DuWayne Steurer

Why does Mench always look like he's moving in Slo-mo when he's running? I thought people were saying he'd be better defensively than Carlos. I'm not seeing it.

Why are Sutton and Ash spending an entire inning running down Hall, while Grafanino made an equally boneheaded play the same inning? Because Hall's a young guy and Grafanino's a "vet".

Righty, lefty, it doesn't matter right now, Jenks is lost.

Man, Riley's going to feel that in the morning. Hall is taking a lot of walks lately. He's down to about 1 walk per 9 at bats now.

How can a guy like Turnbow be virtually unhittable and then a half a season later he stinks? His "stuff" is still there. What is it? I can't figure the guy out. This is what Powell, Yost, and Maddux have all combined to say, but not in so many words........ Turnbow's fastball is straight as an arrow. If a big league hitter knows it's coming, he can hit it, no matter how hard it's coming in. Because batters have figured out that he *can't* throw his curveball for a strike, they wait for that juicy fastball, and when they get it, they hammer it. Until/if he ever figures out how to throw his curve/slider somewhat consistently for a strike, batters will just take til they get 2 strikes, and sit fastball.

I would definately be ok with Frank Cat. DeRosa's having a great season, no doubt, but he's 31, carrying a career OPS of .747, and he's playing in an extreme hitters park. All those things would make me shy away from giving him a one year contract, let alone 4. Frank C doesn't do anything spectacular, but he gets on base, and he always has.

900 OPS De Rosa, with a .380 OBP. Yeah, that's him. I'd darn sure want to make sure this season isn't a fluke (which it just about SCREAMS) before I'd give him 8 mil per for 4 years. Brewers can't afford to take that kind of risk on one year wonder who've hung around the game awhile (Jeffrey Hammonds)

I think adding another forum will just create another set of posts that a lot of people won't see. Look at the statistics forum, and the post counts in those threads, and I could easily see that happening to a "baseball travel" forum as well.

No kidding. Someone explain to me why the guy with 9 homers hits higher in the order than the guy with 24? Is Hall the "2nd cleanup"?

Sign FA OF Gabe Kapler (2 years / $4 million) Why? The last time he played full time, he put up a .701 OPS. Whatever he had when he came up, he lost. I have to believe we could do better than Kapler for less than 2 mil per.

I don't think our system is good enough to give up a substantial haul and come out okay. I wasn't aware that Jones's contract was up after 2007, so with that bit of info, it probably wouldn't take as much to get him. Out of Rogers, Gallardo, Villenueva, Jackson, and Inman, I would definately be willing to give up one of those guys. As evidenced by every last one of our top pitching projects back until Sheets, the chance that any of these guys making a huge impact is somewhat low. Would I trade the 15-20% chance that Inman will be a stud #2 type for one year of Andruw Jones, knowing that 2007 is a very good year to take a shot at the playoffs? Yes. Would I do it if we didn't have at least 4-5 other top tier pitching prospects? No, most likely not. The fact is, our minor league system is still a position of strength, and dealing from that is not going to weaken it substantially. These guys value can't *only* be measured in potential stats they may put up in Brewers uniforms, but also in the return they can bring in trades. I'm not at all advocating running our system dry ala the Yankees in order to stock our MLB roster, but making a choice trade here or there to put in one of the last few pieces of the puzzle should at least be an option. One could say, OPS-wise that a Clark/Gross platoon comes close to matching Jones' offensive output, but that doesn't account for Jones' defense, which is worlds better than Clarks, and still a ways ahead of Gross. There's no guarantee that Gross is going to continue to put up these numbers, as he's never in the past hit with power such as he has this year. It's at least as likely as not that this is just a flukey power year for Gross, bearing in mind that 4 of his 8 homers were hit in the first 3 weeks of the season.

With Cruz gone, I think our system seems suddenly average. I'll respectfully disagree on that one. One player, especially a 26 year old corner outfield prospect who strikes out 1/3rd the time in AAA, doesn't make an average system a good one. Cruz has talent, yes. He's got potential to be a good player, but at this point I'm betting he was simply part of a numbers crunch in the outfield. I'm dissapointed we gave him up in that trade, but I don't believe he was traded if Melvin truly thought Cruz was part of the future here.

If you are of the opinion that Jenkins should be at least shopped in the offseason, what is the minimum you would trade him for? A middling prospect, a middle reliever. I figure the lower the return, the less of his contract the 'Crew would have to pick up. We are actually pretty flexible to aquire an stud OFer, but I'd like to hear your idea on how we trade an average OF (either Jenkins or Mench) for a stud one I wasn't really clear, and I see how you could read my post and think I was suggesting trading Jenks/Clark for A. Jones. What I meant was trade Jenks and Clark away in separate deals, and then acquire A. Jones (for example) in another deal. To get Jones? I'm sure we'd have to give up a few studs, but I'm ok with that. 2007 is supposed to be "the year", and as long as we don't *gut* the farm system to compete, I see no reason why we should not occasionally use some of these prospects as bargaining pieces. They can also bring value to the organization in the form of big name players. Braun, Gallardo/Inman, and then a few middling prospects would probably get the job done. I know some would be appalled at making that trade, and maybe it wouldn't even take that much, given the contract a guy like Jones carries.

no major beefs with sbrylski's roster, but I don't see a lot of "upgrade" That make you realize that Jenkins and Clark's contracts are the 2 biggest detractors from adding any kind of "name" player. I would really think at this point that turning down Damian's 3.75 mil option is a possibility, and he'd pick up his own option. When he started hot, the chance was that he'd get more than 2.25 in free agency, but now that he's dipped down into the .250 area (and possibly below), I doubt at his age he'd get more than that. I think Damian and the Crew need to realize he's a 3-4 day a week catcher at this point. My personal preference (but wildly unattainable?) Shed Jenks, Clark, and Miller's salaries somehow. Make a trade for (or sign) a stud CF. Andruw Jones comes to mind (although he's a bit overpaid for what he does) as a middle of the order bat who just might be available. It also wouldn't break my heart to see Davis get his arby contract, and then get dealt away for possible middle relief+prospect(s). Jackson or a free agent pickup could fill his spot in the rotation (bumping Bush and Ohka up a spot possibly)

Yeesh. I shouldn't feel this overwhelming sense of RELIEF just because our closer of the day DIDN'T blow the game. This shouldn't be this hard.

Why not use Shouse for the lefties? I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach right now.

LOL, this team is a ridiculous joke. My God what a bad team this is. I think you should just amend your statement instead of "team" say "bullpen".

I stay pretty upbeat........ but this is a joke. Flat out pathetic. Your 2006 Milwaukee Brewers. No Lead is Safe! (With OUR bullpen!)

Can I point out right here that I was against the 2 year deal for Turnbow right when he got it? I'm not right very often, but I had a really, really bad feeling this guy just wan't the answer.

There might not be anyone in the bullpen who could do a better job closing than Turnbow, but at this point making a change just for the sake of change almost has to be done. This is simply not working (yeah, call me Mr. Obvious)

I could read the thing, but I'd rather ask people who play it....... what's the learning curve on this beast? I really dig baseball statistical sims (I've done 11 seasons of MVP '05 on coaches mode), but I don't want something that's going to overwhelm.

Wow. Just wow.

I know that coming in out of the 'pen with men on base is tough. But for cryin' out loud, you must throw strikes. I agree with Peavey, Helling in, Winkysauce out.

And I know he's a pitcher but it bothered me a bit seeing him completely dog it down to 1st...don't know if anyone else noticed that, but he looked like he was out for a Sunday stroll running down to 1st. When he's the last out of the inning, I think most managers will actually prefer their pitchers not winding themselves by busting tail down the line on an easy grounder.

Get Gonzalez in please Ned. I want to at least be within 4 runs later on. What is it about Gonzalez that suggests he'll keep it any closer than Davis?