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RockCoCougars

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Everything posted by RockCoCougars

  1. Hopefully they let Dillard go as far as he can now. I don't want to hear the 'taxed bullpen' excuses all weekend.
  2. I'm not sure how you can say that about his fastball? Without looking up his average fastball velocity vs last year, I would say it has just as much life on it and probably more. His fastball has always been straight so its not a matter of losing any movement. I think its simply of factor of not locating the fastball as well, and really not being able to throw his curveball and slider for strikes. A lot of times last year, he set up his better located fastball with his off speed stuff, thus more "blowing away" hitters. I know he hasn't been getting his big curve over for strikes much, but to me it seems he has almost abandoned his slider on top of that. Bad combo, but I think he will turn it around. I don't know. You are probably right about the location thing, and I'm surprised that his velocity is up. It just seems that guys are getting good wood on the ball this year when last year they looked pretty helpless. I'm sure that it's easier to blow guys away with a fastball when they are looking for a hammer curve that splits the zone in half.
  3. I wonder why they are using Dillard. Is Veras available for the 8th, or is he still cramping? I thought that I heard Block say that Axford won't be used today, which is OK by me.
  4. Aguilera was a rare case. I forgot who he was traded for, but a quick look reminded me that it was the 'original' Frankie Rodriguez, who was a huge prospect at one time, and just as big of a bust. I think that his star had dimmed with the Red Sox a bit before the trade. At any rate, having lived up there at the time, I'm fairly certain that Aguilera wanted to return to the Twin Cities because he lived up there year round and had children in school there. He also had 10/5 rights, which probably sparked some discussions with the Twins before he was traded. Greinke doesn't have those kinds of ties to Milwaukee. The only other time that I can remember this happening was with Jim Slaton, who was traded to Detroit for Oglivie. He spent a full year in Detroit and then signed as a free agent with the Brewers. That said, he had a much longer history with the Brewers, and more importantly back in those days, free agents were limited to negotiate with only a handful of teams that 'drafted' them in the reeentry draft. Believe it or not, but back then the Brewers were very aggressive with free agent contracts, and probably had the best offer.
  5. Maybe Caple is just a coors guy Have to take my seasonal opportunity to bash Caple. In my view, he's a pencil neck geek who hates Milwaukee and the Brewers because he's a homer from the Twin Cities who blamed Selig for trying to contract the Twins. You will never see anything positive about anything related to the Brewers from him. Did I mention that I can't stand the guy (or ESPN)? Rant over....
  6. The Dodgers aren't going to trade Jansen. That would be like the Brewers trading Axford last year. They might move Gordon and Eovaldi, but I'm not sure that I'd do that for Greinke. At any rate, I think that the Dodgers are going after Hamel as their number one target- either this season or in free agency.
  7. I say no. He's basically Dave Concepcion with more longevity.
  8. I think things are just evening out from last year. In all my years of watching Brewers baseball, I never saw a bullpen perform anywhere close to what they did last season. Aside from a few hiccups from Loe early on, it was lights out. This makes the substandard performance from this season look even worse by comparison. The one that I'm actually the most concerned about is Axford. I expected K-Rod to be a bit shaky and watching Veras has been a white knuckle ride, but Axford doesn't seem the same. Not even mentioning the fact that he is having big time isses throwing his off speed stuff for strikes, it just looks like his fastball has lost some life to me. He's not blowing away many guys this year like he has in the past. I'm not sure whether that's because guys are sitting on the fastball and laying off the curve or what. Basically Brewer closers have had a one or two calendar year shelf life over the past twenty years. It seems that more often than not, a guy comes from nowhere, dominates for a stretch and then blows up. Hope that isn't the case here.
  9. Well, that was the worst at-bat that I've seen a Brewer have all season.
  10. This is precisely why I feel that Greinke can be signed. There is roughly $35-40 million opening up in the payroll for next season. Where could it be better spent? Give Greinke about what Cain got, spend a bit on a SS and maybe a cheap LH 1B/OF on one year deals. Go with Estrada/NRI vet starter and let two of the prospects fill out the rotation. There should be enough left over to keep at least two of Parra/Veras/Loe for the bullpen through arby.
  11. Personally, I think that the MJS is a pretty good paper with a good website. The problem for me is paying for something that I've gotten for free since 1995 (I believe). Newspapers these days are pretty much caught between a rock and a hard place. Circulation has to be way down as the population gets more connected (frankly the only newspaper subscribers that I know are either older or businesses), I'd bet that ad revenue is way down as well. Frankly, in my opinion, these days the main purpose of newspapers should be to cover local news and sports. By the time they hit the press, most of the world/national news is well, old news. The world has changed and these stories are readily available in a million other sources. All that said, is there really enough local news to fill a daily newspaper? Probably not. In the end, the only way that they will survive is to find a way to boost website advertising revenue. To me, charging for access to the website is going to kill traffic and hinder that possibility.
  12. This is a poor business model for the newspapers period. I will fully admit that I'm cheap, but since the Journal went to charging, I visit it much less. I will do the same with the Madison paper (though you can still read the articles without registering if you are willing to scroll around the box. I understand that circulation is way down, and especially classified advertising, but they are going to lose traffic on these sites big time by charging.
  13. The fact that Thornburg's name is being thrown around plus the fact that Marcum was examined by a surgeon seems pretty ominous.
  14. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Youkilis has Pittsburgh written all over him, doesn't he? Just seems like a natural move that they make. I'd bet that they are just waiting for the Red Sox to eat some more salary.
  15. I called him pedestrian because he has been at the plate. I should know because I overpaid for him in fantasy baseball. He started fast, then disappeared for about 6 weeks outside of the helmet toss. He's come around a bit lately, but he certainly didn't pick off where he left off last year. I say this knowing full well that he's still very young, but so far this year he hasn't been any great shakes.
  16. Error are not equal to bad defense. Range can make up for errors. I'll give you that, but what about throwing errors? I haven't watched the Jays play a ton this season, but I've seen Lawrie make two throwing errors. One was in a crucial spot, and basically cost them the game. Obviously a small sample, but his defense really hasn't stood out as great to me, and I would have taken note had he looked great out there.
  17. If the negotiations right around Opening Day weren't enough for Greinke with the added year of injury risk on his end, why would the same offer work when he's on the open market? This tells me one of two things. Either the Brewers made a Jered Weaver/Justin Verlander ballpark extension offer, or ZG wants way too much. Probably a combination of both. I think that the Brewers need to determine their max offer and put it out there in the next month. I don't see what they have to lose by doing so. They know pretty much what they are committed for with salary for next year. If it's a market offer and Zach wants to stay he may just sign. If not, I don't like their odds this off-season. By that point, we should know with a good deal of certainty whether or not these guys are in the mix for the playoffs. If he won't sign a deal, your next move will be dictated by what you think the chances for the rest of the season are.
  18. I don't see this as much of a blessing. First and foremost, it hurts the team's chances- debatable as they are- for competing. It also puts a huge dent in any potential trade value that Marcum has/had. Don't want to get ahead of things, but the only silver lining that I could possibly see here would be that he may come cheaply on a make good contract next year if he misses extended time. However, on the other hand, if he misses extended time, that does not bode well for his elbow. Hopefully this is just something very minor and no cause for alarm.
  19. Good grief. Perhaps we have a solution for the Fiers/Estrada debate....
  20. I don't know.. to me, it's kind of like breaking up with your long term girlfriend 'for now' to see 'other people'. If she finds better options, she ain't coming back.. that is if you even want her back. I could see such a scenario working better if Greinke had come through the system and had a palatial estate in MKE with all kinds of community ties. I don't see much of that at work, so I think if you trade him, come December. you are going to be just another team lining up at the door- meaning you had better have the high offer. I think the Brewers should at least attempt to use this window to float some numbers with his agent. They know the score with the trade deadline coming up, and I can't imagine that they'd walk away from at least talking.
  21. Long story short, in-season WAR numbers are very suspect when they are heavily influenced by the defensive run component. I'm even suspicious of single year WAR values when they include double-digit defensive run values. It seems to me like the defensive component should be regressed. This sounds logical to me. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know very much about how WAR is computed, but the major problem I have with it is that people will toss a number like this out there in an argument, when it's obviously flawed. No way, no how would anyone's defense be worth roughly 10 percent of a teams wins.... especially a guy who is leading the league in errors at his position. I know the term 'win' in this case is not literal, but still.
  22. We are past the opt-out already. He opted out and basically got an extension. That's what I meant to say. This part could start looking bad in a few years..... 5 years/$122M (2012-16), plus 2017 vesting option signed extension with NY Yankees 10/31/11 12-15:$23M annually, 16:$25M, 17:$25M vesting option ($5M buyout) 2017 salary guaranteed if Sabathia 1) does not end 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury, 2) does not spend more than 45 days in 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or 3) does not make more than six relief appearances in 2016 because of a left shoulder injury no-trade protection perks: suite on road trips
  23. Kobe and his 'people' basically engineered the whole deal to L.A.. I don't think that he would have ever played for Charlotte, at least not until a bunch of protracted nonsense went on for a few years. As for Nash, that was a big miss. I remember watching bits and pieces of Santa Clara making the tourney run that year, but I didn't think that he'd amount to much in the NBA... certainly not a HOF like he turned out to be. BTW: Leonard might have some upside, but I'm almost positive that he'll be eaten alive in the NBA. The Bucks don't do well with 'project' picks at any rate, so I hope that they stay far, far away. Jennings was an unconventional/young guy in the draft, but he was ready to play in the NBA right away. Leonard looked lost in the Big 10 last season.
  24. Perhaps this discussion should be in the statistical analysis forum, but since the Jays are in town, and it's Brewer-related in a roundabout way (and because a lot of discussions turn to 'advanced' stats) I'm posting it here. I know that different sources have different ways of computing WAR, but how the heck is Brett Lawrie leading the A.L. in WAR on baseball reference... higher than Hamilton, higher than Adam Jones, higher than everybody. He's been absolutely pedestrian at the plate, which is reflected in his offensive WAR, but the guy has a 3.0 defensive WAR. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is WAR not a counting stat? Does this mean that his defense has been worth 3 'wins'? Perhaps I've missed something watching Blue Jay games this season.... is Lawrie covering the entire left side of the infield at once and acting as a roamer in left-center or something? I know that many don't like using errors as a stat, but the guy already has 9, which isn't that good for a third baseman at this point in the year. Seriously, this causes me to once again question the validity of WAR as a meaningful stat. Perhaps the best regarded defensive 3B of all time in Brooks Robinson only had two seasons with a DWAR exceeding 3.0. The best defensive 3B that I've seen was Buddy Bell... he also only had two seasons with DWAR exceeding 3.0. Since we are not even halfway through the season is it really possible for Lawrie to have a DWAR in the 6.0 neighborhood? What gives?
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