strawbossisevil

If you´ve been around here long enough, you´ll know that JohnBriggs has had this argument made in his direction probably a hundred times. At this point it´s just not worth arguing with him on the point. Stats show that RBI and Wins are pointless when looking at a player´s production and worth to a team. If he wants to ignore that and continue to overvalue counting stats that´s his choice, I doubt there is anything we could say to change his mind.

All I was saying is that he better pull out all stops in regards to his performance. If that means more time in the cage, more time fielding fly balls, eating healthy vs unhealthy food, so be it. Go to extra lengths to earn it and make what you are being paid worthwhile to those who are paying your salary (the fans).

This is exactly why I have pointed out time and time again to you that it would have been foolish for the Brewers to bring up Escobar at the beginning of last season. It is in our best interests to wait as long as possible with our prospects in order to maximize the amount of "prime years" available to us before they hit free agency. If we bring up our prospects super young, as we did with Fielder, they´ll end up spending their top prime years in some other organization, or signed to extremely expensive deals that we can´t afford.

I agree with sheethead, who are you to tell people how they can perceive Hart? It was clear that last season Hart had a pathetic season, not worthy of a raise at all. Now he is certainly entitled to try for a raise, it´s his right. But if he chooses to fight for a raise he hasn´t earned, I think it is the right of a fan to recognize that and react accordingly. And, quite truthfully, his contract costs ARE reflected in the costs to fans. That 600k comes from somewhere, doesn´t it? Also that 600k could certainly have an effect on our ability to add another player that helps our team later in the season. All I´m gonna say is that if Hart gets his raise, he better give 100% in earning it with his play this season.

I wish more people watched Chuck, that show is awesome/hilarious and seriously underrated.

PM me. I've got one left.

It is kind of strange that Orlando is such a big metro area and the only major sports team we have down here is the Magic. That said, this rumor is ridiculous. As others have pointed out, Florida has already proved itself incapable of supporting the two teams that are already here. I could see a football team coming here well before a baseball team.

Agreed on the Google Voice option. Seems like a perfect situation to make use of the free number. Best of all, no additional out of pocket expense for you for another phone line.

I think the biggest difference isn't SB which only marginally help. But instead the ability our team will have this season of taking extra bases on base hits. Gomez and Escobar are both examples of players who should do very well going from 1st to 3rd in a number of cases where Cameron and especially Hardy wouldn't be able to. I think there is definite value in having that type of speed on the base paths even apart from the stolen base.

I think this thread is a good example of why we ought not judge an offseason until it's over.

I agree with Ender (in his response to Crew07), plus one has to consider the fact that the sooner Escobar comes up, the sooner his Arby clock starts. What that means for the Brewers is that they would have had one year less of Escobar in his prime when he's likely to be a better hitter. Just for that reason alone, keeping Hardy was the right reason. Not to mention, we were competing for a playoff spot, and Hardy was expected to be a big offensive contributer in that playoff run. Also, I don't see this as a cycle that needs to be endlessly repeated, as you state. The reason we have been signing FA starters is two-fold. 1) Our farm system has failed to produce quality SP prospects. 2) Few teams are willing to trade their above average pre-arby pitching prospects. What we need is a wave of prospect pitchers to arrive, and that wave is hopefully on its way. Hopefully, by 2011/2012 we'll be able to take a break from signing FA pitchers.

I have roadrunner and am experiencing no problems. Must be the AVG (I use Avast - which is also free - and have had no problems).

I've never been through a divorce, but have been around plenty of people who have. I think the advice about counseling is spot on. I do know a number of couples who had their marriage saved by going to counseling.

Because anyone who looks past his ERA, at his peripheral stats realizes he is actually is a fairly solid mid 4s ERA type pitcher. You forget that before getting hit with a baseball last season his ERA was in the low 4s. And Scouts and GMs recognize that he played hurt last season. For some reason you have this weird hatred of Bush, KC, that I can't quite understand. He's a solid #4 and 4 million is not bad at all for what he's likely to produce this next season.

I'm keeping an open mind in regards to his performance, but even you have to be disappointed in his lack of game experience in the DR. After all, you were saying that we should expect him to be starting C or DH in most of the games. And yet, he did neither and sat on the pine. My question is why would they do that if he is ready to burst out with above average play this season? Wouldn't the DR team want a guy like that playing rather than sitting? Like I said, I'll keep an open mind come spring training. But I do think it's fair to say that this offseason was a bit of a disappointment for Angel, especially since the guy he'll be competing with for ABs had a very solid AFL showing. I think all that is fair to say about this offseason, although it means nothing going forward and I wish Angel all the best.

Things are not going well for Angel. He needed a good offseason here to improve and enter the season strong. To get only one AB is absolutely brutal.

And I might add, without adding Sabathia, we might be talking about NO playoff appearances in the Fielder/Braun era. One simply can not know, and acting as if the Brewers would be a perennial playoff/world series contender if we hadn't made that trade is mere opinion based on nothing. It's just as possible that if we didn't make the trade we wouldn't sniff the playoffs at all, but that is an alternate reality that Crew07 refuses to recognize. And on top of that it isn't like our team doesn't have the potential to compete for a playoff space this season. We do. I think a lot of it comes down to living up to potential/health. It's a three horse race, and the team that stays the healthiest is likely the one that is going to win. If we have an injury plagued season like last year, we are going to struggle. If we stay relatively healthy, there is no reason why our team shouldn't be capable of competing as we did the first half of last season.

I think everyone realizes this, however I think it's up for debate how much to put on to those projections. Weeks, for example. If he hits like he did last season, there is no downgrade at 2nd. I imagine, however, the projections all have him hitting less. Gomez is another one. Who honestly knows what we have in him. He is such a young player and has to this point not lived up to his talent. Projecting someone his age with his skill-set is extremely challenging. The same holds true for Escobar. It's hard to take any stock into the projections because no one can really know how he'll perform offensively. Add on top of all those that the typical projection probably deflates Prince's and Braun's numbers from their performance last season. If we were a team of 30 year old players, I'd probably take a lot more stock into the projections. But I think the youth on our team makes projecting them with any sort of accuracy close to impossible.

Right, but not all of those were at 3b, end. Only 240 of his ABs took place as a 3rd baseman. His other ABs were at 2nd, 1st, RF, DH, and Pinch Hitting.

Remember TooLiveBrew that Bill Hall entered the season as our 3B. McGehee did not play the whole season there. In fact, he only played at 3b in 71 games last season, or less than half of the season. Bill Hall played 3b in 69 of the games last season, and we all know how well he did out there. A full season of McGehee or McGehee/Gamel should be capable of equaling the production of McGehee/Hall.

I´ve heard a lot of good things about Gomez in regard to his hitting. His talent hasn´t translated into numbers quite yet, but many have pointed out that he has some solid pop in his bat (I´ve even heard some say if he can translate his potential to the field he should be a 20+ HR per year guy). I think sometimes for young players, it just takes a bit of confidence to apply what one does in the bating cages to game situations. He´s probably been pressing some, and hopefully a change of scenery is all he needs to get some of that pressure off.

No, I didn't forget Cruz, valpo, because he was available to the Brewers or any other team on waivers well after the trade. It wasn't until after he was passed through waivers that he put up the big numbers. Jorge de la Rosa was not sent off before being given every opportunity to succeed in a Brewers uniform, he just never did, neither did he in a Royal's uniform. It took until last season in Colorado before he became anything remotely close to a competent pitcher. Crew07, Lopez cost a guy who will likely never crack the starting lineup, players like him are a dime a dozen in any minor league system and we have a dozen more in our minor league system. I don't think the Brewers problems in getting trades done has been a lack of Cole Gillespies. Without getting Sabathia, we would not have made the playoffs that season, period. And I'm pretty sure trading LaPorta for a middle of the rotation starter (the best you'd likely have gotten for him, since he profiles defensively only as a 1B and scouts were saying there were holes in his swing) before last season would have solved our issues. Even with a middle of the rotation guy we don't make the playoffs last year. And we wouldn't be in all that much better shape for this year than we are currently. Without the Sabathia trade, it's entirely possible that Prince Fielder's time on the Brewers could have come and gone with NO playoff appearances. That's why when you get a chance to lock up a playoff spot, you do it, you live in the moment in some respects because the amount of times you'll have a shot at the playoffs are limited (especially as a small market team). It remains to be seen how good of an MLB player LaPorta will be, if he's in the outfield much of his value is negated by his horrible defense, and to this point he hasn't even been good enough offensively to justify playing him. Brantley while he has good plate discipline has little pop in his bat, I don't see that improving dramatically, to this point he's Craig Counsell without being a plus defender and I don't see that changing much. I've already commented on Gillespie, so I'll leave that one be. Thatcher has not been as good as Stetter has been for us, and he's not likely to ever be a better than average lefty. Garrison could be in the back of a rotation, or out of baseball if he continues with his injury issues, as who knows how he'll recover from them. As for Mercedes, maybe. Not to say there is NO quality in that group, or that a few of them might contribute a bit at the big league level at some point, but I'll stand by my point that our system is not lacking these type of medium to low level talents, and that isn't why we haven't made a significant trade. The problem is teams very rarely trade good young pitching, that's true of all of baseball, very few teams make trades for mid to upper part of the rotation pitching prospects. You can point to a handful of times when it has happened, but it takes a perfect storm of team needs and wants for something like that to happen. Especially now with the down economy where pre-arby middle of the rotation starters are even more valuable. Crew, if you can ever get a behind the scenes tour of the GM office at Miller Park, I think you'd be surprised at all of the long term planning that is going on. The people I know who have gotten that opportunity to see it first hand would disagree whole heartedly that the team is going from year to year with no plan, because they got to actually see a ton of visible evidence of all the planning that is going on.

Again, this makes no sense. Even over the larger sample of three years, the fact is when looking at FIP, Suppan has been extremely fortunate the past three seasons, while the opposite has been true for Parra. Either you buy into the belief that pitchers can only control so much and that FIP is the best reflection of how they performed in that regard, or you don't. Your opinion sounds awful wishy washy. You want to believe one thing, but believe the opposite viewpoint has merit as well. Parra has to be in the rotation, and here's why. Next year two of our pitchers hit FA (Bush and Suppan), if Parra isn't set to step in as a starting pitcher at that point because he spent a year losing his stamina in the pen, we are in a very tough spot. So he has to stay stretched out, and he can do that either in AAA (where he's got nothing left to prove) or in the MLB (where his secondary numbers suggest he should be successful). I'd say that without a doubt Suppan is the MOST likely to be out of the rotation of the three (Parra, Bush, Suppan) if we add another starter even with Macha's love for old starters.

Right, agreed with Invader. I was thinking the Brewers were looking at 1 year, two if the most on these pitchers. I think Invader hits it on the head, signing them for two years 8 million wouldn't be horrible, if they are bad next season, 4 million would not be a devastating price to pay for a #5 starter/long reliever. Both Davis and Washburn are better pitchers than Suppan, and we are talking yearly salaries at about a third of the cost of what Suppan is making this season.

So apparently you only use ERA and not the more advanced metrics when it agrees with your point? Bush was pitching through pain, clearly. It's doubtful that will be the case come spring as he's had a whole offseason to work through that, and there have been no reports of him still battling injury. As for Parra versus Suppan, so often it is you looking at the advance metrics and showing just how poor perception is on a player. It feels strange that today I get to return the favor. Parra's FIPs from the past three seasons are 3.35, 4.16, and 4.88. Suppan's FIPS from the past three seasons are 4.42, 5.51, and 5.70. Next year by all of the major projections, Suppan is expected to land somewhere between a 5.09 and a 5.48 ERA. Parra on the other hand is projected to finish somewhere between 4.59 and a 5.13 ERA. Plain and simple, Parra was the better pitcher the last three seasons, and he'll be the better pitcher next season barring an injury. Over the past three years he's been far better at controlling the events that a pitcher is capable of controlling in the game, and I don't think that fact is lost on Melvin and Macha. Doug has already stated that they are going to decide the rotation regardless of the cost of the players. Add to that the fact that sticking Parra in the pen would hurt his conditioning for next season when we lose Bush from the rotation, and it makes even less sense. Suppan may not be a late innings reliever type, but he certainly could be a mop-up guy ala Elmer Dessens. Going with Suppan rather than Parra in the rotation would likely cost the Brewers .5-1.0 Earned Runs per 9 innings. Anyone know how many wins that would theoretically cost us over the course of a full season?