LouisEly

Had Linebrink had a 1.41 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, .183 BAA, and .521 OPSA for Milwaukee last year (or resigned and had those numbers this year) like he is having for a certain team about 90 miles south of Milwaukee this year, I don't think people would be calling that a "horrible" trade. And if Melvin hadn't done anything he would have been crucified for standing pat during a playoff run. As for Fuentes... he would be an upgrade over Mota, Gagne, DiFelice, and probably Stetter so I wouldn't mind. COL could use a 1B to eventually succeed Helton who is getting long in the tooth and very expensive for his production, so a deal for Pena (or Stetter), Errecart (or Nelson), and Wright might be a good starting point for discussions.

1) A #2 guy is going to cost an arm and a leg in prospects. Not sure I want to mortgage the future. B) They need to get to the playoffs first. Not sure I want to mortgage the future and not wind up in the playoffs (like last year). 3) "Even if Maddux is just slightly better than Bush, having him on the team would be like having an extra pitching coach. He'd be a great teacher for guys like Parra and Yo, plus his composure down the stretch would be huge." Half the reason I want Maddux. You know that Maddux won't poop down his leg under the pressure of a big game because he's been there many, many times. While he may not have the upside, you know he won't blow up, and in a playoff game I'll take six innings of Maddux with the Brewers offense behind him. Maddux doesn't have great road splits, but Parra's and Bush's are even worse. 4) When you get to the playoffs, you shorten the staff. How about Sheets, Maddux, and Suppan as your #1-3. That's some major veteran presence right there. One of Parra/McClung/Bush as the #4 with the other two in the pen to rescue Suppan if he doesn't have it. 5) Parra in the month of June: 4-0, 3.33 ERA (WHIP a little high though). McClung in June: 3-1, 2.55 ERA, sub 1.00 WHIP, .186 BAA. Bush in June: 3-2, 3.09 ERA, sub 1.00 WHIP, .208 BAA. They have three guys right now who are pitching like #2s. No real need to give up the farm to acquire a #2 right now.

i have heard of this happening before. one of the less obvious ways to do it is for the catcher to think that a pitchout is coming. I may or may not have heard of this happening before. Back where I come from there may or may not have been a certain little league umpire who may or may not have had a beef with a certain little league coach who seemed to win the championship game every year. The umpire may or may not have altered calls in a game because of his bias towards this coach.... hypothetical example, like call a grounder fair that went a good two feet wide of third (not that I would know for certain... it's not like I was playing LF in that game or anything...) In response to these seemingly deliberate calls, the catcher may or may not have called a pitchout that the pitcher didn't pick up on. There's two sides to this story. It is not beyond an umpire in the non-professional ranks (high school, little league, etc.) to have a bias towards/against a team. It may be against only one or two players on that team (or just the coach), but the job of an umpire is to call the game by the book equally and fairly towards each team, and if they don't do that then it is the innocent kid playing LF in his first and only championship game that gets screwed. If umpires are deliberately not calling the game fairly because of a bias they have then they are just as despicable as the kids who pull stunts like this.

Why would the fans care so much about seeing Mussina? Because it was the All-Star game and they paid a boatload of money for those tickets.

Shouldn't the shirts/large fonts say "Mussina Sucks"? If there ever was an unwritten rule for the All-Star game it was that all of the home team players should play. Cito should have put in Mussina so that Mussina never would have had to do that. The fans wanted to see him, so that was the only option he had for the fans to see him. I place the blame 90% on Cito, 10% on Mussina. CITO STILL SUCKS.

Gotta break out the old t-shirts that say: CITO SUCKS Thanks Mussina for warming up in the bullpen on your own. This created the whole "gotta make sure everyone plays" controversy, which lead to the rosters being exhausted in the All-Star game in Milwaukee, which caused the managers to ask Selig to end the game in a tie, which brought (more) undue embarrassment on Selig, the Brewers, and Milwaukee in general. Thanks Cito. All you had to do was play Mussina in front of his home crowd. Jerk. CITO SUCKS.

OBP is definitely more important. You only get 27 outs in a game. A hitter's main job should be to not use one up, and right now Braun is bad at not making outs. Is there any sort of study showing excessive walks just leads to a lot of stranded runners on the bases, espcially if the better hitters are they guys walking a lot and leaving the run drivers up to the poor hitters who pitchers aren't afraid to challenge and hitters who when they swing the bat have poor batting averages. The effect of walking the best hitter cannot be straightlined as an effect on other hitters since the ability of the other guys to drive him in is not equal. Braun increasing his OBP is not going to get Braun more ABs. It will get guys behind him more ABs. That may mean Fielder, Hart, and Branyan right now, but it also means giving more ABs to Hall, Hardy, Kendall, Counsell, and the pitcher's spot. And I'm not sure that giving more ABs to Hall, Hardy, Kendall, Counsell, the pitcher's spot, TGJ, Dillon, Weeks, etc., would be more productive than Braun putting the ball in play. Like others have said, OBP isn't very useful if you don't have run producers behind you. Fielder has been heating up the last month, but the first month and a half of this year when Branyan wasn't here, Fielder and Hart were in a power drought, and Hall and Hardy were stinking it up, I'm not so sure that it would have been more productive for him to draw a walk than put the ball in play. In fact, for a good chunk of that first month and a half Fielder was hitting ahead of Braun, which meant that behind him was Hart, Hall, Hardy, the pitcher, and Kendall (and no power-hitting lefty). Again, not sure that getting on base for those guys would have been more productive than putting the ball in play. And I think the other guy is just saying that he is not going to be so shortsighted to look at one stat...and ignore 9 others. 11th in BA, 10th in runs, 1st in hits, tied for 6th in doubles, tied for 3rd in triples, 1st in HRs, tied for 2nd in RBI, tied for 17th in steals (only one behind McLouth, a leadoff hitter), 3rd in slugging. Sure, his OBP isn't great, but he's in the top 20 in every category except walks, in the top 10 in every category but walks and steals, and 1st in two categories. Add into that his production in the 2nd half of last year (.309/.358/.618) - dude set the rookie record for SLG in a season! - and he should be in the All-Star game if not starting.

Would the BP pitcher react like McGowan reacted last night to his homers? Great call on the write-in. Never thought anything about it.

Ryan Braun and his 10 total bases tonight would like to tell everyone who doesn't think he should be in the All-Star game to put it in their collective pipes and smoke it. And it's not just this season, because you have to give some consideration to the 2nd half of last year because it really isn't right to select an "All-Star" team based on less than a half season of play. The NFL doesn't have their Pro Bowl mid-season.

Where's Joey Paciorek?

Brewers send: Gwynn, Bush, Gillespie, and Crabbe Padres send: Maddux, Wolf, and a player to be named later Brewers only need one starter, not two. Sheets, Suppan, Maddux, McClung, Parra... the way Suppan, McClung, and Parra have been pitching the last month that rotation would be awesome. And if they balanced it right - Sheet's power followed by Suppan's finesse and movement followed by McClung's power followed by Maddux's location and movement... teams would be so off-balance from one night to the next.

Brewers send: Gwynn, Bush, Gillespie, and Crabbe Padres send: Maddux, Wolf, and a player to be named later Brewers only need one starter, not two. Sheets, Suppan, Maddux, McClung, Parra... the way Suppan, McClung, and Parra have been pitching the last month that rotation would be awesome. And if they balanced it right - Sheet's power followed by Suppan's finesse and movement followed by McClung's power followed by Maddux's location and movement... teams would be so off-balance from one night to the next.

Brewers send: Gwynn, Bush, Gillespie, and Crabbe Padres send: Maddux, Wolf, and a player to be named later Brewers only need one starter, not two. Sheets, Suppan, Maddux, McClung, Parra... the way Suppan, McClung, and Parra have been pitching the last month that rotation would be awesome. And if they balanced it right - Sheet's power followed by Suppan's finesse and movement followed by McClung's power followed by Maddux's location and movement... teams would be so off-balance from one night to the next.

When you hit in front of Fielder you get a lot of pitches to hit. Look at Hardy last year - is it any coincidence that when he was batting ahead of Fielder he had a career year in HRs? Look at Hardy's OPS and HR totals in April and May... then Braun comes up and hits in front of Fielder. Suddenly Hardy tapers off and Braun has a monster year. Then this year Fielder hits ahead of Braun and Braun struggles... until he is placed ahead of Fielder, then his numbers come back. The person who should be in the All-Star game is Branyan. For some reason the Nashville site only lists current players stats, but so far he has 20 HRs and an OBP over .400 in a little over 200 plate appearances combined. That is just SICK. Yeah, yeah, I know, most was against AAA pitching but he hasn't slowed down a bit since coming to the NL. (And when I say "should" I mean he should have been on the roster sooner and accumulated more of his numbers in MIL.)

TGJ to SD to rent Maddux for the rest of the season. Throw in Bush if need be. Maddux would really solidify the back end of the rotation. Although it could tax the bullpen as you'd have three starters (Maddux, McClung, Parra) who rarely go more than six innings. (But then again, they almost always go at least six and rarely get knocked out in the 3rd/4th.) Young is still on the DL after getting domed by the comebacker. He may pull a Bryce Florie and never be the same so I would want to see him pitch again before trading for him. SD is a very good trading partner though, as they are in desperate need of OFs. Jody Gerut? Pat McAnulty? Scott Hairston? A 37-year-old Brian Giles? I think you'd be surprised how much they'd listen if we offered Hall, TGJ, and Bush. Put Bush in a bigger park that's harder to hit HRs in and his WHIP could serve him well. Add in a Gillespie or a Katin and you might get something good in return.

TGJ to SD to rent Maddux for the rest of the season. Throw in Bush if need be. Maddux would really solidify the back end of the rotation. Although it could tax the bullpen as you'd have three starters (Maddux, McClung, Parra) who rarely go more than six innings. (But then again, they almost always go at least six and rarely get knocked out in the 3rd/4th.) Young is still on the DL after getting domed by the comebacker. He may pull a Bryce Florie and never be the same so I would want to see him pitch again before trading for him. SD is a very good trading partner though, as they are in desperate need of OFs. Jody Gerut? Pat McAnulty? Scott Hairston? A 37-year-old Brian Giles? I think you'd be surprised how much they'd listen if we offered Hall, TGJ, and Bush. Put Bush in a bigger park that's harder to hit HRs in and his WHIP could serve him well. Add in a Gillespie or a Katin and you might get something good in return.

TGJ to SD to rent Maddux for the rest of the season. Throw in Bush if need be. Maddux would really solidify the back end of the rotation. Although it could tax the bullpen as you'd have three starters (Maddux, McClung, Parra) who rarely go more than six innings. (But then again, they almost always go at least six and rarely get knocked out in the 3rd/4th.) Young is still on the DL after getting domed by the comebacker. He may pull a Bryce Florie and never be the same so I would want to see him pitch again before trading for him. SD is a very good trading partner though, as they are in desperate need of OFs. Jody Gerut? Pat McAnulty? Scott Hairston? A 37-year-old Brian Giles? I think you'd be surprised how much they'd listen if we offered Hall, TGJ, and Bush. Put Bush in a bigger park that's harder to hit HRs in and his WHIP could serve him well. Add in a Gillespie or a Katin and you might get something good in return.

2) Hank Steinbrenner is funnier. His quotes on this subject are precious. I would cut and paste or link to them but you have to go find them. Then you have to double check that you are not at the Onion. They're priceless. Referring to not having the DH as a "1800's" rule and "welcome to the 20th century" comments (even though it is the 21st century). BTW Hank, NL teams face this peril every freakin' game and it could weaken a team for their post-season run and/or the World Series against AL teams like yours, but we don't gripe about it. Somebody give Hank a sucker and he'll be all-right.

Thanks for the link EDR. The comments below are priceless. My favorite one: "Another Bloomquist that thinks he is special. His sister is a gem as well."

Moving Lorenzo Cain to AAA sends a whole bunch of mixed signals too. As others have said, it does not send any mixed signals. Huntsville is competing for a playoff spot so they didn't want to move up any of those players, so they took the next best OF from A-ball. Plus BC is on their All-Star break so Cain would have not been playing anyway, and that's why he didn't get moved back to BC right away is because they were still on their All-Star break. As for LaPorta being old for his league, is 23 really old for AA? I would find it hard to believe that 23 is above league average for prospects in AA.

The thing is, if they trade Fielder then they really have no left-handed bats besided Gamel. If Fielder is to be traded, they will need a left-handed bat in return, which will not relieve the logjam. If he is traded, I think TBWS hit it on the head - it will be a big 3-way deal that will be hammered out at the winter meetings. And I think someone pointed out the most likely teams - SF and Seattle. I would like to see a 3-way where someone sends pitching/closer to Cleveland who sends Sizemore to MIL. Actually, CLE is in need of OF bats, so while that is a strength of MIL I don't think they would give up Sizemore since beyond him they don't have much. They would have to get some ML OF bats in return. Actually, even if they don't trade Prince, I wonder what it would take to get Sizemore from CLE? Hall/TGJ/Gillespie + one of Pena/Dillard?

DM has always said that the best time to trade position players is in the off-season. Unless there's a perfect trading partner at the deadline who has something that you need that not many other contenders need, they you are probably going to get better value in the offseason. That's where I see things happening.

BTW, this guy is a putz. No, that is his teammate!! (rimshot!)

When Riske comes back next weekend Tavarez will get the pink slip. I'd almost say give him the pink slip now and bring up Stetter until Riske is ready. Choate and Gagne won't be an option anytime before the All-Star break, so no need to worry about them now. So DiFelice is probably safe until then, unless they decide to go with Stetter or Pena.

or a moot point