brewers4eric

After the pummeling the Giants put on the Brewers at the end of the year, I'll predict that they will take the series. The Royals bullpen allows them to play a six inning game, but the Giants are just as solid in their bullpen and seem to have more offense than the Royals.

Continuing the fine tradition of former Dodger closers in a Brewers uniform that started with Eric Gagne. I would have liked this move a month ago. Let's hope it works out. Go Brewers

I can still remember going to my first game at County Stadium back in 1978. Milwaukee was a four hour bus ride with a bunch of my dad's friends at that time, but I can recall the smell of the grills firing in the parking lot. The 78 team was one of the first rosters with some real talent on it and it was a foretaste of good things to come in 1981 and 1982. I had the pleasure of taking my kids to their first game at Miller Park on August 10th. My daughter is 9 and my son is 7. The trip is a three hour mini van ride and they have the convenience of watching "The Sandlot" dvd during the trip. We didn't fire the grill but we packed a lunch in the cooler and walked around the Uecker lot to let them experience the sights and the smells of the Brewer tailgate crowd. We weren't sure if they could sit still for three hours so we broke them in with a minor league game in Cedar Rapids last year. We learned that if you put some popcorn in front of them they could even make it into extra innings. They had a blast in the kids zone and were fine with the terrace cheap seats, as they had a good view of Bernie's chalet. My son wanted to know if Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez still played for the Dodgers. When Weeks broke for home on Segura's botched squeeze attempt, he yelled that he was stealing home like Benny the Jet did in the movie. He said he might like the Dodgers after the game, which is typical of a seven year old kid that favors the team the wins. I told him, however, that we beat Kershaw last night and he is back on the Brewer bandwagon. The trips to the live games are what you make of them. We are in it for a lifetime, so I'm not going to let the hassle of getting out of the parking lot put a damper on a day with the family. My daughter wasn't even two when she blew chow all over the car as we pulled into the parking lot in 2007. We might have missed two innings cleaning up, but I remember Chris Barnwell's hit and a Rickie Weeks shot off of Joel Zumaya just as well. Personally, I like the Brewers both at home, and on the road to Miller Park. After last Sunday, the kids are hooked, too. Go Brewers

We can debate the merits of this trade for several more pages. As it stands for me, we're in first place on July 31, and I never expected this team to be there. Time to wake up and smell the tailgate. Go Brewers.

Those of us that lived through the dark days that were the 2002 season probably have the greatest appreciation for what Doug Melvin has done for the franchise. When you consider the long term direction of the team, there have been some stumbles, but I've got confidence in Doug's leadership. I wasn't a knowledgeable fan back in 1982 to feel confident in making a comparison with Harry Dalton, but I think at some point in the future I'll look back at my tenure as a Brewer fan and will have some good memories of following the Brewers at this time in my life. Go Brewers

Considering that Estrada was picked off the scrap heap from a pretty bad Nationals roster years ago, I've been amazed that the Brewers have gotten the innings out of him that they have during his time in Milwaukee. He can look dominant when he can control his off speed stuff, especially his changeup. When he can't, the ball flies out of the park in a hurry. I would describe Estrada as "consistently streaky" as a starter. Hopefully he turns things around again and gets on a hot streak. The nice thing is that we've got some viable options if he doesn't, which has been a rarity during my 36 year tenure as a Brewers fan. It is strange to see a Brewers team with pitching depth.

I like Braun in the #2 spot. I think it lessens the probability that Roenicke will bunt if our leadoff batter gets on base.

We'll need to boost KRod's stats if we're going to use him to restock our farm system each year.

Gallardo, Lohse, Garza, Peralta, Estrada Henderson, KRod, Kintzler, Smith, Wang, Thornburg, Figaro ARam, Segura, Bianchi, Weeks, Gennett, Reynolds, Francisco Davis, Schafer, Gomez, Braun Lucroy, Maldonado I think it will be interesting to see how they configure the roster out of spring training, especially with the interleague series against Boston in the immediate future. Schafer gives them a decent defensive option for all three outfield spots, which they will need, as the platoons at first and second base sap their roster flexibility. The commuter flights between Milwaukee and Nashville will be busy this year shuttling bullpen options between AAA and the parent club.

So far, so good. A few weeks ago I wouldn't have given him much chance of making the team. At this point, it looks like he is one of several decent left handed bullpen options. My biggest gripe with the LOOGY types is when they would come into a game and walk the one batter they were brought in to face (bad memories generated by the Takahito Nomura experiment), but Wang looks like he knows how to throw strikes. If I made a prediction at this point, its that we swing a trade with Pittsburgh to keep him in our system.

I still see our bullpen as a potential weakness, but adding Garza gives us another option for the rotation that can pile up 160 plus innings and take some of the pressure off of the guys that need to get the ball to Henderson. I like Estrada, but he hasn't exactly been a picture of health (much like Garza last year) and I don't think Marco has ever thrown more than 130 innings in the majors. We'll be able to see what we have with Thornburg, Nelson, and Smith at some point this year, without putting two hundred innings worth of mileage on their arms. If the Garza signing signals a philosophical change on the part of Brewers management toward pitching, I'm for it. I like the three run bomb as much as anyone but our recent playoff rosters have included names like Greinke and Sabathia. Our pitching is deeper than it was last week, and our offense still features a mix of power and speed. We didn't beat very many good teams last year, but I think we are at least capable of competing with the good teams on paper at this point.

I was floored when I first read about the signing on MLB Trade Rumors. Our rotation will be solid, but not spectacular. Most teams will use at least eight starters during a season and I think we've got some nice options for slots one through eight. A stretch of poor pitching knocked us out of contention in May 2013. With Garza, Lohse, and Gallardo in the rotation, I don't think we'll be quite as prone to poor stretches like that in the coming year. Plus, it might allow us to put one of the younger guys in the bullpen. I think we need to identifiy someone in the pen that can get us a strikeout when we need it and bridge the early innings to Henderson. Maybe Thornburg, Nelson, Smith or Estrada could be that guy? At any rate, I'm more optimistic for the 2014 season than I was this morning.

Between Reynolds, Francisco, and Overbay, I would think we would have some decent pinch hitters at the end of the bench for the late innings. Too bad we have to start one of them.

Since we weren't able to clone Russell Branyan, the next best thing must be a Reynolds/Francisco platoon. This should give us something to talk about for a couple of months anyway.

There is plenty of opportunity in baseball for disappointment, so much so that I can't focus enough of it on any one player to call that person the greatest disappointment in Brewers history. I could blame any of 25 players on the active roster for blowing any one of 162 games during the season. Plus, you shouldn't really limit your disappointment to the players, as the coaches, trainers, and front office staff can factor into the ultimate product that takes the field. I too, can remember the shot that Rickie hit off of Joel Zumaya. Someone in Detroit probably thinks he is the greatest disappointment in Tigers history. The Brewers won that game partly because Barnwell was on base before Rickie hit his shot. I was always disappointed that Barnwell didn't rake with the Brewers like he did in AAA that year. Its a good thing we are all masochists, otherwise, we wouldn't look forward to being disappointed again this year and talking about it months before the first game.

1. I would like to see the Brewers develop a new face of the franchise other than Ryan Braun. I'll support Braun as long as he plays for the Brewers, but I don't want my six year old son and his t-ball friends to aspire to be someone like him. 2. Put a renewed emphasis on playing competent defense in all levels of the minor league system, in addition to hitting a three run bomb or a bases clearing double. 3. Draft a player with legitimate star potential, to replace the guys like Fielder, Hart, and Hardy that came up through the system and have since left the team. This will give me someone to follow in the Link Report if the parent club goes 6-22 in May. 4. Take advantage of the speed that we have in our lineup, but give me a reason to not groan whenever I hear the phrase, "contact play". 5. Teach the guys with the big arms to locate a fastball on the low, outside corner. 6. Identify a way to stay for the ninth inning and still travel west from Miller Park without getting caught in gridlock traffic.

"It's a Wonderful Life" was on last night and I've now made it through 46 years of my life without watching it. My wife was watching it with my daughter and she made a comment about our eight year old having seen more of the movie than I have, which is true. I've just never attempted to sit down and watch that one. While they were watching "... Wonderful Life" I pulled out my "Deadwood" dvd set and went upstairs. Last year I was shopping for "Christmas Vacation" type cereal varnishes to spray on my sled at Wal Mart and stumbled across a copy of "Gremlins" in the $5 dvd bin. The kids thought it was great. There has also been allot of discussion on the merits of "Love Actually" this year, which is probably more discussion that the movie deserves. Being a "Walking Dead" fan, I was hoping that a zombified Andrew Lincoln would dump the cue cards and rip a vein out of Keira Knightley's neck. But, that girl really belted out "I don't want allot for Christmas" at the end, if that was really her singing. My wife has the soundtrack in her car. While she was questioning my lack of "Wonderful Life" fandom last night, my wife asked me what my favorite Christmas movie was and I replied "Old School". So, there's my contribution to the forum.

I was really hoping that we would have Corey Hart at first this year. While I'm disappointed that he has signed with the Mariners, if I put myself in his shoes, I can see why he made the move. Given that both of his knees broke down, the opportunity to DH has to be a major factor for him, beyond the extra financial security for him and his family. Sitting on the sidelines for a year had to foreshadow what the potential end of his career might be like. Corey also resembled a guy (JR) from my high school that owns a small town bar in northeast Iowa. Now I won't be able to text JR from Miller Park and ask him why his twin brother struck out on another low and outside slider. JR is a Cardinals fan, but he has some darn good lunch specials if you are ever in Farmersburg. I'm not thrilled with the prospect of putting Juan Francisco at first. He seems more like the guy that you put on the end of the bench for when you need a three run homer to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. I do like Sean Halton, but it seems like the Brewers brass has him pegged as a bench bat. I'll see what other options they come up with before opening day before I head to Farmersburg.

I don't want to argue a meaningless point, but Barker had been demoted a couple of months into that season. Charlie Hayes had been a late signing at the end of spring training, but he was getting regular at bats at both third and first base. Prior to the Sexson trade, they were platooning Hayes and Tyler Houston at first. It seems like I've got a Bob Wickman all star poster from that year in my basement somewhere. They gave it away at the stadium after the trade had gone down and a friend of mine gave it to me. Milwaukee is a 3.5 hour drive for me, but I was at one of Sexson's first games in a Brewer uniform. Jeff D'Amico had his curve ball going against the Rockies and he also hit a home run that day. The crowd cheered every time that Sexson came to the plate. I really loved that 1992 team. The "what if" for me is whether they should have promoted Cal Eldred earlier in the year. The bullpen was deep and while they didn't have much power in the lineup, they had guys like Kevin Seitzer that seemed to hit well in the clutch.

Most Brewer teams detailed on the Baseball Reference site are characterized by run scoring power hitting lineups that didn't have enough pitching depth to get them to the playoffs. The 1987 team was another example, Higuera, Wegman, and Nieves kept them in most games but the rest of the starters couldn't get the ball to Crim and Plesac with a lead. I really wish Molitor could have stayed healthy that year, the team's record when he was on the disabled list was startling. At the time, I thought that the trade where they sent Wickman, Bere, and Woodard to the Indians for Richie Sexson was significant for the Brewers because it was one of the few times where they had pitching depth to trade for offense. The pitching depth might have been an short term aberration, but at least they didn't have to deploy Charlie Hayes at first anymore. My perception of Doug Melvin is that he likes to have power up and down the lineup, especially in uncommon positions like second base and center field. Given some health in 2014, we should be able to score some runs, but we don't have the depth or quality of pitching to get us to the playoffs. I like the 400 foot bomb as much as anyone, but guys like CC Sabathia, Zach Greinke, and Don Sutton get you to the postseason. Wake up and smell the tailgate, the winter meetings are approaching. Go Brewers.

I liked Aoki and I hate to see him go. He brought a unique hitting skill set that we haven't had at the top of our lineup for awhile. Without him, I think we'll revert to more of a power heavy strikeout prone outfield. I'm not going to pass any judgement on Smith at this time. Run him out to the bump and let's see what he can do. Go Brewers.

I drove 3.5 hours on Wednesday to watch the debacle against the Dodgers. I told my friends it reminded me of a game I drove 3.5 hours to attend in 2002 against the Expos when I failed to note that Ruben Quevado was starting against Bartolo Colon. I can still remember a shot that Vladimir Guererro hit off of Mike DeJean that day. It should be reentering the earth's atmosphere sometime soon. I've been a Brewers fan since I attended my first game in 1978. Paul Molitor was a rookie and Robin Yount was a light hitting shortstop at the bottom of the lineup. I've been coming back for 35 years and will continue to do so. I'm resigned to the fact that the current team doesn't have the starting pitching to put together the winning streaks we'll need to be successful. The diverse offense we saw at the end of 2012 might possibly reemerge when Corey Hart comes off the DL, but I think it is already too late. The collection of backup middle infielders and end of rotation starters that we currently put into the lineup just isn't cutting it against the Reds and Cardinals. What happened to the group of pitchers that racked up all of the strikeouts last year, aren't most of the names the same? I don't see a whole lot of help in the minor leagues. It has been awhile since we've consistently drafted near the top of the overall board. That's part of the reason we don't have a prospect like Prince Fielder at Huntsville. But, I'll still drive to Cedar Rapids whenever the Timber Rattlers are in town for a series. Years like this are a part of being a Brewers fan. We're all masochists at heart. Wake up and smell the tailgate.

The playoffs in 1982 were actually kind of anticlimactic for me. After the four game showdown with the Orioles at the end of the season, I was still recovering emotionally from the final game of the season. When they came back from 2 down to beat the Angels and advance to the World Series, they seemed destined to win it all. I can recall the incredible record they put together after they cut Buck Rogers loose in the middle of the season. I may have blocked out most of my memories outside of game one of the 1982 World Series. Molitor and Yount made hitting look easy and Caldwell was scattering hits like he did when he threw twenty plus complete games during the 1978 season. After that, I can only remember cursing every time Dane Iorg or Willie McGee came to the plate for the Cardinals. How in the world did Brewer castoff Darrell Porter wind up as the MVP? In 2011, I had taken the family camping and didn't hear about the KRod trade until a week after it happened. We had a regular stable of closers and former closers with Saito, Hawkins, KRod and Axford. Braun and Fielder would drive the runs in and we could play a six inning game and the bullpen would shut them down. I attended the mid season game against the Cardinals where Casey Magahee hit three bombs. The night before, we had lost an extra inning bean ball war but the Cardinals pulled it out. I blame that loss as the one that allowed the Cardinals to make their late season run and sneak into the playoffs. Once they were in, they started hitting and never looked back. Meanwhile, our starters ran out of gas and our formula for winning faltered two wins short of the series. The 2013 version of the Brewers reminds me too much of what we had on the field during the 1990s. We've got some outstanding hitters, but the pitching isn't good enough to put together a winning streak. If I need to chear myself up, I just think back to what the roster looked like in 2002.

My seven year old daughter thinks that Carlos is a great player, mainly because she thinks that he is related to Selena Gomez.

I have to think that they called Lalli in order to give them enough bench flexibility to play Maldonado at first base. I don't think Lalli will get many starts at first, but these first two months of the season could be pretty ugly until Hart comes off the DL. My "tempered optimism" for the 2013 season was based on the way the offense clicked in the latter half of 2012. We had such a diverse combination of power and speed in the lineup. Currently, we're deploying backup or utility infielders all over the diamond and are hoping to string three hits together to score a run.