MoneyballMan

And definitely, definitely do the Sunday brunch in the Wisconsin Room. I concur (especially about the Sunday brunch! best ever)

I can't escape the thought that some lady died at Sybaris. I would think the whole time it was in my pool, would make me feel gross. Thanks for the recommendations. We've been to the Osthaff and have enjoyed it. A woman dying there would be the least of my worries. Only way I'm jumping in one of those pools is with a full body condom on!

Had a chance for a huge inning, but at least we got one across. Let's get another!

Absolutely - it's the little things that win games as well. Get the double play here and that play by Hart would be HUGE.

YES

I noticed Billingsley and Kemp for Sheets in an early post - I personally think you're overvaluing Sheets, but if for some miracle the Dodgers would do this deal I'd jump on that in a heartbeat. Billingsley is already as good as Sheets or better (and younger/cheaper) and Kemp is going to be a very solid corner OF. Only reason holding him back in LA is depth. If DM made a deal like this, he should go directly to the GM hall of fame.

1977-80: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bf/Wtmj0479.jpg/120px-Wtmj0479.jpg I'll let us get back to "3", but I couldn't pass up commenting on this one. This was my favorite TV station logo ever - guy sitting on the toilet reading.

I assume (since I don't see anything referenced in this thread thus far) that no one has heard any recent comments from Yost or Melvin regarding Hall? I'm not sure I've even seen comments about Hall and his general lack of playing time.

Yikes. I just read that, and it made me sick to my stomach. I can just imagine the smile on their faces as they were following the game on their computers: Braun removed in the 7th, bunting with .895 OPS Corey Hart - AGAIN, Spurling and Wise but no Cordero. Now they're sending their own members over here to laugh at us wallowing in our misery. This was supposed to be the year we did that to them! Stupid Cubs...Stupid Ned Yost...... I threw up on myself a little bit as well. I've been very patient in my opinion of Yost, but after last night's game.... especially seeing the Cubs fans' glee.

Amen brother

Ok, the first two nights at Minute Maid were good, so I guess I'll go again tonight. And no, even though I had a few of Miller's finest last night, it wasn't me running on the field in the 9th!

I'm still hoping for the Yankees (or any really rich owner) to come along and offer a really big contract so I can sit back, relax and just play occasionally for the next 5 or 6 years while living in the lap of luxury. In the meantime, I'll just keep toiling away with the small-market club I'm with -making sure I wash my own uniform, fly commerical instead of charter and eat grilled cheese instead of filet mignon.

I agree. I drank like a fish at UW-Whitewater my freshman and sophomore years and only had about 2.8-3.2 GPA. Then the real classes started (finance) and I averaged 3.9 my last two years (even continuing to drink like a fish). On to graduate school and finished with MBA in 2 1/2 years (total 6 1/2 for BBA/MBA) and partying/drinking was all part of the experience. Best time of my life (although it has probably been a few more years ago than most of you !!). Enjoy and just remember... even though they're drilling you with liberalism now, everyone becomes a conservative when they grow up.

I appreciate the opinions. I lean toward those who say keep in and keep the depth. I was interested in whether or not people thought they'd try to move him or not.

Best argument I've seen.

But would he agree to it if it meant going somewhere like NY, Boston, etc? Again, I'm not advocating, but just wondering if they may consider it. New York could be in the market for SP and the contract wouldn't be a problem for them.

Complete speculation on my part, but I'd be interested in other opinions. Assuming Suppan finishes the season strong, do you try to move him in the offseason? In no particular order (after Sheets), we have reasonable SP depth: Sheets Gallardo Villanueva Capuano Bush Vargas Parra Jackson Is this the way to find another high-level prospect (or two) and a bullpen arm and take his salary off the books in order to extend Sheets (or lock up a couple of young gun long-term prior to arbitration years)? Or find that "perfect" replacement for Menchkins? A month ago, I'm not sure anyone thought he'd bring enough value in return. But with a strong finish....? What say everyone?

I have to agree tonight (with the Ned bashing). Not just the no pinch hit for Jenkins and double-steal, but also for leaving Soup in for the 7th. Yost has been religious about his 7, 8, 9 innings all year, Suppan gives you six strong innings, why can't that be good enough?! And yes, I know Suppan only had 85 pitches or something, but it just goes against what Ned has done all year - AND, we should just be thankful Suppan gave us six strong!! We only have what, 18 pitchers in the bullpen right now?

Yep. And I'm still stuck here at work having to read the freaking IGT that way. Ah well. Yep, same here - no Firefox on the work laptop while out of town, so this is just irritating.

Once again I agree completely. And I'm beginning to hope they don't try too hard to shake anything up. I guess I'm neutral right now on Yost. If there's an obvious upgrade available this offseason, fine. But if we just bring in another "up and coming manager", then I say stick with Yost. And Melvin has done everything possible to turn this team around - a job many experts didn't think was even possible a few years ago (remember all the contraction talk?). If we fail to make a serious run at the division next year (assuming no huge outbreak of injuries for instance), then it may be time for major change. But I'm leaning toward "ride what we've built thus far".

Rebuilding is when you jettison all of your salary and don't replace it. I can't fathom the Brewers doing that this offseason. They're still in a very good position to win by supplementing their core, young players with free agents or creative trades. Completely agree - many of the pieces are in place (and relatively cheap for the next few years). And I think realistically, 2008 was the target "go for it" year anyhow. With our quick start this year, everyone got excited and all of a sudden expected a championship this year. I'm trying to tell myself that the 24-10 start demonstrated the huge potential of this team and that youth/inexperience just caught up to us this year. This year may be disappointing due to the great position we were in, but I doubt anyone (MA/DM) will panic and tear apart a team with tons of talent and potential.

That's a great point that I hadn't really considered. It will be the perfect time (and possibly the only way) for us to extend him.

I'd say that from an ownership perspective, it'd be a heck of a lot easier to fire a Ned Yost than it would be to fire a Robin Yount or Paul Molitor. The Packers had to go through firing a head coach who had been a star player (Bart Starr). That sucked. Great point. But I question whether that was a strong reason for hiring him originally. It certainly didn't hurt from a PR perspective, but I think there was a fair amount of agreement around MLB that he was a logical up-and-coming manager. Along those lines, I know Molitor and Yount are occasionally mentioned (I'm assuming as sentimental favorites). Does anyone know how they're viewed around baseball? Are they really future managerial material? Yount doesn't seem to have the commitment and I've actually seen Molitor mentioned more on a future GM/President/Commissioner path.

Aarrrgh! Why do we still have to hear the 'Pitchers are evaluated by W-L record' argument? How many times does this need to be objectively refuted before people soak it in? Ok, take another stat and run with it. Are you arguing that everyone was correct in that we had a solid rotation or that everyone overvalued it? I have not seen anything (stats or otherwise) to back up why people thought we were going to have such a solid rotation. But I ask that not defensively but honestly - I just haven't seen anything to back up everyone's early season optimism. And this still doesn't diminish the issue of this thread - one question MA needs to ask is whether or not DM accurately assesses talent levels. I wasn't arguing that he's good at it or bad at it - just that as an example, the rotation certainly hasn't lived up to expectations and valuing talent is certainly part of the criteria MA should use to judge DM's ability. Sorry I used W-L records as the primary stat in my example above.

I agree with both points. It's just like "make a trade for the sake of making a change" rationale. I believe Mark A is bright enough to be very rational and objective with personnel decisions since he's obviously had to make them in the business world (and probably with mucho dinero involved). Start at the top of the organization and work you way down and then back up the other side. Do we have people in place that are capable of performing well? Are there factors other than each of those people individually that has caused the season to go south? In my mind (pretending to be Mark A, which would be fun for a day, wouldn't it?), there are a couple of real issues to weigh. First, the relative youth of the team. There are quite a few players that we have depended on this year who haven't been anywhere near this situation (and in some cases may not have even played this many games in a season, let alone been in a MLB pennant race). Second, did DM overvalue the starting rotation? I have said from the beginning of the year that we were expecting a lot from a group of pitchers that really don't have any consistent history of 12-15 wins/year or more. Whether it be Sheets (injuries), Suppan (only reason he's over .500 for career is vs the Crew), Vargas (12-10 best year, but career 4.96 ERA), Capuano (one good season, but soft-tosser), or Bush (12-11, 10-9 last two years, but career 4.45 ERA), it seemed like an awful lot to ask from this group to take them all the way. But in defense of DM in this case, most publications (experts?) didn't speak up to defuse this thinking/expectations. Third, does Yost still have the team's respect? Has anyone quit? Is he still firmly "managing" the team? It seems as though he's ok, but there was that one public flare-up in the dugout. But it's really difficult for an outsider to know the answer to this question. Fourth, does Yost have the baseball intelligence to match wits with the best baseball managers? This is going to be a gut feel by MA and DM. Just peruse BF.net whenever he makes a pitching change and for every move, you'll see diverging opinions. This is very subjective. Fifth, is there a better GM or better manager available to hire? Like with any job, a manager/owner always has to watch for better performers. Again, pretty subjective and up to MA (regarding DM primarily) and DM (regarding Yost primarily). Overall, I believe (and this is just my opinion) that MA is going to give DM and NY at least through the all-star break next year to see if the team can get things going in the right direction. If you think back, expectations were for continued improvement. A run to the playoffs would be a bonus this year. I think in most people's minds, 2008 was really the target year where we should expect them to really challenge legitimately. Now that I've written all of this, I would imagine they'll both be fired after the Cubs series if things go poorly! http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/roll.gif