Raw Biz

Which is basically like saying "Yeah, they signed Albert Pujols, but they were the same team otherwise".Huh? Obviously the stud starters made a difference, but my original point was that while that's a big difference, there was more to our being a better team than just that. Macha on many levels was a worse manager, or at least a worse manager for the Brewers than Roenicke. "Quality of life" matters significantly. I'm not suggesting any extent to which it translated onto the field. But it still matters. Macha's clubhouse had a very negative atmosphere, at least as far as how his players felt about life under him. People keep bringing this up and I still say that they were unhappy because they were losing and not the other way around. If they had the team they had this year with Macha, I believe they would have been happy because that extra talent would have allowed them to win more games. Winning = happiness. I'm not saying I liked Macha or wanted to keep him. But I also don't think Roenicke is a good manager or at least he wasn't this year and I just don't like people attributing the team's success this year to him. They won because of the talent on the field, despite a lot of the dumb decisions made by their manager.

I think that's way too much money. I would only go 5/100 and I think that might even be too much. Also, Braun and Yo will be getting significant raises in the next few years, as well as Hart and Weeks. I don't think it's a good idea to have 1/2 the payroll tied up in 2 players, which would happen at the end of this contract.

Why? There is no mystical voodoo veteran quality that makes a player better. Talent trumps years in my book. Now if the veteran bat is better than Green/Gamel (and the cost is reasonable), then I say sure take a look. But I see no reason why a team can't win just because it has a couple of "rookies" playing.

You know why? Because the manager has complete control. Greinke wasn't thinking "hey, I know, I won't get this guy out!" Roenicke did think Kotsay was a good idea. Exactly. The manager can't control how a guy plays in the field. But he can make sure that a guy is actually capable of playing in the field. If Roenicke put Prince at 2B, would you blame Prince for not being able to turn a DP? No, you would blame the manager for putting a guy at 2B who has no business being there.

I would just like you to know that for his first 100 PA's, Prince Fielder OPS'd lower than Gamel did. 194 PA's is a ridiculously small sample size. Gamel is getting to be the oldest prospect ever. Prince was what 21? and improving. And you are still talking about a sample size half as big. I'm not saying its not possible. But by the time you are 26+ and hitting .684 OPS for your career... Its not likely to be a stellar career. Feel free to add in he can't play 3rd and you are putting another 5'11"/6'0" defensive liability at 1st. And I LOL at people saying we should trade him. He has very limited trade value. Again this means absolutely nothing. He hasn't gotten a chance. Ryan Howard was 26 when he got his first full season. The guy has killed it in the minor leagues and hasn't gotten a full-time starting gig in the majors so we really don't know what he is capable. However, his minor league stats, scouting reports, etc. say that he will probably be a pretty good major leaguer. Not being able to play 3rd really has nothing to do with being able to play 1st. Gamel's arm was always his problem, not his glove. And Braun/Hart couldn't stick at 3rd and people are saying they want them to move to 1st. So that argument doesn't work either.

I was thinking that same thing. There are guys like Holliday, Teixara, and A Rod who the jury's still out on, but looking at guys like Soriano, Vernon Wells, and Zito as examples, they don't tend to. Soriano gave the Cubs 2 great years, and is still productive but way overpaid. Zito was stealing money from the get go. Dunn, Crawford and Werth arent looking good either. The thing is, a lot of guys who get these deals are about 30 by the time they get the, In these cases, you're lucky to get 3-4 prime years, and then hope they gradually decline after that rather than falling off a cliff. With Fielder, however, he'd be 28 to start next season, and if given a 7 year deal he'd be 35 at the end. It's not inconceivable that they could all be good years, however, the question is defense. His D has always beem questionalble at best, and by the time he hits the 30's, he could need to DH somewhere. To be honest, with a small-mid market team, going all in isnt a great idea, especially when you don't have much of a farm system. This was the all in year with Fielder. At this point, I think that the smart thing to do would be to try and trade Marcum and maybe Gamel to re-stock the farm system. Maybe even hope you can trick someone into thinking that Casey McGhee is still a good player. I bet the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs would pay a handsome price for Marcum. Might even be able to get Montero out of it if you kick in LuCroy. Or perhaps try to swing a deal with The Reds for what's his face who's being blocked by Votto and can't play OF to save his life. With 2. Morgan, 3. Braun, 4. Hart, and 5. Weeks, the heart of the lineup would be as good as most in the NL. Carlos Pena would be a pretty good bat to add unless you go for the Reds guy, and it might be smart to jump on him early while the big money teams are battling it out for Fielder and Pujols, who sadly, I don't see leaving St. Louis. Try to then extend Greinke. Might even want to stop there, in which case 2012 might not be the most fun season for you, but you'd at least have a solid young core to build around. I don't believe that just this year was all-in. Next year they will lose Prince but still have all of their SP which is one of the main reasons they won as much as they did. And I think replacing the combo of Prince/Yuni/McGehee won't be as hard as it seems because of how bad Yuni & McGehee were. As far as re-stocking the farm system, they will have Jungmann and Bradley from this year and possibly an extra 4-5 picks in the first couple of rounds next year.

Everything here. 194 PA of sporadic playing time over 3 years is definitely small sample. And I think Gamel would be an upgrade defensively at 1st. Could you have more reliable figures with a larger sample? Sure. But if someone is at or below replacement for that period its going to stick. You just won't be able to convince me that he is going to be a successful everyday player. We are talking about how to replace Prince and we are talking about 1B that is right at replacement. Thats just not going to get it done. If you don't think Gamel will be a successful everyday player because of how you've seen him play (i.e. don't like his swing, approach, etc.), fine I understand that. But don't use a tiny sample size in sporadic playing time and call him replacement level because of it. Jose Bautista OPSed .502, .404, .755, .753, .718, and .757 in his first 6 seasons, a much larger sample size. Then he OPSed .995 and .1.056. So he was at or below replacement level for at least 3 of his first 6 seasons and that "didn't stick."

Starting Kotsay in CF. /halfblue

The Kotsay/Game 3 was addressed by a previous poster and matched my sentiments. Brewers took back control in game 4 and then played like a little league team defensively in games 5 and 6 - that isn't on RR. People also need to stop ignoring Braun's lack of backing up Kotsay. If your going to call out RR, you damn sure better call out Braun for something that is fundamental baseball taught from little league on up. Even the greatest defenders make errors. Marcum/Greinke weren't the only difference this year. RR's managing style and player relations (allowing the players to be who they are) also made a HUGE difference - the guy was far from perfect, but no manager is and he was a huge breath of fresh air compared to what has been here recently. You keep bringing up this Braun thing. Sure Braun could have done a better job of backing up the play but like I already said, he probably thought it was an easy play for any CF and didn't think he really needed to. As much as you might think guys practice perfect fundamentals on every play, they don't. This was a pretty routine catch for a normal CF. Kotsay should not have been in CF, period. You and Roenicke are the only ones who believe otherwise.

Again, it really had nothing to do with him. It had to do with the talent he had and specifically, how great the pitching was in the 2nd half. And I don't think most people are blaming the entire series loss on starting Kotsay. But it was a major factor in the game 3 loss, which ultimately, I think was the turning point in the series.I also wholeheartedly agree with TheCrew's take on the big picture re: Roenicke. . . . And I'll readily contend that Macha had almost all the same talent, just short a couple stud starters, but his distant style & lack of good people skills did a goodly amount to undermine many of the other positive aspects & potential of the Brewers' 2010 season. Umm, I would think the difference between a couple of stud starters and the crap they had the last two years is pretty big. And I still believe those guys were unhappy because they were losing and not losing because they were unhappy. Teams have won in the past playing for hard-ass managers that might have been hard to get along with.

Why does everyone assume that they just melted under the spotlight and pressure? Greinke would have been fine in his last start (even though for some reason he couldn't miss bats) if he had even an average defense behind him. It's very possible that there was some added pressure but it's also possible that it was just another one of those rough patches that almost all pitchers go through and it just happened to come at the end of the year.

Again, it really had nothing to do with him. It had to do with the talent he had and specifically, how great the pitching was in the 2nd half. And I don't think most people are blaming the entire series loss on starting Kotsay. But it was a major factor in the game 3 loss, which ultimately, I think was the turning point in the series.

Everything here. 194 PA of sporadic playing time over 3 years is definitely small sample. And I think Gamel would be an upgrade defensively at 1st.

There's certainly a lot of negativity in this thread, which is probably understandable after this hearbreaking series. We will still be a good team next year with most of our NL Central Champs returning. The Cards will probably lose Pujols, knocking them down a peg. I really don't see any way this happens. Pujols will be a career Cardinal.

Those PAs are over a period of 3 years and are basically useless since the sample size is so small. And he actually had a .760 OPS as a 23 year old (not too shabby), which is where the majority of his playing time came. A lot of people believe that Gamel will be just fine once he gets some consistent playing time.

234, Row 2.

I've been laughing for 5 minutes. Amazing.

He should be playing 1B and not the OF. The Brewers have 2 OF who should not be playing in the OF because of a varied of reasons. I really wish the Brewers think about moving Braun to 1B if/when Prince leaves. But teams can usually get by with a below-average defensive LF. And I would consider Braun closer to average than below-average. I mean he's no Carlos Lee. What they should do is try to unload Hart for a SS.

I don't think it would take much to be a better manager than Roenicke. About the only positive he's done is bench McGehee. But even that was 3 months too late.

That's the kind of crap managing that makes me hate Roenicke. Saito, KRod and Axford can never pitch when they are losing. But La Russa has no problem using anyone in his bullpen at any time.

Except for starting pitching and bullpen. No, I said "all." How has our SP been better? And their bullpen has been lights-out. You didn't say they have been the better team. You said "are." The best team doesn't always win in the postseason because it's such a small sample. And seriously dude, how can you even enjoy being a fan with your attitude? Yes it's frustrating but they made it to the NLCS and there's still 2 games left at home, where they've been great all year. It seems like everything you post is negative, I don't get how you can enjoy baseball.

Just a terrible approach. He should know they aren't going to give him anything to hit so he should go up there with his bat on his shoulder until he gets 2 strikes, which probably wouldn't happen because he would just keep getting sliders off the plate.

Did not hear that. That is... disheartening. Hard to win game 7 if you get blown out in game 6.If I'm RR, I'm going with Gallardo in game 6 and Wolf in game 7 if you can get to it. I think pitching Marcum is going to be a huge mistake. I hope I'm wrong though. So back to back starts on short rest? Just an awful idea. Can we stop with all this already. Marcum will get the start (as he should since he's one of our 3 best pitchers) but probably have a short leash.

I believe the whole point of those wanting to start Narveson or Marcum was so that Greinke would be able to pitch at home. Now, this game is looking like it will most likely be a loss and Marcum is up next ..who on top of being a much better pitcher on the road this year, has been pitching terribly as of late. And the whole point of those against it was because home/road splits aren't some magical thing. You pitch your best pitchers on normal rest whenever possible. This was Greinke's time due up so you pitch him. He even said he hates pitching on longer rest.

I personally wouldn't be offended by it if it were a different team. Baseball is a game and is meant to be fun. I wish all teams would show that they're having fun like the Brewers, as long as they aren't directing it toward the other team/rubbing it in their faces.