HiAndTight

Actually, you're the one who's talking about small sample sizes. You continue to bring up that Carroll's struggled for a couple weeks now and that he walks a lot as your primary reasons for not wanting to get him. Yet you completely disregard the fact that Furcal has been awful this year. You use career stats then to make your argument. It's like it has to be one extreme or the other. How about looking at the past 2-3 years? Carroll has unquestionably been a better and more reliable offensive player as of late. And lets look at the edges you give Furcal. Younger-Well, who cares? If he hasn't been as good as of late, and if he is constantly hurt, what difference does it make? History of playing SS everyday? Well, he's not playing everyday when he's hurt. Some Power? Furcal is slugging .218 this year. Where does Carroll get the edge? He's got a better average, draws walks, hasn't been hurt. It's just a wildly inconsistent argument. You citing Carrolls recent struggles and saying he's not an upgrade and then definitively stating that Furcal is when he's putting up a .176/.240/.218 line this year just doesn't make sense. Either way, the better question should be what does Betancourt do better than Carroll OTHER than hit for power? I'll take Carroll over him defensively, better stick, better OBP. That's pretty clear cut. And he's been worth 1.5 wins this year playing a great deal at short, 2.5 last year playing 70 games at short. Betancourt? -.3 this year and .8 last year. Your disdain for someone who goes up there trying to draw walks aside, I don't see a convincing argument based on an objective argument that he's not an upgrade over Betancourt.

Gindl's got a cannon for an arm. I've read on here and reports that Davis has a weaker arm, and that he's strictly a LF/1B candidate.

So you are alright with mentioning that Carroll's been struggling as of late, but what of Furcal's entire season?

You keep saying Carroll wouldn't be an upgrade without saying why. I just fail to see how a .290/.375 type guy who plays better defense than Betancourt WOULDN'T be a clear upgrade? I said precisely why I don't want Carroll. I hate watching guys going up to the plate with the primary objective of drawing a walk to boost their OBP. That hasn't been working for Counsell very well this summer, as pitchers have been pounding him in the strike zone now that it's common knowledge that he can't hit. Carroll has absolutely no pop in his bat whatsoever. He's also been hitting like Counsell for the past several weeks.So you don't like him and you don't think he'd be an upgrade over Betancourt because you don't like watching guys who go up to the plate with what you deem to be the primary objective of walking? I can think of worse things than trying to draw walks. Wildly flailing at the first pitch nowhere near the zone would be one. I'd also point out that he hits for a much higher average than Betancourt, so whatever his primary objective may or may not be, he ALSO hits better than Betancourt. As for the link between him and Counsell, I don't know what the two have to do with each other, beyond the fact that they're both older utility guys. If you're suggesting that the way Counsell is pitched is going to influence the way Carroll gets pitched, I'd say at 37 pitchers already know what they're getting with him. As for the two week slump, I frankly don't think such a tiny sample size warrants much serious discussion. The guy has 10 seasons in. What are you really trying to say about a couple weeks?

I think at this point, trading Wolf would not only be possible, but it would yield a solid prospect. He's put up a 3.96 ERA for the Brewers, threw 215 innings last year, and is on pace to throw over 200 this year. With one year left on his deal, should we choose to trade him, it wouldn't be difficult to find takers.

You keep saying Carroll wouldn't be an upgrade without saying why. I just fail to see how a .290/.375 type guy who plays better defense than Betancourt WOULDN'T be a clear upgrade?

Counsell isn't our starting shortstop, and Counsell hasn't been this atrocious the last 3+ years.

I don't ever think Hart intentionally sacrificed power because he thought of himself as a speed guy. In his two 23 SB seasons, he slugged .539 and .459.

I absolutely could not agree more. He's never looked fast, so when the SB totals come down, it's easy to go with the "he's aged fast," line of thinking. I don't think he's as fast as he was, but I still think he's speed is well above average.

I can't tell, should this be in blue? The guy has been objectively awful the last several years, and he's been terrible this year save for a few games. Really, the "break" is 7 games now. Should 7 games hitting the ball and still playing pathetic defense ease our desire to get a upgrade at short, or look at what he's done the entire season? Not to mention, .270 OBP.

.820 + OPS vs LHP in 2011I see a .800 OPS vs lefties in 2011, but a .269/.288 with an .800 OPS in 78 AB's. Not all that encouraging. I'm hoping he does figure it out, but his OPS in a small number of AB's doesn't give me a whole lotta confidence moving forward.

I do if you're a big market team that can partially spend their way out of it, and has some young talent to supplement their FA's. Prince changes that entire lineup. Not a great contract long term, but when have the Cubs concerned themselves with that? And by the way, Ramirez just turned 33.

Fangraphs certainly doesn't say so....

The social anxiety thing is a complete non-issue at this point. We're going back what, 5-6 years now, and it's had no impact on him in the intermediary. So I wouldn't factor that into this whatsoever. And I would absolutely be willing to extend it, and I'd extend it for 4 years 72 million right now if he'd be willing to do it. I'm that convinced that he's an elite, top 10 pitcher in all of baseball. I think he's going through just about the worst stretch since he came back from the social anxiety issues(Which again, are now a non-issue with the medication) and in watching him, it's not hard to see the ability to dominate. I still see him winning another Cy Young, particularly if we can re-vamp our defense, and having a very long and very successful career. He profiles as the type that's going to be able to easily adjust to a decrease in velocity as he hits his mid 30's.

Gomez and Morgan do fine with Hart and Braun in the corners. You can't really get any worse than Braun and Hart in the OF. I think you could pretty easily do worse than those two in the OF. I think both are a little unfairly criticized defensively. Don't get me wrong, they're not good defenders, but this post suggests they're Johnny Gomes and Adam Dunn out there.

I'm pretty certain Gamel said just the opposite. That he did not feel comfortable in the OF. But when that time comes, perhaps Gamel becomes trade bait, perhaps Gamel hasn't performed as expected, or perhaps we have a number of viable OF candidates which makes dealing Gamel easier to swallow. The one thing I know for certain with regard to Davis, if he continues to hit, he's going to be very valuable to the Brewers, be it as a trade chip, or as a everyday player for us.

Agreed...with #2 in particular.

I really don't think the truth is somewhere in the middle, and I do disagree that he's far from the worst starting player in the big leagues. First of all his "career norm," is absolutely terrible. The last three years, he's got a .249/.275 line. He hits for a little power, but that is still just god awful. Now, if he was a serviceable defender, you could live with that. The problem? He's not. He's not only NOT serviceable, he's absolutely awful. And lets talk about Brandon Crawford. He's got a .199/.275 line this year, so he's not good either. BUT, he IS getting on base better than Betancourt, and he's just soooo much better defensively. Crawford in about a third the time has a .2 WAR. Betancourt has a -.9 WAR. So yeah, I agree, if you JUST look at batting averages, there are guys on almost every team we play who are worse. If you look at the whole picture, defense, OBP, etc....then no, I don't think there is a single player in baseball worse than Betancourt. And you mention McGehee, he's been bad, but at LEAST with him there is some hope he improves based on his career. Betancourt's been a god-awful player for his entire career and has battled for the distinction of worst in baseball for the last 3.

I would argue that's definitely a good thing. .350 or better OBP's up and down the lineup, and a defense comprised of mostly average defenders goes a long way for a pitching staff, and a more consistent offense. And, as you said, with Braun, Weeks, Hart and Gamel, we'll have some pop still. I would argue that Lucroy should offer solid pop for a Catcher and could hit 12-16 HR's, and Green has the ability to hit for a few more than that on each end. In fact, if Komatsu can translate his spectacular OBP's to the next level, I'd be fine with taking Hart's slugging out of the lineup and replacing it with Komatsu. The upgrade defensively and the potential for a .380-.390 OBP from the left side would more than make up for the loss o f Hart's power IMO. I know I'm in the minority here, but I believe that the subtraction of Prince gives the Brewers a golden opportunity to shift their priorities a bit more to a Twins type model, and with the power arms we've got and strikeout pitchers in the rotation, that could serve us very well moving forward.

I would assume, given that Greinke was far, far more highly sought after than Shields that the prospects we sent to KC would have easily been enough to get Shields. Still, I absolutely wouldn't go back and trade for Shields over Greinke. By the way, Greinke has an FIP of 3.01 and an xFip of 2.14 this year. 11.75 K/9, a 1.85 BB/9 and a 6.33 K/BB ratio. Shields has a 3.14 FIP, a 2.98 xFIP, 8.69 K/9, 2.30 BB/9 and a 3.77 K/BB ratio. Now one of the most significant differences; Greinke BABIP .335 Shields BABIP- .259 I think it's a pretty good bet that Greinke will out-pitch Shields the rest of the way. Particularly if we can acquire a SS and a 3rd basemen without cement feet. So Monday Morning QB'ing, or Saturday Night QB'ing, I'll still take Greinke. The only thing that may change that is if we could have gotten Shields without giving up Odorizzi. If we could have gotten him for Cain, Escobar, Jeffress and Rivas, I'd have taken Shields probably.

Well, given he's been worth 12.15 million, or thereabouts already this year, he has a .375 w/OBA, is hitting .305/.345 with an .859 OPS at a position that is pathetically weak right now offensively, AND he's been above average defensively this year.....I would ask how you come to such a conclusion. Now when you factor in that they appear set to make a serious run at Prince(which I concede is just speculation at this point, but seems to be well founded speculation) don't have a great in house replacement, and have a payroll in the 150 million dollar range with 50 million coming off the books this year, I think it's even more inaccurate to suggest that the Cubs not only will pick up that option, but that they'd be stupid to do so. He'll likely end up being worth 16-17 million this year based on his WAR, so for one year, I find it highly unlikely they decline his option.

Schafer also walked; great to see him get off on the right foot. We'll just pretend he played all year last year at Huntsville and has spent this season at Nashville--see, right on track. Nice strikeout total for Rivas, though seeing him leave after just five innings and 78 pitches is a little odd, and his spot in the order did not come up in the previous half inning. Love that line by Meadows. He is left-handed. The Brewers do not have a left-handed reliever. Ergo, all men are Socrates. Green did not get on base and thus is ineligible for promotion for another two months; however, had he gotten on base, it would merely be evidence of the inferiority of AAA pitches and he would be ineligible for promotion for another two months. Sorry, Taylor--when you play the game of third base, you either win or you die. Hehe...beautiful write-up! On a side note, this team sorta epitomizes why I'm not quite as down on our system as others may be. Do we have any blue-chip prospects on this squad? No, of course not. But what we do have are several guys who can contribute in support roles for this team. Rivas-has the look of a nice long man out of the pen, perhaps a back of the rotation type starter. Schafer-looks like a fringe starter in CF. If he proves he can hit .285/.350, there is no reason he can't be an everyday big leaguer with his defense. Green-....well, as you said, Green obviously can't and won't be a everyday big leaguer. Mat Gamel and his 9 At Bats has proven without any doubt that you can't come up and produce, regardless of your AAA production. Seriously though, he's another guy, could be a fringe starter, same as Schaefer. If he can put up that same line, which I'm absolutely convinced he can as I see him as a Mark Loretta type player with slightly more pop and probably not as high of a BA, he could serve as starter for us. Gamel, everyone seems to be on the same page with him. He's got about as clean and pretty a swing as I've seen from any left hander in the Brewers system in some time. Just absolutely picture-esque swing. A Lyle Overbay type with more power who can also probably serve as a massive upgrade defensively to Prince. Caleb Gindl-Here again, you've got a guy who has the potential to be an everyday big league player, and while some differ on his upside, ie, 4th OF'er, or an above average everyday starter, he should provide some nice value for you moving forward. Michael Fiers, McClendon, de la Cruz-All look like they have the ability to be future BP pieces to varying degrees. Meadows-Could serve as an effective Loogy for this team moving forward, possibly this year. Braddock-Obviously he is in another group as he should be up with the big league team, and has been, but he's got everything you need physically to be a future closer or SU man. We've got that core group of stars, Weeks, Braun, Greinke, Marcum, Gallardo and currently Prince. We really just need to supplement that talent with good, solid above average players who can play defense and get on at a solid clip. Obviously you hope that you can produce some elite, 4.5 WAR type players, but given what we have, if we can surround the stars with 2.5 type guys, improve our team defense, and a couple power arms out of the pen, that goes a LONG way to keeping costs down, as those types are extremely valuable in years 1-3.

When you're 6'4, 215 of solid muscle, have near world class speed, the ability to hit the ball as hard as just about anyone, a cannon for an arm, and you play defense just a shade below Andruw Jones circa 1997-2007, there is always "hope," you're going to figure it out and all the sudden come from nowhere to become a very good player. Even more so when you're 24 years old. I wouldn't put any money on it, I just would never be surprised to see it happen. But until we can get him on some ADD medicine so that he doesn't have the demeanor of your Labrador when you walk in the door, for every at bat, you're still going to have a player who's value is limited to his defense and base running ability. Which is nothing to scoff at, but it's also not the "greatness," that he is capable of.

I would love nothing more than to be wrong about Betancourt, to walk around Miller Park with a shirt that in big, bright letters says, "I am a moron who was 100 pct wrong about Yuinesky Betancourt; please feel free to throw things at me, and/or kick me in the rear to help me see the errors of my ways." The problem with that? He'd have to has a Bonds on roids-esque 2nd half(heck, even a Bonds not on Roids) AND suddenly learn how to be able to take more than 2 steps to get to a GB before that shirt would be justified. It's great he's getting some big hits, and I'm enjoying his recent string of non-err.."suckitude," but overall(Since this IS a 162 game season) he's still absolutely terrible and probably the worst everyday player in major league baseball...with some competition from the guy immediately to his right in the field.

So you're ruling out that the Cubs are going to go after Prince, and that a team with that payroll is just going to give up and go into rebuild mode? This seems to be what people think they should do, however the Cubs have hardly given any indication it's what THEY plan to do, and the prospects of signing Prince make this even less likely. This is a team that just gave up some elite prospects for Garza prior to this off-season. Did things look that much better coming into this season than they do now?