MJLiverock

The Bucks seem to always be looking to shed bad contacts, and for what? So they can sign another one? Most teams that try to clear cap room are looking to make a play for a big time player not that any would sign in Milwaukee. So what is the point of continually recycling these bad contracts? Then they don't want to trade up in the drafts to get a shot at guys who can play but hey projects like Yi and Alexander and Sanders are supposed to bring hope. I don't see any plan or point to this team anymore they may as well move it if they can't sign great players, can't trade for them, and don't want draft them.

Jackson and Maggete's deals are about a wash and according to ESPN Jackson isn't too pleased about the trade. Getting rid of Salmons deal might help but moving down 9 spots to do it seems like another continuation of Bucks roster roulette. Why even sign Salmons to the deal if it is an albatross a year later? Deck chairs on the Titanic seems about right. Year after year of aimlessly trading mediocre players around and getting nothing out of the draft.

Why I'll never switch from cable to satellite TV. My DirecTV signal never flickered here in Madison. Keeping it aimed properly is key with 95 signal strength in clear weather. I had way more outages when I had 3 years of Charter than I've had in 10 years of DirecTV.

Wilson does only have 30 AB's for the season(his 10 AB's prior to the Brewers 20 aren't good) but he has over 900 AB's prior to that where his line is .228/.281/.323 which isn't very good. Defensively, his career numbers don't look any better, pretty much negatives just like YB.

The full RR quote prior to that snippet includes Which is the point many have tried to make. Counsell isn't offering anything at the plate either and after watching him up close in Boston his range doesn't look all that great anymore. Wilson was signed to the moans of many and aside from a key HR hasn't done anything either. Source: Brewers notes: Short on options, Roenicke sticks with Betancourt edit: cited source --1992

My wife has a photo of us with them on Facebook, some Boston friends of ours also posed for pics with them. Oveall, the fans were great, lots of comments on surprised they were at the number of Brewer fans, they said it was more than any team they can remember, even the Yankees. Friday night a, "Let's go Brewers!" chant broke out behind home plate and along 3rd base and it was pretty loud, a few Boston fans around us said they have never heard a visiting chant that loud. Sadly, it didn't help. On Sunday the fans behind us told me they were from Maine and had bought tickets hoping to see thier son's best friend pitch for the Brewers. I asked if it was Mark Rogers and they were surprised I knew his name. I told them I knew he had some arm troubles early in the year after a decent September last year which kept him off the big league roster to start, even with ZG hurt. They were aware and said they were just at his wedding in November.

Not calling someone up to DH is just plain stupid in my opinion. There is absolutely no reason to not try an improve the offense and possibly even the defense for the AL games. Gamel is going to be a Brewer next year when Fielder is gone, he's been up before, let him DH, his option has been used already for the year iirc. This just screams of the Tony Gwynn, Jr. DH debacle all over again. What is Melvin's problem with bringing a guy up to hit? Gamel can miss a few AAA games traveling back and forth, it won't kill him. I don't know that Green will hit right away but Casey needs some time off or a platoon for a bit. The team has 3 bad SS, I think they can spare one of them to make room. I doubt Yuni would get claimed and if so, who cares. Green can play 2nd or 3rd, Casey can play 3rd, Wilson can play 2nd or SS, Counsell can play 2nd, 3rd, SS. That's plenty of infield flexibility. At least try to show fans that Melvin is awake and not just going with the roster he set in March. Of course a Nieves for either of Rivera or GK wouldn't be bad either and would further improve the bench for the AL series.

I don't disagree that both AAA catchers should be better than Nieves. I think it is absurd to blame LuCroy's plate troubles on who the back up catcher is and to see the constant complants everytime LuCroy gets a day off and now complaints when he gets used as a PH as somehow being overworked. Which is it? He plays too much or not enough?

Uhh people complain that Nieves catches every 5th day, read RoCo's post and he pretty much compains about it in multiple threads. - - i.e. LuCroy is Superman and must play everyday. People complain that LuCroy is used a PH- mentioned in multiple posts. i.e. LuCroy is fragile and can't possibly PH in games he doesn't start, it's too much of a work load. (of course this doesn't even bring up how often people used to complain about Yost or Macha refusing to use a PH for the catcher use his back up catcher to PH late in a game.) title of thread is, "Nieves is so bad he's going to screw up LuCroy too" -- i.e. Kyptonite sorry Funketown, no straw man there, just rehashing what was said, I know it doesn't make sense that somehow LuCroy is getting too many days off, plays too much, and somehow is struggling at the plate because of who the back up catcher is so I made light of the ridiculousness of the thread.

So in this thread LuCroy should play everyday since having Nieves catch Wolf every 5th day is completely stupid. But LuCroy is playing too much because he was used as a PH late in games when Nieves catches. And finally, LuCroy hasn't been able to hit out of a wet paper bag for the last month because Nieves is on the team. Conclusion: LuCroy is a fragile Superman who's Kryptonite is Wil Nieves.

You mean like Sunday when LaRussa left a pretty gassed looking Westbrook in to face Fielder who promptly deposited it in the bleachers to take the lead? Cardinal fans were complaining about old "one hitter too many" LaRussa after that one. The "one hitter too many" was used on Cardinal boards to describe LaRussa. The Cardinal fan next to me in the stands looked right at me and said, "I can't believe LaRussa leaving this guy in to face Fielder, he's gonna hit the scoreboard off him." I guess that guy should be the manager over that idiot LaRussa. The hindsight complaints about bullpen usage are pretty common, everyone thinks their manager is an idiot whenever the bullpen doesn't work. I don't think anyone is ever happy with the manager. There are always going to be a call here or there that gets questioned because not everything works and not everything is as easy right/wrong as some make it out. I knew the squeeze play would set some off as some sort of validation that the squeeze is terrible, of course they still tried to justify hating it when it worked the previous 3 times. Or using a useless stat like "on average a runner on third scores x%" when said stat doesn't take into account, hitter, pitcher, match ups at all. As much as fans would like the game to play out like a video game where players are never sick, in a slump, having a bad day, tired, worried about whatever, and always play out to their modeled stats it just doesn't work that way. I couldn't believe Kotsay started at CF on Sunday but sure enough he had 2 hits including a key double in the 6th. RR then put Gomez in for defense in the 9th and he made a good catch. People wanted Morgan, but maybe he didn't feel well, maybe he just needed the day off, or maybe RR as manager just made the right call by playing Kotsay and then getting him out of there for Gomez in the 9th for D. Managers have to work with what they are given and try to get the most from those players by putting them in position to succeed. I'd say he did that with Kotsay on Sunday. Manager have more information about a player than is contained in a model or spreadsheet. If player X is slow with his bat all day they can see it, or the 3B is limping a bit, or is known to have trouble fieldinig a bunt, or the pitcher is coming off the mound funny, all of which can affect the decison to bunt, hit and run, PH, IBB. Back a few weeks when Kotsay started over Hart the game thread was non stop bashing, name calling, and arm chair managing then it came out that Hart was sick. Ooops, the manager actually has more information about the players than everyone at home when filling out the lineup. The complaints about LuCroy not playing everyday get ridiculous as well, he just isn't going to play everyday so setting him up with every 5th day off gives him a routine, makes Wolf happy, seems smart enough, certainly not the dumbest decision ever as some make it out. I had to laugh as well yesterday that someone complained that LuCroy was used as a PH since he shouldn't be used so much. So RR gets bashed for giving LuCroy the day off every 5 days and using LuCroy too much all in the same game. At least RR will PH for his catcher or use his back up catcher late in a game. Nieves is on the roster, that may be DM's choice more than anything, but it wasn't like GK was loved when up, every passed ball or bad throw was, "ugh why is this guy around, we need a defensvie back up, RR is an idiot." I remember the complaints about not hitting LuCroy 2nd because he was supposedly the 3rd or 4th best hitter on the team according to some posts. Now after his hot start, his last month is Gomezesque, similar to last year, but hey if he is worshipped by a few posters it's alright that his hitting line is nothing special. Betancourt is sitting more but seriously it isn't like Counsell or Wilson are world beaters. When Wilson was signed it was panned as why this guy, but 2 HR's later he should suddenly be playing everyday? Or Counsell's awesome batting should be there every day? When the options are all bad I can't see getting all worked up because he played player X and it is the dumbest thing ever. Bad baserunning by McGehee, Gomez, and LuCroy early in the year was somehow RR's fault. I think people are just looking for things to complain about and blowing up every decison they disagree with as some affront to common sense when it really isn't that big of deal because those same complainers refuse to give credit when decisions they disagree with work out. It's a long season and there are going to be decsions made that some agree with or disagree with including for reasons beyond the back of the baseball card or aggregate SABR stats.

Article in the Wall Street Journal on June 8th noted offense in AAA has been trending up as teams have pulled up the top pitching prospects or skipping AAA all together with them. They had a chart showing PCL IL Runs/game OPS Runs/Game OPS 2009 9.76 0.769 8.59 .723 2010 10.43 0.780 9.02 .740 2011 11.21 0.804 8.87 .728 I'm not saying it means Green's numbers are inflated or anything, I just thought it was an interesting article on offenses generally being up in AAA. I wouldn't be against Green getting a look but I really wouldn't expect much more offense than Casey has been providing from him. Green's never faced ML pitching and didn't really tear up AA.

The issue with Betancourt has been the same before he even played an inning for the Brewers. He overall production projects to be SO bad that he's a marginal major league bench player, yet he was penciled in to start for the Brewers. Ironically, Betancourt has actually performed even worse than his projections suggested. In contrast, Gomez is below average but above replacement levell (almost completely because of his defense). We aren't demanding above average at every position. I don't think even average at every position is a realistic expectation. But when there are minor leaguers and major league bench players that project to be better than your starting major league SS, there are problems. Sure there may be guys on other teams AAA or bench that may be better than Betancourt but the Brewers would have to trade something and have the other team want to trade their back up or insurance guy. It is easy to say player X is better but to actually obtain that player is a whole different story. The other issue is saying guys who are also terrible project to be half a win better in some faulty system like WAR isn't really saying much. That is not a guaranteed improvement or saying that playing an aged oft injured Punto out of position is automatically an improvement. Pretty much every marginal major leaguer tossed out as an improvement thus far has been pure speculation that they are really much if any improvement over Betancourt's marginal ML ability, on top of those players are on other teams not just free for the taking.

I assume they must have injuries but really Seattle, Adam Kennedy is your first baseman? Without looking, I would guess that offense is pretty bad.

To me it looks like he is just missing the ball. Not swinging and missing but missing the timing or the sweet spot of the bat by a hair. Last night's game where he had a 9 or 10 pitch AB was a perfect example. He fouled off a lot of pitches, some of which were very hittable but he was just under them or just off a bit in his timing. His BABIP is down from around .300 to .250-.260. His line drives are down, his ground balls are up, his HR/FB is half the previous two years' numbers. His K rate and Walk rate haven't really changed. All of his swing factors like O and Z etc. look pretty similar to previous years. He just seems to be missing the ball by a bit. I don't think pitchers have figure him out since the K rate and swing factors are similar and it makes me think he isn't swinging at bad pitches. The BABIP luck factor is down but I think it is due to just not hitting the ball square. If his bat speed has slowed that could be a factor, but it isn't like he is that old yet unless he is just that outlier who ages fast. He may just be in a slump where he is off by just that little bit or he isn't seeing the ball well causing his timing/location to be off but it has been going on for a long time to where you would think a few extra hitting sessions or days off would right it but not so far.

Not much of an upgrade, sort of falls into that its a wash category especially when factoring in that the WAR system isn't nearly accurate as getting into decimal places implies. Both aren't good, which is where most of the other scrubs mentioned in the preseason and early season would fall.

Yeah, I just looked at the #'s assigned in the batting order at first. I also liked his line of So, you want your best three hitters to hit in the #1, #4, and #2 spots. Distribute them so OBP is higher in the order and SLG is lower. Then place your fourth and fifth best hitters, with the #5 spot usually seeing the better hitter, unless he’s a high-homerun guy. Then place your four remaining hitters in decreasing order of overall hitting ability, with basestealers ahead of singles hitters. Finally, stop talking like the lineup is a make-or-break decision.

How come?I'm pretty sure it's that first picture posted by Tailgat0r, that's basically the imagine of him that is burned into my brain. I just can't get past it. I just don't care about pics like that of a 20 year old or however old he was there. Plenty of young men have pics or moments like that in their past and it has had no impact on their becoming teachers, doctors, lawyers, star athletes, or what have you. I have pics like that from college of guys who went on to each of those professions.

Well then I must have read it wrong when I looked at this: Copy. Here’s how the lineup spots rank in the importance of avoiding outs: #1, #4, #2, #5, #3, #6, #7, #8, #9 Gomez's .299 wOBA would be 5th on that list behind the .345 put up by the 8th spot in the lineup which is most likely all LuCroy's hot start. Weeks, Braun, and Prince aren't likely to move so really the only beef should be with using LuCroy in that spot until Hart/Morgan came back. Milwaukee Brewers Order PA HR SB CS BABIP wOBA 1st 252 9 6 2 .346 .368 2nd 243 7 9 3 .275 .295 3rd 236 12 13 1 .336 .424 4th 232 11 0 0 .290 .390 5th 229 3 0 1 .274 .298 6th 221 2 2 1 .280 .269 7th 217 5 4 1 .226 .246 8th 210 5 3 0 .340 .345 9th 204 4 2 0 .256 .222

Wasn't Renteria supposed one of those surefire huge upgrades to Betancourt?

The article's lineup optimization suggests using the #4 best hitter in the two spot, Gomez's wOBA of .299 would be 5th best on that list for the Brewer's spots making his appearances in the 2 spot not as horrible as made out. To PrinceEatMeat's point, when the alternatives aren't anything better, Gomez in the 2 spot doesn't make RR a complete idiot as he has been called.

Interesting article on fangraphs http://www.fangraphs.com/...1-woba-by-batting-order/ The Brewers #2 spot has put up a better wOBA than the 6th and 7th spots in the lineup and nearly matches the #5 spot, even with all the gnashing over CarGo batting in the 2 spot.

I gave him a 3 in throwing, he has only nabbed 3/25 runners on stolen base attempts. That is pretty poor but I didn't go with zero since some of that has to be on the pitcher. I gave him an 8 for calling a game- - basically just a guess but the staff seems to like him, other than Wolf but even that has improved. I gave him a 7 for blocking - - overall pretty good I weighted the categories as throwing 20%, Calling a game 60% and blocking 20%; weighted average 6.8 so I rounded it up to 7. The weightings are pretty arbitrary on my part but I just wanted to see what I'd come up with and 7 seems pretty fair.

All the time? How many season ending injuries have catchers suffered in the past 20 years do to collisions? Not very many. Guys may get banged up now and then and miss a game but that also happens all over the bases with awkward slides, collisions at 2nd base. Someone even ran into Prince at 1st base this year and had to leave the game. Hardy wasn't a catcher and he got hurt sliding not shouldering into a catcher. Jason Kendall stepped awkwardly on first base breaking his ankle pretty bad and ending his season, should first base have been lowered to be flat with the ground?

I don't see the need to change rules everytime a fluke injury occurs just because it happened to a star player. It's a shame for Posey and the Giants but injuries happen. It isn't like catchers are having season ending injuries due to collisions on a frequent basis. If baseball want to reiterate to players not to shoulder into the catcher who is standing in front of the plate that seems fair, you'd think a slide there would be better anyway.