Thurston Fluff

I think Sheets could be back in the scenario rluz so capably laid out. If he finds the market a little wary of his injury history he may think it's a worthwhile risk to take a one year deal and try to boost his marketability next year. It was worthwhile for Kerry Wood to do so. What we do have going for us is a good team to play on and familiarity.

This is a bit late but did anyone else find it ironic that Sveum felt like experience was overrated when it came to him getting the job but felt it was a perfectly good reason to play Durham over Weeks and why he and Cameron were the best guys in the top two spots in the order? I really liked him as a Brewer player and respect the fact that he feels a connection the to the Brewers organization but come on. If it's valid for one thing it's valid for the other.

Having the respect of the players is to me the number one thing. I don't think liking the manager is important as long as they respect him. If he says something about how they play or how they prepare they have to respect the person enough to do it. The Brewers are a team that will always have to rely on younger players to contribute. The only way that can work is if they are always learnign and working to improve. The only way they do that is to take to heart what the manager and coaches tell them they need to do. Managing the pitching staff is second. A fresh pen late in the season and how serious the health of the starters are some of the most important issues a team faces every season for almost every team. They are far more prone to overuse than everyday players are thus managing them correctly is very important. I was never much of a game management type person but have to admit it is more important than I used to think. But still not high enough to make it more than a distant third.

Soriano was a bad infielder and was forced to the outfield by Frank Robinson. Bill Hall's offensive woes do coincide with this position changes--made to accommodate Hardy and Braun. Agreed with Soriano but that didn't mean his being forced to move made one bit of difference to potential free agents or to his performance that year. It should also be pointed out poor defense alone isn't the only reason for making a switch. Bill Hall was a decent shortstop but got moved for a better defensive one. If Escobar really is that much better at short than JJ then it only makes sense to move JJ. I don't think JJ has much to complain about if he is replaced for the exact same reason he replaced Hall. This is not so good for the perception of the team's treatment of players especially if they start forcing players elsewhere who excel at their position. But you're right, it's not thinking of the team, it's management's treatment of the individuals who have interests outside of and beyond whichever team they happen to be on. That's fair enough. The thing is player are moved all the time to make room for someone better or to make the team better. It is expected of a player to be team oriented. Bill Hall was the team MVP and got moved for an unproven Hardy who had yet to stay healthy for so much as one season. That didn't seem to make the locker room all that much worse nor did it restrict the Brewers like Endaround claimed. JJ is a very good shortstop and, like I said, he will most likely be one next year. That does not mean moving him would be so detrimental to the team just because he may not like it. If they feel it is in the best interest of the team and the only thing stopping them is the worry he may not like it then too bad. Do what is best for the team. I do think how a free agent views players treatment is a minor issue and maybe even a large one for some. I don't think they care if someone feels slighted on that team if the team is better for it. I think it takes a trend in organizational actions combined with a failure to improve after said moves to make someone feel a team treats it's players poorly. Moving a good defensive shortstop to third for a great one while also addressing a team weakness wouldn't be any sort of detriment for potential free agents. It would be obvious why they did it.

Overall I think the minors are going to be used more for reserve roles next year simply because our starters are going to cost more and the need for the proverbial veteran presence has diminished somewhat with the maturing core of players. I think it would be a good time to get some cheap young help experience to maintain a smoother transition when the current core moves on. Rottino might end up as the backup catcher if for no other reason than to learn from Kendall. I think Nelson gets a shot at the top lefty off the bench and spot duty in the outfield. My dark horse canidate is Crabbe at second base. I have no idea how his defense is so maybe someone, (JJHardy I'm looking at you for help here) could enlighten me. Offensively he gets on base, can steal bases at a decent clip and is a switch hitter so he might be someone who can help balance the offense some. If he is good defensively and we can get something pitching wise for Weeks I could see them giving him a shot.

Yes we'll show him who's boss! We'll play him out of position, poison the clubhouse and make us a bad target for free agents to teach the kid a lesson! There must be plenty of examples all over that the things you think will happen for you to be so arrogantly sure of your position so why not share a few? Then again you already have him in pinstripes in two years making 100 million over 8 years so you must be all seeing all knowing. I do have a few examples to the contrary though. Bill Hall being moved place to place didn't really hurt our chances of landing a free agent so far. Soriano seemed to do all right after he was forced to move to the outfield. He didn't seem to think it was so horrible since he signed a deal after the season to remain an outfielder. It didn't seem to hurt his play at all the year of the change and it didn't seem to harm the Nationals abilty to find other players nearly as much as the fact that they suck does. So maybe it is better to field the best possible team to attract a free agent as opposed to making everybody on the team feel good. Maybe instead of hurting the teams ability to attract free agents fielding a better team by doing what is necessary would actually help. On a more abstract scale maybe, just maybe, if the player doesn't want to do what is in the best interest of the team his dissatisfaction will not be all that bad in the clubhouse. I kind of think a selfish player is already known to be selfish among his teammates and they treat him accordingly. That he might not be happy being moved for the better of the team might not matter in the least to the rest of the players. Especially when players like Braun and Hall have already done so in the best interest of the team. That is of course assuming Hardy would be so selfish to become a distraction which is far from certain. My point is simple. The needs of the team outweigh the desire of the player. Thus the feelings of the player is similarly inferior to the needs of the team. Play were we need you and produce. When the time comes the player's desires will be met. Either by this team or any one who he chooses to work for after six years of service.

Hardy in two years is looking at 8 years/$100m to replace Jeter in pinstripes. He's not moving to 3B. He is if he is told he must. He is ours for the next couple years so I don't really care if he's happy with a switch or not. When he is a free agent then he can make such demands. Until then pay were needed to make the team the best it can be. I agree with you that Escobar isn't close to major league ready so really the debate is more or less academic. My thought is keep Escobar in the minors until JJ leaves or signs an extension with the idea of switching positions. Why waste a couple years of Escobar when we have a well above average player ahead of him?

Correct. Molly never was offered the managerial position, and it isn't even sure if he even applied for it. Actually I read at the time a snippet from Molitor himself in the Star Tribune who said he told them he wasn't interested in the job at the time. It came out later that he was told by Selig before he made the decision of the impending plan to contract and the Twins were one of the teams they were looking at. So no he wasn't offered the job officially since he told them he wasn't interested in it. This is my own personal opinion through years of seeing him play and act so take it for what it's worth. I always felt Molly was more selfish than some of the others of that era. I don't really see selfish people being all that good of candidates for managing a team oriented game. If you all want him here fine. But HOF fame players are in no way any better equipped to be a manager or coach than any other person who has been around the game. They often do not relate well to average players since they cannot understand the struggles of average talent. Some one I see as selfish even less so. That really seems like an unnecessarily snide remark. Molitor was fired along with Bob Melvin's whole staff after 2004. That's a housecleaning, in which any salient positives typically are ignored for a fresh start. Yes it was more snide than I should have been so apologies for that. Sometimes I get so sick of idolizing certain players and ignoring the warts it just sort of irks me. I don't see how getting fired along with the rest of them is a sign of competence. I also think there are plenty of very good people who do get retained that the whole idea that good people get released through no fault of their own is not all together accurate. If he really did an above average job I think he could have had another job or been retained by the new manager if warranted. We need look no further than our own Billy Castro who survived some horrid staffs. He did that because he was good at what he did and that showed through despite the incompetence around him. He was always listed on the "will make a good manager someday" lists. So have a lot of great cerebral players. Willie Randolph, Davey Lopes the managerial highway is littered with corpses of players who were always considered great managerial prospects. Mostly it's hollow praise given at a time when they are still playing. I don't see how anyone can really tell how good a manager someone would be by how well they play. I tend to think how well they do in management and coaching roles after their playing careers are far more telling than hyperbole given while they are playing.

That said, Molitor has a good post-career baseball reputation. Which part is the best? His time in Seattle as a hitting instructor or his not accepting the managerial position when offered with the Twins?

I would think Molly would be a great base running teacher for this team he had great insticts on the basepaths I thought about that as well but I'm not sure a guy who has good insticts is the guy who knows for sure how to teach. Reggie White had a great hump move but couldn't teach it to save his life. As far as Molly being contacted for a role with the team if it's being done by the owner at this point in time I'd have to believe it's for a front office role not coaching role. Even the most meddlesome owner realizes the need to prioritize the order in which jobs get filled. If we end up filling the coaching staff with more 82 brewers I think I'll throw up. Time to move on.

Not so fast. I don't think DM knows if he is even coming back. That is to say -- It's possible the Brewers may need to hire a GM first. Unless Doug says he wants to leave there is no indication he won't be back. He has a year left on his contract and Attanasio has already indicated he wants to extend him. Even if he wanted to make a change it's not very smart to fire someone who got you to the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century. The most they would do is not extend him and let his contract expire. This was in the JS this morning and I have seen versions if it in several articles.

Next year they can invite a hobo in to urinate all over their dugout. Maybe that will work for them. I doubt you would be able to tell the difference. I went to one game there and it smelled pretty much like a hobo dumping ground all over. At the time I was quite excited to go to a game there because everyone said how great an atmosphere it was. I have never been so disappointed as I was with that experience. The fans didn't seem to really know when to cheer or what was really going on. It was a party but if I wanted to go to a party in a crappy smelly place filled with obnoxious buffoons I would have just went to a frat party and saved the money.

Why does the line "one time at band camp" pop into my mind reading this? Sad to see it come to this but college kids, sex and alcohol are not always best when combined.

Wax the sidewalks. Sure there may be liability issues but isn't that what homeowners insurance is for? If that's too much of a risk may I suggest crime scene tape, chalk outlines of bodies still holding half thrown TP in the hand and lots of mysterious red stains? It could also double as your Halloween decor. So bonus time for the recycling minded person.

I like how the young bullpen guys have done in the most pressure packed games of their lives. This team was built for the long haul so this year's experience should help them realize they are good enough to more than compete in the toughest of spots. It's also helpful to see maybe we can win next year without breaking the bank on the pen. That should leave us more money to put into a third baseman or Starter.

they can't possibly count on Edmonds, Theriot, Fontenot to duplicate thier performance next year. Thinking Dempster will be the same as this year isn't all that safe a bet either. He wasn't that good his entire career. I'm not sure if he just figured it out or if he had the proverbial career year. They've also been relatively lucky with injuries. I'm torn on whether I want them to win or not. On one hand , with the exception to the few good Cub fans who really know and follow their team, I hate the Cubs fans. On the other I wish they could win one WS so they could get over their we haven't won in how long, lovable losers thing. Nothing more annoying as a fan of a team that never won it to listen to fans of another team feel downtrodden because they haven't won one in a long time. Especially when they are one of the teams who can afford what ever they want to buy in baseball.

We win tonight and they will all be hiding under their beds. I thought it was funny but know the fans aren't exactly the friendliest. They are the guys who booed Santa and jeered at an injured player after all. But if we don't want to be treated like Bushville we shouldn't play like it.

Bush has grown on me this season. I'm happy he gets his shot at it. All we really need out of him is five innings or so and let the middle relief take over. Maybe this isn't the right place for this but I think our middle relief guys don't get enough credit. They really aren't bad at all. The back end of the pen isn't strong so everybody just assumes the whole pen sucks. Isn't it crazy we signed Suppan for all that money for a situation just like this and he is not even going to start. I've seen this said all over the place but I seem to remember Melvin saying the main reason they got him was because he was reliable and could take the ball every fifth day. At the time the Brewers were coming off a year in which they had multiple injuries in the rotation and couldn't find enough warm bodies to field the 4th and 5th spots int the rotation. That reason for getting him makes a heck of a lot more sense than Melvin deciding to get him based off a handful of playoff games. I think he did mention his playoff expereince and veteran leadership but more or less that it was a bonus not as the primary reason.

Ned's biggest weakness was how wound up he was. His personal history with the team may have caused him to feel the need to carry the burden of 25 years of futility on his shoulders. That only exacerbated his weakness. I do feel bad for Ned because of how much he cared about the Brewers in particular. I have no doubt he will get another job somewhere. He has shown he can learn form his mistakes and improve on them. If he goes someplace without the personal history he could be a very good manager IMO. I hope he does get the chance to win a championship someday and wish nothing but the best for him. I also personally thank him for being a good steward of this team. He took a very terrible team and made it better from day one. He also left it in far better shape than when he came. Thank you Ned. You have every right to be proud of the work you did with the Brewers and I am proud to have been a Nedophile for nearly six years. You will always have a place in my Brewer heart.

As for the claim above that Sheets wasn't abused, he was towards the top of the PAP(pitcher abuse points) ratings for most of the season. Oh god not another way to excuse a player from doing what he was paid to do. How does abuse points this year excuse him from being unreliable for three years in a row? If he was abused this year it was an abuse caused by his own inability to perform when needed. Abuse is too strong a word for asking a player in the prime of his career to do what he was paid to do and had done several times in the past.. Yost pushed him way harder than he should have considering he was coming off 3 partial seasons. No he didn't. He pushed him as hard as he needed to make the playoffs while still being reasonable with his workload. Averaging 6 1/3 innings is not asking too much of him. If it is then I think that is all that needs to be said about Sheets ability as a starting pitcher. If you take out the two games he came out of early he is still under 7 innings per appearance. That is not unreasonable to ask of a starting pitcher his age.

I think the hate for Sheets on this site is completely uncalled for. He has been a great Brewer that has given his heart and soul to this team. Many player have given their hearts and sole to the team they were on. That is the minimum requirement and nothing to brag about. Frequently injured, yes. But please explain how he could be much more than a .500 pitcher, given the terrible Brewers teams he's been on? You probably think Matt Cain is a bad pitcher, too. Lincecum seems to do ok with a bad team. Seaver won almost half of his teams games one year. If a pitcher is a top level guy playing on bad teams only goes so far as an excuse. Especially considering Sheets history is not all about being on bad teams. He hasn't been on a bad team for a few years now. The one year the team was below .500 in the last four was mostly because of him not being healthy enough to help. The nature of Sheets injury does not make him nearly as big a risk as a Harden, Prior, Schmidt type of player. I think the anti-sheets crowd really overestimates how worrisome his injury history is. Assuming the arm pain is just normal overused pitcher type pain and nothing serious I'd assume he gets something like a 3-4 year deal for good money. He has had one major injury in his career and it isnt' in an area that is expected to have a lot of repeat injuries. Right and elbow injury is so easy to overlook. A couple years ago it was an inner ear disorder and people said at least it wasn't an injury. Then he had the lat. injury and at least it wasn't his arm. Then came the finger. Well it still isn't the arm. Then it was his groin. See still not the arm. Now it's the elbow and you go to the at least it's not the shoulder some guys have it worse argument. Come on. An elbow injury on a guy who has not been healthy for years is serious no matter how you look at it. I don't know how you can seriously say an elbow injury is not an area that you expect to have a lot of repeat injuries on. In 2008 he was healthy until the last month of the season and who knows how serious that is. He was heavily abused by Yost and still managed a 3.09 ERA and .674 OPS against. Yea that 6 1/3 inning per start is really heavy abuse. Less than 200 innings over the course of a year is really heavy abuse. Never being asked to pitch on short rest is really heavy abuse. Pitching in strict order vs every five days is really heavy abuse. I just think it's unfair to suggest (as many seem to) that a 3.5 ERA for 150 IP/year was worthless. Hell, I think many teams would be happy to get that for what the Brewers paid. I guess it just depends on what you need. Soup was given the money because he could go every fifth day not because every start would be so great. The Cubs got rid of the injury prone high level pitchers and paid for average players like Lilly and Marquis because they needed the stability of guys who could go every fifth day. The A's traded on of the best pitchers in the league for very little for the same reason. Give me an average pitcher who you can rely on and I will give you predictably. Give me a high ceiling, injury prone, guy and I will give you heartbreak mixed in with an occasional great run. There are merits to both types. It all depends one what you really need. As to my appreciation of Sheets I look at him a lot like I did Jenkins. He was someone I cold enjoy and feel good about when things were their darkest. I will always appreciate him for that. But his injuries and his all too regular declines in the second second half of the season make me not really care if he is a Brewer after this season. If they do offer him arby and he does accept I hope they try to use him in relief next year and see what happens. If they can spend $10 million on Gagne I think $12 on a one year experiment with Sheets would be ok.

How he does in 12 games is a lot different than what he would do in 162. He is doing fine for a stretch run like he's in but if he managed the same all year long his small ball would reduce the runs scored. I can't really tell what he'd do handling a pitching staff all year since he couldn't possibly do what he is now all year long. It's easy to pile on Ned but keep in mind there is no way Sveum could do what he is doing now if it wouldn't have been for Ned keeping his pen from being over worked in August and his starters working in order as opposed to having his top guys go every five no matter what. So he may be doing fine now but some of that has to go to Ned setting him up to be able to do what he is now. Hate him all you want but he is as responsible for what Sveum is able to do now as anyone. That said Ned's problem appeared to be he couldn't handle the team late in the season like Sveum is. Sveum should get some credit for that. Just not all of it.

Why would anyone have $300,000 in cash in a bank anyhow? For a toaster and 3% return on a CD? Multiple reasons. One is diversity. Too much invested in one area is risky despite the higher possible yield. The second is security. Anything based on the stock market or real estate has a chance of loss not just gain. invest in the wrong vehicle and you lose. Investing in a CD is a guaranteed 3% profit backed by the government. Far safer to have $100 K in the bank than $100 K in fannie of freddie. The theirs is liquidity. Stocks, bands and real estate all take time to pay dividends and that money is tied up until then. The simple and safe should never be looked down on. Plus the toasters are nice.

I think the better option is to let Sabathia and Sheets go and reap the draft comp picks That's assuming Sheets will be healthy enough to get us comp picks. He'd have to be healthy enough to risk offering arbitration to.

I agree with Ennder. The Cubs are the best of the bunch and probably don't care who they face. That said I do not agree the Brewers are the worst of the bunch. If the Brewers have the better record they are better. That's the purpose of 162 games. As far as the Cubs go I think the Brewers are the team they want the least part of. The Brewers are the only team to have a winning record at Wrigley and if not for a 4 run outburst with two out in the ninth would have lost all three series to the Brewers there. When all is said and done the Cubs will do what it right and play hard in every game. They will not rest starters wholesale in any series or do anything to harm the integrity of the game. As much as I hate the Cubs these are not the same Cubs as the Sosa years. Despite what LaRussa may think there are other managers out there who respect the game. Lou is one of them.