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Edmonds in CF would be a huge mistake in my opinion. He hasn't even been as good in CF as Gerut has. Edmonds 2006-2008 in CF 7.6, -2.3, -23.3 UZR/150. Gerut 2008-2009 UZR/150 12.2, 9.6.

Wisconsin pretty consistently underplays their seed in the NCAA tournament year after year under Ryan. I think he is a good coach but I am not sure it translates well into the tournament. or against teams that play zone defense.

Well I am sorry to be such a slacker. The Maltilda was good as were the Triple Nova and Hennepin. The real winner though was the Pere Jaques. Everybody thought it was much better than the others. I tried a Kiltlifter from Four Peaks brewery over the weekend. I would reccomend it if you can get it. They are a brewery in Tempe. My mom and her husband picked it up for me while they were at Spring Training in Arizona.

2 wins on offense at the CF position(even if Gomez hits his projections) and probably small steps back at 1B, 3B, 2B and LF. I think a small step back on defense as well. Escobar has the tools to be a better SS than Hardy but he needs to be more consistent. There is almost no way Weeks matches the defense we got at 2B.(+14 runs UZR best in the league) Basically we got a little better in CF but almost nowhere else. 3B we get s better McGehee on defense but lose all of Hall's plus defense. I agree Parra and Bush pitching to the career numbers is a huge boost. It probably puts us in the low 80's for wins though.

They said he didn't warm up enough. He did warm up.

We have a good chance to compete for the division if things go our way. Low 80's wins is probable though. We improved our starting pitching but our offense took a hit. Our defense is probably a little worse as well.

I think it would be pretty crappy on Edmonds' part if he backed out or took a bad attitude if he was a backup. He should have known coming in he would be a bench player. Found this in TH's blogtoday.

Hmm, so I guess Butler didn't do anything above AA in his career? If I am not mistaken, Josh Butler hasn't pitched much if at all this spring. My exact comment on him from a page back This is the most recent news I could find. So we should keep Suppan and let a better pitcher go Who are we letting go under my plan? I don't think it's a bad idea in theory, I just don't think it's going to happen. My gut feeling is that if Suppan stays, he's in the rotation. I hope if Suppan stays he isn't anything more than our 6th or 7th starter. We could easily be into our 6th or 7th starter in May for at least a few games. All it takes is a little arm soreness. FIP doesn't work well for all pitchers. It ignores to much. Manny Parra in particular gets harder than the average pitcher. The curious case of Manny Parra.

Sounds like Edmonds might still think he is a starter or at least the big half of a platoon. This was a worry I have had about him for a while. I wouldn't mind him on the team as a backup corner outfielder. I wouldn't be to happy with him in center or full-time in any position. A platoon with Hart is the biggest role that wouldn't bother me.

I can't take credit for that. Not sure where I heard it first though.

You seem to think that Suppan is above replacement level, or maybe even above average. You're probably the only one who feels that way, and that's why people are arguing with you. I'd bet that 90% of this forum feel that Suppan is below replacement level - by definition, that means that any AAA scrub will be better. So based on everyone else's opinion of Suppan, even though nobody has "proven" themselves to be better (only due to not having had a chance, nothing else), there are a ton of guys who most likely are. No, I know Suppan has been below replacement level. Replacement level is pretty arbitrary though and it ignores the fact that some pitchers get hit harder than others.(I believe it is FIP based and all FIP looks at is HR, BB and K) Even if Suppan was the worst pitcher according to WAR that doesn't mean that anybody would be better. Parra had a better WAR but I wouldn't say he pitched better last year than Suppan. If he did, it was by a very small amount, not the 1.3 wins WAR says which would have been closer to 2 wins if both had pitched close to a full season. WAR in and of itself is a terrible argument. In theory if a player below replacement level we should be able to bring in any AAA and get better results. Reality doesn't bear that out though. In my opinion WAR for pitchers needs to be more results based and a rate stat if you want to use it to compare 2 players. We don't to use luck neutral stats for hitters. I would use FIP if I wanted to look at future potential, but not much else. Parra, for example, is the type of pitcher who has through his MLB always had a lower FIP than ERA because he gets hit harder than the average pitcher. If he can stop throwing easy to hit pitches he has the potential to be much better. Every year it's the same empty argument against prospects... well they haven't proven anything yet so how can we count on them? How exactly do they get a chance to prove themselves if they are never given a shot? Do something at AA or above. Give them half a season to show what they can do at AA or above, if they are pitching well halfway through the season, cut Suppan.

Also to negate Rivas, Rogers, Capuano, Butler, or even Mike Jones is kind off in my opinion . I am not saying that all of them are going to be productive but there is a chance that one of them could easily come up and be league average. Of course there is a possibility one of those guys could be good. There is also the possibility that all would fall flat in the majors. Rivas hasn't pitched above A+. Same with Rogers plus he was on an innings limit so we don't know if he could start. Capuano is the only one with any success at the MLB level and he is coming off of a 2nd Tommy John surgery so again we don't even know if he can pitch starter innings. Butler may be a possibility when he starts pitching again. Jones' BB rate doesn't exactly inspire confidence either. Like I said earlier, lots of unknowns in the minors. If one of those guys proves anything, then it is just as easy to cut Suppan a month or 3 in as it is to cut him now. I understand that people are upset with Suppan and he isn't a very good pitcher. There are however no pitchers who are clearly better. Yes almost all the pitchers have better stuff but as we witnessed last year with Parra, stuff doesn't equal results. I prefer to hedge my bet and keep Suppan around until one of those other guys shows something.

Rivas, Rodgers, are probably ahead of all but one or two guys at AAA anyway. No way I would want to rely on a guy who has never pitched above A+ and a guy who couldn't go more than a couple innings at a time last year. If those are the best we can do, there is no way we should get rid of Suppan. Any team that gets down to it's 8th or 9th starter is in trouble. You don't win a pennant by having the best 7th, 8th and 9th starting pitcher. Do you mean teams like the Phillies who went through 12 starting pitchers last year? or are you referring to the Yankees who went through 9?

So how is that any different than Suppan? Worse than Suppan.

Gallardo, Wolf, Davis, Parra, Bush, and Narveson isn't enough to get us through the year. That's only 6 guys. We probably need at least 8 or 9 guys. Our AAA rotation is full of unknowns and guys who are just bad.

Luckily we also have McCalvy covering the Brewers for us. He is very good. TH is ok and Witrado, well he should be gone.

Just like last year we can run anybody out there and they will be better than Suppan except all those guys sucked. It isn't as easy to replace Suppan as you make it sound.

Witrado is a fan though.. of the Dodgers.

I remember the Spring Training stuff where Damian Miller called him Mongo. Mongo likes candy.

How about this part He was sent home because he could play? I know I make mistakes like that, but I am not paid to write either.

Can't wait to hear what Macha has to say about Gazpacho today.

A picture of gazpacho would have worked as well.

Only half the hits were probably legit anyway.

So apparently we have at least 2 good players on our team. Two Hobey finalists.

Should change the thread title. We have new information. Casey was correct. Free service time for Gamel.