The stache

Why the hell is Garza still in there? Way to go, RRR. Somebody get this team a new manager, please. We gave our starting pitcher a 5-0 lead to start the game, and Garza and Roenicke just completely blew it. Get rid of them both.

Good to see that Krush is really starting to hit the ball. Segura's hitting, Braun is hitting, Luc is hitting, Go Go is hitting...I'm liking it. How about Reynolds with 12 home runs? Wow.

Somewhere Wily Peralta is thinking to himself "sure, TODAY you guys score some runs".

Welcome to the big club, Jimmy. Too bad Nashville scores more runs for you than the Brewers will.

+1.

Can somebody find me a link of Roenicke's post game presser? This should be entertaining.

Well, if we come back here, good for the Brewers. If not, Kimbrel gets me a save.

Still standing behind this statement?? Yes. Where is all this offensive talent? Lucroy, Braun, Gomez, and Ramirez (if he can ever stay healthy). Besides Davis and Segura, who are still trying to get on track, who else on this team excites you with their offensive abilities?

You know, I thought the exact same thing when it happened. Unfortunately, I can't watch the post game presser on MLB.tv, as they cut the feed so as not to show any interviews. I'm sure I can find it on Brewers.com, but I'm afraid what will happen to my flat screen monitor if I see him talking. "I think Lyle had a good night. The box score will only show 1 for 3, but he really drove the ball well." Just shoot me, please.

Any site track how many calls each ump has had reversed? That's a great question. Somewhere, somebody has to be tracking this. Everything else in baseball is tracked. Anybody know?

Still standing behind this statement??

Agreed, chickinbrickin. He's been showing a little more patience at the plate. I think that bodes well.

Good eye, Khris. Make him work for it.

Darn, that was our shot. Just got out in front of it.

I know we're down by a run, but don't worry, guys. Lyle Overbay is coming up.

http://thewallmachine.com/files/1353014815.jpg "Mr. Roenicke, you are a brainless man."

For all the talk about the Washington Redskins being offensive to Native Americans, do you think the fans of the Atlanta Braves and their little tomahawk chop might be offending them a little bit more?

Braun's out now? Is he ever going to be healthy again??

What the heck is wrong with Ryan Braun? I'm not watching the game right now, but he's grounding out a lot.

I'm not sold that Hunter Morris is the answer, either. But I do know that he's about to turn 26, and there's no viable explanation why he's not getting that chance. At 24 he was our Minor League Player of the Year. He didn't get his shot then, and he had a subpar season at Nashville. Three ways of looking at this: Keep Overbay where he is, he continues to suck. Get rid of Overbay, take a look at Morris. He sucks. Get rid of Overbay, take a look at Morris. He performs well. I don't really see any down side to giving him his chance. But having him run on the squeaky hamster wheel indefinitely isn't going to answer any questions. BTW, just to sprinkle some cheese on top of this fun little discussion. Has anybody seen what Michael Brantley has been doing with Cleveland? It's funny, he was the player to be named later in the Sabathia for LaPorta deal, yet Brantley has outplayed him. Brantley is hitting .292 with 10 doubles, 9 home runs, 33 RBI, and a nifty little slash line of .362/.515/.877

Two words. Mat Gamel. In other words, the last sweet swinging power hitting first base prospect that we putzed around with with until two torn ligaments cost him any chance of a future with the Brewers. This is a pattern I've seen with Melvin over the years. Sometimes, good players are blocked from advancing to the Majors. If you look at the Los Angeles Dodgers, they've got a kid named Joc Pederson that is going to be good. Real good. Really really good. Unfortunately, they have such a log jam in the outfield, he can't get any playing time with the parent club. Pederson at AAA Albuquerque this season: 44 games played, 170 ABs, 42 runs, 61 hits, 8 doubles, 0 triples, 14 home runs, 29 RBI, 13 stolen bases, 33 BBs, 54 Ks, .359 AVG, and a slash line of .463/.653/1.116. But with the Brewers, some of the guys that we have in the minors that have proven whatever they're going to prove, continue to toil wondering if their day is ever going to come. Melvin just waits too long with some of these prospects. Khris Davis was 25 before he ever made it to the bigs. Who's our top prospect right now? Jimmy Nelson. How old? 24. 25 on June 5th. Most of the other teams in the Majors, their top prospects are seeing the Majors at least a year or two younger than those in Milwaukee. Hunter Morris is 26 in October. How much longer, Doug?

You're right, JohnBriggs12. That's a my bad. I was going off of what I heard on the radio. I hadn't looked much at his minor league stats. I guess the feeling is that there is somebody else we could be bringing up that could take Wang's place, and help this club to win. But, if Herrera, Overbay and Bianchi are getting 25 man roster spots, too, complaining about Wang is really silly. At least at some point down the road he might be worthwhile to us.

Lyle Overbay, Elian Herrera, Jeff Bianchi and Wei-Chung Wang. These are four members of our twenty-five man active roster. Sixteen percent of the men that put on the Milwaukee Brewers uniform on a nightly basis. Can any of us say with a degree of confidence that even two of these players would make a 25 man roster for any other team in baseball? Start with Wang. The guy may have potential, and could be a pitcher to watch down the road. But he's never thrown higher than Class A ball, and he's already had Tommy John surgery once. And by signing him, we're forced to keep him on the active roster the rest of the season (unless he could be put on the 60 man DL later. That's I'm not sure of). It's not his talent, or his projectability that I question. It's the wisdom of putting him on the 25 man roster, and making him a part of a bullpen that is already too difficult for Ron Roenicke to manage. The few times we've seen him against Major League hitters, he's been completely overmatched. This raises another concern. IF we keep him on the 25 man roster, or if we put him on the DL (again, if that's feasible), he's not getting a chance to develop. What are the odds that Wang becomes any kind of key contributor down the road? And, do those odds justify what is being done to the Major League team? Because, as it stands, about all he's good for is mop up duty, which we know will be infrequent, because Ron Roenicke prefers to leave mop up duty to one of our better relievers like Tyler Thornburg or Will Smith. Next up is the 37-year old first baseman, Lyle Overbay. At one time, Overbay was quite a good hitter for the Brewers. He led the National League with 53 doubles, while hitting .301 with a sparkling .863 OPS. That was in 2004. What does he bring to the table for a Major League team in 2014? Besides apparently being Ron Roenicke's go to "positional player as a relief pitcher" guy, I don't know what he provides to this team. He was supposed to be the best defensive guy of the three being considered for first base (Mark Reynolds and Juan Francisco being the others). Well, we know that Francisco is terrible defensively historically. But is Overbay really better? Francisco had 10 errors last year playing first base for the Brewers. When you consider, though, that Francisco had spent his entire career at third base, a .983 fielding percentage at first wasn't terrible. Imagine if we only judged Ryan Braun's defense by the time he spent at third base. He moved to the outfield, and has actually been pretty good defensively in left, and now right field. This year, Francisco has been back at third for the Blue Jays, and he's been bad again. But in the 25 innings he played at first base, no errors. Overbay has played 178 innings at first for the Brewers, and has 2 errors. A .989 fielding percentage. Yes, I know fielding percentage is an antiquated metric. Ok, what about WAR? Overbay has been a -0.2 dWAR this season. Francisco has been a -0.1 dWAR this season. Neither Overbay or Francisco have been good, but the point is that Francisco hasn't been terrible. Now, let's look at the offensive contributions from these two players: Overbay: 78 at bats. 8 runs 17 hits. 2 doubles. 1 home run. 10 RBI. .218 AVG. Slash line of .287/.282/.559. Francisco: 89 at bats. 18 runs. 26 hits. 4 doubles. 1 triple. 8 home runs. 19 RBI. .292 AVG. lash of .373/.629/1.002 When you consider that Francisco is 26 years old, and Overbay is 37, which player would you have kept? Francisco strikes out--a lot--36 times in 89 at bats. 40%. But surprisingly, so does Overbay. 19 strike outs in 78 at bats. 24%. When you consider he has no power whatsoever, Overbay does little with the bat at all. If you were a General Manager of a Major League team, would you consider signing Lyle Overbay if you needed a first base? Probably not, regardless of what else you have in your minor league system. The point is, however, that Lyle Overbay should not be a member of the Milwaukee Brewer's 25-man roster. Give Hunter Morris a shot. He's 25. He's demonstrated power at both AA and AAA. He's hitting .288 with a .793 OPS. That's not great, but it's a hell of a lot better than Overbay's .569 OPS. And maybe Morris shows us something. He certainly can't be any worse than Overbay. Next up, Jeff Bianchi. Now, this guy, because he can play shortstop and pretty much every defensive position but catcher, is going to find his way onto a Major League roster somewhere. He's a utility guy that's good as a bench player. He's good late in the game when you need a defensive replacement. But he's not a solution when you lose a starter to injury. Ad the Brewewers, with Aramis Ramirez now on the DL, are being forced to play this guy when Segura or Reynolds need a day off. And he's basically an automatic out. If you gave Yuniesky Betancourt a better glove, and took away any and all of his power, you'd have Jeff Bianchi. Bianchi has 52 plate appearances. He has 8 hits, all of them singles. He's walked twice. His OPS? .336. His OPS plus is actually a negative number at -6. But as bad as Overbay and Bianchi are, I've saved the best for last. That's right, Elian Herrera. Elian "How the heck did he ever make it to the Bigs?" Herrera. The only article I found on Herrera before he was first called up to the Dodgers starts this way: This guy was referred to as a career minor league player, the definition of a utility player. Precisely what the Brewers needed more of. Utility players! Herrera can't hit for power, or average. He hasn't shown any of the speed he had in the minors. And we all know how good he is defensively.(please don't make me break out the gif of him throwing the ball into the dirt against the Cardinals. What I can't figure out is why is he on the Brewers? Bring Jimmy Nelson up, and Hunter Morris. We know (or at least in Morris' case, we suspect) these two are parts of our future. Get rid of Wang. Dump Overbay. Nelson and Morris are upgrades. We need another power bat, and Hunter Morris could provide that. As for Bianchi, well, I don't know what to say. I see his eventual successor Orlando Arcia as being at least a year away, unless he gets traded for another veteran soft-throwing 30 something pitcher coming off of Tommy John surgery. And Herrera? Well, we can't get Tyrone Taylor to Huntsville fast enough, as far as I'm concerned.

You know the thing about a Doumit's eyes, he's got... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white.

The only thing that could possibly make this worse is if Overbay gets hit by a line drive, and we don't have anybody to play first base.