Oxy

If this is the case, I think it will have to happen pretty quickly. If Henderson gets another 2-3 more saves without giving up a run I don't see the switch being made unless Axford is absolutely dominant or Henderson falls apart later on. I'll hope for the best, which is that Henderson has already started his string of 45 consecutive saves and Ax becomes the best 8th inning guy in the league . If that happens, the Brewers WILL make the playoffs.

I don't really know how much of that is relevant without looking at the details. Wisconsin is a very provincial, sports oriented state, so the "Milwaukee" market doesn't quite make sense. It's more like a "Wisconsin" market. Other teams can't quite claim this kind of dominance over their region except for maybe Atlanta, Colorado, and Minnesota.

Quite simply, there needs to be expansion into markets whose teams have TV deals that are too large. i.e. Portland/Vancouver, Brooklyn, Providence/Boston #2, Maybe the Inland Empire in CA. If the league was hurting you could contract the small markets I suppose, but the League is far from hurting. I'm not even sure this would help the issue in SoCal or New York though, since the current teams would still get to broadcast to 20+ million people so they'd probably still have gigantic TV deals. Unless you really restricted the geography of each teams broadcast area--but that just doesn't seem right. I guess it's luxury tax/revenue sharing. Meh.

Hart and Lucroy had very successful minor League stats and careers. By the time they were in the system 3 or 4 years, there was lots of hope they would become impact players. The number of all-stars who blossomed into all-stars without showing that kind of capability in the minor leagues is incredibly small. For high school guys, sometimes that might take awhile, but they usually still show it once they get up to AA after a few years. Right now we've got Hunter Morris and a bunch of pitchers who fit this category. Hopefully they work out. Still, Braun and Gallardo are stars to build around. If Attanasio has the cash to keep signing players of the caliber of Ramirez, Lohse and Aoki, and Melvin is savvy in his trading, it is possible to to build a borderline playoff roster by filling in the rest of the spots with high floor, low ceiling type of prospects.

Axford is exhibit A that fans have no idea what they are talking about when they say this player or that is clutch or can handle the pressure or whatever cliche they want to use. A couple of years ago, it was clear to every fan that Axford was clutch has all hell and had ice running through his veins. That was obvious, since you can't have success as a closer without those kinds of qualities. Never mind he basically went from being a minorleaguer to the everyday closer overnight (something that is not supposed to be possible, since young guys will obviously piss themselves in those kind of high pressure situations). This guy was a closer's closer! Now, it's clear that Axford has none of those qualities. How could he, since he's pitching scared and timid and without confidence? I mean, you just have to watch the guy pitch... it's obvious! Basically, you guys just make this stuff up as you go or parrot whatever you here the guys on the TV say. Create a narrative to fit the situation, use anecdotes to support it, repeat. Well, weird things obviously happen when humans are involved. Confidence and focus comes and goes for various reasons, and that can affect performance. This doesn't have anything to do with what announcers or the narrative says, it just has to do with my own personal experience. Some people are more sensitive to subtle variations in these things than others--sometimes hypersensitive to the tune of wild speculation about what the player is thinking and worried about based on his facial expressions and body language. Others are completely numb and immune to it all and throw everything in the in the "luck" bin. As usual, it's probably somewhere in between.

He's got a nice arm, a good glove and pretty good instincts when he is actually trying and paying attention (things like that behind the back (or was it through the legs?) flip to Weeks for that epic double play a couple years ago--or the diving catch behind the mound to win a game as well)). He just has poor range. The only reason he had to flip that ball behind his back because he has poor range. A good SS gets an easy 6-3DP. I agree. But to have the awareness and skill to make that play is still a nice baseball tool to have as a defender---like at 3B. Some guys are bad defenders because they boot balls, have weak or erratic arms, or lack timing/instincts. Yuni is pretty good at those, he's just slow.

I don't know if he's ever actually played 3B, but I would think he'd be a pretty good defender over there. He's got a nice arm, a good glove and pretty good instincts when he is actually trying and paying attention (things like that behind the back (or was it through the legs?) flip to Weeks for that epic double play a couple years ago--or the diving catch behind the mound to win a game as well)). He just has poor range. He makes contact at the plate as well--although his free swinging tendencies often make that a net negative. It is a skill that can be used advantageously in the right pinch hitting situation, though.

No, right now he's starting at 1st base. We signed him as a utility backup IF, to sub in, PH, spot start, and fill in when players get hurt in the short term. That is what he is doing, and he is doing it very well.

Is three good outings in a row enough to put Ax in for higher leverage situations? I think I'd give him the 7tn or 8th in a tight game at this point. Roll with that until he loses it again or if Henderson loses it first put Ax back out there in the 9th. I haven't actually seen him pitch in these clean outings though. Is he locating well? Fastball back up to 95+?

He really doesn't get a bad rap. He seems lazy in the field. Think back to the passed ball that went off the umpire's mask and bounced to the dugout. He barely beat Lucroy to it despite Lucroy being at least twice as far away. Yuni was in La la land. He does have some skills. Just not as a fielder or as a hitter. He has good people skills. At least that is the impression I get. He's fine as a utility backup IF, which is what he is doing now. He has poor range for extended play at the middle infield spots, but your bench players are going to have warts. He is a free swinger with some pop in his bat and can hit lefties pretty well. There is a role for that kinda guy as a pinch hitter.

Fiers, Khris Davis and Josh Prince.

Wow. They really need to turn that thing off until July or so.

Wow. Nice to get a quick 2 on the board vs. Cain. This would be one of the more unlikely sweeps in recent memory, and make up for a game or two that got away earlier in the year.

That has to be one of the worst lineups a defending world champion as ever put on the field. Pitching rules.

Considering that YuBet has only played for the Crew just a little over one season, he has to be the most talked about player as far as posts per game played as a Brewer in the history of brewerfan.net. BF.net should really create a virtual HOF for guys like this. Russell Branyan and Yuni B could be the inaugural inductees. It's been stated over and over and over again, but Yuni gets a bad rap. He's got some skills--just not as a shortstop and not as a starter.

SF bullpen vs. MIL bullpen? No doubt about it.

Lucroy is awesome. Just solid all around and does everything right but isn't spectacular at anything. Gonzalez, OTOH.

Will we score for Lohse tonight?

I agree with this for baseball, but not for all sports--particularly basketball. In basketball, if a player screws up you can yank him, tell him what he did wrong and put him right back in the game. If he screws that same thing up, you yank him again, then put him right back in the game. Eventually doing it right becomes automatic for that player and you can work on the next thing to improve. UW coach Bo Ryan has pretty much mastered this, and there are very few coaches in the college game that get his players to improve over their careers better than him. Baseball is A LOT trickier since there is far, far, far more randomness involved in the way the ball bounces, the limited opportunities involved and the fact that you can only substitute once per game.

I feel that way with the bullpen, but not with the lineup. While Gonzalez and Betancourt aren't great hitters on the whole, rarely do I feel like they get completely outmatched by a pitcher where the situation is hopeless. When Hart and ARam come back this lineup will be pretty deadly. The speed and power combinations up and down the lineup will make it very difficult for a pitcher to navigate through.

If I read that article correctly, that is pretty much exactly what it is saying (or near league minimum) The problem is that "replacement level" stats aren't really put up by "replacement level" talent. Most replacement level stats are put up by bench players who are either young averageish prospects who have worked their way all the way through the minors or veterans who usually have a couple tools that are league average (or better) and are used situationally to take advantage of those tools. Some other aspects of their game may be well below par, so they are relegated to spot duty.

It's the second oldest park in the league by two years, and the next-oldest stadium isn't even close. It's completely unique & loaded with history. Yes, I know, screw the Cubs. But come on. Yeah, this. If Tiger Stadium and Yankee Stadium were still around, then maybe Wrigley could be leveled. But now it's such a unique environment that I support it's preservation. Then again, it isn't my home park, so it's easy for me to say. The charm is only charming when you are inconvenienced on rare occasions. If I were a Cubs fan who went to lots of games I would have wanted new stadium 20 years ago. I think they should just build a new retractable roof stadium and leave Wrigley as it is. Play day games from May to September at Wrigley, and play April games, night games, and bad weather games at a real stadium.

Below replacement level=washout of the league before you it free agency. This happens all the time, even to prospects whose ceilings are well above league average, let alone replacement level. When our minor league system is full of lots of guys whose ceiling projects somewhere between replacement level and league average, in actuality you are going to get a lot of guys who end up below replacement level. Alex Gonzalez and YuBet are basically replacement level players which is how we got them--and their production may very well be better than what could be achieved by a marginal prospect.

When the CEILING of a prospect is a bench player or just barely starting caliber MLBer, they are basically worthless. It is much more likely they will turn into a below replacement level player than be a contributor of any kind. Heck, Matt LaPorta's CEILING was a perennial 40 homer .600 SLG guy, and even he is now worthless. At the end of every spring training there are dozens of guys who could provide that kind of production for the league minimum. I'm not exactly sure how having a bunch of guys like this translates into "tons of talent". It's possible that a late bloomer might develop into a very nice MLB player, but it doesn't happen all the often. If we are lucky, we might be able to get a season or two of a Casey McGehee or Brady Clark type of guy, but then we'll also have to endure it when the production falls back to their talent level. EDIT: softened tone a bit.