Dillard, I thought he was guy who sat around 88-92 and who was a good GB pitcher. Perhaps you were more familiar with him as a SP? Iirc one reason the Brewers made him a RP was how filthy his sinker can be when he can gear it up for one or two innings, as opposed to a SP workload. I'd bet that he had to operate his sinker more in the 88-92 range as a SP -- which would probably result in fewer K's & more GBs/GB outs.

Naturally after weeks of discussing 3TO, Branyan picks up a single & double in today's game. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

There's so much punergy involved in a slide on Bernie Brewer... head about to burst...

Screw objectivity -- let's just cherry-pick on Melvin any time anything bad happens with our SP! Why bother mentioning when the pitchers do well? It's less fun that way I guess. Vargas is chum. The fact that he had one decent start tells us nothing more than that he had one decent start. I'd rather evaluate a pitcher on more than one start, like others have mentioned. I look forward to seeing the thread 'Hmmmm... Pt. 2' started when Vargas goes out & gets rocked... and Melvin absolutist-ly labeled a pitching genius!

Inman is projected by most to be a #4/#5 SP.

On the one hand I really believe in the draft philosophy of BPA, but pretty soon I have to question drafting guys who play the field with a frying pan instead of a glove. What I'd really like to see is fielding figuring more prominently into the Brewers' assessment of "BPA". Imho, I think that's what RyDogg is getting at. It's not that BPA isn't a great strategy, it's what is factored into defining it. Is fielding harder to project than hitting? I'd think it would be the other way around.

Is Long expected to be around at #62 -- has something changed in the perception of Long? I thought he was a lock for Rd. 1.

Do you think Carlos Lee is a jerk for taking two more full seasons of guaranteed money than the Brewers could offer? Would Sheets be a jerk for doing the same?