BrewCrewRising

I remember reading an interview with Billy Beane in the last couple of years where the writer asked him why even the A's have "closers" when even the Moneyball model sees them as over-used or over-perscribed. The essense of his reply what that what the closer provided was an emotional support. If you lose a game in the 9th inning that it's worse than losing it in the 7th inning. I wish I could find the link. I remember being surprised that a stats based GM would acknowledge the emotional significance of the closer. He might have been talking about in general though, and not as how it applies to the A's.

16-11 21 home runs

mlbtraderumors.com now reports that the Giants were never dangling Cain. So, any trade involving Cain may not be a realistic trade venture.

It does, however, ensure a couple starts from an AAA caliber pitcher and at least one start for Harden to get back into the swing of things... In summary, it gives the Cubs somewhat significantly less of a chance to win at least three games. I'll take it. Randy Wells has been doing pretty well in the Majors though. So, though there be less of a chance, I'm not sure how significantly less of a chance there is.

Wow. Ask and you shall receive. Let me try now: "The Brewers need offense and lots of it. " Let's hope this kicks in for today's game. According to mlbtraderumors.com, Sabean is dangling Matt Cain to see what he can get for him. Also on the main page is buzz about the Brewers being a possible player for Peavy. Another thread here mentions Bedard, and that's an intriguing suggestion since you know Jack Z could reasonably have a higher interest in Brewers prospects than from other teams. So, who would the best candiate be? With Matt Cain, I think the pros are that he's a very good young pitcher, and he's cheap. The cons I think are that the Giants would probably not settle for prospects alone. They'd probably want a major chip from the 25 man. At least that is what is suggested on the mlbtraderumors page. Logically, the Giants should realize that they aren't a real contender this year, and it would be better to have a close to major league ready prospect that you don't have to pay major league dollars this year when they won't contend. But those who gain by Sabean's poor decisions, but sometimes lose by Sabean's poor decisions. I suppose another possibility is a multi-trade team. With Jake Peavy you get a proven stud. But I know people on this board have balked at the idea of trading for Peavy. He's very good, but owes much of his success to Petco. We'd be paying a lot in terms of prospects and salary for the next 3 years hoping that his success is over-attributed to Petco. And on top of that, we can never afford to have him injured. If he didn't work out - and by workout I mean be a complete workhorse stud - it suddenly seems by comparison that we got our money's worth with Sheets and Suppan, even with the injuries and suckitude respectively. With Erik Bedard we'd probably end up paying the least, and could probably just pay in prospects, and would have no long term money on the books. But we'd probably end up overpaying since half season rentals probably get the least bang for your buck: your only means of compensation are playoff success (risky) and compensation picks (risky). You can't trade him later to try to recoup your losses. Personally, I'd like the Cain option the best if it could be done. It would probably be a crazy to deal with (assuming the multi team scenario) as it would be to deal with wondering whether Peavy is going to accept the trade to your team. I know I left out Cliff Lee, but I'm not sold on him. He was great last year obviously, seems to be doing well now, but has inconsistent career numbers. I'd like him, but I don't salivate over him. What do others think?

He said "give up" not "give up on". I think he was just talking about including Parra in a trade. I would give up Parra for Peavy since Peavy is special and Parra might become quite good, but I doubt he'll ever have Peavy's consistent dominance. That said, the ideal would be to trade high ceiling prospects so that we have a stronger core of major league ready championship caliber players.

Big kudos to everyone here. Maybe it's the one gallon breakfast bloody mary I just managed to finish having the best of me, but this thread has me laughing out loud.

I swear I sat behind that guy in the video (the "die hard" fan) last year or the year before last. Skinny guy decked out in Brewers gear and just shouting his head off, doing some d-bag dancing in the aisle, and barely paying attention to the game. I am elated by the playoff realities and chances of recent years, but drawing the bigger crowds does draw a bigger contingent of mouth-breathers (just a term and not meant as offense to true Brewers fans out there with sinus problems.) Brian's comment about the 5% constant is spot on. The problem of course is that that 5% stand out much more than the 95% who are just watching the game. And then that 5% makes gets you more on edge about the other 20% who are not DBG (d-bags grande) but make annoying comments like "You suck Hardy! DFA Hardy and bring up Escobar" (actually heard recently after a JJ error), or just banter on their cell phones next to you (more of a problem at Wrigley than Miller Park, but it does happen.) Quick story: Two years ago I stupidly left my key turned in my car and let my battery drained. I needed a jump in the Giants parking lot. I asked the guy next to me for a jump. He was a Brewers fan. He was kind of reluctant because he just wanted to go. Then he said, "OK. Just be thankful you're not in Chicago. Those (deleted) won't help anybody." Then he saw my Illinois plates and got in his car and left without helping me. So in his effort to express his disgust for all things IL - including a transplanted cheesehead who happens to live in Chicago - he acted like what he professed to hate the most. When you take rivalries and prejudices to jingoistic proportions, you instantly fail to prove the righteousness of your own cause. In truth I have more issues with people who try to take over my tailgating space, or are screaming ranting louts at the game, than I have with fans wearing jerseys of the opposing team.

I'd love to get into a bidding war and lose it. I mean, if we weren't going to get him anyway, and he was likely to go to the Cubs why not make them pay more dearly for him. I'd love it if Melvin could drive up the price and and then exit stage left. I don't mean that in a mean spirited way. Since we'll never be able to compete with the Cubs in terms of Free Agent dollars, it would be nice to keep an advantage in the farm system.

Empty the farm system of what? Players? To Kenny Williams they are not players. They are Kenny Dollars. Kenny Williams is not happy making a trade unless it's a huge trade. Padres want prospects and Kenny will throw them all at San Diego if it means getting that big player.

Boras always opts for the free agent bidding war for his clients. He'd be crazy not to do that with Prince who will fetch big coin. But even then, Prince is destined to be a DH eventually. His D is a liability and won't get any better if he continues to battle his weight. The #1 priority should be something more attainable like Gallardo or Hardy.

Hate to say it, but you have to use a pie chart. Sorry, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. Question getting back to the original topic of the thread: Is there a clear and accessible reason (for those of us who are not stat experts) why the batter in the worst batter in the 8th hole ends up producing more runs? I'm assuming the short answer is just that the number crunching says it is so. But is there some some explanation along the lines of "the weighted slugging percentage of the second worst hitter following the OBP of the pitcher will bring in x many runs", or is it that 9th hitter getting on more just gives the top of the order that many more opportunities to knock in runs? And if that were so, wouldn't that ever be negated by the 8th batter slowing down a rally or ending it? Or does this exrtrapolated anecdotal thinking simply not work and it just does indeed boil down to "the numbers just crunch that way."?

This would be a good bet. I do think FTJ will call rluz "son" sometime soon. I don't think it will be within two posts. I predict it will be in July and the topic will be about pie being served in the concession stands at Miller Park.

We replaced Bill Hall with Bill Hall Classic. I hope we did. The bench is where I wonder if we'll see a visible decline. How much better is the bullpen though really? In terms of ERA alone the relief core is at 4.10 right now, and all last year was 3.89 according to ESPN. I know ERA is only a very rough indicator, but I don't see how the bullpen is better. Even if you do the "X this year is better than Y last year" you run into problems. Hoffman last year had a similar ERA and K rate to Torres. I think Stetter is going to walk a lot more batters than Shouse did. Villanueva is not playing up to par. Riske is out and Julio seems to be replacing him to a T. How is the bullpen better? (I'm honestly asking, not asking a rhetorical question to show that I disagree with you.)

Interesting how the author figures into his dislike of Braun equation that Braun might want to leave Milwaukee some day, and that he encourages you to root for Hart. Braun signed a long term deal that buys up all his arbitration and his first year of FA, and Hart has not agreed to any extended contract. Just saying.

This is brilliant! I think it would also be funny to have a shirt that seems sarcastically proud of the 1908 accomplishment. Something like "My great, great grandfather went to the West Side Grounds to see the Cubs win the World Series and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."

Glad to see the Huber Bock love. The flagship Huber is good too, and they make a decent light beer. I tend to stay with the Wisconsin Micro Brews such as New Glarus, Ale Asylum, Sand Creek, Tyranena. On a hot day though, a High Life does hit the spot. The new Schlitz is good too. Though in theory Miller is a South African/Chicago, it still employs Milwaukeeans. In any case I figure it employes more people who are rooting for the Crew than does Anhueser Busch.

Does anybody remember when Kevin Mench as a Ranger hit 7 or 8 HR's in April? I think it was 2006 or so. Does anybody think we should have stuck with him to see what he could do? I don't think Melvin made a mistake with Cruz. What were the options? Hold on, and hold on just in case he worked out? Maybe he was worth more than as a throw in but then again he was worth Keith Ginter to begin with. The Carlos Lee trade will not go down as a great trade for the Crew, but there have been worse. At least we got 1.5 seasons of Cordero.

I think they could keep a lot of it and do a major overhaul with improved amenities to make the traditionalists and the comfort minded happy. They could split their home games between Comiskey and Miller Park for a year (It would be great to profit from that). That is my fair minded assessment. Emotionally, I'd love for the Cubs to leave Wrigley and play in their new stadium in Schaumburg. It just would not be as sexy to be a Cubs fan, and it would be fun to see the "pink shirt wearing frat boys" (as references above) choose between a team or a destination. Wrigley itself would stay open for a while and host minor league games, or host games of the "Old Federal League Reenactment Society" whereby Chicagoans remember the glory days of the Chicago Whales, the only team to win a baseball championship at what is now Wrigley field.

Apparently the new discipline will include the minor leaguers not being be able to accumulate fungus on their shower shoes either. If they get to the show and win 20, they will be allowed to let the fungus grow on their shower shoes.

Too bad that the Yankees have decided to just wait out ARod's downtime and not pursue a 3B through a trade. A small influx of demand for a 3B coupled with the Brewers having a comfortable stock of them might have netted them something interesting. I don't think it would have been anything sexy, but it would have been more opportunity on the trade market than usual. I would guess at this point that Lamb would be available. I was kind of hoping he'd be better than he was in spring training since he has some proven success in the majors (not much, but some) and McGehee is a bigger question mark.

According to baseball-reference.com, Weeks has 158 lifetime RBI's. More than Roberts, but less than Hudson.

I find RyDogg's proposal creative, but I'm not opening up the JJ to 3rd can of worms here. Lawrie is a few years away too, I believe. I don't disagree with Neyer, but trading Prince is not an option right now to me. Like I said before, I think his hitting makes up for his defense for the most part. I am not a stat analyzer, so I could be wrong, but we are short on lefties now to begin with, and he represents solid consistent power in the lineup. I think Braun is fine in LF, and I think he'll only get better. It's not like he's Manny, Carlos Lee or Soriano. He has speed, agility and a good work ethic. I think the boldest but most "realistic" thing to do now is trade Cameron, and move Rickie to 2B. See how McGehee and Lamb fare at 3B. That said, I'd prefer dealing with Rickie's d at 2B to the chance we'd take on having McGehee/Lamb and Hall in the lineup at the same time. I do think that Melvin needs to explore a tough trade in the off-season though. Hardy being traded is being considered in another thread, and there seems to be strong opinions on both sides. Trading Prince will have to happen sooner or later. I don't know if it was more due to Jack Z, or due to Melvin, but defense always seems like a luxury consideration for the Brewers.

Rob Neyer quotes Bill James that Rickie should change positions. Apparently he's a butcher at 2nd. Who knew? While I agree that it would be beneficial to move Rickie, I can't agree that we should move Prince, or that we should move Braun again. Where would you move Braun to? While Prince might not be a great at 1B, a left handed slugger is a bigger need than great D at 1st right now. The article recommends bold moves. What would people here do?

How are they delivered? USPS? I am in Chicago and haven't gotten mine yet. I'm not too nervous since others haven't gotten theirs yet, but since I'm in Chicago, there is the perpetual worry that the mail will end up in some postal carrier's basement.