JJHardy7

Brilliant! When teams score more, they generally win... when teams score less, then generally lose. We should just tell the Brewers to score 10 runs every game... don't they know they would win more? Thanks. I think what the JJH was getting at (and I don't know what the current numbers are) is that the Brewers tend to win in blowouts and lose everything else, at least with a far greater freqency than most other teams do. That really isn't any way to run a railroad unless you plan on blowing people out all the time. Maybe they're just unlucky and there is little validity to the idea that winning close games over some acceptably-sufficient sample size is about competing at a higher level than your opponent. Yes. And I do know if you score more runs you win or if you score a lot. I just don't get the wrath on some of the defense when we're only scoring 1 run a game in the past 3. It just seems that when one thing is clicking we're not clicking in other places. Feel free to poke on that, but if this team is going to get on a run we need to try and have our hitting, pitching, and defense clicking. It just hasn't for most of the season IMO.

I fear Ridnour is going to sign with the Knicks. If he does, my guess is it will be for at least $4 MM + given other signings. I could see him getting $6 MM from the Knicks if they strike out with the big FAs. I really hope we can somehow get him back. Any concrete details on Gooden's deal? I've heard from folks it is all guaranteed and heard from other folks it isn't? Is there official word or do we have to wait a few more days?

I'm not too upset by the whole thing, as I've stated repeatedly that I never considered him much of a prospect. I wish he could have been included in the CC trade instead of Brantley, but Cleveland was loaded at catcher. So what players in the minors would you keep now? What ones would you trade?

I think the real problem is all those home runs. Jeepers. Whatever stats they showed you were misleading, to say the least. Baseball fans will forever complain about an inconsistent offense but there's no such thing as an offense that scores 5 runs every game. They are a myth. It should be obvious what they problems are with this team. Their hitting is probably the only thing that's been good. I apologize for not remembering the numbers exactly...but they weren't a myth. They actually happened... I get hitting has been good at times. I get that. It just hasn't been consistent. This offense is not some world beater. How could it be? I get that we have some solid players and we have the potential to turn it on. We still have holes that won't make up for poor pitching. It goes both ways. There is a pretty large gap in runs scored in wins and runs score in losses. Again, I apologize for not having the exact number, but I think it was 4 or 5 runs a game in wins and losses...I don't get what that would have to do with pitching or defense. That is just an inconsistent offense IMO. My main point as well (in my rant) is in regard to Escobar. If you just want to pull out that one piece, that is fine. That would just be a small sample size. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif You actually compared last night's game to the game tonight. Ideally we need more guys to get on base. We have too many holes on the offensive side IMO without having a better pitching staff and a better defense. So thus...you need more consistent hitting.

Gamel sitting on the bench was more due to his lack of putting in the extra work then it was Macha. This has been reported before. Please stop making it out to be some vendetta by Macha. I don't agree with this at all...I'm guessing some here wouldn't either, but if this was true you don't waste a prospect's time on the bench at the MLB level. Send him back down. Plain and simple. I don't care if he's dating Macha's daughter or ran over Macha's dog...they wasted Gamel's time last year with both service and developing. It was pretty stupid all around. Back to the thread...I hope they figure out Yo quick. If he needs to be on the DL for awhile, that's fine. It is not ideal, but there is no need to rush him back at this point. I refuse right now to say the season is lost (it probably is), but we don't need to have Yo injured for a long time. We've seen the other abusing Gallardo thread and maybe just maybe this will prevent that for a few weeks. I'd actually be fine with that. Again, I'm not ready to quit on the season, but we need to look at Yo's future. Hopefully we get some accurate medical reports and if he's out 2 months or the rest of the year so be it. He shouldn't pitch unless he's 100% healthy or close to it. He's obviously talented and now we have a $$$ investment in him.

I don't really understand what message you are sending Escobar by sending him down. Try harder? He's already burned a year of service. Let him work through his struggles and hope the practice helps for next year. Exactly. I've stated my case before regarding Escobar. I think he'll be fine. I don't get why all of a sudden people want JJ back or whatever else. What would JJ have brought back at the time we traded him? What else was on the table? My guess is that it wasn't much. We can't act like some amazing deal was on the table. Gomez still has the tools to put it together...will he? Who knows. That is a different thread, but my guess is that this trade was more of a 'change of scenery' type of deal and so far it looks like it wasn't a great trade either way. Gomez is younger and still has time. We can hope. I don't get the wrath with Escobar in a way. This team isn't going anywhere this year. If you want to blame a few losses on him, fine. I didn't get to see the game yesterday since I was up north, but it was 1-1 at the time of the error, right? We got behind because of him. The game tonight showed some great stats as to why this team struggles...it is hitting. In the ideal world, you don't have as many holes in the lineup/inconsistent players. That is a problem. I will agree that our defense isn't that great either, but you need pitching, hitting, and fielding. Escobar is never going to be a 30+ HR guy. I still believe he could be a 20 HR type guy. It will be a learning process though. I get the service time issue though. He's not playing as well as I would like, but at the same time we've been beyond spoiled when we've called up some of our position players and Gallardo. That just isn't realistic for every player. Escobar has every tool to be a stud SS...he just needs to put it together.

Of course the quality of the product influences how sought after it is. So yes, the team's success influences market size. Lot's of things influence a teams' capacity to make money. Population, quality of team, appetite for baseball in the city in question. Isn't that what we care about when we are talking market size? You can put a successful baseball team in Moscow and they aren't going to make money. If you want to insist that Moscow is a large market for a baseball team, be my guest. I look at it this way...how many NFL teams in large markets (based on population) struggle? There wouldn't be all that many. I think another factor is how many smaller markets (based on population) have more than one professional team. There are a lot of moving parts, but to me simply saying a ton of people don't like baseball isn't the path to go down. The NFL really hasn't had this problem in major markets...I think it is more of a combination of market size (by population), number of professional teams in said market, and baseball's popularity. My experience isn't any science, but I have a lot of friends, co-workers, family etc that could care less about baseball. I love baseball. I just think there are more moving factors than some mentioned. Just my thoughts...

The Brewers are responsible for $31 million, but saved $16 million by getting rid of Gadzuric and Bell. So the net effect is that we essentially signed Maggette for 3 years and $15 million. If the Brewers are on the hook for this, there is no way we'll re-sign Prince!

The one thing that could really hurt this play by the Pac is A&M's looming decision. If they decide to go to the SEC and break from Texas, not only does the Pac lose the fanbase and market of A&M along with the rivalry with Texas, but they also then have a 16th spot that Texas would probably ask them to bring Baylor in to fill. Exactly what they tried to avoid by adding Colorado so early in the process. That's true, but if they lose A&M that isn't a huge loss. I don't get why A&M would break from Texas. I really don't think from a sports perspective (at least football and basketball) A&M brings all that much to the SEC. It is all about markets, but A&M seems more like a consolation prize than anything else. It will be interesting if they decide to do that. The issue (possibly) with the Big 10 and getting the Big 12 South teams to go is if they are still trying to move all 6 of the schools into one conference they simply can't do that with the Big 10 since they already were at 11 before they added Nebraska. I will say that is all a moot point if all 6 do not go to the Big 10. I guess we'll see how serious that discussion was in the next few days.

Instead, they are far worse academically than any of the 11 current members and they would arguably only be better athletically than Northwestern. They've done pretty well the past few years in football and basketball...

Another HS arm. :Sigh: Somebody wake me when 2015 gets here. Wake me up when Arnett is in Milwaukee... I hope he gets there, but come on. Just because you draft a college player doesn't mean he'll help you out tomorrow...

But no compensation picks before the 5th round. If this was the case, chances are the Brewers may not have made the trade for CC...just saying... And most players do bring back picks if they leave in free agency. I think you need to take a look at how it is done. I'm not saying it is perfect, but without it small market teams would sell every year...even when somewhat in the race. A 5th round pick has little...if any value. The major thing I'd like to see in the MLB Draft is allowing teams to trade picks. Again, I'm not saying it is perfect, but it does make sense IMO. I would change some of the things so that we didn't get screwed with CC (i.e. a type A must bring back a 1st rounder or you can't sign him). I think something like that would prevent the 'buying' in MLB. If you sign a Type A, you give up your first round pick, but you can only sign one Type A. Again Paul, I know it is not perfect, but these draft picks aren't like the NFL or even the NBA. It is a major crap shoot.

Sad how injuries can derail a career. Parra really hasn't looked the same as he did in the minors since his injuries. Are you talking about injuries he had in the minors or injuries in the majors? I'm assuming his significant injury in the minors?

Just because he made alot doesn't mean he didn't spend it all. Look at Antoine Walker, he is millions in debt and he made over 110 mil. It doesn't help to take probably the most extreme example to make your point...sure if Junior spent all of his money maybe he came back for the money. I haven't heard that Junior is having money problems and I don't think it is fair to assume he is... Does he get paid through the rest of the year? I thought if he retired he doesn't get paid anymore...if that is true that goes exactly against the logic above.

Good riddance. He went out with no class, just as would be expected. ??? He should have had the class that Bonds and all the other steroids guys had... Junior will go down as one of my favorite players ever. I know his career didn't go the way it could have the past few years...I still think he might be the best (or on a short list) of natural players I've ever seen. I really wish he could've stayed healthy...hell maybe he should have done the juice if he's going to get responses like this...

Random question that somewhat ties in with Suppan... What are the highest contracts that were flat out 'eaten' by a team? I know since Soup only has a few more months left under contract he probably (?) wouldn't make any type of list. Just curious...

I definitely get the beef people have with Melvin, most specifically in your nicely-phrased comment about the floor v. the ceiling. I also want to see him focus more on ceiling than floor. But I guess the reason I want to see him get more time is that I think the organization has already shifted in that direction via the draft. And, aside from trading for power arms (which as has been noted by others, is hard to do), an org. like the Brewers is going to have to draft & develop them, but that takes time. +1 I still don't get how the Brewers aren't meeting expectations for the Brewers during DM's tenure. What are we going to do...bring in some unknown/also ran/formerly fired GM and be in the WS next year? It doesn't work that way IMO. I know I can be hard on players and the such, but we are still the Milwaukee Brewers. I know we can debate 'small market' all day, but the bottom line is if nobody cares and nobody shows up the Brewers lose money. We can't sit back and think every potential GM, manager, and/or player can't wait to join the Brewers. DM is doing a fine job...I think he does need to be more active in the current minor league system and its future. That IMO will determine his fate in the next few years since at the end of the day he is the GM.

I really hope we go on a winning streak so this thread can calm down a bit...but I digress. I know the season hasn't gone our way so far, but baseball is a long, long season. Things will work out. If the 'kids' in the bullpen get to stay, that should shore up that area. Where is the Prince Fielder sucks threads? Obviously I'm not saying he sucks, but if we want to pile on and complain about everything his slugging and OPS is way down from last year. Why haven't we DFA'd him yet? I kid...I kid. I think the thing to remember is that we can play Monday morning QB all day long. I just kind of think it is a waste of time. All the Sheets talk...would he have even come back to the Brewers? I haven't seen a clear answer to that. And it is May...it is May. It's not like Sheets stunk up the joint in Milwaukee...he was fabulous when healthy. So I'm not going to worry about that right now. Mark A is the man first and foremost. Honestly...where would we be without him? Out of Milwaukee? You can look down a few miles to the Bucks and see how crappy an organization can be and the such in terms of management and franchise value. Things haven't gone perfectly now, but I don't want to turn into some fan that demands playoffs every year or this or that. The economies of baseball make that next to impossible for the Brewers. I hate that part of the game, but I'm not going to throw an owner under the bus who has drastically improved payroll and taken a genuine interest as a fan and business person. Things could be much worse long-term...hopefully we turn things around. The season hasn't gone the way we wanted...but how many thought we'd make the playoffs? Go to the WS? I didn't see a ton of people thinking that...and again it is May...

I think perhaps some of us need to calm down a bit (I'm not trying to tell anyone how to feel...just trying to see what the panic is). If Lucroy is only here for the 15 day stint, I don't see this being a big deal at all. I wasn't a fan of the Gamel thing last year, but I think this one is different. If we're sitting here 2 months from now and Lucroy has barely played and he's at the MLB level, I'll be beyond furious. I just don't see that happening. This probably is a good thing for Lucroy in the long run and even if he doesn't play all that much it gives him a taste of the MLB-level. I know it's easy to ask why he is here and such, but who should the Brewers have called up to catch? I'd like to know that answer (and please consider all the roster issues as well). We only have 4 catchers on the 40-man roster...one is hurt and one is essentially on a leave of absence. I don't see why the Brewers would mess around with their 40-man roster to call up any other catcher in the organization. I am hopeful that Lucroy gets to play a few games though. If he can play 2 or 3 during this period, I'd be fine with that. I know he may not be 'ready' yet, but I look at this more like a September call-up for him. The way Zaun and Kottaras have been playing I don't know if we need to have Lucroy up playing the rest of the year or anything like that. Hopefully this will let Lucroy get used to the bigs a bit and depending on where we are in September (right now it looks like we'll be out of it...but who knows) maybe Lucroy becomes the full-time catcher or at least see a lot of MLB playing time then.

The franchise mode now on Madden is pretty realistic. MLB The Show has taken major strides the past few years...it is very realistic, but if your friend isn't a knowledgeable baseball fan he/she may not be all that into it. 40-man rosters, options, rule 5 draft, etc. are all involved now. I'm not saying that is the most complicated, but if you are simulating seasons for franchise it can be a pain to worry about in some regard. I play the games so I'm in the first season, but I did a simulation (that I didn't save) to see the off-season and it is pretty impressive...if you're a baseball nerd. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Outside of Aaron Pierce, I'm not sure what past characters are still living to bring back. It depends on your definition of 'living' on 24. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif My pure guess (and I don't check spoiler sites) is that at least Kim comes back in the next few hours and I do think Tony will. I don't know if Tony will be bad or good...maybe Tony kills Jack? Jack kills Tony? I was a little disappointed that they never really tied off the Tony Almedo story line. He went off to prison at the end of last season and I figured he'd make an appearance this year so Jack could kill him. I thought they would have done something with Audrey Rains too. Oh well. They still could with Tony. Audrey is on some other tv show that my wife watches. I do agree though that would've been a good play. It seems though that her role was filled this year by Renee.

Cole can't play RF by all accounts. I've made my modest opinion about that before so I won't go into that. I guess you could maybe move Braun to RF if Cole can hit, but again that isn't a slam dunk. I guess I don't like the fact that he was a 'throw in' according to some when he was traded. He was among the top 10 or top 15 prospects for awhile according to bf.net. I guess my point is...he had/has value. I don't think he's going to be a stud, but I think he can be a MLB player. The Brewers could use help in the OF now, but you are right...if he can't play RF it makes it a bit more difficult. Again, I'm not expert, but I think the jury is still out on Cole's spot. He played 15 games in LF, 8 in CF, and 19 in RF with Arizona in AAA last year. I find that interesting since the Brewers used him exclusively in LF last year. Again, maybe there is no way he has the arm to play RF. I'm not saying he does. It also would be nice if he can play all 3 OF positions, but I'm not sure that he can at the MLB level.

It would have been nice to get him in the outfield but it is really in the teams best interest to give their players every possible chance to succeed at the toughest possible position. I agree 100%...and that is why I wanted Braun to try and stick at 3B. I just don't like guys learning/moving positions at the MLB level if we can avoid it. The Brewers were willing to move Hart several times in the minors, but for some reason kept Braun at 3B the entire time. Is this at all going to be a Weeks vs. Lawrie at 2B decision? Obviously you don't have to trade one of the two, but if Weeks is kept and Lawrie continues to develop a decision will have to be made at some point.

No I really don't expect Weeks to get much better on defense. I expect him to be about average going forward. With his hitting ability that makes Weeks a very valuable player at 2B. One of our positions of strength on the team. I agree 100%. I didn't want to move Braun off of 3B. I wanted them to give him at least a couple more years there to see if he would improve. In hindsight, I think they made the right choice. I somewhat agree. I'm not saying I was right with Braun (most likely wrong), but I really wish the coaching staff would've at least moved him before the bigs or given him some more time for growth. I'm not saying it would've worked. I think it will be interesting to see what happens with Gamel...it looks like he's making large strides, but he also didn't get the job and tear the cover off the ball either. I also agree with you on the scout issue. I'm not an expert by an means, but if you actually watch some of these minor league guys play and talk to the staff you get a much better idea of where they will land. I've said for a long time Gamel could stick at 3B...and I think he will if he can stay healthy for awhile and produce. Is there any way McGehee could play 2B long-term? My guess is he is somewhat limited there?

They have something called WAR(wins above replacement) that does just that. Weeks can play a passable 2B, Braun was historically bad at 3B. What you want to do is move your players around to get the best defense out of them that you can. Braun might have stayed at 3B but we signed Cameron and it set off a domino effect Hall to 3B Braun to LF. Fair enough...I get that. I just have a hard time comparing a very objective stat (batting) to somewhat of a subjective stat (fielding). Braun was terrible at 3B, but does that mean he would have been terrible forever? I don't want to go on and on about this, but Braun would have had the chance to improve. It's not like he played 3B since he was 4. That is more or less my point. If you can get a guy like Braun to stick at 3B, that helps your team. Again, not saying he should be at 3B. I'm saying there is a value measure we need to take into account....and WAR does do that, but I still think defense is subjective. Braun did stink at 3B...that is not subjective. He could've improved or what not, but looking at Weeks now Weeks isn't in the same boat as Braun. He can field his position. The question is whether or not we'll see improvement and he's been playing 2B for awhile now.