SoupTown

I honestly liked the Florida operation. Win a WS, then sell the lot. Have fun watching youngsters... then in three years win a world series, then sell the lot. I liked it.

It does seem to me that Gomez is indeed the only piece we have that will net quality prospects. And it does seem to me that Mark is likely after a retool for a 2017 hope. Which means that Lucroy and Garza and Segura are not tradable. It also is clear there is no third base prospect in our organisation that looks likely to contribute in 2017. It also appears we are woeful at catcher post Lucroy (could Leal be the next big thing?). It also is clear there is no number one arm type that could be around for 2017. So my trade of Gomez, yields the following: a AA or AAA third base prospect plus an A+ catching prospect plus an AA starter with upside. 2016 will tell you how you 'did' in your trade (and all the other minor trades... Lind, Cotts, Lohse, ARAM). Your third base prospect needs to be in Milwaukee after a month of two of 2016. Your high end starter needs to be in Milwaukee by July or so, 2016. This will tells you if you can have a decent team in 2017. If your trade was not successful, and you will know by trade deadline 2016, then Lucroy is traded for similar targets that Gomez is now. And I think Sergura would be traded as well. And KROD is traded. You are then focused on the chance 2017 can be the run up, practice, for 2018+. So, really, our future rides very much on the prospects we get back for Gomez. I think Doug did well on the return for Grienke. And he did well on the return for Gallardo. Doug seems to be OK trading FOR prospects. He seems very poor in trading his prospects away for short term rentals.

I am really sad (listening on radio here) it seems the players have decided to not work any counts. It is swing and foul or swing a miss to almost every pitch. Why oh why not make the other guy work only a little. If the guy is throwing 90% strikes, fine. But I doubt that.

I guess we should be thankful RRR was held onto until May this. What if he had been released end of last year. Then the horror start would be the blame of the new manager. At least the events cause the focus to now be OFF the manager. Where oh where will the focus fall. There are not so, so many place left, hey!

One thing, over the years, that really irked me was how (aside from last year) the Brewers were September wonders... in terms of destroying their draft position. So, come 1 Sept, they may be drafting 7th or 10th or the like. All the teams around them, in July and Aug, have jettisoned their assets for prospects of any type. The Brewers remain intact with their .480 team. Yet their .480 team starts beating up on the other .480 teams. Because the other teams are now playing prospects and seeing what they have. So the Brewers climb to .500 and end up drafting 17th or 19th. They seemed to do this so, so many years. Then in winter, management would say how strong they finished. I mean remember when Doug said re a guy they did NOT call up when they knew they were first basemanless the next year (maybe about Matt Clark or somebody else... on the 40 man): 'oh, maybe it was a mistake to not play XYZ in Sept last, as it would have been good to see what he was like, now that we have a hole to fill, and maybe he could fill it, but we dont know, because we did not call him up... oh, well, bad luck... maybe we should have' This is from a GM with over 20 years experience NOT BOTHERING to call up a guy on the 40 man, in September, when we were .460 or whatever, and we knew the next year we need to know if that guy can play. It will be like when ARAM gets released we sign Yuni to a one month contract at third base... just because. I dont think Rogers is a 3rd baseman, but maybe, just maybe he should get some games there so in 2016 Doug wont say 'well, we dont really know if Jason can play third, because we never really tried him there... geez, doh, maybe we should have'. Maybe this resurrected thread is for me. I loathe DUMB management in charge of MILLIONS and, supposedly, in charge of true, sports state's team. Wisconsin deserves better than a Doug and Mark comedy show.

from mlbtraderumors latest post: Brewers outfielder Khris Davis has torn the meniscus in his right-knee, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. He’ll undergo surgery on Tuesday. Davis is hitting .252/.339/.449 in 168 plate appearances. While no timetable has been announced, past meniscus surgeries have required six to eight weeks of recovery – sometimes more if there are other complicating factors. The Milwaukee lineup has been plagued by various injuries this season, only Adam Lind has been available every day.

AAA is an intriguing place to me. What should it be? And now that we have been forced to be in a place we, seemingly dont like, the clouds of Colorado, again, we can ask... 'what should it be?' Should it be the place of grizzled vets - ex MLB guys having one last year, ready to come up and fill in when needed? The roster would be rebuilt every year from the 'last cut' guys of spring training all around the league. Should it be the place of the 26 year old 'give me a chance, skip' hopeful, ready to fill in a gap (ala Peterson for Davis), and hopefully prove they can be MLB average players for their couple of peak years - 26 to 28 ages? Should it have any prospects at all? Maybe for that part year you stash them to get that 'extra year' service time. Maybe prospects need to go there so learn the nuances, be schooled, by playing with and against those crafty vets. It does seem in AA you learn to hit quality pitching. In AAA you learn to hit Bartolo Colon. Should it be purgatory for the 'fall from grace guys' (Scooter who may be redeemed, and Logan who seems destined to not be redeemed). I guess if an organisation was full of prospects you need AAA (somewhere to put them). But in the Brewers case, they need to figure out, really what to do with AAA - on a philosophical level.

I guess there is a difference between 'game calling' and 'framing'. In fact, it is MORE than that. They say they have, re catching, "crafted a statistical model that attempts to quantify the value of everything" Surely they must have arrived at the number 42, as their answer.

If it is true that Braun is not good in RF and ok in left, we might as well start the retooling now. BUT!, when Davis is back, either later this year or next, he is only a left fielder.

Wow. Surgery already scheduled for Tuesday. Who would have thought Lind would be our MOST HEALTHY starter. Lucroy, Gomez, Segura, Scooter, Davis all DL'ed. Braun needing the odd game off. ARAM needing a LOT of days off. That is SEVEN of the EIGHT starters not in good health so far. Number 8, Mr Lind, well, he is model of non injury. I guess Peralta just is salt in the wound. And you KNOW the Front Office will be saying 'if only it were not for the injuries'. Heck, it may even be true. With no injuries at all maybe we were a .500 team. Hooray.

I wonder how the Brewers would look if they simply let every guy go year to year - and they did not trade prospects for MLB guys. If they trade prospects, trade for other prospects. Like now we should trade one of our middle infield guys for a similar 3rd base guy. My point is the arby system makes you pay for what the guy did last year. That is, management are always ahead of the curve. And you never, ever have dud contracts. And I would be happy to keep our good guys for six years (actually, it is always up to 6.9). And if we are too dumb to draft and develop and international sign well, you just end up really bad. This current 'really bad' where we are having old and expensive and forward expensive contracts really breaks my heart.

I think Maldy is a classic backup guy. I thought he would do really well, based on that stint 3 years or so, ago. But I will guess his body is such that he just cannot handle every day. The dearth of catchers we have makes me think Lucroy cannot be traded. I will guess Gomez is traded, we give up on this year and next, and we re-tool for 2017 - with Lucroy as the main man. And Maldy will be the backup.

Can I give another exhibit of the Brewer players' 'me first' attitude. Kintzler. Last year he complained he was not used in high leverage situations. I applauded that boldness. I thought his fire was for the team 'give me the ball for the team'. Yet now when he has been pitching very poorly, and he is DFAed, he suddenly pipes in his knee is hurt. So we have yet ANOTHER example of a player putting himself before the team. If his knee was hurt then he should have said so 1 day, 3, days, 5 days ago. But his actions show he cares not for the team, but for himself, firstly. If you keep your eyes open, you will see countless examples of this over these lean years. The entire ethos of the organisation is a bunch of people (from top to bottom) trying to cover their bums - and keep their special MLB 'cool' jobs.

I am amazed this thread was in dormant from 26 April to 29 May. It is saying something when the season is so far gone that people cannot even be positive enough to post in the negative thread.

"I've always attended games as much or more for hanging out with friends and tailgating on a hot summer day/night than caring if the team wins the game i'm at." A true fan, and Mark and Doug love you for it. I wonder if the MLB squad would get the 'message' if there were a few nights where they were venue swapped with Appleton. Since that would not fly, how about double headers. The Brewers play an early, entree game, then the Rattlers put on the main show. Even our AA team with no home ground would likely be happy to have the Brewers be an intro act for them at an MLB stadium. It could be billed as 'the past' and 'the future' double header. (since there is no present)