JohnBriggs12

Last night Tommy Hanson threw the ball exactly where he wanted to all night, including at the left elbow of the hottest hitter in baseball, possibly taking him out for the series. If you don't think that was intentional, I have some land in Florida I'd like to talk to you about.

Don't kid yourself into thinking that Fielder's presence in the lineup still isn't causing stress on opposing pitchers which helps everyone else. I'm not saying I'd give him $200 million either but his absence will be felt when the time comes.

For the Brewers, as important as pitching is, being able to surround Braun and Fielder (for as long as they have him) with cheap but productive talent is just as important. The best pitching staffs are generally developed internally anyway. An exception would be a team like the White Sox. But they didn't trade everyday players to get Danks, Floyd, and Peavy. They traded more established pitching in the case of Danks and Floyd, and younger pitching in the case of Peavy. To trade for young pitching, you generally have to give up established pitching. To trade for established pitching, you have to give up young pitching. Another example is the Twins. You don't see them dealing guys like Cuddyer, Kubel, Span, Young, etc for pitching. They get their pitchers internally for the most part.

That's my memory also. Which would also be the reason the Brewers need to be proactive with him. Get him up just as soon as he is ready or get on the phone and let him know he is available so he is thoroughly scouted by the other teams. If we don't, we just paid him for a year of rehab and he is going to play for someone else next year. Edit: What kind of payday would CC get if the Brewers offered arby? No matter how well he does in the minors this year if he doesn't do well in more than a token appearance late in the season with the Brewers, no other team is going to give a major league contract in the offseason to 32 year old pitcher who hasn't pitched in the majors since 2007. He's the very definition of flier you give a minor league deal to and bring to spring training. Given that the Brewers continued to pay him through his injuries, if they want him, they'd have the inside track unless he sees a much better opportunity elsewhere. Even if the Brewers want to keep him on their roster and don't want to pay arby price, they could non-tender him and sign him to a lesser amount. The Nats did that with Scott Olsen and are reaping a big reward so far.

Cordero was at least in his prime when Melvin offered him that deal and given that Cordero's 83 for 95 since, that offer doesn't look so bad compared to the millions paid to Gagne, Riske, Hoffman and Hawkins . Hawkins, Gagne, Hoffman and even Riske were well past their primes. He's gotten something out of Hoffman, but little out of Gagne and Hawkins and next to nothing out of Riske.

McGehee might be the biggest bargain in the game right now and some want to trade him? He's almost entirely negated the slow start by Prince by driving in runs at a pace of 146 for the year. Having him in the 5 spot in the order instead of Mike Cameron has made a huge difference in this offense. How much longer does this guy have to produce to convince the skeptics? In 145 games as a Brewer his line is .302/.366/.507. He makes consistent contact. He doesn't expand the zone. He hits to all fields with power. What more do you want?

Another "lucky" night for Garland against a poor hitting team: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R (useless ERA stat is now 1.71). My point isn't that Davis is horrible, just that Garland is clearly better and both were available at close to the same asking price. That won't be the case next winter.

I didn't quite understand the signing of Hawkins when it happened. The job Coffey did last year should have earned him the 8th inning spot going in. I also thought that Vargas showed enough last year and Villanueva was certainly capable of being the guy he was in 08 so that one or the other could cover the 7th inning. They also had guys who were up last year that didn't embarrass themselves in Smith and Axford and a solid lefty in Stetter. I might have tried to add one more guy, but not an older guy coming off a good year(inflated price) but a guy coming off a disappointing year who might come as a bargain. Eric Gregg would have fit that bill. That would have been plenty of depth. They messed things up further by using the bullpen to stash not one but two starters to preserve the notion of "starter depth". That never made sense to me. Now there's no room for one lefty specialist to get out the Ethiers of the world. I don't blame Macha. I do blame Melvin.

Just curious endaround. On what are you basing that statement? His .367 career OBP in the majors or his .316 career BA? I know you hate guys with little or no power, but we're talking about a guy to fill in on the bench for a couple weeks, not be the next starting CF. What good would it be for Cain to come up and sit anyway?

Hopper's played exclusively CF this year. About half of his major league games (64 of 125), he played CF as well. I don't see Olmedo as an option. He's never played CF and he plays all over because that's his job as Nashville's utility guy. Right now, he's playing 2B while Farris is out.

They could have used him last night against a Dodger team with premier lefthanded bats.

It was interesting and perhaps telling that Norris Hopper wasn't in the Nashville lineup last night. With Cain hurt, Stern just getting back, Hopper's the obvious guy is he not? Especially considering he's hit .344/.417/.406 over his last 10 games and his previous major league experience. He would need to be added to the 40 man but there's one space open.

After 27 games in 1978, Bambi's Bombers were 12-15 after 27 games just as this team is and went on to win 93. Despite the serious droughts that this team has had, the propensity of scoring in double digits is very reminiscent of that group. So I'll overlook the droughts for now and go with Macha's Mashers and hope that they too will learn to get 4, 5 or 6 on their "off nights" instead of 0 or 1.

Other names in the mix as of now: Wainwright, Marmol, and even Jaime Garcia.

Escobar had more minor league hits than any of Weeks, Fielder, Braun, Hart, or Hardy. He knows how to hit. Once Macha comes to his senses and bats him 2nd where he'll get much better pitches to hit, you'll see it. I agree with endaround, Grienke will not come cheaply. Besides I don't think KC has any interest in trading him at this point. Sure they are not going anywhere this year but I doubt they are ready to give up on both 2011 and 2012 and that's what they'd be doing by trading Grienke.

Assuming there's any team interested is a big assumption much less two. I'll buy that Boston would have interest and they have the means. But they'd go away too if they got Gonzales. Who else has both the means to sign him and the need? The White Sox maybe though I don't see the Sox as a team willing to pay Fielder long term.. Possibly the Mets if Ike Davis fails and they feel the need to make a big splash. The Angels figure to have a need at DH after this year, but they can probably get one for a lot less. If Fielder falls back to .275/.375/.525 type season with 32 HR and 100 RBI (and he's got to get moving to even get there), those aren't $25 million a year numbers for a 1B. Those aren't even $20 million a year numbers. There's big pressure on Prince right now. If he doesn't start hitting fairly soon, he's going to cost himself $10's of millions.

Now do you get it? Garland's been a solid major league pitcher for nearly a decade, hasn't missed a start in 8 years, averaging over 200 innings, is 16 games over .500 and is still only 30. For a half million more than what the Brewers are paying Davis, SD got a bargain. I just knew someone would bring this back up. Davis has pretty much just been unlucky so far this year. Garland pitches in a pitcher's paradise. Today he faced an anemic Brewers offense that can't hit off any team other than the Pirates (at least at PNC). Color me unimpressed. Davis pitched in the same park 3 nights earlier against an anemic offense and allowed 5 ER, and 6 total on 8 hits in 4 innings. What's unlucky about a 2.15 WHIP? Are all singles the result of luck? Garland, in his previous start, allowed 1 run on 3 hits in 6 innings in Florida to the Marlins with 10 K's. Was that because of the opponent and the ballpark?

The 04 team won 67 games, one less than the 03 team. That's a bridge that could have been maintained with waiver claims and cheap FA signings. Spivey was average for half a season and a complete bust after that. Overbay was ok but nothing special.. Counsell hit .241/.330/.315 and fanned 88 times in 2004. Moeller put up a .568 OPS in 04 and was more a negative than a positive. Capuano had a couple solid seasons in 06 and 07. De la Rosa was nearly out of options when they got him and they knew he had to develop quickly but it took him 5 more years. Basically they got a couple decent years out of Overbay which they turned into Bush and a couple decent years out of Capuano. The rest was replacement level filler. It was an okay trade, but not something that I'd say made Melvin a good GM or set their team up for the future. That Sexson got hurt and missed most of 04 made it look a lot better at the time. But had they not dealt Sexson, and he stayed healthy in 04, they likely would have had a better team in 2004 and they would have got 2 draft picks that might be helping them today. Even if you judge that to be a good or very good deal, it was 6 years ago. This is a what have you done for me lately business.

I'm all for selling if just to free up spots to look at youngsters in the 2nd half. The old guys aren't going to bring much back unless they really pick it up other than some partial season salary relief which may come in handy as selling tickets might slow to a trickle in August and September. The 3 guys that could bring back some actual value are the arby guys, Bush, Hart, and Weeks and dealing them gives them added flexibility in the offseason.

Davis would be Cy Young if he pitched against a struggling Brewers team in a park that's bigger than the city it's built in. Sharpie should settle in...that last start was unreal how much damage was done without a hard hit ball. These guys need to all go out to Ryan Braun's pad in Malibu for a big blowout and clear their heads! Anything to change the awful mojo they've got going now. This season reminds me of JJ Hardy's year last year...he was hitting the ball hard and not seeing results, then he started pressing and looked like crud...just like the Crew looks right now. I just hope they can get it going, because Hardy never did. The park had nothing to do with it. The Brewers didn't hit a ball hard the entire game. Besides, Garland has a very respectable 3.94 ERA out of Petco this season and that includes one start in Coors. His start prior to this one, he held Florida in Florida to 1 run on 3 hits in 6 IP with 10 K's. Do I think Garland is a number 1 or 2 starter? No. But he's better than Doug Davis as a number 3.

Here's a more depressing thought. Melvin was considering Garland and Davis last January when he was looking to round out the rotation. He chose Davis. How's that working out Doug?

Now do you get it? Garland's been a solid major league pitcher for nearly a decade, hasn't missed a start in 8 years, averaging over 200 innings, is 16 games over .500 and is still only 30. For a half million more than what the Brewers are paying Davis, SD got a bargain.

My hate meter: 1. Braves This goes back 45 years and it's personal. 2. Cubs This one is threatening to take over number 1 spot. There's just so many levels on which it's based. 3. Yankees This isn't as intense as it was in the 70's and 80's, but it lingers. This started in the 58 World Series. 4. Cardinals

Any word on why Eric Farris came out of the game after 1 AB?

Chone projected him for a 3.75 ERA before the season started. If he had done that over 50 IP, no way he's worth even close to $8 mil. That said, Hoffman is not an easy guy to project (not exactly like just about any other pitcher) and he had a great walk and strikeout rate. Even if he was closer to a 3.00 ERA reliever, he might be worth half of what he actually got. Melvin, like so many other GMs, is willing to pay an "established closer" tax in order to attempt to placate the fans who think they are invaluable. I would have much preferred spending that $8 mil on someone that wasn't projected to have 46 IP. Melvin's motivation is placating fans? Then why is Suppan still on the roster? No, Melvin's made this mistake before. He did it when he signed Turnbow to a multi year deal, then watched him implode in 2006. He did it again in 2008 with Gagne after Cordero priced himself just out of his range. I don't think you can pit that on the fans. He got "lucky" when Hoffman had a bounceback last year, but that just set him up to overpay this year. Melvin's problem is the same with most FA he signs. He can't quite afford quality so he goes for guys past their prime, or 2nd and 3rd tier guys that aren't cheap but within his budget.. The reason he couldn't afford Cordero was because Cordero was actually a top tier closer in his prime. Brewers can't afford top tier guys. When it's the closer position, and that guy fails as less than top tier closers often do, it can jettison the season because it takes too long to replace guys you are paying a lot. So what's the solution. In the short term, Hoffman needs to be taken out of the role. Sorry Trevor, you have to win it back. It's not like the Brewers don't have options to close. None are perfect, but a case could be made for Hawkins, Coffey, Villanueva and most certainly Braddock. If you try one of these guys and he doesn't work, try another until you find the one guy that can do a decent job. They replaced Gagne in May of 08 with a journeyman guy in Torres and still got to the playoffs. They have a Torres on their roster. They just have to find out who that is. Yeah it opens up spots that have to be filled in lesser roles, but that Nashville bullpen has more than one major league quality reliever on it. In the long term, the Brewers need to focus on developing closers internally combined with looking for bargains elsewhere. That's one reason I'd leave Braddock in the pen. They may not have a premier name guy every year that way, but that way, it makes changing out guys who are failing a lot easier.