jazzytrav

Fielder shows a ton of passion on the field, but he's very soft-spoken and not a very charismatic speaker. Braun seems to be the kind of guy that people will listen to when he speaks. And now I think he's put up numbers to show that he deserves to speak. I like the combination of the two, even though I don't think Fielder will be around much longer.

If Mark A and Doug are anything like Yost, they probably had initially planned to fire him, but once this leaked out they decided not to just to show us.

Yeah, and I use that domination to trade him away by the trade deadline in the first year.

I believe Jack Z was here before Melvin, and Melvin kept him on.. I could be wrong on that, though.

For some reason, I'm doubting the bullpen coach for this team is real high on the totem pole right now.

Because holding people accountable forces them to realize where their mistakes are and consciously try not to make the same mistakes in the future. If you keep making excuses for someone's mistakes, they won't have any motivation to stop making them. Obviously they'll have financial motivation and things like that, but if the skipper says it's okay, then why put too much effort into changing it? And the only time I ever see him hold anyone accountable is when he uses a player to take the fall for his own mistakes.

Yosted.

It's just that much more colorful in a big market http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

And it would lead to more wins. I figured that was implied.

I assume you've been in the clubhouse to witness this, right? When his responses to the media involve making excuses for everything, and the players on the field seem to be making the same mistakes, at some point you start to realize that these things go hand-in-hand. And naivin: You completely misread my post and turned it into something that it is not. Baseball is entertainment, and it's a business. In any business, if employees aren't performing, people (fans) will leave the business because of poor service or whatever. Now imagine that you have some trainees that come through the system and they all have been extremely successful in their training. Then they go out on the job and start out showing the success that they had in training. Throw in a few other new employees that were successful at other companies in the same position. Suddenly they all start failing, and the only common denominator is their manager. At some point, you have to figure out who is screwing this all up, because the customers are leaving. Luckily, you already have their business locked up for the rest of the year, but if you want that business to keep coming back years down the road, you better figure out who is screwing it up now.

The only time I have ever heard Ned hold anyone else accountable is when he makes a bonehead decision, and instead of taking the blame personally, he throws someone else under the bus. So basically, when it's his fault, he blames the players by name. When the players suck, he blames it on some kind of mysterious force that makes the Brewers hitters hit the ball right at people and makes the ball take a nasty hop at the last second in the field. It's rarely the player's fault, and it's NEVER his fault.

It would accomplish showing ticket holders that we're not just going to ride it out with a manager that makes an excuse about every bad thing that happens. Why would I bother buying a ticket to a game to watch a bunch of guys being led by a manager that publicly accepts their faults?

Point taken, but to this point I'm not at all frustrated with how the money is spent. Doug took a risk on Gagne, and he's off the books after this year. He took a risk on Cameron, and if he goes on a tear, he has an option. If not, then also off the books after this year. The Braun deal was great. It just seems like Doug is very conscious about keeping spending flexibility for the future, while paying enough to get some guys in here for a year of two that we normally wouldn't go after. Now if only we could get that manager off the payroll...

That sure seems like a lot of work to put together the cardboard cutout. I don't think these guys are up to the task.

I'm confused how you can say this, then... If the GM has to gamble on players and coaches to win, doesn't the owner have to take a gamble on the GM, rather than playing it safe and hoping to not get someone worse? I should probably point out that I'm not a real advocate for canning Melvin, but I don't think ownership should have a different plan than the rest.

I'm all about firing Yost, but batting Cameron second isn't a reason to do it. Cameron was practically signed as a #2 hitter. I wouldn't mind seeing Hart there, but then I don't think we have anyone to bat 5th. I usually have a hard time with the idea of guys coming around eventually, but I would rather take Cameron batting below .200 than Gwynn because I think that over the course of a season Cameron will almost surely be better than Gwynn. As for your corporate perspective, it depends on how much clout the boss has. Most likely, one or two of the underachievers would go and be replaced with employees that are known to be competent just to see if the boss can handle fewer underachievers. If hitting is contagious, then I guess not hitting is also contagious. Maybe these guys gotta start catching the Braun disease. But anyway, yeah...I still want him fired, though http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ----- Continued here: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=30572

Well, I figured out the home run freeze thing. I had turned off the home run celebration because I found it to be annoying (especially when they just show that hitter and not where the ball went). Apparently that caused a problem where the hitter would just stand at home plate and wouldn't run the bases. And you can't get them to run the bases. So the game didn't actually freeze, it just was waiting for something that you couldn't make happen. In a way it was roughly similar to what happened too often in the '07 version and once or twice so far in '08: anyone else ever go to the bullpen to warm someone up while you're batting, then have the computer tell you that you have to put in a new pitcher (even though you're batting and obviously can't)? It's kinda the same thing because the game doesn't actually freeze, but the glitch won't allow you to do anything and the only option then is to quit.

I am just about to read the rest of this thread, so if this has been covered, I apologize. I am so incensed by this statement, I have to respond immediately. What could possibly make a person think that a great scout is automatically a great GM? I personally think that Jack Z should be the highest paid scout in the league but never, ever be moved from that position. You seem to be assuming that Jack Z doesn't want a GM job and that he'll stay in the position that he's in as long as we pay him enough. There are always two sides to it, and it's not always about money. This doesn't even make sense. Maybe Suppan should just pretend every game is a postseason game. Then he'll be an all-around winner. And if Doug Melvin is signing guys because they're "post-season winners" (which I truly don't think he is), he should be fired right now. I'll buy that he was signed because he eats a lot of innings, or that he's a good guy to have around the young pitchers, or that the market is very high for pitching and he was paid what he's worth. But I don't buy that he was signed because he has the magical ability to dominate in the postseason while being average the rest of the year. Gwynn isn't that much cheaper. And I'm not sure how you define "journeyman". Gabe was on his 2nd team when the Brewers traded him. If the definition of journeyman is based on skill-set, then Gwynn is absolutely a journeyman. And I'm not sure how you're getting that Gross was traded to get more at-bats for Cameron. Cameron was going to start in CF no matter what; no one was going to take his at-bats away. Gwynn and Gross were left-handed bench outfielders, so Gross was most definitely going to take at-bats away from Gwynn, which I think that he should have. I almost wish Tampa would trade us Gabe back for Gwynn straight-up, but that's a completely different argument.

I just got done listening to the Melvin and Olney interviews, and there was a lot of good stuff in there. Just a few thoughts: I normally don't care to find Brewer news from ESPN, but I find Buster Olney to be a knowledgeable guy about all teams, including the small and mid-markets. I guess that's why he's doesn't get much TV air time http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Anyway, his comments about Prince seemed to be the realistic side that I think a lot of people here see. As long as Boras is his agent, Prince is likely gone. And with a few bats in the minors but no pitching, Prince is the perfect guy to send to an AL team for 2 or 3 pitching prospects (no outfielders, please). I saw in Owen's off-topic thread that Kershaw was mentioned, but I don't see an NL team giving up as much for Fielder since they'll have the same fears as we do about his future as a position player. It kinda hurts to even be saying this stuff since I've been following Fielder and waiting for him since he was drafted, and he's always been one of my favorites. But he either needs to ditch Boras or become a gold glove 1st baseman before I would give him $15-20 mil. The nice thing about this Braun deal, and Attanasio's comments about paying for top pitching, is the fact that we can now look at the Prince thing and there's a chance to either sign him or deal him. A few years ago, it didn't seem like we had that choice. I liked how Melvin credited the fans with this turnaround, but also acknowledged the difference with Attanasio paying the bills. I even caught a glimpse of his annoyance with the TV deal we have going. It's just nice every once in awhile to hear that Doug is on the same page as us, even if he can't say it in the same words as us. That's right Doug, we sometimes think like you! We're not just internet geeks that get off on this stuff! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I remember reading threads a couple years back that said we would never go over $85 million in payroll. Now it seems like Mark will push past $100 million and not even break a sweat. Anyone else just a little bit excited about this?

Yeah, this one especially sucks. I got some stupid cold a few days ago and it's lingering and I was hoping I could relax and watch the game. Instead, I'm watching what the rest of the world watches on Friday night, and it kinda sucks.

I'm not even sure what this means. Does it mean that if we finish dead last, we deserve it? Or does it mean that over 162 games teams will fall in line with their talent level?

I have all these questions floating through my head, but I can hear the watered-down answer to all of them. How about this...What do the Brewers have to show for you to be ready to pull the trigger on a trade for a top starter?

I haven't had it happen in anything but franchise mode. And I'm already up to 2016, so I imagine it's one of those glitches that happens when the game is overloaded with info.

I think it's either L1 or L2 that will switch to the player closest to the ball. Or maybe one of the R's. I don't know, it should be somewhere in the directions under fielding.

I'm finding home runs to be annoying. Everytime I hit one I have to cross my fingers that the game won't freeze. For some reason, every so often, I'll hit a home run and the hitter will just sit there and the plate and won't run the bases. I can hit START and just go to END GAME, but then the home run doesn't get recorded. All these stupid blips are annoying the crap out of me.