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JohnBriggs12

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Everything posted by JohnBriggs12

  1. JohnBriggs12
    The experts paid closer attention to the pitching in the playoffs, and the Brewer pitching was awful.
  2. JohnBriggs12
    Not only that, can anyone name a likely successor to Lucroy currently in the Brewer system? I can't. You can argue whether or not to sign Greinke or Marcum, but at least they've invested in young arms that may emerge to replace at least one of them. At best Maldanado projects as a backup. Maybe someone currently at a low level will emerge but that's a long way off. A long term deal isn't likely to be all that expensive and it gives them cost certainty at the position for what should be Lucroy's prime years.
  3. JohnBriggs12
    The Reds are vastly overrated. Unless Bruce and Stubbs actually produce to their potential (and they haven't yet) it's a lineup that has 2 stars in Votto and Phillips and not all that much else. Having to use Marshall or perhaps Massett to close seriously affects their bullpen depth. They added Latos to their rotation, but he's going from Petco to GAB, which cannot be undersold. The rest of their rotation are guys who've had flashes of brilliance combined with injuries and ineffectiveness. That's not to say they can't win, but the Reds have just as many question marks as anyone. I still think if they stay healthy (a big if), the Cardinals are the team to beat, but you can throw a blanket over the top three. I don't see any one of them winning more than 90.
  4. JohnBriggs12
    Look, he was a kid in the Brewer system. Was he full of himself? Sure he was. But we all know that there is a very fine line between cockiness and confidence. The deal that Melvin made was a bad one in retrospect. Lawrie was a lot to give up for Marcum. In Melvin's defense he hadn't secured Greinke at that point and the Brewers were desperate to improve their rotation and Marcum was an improvement. But I still think how much better off they would have been to sign Brandon McCarthy (who I liked a lot) for peanuts, then deal for Greinke, and now have Lawrie at 3B and not have to go out and overpay for Aramis Ramirez.
  5. JohnBriggs12
    Personally, I'm trying to figure out the Reds love. I see a ton of question marks on that team too. Other than Votto and Phillips, I just don't see it. Bruce was as good as any OF in the game for about 6 weeks last year. Other than that he was pretty ordinary. Stubbs struck out over 200 times last year. Their LF depth chart is uninspiring as is the left side of their infield. Their catching is solid, but nothing extraordinary. Yes they added Latos to their rotation. But the rest of it is guys that have been full of promise before and haven't delivered.
  6. JohnBriggs12
    Here's another theory. We've been told the collector's son acted as "escort" for Braun when he took the test. Lets just suppose for a second that Braun said something or did something to this "escort" to really get him ticked off. Maybe Braun just acted like an ass and big-timed the young man. The guy goes home and reports this to the old man (the collector) in this case. Now nothing sets off a parent more than his kid being disrespected. As a die hard Cub fan to boot, the old man thinks, "I'm going to get this turd" and taints the sample, perhaps with is own right after taking something he had access to. Now if what Braun said or did to the "escort" was bad enough, I could see where Lucroy would say, if it came out it would add more negativity. ----------------------- Moderator note (1992casey): Please don't use creative spellings to circumvent the cuss filter. However, in this case, the "circumvention" was "a**." "Ass" is allowed.
  7. JohnBriggs12
    Against RHP, I'd have Gamel in the 5th spot and Hart 6th. It gives the opposing pitcher a different look and seperates the RH bats.
  8. JohnBriggs12
    It was a very tumultuous offseason for him. He'll play himself out of any issues he's had so far. His AB's so far have been sporadic. I think he'll be able block out the catcalls. My one concern is that he might be over motivated, not because of opposing fans who naturally will use any means to get on opponents but because of comments made by MLB that basically targeted him as guilty despite the arbitrators finding. That has to grate on him. I know it grates on me.
  9. JohnBriggs12
    Normally, you'd want Green playing everyday, but with Ramirez soon to be 34, he's going to need some off days and frankly I'm not sold on Brooks Conrad. Hopefully they'll either find a better alternative than Conrad or they'll have to keep Green until they do. I just don's see what Conrad brings to the table other than the ability to strike out at levels only the big time power guys can get away with. Brooks Conrad = Switch hitting Keith Ginter
  10. JohnBriggs12
    At age 33, Molitor had made 3 All Star teams. 3. He had some of his best seasons (strictly as a DH) after turning 34. Let's see what Young does. At the age Young is at now, Molitor had fewer HR (148 vs. 169), and fewer doubles (369 to 388) than Young. Young is really, really good at hitting too.
  11. JohnBriggs12
    A lot of people said the same thing about Yount and Molitor too. It was only later in their careers did people start really appreciating them fully. Heck look at Pete Rose too. Rose started early and played until he was 45, but as a player if you take away the Rose persona, they are pretty similar players. Rose certainly would have been a first ballot HOFer, and deservedly so and so will Young be if (and it's a big if), he remains productive at a level close to his career numbers for 5 or 6 more seasons.
  12. JohnBriggs12
    Are you guys serious? He's had 6 seasons of at least 200 hits. He's a 7 time All Star. He won a Gold Glove as a SS, and he's a right handed career .304 hitter. This notion that he doesn't walk enough is silly. Yount had a career OBP of .342. Molitor was .369. Young is between those too, and for most of his career, he's been a middle infielder. It's a no-brainer if he gets to 3,000 hits. He's on pace to match Paul Molitor in virtually every offensive category other than stolen bases. Plus he's played more defensively too. Now Molitor remained productive until he retired at age 42. If Young does that, he's not only a HOFer but he's a first ballot HOFer. If Young played in New York or Boston he'd be on the same level as Jeter for gosh sakes.
  13. JohnBriggs12
    I like Green too, but his trade value isn't all that high. Let's face it, once they signed Ramirez, Green became officially blocked for at least 2 more seasons. Think other teams don't know this? His only chance to see regular playing time is for an injury to Ramirez or Weeks or in case Gamel falls flat at 1B. Then there is Scooter looming a year or two down the road too. I don't think an Andino for Green deal is all that one sided. Andino is still young enough that he could be a stop gap type starter for a year or two after Gonzalez. None of the guys listed is a premier defensive option (Lillebridge sure isn't), but of the group, Andino makes the most sense.
  14. JohnBriggs12
    Is everyone forgetting the part of the news conference where Braun said his team learned things about the collector that he couldn't elaborate on? Just because some friends and acquaintences vouched for him, doesn't automatically mean he's entirely innocent either. Remember, he lawyered up too. Braun got a lot of negative feedback for casting doubt on the collector. If he's told teammates what they have on him, it's possible they'd think release of this information would be seen negatively.
  15. JohnBriggs12
    He has no more chance of making the Cubs rotation than he had making the Brewers. Cubs have rotation numbers: Garza, Dempster, Maholm, Wells, Volstad, Samardja, T. Wood, Rodrigo Lopez. I'm surprised at the timing. Had he been waived at the end of ST when teams were all trying to get down to 25, he wouldn't have been claimed. Sveum and Bosio knew him so they had nothing to lose claiming him. He's a longshot to make their roster. If he does it will be in the pen.
  16. JohnBriggs12
    My mistake. I had Schafer a year older. He's 25 and will be 26 in Sept. Still if the Brewers see him as a starting CF, and see him as ready now, you make room for him in the very near future if not now. If they see him as a 4th or 5th outfielder tops, then you keep Morgan another year.
  17. JohnBriggs12
    monty57, I think they bid on Aoki strictly because of the Braun situation. But even if you count that $2.5 million, they are only committed to another $2.5 million over the next 2 years for a total of $5 million, not $10 million. The rest is all performance bonuses (which I assume if he plays only as much as Kotsay, he won't reach anyway) and option year salary and bonuses for 2014 which he likely will never see. Bottom line is he has to be clearly better than the other options to earn those bonuses and nothing we've seen so far suggests that he is. Schafer on the other hand could be forcing their hands a bit. At 26 (he'll be 27 in September) does it make any sense to have him sit in AAA at the expense of Nyjer Morgan? Morgan is a good major league player, but he's not Prince Fielder either. Fielder would block anyone, but not so much Morgan. If you really project Schafer to be an everyday major league CF, now (or by June at the latest) is the time to put him out there.
  18. JohnBriggs12
    My feeling on Aoki is that he was brought in to be this years Kotsay, not to win the everyday CF job. In other words, a utility OF/PH who will give them professional AB's late in games and fill in anywhere in the OF. He doesn't have much power but his .408 lifetime OBP suggests he won't give up AB's either. A handful of AB's in 2 weeks in Arizona is completely meaningless. Schafer is the guy to watch in this battle. If they think he's ready, then they should make a spot for him even if that means shipping out Morgan for minimal return. I'm not as down on Gomez as most. He adds something to the mix and platooning him with a young player like Schafer makes sense.
  19. JohnBriggs12
    If one of those 4 makes a significant contribution, I'll be surprised if by significant you mean they do anything other than mopup, 11th or 12th man on the staff contribution. The pen is pretty set with Axford, K-Rod, Veras, Loe, and Estrada getting the bulk of work. They will likely have a lefty in one of the two remaining spots, but I'm not convinced that guy is even in their camp right now. The last spot contenders include Fiers, Dillard and McClendon all of whom I'd put ahead of Rogers or Kintzler.
  20. JohnBriggs12
    If Morgan is traded, I see Schafer taking over that role in the platoon with Gomez, not Aoki. To me Aoki is going to be this year's version of Kotsay, a guy who'll fill in for Hart and Braun when he has his inevitable strained oblique, be used extensively to PH, and DH in AL parks. Schafer is the future in CF and there's no reason he needs to wait behind a 30 year old with no major league experience.
  21. JohnBriggs12
    The Braves promote prospects very aggressively. Heyward and Freeman were full time regulars in the big leagues at age 20 and 21 respectively. It wouldn't shock me in the least if they went with Simmons over Pastornicky. It's not like Pastornicky has much of an edge experience wise. That being said, they'd be foolish not to hedge their bet by keeping Pastornicky who has options. There's always the potential for position change down the road too. No way they trade him now.
  22. JohnBriggs12
    The offset of losing 3/5ths of their rotation is they'd free up roughly $32 million in salary. I think Matt Cain would look nice in a Brewer uniform myself. Just because we don't know today who will make up the 2013 rotation doesn't mean it won't actually be better.
  23. JohnBriggs12
    The problem I have with all you Yuni haters, is that you come up with this stuff that isn't quantified, and I've been watching baseball for 50 years and the number of balls that fall into the category you describe over the course of last season I say was greatly exaggerated. Then when that happened the once or twice a month you all said, "See, he sucks". Oh sure, he could have dove for more and gotten dirty, but not gotten outs. Big deal. You guys also ignore his defensive strengths. Yuni had great hands turning double plays. He also was very accurate in getting the ball to Weeks. He made some errors but this is a franchise that once had Jose Valentin making 35 in a year and he got nowhere near the venom directed at him for his lack of defense. Judging by the team ERA, and the fact that the team won 96 games with Betancourt at SS for the vast majority, it's hard for me to believe he cost them that many runs. Plus he knocked in his fair share and was one of the most productive hitters they had in the postseason.
  24. JohnBriggs12
    Totally agree. Back when teams carried 10 pitchers, a long man was important but not with 12 man staffs. Nobody goes more than 3 innings out of the pen these days even on the one or two occasions per year where a starter doesn't get past the first inning. If a starter gets knocked out early, the manager uses his 3-4 secondary bullpen guys or guys that need an inning to finish out the game. In the NL especially, you just don't see relievers going extended innings.
  25. JohnBriggs12
    Several things Braun said in his news conference that's either been forgotten or characterized as him "throwing the collector" under the bus. He said: "I won't be allowed to get into all the details..", and "there were a lot of things we learned about the collector...that calls into question..." So what are these details and what did they learn about the collector (or his son for that matter)? Why wouldn't Braun "be allowed to get into all the details"? Who would be preventing him? His legal team that's who. If they have something on the collector that's relevant to motive, then that's likely part of legal action in the future. Because the news media did some cursory questioning of the collector's acquaintances and the collector himself issued a standard statement defending his actions, doesn't mean that he's pure as the driven snow or that Braun's team didn't find out information that has not been released. The fact that the collector has hired an attorney means one of two things. He's either going to sue Braun or he needs to defend himself over something. There's still plenty we don't know. If you take Braun at his word, this likely isn't over just yet.
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