Eileen Wright

Here are the players I am referring to: JJ Hardy (.235 AVG., .300OBP, 11HR, 44 RBI in at least 373 plate appearances) Corey Hart (.259 AVG., .332 OBP., 11HR, 39 RBI in at least 379 plate appearances) Bill Hall (.202 AVG., .264 OBP., 5 HR, 20 RBI in 215 plate appearances) Manny Parra (4-8, 6.42 ERA) Dave Bush (3-4, 5.67 ERA) Seth McClung (3-3, 5.03 ERA) These are way too many players to be regressing especially when they are at the ages where they should be progressing. An argument could be made that, besides McClung, that the other 5 players I listed (along with Fielder, Yo, and Braun) were the key pieces of our team for years to come.

Using this logic, you can also say that we need Ned Y back then too. (I don't mean that, but the same logic applies here)

And Bring Back The Stein Wrote: "As for the substantive questions, Macha can do little with a rotation that's bunk and vets that are batting below their career averages (other than where they hit)." This goes back to another beef I have with Macha and that I already posted about: the selections of coaches Macha made with his staff. If firing Yost was because he couldn't get us to the next level, then why did Macha basically keep and/or promote the high majority of Yost's staff? These players should be progressing and not regressing. I truly feel the coaches are not of much help, and Macha is to blame for selecting them on his staff.

I don't believe this to be really true. Sheets and CC never really pitched together. Last year, combined, they basically equalled one player of service time. Plus, we gained a full season (fingers crossed ) of Yo this year which we didn't have last year, and many people believed Yo would have been an All-Star this year if his spot in the rotation did not come up the way it did. Plus, we got to add an All Star closer this year, which we had nothing close to last year. I believe everything has evened out in that respect from last year to this year.

Yes, Ken Macha does not hit, pitch, or field the ball, but it is his responsibility to put our ballclub in the best possible position to win every ballgame. He did not do it last night by keeping Suppan in for so long, and he did not do it tonight by starting Villy over Dillard. A good friend also brought up to me that Macha said that Villy was only going to go three innings tonight, so why did he put him in the fourth in the first place?

6. Macha's choices in coaching staff. This got me extremely angry before the season even started. If the point of Macha was to come in and get our team to the next level, then why did he choose his hitting coach who was last season's interim manager and has been in various coaching roles in our organization at the Major League level for the past three years and his pitching coach to be a person who has been a coach in the organization at the Major League level for the last 17 years?! The first base coach has been in the same position for two years prior and his bullpen coach has been in the organization for the past eight years. Where is the real change here to take our team to the next level? In actuality, these coaches have been promoted from where they were (not counting Svuem's one month as interim manager). At least his bench coach was someone new. Do others here think that the same old coaching staff plays a decent part in why there has been little to no progression from our team and many of its key players?

Ok, my head feels better so I will add two more reasons to my list why I strongly disapprove of the job performance of Ken Macha this year. 4. Mat Gamel. I thought he never got a fair shake at all during his time up. Although Counsell has surprised me greatly with how well he has been this season, I would strongly prefer him not playing as much as he has and giving more time to Gamel. I believe Counsell, like Kendall, would benefit throughout the season with more rest and not having Counsell on our bench severely depletes the quality of our bench. Plus, it seemed that Gamel was starting to receive more playing time during his final week here and he did really well including hitting two big home runs, one that kept us in a game, and one that basically won us a game. I know Lopez takes up a spot, but I would have rather seen Gerut or Hall getthe axe instead. I know Doug Melvin decides who stays and who goes, but Macha fills up the lineup card and I wish he put Gamel's name on it more than he did. 5. Bill Hall. As of this post, Ken Macha has given Bill Hall at least 215 at bats this year (I don't know if Hall has any sacrifice flies or hit by pitches this year). Enough said! There may be even more to follow.

I saw Minaya on the MLB Network tonight. Does he dye his hair (it looked blonde to me), and if so, what rational man his age does this?

I see on these Forums that several people here are blaming various players (Hardy, Hart, to name a few) and GM Doug Melvin for all of the woes our team is going through. Granted, they do bear some responsibility for what is happening this season. But my question is, "Why is Ken Macha getting a free pass?" Here are my several beefs with Ken Macha (and in no particular order, except for point number one): 1. Nothing close to a set batting order. Before Doug Melvin did a very good move and acquired Lopez, I can count at least five different players who have led off for us (Weeks, Hart, Gamel, Kendall, and Counsell) Granted Weeks got hurt and I believe Gamel led off once, but I strongly feel that there is simply no excuse to have so many different lead off hitters. Not to mention the fact that these lead off hitters haven't stayed in place for prolonged periods of time to even get acclaimated to their spots in the lineup. Also, let's look at the two position players who I notice that most often get blamed on these forums (Hardy and Hart). Where do they exactly bat in Macha's lineup? Hart gets put at lead off, sixth, and I believe seventh and eighth. Same for Hardy except he has batted second instead of first. I think it can be tough for not just younger players, but any player to be switched all around in the lineup and have no consistency. Granted, they bear blame for not being overly productive, but I strongly feel all of this bouncing around is not helping matters at all. It's is frustrating for me as a fan as well. There have been several times that I have turned on a Brewer game in the third or fourth inning and JJ, Corey, Kendall, Counsell, etc. is batting and I have absolutely no clue where they are in the order or who is due up after them. 2. Jason Kendall. 2a. Why is this guy playing everyday?! I know this has been debated several times and by many here BUT isn't it the manager's decision, job, and responsibility to decide who is playing every day? I understand Rivera isn't lighting the world on fire offensively, but couldn't Kendall benefit from a LITTLE rest every now and then? I know Rivera was Bush's personal catcher and Bush is ailing but Manny Parra has had a good history of success with Rivera as his catcher in the minors (a perfect game) and in the majors since he came back from AAA. So what does Macha do? He starts Kendall in Parra's last start and Parra blows up, giving up 10 hits, 3 walks, and 4 runs in only five innings of work. Pairing Kendall with Parra makes absolutely no sense to me. Parras last three games before he was sent down were all complete blowups, and Kendall was his catcher for all of them. 2b. Why did Kendall leadoff so much before Lopez was acquired? I know we didn't have a true leadoff hitter at the time, but Kendall frankly stunk there. His OBP as a leadoff hitter was terrible and so was the Brewer record when he leadoff. When a reporter brought these facts up to Macha, he reacted surprised and clearly had no idea of the facts. Granted Kendall led off before in his careeer, but that was many years and All Star seasons ago. 3. Carlos Villanueva. He has had, overall, a terrible season. Macha has come out recently and said that he will restrain from putting him in close situations. So now what does Macha do? He STARTS him this Tuesday! At least give Dillard the shot if you brought him up here supposedly for that purpose. It would have been the best chance to ease Dillard into the role. A home game against, record wise, the worst team in baseball. It's not like we are asking Dillard to make his starting MLB debut in LA, Philly, Chicago, St. Louis, etc. This decision by Macha makes no sense to me. There are other, smaller things that bother me about Macha, but I am seriously getting a headache right now. I may bring them up later in this thread when I feel better. But again, my main question is "Why is Ken Macha getting a free pass?" Yost wasn't my favorite guy in the world, but I know many, many people would flame him on a routine basis here, yet I see hardly anything now against Ken Macha. Yost got a .500 winning record out of this team two years ago (without a full season of Ryan Braun), and basically that is where we are today. Yost got better results from this team last year (even before getting CC). Shouldn't this team be doing better and shouldn't individual players be progressing as these seasons go by? The core of our team has basically been the same the past three years. To me Macha has made just as many bad decisions this season, if not worse, than Ned Yost has during his tenure, but the high majority of Brewer fans continually and constantly give him a free pass. I just don't get it at all.