lithium75

The Brewers aren't being held over by anyone. The delay in signing draft picks is almost always the fault of Major league baseball's rules for signing above slot, and is a negotiating ploy used by the teams to cut bonuses. Teams often drastically low ball the players, then vanish until the last moments. The Brewers did exactly this with both their first round picks. The players get an offer they would never consider signing ($1.5 million was reported for Jungmann) and then they don't hear another word from the team until the last day they can sign. What makes you think Jungmann is holding anyone over? Why accuse a 21 year old kid? Even when it is the player's fault, it isn't the player's fault. It is the agents.

Jungmann is a kid negotiating a contract. He would have to be semi-%!++!$@* to act as though being drafted by the Brewers was the best thing that ever happened to him. I can't believe how many of you are badmouthing this kid. With the number of innings he pitched in college this year, it is highly doubtful the Brewers had even a slight desire to sign him early. Most first round picks don'y sign until the deadline. There was less than a 1% chance of this playing out any other way. He wanted $2 million, and the Brewers offered $1.5 million. Then the Brewers broke off contact, and Jungmann hasn't sounded overly enthused about his negotiation. Really? The Brewers lowballed him with a below slot offer no one in their right minds would have signed in his position, then vanished from negotiations, and some of you wonder why he hasn't become the world's biggest Brewer fan? That's how the draft works. He will sign sometime within the last hour for a pile of money, and it will turn out that he was just fine with the Brewers drafting him. By the end of the college season, his velocity dipped, and he lost the last few decisions of his Texas career. Maybe his arm was a little tired? Maybe the time away from the game will be good for him? Seems a lot more likely than him sitting at home, pouting because he doesn't like the Brewers.

One reason for the holes in the 40 man roster would be if we were about to sign a couple more people. First round college pitchers like major league deals, and we just drafted two of them. Are we going that route?

Ugh, a realistic question, when Gallardo pitches, do they go with: Weeks Hart Braun Fielder Maghee Gallardo Lucroy Gomez/Dickerson Betancourt/Council Yovani must be the sixth best hitter in this lineup, isn't he? I also like the lineup with Hart in center and Gamel in right, though I cringe at the defense they would play. There must be better SS and CF options out there somewhere.

Reports before the draft said that Covey had a tired arm from throwing too many pitches. Honestly, why would they want to sign him any sooner? He wasn't going to play anyway, and the time off gave his arm some needed rest.

I have never been a fan of Cutter Dykstra either, but that is simply because I think his dad is a dingleberry. Maybe having a dingleberry for a father who was completely exposed as such publicly and whose lifestyle completely evaporated had something to do with Cutter's poor season?

WAY off topic, but now that I live in San Fran, I probably won't run into any Brewers any time soon. However, Matt Shaughnessy, from UW, playing for the Raiders often comes to the downtown Badger bar to watch the Badgers play. Real nice guy. He takes the time to talk to everybody.

Sending vets to the minors to "Work on some things" is the new rage. It worked (so far) for Parra and the guy from the Pirates. Maybe it would work for Villanueva, but he is far too inconsistant to pitch any meaningful innings anymore, so why keep him? As far as who we move up, I would like to see Axford up.

Ok, you can google whatever you want to about the addictiveness of pot. I have a...umm...friend (yeah, a friend, that's it) who smoked pot every day his sophomore year of college. He also smoked cigarettes. One day, this person woke up and realized that he hadn't smoked weed in a couple of days. This revelation caused him to re-evaluate things. This person has never smoked weed again, and has never had a moment when he craved weed. Not even once. After 13 years of smoking cigarettes, and 5 separate attempts using different methods, this person quit smoking in February, (using the patch). To this day, he still has cravings for cigarrettes. Basically he quit smoking weed almost as an afterthought. It took no effort, and he experienced no cravings. All it took was a decision to not smoke it any more. The same person said that quitting cigarettes was easily the single most difficult thing he has ever done. 2 days without a cigarette and he had trouble sleeping. 3 days and it was an almost unbearable compulsion to smoke. the patch only worked because it put enough nicotine into his system to dull the cravings to the tolerable level. Still agonizing, but tolerable enough to not smoke. What I am saying is that a career as a professional baseball player should easily be enough motivation for someone to quit marijuana no matter how many web sites you can find that say it is addictive. I know from experience, (um, my friend's experience that is) that marijuana is not even remotely as difficult to quit than smoking cigarettes. If he is unwilling to stay sober long enough to become a major league pitcher and make millions of dollars, he shouldn't have that opportunity. If he is unwilling to put forth the small ammount of effort it takes to quit smoking weed, how much effort do you think he is going to be willing to put into learning how to throw his fastball for strikes? Or into learning how to throw a changeup?

So a long time ago, I whole heartedly shared this opinion. Now I work in the medical profession and firmly believe that there shouldn't ever be a situation where a politician gets inbetween a doctor and his or her patient. If a doctor is taking care of a patient, and he or she believes that marijuana would be of some benefit to the patient, it's his or her license, they should be able to prescribe whatever they want. But this opinion about marijuana being this wonderful harmless thing being wrongfully persicuted by the evil establishment is just plain goofy. I went to college. I have held my fair share of bongs and passed them to plenty of people who now hold down respectable high paying jobs. I understand that it is not a performance enhancer, but Jeffress should be suspended for all of the 100 games. Think of it this way. Being naked is natural, safe, and (in at least some people's cases) wonderful. But I don't want to see any of the players playing naked. It isn't somethig I want to see, and would be a horrible influence on the kids. I also don't want to see a bunch of stoners play baseball. Look what happened to the NBA. Didn't Marcus Camby estimate that 75% of the league smoked weed regularily? How long has it been since the NBA put out a watchable product? The 60's were the time of expiramentation. Where did that get us? Pot may or may not be legalized. I don't care. if it is, I don't want my kids doing it. The last thing I want is a 30 year old living in my basement playing playstation 20 all day eating Doritos. I don't want people who may end up being a role model for my kids smoking weed either. Also, the kid is privilaged. Being a first round draft pick means (for the most part) that all he has to do is listen to his coaches, put in a little effort, stay relatively injury free, and he should make the majors. Staying drug free is part of the rules, though. I work in a hospital. To keep my job, I need to stay drug free, too. I don't make anywhere near what Jeffress does, but I am STILL able to stay drug free. If this positive test is for marijuana, I can tell you that addiction has nothing to do with it. If it is pot again, the kid doesn't deserve the opportunity he has been blessed with. If he isn't smart enough, or in control of his life enough to not smoke pot in order to keep his incredibly high paying job that he has been blessed with the opportunity to have, he should be to work as a clerk in a gas station like most of the other stoners. If it is something other than marijuana, then maybe you can use the "This kid is sick and needs help," arguement that his agent is already quoted as saying in the papers.

From what I've heard, the kid is looking to sign roughly the same deal as the extension Ryan Braun and Evan Longoria got, like a 6 year big league deal. The only difference is that Braun had a year of MLB experience, and Longoria signed his deal after around 50 major league at bats. Talk is that he is planning on going directly to the majors. If he comes right in and is a pretty good big league starter, the deal will be a steal. Think of it this way, he decides to go a more conventional route. He signs a $10,000,000 signing bonus, burns through the minors, and makes a couple of end of the year starts. He goes to spring training next year and makes the team. He is a pretty good pitcher his rookie year, throwing 200 innings, strikes out 200 with a 3.50 era. His second year, he throws 210 innings, strikes out 220, and has a 3.00 era. Washington then decides to try to lock up his Arby years. They know Boras won't sell his first year of free agency, so you are looking for a 4 year deal. $6 mil, $8 mil, $10 mil, $12 mil are offered, and rejected. Boras doesn't like to do deals that long, just look at Prince. He pitches his third year at about $600,000 making him have three years at $1.5 mil plus the $10 mil bonus, and he is entering his arby years. He throws 210 innings with 200 k's and an era of 3.75. He gets $8 million in arby. Next year he throws 220 innings, strikes out 240 with a 2.85 ERA, and gets $14 million in arby. Another similar year, and he gets $18 million in arby, and Washington has to trade him because there is no way they keep him away from the Yankees in free agency. That is 6 years, $50+ million. Now, Strausburg is known as the best prospect ever. He is Washigton's best pitcher right now. Like everyone else, he could get hurt, or flame out. Honestly, I like Strausburg at 6 years, $50 million A LOT more than I liked Suppan at 4 years, $40 million. That being said, I think the final number will be something like a 4 year $25 million, 5 year $37 million, or the 6 year, $50 million, or something around a $12 million signing bonus. I think that an injury is the only thing that will keep him from earning close to $50 million in his first 6 years regardless of what he signs for, though, unless they can sign him for 6 years, $40 million or less, that is.

Sorry, it was 1989. My finger didn't type the number my brain wanted it to type...

Jenkins drov a black Aston Martin V12 Vanquish while in Milwaukee. Its a $225,000 car made in England, and is a very nice ride.

Again, i was a young kid on this one. it was before I knew any better. The boy scouts or something went to a Brewer game against the Yankees. Once again, I didn't know any better, but I was a huge Yankee fan and Don mattingly was my favorite player. We got to the game real early to watch warm-ups. mattlingly was playing catch not too far away from where we were looking for autographs. I asked him if he could sign an autograph, and he said that the players weren't supposed to sign today. it was the day after Luis Pologna got busted sleeping with a 15 or 14 year old girl he had picked up after a game. Mattingly was nice, He laughed at some of our questions, and engaged in a little small talk. When he was done, he said, why don't you wait by the team bus after the game, and maybe i can sign something? After the game was done, a friend and i ran outside looking for the team bus. When we found it, a group of security guards were shooing every one away. We tried to explain our situation, and were told that no one would be signing anything. After waiting another 15 minutes being harassed all the while, we decided to leave. We knew people were waiting for us, so we took off running feeling very disappointed. We weren't really paying attention to where we were going, and didn't notice that teh gate by the bullpen was opening so a car could leave. we were nearly hit by a black Corvette that was pulling out. The guy driving it stopped and rolled down his window. It was Robin Yount. My friend and i got his autograph. When he was signing mine, i sort of blurted out, "Do you think you will win the MVP this season, Mr. Yount?" he responded, "I don't have any idea about that." We thanked him and we went on our way. Remember, i was a huge Don Mattingly fan back then, and thought Mattingly had the MVP sown up. i don't know what made me ask Yount what I asked him, but as it turned out, this was 1987, and yount won the MVP.

I was very young when ths one happened at a Brewer game my family attended. During the game, my mom said to me, "Do you see the guy behind us in the Milwaukee Braves jacket? You should ask him for his autograph." I went into a mini tantrum on my mom saying that it is the Atlanta Braves, and the Milwaukee Brewers. There is no Milwaukee Braves. My mom told me that the Braves once played in Milwaukee, and that I should get his autograph. The elderly gentlemen behind us overheard parts of our conversation, and he and the gentlemen next to him had a little chuckle. I, being a precocious and curious young kid turned around and said, "My mom said that the Braves used to play in Milwaukee. The Atlanta Braves don't play in Milwaukee because they are in the National League, so why does your Jacket say Milwaukee Braves?" The man laughed and said, "Before they were the Atlanta Braves, they were the Milwaukee Braves. The team moved to Atlanta a long time ago, and then the Brewers came to Milwaukee.' I then said, "My mom says i should ask for your autograph." The man politely said, "hand me your program." He signed it. I still have it. The signature says, "Best wishes, Eddie Matthews, MILWAUKEE Braves" Soon after, mr. matthews gave some money to his friend who was smiling the whole time he autographed my program. Apparently they had a bet to see how long it would take for someone to recognize him.

I agree with Ennder on this one. Yes, losing CC and Sheets on paper is a hugh loss, but claiming a 20 win loss for losing a guy who only started one game before the all star game, and another who was injured for stretches of the season? We lose 1/2 a year from Sabathia and 3/4 a year from Sheets, and gain (hopefully) a whole year of Gallardo. That doesn't equate to 20 games to me. It wouldn't take THAT much for Gallardo alone to match at least what we lost from Sheets, and if we are still in it, we have the resources to make another deadline deal. We are not that far from what we had last year. If Parra takesa step foreward, we are evn closer. If Suppan has even a mildly good year for him, and Bush gets just a little bit more consisent, we may not even need a CC sized acquisition at the deadline to make the playoffs.

Villanueva has had some success, and I wouldn't be surprized to see Brae Wright and David Welch get looks if some of the others fail. Remember a few years ago it was the unheralded Villanueva called up from AA who had the most success. All you really need is to have a couple of guys get hot. Yovani and Manny are young and need to progress and stay healthy, and Suppan could easily become a solid number 4. Bush has had good peripheral numbers, but has never put together a solid full season. He has stretches where he is lights out, and stretches when a high school team could hit him. Baseball is a crapshoot. CC Sebathia was the best pitcher available at the trade deadline, and was the biggest fish in the free agncy pond. But, the CC that played in Milwaukee was the hottest CC that he has ever been. Look at his stats for us. His is very good, but not THAT good. Meaning we could have signed CC for a bunch of years and he probably would pitch those years at about a 2.70 to a 3.50 era. He would probably throw about 220-245 innings and strike a bunch of guys out. But career numbers don't win championships. Like I said, all you need is for a couple of guys to get hot at the right times. This thread is about next year. Every year good players have bad years, bad players have good years, young kids have breakout years, stud rookies bomb or star, and every year there are nobody prospects that shock everyone by playing like all stars. Stick Yo and Manny out there and hope they don't disappoint. If we are lucky, Yo will throw 200 innings with a 3.00 era and win 18. Manny throws 180 at 3.75 and wins 15. If we are really lucky, Bush will finally figures it out, and Suppan pitches better than he did last year. If we are lucky, they all stay healthy. For the 5th starter I see McClung and Villanueva as possibilities. Villanueva failed last year, and McClung did better than anyone could have expected, so at the moment it appears as though McClung would be the current choice. So at the moment, Gallardo, Parra, Bush, Suppan, and McClung are pencilled in. That is good enough to start with. Hopefully we can ge another starter somewhere because the team would be better with McClung in the pen, but at the moment we don't have any other realistic options. As injuries pile up, and as players fail, we do have other options. Wright appears to be good enough of a stopgap opyion to get us by for a little while. If we are still in it at the deadline, we do still have depth in the minors to make a deal to put us over the top. Our rotation at the moment isn't sexy, and won't wow anyone, but it is good enough to start with. We do have options. Just like everyone else, if our pitchers pitch well and stay healthy, we will win. If the pitch bad or get hurt, we will lose.

We got a veteran left handed bat with a .385 on base avg for two players who would have in all likelihood never played for the Brewers. they have made worse trades before...

Ford doesn't seem like the type of player Beane would be interested in due to his lack of plate discipline. This seems fishy to me... I have to believe that Gillespy and Brantley would be targets, but why would Beane even take Ford as a throw-in? I know that he is a prospect with speed, but Beane has been cosistant in the fact that he prizes plate discipline above speed (and most everything else)

"Schafer accepted a signing bonus of about $400,000 Saturday from the Milwaukee Brewers, plus college tuition and incentives." I can not find this on the web anywhere, but the story appeared in the Sunday edition of The Tribune, San Luis Obispo's newspaper. You can try to find a link at www.sanluisobispo.com/sports if you like, but I couldn't find it. It is in the college baseball blogs section.

I say that because all I know about LaPorta is what is written about him, and plenty of people have doubts about his move to LF. All I knew about Fielder when we drafted him was what was written about him, and plenty people doubted his ability to play first in the majors. That's all I meant when I posted that statement. The two picks seem similar to me. Pick the biggest offensive potential on the board regardless of defensive questions (you can add Braun to that list as well), and hope you can make them passable as major league defenders. It was not meant to be a negative comment because Fielder has been a pleasant suprize in the field, but with a name like that, I guess none of us should have doubted.

The LaPorta pick reminds me an awful lot of when we drafted Fielder, a guy who has unquestioned offensive upside, but seems stuck at a position, 1st base, where we already have an established star, or as a DH. LaPorta's move to left field seems as unlikely now as Prince's ability to be a MLB 1st baseman was when he was drafted. LaPorta could equal Fielder offensively (especially with our recent astonishing run of successful call-ups). That being said, as far as impact potential, I've got to give the immediate nod to Jeffress. Other than that, we are pretty bad. A bunch of possible role players and bullpen arms if we are lucky. I really liked Inman, but a bunch of people more knowldgeable than I am and who have a better track record than I do at predicting a player's future are not so high on him. I'll trust them over me any day. As far as where we rank, We should be in the upper part of the middle of the pack, but many questioned LaPorta. I would put us at about roughly 12, but others may kick us back as far as 20.

This thread is making me believe that we here are getting a little spoiled. Remember when the Cubs had the #1 ranked farm system? How about the Diamondbacks, LA Dodgers and LA Angels of late? All these farm systems were loaded with future stars. Can anyone compare to the major league production we have produced/ Fielder, Hall, Braun, Hardy, Gallardo, Villanueva and Hart have all become solid average major leaguers to all stars/ potential MVP's. History has shown that some future stars make it, but a lot do not. Most don't come close to reaching their potentials. Yes, Capellan did not make it, and Rodgers/Jones have been hurt. Even Parra has come back from an injury to make it to the big leagues. We have had an astonishing success rate with our prospects. Weeks is highly talented, and has been injured. Doug Melvin has said repeatedly that they had expected Weeks to struggle for most of this season, and then come on strong in the end. Even if he DOES flame out, are we in any position to complain about how well our prospects are doing in the majors? History has shown that SOME of these guys are going to flame out. So far, we have been more than fortunate. Also, Weeks' weakness was supposed to be defense when he came up. No one seems to be complaining about his defense, but his offense is in question. He has worked hard to make his defense major league average. There is no reason that he won't work just as hard on his offense. If DM is right, he should start hitting soon. At the very least, I think we will see a different Weeks arrive in Arizona spring, 2008.

It would not have made my post very convincing to claim that Harang is a future HOFer. I am aware that he is a very good pitcher. I just did not want to give people the opportunity to bash my arguement by saying that Harang was not a good measuring stick. Even the most unsympathetic baseball observer has to admit that Harang should at least be considered a mediocre Major league pitcher.

Lets face it, the bottom line is this. About a month and a half ago, I posted a suggestion that Jenkins has earned the right to have us pick him up for 2008. Two years ago, I posted frequently that I wanted him gone. He responded by exploding for an extremely impressive second half while this year, he has been terrible since my post. It is clear that he gets hot after I post negative things about him, and becomes frigid when i post good things about him. So there is only one thing left for me to do. Jenkins is the worst player in the history of baseball. There is no chance what so ever that we will pick him up for '08. I wish that there were some desperate sucker willing to take his salary off our hands for a bag of BP baseballs, a doughnut, and a case of Rolling Rock. The man is washed up, and should be working on his sales pitch because all he is good for is selling Encyclopedias door to door.