Thurston Fluff

As we have seen with the Brewers time and time again over the years, success as a reliever is generally fleeting, here today and gone tomorrow. That's a good general assumption except Riske wasn't one of those. He had 8 full season's in the majors prior to coming to the Brewers. All but one of which was very solid. Given the fleeting nature of most relievers I thought it was a good idea to have at least one solid, reliable, you know what you're gonna get out of him, type. It's fine to criticize the move because you don't think any reliever is worth it but to use that particular bit of reasoning doesn't fit what Riske was.

AT the time one of the things our pen lacked was a durable veteran reliever with a history of solid, if unspectacular, seasons. He fit the bill very well. Our team got another guy like that in Hawkins this season with similar results. While I agreed with both it might be time for me to reevaluate the value of such players. Good luck where ever you go and in what ever you do. No hard feelings no big loss. By the following Monday (opening day '08), she was emailing me about "good ol' Riske" coming in late in the game, like she'd known of him his whole career instead of for 48 hours. So he's always jokingly been "good ol' Riske" in the hawing household. Funny. One of the great things about sports is how people come to identify with players for such unusual, or sometimes no, real reason at all. Here is a question, why the crap do you leave Parra in there to get his brains beat in if you have Riske available to pitch? The season is lost and they just had a couple short starts before that and he's a guy with good stuff who has to learn how to get through games like that better. What better time than that to give him extra work?

Yes Diskono you have one of them. Adding the sweater doesn't really help the matter. Nothing against those little guys at all. There are plenty of things they are good for. They make an excellent toilet brush and could probably be used as a broom for curling in a pinch.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Yea I thought about calling authorities about the barking but I think it's only courteous to go to the person first. I would much rather they learn how to raise a dog properly. The problem I think happens when people get tickets for a loud dog is they blame the dog. Then they invariably get rid of it and get another one. While they may have told me to mind my own buisness last night they were out at least trying to train the dog later. It was painful because they have no clue how to do it. Yelling getting frustrated when it didn't respond repeating the command in louder and louder tones until it would have scared Freddie Krueger...the usual stuff. Yet since I was already told to mind my own buisness it's very hard to beleive they would accept help on how to train. My plan now is to bring over food when I grill or smoke and just so happen to have a treat for the dog that I'll give him if he sits or shakes hands to something. Maybe between the food for them and seeing their dog respond to kindness I can break the ice and help them be good dog owners. I also plan on playing my dog in the open a little more. She's amazing so maybe they'll think I'm some sort of dog whisperer or something and be more inclined to accept some help. Hopefully I can lead by example if not by words.

got new neighbors and they have a 2 year old German Shepard who barks continuously. I have yet to see them walk the dog and it stays on about a 6' leash. I was taking to them yesterday and suggested the dog needs more exercise. I was promptly told to mind my own business. Guess their dog barking all the time has nothing to do with me.

Or it was the price they had to pay to take Gwynn of our hands.

If we simply go status quo on offense and assume that we can replace Fielder with Gamel and all will be well, I think we'll be disappointed in our offense next year. I think you're overlooking how much room rookies like Escobar and LuCroy have to grow.

Sometimes scouts are over influenced by physical appearance. That's why big impressive looking guys like Arnett go in round 1 and little guys like Roy Oswalt go much later. I think this is something the brewers plan on doing for the long run. I don't know if you read the article posted in the major league forum about Melvin's research about pitchers development or not but it had a segment about size and velocity being significant factors in increasing the odds of getting to the majors. Yes that means missing out on some guys like Billy Wagner and Tim Lincicum but if it improves the overall number of successful picks so be it. Maybe this isn't the right place for this but I think it may be related to his struggles. Something I wondered about with Melvin's new organizational philosophy on pitchers is how long will it take for some of these guys to get back to where they were before all those changes take place? Kind of one step back to eventually take two forward type of thing. I also have to wonder if maybe those mechanical changes would cause short term pain or discomfort because it is using muscles in a different way that they are used to. Not as worried about long term injury, I know it's supposed to do the opposite, but short term dead arm, fatigue, discomfort type stuff. It's always much easier & short-term satisfactory to have somebody to flame/blame. May I have permission to steal this line the next time Fire the GM or Manager comes up?http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

I agree with this -- I think Parra could be a good reliever, but I think there is not a lot of hope for Parra as a starter. There are only a handful of pitchers that have gotten as many starts as he has, while sucking so loudly. When a left hander has good stuff it isn't all that uncommon to get a lot of chances. Jorge Dela Rossa comes to mind. His horrible year in 06 got him another 23 starts in KC in 07. That 5.82 ERA in 07 got him another 23 starts in 08 where he posted a 4.92 ERA which got him a starting spot this season. That 4.92 ERA is higher than Parra's the same year. Given Parra is a year younger there is no more reason to think he can't ahndle a starting job if given time than JDLR. While I think Parra can still be at least a serviceable starter yet I don't know how useful it is to have him and Narveson on the same starting staff. They both have performed at a 5th starter level at best so far and having two of them developing at the same time is harder for a staff to compensate for. Given my druthers I'd stay with Parra and see what I could get for Narveson.

Awesome jumpinjack. I am a huge border collie fan. if you end up needing some cheap game/exercise ideas feel free to ask.

I agree the Dog Whisperer has a lot of good ideas and certainly is a valuable resource. He teaches many basic concepts that are very helpful. Really what he does very well is train the owner not the dog. Caesar and the "It's Me Or The Dog," gal both do a wonderful job getting the humans up to snuff. I don't agree on all his ideas. for instance making the dog wait until you go through a door before allowing him to. There is no evidence at all that the dogs sees that as you being the pack leader but if it gives people a step by step process to go through it certainly has value in that respect. All in all it's a great show for people like you who were just learning about dog training. I think getting multiple points of view is better in that every dog is different. The bigger part of it was you actaully having a desire to do more with your dog. Kudos to you. The only thing that makes him loose all sense of listening is if he sees a rabbit, squirrel, or chipmunk which there are many of by where i live and walk him. I don't get mad about that though because it's simply deeply ingrained in the genes of Toy Fox Terriers which were bred to hunt down small game like rabbits and squirrels. If you could get a toy fox terrier to stop that you'd either be a master trainer or something is wrong with the dog. like it's dead.

Nothing to add except I love the Crimm reference. For some reason he was always one of my favorites.

I'm not all that familiar with Yorkie terriers but I know of someone who does a lot of terriers in general. I'll ask her about it if you'd like. Sometimes changes in homes leads to insecurity thus territorial issues. I do know the breed itself can be territorial. I'll try to find out more. Does he have a kennel? Sometimes a small kennel in the house provides a nice safe house for dogs. If they feel more secure then they may be less aggressive out of the kennel. but in truth I think it's part of the breed and you'll have a longer row to hoe. Here is a nice site to learn the basics about your breed. For anyone who's interested this is a really a good site to learn the basics of many breeds. Though they are one of those that over does the whole pack leader thing.

You know, I admit I was optimistic when Hawkins was signed. I wasn't overly excited by the contract, but I really thought he'd be a nice "surprise" for the team this year in terms of performance out of the bullpen. Boy, I was definitely wrong on this one. Glad I'm not the only one. We can cry together for company if you wish. When I saw that Riske still has a buyout remaining, my gut reaction was that Melvin needs to be fired on principal for agreeing to that contract. This isn't really fair. He was a durable pitcher who had continued success for a while. Pretty much exactly what we needed at the time. It was not a predicable injury. It was pure bad luck.

He is soooo loving and nice to us and the family. I had him in college and he used to be nice and used to just roam around during parties and down time. He only 'hated' 2 or 3 people. Now, its everyone and anyone he doesnt know. I couldn't tell you for sure without seeing but it sounds like either fear biting or territorial aggressiveness. Sometimes when dogs go from one type of environment like a college party house to another like a nice quite suburban house it can be hard for the dog to adjust. I can't say I can help you but I may be able to point you in the right direction. Couple questions if you don't mind. Does he act that way everywhere or just at home? Is there a difference between small or large groups of people? Does he shy away and only bite when strangers come too close or is he actively seeking them out?

Since I love animals of all sorts and seems like many here do as well I thought maybe a tread dedicated to pets would be cool. To start it off I'd like to share some thoughts on dog training. Not necessary to keep it on training please feel free to go any direction you please. Pictures of pets would be cool as well. Maybe we vote for a mascot. My vote is for Tyson.http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif There a has been quite a bit of debate lately on dog training techniques. A disagreement between the Dog Whisperer and the Humane Society is sort of the poster child of this debate. The gal from animal planet's "It's Me or the Dog'" series is also involved. Sorry can't remember her name off the top of my head. Some back ground is probably needed. Caesar like many trainers gets his philosophy from an old and woefully misbegotten experiment done decades ago. They took some wolves and put them together to see what would happen. The wolves developed a social structure based on a pack leader getting to be pack leader through dominant behavior. The conclusion was that pack leaders got there by being the dominant alpha male. Couple problems with that experiment. One is dogs are not wolves. Two the experiment was poorly thought out. Throwing a bunch of wolves who didn't know each other is not natural at all. Wolves in the wild do not establish leadership by domination displayed in the experiment because that isn't how wolves come to live together. They live in family groups with the mom and dad being the pack leaders simply by being mom and dad. The pups end up getting their rank primarily by their birth order. The only dominant behavior in determining pack order is with pups in the same litter. That gets figured out as they play as pups. It's really a very peaceful system of pack rank. So the whole experiment never really worked in determining natural wolf hierarchy let alone dogs. To use that concept like Caesar and so many others have in thinking you have to become pack leader yourself is off base. At one point or another I think I bought into every technique out there but lately have found my own voice in the ongoing debate. While I am not an expert I have tried all their techniques with varying degrees of success. In nearly 30 years of dog training I honestly haven't seen anything out the the so called experts to think they know any more than many people I know who have worked with dogs all their lives just as I have. While all the parties involved love their dogs and treat them well I kind of found both sides to be a little off base when it comes to training. The major problem I have with all of them from the humane society to the Dog whisperer along with many private instructors is they all seem to want to paint all dogs with one brush. That is just flat out wrong. While they all have certain dog characteristics there are more differences between breeds than similarities all breeds share. I could not hope to train my border collie the same way as I would a plott hound. It shouldn't some as a surprise considering one was bred for generations to hunt and fight bears and wild boar and one was bred for for hundreds of years to herd sheep. They developed separate and distinct personalities. Plotts for instance generally need a firmer hand while yelling at a border makes them go in a shell which results in a lost month after that. I hope this doesn't come off as being a know it all but with all the information out there sometimes you have to put false modesty aside and give an opinion. I think when it comes to the happiness of your pets it is one of those times. If you get a dog please take some time to learn about your breed then invest a little time to learn several techniques that measure up to the type of dog you want to train. Personally i think it matters less what you are training your dog for as it is the type of work it was bred for. A hunter will have hunting characteristics even if they are house pets who never saw a woods. Generally speaking positive reinforcement is best but on occasion with stubborn, driven breeds meant for tough, aggressive or rugged activities like bear, raccoon or wild boar hunting remote collars have a place. Which is not what the humane society would tell you. Some other breeds need to work in a cooperative manner as essentially equals. Border collies are like that. With them everything is a negotiation. Not what the dog whisperer would tell you. Simply put know your dog and go from there. You can't really go wrong if you understand, love and work with them on a daily basis. Sorry for the preachieness I'm pretty passionate on the subject.

They are a lot better than they used to be. I didn't know Dewan only thought of them as 60% telling. I thought it was higher. I think some of the problem is how they are being used. WAR for instance gives too much weight to single season results even while knowing it isn't as accurate as a single season of offensive stats. another common misuse is when people cite UZR for the season as evidence of how good a defender is when, to be accurate, they should count three seasons worth of info. The problem I think needs it be addressed is to make a single season's stats more telling. If you go by the proverbial three years necessary it seems to me many players ability can change in that time so the outcome is at least partially outdated by the time enough information is compiled.

yeah, ideal location for a AAA team when they sell out every game of every season for years... While I can't find any stats. I highly doubt that the Cardinals (whom I like about as much as everyone else on this thread) account for 50% of baseball's hit batters and brawls.. lighten up guys it was tongue in cheek. Maybe it should have been in blue but I thought it was pretty obvious. There aren't many people in baseball, or on earth, whom I spontaneously boo - but TLR tops the short list. He's the one guy if the Brewers hired I would have a real problem cheering for. As much as I love the Brewers I just can't see myself cheering for any team he was part of.

Couple things. First it was stupid of Phillips to say anything before the series. Second it was awesome he that he did. I was glad to know it wasn't just the Brewers who have a problem with the holier than thou attitude routinely on display by the Cards. I often felt that was the case but it was nice to hear it from another team's player. AS far as a fight breaking out involving the Cards goes what's new? If baseball got rid of that one team it would reduce hit batters and bench clearing brawls by 50%. Seems like a fair trade. Get rid one one a sanctimonious group of whining babies and reduce the violence in the game all at one. They would make an ideal location for a AAA team. Since we would need another Major league team I say we give NY another one. Then, when the Yankees cry about having to work in the same market size as 99% of the rest of the league, we can laugh at them as well.

The Brewers would have pulled him off waivers if someone claimed him then try to make a trade. If they didn't want to trad for him then the Brewers would decide if they wanted to let him go for free or not. My guess is they wouldn't since he obviously had trade value. He very well may have already cleared waivers before the trade took place. A lot of teams put players on waivers in August so trades go through easier.

Given the value placed on pitching I don't think he would have got us even a #5. Add in the fact that we have enough #5 starters and I don't see how that was either realistic or useful. We do need good starters but that wasn't going to come from Edmonds. We do need another outfielder for the future. Obviously he could get us that.

Z didn't land pitching because he rarely drafted it, the best players available when he selected were hitters. In the 6 years from 2000-2005, Z only 9 picks in the 1st 2 rounds, and only used 3 of them on pitchers. This to me was why he failed to being in good pitchers. He jsut didn't get enough of them. sure he thought the best player available at the time was a hitter but was that really true? How does he go aobut evaluating the value of pitcehrs to hitters? Obviously he was worng on that value. jack Z. has ot show he can actaully win as a GM befor eI'm willing to give him credit for being better than his former boss. Truth be told I hope he does but he has yet to show that. I think we also have to keep in mind some of the Jack Z. most successful drafts had very high picks so they should have a higher success rate. Which is why we shouldn't read too much into the success of Tampa right now as the GM being some sort of genius. If he has continued success over the next 5 or so years when those drafts give way to lower pick ones we can make a better evaluation of his talents. As far as DPodesta goes his time in LA didn't really show he was better than Doug. To get rid of someone means you lose the consitnacy within the organization. To lose that should only be done if there is an obvious upgrade to be made by such a move. Sal Bando getting the ax was appropriate. Doug not so much. The teams in the Brewers situation who do the best are the ones who have maintained a nice consistent approach over a long period of time. Minnesota comes to mind. Ones who change coaches and GM's like socks don't. Pittsburgh comes to mind. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. Those who continue to run a team like it is end up spinning their wheels in an ever changing environment with no changes in results.

I wonder what this says about the Brewers view of Gomez. Probably that he should be in the minors until he shows he can get on base at least 30% of the time.

Is it just me or is Escobar starting to show the defense he was touted to have lately. If he does I guess I'll have to admit endaround (I think it was end) was right and defense does take some time to come around in the majors. Well at least for some players:)

The difference between Suppan's contract and Hart's is Hart very likely will still be playing at the end of it. We will not have to pay Hart and his replacement at the same time.