Thurston Fluff

Does Doug know you can hire managers that have completed Remedial Baseball 101? Which also... FTJ I remember you saying several times this year the thing you wanted Yost to do was learn from his mistakes. Now you want him to already know everything? No one without prior experince will know it all. If Ned does learn to make better moves he could be a very positive factor going forward since he's already pretty darn good at the other aspects of his job.

Given the casual attitude of many Astros during the Brewers' series, that's a huge surprise to me. There was more jogging to 1B and lazy play in 3 games than we see from the Crew all year. The only thing that counts is game strategy. Everything else is secondary. Haven't you learned anything from this site? http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/wink.gif (Yes this was a joke. Meant as much to poke fun of me and my Yost love as anything. I even admit he sucks at it.)

IIAY how could you forget the sweep suits in your list of curses?

Anyone played Inside the Park at all? It looks interesting. I did a few years back not very good IMO. Not nearly as indepth as OOTP or the Superstar mode in MAddan.

He did some good things for the Phillies but made some bad moves along with it. If he learned from those mistakes he should do alright. It seemed like he knew how to build from the ground up but over estimated how good some of his guys were along the way. Either way it appears the Astros are in need of a total rebuild.

The word primative isn't the word I'm looking for. The early Egyptian, Roman and Greek cultures were certainly advanced yet slavery was ok. Thinking on this further I guess when the ideal of marriage is less about love than it is about the strategic joining of families my opinion (honestly that of my prof as well) that those cultures tend to treat womwen as second class citizens is more off than I'd like to admit. Great Brian two stinking sentences and you make me look like a fool. But if one is to learn one must understand the errors in ones beliefs. For that I thank you.

Wow, I think India's culture is very advanced regarding women's rights. Most cultures. Do they still have arranged marriages in India today? I concede my information is outdated. I was going on was stuff from late 80's college class about women's roles in society. Perhaps firm believer is too strong. Thanks for calling out my overstatement. More updated research would be in order.

I read an article few years back where teenage girls have sites complete with picture of them in bikinis, short shorts and 1/2 shirts, pj's ect. They go through a third party so their location is secret so they are safe from predators. The sick part of it is the number of subscriptions they get and the number of presents and money middle aged men send to her through the thrid party not ot mention the parnets who allow thier kids to be on it. Just not sure what kind of parent is ok with their teannage daughter showing herself nearly nude to 40 year old perverts for money. Not to mention the 40 year old perverts themselves. I can honestly understand dowries and arranged marriages in cultures who 1000's of years of tradition dictate it. Especially since most of the cultures that have such long standing traditions tend to be, for lack of a better term, primative. I don't agree with it. I a firm believer those cultures tend to treat women as second class citizens but I understand why it is the way it is.

Partly true. Coaching, guiding, and advising the pitchers is Maddux's responsibility. Using the pitching staff (I'd say correctly...) is Yost's job. How do you use starters differantly? They are supposed to start the game and give you 6+ innings. Earlier in the year there was plenty of debate about Ned leaving his starter into long. While that was true in one sense how much worse would the bullpen have been in august and how much worse would it be now if he would have used them that extra inning every time one of the starters got pulled after 5 because they couldn't do thier job? Getting shelled early and often means the bullpen has to be used in ways it wasn't meant to be used. NO manager can use the bullpen correctly if the starters aren't giving you enough innings on a regular basis. I'm perfectly willing to say that Ned could have used the bullpen differantly in certain situations. Every manager could. I don't agree that he is any worse at managing the pen than any other manager in the game. The only real differance is we see every move Ned makes and debate them endlessly. Look at any other message board and you will find the exact same debate going on with every other manager. If Ned has cost us games ealier then the way he has this team ready to play every day in the stretch run without folding has to go some way in making up some of those games he supposedly lost us. Remember he's managing a team with a core of rookies and 2nd year players agianst a veteran laden team full of high payroll guys managed by someone who makes more than our entire infield. If Ned sucks and the Brewers are in a flatfooted tie with the Cubs what does that make Pinnella? He must be the worst manager ever.

Yeah they probably did save one for every one they lost. The problem is that the bulpen is supposed to save more than they lose, at least that is my opinion. Perhaps a better way to put it was for every game the bullpen was completely to blame they had one that they single handedly won. The point is there have not been many of either. There was usually some combination of problems that contribute to the loss.

I guess the biggest question here is how much is Yost responsible for the mid to late season bullpen collapse that cost us the division. If it's mostly on the players you gotta keep Yost. If it's an inability to make the correct moves you gotta dump Yost. The bullpen hasn't been as bad as some make it out to be. For every game they blew later in the season they saved earlier. If the collapse is anyones fault it's the starters for putting so much stress on the pen. If the starters are to blame and the pen is a problem it should be more on Maddux than Yost. After all pitching is his responsibility.

Should Yovanni Gallardo, arguably the future of the franchise in the rotation, have been extended beyond his prescribed innings limit? Not much if at all. Should we have given up Will Inman, Steve Garrison and Joe Thatcher for Scott Linebrink? Hind sight is always 20/20. Inman was the big one one in that rade and he has not been overly impressive in the jump to AA. Which is usually the one that separates the men from the boys. In return the Brewers not only got help this season when needed but also will either get a bonfide bullpen arm next year and beyond or higher draft picks than any of the players they gave up. Did not bringing up Ryan Braun at the start of the season have any impact on this team? If any it could be a positive one. I was one who felt he should have been up if he was the best option. Given his defensive problems he wasn't. The time in AAA wasn't long but it was enough to let him work out the major problems with his throwing without costing us games in the process. Considering how well every other aspect of the team was playing then the loss of his offense didn't hurt. Has Ned Yost cost this team a playoff spot with his moves? Bit of a loaded question isn't this? First of all this question has the hidden assumption that Ned is somehow much worse than other managers in this regard. Where is your evidence of this? Have you done some sort of study or read something on this subject? Have you broke down every move Ned has made to see if your belief was in fact accurate? Or do you just assume he is, in fact, extremely subpar doing this. It's amazing how little credit Ned gets for the 5 correct moves he makes a game vs the one wrong one he makes. I do have evidence to the contrary about Neds managerial moves during a game. All you have to do is go to any other team's message boards and you will find the exact same complaints about their manager as you do with Ned. So either all the managers make the same mistakes or the fans are wrong about said moves being the differance in the game. Ned, in reality, probably makes no more mistakes than 95% of the managers out there. As posted above very elequently by Time for a Miller his strategic decisions may have cost us a game or two but most likely not more than any other manager. If you wish to ask a loaded question then maybe I should ask one as well. How many games has Ned's steady guidence, unending message of keeping an even keel, demanding high effort, ability to keep his players focused on the next game even after horrific losses, ability to keep this team's ego's in check, ect., won for this team? My guess is a lot more than his supposed strategic moves have lost them. Mostly because those are the qualities that actually matter when it comes to evaluating managers. We could also ask how many games has Mike Maddux lost us by not coaching Cappy up enough or for Suppan and Bush being subpar this year. We all seemed to praise him for his success but never blamed him for the failures of his charges this year. Were the Brewers smart to keep Ben Sheets? Impossible to say without knowing who we would have had instead of him. On the whole I'm a fan of keeping top notch pitchers when you can. His injury history isn't the type that bothers me as much as elbow or shoulder ones. When the Cards signed Carpenter he was coming off either shoulder or elbow problems in Toronto. Toronto lets him go and he turns in a couple Cy Young type years. Was his history of injuries and gamble on his future health worht the risk for the Cards? A WS ring and two appearances would suggest it was. How many games has the bullpen cost them? This assumes the bullpen was solely responsible for losses without helping the team win some games. Even games where the bullpen obviously blew late leads or let a game get out of hand it doesn't take into consideration how many runners where left on base, the erros earlier in the game, the work load in previous games that caused the meltdown in a particualr game, ect into account. Teams win and lose via a cummulative effort. It's not fair to say the bullpen lost a game if, for instance, T-Bow blew a 2 run lead in the eigth inning of a game where the batters stranded 10 runners in scoring position and the team lost 4-5. I do think that some games were lost by the bullpen but all bullpens lose games. They also win some. The net differance between how many they won vs lost is probably too subjective to get an accurate number. Did the Brewers make a huge mistake by not trading Chris Capuano in the offseason when he would have been in demand? Obviously the answer is yes. That wasn't so obvious last winter. IF he comes out next year and returns to form, which isn't out of the realm of possibility, then the answer is no. Only the future will tell on this one.

Indians closer Joe Borowski leads the AL in saves despite a 5.50 ERA. I don't think closers are necessary for a contending team as much as the bullpen as a whole has to be decent. Having a dominant closer is great and I'd like to see us get one but it's not nearly as important as having quality starters. I'd rather lock up Sheets than give Co-Co the money he'll require. T-Bow would likely be about as good as Borowski. I think we can do better by committee than trusting in one guy who has to be paid a king's ransom.

His K/BB is way down this year.... 1.86 My bad I think I was looking at 06 instead of 07. Either way he'd still be a good deal at $3 million.

Cordero isn't arby eligible. If he were, I'd guess we'd have no problem keeping him another year. differant type of arbitration. The last three years a team has exclusive rights to a player are one type of arbitration. The player has no way to refuse the arbitration without agreeing to a contract offer by the team. After the 6th year the player is eligable for free agency and has the right to refuse or accept arbitration from the team if they team offers it. If he refuses he can sign with any team he choses and his former team offering arbitration gets draft picks according to his status.

no, but it's an indicator of how he's declined over the last year or two. His ERA, WHIP and BAA are all a little worse than earlier in his career but that has mroe to do with how well he did earlier than it does how he is performing now. Stats for relievers aren't usually all that stabile from year to year. His K:BB rate is still around 3:1 where it always was. His numbers this year are way better than one would expect to get out of a $3 million player. Everything points to him being a vlaue at that price. I don't beleive for one minute that he won't get far more than that. But if he could be had for that price It's be worth it.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised that Gwynn ends up with another team who needs that type of player. He's either going to leadoff or hit 8th and the Brewers already have guys who are probably better for those slots. Even though Lance Nix is sort of an after thought I think he'd be ideal for the 5th outfield spot here with his mix of power, speed and defense. He hit for an OPS of .868 with 24 HR and 5 for 5 in stolen bases in AAA. Gwynn OTH hit for a .693 OPS, 0 HR and was 4 for 7 in SB. I know Gwynn didn't play as much in AAA but nothing I've seen from him or his minor league career suggests he could do better than Nix. The bullpen will probably be the usual mix of guys with the proverbial good stuff who have yet to establish themselves or young guys like Parra and Jackson. I don't really have a huge problem with that approach as long as there are some established guys like Shouse, Wise, even T-Bow to an extent. I wouldn't mind getting a couple veterans with a less than perfect track record if they were cheap/minor league contract nonroster types. Those guys can come in and fill a few blanks or may have enough experience to ge tit done. I know this isn't the best approach but it is one that can provide good results while still leaving enough payroll leftover to improve other parts of the team. An average bullpen is ok as long as the rest of the team is better IMO. If we could get Linbrink for the same price as T-Bow I'd be all over that. His performance here isn't really the best indicator of what he has done overall.

Like Corey Hart, I think Kremblas have nothing else left to prove in the minors and should be with the major league team next year. So who do we get rid of to make room for him? As you pointed out above the players believe he's a lot like Yost. So why get rid of Yost to bring in Yost? So knowing one has to fire someone to hire someone else here are the canidates to leave go. Dale Svuem-Managed Double-A Altoona in the Pirates organization from 2001-2003, compiling a 213-211 (.502) record...Led Altoona to its first back-to-back winning seasons in 2002 (72-69) and 2003 (78-63), including the clubs first appearance in the Eastern League playoffs in 2003...Named Top Managerial Prospect in the Eastern League by Baseball America in 2003. Ed Sedar-Begins his first season as Brewers first-base coach.....is his first position on a Major League coaching staff...Was named first-base coach on 11/20/06...Served as Minor League Outfield and Baserunning Coordinator from 1992-2006.....was also Minor League Field Coordinator from 2002-06...Was a minor-league manager in addition to his other roles while with the Brewers, managing at Rookie Ogden (1998-2001) and Rookie Helena (2003, 2005-06)...Led his teams to the playoffs in four of his seven seasons as a manager, posting a 257-224 (.534) record...Named 2003 Pioneer League Manager of the Year after leading Helena to a league-best 48-28 mark. Nick Leyva-Begins his first season on the Brewers coaching staff...Was named third-base coach on 11/20/06...Prior to joining the Brewers was a part of the White Sox organization, managing at Triple-A Charlotte (2000-01, 05) and Rookie Bristol (2002, 06) and also serving as Minor League Infield Instructor (2003-04)...Named 2002 Appalachian League Manager of the Year as he guided Bristol to a league championship...Held Major League coaching positions as first-base coach and third-base coach with St. Louis (1984-88) and as third-base coach with Toronto (1993-97)...Managed in the Major Leagues with Philadelphia, where he went 148-189 (.439) from 1989-91...Held minor-league managing positions with the Cardinals organization at Rookie Johnson City (1978-79), Class-A Gastonia (1980), Rookie St. Petersburg (1981-82) and Double-A Arkansas (1982-83).....also managed in the Blue Jays organization at Triple-A Syracuse (1992-93)...Named 1983 Texas League Manager of the Year as he led Arkansas to the second-half championship. Jim Skaalen-Begins his first season as Brewers batting coach.....is his first position on a Major League coaching staff...Was named batting coach on 10/27/06...Prior to being named to his current position served the Brewers as Minor League Hitting Coordinator (2000-06)...Spent three years as Director of Player Development in the Padres organization (1997-99)...Spent six years as Coordinator of Minor League Instruction in the Mariners organization (1991-96)...In 1990 was Minor League Hitting Instructor in the Rangers organization...Also in the Rangers organization served as manager at Class-A Port Charlotte (1987), Double-A Tulsa (1988) and Triple-A Oklahoma City (1989)...Named 1988 Texas League Manager of the Year as he guided Tulsa to a league championship...Began his managerial career in the Padres organization, guiding Class-A Walla Walla (1982), Class-A Reno (1983-84, 86) and Class-A Charleston (1985)...Began his coaching career in the Astros organization on the staff at Class-A Daytona Beach (1981). MikeMaddux-Begins his fifth season as Brewers pitching coach...Prior to joining the Brewers was the pitching coach at Double-A Round Rock in the Astros organization from the latter half of the 2000 season through 2002...Helped lead Round Rock to the 2000 Texas League Championship as the staff ranked second in the league with a 4.11 ERA. Billy Castro-Begins his 16th season as Brewers bullpen coach...Also served as interim pitching coach from mid-August through the end of the season in 2002 after Dave Stewart resigned...Was Minor League Pitching Coordinator from 1988-91...Spent the final month of the 1991 season as pitching coach at Triple-A Denver...Was a member of the Brewers scouting staff from 1985-87...Served as the pitching coach for the Dominican Republic during the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Tigerbrew I'm glad you linked that article. The quote from Melvin should hold some sway towards showing minor league team success is not an indicator of how good a manager is at his job or how good he would be a tthe major league level.

He won a AAA championship a couple years ago after virtually all of his talent was in Milwaukee. Look at the pitching staff he won with this year at Nashville. Once Gallardo left, his rotation was a bunch of guys in their 30's. He's won managaer of the year awards in several leagues. What types of teams did he win against? You act as though no other team goes through the same thing as Kremblas does. Like every other team keeps all their talent at AAA just to win the title and poor Frank has to work with nothing but league leftovers. Or that he somehow is working with one of the worst minor leagues in baseball. Last I checked the Brewers farm system was very highly rated and has been for quite a while. It's likely Kremblas is actually working with more overall talent than most. It isn't like Kremblas is winning with a Sal Bando minor league team. He's winning with one of the deepest, best stocked system in baseball. AS to the arguement that he won with 30 year old carreer minorleaguers what were his 30 year olds playing agianst? Kids or other 30 year olds. If he won with older players vs young players learning their craft it's an obvious advantage. If he won agianst other 30 somethings what does that really tell you? Manager of the year awards are nice and something he should be proud of but something that has more to do with how well the team did than how well he did with his main job of preparing minor league players to play the majors. I noticed you didn't mention anything about his curious managerial moves. Is that becuase you don't know what types of moves he makes or because you agree with things like having a catcher attempt to steal home? Agian all you seem to be interested in is winning at a level where winning isn't the main goal of most teams. That has nothing to do with how well he did his job. For the record I believe Kremblas has done a good job and, like other successful minor league coaches before him, should be in line for a promotion. Just not a jump to the top without first going through the coaching levels at the majors. To give him the job now would be like promoting Cory Hart to the majors three years ago because he won the AA league MVP and helped all his teams win championships. I respect your opinion John but I don't agree.

Not even close Ned had a way better resume than Kremblas. It's nothing agianst Kremblas but you have got to be kidding me that he has a better resume at this time than Ned did when he got hired. Ned worked on both the pitching and hitting side of baseball in the majors for more years than Kremblas has been in baseball. Even if I would accept the premise that he didn't learn anything from his time in Atlanta, which I certainly don't, he still had put that time in which is something that Kremblas hasn't. The fact that Ned didn't win in the low minors and still got a job in the majors, with one of the best organizations top to bottom in baseball no less, should be more an indication of how little winning in the minors counts in the eyes of GM's and managers when it comes to assessing a person's abiltiy to manage or even coach in the majors.If you think Yost does some goofy managerial decisions you should spend some time looking at some of Kremblas' moves. There was an article in the AAA section that mentioned some of his odd moves. I'd suggest reading it if it's still there. Some of the things that worked agianst minor leaguers will get him booed out of town if he tries it at the major league level. I just think way too much is made out of winning at a level where winning is not even the main priority. If winning was important in the minors then it could be used as a measuring stick for major league managing capabilities. It isn't so it doesn't. A team can go to the playoffs with a losing record if they started out hot because the first half winner goes. If that was the case in the majors Ned would aready have guided this team to a playoff spot. The minor leagues have teams who use them very differantly. Some teams push young players through faster than others. Some use AA as the last spot for young high ceiling players before the majors and AAA more or less as a holding pen for veterans who may be able to help in the event of an injury. Some take a core of players and move them along more or less together. Some teams raid rosters more than others on a given year. It simply doesn't give much, if any, indication of how good someone will do in the majors. If it was that simple all teams would do is look at which minor league manager had the best record and hire him. Does anyone even know if Kremblas has the best resume in the minors? Maybe we shouldn't be looking as hard at him as some manager for Tampa that won three stright titles in A ball or something along that line.

I think if Kremblas was brought up for the team to get a look at him it would be more for a coaching position than the managers spot. He'll probably go through the coaching ranks before he gets the manager's job much the same way Sedar is. Kremblas seems to be the sexy pick of the week to replace a manager who isn't going anywhere for some reason. The biggest reason I've seen given is he won some minor league championships. Which is nice for the team but not the main part of his job. Especially considering the teams never are at full strength when they get to the playoffs. Personally if they do decide to go in a differant direction I'd much rather have a manager with some aomount of major league experience. At this point I'd probably like to see Sedar get a chance first.

Anyways, I'll enjoy the cat and mouse game as I'm sure yo will too in figuring out what my other account is and how to ban it. But, outwitting you doesn't look to pose much of a challenge. You reak of pork! Good luck..." A smart person would understand it far better to assume he's not as smart as everyone else and be proven wrong than to think he's smarter and be proven wrong. Signed The American Confusioushttp://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/nerd.gif

The single season sack record was held for years by Mark Gasteneu (sp?) a guy who was a poster boy for steroids. Honestly I doubt there are many clean records in football.

Did anyone check the % of payroll the Brewers have vs the Cubs? It's gotta be about 40% of the Cubs.

That made me very sad. My goddaughter is blond, cute, 16 and about as bright. I love her to death but all I saw when I wathced that was my niece. Thank God they are both good looking enough to get by on looks alone.