JohnBriggs12
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Everything posted by JohnBriggs12
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Brewers All-Time Team: Top 3 Second Basemen
JohnBriggs12 replied to Harold Hutchison's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
If you watched them both play, it's not close. Weeks had all the talent in the world but Gantner was the better player and it's not close. Ganter's career WAR was double Weeks' per B-R. Gantner saved runs with his glove. He had a .985 fielding percentage to Weeks' .970, but that doesn't come close to the difference. I can't count the number of times Weeks failed to complete routine double plays with bad throws to first. Weeks power edge is enormous, but Gantner moved runners. Gantner had 106 career sacrifice bunts and 52 career sacrifice flies to 9 and 19 for Weeks. That doesn't even count the times Gantner moved runners from 2nd to 3rd with nobody out by pulling one on the ground. -
Brewers All-Time Team: Top 3 First Basemen
JohnBriggs12 replied to Harold Hutchison's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Fielder and Cooper are 1 and 1A. I might give Coop the edge due to longer career, and while he fell off after 83, he still was reasonably productive for 3 and a half more seasons. Cooper was the best hitter on the best Brewer teams from 78-83. Had he not missed substantial portions of 78 due to injury and 81 due to strike, his numbers might have been even more impressive. I'd take Sexson over Boomer for the 3rd spot. Boomer had two great years and 3 average ones in his 5 seasons as a Brewer. Sexson was never average in a Brewer uniform. with a .902 OPS as a Brewer compared with Scott's .798. Yeah the numbers were inflated in Sexson's days, but nobody ever hit them farther in a Brewer uniform and that includes Prince. Honorable mention goes to John Jaha. When he was healthy he was right up there. I can't think of any Brewer RH hitter with more power to right and right center than Jaha. My gosh he was a terror in old Tiger Stadium: .383/.433/.748 with 10 home runs in 30 games. I'll bet all of them were in the RF upper deck too. -
Brewers All-Time Team: Top 3 Catchers
JohnBriggs12 replied to Harold Hutchison's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
I would replace Porter with Dave Nilsson. After his fine rookie year in 1973, Porter was a disappointment as a Brewer. Nilsson was not known for his defense but he wasn't that bad and he wasn't just a good hitter for a catcher, he was a good hitter period, much better with the bat than Lucroy or even Simmons was as a Brewer. Yeah Nilsson was moved around in part because they also had Matheny at the time. but after Matheny left in 1999, Nilsson took over full time behind the plate and had arguably the best offensive season of any Brewer catcher including Grandal: .309/.400/.554. -
When World War 2 broke out, Roosevelt ordered baseball to continue playing for the sole reason it provided those working long days in the war factories with a needed diversion. That saved lives and kept morale up while families across the nation worried about their sons and brothers. We have a serious mental health crisis in this country because of these stay at home orders, that in the long run might be more devastating than the disease. There have already been cases of those on the front lines taking their own lives. I wouldn't be the least offended if major sports used widely available tests, bought privately so they could resume or start playing and providing this country with a much needed diversion. I'm more offended by rich athletes who are in top physical condition being locked up in their 6,000 square feet mansions telling me to stay home in my 1,200 square foot ranch while they sit out the season. The PSA with NFL figures telling me it's going to be all right from their palatial palaces is deeply offensive. Easy for them to say when millions have lost jobs.
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McClure topped 90 when he was strictly relieving. He threw pretty hard for the times. After he became a starter he was right around 90. Vuke was pitching with a tendon tear in his elbow towards the end of 82. What now would put a pitcher out with TJ, some guys pitched through because he was so adept at changing speeds on his fastball he could still fool hitters. I've never seen anyone since then be able to do that. Caldwell was the toughest hombre in the league. Wasn't afraid of anything or anybody. He got under Reggie Jackson's skin many times by backing him off the plate and then getting him on soft breaking pitches away. I think Caldwell could still pitch today. Jim Slaton was a relatively hard thrower early in his career, but he became a painter and had tremendous command away. Unlike today's game, guys threw more breaking pitches for strikes because hitters could lay off the stuff off the plate with two strikes unlike in today's game where they are so geared for upper 90's stuff. The lefty reliever who was a Brewer several years later that had real gas was Ray Searage, the long time Pirate pitching coach. Of course Plesac could get it up there too in his early years.
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About half the NL had turf in those days. It was a different game.
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I haven't seen anything about teams sharing television revenue if they play games in Arizona either. Gate receipts for a team like the Brewers is a much higher percentage of total revenues than with the big market teams. That all has to be pooled and shared equally under such an arrangement doesn't it?
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Favre waited until after the draft as I recall for several seasons to announce he was returning. After his dad died in 2003, it was an annual thing that he didn't divulge his plans until well after the previous season. It was assumed by many he would retire after the 2005 season when they went 4-12 and Sherman was fired. All the speculation was that the finale that year against the Seahawks would be his final game. I remember being upset because Drew Brees was a FA that year and would have fit nicely in as his replacement had Favre retired early in the offseason as it didn't appear at the time that Rodgers was ready based on what he showed in preseason.
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The Next Numbers To Be Retired...
JohnBriggs12 replied to Harold Hutchison's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Rickie Weeks? Are you serious? Sheets/Cooper will never happen either and I was a huge Cooper fan. The fact that he got like one HOF vote and then disappeared from the ballot was a joke. I thought he was one of the top 5 hitters in the game from 79 to 83. Had he been able to extend that excellence for a couple more seasons, he would have been HOF worthy and also worthy of number retirement. He kind of got overshadowed by Yount, but Coop was the best hitter on those great teams. Retiring numbers is reserved for the all time greats. Otherwise eventually you'll have no numbers available for current players. The next number to be retired will be #22. As for Simmons, his best years were with the Cardinals. -
If the major sports are willing to play without fans, why don't they just make an arrangement with Abbott Labs to supply clubhouses with enough of their 15 minute test machines to test players, coaches, trainers and officials before every game? If not every game, then at least weekly? The return of live sports is essential to the mental health of the nation.
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By all accounts a great guy who grew up on the south side of Chicago and pitched for his home town team and spent 3 decades in the radio booth. He kind of mirrors Uke in many respects.
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Had he not played most of his career in the cavernous Astrodome, and his productivity gone by age 34, "The Toy Cannon" might have a strong HOF case. He came up at a time when pitching dominated until they lowered the mound in 1969. That year he walked an amazing 148 times (.436 OBP) and hit 33 HR playing half his games in the Astrodome. Incredibly, he didn't make the All Star team that year. He was a very underrated player. He came up as a SS but was switched to CF where he had one of the strongest arms ever with an incredible 139 career outfield assists. By the time he became a Brewer in 1977, his skills had really diminished. I guess they figured they'd take a look in the hopes he could revive his career and be a mentor to Sixto Lezcano since he wasn't all that old. They had nothing to lose.
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Had he not played most of his career in the cavernous Astrodome, and his productivity gone by age 34, "The Toy Cannon" might have a strong HOF case. He came up at a time when pitching dominated until they lowered the mound in 1969. That year he walked an amazing 148 times (.436 OBP) and hit 33 HR playing half his games in the Astrodome. Incredibly, he didn't make the All Star team that year. He was a very underrated player. He came up as a SS but was switched to CF where he had one of the strongest arms ever with an incredible 139 career outfield assists. By the time he became a Brewer in 1977, his skills had really diminished. I guess they figured they'd take a look in the hopes he could revive his career and be a mentor to Sixto Lezcano since he wasn't all that old. They had nothing to lose.
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You're naive. How does a high school basketball game become more important than the health of the public? It's high school sports. Those kids will be just fine. It's not naive to think banning such a scenario won't save one life or prevent one person from getting the disease. I haven't played high school sports in 50 years, but I can tell you that part of my life even on losing teams remains among the most precious memories I have, and I think I speak for many. I get why they did it in a litigious society, but it still stinks for the kids involved.
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This is all about the capacity of the healthcare system to handle the number of cases. The number of cases so far has been minimal compared to a normal flu season. For instance here in Illinois, so far the total cases has been 105 with zero deaths. That's not a lot in a state with 15 million residents. The infectious disease experts have models which show that if they can basically shut down society for the next two weeks, and keep the expected rise in cases from increasing at an uncontrolled exponential rate, that the other measures already in effect such as stopping travel from world hot spots, and people continuing to practice personal hygiene measures will prevent the curve of cases reaching levels beyond the healthcare system capacity. Once they are confident they have the capacity to handle the caseload, it would actually be beneficial down the road to ease up on the social restrictions. Quiet a few people will still get the virus as Trump hinted until July or August, but they will be able to treat the most vulnerable and not have to ration out care. Eventually the summer heat, and long days will make the virus less contagious, but by the time it happens a significant number of people will have had the virus, recovered and formed a significant population of those with immunity when the virus reappears next December or January. Even as things start returning to normal for most people in 6-8 weeks, the most vulnerable will have to be isolated as much as possible, but if they do become infected they will not have to be denied care.
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Once the tests are readily available and athletes can be tested weekly, just start playing the games first with empty stadiums at first if you must. Risks to athletes in their 20's and 30's is minimal. The rest of us have to go to work.
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Baseball has been stopped....including spring training. What a mess! Regular season up in the air.
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Houser is not a young arm. He's in the middle of his career age wise.
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The virus is already on the wane in China where it was a lot worse. The cancelling now and barring flights from mainland Europe is to buy time and prevent a bigger spike in cases and protect the leagues from lawsuits. They're buying time because viruses do not spread easily in warm, humid weather. PGA Tour is going on as scheduled in Florida. Games played outdoors in warmer weather are not nearly the risk of games played indoors. Worst I could see would be opening day being moved back by a couple weeks and season being condensed to 150 games. I'm guessing we'll see Brewers opening the roof at a much lower threshold, say 52 degrees rather than 62 once they start. Other alternative is keeping the teams in Arizona and Florida and playing the first few weeks of the season in open air warm settings.
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Against Darvish, I'm fairly certain it will be Arcia at SS and either Holt or Sogard at 3B with the other being held back as late inning defensive replacement for Hiura.
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Did I miss something? Is this the Black Plague or a virus? Overreactions like this just raise the level of panic. March Madness indeed. I'm a 67 year old but with no serious underlying health issues. Almost all of the deaths from this virus have been to elderly (average age 81) people with severe medical conditions. How does this make them safer?
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Greatest Catch in Team's 50 Year History
JohnBriggs12 replied to rickh150's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Count me in the Brady Clark catch camp too. That catch sticks in my brain. None others really do. -
There's a misconception that Houser is a young pitcher. He's 27. Lauer is 24. Houser has bullpen experience. Lauer doesn't. Bssides the Brewers have a multi inning lefty in Suter. I think Houser fits the role that Chase Anderson had starting last season. In his last 6 starts in 2019, Houser reached 5 innings once. In his last 6 starts in 2019, Lauer hit 6 innings four times and three of those four were quality starts.. My rotation would be: Woodruff, Peralta, Anderson and Lauer with the 5th spot between Burnes and the unproven Lindblom with Houser wating in the wings should he be needed.
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I personally think Lauer is a guy that should be in the Brewer rotation. He got to the big leagues at 22 in a deep system and has performed well enough to stay there pitching in a tough division. No way do I trade him.
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Draft a tackle on day 2 and let Bulaga go.