monty57

Do you know what "net," revenue is? Yes, and it's different than net operating income. Net revenue typically refers to a company's revenue net of discounts and returns. Net revenue generally does not account for the cost of goods sold, general and administrative expenses or other costs (those are typically incorporated in the operating income calculation). In my example, Prince's salary is a "cost of goods sold." So again, if the Brewers net revenues (revenues minus discounts and returns) were only $19.2MM, they would barely have been able to afford to pay Prince last year. You're confusing GROSS income and net income. No, you're confusing revenue and operating income. I think you're also confusing both of them with profit. as I know Mark A has generated income simply by re-doing his loans at lower interest rates You don't generate income by reducing a cost. You could increase profit, but again profit is different than income. You're the one talking down to me while confusing gross and net revenues and missing the entire point. I'm not talking down to you, nor am I missing any pertinant points. I'm simply trying to correct your errors. You apparently do not understand the difference between operating income and revenue, so I explained it. After your reply, I still don't believe you understand the difference and I don't believe you want to learn what the difference is. That's fine, but at least please recognize that you don't understand what you're posting. perhaps you could cite these examples where I was unprovoked and attacked someone I didn't say you "attacked someone," I said "HiandTight, you accuse people on this site of speaking in difinitives and calling that "ridiculous" and "nonsense," but you've posted this incorrect information multiple times in several threads while calling it difinitive fact. We're all here to enjoy ourselves and talk Brewers. Sometimes that leads to all of us saying ridiculous things or mis-stating facts, so let's make sure we keep everything nice." In this post, you said: "It's just this declaration of what will and won't happen on this board that's taken as fact that's a bit ridiculous at times." and "So...the whole, "not gonna happen," nonsense is just that. Nonsense." (Calling someone's post ridiculous or nonsense isn't nice) ...and then "I've said this a dozen times, but after spending 95 million last year, they made 19.2 million dollars." That's a definitive statement which is false. They didn't "make $19.2MM" unless you consider operating income to be profit, which it is not. You don't seem to like other posters' opinions when posted in definitive terms (it's ridiculous nonsense), but you defend your positions with the same incorrect "fact" over and over again as if it were definitive proof, which it is not. In another post you said your "point obviously went over my head," and my comments are "asinine." That's not really nice. I don't think you'd call it nice if I said your posts in this thread are asinine, and my comments are going over your head even though I'm sure it's more accurate in this case than it was when you said it to me. So again, we're all here to root for the Brewers and have fun. Please don't call someone else's post "nonsense" and then post an incorrect "fact" as your defense as to why other people are spouting "nonsense." We have a lot of intelligent posters here, and I respect their opinions even if I don't always agree with them. I've learned a lot by reading what other posters have to say. I've realized that often I've been wrong and sometimes probably even ridiculous, but I find it better to explain why someone is incorrect than to tell them what they are saying is nonsense/asinine/ridiculous or any other derogative term.

Yep. Putting a guy on the roster because the manager likes him (rather than because he's the best talent or best fit for the team) is a really bad idea. Having that player hit well in the first couple times he's used is probably a bad thing, because now Roenicke will feel justified using Ishikawa, even if he goes 0-for-his-next-30, because he hit a couple of HR early. Gamel is not a good defensive player and he's still relatively new at his position. He has better range than Fielder, but that doesn't make him good defensively. If Mat has proven anything during his time in the minors it is that when he gets regular playing time, he's a good hitter. For us to realize the full benefit of what Gamel brings to the table, we are going to have to suffer through some negatives, just like we have to with most every player. Edit: Part of being a manager is knowing your players. If this was done because of the error and not becuase of injury, then I hope Roenicke knows what will best motivate / educate Gamel. Some players will respond better to getting sat for making a "bonehead" play, while others will not respond well. Without knowing all the details, I think the error / bad hitting over two days are an excuse for Roenicke to get Ishikawa another start.

They had a lot more than $19.2MM in net revenue. Revenue is "money in." If they only had $19.2MM in net revenue, they would barely have been able to pay Prince. Doing a quick search, what Forbes said is the Brewers had $19.2MM of operating income and a team value of $448MM. Operating income is earnings before deduction of interest payments and income taxes (EBIT). After paying their interest (they owe a lot on Miller Park and probably still owe on the purchase of the team, so their interest paid is probably substantial), if the Brewers were profitable they then would have had to pay taxes on that income, so if they indeed made money last season, it probably wasn't much. HiandTight, you accuse people on this site of speaking in difinitives and calling that "ridiculous" and "nonsense," but you've posted this incorrect information multiple times in several threads while calling it difinitive fact. We're all here to enjoy ourselves and talk Brewers. Sometimes that leads to all of us saying ridiculous things or mis-stating facts, so let's make sure we keep everything nice.

Rivera had 21 games played and 62 AB in 2008. Kendall had 152 GP and 516 AB with a .651 OPS. In 2009, Kendall "only" played in 134 games with a mind-numbing .636 OPS. I think Yost was scared of him.

The guy's a multi-year batting champ and multi-year gold glove winner in Japan. I said when we signed him that he looked to me to be a Nyjer Morgan-type player who could hit lefties as well as righties, and thought that we should have traded Morgan as soon as Braun was cleared and put Aoki in his role. I think Aoki will be a good MLB CF if given the chance, but with Morgan and Gomez on the team this year and Schafer the likely CF of the future, I don't know if Aoki will get that chance in Milwaukee.

To hand the 7th to Veras was nothing more than wishful thining or desperation. I realize Krod accepting arby has a lot to do with this, but I like to believe a good GM could find a really good 7th inning guy on the cheap. I guess my problem is with the seeming necessity to have a "7th inning guy." I didn't get upset like the stat guys did about designating your best reliever as the closer, but now we not only have a designated closer, we now have a designated "8th inning guy," a designated "7th inning guy," a designated "long guy" who only pitches when the team is up or down a certain amount and the starter has to be pulled before a certain inning, etc. Using the best pitcher for the situation has seemingly been thrown out the window. We have two guys on the roster who should never face lefties in Dillard and Loe, but since they're designated to certain roles, they get put in situations where they won't succeed. We've pegged Veras as the "7th inning guy," so he'll get overused at times and underused at times, just like the closer and "8th inning guy." If the team is up 1-3 runs in the 7th inning, and three righties are coming up, why not use Loe instead of Veras, especially if Veras has pitched a lot in the recent past? During Spring Training I would have looked at you like you were crazy for suggesting that Peralta should be used as a reliever. But now I'm starting to consider this a viable option. Guy throws heat and has great stuff. Why not let him get out there and just let it fly for a month or two? If it doesn't work we look for scrap heap players and trades to get a legit middle inning reliever. I don't see how that could set back his progress too far. Because Peralta needs to build up innings so that he can be a starter for the Brewers next year, when there is a big possibility that we will only have one of our current starters returning. I would be fine with him either starting now for the Brewers (returning Estrada to the 'pen), with him coming up in a month or so to start when we will retain some extra service time, or with him starting most of the season in Nashville and moving to the Brewers 'pen late in the season when he is reaching his innings limit. However, I would not be happy if they decided to move him to the 'pen now, meaning he will not have enough innings built up to be a starter all year for the Brewers next year. As far as Rivas, it appears that he is in the 'pen in Nashville, with nine games and no starts, sporting a 1.38 ERA in 13 IP. He is probably a viable option to join the Brewers' pen at some point. Dillard and McClendon are very replaceable, and I think the Brewers realize this, so they won't hesitate to jettison them if they underperform for long. Juan Perez is another guy to keep an eye on. He's a lefty who had a good spring for the Brewers before being sidelined with an injury (collapsed lung IIRC). I know it's only four games, but he's got a 1.80 ERA with 6K and 0BB in 5 IP. I could see him replacing Dillard, so we could have two lefties rather than two guys who should never face lefties in Dillard and Loe. I think the bullpen will somewhat fix itself when the starters stop being so terrible. That's the most important factor for the pen. If we can stop having to use guys like Dillard and McClendon, and stop putting so many innings on the bullpen, it will improve even if no moves are made.

This just comes from conversations with (a lot of) Cub fans, but Ramirez seems to have a reputation for not always having his head in the game. Maybe this is just ranting by many fans who watch a lot of games, but maybe not. Either way, this is something that Melvin should have known when offering the contract, so it seems that Melvin feels Ramirez's offensive potential outweighs the negative aspects of his game. To my earlier example (the CEO's at Fortune 500 companies to which you allude), if I were on a Board of Directors, and I was looking for a CEO, and I knew that one had a habit of forgetting about appointments, I would weigh that in my decision. If I thought the other things he brought to the table outwieghed the embarrasment caused by missing appointments, then I may hire him. It would certainly matter in the salary offered. Bottom line is that if this is an isolated incident, it's no big deal. If mental errors are common for Ramirez, then it could be a problem, as it could cost the Brewers games. His defense is also a negative, so basically he is paid a lot of money for his offensive production. Therefore, if mental errors are commonplace (I don't know if they are, but they could be), then Ramirez's offense will have to be worth far more than $12MM/year in order to offset the games lost due to his defense and "mental lapses." As I mentioned earlier, as long as he posts .900+ OPS seasons, a lot will be overlooked. If he doesn't hit, then any other mistakes will come under a big microscope because his contract basically makes him untradeable if he's not hitting. I haven't heard anyone in "Cub land" lamenting the loss of Ramirez, even though he hit very well last year. That could be "dumb Cub fans being dumb Cub fans," or there could be something more to it. As far as it being ridiculous that fans get on athletes' case so much, if the fans didn't care, they wouldn't pay the athlete's salaries. Professional sports is a product, and the same fanaticism which makes people get on athletes' case is what keeps fans going to the games. Why do we care if 25 guys who dress funny score more than 25 other guys in the other dugout? We cheer when athletes do well and get upset when they don't. That's the heart of sports, and anyone on the "inside" get paid a lot of money off of it.

When you guarantee someone $36,000,000, you hope major mental errors are at a minimum. I know athletes operate in a different reality, but "in the real world" if someone who makes $12MM/year has a major mental error, there are usually serious repercussions, like a company going belly-up. That's why it's hard to bring "the real world" into athletics. As far as Ramirez, as I mentioned earlier, he is kind of known for not being a real "heady" player and Melvin chose to sign him to a big deal. Melvin knew what he was getting when he signed Ramirez, so hopefully Ramirez posts a .900+ OPS season to make us dismiss the less appealing aspects of his game.

They're last in the NL in ERA (4.81) but 4th in xFIP (3.61). So is this a sign of our vastly improved defense this season?

I live in Illinois and am surrounded by Cub fans. From my personal observation, Ramirez was never a well-loved player amongst Cub fans, mainly due to his slow starts ("he only hits when it doesn't matter") and what I'd tactfully call a lackadaisical attitude (they'd say he has his head in a dark orifice). I'd look at his numbers and argue that he was a better player than they said he was. I hope I was right and they were wrong. I still think he'll be fine this season, but we'll regret the signing in years two and especially three of the contract.

Maybe Melvin could sweeten the deal with some Wisconsin farmland or a shiny new vehicle from Oshkosh Truck http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2265422 Seriously, if Oswalt can still pitch, he could be a possibility later this season. I doubt we'll want to spend the money (or if we even have the money to spend), but anything can happen, so it's not out of the picture that we'd sign Oswalt for the second half of the season. If Oswalt's healthy, it would be like making a big mid-season trade without giving up any talent in return. With the Narveson injury, we could be heading into next season with only one returning starting pitcher, which could really make this an "all in" year. If that's the case, I could see Melvin/Attanasio emptying the coffers to do everything they can to win in 2012.

I haven't seen the lineup for today, but Gamel probably has a good shot of sitting today as well, giving him three days (with the off day tomorrow) to rest the shoulder. One of Bill or Brian mentioned that Hart was getting some reps at first, so with lefty J.A. Happ on the mound, my guess is Hart will start at 1B with Aoki in RF.

There are several storylines out of this: 1) The obvious "human" story about Narveson, and for his sake I hope like heck he can work through this and return at 100% 2) The ramifications on this year's pitching staff. I expect Estrada to be given "first shot," and Peralta to return to AAA to retain service time from him. I hope the team allows Peralta to join the rotation at some point this year because of the next point. 3) The ramifications on future years' rotations. Narveson has been a good #5 starter, but if he can't come back at 100%, he may not be an MLB-caliber pitcher anymore. This isn't like someone who threw 95 coming back and throwing 91. Even though Narveson has never been a star, he has been a solid part of the rotation, and we are relying pretty heavily on him being part of our rotation in the future. If (big if) Narveson can't come back, then what do the Brewers do going forward? Getting Peralta some starts this season can help, but we will still have another big hole to fill, so again I hope Narveson will be okay. 4) This may be a little off-track, but this is another in a long line of examples of why players take long-term, team friendly deals when offered to them while they're in arbitration. Again, I hope Narveson comes back strong, but to this point, he has earned (pre-tax, pre-agent percentage), $416,000 in 2010, $441,000 in 2011 and is making $500,000 this season. He was a 2nd round pick in 2000, so he probably got $100k or so in signing bonus. He is probably not "set for life," and he's not promised anything next year. If the Narveson isn't fully healthy by next Spring Training, do the Brewers pay him $1MM or so, which is probably what arby would say he should get? I don't necessarily like using Narveson to make this case, as he could come back and have a long career, and to the best of my knowledge Narveson has never been offered an extension, but for those who don't understand why someone would "leave money on the table" by signing a team-friendly deal early, sustaining a major injury prior to becoming "set for life" is the reason why. Bad news for Narveson and bad news for the Brewers. Hopefully we'll hear good news in 6-9 months.

Because Ishikawa is "this year's version of Mark Kotsay." A guy who has no business being on a major league roster but yet still gets starts over younger, better players. I would disagree with that. Aoki would seem to be this year's Kotsay. The most oft used bench player. Ish is more like Almonte, roster filler until they like someone better. Kotsay belonged on a major league roster, he was a good pinch hitter, he just wasn't supposed to be a starting CF. I think jerichoholicninja was referring to Roenicke's comments regarding Ishikawa reminding him of Kotsay. Even though it would make loads of sense to replace Ishikawa with someone more versatile (like Conrad), I don't think Roenicke's personal feelings will allow this to happen, although I hope I'm wrong. The way I see it, Kottaras' hot bat has limited Ishikawa's playing time, while Morgan's cold bat has increased Aoki's playing time. If anything, I'd say Aoki is this year's Morgan... a guy who got little respect when signed, who is forcing his way into a starting role.

I saw somewhere (MLB Network I believe) that the Red Sox have something like $67.5MM in payroll sitting on the DL right now. I can't feel bad for a team that has that much payroll on the DL and still fields Ortiz, Pedroia, Youklis, etc everyday. I can't imagine the Brewers' roster if we had $67.5MM in payroll on the DL.

Again, small sample size, but so far this season, we are 5th in runs scored in the NL and 6th in OPS. I would think that everyone figured/hoped that that is about right where we would be. I think having the dead last ranked pitching staff in the NL has a lot more to do with where we are right now. No one is hitting in the National League, and haven't been for a few seasons. Here's the year-to-year average NL team OPS and Milwaukee OPS along with league rank in runs scored: 2000 .776 (NL avg) / .729 (13th) 2001 .756 (NL avg) / .745 (11th) 2002 .741 (NL avg) / .711 (16th) 2003 .748 (NL avg) / .748 (11th) 2004 .756 (NL avg) / .708 (15th) 2005 .741 (NL avg) / .754 (6th) 2006 .761 (NL avg) / .747 (14th) 2007 .756 (NL avg) / .785 (5th) 2008 .744 (NL avg) / .757 (7th) 2009 .739 (NL avg) / .767 (3rd) 2010 .723 (NL avg) / .759 (4th) 2011 .710 (NL avg) / .750 (5th) 2012 .685 (NL avg) / .704 (6th) The Brewers' offense is hitting poorly relative to historic norms, but are still hitting better, and scoring more runs, than most teams in the National League this season. Whether this is due to a new "dawn of the pitchers" over the last few seasons, the cleaning out of steroids in baseball, or some other reason, I don't know, but offenses are down across the board. Because of this, ours still ranks around where it has since 2007 as far as relative runs scored.

I'd have to think service time has as much to do with this as anything. They probably brought Peralta up because they wanted to get his initial appearance out of the way, and hoped it would be in a non-stressful situation. Estrada is on the team to step in as an injury-replacement, and I'd guess that barring another injury, Peralta will go back to AAA when Loe's back to continue to get his reps as a starter for a couple of months in AAA so the Brewers can get another year's service out of him. In a couple months, we'll re-evaluate the situation, and if Estrada's been light's-out, then he could remain as the starter. If not, then we'll probably see Peralta replace him. As long as Peralta doesn't stay with the team as a middle reliever, I'm not upset about how they're handling this. It is a bummer about Narveson. Hopefully, he can miss a few starts and come back strong in a couple of weeks. Maybe it's just my pessimistic side coming out, but I doubt that's the case. He'll probably need surgery, and my hope is that he'll be able to come back at 100% when he's healed. If he can't, then I share DHonks' concerns about the rotation going forward. In discussing future rotations, we've always been able to preface it with "We've got Yo & Narveson." I hope he's okay, but if Narveson isn't part of the equation to start next year in the rotation, I'm kind of worried.

I'm not saying Ramirez should have been moved from his spot in the order. He's a good hitter and it's far too early to give up on him. I'm just saying that this offseason Roenicke said his #1 priority was a cleanup hitter, and he's still saying "if we don't have him, we don't have a good, solid fourth hitter." He must honestly believe that no one else on our roster is capable of hitting in the clean-up spot. It seems he's sort of putting the "closer/9th inning mystique" on the #4 spot in the lineup. Hart has never been a cleanup hitter, ergo he cannot hit cleanup. edit: Basically, if he decided to keep Ramirez at clean-up because he is a good hitter and he believes in him, he made the right move for the right reason. If he decided to keep him at clean-up "because you're a proven clean-up hitter and no one else is," then he made the right move, but for a goofy reason.

People slow down as they age. Some more quickly than others. This is why we need to steadily infuse young players into the team and why I'm always open to the option of trading older players on the downside of their career who cost a lot for younger players on the upswing of their career who cost less. Hart went from a tall, skinny fast guy to a tall, bulky power guy, so I'm not at all surprised that he's had knee problems and lost speed. People who add a lot of weight to a frame not designed for that weight often end up with knee problems. Prince will probably never have knee problems, while Hart adds 20 pounds or so and the knees go out. Fortunately he's not yet at the age where he'll lose bat speed, but he'll eventually be better suited to a role with less need for speed (if he's not there already).

RE the bolded part: This bugs me. Heading into the offseason, Melvin asked Roenicke what he wanted (thinking he'd say SS, 3B, etc) and he said "I want a cleanup hitter." That's the reason Melvin went out and signed Ramirez to what I consider to be a bad deal as due to the financial situation it had to be back-end-loaded to the detriment to future Brewer teams. Now Roenicke seems to be saying the Ramirez is the only option for the cleanup spot on our roster. Hart, Weeks, Braun, Gamel??? Nope, apparently only Ramirez can fill this spot in the lineup. Why is this? Is it because Hart doesn't have the power or "RBI hittablility" to fill the role? Since Hart has 128 HR and 433 RBI in his career, and is currently leading the team in both categories, that can't be it. Or could it be a mentality that if a player hasn't done something in the past, then he can't do it. This would help explain a lack of faith in young players who haven't faced MLB pitching, and the reverse of it would explain why he thinks Kotsay can still play center field. I've grown accustomed to some of what Roenicke does, but this is probably my biggest sticking point with him. Just because someone has done something in his career doesn't mean he still can, and just because someone hasn't done something in his career doesn't mean he can't.

I'm there with you also fellas. He's my favorite Brewer to watch. Well, most of the time After his initial brain lapse of naming Gomez the everyday starter and #2 hitter to start last season, I think Roenicke has done a pretty good job using Gomez, and Gomez has shined in the role. Since we have lefties Morgan, Aoki and Schafer who all play CF, I doubt Gomez will ever be an everyday player in Milwaukee, but as the RH part of a platoon / defensive replacement / pinch runner, Gomez plays a valueable role on the team.

That's where I've always had him pegged, but not because of his speed. I doubt he'll end the year with 10 SB's. It's because he gives you great AB's, I think he works the count, and he breaks up Rickie and Braun. Or hit him 5th. While I think his approach would allow for him to be a good #2 hitter, in Roenicke's system (#2 hitter is there to bunt the leadoff guy over), I think Gamel will make a very good #5 hitter. I'm just glad Gamel had a good enough spring that Roenicke moved Gamel ahead of Gonzalez in the order. I think the original plan was to have Gamel bat #7. It's nice to see him meet my expectations the first 10-ish games of the season, but I think it goes a long way to giving him confidence and RR confidence in him. Which....I think leads to him getting 145 games this year and give him the numbers we all expect. I think this is huge. As I just mentioned, I think the plan was not only to have Gamel bat #7, but also to have Hart play 1B on a semi-regular basis. Like all players, Gamel will have his ups-and-downs, but with a good spring and relatively strong start to the season, I think Roenicke now has faith in him, so he'll stick with him through some down times. If Gamel had started out slowly, I think Roenicke would've lost faith in him quickly. I don't know how anyone who's watched the Brewers play could question that Gamel's got good speed, especially for a 1st basemen. Comparing him to Carlos Lee is just....I don't get the point. I know it's early, but Gamel seems to have good baserunning instincts. I remember Carlos Lee (in his time with the Brewers) as someone who would "sneak into" double digit stolen base totals. He'd steal third a lot, and generally got most of his SB by being smart. Gamel probably has more speed now than Lee had during his time with the Brewers, but I can understand the Lee comparison. I don't think it was meant to be a slam on Gamel, I think it means he's a smart baserunner. He's the type of guy I'd like to see signed to a 6 year 25 million dollar deal with two club options for 12 million or so. The Brewers will obviously need more time to make such a commitment, but I'd feel comfortable with it right now. I mentioned this elsewhere, and the thing is, I think that if the Brewers act while Gamel is still pre-arby, they could probably get him much cheaper than 6/$25MM. I'm thinking the Lucroy deal would be a good starting point. Teams can get really good deals when they sign players who are still in pre-arby, and I don't think there's a lot of risk in making the offer to Gamel because at worst he should at least be a good bench bat, and those cost a couple million a year these days. At Gamel's age, I would think he'd be happy to get a "guaranteed set for life" offer, and I've read several times that Braun tells his teammates that they should jump at the first guaranteed deal, so we've got that going for us.

There were some things we could've done in Spring Training to shore up the bench, but right now, going forward I think there are a couple of easy options that would help. Unless we find a free SS somewhere, Izturis is going to be on the team, so in my mind Ishikawa is undoubtedly the piece which should be discarded in any of the cases below. 1) Bring up Conrad (if/when he's healthy). This gives us someone who can play 3B, 2B, 1B, corner OF and can switch hit. He is better as a RH hitter, which is something we lack on the bench. Weeks and Ramirez are not going to each get a day off per week. They are too integral to the offense and make too much money to give them that much time off. However, they will need some days off here and there, and Conrad is fine for filling in on these sporadic days off and getting pinch-hit opportunities, primarily vs LHP, who he hits pretty well. 2) Bring up Maldonado. Eventually Roenicke's use of his backup catcher every game is going to come back to bite him. Having Maldonado allows Kottaras to be the LH power bat on the bench and allows Lucroy to pinch hit when Kottaras starts. As long as Lucroy and Kottaras continue to hit well, Maldonado would be a decent option for the bench. The problem with this option is that it still means that Izturis is the only backup for 2B, SS, 3B, so he will see more playing time than he probably should. 3) Bring up Green. He is undoubtedly the most talented of these three players, but I'm still in the camp of wanting him to get everyday playing time. At some point, Weeks or Ramirez will end up on the 15-day DL, and with everyday playing time, Green should be in a position to succeed as the everyday 2B/3B while Weeks/Ramirez is out. That said, Green is certainly a better option for the Brewers than Ishikawa, and he would certainly help the team if he were brought up. I guess Farris and Maysonet could also be options, but neither are probably MLB-caliber hitters, Farris only plays 2B and I don't think Maysonet comes up unless Gonzalez or Izturis gets hurt.

I'd say that if we dangled Greinke, Marcum, Wolf and K-Rod to teams with playoff aspirations, we'd get a good return. The extra wild card spot will limit the amount of sellers (supply) while increasing the number of teams who think they have a shot at the playoffs (demand), so the price could go up. Plus, winning the division means a lot more now, since the wild card teams have a one-game playoff, so even division leaders may pay up more to upgrade their team. Melvin's track record plus the addition of another wild card spot probably means that there is zero chance we'll be sellers this year, but in my opinion this would sure be a good year for the Brewers to have a quick trigger finger if they're not near the top of the division come trade deadline.

Who was the backup catcher in that game? If it was Nieves, I'd have probably used a pitcher as a pinch hitter as well. I'd probably also have used the batboy or a random 13-year-old from the stands over Nieves.