Raw Biz

Wow, what are the odds, a bunt attempt.

And the bullpen continues to show why I believe this team is not playoff-caliber.

Brady Anderson? Not really a turnaround for Anderson, just a ridiculous HR spike one year (steroids most likely). He was still a pretty good player in those other years.

Yeah, that's the complaint against him. He can really run it up there early on but his FB loses steam after a few innings. That's why a lot of scouts see him eventually in the bullpen. I wouldn't got someone up immediately after the Rasmus HR.

Marcum is actually a good hitting pitcher.

Gomez just can't hit RHP. I'm not sure why Aoki can't play CF and Hart RF with Green at 1B against RHP. I'd rather have that than Gomez flailing away out there.

So you want us to sell, and it's a good thing our second biggest trade chip is on the DL with a sore elbow? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And this his nothing to do with the fact that I think it's entirely premature to declare the Brewers not capable of winning. You just need to look at some of the teams that have made the playoffs after slow starts in recent memory in the NL. I never said it was a good thing he's hurt, just could end up being a blessing in disguise. I'm trying to be optimistic about it. And FWIW, I don't think Marcum would bring back enough in a trade to make it worth trading him (even without the injury). I'd rather offer him the new arby and either he accepts, which is cool, or he declines and we get a draft pick, which is cool. And I'm not talking about just making the playoffs. I don't even think they could do that. I'm talking about being able to compete with the teams once we got there. Its not enough to just make the playoffs. The bullpen is a mess (tonight just reiterates that point), SS is a blackhole offensively, Weeks has yet to get it going (though he's starting to come around), there's no guarantee that Lucroy will return to pre-broken hand form. There's just too many question marks for me. I realize we want to always be going for it and want to watch winning baseball all the time but we're not the Yankees, Red Sox, etc. We can't just buy talent, we need to be smart about how we acquire it. I really admire how TheCrew07 views things, with always cycling back in young, cheap talent. That should be the way to go. Like I said, I would hate for them to become buyers and trade even more of the farm, only to say lose the wildcard opener, or even worse, not make the playoffs at all. Then we could conceivably be looking up at the rest of the NL Central for the next few years.

He's having a pretty good year and all but for Greinke, I don't know if its enough to pull the trigger right away. I'd want a little more back than a 26 year old who is essentially limited to 1B. I just think we're lacking in other areas besides 1B. Obviously SS would be what we want but a 3B/CF/RF stud would be just fine too, as would good young pitching. We also have Hunter Morris coming up who could be a similar player, except with less HR power. I will admit though if that's the best offer, it would definitely be tempting. The only question is if Trumbo has more value than the draft picks.

Actually it kinda does. How many 80+ RBI seasons does Yuni have? Why 80? That seems like a random number. He's got 3 of 67+, which is a decent number for a SS. Casey McGehee also had 104. Its been pointed out many times here that RBI are more reflective of where you bat in the order and whether you have opportunities with men on base. Obviously you still have to hit the ball but like I said high RBI doesn't automatically equal good.

Again, the Brewers most likely don't make the playoffs with Marcum. Sure Lawrie could end up being a stud for many years to come. But that doesn't mean it was a terrible trade. It helped the Brewers. It may just be an example of one of those win-win trades. Now you might argue that Lawrie will ultimately have more value. However, that doesn't mean it was a bad trade.

If Lawrie was at 3B, then no, ARam would not be signed. And just because a guy is an "RBI machine" isn't saying much. RBI are more indicative of opportunity, i.e. where someone bats in the order and whether guys are on base in front of him. I like ARam but saying he's an RBI machine doesn't carry much weight. Man, you love to argue don't ya? This guy drives in runs. That's been his job his whole career and for the most part has done it very successfully and on some not so great teams too. No I'm just pointing out that RBI doesn't carry much weight. Just because a guy has a lot of RBI doesn't mean he's good. Example: Yuni.

If Lawrie was at 3B, then no, ARam would not be signed. And just because a guy is an "RBI machine" isn't saying much. RBI are more indicative of opportunity, i.e. where someone bats in the order and whether guys are on base in front of him. I like ARam but saying he's an RBI machine doesn't carry much weight.

Love that ARam has been heating up the past month. Don't know if he will keep it up but it's basically how it's been his entire year.

Blown call. Didn't even look close live, though it looked closer on replay.

Well he hit the ball pretty damn well in the Twins series and just ran into some bad luck. A few line outs yesterday. And his BABIP is pretty low as well. Ok. I guess the point I'm trying to make is I'm not gonna complain about him not being in the lineup. I don't think there's much difference whether he's in there or not. I'd rather just have Hart at 1B and Aoki in RF every day. That doesn't really leave anywhere for Green to play. Not getting regular playing time won't help him, so he's better off in AAA. He won't be there though because of all of the injuries. I agree he'd be better off with consistent PT. I just wish that was up here. I've been saying all year I'd like to see ARam/Weeks get a day off each a week to keep them fresh. And with ARam's nagging injury and Weeks' struggles, that seems like a good idea. So that's 2 starts a week there. Then I'd put Green at 1B once or twice a week with Aoki in CF and Hart in RF. I think Green could just be a super-utility guy and get 3-4 starts a week. But he's just a rookie.

Why do you keep assuming Greinke would be on the team if they had resigned CC? I don't think they would have. The reason they got Greinke was because they lacked a true ace. With CC, they would have had that and wouldn't have needed to trade for Greinke. There's no reason to keep bringing up this hypothetical CC/Greinke combo because it most likely would have never happened. Because that's my point, it could have and should have happened. You say if Sabathia was signed they wouldn't have gone after Greinke. I understand that. I'm just saying they SHOULD have. 30 years without a WS appearance, and another 30 without a title. At some point, you have to take maximum advantage of a window. Many here claim they did go all out the past couple years. I don't think they did. Last year we legitimately could have had Sabathia/Greinke/Yo at the top of the rotation. Lights out closer. Braun and Fielder. And plenty of supporting pieces like Hart, Lucroy, Morgan, etc. It's not my money, so I can't blame Mark A. for not going all out. I just wish everyone would stop saying the Brewers went "all in" when they really didn't. OK well then I'm going to say they SHOULD have drafted Ian Kennedy in 06 instead of Jeffress. We could have legitimately had CC/Yo/Kennedy at the top of the rotation then last year, plus Marcum and Escobar instead of Yuni. Then they SHOULD have traded for Jose Bautista since he turned out to be awesome. Yeah that might be a little condescending but I'm trying to make a point. A lot of this stuff happened after the fact. Obviously the Brewers didn't do everything possible to go completely "all in" but they came pretty damn close. And I still don't get your point about having CC and Greinke on the same team. They most likely didn't know in the fall/winter 08 that they would be trading for Greinke a few years later. And like I said, after resigning CC, they probably wouldn't have gone after Greinke. There really is no point in speculating what would have happened. At this point it seems like you're just arguing semantics about what "all in" really means.

Well he hit the ball pretty damn well in the Twins series and just ran into some bad luck. A few line outs yesterday. And his BABIP is pretty low as well.

Well maybe they have already made their max offer. And remember, Greinke wants to play for a winner. Maybe he really wants to stay and is on the edge, but doesn't see this team, as is, going anywhere. But maybe by trading him and getting some impact talent, that puts it over the top for him and he would really consider staying next season. All I'm saying is I think if he hasn't signed by now, he most likely will be testing the market so you might as well get some impact talent back for him.

Obviously don't want to wish injury on anyone but maybe this ends up being a blessing in disguise? I truly believe the Brewers don't have the talent this year (injuries/under-performance/etc.) to compete in the playoffs and I think the worst thing they could do is play average ball, think they have a chance at the playoffs, and actually become buyers. Then not only do they get nothing for Greinke/Marcum/KRod/etc. but they may end up giving away more minor-league talent. Maybe Marcum misses a few starts and they give Thornburg a shot to see what's he got. That would allow him to get his feet wet a bit since he's a candidate for a spot next year. Then Melvin and Co. realize this just isn't their year so they trade Greinke et. al for some big-time talent.

Why do you keep assuming Greinke would be on the team if they had resigned CC? I don't think they would have. The reason they got Greinke was because they lacked a true ace. With CC, they would have had that and wouldn't have needed to trade for Greinke. There's no reason to keep bringing up this hypothetical CC/Greinke combo because it most likely would have never happened.

Well like others have said, the Brewers have tried to negotiate with him (or at least they have said so). I think sometimes people think that because a guy doesn't get signed, the Brewers didn't put in any effort or didn't offer a "fair" contract. If Greinke hasn't resigned by now, he's probably going to test the waters. I think trading him would only increase the chance that he resigns because the team would be more talented by getting good players for him.

Yes, he's started the last two games.

I'm just not sure why people think Weeks won't snap out of it. I don't think there's anything physically wrong with him and he's only 30. Guys go through slumps or even bad seasons. Will he ever be the .850-900 OPS guy we wished he would turn into? No, probably not. But I see no reason why he can't rebound to the .750-.825 range and that is very valuable at 2B. His approach just looks different this year so it has to be something mental. I think he eventually figures it out and gets it going. Its frustrating sure but I can't believe so many people want to write him off after a bad 3 months, when his previous lowest OPS in a season was .727 in his rookie year. I'm not even a huge Weeks fan but giving him away would just be ridiculous.

Weeks with another stupid baserunning mistake. Have we not learned that the contact play is one of the stupidest things in all of baseball?

People last night were saying that Gomez sucks because of his mental mistakes and people today are saying he should be playing everyday. I understand these are different people but I think it's interesting some think he should be off the team and others think he should play everyday. Personally, I think he should still be platooning because he can't hit RHP (and some say he can't even hit LHP). Yes he plays amazing defense but with the way the offense has been lately, I would sacrifice some defense for more offense. However, I think his platooning partner should be Aoki, not Morgan. Then play Hart in RF and Green at 1B.