JohnBriggs12
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Everything posted by JohnBriggs12
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His "good" year was only good in comparison to his really terrible year. Other than his K rate, what's good about a 4.39 ERA, a 1.542 WHIP, and a 4.1/9 IP walk rate? His 2008 is best described as mediocre and while mediocre is a step up from what most of the rotation did last year, to win, they need at least 3 guys to actually be good.
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still looking for pitching
JohnBriggs12 replied to prophet's topic in Transaction Rumors & Proposals
HiAndTight, That's a very strong defense of Parra and Bush, but I don't think the stats back you up. Parra impressed in 2008? He posted a pedestrian 1.542 WHIP that year. He led the league with 17 wild pitches. He walked over 4 guys per 9 innings. He gave up 181 hits in 166 innings (.278 BA). Bottom line is, his troubles in 09, particularly with control, didn't come out of nowhere. It's put up or shut up this year. He's no kid at 27. That's prime age for a pitcher. Bush has been "a very, very solid pitcher for us." Huh? In 2 of his 4 seasons as a Brewer, he's posted ERA's over 5. He's allowed 101 HR in 695 innings. He surpassed 186 innings once, and that was 4 years ago. Most of the time he's been serviceable as a 4-5 type starter, but that's short of very, very solid. -
Here's a tip. The Brewers visited the Cubs for their opening series 2 years ago. Tickets for games 2 and 3 were plentiful and cheap (often under face) via the secondary online market as midweek April afternoon games tend to be.
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MLBtraderumors had a list of all guys with under 5 years service time who are out of options. Most figure to make their respective teams but some won't. Nippert's a guy who would draw interest if he were put on waivers, but they'd probably be able to deal him if it appeared they had no room for him.
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Mark Mulder Retires (Latest: apparently not... reply #7)
JohnBriggs12 replied to ewizabeff's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
I'm not surprised. What was it, about a month ago that the Brewer brass went to look at him throw and he wasn't even throwing off a mound yet? Then they said something like, "we'll continue to monitor his progress", blah blah, blah, but reading between the lines the Brewers were clearly not impressed with what they saw and it was days later that Davis was signed. -
Hard to see one barring another major injury to a middle infielder or the highly unlikely scenario of a trade involving Weeks. Once they brought back Counsel and now have Inglett in the picture too, it eliminated the possibility for him to be a super sub that played all over 4-5 times a week. It's too bad he can't play CF. A lineup of Lopez instead of Gomez would be very tough.
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According to MLB trade rumors it was first reported by ESPN's Jayson Stark. It's interesting that 2 Boras clients, Lopez and Washburn have not found deals. How long before Washburn fires him? Those 2 might be better off waiting for a team to lose someone to injury now.
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Supposedly Hart's people used Josh Willingham's $4.6 million as a comparable. Can someone please point to one stat other than stolen bases where Josh Willingham isn't clearly superior to Corey Hart offensively? Put Willingham in a lineup with Fielder and Braun and the differences would be even more stark. Is there one person out there that wouldn't trade Corey Hart straight up for Josh Willingham? I don't blame Hart. I blame the knuckleheads on the panel that don't know baseball.
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He was involuntarily retired. Now he's voluntarily retired. Maybe Geoff Jenkins should schedule a retirement news conference at Miller Park. Oh wait, he too closely resembles a serial retiree doesn't he?
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$700K makes a difference to every business TooLiveBrew. I work for a company in credit with revenues comparable to a major league franchise. Believe me when I tell you senior management would not take kindly to a $700K bad debt.
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While in theory Hart could be cut saving $4 million, the Brewers would likely face an objection from the union if they did it. No, the answer isn't cutting guys after losing hearings, the answer is to not tender them in the first place if their production can be matched from the open market or from your system for less. Clearly one reason Hart apparently had no trade value is that other teams don't see value in him because arbitration assured he would get paid. It all comes down to value.
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Damon is about the only one, maybe Gomes. I imagine Dye wants more than $4.8M and I don't want someone like Emil Brown or Garret Anderson at this point. The Yankees signed Randy Winn for $1.1 million. Aubrey Huff and Xavier Nady, both better hitters, albeit defensive liabilities in RF, each got around $3 million. The best offer Dye has gotten was $3 million and that's been off the table for months. Gomes is still out there. I'd take any of those guys at those prices over Hart at nearly $5 million. MLB trade rumors suggested Willingham was used as a Hart comparable. That's incredible. Willingham has 4 straight years of OPS well over .800 and he consistently gets on at a .360 clip. He's been far more consistent and patient a hitter with more consistent HR power than Hart too.
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This will sound sexist but I knew the Brewers were in trouble when I saw 2 of the 3 on the panel were women and therefore more likely liberal leaning. Liberals are experts at giving away other peoples money. Seriously, I've gotten hammered on here for occasionally suggesting non tendering of arby eligible players. How many guys are either still out there or signed for less than $4.8 million that would look better in RF than Corey Hart?
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Twins are in better position to sign Mauer for two reasons. One is he is from there so he's certainly more amenable to staying there than a guy who wasn't playing in his home town. Of course, his agent knows this puts some pressure on the Twins too. Imagine the uproar if they let the hometown hero walk. But secondly, of more relevance to Fielder's situation, the Twins have been proven consistent winners in Mauer's time there. For guys in the upper echelon, winning does matter. Boras is going to look at any offer from the Brewers, no matter how large, as one from a small market team that could be topped by a larger market in the open market. Prince will get paid handsomely wherever he goes including if he stayed. What the Brewers need to do is what Adrian told Rocky in the hospital room after she emerged from her coma: "Win". Prove to Prince that the Brewers are winners and a winning organization, and he'll want to stay.
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Here's the situation the Brewers find themselves in. They could offer Fielder an outrageously large contract, say $200 million over 8 years, and in Scott Boras' mind all that means is that if the Brewers are willing to offer that much, the big markets will offer more. The situations with Mauer and Pujols have one key element that the Brewers to this point lack with Fielder. Both the Twins and the Cards have been consistent winners in the time Mauer and Pujols have been with them. If playing for a winner is indeed a big incentive, the Twins and Cards have met that need for their stars. The Brewers contended in 07 and snuck into the wild card in 08, but fell back last year despite a monster season from Prince. A big 2010 season. and a postseason run that lasts longer than 4 games will go farther in securing Fielder's future as a Brewer than another $2 million per year on a contract offer. Another sub .500 season in 2010 and Fielder is a goner.
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I don't think a replacement for Fielder is a priority should he leave in 2 years. Gamel and Lawrie are solid internal candidates. Even though both are at other positions now, 1B may end up being their ultimate destination. Every year there are guys available on the open market that are adequate too, including some at bargain rates like Adam LaRoche and Nick Johnson this year.
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Lots of guys in camp = Bad teams. There's no way to properly evaluate players with 57 bodies in camp. Worse is there are now 31 pitchers, not counting Riske. Even given Arnett and Heckathorn are just there until minor league camp opens, as are Scarpetta and Periard, but there are 23, count em, 23 pitchers with major league experience in camp. They also have a rule 5 pick and a guy in Zach Braddock that deserves a long look, and a guy who impressed last September that's out of options in Narveson. Some of the guys being brought in are redundant. Joe Inglett had much less impressive credentials at 25 than does Iribarren, but he's now got the edge for a bench job based on what amounts to one full major league season over a guy the Brewer will have to expose to waivers to send down. Matt Treanor? Are you kidding me? They wouldn't pay Mike Rivera an extra $150K or so, so they could bring in Matt Treanor? Trent Oeltjen and Logan Schafer potentially could have contributed this season and gone on to be significant contributors down the road, but now both will surrender AB's to nearly 40 year old Jim Edmonds.
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Certainly some of these guys are core players Crew2323, and some will undoubtedly perform well. But bringing in a bunch of guys near or at the end just for looks in spring does do harm. They take away innings/AB's for young players in camp trying to make an impression. For instance, do you want John Halama or Scott Schoenwies taking innings this spring away from Zach Braddock, Narveson or even Capuano who's 31 himself? Do you want Matt Treanor taking AB's from Lucroy and Salome? Or Jim Edmonds taking AB's from Lorenzo Cain, Logan Schafer, Trent Oeltjen or Iribarren? Frankly I don't.
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I read that blurb on MLB traderumors about the Jays having excess pitching. They have a lot of pitchers, but very few that are any good. Morrow and Marcum being two of the exceptions and that's if Marcum's healthy, so I don't suspect they are going anywhere. They could use another OF, but I can't see the Brewers trading Hart for one of their excess guys.
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Scott Schoenwies, 36; Gregg Zaun, 39 on 4/14: Craig Counsell, 39: Joe Inglett, 31: John Halama, 38 on 2/22; Jim Edmonds, 39: Matt Treanor, 34 on 3/3, Doug Davis, 34; Randy Wolf, 33, Latroy Hawkins, 37; Trevor Hoffman, 42. None of these guys were under contract at the end of 09. All are now part of the 40 man or were signed to minor league deals with spring training invites. Anyone notice a trend here or is their a senior league in the offing I wasn't aware of? The Brewers have become the 07 and 08 Giants. We observed that Macha's not comfortable going with young players, but this is getting ridiculous. These old timers are going to taking away time from young guys who could use spring training to make an impression.
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I recall about 2 weeks into spring training last year when Macha called out Villanueva in the media after a couple shaky spring outings. It was totally unnecessary. This was a guy (Villanueva) that 5 months earlier had retired all 11 guys he faced in the postseason and was being counted on to be a key guy in the bullpen, and here's this new guy critiquing him on practice games in early March. I don't think that type of thing sits with players but that's typical Macha, who's loathe to show confidence in young players and those he's not familiar with. My fear is he's not going to let talent like Escobar flourish because he'll be overly critical when he makes a mistake. Yost, for all his faults as a strategist, would never do that.
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Bush is the only guy they could save money on by cutting. That and his 6+ ERA last year and propensity for giving up HR his entire career makes him less than a lock for a rotation spot if he pitches poorly this spring. Even if he pitches well, he could be dealt if they think they have enough alternatives. I don't see them keeping Bush if he's not in the rotation. I'd like to think Narveson has as much chance as Parra, but I think he has to clearly outperform him this spring. That's entirely possible as Narveson was really good 2 springs ago.
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Orlando Hudson signs with MIN; 1 yr./$5M
JohnBriggs12 replied to TooLiveBrew's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
I still like the White Sox in that division. Peavy, Buehrle, Floyd, Danks, and either Garcia or young stud Daniel Hudson is the best rotation in the division. The key is a healthy Quentin and a rebound season from Rios. I also really like their pickups of Pierre and Teahen. Beckham is a stud. -
Last year on June 6th, the Brewers were tied for 6th in fewest runs allowed and were 2 games in front with little offensive contribution from the left side of the infield. That was do mainly to a bullpen that's key guys Hoffman, Coffey, Villanueva, Stetter, and McClung on that date had ERA's of 0.00, 2.36, 3.33, 3.50, and 2.64 respectively. No starter other than Gallardo had an ERA below 4.52, and therein lied the problem. The bullpen was throwing too many innings. On paper, the bullpen is deeper going into this year than it was last year. The rotation has added 2 guys who combined for 417 innings last year. As long as those two can consistently get into the 7th inning, they don't need to have sub 4 ERAs (around 4.25 or 4.30 will do), and it should allow the bullpen to be at or near the top of it's form longer and that right there should put them in the middle of the pack in runs allowed.
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Dillard clearing waivers is really no big deal. He's behind an awful lot of guys on the depth chart and he'll have to perform very well to move up. They're likely to have at least 3 pitchers on the 40 man at Nashville, Butler, Axford, and Estrada that, everything being equal, will get called up before Dillard, not to mention veterans like Loe, A J Murray, and Smith who also figure to be on that Nashville staff with a better record of major league success.