Matt Breen

I don't know when they added this, but Baseball-Reference picked up the gap in their market left behind by minorleaguesplits.com taking their content offline. BB-Ref offers MiLB spilts now; simply click on the "Minors" link on any player page. Batting splits links are right above the "Player News" section, just below the player name/height/weight/etc. info. 2013: .820 OPS v.RHP, .614 OPS v.LHP 2012: .759 OPS v.RHP, .607 OPS v.LHP http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=gennet001rya TooLive, thanks. I didn't realize Baseball Reference had added splits. This is fabulous. Thanks.

I'm totally on board with Braun at 1B. Let Davis and Gindl and Schafer handle LF and RF (I'd trade Aoki). Gomez handles CF, with an occasional rest from Schafer. I guess you could do a strict platoon for Davis, but I really like the power and hate to only let him bat against lefties.

DHonks, I totally agree with you on thornburg in that I think he is best suited for the bullpen. But I'd say let him finish out the year in the rotation and try and prove me wrong. I just hate that they don't seem to have any sort of plan for him. His recent, successful, starts, have made me think he at least deserves the chance to show off for a 5-6 starts at the end of the year.

Where do folks see the rotation heading next year? Barring a trade, I assume we have three locks: Gallardo, Lohse and Peralta Estrada is looking like he's on the rebound, so I'm betting he gets a spot as well. For the final spot, I'd love it if the team gave Tyler Thornburg regular starts for the rest of the year. Stop jerking the guy around and figure out his future. If he doesn't look like he's going to cut it, then move him to the bullpen beginning in spring camp and move on. Otherwise, one of Jimmy Nelson and Johnny Hellweg are probably your #5 guy. Also, please send Gorzelanny back to the bullpen. As a reliever, his OPS allowed is a stellar .563. As a starter, it's .759. An occasional start by the guy is fine, but he shouldn't be in the rotation.

Regarding the eye test, Scooter's swing looks a little long to me. I'd expect it to be a bit more compact. A long swing can sometimes be exploited by opposing pitchers - especially with outside breaking balls. Combine that with Scooter's aggressive at the plate, and you could see him struggle in the future. Lots of strikeouts and a low walk rate. Obviously he's doing great right now, so maybe I'm nitpicking. And to be honest, I've only seen him in 4-5 games - so it's not a lot to go on. I don't know Scooter's splits in the minors, but I'd be curious to see if he's struggled against lefties. Lefties with longer swings often times are vulnerable to left handed pitchers. Perhaps Scooter's size makes me think he should have a little more compact swing. I will say that the thing that's surprised me most about Scooter is that I think he's showed he is stronger than he looks. He's only 23, so I'm hoping he's more than just a singles hitter. He's certainly been great in August. I hope he continues to go crazy.

Segura is hitting .242 since the all-star break. He has a .265 OBP and a .601 OPS.

Brewers have played .500 ball since July 1. Not bad considering we've had next to no contributions from Braun and A-Ram.

Actually, Braun doesn't have to say anything else. If that's the way he wants to do it, that's fine. To be honest, he's a player on my team, and I will cheer for him. I will hope he does awesome and has a great career. But if wants to be more than a pariah to the rest of the world, he really needs to do more than just issue a statement. If you've been lied to repeatedly, most people (but not all) don't want to get an email or text from that person as an apology. They want him to say it to their faces. The simple fact is that he can do more. A lot more. But if he doesn't want to, that's life. And if people want to hate Braun for not doing more, that's their right as well. If they want to boo him every time he comes to the plate, fine.

Braun's statement is a weak start. He needs to sit down in front of the people he lied to and explain himself, and answer questions. If he doesn't want to answer questions yet, he simply could (should) have said that in his statement something to that fact. "I will take questions from the media on XYZ date. I will speak to my teammates personally on XYZ date, and offer my apologies, and answer any questions they have. If any my fellow players want to talk to me, to ask questions, or just yell at me, I'll make myself available to them." Next, he never used the word 'lie' or 'cheat' a single time. He should have used them both. It's still 'mistakes' and 'regrets'. He should have used those words - acknowledge what he did. "I'm sorry I lied. I'm sorry I cheated by taking the PEDs." There are some other things he could have said in the statement, but I think those items are the biggest. And their omission is pretty big to most people.

I'm mixed on Thornburg as a starter. Two months ago, I'd have said put him there for sure. But he looked pretty good in his starts (albeit, only three of them). I felt that he profiled out as a really good relief pitcher. And that's where I think he'll end up. But it could go either way. I really wish they'd let him start for the rest of year. See what he can do. If he flops, you say 'we tried' and develop him as a quality reliever. Maybe after Gorzenlanny's last start they'll put him back into the bullpen and let Tyler start.

Let's go crazy and remake the team. This is just an idea. Probably stupid, but I just don't see keeping the same team as a great idea. - Trade A-Ram (throw in up to $6 million to facilitate a trade). Get the best upside prospect, any position, that you can. - Trade Aoki - I love the guy, but he's a FA after 2014 and he's limited in his skill set. Get the best upside prospect, any position, that you can. - Let Axford walk unless he'll resign for $2 million or less. - Don't resign M. Gonzalez or yuni. - Get rid of Rickie. Someone might trade for him, but you'd have to throw in a lot of his salary. Probably at least $8 million. That's fine. Cut him if you need to. Let's just move on. Scooter gets the 2B job. - Move Braun to 1B (stays healthier, forced to talk to and apologize to every player in the league, even skip schumacher) - Davis, Gindl and Schafer will handle the corner OF spots, with Schafer filling in for Gomez on occasion in CF. - Make a trade for 3B. Look for a good fielding player. Doesn't have to be a superstar, but has a good glove and average hitter. Preferably a young guy at AA or AAA who you think can make the jump to the bigs. (maybe that's asking too much) - Trade Francisco, get whatever you can for him. His defense limits his value. This team is much better defensively. Let our ground ball oriented pitchers (peralta, hellweg, nelson) have a chance to do better (no Weeks, Yuni, A-Ram, Francisco in the field). Schafer and Gomez in the OF would be impressive, defensively. No need to make any free agent acquisitions - which usually don't work out well. Saves money by using inexpensive players. C - Lucroy/Maldando 1B - Braun 2B - Scooter SS - Segura 3B - ? - make a trade. maybe green, but I have doubts. IF - Bianchi 1B/2B/3B backup - Taylor Green LF - Davis / Gindl CF - Gomez RF - Schafer Back up OF - Get a right handed 5th OF - Halton or someone like him might work. SP - Gallardo SP - Lohse SP - Peralta SP - Estrada (could be supplanted if he can't control the gopher ball) SP - Hellweg or Nelson RP - Henderson RP - Kintzler RP - Thornburg RP - Badenhop RP - Gorzelanny RP - Wooton RP - Hand, Narveson, Figaro, Sanchez, Heckathorn Extras: Fiers, Burgos This team won't hit particularly well, at least power wise. But it could be okay if some guys emerge. Again, all kind of a speculative concept. Improve the defense - a lot. Play to strengths of our young pitching. Superior bullpen. Inexpensive pieces allows for flexibility to add payroll during the season (or beyond 2014). Just an idea.

Francisco's defense has been epically bad. He has a .981 fielding % - easily the worst in baseball for a guy with 50 starts at the position. Adam Dunn is the next worst guy - a .987 %. He has a UZR of -8.0 (Adam Dunn is worse -8.4). In Juan's defense, he's never played the position. Perhaps an off season of practice, and spring training, will make things a lot better. He'd really make a good left-handed DH / backup 1B/3B type player.

awesome. thanks.

Calling the hitting 'bad' is a bit overstating it, I would say. Lucroy and Gomez have been very good, and despite cooling off in the 2nd half, Segura is still at a 117 OPS+. Juan Francisco has been very productive as a Brewer, and aside from Weeks, Schafer, and Betencourt, there haven't really been any offensive 'black holes'. The Brewers are 8th in the NL in runs scored, which puts them squarely in the middle of the league, which is not bad, considering Braun has missed most of the year, as has A-Ram, and Hart has been out all year.........the three guys expected to put up the biggest power numbers. Gennett, Davis, and Gindl, in their short time up, have been more than admirable fill-ins, and have helped more than hindered the offense. Braun will hit next year, of that I have no doubt. A-Ram just needs to get healthy. I'm comfortable putting Francisco over at 1B (his glove notwithstanding I suppose), and finding a RH platoon partner for him. I would be perfectly comfortable trading Aoki, and letting Gindl and/or Davis man RF. Or put Braun in RF, and put Gindl/Davis in left. 'Bad' is probably a little harsh. The Brewers have the 20th ranked offense in baseball for runs scored. In the NL, it's dead center - 8th of 15. So 'bad' is probably not the best way to describe it. Average to below average is probably more like it. I guess disappointment is probably the best word. So many guys that were supposed to be very good/great haven't shown up for various reasons. The Segura/Gomez breakouts have been sweet, however.

Major League 2b have produced a .262 BA / .321 OBP / .389 SLG / .711 OPS line for 2013 That's everyone, starters and back ups. Of starters in the majors, there are 19 guys who qualify for the batting crown. The middle guy is a .728 OPS. So CheezWizHed's Scutero comp (he has a .727 OPS) is pretty much on target for an average guy. If Scooter can be an average guy at the plate and in the field, he'd be a big upgrade over Weeks. And at the league minimum, he's really valuable. Remember, Scutero makes $7 million a year. If we can get a major league average 2B at minimum wage for a few years, it's gold. Guy's like Scooter are essential if we are to do well. As a hitter, you can't plan on Scooter being a catalyst type. But that's not needed if we have Braun, Gomez, Luc, Segura, A-Ram producing at an above-average level. If Aoki and a 1B can maintain league average play - along with Scooter - it's pretty good line up, which we'll need, since our pitching isn't going to be a top 5 type group.

My optimistic thought for 2014: In 2013, here are our team ERAs by month: April: 4.16 (22nd in the majors) May: 4.91 (27th) June: 3.44 (6th) July: 3.63 (13th) Aug: 3.08 (7th) It's a nice thing to see the pitching come around. Are we a top pitching team? No. But we could be in the upper third if some things fall our way in 2014. The big issue will be hitting. We've just been bad this year. We need some guys to seriously rebound next year (Braun, A-Ram), to go along with guys who broke out this year. Not to mention figure out 1B and 2B. But if pitching can stabilize, that would be huge.

Scooter doesn't have a lot of upside, but it's hard not to like him at this time. While he doesn't walk a lot, he is keeping a decent walk rate (for him) in the the big leagues, which is encouraging. The average is a little inflated, but I don't think hitting between .270-.290 is an issue. If he could add a little bulk and hit 5-10 HR, that would help him a lot. I've only seen him a few times, but his defense looks very average thus far. And that leads to the next point - Scooter isn't Rickie Weeks. It pains me to say it, but I'm seriously thinking we should just cut ties with Rickie. His defense is bad. Really bad. And now with a torn hammy, it's not going to get any better. While Rickie can be a frustrating player, I love his hard play. He went out there every day and played hard. But he'll be 31 in a month. That's not old, but it's not usually the age when you get better. He's a power hitter that's lost his power. Maybe his bat has slowed just a bit. He's definitely a little slower and little less agile. But it seems to have really affected him. If Scooter looks decent the next six weeks, it might be time to say good bye to Rickie. I doubt we would get anything for him in a trade, so it might simply be best to let him go and eat his contract. I've advocated in the past to let Rickie play and hope he regains value, but I just don't know if that's in the cards. If Scooter can hit .280, get 5-10 HR, and play average defense, he's a solid guy to have. Especially at a cheap price.

A written statement would be pretty pathetic unless it was accompanied by a willingness to answer questions. It will only make him look like a coward - a guy who won't face up to his accusers, a guy who only wants to answer the easy questions. But we'll see what happens.

It all just goes to the point that Braun needs to admit everything he's done and provide the details, no matter how embarrassing or painful. Every time something 'new' emerges it just makes him look worse and worse. So just lay it all out there, answer every question, apologize to everyone and their cat, and start brand new. If he doesn't confess to everything, provide all the details, he will constantly be forced to answer new questions and allegations, which only continues to throw everything he says in doubt. As I said earlier, it's not like admitting to everything is going to hurt his reputation. It's trashed. Adding more trash onto his trashed rep can't really hurt him that much more.

Braun just has to fess up to everything he's ever done. Unless he's got a felony tucked away, what can it hurt him? The guy's rep is shot to hell. Hiding something that can later come out will only do more harm. He's just gotta say what he did, when he did, and why. I mean, if he said he took PEDs in 2011, would it really be that much different than if he said if he took them while in college as well? Or in 2009 as well? I don't think so. And besides, people are pissed at Braun more for his lying after the 2011 season than the whole PED business. They're pissed that he lied to his teammates. His fellow baseball players. The writers. The fans. That, more than taking PEDs, is what people are pissed at Braun about. So he just should fess up, answer all the questions, take the hits, make his apologies. He needs to sit in front of reporters for as long as it takes, answer all their questions, not dodge anything, not be evasive. He needs to walk up to every reporter, every player that he fed BS to, and apologize. Coming completely clean is the only way he can ever regain some semblance of trust with his teammates and fellow players and fans. If he avoids questions, everyone will just think he's lying. If he won't answer questions, same thing. Vague answers, same thing. And if he omits something, and it later comes out, it will only reinforce the perception he can't be trusted. Frankly, I hope he just spills it all. Even if he says he's been a PED user since he's 16. If someone says, "I know Ryan Braun did PEDs in college", Braun can just shrug and say, "I already fessed up to that." For the rest of his life, people are going to call into question his accomplishments. By trying to hide the extent of the PED use, it's not going to change that perception. So just get it all out and move on.

Not to get off the subject of 1b for 2013, but does anyone know how Francisco's play at 3B is? Fangraphs has his play at 3B as pretty average - but it's not a huge sample. I was curious because, as we've all seen this year, Francisco is an awful first baseman. Could he potentially start at 3B (at least in a platoon) if the club moved Ramirez in this offseason (a longshot, but just a thought). Or could he be our 3B come 2015, when A-Ram's contract is up? Obviously, if he goes to 3B that eliminates him as a 1B. But considering how bad he's looked, I don't know if that's such a terrible thing. Just looking for some opinions from people who have seen him play 3B in the past.

I always admired Sandberg for learning the ropes the hard way. He managed A, AA, AAA - moving up to big league coach this year. I honestly don't know if he's any good - but I give him credit for being willing to work hard and take it one step at a time. A lot of big name players refuse to do that.

Here's more: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9574381/charlie-manuel-ryne-sandberg-new-manager-philadelphia-phillies

I think it's crazy to think Braun is going to get traded before next season. What team wants to take on a $20 million/year pariah? And just as important, no one knows what kind of player he's going to be in 2014 and beyond. For all anyone knows he's been using PEDs like candy for 10+ years. No team needs the distraction of a Braun circus. Milwaukee is on the hook for the guy. Time might soothe some of the emotion surrounding the guy, but it's going to be a while. This isn't like the Melky, who got a $16 million commitment over two years. This is $120 million. I guess the team could trade Braun by paying some insane portion of his salary - say half. But I don't see them eating $60+ million just to get rid of a distraction. Braun could get dealt down the road - after the controversy has died down somewhat, and if he shows he's still a great player. Showing some humility and honesty wouldn't hurt either. But nothing is going to happen for a while.

Last year, I'd say Trout should have one, but this year, I'll go with Miggy. I love Trout's all around play, but Cabrera is putting up just crazy numbers. His defense is terrible, but the hitting is so special, I have to pick him - at least at this point in the season.