JohnBriggs12

Before everyone chimes in on what a great deal getting Greinke for 5 years at $85 million would be can I just remind all of you that those figures are pretty close to what the Yankees gave A J Burnett, the Red Sox gave John Lackey, and the Cubs gave Carlos Zambrano. How are those deals working out? Last I check Greinke's ERA is back over 4. Granted he's pitched better than that but what if he should regress? Long term deals with pitchers are inherently more risky than with position players and it's not just do to the injury risk. Just take a look back 5 years at the pitchers who had the best years, and see where they are now. A great example is Scott Kazmir. Brewers were extremely pitcher intensive in this year's draft. To me I'd rather have Fielder in the fold and develop young pitching.

I don't think anyone's saying it's necessarily a "safe" choice for the reasons you cite. On the other hand, Berkman's put up big numbers and given that he has this year, it's conceivable he could again in 2012. We don't exactly know what Gamel is capable of because he's never done it.

The Brewers have been successful on roughly 75% of their steal attempts. I would guess that's close to average. I don't think the total number of steals (63) or the steal percentage off of Lucroy (close to average) are major causes for concern in this day and age of baseball where teams don't run all that much. As to the wild pitch count being high, that may have more to do with the type of pitchers on the staff. than it has to do with Lucroy's blocking ability.

Rockies have until noon on Thursday to work a deal.

"he's apparently the heir-apparent to Prince's throne at 1B" Is he really? Gamel has been for the most part a fine minor league hitter, but he's 26 and has yet to make any impact at the major league level. It appears now that for 2012 he'll get a shot to be the everyday 1st baseman but this isn't anything like what happened when the Brewers traded Overbay to make room for then a 21 year old Fielder. The assumption then was Fielder was "the guy" at least as long as they had him under control. Gamel simply isn't in that category. Not that he can't get there, but he'll need to produce next year or they'll likely look elsewhere. For the right price, I could see them looking at Berkman, and perhaps dealing Gamel. Berkman does bring some star quality that will be sorely missed if Prince leaves. I could see a situation where there is a 3 man rotation at the 2 corner spots involving Berkman, Green and McGehee. Berkman at 36 won't be able to play every day.

I listened to part of Ricketts' news conference. He didn't sound like a guy who was ready to plunge millions into huge long term contracts any time soon. After all, that essentially was Hendry's undoing. In fact, he pretty much sounded like the opposite as he talked about getting value in the free agent market. He also made it clear that he had veto power over any significant size contracts so any new GM would really need to do a selling job to find "value" in $200 million contracts for guys like Pujols or Fielder. I suspect the Cubs will spend some money this offseason, but if indeed Zambrano is out of the picture, their focus is going to be on pitching where they are woefully short.

Reports are surfacing that the Cubs finally have fired GM Jim Hendry. I would imagine that Quade will be gone after the season.

My preference would be to give those starts to guys who will not be on the playoff roster, in particular Peralta and De la Cruz. Narveson has made 55 starts in a Brewer uniform. That's enough to have pretty safe assurance he won't be exposed. He's still a year away from arbitration. Pre-arby guys, that are at least adequate bottom rotation guys have a lot of value on a team. We have a pretty good idea Narveson can fill a 4-5 role in a rotation for a full season. The same can't be said for Estrada. Until a guy does it, you don't know if the league will catch up to him. Left handed bullpen specialists generally rely on sliders as out pitches. Narveson's slider is probably his 4th best pitch. He's just better suited to start as he needs to have a good feel for his changeup and good fastball command to be successful. That requires innings that he's not going to get in the bullpen. He needs to keep getting innings heading into the playoffs so if he's called upon he has a better chance of being sharp. Estrada, Peralta, De la Cruz, are all guys that could allow the Brewers to deal a Wolf if they needed to save some cash.

It's totally semantics. Whether Fiers is or isn't on the 40 man this winter, he has a great chance of making the 25 man roster in the spring as the Brewers figure to have bullpen spots open. Much like Axford, what he does with that opportunity will determine whether or not he indeed was or wasn't a prospect despite his age. Maldanado got promoted quickly because of his defense, hence it's not surprising it's taken his offense longer to develop. He clearly is a prospect now. Making a Baseball America list means nothing. Tons of guys on that list never make an impact in the majors and tons of guys who were never on that list do make an impact.

According to MLB traderumors, Phillies are seeking a lefty bench bat and a lefty reliever. Now what would make the invincible Phils want a lefty bench bat? Could the the all righthanded Brewer bullpen have something to do with it? Or why would they need a lefty reliever? Only thing I can think of is named Prince Fielder.

I don't think Halladay's a lock. Favorite, yes, lock no. He's allowed 25 hits in 22 1/3 innings in his last 3 starts. Phillies have some good offensive teams on their remaining schedule including the Brewers who knocked him around pretty good the last time they faced him. Lee, Hamels, Lincecum, Kershaw and Kennedy should all still be in the discussion.

What do you consider significant? Gallardo started 16 games in AAA before coming up. Greinke had just 6. My guess is that if the Brewers clinch early, they will give Peralta a major league start the last week as they set up the playoff rotation. What will be interesting is how they look at next year. Narveson's pitched well enough to still be in a rotation at a very low salary which makes him valuable. With the emergence of Peralta, and the success Estrada's had in spot starts, not forgetting De la Cruz, it would seem they have internal rotation candidates to replace Wolf, should they decide to deal him and his $9.75 million to make room for other contracts. I'm not saying necessarily they should trade Wolf, but he's certainly raised his trade value this season, and they may need that cash. Under that scenario, I could see either Estrada or De la Cruz in one rotation spot and Narveson in another to start the year with the big 3, with Peralta waiting in the wings to take over one of those two spots by mid season.

No offense to Gamel, but he's facing guys that at best are the equivalent of the 11th and 12th guys on major league staffs and at worst are worse than that. Kotsay has faced major league starting pitching and major league closers and late inning specialists all year. If I need a hit late, I'll take the veteran.

July 8th, bottom of the 9th, Brewers trail 7-6, 2 outs, bases loaded facing Cordero, Kotsay lines a 2 run single to RF, Brewers win 8-7. Two days later: bottom of the 9th, 1 out, runners on 1st and 2nd, Brewers trail 3-2, Kotsay pinch hits and lines a hit off of Cordero into short CF driving in the tying run. So he's the new Bill Hall. Put him against the Reds and he'll have a big hit in the 9th. Is there some enjoyment you get in mocking the guy for what he's done? Would you rather he not come through in those games to back your opinion of him as a player? He's 8 for 28 as a PH, the toughest job in baseball. The team is 27-18 in games he's started, many of those coming in place of an MVP candidate. What more do you naysayers want out of a bench player? Funny, I thought they played the Dodgers last night.

What are these big spots? July 8th, bottom of the 9th, Brewers trail 7-6, 2 outs, bases loaded facing Cordero, Kotsay lines a 2 run single to RF, Brewers win 8-7. Two days later: bottom of the 9th, 1 out, runners on 1st and 2nd, Brewers trail 3-2, Kotsay pinch hits and lines a hit off of Cordero into short CF driving in the tying run. The value of Kotsay is that he's been in virtually every situation imaginable and he's not going to be overwhelmed by the situation. Does that mean he's going to magically perform better than his numbers? No, but more importantly, he's not going to succumb to the situation and perform below it either.

I'm not surprised. He got stitched up quickly and didn't have anything beyond a flesh wound and it will be almost 2 weeks. He's been able to throw with a bandage so he should be good to go his full compliment of pitches too. I'm sure it was the target date all along.

Not just the rotation, the bullpen has also been fabulous. Ever since Melvin got K-Rod and Saito being healthy has also been key, the bullpen has been lights out for the most part. The rotation almost every night is going at least six innings and if a starter leaves the game with a lead or the score tied, our bullpen puts up mostly zeros and the end result is a win. Plus, because the rotation has been so effective and almost never melts down early in games, it's allowed the key bullpen arms to avoid being used in garbage situations simply to finish nine innings. Look how often last year starters either had to be yanked before the 5th inning and/or had to be pulled before finishing at least six innings, forcing the bullpen to regularly cover close to four innings or more. This year, we've had guys in the pen like Dillard currently who rarely even get into games and older veterans like Saito and Hawkins can be rested unless for when needed in close game situations. The team doesn't ever have to carry 13 pitchers and continually call arms up from the minors because the pen is gassed. When you think about the overall state of the pitching staff last season and where it is right now, it's been a pretty incredible reversal in just one season. Kudos to Doug for that. Just think if we had a dominate LOOGY in the pen on top of what we have. Our top 4 relievers are good enough to make up for it (off speed stuff away, good location with the fastball), but having a great lefty would really send us over the top. A dominant LOOGY, yes. A mediocre one, no thanks. They've got a top of the line pen as it is now. In the first half, Loe lost 7 games. Estrada lost 5 in relief in the first half. Braddock let a couple go too as did the likes of Sean Green. That was a big reason they weren't already 4 or 5 games up at the break. The deal for Rodriguez and the return of Saito have been huge. Rodriguez failed to hold two leads, but he left those games with the game tied, not with them behind. Loe can be dominant when on, but awful when not. He's perfect in the role he's now in. Estrada's been much better starting, and he's seldom needed in the pen now. Hawkins has been steady all year too and with that depth and the starters going deep, it's as rested a pen as any team in baseball.

Now that the Brewers finally have a manager that's not afraid to use a backup catcher to PH. I'm fine with the combo they have and having Maldanado ready for duty in case of injury. Lucroy's turning into an above average starting catcher, and its a plus that Kottaras is LH.

A J Pierzynski was just put on the DL with a broken wrist. Sox called up Donny Lucy and his .158 BA from Charlotte. Seems to me Mike Rivera for Ohman would be a good match. Rivera certainly would be better than Donny Lucy. Lefties have a .578 OPS off of Ohman.

Well since I have tickets for Sept. 20 at Wrigley, I can't think of a better scenario than the Brewers winning that night to go 8 games up with 7 to play, and enjoying the sight of them celebrating in Miller Park South, to the dismay of the Cub faithful. Then while the regulars sit and nurse their well deserved hangovers the next afternoon, Roenicke fields a lineup of Green at 3B, Wilson at SS, Farris at 2B, Gamel at 1B, Hairston in LF, Schafer in CF, Gindl in RF, Maldanado catching and Peralta pitching.

I've been saying it ever since he arrived and we saw it first hand last night. Randy Wolf is the exact same guy as Ted Lilly only a year and a half younger. Very similar stuff. Very similar record of success. Both are guys that round out a rotation quite well. Lilly's numbers are a little off this year, but not by much.

Just bought some tickets for the series vs. the Cubs in Wrigley in Sept. (lots of reasonably priced tickets available on stubhub by the way). I've got my fingers crossed I'll see clincher. Lets see if we can fill Wrigley with Brewer fans for that series.

I agree with this. I'm fine with Jungmann and Bradley barely throwing for the Brewers. Let them rest and have them come in for 2012. Absolutely no need to overwork them right now. Maybe give them a few innings but that's it.It's a long time between the first week or two of June (when Jungman last threw), earlier with Bradley and the 2012 season. If they get held back for the start of the Pioneer League, you are talking a full year. It would be much more beneficial to their development to take a month off, then ease them back in this season. Mid August is too late. Other college pitchers drafted later and who signed right away benefit from being able to adjust to life as a professional. That's as important as the work on the field. There's only so long of a shelf life for athletes. Why eliminate a year entirely? To make an extra few hundred thousand in a bonus? If that results in your major league career starting a year later, you push back your post arby years. What it does tell me about a kid, is he doesn't have full confidence in his abilities. Braun wasted no time signing. He knew he was major league talent.

That is never going to happen. One, Blake isn't an upgrade over McGehee. Secondly, you don't upset clubhouse chemistry to put a 37 year old part time player with a mediocre .729 OPS ahead of the very popular McGehee, who despite his struggles has gotten a ton of key hits in key situations. In "late and close" situations (71 plate appearances), McGehee is hitting .349/.423/.540. Remember it was McGehee's double on Sunday that set up the winning SF from Morgan. That's just the latest of a number of key hits he's gotten late in close games.

The collapse started before the 2nd half. You should recall they went to Chicago the last weekend of June that year up 7.5 games and had the Cubs ready to go down another game when Ramirez homered in the 9th off of Cordero with 2 out to turn a win into a loss. I remember exactly where I was at that moment and got a sick feeling. That woke the Cubs up. The lead was down to 4.5 by the All Star break it never got any higher.