JohnBriggs12
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Everything posted by JohnBriggs12
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The Cubs aren't targeting adults. They are targeting young kids. They are out to impress 5 year olds, not 50 year olds. His first appearance was in a hospital serving kids with developmental issues for goodness sakes and judging by the hugs he was getting, he went over fine. Yes Bernie is unique, but Brewers isn't a fuzzy animal nickname now is it? Even so Bernie generally seeks out families for pics with the kids just as all mascots do. Criticize the Cubs for lots of things, but for trying to appeal to young kids? To me that's creepy and inappropriate. But I guess we live in a society where kids can't be kids. Some down here in Chicago media are actually trying to link this to the baseball operation as in they need to do something about the product on the field. Like one excludes the other. Ridiculous.
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Perspective people. What's all the angst about the Cubs doing some marketing that resembles a 21st Century operation? I can understand Cub fans squawking about it. They're mostly idiots anyway. Almost every team in baseball has a mascot. How long has Bernie Brewer been around? They entertain kids. That's their job. Baseball is an entertainment business. Does Bernie or the sausages take away from intently following a game at Miller Park? So this mascot might be a little generic. They are named after youthful Bears after all. My guess is their target audience, kids under 10 will like him. The rest of us should just live with it and keep quiet about something so innocent.
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If Peralta continues to progress, it has a chance of being a very good rotation. I've read comparisons of him to a young Bartolo Colon. Estrada remains under the radar. It was a pulled muscle running the bases that shelved him last year. Not only did the WBC hurt Gallardo, I think the arrest did too. His focus was off. Hopefully he has that under control. Lohse should benefit from a full spring training. Yes he had been working out, but he had to play catch up and that is reflected in some awful May numbers. Thornburg struck me last year as poised beyond his years. The difference is he pitched and didn't just rear back and throw hard. His stuff is plenty good to win at this level. I'm not so concerned about all 5 getting to 200 innings. At some point I can see advantages of guys missing a start here and there as we saw with Gallardo. With the likes of Smith, Burgos, Nelson etc, at the ready, their depth will be needed and those guys should be up to the task.
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Reading between the lines, Brewers probably were offering him part time pay and telling him they'd like him to platoon at 1B. Reality, Brewers were likely posturing to get him to agree to modest deal, knowing full well that Francisco might play his way off the team in 4-6 weeks leaving 1B job primarily to Young, assuming he puts up .280/.330/.400 numbers they figure he's capable of at this point and barring a hot start at AAA by Morris. Young would have essentially replaced Betancourt on the Brewer roster. He's no great shakes but he's at least worth a couple wins over the 2013 version of Yuni.
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Cubs strategy of purposely tanking seasons is being felt big time at the box office. Wrigley in recent decades with all the drinking establishments surrounding it and the high price of tickets hasn't been a particularly kid friendly/family orientated environment. In fact compared to other ballparks, it's amazing how few kids you see at games. This is an attempt to become more "family friendly" and boost sagging attendance.
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Morris isn't close to the kind of prospect that a team gives any consideration to burning service time. At best he becomes a serviceable bat that might occupy the position for a few years until a better prospect or opportunity for an upgrade comes along.
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Brewers Sign Greg Golson - OF (MiLB contract)
JohnBriggs12 replied to sheetskout's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
He's been a bust. Has never posted an .800 OPS at any level and shown almost no year to year improvement. Sort of a righthanded version of Dave Krynzel. Just a move to add a body at AAA. -
Weeks is right up there for me. Early in his career I saw him pull a 99 mph fastball from Joel Zumuya over the left field wall. I thought his ceiling was higher than any Brewer I'd ever seen up to then, and I'd seen them all. His bat speed was off the charts and he could really run too. Wrist surgeries, ankle injuries, etc, and he looks lost at the plate the last couple years. When he gets fooled now, he misses pitches by feet, not inches. I have to wonder if his eyesight is gone too. He had some productive years, so yeah that's to his credit. But even those years weren't up to the level of his talent. Now he's an old 31, broken down somewhat physically and without much apparent confidence.
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Even if "Fan" cisco starts the year at 1b, he's not going to last there if he doesn't produce. Alex Gonzalez lasted about a month last year before being benched and ultimately released. They'll look at Halton, Morris, and maybe even Green or they could do a deal then. It's a great opportunity for Halton and Morris. One of those two could have a great spring and win the job. The names that have been brought up, Davis, Carp, etc are all still out there if trade is deemed necessary too.
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The Brewer team that we saw the last half of 2013 after Braun's suspension and Weeks injury represented a dramatic changing of the guard. It hasn't been talked about much, but I think the success of guys like Davis, Gennett, Thornburg, etc., was due in large part because these guys all basically showed up together and fed off each other. These guys looked around the clubhouse and saw guys they knew and had played with in the system, In addition to those 3, there was Gindl, Halton, Hand, Schafer, and Bianchi. All those guys had played together in the minors, most for several seasons, so the adjustment was that much easier. Meanwhile Lucroy and Gomez became the leaders of the team in Braun and Weeks absence, something they hadn't had since Fielder left. I think Melvin wants them to carry over that that feeling into 2014, and if they revamped the roster again, or brought in a bunch of new faces, they might not have that same chemistry.
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Burgos pitched 13 innings in 3 WBC appearances with a dazzling 0.69 ERA. Puerto Rico got all the way to the finals so they were high stress situations in front of big crowds. It will be interesting to see if they want him to start in Nashville or whether he's used in a relief role in Milwaukee.
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I'd put him in a class above Francisco. His K rate is bad but not as bad as whiffing Juan. He's also better defensively. He's also a little younger and has a lot less pro AB's so more room for improvement presumably. The price is the question. He has been hyped and so Boston is going to likely have an asking price that's fairly steep.
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Mills isn't a bad pickup. Numbers last year at Round Rock were quite decent. All his AAA experience has been in hitters parks. Was originally drafted fairly high (4th round). Was being fast tracked in Toronto organization at one time and dominated until he got to AAA. Might be useful at some point if an opening occurs.
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Burgos has a great shot at a bullpen spot. He was lights out in Puerto Rico this winter. He may well be a guy like Estrada that flies under the radar. Melvin's already made it clear he would not trade pitching for hitting, at least not now. Burgos adds to depth.
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My opening day roster based on current group only: Infield (6): Ramirez, Segura, Gennett, Halton, Bianchi, Francisco Outfield (5): Davis, Gindl, Gomez, Schafer, Braun Catchers (2): Lucroy, Maldanado Starters (5): Lohse, Peralta, Gallardo, Estrada, Thornburg Bullpen (7): Gorzellany, Smith, Henderson, Kintzler, Blazek, Wooten, Burgos I still think Michael Young is a strong possibility. I just think both sides are patiently waiting for the other side to get to their number. In that case Halto goes back to Nashville to play every day in corner OF spot. Burgos gets the nod over Hand for last spot on pitching staff. If K-Rod or another vet is signed either Wooten or Burgos will be optioned. No Weeks.
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2014 Baseball Hall of Fame Class
JohnBriggs12 replied to ReverendBrewmeister's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
I don't get Piazza being left out. There's never been one iota of evidence he took PED's. That's not to say he didn't but nobody can say with 100% certainty that any player didn't use in that period including the guys who were voted in. -
If they thought Weeks would hit enough to man a corner IF spot, he'd still be the starter at 2B. They'd be better off trading Weeks and his bad contract to the White Sox for Jeff Keppinger (another bad contract) and playing Keppinger at 3B and Ramirez at 1B. At least Keppinger is only one year removed from providing something offensively.
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Encarnacion had posted lines of .276/.359/.473 at 23, .289/.356/.438 at 24, and .251/.340/.466 at 25. So I hardly think they compare other than defensively. Plus Francisco strikes out about twice as often. Last year Encarnacion walked 20 more times than he fanned. I don't see "Fancisco" ever coming close to that.
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The same Dave Bush that had trouble reaching 87 on the radar gun? Sorry I don't see the similarity.
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Tony Plush coming back to the states
JohnBriggs12 replied to PrinceFielderx1's topic in Transaction Rumors & Proposals
Schafer could be used as trade bait. Someone suggested that Boston is looking for a CF, and they have Carp without a position. If that happens, they are without a backup CF. Either way, Morgan is likely to get only a minor league deal. It wouldn't be any risk to bring him to spring training. -
RIP Mike Hegan… and Paul Blair (post 9)
JohnBriggs12 replied to BrewersSuperCollector's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Blair was a fantastic CF (8 Gold Gloves). Baltimore dominated the AL for much of the time Blair was there and he was a key component along with Brooks and Frank Robinson and Boog Powell. They may have had one of the best defensive clubs of all time to go with an outstanding rotation. Mark Belanger, who passed away in 1998 at 54, couldn't hit a lick but he was a magician at SS. Surprised you hadn't heard of Blair as at the time those O's team were all household names and Blair ended his career playing on those Billy Martin (and others) led Bronx Zoo Yankees of the mid to late 70's. Then again the Classic stuff you see tends to focus on New York teams and Blair made his name in Baltimore. As an aside, the first year of the Brewers (1970) in Milwaukee, I went to a game they played against the Orioles, and most of the crowd had come to see the Orioles who had much more name recognition than the guys wearing Brewer uniforms. That 1970 Oriole team went a ridiculous 108-54. -
The Trade With the Braves Thread
JohnBriggs12 replied to splitterpfj's topic in Transaction Rumors & Proposals
That doesn't really help the Braves at all. Why would they trade Uggla for Weeks? That is like trading a rotten orange for a rotten apple. It doesn't really do much for the Braves or the Brewers at all. One player that does make sense with the Braves is 1B/OF Terdoslavich as he doesn't have a position to play for the Braves. Both of the corner OF spots are taken by Heyward and Upton and his only other position he can play is 1B and he isn't going to get a lot of playing time there with Freeman at 1B unless Freeman gets injured. Gennett would be a fair swap for Terdoslavich as I don't have any confidence in Gennett being anything more than a .250/.300/.300 player and with his defense being as bad as Weeks defense that is just ugly. The Brewers aren't anywhere near as down on Gennett as you Nate. His batting stats were promising albeit in a small sample but everything they've said is that he looked fine defensively and I agree with that assessment. -
I'm not sure I would categorize his numbers in Baltimore as effective: "Rodriguez, who turns 32 next week, went 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 23 appearances with the Orioles after they acquired him from the Brewers on July 23 for minor league infielder Nicky Delmonico. He allowed 25 hits, walked five, struck out 28 and surrendered five home runs in 22 innings." I'll take his season numbers: 2.70 ERA, 1.20 Whip, 54 K's in 46 2/3 innings. No, he's not a dominant reliever and he won't get paid like one either, but he's still useful.
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It's also been reported that Nyjer Morgan is looking to get back to MLB. Schafer's replacement?? Carp for Schafer seems like a reasonable deal.