adambr2

I agree, they need to make a decision on Wang. Either he can contribute now or he should be sent back. This isn't 2003, we do actually have a chance to win, so wasting a bullpen spot the entire season isn't a good idea especially as they get worn down later in the year.

I'm not sure I would sign any of them. I guess it would be Yo if I had to but I wouldn't overpay. I'd trade whichever of Lohse or Estrada brought more value in a trade, assuming both were completely healthy when I made the trade.

The jury is not "out" on the Carlos Gomez extension, the Carlos Gomez extension is a steal. If he were a free agent right now, I'd be willing to bet that Boras could land him a multi-year deal with an average annual salary of at least double the 7 million that he's making this year.

To me, it's not just managers, it's also players. Take the Gomez situation today for example. Few things in baseball bother me more than the socalled unwritten rules about how players or teams are supposed to behave. This is professional baseball not little league. It's paid entertainment. To me, out there personalities are good for the game. It helps cause fans of opposing teams hate certain players, which i view as a positive. We need more of that, not less IMO. Never once have i gotten upset for say a hitter admiring a hard hit ball, a pitcher showing lots of emotion after a big K, a basestealer being flashy after stealing a base, etc etc. Cocky personalities like Manny, Pujols, Rickie Henderson, David Ortiz, Gomez, and many others help make the game more interesting to me. What bothers me instead is when certain players or managers feel they get to be the deciders of how much emotion a player can show after say a big hit or admiring a home run. Feel they get to decide when a team should stop trying hard to tack on more runs to a lead. Thus, they feel they are entitled to start yelling at a cocky players, yell at an opposing manager, or throw a rock hard ball at the player traveling 90 mph or faster. It's ridiculous and annoys the hell out of me. So yea Carlos acted like a hot dog after hitting that ball, admiring it for a few seconds, and didn't run right away. If anyone should have been mad it's Roenicke for Carlos failing to run hard right away, not Cole. Just take the ball, shut the hell up, and pitch to the next batter. I'd say the same if roles were reversed. +1. I'm sorry, but baseball players, managers, and coaches alike have got to come down from their pedestals in their pursuit of preserving the integrity of the game. We're a steroid era, a bunch of corked bats, and many scandals removed from that. Just like it's no longer "rude" to dunk in the NBA, the game of baseball has also changed, forever. The silent egos in the game, from players, managers, and umpires is unreal, and it's really become a guessing game as to who is going to get offended by what. It's time to throw out most of the unwritten rulebook. I agree that the Brewers should be the only ones upset at Carlos. The one damn time he doesn't actually run something out and this is the result.

who said anything about getting a lawrie-type prospect for Estrada? going into 2011 baseball America had him at 40 and IIRC many other lists had him a top 25 prospect. there's plenty of guys 50-75 that I don't think would be outrageous to think Estrada would get in return (nick Williams, arismendy alcantara, matt Davidson, devon travis, etc..). The original post literally asked if we could "pull off a reverse Marcum type deal." That's who said something about Lawrie. I think the amount of respect a 31 year old starting pitcher with a history of not being able to start a full season with an 88 MPH fastball is ridiculous. I don't think his fastball velocity is relevant to the amount of respect he should get. Gallardo sits at about 91, he doesn't light up the radar. Where is the line in the sand? I certainly don't think that guys who manage to be effective without overpowering fastballs should be slighted for it. Speaking of Yo, from 2012 through now Estrada has a higher combined WAR and better cumulative ERA than Gallardo. I'm not saying that he is better than Yo, and I think WAR for pitchers is kind of sketchy, but it at least indicates that he has definitely had some value as a starter. I agree on two things -- 1) His lack of durability seriously limits his value, and 2) He wouldn't bring a reverse Lawrie type return for us. I think he'd do better than a Jimmy Nelson prospect, though. But his limited innings are certainly a concern for any trade partner. I think a full 170 IP (which is probably his ceiling this year) with a 3.50 ERA or so could really increase his value.

I like Porter. And I also think what he did was kinda stupid and childish(which of course is nothing like most MLB "measuring contests." It's Houston though. They need a manager to give them a chip on their shoulder and light a fire under them, and to help the young guys develop some confidence. Edit-Had this been Tony LaRussa, I would be advocating a 162 game ban! Yes they do need that...but is this the right way to do it? Frankly if I'm a Houston player I'm wondering why our manager thinks we have no shot at coming back down 7 in the first inning and why the unwritten 'mercy' rules apply already.

Cole just put 3 pitches on a tee for Weeks and Rickie couldn't touch him.

Its completely unacceptable to let an opposing player just bark at one of your guys and not have his back. This is one situation where they should retaliate.

Horrific defense is attributable to 6 of our 7 runs allowed today. It's been proof that bad defense doesn't always just show up in errors. Braun makes a terrible play and costs us a run, but it's a hit. ARam boots a ball that is inexplicably called a hit by a biased official scorer. And Gomez makes a huge mental error throwing to 3rd where there was no play which leads to giving up more runs.

More sweet defense, this time from Braun.

Oh wow you suck so hard, Rickie.

This umpire is employing two different strike zones today.

Fortunate to still be within a run.

Last inning obviously notwithstanding, I haven't been all that impressed with Garza as a Brewer other than his first outing.

Haven't hit one out of the infield this inning, but got one back at least.

You can't win games on good defense alone, but you can definitely lose games on bad defense alone.

You owe us, Rammy.

That would have been nice like 5 hitters ago.

See what you started, Rickie?

I would pull Rickie right now just on principle.

Yeah, no. Thanks, Rickie and ARam.

Official scorers are such a joke in MLB. The ball is hit right at A-Ram, he boots it, and they score it a hit. How?

I'm so tired of managers getting all uppity over unwritten rules (which are a gray area as it is because they're not always the same for each manager). It's not up to you to decide what is enough runs for the other team, Bo Porter. Why don't you try getting out of the inning? Doesn't say much for your confidence in your guys if you think the game is over in the first inning.

A player cannot be traded until a year after he was drafted, I highly doubt it's one of their 1st round draft picks from last year. If it's a pitcher I'd think it would someone like Adrian Sampson Pittsburgh's #27 prospect or an up-and-comer like Orlando Castro. Isn't that precisely why they had to structure it as a PT BEN? If it's a non-recent-draftee then they would have just named the player. I think people are upset not because they think Ike Davis is Joey Votto, but because he is clearly a more exciting option than Overbay and it appears he could have been acquired for virtually nothing. That may change when we hear the rest of the trade. (PS - Hunter Morris couldn't even hit 25 HR in AAA last season, he's not going to hit 25 HR in the majors...) If they were that worried about a more exciting option than Overbay they could have just kept Francisco. Without knowing who the PTBNL is I don't think we can assume that Davis could have been acquired for virtually nothing. The Mets wanted Thornburg which I think we can all agree would have been a major overpay. Davis would have been no more than a better platoon partner for Reynolds and I would have given up no more than what we gave up to get Reynolds which is nothing. Which was not an option for us.

Is this the same Ike Davis we are talking about? The one with a lower career OPS than Reynolds and less power than Reynolds? Some of you make it sound like we missed out on Joey Votto. Davis is barely an upgrade on Reynolds if he is one at all. Reynolds looks like he will be just fine defensively at 1st. Davis certainly isn't someone I would make a "significant" offer for.