Fear The Chorizo

Yuni B hacks away at everything, but if pitchers keep giving him pitches to hit it's not his fault...it's quite weird thinking where the Brewers would be without his contribution over the past 10 days. Don't blame Yuni B for the Brewers breaking spring training without a 1B on their MLB roster - he's filling in admirably right now and I hope he's used in the IF utility role he's fully capable of once ARam and Hart come back. Getting Yuni B. experience at 1B only makes guys like Taylor Green more of an afterthought for the 2013 season (even before it was known he was out a long time due to upcoming surgery).

IMO calling people "alcoholics" and "stupid" for getting DUI's is absolutely ridiculous. I don't care what degrees or professions people have. Ever hear of "book smart, life stupid"? Everyone is bombarded with information detailing how dangerous and stupid driving drunk is starting in grade school. Maybe too many people are willfully ignorant of the risks that come with driving drunk and need to learn lessons the hard way personally, but I just don't see how the risk of ruining one's life and quite possibly the lives of others instead of taking a cab or calling a friend for a ride is worth it in any circumstance. Do people still do it? Of course, and it's stupid. In this day and age there are multiple alternatives to get home without getting behind the wheel drunk, and if people aren't intelligent enough to use those options I'm sorry, I think they're stupid.

If this version of Gomez is your everyday 7th or 8th place hitter, you have a pretty darn good offense. Getting Ramirez and Hart back is going to solidify that. Gomez's OBP deficiencies get masked a bit by the havoc he creates when he does get on base, and as long as he isn't slotted further up the batting order, I'm ok with his lack of walks if he's swinging at good pitches to hit and putting them in play consistently.

Well, unless you have to sit near them at a sporting event (or any other event that serves alcohol). Unless you are sitting in the family section (which many stadiums/arenas do not have and the ones that have them only have 2 or 3 areas) it's basically a gamble taking your family to a game and risking sitting next to someone or a group of people who feel the need to get overly drunk and obnoxious. I get that, and yes those situations occur all too often - Doesn't mean it's fine or should be acceptable, but it's better than having to share the road with a drunk driver. There are places people can go inside Miller Park to get away from the obnoxious if they want to avoid it. I have read a lot of postings along the lines of "Just because you drive drunk it does not mean you are a bad person". Maybe not, but then my question is, what does make a "bad person"? They may not be bad people, but IMO people who choose to drive drunk are stupid people, which in this case is just as dangerous. As I've stated earlier in this thread, I think opting to drive under the influence shouldn't be classified as a stupid decision, it's a decision made by a stupid person.

Sure there are tons of fans that get intoxicated at Miller Park during the course of a game...most of them get drunk in the parking lot tailgating, then those that may actually need to drive have a 3.5 hour game to sober up during. People that plan on leaving intoxicated typically have a ride who intended on being sober to drive home. Groups of people have a bus driver to take them home. I think in this day and age with all the info put out publicly about just how reckless and stupid driving drunk is, people going to a Brewers game at least have a plan for how they're getting home if alchohol is going to be heavily involved. People can still enjoy a few beers during a 4-6 hour event and be sober enough to drive. It's not like there's tons of people showing up alone that plan on getting hammered for 9 innings before driving themselves home. Yo was caught for the first time, but the odds of it being the first time he's driven drunk are about as good as winning the Powerball - the person who called him in said he was going 40 in a 55 and changing lanes randomly at 2am...to me that's a good reason to contact authorities, and it has nothing to do with what type of car he was driving. Might seem like nanny state, but I don't think we're too far off from sports leagues starting to screen fans who are driving off their parking lots after games, or even making the blow-in breathalizer device standard in vehicles throughout America in order for them to start. Getting drunk and driving drunk are too totally different things in my opinion. I don't care what a person wants to do for enjoyment on any given day/night, even if it means getting themselves hammered from time to time. I've done just that myself plenty of times during college and occasionally with friends. That's their own choice and it doesn't affect anyone but themselves and the friends who need to take care of them. Getting behind the wheel drunk puts others needlessly at risk of injury or death, and it's stupid because of how many other options there are for people in this day and age - regardless of where they are.

To me driving that heavily intoxicated isn't a stupid decision or something a bad person willfully does - it's a decision made by a stupid person or someone in need of help. I think these situations affect people in many different ways based on their own life experience, so I respect and do agree with people who mention how most of us know of friends/individuals with OUI's on their record. I lost a friend in an accident caused by a drunk driver with no prior OUI record and who was by all indications a good person, so I apologize if this situation hits me a little more harshly than others. Big difference between a bad person and a stupid person - when it comes to driving drunk stupid people are oftentimes the most dangerous. It's a tricky issue because oftentimes the worst offenders are the people in need of the most help when it comes to alchoholism.

Wisconsin has pretty lenient penalties for OUI/DWI's, unfortunately. It's led to people with multiple incidents on their record continuing to drive and endangering the public needlessly. If this is true, and all indications are so, I've lost a ton of respect for Gallardo as a person - I don't even care about the nightlife and don't want to get into how off the field activities may or may not impact on the field performance...people with his means and the resources afforded to professional athletes (protection, car services) have absolutely no excuse to get behind the wheel after getting drunk. Seems to me Hancock from the Cardinals had a similar nighttime incident to Gallardo - To me the only difference was how the incident ended. When you're that drunk you really have no control over ending your night with an arrest/traffic ticket or a toe ticket, it's just random chance.

The problem with the Brewer minor league system is that they've been unable to develop young pitching - not only for the starting staff but even more importantly to have a steady stable of young, cost-controlled relief options to draw from instead of using valuable payroll space to take shots at veteran relievers. The lack of organizational pitching depth forces any decent minor league arm for the Brewers to be pigeon-holed into a starting pitcher role instead of figuring out if his stuff profiles better as a reliever. Mark Rogers comes to mind. Small market teams like the Rays and A's have pitching everywhere in their systems, so guys can fill roles based on their individual strengths instead of filling organizational holes.

So, you don't want to cherry pick stats from such and such date, then you go ahead and cherry pick stats from such and such date. His career OPS is .777, so to be honest asking him to bounce back to career norms isn't asking much at all, considering a small 700 PA sample size. Hell, he OPS'd .800 post ASB last season for 300 of those plate appearances, that's how awful he was coming off that ankle injury during the 1st 1/2 of last year. The issue with Weeks is that whenever many people are down on him, he'll show flashes for 2-3 weeks where he just tears the cover off the ball and is scoring 2 runs a game. Injuries have derailed his career, yes, but I think his raw talent has never fully translated onto the MLB stage. He is what he his, and the flashes have convinced people he's always on the verge of breaking out to another level...I just don't think he's consistent enough to ever do that. He's still a valuable part of the everyday lineup, but when he slumps it isn't pretty.

The catcher set up low & away. So Greinke either missed his spot by a ton or hit Quentin on purpose. I'm not saying I know which one is true, and either one is possible. It's true that he set up low and away, but if Greinke drilled him on purpose you'd think the catcher would at least have a clue about a possible confrontation and get out in front of Quentin immediately. Watching the pitch itself, it seemed to have a ton of run on it to the inside, similar to a backup tailing fastball righties try throwing to left handed batters on the same corner of the plate. I think Greinke tried throwing that pitch to the outer 1/2 and didn't get on top of it. But yes, only Greinke knows whether it was intentional for sure.

Greinke pitches inside, while Quentin stands on top of the plate and never backs off any inside pitch. 3-2 count, 1-run game, and Greinke's throwing at him on purpose there? Gimme a break. Just watch the catcher's reaction to Quentin as he takes a step or two towards Greinke then decides to charge him. The catcher's looking at him like 'what the heck are you doing?' then he's caught completely offguard by him charging Greinke. Had Greinke meant to drill Quentin, the catcher would have been much more alert about a possible mound charging and never would've let Quentin a free run at him. Sucks that Greinke got hurt - If I was a Dodger fan I'd wish he would've just thrown his glove at Quentin and then tried to avoid a collision with him until his teammates could get him under control. I respect hitters' rights to go after a pitcher if a pitcher or team is headhunting or throwing at guys intentionally, but Quentin is an idiot and that sort of behavior is just going to get him drilled more.

holy god - this season is shaping up to be one to forget. Their offense was supposed to carry the Brewers through the pitching issues everyone knew they would face, but injuries and rough starts for a few key guys have turned their lineup into what looks like a AAA team with a few big leaguers sprinkled in on rehab assignments.

Can't overreact after 3 games to start a season, but there are alarm bells ringing for key spots on the pitching staff already. Axford's WHIP is approaching double digits, and it would be nice to have a starter get through 6 or 7 innings very soon before this bullpen turns into a season-long gas can.

Davis must not be able to field a ground ball, because it makes too much sense for him to play 1B longterm for the Brewers. If he had any capability to do so at all, he'd be playing there. Judging by how willing the Brewers have been to allow players that can hit to be terrible at defensive positions in the past, I shudder to think of how brutal the infield session with Davis must have been during the offseason or on one of the back fields during spring training.

Get healthy soon, Cory Hart. I fully expect Gonzalez to have at least 2 hits and 3 RBI tonight, just to give the game thread some juice...

sometimes spring training patience has more to do with bad pitchers who can't throw strikes and batters wanting to see as many pitches as possible to work on their timing and pitch recognition. I hold out hope that Cargo wants to focus on having good at bats and identifying good pitches to hit instead of going up their with a swing at anything mentality - I don't want to use spring training stats to validate that hope, though. The proof will be in the regular season #'s.

I'd rather see Khris Davis get regular ABs down in Nashville while learning the 1B position. His bat will play in the bigs but he needs to find a spot on the field that isn't currently occupied by Ryan Braun in Milwaukee. The glut of backup middle infielders on this team will sort itself out once Hart's back playing everyday. Getting sick of the 'idiot-proofing' of rosters and how terrible Roenicke is as a manager crap, too. "I'm not saying what I wrote will happen, but it will probably happen and think my crazy idea is more right than your idea because I have no idea what I'm talking about" - what is that? As for Yuni B - he's a good fit on this team as a utility IF to give guys days off and as a secondary pinch hit option. Late inning defensive replacement he is not....And, if the only time Betancourt is utilized is as a PH option against a lefthanded reliever or starter and never plays defense, then the Brewers mightaswell play with 24 guys. If Yuni stays on the roster for the full season, he will get some starts, will play 2nd, SS, and probably 3rd defensively on occasion, and he will have a good # of ABs against RH pitching. The world won't end, and the Brewers won't have to forfeit the games in which these things happen. In reality, once Hart's back management should make a decision between Yuni B and Gonzalez for the roster, and I sure hope Gonzalez is the choice.

If the Marcum for Lawrie trade doesn't happen, the Brewers don't make the playoffs in 2011. Lawrie definitely has big upside, but he hasn't exactly excelled from the moment he hit the majors, plus he's injured again. I would have loved to get Marcum for something less than Lawrie, but you can't fleece teams in trades every time. It's Lawrie and Jake O that are the two prospects who could turn into quality big leaguers - Jake O still has a long way to go to establish himself as a big league-caliber starting pitcher. I think Lawrie has to screw things up for himself not to be a good big league player. I tend to agree that at this point, prospects in general are overvalued throughout baseball. Don't get me wrong, there are a small group of the can't miss prospects that remain the biggest value there is, but that list is normally 5-10 players long on any given year. Teams are fortunate to have more than 2-3 prospects in their system that will eventually become above-average major leaguers at any time, yet it seems like there's prospect lists 10-20 names deep for most organizations every year. Teams with more quality than that in the farm system typically have prolonged major league failures that lead to high draft-pick stockpiling, or they are big market teams with quality international development schools and deep pockets to sign international players. The Brewers did a good job using overvalued prospects to improve their big league pitching during recent playoff runs in 2008 and 2011, and I can't complain about what was given up in order to have two shots in the postseason in the past 5 years. The key for them is to continue producing an impact player from their system every few years, and to make sure those players aren't rushed through the system. The Brewers right now are a mix of veterans and young guys, both home grown and acquired via trade or free agency. As long as they don't get nuts and extend too many veterans on the wrong side of 30 over the next few seasons, I don't see the doom and gloom some posters are forecasting lately.

Comparing ANY 3 year contract to the disaster that was the Soriano deal is foolish - he got what, 8 years with a no-trade clause? And it wasn't just Soriano's contract that screwed the Cubs - they signed 3-4 other high-priced free agents that offseason and gave Zambrano, Dempster, and Ramirez big paper around the same timeframe.

I think this move was made because Melvin and Mark A. want the the '2013 Brewer whipping boy' thread to eclipse 100 pages before the all-star break.

I really hope the posts about wishing we found a way to resign Marcum instead of Lohse stop, since it looks like Marcum's ready to open the season on the DL and collect his paycheck from the training room yet again. Marcum's damaged goods. I'd rather pay 11 million a season for veteran starter who's capable of pitching an entire season instead of 4-5 million for a guy who's in the process of breaking down.

I understand the reason behind this signing, but still don't have to like it - the Brewers offense on paper is too good this season to waste that production with terrible pitching again. Lohse gives their rotation stability and comes at a price that would be attractive to a contender looking for pitching down the road via trade if one of the next few seasons goes off the rails. I hate that they lose a 1st round pick, but their recent struggles in drafting and developing pitching are the cause for them to need to go the veteran FA starter route once again. I like this deal more than Suppan's or Wolf's, but in a perfect world it never happens because former 1st rounders like Rogers become solid MLB starting pitchers.

I don't like dealing in hypotheticals regarding players that weren't sold high, because trades that don't happen ALWAYS include potential prospects and trade chips that make possible deals look good. For all the players mentioned that weren't traded at peak value when Melvin had a chance, I want to know what the trade options were for them at that time. Also, I don't think a GM should sell high unless he has quality depth throughout the organization to replace MLB talent immediately without worrying about whether a prospect's ready for the big leagues. I'd also argue that Melvin has done a good job of selling high when it comes to dealing prospects for MLB talent...think the Indians wouldn't have looked around for a better pile of prospects than the plethora of AAAA players they got from the Brewers for Sabathia if they knew how they all turned out? Wil Inman, anyone?

I think Passan could accuse Braun of being the 2nd shooter on the grassy knoll if he looked long enough at Bosch's notes - fact is he hasn't seen all the documents the New Times had on Biogenesis, and it's incredibly obvious that his personal agenda against #8 has prevented him from writing like a journalist for quite some time.

For clarity, the name that the Miami New Times chose to black out on the notebook paper is Ryan Braun. To me it's very interesting that they chose to indicate the names they blacked out for this reason in their editorial statement to Bud Selig: "Only thing is, we have blacked out names of those who weren't demonstrably involved in any kind of malfeasance. If a lawyer, developer, or my barber wants to use testosterone, human growth hormone, or some other performance enhancer, that's his or her right. They're fundamentally different from athletes, who promise not to use these drugs and are role models for millions of kids." Ryan Braun is an athlete - his name is listed on a piece of notebook paper right next to other MLB players the New Times decided to list in their story, who in their judgement were demonstrably involved in PED malfeasance. To me it's telling that they redacted Braun's name from this list of athletes - it indicates they had something that explained why he was on that paper, and it wasn't for a PED regimen he was using. The New Times was not giving athletes who showed up in Bosch's records a pass if there was enough supporting documentation of malfeasance. They even mentioned Gio Gonzalez's name again in the statement today, after it was reported by other media outlets that he wasn't implicated for PEDs. The New Times has essentially just vouched for Braun and discredited recent ESPN and Yahoo stories that showed Braun's name on that note paper.