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JohnBriggs12

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Everything posted by JohnBriggs12

  1. JohnBriggs12
    Tough to quantify if you include fielding but the worst offensive player of all time in my book was easily Dal Maxvill who hit .217/.293/.259 and he managed 3,898 plate appearances. He "slugged" a measly 6 HR, never had more than 19 extra base hits in a season and couldn't run either with 7 career SB in 18 attempts. You could argue that he played half of his career before the mound was lowered but that didn't help him. After they lowered the mound, to help the hitters, he dropped from .253 (his best year in 1968) to .175 (his worst year in 1969).
  2. JohnBriggs12
    The fact that he threw a lot of pitches at a young age is a positive not a negative. Especially since he's still going strong in his mid 30's. That's the "Mike Marshall" method of building up endurance in pitchers. It doesn't work for everyone but for some it does. It's likely that he would have developed arm trouble much earlier than this if he were prone to. As for risk, when you can't produce top or near top of the rotation starters internally and have to get them on the open market or via trade, it's all very risky for what you have to give up in money or talent. I'd rather them take a risk on a Kuroda type than the type they have been taking risks on lately, and in Kuroda's case all it will be is monetary risk.
  3. JohnBriggs12
    Yeah, a point in Wheeler's favor is that he actually plays shortstop, however well. Farris's future depends on what else he can do. If he can play third base and some outfield, he could have a utility career. As long as he's only playing second base, he's going to be doing it at AAA.Wheeler's made 28 errors in 81 games at SS. Farris was voted the top defensive 2B in the Florida State League last year. He's played a handful of games at SS and made 1 error in 40 chances. I'm sure he'd be better than Wheeler there too. The difference in OPS is overrated. Farris has 133 career SB and only been caught 22 times. That and the fact that Farris was jumped 2 levels this past year tells me he's more highly regarded than Wheeler, never mind Farris was a 4th round pick the same year Wheeler was taken in the 19th round.
  4. JohnBriggs12
    Even if the Brewers were to get a top flight young arm for Fielder, it's not certain that whoever this is would be ready to be the solid number 2 starter that is needed so desperately. Of all the FA pitchers out there not named Cliff Lee, to me the most intriguing and possibly best fit for the Brewers is Hiroki Kuroda. Now there's one caveat. Some say he's technically arby eligible while others list him as a FA to be. He made around $15 million this year and might command close to that per year as a FA. Kuroda will be 36 next year, but he still throws 92-94. Because of his age, he probably won't command more than a 2 year plus an option contract. True he's pitched in Dodger stadium, but his numbers everywhere are pretty uniform and still good. Obviously, he won't come real cheap, but I'd take him over Vazquez.
  5. JohnBriggs12
    Let's keep in mind that Gomez is younger than Gamel and just 4 months older than Cain. The difference is Cain has about 1,000 more minor league AB's. Gomez, who never put up big offensive numbers in the minors, was rushed to the big leagues. It's tough learning your craft in the pressure cooker of the majors. Some do it. Many do not. I'd hold on to him into next year, have him play everyday at AAA and hope he rebuilds some value by putting up some good numbers. His talent is obvious. It needs more refinement.
  6. JohnBriggs12
    They actually DFA'd him so they are trying to work a deal. As far as Colorado being a "contending" team, they aren't really. They are 11 games out in the West, and at least 4 games behind 3 other teams for the WC. Coolstandings pegs their playoff chances at 1.9%. Hawpe wasn't going to play. Colorado wants to look at other guys the rest of the way and they had decided they weren't going to pick up his option anyway. Further evidence the Rockies have thrown in the towel, they just DFA'd Randy Flores too and he may draw some interest from a contender too.
  7. JohnBriggs12
    Well Uecker doesn't belong on there either for his Brave playing career. So it's obvious not strictly a performance based honor. Maybe they tried to go with guys still around first so they'd be able to have a live honoree in attendance. In addition to the guys mentioned by BrewersSuperCollector, all of whom should be up there, I'd add Joe Torre, Tony Cloninger, Rico Carty, Don McMahon, Dennis Menke and the late Lee Maye. Somehow, considering that part timers like Mantilla and Uecker are all in, something tells me Frank Torre will make it before Joe and the much more deserving Adcock or the standouts from the 1960's that didn't play on the pennant winners.
  8. JohnBriggs12
    It's not all that shocking. With a $10 million team option for next year that probably would have been declined, they've probably been shopping him for some time and aren't getting anything more than a low level warm body offered back. He would seem like a perfect fit for the White Sox.
  9. JohnBriggs12
    Cubs are trimming payroll and going with as much youth as possible for now. Though he's not very young, they might even look at former Mariner Bryan LaHair at 1B. He's kind of a AAAA type but he's had his best ever year at AAA this year. With Soriano still owed $18 million per year through 2014, I doubt the Cubs will get in the Fielder bidding. Besides, they need pitching probably even worse than the Brewers do and I'd expect them to be using their cash on arms.
  10. JohnBriggs12
    It came out several years ago that the Giants indeed had a guy in the scoreboard stealing signs and relaying them to Giant hitters during that incredible run that culminated in Thomson's HR. I recently came across this blurb from the July 23, 1962 issue of Sports Illustrated (by the way if you've never accessed old issues of SI from the vault on their website, you should. It's a treasure trove of sports history): "Last Saturday, Branca (the pitcher that allowed the HR) and Thomson were among those who returned to the Polo Grounds for a special "Oldtimers Day", a replay of the game Branca would like to forget and Thomson never will. A photographer asked Branca to pose with Thomson. "No" Branca snapped, ".....If you want a picture take one of the guy with the binoculars who was stealing our signs that day. There's your picture."
  11. JohnBriggs12
    Keith Ginter had an .812 OPS as a Brewer in 2004. As for Prior, somebody is going to bring him to ST next year, it might as well be the Brewers. Nobody is going to give him a major league deal though. Last I heard, scouts weren't all that impressed with his velocity.
  12. JohnBriggs12
    I just saw some promo on The Golf Channel that he's preparing for a career in professional golf.
  13. JohnBriggs12
    Eventually he did return to Braves lineup later in 54 and was their starter in 55 and 56 in LF, and was dealt at the deadline (which back then was June 15th) in 1957 along with Danny O'Connell and Ray Crone for Red Schoendienst. That deal was seen as key to the 57 championship run. Schoendienst was a huge upgrade over O'Connell and the departure of Thomson opened up LF for Wes Covington who at that stage was an improvement over Thomson also.
  14. JohnBriggs12
    Most experts pin the real unemployment(including those who stopped looking) rate at between 15-17%. Many that are working are worried. Housing values are in the tank. There's talk of a double dip recession. I'm honestly surprised attendance has held up as well as it has.
  15. JohnBriggs12
    His WHIP the last 2 seasons is 1.59 which is considerably worse than Narveson's 1.41 over that same time, so I wouldn't consider him an upgrade. Owings control has gotten worse every year. Offensively, he's got more power than Narveson, but their career BA are almost identical, .293 for Owings to .289 for Narveson. But Narveson's been fantastic in the clutch, hitting .500 with RISP this year. I'd would take Owings over Parra but he's really still a 5th starter and as a 5th starter, I prefer Narveson. It wouldn't hurt to bring him in say if they were to unload Bush to someone and take a look though.
  16. JohnBriggs12
    I continue to be amazed with the utter contempt many keep expressing for Casey McGehee. Here you have a great guy and model citizen who's done nothing but produce since he's been here for mininum salary no less but yet some here can't wait until he's gone. Last season it was all about his being a fluke. Nobody with such modest minor league stats could possibly be this good. Let's trade him before he turns into a pumpkin. So this year he comes back and completely validates what he did in 2009. He's on pace for a 25HR, 100 RBI season, a solid .285 BA, close to average defense, and the same people want to run him out of town. In one breath, they'll say you have to trade him because he'll bring back this great return, while in the same paragraph they are disparaging his game. What is it? Oh he's blocking a better player they'll say? He's not blocking anyone. He beat out Gamel in 2009, and he'd likely beat him out again. He is a better fielder than Gamel. That's not saying a lot, but it's the truth. I'm not disparaging Gamel, but the reality is that Gamel struggled against AAA pitching until July this year. To assume, he's better than a guy that's a proven major league run producer is a big leap. Gamel will have a major league career. But it's more likely to look something like Adam LaRoche's that it is Albert Pujols'. All that being said, of course McGehee is not untouchable, but neither is Gamel. But you better get a boatload in return because guys like Casey don't grow on trees.
  17. JohnBriggs12
    since Sveum didn't get the full-time gig last time, i'm having a hard time believing that he'll get it this time. i'm not suggesting you do at all, but i'm not equating making a mistake hiring Macha with a mistake in not hiring Sveum. hiring Sveum could have been a mistake, too. although i have a hard time believing that Sveum "deserves" his shot at managing. Let me take you back to 1982. It's pretty much the same dynamic. Harvey Kuenn had been around as a Brewers coach under several managers going back to Del Crandall. Nobody at the time thought he was manager material either. He was passed over 3 times after Del Crandall was fired for Alex Grammas, George Bamberger and Buck Rogers. But having been there as that team developed, he knew the team inside and out, and had the respect of the players. That 82 team was woefully underachieving under the stifling direction of Rogers who the baseball world thought very highly of.
  18. JohnBriggs12
    If I had to wager on it, I'd bet the next Brewer manager will be the previous Brewer manager, Dale Sveum with Don Money brought in to be the bench coach and Chris Bosio brought back to be the pitching coach. Some have suggested that Melvin wouldn't go back to Sveum because it would be admitting a mistake. I think he'd already be admitting a mistake by replacing Macha after just 2 years. Sveum bailed them out in 2008. He probably deserves his shot.
  19. JohnBriggs12
    Sickels refers to Farris having an "undisclosed injury???? as if the Brewers were either hiding the injury or it was some other nefarious reason he missed nearly 3 months. Wasn't it reported he had torn meniscus in his knee?
  20. JohnBriggs12
    I agree with craigharmann. With Escobar and Weeks, the Brewer should go on the cheap for a utility guy. Escobar is young enough to play virtually every day. They have organizational depth behind Weeks with Farris and Lawrie. I'd be fine with minimum salary Luis Cruz or even one more year with Counsell but only if he accepts a significant pay cut.
  21. JohnBriggs12
    1. Ruth 2. Musial 3. Cobb 4. Mays 5. Williams 6. Aaron 7. Gehrig 8. Foxx 9. Wagner 10. Hornsby I left out current era players. I also downgraded slightly those from racially segregated era.
  22. JohnBriggs12
    This ones on Brewer scouting. Arnett was very mediocre with Indiana his freshman and sophomore years. Somehow, his 14 starts as a junior convinced Brewer scouts that he was worthy of a first round pick. The Big Ten has never been a hot bed of baseball talent and it's been even less so in recent years. When was the last time you saw a Big Ten team make it to Omaha? That's not to say you can't get players out of there, but you have to take the competition into consideration when evaluating talent. This isn't the 1970's when Minnesota and Michigan had some teams with national prominence with guys like Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor. Sometimes scouts are over influenced by physical appearance. That's why big impressive looking guys like Arnett go in round 1 and little guys like Roy Oswalt go much later. I remember thinking when I saw JM Gold pitch for Beloit about a dozen years ago, that the reason he was so dominant in high school was he was physically much bigger and stronger than typical high school kids. The problem is that as they move up, they no longer have that same physical advantage. It takes a lot more than a big athletic body to compete at the highest level.
  23. JohnBriggs12
    Narveson's WHIP as a starter this season is a very respectable 1.369. That's much better than either Bush (1.567) or Parra (1.732). Considering he's in his first season in a major league rotation, I think he's done quite well though his ERA doesn't reflect it. The team is also 10-10 in his starts. Any team would take that from it's 5th starter. Throw in the fact he doesn't reach arbitration for a couple more years, a very potent and timely bat, and you have your 5th starter for 2011. It should be obvious that this team needs a number 2 and a number 4 starter for next year and that guy isn't on the roster now.
  24. JohnBriggs12
    With Fielder the likeliest of all Brewers to be moved in the offseason, and Gamel still not adequate defensively at 3B, there is no surplus at 3B. As bad a year as Fielder's had in run production, his bat and the subsequent respect he gets from opposing pitchers will be sorely missed next season. I think the Brewers will need to have some experience in the middle of their order, so I'd hang on McGehee. I don't expect either Gamel or McGehee to be moved barring a deal that blows them away.
  25. JohnBriggs12
    Point well taken. My only problem is why offer a bench player like Gerut arbitration? He probably would have signed for half of what he got.
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