HOF4canrake

Could Lopez be a piece to send to Los Angeles if we would take one of their infielders? The "send him to AAA then evaluate" quote from Melvin seemed fishy.

LHB vs Breslow the last 3 years.. 2008 - .183/.230/.232 2009 - .204/.298/.333 2010 - .181/.245/.340 Seems like it'd be worth a shot. His poor numbers this season would only lessen the price.

I am actually going to post on my blog this evening/tomorrow morning about some moves the Brewers still need to make - number one being a deal for a shortstop. While J.J. Hardy and Rafael Furcal are feasible, I have my doubts about Hardy back in Milwaukee because of the situation here before he was dealt and Furcal is risky due to his injuries and age. Thus, I felt Bartlett might be the best, most realistic option. Ignoring his horrible numbers at Petco this season (because Petco does that to everyone), he still has a career .341 OBP. On the surface, the "numbers" say his defense has been poor, but he's a solid shortstop with average to good range - obvious upgrades in the field and at the plate for our shortstop.

I'm not trying to prove existence or non-existence. My problem with some stat-based beliefs is the portrayal of them as fact by many. This debate to me is like the arguments of the beginning of the world being between evolution and creation - neither can actually be proven. People can use various resources, beliefs and thought processes to come up with their own conclusions, but have no guaranteed correct answer. What I was trying to say in regards to playing out different lineups is, for instance, literally having the same lineup for say 120 games Weeks - Hart - Braun - Fielder - McGehee - Betancourt - Lucroy - Gomez - Pitcher Then - and this obviously is entirely impossible - play the exact same season with a different lineup for 120 games. Weeks - Braun - McGehee - Fielder - Hart - Lucroy - Betancourt - Pitcher - Gomez Now you'd actually have a fairer representation because you're not changing their ages, experiences, other teams, etc. It's important to remember these guys are still human. I understand their stats often show a stunning consistency, but differences in lineups often change thought processes of players and managers, creates different game situations, and can instill confidence or a prolonged slump. In terms of it affecting a player's psyche as well, I'm basing it off coaching college players for 6 years and talking with Major League players for 4 years about these sorts of things. Not everyone cares or is affected, but a vast majority think, act and react differently hitting 2nd as opposed to 7th - and mentally that plays a role in physical struggles or success.

I think the whole argument that the batting order matters little over the course of a season in terms of runs is extremely flawed. I love stats and see tremendous value in the incorporation of advanced statistics. However, unless you actually play out entire seasons - with human beings - batting in different spots, you will never truly know the impact of the construction of a lineup. This is one case I truly don't believe simply plugging in numbers works. How do you factor in guys at the top of the lineup taking pitches, perhaps leading to a starter leaving early? What about situational hitting? How can you determine if one 2-hitter would bat batter with runners on base, or if the defense shifts against him, or how many outs he bats with, or how confident he feels batting in a certain spot in the order? I feel there are simply way too many factors that cannot be calculated. In my time playing, coaching and covering baseball from high school to the majors, batting order means a lot to many players - especially in terms of confidence, comfort and the recognition of who is behind you or how many times guys are on base. I'm not arguing that the 2nd hitter will automatically get more fastballs because A) the leadoff guy with speed is on base and B) you don't want to walk him with 3-4 coming up - but sometimes those things do play a factor. No mathematical equation can figure out how these things affect pitchers or hitters. These things matter on a per-game basis, which could lead to confidence or struggles in the long run.

Gomez should still be hitting in the bottom 3rd of the order, with Hart at 6 (if he's not "ready" to hit 2nd). Gomez has had his best at-bats hitting lower, his speed is more valuable down there with lighter hitters and the pitcher and hit OBP is still sub-.300. I realize many people would argue he is a double play risk, but I believe Lucroy is best suited right now to fill the 2-spot. His lack of speed on the bases is not really a concern as they rarely run with Braun and Fielder up anyway, because they're looking for extra bases. Plus, he actually hits the other way occasionally, so take a chance with a hit-and-run with Weeks on base to avoid a double play. His OBP is .338 (I think) and I see a budding solid hitter in many of his at-bats.

That's a ball, with one out, a runner needs to take a chance and get to 3rd base. The ball was relatively deep, the right fielder was moving away from third base and he ended throwing the ball toward home plate. That is where aggressive base running is needed. One out, bottom part of the order coming up...especially with the lead. That was poor. As a coach, that would be unacceptable on my team.

Predictions per Brewersmix.com NL East Atlanta (90-72) Philadelphia (88-74) Florida (81-81) Washington (74-88) New York (72-90) NL Central Milwaukee (88-74) Cincinnati (87-75) St. Louis (82-80) Chicago (80-82) Houston (74-88) Pittsburgh (64-98) NL West San Francisco (90-72) Colorado (88-74)* Los Angeles (84-78) San Diego (78-84) Arizona (66-96) AL East Boston (94-68) Tampa Bay (89-73) New York (88-74) Toronto (81-81) Baltimore (71-91) AL Central Detroit (89-73) Minnesota (89-73)* Chicago (85-77) Cleveland (72-90) Kansas City (66-96) AL West Oakland (88-74) Texas (87-75) Los Angeles (83-79) Seattle (62-100) --------------------------------------------------------------------- *Wild Card Notes: Detroit beats Minnesota in one-game playoff for the AL Central title Minnesota beats Tampa Bay in one-game playoff to win AL Wild Card Colorado beats Philadelphia in one-game playoff to win NL Wild Card Divisional Round: Atlanta over Colorado (3-2) Milwaukee over San Francisco (3-1) Boston over Minnesota (3-0) Detroit over Oakland (3-2) League Championships: Atlanta over Milwaukee (4-2) Detroit over Boston (4-3) World Series: Detroit over Atlanta (4-2) NL MVP: Ryan Braun AL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez NL Cy Young: Tommy Hanson AL Cy Young: Dan Haren NL Rookie: Freddie Freeman AL Rookie: Jeremy Hellickson

According to Peter Gammons at MLB.com, three scouts who have watched the Brewers apparently said... "Milwaukee may be awful. They got a lot of hype, and between their defense, lower velocity from their relievers and all the injuries, they could be in for a long year in which most of the talk is going to be about Prince Fielder's impending free agency." I do believe some of the hype has been tempered because of the injuries to Grienke, Hart, Lucroy, etc., but could this year's team really end up worse than last season's group? To me, awful would mean less than the 77 wins they had last season. Assuming Marcum's shoulder is okay (even if Grienke doesn't come back 100%), Braun has a monster year as expected, Fielder has a big year as expected and Hart returns in a timely manner, could they really be worse? I find it hard to believe, barring a lot of bad luck or continuous injuries. What are your thoughts? Are you concerned the 2011 Brewers could be "awful?"

Anyone know what the best option is for getting 2 tickets to the home opener? Aside from buying a season-ticket package. Thanks.

Anyone know what the best option is for getting 2 tickets to the home opener? Aside from buying a season-ticket package. Thanks.

I know for a fact that Witrado was Garry Howard's boy who was literally fast-tracked from covering Preps Sports for 1 year to suddenly getting the Brewers' gig over a handful of other experienced, talented writers at the Journal Sentinel. Also, from working with him personally at times, his attitude, arrogance and lack of talent are not just perceived but saturated in truth. Myself and others in the business have had major issues with how he acts, works, writes, etc....he and Rod Burks from WTMJ-TV sports are the worst "professionals" in the business I have ever encountered, and I've got dozens of local media members - and a few athletes - that would back me up 100%. I never worked at the Journal and I'm now in another professional field...in case anyone thought I had sour grapes. I'm simply giving some of you my personal encounters with him.

Yeah, brewersmix.com had an article that showed the splits among different age ranges. Pretty telling.

From the looks of it, Braun, Weeks and Edmonds aren't hitting at all at home. Hoffman blew 3 saves that led to losses. They've faced a handful of really good pitching at home. I saw some of this stuff over at Brewersmix.com with more details.

That's fair. I wonder if the bio-mechanical "expert" Rick Peterson would have any insight on such a move for a pitcher.

The premium for a closer is still way below the price for a #2-3 starter. The Brewers are still in need of starters...if he can't pull it off, you have a closer. His contract is extremely team friendly. $4 million in 2011 $6 million club option in 2012 (guaranteed with certain performance levels) $8 million club option in 2013 $8.75 million club option in 2014 Each option has a $750,000 buyout and the deal has escalators for games finished as a reliever and innings as a starter I just see him as a guy (and some scouts agree - including an Astros scout I coached with) that has the makeup and repertoire to become a legit #2 starter. If that fails, you have a proven, relatively young closer essentially signed through 2014...and he could always be dealt elsewhere if that should be the best move. Too often people treat Major League athletes like they're kids that have no mental strength, no ability to re-learn and no desire to change. Of course, there are plenty of guys who don't want to do anything different because that's what got them to the Bigs, but by all accounts Soria is a baseball player first, then a "relief pitcher." To just write something off because of difficulty, uniqueness or risk seems a bit harsh...why can't we just discuss things instead of treating everything in a yes or no context? Again, I know it's a risk to try to get a guy to become a starter after exclusively being a closer...but there's no reason it cannot be done. Obviously, whatever you have to give up becomes an issue, but at some point your prospects need to become Major Leaguers or currency for Major Leaguers. It would be a risk, but a small one in the sense that the worst thing that happens is you have a proven closer under team control till 2014.

Yeah I know Wainwright was groomed as a starter, but it still had to be tough to go from long outings to short 1-innning stints and back to long outings. I think with proper training and off-season work 20-something pitchers can make the adjustment. One can look at it like a pitcher who has been hurt a bunch. Sure, he's not stretched out, but his arm should have some extra bullets from a lack of use. I'm not saying that it would be a sure-fire success, but I think the Brewers have to look at stuff like this...a risk, no doubt, but it doesn't work him as a starter, he's still a good relief pitcher.

There was some talk the last couple of off-seasons of the Royals discussing moving Joakim Soria from the closers role to the rotation. It's obviously worked for some other guys (Adam Wainwright being a great example), so could it work for Soria? If the Brewers truly believe so, I think he'd be a decent guy to target - though I don't know off-hand how the Brewers match up with Kansas City in terms of prospects they want. My thinking here is, to trade for a starting pitcher of quality you'll need to give up an arm and a leg. With Soria, however, his value is lower because of his current position - thus the Brewers would be getting a good starter for cheaper...if he could handle the workload. Any thoughts on what K.C. would want or if Soria could become a valuable starting pitcher?

I'm not sure how Hoffman feels about Macha. A friend of mine worked in the Brewers clubhouse last season and on more than one occasion, he said Hoffman and Kendall would get angry over the way Macha handled things. Now usually it was off the field stuff (travel times, requirements, etc.), but there might have been more to it. Maybe it's nothing - I don't know - but Macha has a tough decision to make if he continues to struggle.

From what I've noticed, Hoffman's front shoulder is slightly more open (and a touch sooner) than last year. That would explain a lack of command with both his fastball and changeup so far. It's such a small detail, he may not feel it and the staff may not notice. I just looked at some video from last year and compared it to this season. There's more details about it at Brewersmix.com if anyone is interested in a full explanation.

I'm all for getting Rickie locked up for a handful of years. He is a dynamic player that can impact the game in a variety of ways...not unlike Paul Molitor did. I actually did some research to write an article about Weeks, and I found Weeks' and Molitor's career paths to look eerily similar, though Weeks is 1 year behind the progression and 2 years older than Molitor in the progression. It's a lengthy piece, so I didn't know if I should post it here, but you can find it at Brewersmix.com. If people would prefer, I could post it in the forum, however. Molitor is my favorite player of all-time, so to see Weeks as a parallel is quite exciting.

If the Brewers' want to keep 7 "starters" with the big club, then I think Suppan actually hurts the team the least as the 5th starter. If you skip his spot whenever possible, he would not pitch until the 12th game on April 18th, and only pitch 6 times in the first 44 games. The following day is an off day where they could change things up again. Haudricourt thought Suppan would be the 4 and Parra the 5 because they don't want three lefties in a row...that's the worst way to make a decision. Besides, Davis is more of a right-handed pitcher. His cut fastball is most effective against righties, so he has worse numbers vs. left-handers. Also, Parra does not have the same repetoire as Davis. Anyway, the Suppan as the 5th starter is broken down even more at brewersmix.com

This guy at brewersmix.com made some good arguments for the Brewers trying to deal Suppan to a team out west, mentioning the D-Backs, Dodgers and Mariners if the Brewers would eat all but 1-2 million in salary. He said that he'd have no problem releasing Suppan, but that may send a bad message to possible free agents. Anyway, I agree with what he's saying...keep Bush, Parra and Narveson with the big club and have one in the bullpen.

Well, until Escobar shows a consistent ability to get on base in the big leagues - however you want to determine his success - I don't know that there is a better spot for him considering he won't hit for much power and you'd like to use his base-stealing ability. If you hit him directly in front of Braun, you don't want to take those risks... And I'd rather give Weeks those extra ABs.

I know Macha will probably stick to the Braun 3rd, Fielder 4th so my lineup is probably moot...but I like a mix of "old-school" baseball thinking and the new school stats, so here's what I would probably go with... 1 - Weeks 2 - Braun 3 - Hart 4 - Fielder 5 - McGehee 6 - Zaun 7 - Gomez 8 - Pitcher 9 - Escobar I did hear that Macha is toying with the pitcher batting 8th. I think with Escobar 9, he's like the leadoff hitter but without the pressure. It also gives the Brewers a chance to use Weeks power more effectively by having a "real batter" hit in front of him with a decent chance of getting on base. I generally agree with having your best 2 hitters at the 2 and 4 spots, especially since statistics show the 3 hitter coming up so often with no one on base...plus with the pitcher hitting 8th, Braun's kind of hitting 3rd anyway. Maybe Hart gets some better pitches to hit in front of Fielder...though I know general stats say it makes no difference, there will be a handful of games where a pitcher will work differently to avoid Fielder, then it's up to Hart to take advantage and lay off sliders away.