kramnoj

If the Brewers want to have Braun, Yo and Prince on the team in 2014, they have to have a lot of cheap players. It's not too hard to see a scenario where the Brewers can afford those 3 with a lot of cheap talent around them, but it becomes more difficult to have Weeks making $8M or $10M as well. The Brewers need to count on Lawrie or possibly someone not even in the system yet to have that position in 2014.

I was the poster who will bet against the Brewers when Soup starts. Would you bet on them? Those are two different things. I'm not confident enough in any one start to bet on Suppan, but I wouldn't actively choose to make money on the team that I root for to lose. You are talking about choosing to do so, and that is revealing of who you are. Anyone who's seen Suppan throw for the past year should realize that he can't get anyone out anymore with the 'stuff' that he has. You repeat this, but I notice you haven't responded to the 6-1 stretch the Brewers had with Suppan on the mound last spring.

I see no reason for any Brewers fan who has followed the team for more than a year to keep ignoring 2008. Who is ignoring 2008? I said I understand the Brewers move, I certainly didn't say I support it. While one year is only one year, sabermetrics shows that the most recent year should be weighted the heaviest. That works for the masses, but for the individual, the team has to make the tough call. I don't think the Brewers made the best choice, but I can see why they made it, and I don't think it is nearly as certain as others that payroll was a major factor.

to me this point to further evidence that they are pessimistic about signing Fielder. You can certainly choose to be negative, but another point of view would be that the Twins locked up 3 players in the offseason before they extended Mauer. If the Brewers felt confident enough in Escobar and he was receptive, they could offer him a Longoria deal, but that would be a pure guess on my part (that deal was signed April 18th of his rookie year).

Not only do the Yankees have a higher payroll of $200 million, they earn by far the most profit. What do you mean by profit? Because parasites like the Marlins earn the most profit. Forbes estimated last year that the Yankees had negative operating income, and despite the empty protestations of some, nobody has taken the time to disprove that. Edit: Interesting timing, as apparently the new Forbes numbers are out, and with the New Stadium, the Yankees were estimated to have had $24.9M in operating income, but that still isn't the most, with at least 5 teams ahead of them. It should also be noted that even with the new profit, the Yankees payroll went up marginally, let Damon walk, and is starting Brett Gardner in LF.

Would be cool to have Yo locked up. Very exciting. As for 2014, yes if Prince is here, it will probably be for $20M or more. But the Brewers would probably have someone at C in their first year of arby, they will probably have someone at 2B that is pre-arby, Escobar at SS in his 2nd year of arby, someone at 3B that would either be prearby or no later than last year in arby, and they should have two outfilelders in prearby or first year of arby. Pitching is always hard to predict, but the Brewers should have at least a couple of starters that are prearby or 1st year, and should have a couple of relievers that are the same. So, sure, the Brewers could have $41M locked into 3 players, but they should still be able to afford a decent team with another $45-$50M or more.

The Red Sox could absolutely spend dollar-for-dollar with the Yankees if they wanted to, and I'd venture to guess the Cubs & maybe another two or three teams could as well. Since these teams can absolutely do this, can you demonstrate how? It just doesn't make any sense. New York is larger, and richer. Without a cap, of course they will be able to outspend other teams. Forbes from last year has the Red Sox with $269M in revenue, with $25.7M in operating income. We saw the Red Sox raise payroll this year, but it isn't clear at all that they could support a $200M+ payroll. The YES network rakes in $400 million net every year. Do you have a cite for this? I see a NY Times article from 2008 that says that YES has $400 million in revenue (not net) and that the Yankees own 38% of YES.

First of all, the odds of Suppan throwing reasonably well for 4 to 5 consecutive starts are slim to none. It's clear that you believe this. Have you actually looked at Suppan's game log last year, or are you letting your hatred of Suppan destroy any logic or reason? Starting with the 3rd start of the season, Suppan went at least 5 IP for 7 straight starts, and didn't give more than 3 ER in any of them. The Brewers went 6-1 in those starts. As for people bashing Brewerpride, you have a post 4 posts in front of him where someone is going to bet against the Brewers. Post 265 wants Suppan to give up 20 runs in his first inning (not in the minors, on April 15th). I was hoping Narveson would get the 5th spot, but I understand the move. Nobody wanted Narveson when he was released last year. Narveson went on to do well, but he doesn't have a significant history of success, and Suppan was better than Parra last year. I hope Suppan does well and the Brewers go to the playoffs and then other pitchers have progressed so well that Soup doesn't have a role as the Brewers play for the World Series.

Big Show is promoting that Melvin will be on at 2:45 today.

Per AM, because Suppan is pitching in a simulated game, not an official game, he could pitch today and still be put on the DL backdated to 3/26. If the Brewers wanted to, this would allow them to still bring Suppan up and option Villenueva when the 5th starter spot is needed and make Suppan the 5th starter. I'm not advocating this, just looking at the Brewers options.

What I mean by that is if you could sign him to a LT contract right now, why wouldn't you? Only one I can think of and it has to do with the numbers that Prince and Boras are looking for. Those numbers are only going to go higher (and farther away from the Brewers budget) if Prince stays healthy and has another All Star caliber year. There could be other reasons. The Brewers would have an interest in waiting to see if the Padres deal Gonzalez. Whoever deals for him is probably not going to be interested in Prince, and so that would be one less team for Prince to go to. If Boston gets Gonzales, for example, how many teams are going to be competing for Prince? The price for him may actually drop, because there may not be that much competition for him.

At the very least he deflected the situation by pretending there was no correlation when in reality there is. Anyone who thinks that Boras will not use that contract along with Texiera's contract as a measuring stick for his client, is fooling themselves. You just said it. The Mauer contract doesn't change anything. There was already a contract in place to be measured against. How do you know Prince wants to stay? Because he said he likes in in Milwaukee? I don't have any reason not to believe him. He also had his agent meet with the team to discuss an extension. His teammates say he likes it here. Fielder hasn't been shy about expressing his opinion before, I don't see any reason to doubt what he chooses to share. Every day that goes by where Fielder remains healthy and is producing on the field and that he has not signed LT with the Brewers is a step farther away from the Brewers in my opinion. I don't know what that means. What deleterious effects did Mauer or the Twins suffer while he wasn't signed long term last year? If there weren't any, what is specific about the Brewers and Fielder that will cause stepping farther away?

Maybe as you suggested, as a result of this meeting, the Brewers felt it would be a waste of time to even put together an offer at this point. This would make sense, given Melvin's defensive comments in comparing the Brewer's situation to the Twin's situation. How do you get there? Per your recap, Melvin said something factual. Why do you see that as defensive? As far as I can see, things are amicable. Prince wants to stay, the team wants him to stay, fans want him to stay. There has been no drama, and nothing has to get done this year.

To me, this translates to "Boras and Fielder were not thrilled with our offer" In addition to what others have said, do we even know if an offer has been made? They had a meeting. I think it's far more likely that the meeting was about the Brewers getting a feel for what expectations Fielder had, rather than the Brewers making an offer. An offer can be faxed, no need to fly two execs out for a day for that. How many years does Fielder want, does he want a no-trade, does he want an opt out, when does he want an opt-out, is he willing to sign before he hits FA, or is it a waste of time for the Brewers to even put together an offer, are there other perks that Fielder wants, etc.

Sadly, it's not looking like VALUE will be the final determining factor, but rather SALARY combined with other players having remaining minor league options. If that's the case, why hasn't Suppan been named a starter already? Anything that is written about Suppan being a starter because of his salary has been influenced by a writer's own preconceptions that big salary players must start. What about Attanasio's ownership of the Brewers would indicate that he cares more about justifying a contract than putting the best product on the field and winning?

he also is a below averag run-scorer for an infielder and games played. Since you've stated this as fact, back it up. How many times has he been on base, compared to how many runs he has scored. Given all the times that he has been on base and hasn't scored, what did the hitters behind him do? How many times was he stranded because the hitters behind him didn't help him out by advancing him? It shouldn't be hard for you to do this, since you clearly know it to be true.

Considering that Counsell is a career .258 hitter, he seems to do better with men on base. Of course, I think most people hit better with men on base, so the further question would be how does Counsell compare to other hitters while hitting with men on base versus without. And of course, nobody is trying to argue that Counsell is particularly good at driving in RBI. He doesn't have power, so it would be hard for him to do so. ******* who honestly believes Suppan can help the Brewers win games in 2010? As has previously been stated, I don't think anybody here wants Suppan to start. But a few of us would rather keep him around on the assumption that he is about the 7th or 8th best SP the Brewers have, and there's a good chance that the Brewers will need one of those this season. There isn't a reason to discard him when it is likely he will be the best option at a later time. hen answer honestly, where are Mevlin and Attanasio's motives when his is in the rotation to begin the season? Can you honestly say their motives are to win games when they throw a pitcher out there that clearly is being out-pitched by others? You are using the word "is", when the word should be "if". He is not explicitly in the rotation. He is fighting for a spot. There are 3 people that are locked in the rotation right now and Suppan isn't one of them. If he was already a lock in the rotation, it would be easy for management to say so and that ST starts don't matter to a veteran starter. There would still be a battle for the final spot between Bush, Parra and Narveson. Instead, we have the current situation where Suppan is competing for a spot.

If runs and rbi's are "out of a players" control, they sure have turned a TON of players into warrantless MVP's, lol. That's not a response. The idea that RBI is based on opportunity isn't that difficult a concept, but clearly some sportswriters don't grasp it (and there may be people in baseball who don't truly grasp it either, as seen by a recent interview with the Twins assistant GM). What about his career .255 batting average, is that out of his control too? Nobody said this, and there isn't much value in making up things that people don't say. No one said that Counsell is a good hitter. But he does have a good eye, and gets on base. He has extended rallies by taking a walk and letting the next guy be the hero. He usually bats lower in the order and doesn't get driven in like he would if he spent a whole season leading off or batting number 2 on a good offensive team.

Yeah, right...for the better part of 14 seasons. So you truly believe that RBI shows the inherent value of a batter, and it doesn't matter how many opportunities they have? When Vinny Castilla knocked in 102 RBI and he had an OPS+ of 83, do you think he was a good hitter, or he was in an environment that led to run production and he had plenty of men on base in front of him?

If I am Attanasio or Melvin, I want to try every possible method to get some return on this investment. This is where you misunderstand their motive. They both want to win. That is much more important to them than getting any value out of money that has already been spent.

What? My bias says cut bait. How does that segue to give him a chance to prove himself? Yes, you have your bias that Suppan is worthless. You also believe that the Brewers will do the stupid thing you don't want them to do. You are creating a scenario where the Brewers will do the thing that you think is stupid, and looking for reasons to support that.

It's not really a strawman. You made up something to make your case. What do you call that? I don't think Macha has a particularly bad case of Proven Veteranitis. But I think that bias is built into baseball, and Macha has a few examples of it that have already been presented here.

Counsell has spent a career making an out 65+% of the time he appears at the dish This appears to be presented as a negative. A .350 OBP for a good SS is more than acceptable. Besides, where did this come from? Escobar is the SS. Counsell is the UI. He's here because he can play acceptable to good defense at 3 positions and has a nice OBP for a PH role. Its just my opinion (albeit a bit exaggerated with the number of chances) based on comments from Macha and the press following the team in ST You are trying to read tea leaves and are letting your own biases affect you. At this point the Brewers haven't even indicated that Suppan has won a spot in the rotation. All we know is that he was slotted to be the 4th starter, but current reports indicate that he is still fighting for a spot in the rotation. And the idea that Suppan can't be demoted to the bullpen because of his salary seems fueled more by sportswriter bias than any kind of background information from the team.

"macha hates young players" Strawman. Besides, you are focusing on one of several things that were used as a possible explanation for Macha's remarks rather than the insulting theory that Macha isn't intelligent. Offensively, the game is about RUNS and RBI's. That's the product. The way to do that is to avoid making outs and hitting with power. Counsell can be fairly good at the not making outs thing, especially given his position, but obviously doesn't have the power. And RBI are fairly meaningless if you don't look at opportunities.

And what percentage of the Brewers does Attanasio own, and what are his profits compared to his investment? I don't think they look huge in that regard.