Ennder

Hall can't start at 3B next year, that is pretty much the biggest overhaul the offense needs. There are arguments to be made for replacing Weeks, Hart, Cameron but the offense will be ok with those guys starting most likely. Here is how I see the core of the team. C - Kendall/Rivera. Kendall needs to sit more next year, he is too old to be playing that many games 1B - Fielder. I don't see trading him just yet. 2B - Weeks. We can sign Durham and platoon them or I could even see trading Weeks but for now I assume he gets the majority of playtime next year as a league average 2B. SS - Hardy. I guess we could end up trading him for a SP but I'd rather keep him at least 1 more year while Escobar gets some AAA in. 3B - Free Agent. Hall is ok as a utility infielder or even as a platoonmate at 3B but he can't be the starter. LF - Braun. Wouldn't mind him moving to RF, I'd hate to see him wasted at 3B where his value is minimalized. CF - Dunno. No problem at all with bringing back Cameron but I don't thnk it is a given either. He needs to sit more as well given his age and how demanding CF is. RF - Dunno. My guess is we stick with Hart and I'm fine with it as long as we have a viable backup plan. Are Gamel and Nelson viable? SP - Parra, Bush, Gallardo, Suppan. This is a solid enough 2-5 of the rotation, we just need to sign another solid guy. A 1 year deal for Sheets would be optimal if he accepted arbitration. Barring that I'd go after some 2nd tier SP and hope Gallardo or Parra goes ace on us. I think signing Sabathia would be about the worst mistake we could make but that is probably a discussion for another thread. RP - Too complex to know what to do right now but Riske, Villanueva, McClung, Stetter should all be back at the very least and that is a solid core to start to build on at least.

I think Parra should be ok now barring injury of course. I'd expect Gallardo to hit the wall the way Parra did this year assuming he stays healthy.

Suppan was fine until September so all the complaints about him being useless are pretty off base. For whatever reason he lost it in September/October. Could be his injury acted up. We gave him too much money but no reason not to keep him as the #5 SP. Parra, Gallardo, Bush, Suppan is a decent core for a rotation, just need to find another Parra quality or better guy to flesh it out.

Gallardo and a full year of Parra replaces Sabathia or Sheets. Losing the other one hurts but there is no reason the team should be in rebuilding mode.

I just wish we could have brought our A game. Brewer's played some of their worst ball of the year in September/October. Hopefully another year of experience will improve the finish some.

Hart's 2007 was mostly mediocre just with two big hot streaks. It is entirely plausible that he is an .800 OPS low OBP player who is just an average fielder. Still young enough that it is hard to fully judge of course but I think we need to at least be sure to have a solid backup plan if he comes out flat early next year.

If we are going to win this it better be in the 8th, no confidence in the bottom of the order vs Lidge.

The bench is Nelson, Rivera, Hall, Escobar right now. Against a RH pitcher with a RISP the only one I'd use over Counsell/Kendall is maybe Nelson and he was set to PH for the pitcher should someone get on. Our bench is just pretty terrible with Weeks and Kapler injured.

Yeah I don't really blame Suppan, he obviously has some issues right now as seen by the terrible september. I blame Sveum for starting him in the first place. If Suppan finishes out September pitching the way he did the rest of the year and comes out and lays an egg then oh well, not much Sveum could do. But Suppan has been pitching like crap for a month+ now and there was no real reason to expect him to be different today.

I'm not as freaked out about Suppan's contract as others are but he clearly is not the same pitcher in September that he was most of the year. He had a 1.110 OPS agasint with 11 BB, 13 K and 7 HR in 21.1 IP for an 8.84 ERA. Why are you going with a pitcher who obviously doesn't have it in the most important game of the season.

I'm sure Yost would have done the same and I bet Suppan thought it was a good idea! Not to mention most Phillies fans.

The sad thing is just how predictable it all was. No fans expected Suppan starting to end up a good thing.

Hart should be on strict orders to take the first 2 pitches no matter what for the rest of the game. He keeps swinging at the 1st pitch and just pounding it into the ground.

Suppan's historic splits are .798 OPS against for RHB, .785 OPS against for LHB so he at least has a chance against the lefties.

I don't expect Dillon or Escobar to really play much so it is no big deal. I'd probably be happier with Dillon hitting in a key spot but it isn't a huge difference. I'd rather have Weeks than either of them.

I went back and watched the archived mlb.com footage and he dropped the ball so not really sure how the call is botched. I was at the game and really pissed at the time since I didn't see it fall though. Bush is a solid #4 and I'd imagine he is back next year. Just hope he figures out how to pitch on the road at some point.

He probably is the best person for the job against lefties assuming you want to keep Fielder/Braun/Hardy together at the core of the order. .306/.371/.522/.893 2008 .278/.355/.493/.847 career Now if he was hitting him 2nd against righties I'd freak out.

This is pretty much why I don't like him. The announcers all drool over him like he is the best player in the world just because he is scrappy.

I don't really agree with this. This is exactly what got me banned from the Cub site. In a post with about 30 negative posts about their players I post my thoughts on Zambrano and get banned because I'm a Brewer fan. It really doesn't make sense. Just because they are Cubs fans doesn't mean they can't voice their opinion on the Brewer players as long as their is some reasonable basis for the opinion.

Yep, making 2 errors a game and giving up like 5 BB a game is just bad luck, poor Cubs. The Cubs way overproduced in their 97 wins imo, they had a ton of career years and almost no slumps other than maybe fukudome and now karma is catching up with them.

I went to the game tonight and I have never seen a more electrified fanbase than I saw tonight. The standing ovation for Sabathia and Sheets(to a lesser extent) to start the game was amazing and the ovations for Jenkins were very classy. I also did not see one attempt at the wave (I was in section 222 so maybe some other area tried it!). That made me happy too.

Ryan Ludwick stats - 538 AB, 104 R, 161 H, 40 2B, 3 3B, 37 HR, 113 RBI, 146 K, 62 BB, .4 SB, 4 CS, .299/.375/.591/.966 proj - 332 AB, 47 R, 85 H, 19 2B, 1 3B, 17 HR, 55 RBI, 34 BB, 86 K, 3 SB, 2 CS, .256/.331/.475/.806 It did list him as 43% chance to significantly improve and 17% to break out with a 25.6 upside which is similar to say Matt LaPorta, Brad Hawpe, Corey Hart (edit: long quote --1992)

I dont' disagree with this at all which is why i said I think we keep Cameron. Last year I want a LH high OBP CF but there really wasn't one available so I was on board with the Cameron signing. I don't see a free agent that fits the bill this year either so I'm fine with keeping him. I'd like to see him sit a bit more next year though, he is not a young man and CF is a demanding position and while the whole team slumped in sept that doesn't mean he didn't wear down some too.

Lee had an .823 OPS on the year, grounded into 27 double plays and had a .784 OPS in high leverage situations. I can see some areas that would make Fielder better than Lee. The 27 GIDP is pretty darn huge if that particular metric counts those.

Suppan's K/9 was down to 4.56 from the high 4's. His BB/9 was up to 3.39 which isn't a huge jump. His HR/9 was up which is mostly just luck since his FB% etc was right where you expect it. His velocity was fine etc. I'm guessing the injury is the root cause of the K/9 slip and he is more or less the same pitcher as last year. Maybe a slight age related decline but nothing huge. His contract was probably too big but we are talking something like $1-2M a year too large, not something outrageous. Of course nobody would take him off our hands now because the contract was backloaded. Of course he wasn't very good to begin with and he is a GB pitcher so he relies on infield defense which makes him a pretty mediocre mix with the Brewers.