Fatter than Joey

What teams (NL) are going to get an obligatory spot? -- That would probably go a long way in determining how many spots Brewers could fill.

Can we really get a solid reliever for a #5 pitcher? I think Vargas has some value -- he is in his arby years, so he isn't a rental -- and there are so many teams that are lacking rotation depth. I think the key will be to find a team that has a surplus in something we don't have.

It was strange, because I grew up listening to Pat and was really sad when he left for Chicago, Me too -- A lot of times I will hear Hughes and intially think it is a Brewers broadcast. I like Pat and wish him the best --

I think what the Cards do will be in a large part dependent if they get Carpenter/Mulder back in July. If those guys arent going to be able to go -- I think they will likely punt and be sellers if anything.

Claudio's arby status helps a lot should the team decide to deal him. If he were able to walk, the only in-season trade options would be to deal him to contenders. He can go to anybody. Right -- It seems to me that the only team that he won't be on for sure in 2008 is the Brewers. If that is truly the case, then why devalue him by moving him to the pen, where just about any other team can use him, both because of his skills and contract situation. If DM plans to offer him arby and then have him aboard next year -- then I am less hesitant to move him to the BP.

I think Vargas has done a great job for the Brewers this year. I really do not want to rebeat the dead horse that is Vargas v. Bush. Speaking purely to results -- How many teams in MLB have a better 5th pitcher than Vargas? -- and again, I am not talking about potentials or projections. There has to be a team that we can move Vargas to. The fact that the Brewers are 11-2 in his starts has to be something that some team will take a chance over-valuing. Vargas might put up a 4.0 ERA as a reliever. Not very exciting. No it is not. My big problem with moving Vargas to the pen is that it would compromise his biggest asset as I see it -- his trade value. If we want to keep Bush as a Brewer past 2007, I would rather move him to the pen for now, and move him out later (assuming one of them gets moved for Yo). If it is a foregone conclusion that Vargas will walk at the end of 2007 -- assuming that there is a trade that we can make -- I'd rather keep Vargas's value high and flip him.

But I don't want to dismiss steroids at all, as they have been linked to depression, brain damage, mania (coincidentally odd word) and other mental illness problems. Exactly -- as well as concussions. ESPN awhile did a very good piece on Mike Webster. It was really sad to see how his mind broke down and could not function as a part of our society. Maybe Benoit was a very bad man, maybe his brain was so fried he could no longer work with reason and rationale like society would expect him to.

I think it is pretty funny that a thread like this comes up once a month once T-Bow blows a game. If you look at Tbow's stats from the AS break 06 until now -- they definitely warrant some threads questioning his ability. I have never been a big fan of Tbow -- I was unhappy when DM extended him. However, I have grown to like Tbow in the setup role, my biggest concerns are 1.) Tbow is not good enough to close for a playoff team 2.) Ned is not afraid to hook him. Generally when Ned puts his closer in -- it's do or die. i.e., there is no other pitcher warming up when the closer comes in. I don't subscribe to the "Tbow meltdown" theories. I just dont think Tbow is that good of a pitcher. He cannot locate his slider and heat consistently, and then when he is throwing 94mph meatballs he gets krunked. Yost should be able to identify this very easily -- If you look at the last game that Tbow blew -- he flat out quit throwing his slider. Once Tbow isn't throwing the slider -- Cordero needs to come in (or someone). So overall -- I am pretty AOK with Tbow setting up Cordero as long as Ned is not taking a siesta.

I'm certainly not going to think Mench has forgotten how to hit LHP after 100 AB's this year. I think though Arlington may have jacked up his stats a bit -- He didn't hit LHP very well for the Brewers last year either. I am glad to see Graffy on his tear -- and it is awesome that we have a backup IF that can hit HRs... I am sure if Graffy keeps hitting the ball well he will a ton of PH appearances for Ned. It also gives Ned more opportunities to rest our IF this summer. That said -- Graffy is not a corner OF.

While I am sure they cannot prevent most head injuries, taking performance enhancers is a controllable piece. Well -- my point is really, that for retired wrestlers/FB players out there that might have existing head injuries/sterroid issues, people should probably be more proactive in getting these people help/medication so these sort of things do not happen more and more often.

Nothing other than Yost losing his mind. Why skip Bush? He's pitched outstanding in his last two starts and had 7 days rest prior to his last start. Yo pitched outstanding on 5 days rest on Sunday. Why cut him back to 4? The only thing that makes sense to me, is that Bush is traded or going to be so soon.

This is a shame all around. No excuse for killing your family, but it's too bad someone didn't notice that this guy was in such bad shape before this happened. I heard about this last night and the first thing that popped into my head was NFL players like Mike Webster, Terry Long and Andre Waters. Andre Waters shot himself recently Terry Long killed himself drinking something like pipe-cleaner and Mike Webster's struggles are well documented. I am sure there are more FB players and wrestlers that I am not thinking of that could be added to this list. It doesn't need to be posted that killing your wife and child are deplorable. However it is important not to villify Benoit, without first knowing exactly what happened, and then why it happened. It seems to me that recently there are a lot of athletes that suffer head injuries or use performance enhancers that are dying in very tragic ways. To ignore the "why" of this situation is a guarentee that it will become more commonplace. I am pretty sure Vince McMahon needs to rot in hell.

Awesome! -- you should post a pic of the big man.

Bush has two problems with his game, one is that he has problems getting outs in the first inning his pitches I am curious on what you base this statement on. All but 3 of Bush's career appearances have come as a starter. I don't think it is fair to conclude that a starter who struggles in inning 1 of a game will struggle in their first inning out of the pen. The situations are entirely different. Inning 1 for a starter is going to guarentee 3 of the best hitters in the lineup. Inning 1 for a reliever could be the 3 worst. Plus a reliever has the advantage of a batter getting tuned into another pitcher, someone like Bush could be really hard to adjust to after a batter faced someone like Sheets 3 times. While you could be right, I think that this is a very weak argument to make to keep Bush out of the pen.

Three qualified NL SS with an OBP over .375? Wow. Yeah -- I don't think it is a slam on Hardy -- NL SS is a loaded position. I would be surprised if Sheets gets picked. I'd almost rather he didn't. I suspect though if he has 11 wins he would be not left off.

Just hope Yo gets enough innings. With Vargas/Cappy/Suppan/Bush all with their struggles, I think there will be enough innings.

We had a great time at the park -- the weather could not have been better. The parking lot seemed to be a lot more full than there was people in the stadium. Some notes.... 1.) Jason Jennings -- This guy has either massive thighs, or he gets fitness tips from Reuben Quevedo. I have never seen a player move off the field as slow as he did. 2.) Carlos Lee -- The crowd was very unfriendly to Lee. However, no one can deny the guy has a geat sense of humor. -- In the bottom of the first -- the OFers were warming up -- the RFer was throwing to one of the ballgirls, and Pence (CF) was waiting for Lee to get out to LF to warm up. As Lee was walking out to the field, he started talking to the LF ball girl, and tossed the ball to her, which she threw back to Lee, and Lee returned. Meanwhile Pence is yelling in CF at Lee to throw the ball to him, Lee turned around looked at Pence, and threw the ball back to the ballgirl. Pence started stomping his feet and yelled to Lee again, Lee turned around, and Pence started waving his hands in the air (as if Lee couldn't see him), apparently Lee just didnt care as he threw the ball back to the ballgirl. Finally Lee did throw to Pence, and Pence fired off a couple rockets at Lee. Miller Park would have exploded had Lee dropped Sheets liner in the gap. You could almost hear "Lee you suc... Awwww". The funniest thing Lee did was take groundballs at 3b -- good stuff. 3.) Chris Sampson -- We were sitting right above the 3rd base dugout. There were some Astro fans, one of them was a cute 20 year oldish gal, who apparently is big into Chris Sampson. Sampson came over to sign some autographs, and signed this girls Gameday, and she started to break down like that girl on American Idol did. Chris Sampson is catnip to the ladies in Houston. 4.) Brad Ausmus -- Dude would pop his head out of the dugout about every 15 minutes and stare into the crowd. He kept staring right in my direction. I yelled "Down in front" at him, and he popped back into the dugout. He was creeping me out. 5.) Stephen Randolph -- The guy in kahki shorts pitching BP for the Astros had better stuff than him. I bet in Houston that they have to put up safety bulletins on the scoreboard when that guy gets into the game. "Hey fans, be extra careful now that #62 is in the game, balls will travel at an increased velocity" I saw Cecil Cooper! yay! Mark Lorretta looks good. I got the impression that Sheets got squeezed pretty good at the plate.

There has to be a way to handle this. Perhaps you could suggest that the BU position himself behind 3rd or on the OF grass so he could see 3rd and 1st. at the same time, or have the PU take over for 1st base on a bunt situation -- once the ball is thrown the PU can look to what base the ball is going to (home or first). It sounds like to me that someone needs to think outside the box in this situation. Either that or put a league official in the stands, and if the coach is cheating threaten to make his team forfeit, regardless of how the umping is handled.

I'm going to the game -- feel free to take my name in vain if the Brewers lose!

I am not sure holds/save ops. are the best tool to measure RP effectiveness.

I'd never teach a teenager to try and cheat. What kind of a life lesson is that? Agreed -- furthermore, it's not smart baseball, as if the other team is on its toes, you will lose a baserunner at 3b 100% of the time. That being so stated -- the other team has to be diligent in making sure they appeal the play correctly.

To be honest I bet Gallardo is the 2nd or 3rd best starter on the team with CV being in the mix as well. I tend to agree and really points to the depth of our SP, and probably some of it should somehow be converted into BP depth.

It's ironic to me, there's Suppan, with the big contract, getting hit...while we debate who's spot Gallardo should take to stay in Milwaukee. You are correct to point this out of course -- but I think unless Suppan starts getting lit up in a catastrophic way, he is assured a rotation spot for reasons that have less to do with his performance and more with his paycheck.

Guys first off the play is wrong and any coach who runs it should be kicked out of the game I don't know about this -- If brought to the attention of the umps, they should be able to figure out how to gauge this.

I'd say it was an ump's issue... I agree that it is the ump's issue to watch the base. However, it is the responsibility of the defensive team to properly appeal and record the out. That is to say, If Player A misses 3rd base, an umpire cannot call him out or really do anything until the defensive team properly appeals the play. The umpire cannot just call someone out for missing a base. If the defensive team misses it, it is really more on them than it is on the ump. Now if the D appeals the play and the ump tells you he wasn't watching 3rd, then that is totally on him. The best thing a coach can do is point it out to the HP ump and tell him to watch 3rd next time. If you ever watch a plays at the plate or any base for that matter, the umpire does not single safe until the runner touches the plate, or out until the catcher touches the runner. If the runner slides by the plate and heads to the dugout, and the catcher mistakenly assumes the runner touched the plate, the ump will do nothing, and correctly so.