Matt Breen

Has anyone heard anything about Henderson and Thornburg? Just curious.

What would Scooter be hitting this year if he had played full time at 2B? Here's a looksee: Scooter has 244 ABs with 76 hits. All but 8 ABs have been while playing 2B. Only 31 have been against lefties. Weeks (and Bianchi) have a total of 104 ABs and 28 hits while playing 2B. Let's say that Scooter played full time instead of the platoon. Let's give him 75 more at bats, assuming all are against lefties - giving 29 ABs to the back up. That would be 319 ABs for Scooter so far this year. Let's say that Scooter, with more exposure to lefties, can manage to hit .200 vs southpaws (that's up from .129 so far this year). That means he'd have a total of 106 ABs vs lefties and 21 hits. That's just under a .200 BA for the season against lefties. As a note, Daniel Murphy has 84 ABs vs lefties and Dee Gordan has 71 ABs. Both are left handed hitting second baseman who aren't considered 'platoon' guys. So my 106 ABs might be considered a little high. But we'll stick with it. Using his number against right handers, plus the new numbers against lefties, that would turn into the following: 319 ABs 93 Hits .292 BA The BA is still solid. The OBP probably drops a solid 20 points, down to .330ish. Slugging would definitely go down as well. All in all, Scooter's overall numbers would be looking pretty similar to the rest of the top second basemen, but nothing exceptional. And it should be noted that no one is really having a great year in the NL at 2B. Again, this goes on the assumption that with more exposure to left handers, Scooter to hit .200 against them. If he can get to .250ish, he'd be a solid .300 hitter even if starting 150 games (assuming he can keep raking against right handed pitchers).

In 2010, Omar Infante was named to the all-star despite not being a regular. He was more of a super sub guy than a platoon player. That year he appeared in 134 games and had 471 ABs. Scooter's on pace to appear in 141 games and have 460 ABs. If 2B was a black hole of players, I could see Scooter getting picked. But there are other deserving players this year - guys putting up similar (or better) numbers while playing full time. Utley, Dee Gordan and Daniel Murphy come to mind.

I'm pretty good with the line up as well. Scooter and Weeks are hitting well in the platoon. No point in breaking it up something that's successful. Reynolds isn't hitting like I hoped (I was thinking he could maybe get a .750-.760 OPS), but he's been playing really good defense. So that kind of evens it all out. Plus, he's the kind of guy that can go on a tear and really lift a team up. Segura isn't very good, but we really don't have any other options. At least he brings solid defense to the table. Plus he has shown the ability to hit better. With that in mind, I'm okay with a below average hitter at this point. He doesn't need to be a .300 hitter to do well, but if he can even improve to average, that would be great. The one semi-regular that really has no business on the team is Overbay. He's got a .699 OPS against right handers this year. In 2013, it was .749. In 2012, it was .751. Again, that's against right handers (we won't go into his hitting against left handers). At 37, I just don't see him doing much better than he is. But the club seems to like him, so whatever works. I just hope they can limit his at bats.

Totally agree. So much can happen to these guys (good and bad), you can't worry about down the road too much. It's a lot easier to move a guy off shortstop to 2B or 3B or wherever than the other way around. If in five years we a stud SS prospect at AAA blocked by a stud SS in Milwaukee, I'll be thrilled. At that point, someone is transitioned to a new spot - or dealt.

The Yankees have dropped about $7.7 million on four guys so far. Nice way to replenish the system.

I'd look at Benoit, although I worry about his age and the fact he's doing great in SD, which always is a worry with a pitcher. Still, his numbers have been great. He makes $8 million next year - which is a lot. I'm not sure it's worth it. But we could easily lose two of our best relievers to free agency (K-Rod and Duke), and a quality arm like Benoit would help ease those loses. He could even be your closer. And, if you look at it, we have the money. Assuming we pick up Gallardo's and A-Ram's options, our salary is at $74.6 million for next season. We'll assume that Weeks option is declined. Unless he rebounds in a big way, I doubt Estrada is offered arby (he's in line to make upwards of $4 million). Replace him with Nelson. Maldonado, Kintzler and Alfred Figaro are arby eligible for the first time. None should break the bank. K-Rod, Reynolds, Overbay, Duke and Gorzelanny are free agents. Even if you add in a couple of million for the arby guys, plus $8 million for Benoit, that only takes you to around $85 million. That leaves $15 million (if you have a similar payroll as 2014) to add a 1B, another reliever (if that's deemed necessary), and maybe some depth IF/OF depth. If Benoit doesn't work out, you're not stuck with a long term deal on a reliever, which is what it will likely take to keep Duke and/or K-Rod after 2014. I guess it all comes down to how much will it cost, and is the team willing to add the salary.

We can always bring back Yuniesky Betancourt. Although I have to admit 'Arquimedes' is a pretty awesome name.

Kintzler got squeezed a little by the ump at the end. But you can't serve up balls like that to a guy like Encarnarcion. A walk doesn't kill you. A meat ball to a power guy like that does (and did).

Nice sinker from Kintzler.

I'll repeat - why is Herrera on the team.

Not saying it's right...but he probably thinks he can push it with all the days off this week. That would be the reason to take him out. You would leave him in if you had a stretch of 20 straight. Exactly. Plus, he's not looked very good. I assume he just wanted a right hander to face Bautista (which worked out great) before bringing in Duke.

Not living in Wisconsin, I've had quite a few non-Brewer people talk to me about the Braun PED stuff. Most of them don't hold against him the fact that he cheated. Or even that he lied. The big thing was he smeared another person. It would have been one thing if Braun had just said that the collector had mishandled his sample by not following specific procedures (which was true). Instead, he insinuated that there was something more underhanded going on, and the guy was part of some plot. Cheated. Lied about it. Implicated the collector. You can argue the nuances of the situation, but for most people, they don't know the specifics (or care). It's one thing to cheat. And to lie. It's another to go after another human being. Add in the fact that Braun has a kind of cool arrogance to him, plus he's has been wildly successful, and it's easy to hate Ryan for a lot of people. Personally, I don't boo or hate anyone over PEDs. It's happened. Move on. As for Braunie, he's a Brewer, so he's my guy. I'll cheer him every time. I won't be buying a Braun jersey (except in the bargain bin), but I don't like spending so much energy hating on someone. But some people just can't forgive and/or forget. Nothing wrong with that - it's just not me.

Looks like replay missed that. Kawasaki looked safe. Still, nice play by Luc. Especially for someone who doesn't play the position very often.

Why is Herrera on this team?

Weeks starts out with chasing ball 4 to strike out. We just can't stop ourselves.

I go and say that and Wooten throws some filthy pitch to strike out Bautista. Rock said it was a split finger fastball, but the thing just dropped off a table. Never mind.

I go and say that and Wooten throws some filthy pitch to strike out Bautista. Rock said it was a split finger fastball, but the thing just dropped off a table.

I've always thought Wooten was going to be decent, but he's been really looking mediocre of late.

time for rickie to go yard.

Gotta give Duke credit. He's been great this year. The guy has rescued his career in a big way. He's probably in line for a nice 2-3 year contract from someone for $5 million annually.

yeah, and one of the fastest guys on the team at 3B. just connecting gives him a chance to score.

I'm more concerned about the horrible hitting today than Marco. Our batters are swinging at so many pitches outside the zone, it's pathetic. Even normally good hitters seem to be caught up swinging at junk.

Bad, Marco. Bad.

Braunie just looks lost. I don't think I've ever seen him swinging so poorly.