HiAndTight

And what piece would you have used? What area was it that we were weak in? I would have traded Peralta last year as his value was probably pretty high IF it netted you a Jose Reyes type and you got a 3 day window to negotiate an extension and you got him for 6/90 or something like that. We made a trade for a shutdown SU man, our closer was the best in the game last year, we had a very good lineup. We upgraded 3rd base without giving up much. We had a great 1-3 going into the playoffs and came within 2 games of going to the world series and we easily could have been up a game going home to Milwaukee had Mark Kotsay not played CF, one of the worst moves I've ever seen. This team is just as talented as last years team. You want to trade away our top prospects now to try and win a WS? And your distinction between "getting in," and "winning," is one that doesn't really exist. No team had any business winning the NL last year other than the Phillies. And yet they were ousted in the 1st round by a team 9 games out to start Sept. They had the best rotation since I followed baseball with a HOF'er in his prime, a second potential HOF'er as their #4, one of the top 3-4 best lefties as their #3 and another lefties...who's also one of the best in the game as their #2. Plus a very good offense. So "getting in," and "winning it," is a very small distinction. A team almost double digits back last year on Sept 1st beat a vastly superior team. As far as this team goes, unless the Brewers are willing to have a firesale with Greinke, Hart, Rammy, K-Rod and going Marlins style, I'm just fine holding onto Greinke and playing it out. I'd rather see if this team can get hot as one team every year seemingly does....though some think it would take a "miracle," for a team to come back from 7 games out in mid July to make the playoffs. This is a team that might be better suited for a playoff series if we can get Axford righted and if Fiers who has pitched exceptionally well continues to do so. But I wouldn't trade a top 10 pitcher in our system for an additional piece. Teams that win it, and moreso than teams who aren't exactly the favorites, ie, the Brewers, need that X-factor to win it. Well, Fiers has certainly been one. Perhaps Thornburg will be another. He certainly has the look of a guy who could be a big help down the stretch. And the way this team is playing now, all they really need is for their BP to lock it down. K-Rod is throwing harder and looking pretty good. Yesterday he gave up a soft hit double and got out of it. Axford looked much better. Rogers is throwing in the mid 90's and IMO should always have been a reliever since his initial bouts of injuries. Or Mitch Stetter continues to throw well and becomes the loogy he once was.

Because Profar is better. Projects to be better at every single thing that Andrus does. And Ian Kinsler is at 2nd base. One of the best 2nd basemen in the game. But...possibly. Andrus hitting leadoff, Profar hitting 2nd, plus the defense up the middle would be just incredible. That IF would be one of the best defensive IF's I've ever seen. Beltre, Profar, Andrus? If you graded the guy out, where does Andrus beat him? Defensively it MAY be close, but Profar if he were in the big leagues right now would be among the best. Speed, Andrus MIGHT have him there, but again, Profar is probably a 60 speed. Power-Profar has an OPS near .880 in AA at 19. Hit Tool-He's a .300 caliber hitter. Arm-He has a cannon for an arm. As I argued earlier, I don't believe there is another player in baseball at the SS position who could or can match what Profar is capable of doing. I really don't know what the Rangers are planning on doing. They have one of the best SS's in the game, and their AA guy is projected to be better. They have one of the best 3rd basemen in the game offensively and defensively, same as at SS. And they have one of the elite prospects behind him. They have an all-star 2nd basemen, they are lacking at 1st base, but with that lineup, they can afford to(and it's not REALLY lacking, just not elite). The Rangers are setting themselves up to be the next dynasty, and they'll likely be able to leverage Andrus into a big time package, and plug in a superior player at Shortstop anyway. And they've got the money to spend like the Rangers, Sox, Yankees(especially now with the Yankees actually making moves because of their payroll and not wanting to go over the luxury tax...as astonishing as that is.

Did they actually say that? I suspected they would in the Greinke thread, but everyone told me I was underestimating Greinke and that Profar was just a prospect and pondered why they'd keep Profar with Andrus. If fact it was a pretty prolonged argument, but I thought...well...still think that Profar is such a unique prospect that he's going to be unlike any other SS in baseball. He's got a skill set that no other player in the game actually has. In fact, I caught a lot of flak when I said I'd go Greinke and Axford for Profar with many thinking we should be getting Profar+ just for Greinke. I guess I just thought Gallardo with his 3 additional years might do the trick. At this point then I'd be looking for that next tier of SS. I suspect the Reds may end up doing the same thing with Billy Hamilton. Trade away a young and somewhat proven SS in the near future just entering arby years because of him being in the system.

Agreed. If you project forward, the Brewers have the resources to spend 120 million in the near future, Weeks will be a better player, we're loaded at catcher, Rodgers, Peralta and other relievers are pitching very well in the minors, mitigating how much we'll have to go out and spend on relievers. We have those fringe pieces in our system right now. PLUS, we have some very nice starting pitchers. Fiers, Thornburg, Nelson either Peralta or Rogers(though I see Rogers as a reliever), Jungman and Bradyley down the road. Building a rotation with Greinke, Gallardo, Fiers, Thornburg and say Peralta/Jungman/Bradley/Burgos could be a dominant starting staff. Relief pitching is up and down, but we've got some good arms. Axford I think will bounce back, Manzanillo after he has a year to come back from his injury, Rogers, etc... Offensively, Hart, Weeks, Braun, Aram, Gamel, Aoki, Lucroy and Maldonado, Schafter, Gennett, Morris, and those are just guys that are possibly ready in the next 18 months. But if you lose Greinke, I think that it all falls apart. He's kinda the guy that decides if we're competitive for the next 5-6 years or the guy who decides if we should just sell everyone and everything. But yes, sign him. 5 years 115 million with a 6 years option, mutual option for 24 million, 4 million dollar buyout, 7th year option for 26 million with a 6 million dollar buyout. And without even touching on any of the young A+ or lower guys That's 5 years at 119 million guaranteed. It gives us a pen that could be absolutely dominant, it gives us 4 even 5 potential top 5 players at their position, 3 who could be top 10-12, a very good bench, and a BP that's just too far out to really project, but Axford, Rodgers, Parra, Wooten, Heckathorn, Scarpetta, whoever and you know you always have guys that come out of nowhere and that could be very solid. But without that dominant #1 that team isn't good enough to win it all. A lot of teams are like that. VERY good teams(and this is a good case scenario). So it all hinges on Greinke. I understand that we can't go nuts on one player. I never thought Prince was realistic. I thought that 7 and 150 for Prince was realistic, but the Yankees would have just upped it. But every once in a while a player comes along that simply is worth it. And I don't even want to think about some of the guys we have in Arcia, Taylor, Pena, Ortega, Rivera, Prince, and just a slew of others who have very good potential, but aren't in the picture yet. Could be stars, could be Pascuals. (By the way, I love Brooks Hall...but again, too far away). You just have to look past numbers SOMETIMES when developing pitchers. They're often persuaded to try and go away from their put away pitch in a 1-2 count in lieu of a pitch they're working on and it can lead to inflated numbers. This happens less with college arms, but it still obviously does. Anyway, without Greinke, I think the way things fall in line is that we spend our max and end up being a 80-85 win team. WITH Greinke we have the POTENTIAL every year to be a 90+ win team and contender year in and year out. And again, there's always that X-Factor. Maybe Gamel's done here. Hope not because I still think he can be very good. But maybe Hart and Aoki stay where they are now, and Schafer becomes a player we didn't expect out of him. A Steve Finley player. We sign a passable SS, or Prince moves back there(still baffling why he left) and we get a couple nice surprises in the playoffs. I see either great things in the Brewers future, purgatory, or a complete rebuild in which we have the chance to actually not waste Braun's prime years. And it SHOULD all hinge on Zach Greinke, the guy who's a legit Ace, who repeats his delivery every time, who is as low of an injury risk as you can get and who is a workhorse and a perfect fit. The big problem is, the Olt's and Profar's(who I was told over and over again that I underestimated Profar by suggested that Greinke+K-Rod or Greinke+Axford for Profar would be a deal I'd be happy to make). At this point, I'd be happy to give up Hart+Greinke for Profar, or just Gallardo for Profar, and then make about 7 separate trades to add prospects.

To have "cost," the Brewers the season, the Brewers would have to end up not making the playoffs. I don't think any of us could count the number of teams on one hand in the last decade who came back from a 8 game hole, much less a 6 game hole for the wild card, and the team's playing much better baseball. Fiers, Gallardo, Estrada and Wolf's slowly showing signs of getting it back together. Wolf has seen his velocity spike and has really been a tough lucky pitcher, so it wouldn't surprise me to see him match last years second half. And then you have Greinke. In the pen, K-Rod's velocity is up, he's throwing 93-94 and hitting 95. That makes that nasty change and plus curve that much more impressive. One game, but Veras, Parra, Loe now being used in situational relief(which I love) and now throw in Tyler Thornburg, and the pen just might come around. Oh, and by the way, this has probably been mentioned, but you can't just count blown saves as a loss. We've won several games in a game in which we had blown saves. In fact, I thought 540 ESPN had a stat that the Brewers where 32-3 when leading after 8. That was before Axford's monumental screw-up. -Our bullpen, Rickie's early struggles, Wolf's struggles, some relievers not throwing like they did last year, and Rammy's slow star have all cost the Brewers in the 1st half. The good news is the Brewers are still an extremely talented team. Once they get Marcum back they should have a rotation of Greinke/Gallardo/Marcum/Fiers/Wolf-a BP of K-Rod, Veras, Loe, Parra, Thornburg, Estrada and Axford who'll pitch better. And they've been hitting the ball well as of late. So it's pretty premature to declare the season over. Though some think it would take a "miracle," to win the division. Again, the number of teams we're behind is not totally irrelevant, but almost totally irrelevant. Get to the middle of August and it starts to become MORE relevant. Get to Sept. 1, and it's obviously incrdibly important. But on July 17th, the way this team has been playing sans Axford, and K-Rod as a SU guy and there is still plenty of reasons to be encouraged to me. It's not hard to envision Veras throwing like he has in the past with his mid 90's heater and nasty curve ball. Loe's great vs RH'ers. Parra looked dominant last night. If he can go out and attack rather than nibble... Estrada as a BP piece is absolutely huge. Thornburg has the chance to establish himself as a key late inning reliever. And I think Axford will come back. He's different than Turnbow to me, a guy I ALWAYS thought he'd end up being, and now I beleive Im wrong. He's simply not throwing the curve for strikes. I think he lacks confidence in it. Once he gets that back, you shorten the game by an inning.

Carlos Gomez can and will be a 3-4 WAR players(which "the Biz suggests that means that I think the rest of the players on the team such a Hart, Weeks, Lucroy and company have zero value and are worth zero war for some re ason). I'm shocked I thought this earlier this year, but Gomez made a fundamental change to his game coming out of the gate this year. When he went down, he was hitting .280, though his WAR, much like Lawrie's was inflated because of his defensive metrcis was severely deflated as his defense was graded out as terrible at that time. Anyway, had he not gotten hurt, I think he was finding his groove. He needs to play every day or he gets all hyper and be the player he's been most of his big league career. A spaz. But when he gets regular playing time as he did in the minors, he walks more, and he takes more pitches...which he was doing this year. Not to mention when he came back, there happened to be several groundballs he normally outruns for hits and balls in the OF he just couldn't get to. We're at a point not where it'll never happen, just as we may be with Gamel. And that's often the reason why teams move players who end up posting a three-four year run in which they post 9-14 WAR. Because they just haven't proven themselves, move on to a bad team, play everyday and settle in. Neither Gamel nor Gomez really has here and as soon as either has, something's happened. But this is the first year where I wish, especially if we're a team that doesn't sign Greinke next year, we give Gomez 150 starts in CF and just see what he can do. But then of course we couldn't do the same with Gamel and I think he's a better bet. The problem is management is in a place right now where they think they can reload and they just don't have enough rounds in the chamber. Hart should be traded, Gamel at 1st, Greinke traded, Fiers a mainstay. Marcum offered arby, hopefully trade him next year. Wolf traded(or dumped), Thornburg a mainstay. Every trade-able player traded. The question is Aoki.. 30 years old. I'm really just not sure...seems like a guy who'll age well meaning at 34-35 he could easily be a great 4th OF'er for us or even still doing what he's doing now. Love that guy. Just knows how to play the game. Anyway...

So that makes it better? Every other team could've had him, so it's not Doug's fault! He traded a 25 year old who was crushing the ball in Nashville before he even got a chance with the team. He traded that player, along with our best trade asset at the time for a reliever with 1.5 years left on his contract, a weak side platoon outfielder and an outfielder who was a year younger than Cruz, had almost 800 major league at bats and a .286 OBP. If he trades Cruz, that's fine but when you trade him and our best trade asset for that group of players, people will have a problem with it. You can't ever guarantee that a player will be a star. But you sure as hell can predict it, and I long ago predicted that Brett Lawrie's peak value, his top 3-4 seasons will be as good as Ryan Braun's. He's probably never going to hit like Braun, especially in the pitching packed AL East. But he CAN play 3rd, which to me it's almost baffling why after moving from C, the Brewers didn't just move him there. He doesn't have the great quickeness to play 2nd, but he sure has enough to play 3rd, and he has a good enough glove and a very strong arm. He's proving to be a very good 3rd basemen defensively. Trading Lawrie for Marcum is going to be a move that has Brewers fans saying "what if," for years. Hell, lets start here. What if we had Lawrie who's having a better year than Aram, is making 450 and we signed Edwin Jackson this year? I just hope I don't see "what if we could have had back to back HOF candidates in Lawrie and Braun, a GREAT 3-4. A Prince-Braun like 3-4 by the time that Lawrie, who's currently the age Braun was when he was in A+ and AA ball matures and hits 24-25. Of course another almost equally frustrating "what if," is what "if," the Yankee's didn't get the ONE guy who was rated higher than CC and ended up drafting Trout with what should have been our 1st round pick, arguably the AL MVP this year. But you have to get pretty lucky to actually end up with two guys like Lawrie and Trout to go with Braun. Though it was a realistic possibility. Then again, so was Jordan Zimmerman in the 3rd round several years ago. Which is why a thread like this can spiral out of control so fast. I'm a little late to the party here, but after hearing the trade rumors for Prince Fielder with a full year left, how much exactly do you think Carlos Lee was going to net a team knowing he was going to become a FA in short order? The Brewers were at a different point then. They were trying to get competitive and get interest in the team. And now the underwhelming market that is apparently out there for Greinke, just what DO you think Carlos Lee was worth? And yes, that DOES make it better. That Nelson Cruz was later waived and available to every single team in baseball and still nobody wanted him. Not sure how it doesn't mitigate the downside of making that trade. That's kinda common sense.

So that makes it better? Every other team could've had him, so it's not Doug's fault! He traded a 25 year old who was crushing the ball in Nashville before he even got a chance with the team. He traded that player, along with our best trade asset at the time for a reliever with 1.5 years left on his contract, a weak side platoon outfielder and an outfielder who was a year younger than Cruz, had almost 800 major league at bats and a .286 OBP. If he trades Cruz, that's fine but when you trade him and our best trade asset for that group of players, people will have a problem with it. I'm a little late to the party here, but after hearing the trade rumors for Prince Fielder with a full year left, how much exactly do you think Carlos Lee was going to net a team knowing he was going to become a FA in short order? The Brewers were at a different point then. They were trying to get competitive and get interest in the team. And now the underwhelming market that is apparently out there for Greinke, just what DO you think Carlos Lee was worth? And yes, that DOES make it better. That Nelson Cruz was later waived and available to every single team in baseball and still nobody wanted him. Not sure how it doesn't mitigate the downside of making that trade. That's kinda common sense.

If that's the case, goodbye Zack. 125 mil minimum, really? I can't understand that kind of price tag deriving from his career production. That seems a little nuts to me. You really didn't read his post, did you?

I recall Melvin once trading a budding FA, and one that wasn't nearly the caliber of CC or Greinke for a veteran pitcher, and that was Cordero. Most people understand that does not constitute a "trend." And bringing FA into it in an attempt to enhance your argument is irrelevant. He's made two long term signings of older starting pitchers. Wolf who's been a successful signing and Suppan who hasn't. And I think this "most people," stems from two things. A-You constantly repeating it, and B-reports that the market for Greinke, just as it was for Prince, isn't as impressive as most on here thought.

I think if the Brewers got Evoldi for Ramirez straight up, no money exchanging hands, that'd be a HUGE win for the Brewers...especially if they decide to be sellers which John Axford may have finally done last night. I doubt the Dodgers give up anyone or anything without the Brewers paying 8 or so million which makes that a pretty reasonable contract(which is why the word "albatross," is tossed around a bit too freely with those who still believe we're in the old days of the Brewers finances when Robin Yount's 3.2 million dollar deal was the largest in the league and the Brewers topped the Yankees in team payroll at about 20 million dollars). Evoldi, though his big league K rates haven't been great, he's 22, throws in the mind 90's and has great stuff. If nothing else, he's just a power arm you throw into the system and hope it comes out as a starter, but at least you have a pretty safe bet as a late inning reliever.

He's a 24 year old SS(just turned 24 at the end of April, so he'll start next season at 24) with blazing speed, and great range, and put up a .303/.353 career line in the minors, all for a contract you have constantly bemoaned as being a terrible one. Yet you want no part of him for that contract that...based on what you've said, sounds like you believe it is of negative value?

Why? Explain the play? What he going behind second, in the hole and didn't come up with it cleanly? What are the circumstances.

He was pretty dominant in Helena as a rookie in 2010. Not as good in Wisconsin in 2010 however.

I'd throw Burgos into the mix as well though it might be next July before we see him. We've seen from the results Fiers is having that you can't completely toss out great results in the minors as a predictor of success, and nobody is getting better results this year than Hiram. It might be this July before we see him. There is Mr. Burgos, please thank Mr. Fiers. We all get caught up in velocity(which don't get me wrong is huge), but as a hitter, as someone else was explaining on a broadcast, or on MLB TV, wherever I heard it, it's about the hitters swing and how they look vs you. Hitters look behind Fiers and his 90 MPH fastball all day. And then he's capable of just carving up both sides of the plate with his off-speed stuff. Burgos looks as though he may be another pitcher similar to Fiers. I'm still baffled they were even considering taking him out of the rotation, but anyway. He's dominated pretty well now from BC to Huntsville racking up the strikeouts without that elite velocity. Of course next July is more likely, I'm simply saying as well as he's pitching now, if the Brewers got back into it, and Axford did his job to really help ensure that didn't happen last night, he could be up this year even.

This nonsense about us picking guys with the ceilings to be #4 starters is just getting old and it's uninformed. Bradley coming out of the Cape Cod league was projected to be a potential top 5 pick who was hitting 97. Taylor Jungman has an assortment of pitches and a live arm, and his ball moves. In no way did the Brewers go "safe," with these picks hoping to get middle of the rotation or in your argument, back of the rotation starters. That's just ridiculous. They were drafted to be #1 or #2 type starters with the worst case scenario, assuming they become regular major league pitchers, avoid injury and make it to the big leagues(which is always a big assumption given pitchers) to be middle of the rotation innings eaters. But now in the middle of July, we're writing them off as guys with the celing of a #4 because they're not dominating..and instead you list only the guys who are dominating. There were a couple others that were being called for on this board who are struggling worse. For a pitcher in his first year, teams often develop a plan to help that pitcher not to dominate in his particular level(which is always great), but rather to refine and work on their pitches they need work on. So where Jungman may get a strikeout on a 1-2 count by throwing his slider, they want him to throw his change so it develops, thus improving the pitcher overall, but diminishing his numbers. I don't know what exactly the case is with either Bradley or Jungman, both of whom have dazzled at times this year and both of whom have flamed out. I do know for a GB hitter to give up 13 hits in a game, all singles, you're simply suffering from bad luck there.

No, it really is. He's playing his best player in those positions and the previous poster was correct, it's a matter of lineup positioning. The other is playing time. So not really the same at all.

No problem. You go to sleep for about 2.5 years while MLB is on strike and we'll get this done. It's not like MLB has taken giant steps in the right direction. It's not like the Yankees are expected to let Swisher go because they don't want to go over the luxury tax. It's not like the Brewers sitting at nearly 110 in payroll this year, and making record profits AND are stepping into a new TV deal next year. There is inequality in every sport. Probably nearly as much in the NBA which has a salary cap as MLB which doesn't and never will. And there is still a ton of inequality in the NFL. Just the words salary cap don't mean a whole lot if a team has several ways around it and can spend significantly more than what the "cap," is.

Exactly, that's what it seems like a lot of people are forgetting about these comebacks, especially last year. With as well as the Cards played, they still might not have made the playoffs had Atlanta won one more game. If Kimbrel hadn't blown his first save since June on Sept. 9 against the Cards, they would have been eliminated (not at the time but in terms of overall record). The Braves went 9-18 in September and the Cards went 23-9. Not only are each of those records rare (for how well each respective teams were playing at that point), but its even rarer for both to happen at the same exact time. Again, what month is it? If it was Sept, you'd be absolutely correct. However we're not in Sept. IT'S JULY 10TH. The # of teams is literally almost with 77 games remaining. And again, when it happens nearly every year that some team comes back from 5-6-7-10 games out, it's not a miracle. How many teams where the Angels behind early in the season? I doubt they were as worried about being behind 10 teams as they were about being X number of games out. The number of teams becomes more important as the season moves along, but we're hardly at that point right now.

When there is a team or two doing it every single year, someone needs to learn the definition of "miracle." It'd hardly be a "miracle," for a team 6 games out at the ASB in a division that's hardly the best in the game(Arguably the worst) and behind a team that hasn't been .500 in 20 years to get hot when they have the talent this team has and make a run. Someone also needs to read a little closer. I'm not "basing any hopes," I'm providing precedence. As in nearly every year a talented team makes a FAR bigger and far more impressive comeback than the Brewers. Not to mention in reading my post, there were a number of other variables. Fiers success, the possibility of Thornburg stabilizing the pen which I think is a pretty good bet, Weeks hitting very well as of late, Ramirez doing what he does every year and now getting back on pace to put up the numbers he puts up every year, Marcum coming back, having Greinke, Gallardo atop the rotation. And then the "if," comes with Axford and K-Rod returning to last years form. And if they do this in the next month or so coming out of the break and get to .500 and are right in the thick of things, this is their last legitimate chance to contend. One shutdown BP arm along with Axford and K-Rod changes the complexion of this team 100 pct. So if you think that's a "miracle," and equal to winning one million dollars, you've missed an awful lot of baseball the last 10 years especially. Not to mention the extra wild card spot. To claim it would be a "miracle," for this team to get back into the race is at the VERY best hyperbole and at worst just flat out totally, 100 pct ridiculous.

And THIS argument only matters if you're talking about the last week of the season. When you have 80 games left, the number of teams ahead of you is almost insignificant as compared to the number of games you are out. Especially when you play all of those teams. This whole, "we're only____ games out, but behind FOUR teams," argument holds water in late August, and Sept, not early July. And the team ahead of us in the NLC is the Pirates a team that's not ready yet, the Reds, a good team, but not without flaws. The Cards are an old team.

I would like to believe this is true but Izturis is hitting no where close to Ransom (or any respectable Major Leaguer for that matter) but still gets plenty of starts. I think Jeff will have to play above average to garner much playing time for Ronny. .186 .297 .314 with poor defense Or .212 .231 .271 with very good defense I don't think using Ransom(who's the first of the two obviously, using his 37 games with the Brewers) as an example as to why Izturis(the 2nd in his 42 games with the Brewers) offense is a good argument for why Bianchi won't play if he hits .250/.325. I just meant if he was at least Ransom defensively...as that's been his biggest issue....his defense.

Absolutely it will be. It's one of the things that's making the Brewers a little more exciting. You have Fiers coming up. Thornburg is up to try and help out the pen, and I absolutely have to believe he's going to. He should be able to bring it at 96-97 at least with that curve working out of the pen. Bianchi.... Maldonado, the guy I prayed to make the team as our backup to begin with. I can't imagine HE gets sent to the minors when Lucroy comes back when he's been our starting everyday catcher. And he's been a very good pinch hitter. The only thing left to do in my opinion is PERHAPS talk to a team like the Twins for a Jamey Carroll type addition, a guy we could probably just have, or a guy we could give up a fringe prospect for to have the Twins pay 1.5 of his remaining contract. He's a guy who's been a pretty consistently good hitter and can play some SS. Though I'd like to see Bianchi get his shot first....which I'm confident he will. I'm guessing he'll be in there the first game out of the break, and they'll go from there.

http://m.jsonline.com/more/sports/blogs/brewers/162024415.htm Good call. RR didn't even seem very positive about him coming up. . Good call? On what? The Brewers literally haven't played a single game yet, so I fail to see how Brewcrew who said he feared he wouldn't be given a chance has been proven right. And these seem like pretty positive things. So..the negative comment here is that he hasn't guaranteed that he will play everyday? This is nearly identical to what he said about Corey Hart playing 1st base. In fact, this is MORE definitive than what he said about Corey Hart potentially playing 1st base after Gamel went down. This is absolutely true. He was a bit of a butcher at SS defensively. He's played better. He's stating absolute facts. I'm just wondering..to myself here if we can at least allow a single, just one game to be played before we rip on RR for not playing a guy enough? And say "good call," to the suggestion that he won't play? I'm going out on a limb here and saying that if he hits, he'll play. If he hits .250/.325 and is just Cody Ransom, or even just slightly worse than Cody Ransom at SS, he'll play regularly. I will say this, it'd be nice to grab another guy off the Cubs who ends up being very productive for us.

I think it's totally 100 pct irrelevant how many teams are ahead of us with 80 games to play. I heard Rock say that the other day when talking about the Phillies. How they were 11 games out. Then BA said, and they're behind....however many teams and Rock said, "and that's even MORE important." No, no it is not. Not halfway through the season. I guarantee they'd rather be 2 games out behind 10 teams than 11 games out and behind 5 for a playoff spot. I agree 100 pct with your last sentence though. I'm MORE than fine with waiting a period of time to give this team a chance to come out of the break hot and maybe put together a 12-3 streak before we have a firesale. I think people are underestimating this team. I think the Aoki/Hart moves, Fiers move, and now the Thornburg move with a lot of our guys playing closer to their normal levels gives this team a real shot. To play with anybody. And if it doesn't happen, try to cushion the blow so that we can be as competitive as possible as soon as possible with the trade assets we have. But as for now, we're still talented enough, and close enough that I'm not ready to wave the white flag. Of course the back of the pen has to turn it around like a lot of other players are.