DuWayne Steurer

Brewers name Knebel the closer. Good. Hope he does well in the role.

Thames? What??

Every regular except Villar and Arcia are OPS-ing .800 or higher. (and we have 2 bench guys who have an OPS over .800 as well). Both Santana and Broxton have their OPS up at .800 or above now. This is really great, as it just means there's no need to rush Phillips or Brinson at this point for one thing, and for another, it's just really good to have them producing and contributing to winning some baseball games. Santana is probably about what he is, an .800 to .850-ish OPS guy with some pop and ability to draw walks, but that's not a terrible thing.

There's a Villar thread (still on the first page) that's covering this topic. This is redundant, to say the least. viewtopic.php?f=63&t=35128

Except that's not even true. He OPS'd .975 vs. lefties in 2015 in 85 plate appearances.

This is a narrative I wish people would stop getting wrong about Shaw "Like Sandoval, he was much better against right-handed pitchers than left-handed ones." *sigh* career vs RHP - .250/.316/.442/.758 career vs LHP - .259/.296/.495/.792 People keep saying he's not good vs. lefties, should be platooned, etc, etc, etc, which is false and wrong. Just because someone is left handed does not mean they fit easily into that category of "Bad Versus Lefties". And Mass, I'm (obviously, hopefully) not aiming this rant at you. Just... the writer didn't do his homework, and this narrative keeps getting repeated.

Let's just chill right out with the personal attacks and keep this on topic please, ok, thanks.

I mean...... given the way Shaw has been playing and Thornburg hasn't even made it onto a mound yet (and won't for a while), I'd (almost) feel guilty about taking another player off of Boston's hands. (I said *almost*) Even with Dubon scuffling a little bit in the early going here, this trade looks so so awesome right now.

The problem here is looking at small samples and going with the mindset (especially with relievers) that results = performance. There's a ton of noise in small samples, and (again, especially with pitchers, especially with relievers), you can perform well, and get poor results. You can throw the ball well, hit your spots, and sometimes guys just hit the ball. In small samples, things like ERA, WHIP, etc, are poor indicators of "performance". You need to look at far more advanced metrics (which good GM's do) to indicate how well a guy is performing, and get an indicator of future performance, and hopefully future results.

Hernan Perez already has 6 walks. : o Seriously though, as much as I/we expect guys like Bandy, Pina, Thames and such to cool off, we won't continue to get .600 OPS from rf, 2b, and CF forever either. Those guys will start to hit at some point. This very well could be a top-5 offense in the National League this year, as long as (crossing fingers!) they stay relatively healthy.

Yeah, I thought he would really just get some garbage minutes here and there. Didn't think he'd be playing meaningful minutes in playoff games as a 19-ish year old.

Wow. Complete whoopin from start to finish.

http://i.imgur.com/WTDnnwE.gif?noredirect

What a great game. Even when Toronto took a brief lead there in the 3rd quarter, I felt like the Bucks were still in control of the game. And I REALLY loved the intensity with Giannis out there. I don't mind the T there, with the Bucks holding the big lead. Get fired up kid! Let everyone out there know you're the alpha dog! (or deer) I gotta say, as much as I (and everyone, basically) said that Monroe just wasn't working last year, and let's be completely honest, he wasn't.... the way Kidd's using him, he's been one of the best 6th men this year. It would be great if you could get that same level of excellent play out of him for 35 minutes a night, but I'm happy to get what we get out of him for 20 - 25 minutes and not mess with what's working.

As I said, I'm definitely not arguing the results as a whole.

I think overall Stearns has done a fair to good job. But it's also fair to question some of his moves. He absolutely has not been "perfect", and it's fair to point out that a lot of the bottom-roster churn is (at least on the surface) seemingly busy work for the appearance of being busy. We have guys who have been acquired and then DFA'd (multiple guys) who have never even put on uniforms. It's fair to say "this move and this move and this move and this move were good moves. That move and that move were a bit puzzling". I don't have to agree with 100% of the moves he makes to think he's doing a good job. The two things can be mutually exclusive.

RobertR mentioned this, and I haven't been able to shake the feeling myself, that it sure seems like Stearns likes churning the bottom of the roster just to be doing something. Maybe there's a method to all the activity, but it sure seems like it would be really hard to get a handle on what a guy can/can't do when they're on the roster for a few weeks (or less!) and then they're gone again.

I'm sure that might be tongue in cheek somewhat (and yeah, I realize that Matthews is injury prone), but 11 is the fewest games he's ever played in (4 years ago) http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MattCl99.htm He's definitely less effective than he used to be.

It's fine to be frustrated. It's even fine to say "I'm really disappointed that I didn't make the team. I feel like I deserved that spot, and I outperformed the other guys" Saying stupid stuff like "I want to be treated like a human" is just......stupid. Does Tyler think people who work 9 - 5 jobs don't get lied to? The company I work for SWORE they would never outsource jobs, and they outsourced jobs in 2013. I was told by my supervisor in 2014 I was all but assured that I was in line for a trainer/coach position, I just had to cross t's and dot i's, and the spot went to someone with more seniority. Companies/employers do what is in their own best interest every single day. And if that includes either changing plans later, and having that be interpreted as lying...... well Tyler's in for a rude awakening. Be treated as a "human"? I get it that 86K is a far cry from what he will/would make on a MLB roster, but what does that even mean? Not get lied to? Plans change, every day. The plan changed when Hughes became available, and for whatever reason, Milone's handedness is more important than Cravy's 11 IP worth of statistics here in spring. Maybe this was communicated poorly to Cravy, but the important thing to point out here is he is *owed* nothing more from the organization than the paycheck that he is guaranteed from whatever level he is playing at and the other benefits of such. He can say whatever he wants.... that's his right. But if he wants to have some kind of career at the MLB level, he should probably understand that there will probably/possibly be consequences to saying crappy things about his employer when he gets demoted in a field where you don't get to pick who you work for.

I think we can safely say that opinions are not facts. Everyone is free to feel about hats how they wish and wear whatever hats they want. If you want to wear a hat, wear a hat. Just know that there are a select few who will choose to not know what team you root for, and will question your fandom for it.

You also said "You should not buy hats because you like how they look or have neat colors, that is dumb you are not a little girl." Which is pretty dismissive and condescending of how other people feel about the topic. Let's keep this on track. I don't feel like deleting a bunch of posts this morning.

Well, when you're up by two with 4 seconds to go in overtime, they kinda did, didn't they?

It's been shown that they'll call flagrants in this tournament. You give up two points and possession if you foul someone without the ball, and if you foul the guy with the ball, you're risking someone flipping the ball at the basket and giving them three shots at the line.

What a great road trip. I didn't think they had that in them. Tied for the 6 seed now, and they're only a game behind the fading-fast Hawks for the 5th seed. Crazy. Giannis rekt the Kings last night.

19 straight NCAA apperaances, they're perrenially in the Sweet 16, 3 Final Four appearances.... I mean, that's pretty elite. They don't get one-and-done players, no, but they are about as close to elite without being Duke or Kentucky or Kansas as you can get.