JohnBriggs12

Well yesterday Yost pulled Villanueva out of the 6th even after he fanned Wright and brought in Shouse to face Delgado even though Villanueva has had success against lefties. Between Riske, Gagne and Mota, generally at least one of them is in a good groove and that's the guy who should be getting the 8th. Mota has allowed 1 run since the All Star game. That's right, Mota has a post ASG ERA of 0.68. Why isn't he pitching the 8th?

Look, between Riske, Gagne and Mota, Yost should be going with the hot hand for the 8th inning and forget about roles. Mota has the hot hand right now. He should have pitched the 8th. Yost also needs to preserve a lefty for use in 8th against teams with lefty power like the Mets. He used them up too early yesterday. He should have gambled that Villanueva (lefties hitting just .221 against him) could get Delgado after he fanned Wright in the 6th.

I think the Brewers have brought up a lot of guys is that they can experience the atmosphere as much as anything else. Playing time figures to be very limited until the playoffs are secured. Even then until the Cubs lock the division title, I don't expect to see much of the kids. But that last weekend assuming everything is decided we could see some very interesting lineups.

Now with 2 extra catchers not only can you PH with Rivera, you could give Prince a much needed off day vs. a tough lefthander.

Cardinals swept in Houston. What crime will the Cardinal nation attribute to the Astros now?

It was a terrible call. It was a routine play. Sacrifice bunts are hit like that 100's of times and are easy, easy outs. I felt really sorry for the fans at PNC. Here's a team going nowhere, playing awful and the official scorer denies them the opportunity to witness a historic baseball event as it happens. Absolutely brutal.

Man, Stairs would have been a huge upgrade over Laynce Nix.

Thanks for the support Cubfan1126. We sure have our differences with Cub fans but we're now starting to see why you guys hate them so much. Our best hitter gets hit in the ribs deliberately and the story is that our young pitcher, having struggled just a bit in his last appearence, gets out of a big jam and has the audacity to feel good about it. He'd be celebrating no matter what team he was facing in that spot but the Cardinals and their fans in all their arrogance think it was directed at them because after all, they are the Cardinals.

Pujols has pulled even with Zambrano at the very top of my list.

Guys, Matt Cain has yet to turn 24. He's been better up to this point than Sheets was. He's owed $13 million over the next 3 seasons which is less than what Sheets will get per year for 5 years on his next contract. He hasn't missed a start for 3 years. I'd say there is at least a 50-50 chance that Cain will be superior to Sheets over the next 3 years. Hardy is a fine, fine player. But, hello, the Brewers have 2 pretty big spots to fill in their rotatation. Gallardo is being counted on for one spot. They could gamble on a lesser FA for the other but they'd pay for it. Escobar is a top flight talent. Maybe he won't quite be ready to perform to Hardy's level in 09. But even if Escobar needs a full year in AAA, Hall can still play the position and at least provide power from SS.

The top 7 candidates (excluding pitchers) right now in no particular order are: Berkman, Pujols, Holliday, Braun, Wright, Chipper Jones, Utley. I don't think anyone else deserves consideration at this point. Ludwick maybe but I eliminated him strictly because he's behind Pujols on his own team. Only 2 of those guys are likely to see the playoffs with Braun the most likely and then either Utley or Wright. I'd give Braun the edge over both Wright and Utley right now. Berkman, Pujols, Holliday, and Chipper' numbers might be more impressive than Braun, but Chipper and Holliday are doing it on losing teams and Chipper's missed quite a few games. So I think Braun's main competition are Pujols and Berkman and considering what Braun has done against Cards, and that Houston might finish below .500, I think if Braun reaches 40 HR, 115 RBI and hits over .300, and the Brewers win 92 or more games he'll win.

Cain has a contract that makes him very attractive to the Brewers. The Giants have a huge need at SS and to improve their offense and the ability to be players in the FA market for starting pitching to replace Cain who is just one of 3 young stud starters they have and thus more expendable than one might think. This would be a win/win deal. Yes people are attached to JJ, but Escobar is just about ready and he's got a huge upside. A Cain/Gallardo/Parra/Bush/Suppan rotation can contend in 09.

It's not the first time Aaron's been involved with the Cubs. Then Cub owner P.K. Wrigley was directly repsonsible for Braves (and Aaron) moving from Milwaukee to Atlanta. He was the guy who recruited some of his rich neighbors to buy the Milwaukee Braves for the purpose of moving the team to Atlanta so Wrigley could reclaim Milwaukee as Cub territory.

Lowe was a much better pitcher at home in Fenway when he was with Boston than he was on the road. His numbers in LA have nothing to do with the park in fact his splits are less dramatic than they were with Boston. The guy just pitches better when he sleeps in his own bed not unlike a lot of guys. He's an extreme groundball guy (2.41 GO to AO) and provided his team can catch and throw (Weeks???), should be effective. His age makes him attractive because it makes him more affordable in dollars and years. It will take 3 instead of 5 years to get him.

$10 million is a lot to pay for a 36 year old .230 hitter even if he does play good defense and hits 25 home runs especially on a team that could better use a lefthanded bat. Heck Hall could give that level of production out there if they move Hardy to 3B and Escobar to SS. I'd rather find a veteran lefthanded OF bat even if I have to move Hart to CF. I'm also figuring that Brantley will be in lineup sometime in 2009.

Calling pitches isn't the catcher's job. He puts down signs The pitcher should know what he wants and shake the catcher off if he's not in agreement. AA guys are more likely not to shake off, but once he gets to the majors guys like Suppan that have been around aren't going to hesitate shaking off signs. As the old saying goes "the bat plays" and his bat is exceptional.

The situation should dictate it. There were no outs in the first inning. If you have to intice a throw to 3rd to insure the run scoring, the runner should have been held at 3rd, especially with the heart of the order coming up. The only way you can win a game in the first inning is with a huge inning. You don't get that sacrificing outs for one run that is likely to score anyway. Yost defending it as "philosophy" is the absolute example of why this guy should not be managing this or any other team. It shows he doesn't have the capacity for refining his philosophy to fit situations.

Considering Weeks has scored 75 runs in 103 games (which correlates to 117 in 162), I don't think this season is such a horrible failure for Weeks. And his post All-Star numbers: .270/.383/.427 are quite acceptable. Of course that is with him being replaced with Durham against some right handers and we've fallen into the trap at looking at a portion of his season before and he's yet to really have a good full season. The key in this whole discussion is Michael Brantley. Assuming he's not the PTBNL in the CC deal, he's got leadoff hitter skills. He might not be ready until mid 2009 at the earliest so it might behoove them to hold onto Weeks a big longer. But if Brantley shows he can jump to AAA and put up numbers, then you can deal Weeks. I like Ellis a lot as a guy who could fill in for a year or two at a fairly reasonable price. He's had some good offensive seasons and he's very, very dependable defensively. He'd make the Brewers a lot better defensively. But he's not an ideal leadoff guy, but he's done it and his OBP in the leadoff spot (.348), is 11 points higher than his career OBP of .337. I think Hardy is a lot more likely to end up either at 3rd base or be traded down the line than ever play 2nd.

Nelson Cruz just exemplifies the difference between AAA pitching and major league pitching. The guy has holes in his swing that major league pitchers exploit and minor league pitchers don't. His K rate is down a little this year, and that could indicate some progress that might carry over to the majors. He'll likely get another shot but I don't expect him to be anything more than a fringy corner OF who could start in the right situation but never be a star.

It's not his inability to elevate a ball. His power is lost because he dives at pitches with his upper body, causing his body to lose most of it's torque and he's virtually hitting the ball with just his hands and arms. He also gets nothing from his lower body as he is crouched over, which explains why he doesn't seem to be affected by all the games he catches. He doesn't use his legs to hit anyway, so if he's tired or not, there's no difference. There's no way to hit a ball far enough with that type of swing. It's similar to the difference between a weekend golfer who can't hit the ball more than 200 to 220 or so yards and a pro who routinely can drive one 280-300.

The argument that what worked 30 years ago won't work today is astounding. Not everyone then logged 250-300 innings, but the top guys did. There's no reason that some of today's pitchers couldn't do what the guys in previous generations did if given the chance. Most aren't because teams have too much invested and don't want to take any risks. But the Brewers have such a relatively minor investment in Sabathia that they don't really have a reason to hold him back especially when he has 5 days of rest before his next start. Would I have taken him out for the 9th last night? Yeah I would but only to get Mota some work. Mota's been throwing it real well lately and might be needed in a key situation before this is all over and I'd want him sharp. Do I think they ruined Sabathia? No.

I think the Brewers could afford $16-17 million over 4 years. That's about the top level they could spend on any one player. The question is whether they'd spend it on Sheets or not. It's a tough call given his history and the fact he's never won more than 12 games (I know it's not all his fault but still, a guy with his stuff sooner or later needs to put up 17 or 18 wins). I hate spending big money for mediocrity (like they did with Suppan). It's a lot easier finding average production from pre-arby talent than it is finding top of the rotation pitching. There are guys that will be available for around that price. Burnett is pretty similar to Sheets both in production, age and health. I would guess he'd get around those same numbers. Dempster is another who's in that age range who off this season is likely to cash in around those numbers. The benefit of getting him would be taking him away from Cubs but he hasn't been a starter over an extended period. Oliver Perez is a little younger and lefthanded but has a career of a wide variance in his performance. Then there's bargain hunting. If the Dodgers let Penny go, is his health worth taking a risk on? Derek Lowe has never been a number 1 but he's got great consistency and durability and might come at a discount in years and dollars because he's a little older. And what about Jon Garland? Basically a solid number 3 and still young enough that 4 years makes sense. Or if the Yankees get Sabathia, does a year or two of Mike Mussina make any sense? In short once you get past Sabathia and even Sheets, there's still a lot of guys out there. With 3 million fans in 08, Attanasio is going to feel pressure to bring somebody in to replace one of the two he figures to lose.

Stetter won't be called up "just to have an extra lefty". He's been at times more effective than Shouse. I expect to see him quite often down the stretch. I think Bateman is a real possibility despite what Haudricourt says. Bateman got quite a few innings in Arizona with the Brewers and he's been lights out his last 10 games: 12 2/3 IP, 2 H, Zero runs, 6 BB, 16 Ks.

Sabathia is 6'7" 290. Martinez is listed at 5'11" 195 but probably isn't more than 175. Talk about apples and oranges. The upside was that throwing 130 pitches with a big lead stretched him out. His lead was big enough that he didn't really have to bear down on every pitch. Much like say a cross country runner who trains by running 6 or more miles in training to race 3, stretching out Sabathia to 130, might actually make him more effective going his usual 110-115.

I noticed Berkman and Sheets together in the All Star dugout too. They've been working on him for a while. Sheets to Houston makes that team very, very dangerous.