JohnBriggs12

Gammons went on to say the the troubles for teams like the Dodgers and the Mets might be good for teams like the Brewers but it's bad for baseball in general. That's the prevailing view of the national media types. Anything good for teams like the Brewers, Royals, Padres etc. somehow isn't good for baseball? That's the difference between the NFL and MLB right there. The prevailing theory in the NFL is that your league is only as good as it's weakest team. The game itself is entertaining enough to transcend market size. The MLB types want all the focus on the major markets. That implies that the game itself isn't compelling enough.

Phew! How close can he be to returning if he needs scheduled days off after playing partial games? Seems to me he's at least 2 weeks away.

Braun has elevated himself to all time sports royalty in the state of Wisconsin along side his buddy Aaron Rodgers who accomplished that just a couple months ago. That's assuming he produces a HOF career which seems likely at this point. Should he do that, fans will one day see Braun's statue outside of Miller Park and probably the park that eventually replaces it in the later half of the century. Robin Yount is the only other Brewer (not counting Aaron of course who achieved that as a Brave) on that list in my opinion.

It's Gamel. I'd look for them to bring in a RH bat that can play first too to occasionally face a tough lefty. My darkhorse for that role is Troy Glaus, who's sitting out this year because he didn't like the offers out there. We all know Melvin likes to resurrect guys out of retirement. Glaus has raked in his career in Miller Park and he'd fit that role perfectly.

While Nieves' offense leaves something to be desired, he's no worse than many backup catchers in the game. Offensively, I'd probably take Rivera over Kottaras as the number 2 offensive catcher in the system anyway but Kottaras is younger. I would hope Rivera's status at Nashville hasn't changed with this move.

Again, the season is only a few weeks old, and it's always difficult to judge a right-handed hitter whose only real non-Rookie ball experience came at BC last year, where he hit for no power. He could have been killed by Space Coast/the FSL, or he could just have limited power. In the absence of scouting reports, it's difficult to tell. Plus, he's a first baseman, so he has to hit a ton to be a real prospect, and he hasn't walked much. That said, I have heard good things about Halton, and if he's still hitting well next month, he'll probably make his Power 50 debut. Fair enough. But I think a good comparison for Halton offensively at this stage is Casey McGehee who didn't hit a ton of HR or walk a lot as a minor leaguer but he always drove in a pretty fair number of runs.. Halton hasn't hit a lot of HR, but still drives in runs and hits for average. At 6'5" 240, you'd think, just like Casey, that he'll learn to turn on a few more as he matures. One overlooked stat in my book is ratio of RBI to HR. McGehee stood out in this category and so does Halton. I know this goes against current money ball theory, but some guys have a knack of being able to hit with men on and they do it year after year.

What's keeping Halton off the list if I may ask? Seems odd that Katin at 28 would still be there and Halton who doesn't turn 24 until June and is just a level below (where he's raking so far) isn't. Halton got quite a few token appearances in big league camp too so he must be on Brewer radar.

Hoping to see Sean Halton on the list this time.

Pittsburgh is interested. Parra for Wood does make sense but at this point, I don't want to have to carry either of those two on my active roster and I assume Wood is out of options also.

I beginning to think they'll go with 3 a while longer. Once Hart returns, they'll DFA Almonte and once healthy, Morgan will see a lot of time in CF. With 3 catchers, they can pinch hit and double switch guys. With Morgan in the lineup, they'll have Gomez to pinch hit from the right side. They would be short an infielder, but they really always were. In an extreme emergency of two middle infielders going down in the same game, McGehee can play 2B, Braun can play 3B. It's also worth noting Kottaras appeared in one game at 3B with Boston and Nieves appeared in 2 games at 2B and one at 3B in the minors.

Canning has already had a piece of the Brewers. Selig was there at the time. There's no way he would let that happen again. It's not like the 60's when the Cubs didn't draw flies and many Braves fans had once been Cub fans prompting Wrigley to feel squeezed. What happened to the Braves was orchestrated by then Cubs owner PK Wrigley. The guys who bought the Braves in 1963 were neighbors of Wrigley. Wrigley first had them buy minority interest in the White Sox to get them out of Chicago. When they couldn't wrest controlling interest in the Sox, he had them bid on the Braves once Perini put them on the market. It was all done with the intent to get the Braves out of Milwaukee and expand the Cub market back to it's pre Brave days. Unfortunately it worked, and many duped Brave fans blindly switched loyalty back to the Cubs.

I'm just as suspicious of umpires as any players, and not just in World Series that occurred 90+ years ago.

It's not the walk rate that's important, it's that he's chasing less pitches out of the zone. If he continues to do that, he will put up monster numbers and be a prime MVP candidate, whether his walk total is 50, 75 or 100.

You bat Gomez 2nd because he's an impatient hitter and where are you going to get more pitches to hit than batting in front of Braun and Fielder? Plus, other than Morgan, nobody else is a ideal #2 hitter. So far, he hasn't bee able to take advantage of that spot, but we're only 10% into the season. In 2010, when batting 2nd, Gomez hit .272/.303/.404. Those are all above his career norms. I would expect once Morgan is fully healthy and Hart is back, we'll see more or less a platoon with Morgan and Gomez in CF. I'm not convinced it's cinch Hart bats 2nd either. Hart was more productive batting 6th (1.091 OPS) last year than he was hitting 2nd (.814), and they could use a little thunder down in the order a bit. As for Kotsay, give me a break. He's been ok as a fill in. His OBP is a respectable .342. Since he started 0 for 9, he's 7 for 23. He's made contact (just 3 K in 32 AB's). We're talking about a guy with over 1,600 career hits with significant postseason experience. He's near the end of his career but he's a useful bench guy. One worry for me is Counsell. He didn't hit in Arizona and he's 1 for 14. Not good signs for a guy who'll be 41 in August. While I haven't agreed with every Roenicke move, the players seem to respect him and I see a lot of positive signs. Seventeen games in is not the time for evaluation. Every move a manager makes isn't going to work.

The Brewers just did. I doubt their use of the rule was entirely as it was intended. The definition of bereavement is "the period after loss during which grief is experienced and mourning occurs". His father is having surgery. That's quite different. MLB should call it then "family medical leave" instead of bereavement. Seriously, Marcum wasn't scheduled to start again until Saturday or Sunday, depending upon whether Estrada gets another start. He could easily have traveled between starts to be with his dad without being taken off the roster and probably had permission to do so. Because the Brewers needed an extra arm and Hawkins was a day or two away yet, they freed one up this way. Technically within the rule I suppose but definitely stretching it.

Before that Sunday appearance McClendon hadn't pitched in 5 days. I would think he'd be available. The problem with activating either of the two logical non-roster guys (DiFelice or Dillard) are that both would be out of options and as good as they have looked so far, they'd be tough to get through waivers to send back down. James certainly would not be a bad choice either. How many AAA staffs have 4 relievers all carrying a 0.00 ERA? Those 4 guys have combined for 0 runs allowed in 21 2/3. Throw in Henderson, and Nashville relievers have combined to allow 1 run in 27 innings.

I have kept my complaining about Betencourt in one thread, this thread. What gets tired is being told what kind of fan I'm supposed to be. Or being told to 'accept' that we have a terrible shortstop. No, I don't accept that. I'm not rampaging through the forum (or .........'raging') about Betencourt being our shortstop. it's in THIS thread, the thread that's about Betencourt. I don't see why that's so offensive to your sensibilities. I love the 'me angry, must keep typing' nonsense. As many times as the Betencourt detractors have complained about him, you and others have just as many times came right back and defended him, but that's ok? It's not like the Betencourt detractors are making things up when we cite statistics and scouting reports that all point to the fact that the guy sucks. If that's 'angry', I'd hate to see REALLY angry in your opinion. This is a FORUM, where people will discuss and even debate, and sometimes debates become heated. I haven't seen any name calling here or derogatory remarks (except yours, your 'me angry' nonsense). As much as people complain about Betencourt, I see COMPLAINING about dissenting opinions. Me personally? I don't want to post on a forum where everyone just consents that we're all fans of a team, and never complain about anything. "That guy's good!" "Quite right!" "I agree!" "Indeed!" "Oh yes!" Yeah, that sounds fun. It's "angry" when it's brought up on a daily basis. It's angry when we're told to ignore any positive defensive stat because it's early but we should take a low BA in the same amount of time to crucify his offense. It's "angry" that when any poster points out anything positive about Betancourt that it brings 10 posters out of the woodwork. It's angry when people say "he sucks" or he's "the worst ever" on a daily basis. That's completely over the top and not backed statistically. I have no problem with statistical analysis that shows that a player is deficient in some way and clearly Betancourt is. But what are deficiencies in one area (low OBP, doesn't work counts, etc.) can actually in certain situations (man on 3rd, less than 2 outs) be positives because that player puts the ball in play (as he did twice in last night's game), and gets the runner in from 3rd at a high percentage.

I'm not concerned in the least. He's still throwing it good. He has a great make up for a closer. The last 3 outs are the toughest. His work has been sporadic so it's not surprising early in the year that he's had a little wildness.

I prefer every 5 games as well. If one guy was struggling to the point you may want to skip him but otherwise, let them have an extra day of rest once in a while. All the starters including Estrada, are capable of posting quality starts on any given day.. Yo hasn't shown the consistency at any point in his career to have such a clear edge over the rest of the staff. Marcum has an injury history. Why risk messing up your 4th and 5th guys by skipping them?

Wilson and Counsell are a combined 7 for 46 (.152) with one extra base hit and 1 RBI. Wilson's OBP is .188. The past two years it was .292 and .282. What power he once had has disappeared. Counsell looks done to me. His bat has slowed since last year which is not surprising as he's nearly 41. You think Betancourt is a liability on offense? He's better than the combination of those two. The marginal difference defensively, and at this stage of those guys careers, it's marginal, is certainly not worth paying Wilson's contract. Hate those Rodents is right. Wait to see what the market is for Reyes. Mets appear headed nowhere.

His role to date has been the result of Hart being out. In hindsight, Boggs would have been more useful in Hart's absence. But once Hart returns, it's hard to see what situation that Boggs would be used unless Morgan stays on the shelf too. I'm also a little confused by your reference to the ability to use Counsell more as if that would have made a difference? He's 1 for 14. Almonte is 2 for 20. It's too early to judge either player based on so few AB's, but neither have contributed on offense yet. Both have made contact and figure to get some hits. It's not like Almonte starting a game in RF precludes him moving to the IF if needed.

Villanueva has allowed 1 hit and fanned 11 in his first 9 2/3 innings as a Blue Jay. Sean Green, who ostensibly replaced him in order to save roughly $500K, has a 1.588 WHIP, with 4 hits allowed and 5 walks in 5 2/3 innings.

Gomez came up with the Mets. The Mets current CF is Carlos Beltran, who's contract expires after this year and who is rumored will be on the block if the Mets are out of it in July. Jose Reyes is a rental candidate too. Brewer fans, especially those that can't live with Betancourt, instead of clamoring for more Nyjer Morgan, and less Carlos Gomez, should be hoping Gomez starts putting up some numbers between now and July so that a team like the Mets might have interest in him replacing Beltran. The Brewers don't have a lot to deal in the minors, if Gomez can start hitting with more consistency, he can up his value between now and July and perhaps be part of a package to get Reyes. Keep in mind too that he's more likely to hit batting second ahead of Braun and Fielder.

Adrian Gonzalez has been a little more consistent than Fielder and has 3 Gold Gloves. Fielder is a couple years younger and his peak years exceeded Gonzalez' albeit in a more hitter friendly environment. All in all though, I think their value is pretty close assuming this is a big Fielder year and $154 over 7 is certainly shy of the numbers Boras has thrown out there for Fielder.

It puzzles me a little why the Brewers aren't being a little more aggressive with Shawn Zarraga. He put up pretty solid numbers for a 21 year old catcher in the pitcher friendly Florida State League last year. At least now, they appear to be having him exclusively catching, so maybe he is becoming someone they are watching closely.