Thurston Fluff

This is awesome. I can see the next Cardinal/cub pregame meals. Tea and Crumpets maybe cucumber sandwiches with the crust cut off. La Russa and Quade sipping lemon tinged Earl Grey, pinky extended, talking about how absurd it is that such uncouth barbarian teams like Milwaukee and Cincinnati being ahead of them in the standings. "It's terrible such teams don't succumb to the natural rules and allow us to win at a rate commensurate with our culture." says Tony. "What are you wearing to the royal wedding?" asks Mike somewhat distractedly as he digs into his brief case. "Oh sorry old chap, I was looking for my unwritten rule book but it appears not to be here. Perhaps that's because it hasn't been written. But I digress. What were you saying?"

The only way the Brewers resign Prince is if he is serious about not wanting to be a DH and the Brewers are the only team who will let him play first. I doubt that will be the case.

Really? Prove this to me. I'm open to changing my mind but nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I have seen the first two weeks makes me believe that Nieves deserves a spot on any roster in MLB. He is an average catcher and he is a horrible hitter. Kottaras may be just average at hitting, but he isn't horrible catching. That's enough of a difference to keep Kottaras. Proof of catchers defense is impossible but when all other teams deem his less useful than their backup catcher it should tell you something. It may not if he was old or on his last year in the organization but this is a cheap player who would be under a team's control for a couple more years at the least. That a rebuilding team with budget constraints didn't take a shot on him should be even more telling of his catching ability. I did think he improved behind the plate this season. He may even become a viable option down the road but at this point I'll take the good defensive catcher who can also help a young developing Lucroy with that side of the game.

but Mark A I'm sure loves it and that is probably one of the main reasons this deal got done. Mark A is a finance guy and he knows all about the present value of money, ie a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. I don't know the specifics of this deal but usually deferred money comes with interest so the actual dollars paid probably is more than the face value of deferred money. Two things I am usually against is deferred money and no trade clauses. Deferred money can hamper a team past his years on the team and the other limit options in building a team. In this case I don't have a problem with it. The deferred money is offset by the home town discount he's given twice now. The no trade clause a fair exchange for someone who was willing to give us the home town discount because he loves being here. All in all a great day to be a Brewers fan.

My point is that just because he's fast doesn't mean he can effectively bunt for base hits. You have to be able to actually bunt well to do that. For a guy who isn't a very good hitter, to lose even one strike on a foul bunt is going to crush his offensive numbers. Don't get me wrong, making the corners have to cheat in has it's benefit but unless Gomez can get bunts down for hits a fair amount of time, it's counterproductive. With Gomez losing one strike is irrelevant. He's going to swing at bad pitches early and often. At best they become strikes at worst flyballs or grounders. So if you have a guy who is always going to be swinging at balls and is always going to be in 0-2, 1-2 counts why not have him get strike one bunting instead of swinging and missing or getting flyball outs? Yes, he occasionally gets extra base hits on those early swings. IIRC you once brought up a study that showed OBP created slightly more run production than SLG. IF that's true why wouldn't a slight uptick in OBP be a better way to cover his weakness than hoping he slugs well enough to make up for the low OBP?

I'm generally concerned with the concept of one relief pitcher in a bullpen that is blessed with magical powers that grant him and only him the power to pitch in specific situations. I'm equally concerned that his magical powers are only to be used when it will result in a "save" that inexplicably makes his value skyrocket. I think most relievers do better when given a specific role. That isn't just for closers but each reliever should have his job defined as much as such an unpredictable job allows. I agree with you guys who get saves are considered more valuable than they should be.

I think Ron needs to have some time to learn his players before critiquing his use of them. As far as bench players like Kotsay goes sure they have warts. If they could hit for power, get on base well and field they would be starters. I think bench guys need to do somethign well and Kotsay has got on base at a decent clip so far. I also think bench players need to play some or they will be useless when we do need them. So I'm willing to give some leeway to Ron at this point. So far the worst of the last three managers was the one who was the best in game as well as lineup selection and batting order. I think how a manager handles players and personalities is far more important than the above mentioned abilities. Given the strengths and weaknesses of our last three managers that belief has only increased.

Seems like RR has an idea of what he'd like Gomez to be so he tries to fit the square peg into a round hole. The job of a manager is to make the most of what you have; not pretend that you can mold what you into what you want. Not so sure he's the one trying to make a square peg fit a round hole. I think Gomez is the one who doesn't use his tools correctly. He has speed and no plate discipline. That seems to be the perfect guy to bunt more. Maybe he isn't good at it yet but what is he good at offensively? Since he's a work in progress why not make the work something that has a shot of being productive sooner than later?

Because when you're in the playoff hunt, every single win matters. Because the difference between Yuni and almost anyone else at SS is 1 to 2 wins over the course of a season. Those two wins are worth much more to the team than "marginal". This team was built to win x amount of games. There are always scenarios were one more win could be possible if only we had one slightly better guy somewhere. While it always possible to build a team to win X + 1, cost has to be added in that equation regardless of what management says. Taking money out of the equation it could be argued we needed to add a lot more. After all we got the rotation figured out so why not address everything to give us the maximum chance of winning? How about center field? I mean Morgan and Gomez for a winning team? There has to be someone out there who could possibly get us one more win. Why not add a better backup catcher. Are we really going to trust that one win we need to a AAAA guy? How about the bullpen? A bunch of one year wonders and two old guys? Are we really trusting our season to them? If we added another sure fire veteran in his late 20 early 30's that's another possible couple wins right there. Furthermore if one win would be worth adding Punto then it can be argued that two more wins would be worth adding Punto and Cabrera. Maybe then we add another marginally better 4th outfielder and a backup 1st baseman. After all we'd hate to waste this season hoping Prince can play every game and there has to be someone better than a 33 year old career minor leaguer out there. This team is built well enough with Yuni at short to be very good. Trying to figure out how he's going to cost us that one magical win vs all the other possible magical win scenarios is futile. Not to mention used the way it's being used in this thread tiresome. There are always ways to make the team one possible win better. Then again those possible scenarios could play out like Punto and possibly make our team one win worse because he can't help us win on the DL. Yuni is who he is and he's ours until we find a replacement. Complaining about him or Melvin for having him is fine if there was A- a clear cut better option B- the team sucked or C- We knew Melvin actually wanted him and wasn't forced to take him as part of the deal. I suspect all three are not true.

Friend of mine is both Bears and Brewers fan. I keep telling him half a brain is better than none at all.

I suspect Melvin getting Yuni was part of the deal because KC wanted him to be part of it. Since Melvin needed a SS anyway I think it made sense. It's one year and I don't believe the Brewers are on a one year, go for it all mode, that some seem to think. They have at least two seasons with this staff as it is and only two position players to be replaced next season. One is already in house in Gamel the other needs to be addressed. I think they thought they would be covered better than they are due to Cruz making a rather silly decision and moving on. SO it's one season where they knew full well they would have a poor SS. I also disagree that they can just spend enough to get what they want. As far as these other options like Punto and Cabrera sure they may be marginally better but if they had to take Yuni as part of the deal why pay both for maybe marginally better? Punto is hurt now but there was no way to predict that. Other than his history no. Someone who has a total of one season with 150 games and only 4 season of 100 plus should raise some alarm bells though.

You can't judge defense with stats over such a small sample, you really do need to use the scouting angle for small samples. You can't predict future defense nor overall defense with those small samples. You can judge his defense over the specific period of time he was putting up those numbers. Those numbers showed he got to a lot more out of zone balls than he traditionally does. Thus his objective measurements seem to be that of better defense than his past suggests. If the question is has his defense been a pleasant surprise so far based on the objective measurements I would say yes. If the question is do I expect it to last based on the objective measurements I would say no.

Why not adjust lineups more frequently for current trends that players are on? Because it's impossible to tell when a player will suddenly start to hit again and when they will stop hitting. If you continuously change according to 10 game stretches you will always be dropping players in the order who will likely out hit the guy who went up the order. Add in the pressing factor any player will have when he knows a bad 10 days gets him bumped or benched and you have a recipe for prolonged slumps and overall bad seasons. Fact is the better overall hitters are the better option to hit well no matter how they played the last 10 days or so. If given a significant stretch someone is still struggling then it might be time to rethink their spot in the lineup. When that time is I think depends on the specific player. The more established the hitter the longer leash he should have.

A lineup with 3 performing hitters and 6 below average players is not going to make it. How often does the lineup ever have more than 3 hot hitters at a time?

Is there ever a time when all the players are hitting well on any team? Each player will struggle at times and be hot at times. Chances are Prince, Braun and Weeks will cool down by the time McGehee and company pick it up. Overall we should get the same production we had last season mainly because we have the same players as last season. If one or two players have an off year another one or two will have a better than expected season. Just like last season when Hart and Weeks picked up the slack from Fielder and Braun's off seasons.

I'm a little on the fence when it comes to my team stealing bases with a big lead. On one hand players should never stop playing their game because it's too easy to get in a rut as it is. Why make it easier yet by changing what is working because some archaic non rule says you're supposed to let up at a certain point. On the other if they are simply padding their stats I see no real value in it. I do think teams who complain about it happening to them should keep quiet unless they told the opponent they will quit trying to score runs. To keep trying to get back in the game but expect the other team to stop trying to keep it out of reach is about as stupid a request as one could ask of their opponent.

Interesting. So you think it is related to current training/workout routines and isn't just a semantics thing. I was thinking maybe they just called it a "side injury" back in the 70's/80's and players just played throught it, toughed it out and maybe just had down years statistically as a result. But what you are saying is that this is something new They certainly are doing more of it now than the 70's. More precisely though is I think the workout regimes change through time. Core training seems to be a big thing now days. It shouldn't come as a surprise that along with this increase is core training you would see an increase of those who don't core train correctly. Perhaps they are in a phase of learning what type of core training is the right type. Who knows for sure. One thing I do know is all types of training start out as well reasoned theory put into practice. If the theory holds up the training is a success. If there are unintended side effects it may not be. I tend to think the biggest unintended side effect is strains, tears and pulls usually due to a lack of balancing out strength with flexibility. One of my personal feelings on weight training in general is trainers focus way too much on strength and too little on flexibility to make sure the muscles don't overpower themselves so to speak.

On #3 I think Captain Ron was onto something about over conditioning or poor conditioning programs. I think he was referring to Hart at the time but I think it's very common for athletes in general to focus solely on strength but totally forget flexibility work to balance that out. Probably partially because it's boring and partially because, if done correctly, it's kind of painful. Proper stretching for flexibility requires making tiny micro tears in the muscle that adds length to the muscle as it heals. That type of stretching is best done after workouts not before. Trainers generally focus on stretching before the workout not after. Before workout stretching helps prevent immediate injury but does nothing for long term flexibility. After workout stretching does that yet most programs I've been part of totally neglects that. They do cool downs but not flexibility expansion exercises.

Thanks for the info. Seems backwards to me though. The only time some teams get large weekday crowds early in the season is opening day. Seems like a wasted opportunity to have an extra big attendance day by opening on a day that would have already had a big crowd.

Just heard today that 10 teams are having their home opener today. Isn't that kind of a lot to be opening at home so late or has it always been that way?

well played cheez. Seriously though body trunk muscles are very tough to heal and often linger until extended rest is possible. I wouldn't be surprised if it hampers him in some way for months.

Isn't the prevailing analysis of Gamel's defensive weakness was in making throws from 3B, not his range or fielding (= ball into mitt)? If that is true, then Gamel's range and fielding capabilities should be a distinct defensive upgrade over Fielder, since the typical criticism of Fielder is his lack of range and fielding. While his issues were more related to throwing than catching he has very limited experience at first. Couple that with the fact he will have to throw the ball some in either postion I don't see it as a foregone conclusion Gamel will be a significant upgrade. As far as Fielder's range is concerend I don't think his range was all that much of an issue. Catching the ball seems to be his bugaboo.

I believe Gamel's too talented to not be a productive offensive player in the big leagues, and I believe he's capable of hitting .300/.375/.450. That with what one would assume is much improved defense would vastly limit the loss of Prince, What has Gamel shown so far to make you assume he'd be a huge defensive upgrade?

Nieves appears to be ahead of Kottaras on the depth chart, which is also troubling. Nieves seems to be the better catcher both past reputation wise and from my admittedly limited observation stand point. I have no problem with a better defensive backup catcher.

Funny you mentioned the need to be free to clap, drink etc. I was just talking to a friend about how neither of us ever watches the game as closely at the stadium as we do at home. Probably should keep score when I go just to get my money's worth.