CportBadger

I think they should pick up the option and give Brantley/Cain another year to get ready. 3B may be more pressing, is Brad Nelson a platoon possibility with Hall?

Prince will also commit to the bag to early on ground balls, leaving him in poor position on throws that are off target. An average high school first baseman will get to the base, put both heels up against the bag, and then commit one foot and stretch once the throw is on its way and you can tell where it is headed. This allows you to get in the best position to where the throw is headed. You shouldn't get crossed up this way, but Prince will often commit before waiting for the throw, and this allows poor throws to cross him up and put him in bad position.

Let's say we go 20-21 and they go 29-13. They would still need the Cards to do no better than 90 wins, and hope the NL East teams don't finish hot. There's a reason they don't have even a 1% shot. They need way too much to fall their way, and they need to play the final 60 games at a .710 clip, 45 of which will be without their biggest run producer.

Sorry if this has been covered in another thread, but why was Peavy scratched? IIRC, he was listed as the starter on ESPN.com yesterday.

With the beat writers covering a game that lasted until midnight, it doesn't surprise me that it took them this long. Someone else in the sports room could have lended a hand, but the beat guys probably were sleeping until a few hours after the story broke because they were up late covering the game.

http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/brewers/300340 Out 2-4 more days, per Ash. This may not be a bad scenario, since it gives him a little rest as the last 1/4 of the season starts.

Is there any sort of instructional ball that will still be going on, or can he rehab with a team that is in the playoffs? It would seem a bit unfair if he was throwing on rehab during a playoff game at any level. My guess is that Yo will be throwing some bullpens over the next two weeks and then be ready to rehab late this month, with a possible return in mid-September. Is that too optimistic of a timeline?

It probably doesn't matter with 47 games to go, but I would like to see the Cubs hold serve and win 2 out of 3. If that happens, the Brewers probably won't lose any ground to the Cubs and will probably gain on the Cards. Gaining on the Cubs while they eat through these home games is important, but at the same time, I don't really want to be in 3rd at any time either.

I had a key game that year against another contender for the league title where our 2nd best pitcher pitched 6 innings of decent ball, but was up to 98 pitches and got out of the 6th unscathed with a few hard hit outs and a 3-2 lead. With a high pitch count and some poor control, we decided to go with our clear number 1 guy to get the save. After a lead off walk and an error, he was able to get a strike out then a double play to preserve the win. After the game, what's the 1st thing the starter's parent says to me? "When is my kid going to stop playing in (closer's) shadow?" If anything, I thought we left him in too long because he was lucky to get out of the 6th. We, and the starter, still got the W, and this is the reaction. I can only imagine how it gets when guys are playing with huge contracts, are trying to maximize their market value, and have no relationship with these guys outside of being a teammate. At least at lower levels, guys grow up together or go to school with each other. Once you start coaching the pros, all those bonds are gone and it's every man for himself. I can't imagine some of the issues Yost has to try to deal with.

I've done some assisting at a high school varsity level. At that age, the parents and players are the toughest part of the jobs. Writing out the lineup is easy, explaining why someone is sitting is not. Early in the season, our leadoff guy and CF went down with an elbow injury, but could still swing a bat. Being his senior year with a good swing and a good base stealer, he wanted to (and deserved to) be the DH. Unfortunately, we had another guy who could swing it pretty well but was not even passable in the field at any position. He was about 5-7, close to 200, and had a poor arm, but did have decent pop at the plate. Demoting him from being our DH most of the time to a guy who would get 2 or 3 ABs a week was one part of the job I do not miss at all.

4-3 would be fine with me. That will be good enough to stay in touch with the Cubs and not allow the Cards or anyone in the East to make a run at us.

This will be a big series, but a split would be fine with me. There are going to be some serious pitching matchups, and realistically, there will still be 50 games left when they leave town, so the only thing that would really hurt the Crew would be a sweep by the Cubs. Obviously I want to see a series W to get into 1st and put some distance between us, the Cards, and the NL East, but a split would not be the end of the world.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1074250,CST-SPT-cubnt25.article According to the article, the Cubs are considering starting Samardzija on Saturday to give Harden an extra day of rest. If this happened, he would likely go on Sunday, and the Brewers would miss the righty.

8 runs, 17 pitches

1st Round picks in the top half are protected, and you would get a 2nd rounder instead, so hopefully if they leave they go to good ball clubs.

He was on Fox's pregame. He really didn't say much other than the Brewers and Dodgers were in the hunt for CC and the Phillies and Rays could get involved if something falls through.

I think Bush would go down to the minors until late August to keep him stretched out and protect against injury.

Carlos V or McClung could do it.

More from Verducci's article ... Top Second Half Stories 1. The C.C. Sabathia sweepstakes. You may not have to wait too long. Cleveland will probably pull the trigger on a deal soon, having narrowed its list of matches to four teams, with two others still in the running as contingencies. And it's not far-fetched to think that non-traditional buyers such as the Rays, Brewers and Phillies will be in the bidding. I don't know if the Brewers win this battle or not, but my guess is he's dealt in two weeks. I agree with what others have said that this may not take as much as feared because of the cash we'd save the Indians. With Nelson's revival this season, does he now carry some value, since he could help out right now at 1B for them? Would Salome, Nelson, and Braddock do the trick?

Would the salary relief the Orioles would get be enough to make them want to do a deal like this straight up? Obviously, this trade becomes less likely in the immediate future because Rickie just got sent to the DL. I don't see how Jeffress has been that disappointing. Personal issues aside, he is a 20 year-old who can consistently hit the mid to upper 90s, and his stats for this season are skewed by one bad outing. There is no way I would include him in a deal until we see what we have in the guys we just drafted.

The Dodgers and Braves are good teams, and any time you have a lot of road games in a month, you could struggle a little bit.

With a fairly manageable road schedule, I think 16-13 looks good.

Tom's got the lineup up, and certainly no surprises 2B Weeks CF Cameron LF Braun 1B Fielder RF Hart 3B Hall SS Hardy P Suppan C Kendall

I completely understand that. I'm not sure how the whole process works or if it's computerized at all. However, if one year the Brewers are playing 9 games at Wrigley and 6 games at Miller Park, wouldn't it make sense that the schedule tilts the other way the next year? How hard is that, especially, as other pointed out, when the teams are 90 minutes from each other? Given that this is against a division rival (not to mention the fact that the Cubs coming to Miller is a big revenue generator for the Brewers), I would think this kind of give and take from year to year would be an important factor in determine the schedule. If I'm the Brewers I would be complaining loudly about this situation. 13 games at Miller and 18 at Wrigley over the course of two consecutive years?? That's ridiculous. I understand what you are saying, but it has to work out with the rest of the schedule that you end up with 81 home and 81 on the road. I have no idea how the pattern has been with the rest of the division and NL opponents, but my guess is that when you try to work out how to schedule all these games that it would be extremely difficult to make sure if the Brewers hosted the Cubs twice one year, that they automatically host three series the following season. For instance, say the initial schedule they are able to spit out has two series in Miller Park, but they want to make it three to even it out. Then, they have to take away a Brewers home series vs. someone else, and it would set up a chain reaction. I think it is a very difficult process to come up with, but my guess is if you looked at it over an 8-10 year span, things would randomly work itself out.

The schedule is tough enough to come up with as it is. I'm sure they try to keep things as balanced as they can, but when you have to schedule 162 games for 30 teams and take into account travel concerns, a discrepancy of one series here or there over the course of a few years is probably the least of their MLB's concerns.