MNBrew

I look at the 11-14 record, the lousy pitching & hitting on record to date (Jeff Friggin' Suppan?!?!?!), & 2 major injuries -- all plenty of reasons to be alarmed, to be sure. On the contrary, it's also highly possible the sky ISN'T falling b/c SO many guys are stuck in season-opening slumps. Enough of them are veteran enough that they'll likely come around. Don't get me wrong: I'm quite concerned. It's easy to think the sky is falling. But knee-jerk reactions can be more damaging than the issues causing the averse reaction in the first place. I think they absolutely have to wait this out. The season's almost 4 weeks old -- ONLY 4 weeks old. There are just over 5 months of season left. Lots can still happen for the better of this team . . . and no, I'm not talking about blowing it up.

Still would much rather see Green & Ramirez getting the vast majority of corner IF ABs. Conrad, Ishikawa, Derrek Lee? I hope not. Then again, plenty of time left in the season to find the best mix (& get Green into the everyday lineup).

I'd gladly have kept Kotsay if we'd've known the best backup 1B option would've been Ishikawa. Kotsay at the plate wasn't the problem. Of course, for much of this month, K-Rod on the mound has been a big problem.

It's trite but true: If the pitcher doesn't own the whole plate (or at least pitch with that intention), the batters will own the pitcher.

It's funny how the Cards really haven't been "in our heads" until last September, but then October got worse and April's been beyond ghastly! At this point, Yo obviously needs to NOT pitch against these Cardinals for a while. His overall stats against them aren't great, but he's sure still had enough good games against them thus far in his career. Right now, however, it's like he's forgotten about that entirely. The Brewers' mental fragility against the Cardinals has quickly become like the Twins' total "turtle" jobs against the Yankees -- where the opposition has gotten so "into their heads" that they actually keep making the problem far worse than it actually ought to be. The Cards are good, but they're really not nearly as good as the Brewers are making them look.

I didn't think we could top Pat Hughes when he left. Then Jim Powell proved to be even better. I was skeptical about Corey Provus at first but he proved to be nearly as good as Powell. I really miss Provus from our broadcasts, but living up here in Twins Territory where the River Falls station (106.3 FM, WEVR) comes in rather spotty and I don't have satellite radio, I absolutely love hearing Corey Provus' voice on Twins' broadcasts and have to keep reminding myself that that voice matches with the Twins, not the Brewers anymore. I don't get sentimental about Uecker's sidekicks, but I really miss Provus' voice from Brewers' broadcasts (not quite as much as Powell, but not far from that, either). ...And I've realized at the very least that I'm incredibly glad he got the Twins' job because I absolutely couldn't stand Herb Carneal (RIP). He was awful. John Gordon, while not as bad as Carneal, still wasn't a whole lot better. We've been extremely spoiled to have one of the best radio voices ever in Bob Uecker, and his previous 3 sidekicks over the past 25 years have been really about as good as Ueck himself and have each made a fantastic team with him. I'd like to think Joe Block will get smoother & better over time. Here's hoping that's the case!

Same reason he should never have been kept in the first place. 2 games is a horrible way to judge a player. He is still the same guy he was at the start of the season. The problem's still not Ishikawa. You can't completely dismiss his last 2 games in the same way you can't overstate his value based on them. The problem is that Izturis is a Patek/Mendoza (traditionally non-impact SS) bat who's also supposed to back up more typical impact-bat positions of 2B & 3B. And the problem is also the current trend of bullpen usage & carrying a 12-man pitching staff, limiting teams' options for position-player reserves. I'm not an Ishikawa apologist. I'm not enamored of the guy. But I'm not convinced he doesn't belong on this roster, either. The seemingly intense bias stated against him by many here, however, does seem to take the chance of any open-mindedness regarding him out of the equation.

It's not directly relevant to the intentions of this thread, but after this just-concluded series against Houston, I'll posit this: Right now I'm 20x more concerned about the bullpen than I am about the bench. Our bench isn't stellar but Kottaras started hot, Gomez is now playing more (supposed to be the lesser half of the CF platoon), Aoki's hitting well off the bench, Ishikawa's not a waste at the plate, and Izturis has even had a couple key (positive) ABs.... Dillard's pitched well lately to come down to a 5.40 ERA. Veras has blown up his last couple outings after a great start, also now at a 5.40 ERA. Loe's last outing blew up his otherwise-decent numbers, Estrada's now in the rotation and McClendon's 1st 2 outings have been forgettable, Parra started well but has looked more shaky lately, and both Axford & K-Rod have two of the worst ERAs on the team and more crappy outings between them in 3 weeks than they had in the last 3 months of last year. The bullpen's total line so far tells the painful tale: 59.1 IP, 70 H, 37 R (33 ER), 32 BB, 59 K --> 1.72 WHIP, 5.01 ERA. OUCH! (Yes, I expect the 'pen to improve some either by better pitching or better pitchers, but to date it's been tons worse than the bench.)

Since I can't add really anything serious that anyone else hasn't already said, I'll put it in these simple terms: I like what we're seeing so far, and especially that he's not looking at all overwhelmed in any way. And I'm sure glad we didn't go waste money on a Carlos Pena type, esp. after at least temporarily choking off Taylor Green's chance at 3B by signing Ramirez to that 3-year deal.

At least the cost to walk away from the present IF bench guys is very minimal. We could easily end up with 2 totally different guys as IF reserves before the year's half over with minimal financial consequences for dumping Iz & Ish.

What a couple guys said above: - I loved Robin, but there's no doubt Molitor was the better player than Yount. (That said, they were both among the very best non-bigtime-power hitters and the smartest & classiest ballplayers of the past 50 years, so any debate is still a bit of a splitting hairs thing. Even baseball-reference.com ranks them the most similar players to each other.) - After comparable years in '92, the Brewers offered Robin a raise or at least something not far from his $3.2M salary and Molitor a $1M or so deal, I believe, after his $3.4M salary.... the biggest kicker was this (which I can't believe that no one has said in this discussion): - Sal Bando's infamous words, "only a DH." 'Nuff said. Brilliant, Sal, and Molitor's in the HOF. I live in the Twin Cities. Been here since '91 (and still live & die daily with the Brewers -- staring anxiously at Gameday when Kottaras hit the double to win tonight). Molitor has been employed by the Twins pretty much since he retired as a player save for his brief stint as the Mariners' hitting coach under Bob Melvin. He spent a year as a Twins coach and then realized he needed to stay home more to be around more with his young daughter -- something he didn't really have the same choice to do when daughter Blair was young & he was playing for the Brewers. Heck, Gardy's a darn good manager and he's not going anywhere, but many have said Molitor would be the best manager the Twins could have if he were only interested in the job. I honestly don't believe there's anything "icy" about his relationship with the Brewers, although I believe Molitor has "moved on" in a generally normal-ish & neutrally motivated way. The guy grew up here in MN & went to college here. Largely for family reasons, he doesn't work anything but a pretty family-conducive job for his current employer in the town where he grew up & once again lives. Leave MN -- leave home -- for a job in MIL -- ANY job in MLB -- to take a job elsewhere when he could have pretty much any job with the Twins he could want? It's just not happening and, I believe, likely never will. I'd also highly doubt he'll ever take a dugout job again. Just about everyone baseball-wise with the Brewers to whom Molitor felt loyalty is no longer associated with the team except for Bob Uecker -- the radio guy (one of the 5 best ever, but still not a player, coach, or front office guy). You can't blame Molitor for feeling entrenched in his role with the team -- in his hometown, no less -- he's been with in one way or another for almost the entirety of the past 17+ years. All that said, I'd sure hope if/when another statue happens, it's Paul Molitor. He deserves it without question. Whether it'll ever happen is perhaps -- and perhaps unfortunately -- a whole different question.

Or, looking at the same problem slightly differently, perhaps it really comes down to Izturis being on the team. (not saying this is necessarily the best option, but theoretically it is possible...) IF Ishikawa proves to be a decent bench bat (come on, play along here), and IF Ramirez were to be injured enough to have to miss a couple games but not enough to be DL'ed, wouldn't the Brewers be better off offensively w/ Ishikawa at 1B, Gamel at 3B, and Gonzo at SS than with Gamel at 1B, Izturis at SS, and Gonzo at SS? . . . . Again, not necessarily the best option, but Gamel is someone who can play both corner IF positions (granted there are 1,000 reasons not to do this on any long-term basis) and Izturis is an historically lousy bat for any long-term corner IF PT. Re: someone's point earlier in the thread that Conrad's a better hitter than Ishikawa, 1) I disagree; power, yes, but successful at hitting, no; at best it's a push depending on which aspect you value more; and 2) in the long run NEITHER guy is someone I want getting major ABs for this team. On the Melvin point -- whose moves I believe generally come out very heavily weighted on the positive side of the ledger -- one relevant question does arise: Why won't Melvin pay the price to add the right bench/utility guy at the start of the year so the team doesn't have to end up tolerating a half-year of crappy production which many could've foreseen from the outset before finally making a change? Hairston as a FA would've cost a bit more dough than Izturis but wouldn't cost anything in terms of cash or players that a mid-year acquisition would, and he likely would make much more of a positive offensive contribution the entirety of that time.

Ishikawa has PH'd in 7 games and has no hits. Plenty of other PH's have stretches far worse than that but they're buried in the middle of the season. The guy has spent a few years in the bigs -- not stellar, but still legit. If he approaches Nelson/Duffy territory, then that's grounds for DFA talk. For now, he's not the problem at all. As for someone's assertion that Conrad's a better hitter than Ishikawa? What folly! Hairston went for LA b/c the Dodgers offered 2 years and Melvin wouldn't go past one (something about not giving 2-yr deals to backup IFs was at the forefront of his comments at the time -- never mind that he did that previously for Counsell who was far worse of an offensive player than Hairston and far less defensively versatile, though definitely more adept). Green at 3B w/ Hairston (2-yr deal w/ an option) getting some ABs there & everywhere else would leave Izturis getting Rob Picciolo-esque playing time backing up only at SS, which would've been much better (not to mention also much cheaper!).

While there are some reasons not to like the bottom of the bench (ditto TheCrew07 re: LOOGY, and I don't mind Ishikawa, either), the fact is that the so-called bottom of the roster can easily be re-invented without sacrificing much in exchange. So the fact that it looks like what it does right now, while maybe not ideal to my thinking, doesn't phase me.

I found that quite ironic: They're so often referred to as "the green & gold," yet their gold isn't gold at all but a rich yellow, and the idea of actual "gold" color in place of the yellow caused a major adverse reaction in Packerland.

Like many here, I grew up with the old ball/glove and believe it still to be the most awesome & clever logo. But I love the new M/barley logo & the current uniforms that much better. And I think both the gold and the Times New Roman font with the double drop-shadow are awesome. Gold, esp. w/ the navy, is very classy. Yellow is, um, well, definitely yellow and definitely not gold (and yuck on that for just that reason). The current threads are simple -- they're definitely not flashy -- but they're crisp, visually clean, and downright first class. I was really disappointed several years ago when the "new alternate uniform" that came out turned out just to be an '82-based retro (I thought the late '80s/early '90s uniforms were actually much more appealing than the '78-'88 look). What I'd hoped to see then, and still really hope to see, is the ball/glove logo as a 2nd sleeve patch in the current colors, plus perhaps on an alternate home cap the way the Twins started using their old TC caps a few years back. . . . . But whether that happens or not, I hope above all that the current uniforms remain basically left alone (save for a World Series Champs sleeve patch or two in the near future).

There are plenty of teams over the years who've kept a primarily-1B backup as one of their reserves, and probably then mainly for his bat. It's just so rarely ever been the Brewers who've done so. Sooner or later, if Izturis is Counsell 2011 v2.0 (solid D, invisible bat) to the point of most Brewer fans wishing you could DH for the backup SS, Melvin's proven before that chances good are some roster adjustment/improvement would occur to address the problem.

That's either a gross overstatement on Hall's ability with the glove or an apt concern/condemnation of what Izturis' defensive skills may well have become. (Izturis has been a Gold Glove SS and of that sort of renown for a while in his career, which means his skill level apex reached levels that make Hall's pale in comparison. In other words, Hall became a nicely serviceable glove but he would never have been mistaken for a Jeff Cirillo at 3B, Fernando Vina at 2B, or Cesar Izturis at SS.)

Conrad sent down, Ishikawa makes the team. Per TH on Twitter about 4 minutes ago: #Brewers decide to keep 1B Travis Ishikawa and send down INF Brooks Conrad as their final player move of spring.

Per TH on Twitter just a minute ago: #Brewers decide to keep 1B Travis Ishikawa and send down INF Brooks Conrad as their final player move of spring. I'd rather have Green, but I like this far better than keeping Conrad.

re: Green up for an ongoing bench role . . . If the talent on our bench, as well as those guys' production, improves to the point where Roenicke could use his bench in a manner more like LaRussa did with the Cardinals last year -- where some of the reserves actually rotate in & out some to get more than lousy/sparse playing time -- then Green could prove to be an extremely valuable bench guy. Given many folks' faith in Roenicke, I realize those are some seemingly rather unlikely assumptions.

I've become an ardent Taylor Green fan over the past year and I don't like this in the least. There are a million reasons not to like the Opening Day bench. Thankfully, we've endured that often in recent years and we know it won't be permanent if it proves to be as bad as we fear. To wit... Last year the bench had Almonte & Jeremy Reed & (shudder) Wil Nieves. None of them lasted much into June if even that. A couple years before, it was Duffy & Nelson. Taylor Green wasn't even on the 40-man but tore up AAA so well that he was up before Sept. 1 & on the postseason roster. Just because Green's down at AAA now doesn't mean he'll stay there -- not that we can know for sure exactly what might happen that will bring him up. Last year he flat-out forced Melvin's hand. I'd think there's a good chance that one or more of these things could occur that would get Green back to MIL in a heartbeat: - Gamel hurt or beyond terrible - Ramirez on the DL (as he did notably last year) - Conrad proving that he can't hit, can't play good defense, or a combination of both (he's already done so to our satisfaction, but RR &/or DM apparently have to witness it in person for prolonged periods, I guess) - (ditto for Izturis, although the lack of SS experience wouldn't bode as well for TG in this event) - Weeks on the DL (track record of major injuries) - Gonzalez on the DL and Green raking so well at AAA that Izturis plays SS & Maysonet still never sees Miller Park

Found it, from yesterday on TH's blog: "#Brewers send catcher Paul Phillips to minor-league camp. They have 35 players remaining in camp."

Schafer & Gindl optioned to AAA after today's game, per TH on Twitter. His tweet says 33 guys are left in camp. After Meadows & Butler were returned to minor league camp the other day, the notes said 36 guys were left. How did we get from 36 to 33 by only optioning Schafer & Gindl?

I like this deal a lot. Digressing into minutae....In the points below, I don't get the assertion that he's "below average." All Lucroy numbers are at or above AL & MLB averages, and only his .313 OBP & .703 OPS are below the NL averages, and even then only by a mere .007 & .005, respectively. His BA is 15 points above the NL average -- quite solid. His OBP is microscopically below NL average -- not terrible but obviously room to grow in the BB department. His power is microscopically above NL average -- essentially a push. His OPS is microscopically below NL average -- essentially a push. Overall, I'd say "league average" at worst thus far. Catchers in general are below average hitters. He has been a little worse than the average NL catcher hitting but not by much. AVG / OBP / SLG / OPS AL 0.238/0.305/0.391/0.696 NL 0.250/0.320/0.388/0.708 MLB 0.245/0.313/0.389/0.702 Lucroy 0.265/0.313/0.391/0.703 Yes, that is exactly what I was referring too. I said he's actually been below average offensively. You only proved my point.