Oldcity

The Braves could do something like Yunel Escobar, Jair Jurrjens plus other pieces and blow the Brewers' offer away.

The issue is they should hire a manager based on his baseball philosophies, not whether he's managed before. I don't care that Brenly won a world series with two amazing pitchers because the Brewers won't have pitchers like that next year. Meanwhile, Brenly will be bunting in like the fifth inning and I'll want to break things every time.

So now they aren't even letting the new manager choose his staff? What's the sense in that?

I agree that if they do a 2008 banner they need one for 1981 as well.

Anyone here could likely have managed that Arizona team to a World Series win. Brenly almost managed to screw up despite having the two best pitchers in the league.

A banner that says "Wild Card Champions" or "Wild Card Winners" seems pretty weak to me. Just my opinion.

This is what I was trying to get at as well. The Brewers have had poor discipline since Melvin had been here, but many of the players were already in the Brewers' system when he arrived--which is why I'm not convinced it's Melvin's issue.

With the debate over whether Melvin should have received an extension and whether he's more valuable to the team than Jack Z, I wanted to take a look at one of the biggest criticisms directed towards him: low on-base percentage, and more specifically, ignoring OBP and referring to slugging more than he should. Those characteristics are a fair description of the Brewers the last few years, but are they a fair description of Doug Melvin as a GM? I was hoping to find some answers to that, but I'm not sure I did. Anyway, here are offensive numbers for each MLB team he's assembled as a GM. I did expand more on this at my blog, if anyone is interested. I decided to post it here as well because I was hoping to get more opinions on it, because I'm not sure myself. 1995 TexasRangers OBP: .336 (10th of 14 teams) SLG: .410 (10th of 14 teams) Runs: 691 (11th of 14 teams) 1996 TexasRangers OBP: .359 (5th of 14 teams) SLG: .469 (4th of 14 teams) Runs: 928 (4th of 14 teams) 1997 TexasRangers OBP: .333 (9th of 14 teams) SLG: .438 (4th of 14 teams) Runs: 807 (7th of 14 teams) 1998 TexasRangers OBP: .356 (2nd of 14 teams) SLG: .462 (3rd of 14 teams) Runs: 940 (2nd of 14 teams) 1999 TexasRangers OBP: .362 (3rd of 14 teams) SLG: .479 (1st of 14 teams) Runs: 945 (2nd of 14 teams) 2000 TexasRangers OBP: .352 (6th of 14 teams) SLG: .446 (7th of 14 teams) Runs: 848 (9th of 14 teams) 2001 TexasRangers OBP: .344 (4th out of 14 teams) SLG: .471 (1st out of 14 teams) Runs: 890 (3rd out of 14 teams) 2003 Brewers OBP: .329 (11th out of 16 teams) SLG: .419 (8th out of 16 teams) Runs: 714 (11th out of 16 teams) 2004 Brewers OBP: .321 (12th out of 16 teams) SLG: .387 (16th out of 16 teams) Runs: 634 (15th out of 16 teams) 2005 Brewers OBP: .331 (9th out of 16 teams) SLG: .423 (4th out of 16 teams) Runs: 726 (6th out of 16 teams) 2006 Brewers OBP: .327 (13th out of 16 teams) SLG: .420 (12th out of 16 teams) Runs: 730 (14th out of 16 teams) 2007 Brewers OBP: .329 (11th out of 16 teams) SLG: .456 (2nd out of 16 teams) Runs: 801 (5th out of 16 teams) 2008 Brewers OBP: .325 (10th out of 16 teams) SLG: .431 5th out of 16 teams) Runs: 750 (7th out of 16 teams) Here's where I have trouble trying to draw a conclusion from this. I wasn't sure what I expected to find when I looked at these numbers. If I would have seen relatively low OBPs in Texas I'd have felt safe saying that Melvin either largely ignores on-base percentage or prefers slugging percentage, but that wasn't really reflected overall by his Ranger teams. With the Brewers, though, the highest OBP in any season since Melvin has been here is .331. I'm willing to give him a pass on his first two years here, as those were clearly rebuilding teams-even 2005's team overachieved a bit to reach .500. But the Brewers have not improved in one of the most crucial areas of the game since Melvin has been here. There could be a number of reasons for this. Higher payroll in Texas. Inherited players in Texas were better than inherited players in Milwaukee. Strategy of scouting directors in Texas vs. in Milwaukee. There are almost too many variables in play to draw a conclusion. I'm wondering what others think of this. For those who believe it's a trend with Melvin, how do you explain the very good offensive seasons in Texas? And for those who don't believe it's a trend, how do you explain the lack of discipline by the Brewers since he's been here? My feeling is that the good offenses in Texas were more a result of the high payroll (Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro) and players he inherited (Juan Gonzalez, Rusty Greer) than a conscious effort to add OBP, but I could definitely swayed.

Ha great point logan. Also I loved the decision to use Price. It showed a ton of confidence and it could really pay off in the World Series. He's going to be outstanding... Their rotation next year will be sick.

X I believe it's in the manager thread, but people were posting quotes of players who had some less-than-glowing comments on Macha, including one from Jason Kendall.

Yes I'd love to see how the Astros could possibly acquire Peavy.

I imagine San Diego would have more interest in players like Mat Gamel, Alcides Escobar and Jeremy Jeffress than Hardy or Fielder.

Denker's obvious downfall is he isn't ten to 15 years older.

If Weeks is a .240 hitter, he needs to walk at a higher rate to remain a viable starting option. Very true, but if he really is a .240 hitter he'll be a disappointment in my eyes even if his walk rate is high. I know this will come off as an excuse (I suppose it is one), but 2008 was really his first season in the bigs in which he was pretty healthy all season. Many good hitters take a few years to find it once they reach the majors, so I'm not ready to give up on his bat yet. Of course, his defense is another story. He was a bit better over the first half but seemed to regress again in the second half and was probably pretty poor overall. I believe he can become an average defensive second baseman, but I would not be opposed to moving him to center field if they found a viable option at second base. He has the athleticism and the arm to be a good CF, and it probably downplays his biggest problems at second base (rushing throws, lack of soft hands, etc). It could be a nice way to save 10 mil if they prefer to let Cameron go.

FtJ, I've seen you express concern over Weeks' walk rate in a few different posts, and I don't really get the concern over it. Only one second baseman in baseball had a better walk rate than Weeks this year (Uggla). Seems strange to criticize or get concerned when his walk rate went from outstanding in 2007 to just very good in 2008.

Since I don't want Escobar in the majors next year, I'd flip if he led off. I'm confident neither will happen.

I just don't get the Brandon Phillips thing. I don't mean to pick on you, because I see it said all the time. Brandon Phillips isn't that good. He's a hacker who had one good season. Weeks is already a better hitter. He has better career numbers than Phillips and has been better each of the last two seasons.

I think the Brewers have no choice but to keep Hart. They can't afford to trade him with his value at an all-time low.

I think I'm with Ennder. I wouldn't trade Hardy, Fielder or any other main offensive piece to gain pitching. The Brewers don't have major league ready replacements, so it would be filling one hole by creating another. When they traded LaPorta, it kept Fielder around at least another year.

The fact of the matter is, if Hardy is not going to be the Brewers' shortstop his highest value to the team comes in the form of a trade, not as a third baseman. The goal is to maximize each player's value.

If I'm not driving the Rickie Weeks bandwagon, I'm sitting way up in the front. I'll easily give him another year.

I suppose it could even be someone they haven't drafted yet, if they take a college first baseman. LaPorta rose quickly.

Did Mark really lose money this year? I'm guessing winning on Saturday to get that extra playoff game was a huge help. I'm not convinced he lost...

Counsell's OBP was also much higher in that minors than for his major league career, so even though he takes walks despite no power, he doesn't escape the statement that guys with no power won't get on base nearly as easily as they did in the minors.

Well CC was the difference in the reason the Brewers made the playoffs this year, so the answer to that question is definitely yes. I agree that I go absolutely no longer than five years on Sabathia--preferably four, but he has no reason to accept that. I'll give the Brewers about a 10% chance of signing him, and me a 5% chance of being happy with it. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif