longball04

I actually think the ridiculous St Louis comments rank in this order. 1) Untucking the jerseys after a win is disrespecting the game. 2) The Brewers turn up the ribbon lighting to help the team. 3) The Brewers are stealing the pitchers' signs. 4) The bullpen/dugout phone changed my words. Did the Brewers have any liners or groundouts to the left side of our defense that game?

155 has limited value with regard to estimating future performance. Your analysis does not address that fact at all. So you are using his past performances to dictate that you think he is going to get better? To think that, then you should be seeing a slight INCLINE or RISE in his batting average, because that would dictate that he is progressing this year as his at-bats increase. The longer he stays in this funk, the harder it is going to be to get that average above the Mendoza line. Also, you should be seeing his contact rate INCREASING as well right or his BaBIP or whatever that stat is. Not to burst your bubble, but those trends are not increasing. April: .186/.320/.360/.681 86 AB's and 28 strikeouts May .116/.238/.188/.426 69 AB's and 30 strikeouts April BaBIP .236 May BaBIP .184 I don't see it increasing. I don't see anything good happening right now. Correct me if I am wrong. 155 at bats might not be a good judging factor, but right now, it's what we have to work with. I don't live in the past. I would think you would want a "what can you do for me now" attitude in baseball. If you are horrible now, and horrible is a light term , but were decent in the past, that only gets you so far.

Honestly, that is pretty weird to collect your hair like that and then stick it on a wall. Am I the only one that thinks that?

If I recall, he swung and missed last year in it.

By moving on, I am referring to platooning if you have to, but at least get someone in there that is going to make contact. Its not like he is some plus defender at second where you can give away something offensively because he is a stud defensively. He constantly tries to backhand grounders and never tries to get his body in front of them. His arm is not accurate either, although it has improved over the years. Right now, he is hitting under .160. No other team in major league baseball would trot him out there day after day hoping he is going to break out of it. They would give him days off, start to platoon him, etc. If they did trot him out there, he certainly wouldn't be batting in the top 7 of the order. It hurts me to say this, but I would rather have Izturis' pathetic offense right now than Rickie's. At least he puts the ball in play. Some on here say that 155 at bats is no barometer as to how he will do this season because he has shown in the past how good he really is. Do the math. To get to the Mendoza line in the next 155 at bats (a little over half a season), he has to get to 62 hits (38-155) or a .245 batting average. To get his average to .250 he needs 78 hits or hitting at a .348 clip. What in his current approach makes you think he can get either of those? I wasn't suggesting sending him down. I was asking if he had options. Obviously I did not know the 5 yr rule. But at what point do you platoon him. And by the way, that strikeout is disgusting. He missed that ball by at least 2 feet.

Well said. Well said. Parra is weak mentally. He's actually done ok in small 1 inning bursts and technically was one of the more reliable guys out of the pen for a while. Why screw with that? It's not a spot start we're considering. A DL trip means two starts and then a bullpen makeover.

He's got a bad wrist. Remember? Plus has anyone figured out if he actually has a minor league option left? I agree on the Snakes series. If he hasn't figured it out by Monday, then my leash is gone. You have to move on at some point. Something has to change.

I would like to add a different opinion on all this. With the pick up of Ransom yesterday, the demotion of Maysonet and the transform of Alex to the 60-day, there is no smooth way to bring up Thornburg. People say, "Don't bring him up you will ruin his development." Really, the guy is already 23 and pushing 24. It's not like he is a young 19-21yr old pitcher we are grooming. Sure he hasn't pitched in AAA, but why is that the standard we have to live by? Why not trial by fire. He has 3 solid years of numbers in the minors. Skipping a level means nothing. So you start the arb clock. Big deal. He'll almost be 30 by then. Did we think about that? This team should look to see what gives them the best chance to win. If I was the GM, this is what I would do. 1) Designate the amazing Tim Dillard for assignment. Like the guy, but we have better options out there. 2) Move up Thornburg. Let him start a couple games. 3) When Estrada comes back, move him to the bullpen. That is where he is going to provide us with the best benefit. Marco can go through a lineup once just fine. Second time around he turns into Dave Bush. Those are my feelings. You aren't screwing with his development by bringing TT up. He's got major league talent. Why not see what you got? Why wait? The season is by no means over. It's not even June. I look at Marco's injury as a blessing as I think it gives us a chance to see what we have in one fo the 3 guys as a starter (Fiers. Peralta, or TT). Again, just my opinion.

No different than all his other swings, year to date. Rock's comment after he ripped the double to LC. "Welcome back Rickie Weeks." Hey Rock, one hit doesn't mean he is back. The 3 k's that went along with it might have just meant he got lucky and made contact. I am cheering for him to do something every time he steps up to the plate, but I also am a realist and I can see what is going to happen when he is done hitting. It was great he got that double, but he is still basically hitting .160 this year. Do you know how hot he has to get just to make it to the Mendoza line? I am truly afraid that they will be re-naming it the Weeks line very shortly. I still love Weeks, but seriously, at some point and time, you have to move on. I don't see any other team in baseball putting up with that. The only reason the Braves put up with Uggla's junk average last year is because he actually made contact once in a while and hit it a country mile. I don't see that being the case here.

Here's my counter on the Romo comment. Don't you know that coming in? The guy is all off-speed basically. Heck Gomez basically fell down. Although Weeks might have been a tad more balanced, he was still falling across the plate. I didn't see that much improvement last night. I am all for letting him work through it as long as there aren't any better options out there. But I think we got a couple guys hitting over .160 don't we? At least 1? An out is still an out. The flyball to center was great. The groundballs not so much. I just want to see him rip one to the RC gap once.

I shut it off after the 11th. I knew where it was going to end. It's sad really. You have to win today because you know there is no chance that we win Wednesday with a poor man's Dave Bush throwing. Plus, with Braun probably out one if not two days with a sore groin, who else is going to get hits. Rickie fought one off for a hit to right, otherwise he looked pathetic. You have to hope that ARam, Hart and Lucroy pick them up tonight. It's really getting hard watching this team play. I am going to take a new approach. I am going to try NOT to watch tonight and see how that goes.

Well, he is hitting .200 against lefties. So to quote Dumb and Dumber: "So you're telling me there's a chance?"

Exactly what I said. Aoki, then Hart but love the Lucroy placement. I would have also moved Ishikawa one more up and dropped Weeks to 7th. But about time.

Still curious to see the lineup they throw out there. Obviously Weeks is in it because he's a righty. Course he is hitting an amazing .200 against lefties this year. So maybe this is his breakout game where he gets a hit AND swings at the first pitch.

My father, the eternal pessimist, made this two word comment. Gary Sheffield. Now that is a very far-fetched idea, but his best friend did leave the team. Like I said, very far-fetched. If they think that the best thing for him to do is play through this, then fine. Let him play through it. But don't leave him in the 2-hole. Move him as far away as possible from the top of the order. I say 7 in the order. Let Lucroy bat 2nd. At least he puts the ball in play and moves runners. You just can't keep him in there the way he is playing offensively. He is providing no benefit to the team. Throw out last night, and at least Ryan has been productive when they actually get guys on. But 2nd and 3rd and 1 out and he has to get the ball out of the infield. Last night's single was a friggin gift. He's bad right now and it is very painful to watch him go through this.

I think Baker pushed the limits with Prior and Wood at a very early age in their pitching careers. I think that led to the demise of both of them. Sure, mechanics are to blame. But I do think that Baker added to it. I am not a Cubs fan nor could I care. It is just too bad because both pitchers were so dominant. I like that he is being allowed to pitch one more game, and it will be at home. I hope he has a good outing, perhaps a closing situation, and the fans appreciate him when he walks off the field.

Wood was hurt before Dusty ever got to Chicago. He had TJ in 1999, Dusty wasn't there til 2003 After TJ surgery he was fine until 2004. Then he had a strained triceps in 2004, surgery in 2005, (not counting hot tub accident and knee surgery) surgery in 2006 for a torn rotator cuff, 2007 soreness in elbow DL'd him, etc etc etc. Kerry pitched injury free for 3 years until Dusty got there. My point.

We talk about it often. Just think of that 1-2 punch in Wood and Prior had neither been allowed to consistently throw 130+ pitches an outing (it is what I deem the cause of their injuries). They were so dominant. Dusty killed them.

In a dejavu post: "Give him a couple days off." Also, some things that have always bothered me about Weeks, even though I still like the kid. 1) Notice when he swings and fouls a fastball back his top hand sometimes comes off the bat then he sits there and looks at it, as if it is hurt or something? 2) He's taking too many pitches. In his first two at bats (first two pitches of his first at bat), he watched cookie pitches right down the middle to start off the at-bat. First pitch fastballs taste really good. What happened to Mr. Aggressive up there? I hate to blame Narron, but is Narron telling these guys to work the count? Don't you think other teams know that by now? 3) He's still falling all over the plate. Even on check swings he's falling onto the plate and across it. He has no balance whatsoever. And to prove my point, I sat there and watched everyone else and NO ONE else has that problem. Maybe one step forward or on to the plate on an outside pitch, but he is literally falling and flailing. Either RR has to bench him for a couple of days or move him down to the 7th or 8th spot in the order. We have plenty of guys who can make contact. At this point and time, we would be better served having Izturis (who can throw it farther than he can hit it) hitting second than Weeks. FYI - I washed my mouth out after saying that because Izturis is just as bad. But at least he makes friggin contact. I don't think Weeks has any value right now to any team. I really believe that. Therefore, he has to get things back. But this team needs to start a winning streak and a guy who can't move runners is wasting a spot in the lineup. I have actually now boycotted this team until he has been sat.

I meant having an event that was a little broader than the Milwaukee area. Remember the Winter Tour? They used to have stuff all over the State of Wisconsin. Something to that effect. I completely understand the tax issue and how they fronted the stadium. I was looking at an event that encompassed the entire State, not just the immediate Milwaukee vicinity. The cross-over commercials with Rodgers are genius. Now you pull two fan bases together. I am just referring to a little more face time from players outside of that area.

If the Brewers were smart, they'd market outside the Milwaukee area, and I mean more than one hour out. If they get people to come from outside of the Milwaukee area, say push it to Madison, up to Wausau, over to Green Bay and down, perhaps they could expand the fan base a little more and get some money from outside the tax district to boost ticket sales. I live 2.5 hours away and it stinks that there are never any Brewers activities in this area. There is a huge following, and people would go to these kinds of events if they were within an hours drive. Even the block parties or gatherings on off-days. I really think the Marketing Department is missing out on some huge opportunities. I am not saying have a "Where is Chirizo" lawn ornament thing in Dodgeville, WI or Stevens Point, but have something in outlying areas. It even stinks that the rental of the sausages on off days for events carries a surcharge if outside a one hour radius. Completely limiting themselves on the income side. I would guarantee just as many people wear the Brewers apparel in this area as they do in the Milwaukee area. Again, just an idea.

As long as he changed his 2 strike approach, he was going to be a better player. Last year and the year prior, he was consistently swinging out of his shoes with 2 strikes. Taking a more relaxed approach at the plate would increase his numbers on the spot. I think he has made great strides since last year and I can't wait til he's back on the 20th. I would assume Conrad goes down when that happens.

We have no organizational depth in the position players though. We have no SS option, it is very apparent that we have no viable option for 1st base or they would be playing right now instead of cycling 3 guys through there. Our back up to Ramirez is Green at 3rd. I like Taylor, like him a lot, but is he going to be that 20-30 homerun guy that usually resides at 3rd? Probably not. And we have to assume that Ramirez is going to regress or get injured at some point. My point is that we have to show Greinke that we are committed to winning. Right now we aren't bringing in guys in the pen that scream confidence. I like Tim Dillard as a person, but Tim, Chulk and Parra (if he was more consistent) can easily be replaced with some power young arms. We have some of those in the minors, yet we aren't bringing them up. It seems that everyone else has guys who can throw 93-95 with movement. Where are our guys like that? You have to show Greinke that you are committed to winning. As of right now, I am not seeing that. If the Brewers can't score, can't win, and are this far out at the break, I don't see Greinke doing anything til the offseason.

I think that I might be the only one on the world that thinks Estrada is a poor man's Dave Bush. I would rather see one of the young guys come out of the minors like a Fiers or Peralta and have them be the #5 starter, and then throw Estrada in the bullpen. I think he would be more productive there. Let's face it. The starting rotation is not our problem. That pen is. We have multiple guys that shouldn't be on the roster, or wouldn't be in other organizations. Estrada fills a more important need in the bullpen than he does in the rotation. But that is just my opinion.

States they only have about $59mil tied up next year and Attanasio is willing to talk big contracts with his two free agent pitchers. Nothing exciting. No new news. Nothing to get excited about.