monty57

Infact, I might actually prefer to play them first because it may be easier to beat them in a 5 game series instead of a 7 game series That was my first thought when I read the original post. A home series would be great, but the Phillies look like the most talented team in the NL, and it should be easier to beat them 3-out-of-5 than 4-out-of-7. I always cheer against any team that could be in any kind of a race against the Brewers, so I'll hope for SF/Ari to lose, and I'll hope for Philly and Atl to lose. But really, I'm most interested in the Brewers winning the NL Central. If they can do that, then our team can make noise in the playoffs.

When Counsell's in the box I get images from the Bad News Bears where they tell the kid to take one for the team. The kid jumps in front of a fastball down the middle of the plate and gets drilled in the back before limping off to first. I'm beginning to believe that this is the only way Counsell can have any positive offensive value going forward. C'mon Craig, take one for the team.

I give Mark A far more credit in the K-Rod deal since that really came down to salary and how deep Mark A's pockets went That's an important point. I banged the drum for Jamey Carroll or Furcal for a long time, as I assumed we'd be able to pick up salary and therefore not have to pay much in terms of prospects. In reality, I have no idea if Melvin had any more money with which to work.

One of the biggest benefits of acquiring K-Rod was that it moved Loe from a position of weakness (8th inning guy where he would routinely have to face tough lefties) to a position of strength (enter game with guys on base against RH batter when a ground ball helps a lot). That K-Rod is a good pitcher who can "lock down" the end of the game is great, but having a name which forced Roenicke to use Loe more effectively is very important as well. Now I just hope Gomez can pull a Pujols-esque return from injury, as Hairston will not be effectively used until he is not pegged into the "RH part of the CF platoon" role. We upgraded 2B & 3B with the Hairston & Lopez trades. Unfortunately, they will be playing 2B & PT CF until injuries heal up. We've got the personnel. Bring up Carroll for Counsell and Green for Wilson. Morgan/Carroll CF platoon. Green/McGehee 3B platoon. Lopez/Hairston/Betancourt share 2B/SS duties. Hairston could also pick up some starts in CF or 3B if necessary. Gomez heals, Carroll goes down. Weeks heals, one of Green/McGehee/Lopez/Betancourt goes away. It's easy if you don't insist on wasting roster spots on Counsell & Wilson.

This pretty much sums it up for me. I liked the K-Rod move because when Melvin brought in a "superstar" Roenicke had no choice but to move Loe out of the "8th inning guy" role. I'm glad K-Rod's set in the 8th inning role, as I expected we'd have some coin-flip system as to who was closing on any given day. Hairston is an upgrade and should find playing time every day on this team. However, since he's not a big name, Roenicke still starts Kotsay at CF and Counsell at 3B. The reasoning was "Kotsay for his offense" when Kotsay is a low-.600-OPS hitter replacing Morgan's .800+ OPS. Until we get Counsell off the team, he will continue to get playing time. I just hope his pride causes him to retire before he breaks the hitless record. I don't hate Kotsay as a LH bat off the bench, but as long as he's on the roster, he will continue to get starts even when better options are available. Lopez was a fine pick-up, but he's certainly not someone to put blind faith into. However, he seems to be one of Roenicke's guys, as he's unquestionably our everyday 2B. I would've liked to have picked up Jamey Carroll, as he would have probably been inserted as the starting SS from day 1. It has been reported that Melvin looked into trading for Carroll, so I can't be too upset. Other than that, my only real disappointment is that we dropped Carroll instead of Counsell, which means Hairston will be relegated to "RH part of CF platoon" when he should be starting every day at 2B/SS/3B

I've heard a couple of announcers say it was going to be on the longer side of the 2-6 weeks, but that's certainly nothing official.

I think there are too many factors to really say any one thing is "the reason." Plus everyone's different, and react to things differently. Some players like to be booed on the road. Some players go out drinking all night when they're on the road. Some players go out drinking all night when they're at home. Some players have a family that they miss when they're on the road. Some players have young children who don't let them sleep at night when they're at home. There are some obvious cases of home field advantage, such as football where the fans are so loud the opposing team can't hear the cadence, or the rumor that the Twins used to turn the fans on when the opposing team was up to bat and off when the Twins were up to bat. As far as Counsell, I just chalk it up to age finally catching up to him. He's in an historically bad slump, so he's probably getting some emotions building up as well, but he was hitting as poorly when he was 0-for-1 as he is when he's 0-for-two months. He's not hitting on the road the same as he's not hitting at home.

It's more like $400,000 at this point. For a guy who has made nearly $20 million over is career, that is not much. How much did Gil Meche leave on the table? Counsell should approach the team about retiring. Chances are he would get that money either outright or with some gig for the team. Gritty battlers are always in demand for coaching jobs. I guess it was last year he made $2.1MM, I thought that was this year. This year it's "only" $1.4MM. We're about 2/3 of the way through the season, so he's owed around $500,000. The Brewers should be willing to eat that. Again, I never expect players to give up money. What Gil Meche did doesn't happen often. I believe Cal Ripken left money on the table as well, but usually the player is just let go. Maybe his desire to not go down in history as the player with the all-time hitless streak will be enough for him to hang 'em up. Either way, he should be off the roster.

if not, he's only in it for the money, and that's pathetic Not really. If he retires, he loses around $1,000,000. It's possible he could not make another $1,000,000 from gainful employment for the rest of his life. In "the real world," that's a lot of money. If he doesn't retire, even if he gets released, he still gets paid. I don't think he's pathetic for continuing to play. The Brewers are the ones who should relize that he's done and release him... that happens all the time. If they want to play up the "hometown boy" angle, they could simply make it look like a retirement but still agree to pay him.

The PTBNL rule is that the player cannot be in the same league as the team he is to be traded to from the time of the trade until the time the PTBNL is announced. So it affects the 25 man roster but not the 40 man. Thanks for the clarification, but aren't the Mets in the same league as the Brewers? Therefore, they wouldn't be able to bring him to the MLB team, so there's no reason to add him to the 40-man if they aren't going to add him to the MLB roster. That, of course would be if he was on the PTBNL list, which I'm leaning more toward believing isn't the case.

It's transferring risk. As long as the PTBNL remain unclaimed, the injury risk is on the Brewers. Once the Mets claim them, the risk goes to the Mets. A player doesn't have to be injury prone to have a bad injury happen. {Knock on wood} If Green were on the list, and he had a serious injury, the Mets would take the next guy. After some initial panic, I'm coming back around to the "Green is not on the list" group. Melvin probably wanted to keep the 40-man spot open in case they trade a couple of non-40-man players for someone like Carroll or Furcal.

Defensively he is an upgrade at third over McGehee right? Would he be an upgrade defensively over Weeks? I highly doubt it, but he's played there enough this year that he should play passable defense. With the current roster, as long as Weeks is out, I'd play Green at 2B, McGehee at 3B. I would give McGehee some days off, when I'd play Green at 3B and Counsell/Wilson at 2B. Green would have about a month of play by the time Weeks is back, so we could decide on the 3B situation going forward once Weeks returns I'm not happy about Farris being called up instead of Green, but I'm not getting worked up about it until August 1st. I hear what you're saying, but that date keeps getting pushed back. Many have been calling for a Green call-up for a long time, and it was "just wait until {enter date here}." At some point, he should be called up and we need to stop the "If x doesn't happen by y date, then z" I've posted it on other threads here, there's no way Greens on the PTBNL list - if he was, it would've taken about 3 minutes for the Mets to select him in the KRod trade. Green and Gamel are BY FAR the most MLB-ready prospects the Brewers have, no way they're on a list in a trade the Mets made for a salary dumping move. I also think Green has stayed down at AAA only because he's currently not on the 40-man I hope you're right, and after some initial panic I think there is a good chance that the 40-man issue is the reason Green is still in AAA. We are very likely going to make at least one move by Sunday, and we may need to 40-man spot. Unfortunately, i think Green is all but a Met. My best guess is Melvin is thinking that if we don't call him up, that the Mets suddenly will not see him as an MLB player, and think about passing, but if we do call him up, and he tears the cover off the ball, that it all but guarantees that the Mets will take him as the PTBNL. Melvin probably fears the fans seeing Green as a second coming of Ryan Braun and then fears looking incredibly stupid for trading Green for a 2 month rental relief pitcher. Either way, there is zero reason for us not to have Green on the big league club. If he does well and helps us get to the playoffs and as a result gets taken by the Mets, so be it. The fans are already angry over Melvin's apparent incompetence with his handling of the SS/3B situation. If we're going to lose Green, might as well get some value on the field for him before he leaves in our "all-in" year Isn't there a rule that PTBNL cannot be on the 40-man roster. Therefore, if he is on the PTBNL list to the Mets, the Brewers could not add him to the 40-man and bring him up. He would need to stay off the 40-man until the Mets decided to take him or not.

So, now that Lopez is on his way to Milwaukee, I assume Mr. Farris will be heading back to Nashville. Maybe he'll at least get a PA as a pinch hitter today. edit: I spoke too soon. I see Lopez is heading to AAA.

Is there any source for this news? I have to watch the WGN feed, and they announced the move.

I saw on MLB Trade Rumors that the Cards are also looking for middle infield help, I saw that as well. Wouldn't it be a real kick in the pants if they go out and get Carroll/Furcal while we're stuck with Betancourt, McGehee, Counsell/Wilson/Farris. We need to act and act quickly.

Was "earlier this year" prior to Green coming back to form and destroying the ball, and before Farris once again showed he's not ready to hit AAA pitching? This spring, I would've agreed with Farris coming up over Green. On July 28 not so much. Farris is supposed to be great defensively and very fast. However, our offense could now contain two sub-.600 OPS guys (McGehee & Farris/Counsell/Wilson), one mid-.600 OPS guy (Yuni), a .700-OPS guy (Lucroy) and the pitcher. Melvin has continuously passed over good defense for good offense. I realize our defense is bad, but is now the right time to change that approach?

The Brewers were a fringe candidate for the Playoffs/WS without any major injuries. They're in first place over 100 games into the season. Didn't we already have the "It's time to sell" thread around the time Braun was hurt? I just wish those "hopeful rather than smart" Cardinals would've traded Pujols and Holliday when they lost a Cy Young candidate this spring.

Folks here assumed that whoever they called up would be the starting second baseman, but I think it is more likely that the Brewers looked at it as who they could call up to fill in on the bench and possibly that only for a short time. I would never assume that Roenicke would play a talented rookie over a less talented vet. Farris isn't that talented, so at least we won't have to be upset when Wilson and Counsell are starting over him. Also Farris has played some SS, while Green has not, so he gives them more infield flexibility. If Farris could play SS, he would have stuck there in AAA, as that was a glaring hole in the Brewers' organization. When Wheeler came off the DL, Green played 2B, maysonet played SS and Wheeler played 3B, with Farris on the bench. As I mentioned above, I don't believe he has the arm strength to play on the left side of the IF, so Green actually gives the Brewers more defensive flexibility. I assume the guy plays 3rd because his defense is not that great I have no doubt that Farris plays better 2B defense than Green, so he played there when both were on the roster. That doesn't mean Green is bad, just that Farris is better at 2B defensively. I just don't think the difference in defense is worth the .300 point OPS difference at the plate. Either the Brewers feel differently or there is another reason Green isn't being brought up (he's going to the Mets or the Melvin just really doesn't like him).

I wouldn't take it that far. If we can get a Jamey Carroll, our offense will be passable until Weeks gets back, and pretty good after Weeks returns. Our offense survived when Braun missed almost two weeks and was replaced by Kotsay hitting #3, so it can survive with Weeks getting replaced for a couple weeks. I'd just rather it be Taylor Green replacing him until we (hopefully) trade for Carroll. Watching Counsell/Wilson/Farris hitting after McGehee/Betancourt won't be overly fun.

Nashville Sounds stats Eric Farris in 98 games is hitting .256/.308/.358/.666. He has stolen 14 bases with 6 CS (I mention this because in 2009 at Brevard he had 70 SB, caught 6 times, and that's probably part of why the Brewers are enamoured with him). Last season in 60 games at Nashville he posted a .659 OPS after being bumped up from Brevard County. Earlier this season, he was tried out at SS, but I believe he doesn't have the arm for the left side of the IF. He was a low-to-mid-.700 OPS guy in the low minors. Does anyone know why they jumped him from High-A to AAA? He seems to have some talent, but hasn't hit yet at AAA. Meanwhile, Taylor Green was a top prospect who got hurt and is finally playing healthy again. He plays 2B/3B and is hitting .325/.405/.552/.957 in AAA this season. On the surface, it doesn't seem like much of a decision. The questions arise when the obvious choice isn't the one who was chosen. Also, wasn't Farris benched for a week or so earlier this season in AAA after Wheeler returned from the DL so that Wheeler could play 3B with Green at 2B. Wheeler was then moved to AA so all three could play. I may be off on this, as I don't follow stories in the minors, I just watch Gameday and noticed that Farris was out of the lineup a lot when Wheeler returned, so I figured he was the odd man out. If the Brewers indeed favored Green over Farris at 2B in AAA, why do they favor Farris over Green for 2B at the MLB level?

I agree with JohnBriggs' post above. That's what should happen. What has happened is Farris was called up, which seems to mean that for some reason Green was included in the PTBNL list to the Mets. That would take the "easy fix" off the table. Farris doesn't look like a MLB-caliber bat right now, so calling him up doesn't really help other than to put another warm body on the roster. If we didn't need to trade for a middle IF before the injury, we certainly need to trade for one now. Carroll would be perfect, as he could be your leadoff guy, followed by Morgan, with Hart re-claiming the #5 spot. When Weeks returns, Carroll moves to SS and we actually have a pretty decent lineup. FWIW I sprained my ankles a lot in my football days. The first time I sprained either one was by far the worst. After spraining them, I was told the ligaments stretch, making future sprains more likely, but they heal quicker. That was certainly the case with me. If Rickie's injury is indeed a sprain, I'd think he could be back in a couple of weeks. If it's torn ligaments, then who knows how long he'll be out. It could also be a "high ankle sprain," which I never had, but I saw people in boots and on crutches for weeks with those... the whole leg swells up and turns purple.

At this point though, one's got to think that some of Melvin's aggressiveness is encouraged by Attanasio and his desire to win. Since Doug is the one making the moves he deserves the majority of the credit/blame; I just happen to think that Mark A. encourages it. To what degree is anyone's guess, but he encourages it none-the-less.Right, but when you've got a .500-something OPS, bad defense 3B at the MLB level, and a .950-ish OPS, better defense 3B/2B in AAA, you don't trade the AAA guy. They made a list of five players for the Mets to choose from, why couldn't it have been a list of four players not including Taylor Green? Plus, if the Mets haven't jumped on Green by now, the other players on the list must be as good as Green, so it certainly isn't the list of mid-tier, probably never make the majors prospects Melvin made it out to be. I hope Farris does something good in the majors, but he certainly isn't the one who earned the promotion. At this point, he's probably best served as a defensive replacement / pinch runner. We really need Weeks to heal quickly and hope one of our three terrible backup IF can get hot for two weeks.

That was what I was thinking too, Paul. If Weeks has to miss any time, Green makes a lot more sense than trotting Counsell / Wilson out there. Hopefully Rickie just sprained the ankle, because losing him would really hurt. It would hurt a little less if we actually replaced him with someone who has a chance of being somewhat successful.

Yeh, I'd like to upgrade to an average backup SS Ideally, we'd upgrade to an average starting SS, and then Yuni could become our "average backup." Until & unless that happens, I'd rather see either Wilson or Counsell go away and bring up someone who could do more to help the team. Normally, I'd say keep Counsell, as he's a lefty and plays better defense, but he really looks bad at the plate, so I'd probably keep Wilson out of the two of them at this point.

He won't retire, as it would cost him the rest of the year's salary ($1MM or so) and this it the last big payday he's likely to have. He's at -.9 WPA, so it's hard to say his presence on the team has been inconsequential. Per Fangraphs, McGehee's at -1.38 WPA, while Betancourt is at -2.04 WPA. The team probably doesn't want to unceremoniously dump the "home town boy," but he really needs to go. Maybe they could work something out where he "retires" while still getting paid. Taylor Green could help this team in so many ways is getting almost laughable. He plays 2B & 3B, making Counsell's defensive flexibilty less necessary, and he can hit the ball. He'd upgrade the team on days he's starting at 3B (replacing McGehee) and on days when he's sitting on the bench (replacing Counsell).