rickh150

Any word on Peralta's current MLB service time???? Kind of forgot about this, but could be huge in hindsight in two years...

I was surprisingly encouraged with his start even though he doesn't throw hard, didn't have good control last night, and gave up two dingers. He was good through 4. He had a lot of bad breaks with jam job hits, bad defense, and no offensive support. CC said that both HR were on breaking balls and that that would be a learning experience, meaning he should stay away from it against power lefties, I gather, at the MLB level. He's earned a few more starts with his stats at AAA alone. Lefties can be craftier, it seems, with less velocity and get away with it at the MLB level. Maybe at his best he can be our version of Mike Caldwell- a lefty who works fast, throw strikes, etc.

I knew we struck out a lot, but most EVER? Yikes....

Apologies if I read this a while back on a Brewerfan.net thread, but aren't we on pace or close to break the MLB batting strikeout record?

No it doesn't mean that. It's not a one way argument. Villar can argue that his stolen bases add a ton of value and he should be rewarded for that. The Brewers can argue that his 74% stolen base percentage is below the break even point of 75% and that doesn't even include all the outs he makes on the bases that don't count as stolen base attempts. Now it depends on who decides the case, if it even goes all the way to a hearing but an arbitrator isn't going to just say here, you win because of stolen base totals. Good points, definitely. The problem still is that the arbitrator is looking at comparisons (comps) to determine the best offer (team or player), and I don't know how many players have his amount of CS and unforced outs in a season (rare air), but the SB numbers could draw comparisons, probably with fairly high arby amounts. Like you said, it would be dependent on how the arbitrator values a SB and unforced out, but I believe a huge SB total, perhaps even winning a SB title, would help him financially in a league with few base threats, even with his current rate of mistakes.

Oh, the criticism is due him. The "big picture" is this.....beyond bad individual base running affecting the TEAM result. If you read most of the posts, Villar gets plenty of praise. The trouble is too many want to excuse the inexcusable behavior with the positives. All are thrilled with his hitting stats, but that cannot negate the due criticism that should be on him for selfishly attempting to steal/take 3rd in obvious no go situations. Very bad baserunning, terrible decisions without change for 3 months, a manager letting it happen (until the benching) when a solution was so obvious (stop sign, which is probably still not given) .. and that is why the issue strikes a nerve. That being said, he's having a better August on the bases.

Yawn? What does that mean? His big SB numbers will make his contract bigger.

Like said, I questioned a lot of Yost's decisions, especially with the pen. He liked to throw the pitcher just called up in these high pressure 7th and 8th inning situations, which I just didn't get. If we were several games under .500, ok. But in 2007 and 2008 we were smack dab in the middle of the playoff races and he was pulling this crap. I was ok with Sweum, Macha, and RR. Besides the handling of Villar and Broxton, CC has gotten a lot out of this group. I guess that they each had things I questioned, but Yost's moves was in a category of his own. Funny thing is he's the one with the ring....

This is true, but I would think that high SB total and leading the league in SB carries more weight than his caught stealing percentage. That said, I certainly don't know. I'd be curious as to how that actually factors into contracts, particularly in arbitration hearings. His antics hurt both on the field (30ish UNforced outs) and off (arby contract in a couple years will be higher).

Stearns has said many times it's not a good idea to put a time frame on the rebuild, and I agree with him. Cover your butt.... That's all the DS statement means to me. If we're really bad in four years, his butt is covered, right? No, no.... We need to see gradual change for the better at the MLB level. If not starting in 2017, surely in 2018.

I really believe that next season is THE season for CC. The Brewers will be expected to improve on this year. If they lose 90 plus games (in 2016 and 2017), he'll be gone for DS guy. It's not fair, sure. But if I'm DS, I really don't care. This is my ship and I want my hand-picked guy. CC really has to impress ( flirt with .500) to stay.

TH citing nothing here...... TH making a safe observation that it cannot be Mendez caliber since Mendez is rated very high. Anyone other than Mendez himself will prove TH true... Agree with you.... He's just filling empty space.

Over slid 2nd today.... Chucked again later in the game.. I think he's at about 30 UBOs (unforced baserunning outs). However, I'm not up in arms with getting nabbed at 2nd. High reward vs risk situations today, even though Over sliding is careless and should never happen. Only two outs on the bases today.... Getting better, Villar.

I take back mine and vote for this.

Which is nice. Selfish play in risk-not-worth-reward situations that affect TEAM results. CC is way too loosy goosy with running game and game management. It's like he has zero say on steals and takes (3-0 counts). He's the sub in high school that let's you get away with anything...... Except when getting thrown out at 3rd for the 25th unforced out of the year. THEN, and only then, will he get tough. Ha....

For the minimum, maybe.

That SB title will be mine!!!!!!!

Didn't Macha bench Braun twice and Cain for not hustling out batted balls?

Agreed. If I'm on the team, period, I would feel it necessary to say something. Braun should, definitely.

When is the last time the Brewers have won 88 or more games in 3 consecutive years?. Pirates 2013-2015 Impressive wins of 94, 88, and 98 in season Disappointing run of.... 3 Wildcard games, 2 losses 1 Division series, 1 loss ***This year on pace for 83 wins. In a one game playoff, I'd take the 2008 Brewers ( CC pitching) or the 2011 Brewers ( Greinke pitching) over any of these Pirates teams. The Brewers went for it and gave up part of the farm to get top notch pitching, which is needed to win in the playoffs and tough to just develop on your own or frugally sign in FA. The Brewers lost 3-1 to Phillies in 2008 (90 wins) and won one series vs. the Diamondbacks 3-2 before losing to Cards 4-2 in 2011 (96wins). BothPhillies and Cards won WS. I'd say each team's span is similar with the Brewers 2011 team having the best opportunity to win it all. I'm like most here in that we, as a small market, believe we have to have a good/great farm system to compete and win. The difference in my thinking than most here is I believe we have to use prospects as currency (ala Melvin) to trade when the times for us to win the division/ make a playoff run comes around. Many others here value prospects so much that they won't make the big move when needed, I believe. The idea that small markets can compete/make the playoffs yearly and can keep filling FA losses with prospects year in, year out, is a pipe dream. That winning strategy long term has not been seen in MLB yet for small market teams. Better to build up, patch together, tear down, and build up again than try to be even Steven year in, year out, and compete with the big boys who retain their good players and sign your star free agents and other international stars your team can't afford.

It's the way small markets have A short window of time..... A long window has never existed for small market teams. As I've posted on this literally hundreds of times, I do not subscribe to the window theory, rebuilding should never be necessary, retooling is the way to go. I agree that the Pirates were very shrewd, that's the kind of thing that many of us have been talking about for a long time... you make moves based on what's best for your long term outlook as an organization, every time we suggested moving a piece on the MLB forum it was considered laughable because "we were still competing". On sports radio for 2 days it's been "how could the Pirates trade their closer when they competing?", well the answer is simple, but people have to be willing to look past the antiquated "window" model that most professional sports franchises operate on. The question really is, do you want to pseudo compete for 6 years and make the playoffs twice or do you want to cycle talent and be competitive most years? There will certainly be down years here and there along the way, but never a complete rebuild. Our 6 year run wasn't even that great, it was just so much better than the 20 years which came before it that fans tended to over dramatize what was happening. If not for an epic Mets collapse in 2008 the Brewers only make the playoff once in that entire window, and that would have been awful considering the hitting talent that successfully made it through the minors. We simply never had the pitching to truly complete, our run differential in NLCS was awful, the Brewers were mauled, they barely beat an overachieving AZ. Short term solutions will rarely be the answer for Milwaukee, the more short term we operate the shorter the competitive window becomes. The Pirates are having success? Really? How is their past 5 years better than the Brewers run from 2007 to 2012, which you criticize? It's also ironic to say that the Pirates have to trade their closer for prospects to move past the window theory, meaning they should always be competitive if they have a constant stream of help from the minors. I argue that unless they have a window where they put more resources/money/focus to the MLB club, they will usually be a .500 Pirate's club sniffing the playoffs here and there, just like a short term solution Brewer's 2012-2014 Brewers team which you didn't like the model for (but with younger players). I like the rebuild. I like what we are doing. Yet, when we, Lord willing, compete for playoff spots in a few years, I hope that we will take our shots some years and make the needed trade or FA signing to get us past just a contender to favorite status. If that hurts our prospect ranking, so be it. The goal is a championship, not to be kinda avg/good year in, year out. We are an ant among elephants in the baseball world, and the question of should we pool resources to compete, creating windows, is obviously yes. We can't compete for a title without tearing down, building up, tearing down, building up, etc. We're doing that now! Tearing down the MLB team for minor league prospects..... Getting an influx of talent to hopefully compete for the playoffs again someday. Yet, if that is all we're after and if we have this dilusion that we can win titles by just having a great farm system without sacrificing our minor league system for key players at the right time ( window), we will be baseball's version of the #8 seed in the NBA. Again, no small market has had a large window where they have made the playoffs for let's say 5 out of 7 years, made multiple World Series, winning 1. Hasn't been done. Why should we be shooting for this then when only a few of the elephant big markets have done this? For me, let's build a strong base ( which DS has), bunch our "good" prospects together as best we can to allow them to play together for multiple years in the minors, have bumper crops of prospects come up within a couple years of each other, and then add key FA and make key trades using our minor league prospects to bolster our MLB team. This should give us a 3 to 5 year window where we can have legitimate hope to bring a championship home. Then FA sets in, we lose these top talents (perhaps trade a few) and we look to build again. It's the market and economic system we play in, and if we want a championship, we have to be willing to take shots when the time is right.

The problem is that the Brewers are "making" him do nothing. If he feels like stealing, he steals. The stop sign has not been used on him, according to CC, and it'd be interesting if the steal sign has been used for him too.

Villar finds all kinds of ways to make outs on the bases, just like Gomez did. Both guys did the same thing on different teams under different managers. Likely did the same in the minors under a myriad of different managers. For some reason there are people who want to ignore that baserunning and fully grasping time and place when to be more aggressive vs being more cautious is a skill some players simply possess more than others. Baseball IQ in varying aspects of the game differs from player to player. We see hitters all of the time who simply refuse to be more patient at the plate, even after multiple hitting coaches and managers tell them it's needed for that hitter to maximize his potential. They in most cases don't do this because they hate the premise of taking walks. Instead, their brain is just hard-wired to swing a lot, even at the same pitches which continually lead to making lots of outs. As for trading Villar, no way in hell would i trade him unless an offer simply was to good to pass on. Leadoff hitters who can get on base like he does aren't easy to find. The number of dumb outs which he's made on the bases doesn't come close to mitigating how often he actually gets on base compared to most players and anyone else the team would likely find to replace him as the leadoff hitter. Given Villar is instinctively a low IQ overall baserunner, i wouldn't expect Counsell to do any miracles. Just mainly cut down the attempted steals at thirdbase, especially when a conversion won't help much anyways and i'll be ok going forward with the inevitable random brainfarts on the bases by Villar so long as he can keep getting on base at a high clip. Someone with a significantly lower OBP, but who is smarter on the bases will end up making a lot more outs. People go nuts over brainfarts on the bases by Villar, but rarely say anything when numerous hitters strikeout or weakly ground out on the same pitch off the plate which Villar takes for a walk to actually get on base. You are totally missing the point.... CC's decision to put up a stop sign in certain situations takes away possible unforced errors immediately. They are gone! With hitting, fielding, pitching, the manager doesn't have that luxury (well, taking a 3-0 pitch in situations, I guess). One decision by CC cannot immediately change results. A considerable amount of practice, work with coaches, and watching tape could help make modest improvements. Other players have areas of weakness, sure, just like Villar's running for outs. Point taken, and it's a good one. Yet, Villar's weakness, unlike any other player, gets incredibly better with the manager's help of taking the decision out of the player's hands.

DS mentioned on Tuesday's Brewer telecast that the PTBNL was a "very quality prospect" (see the Rock/BA interview at AtBat- Aug 2 game highlights... About 10 min.) My doubts that this is just a throw in have gone down considerably.

It's the way small markets have A short window of time..... A long window has never existed for small market teams.