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Craig Counsell had over 5000 major league plate appearances which was probably 5000 more than his talent deserved. He said and did all the right things management liked. I am sure as a manager he is tapping into those same skills and will be with the Brewers for a long time no matter what barnum and bailey show appears in Brewers uniforms each night...

So far this season in a limited number of PA his O-swing% is 37.5%. Last year it was 29% and when he was productive it was 23.7%. Swinging at that many pitches outside the strike zone is not anywhere near a “good approach” in my book. Sample size says wait til June and see if he’s the Villar of 2016 or 2017, but some of his bad habits from last year have gotten worse so far.

That’s just my read on him. Also could be why they added to their OF and tried to move him. Yeah, it might also explain why the Brewers seem to have a higher value for him than other teams. Scouts see this stuff and once a player gets a rep for being lazy/making stupid plays it’s hard to get rid of.

Stop thinking inside the box! This is not a problem. Teach him to glove the ball then kick the glove to 1st base or 2nd base: 1) throwing is overrated in baseball; 2) he would fit right in...

Doesn’t bother me. 1) he is the future; 2) his approach at the plate couldn’t be any closer to 180 degrees opposite of Villar; and 3) his defense would fit right in.

I’d wait til June, see how Suter and Woodruff have looked in more than 2 starts and I wold also see what Villar has done and if he continues to be Villar v2017, just release him (option him? Does he have 1 left) and promote Huiera. No need to continue wasting a roster space on a player whose approach at the plate makes Jose K look like an OBP machine. Start jettisoning the crap...

These are things that the coaches need to correct. You are assuming: 1) That the coaches actually see a problem, and 2) That the players listen. I wouldn’t assume either. And I’m Snarky because I am tired of 44+ years of ****** baseball...

And what moron in coaching ever came up with the brilliant idea that you rest so many regulars in ONE game. Might as well just take 1/7th of the games and just forfeit them and don’t charge the fans to watch a crap team on the field. Yeah sitting 2 of your 3 productive players is really a great way to compete against Quintana... why not just have our bullpen hit too instead of PHing so Shaw and Thames can get the full rest... Sheeeesh...

This offense is missing more than Yelich bat. Arica, Pina and 2B have been a wasteland. Braun outside of 2 AB has been abysmal. Santana hasn’t done much and when the offense does show some life the pitching hasn’t. Those will all even out over 162 games, but the horrendous defense needs to be addressed...

No matter what this organization does it can’t get the stink off...

I'd argue that player safety is always part of an official's job. Where's the safety issue? Common sense says if I go into a game without proper warmup, I shouldn't attempt to throw my hardest the first few pitches. It sucks that I can't let loose right away, but my manager screwed up. Too bad for me. Now if I decide to throw my hardest and injure myself then I'm at fault, not my manager, and not the umpire. The safety issue is clearly in the players hands. The nanny state would argue that we have to save him from himself. The I'm responsible for my own actions state argues that he's a big boy and he can make that decision and live with the consequences. I choose empowering people to be adults, not babying them so they are always co-dependents.

There's nothing wrong with Gabe Kapler, he's always been an idiot. Kudos to the umpire for realizing the situation and not endangering a pitcher because of his stupid manager. That's not the umpires job. His job is to enforce the rules, not decide when they should apply a rule and when not to. I hope MLB comes down on the umpire for not enforcing the rules or do we want baseball to be more like professional wrestling...

How many players appealed and were found to not have violated league PED rules? 1, Ryan Braun. How many players who won their appeals, held a press conference to gloat about winning their appeal? 1, Ryan Braun. How many players who did both of the above, were found to have violated the league PED rules and be suspended? 1, Ryan Braun. The hate for Braun has nothing to do with PEDs and everything to do with how he handled the entire situation. When you make a point to proclaim your innocence and how the system is against you, you better be the victim and not the guilty guy who just got away with it. Braun's actions were classic Hollywood bad guy behavior - commit the crime, get away with it, gloat about it, then get his comeuppance. Most fans don't give a damn about PED usage as its clear from reaction to the other violators, but they love to hate a "bad guy" like Ryan Braun. Personally, I will be glad when he is done as a Brewer and we never have to be linked to him. For now, I want him to make our team better, but I will never defend him to any other fan as his actions were indefensible.

Wow. DJ must have had a talk with Suter during that last half inning... or did they replace Suter with a pitcher that attacks the strike zone?

HP Umpire Brian Knight needs to be designated for reassignment (maybe to an independent league). Umps like him will be the reason they replace humans with computers to call balls and strikes.

I wish I was aging as well as Lorenzo Cain...

The Phillies are the flavor du jour for breakout team this year, but that pitching staff is a dumpster fire... The Braves are ***** slapping them again tonight.

2nd time tonight staring at 3rd strikes with 2 outs and RISP. Come on, guys. Sogard was the victim of a very generous strike zone by the ump where 6 inches inside is a strike... Villar was right down the middle..

a positive at bat for villar at this point is at least 1 foul off...

When you throw the garbage that suter throws, you can't miss your target by half a plate even to a light weight like Galvis who may not have another HR in Petco this year.

Thank God Johnson convinced Stearns to turn nothing into Travis Shaw and sign Eric Thomas... masterful work by the pitching coach there... And trading for Domingo Santana, just brilliant moves by Johnson...

And for almost half of those 108 years, there were only 8 teams in the NL and 16 in MLB. Think about that. And in a vast majority of those years only 1 team went to the playoffs/world series in the NL or a 1/8th chance. Now 5 teams out of 15 make the playoffs (1/3rd). They have to make it through 2 series (and a playoff game if WC), but I think if you look at the numbers it was probably easier during the Brewers existence to make it to the World series than during the one team wins it all period.. Hey, if the Brewers win a World Series in the next 70 years it will be a shorter streak than the Cubs. always the eternal optimist... I would put my money against the Brewers winning one in 70 years, but I'm just a bandwagon fan.

Annie Lennox exacts here revenge.....

I always enjoy reading the comments about another teams "bad-boy" player when >99% of Brewer Nation gave KRod a free ride while playing for the Brewers...

The one thing that makes me pause is the lack of a superstar / ace. Teams have won championships without one though. I remember a disturbing analysis at Fangraphs this spring that analyzed the quality of the teams top minor league talent and the Brewers were the only team with multiple Top 100 that did NOT have an elite talent. Zero. While the talent was increasing in the Brewers system it wasnt of elite players. And yes you can theoretically win a world series with no elite players, but that's a huge handicap for a team. I want to see them adding elite talent (the anti-Ray talent)... I've haven't done a very good job convincing people of how different playoff baseball truly is, what appears random really isn't. Being on a roll matters, but not as much as the match-ups do. The appearance of randomness is the over-reliance on W/L as the only indicator of talent. Baseball and Football are both different from Hockey/Basketball in that the teams that get into the playoffs are much closer in talent level for baseball and football than other sports because of the restricted number of seeds. Hence there are significantly more "last" team to champion examples for both sports compared to BBall/Hockey as the last teams are still very good teams. The 2008 brewers had their string of luck getting into the playoff riding an unprecedented SP win streak and an unprecedented Mets collapse. The phillies were clearly much better than the Brewers and maybe if CC started every game the Brewers might have had a chance... Will having such a highly rated system, and having shown we know how to build it, help with our courtships of favorable affilliates? While most of society suffers from ADD, most successful business men (those that have the money to own a minor league team) don't have ADD and won't let a little bit of rankings bragging affect their assessment of the Brewers as a partner. Its going to take more than a few highly ranked classes to overcome their horrible reputation.