Thurston Fluff

guys like Stetter and Jackson will eventually be in the pen if they continue to develope. OR in the case of Jackson not develope a change up which seems to be his problem as a starter. Other than that I don't see any reason why we can't either resign a couple of the releivers or go the exact same route next off season and get a bunch of other veterans on short term deals.

Hart batting 5th instead of Hall so far would have meant a man on base all of six more times all year so far. Given that Hall is slugging 500 and Hart is slugging 392 I don't think it would have made a whole heck of a lot of differance so far.

The Cubs won with career years from guys like Lilly, Marquis and it looks like Hill as well. Add in the durabiltiy of Zombrano vs Sheets and that made way more than the 2 game differance. I won't say the 10 less starts for Sheets vs Z thing was luck since he has been more durable but the Lilly, Hill and Marquis years were more lightning in a bottle than some sort of actual intentional action taken to make one better than the other.

Last year when our offense played like this the team went of an extended skid. I'm actually quite happy that the team is able to scratch out wins when they are not playing very well. That is the differance I see from last year to this. Then agian I know I am an eternal optimist so maybe it's just me thinking the sky really isn't falling and soon I'll have blunt force trauma from a falling piece of blue stuff..

I don't like that sometimes he seems bitterly stubborn. Sometimes I feel like he'll stick with a pre-season decision of his until his hand is forced. He's a Bobby Cox disciple. Cox is also known as very loyal to his players and doesn't make changes until it's more than obvious he has to. A couple yers ago, for example, Francour was just horrible for about half the season and Cox didn't so much as drop him one spot in the order. That may not be to everyones liking but I think it certainly makes the players feel respected and helps them from panicing every time they go into a funk. I think it's all about what the manager feels is improtatn for the productivity over the long haul. Some, like Pinnella, tinker constantly, and expect the players todeal with it. Others think players perfrome better overall if they are just left to work things out in the normal spot. That type of maanger will only make a change if it becomes so big a problem they feel they are losing more games now than they will save later. whether we agree of disagree with one particular approach to me is less important than the manager being consistant in his approach. As far as Yost melting down last year or what he did last year Why is that improtatn this year? Keep in mind this was his first go around managing a team with something on the line as well. If he learned from his mistakes and works on improving those areas he'll be better for it. If I felt he and he alone cost the Brewers last season, or even if he was the something more than a very small part of it, thenI'd probably be less forgiving. He was a minor part. The team's inability to field, the very shallow very untalented bullpen, and the lack of quality healthy starting pitching had way more to do with it than whether Ned beaned someone or failed to pinch hit one light hitting bench player for another did. So far I've seen him put his loyalty to last years set up man on the back burner in favor of the more talented players he has this year. A sign that he's learned where to draw the line in loyalty. His bringing in Simmons as bench coach should also provide evidence that he was looking for another voice to help him in game. If he's got Simmons I think it's reasonable to think Simmons has not strongly disagreed with the moves Ned has made. Simply because he wouldn't have replaced his existing bench coach simply to put a yes man in his place. He may be stubborn with not changing Hart and Hall around but if we are to believe Bill James about lineups then we have to accept there is very little differance in the long term results of such minor moves. Not that that move is without debate since Hall is slugging at much higher rate and Hart has only really got hot recently.

It's a strong, tangible example, and "just one game"? -- the division ended up being decided by only two games. While this is true there are hundreds of moments that cost one game throughout the year yet each one individually does not seem to get brought up in the same proportion as his mistake on that day. Had each batter taken a better approach at the plate once it would have meant more than that one game. If each player made one less error that would have been a much larger differance than all Yost decisions combined. Melvin making a better move during the season than Linebrink, who came to the Brewers overworked and already faultering in a very pitcher freindly park, would have had more of an impact. Quite frankly the players are the ones who never seemed to make any move Ned made look good. Sometimes the players should be expected to bail out the manager not always the other way around. Last year I didn't see the players do mcuh to make Ned's job easier. It's a lot easier to look stupid if you rplayers never make you look smart.

I got a little snippy on that post Robideaux didn't mean anything by it. Mostly due to how sick I am of always hearing that one incident brought up over and over agian. Sorry if it came of a little more harsh than it should have. forgive my ignorance...FTJ? The poster Fatter that Joey. He's one of my favorite posters who I generally disagree with but seem to get along with well.

Oh God if LaRussa was our manager I'd have to go the FTJ on Yost route. I hope this team is never managed by an arrogant egomaniac let alone the king of arrogant egomanics.

Sometimes, giving players "free reign" (for lack of a better term) to just play ball without worrying about repercussions, etc. is what a team needs The differance is that team was full of veterans and they made a trade to get that missing piece along the way. This team has too many guys like Braun who have shown they are not ready to just play. I'd sure hate to see a laid back approach with someone who already shows he's not capable of functional plate discipline. I do think the validity of it would be if doug felt Ned's message was being tuned out by the years he spent sort of nurturing the same players he now has to kick in the butt so to speak. I think one of the hardest things a mananger has to do is to change his apporach with the same players as they develope, teamwise, from getting their feet wet to expected to produce. If at some point that transition isn't takin gplace then maybe a switch would be usefull. It's far from that yet though.

He made a choice that turned out to be wrong. He went on a hunch that Mench was actually hitting well at that point in time, having good ab's and went with it. Much like we were debating not always going with the career numbers in paticular insatnces yesterday in the IG thread. It failed and they lost one game. For heaven's sake it was one game last year and that's still the biggest gripe some people have. Get over it already. It's a new year, he has a new bench coach, he's shown with his bullpen useage that he has learned from his mistakes to some degree so let it go and give up on that stupid play already. Every manager makes them.

Most people would realize putting in a pitcher who has suffered through so many health issues that he had to go form starting to closing, at home in a tie game, in cold rainy weather, on a slippery mound is a bad idea as well. That didn't prevent Lou from doing it though did it?

Name one manager in the history of baseball who doesn't make "blatantly dumb" moves. Too much blame is placed on Ned, not just on this board, but by Brewer fans everywhere. I think every manager in baseball has a "track record" of making said dumb moves. After the Mets series this should have been obvious other managers make dumb moves as well. Pinnella made a few in the opening series as well.

That is a Melvin made problem that Ned has to deal with. Using Turnbow in situations like last night were bad T-bow will only minimally decrease the chance of winning but good T-bow (which according to last year is about 80% of the time) will not harm the teams chances of winning at all is the best possible use of him. Considering we have to use him sometime to keep the rest of the pen from overuse his use last night means we have better options further down the road in games with a greater chance of winning. To me last night was a prime example of Yost's improved bullpen useage this season.

Does anyone think there is a manager out there who wouldn't be on them to take a better approach at the plate? Name one manager who would tell Braun it's ok to swing at every pitch regardless of location. Which guy leads his team by telling his players they can flourish in this game when a pitcher knows they don't have to throw strikes to get them out. If they feel this pressure now I'd assume they felt it a lot more trying to make it to the big leagues with that approach. If the minor league managers weren't on them as hard , if not harder, than Yost about their poor approach the problem isn't Yost. It's the minor league managers who let them get away with it for so long. Professional baseball players at all levels are going to have pressure. If they can't deal with it it isn't the manager who needs to go. It's the weak minded players.

I don't disagree with that sentiment, but it doesn't mean I think Ned should have thrown in the towel on the game like it appeared he was doing either. Throwing in the towel? It's a bit harsh to say. Taking a calculated risk maybe. The team was not doing much offensively and we have a player who, when on, does well. If he's on then the team will have a chance. If he's not then the team's chances of mounting a comeback go from slim to none. It's probably the best place to use him without seriously jeopardizing the team's chances of winning games he plays in. The chance of winning were so slim anyway that it would have been silly to waste a better arm for a marginally better chance of mounting a comeback. If Turnbow isn't used in those situations I just don't see which ones he should be used in. Blowouts with no hope go to McClung, close games go to Mota/Riske/torres combo, saves go to Gagne. What's left other than games not quite close but not so far off as to be a blowout?

Bedard = Harden.

We're on pace to start 16-10, last year we started 24-10, or are you just talking about our record after 13 games? Yep. After the same amount of games last year we had one less win. The only differance I can see is this year we've done it without the aid of unsustainable performances from some of our players. We snuck a few wins while playing relativley poorly IMO. It never hurts to be a little lucky when the team isn't playing well. When they do start to play up to their abilties those extra couple wins we got while struggling will only look that much better. Maybe that will be the differance between last year and this with regard to making the playoffs.

However, I think many teams see the Brewers are looking to do just that and pumping a first-pitch strike right down the heart of the plate. That's certainly not he case with Braun. I think pitchers are told not to throw a strike to him regardless of count. Even 3-0 is a ball throwing count for him since chances are he'll swing.

It's probably time to put the number of saves in the team category. Save % is probably a better way to evaluate ability. Though even then save type needs to be in the evaluation. I'd be interesting to see how many of the mulitple run save types he had vs one run ones.

I'd much rather see the Brewers settle into the season gradually, as opposed to starting out fluky-hot like 2007... Actually we're one game ahead of last year's pace so far. It sure doesn't seem like it but last year we had plenty of guys playing well above expectations so maybe that is part fo it. Cappy, Soup, Hardy, Turnbow all had very good starts that would have been very hard to maintain. So looking forward we can expect better perfromances while looking back we probably stole a few games while waiting for our players to get going. That's a good thing.

I'm most worried about Braun. Hall is what he is. A decent power hitter who will stike out more than is comfortable. He always was that but he does provide good defense and is ususally a slow starter. Braun is a good hitter who pitchers figured out will swing at anything. With so little to go on it's hard to know if he can ever stop swinging at balls. If he can't he may just not be as good as hoped.

I thought they just didn't offer him arbitration.

Guys with a .226 OBP sit a lot. Maybe he wouldn't ge these days off if he would simply stop swinging at pitch outs. It isn't Braun who should be mad at Ned. It's Ned who should be mad at Braun. One year does not make a career. Unless he keeps the approach he has so far this year. Then it will be his career.

I am not a Vargas fan, but he is a 4-5 starter in this league for a lot of teams, If Vargas was good enough to be a 4 or 5 on a lot of team why is he playing in the minors for a team that has Nelson Figeroa starting in the majors? That should be clear enough evidence that he in fact is not good enough to start on any team. I think it is hilarious how everyone thinks we can just trade away our garbage for something serviceable. Two things about this. First maybe take into account the word "IF" means the comment came with a qualifier. If the choice was between trading one or loseing the other for nothing then I'd be for trading the one. That is not quite as hilariously stupid as me saying lets trade him because we will get something for one and not the other. Second the garbage that was Wayne Franklin netted us some A ball pitcher who now starts for the Brewers. I'm sure that was hilarious as well. Brian Shouse was netted for a rule 5 shortstop who never made it back to the majors for Texas. Genreally when a sentence contains the words "everyone" combined with "hilarious" it's a good idea to take a step back and reread your post before hitting reply.

If they had chose between trading Turnbow or releasing McClung and getting nothing I'd go for the trade. Hard throwing, erratic control, not to be trusted but can be useful at times, they seem like the same guy to me.