MJLiverock

I posted a number of the stats/rankings of the Brewer pen in the Torres retirment thread but basically the Brewers had about as middle of the road pen as you could get last year. They were the worst bullpen for a team that made the playoffs however and ranked pretty poorly in K/BB, K/9, and number of blown saves. I guess looking at jjanec's list it makes me think the pen won't be much better but maybe some better pen management from Macha or some variances working out positively for the pen will improve things but the low K totals and mediocre WHIP leave me less than confident in the pen.

The team loses both Sheets and Sabathia and decides to stand pat with the current roster hoping for improvement from the offense and improvement from the bullpen. I fear they add no one to bolster the pen's fairly weak arms. Gallardo comes back and is a decent starter, Bush is Bush but after that it is a grab bag of mediocrity and a struggle to fill the rotation on a consistent basis. In this scenario I see a struggle to finish around .500 even with a slighltly better offense via Hart, Hall or Weeks doing a little better. I don't see the rest of the team collectively doing much more than they did in 2008 with guys like Kendall, Cameron, Kapler falling off a bit. The average WC winner in the NL has averaged 91.7 wins since 1996 putting the Brewers in the 10-12 games back category.

the brewer's bullpen era was 3.89. good for 4th in the 16 team national league. that's well below average. I took a stab at looking at a few of the Bullpen numbers for the Brewers OPS against .722 14th in ML vs. Avg. of .729 (Cubs were only playoff team with a higher OPS against) SV% 63% tied for 14th in ML vs. avg. of 64% (FYI worst among playoff teams) Blown Saves 26 tied for 7th most; avg. team 22 BS (most Blown Saves of any playoff team) Losses 24 tied for 17th most or(12th fewest tied with Cubs & Dodgers) average team's bullpen took 25 losses WHIP 1.39 tied for 16th, ML avg. 1.39 (worst WHIP for any playoff team) k/BB 1.80 tied for 22nd; ML avg. 1.99 (worst k/BB ratio for any playoff team) k/9 7.34 tied for 21st; ML avg. 7.53 (worst k/9 ratio for any playoff team) the other 7 playoff teams were all in top 10 The Brewers Bullpen appears as average to below average in most stats. However it did stand out to me that they were by far the worst bullpen of any of the playoff teams since they were last in nearly every stat when compared to just the playoff teams. Troubling is the very low k rates, and K/BB ratios - - hard to get that big strikeout when needed. The number of blow saves really stood out as well.

One report has Greg Smith, Huston Street, and Carlos Gonzales going to Colorado for Holliday.

Well Kyle Lohse just signed a 4 year $41 Million deal with the Cardinals. On baseball reference.com Suppan is listed at #1 as most similar pitcher at age 29.

I think I will scream if the Cubs can pull of trading a pile of basically garbage for Peavy. Cedeno and Pie are just over hyped guys who aren't really great prospects. I would hope if these rumors are true Doug Melvin could look around the Brewer system and package one of the decent catching prospects and a bunch of spare part "prospects" and come up with a similar or better offer. How many times can the Cubs get away with trading piles of mediocre minor league players for quality major league guys?

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=t&chs=440x220&chtm=usa&chf=bg,s,336699&chco=cc0000&chd=s:999999999999999999999999999999999&chld=ALCAFLILKYMONCORSDWICOGAINLAMIPATNVAWYHIIAMNNEOHTXWAARKSMDNVNYOKWV visited 33 states (66%) Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

I don't know the Cain/Hackman theory but does it refer to one of them being on TV at all times?

on the 93.1 topic, my friends and I were just commenting over the weekend about how all Madison seems to have is classic rock stations with 101.5, 105.9, 105.5, 105.1, 94.9 and the 93.1 so it made sense that one of them finally went away. It seemed that at any gives moment a Beatles tune, Van Halen, or Led Zeppelin is one of these channels. I think the Lake played a Beatles song every 15 minutes.

Colbyjack, I get what you are saying regarding the trading not being part of Jack's responsibility but more a GM role but I would think the scouting department has to have some impact on the opinion and information the GM uses to evaluate the guys coming and going via the trade. Basically, that was why I lumped the whole thing into the front office role in building the team. I was kind of coming from the angle that despite the near diety worship Jack and Doug receive here there are other teams that have built from within and via the trade to a tune of equal or more success than the Brewers have over the past 8 years. I think we all get caught up in the dark days of the 90's-02 when this team was possibly the worst in baseball. The front office has removed the team from laughingstock list but still needs improvement. Just out of curiosity who are the 9 guys on the big league roster? It is nice and an achievment when drafted guys make it to the big leagues given the normal washout rates but how many were major contributors to getting in the playoffs? Given how bad the Brewers were it was bound to happen that a number of prospects would make the roster even 3 or 4 years ago through the sheer awfulness of the team. I know guys like Fielder, Hardy, Hart, Braun came through the system. Gallardo was hurt and although technically on the roster didn't contribute much, Hall didn't help much, Weeks was average and contributed. Was Parra a Jack pick? Was Sheets prior to Jack? Other than these guys I can't think of who else was a contributor who came through the system via draft. I also don't pretend to know the Phillies situation on their homegrown guys. I think Burrell, Howard, and Hamels were drafted by the Phils. Don't know about Rollins, Utley, Myers and Victorino or the other bullpen guys. I know Werth, Moyer, Lidge, Felize were picked via trade or FA. Edit: Looks like the Phils drafted Howard, Utley, Rollins, Burrell so pretty much the heard of their lineup. Also drafted Hamels, Myers and Madson for sure.

I agree that Doug, Jack, and staff have done a much better job than the predecessors like Taylor and Bando but it isn't like they have built some sort of dynasty at the ML level or built a farm system that is the envy of every team out there. Compared to what was there when they started, yes, vast improvement. Reality is they built a team that squeaked into the playoffs and were promplty dismissed. In that same time organizations like Tampa, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Cleveland, and A's have all built playoff and World Series teams through astue scouting, trading, and drafting. Even larger market teams like the Dodgers, Red Sox, Braves, and Angels have developed cosiderable young talent to go with the big payrolls. So while I apprciate the good work the front office has done and remember how bad it can be it isn't like the Brewers have become the envy of the league and have irreplacable people. The Brewers front office is probably somewhere between 11th-15th in the league so solidly in the middle third. Going from this point forward it will be interesting to see if the front office can take the team to the next level of being a solid playoff challenger and World Series hopeful rather than the goals of .500 seasons and a potential wild card bid. Or will the current mini success be a flash in the pan?

For the non Brewer playoff games and World Series I let one tuner on the DVR "record" the game and watched something else on the other channel. Occasionally I would flip over to the other tuner and check out the game score and rewind it to watch the inning runs were scored in or watch the last couple innings. I did watch most of Game 1 of the WS live but then quickly remembered why I don't like Buck/McCarver. I just wasn't that interested in watching the Phillies play, I don't really like their team so even though the Rays a kind of exciting the series as a whole was slow. Longoria and Pena seemed to disappear whenever I watched them bat. During the regular season I check out most Brewer games, watching as many as I can. I will check out games on ESPN if the teams are interesting, i.e. not the Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox lovefest. Football is still probably my top viewing choice but by Monday night I am usually burned out by watching a couple college games on Saturday, 1-2 NFL on Sunday so I rarely watch MNF. I have probably seen about 5 minutes of NBA games in the last 5 years. I like college BB and watch those games quite often including the Badgers and big matchups. NASCAR and golf are avoided at all times. The only thing more boring than watching golf is having someone tell me about their last round or hole of golf. I used to watch the NHL, my dad was a big fan, but in the last 10 years I rarely watch it. I usually catch a little of the Badger Hockey games on the weekends.

I think Ruby died of cancer and it was either know or speculated that he knew he had cancer when he shot Oswald. That one comes up in the conspiracy theories. I think he died within 3 or 4 years. The History Channel has had a number of shows dedicated to showing how the shots by Oswalt from the book depository could have done the damage cited in the Warren Commission's report. They have done some pretty interesting shows on it from both the conspiracy angle and against the conspiracy. Look for a show called Unsolved History if you like this sort of thing. I saw episodes about D.B. Cooper, the Red Baron, JFK, Marilyn Monroe, the downing of the Korean airliner, and the Boston Massacre. All were pretty interesting.

If Escobar has such little power how did he manage to slug at the same level as Hardy both years? I am not trying to be a wise cracker but literally wondering why his slugging is discounted so much vs. Hardy at the same level. Does he just leg out out more weak doubles and triples that are singles for Hardy (who is woefully slow) versus hitting it out of the park like Hardy? The age 21 or 20 probably doesn't matter much, it really is only 8 months difference in the respective age at each level. In their full AA seasons Hardy hit 26 double, 0 triples, 12 HR vs. Escobar at 24 doubles, 5 triples, 8 HRs. The higher BA contributes to his slugging offsetting some of the lower HR numbers along with a lot more triples. I for one wouldn't mind having a guy who hit for a few less HR's if he carried a .300 BA since the Brewers seem to really struggle in that category. (yes I know OBP but still would be nice to have a guy who could actually get a hit rather than hit .240 and hope for a .340 OBP like so many middle infielders and Brewer players look). Hopefully, he could develop into a leadoff hitter the Brewers have been sorely lacking. I agree with Ender or endaround, whoever, said Escobar wouldn't likely hit .330 his rookie year. I think we all remember how much Hardy struggled when he came up but I thinnk it is reasonable to expect above SS average offensive numbers eventually out of him. He is listed as 6'1", if accurate, which isn't small for a SS. More and more I like the idea of moving Hardy to third if they can't find a decent LH platoon guy for Hall or an everyday 3B. I would like Escobar to get a year at AAA but could see where he may not.

Why are there so many doubt about Escobar's bat when comparing him to Hardy? They have virtually identical lines in the minors at the years where they played A+/AA and a full year of AA. Escobar at A+/AA .306/.331/.366/.697 with 22 steals 63% successful, 18 BB's, 71 ks or 1/7 AB Hardy at A+/AA .273/.313/.375/.688 with 10 steals 67% successful, 19 BB's, 38ks or 1/13 AB Escobar full year AA .328/.363/.434/.797 with 34 steals 81% succesful, 31 BBs, 82 ks or 1/7.04 AB's Hardy full year AA .279/.367/.428/.795 with 6 steals 60% successful, 58 BB, 54K or 1/8.77 AB's Looks like Hardy took a few more walks but hit for a lower average during the full AA season and K'd a touch less. Escobar steals more bases and has hit with a better average and similar power to Hardy. I really don't see anything there that screams Escobar can't be a decent ML hitting SS when compared to what Hardy did at the same levels.

I've had Verizon for about 4 years now and live in Waunakee so not too far from your range. My Verizon service has been great, good reception, nationwide coverage, etc. I too dropped AT&T due to poor reception back when I lived in Madison. I used to get no bars when on my boat on Lake Monona and often lost signals downtown. If you don't leave the area much U.S. Cellular has great local coverage and especially in rural areas of WI (Verizon runs on U.S. Cells network in a lot of the rural areas) but if you are looking for EVDO and a lot of the higher end network functions and better phones you will be disappointed with U.S. Cellular.

I couldn't believe how many empty seats there were in my section of Miller Park for the Sunday (game 4). I know some people may have been elsewhere in the stadium but these were in the club level right at third base so not too bad. My wife and I had the 2nd and 3rd seats from the aisle, the first seat was empty the entire game. The two seats in front of us were empty the entire game and a couple rows down which was the first row also had seats sit empty the entire game. I just found it odd that no one ever came and used the seats even for an inning. Anyway on the remaining teams I hope for a Tampa/L.A. World Series. I like a lot of the Dodger players, Kemp, Ethier, Martin, Billingsley, Nomar, and yes Manny. I love watching Manny play and how he drives people like Tim McCarver nuts. Seeing Manny in the World Series and no Red Sox would make me very happy. I just don't think they can pull it out over the Phillies who seem to get a timely HR at will. I can't stand hearing the fawning over their lineup and pitching. Other than Hamels/Lidge I don't think their pitching is anything special. For all the acclaim of the lineup I wasn't that impressed in the Brewer series since they didn't really outhit the pathetic offense the Brewers put on the field until Sunday but as a whole Howard, Rollins, Utley haven't done much.

A lot of people think baseball is the easy to understand sport. Football has imense amounts of strategy on both sides of the ball, many individual relationships to the strategy through different positions responsibilities and almost all players are involved in all plays. Baseball is often just a game of watching pitches and involves only the batter and hitter. Baseball boils down to throw the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball with only limited moves for strategy. Football involves many more strategic moves via play calling on both sides of the ball.

I actually thought their plate discipline wasn't that bad yesterday, they seemed more patient. They took a lot of pitches and laid off the ones in the dirt or at the shoetops. Hamels was pinpointing unbelievably well, so even some of the taken pitches were on the corners or right at the knees and I can't complain about them watching them. The Brewers biggest problem was the swing and miss at the pitches right over the plate like the final Hart strike. Hamels was filthy yesterday and the announcers mentioned he has an over 50% swing and miss rate for the season so there isn't much you can do when his borderline pitches are all strikes and you are going to swing and miss over half the time anyway.

I was actually impressed with the Brewers patience for most of the game. They took a lot of pitches and put a lot 3-2 counts out there but couldn't get any hits or even really touch the ball when they took a swing. For all the shots people in the media took at the Brewers pitching staff prior to the game I though they did a pretty good job as well. The Phillies didn't exactly light the world on fire with thier offense agains Gallardo and Villy. I am optimistic about today's game.

My wife emailed me this exact same set of pictures yesterday morning. She got them from a co worker who says his friend took them in a Milwaukee bar Sunday night. By this time I have no idea who really took them but it looks like a fun party.

I have gotten this email numerous times between yesterday and today claiming that if the $700 billion bailout for AIG (which is just the first mistake in the email since the $700 billion is a buy up of mortgage loans from banks not specifically for AIG only) were spread over the 200 million tax payers we would each get $425,000 before taxes. The email goes on now referencing the $85 Million for AIG. People please learn math. $700,000,000,000 divided by 200,000,000 people is $3,500 a person. $85,000,000,000 divided by 200,000,000 people is $425 per person. No where near this ridiculous $425,000 per person referenced in the email that is flying all over the internet. I guess I shouldn't expect people that can't do a simple math division to understand financial markets and implications but c'mon do people really think this even sounds reasonable.

The problem with Cory isn't just one month, he has been an out machine for June, July, August and September. His OBP during that time has been .292, .301, .310, and .192.

Hart was a guy I thought would really bust out this year but he has really struggled in the second half. He seems to get a pass with the focus on Hall/Counsell, Weeks, Kendall but Hart has been borderline bad in the second half. His OBP is .275 since the All Star game, that is horrid for a corner outfielder. September has been bad but the previous three months were only .310, .301, .292. For all the flak Braun gets for not walking enough he looks like Rickey Henderson compared to Hart. Hard has 27 walks in over 620 PA's, about 1 out of every 23 PA. I don't know if I can just chalk it up to being worn out in September since it has been a 4 month stretch. He has been able to come up with extra base hits but he hasn't been able to get on base with any regularity.

I like the playing for 1 run when down by one run or tied late in the game. Especially when the team's worst hitters with no power are due up like Kendall and Counsell. Staying out of the DP and setting up the game tying or winning run to score on a single hit is worth something rather than leaving him on 1st and praying you can avoid the DP and get 2 hits out of the worst hitters on the team. Smalll ball in the 2nd inning no, but it has its place in the 8th and 9th.