joepepsi

Here's something to hold onto: On may May 6th 2011, the Brewers were 6 games under .500. By June 5, they were 8 games over. This isn't the 2011 Brewers, but the neither is the sky falling.

Isn't bullpen management about the only tangible affect a manager has on a game? It seems the exceptional managers have a knack for building a bench with youngsters and not just going with washed up vets.

Well I certainly agree with you on that. I work in technology and was given the Appltv to take home and try. My response? Meh. when my daughter was home last summer she bought a $35 Sony blu-ray that did a better job streaming Netflix and Hulu. What most of us would call a weakness or bug in a technology, apple fans call a feature. Thanks for your input. I'll give it the month subscription to keep troubleshooting.

So, I thought I'd give mlb.tv a try because everyone here thinks it's fantastic and much better than ExtraInnings. I've had it for 3+ days now. I am currently watching the O's-Yankees. It stops and buffers every 30 seconds for about 3-5 seconds. I did a speedtest.net and my download speed is 11.5 mbps. The picture is all right, but there is a lot of stairstepping on the angles and artifacting. OH, and it doesn't work on my AppleTV. Won't accept my login. I went on the MLB.tv forum and found hundreds of complaints about the service. Most saind NFL and NBA services have no issue, but MLB.tv is horrible. I posted my problems wiht Appletv and MLB.tv and got a response " working on it". Still have no update. So, why do all think this is awesome. I think it sucks. It's DVR features are inprecise and lock up moments at a time. I understand MLB would oversell the service. I don't understand you'all doing the same. Are kickbacks involved? If so, how do I get some of that? Maybe I could get enough to get DirecTVand Extra Innings and actually be able to watch the Brewers on as well as other baseball games.

He is responsible the steroids embarrassment, the strike of '94 that ruined competitive imbalance, the unfair media revenues that cripple small markets, and propping up bad owners who don't even try to compete. He is also responsible for me being able to watch or listen to every single Brewer 9and every other team too) game from Seattle on multiple platforms for a reasonable cost. Try that with the NFL. If his legacy is ONLY MLB.com and not hounding Baseball-Reference into the ground (like the NFL woul have) that's enough for me. Except, his rules prevent Brewer fans living in WI from actually watching Brewer games even though they pay for MLB.tv. In Spring training , when the Brewer are on MLB network, it is blacked out in Wisconsin because apparently, if we could get it on TV we wouldn't be inclined to drive drive from New Glarus to Arizona for an afternoon game. Before Bud stepped in, you could listen to radio broadcasts on the internet for free. Now Butt Selig wants you to pay $24.99 a month to watch baseball on the internet and your tv, but you can't watch your local team play ever. Even in you live in Wisconsin and the Brewers are playing in LA, you can't watch the game. How does this develop fans? How does this promote the game? Selig is a puppet of corporate TV and cable/satellite industry. Nothing he has done is for the fans. It's for the money these broadcast outlets pay and for the owners, most of whom don't give a ratsass about you or me, the diehard fan.

Agreed. Another current topic praises Old man Selig for bringing every game to the masses, but the fact is, you can't watch your favorite local team, but you can watch every game of teams 1500 miles away. How does this build local fan base and team loyalty? How is this good for baseball?

After 10 years of DirecTV, many with ExtraInnings, we dropped it all in favor of rabbit ears (we get 12 channels for free in hi def!). So we are paying $0 for TV, and doing a free trial of Netflix and Hulu. Plus, we don't watch TV in summer. Only bad thing: no baseball. My childhood team was the Orioles, but have fallen for the Brewers since moving to Wisconsin and listening to Uecker on the radio 23 years ago. So far this year I've been listening to the Uecker on the radio for Brewer broadcasts, and could pull in an Oriole Twins game Friday on the car radio. I can watch MLB.tv for $24.99/month on my TV and computer. As a birthday present to myself I am going to sign up tonight. The irony is, I will be able to watch every Oriole game, but Brewer games will be blacked out. I really like this Oriole team and missed most of last year, so I'm excited about being able to watch the O's all year. But I would like Butt Selig to tell me why I shouldn't be able to watch and cheer for the Brewers, my local team, as well. The failure of the Commissioner's office to be reasonable and address this issue with a Modern World Sensibility is inexcusable. Target Field in Mpls is 135 miles from my door to the front gate. Miller Park is 201 miles from my front door. I will be able to watch every Twins game on MLB.tv, but no Brewers game. How does that build the Brewers' fan base in their market area?

I've always been a big Doug Melvin fan, but really, deciding Yuni and AGon are better as 1B, then asking Davis to take a couple innings in Spring Training to learn 1B? Neither of the old fat guys had ever played 1B, so why did they assume they could? The message is conservative: we'll go with bad players rather than take a risk with youth. It's a loser mentality and one that will get Melvin fired.

Um...because Selig is responsible for Jeff Loria. He bailed out the Expos after Loria purposefully ran them into the ground, then allowed him to buy another franchise so John Henry could could dump the Marlins and buy the Red Sox. I appreciate the love for bud since he brought MLB back to Milwaukee, but he has been a pawn to big money owners who treat him like crap and walk over him as Commissioner. Brewerfan.net is the only intelligent baseball source that sees Bud through rose colored glasses as some kind of savior of baseball. He is responsible the steroids embarrassment, the strike of '94 that ruined competitive imbalance, the unfair media revenues that cripple small markets, and propping up bad owners who don't even try to compete. He's a puppet of the rich, but this forum is so indebted to him bringing baseball to Milwaukee that posters refuse to judge his actions with balance. Don't forget, he left the franchise to his daughter and son in law who ran it into the ground and stole a fortune from the fans. The scale tips negative. I don't get the love for Pete Rose either. He was always a bastard, and while I realize history has given us plenty of bastards who made it to the hall of fame, why not refuse to join the hyperbole and fight for a player who truly "played the game the right way" and has been unfairly excluded from the hall of fame like Ted Simmons, Allan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Tim Raines, Ken Boyer, and so many others. Rose knew the rules, and thumbed his nose at them. He doesn't regret what he did; he regrets being caught. I'm guessing Charles Manson does too. I love the DH. The double switch is not rocket science, and as Ender hints, after the 6th inning both leagues essentially use the DH anyway as the pitcher doesn't hit. I'd rather watch a game where the hitters hit and pitchers pitch. Isn't the NL the only organized baseball league without a DH? It's time to stop it. I'd love to see Khris Dave get 450 ABs this year to see what he can do. Pitchers are one dimensional, but dominating, players, just like offensive players in football. Is Aaron Rodgers an incomplete player because he doesn't play defense?

He's the guy if Axford fails. I agree Ax can start slow, but if we are in the 2nd week of May and he is still frightening on the mound, you go with Figaro.

OK, do I have this right? I disconnected Directv after 10 years. Love it, but can't justify 100 bucks a month for the one hour we watch TV a night. But....I am missing baseball. I have AppleTV and live in Wi. so if I subscribe to MLB.tv, Brewer games will be blacked out right?

My final four picks are Syracuse (to win it all), Duke, Florida, and Kansas St (over Wichita St in the elite eight-I was so close!). I think the result of yesterday's games was a message from the Baseball Gods that it's time to stop dabbling in the silly sports and fire up for Opening Day! Oh Lords of Baseball, I am ready!

I guess the "Brewers trade Hunter Morris for Ronny Cedeno, the new 1B backup," blockbuster will be announced later today.

If last year is a valid indication, then the offense is good enough even if its aging.The previous generation of Brewer prospects was on the offensive side, which is appropriate for a miserable organization. This generation is gaining strength from the pitching side, which is the right approach long term for a small market team. In the NL the wild card is usually available for an 88 win team. Good pitching and a couple decent bats sets up a team for contention. Remember, Melvin used to hold the Twins as the model for Brewers. That means a team that always is competitive but doesn't do radical rebuilds. There's plenty of talent in the organization to compete for3-4 more years. If not, well, you can always tear everything apart and start over. Braun and Yo have tradeable contracts should the bottom fall out in 2013 or 2014.

I would be upset if I was that minor leaguer. His options apparently were admit guilt and get 50 games or deny it and get 100 games. Whether he was actually guilty or not didn't seem to matter. so if he's a witch he floats and is hanged. If he's not a witch he sinks and drowns.

Henderson is 30 years and has pitched all of 30 innings in majors. His 10 year minor league career features a 3.95 ERA and 1.85:1 K:BB ratio. He looked good in his 30 innings with the brewers ion 2012, but I'm not sure that should guarantee him a roster spot in Milwaukee, let alone the set up role. I always cheer for these types, but let's not assume he's the best choice of all the options.

Yup. Seems like we have the same points made in the past 6 years everytime someone is signed to a long term contract. Every announced contract deteriorates into a discussion about trading all our best players in their prime so we can get some really good prospects.

He's entering his age 27 season and coming off his best year yet. An affordable contract that is very tradeable at any point of its duration should Schafer assert himself or the team tank.

I hated it the last tow times, but I admit this year I've tuned into parts of several games and enjoyed it. The infamous brawl looked a little half hearted to me. Sort of staged to get some fan interest going and start a conversation about the WBC in the media. There were a lot of guys holding onto each other's jerseys at arms length and pushing back and forth.

Both Trammell and Whitaker deserve HOF in my opinion. Not only is 2B underrepresented in the HOF, aren't the 80's generation of players underrepresented in general?

I will be stunned when WAR is universally used by BBWAA as a voting tool for HOF candidates. Pettitte through his age 26 season: 67-35, 3.75 ERA, K/9=6.2; BB/9 3.0 You through age 26 season: 69-43, 3.63 ERA, K/9=9.2; BB/9=3.6 I assume it was Pettitte TLB was calling a fringe HOF'er, Jeter and Posada are the two solid candidates. Pettitte's ERA is more impressive I suppose given the hitter's era in which he began his career. It is a longshot to expect Yo or any pitcher to go on and win 245 games in his career (as Pettitte has done) when his current win total is 69. But that was true of Pettitte too. My underlying point, you could no more say the Yankees were future HOF'ers than you can Braun, Prince, and Yo at comparable ages. The argument doesn't work.

Well, as much as I love that generation of Brewers, it's not even close to comparing to 3 solid HoF candidates & one fringe HoF candidate. Although their careers are still in an early phase, I think it's reasonable to see Braun, Prince, and Gallardo as solid HOF candidates at this point. These 3 are a lot younger than you realize. If they play 8-10 years at a solid level given their ages, each could coast to HOF election.

Baseball Prospectus provides a nice, FREE!, article on the Brewers' rotation candidates. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19635#commentMessage

Fiers was impressive enough last season that he'll get a rotation spot even if he doesn't have a good Spring. If rogers pitches well and is healthy, he'll get the 5 spot. Peralta will head to AAA and be called up as soon as something happens to one of the starting five, ie, injury, ineffectiveness. The 5th starter typically pitches around 160 innings a season, so if Rogers really threw 134 last year, then he seems suited for the 5th spot, with a strict pitch count. The 5th guy also misses starts in Spring due to the more off days, so I think you want Peralta in AAA pitching regularly and working on command. Gallardo Estrada Narveson Fiers Rogers With Peralta in the rotation at some point in the season.

The trade 'em once they are good strategy is born from a fan base accustomed to a generation of losing. It's basic tenet: a team should never mortgage the future in the hope of winning this season. Instead, the clever strategy is the constant rebuild; stockpiling the minors with premium talent acquired by trading vets in their prime. It's a losing strategy but it gives fans hope for a better future, albeit one that never quite arrives, and it avoids the heartbreak of the calculated risk that falls just a little short. The Brewers may never see another generation of homegrown talent like what arrive in the mid 2000's: Prince, Weeks, JJ, Hart, Braun, Gallardo. Each player is an All Star and produced or exceeded their prospect projections. It's not unlike the young talent the Yankees brought up in the mid 90's, that was the core of their Championship run: Bernie Williams, Jeter, Posada, Pettitte, Rivera. Melvin picked the right strategy from 2007-2012 by going for it.