adambr2

I could live with sending Arcia down to work on things if we had a viable alternative like Dubon up to try instead. Not really convinced that Saladino is a viable alternative. Sogard obviously isn't. I guess it's fine if he (Saladino) puts up his 2016 numbers, but I remain unconvinced like others that Sogard will be "rarely used" and any AB he gets is a wasted one.

I am no Bandy fan, but I'm not losing any sleep over missing out on Drew Gagnon or the privilege of paying Martin Maldonado $4M dollars.

It's got to be Bethancourt coming back up or this is just dumb. Jett Bandy for 10 year older Jett Bandy.

I wouldn't make any assumptions about Sogard not getting playing time. He started the entire series prior to his demotion when he was batting about .100. This guy went down to Colorado Springs and figured out nothing, because he just isn't good. He had a flipping .567 OPS in AAA. That is beyond bad for Colorado Springs. I really wish Sogard had just refused his first demotion and went home. Remember, as a 5+ year vet he had to agree to his demotion. He could have just gone home and still got paid. It makes it feel more like they had an under the table agreement with him to go down for a couple weeks to try to get it going and then he was coming back up no matter what.

Again, what would be your alternative? Sogard is consistent at SS, his arm is below average for the spot...but he makes the routine plays and has decent range. All this boo Sogard, but if you can't mention a viable alternative it just sounds like whining. A trade for literally any fringe roster SS in baseball. There is no shortage of guys who can play a passable shortstop and offer nothing offensively in MLB. Orf up as a bench guy, Saladino getting most of the starts. Orf can play SS. Or, just left Arcia alone. For all the complaining we do about Arcia, Sogard has somehow been much worse offensively this year, is 32, and is about 100 times inferior of a defensive SS than Arcia. I have no clue what their obsession is with this guy. He's like the new Nieuwenhuis, only much worse. Sogard got demoted because he sucked, he continued to suck in AAA, and he inexplicably got called back up for no apparent reason. This is a laughably bad move and literally just about any alternative would have been better. It feels like nothing more than they're annoyed that they spent 2 and a half million bucks on him and want to try their hardest to salvage something out of it.

If Dubon hadn't torn up his knee, I think Arcia would already be in Colorado Springs.

He would accrue service time, which is no big deal with him, but they would have to pay him a full MLB salary for 60 days which I'm sure they don't want to do if they plan to dump him again when he's healthy.

If you actually read through the game thread, I didn't initiate any dialogue during or after the game about Braun, even after the double play. Simply responded to other existing questions/conversation about him. Also not sure what's "crazy" about it, I've simply stated my opinions, I have even said he should start daily against LHP and will have some good runs. Not calling for his release. As far as "annoying", well that's a matter of your perspective -- no one is forcing you to respond to my thoughts on Braun.

Franklin is on the DL, not sure if he can be released from the 40 while he's on it. Sogard can go, the money is spent. I have no reluctance to move on from a guy because of salary. He's not good enough to be here and we can't get our money back. No need to compound the problem by holding on to him if we need his spot. Asher could also be DFAed without anyone really batting an eye. Logan seems like the most natural one in danger for Ramirez though, so he does need to start stringing together some good outings.

Wasting your breath. Some people will hate just because his last name is Braun and they don't want him around anymore. Bull. I don't like that he's not very good anymore and isn't helping us win and we're paying him a lot of money. It'll take more than a solid opposite field single on a bad pitch right down the middle from a lefty to convince me he's remotely headed in the right direction. I have no problem admitting when I'm wrong, but so far I haven't been about Braun. If he rebounds and stays healthy (not happening, but hypothetically) and puts up a 3 WAR season and helps us win in the playoffs I will gladly bump this and laugh at myself. In fact I would prefer that. And BTW I don't think he's absolutely terrible. Just not very consistent anymore. I fully expect him to start going on a nice run soon, start seeing the ball better, hitting for some pop, and then pretty much the day people start to get excited about him again, something will flare up, he'll suck for a week, something will flare up again, and he'll hit the DL. Rinse and repeat.

Shows how far the bar for Braun has fallen if we're holding him to the same offensive standard as Tyler Saladino and Orlando Arcia.

He saw a total of 5 pitches in his last 3 ABs. He made 4 outs in those 5 pitches. He grounded into a double play on a first pitch swing and just missed grounding into another one. He got on 25% of the time. He was not good.

Total coincidence that the night Braun returns to the 3 hole the offense goes back into the toilet after a great run with him out, no doubt.

I think we all get it, that Braun's last few years of his contract will likely pay him more than what his production will deserve...try to look at it from the standpoint of how much excess value the brewers got from Braun compared to the earlier dollars per year this contract paid him. Braun made $5mil the year he won an mvp right after he inked this current deal, and $7mil in 2012, when he arguably had a better offensive season. He didn't start earning $20 million per year until 2016, and the next two years will see that salary actually decrease back down towards $15 million. People are talking with confidence that some free agent hitters are going to approach 40 million a season starting in 2019 that would carry the through the same ages the brewers got brauns prime at about $8 million per season on average. Sorry, Braun being worth way more than his contract 5-6 years ago doesn't make me feel better about being hamstrung by a bad deal for a bad player now. They didn't HAVE to give him a bad 2nd deal. They could have rode out the good deal and walked away after 2015. Carlos Gomez was worth way more than his contract when he was here, that wouldn't make it any more enjoyable if he was here making $20M a season to put up the numbers he is putting up now.

Miller Park Davies.

Trying to get both Arcia and Saladino into the lineup is not a "good problem to have", Sophia.

Could have used that one batter before. No reason that we are still getting blanked by Matz. He is nothing special tonight. Gotta start capitalizing.

Thanks for nothing Hernan. Terrible.

The return of Ortiz....did not go well. Roegner still doing his thing, though. Peralta too.

C'mon Yelich. Looking like Santana out there in right.

Oh yeah I remember the Haiku thing. Please tell me we aren't doing that again.

Speaking of Bickford, has anything found out anything yet about where the heck he is?

Nope. Not even close IMO.

Because up until this point, there has been no indication that he will be. Maybe that will change but as of right now, it is pure speculation that he will sit for others to play. It will all be decided on the field though. Either Braun will start to hit or he won't and then he probably will see a reduced role. Same with Aguilar. Either he will continue to hit, or he won't, and then he will see a reduced role. As with Thames when he returns. Let's not pretend like he's some sort of a given to produce. We've seen his dry spells a year ago and there was a reason he had to jettison to Korea in the first place. These things will play themselves out and the Brewers will hopefully be in a better place for it as they have plenty of guys who can/should perform. As well it should be speculated. Things do change. Recent history matters. Braun is 34 and very broken down and has not been very good for a solid year now. I put a lot more weight on that, recent history, than say, Thames going to Korea in 2012. I think it's quite clear Thames is a very different player now compared to then. Aguilar is a little tougher because he's got a very nice recent history but a very long history of being a journeyman. So it all has to be taken into account, but the bigger his sample size, the better for him. Personally, I have no problem with Braun starting vs. Lefties. His numbers still justify that. I'm not crazy about him still batting 3rd, but I don't see a lot of much better options in the lineup tonight. Against RHP, it gets trickier. I think we can all mostly agree that Cain, Yelich, and Shaw should start daily against anyone. I think Thames should always play against RHP, and Braun always against LHP. But Aguilar needs to play too against LHP. So against LHP, I'd generally sit Santana who doesn't have splits that demand he play against lefties. But yeah, against RHP, I don't see how Braun should start often. Thames needs to get those starts. So it comes down to Braun vs. Santana -- I'll take the younger player. But yes I should hope it will be decided on the field, and if Braun proves himself as the better option, I'm good with it, just don't want decisions made based on contracts.

I don't know why people are assuming Braun won't be the odd man out. He can only ride history and reputation for so long. At some point, he has to produce, because at their current production it would be silly to have Braun playing everyday while Aguilar, Thames and Santana regularly sit. The contract given to Braun is money spent. We can't change it. Trying to force him in as much as possible to try to get our money's worth does no good.