jjfanec

Is the wind blowing out today? I would love to see Greinke go deep into this game so we dont have to see much of the bullpen

I want nothing to do with Biyombo. The guy looks to have bust written all over him. Not impressed from what I have seen. Burks is the guy I want right now

I am fine with Loe being on the team but I dont understand why he is the set up guy. Hawkins to the 8th seems so logical

Jeffress was sent to AAA and is pitching a lot like Jeremy Jeffress.Thanks! I guess I should have looked harder but his player page on espn and i think it was mlb did not say anything about him being sent down. His issues with command still seem to be there

In my mind a lot of this has to do with playing the Cubs. We seem to have a history of crazy finishes with them.

Hasnt been an update on some of these guys in a while. I will just look at the big guys Odorizzi has struggled recently. His k numbers are great but has started walk guys. In his last start he went 3 giving up 7 earned. In his last 6 starts he has had one great start - 6IP 3H 8K - another two good starts - and 3 starts where he didnt make it out of the 3rd or 4th inning. Not sure what his pitch count is Lawrie is hurt and should be back in a couple weeks. Was about to be called up. Escobar is a on a nice little tear right now. Raised his average 40 points in the last two weeks. Still has an OPS under .600 but reports on his glove are reminiscent of what we read about him in the minors. ESPN had a piece on who should win gold gloves and Escobar was their pick Brantley/LaPorta - both scuffling a bit .745 OPS's. Not terrible but not great. Still are young Cain has bounced back really well from a slow start. Batting around .300 with an OPS at .865 which is very good in CF Jeffress is either hurt or in the dog house. He has pitched since the 18th of May

He has raised his batting average 40 points the last two weeks but his OPS is still under .600. Good thing his glove is so amazing.

My thoughts exactly. I still do not like Lawrie for Marcum straight up at all. When you throw in Greinke, I like it much better. I just happen to think we've traded away a player who would have been one of the 4-5 best hitters in Brewers history when all is said and done, and possibly more. I also happen to think he's going to develop into a nice 3rd basemen. As much as I'm loving this team right now, it's hard for me to get past what it'd be like to watch Jake Odorizzi leading our rotation in a year or two and Lawrie hitting 4th behind Braun putting up a .300/.385/.525 type line. I'm sure I/we are in the minority there. Then again, Greinke's always been my favorite pitcher, so I'm not complaining about that one at all, and if this team keeps playing well....meh, I'll just shut up. But you are talking like Lawrie and Odorizzi being All-stars is a given. MLB is littered with guys who were top prospects and never lived up to their billing. Think of all the top prospects who have struggled once getting to the bigs. Now both could pan out but right now getting two frontline pitchers for two years and either draft picks, trade for prospects or extensions. I loved Odorizzi and hated losing him.

I really would like to know how he got a 7 or an 8. He tries to improve but I think the height issue is huge, his range is not good, and he is not good at digging out low throws. If we did a poll on his bat though! Then an 8 to 9 makes complete sense.

Isnt Katin hurt?

I just hope it is a team that has a decent year that signs him that way we get an extra pick in the bottom of the first round. 3 picks in the first round and supplemental round would help the farm system out a lot. I think Prince is a very good player and would love to keep him but dont think we will or even should with the price he will demand. Prince will have to be one of the top 3 free agents out there this year. I am not sure how the rankings work but we should be all but guaranteed a couple very good picks for Prince. I know it is not the like the NFL draft where guys immediately come in and help but with being a middle market team we need some young talent in our system

Mat Gamel is hurt by this comment

Horrible timing for Lawrie with the call-up seeming inevitable. The article says 2-3 weeks so he could still be up by mid July once he gets back.

I dont think there is anyway Prince signs before going to free agency and if he hits free agency I dont like our chances. We have a ton of money locked up into Braun and we cannot afford to lock up a ton more into a non-pitcher in my mind. Marcum or Greinke sure, but Prince I just dont see it going well. He is a great player but if he hits free agency some team with %$@$@+ at first will throw a boatload of money at him. We will get two more picks once Prince leaves and that could go to replenish the farm system. The money saved can go to extending a pitcher or another bat. Gamel is also is there to replace Prince.

It is interesting how much negativity there is toward these picks in this thread. When I look at different sites a lot of the "experts" seem really high on the Brewers picks. I was glad to see colby chime in. His analysis has me excited for the two guys we drafted.

Yeah I can see that, but I just dont see the young guys like Morrison, Stanton, etc holding up for the full-year. They have been struggling of late and I dont think it is just the loss of Johnson. I see them hanging in the race like 3 or 4 games out right until the end but I just dont see them getting the Wild Card. Having to play the Phillies and Braves a lot effects that too.

I really think the Brewers make the playoffs. The teams that make me nervous are the Cardinals (who I have sadly become believers in recently) and the Braves. I waver back in forth on the Reds. I think the Phillies and one NL West team - probably the Giants are in but I think the Wild-Card comes down to the Brewers/Cards/Reds and Braves. I see the Marlins and D-Backs falling back to the pack. I would not be surprised to see Colorado be the team who is not really in the hunt right now make a run. As splitter said we are finally getting healthy with Hart, our bullpen, Morgan, and Greinke now settling in. I love our top 3 against pretty much anyone and Wolf has been terrific as a number 4 guy. In Wolf's last 10 starts he has given up 1 run or fewer 6 times and 2 runs once. I like that out of a 4.

Interesting year with no team having an outstanding record. With Cleveland and Philly struggling of lat there are a lot of teams - 10 in fact - within 2 games of the best record in baseball. That means a third of the league is within 2 games! After their brutal start the Brewers sit 2 games back of the leaders Cleveland, Philly, and St. Louis. The biggest surprises of the top 10 have to Cleveland, Arizona and Florida. Not a lot of love for those 3 coming into the year.

I think a couple of you are taking "a couple of seasons" in a literal context, as in he'll miss entire seasons. The most likely scenario injury wise is that he suffers a catastrophic injury at some point that will end a season or 2... a broken bone, a bad muscle tear, whatever... Then when you start throwing in DL stints here and there as he gets older it's certainly plausible that he loses 2 years worth of ABs over the course of his career. The risk of injury goes up with age. Our medical staff won an award (which I think was a joke btw) because the Brewers had the least amount of DL time that one season, but it didn't really have anything to do with them, it was related to the fact that we had a very young team approaching it's peak. Those types of players are injured far less than players 5 to 6 years older than them. Do you think Cleveland fans were anticipating Sizemore becoming injury prone? It just happens, and the risk goes up significantly, in fact exponentially, with age. The chance of injury lessens every year from 18 to the player's physical peak(when they physical mature) which is typically around age 24, then begins increasing exponentially becoming a very steep curve past age 30. The injury nexus looks somewhat like a capital U with the midpoint centered on physical maturity. In the end people are going to believe what they want to believe, and yes some players defy the odds and stay much healthier over their careers. The injury nexus is the biggest reason I don't want to sign older players to contracts, when you add in declining physical abilities which leads to a decline in overall production, I see no reason to build around veteran players at all. That is why steroids were so import to aging players, the drugs allowed players to recover faster and keep playing at high level longer. Sure players hit more home runs, that was a large part of the impact the general public is willing to accept, but don't discount the injury impact of steroids. Whether or not Braun becomes the best Brewer ever depends entirely on how healthy he is later in his career, it's that simple. Without pharmaceutical help he's at the mercy of his genetics and how much good fortune he has injury wise, like players in the past. It's a long road, and as all that money is guaranteed, we all need to hope he has good fortune and stays healthy and productive as long as possible. That makes sense. So he is essentially saying over the next ten years we are lucky if Braun doesnt miss 320 games or so? So 30 a year for the next 10. I can see that I guess.

It should be a fun race. I definitely think it is a 3-team race. With the Cards I think Pujols getting back on track will get off-set by Berkman coming back to earth. Their pitching has been really good but can anyone really see Lohse and McKellen keeping that up. The Reds will continue to get better in my mind. They scare me. I think the Brewers will continue to get better. Only Lucroy is really exceeding expectations, and Marcum I guess. Once Greinke's ERA comes back to what his peripherals suggest it should be and our bullpen gets excited I think this team is scary as well. On the Cubs, Castro seems to be struggling quite a bit. His May OPS was 717 and on the season he is at .752. He is still only 21 so all that could improve but I dont see the hype as much as others.

Braun missed 20 games combined the last 3 years so I am wondering why you think we will be lucky for him to not miss a couple seasons. He seems to have little injuries like any guy but plays through them pretty well. He is very well conditioned and has never had a history of major injuries. I am not sure why we would assume he will start to be hurt a lot. Now I dont think he is near being talked about as the best ever because of how good Yount was. He has a ways to go before he gets there if he ever does He has had oblique problems for a couple years now. Sure he plays through them. Plays through them well, not so sure about that. He had a couple not so good months last year after being hit by a pitch. You have to worry about his oblique sapping his power at some point. I never said he would be hurt a lot. Every single player is an injury risk. He has to play a very long time to measure up to Yount and Molitor. The odds are not good that he will play that long. You said we would be lucky if Braun does not miss a couple full seasons. That seems like a lot of injury time. He did struggle for a while playing through his injury last year so you are right about that. However, I just thought it was weird to say we would be lucky if he does not miss a couple season when he might have been DL once in his career if ever.

Braun missed 20 games combined the last 3 years so I am wondering why you think we will be lucky for him to not miss a couple seasons. He seems to have little injuries like any guy but plays through them pretty well. He is very well conditioned and has never had a history of major injuries. I am not sure why we would assume he will start to be hurt a lot. Now I dont think he is near being talked about as the best ever because of how good Yount was. He has a ways to go before he gets there if he ever does

We can't look at things in a vaccuum. If the CC trade was never made, we would have had LaPorta & Brantley in the system, which would have changed all subsequent moves. We may not have traded for Gomez if we saw Brantley as a legitimate CF prospect, or we may not have extended Hart if we saw Brantley as a corner OF. We would have had much more reason last season to trade Hart & Fielder for pitching, as we would have had legitimate prospects knocking on the door at AAA. Had we done that, we probably wouldn't have traded for Greinke and Marcum this offseason (maybe Marcum, but almost adduredly not Greinke). We may not have as good a team this season with Brantley in RF, LaPorta at 1B and whatever players we received for Prince & Corey, but we would certainly have a better minor league system for the future. Brantley is not and never was a CF prospect. He can play there if he has to but he is not a starting CF. Fielder was rumored at the deadline last year and there were no top of line pitchers rumored to be coming to Milwaukee for him. Hart was not netting more than a number 3/4 guy at best. If we trade Hart and Fielder for young pitching we would have pushed back 2 to 3 years our chances at competing. Right now we have one of the best top 3's in the NL for two years. I dont know how anyone can say we overpaid for Marcum or Greinke. Lawrie could be very good but Marcum has been terrific. Odorizzi is the only guy in the Greinke deal (maybe Cain) that I miss. Escobar cannot hit. Seriously, I would rather have Yo batting every day than him. Jeffress still walks almost a guy an inning. Cain might be solid player but he is definitely not a lock. Odorizzi is hard to lose but seriously we gave up a couple below average MLB players, a guy who could be solid, and very good pitching prospect who is still in A ball. Not sure how we overpaid for either.

I am not sure if I see Brantley helping this team much at all right now. His .747 OPS and only being able to adequately play the corners is not really appealing. Morgan and even Gomez seem like better options in CF. Braun never really rests so RF could have used Brantley some since Kotsay isnt good. But with Hart back LaPorta would be a nice bench back but Brantley would probably be in AAA. With Corner OF'ers being a place we are set on this team for a little while and being one of the easiest places to get guys I dont think either guy is a big loss. Although next year once Prince leaves maybe LaPorta will be missed because Gamel and LaPorta could take RF/1B and we could have saved money not extending hart

I am more interested to see if his glove can play at 3rd because I think his bat will be very good. The question becomes is he a corner OF or a 3B. Interested to see what happens. I am wondering if his power numbers are for real. Sure he was young in all his leagues but his OPS went up 200 points this year. He had never been a big home run guy and this year he is going crazy. Maybe he just matured a lot this year but I wonder if those numbers are what to expect our if he his more likely to be an .800 OPS kind of guy