DuWayne Steurer

Yeah, the Washington/Napolean episode was kind of a stinker. I mean, it's an entertaining show, but I'd really like to know what the computer guy is using when he's rating these weapons. A lot of what they do seems very arbitrary. I know it's a tv show meant for entertainment, but these guys doing the show try to pass their results off as very scientific, when what it really seems like is they're doing a video game simulation, and nothing more.

I don't think that seems odd at all. I think most relievers would tell you that they'd prefer to come in with nobody on base. Coming in with guys on base I'm sure, is tough. You're not responsible for those guys, but I'm sure you feel bad if someone else's ERA gets jacked because you couldn't hold an inherited runner. I know these guys should just 'perform', but I think inherited runners is definitely something that can easily affect the human element/mental part of the game.

Narveson has such a history of this year of completely imploding, I had no problem with taking him out after 7 innings. 7 innings, and you have 2 supposedly 'lights out' guys behind him. It's not normal or expected that K-Rod will give up 2 runs in one inning. It happens. I'd rather take Narvy out after 7 having given up 0 runs, than bring him in the 8th, get hit hard right away, and shoot his confidence because he once again, couldn't finish an inning. Plus, as others have said, he sat for quite a while during the top of the inning, and might have gotten stiff or whatever. You SHOULD reasonably expect K-Rod and Axford to be shut down guys in 8 and 9. K-Rod giving up 2 runs is somewhat of a fluke, and never happens if Fielder makes that play to begin with on the first batter.

About 12 years ago I was having major back pain, so I went to the chiro and they did a full torso x-ray, and to my absolute surprise, found my right collarbone was cracked clean through, and had actually started to heal. He suspected it was a week or 2 old, and it got me light duty at work for a few weeks. Unfortunately, I think we tend to equate things we can do in the real world with what a top-level athlete can do, and I think that's one of the issues here. Could a person return to normal duty after 3-4 weeks? Yeah, sure. Swing a bat, and play an athletic position like CF? Maybe not right away. I might be just guessing here, but that's a possibility.

http://www.baseball-refer...&year=Career&t=b Nyjer's career split vs. lefties is .204/.293/.277. He's been (rightfully) sheltered from lefties this year, getting only 27 PA's against them, and hopefully it will stay that way

Well, color me impressed so far. This road trip had the very distinct possibility of putting the Brewers in a sizable hole, and they've come through ( so far) in spades. Just splitting the remaining 4 games would be a 6-5 trip against 3 tough teams, and I don't think you can ask for any more than that. I'd have been (and still would be) satisfied with a 5-6 trip. Not 'happy' with it, but satisfied. I'm pretty sure this thread is what started this run. They knew I was mad, and decided enough was enough.

I can buy parks, but not vs. teams. I remember Adam Dunn saying he didn't like hitting in MIller Park, and he had something like only a career. 750 OPS there or something like that.

Aren't splits vs 'teams' almost meaningless? Personnel changes from year to year mean that those vs. splits are against a wide range of pitchers, and honestly, shouldn't count for a whole lot, if anything at all.

We have a 6' wood dog ear fence, and all along the inside, there's 2 horizontal slats, about 1 1/2 foot up, and then maybe 4 foot up. They're only 1" pieces, but he'll take a running start at the corner, and then jump/jump in the corner from one panel to the other, and use those slats as ladder steps, just like a cat would, and then he'll just jump over the other side and take the fall. Not bad for a little 23 pound ball of fluff, IMO of course. Anyone else here ever had a shiba can tell you, they're amazing escape artists, and will put all their energy and through process into figuring a way out. And glad to hear your dog's doing better!

No, is this archived? I'd love to hear it.

I've had a few 'off leash dogs', and I've had a few that could never be trusted off leash. In my experience, which granted, is limited, those dogs will just never learn to override their instincts and NOT chase. One thing that really bothers me (should be in the things that are bothering you thread) are dogs that constantly run, and are not on a leash. My neighbor has two little ankle biters that CONSTANTLY come in my yard and bite and bark at us, and they are NEVER on leash. They yell at the dogs, and smack them, and really, it gets old. Something to think about is that while you might be sure that your dog won't bite, a kid or stranger isn't sure of that. My dog, a 3 year old Shiba, ALWAYS runs when given a chance, so he gets no more chances. I just don't want to put him or other people or animals at risk. Even in our fenced in back yard, he's on a 30 foot run, as he's capable of climbing fences. I guess I sound like a fuddy, but if a dog is a runner, and if it can't be broken of that habit, it really should be leashed all the time. I'm sure there's leash laws in most municipalities anyways.

If anything at all, the tenor of this thread should tell the TS what the general fan base would think of a July sell off when they're in the middle of the playoff race.

A nice article about him here, though obviously from a Philly source. http://www.philly.com/phi...71813.html#ixzz1SeBhkb12

It's one thing to ask the question, but to try to back up the premise with a hypothetical that will never happen doesn't really support the argument. And no, at this stage in this season, I wouldn't trade Greinke for one unproven talent, no matter how hyped that talent is.

Paul, you've made more than compelling arguments for why they MIGHT not win the division or make the playoffs, I don't think anyone's arguing that. But saying that they should in fact be sellers is a huge stretch, and there've been more than enough counters to that argument. It just doesn't make sense. Do you NOT think that the casual fans who are coming out at the rate of 3 mil, or almost 3 mil per season are going to renew if they were to trade off Greinke, Marcum, Prince, and Axford? I don't think that they won't, I KNOW they won't. The casual fans are fickle, but the truth of the matter is, they're the ones that drive ticket sales and merchandise sales when the team does well. Selling off half of their marquee stars will show the casual fans that they're the 'same old Brewers', and honestly, don't you get tired of hearing that from your 'casual fan' friends? I know I do. So you don't buy the 87 Twins as being a recent enough example of a team with poor pitching that went all the way. I'd like a recent example of a team that was in contention in late July that had a massive mid season fire sale and tore it all down. It's not like they'll get nothing in return for Prince. At this point, I'd wager the draft comp would be MORE valuable than the players we're likely to get in return for a 65 game rental of Prince. There's just nothing at all that makes sense about a sell off at this point. Nothing.

Absolutely - as long as it doesn't come down to the September 26-28 series. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/ohwell.gifActually, I think it'd be pretty cool for the Brewers and Pirates to be slugging it out for the division crown in Miller Park in late September. I mean, obviously I hope the Brewers have clinched by then (LOL!), but a Brewers/Pirates series for all the chips would be fun.

It's definitely a feel good story for them, no doubt. I think they're still a year away, but I'm not going to say they CAN'T hang around, I just don't expect them to. They're in a sticky situation right now. I'm sure the fans would love to see them make a few moves to try to stick around, but honestly, are they ready to make that kind of leap yet? I don't think so.

The thing about saying that "this team isn't world series caliber, even if they make the playoffs" is that it's a loaded statement. Let's just say that once the playoffs start, everyone has an equal chance. You still have an 87.5% chance of being right that a given team isn't going to win it all. Recently, the 83 win Cardinals won the world series. The 2007 Rockies were playing .500 ball until about the beginning of September. Last years Rangers were not exactly a great team. The Brewers are on pace for 85 wins. If they win 2 or 3 in a row, that's suddenly on pace for 90. If they lose 2-3 in a row, they'll be on pace for about 82-83 wins. Selling at this point, I'm sorry, it's just a terrible idea. Weeks, Hart, Braun, and Gallardo are locked up long term. There's plenty of money available to offer long term deals to Marcum and Greinke. Lucroy is under team control for at least 4 more years. Even without Fielder, there's still a strong core, and selling off at this point completely undermines the efforts of locking up those core players to long term deals. You don't go long term if you're not in the 'contend' portion of the success cycle, which is where the Brewers are. You can say that the Brewers are an 'average at best team without Fielder', but that's not a quantifiable statement. You're not replacing Fielder with a known quanitity. SOMEONE has to play first base, and I'm assuming that person will have stats, of some variety, that are measurable. Taking the statements "the Brewers are in first place/The Brewers are NOT in first place" both out of the equation, the truth is, the Brewers are in a playoff race. That's not even arguable. They are in a 3, maybe 4 team race for the central division. Pissing that chance away will do nothing but completely alienate the casual fan base that have shown up in the past 5 + years in droves. There will be no upper swing to the success cycle when they're not bringing in nearly 3 million per, which is almost a guarantee if they do a sell-off in a year in which they are legitimately contending. Whether anyone THINKS they are good enough or not is up to debate. What's NOT up to debate is that right now, despite the shortcomings, the Brewers ARE in a playoff race. That's a true and known fact. Selling now will be a huge slap in the face to the fans. I'd also like to know, if selling is so important to the success cycle, who is the last prospect the Brewers traded for that turned out to be a key piece of a winning team? Because honestly, right now, I'm coming up empty on that one. Keep your guys. Compete. Get the comp picks if they walk.

Counting only the seasons in which Ruth was used predominantly as a pitcher, we still have to say he was the best hitting pitcher of all time. During the seasons Ankiel was used predominantly as a pitcher, his hitting stats weren't all that special. And in truth, he had a grand total of 96 at bats when he was a pitcher, so I'd tend to dis-count him anyways.

http://www.baseball-refer...layers/r/ruffire01.shtml Red Ruffing, .695 OPS with 36 career homers.

http://www.baseball-refer...yers/o/o%27doule01.shtml[/url] Lefty O'Doul was brought up as a pitcher, and honestly, wasn't very good. He flamed out in '23, and made it back to the majors as an outfielder in '28. In '29 and '30, he posted back to back seasons with over a 1.000 OPS, batting .398 in '29, and posted a career .945 OPS. THat was mostly as an outfielder though, so I'm certain it doesn't really count. http://www.baseball-refer...players/w/woodjo02.shtml Joe Wood was a fine hitting pitcher for the Red Sox, but went out early after an arm injury at age 25. Like O'Doul, he came back as an outfielder, and was still an ok hitter, but nowhere near the success as O'Doul

I think we have a winner. Thanks! Never heard of him until today Farrell looks like he was a good solid pitcher, too: 4.04 career ERA, 6 full seasons with a 3 something ERA. His brother Rick was a catcher (mostly for the Browns and Senators) and made it to the HOF, ironically with a lower career BA, OPS, and fewer homeruns.

http://www.baseball-refer...layers/f/ferrewe01.shtml Wes Farrell, and it's not even close. .797 OPS, and still has the record for most HR as a pitcher, with 38. He hit so well that he was frequently used as a PH'er. His 1935 season was just flat out stupid for a pitcher. .347, 7 homeruns, and 32 RBI, with a .960 OPS. In 179 PA's. Zambrano doesn't even SNIFF Farrell's overall stats.

1.) Morgan 2.) Fielder 3.) Weeks

It's honestly hard to take this question really seriously when they're a 1/2 game in first place on July 18th. You sell now, and you are going to seriously, SERIOUSLY piss off the casual fans who bought in that this was a 'go for it' year. Selling now could (and I think it's 'would') seriously impact season ticket sales next year.