Thurston Fluff

I think it depends on what they are trying to improve on his defense. If it's footwork which is what they seem to be saying he can work on it without playing every day. He comes in daily to work on that now. I also don't think Gamel was expected to stay or play first base. The original plan was to get him some time as DH and maybe a game or two at third when he was originally called up. Then Weeks got hurt and they sort of played it by ear. They do have a viable option at third with McGehehe so it isn't all that far off from the Prince formula.

I think some of what Reynolds was getting at is all OPS isn't created equal. I tend to agree players who are on bad offensive teams can elevate their OPS by taking a walk instead of trying to get a hit but hurt their team in the process. If the choice is to try and score a run by hitting for an extra base hit or wait for two more players on the team to get on base to score one you have to know what the chances of your teammate actually getting tow others on base are. For example if you are Prince and the usual choice is to take a walk and let Hall and Kendall drive you in or try to hit a homerun it might score more runs for the team if you just go ahead and swing. That is not to say it isn't prudent to build a team with high OBP guys but if the particular player in a particular circumstance sacrifices a little OPS to score more runs than he would have otherwise scored it is better for the team. IF I am a GM and see a player whose OPS was lower than another players but see him attempting to carry a team I would rather have him on my team than someone who was more interested in his stats than the team's score.

If that was the 'plan', it sure was a terrible one. I guess I don't see the point in hindering a player's development. You don't get better by not playing. I'm not knocking you X. I just think that's the wrong way to go about things with Gamel. There is a minor league system for a reason. It's the same plan they used with Prince. It doesn't seem to have hindered his progress. The idea is to give the player a little taste of the majors. Not just the playing but the travel, media, fans... the entire major league routine. If they do the same as they did with Prince the plan all along was to send him back down and digests it a little bit and when they need him he is one step ahead in knowing what to expect. This isn't new or just a Brewer thing. Plenty of teams like to get their top prospects a taste before they are expected to come in and produce. Given how important hose first few years of major league service are, especially if you are not one of the top payroll teams, I think it makes some amount of sense to acclimate them a little without losing the entire year of service time learning on the job.

It's a little hole in the wall place one Richmond street in Appleton. It's a Hmong family recipe. They give you a spicy broth with some meat in it then you add noodles and your choice of other things like basil, bean sprouts, peppers and such on the side. If you are in the valley it's the old chili dog place between Merlin's muffler shop and play it again sports near the corner of Richmond and Northland. Best soup I've ever had. I'm sucking up to them as much as I can now so I can get the recipe. Nice people food is a bit on the expensive side at $8 a bowl but well worth it and it helps a small mom and pops place survive all the chain restaurants.

Once again people are assuming that "ready"=production, when in fact it doesn't. As long as he's getting the defensive coaching (isolating techniques) he needs with the big club then Milwaukee is probably the best place for him because they have more coaches available to work with him. I'm not sure Money and his staff can devote the same time to Mat as the coaches in Milwaukee can. I was pointing there is no way to know he is ready by judging either his major league time or his limited time in AAA. We can't judge his readiness by his AAA production anymore than we can judge him not ready by his major league production. It is clear he is not ready defensively and no indication he is ready offensively. Only time will tell us that. Usually players have to show they are ready to get a call up to the majors on teams making a run at the post season. I do not buy into the idea the major league coaches have more time to devote to getting him up to speed than the AAA coaches. It is the minors that are there specifically for that. He would get all the time he needs with the coaches. I really doubt the minor league coaches spend as much time working with every player equally. They spend a larger portion of their time with the prospects vs the 30 something minor league lifers. In the majors the coaches have to work with everybody.

I don't think we learned any more about his readiness for the majors from his limited time in AAA than we are from his limited time in the majors. So why is his slow star tint he majors being ignored even while his hot start at AAA being used as a way to say he's the best option? He's young and certainly not a finished product on either side of the ball. We don't know if his offense is major league ready, there is nothing of substance that indicates it is, and we know his defense is not so, at best, he is half ready. I really thought the plan was to promote these guys when they earned their way to the majors. If that is the case then he should go back down and see if someone is a better all around option.

I just had soup that was so spicy hot it made me cry for an hour. I would have stoped eating it but it's soooo good.

I agree that looking flashy is not the same as being good but I do wonder why people think good players don't make as many diving catches or flashy plays. Wouldn't all players have to make diving catches or great running catches? Granted some guys like Cameron would make a routine catch where other less capable players would have to dive but when Cameron is at the end of his range he would still need to make a great play. They would just be on balls others couldn't even come close enough to even have a chance to dive at.

1.) Hardy's bad luck (BABIP about .03-.05 behind his career numbers) Is this luck or is it opponents learning his weakness and playing him differently?

I think the difference is age 25 a person is done growing at age 21/22 there is still some filling out going on. There is a difference between the body developing and simply needing to get stronger to be able to handle the workload. Parra needed to get stronger but he was past the development age. I still think Cliff Lee is a better comparison than other young pitchers who were abused the year before. Just a good pitcher losing it for a while. A mental break, a little time getting his mechanics/head straightened out in a less stressful environment and hopefully he will be ready to go again. His stuff still seems good. Nobody is saying his pitches aren't good enough this year to get major league players out. They seem to be saying he isn't putting them in the right place. Location issues without injury can hardly be blamed on being used too much the year before. If anything it should have improved because he played more.

I don't know how Sveum can be blamed for Branyan and Gwynn hitting well since he was never their hitting coach. The bench I blame on Macha. His use of it has been curious. He doesn't give some of them any playing time but still expects them to contribute when called upon. Guys like Hardy, Hart and Cameron are all streaky players. Cameron is slumping now but was well above his norm early in the year so his is just regression to the mean. If, at the end of the season, a large number of players are below their norm then maybe there will be more room for criticism IMO..

That makes no sense at all that they were going for the playoffs in the beginning of last year. I think you have the Sabathia situation and the Parra situation mixed up. Yes if Manny was used correctly last year limiting his innings pitched and his pitch count early in the year he would have had more success in the later part of the year last year which would have increased his confidence. All I said was you can't blame Yost for it. Obvously his job was on the line and he was given those players to get the job done. Can't tell him he has to make the playoffs but he can't use his players like he needs to in order to do so. I think if you want to blame someone you have to blame Melvin. He was asked about Parra's workload well before Parra melted down and Melvin's response was this is a special circumstance. To say that he should have been kept fresh at the beginning of the season so he would be productive at the end neglects the fact that had Sheets not been injured and soup melted down Parrra wouldn't have been needed so badly at the end. I don't know how you can know for sure the plan wasn't to work Parra as necessary early (after all those wins counted as much as the late ones did and there ware less options to cover those innings earlier in the season) because they knew they could/would get someone if necessary at the trade deadline. In fact that is what happened. If Sheets and Soup would have stayed productive I think you would have seen Parra's workload decrease later in the season. The Brewers needed to keep Parra's innings and pitch count down in the beginning of last season and they obviously didn't do what they said they were going to do with Manny. You may have said it but I don't think the Brewers ever said they planned on keeping Parra's innings down last year. In fact I remember the exact opposite when asked about his innings piling up. They has a shot at breaking a 26 year playoff drought and they pulled out all the stops to get there. One of those was risking injury to a young pitcher. That risk paid off in both making the playoffs and the young pitcher not getting injured. Not sure what his abuse last year has to do with his confidence this year other than a convenient excuse. Something is not right with Manny and I am going to bet on it being because of the abuse he took in the early part of last season. Unless it's an injury of some sort then I don't know why you say that. He did have a stretch this season where he pitched well. If it was simply his confidence being shaken by how the season ended I think a month of good results combined with the success he already had would have been enough to compensate. I see no reason to blame last year's usage on his mental makeup this year. If it was physical injury yes there is an argument to be made but that is not the case. If there is an excuse it is his age combined with his makeup. Even Cliff Lee got sent to the minors for poor performance before he came back and finished his cy young year. I don't see why someone like him could struggle without it being anybody's fault other than his lacking for something yet it is inconceivable that Parra wouldn't struggle simply by his lacking for something.

I wanted to take a look at bapip variances and where the hitters hit the ball but don't know where to find spray charts for players. Anyone know where to find that? If it has already been looked maybe point me to that. What I was interested in seeing is if players whose bapip changed from one year to the next was just luck or if the player was hitting balls right at people because he was hitting the balls in a certain way to make him become an easy out. Or the opposite that the hitter learned to hit balls differently and is now harder to pitch a certain way. Thanks in advance

I referenced Gilligan's Island yesterday and the teenage kid in the group didn't have any idea what Gilligan's Island was. I hate teenagers. They make me feel old.

This may end up being a good thing. The team can go for a couple weeks with an extra bullpen arm and Parra can take a breather away from the pressure. Given how many 6 inning type pitchers we have a deeper pen is good. It also gives the Brewers a chance to see if Narveson can establish himself as the second lefty out of the pen. If he can it will help in the long run. If Parra can go down and work through his issues quickly they can just reinsert him. If not whomever takes his place won't be much worse so we don't really lose anything. SO on the plus side we might find that illusive second lefty on the negative side we end up with the same bad start every 5th game. Then again I thought Parra was going to have a good year so what do I know. Of course Yost never did what he said he was going to do by leaving Parra out there well beyond where he should have been. As I recall both Yost and Melvin was asked about the workload and Melvin was the one who said it was a special situation. Meaning the team circumstances were such that they fully intended to use him as much as needed to help get to the playoffs. You really can't pin this one on Yost. It was Melvin who told Yost to make the playoffs or else then gave him a young pitcher coming off an injury and very few innings/year to work with. I'm not sure what could reasonably be expected of Yost in that situation other than to not be Yost. Even then it wouldn't have changed the circumstance or outcome it just would have made people look for the real culprit. I also question if last year's workload has any bearing on this year's production. I know a huge jump in innings is hard on the pitchers physical health but never heard anyone say it hurt their mental well being. If this was an injury issue then maybe we could blame it on last year's workload and Melvin could be blamed. It is not so we should not.

I think maybe it's time for the Cards to write these protocols down. There seems to be one for every situation. If they would be so kind as to put them on paper maybe the other teams could study it. Then every one would know what the Cardinals expect of them. As far as Ankiel spouting off to JDLR I think we need to get a lip reader to translate. He could have just been asking how he learned to throw a ball that didn't hit the backstop.

Not to go too far off topic but Baker gets criticized for overworking Prior but the Brewers did the exact same thing to Parra last year for the exact same reason. Melvin was asked about the added workload to Parra and he pretty much said it's a special circumstance. Meaning the Brewers needed to use him that way to make the playoffs. If we don't criticize Melvin and the brewers for doing it we shouldn't do so for Baker and the Cubs.

DFA'ing Hall would only end in us paying him to hit against lefties for another team and us paying even more to get another bench player who most likely wouldn't have the versatility to play the positions he can. Considering our options if we did want to replace him I don't even see who could be expected to perform better than he does off the bench. He is what he is. A decent hitter against lefties who is being paid way too much. There is one on every team. We could trade our overpaid, under performing player for another over paid, under performing player but what does that accomplish? Getting rid of him means we pay him way too much not to hit against lefties when we need him to and not cover third base defensively when needed. Paying $1 for a 10 cent item is better than paying $1 for nothing at all. In the off season maybe he can be unloaded. If not and we are still stuck paying him he can take over as the utility infielder. No need to waste more money just because some has already been wasted.

It didn't seem snide at all. in fact it is a very good point. I would much rather take a shot at Glavine having something left than Pedro for those very reasons. I am more worried about his poor year last year and his durability because those things mean more at his age than than what he did two or three years ago.

I think it's fair tos ay Parra has disappointed so far this year. It's just not fair to add again.

He has to prove he is healthy of course, and I understand he is old, but he is only a year and a half removed from being 13-8 with a sub 4.5 ERA which is better than 3 of our current starting pitchers... and 2 1/2 years removed from 15-7 with a sub 4 ERA. Only has a different meanings depending on age. Only means- decent chance he can return to that level- if the player is 30. Not so good a chance if he is 40.

Wasn't this the same face of the franchise that spurned the Braves to sign with the Mets? Beat me to it. I don't think class has anything to do with it. The organization felt it was better off without him. Players get old and when they do they have ot be replaced or the team suffers. Brian Noble often cites something Ron Wolf told him when he was a player "you're only here until I can replace you." That is the only way IMHO a team should handle players regardless of stature. No player in any sport has earned the right to hurt the team. Neither do they have the right to be on the team if there is someone who is better than them. That would be a disservice to the rest of the team. If the choice is to be classy or do what it takes to be competitive while still remaining financially sound sign me up for the belching contest. as far as him helping us if he has anything left it might be worth a shot. We would be a good situation for him. Not on the other side of the country and it's a team that has a real chance at the post season.

No he's the poster boy for why Gold Gloves are given to bats and not gloves. Everything measures him to be a win below average in CF. Granted GG are a joke but I think him getting a gold glove even though the measurements say he is a win below average says as much about the measurements as it does the gold glove standard. Neither tell us much IMO.

while Parra once again disappoints not to nitpick but how can Parra once again disappoint when this is the first time he's disappointed? 10 wins with a 4.39 ERA as a rookie isn't great but far from disappointing. I think you have to look at what was expected from the players as much as if they are meeting them. The team wouldn't have the same record if all the players sucked but met their modest expectations.

We are having an icky pig parts party. All are welcome but you have to eat pig brains, heart, tongue, kidney, head, testicles, liver and feet. Hard liquor is suggested.