DougJones43

The talks of accountability have zero credibility as long as Kendall and Fischer keep their jobs. Until those guys are gone, it's just random blood-letting, with some of the real culprits getting a pass for reasons unknown.

I HATED going back to school from about 2nd grade all the way up through high school. I'm much more of a fan of being an adult than I was of being a kid and having to deal with all of the stresses of trying to find my identity, fit in and whatnot. All of the cliques were lame, and kids ranging in age from about 10 to 17 can be some of the most mean-spirited people on the planet. I never really minded when going back to college after the summer though.

I have to agree completely with Brewer Fever. The deeper we dig into this, it seems pretty clear Melvin waited until this exact day in order to preserve Hardy's service time for this year and ensure he can still be a free agent after 2010. That being the case, I don't like the move at all. Accomplishes nothing but eliminate any chance Hardy can get hot and improve his trade value. He caught fire late in the year last year, and this year he won't get that chance.

He should just come out, declare this season "totally lame," and leave.

If they waited an extra day with him, and called everyone else up on 9/1, wouldn't that make it horribly obvious what he was doing? Is that the kind of thing that could draw a grievance with the union? At the very least it would be frowned upon by other players and make Milwaukee look like a cheap-skate bush league operation that screws their guys out of money.

If I'm calculating right, and if today counts as a day in the minors, calling JJ back up on Sept 1st would give him exactly 20 days at AAA.

Strange comments by Hardy. I can't think of many young guys that ask for 3 days off during the stretch run, unless they're hurt. Didn't he just have 3 days off for the all-star break? I know he certainly wasn't selected to play in it.

Castro didn't even get close an entire season, and the move comes on the heels of a 22-hit thumping -- which makes it seem awfully desperate. At some point, a GM can only discard so many coaches and managers before the blame finds him. On a side note, if anybody has time, I'd be kind of curious to see a tally of all of the hitting/pitching/outfield/infield/base coaches the Brewers have fired during Melvin's tenure.

How long would Hardy need to stay down in order to earn the extra year before FA? If it's only a short time needed, and that's the reason for this move, then I will agree I jumped the gun on what may be a shrewd move.

I wonder if this stuff is Mark A. or Melvin. Either way it's bad. Either Mark A. is getting to hands-on with the team, or Melvin is throwing everyone overboard in a lame attempt to save this season and his own behind.

Rickie was hurting the team (especially with his glove) at a time when it actually mattered. And we were trying to get Rickie to improve some things for our own benefit, so it made sense as we didn't have to be concerned about how the move appeared to potential suitors.

If this is actually true (and there's not any info we don't yet know), it's probably the dumbest move Melvin has made that I can recall. Not only is it an overreaction, it will undoubtedly hurt Hardy's trade value. And what's the point anyway? More playing time for Counsell? The season is over for the team anyway -- may as well have kept playing Hardy to see if he could bring his numbers up for when we try to move him. Even if the numbers didn't come back up a lot, a team seeing a guy with a "down year" looks a lot better than seeing that the player's club lost so much confidence in him that they sent him down...

Yeah. I might end up being embarrassed by my overly optimistic 79-win prediction.

Some fun facts about Jason Kendall: - He has the worst caught stealing % among qualified NL catchers - He has the worst catcher ERA among qualified NL catchers - He has the second worst OPS among 160 qualified MLB hitters - He has the worst SLG% among qualified MLB hitters - He is older than dirt, and can barely get the ball out of the infield I really thought when Yost was shown the door, this crap with Kendall playing everyday would end. Wishful thinking I guess. If he gets brought back again next year I think I'll immidiately begin projectile vomitting. He does not have one redeeming quality at this point. I just don't understand...

If it's such a horrible existence then somebody like Tom H. should do something else. I'm sure somebody with his credentials and experience, or even Witrado for that matter, could find a different job fairly easily, where he could spend more time at home, etc. Unless maybe the gig really isn't all that bad, there are perks, and he does enjoy them? Either that, or he's obviously a masochist... Call me heartless. Tell me I don't understand. But I don't like hearing sob stories like this when it's completely a matter of choice. Lots of people have hard jobs that don't pay well. Many people can't find work at all. If these guys didn't get some satisfaction from the "status" and perks that come with a job like this, they wouldn't do it, because really, they don't have to.

I bet he continues to start 4 out of every 5 games for the remainder of the season, and probably next year as well. I keep waiting for Brewers management to realize he stinks, but they never will.

Exactly. None of the Brewers "core" players got hurt this year. Yes, Parra has underperformed, but that's part of the problem with this team -- they were relying on somebody as unreliable and untested as Parra as the second best starter on the staff. You're right though, valpo. The Cubs have had worse luck with injuries so far this year, but they're far better than the Brewers so they've been able to play decent ball and stay in the race with a +20 run differential, as opposed the Brewers who have sunk to -37 after tonights thrashing.

2007.

Really? You think the Brewers have had much worse injury/underperformance problems than the average team? I don't. As you alluded to, arguably our five top hitters and position players entering the season (Fielder, Braun, Cameron, Hardy, and Hart) and two top projected pitchers (Gallardo and Parra) have stayed healthy all year. Weeks not being able to make it through a full season shouldn't have really shocked anyone. He's had lots of problems with his hands/wrists, and has never played in more than 130 games. Hoffman missed a month, but that also shouldn't be a total shock for somebody that is his age. As far as underperforming players goes, I guess I really don't see it as worst case either. Fielder, Braun, and Cameron have performed around or above expected levels. Hart's OPS is higher than last year. Counsell and McGehee have gone way above and beyond any expected production. The bullpen was lights off for a long time before the crappy starting pitching bled over and began to wear on them. Kendall and Hall have sucked, but that was to be expected. That pretty much leaves Hardy. And it's not as though some of these performances came from nowhere. Pretty much everyone not named Sabathia, Sheets, Torres, and Branyan (under)performed at similar levels last year -- and NONE of those afore mentioned guys are with the team anymore. So really, there was one significant injury (Weeks) and one significant underperformance (Hardy). Other than that, if you think Bush and Suppan missing time is a "worst case scenario," I think nothing could be further from the truth. Seems right in line with what other teams have to deal with in any given year, although in the Brewers case it was enough to send them down the tubes because they just aren't very good.

Every team is going to have injuries. That was the problem with this team coming into the season -- even a few injuries/underproducers was going to be enough to derail them because of their lack of depth, weak rotation, and of course, already having to deal with Jason Kendall as an everyday black hole in the lineup. You also thought it was laughable that anybody had dared to say the Astros were as good as the mighty Brewers. Doesn't really seem so laughable anymore.

That's assuming Melvin is actually still calling the shots, and nobody is motivated to move Melvin out the door after this season...

Speaking of which, where is that preseason prediction thread? I can't find it. I doubt many people guessed the team would potentially finish with under 80 wins, although I suspect FTJ and myself may have...

This about sums it up. Really though, I wonder what the worst league-ranked ERA team to make the playoffs was in history. I have to assume that a team ranking last or next-to-last has never really come close to the playoffs. The saddest part is, the Brewers aren't even close to passing the next team upward on the ERA list. The Brewers are 15th with a 4.81 ERA, and the Padres are 14th with a 4.55 ERA. We also have the worst ERA by starters by a pretty decent margin over lowly Washington. This team isn't going to sniff the playoffs this year, and probably not next year either barring an unforseen DRAMATIC improvement of the rotation.

Well, that's kind of the point. It's not an issue with his overall season numbers. It's that he was walking like crazy for the first two months of the season, and then just almost stopped completely. Seems strange, and I was wondering if anybody had any theories or observations as to why. Maybe pitchers are just throwing him more strikes and it's as simple as that.

Here is a breakdown of Ryan Braun's BB totals, by month: April: 14 May: 12 June: 9 July: 5 August: 0 He has drawn NO walks in his last 47 plate apperances, and only 7 walks in his last 179 PA. What gives? I don't really like to see a hitter with Braun's capabilities regressing when it comes to something as important as OBP.