JohnBriggs12

Anyone seeing Stetter getting another shot? Stetter in his last 10 outing: 8 IP, 3 Hits, 0 Runs, 2 BB, 9 K's. Lefties are hitting .108 off of him. Stetter's a guy who when he's got his feel and command is a major league caliber loogy. He lost it there for a couple years but may have regained it.

The strike zone gets smaller @AA. There are more hitters capable of laying off bad pitches and able to keep AB's alive at AA. Nelson walked 5 in his first AA start too.

"I'd be tempted to let Gamel play OF next year" I have a lot of doubts that Gamel will be in their plans for next year. Certainly not as a starter in the OF as you clearly stated that Aoki is deserving and I believe RF is where they'd play him. I think the feeling was this year was Gamel's chance. He turns 27 in a month and he's got 55 career hits. That's not exactly a proven track record. The timing of his injury couldn't have been worse for him. Can he handle a utility type role? Maybe, but he's not the ideal candidate. Not that he's got much trade value but as a secondary piece in a deal, some team might find him attractive.

I think most of you are missing the point of the original poster. His point isn't that those contracts are all that bad in comparison with others in that price range, but that it can be a waste of money to pay those types of salaries for basically average major league production and that money could be better spent locking up true stars of the game (Fielder and CC), and investing in player development. There are cheaper alternatives for average major league production. Ramirez isn't a bad player. He is still a solid player. But he's not a star nor a difference maker and he carries an age/injury risk. Weeks was given a pretty good contract despite a history of injuries, and uneven production below what many had projected for him as the 2nd player taken in the draft. Wolf's deal at the time made sense. The team lacked starting pitching. But once Grienke and Marcum were added, they could have shopped Wolf for younger players and given themselves available money for other needs.

Playoff caliber or not is yet to be fully determined, but Morgan is not a difference maker and you are right on the money as far as the future of the franchise. 2011 is over. Nyjer was a nice story and a played a role on that team. So was Bob "Hurricane" Hazle on the 57 Braves championship team. But both were role players, not stars. Hazle fizzled in 58 and was dealt in midseason. Now Morgan has a better pedigree than Hazle did, but the comparison fits. Morgan isn't doing it this year. It's time to move on. The "locker room presence" thing is off the mark as well. This year the locker room has guys like Green, Maldanado, Fiers, all of whom played with Schafer. It's a far different locker room. Lucroy, when healthy, has emerged as a leader. So in a way is Gomez. Hopefully, their success has finally convinced the very conservative Melvin that guys who weren't first round picks actually can contribute on the major league level. Schafer's been hot lately, and like Green was once the Brewers minor league player of the year. There's no need to block him with a Morgan. No offense to Morgan, but guys like him are available if needed every year for little (ala Dykstra).

I love Cooper and think he was one of the most underrated players of all time, but I'd still take Prince over him. I'd take Gantner over Weeks and I'd put Cirillo at 3B and Molitor at DH. Forget the numbers, anyone that watched Gantner and Weeks knows Gantner was the better player. Gantner struck out once every 12 AB. He had the misfortune of being a contemporary of Frank White or he'd have won a few gold gloves too. I'd also take Jenkins over Oglivie. Oglivie was often platooned and no better than the 5th or 6th best player in the lineup. Catcher is a real weak spot. Simmons really was lousy in 81 and 84 and that's 40% of his time in Milwaukee. Had Surhoff caught more his last 2-3 years, I'd take him.

I'm in the minority, but I think $85 million over 5 years is about right for Ethier. Put him in Miller Park and his numbers (which aren't bad) would be pretty darn good. When you consider what Fielder got, and that Ethier currently is leading the NL in RBI with 53 he was going to get a lot in FA. His numbers are pretty close to Hart, but Ethier makes better contact, and doesn't need to leadoff to be productive. He's also won a Gold Glove and hasn't made an error in 2 years. I could easily see Hart getting $70 million over 5 years if he were a FA.

You make a good point about Illitch. I think his age factored in his offer to Fielder. But at 4 1/2 games out, and nobody in the division looking strong, I expect Attanasio to be thinking buying, not selling.

Grant Balfour might be worth considering. A's are going nowhere.

Thanks for the heads up. That's the very phrase I've been using at my TV virtually all season. Might have slipped out at MP next time.

He made big strides as a hitter last year, and he certainly is strong enough to hit the ball a long way. Who knows what he'll do in the long term, but he's opening eyes. What's more impressive is that he carries himself with such confidence. When word gets around, the pitching patterns will be more challanging, but how can anybody not be impressed?

Sorry that Lucroy got hurt but talk about a blessing in disguise! Forget backup, Maldanado looks more and more like a first string catcher. It's going to be very interesting seeing what they do when Lucroy gets back.

I disagree that he's a better hitter. He's a far more patient hitter, but Braun has been a better hitter (AVG and power) throughout his career. Votto had one monster power year and he won the MVP because of it. Braun better (AVG and power)? Votto has a better career average .316 to .312. Braun has slight edge slugging .565 to .556. OBP isnt' close. Braun's great, but Votto is a little better and is just a little tougher to pitch to.

What's with the Brewer player development people? Ok, I understand Sean Halton isn't a top prospect and Gindl hasn't had a great year, but is there any reason a guy like Halton who's just turned 25, and is hitting .313/.421/.563 over his last 10 games,and a guy like Gindl who's only 23 and who's perked up some lately are sitting in favor of guys like Patterson and Gibbons? Halton in particular has been sitting a lot lately and it just doesn't make sense.

I'd like to see the Bucks draft 7'1" Meyers Leonard out of Illinois. Leonard easily has top 5 talent but thanks to Bruce Weber's coaching, and some immaturity on Leonard's part, he could be available at 12 and he's a steal there. There's been some big guys from the Big Ten (Koufas for example) that haven't been all that good but Leonard is much more skilled. He just needs to learn to bring it every night, and Milwaukee would be a perfect place for him.

I'd trade him straight up for Joey Votto. Yeah Votto is much more expensive, but he's a better hitter than Braun and at the level those guys are at, even a marginal difference is worth a ton.

"A four for five day would raise his average about 16 points, to roughly .176" And if I go out tomorrow and make 15-16 pars instead of my usual 2 or 3, I'll break 80. He hasn't had a 3 hit game all year, and just one 2 hit game since April 17th. I'd say a 4 for 5 is not very likely. The sad part is Detroit is dying for help at 2b and if Weeks was doing anything, the Brewers would have the opportunity to unload his contract by reuniting him with Fielder. But it's a tough sell at .160.

I think it's easy to get carried away with Kottaras as an offensive player after the amazing stretch he put together recently. But his career line is still just .223/.325/.413. He's likely to revert to closer to that over time. Not bad for a backup catcher certainly, but not good enough to be in demand as a DH in the AL either.

Overpaying is never a good idea. There will be plenty of other options if they don't sign Greinke and Marcum. After all, between Greinke, Marcum and Wolf, we're talking about roughly $32 million saved. Two years ago, nobody thought they'd land Marcum and Greinke in the same offseason either. There is zero chance they open next season with the rotation you fear they would. I could see Gallardo, Narveson or Estrada, Thornburg, Fiers and "fill in the blank veteran". That fill in the blank veteran could be Greinke or Marcum or it could be someone else, acquired either via trade or FA. My personal wish is Anibal Sanchez and yes he won't be cheap either. If you can't land an ace, then you have to grow one internally. If you are constantly sign veterans every year and block young pitching how will that happen? Greinke wants "ace money" and he's not pitched like a true ace since 09. Yes he's been very good this year save 2 starts, but those were awful.

You are not alone. I completely agree. Leave Hart at 1B, not just this year but next. Whether Aoki's a longer term answer, I don't know, but corner OF can be had. I'm curious why the Bosox are so anxious to deal Youkilis anyway. That's a red flag for me.

Fiers is a bit of a throw back. He talked to Brian Anderson the night after, and Anderson focused in on his use of the high strike. Fiers somewhat corrected Anderson by saying he pitches up, down, in and out which is exactly what he did. He also varies the speed on all his pitches. One time he'll throw the fastball 86. Another he'll throw it 90. The master at that was Pete Vukovich, and Fiers reminds me a little of Vuke. That's rather old fashioned in a day where most pitchers focus on striking guys out and throwing everything as hard as they can. Bamberger would love Fiers. The result is he gets guys to put it in play early in counts for the most part in the form of pop ups and weak ground balls. Hitters can't look in one zone on him, and his speed variance is enough to upset their timing just a bit too.

McGehee had a .593 and .422 OPS in May and June last year, and that's at 3rd base, NOT 2nd, ie, a power position vs one in which you don't expect nearly as much power. His end of the year OPS ended up at .626 Weeks is currently at .588. That's not really that "dramatic," to me, and we stuck with McGehee longer when we actually had options(Gamel and Green tearing it up in AAA) longer than you're proposing we stick with Weeks. I'm not sure "Ron," is the one who needs a hint, nor what a vacation would do unless you believe he's hurt. And even then, who do you propose? Eric Farris? I doubt he posts an OPS of .600 or better. Gennett isn't ready yet... There is one option IMO and it's leave Weeks out there because the only chance we have to get to the post-season is if Weeks starts to perform like he has his entire career, namely the last 5 years where his cumulative OPS has been .805....an impressive line for a 2nd basemen. Your stats are comparing apples and oranges. Weeks had a .497 OPS in May. McGehee had a .593. Cumulatively at the end of May last year, McGehee's OPS was .661. Weeks sits at .588. Until the last 3 weeks of the season, the longest McGehee went without a multi-hit game was 16 games and only 12 games at this point in the season. Weeks has now gone 40 straight games (1/4 of the season) without getting more than 1 hit. Much of Weeks OPS comes from walks. That's fine but he's now primarily a number 6 hitter. That's an RBI spot. Walks there don't generally result in runs. McGehee had 24 RBI at the end of May. True 2B isn't the traditional offensive spot that 3B is, but McGehee was part of a lineup that had 2 MVP candidates, so offense there wasn't as critical. Weeks has been awful. Plain and simple. He leads the league in striking out. He hasn't hit a lick when pitchers get 2 strikes on him. That's happened in 126 plate appearances. He's hit safely in 13 of those, a .103 BA. When he gets behind 0-2, his chances of striking out are 69%. That's part of the frustration of seeing him taking down the middle. We know that behind in the count, he's toast. It's hard for me to get excited if he makes decent contact twice in a game or takes a couple walks one night. I need to see him break out and get a stretch where he goes a week and goes like 12 for 30 and only fans 5-6 times. I haven't seen it yet. He's capable I know, and they need it from him. As for alternatives, I note you left out Taylor Green. He's played a lot of 2B. I no doubt think either Farris or Gennett (who's to say he's not ready, he might be) could certainly have put up numbers better than Weeks has so far also. But Weeks has a ton left on his contract and certainly his upside if he returns to his norm is likely better at this point. But there it is no sure thing he will. Resting him in favor of Green once or twice a week would be my plan until Weeks actually does something.

Rather than Castro, I'd inquire on Darwin Barney. Barney was primarily a SS and a pretty good one in the minors. He was moved because of Castro. He's not the talent Castro is, but he's a solid player and wouldn't take nearly as much to get.

What's routine about a league MVP getting a day off? Fielder had to be too sick to get out of bed to take a day off. Which is why I argued he should have been MVP last year. You can't be all that valuable if the manager gives you days off.

He is honest to god going to have a heart attack in the booth before he retires. His last moments on Earth are going to be ripping Joe West and he's just going to keel over. While it's fun to laugh at the intensity of his outburst (and others he's had), I do worry about a man his age getting that upset. It doesn't seem to me to be healthy physically nor is it a sign that he's quite in control. Yes it's irritating when umpires don't consistently apply the same rules regarding throwing at hitters, but geesh, it's not something all that unusual nor worthy of that intensity of reaction.