crewcuts

Bobby Valentine was saying that when he managed in Japan, the every 5th day setup was utilized and not one of his starters went down to injury from overuse. He (and I ) contend that less throwing has led to MORE injuries. Agents and the Players Union are the obstacle...

Looking at the names being thrown out there, we better hope Betancourt doesn't get injured! Guys like Keppinger and Furcal have upsides but Furcal is always an injury waiting to happen and Keppinger is at best a good sub. The rest are no improvement over Betancourt. Where did Cruz get traded to? I missed that....

All the speculation here is great stuff...Just not seeing any trade talk involving either Prince or Hart making sense. Now Gomez to KC has some merit. With DeJesus down, Gomez becomes desirable and I'm ready for Cain to get some time in CF, along with Edmonds (if he doesn't go on the DL for his Achilles). The Sox deal for Hudson and Beckham doesn't interest me at all. Hudson is a prospect with tools and may develop in time but hasn't shown anything at this level yet and there's no place for Beckham. The Crew infield is fine as is. ONLY pitching is going to improve this team. We have guys like Lawrie and Salome to acquire promising arms...The only way I trade Prince at this point is for a Sexson quality trade...A quality starter and a few major league quality prospects. I (perhaps foolishly) haven't given up on this season. There's a few "ifs" involved, but the Cards and Reds are both vulnerable... I feel for Melvin...He's going to get heat no matter what he does at this point. There's valid arguments for both the buyers and sellers proponents. But you don't trade your biggest reasons for winning when you are still on the fringe of the hunt...A QUALITY starter and the healthy return of Hawkins still could make me optimistic here...

Putting Gwynn in at DH is pure Ned. The guys (Gwynns) biggest asset is his glove, so we'll DH him...Good instincts Ned. Go watch some NASCAR. The cars make loud noises and there's shiny things on the screen occasionally...

Pretty elaborate setup, including the paperwork and media...The look of relief when he was told it was a gag was palpable..A major league "PHEW"...

Couple that with the amount of singles given up (only 3 teams allowed more) and you can argue (not conclude) that the defense contributed it's share to the inflated ERAs. This would also negatively influence a ground ball pitcher more than a fly ball pitcher..Not defending or promoting Capuano, just have to look at the variables out of his control before making hard and fast conclusions.

It is mostly based on the fact thatt the only thing that has changed in his skillset between 2005 and 2007 was the number of singles he gave up. K rate, BB rate, GB%, ISO, HR/9 etc all stayed the same, the number of singles he gave up went up and nothing else. Couple that with the fact the Brewers had the 3rd worst defense in the NL statistically last year and it seems like a pretty safe assumption to make. 2006 looked like the year he really stepped up because his BB rate went way down but now it just sort of looks like an outlier. 2005 and 2007 are almost statistical mirror images other than BABIP, in fact 2007 is probably slightly better than 2005. The defense played a big part last year but we haven't looked at the inherited runners scored stats of our bullpen last season...I know that while Turnbow was pretty effective starting an inning often times, he had an awful year with inherited runners...Don't know the numbers across the board for the bullpen, but that is an ERA killer for the starters. I believe the stat I read was that in the 16 times T-Bow came in with runners on base, 14 times runners scored..I'm not picking on Turnbow, I still think he has value. But am curious about the rest of the bullpen..

Another "ditto" concerning the take on Bush..He's had good metrics and looks great at times. Granted, last season he wasn't as effective and was misused a little by Yost, but I think he's got the talent to be #3 or #4 on this staff if he can keep the HR's down. At this point, it looks like Sheets, Gallardo and Suppan (if only because of Soups contract) at the top 3. Bush and Cappy or Villy would be formidable if Cappy returns to form..Villy may be of more use in the bullpen although he's got the stuff to start. I've been a little surprised how many jumped off the Bush train last season..I think he will be good in 08. Then again, Cameron and Kendall along with Braun in LF instead of 3b should help the whole staff.. Vargas should be part of any trade package. He could be #4 or #5 for the Nationals or a rebuilding team, but I don't think he belongs on a contender.

Hopefully by the time we play Atlanta they will be folding up their tee-pees. They have an outside shot at the wild card now, but they have a 3 game set against the Mets this week and may be done by the time we face them...San Diego is definitely the scary ending of this potential horror flick. Let's hope we can take care of business in Pittsburgh tonight.