TooLiveBrew

Ryan Braun - If he is not the cockiest player in MLB he is very close. There have been talks on the team the player plays for that the next time they see Braun they will consider sending a message. The player said not only does no one on his team like him, not to many other guys do either I just hope we play this team soon and they decide to 'send him a message' & put him on base. That's just fine by me, with the guys we have batting behind him in the lineup. Braun can't seem to get on base very well right now, so any & all charity is appreciated. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

If there is a save situation today, who would you use? It would depend. If it's a 3-run lead, I'd be confident in any of: Mota, Turnbow, Riske, Torres (maybe more) 2 runs or less: Riske, Torres, Mota (maybe more)

He hasn't been what we thought we were getting and I'm sure he's looking at these reports of offers to Braun and Fielder and he's wondering when he is going to "get his." But 2008 has the chance to be Rickie's first full, healthy season. I think passing judgment in 'what we've got' on a player this young that we haven't really seen play a full season healthy (& he should do so in 2008) is just too hasty. Not everyone can be successful as early as Prince. Hardy is a good comparison, imo, since 2007 was his first full, healthy MLB season. I expect a similar progression/performance/results from Rickie this season (& no, I'm not comparing their stats). EDIT: In terms of money, didn't Rickie sign an MLB deal out of the draft? He's probably made the most cash to this point of any of the 'young guys'

For now, that's fine info from Yost. However, what I find concerning is that soreness can go away... but if what the soreness was indicating is the start of something more serious in the shoulder/rotator cuff? Then pitching him after the soreness goes away could be a horrible idea, obviously. Is it just assumed that the Brewers have done an MRI or whatever is necessary to investigate further/serious concerns on the shoulder/area?

Collusion! Longoria is secretly the bastard love-child of George Steinbrenner and Farrah Fawcett!

Since when is giving the title of 'the best fans in baseball' to the best fans in baseball some sort of incendiary remark? When he says it about the Cubs' longtime rival? I'm really liking Brennaman. He's been announcing the last few Brewers vs Reds games on MLB TV. It's refreshing to hear an announcer very opinionated and taking strong stands on things. I haven't been watching MLB.TV, but I just want to point out that Marty Brennaman made the comments, but iirc his son Thom Brennaman is the regular Reds TV p-b-p announcer. Not sure which one you've been hearing -- they're both good though!

While this could simply be a strain of the triceps, it would not surprise me at all if this was a rotator cuff issue instead. This reminds me of a time my Doctor told me, "Well, Joel, it's likely indigestion...but it could be colon cancer." I know it's all in good fun, but he actually provides a nice follow-up, as opposed to leaving it at some random speculation: "Sheets will likely be evaluated and an MRI should be taken shortly. While this could simply be a strain of the triceps, it would not surprise me at all if this was a rotator cuff issue instead. The reason being, the triceps crosses part of the rotator cuff in the posterior aspect of the shoulder in what is called the "Quadrangular Space." The inner (long head) aspect of the triceps actually crosses over one of the rotator cuff muscles (teres major), and passes underneath another rotator cuff muscle - the teres minor. In between this intersection lies the axillary nerve, which, when compressed, can offer symptoms mimicking "stiffness" or "numbness" in the area of the triceps and posterior-lateral shoulder. In my clinical experience, I have seen very few baseball pitchers present with a pure, isolated "triceps strain" - rather, there is almost always an involvement of these rotator cuff muscles. A strained triceps certainly sounds better to the press than does a rotator cuff injury! If a DL stint is required, expect it to last the minimum 2 weeks, followed by a rehab start or two." Hardly just a worst-case scenario projection. I know Ben mentioned he was concerned, since the area in which he felt the soreness was near the latissimus dorsi muscle he tore on the back of his shoulder. From reading Chris's writeup on how the triceps 'underlaps' the rotator cuff, it sounds plausible that there could be something bigger here. However, I agree with the 'wait-&-see' approach.

I don't think anyone on the club said anything like this, the broadcasters said it before talking to anyone. 'Sore'/'strained'... guess I feel they're interchangeable.

'strained triceps' is a lot more important for a pitcher than hitter, as Upton shows. I'm worried by the terminology, because clubs tend to use vague language before they know for sure. Seeing Sheets slapping hands with the team afterwards made me feel a lot better.

Sizemore cannot be had for anything. Why even bother discussing him when you know that he is an untouchable. You said "Cleveland is really bad." Not, 'CLE is a bad trade partner for us'

(as in, Baseball Prospectus...)

Principessa is indeed a Yankees fan -- definitely not a Torre fan. Let me see if I can get her to post...

In Prior's case, is 1 season of overuse going to cause problems 4 years later, because there certainly wasn't overuse in '04, '05, & '06. Fwiw, Prior's delivery has long featured the dreaded Inverted W - http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/Baseball/Pitching/Images/Examples/Example_InvertedW_MarkPrior_002.jpg But as mentioned, Dusty mis/overused them to boot.

Look at Joe Torre for example, guy gets run out of NY, people were just sick of him and fed up with the whole situation. All of the sudden, heads out to LA, and they love him. Larry Bowa calls him the best thing that has happened to the Dodgers organization. Torre is arguably the most overrated manager in MLB history, largely due to using W-L% as the measuring stick. Of course Bowa said that about Torre, he loved him in NY. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif It'll be interesting to see how Torre manages in the NL now.

he made the change, so that's a good start. We'll take it. Agreed. It was really refreshing to see the lineup yesterday. I did a double-take.

That, along with the nice fellow who dumped his beer at McLouth on Fukudome's triple today That's a nice Wrigley fan staple, too.

How many was it in reality? see post #37

Brenneman estimated it at 15-20, iirc. That's almost as bad as that one super bowl commercial. Wow, yea... almost. Great memory on that one Stevo. One irony in this tidbit is that one of the main reasons Fukudome was said to prefer Chicago is that, being a larger metro area, it would be more Japan-friendly (or however you'd say it). I know this is the old axiom of one bad apple... but still ironic.

Unless this deal got them two options/seasons of FA, I feel like my head is going to explode. This notion that player salaries are going to continue to escalate the way they have over the past 5 seasons really confuses me. Perhaps they will, but what are we talking then, $10 mil. for part time players? Inflation in this country is absurd right now, and unless we continue reckless fiscal planning, I don't see how inflation/prices can continue to rise without a huge bottoming-out. I don't want that to be political, just economical -- and as it relates to MLB salaries. 2014? I don't see how anyone could accurately forecast that far out. Am I wrong, or is that a bit like trying to predict the weather two weeks from now?

Guys like Derek Lee, Pujols, etc all have seen quite a few changeups in recent years. I'll never forget the change he dropped on Lee last season on a 3-2 count for the K. Had Lee talking to himself like he had multiple personalities on the way back to the dugout. The pitch, along with the sequence & guts Ben had to throw it in that situation... simply beautiful.

I didn't think this required a new thread... perhaps a thread title update? Reds announcer Marty Brenneman, on Cubs fans: "Among all baseball fans, and I can't attest to the Yankees or the Red Sox because we don't see them with any degree of regularity unless it's interleague play, but far & away the most obnoxious fans in baseball in this league are those who follow this team right here." "You simply root against 'em" Linkage to audio

And pointing to the 2006 production of Gross just reinforces my belief that Gross supporters selectively choose which of his stats to look at since I can easily counter his 2006 production with bad 2004 and 2005 production. Yea, that's what I did. I suggested you be fair & not crop your 'search' right before Gross's good season. That's not even close to being 'selective.'

How can you claim the Cubs were not better when their pitching was so obviously better? Their pitching wasn't better. Their superior defense made the pitching look like it was better, but if you follow through & investigate, you find that the Brewers' pitchers were better. If your response starts with ERA or WHIP... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Isn't it great to have solid options in the system? A few years back this was the "Land of Opportunity" for six-year free agents and waiver guys, now we actually have usable players to go to if someone gets hurt. Oh, you bet your butt it's great. Now, when players get called up, I don't instantly assume a giant decline into sucktitude has taken place. I didn't know what to expect from Iribarren, but he was a nice player to have coming off the bench. Will he be starting at CF/OF everyday in AAA?

a short time up, but he had a couple hits and a huge double today. We'll see him up again. ¡Gracias Hernan! Melvin's really doing a nice job this season, largely because both he & Ned have a lot more ammo with which to work.