Bernman23

#1 on the team in RBI's and just about last in runs scored per plate appearance. It was a product of not only opportunity but a selfish approach. Your value as a hitter is how many runs you help generate for your team in totality. Not to imply that rbi's + runs scored should be the way to judge that, because like you said what your teammates did matters, but if you even look deeper into old school stats he appeared to be a mediocre run producer for the ROYALS in one of his better years.

If they keep up this torrid pace through the playoffs - Team Peak.

Green has played very little 2B. The guy's a 3B, pretty much plain & simple. That he'd play much 2B seems like wishful thinking.He's played 26 games at 2nd base this season. He came up as a 2nd baseman. I'm going to take a wild guess that the primary reason he was moved to 3rd was because Rickie Weeks was blocking him and they had a desperate need to finally fill the 3rd base position, which is what prompted the Brewers to speculatively try out Braun, Hart, and Gamel at 3rd as well. So he has recent experience at 2nd base and is arguably his more natural position. To say it's wishful thinking that he can fill in at 2nd base until Weeks returns doesn't show an awareness of his background.

If Green had booted one ball at 3rd in the 9th inning, let alone back to back, it would have been (probably falsely) attributed to him being an unreliable rookie. McGehee had an 80-100 AB stretch where he contributed virtually nothing to the offense ala Gamel in his 26 AB stretch. Betancourt has had a couple, and he's in one right now. If you isolate 26 AB's they've both had numerous stretches as bad or near as bad as Gamel's. You and Roenicke are employing double standards. When the alternatives are this tenuous, your fear of change is irrational.

It's not over yet, as the Cubs have given Axford some difficulty over his career, but you have to feel good about him surviving with any multi-run lead. Great job by K-Rod of preserving it by making hitters hit his pitches.

Shakiest appearance of the year by Hawkins. He had been a rock up until now. The Brewers can't lose a game where they relatively roughed up Dempster.

What a relief. I would have went to Hawkins before they brought the tying run to the plate, but they got out of it. Good job Yovani, even without your best control, and pitching around some suspect defense. Now let's see Taylor Green make his major league debut by pinch hitting for Yo.

Remember, last start Gallardo was pitching a gem but just couldn't get out the final inning he was probably going to be allowed, giving up a 2-run homer for the tie.

It's probably because he goes back on the baseball so well. Playing shallow only might have cost him once. He's making over the shoulder and fence catches. If not for Byrd's defense the Crew would have a couple more runs on the board. We'd kill for his level of defense in center from Hairston and Morgan.

a3uge, that's what Betancore could have done. I'd like to see what Hairston at short and Greenie at 2nd looks like before Weeks returns.

Yup, I thought that too. He's an unintentional saboteur.

Well, let's hope the Taylor Green promo has fired McGehee up. It shouldn't have taken that, but if it did, having Taylor Green on the team will have done its job.

That was my main complaint. The average shortstop clearly would have dove and kept that on the infield. He's slow and he doesn't try. A shortstop with good range maybe even gives McGehee the confidence to stay at 3rd base for the force.

There's that league worst range and effort on display from Yuni B.

Sleepy McGehee might have gotten the wake-up call he needed. We'll see. It's only one at bat. But it's nice to finally do some damage against Dempster. Now hopefully they don't lay an egg subsequently like they did in the last game against him after a strong first inning.

David Price, Jacoby Ellsbury, K-Rod, etc. were late season call ups who were assets to World Series victors. The Brewers won't be 10 games up on the Atlanta Braves. It's a fresh start for the playoffs. Just because you accomplished a ten-game lead with a certain roster doesn't mean everybody on that team were positive contributors toward that achievement. Good teams have bad players and bad teams have good players. A playoff team strengthening the weaker links is one way that will potentially propel them to WS Champions. The Red Sox have less weak links in their lineup in spite of having to use 9 batters. How would we match up with them in a playoff series against them trotting out Yuni B, McGehee, Hairston/Gomez, and Kotsay as DH, especially when the Sox's lineup have roughed up Brewers' pitching this season. You gotta have firepower when you're going to face the Red Sox lineup, and Phils' CY Young pitching. Not a SS who has always been a poor hitter and can be baited into swinging at nearly every pitch that's remotely close, plus a mediocre minor leaguer who the best thing you can say about him this season is that he's been a mediocre major leaguer the 2nd half.

He needs to be on the 25-man to be eligible.

This is a very important start for Peralta; the last before rosters expand. I'll go out on a limb and say, if he pitches well, so he can have the chance to impress and in turn possibly make the playoff roster, he gets the call up to replace FDLC, and the Brewers ensure that Gomez stays in the minors until September 1st.

It is pretty bad to take out someone's best game as everyone would look worse and you are manipulating data but here you go: Since the All-Star break without the 3 HR game: .263/.315/.368/.683 Well, take out his best and worst games to be fair then. The 3 HR game skews #'s more than an 0 for 5 with 5 K's. I think it's just to use the 3-run game as a qualifier when mentioning the supposed turnaround because it's a huge outlier and consistent offense beats inconsistent offense.

What do they need Frankie De La Cruz and Josh Wilson for? Wilson has a .657 OPS and .601 for his career. They have Betancourt, JHJ, and Counsell as SS options. Weeks, Green, JHJ, and Counsell are the 2nd base options. Josh Wilson is a completely expendable player. Same thing with Frankie De La Cruz. He's never been good enough in the majors, the minor league numbers don't blow you away, and he's unreliable given how wild he is. Plus, the Brewers will be able to move Narveson and maybe Wolf to the bullpen also in the postseason. There's plenty of room for Weeks, Gomez, and Green on the playoff roster.

You get injury exceptions and extract replacements from your 40-man roster.

On the issue of who to start at 1B, to me Gamel is a no brainer. He never had a bad season in the minors, he hit .760 in his only extended major league opportunity, and since the year he accomplished that he has raised his AAA OPS by almost 100 points (improving proportionally each year). I think an .800+ OPS is a conservative projection for him if he starts on opening day and Roenicke sticks with him (as he does w/ the veterans). And he'll do it on a minimum contract. If you don't elect to start him, then you'd have to trade him instead, and what would he fetch as a 26-year old minor leaguer. He wouldn't net near as much as he's worth from those who don't understand the circumstances as to why he's remained in the minors this long. Mat Gamel should be your starter at 1B in 2012.

I'm not ignoring 2 months of data. It was a slump, and a very ugly one. But you're suggesting that those 2 months (now nearly 2 months behind us) provide more than a sufficient justification for a prediction that his "norm" going forward will be more like this year than the past 2 years plus over half of this year? I can't agree with that. For two full years plus over half of this year, he's been fine. I'm all for open competition & that he have to keep earning his spot. But I just don't see throwing the baby out with the bathwater, which seems to be what several folks have been advocating (in many threads, not necessarily here, and I'm not putting those words into your mouth/text). I really like that Green & Gamel are pounding AAA pitching and that for the first time in a few years, we've got some really solid-looking depth at the corner IF spots. That reality sure beats the present SS situation! It's not just 2 months of data. He posted a .666 OPS in July. That's barely over his season # in that department which you're agreeing has been sub-standard. He'd be bottom 5 in the majors among 3rd base starters extrapolating the July OPS over the entire season. So he's had 3 bad months. And he was average in April, posting an OPS that placed him 16th in the majors. 3 bad months (2 particularly atrocious), 1 average month, 1 almost complete good month = a VERY bad 5/6 of a season. Granted, that is a smaller sample than in which he's been an above average major league 3rd baseman. However, you're exaggerating the length of time in the majors where he's been successful. He had far from a full season of AB's in 2009; <60% of plate appearances as he had the following year. So we're talking closer to a year and a half of success. As far as counting over half this year in his favor, as aforementioned that's far from accurate, and you're employing a double standard by cherry picking months this season where he played better while ignoring months in the previous years where he was worse. Let's be consistent and call it .83 of a season of poor play vs. 1.59 of strong play. However, overall in McGehee's professional career there is far more data to suggest he's illegitimate than legit. In 4 minor league seasons, not once did he post an OPS over .776, before surprisingly having a good first year and a half plus in the majors. The only difference between Scott Podsednik's minor league to 1st year and a half in the majors is that Podzilla spent a couple more years in the minors. Now, for McGehee, this is the 5th season where he hasn't looked like on the way to, or an average major league 3rd baseman. Nearly 5 bad seasons vs. just over 1 and a half good seasons. In comparison, Taylor Green, surrounding the hamate injury, has had 3 good professional seasons vs. a bad near half season (his first as a 19-year old pro). So Taylor Green probably will be the Brewers' best bet for success at 3B in 2012. They shouldn't have qualms about naming him a starter as opposed to Casey McGehee.

Put me in the camp with those who want to buy out Betancourt. That means whoever we'd sign in his place would theoretically be overpaid by 2 million dollars, but as a mid .600's OPS hitter who doesn't adjust his approach to a situation, plays horrible defense, and is slow on the basepads, he'd be overpaid by about 5 million dollars if he's kept. As a leadoff hitter, Betancourt has taken 1 WALK in 96 plate appearances. He has taken 0 walks in 17 chances w/ the bases loaded. His BA w/ RISP has been below his overall average the last 4 years. I can't find his execution rate w/ a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs, but that seems terrible as well from observation. He's the perfect example of a player who is even worse than his sub-standard OPS. It's really remarkable that the Brewers have achieved so much success with him, often in the sixth spot in the lineup. They've won in spite of him. Defensively, he's 21st of 23 qualifiers in both zone rating and range factor. This year, and throughout his career, Betancourt has been caught stealing just as many as he's swiped, reflective of how bad of a baserunner he is. He just hurts the team in every conceivable area. I don't have any replacements in mind off the top of my head, but it's time to eat the 2 million dollars and move on from the Yuni B. era.

Didn't Dillard and De La Cruz pitch multiple innings yesterday? I think you just trot Axford out there. He is on the longest amount of rest right now.