RockCoCougars

In my view, WHIP is especially useful for a reliever- maybe not so much for a closer, but definitely for guys who inherit runners/innings.

This brand of baseball is much better than sitting around watching Macha wait for a three run homer. Better yet, it seems that the players are more 'enthused' than last season.

This. People act like the addition of Reyes would make a CC like impact when that's highly doubtful even though he's having a career year, at least offensively(and it's not even really close - in a contract season)- defensively, at least by looking at the stats, he's been roughly the same as Betancourt.

Mike Warren, who for years I kept wanting to think was part of the Moose Haas trade for some reason.That's him... I thought 9 career wins may be the fewest for a guy throwing a no-hitter, but I just checked and Bobo Holloman had only 3. The no-no came in his first start- talk about peaking early!

I'm no Josh Wilson apologist, but a comparison to Picciolo in '82 seems quite a swipe. Picciolo was like Enrique Cruz the 2nd half of his year in MIL or the 3rd quarterback who practically never suits up: the Brewers got Picciolo from Oakland in mid-May. From then 'til the end of the season, he played in 22 games and got 21 ABs with 7 hits & 1 RBI. Wilson is 5-18 so far (.278) but has 2 HRs & 3 RBIs. . . . Total production is similar, but it's taken Wilson a couple weeks to do this so far compared to 4.5 months for Picciolo, the most invisible & anonymous member of the '82 Brewers.I made my first comparison before the two jacks. Picciolo was actually at least decently regarded when the Brewers got him. I had thought that he made an all-star game with Oakland, but that was just another case of my memory slipping. He was pretty much buried behind Yount, Molitor, Gantner and even Romero when he got to Milwaukee. Useless trivia: One of the minor leaguers the Brewers traded for Picciolo threw a no hitter with only 9 career wins....anyone remember his name?

Point taken, but I think Counsell has maintained a rather high rate of BB due to the fact that his overall swing rate is lower than average, while his swing and miss rate is quite low. I would think that guys who swing less would walk more, so they do play a part in the equation- however, I still would place most of the blame on the pitchers inability to throw strikes. Obviously, both the hitter and pitcher play some role in drawing walks, but because there are so many different factors it's impossible to quantify a 'ratio of responsibility'. At any rate, these sorts of arguments are why I love baseball.

I said 'mostly' because there are exceptions, mostly with free swinging hackers and 'sluggers'. Guys like Manny Sanguillen, Shawon Dunston, Neifi Perez and Betancourt rarely walk(ed) because they basically swang at everything. On the other hand, you have guys like Babe Ruth, Harmon Killebrew, Barry Bonds, etc. who drew tons of walks due to their slugging prowess and often getting 'pitched around'- if not intentionally walked. I feel that these two categories are the exception, where you can attribute walks- or the lack thereof, to the hitter. With guys like Counsell (and the bulk of MLB hitters), even though they may be 'selective' and watch a lot of pitches, I would argue walks are mostly attributable to the pitcher. As for fouling off pitches, there may be an art to that with the rare Luke Appling type, but I would guess that double digit pitch count walks are pretty rare. I wonder what the average pitch count for Counsell's walks is- obviously the lesser that number is, the more the onus lies on the pitcher. One thing I am sure of is that no one is pitching around Craig Counsell, so any pitcher who walks him is doing so as a 'mistake'....how doesn't that fall to the pitcher?

Doesn't Hart have a no trade clause in his deal?

He is exactly who he is- an innings eater.

True. Which begs the question. For fun, let's say the Brewers make the World Series. If Gallardo, Greinke or Narveson were to start a road game, could they let the pitcher hit and DH for Nieves? I'm thinking no, but it would be funny (albeit humiliating for Wil).

I'm kind of indifferent to the whole Nieves/Kottaras thing. Obviously no one hitting .146 in June deserves a roster spot, but (outside of Estrada) Kottaras was the worst defensive catcher that I can remember in a Brewers uniform. What if Lucroy went down in the playoffs with Kottaras as the backup? Teams would run wild on him. In 2001, I never thought that I'd be pining for Henry Blanco in a Brewer uniform, but in hindsight, what a perfect off season acquisition he would have been- for roughly half a million more than Nieves.

That was the argument people used when Miller Park was getting fought over. I hope that Kohl focuses his energies on getting something done. It would be the ultimate irony if the Bucks left because they couldn't get a new building when their owner contributed (I think) $50 million to build the same type of facility an hour away.I didn't say a brewer sized following but there is one, its not like the admirals that has about 1000 solid fans and the wave who have about 500. I know there aren't many bucks fans on this board, but I think most people that care about the city of milwaukee, like myself, believe that having the bucks is a good thing and that having a new arena would help the image of the city.I agree with you. All it would take is a deep run in the playoffs for the bandwagon to fill up again- easier said than done, I know. The issue with a basketball arena is that it's not really a destination like a new baseball stadium would be- I don't know if attendance would increase even slightly just with the new facility. The need for a new facility in this case is 100% money, which is going to make things pretty difficult.

The link below would indicate that Soup still thinks he's good (at least he did coming into the season). http://www.omaha.com/arti...0110407/SPORTS/704079695 Using the neck excuse again, and dropping the 'several opportunities' and 'cutoff date' in there. Opposing hitters indicate something different (.296 BAA). I think that it's time for him to hang them up. He's making Willie Mays look like Jim Brown right now in context of a guy staying too long.

The Bucks have a following? This isn't the 1970s and 80s.That was the argument people used when Miller Park was getting fought over. I hope that Kohl focuses his energies on getting something done. It would be the ultimate irony if the Bucks left because they couldn't get a new building when their owner contributed (I think) $50 million to build the same type of facility an hour away.

Prince is the Bret Saberhagen of hitters, so this 'odd-year' explosion was pretty predictable. He's going to cash-in in a very big way, and sadly every HR he hits makes it less likely that he stays in Milwaukee. If the Brewers somehow won the World Series, I could see Attanasio making the 'impulse buy', but that would probably be the only way.

I think you have to keep Hart unless you are blown away with an offer. His bat will be needed if/when Prince leaves, taking with him roughly 20% of the team's HR. Considering that he's a younger, slightly watered down version of Jayson Werth, I think the contract is pretty reasonable as well.

I really don't think he will come cheap. At any rate, I don't think the O's will be putting up the white flag for at least another month, if at all. If available, Hardy will most likely be the consolation prize in the Reyes sweepstakes, so I think he the O's will ask for quite a bit in return. One thing working in favor of a trade is that I believe the Orioles have two highly rated SS in the minors- not sure how 'close' they are to the majors.

"I don't buy though that he has a history of pitching poorly in pressure situations. Hawkins has spent the last decade pitching largely as a closer and setup guy, with plenty of success over that decade." The Cubs and Twins fans that I know would beg to differ with you.

I think that he said that he thought it was the 8th inning. He reminds me a lot of Mickey Rivers both on the field and with his personality, and that's a good thing.

When is Beane going to go? Before or after the movie comes out? Since the 'Big 3' pitchers have left, it's looked more like Bandoball than Moneyball out there.

Exactly. This video game type change in real time mentality is all fine and dandy on a message board- but in real life your clubhouse would be Machaed in short order.

I agree. The NBA is much bigger than the NHL in America. There is a reason why the Stanley Cup games are on cable with lower ratings than American Pickers. As for the hockey people saying that is due to the fact that hockey isn't as good on TV, that's all fine and dandy- but that's where the big money is at for sports teams. For the record, my friends call me 'anti-hockey guy'.

Soup has a 6.3 ERA with the Omaha 'Storm Chasers' (blatant marketing name even for the minor leagues- what's next, the 'Fresno Trekkies'?'). I don't understand his motivation to continue playing. http://www.onionsportsnet...idents-with-offer,19959/

Not to bag on you, but I've always found it surprising that most people who like soccer don't like hockey and vice-versa, because to me hockey is basically soccer on ice. For the record, I have no interest whatsoever in either of them.

Why does the #9 hitter on the little league team walk so much? He doesn't swing much, and pitchers can't throw strikes when he's up to bat. I will argue until the day that I die that unless you are talking about an elite hitter hitting in front of a non elite hitter (Prince for example), walks are mostly a product of the pitcher. You can't be serious Anyone who watches baseball long enough should be able to clearly see that there can be vast differences between hitters in their levels of plate discipline, thus this has a dramatic impact in why some hitters walk more than others, sometimes walking significantly more. Hell, one only needs to compare Betancourt and Counsell. Yuni swings at everything while Counsell rarely swings at a pitch outside of the strike zone. Yea, Counsell will also look at his share of pitches that end up being called strikes, but the by far biggest reason that Counsell has always walked at a high rate considering that he's never had power is that unlike many players in baseball, Craig not only has a good eye at the plate, he just won't swing at pitches out of the strike zone. That 1-1 fastball or slider two inches off the plate Counsell refuses to swing at to go 2-1, while less disciplined hitters will swing at it to go 1-2 or make an out. Plate discipline is a skill just like other aspects of the game are. Guys who have good plate discipline generally have had good plate discipline for a long time, through the minors and then through the big leagues, while free swinging hackers tend to also have been that way their whole time playing baseball, that's why the walk less. Pitchers have nothing to do with it over large sample sizes. I'm completely serious. Obviously, the hitter plays a role by not swinging much, but hitters like Counsell would never walk if the pitchers could throw strikes at will. Back in my amateur coaching days, if my team was down in the final inning, no one was swinging until they got a strike called. Did more guys walk? Yes. Was it a product of the hitter? Not really, it was mostly the pitcher's inability to throw strikes. Obviously, MLB pitchers have much better command- but at the same time, I would bet that most walks (non-intentional) are mistakes. Do you honestly think that pitchers are trying to pitch around Counsell? Like I said above, how many times would Counsell have walked facing Eckersley or Greg Maddux? If a pitcher has a high walk rate, then is it due to his lack of control or the discipline of the hitters that he's been facing? Maybe Manny Parra has just had some bad luck in his career, having had to face a bunch of masters of the strike zone. Seriously, when a guy's best discernible offensive skill is drawing a walk, it's a little dubious to me. Maybe he should get some body armor and crowd the plate, he'd then be a two way threat: HBP/BB.