FVBrewerFan

Yes, what we should do, is model ourselves after the one franchise to do it that way and win a title in the last 30 years. Instead of the franchises who won the other 29 titles. The alternative is to wait 30 years for a superstar to fall in our lap, and then hope you can build the right talent around him. Taking a dive doesn't guarantee you'll get a star. You only need to look back to the Bogut pick. Frankly, I doubt Davis will be a star. So you can unload your roster and get a top pick for a couple years. Doesn't mean you'll gt a Kobe or LeBron. I think the Pacers are a good model, as are the Hawks. Neither has won anything, but at least they're very competitive, and with some tweaking just may win it all.

How many times do we have to endure watching a player not knowing the count or how many outs there are? I'm sure it's just me, but that reflects on the manager.

One is a gritty never-has-been, one is a gritty never-will be. They're both better SS than Bettancourt, and neither can hit as well as him. Thanks for playing name that crappy Brewer SS, please play again.

Problem is, no way you get a quality SP or SS for Hart. Not really directed at you in particular, I just see this type of statement in general very often. "Just trade x for x." I think the approach they need to take with Hart, and lots of other players currently on the roster, is to be open-minded to any trade scenerio, but don't feel like you HAVE to trade someone. They have 3 chances to trade him. At the deadline this year, during the of-season, and at the dedline next year. Until/unless he is traded, you are geting good value for his services. As far as Gamel is concerned, for those of you who want Greinke back at basically any cost- then Gael is exactly the type of player you need around. A minimum salary guy who will be serviceable at worst, and maybe very good at best. You don't need to worry about position, that usually works itself out. Big picture, you make it known virtually everyone is available at the trade deadlline. You field all offers, and if you get one that makes sense and helps the team, pull the trigger. Then repeat the same thing during the off-season. Sounds simplistic, I know, but it's dangerous when you start trying to trade certain players or don't even look into trading others if the opportunity arises. For example, I'm sure someone would want Ramirez. A proven power bat. I would gladly get rid of the last two years of that contract PLUS get some talent back in return.

Is it me, or does this ballpark have the look and feel of being in Beirut?

I don't know, and will never know. Nothing that is happening this year proves his case either way to me. I'm assuming he's not on anything now, since there's random testing all year. Whether he took something in the past either on accident or on purpse, I have no idea.

Tougher for an NL team to do this. Burn through more relievers, having to PH for the pitcher's spot later in games. i could see it working for an AL team, at least over a 1-2 month period.

Yea, well I'm hoping the "running out of gas" thing was due to not pitching for a while. Does anyone know if his FB velocity has been dropping off after 75 pitches down in the minors?

I would also add control wasn't the issue on the Rasmus HR. It's where the Brewers have been trying to pitch him all series. The pitch was up and in, same location as his 2nd HR last night. Not ready to panic or anything, was just hoping to see nastier stuff from the guy who is supposed to be our #1 prospect.

Curious to know what you all think of "Thorny" after one outing. First, I thought the Blue Jays were a tough match-up for a guy's first MLB start, but that's the way it goes. Gut reacton is to say he looked great through 5, then ran out of gas. If that is true, it's troubling that he ran out of gas at 75 pitches, since he's fully stretched out. But the thing is, I don't think he looked that great even in the first 5 innings. His change seemed to just spin up there, didn't fall off the cliff or anything like a good change-up should. Similar story with his curve. Everything I read about him said he has two curves, a "get-me-over" and a hard breaking curve. Saw the first version enough, and honestly didn't look that different than his change. Just sorta spins up there without much break. Don't remember seeing a dominating breaking curve much, I remember one for a swinging strike 3. Fastball I'm confused about. Not sure if he has more than one? Becuase at times, it seemed to move to the right. But most of the time it was very flat. And the velocity dropped off after 75 pitches, which again is a little puzzling. As always, don't want to read into the numbers at all after just one start, trying to focus on his "stuff" instead. I do like the way he battled. DP after he gave up a hit to the first MLB batter he ever faced. 1-2-3 inning after the Brewers put 4 on the board. Got the final out right after Lawrie's HR. I do like to see things like that. I guess for someone who a lot of people project as our #1 prospect, I wasn't overly impressed with his stuff.

Maybe it's just perception, but it seems like most teams we play have 3 or 4 guys coming out of the pen with really good numbers, and nasty stuff to back it up. While I agree it's not wise to spend a lot of money on the pen, I'm troubled that the Brewers can't ever seem to develop or find any of these guys. Caught lightning in a bottle last year with Saito and Hawkins, and Melvin was wise to walk away instead of offer big contracts to aging bullpen arms. The problem is, he didn't find adequate replacements. Then to make matters worse, KRod and Ax are struggling. I fully expected these guys to drop off a bit from their numbers last year. KRod is about what I expected, but Ax's fall-off has been dramatic. I've always believed the bullpen was one area of the roster that a small market team needs to focus on. You can't always sign every big bat and startingpitcher, but you should be able to build a very effective bullpen every year. In fact, it's critical for a small market team.

Until the 3rd inning. Now I'm thinking The Ignitor.

Best of luck to you Brad Nels... I mean Brooks Conrad

As Patrick said, they could DFA Perez too. Who really cares? I am excited, yet nervous. It's like you finally can afford that shiny new sports car, and once you get it you're afraid it might get damaged. We look back on the history of all these top pitching prospects, and I can't help but be just as worried as I am excited.

No, he didn't: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=hartco01&t=b&year=2006 Mench got more starts for about two weeks, then Hart started almost every game from August 12th on. After the trade Hart got 46 starts and Mench 31. Then take a look at 2007 and tell me who the starter was, Hart or Mench? Mench started a ton of games in 2007, mostly in LF. Mr. Braun was at 3B. Which is interesting, because if Cruz was kept and started in LF the lst few years, Braun would be at 3B, and probably playing it pretty well. Which means no ARam... and the domino effect keeps going. No McGehee at 3B last year, which means no reason to trade him for that gas can Veras. But I digress. Trading anyone is not the problem, it's what you get in return. And what makes that trade so bad is that Cruz was just thrown in there.

Could be a piggy-back start, ala A ball and rookie league. They'll call them both up for the start. Vargas goes 5, McClung 4. We'll call it McVargas, and when this entity shuts out the Jays it will go down in BF lore.

Very intersting. I would have bet big that Parra would get a shot to go 4 or 5 innings. If it's Thorny I'll be really shocked.

Why do you keep assuming Greinke would be on the team if they had resigned CC? I don't think they would have. The reason they got Greinke was because they lacked a true ace. With CC, they would have had that and wouldn't have needed to trade for Greinke. There's no reason to keep bringing up this hypothetical CC/Greinke combo because it most likely would have never happened. Because that's my point, it could have and should have happened. You say if Sabathia was signed they wouldn't have gone after Greinke. I understand that. I'm just saying they SHOULD have. 30 years without a WS appearance, and another 30 without a title. At some point, you have to take maximum advantage of a window. Many here claim they did go all out the past couple years. I don't think they did. Last year we legitimately could have had Sabathia/Greinke/Yo at the top of the rotation. Lights out closer. Braun and Fielder. And plenty of supporting pieces like Hart, Lucroy, Morgan, etc. It's not my money, so I can't blame Mark A. for not going all out. I just wish everyone would stop saying the Brewers went "all in" when they really didn't.

Exactly. And that is a bargain. Doug would also have options this year if he would have signed CC. He could: 1) Ride out the contract with Sabathia, and trade Greinke by the deadline this year. 2) Trade Sabathia at the deadline, and try to re-sign Greinke. 3) Trade both of them at the deadline. Any of these options would have been a huge improvement to the Major and/or Minor League roster.

They didn't pull out all the stops, just most of them. If they REALLY pulled out all the stops and signed Sabathia, and still did the Greinke deal THAT would have been pulling out all the stops. And they very likely would have won it all last year. It also wouldn't have crushed them long term financially. Greinke certainly wouldn't be re-signed next year, but we would still have CC and Yo. CC was NEVER going to happen. Pulling out all the stops last year would have meant breaking the bank or what was left of the farm system for a short stop. Why? It was never going to happen because the Brewers didn't make him a serious offer. If they would have offered him the Yankees deal, we'll never know if he would have stayed. He and his wife really seemed to like it here, so I have to believe they could have convinced him to stay with a contract similar to what the Yankees offered.

Most people aren't saying we are losing because of him. True, most aren't- but I am. Go back to yesterday's game. Rolling 4-1 with 2 outs in the 7th. Single to CF, easily scroing the runner from 2nd. But Morgan attempts to throw the guy out at home, so runner ends up on 2nd. Next batter hits it in the hole at SS. Ransom has no play at 1B, but would have had a relatively easy force at 2nd to end the inning. Brewers still up 4-2. But wait, there was no force because of Morgan's hair-brained throw the abtter before. So the Twins tie it 4-4, go on to win in extras. What does any of this have to do with RR you may ask? Well, nothing if this was an isolated incident. But it's not, of course. Fundamentals on this team have been horrible all year- last year too. It's just that last year they have enough talent to overcome all the mental mistakes. This year they don't. One of the few things a manager has control over is getting his team to play sound baseball. RR is failing in that regard.

They didn't pull out all the stops, just most of them. If they REALLY pulled out all the stops and signed Sabathia, and still did the Greinke deal THAT would have been pulling out all the stops. And they very likely would have won it all last year. It also wouldn't have crushed them long term financially. Greinke certainly wouldn't be re-signed next year, but we would still have CC and Yo.

Brewers never seem to score like that. Move runner to 2nd, then 3rd, then 2 out clean single to bring him in.

Nothing says "Happy Fathers Day" like a botched RR contact play.

Injuries are a valid reason why we shouldn't expect 90 wins again this year. It's not an excuse for the horrid baseball we've seen all year. Just last night, bad throw/decision to end the game. But prior to that Gomez is doubled up at 2nd on a routne fly to CF. Aoki is thrown out trying to steal, Braun hits a HR right after that. No idea if RR calle dthose or not, but it doesn't matter. ONE game and 3 bad decisions cost them the game. And there have been other games with even more mistakes. Can't remember the details, but Braun gunned down at home a few days ago on a very shallow fly to LF with a guy who has a gun. Again, Braun may have decided to gi. but Sedar needs to stop him. Otherwise why is he even there??? How many times this year did a player not know how many outs there were? I know of at least 4 times. That can happen maybe once all year, and it's happened 4 times already and the season isn't even half over? We have watched this crap day after day. The Manager is responsible for this. If he's not who is? Every team will make a bone-headed mistake, but this team does it far too often. I could give many more examples. This is beyond what I would call "Manager's preference" like suicide squeeze, etc. Beyond all that, Topper is right. RR is incredibly slow in making a change. When Gamel went down, Hart or Green should have been the full time 1B immediately. Aoki starts full time immediately. No, instead we had a 3 man rotation in CF that changed every day. 48 different guys at 1B. This isn't Little League, everyone doesn't need a chance. You are the manager. You should know your own talent. Now, with all that said I'm not even syaing RR should be fired after the season. Not ready to go there yet. I just don't understand wh ythere was such a hurry to extend him.