Gopher74

Not really. At best you could argue he's as good. The AL, namely the AL West isn't much different than the NLC.

Care to explain that? I don't understand where you get that Yost has an abrasive personality as related to his players as most have said the opposite, or how him not being there would help Hardy? I'm just curious as to where that comes from. I think too much is laid at the feet of one Mr. Ned Yost when in reality, some of the problems with this team he has absolutely nothing to do with. And I also don't recall anyone saying that he was a good OBP guy. I think it's been known since he came up that he's been a poor OBP guy.

Then he's already had two career years. You can't say he's never going to hit over .260 when his career average is over .260 and he hit .254 last year in what many considered to be an awful year. As for Hardy, it's 5 weeks into the season. It's a touch early to say that he's "fall" so far. Everyone's struggling right now. Hardy's 2nd half also wasn't nearly as bad as people seem to suggest. .292/.312/.509 in August last year .280/.314/.430 in Sept last year.

Except for that he pitches in Oakland which is a pitchers park, and in probably the best division for pitchers in the game right now.

Clemens had a 4.18 ERA for the Yankee's last year. I think he could help the Brewers. I think he'd help the Brewers a ton. And again, ignoring the realistic aspect of this deal, I'd be all for it. You put it perfectly, I hate Clemens, but I love the Brewers more than I hate him. I'd sign just about anyone short of Lucifer himself to help the Brewers...and after 25 years...I'd be tempted there as wellhttp://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

With regards to the Kershaw deal, I think that you'd expect to get back at least that from the Dodgers. Prince has already hit 50 bombs. There's no question as to how good of a big leaguer he can be. We know. He's an MVP type, middle of the order player who's still got 3 years left under the control of whichever team would trade for him after this season. I'd think it'd have to be Kershaw plus a prospect, and a pretty good one, as good as Kershaw is. In my opinion both players are really untradable for the teams future. As a middle market team, we need to pay for the talent that is worth is, and let go mediocre players. Instead we have responded by letting go of talent, ie Lee, and Cordero, and paid for mediocrity Gagne, Suppan. Totally different situations. Gange's a one year deal, so he's got absolutely nothing in common with the other 3. Cordero we offered the money to, he just strung us along without telling us what the deal was. Lee got a ridiculous deal that would have been absolutely terrible to sign him to. 100 million dollars for Carlos Lee? I've yet to hear anyone really say that they think we should have signed him. And Suppan got the going rate for what he was. Also, I'm not sure what we've responded to, but we signed guys to 5 years and 52 million dollars worth of contracts as opposed to the guys you pointed out who signed 10 years and 150 million dollars worth of deals. You just can't compare those situations at all. Another benefit to not trading Sheets is that you could still try to re-sign him before the season ends. I really think we have to sign Sheets if we want to win anything. Offer him a 3 year 50 million dollar deal, and in which case he'll be able to get another big contract when he's 33.

The question wasn't weather the Reds would or wouldn't do it. The question was simply if we'd do it as it was expressed that this was highly unlikely and shouldn't be looked at as a real trade suggestion. Just as Brewers fans, would WE make this trade. And by the way, Hall's had success vs teams other than the Reds. I seem to recall him leading all Shortstop's in SLG pct, and hitting 35 bombs.

Or at least they figure if he can handle playing right, he should have no problem playing left. It's easier to go from Right to Left than vice versa. How strong of an arm does he have? Compare him to Braun? I'd have a hard time believing a former 1st basemen has a stronger arm than Braun, but does he? Or is he more in the Hart range.

True, but this was before they moved Braun to LF. Moving LaPorta to Right this year tells me that he's the future right fielder, and that Hart's either the future CF'er, or he's possibly gone. I don't think they'd be planning on moving him, but perhaps just more open to it.

That doesn't make much sense. It may make you retain water, but it's not going to make you add fat unless you change your diet or workout regimen. There is absolutely no correlation to taking creatine and storing fat. All creatine does is help your muscles during a workout. There are no side effects if you're properly hydrated.

You've never heard of people overtraining and the serious damage that can do? Google overtraining and you'll find a bunch of articles about the negative effects it has and how it's actually counter productive. Of course I have, but saying that working out for more than 1 hour a day is going to hurt you or is too much in order to build mass is just simply not even a little bit true. You can work out far more than an hour a day and not run the risk of over training. I think you have some misconceptions about training. I'm never going to say Cardio is bad for you. However, it is can slow down your goal if you're looking to add mass. I guess...if the mass if fat, which I don't understand why anyone would want to add. Cardio can actually help you build muscle, so advising against it would be a very bad idea. There really is no downside to working cardio into your workout.

Ok, fine, but Braun vs Maybin is hardly debatable at this point, nor is LaPorta vs Smoker. You also make the claim that we don't have a "premier" player at P,C,CF,2B,SS. Well, we've certainly drafted several in the past few years, and developed them and graduated them to the big leagues. I wonder, would your opinion be different if Weeks, Hardy, Gallardo, Parra, Braun, and others were still in the minors? Complaining about the Brewers drafts is really going out of your way to find something wrong. And when you use players who are far less accomplished than the players we've picked it makes that argument appear even less valid.

A HOF catcher...regardless of the actual votes. Blyleven isn't in either, so I think some voters are clueless, but in my opinion, he's a HOF catcher.

No, and that's why I feel it's a good idea to maybe make a change, but only change for the sake of change...which I think may be called for in this case. I do have to say that I really disagree with a lot of the Yost criticisms, however sometimes you simply need a shakeup. And I was in favor of bringing Ted Simmons in last year when the team plateaued.

I don't feel very fortunate that the Cubs have a guy like Cedeno to go to when Theriot cools down. The pressure's off Cedeno now and he's going to be the players his minor league numbers suggested he'd be. And as you know, I'm not saying this because of his incredibly hot start.

Here's the short term problems with this scenario. LaPorta is a leftfielder, so Braun might have to be moved to rightfield. I don't see this as a real problem as Braun has the range and arm for rightfield. Well, LaPorta's been playing Right Field. In fact, that's almost all he's played. Clearly they want him to be a right fielder in the future. Frankly, I could see Braun as a possible CF'er in the future. Not this year, but he has the athletic ability to play there in the future. I don't think it's impossible that in the long term, you could see Gamel, Braun and LaPorta in the OF rather than Hart as everyone seems to assume. I'll concede that most will not like this idea, but I'm just throwing it out there. Of course Braun would need to prove he's got the ability to get to enough balls, but if Hart is seen as a potential CF'er, why not Braun? He's got the physical tools. Each player needs an entire year at AA and possibly a third to half season in AAA. Why? Based on what? What exactly suggests those two need that much time in the minors? That would still have Braun in AAA right now. Not every player needs to take the same route to the big leagues. I don't think guys like Lincecum can be had in a trade. Why? He was shopped around this past off-season. He could have been had for Rios which tells me that he could be had for Corey Hart, if not Corey Hart plus a minor leaguer. So the question might be. Can we get Hall for Cain? I assume we could get Hart for Cain, but I could also be way off base. I don't think we could get Cain for Hall. In fact, I'm fairly certain we couldn't. Cain's not far behind Lincecum. He's another frontline starter. I'd be fine with giving up Hart for Cain plus a prospect and bringing LaPorta up.

Well I guess with 6 picks, you've still got plenty of picks to use to go after high impact talent. And the guy you get in the supplemental round isn't as likely to contribute if he's a high school player as a college arm who's close to the big leagues. If you could get two good BP arms that could help by OD 09, or in the case of Fields right away, I think you'd have a successful draft. OF course if a guy like Skipworth is around, I'd rather grab him.

Ned Yost - (1) Switch up the batting order, try Corey Hart at lead off, drop Weeks lower in the order, (2) Quit being so positive and rosy all the time, acknowledge when there are problems, tell it like it is instead of defending everyone all the time, (3) HIT AND RUN MORE OFTEN I don't understand why people want Hart hitting leadoff instead of Weeks. Not only will Hart likely have a better OBP at the end of the year, but Hart is a far better hitter with RISP than Weeks. I also seem to remember one of the biggest complains about Yost was that he changes his order too much? I'd think people would like the consistency with his lineup. I also don't understand why people think that Yost should, or would stop being positive. What's the benefit to that? To calling out his players in public? That's how you lose players real quick. I don't get why people think that would change anything for the better. All it would do would give people something less to complain about with regards to him...then again, I could easily see people saying that Yost is too negative and how the manager needs to have a positive outlook, ect..ect... Doug Melvin - (1) Hire Terry Ryan as a consultant, and start acquiring baseball players instead of softball players. (2) Appreciate and acquire more of the little guys who know how to handle the bat. We need more guys like Kevin Seitzer, Jeff Cirillo, Fernando Vina, Mark Loretta, etc. Don't be so enamored with sluggers. (3) Trade Matt LaPorta for young talented arms. Pitching wins, (4) Only give out big contracts to impact players and not guys like Suppan and Gagne. Drafting "sluggers" has served us pretty well. I'm not sure I'd want a player like any of those guys over Braun, Prince, Hart, LaPorta...ect..ect... I think the one big criticism of Ryan was his inability to draft sluggers. Though, I don't know that he had a big impact on the draft, and I really don't know that bringing him in would help us in any way. I have to say that the entire premise of this thread is a little weird to me. I mean, in most cases it's just "do better". In others it's you telling them that the way they do things isn't right. I mean, with all due respect, the idea of people on a message board giving advice as to building a team to Doug Melvin is a little presumptuous, don't you think? The guy who's helped put the Brewers back on the map and who built the Rangers into a perennial division winner/playoff contender in his career?

Are you suggesting that all of those picks were the wrong ones? Because if you are, I think it's either unclear at this point, or a very good argument could be made that they were the right picks. What's more, the Brewers are lauded for the position players they've drafted early, so I find it odd that anyone says that's their major flaw. Just doesn't make any sense to me.

What about taking both Colby? We could take Fields with the 1st pick and Weatherford with a supplemental 1st round pick. Then use the other 4 picks on the best player available, but if we could get two guys who have closers stuff who could be in our bullpen by OD 09, that would really limit the amount of work Doug's got this off-season, and allow us to allocate more resources to re-signing our young players, or whatever else. Given how many question marks we've got for next years pen, Fields and Weatherford would like nice with Stetter, Torres, Shouse, Mota and perhaps Pena or Lyon from the D-backs as our closer.

Tim Lincecum's not any good. Matt Lincecum is his younger brother who's going to be a REAL stud. My thoughts are that we trade for the draft rights to the number 1 pick and draft him, and install him instantly as our ace. In the next sentence I go on to basically say we have no room for them in the majors right now. I don't think they need all of next year to develope in the minors offensivley, but there isn't any room for them right now and it wouldn't be the end of the world if we left young MLB ready talent in the minors an extra year. Well, first of all, while I was quoting you, it was more a general question to others who have echoed the same sentiments. Several others on this thread as well as others have said that they'd like to see LaPorta and Gamel(moreso LaPorta) stay in the minors through 09. As for you in particular, I was kinda operating under the assumption that we'd have traded Corey Hart or opened up room. But I do agree, if we don't make any moves, I'd like to see us bring Cameron back, and I'd also like to see both stay in the minors save for a callup for interleague games through next season just because it'd mean that we don't need them, and because it'd mean we'd have possession of them longer. So in that sense, I do agree with you and should have read a little closer. But at the same time, I'm still curious why others want to see them stay down in the minors because they think they need the time to develop.

I certainly didn't say it in the off-season, but I'm damn sure saying it now. I wouldn't deal for Gamel for anything, but a good young starting pitcher. Not even a guy like Sabathia who's gone after this year(though that'd make me think about it long and hard). And not for a BP arm. And what's more, I'd much rather deal Matt LaPorta as it appears that Gamel's nearly as talented if not more, just as close to being ready, and offers a left handed bat rather than a right handed bat. And, on top of all that, LaPorta's the player that seems to be more highly touted, meaning the return on him would be greater. So not only he Gamel more valuable to us, he's less valuable to other teams. That's a good reason to not deal him. I do however think that the corner OF or 1st is a foregone conclusion for Gamel. I don't see him sticking at 3rd.

And I think this year we will. I think that a guy like Fields if he's still around at 16 is the type we'll go after. But you also can't discount what the Brewers have done. Go after the guy with the really high ceiling in the 1st round when we're a couple years away(as has been the case the last time we drafted a High School pitcher in the first round), or go for the college arm without the talent level the high school arms do. When you're ready to compete, that's one thing, but when you're not, it's playing it too safe and that's not a good idea either in my opinion. Of course now we've got the luxury of being able to do both. Grab a couple college arms, closers possibly in particular, and then go after a couple very high ceiling young high school arms. As for the Prince and Red Sox comment, that's overplayed. This organization is put together in a manner in which they'll still be successful while Prince is with the Red Sox if that even happens(which I happen to doubt).

I was an advocate for bringing him in, provided he could get results. This, however, he hasn't done. Wasn't everyone? I mean, of course nobody would be in favor of bringing him in if he didn't get the results. I don't find it acceptable, however, to blow multi-run leads with a $10 million contract. I guess I don't care what his contract is. That makes almost no difference to me. One of my biggest pet peeves in sport is the "This guy's getting paid ____ to pitch the 9th inning, or this guy's getting paid ____ to catch the ball. If I failed in my job, I'd be fired. First of all, he's already on his team, so he's evaluated on his performance. What's more, in other jobs, someone's not working directly against you. I mean, show me a construction worker who can build a house while someone else is there with a wrecking ball trying to knock it down. You saying that it's not acceptable to blow leads with a 10 million dollar contract is suggesting that it is for a guy who's making the league minimum. Why? To me, his salary given that it's a one year deal, and you're not going to use it to try and unload him doesn't have anything to do with anything after it's signed. Right now, it's about how he's pitching, not how he's pitching relative to his contract. I am confident that we have someone (probably even someone in the minors) that can go in there are go 9/14 on save opportunities, At least one of those blown saves wasn't on him as Weeks booted an easy DP ball. In any event, so what? So we have someone else who can do the exact same thing as him? Wouldn't the point to be to find someone better? And I'm not sure who we have in the minors would be so much better. Pena doesn't look like he would be up till this point.

The rumor that I've heard was that the deal Nathan signed made him more likely to be dealt because teams would be getting him for more than just the end of this year. It was Gammons who reported that there was still a decent chance that he'd be dealt, so just saying "he's not going anywhere" because he signed the contract may be a bit premature. As far as dealing Gange, that's not going to happen. In part because he's not yet eligible to be dealt. In part because who's going to want him. And in part because if he doesn't figure it out, we're in a lot of trouble. We need him to. Who else can we put in there Stetter? He's done really well, but it's just way to early to throw him into a role like that. I think what he's doing is really impressive, but it's still not likely to happen. He's a soft tossing left handed specialist. He's in a position right not that he can excel. But you do not throw a loogy into the closers role after less than a games worth of innings. WAY too early yet, even if he does lead the league in blown saves. we know he won't do well in the setup role from what happened in Boston, so if he's not closing, there's not a huge use for him and he basically becomes Turnbow. plus closer ego is fragile, so you really can't go fiddling around with his role unless you're going to make it a permanent move That's the story we were sold, but that's not the story that Gange sold. He said that had very little to do with it. He said that he just wasn't throwing the ball well, and that's why he got hit hard in Boston and that he would have been able to adjust to the SU role, but that he wanted to stay in the closers role. The thing is, making Torres your closer sucks when you've got Parra or Villy out there only going 5 because he's usually the one who pitches innings 6 and 7. Having Mota as the closer would be alright, but again, I like him more in the 7th/8th innings, Riske's struggled, but I don't see him blowing anyone away anymore than Gange does or has. We're going to live or die by Eric Gange as our closer.