JohnBriggs12
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Everything posted by JohnBriggs12
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OMG, Melvin is quoted by TH on his blog today that he's concerned about having to add Thornburg to the 40 man a year before he'd have to. Seriously, the GM is concerned that somehow bringing up Thornburg now will cause his options to be burned prematurely? How long do we have to live with a GM that views every decision regarding a young pitcher in the context of Jorge De la Rosa? It's the reason they stuck with Parra forever and now it affects his decision regarding a soon to be 24 year old? Would you get over De la Rosa Doug?
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There's already several teams drooling over Greinke. It's still too early to assume the Brewers will be completely out of it by July. A tweak here (Ransom) and a tweak there (another pitcher) and somehow Weeks rights the ship and they could be close enough in a weak division. Veras is starting to show signs he's the guy they thought they had and that will stabilize the pen. They'd have to listen if a bidding war developed. If they are confident that Greinke really likes it in Milwaukee, they could deal him and bid on him in the FA market too. Sort of what Harry Dalton did with Jim Slaton back in the day. Dealt him to Detroit, for Oglivie, then got him back a year later. They do have money to spend on pitching if Marcum and Wolf leave also.
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Ok, I know, we'd all love to see Thornburg, or even Fiers tried in the rotation while Estrada's down. But the talk of Parra makes me ill. Bush is quietly have a nice season at AAA. He's coming off a complete game shutout in his last start on Tuesday. In fact, he's not allowed a run in his last 2 starts covering 16 innings. Overall, he's 4-3 with a 2.73 ERA, and believe it or not, has only allowed 1 HR in 52 IP. If the Phillies don't call him up by June 1st, he can be a FA. They brought back Vargas. Are they interested in a 2007 revival?
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What happens if they claim Jason Marquis off of waivers? Dave Bush (4-3, 2.73 ERA at AAA) becomes a FA if the Phils don't call him up by June 1. Not sure I want to go down that route, but it would be better than Parra.
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Brewers claim Cody Ransom, option Maysonet
JohnBriggs12 replied to splitterpfj's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
The big negative is not unlike Conrad, he strikes out a lot. He does have 212 minor league HR though. Not many guys stick around long enough to get that many. On the other hand, not many middle infielders have that kind of power either. -
If they were really lucky, he'd be so mad, he'd retire. If the Brewers could trade him, they'd do it in a heart beat. There aren't takers for guys hitting .155 and leading the league in strikeouts, much less guys with contracts like Weeks. The good news is we'll be spared having to watch him in the HR derby this year. He'd probably swing and miss.
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Melvin has a horrible track record in these situations. Remember 2006? That's the year they lost Tomo Ohka and Ben Sheets. The first move they made was to take De la Rosa (who'd failed as a starter the previous 2 seasons) out of the pen. The result? An 11.54 ERA in 3 starts. Then they dipped down to AAA, for immortals Zach Jackson (2-2, 5.54 ERA in 7 starts) and Dana Eveland (0-3, 8.51 in 5 starts), and even brought Rick Helling out of the pen for 2 glorious starts (0-2, 13.50 ERA). Finally, they were forced to dip into the AA staff for one Carlos Villanueva. All he did was shut out the Reds for 6 innings in his first major league start. Oh he wasn't ready to be a long term answer, but he was the best option for a temporary solution. Heck they might have done better with Gallardo too, who had dominated in the Florida State league that year before doing the same at Huntsville. That didn't ruin Villanueva who was just 22 at the time. He's still in the big leagues 6 years later.
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I'm hoping Roenicke mentioning Parra is based solely on the fact that he's focusing strictly on his roster and not paying attention to what guys are doing in the system. Melvin needs to assert his authority and advise RR that we've tried this Parra before (many, many, times), and he's a reason Ken Macha is sitting at home. Thornburg has dominated to the degree anyone with a major league arm would dominate hitters in the minors. Spare me the talk about affecting his confidence if he gets beat at the major league level. He's had a few less than stellar starts in the minors too. It happens. Do we want a guy that is that weak mentally as a key guy down the road? Oh, we have one and his name is Manny Parra.
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This would be my solution as well. That they couldn't trust Dillard enough to bring him in with an 8 run lead today tells me he doesn't belong in the majors. Parra? Are you kidding? As for "starting the arby clock", we can only hope that anyone they bring up will be good enough to worry about whether their FA year is 2018 or 2019. The odds of that are rather large. Besides if they brought up Thornburg, he'd probably be back down when Estrada returns. Thornburg will be 24 in September. He's not a kid. Most reports I read say he's got major league quality pitches. That's good enough for me.
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Brewers claim Cody Ransom, option Maysonet
JohnBriggs12 replied to splitterpfj's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
His major league numbers are in under 400 career AB's that are very spread out. Still a .310 OBP for a .226 hitter isn't bad. Plus he's slugged over .400 in the big leagues and he's coming of a great 2011 at Reno. They desperately need offense in the middle infield. For a waiver pickup, it's a good one. I'm fine with some shaky defense if he hits. Bring in Izturis late. -
Heart Attack Grill in Chandler!
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If this games gets to extras, we could see Gomez or Maysonet pitching.
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That's why you can't dismiss Thornburg.
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It wasn't over before Estrada got hurt.
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My guess is Fiers, though Thornburg wouldn't shock me. Melvin did mention just the other day about guys being capable of jumping up from AA. I don't see Peralta based on his recent outings
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If we sell, what are the pieces to sell?
JohnBriggs12 replied to adambr2's topic in Transaction Rumors & Proposals
The time to sell off Wolf was last winter. But that would have made them change what was the winter sales pitch: "We may have lost Prince, but we've replaced him with the great Aramis Ramirez and we've upgraded at SS too, and our entire rotation that was so good last year returns intact." How's that working out? -
It started a foot off the plate and ended up 2 feet off the plate. He couldn't have hit that pitch with a rake. Fans are right to expect more from him. We've seen his talent. He was picked higher in the draft than Fielder or Braun. I for one expected more from him than what he's produced before this year's debacle. This is more than your normal slump. We're almost to Memorial Day and the guy's hitting .158 and striking out once every 2.75 ABs. I've seen nothing that tells me he's close to breaking out. He hasn't had a multi-hit game in over a month. Over the last 28 days he's hitting .128, and he's fanned 33 times in 78 ABs. Given his contract, we have no choice but to hope he breaks out. At most they'll only sit him a day here and there. It's part of what baseball has become with long contracts and it stinks. People pay good money to watch major league baseball. They have a right to expect play at a certain level. Can this go on all season? We need only to look at Adam Dunn of 2011 to know that it's possible. Dunn needed an entire offseason to get his mind straight to play the game like he's capable of and now he's back to his normal self.
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Just how good was Mark Loretta?
JohnBriggs12 replied to 3and2Fastball's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
"Rose couldn't play SS" That he never played SS doesn't mean he wasn't capable of playing there. -
Just how good was Mark Loretta?
JohnBriggs12 replied to 3and2Fastball's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
But he was going to be a FA at the end of 2002 and it's almost certain he would have been gone. Ginter wasn't bad in 03 and 04 and he brought Nelson Cruz back in a deal. Franklin at least survived a year in the rotation and along with Leo Estrella brought back Carlos Villanueva in a deal. -
I don't think it has anything to do with strikeouts. You can live with the strikeouts when a guy is slugging .577. It was a numbers thing. Roberts was struggling and Bell was raking at Reno. It was time for a change. Since Roberts was key member of playoff team last year, and 31, they aren't ready to expose him to waivers. They also had another backup SS, John McDonald, who's been hitting well and who is a better defensive player than Ransom.
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Numbers at Reno should be taken with a huge grain of salt, but I think he's an upgrade over Maysonet or Izuturis offensively and it's not that close. He'd be a guy that I'd take a flyer on for sure. If you have to bench Weeks 2-3 times a week if he still isn't hitting, it's a lot better than using Maysonet also. He's at least credible PH too.
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What do you think we have in Aoki?
JohnBriggs12 replied to SenatorShriv's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
I hate to go really old school, but Felipe Alou was rotated between the OF and 1B with the Braves teams of the 1960's and he was one heck of a player. It didn't affect his offense one iota. It's not like it's some weird idea. Why move Ishikawa? He's played all of 3 professional innings in RF and not much more in LF. With Ishikawa in RF and Hart at 1B, you have 2 guys playing less familiar spots. That makes no sense to me. -
Wolf is paid to pitch no matter who's doing the catching. He's not being paid to fill out the lineup card. Roenicke needs to man up and make it clear that he makes out the lineup. As for Hart moving to 1B, why does that have to be permanent? Aoki's no more a proven everyday major leaguer than is Ishikawa. Some days it makes sense to play Aoki. Others it makes sense to play Ishikawa for an additional power threat. If that means Hart has to rotate between RF and 1B, so be it. Others just as accomplished as him have handled that situation. That lineup will be lucky to score 2 runs. It doesn't even use Kottaras' best skill, working walks. Bumgarner can walk him all night with Izuturis and Wolf behind him. With Gomez and Weeks behind Ramirez, don't expect Aramis to get anything to hit either.
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What do you think we have in Aoki?
JohnBriggs12 replied to SenatorShriv's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Your lineup matrix leaves Ishikawa on the bench. I'm not sure I wouldn't prefer to have Ishikawa's power threat over Aoki's slap hitting slightly above average on base skills. I'd really prefer Ishikawa's power when Morgan is also in the lineup. A lineup that contains Morgan, Aoki, and Izturis is seriously lacking in power. Now that would mean Hart would have to shuttle between RF and 1B which Roenicke seems to have problems with. But seriously, there has been tons of guys who've done just that in their careers successfully. I don't see why Hart can't. Managers need to remember the Matt Stairs defensive rule: If Stairs can negotiate playing both RF and 1B, just about anyone with some athletic skill can too and that includes Hart. -
Possible SS Replacements
JohnBriggs12 replied to Funketown's topic in Transaction Rumors & Proposals
While I agree with you assessment but be careful what you wish for. Remember when everyone wanted Clint Barmes instead of Yuni last year and in this offseason? His offense so far this year is Weeks without the walks or the power. Speaking of Weeks, if he were hitting, the lack of offense at SS wouldn't be so damaging. Honestly, what have they got to lose bringing up Bianchi and giving him the job for 2 months? They can always go back to Izturis.