JJHardy7

Sorry...NO! Curtains would be a horrible idea. One of the things that makes the park different from a permanent dome is having that glass area rather than just opaque walls. Well is there any way they can tint the windows? The shadows are kind of pathetic. I watch a lot of games via the road teams that are playing in Milwaukee and I wouldn't call it complaining, but to me the general thought is that it's one of the worst day game places to play according to these broadcasts. I just think it's sad that timing of the shadow can literally determine how difficult it is going to be for one team. I'd like to see something changed. I'm more worried about that than whether or not the roof is open.

Miller Park seems to have some nasty shadows for day games. It's the worst when it moves from home plate to the mound during the game. I have to imagine this makes it a bit more difficult for the players.

Ok I know i just commented but I needed to ask about this. How is Weeks on that list? I love the guy and think he has the tools, but he has been hurt quite a bit and really hasn't put anything together consistently except for the first two months of this season. I agree about Weeks. I do think he'll fit into the long-term plans though because his price won't be as high due to how he just hasn't been able to maintain it for a long period of time. We may get a deal with him when/if he puts it all together. I think JJ will be fine. I think one thing that I can't stand though is how some just say who is lucky and who isn't. JJ gets paid to get on base and when he's not he's not doing his job. Over the course of the season those 'amazing catches' that aren't hits will balance out with seeing eye singles. I'm sure some of JJ's hits this year were rather weak (same can be said about all hitters). For how unlucky a hitter can be at times, it's not a one way street. I think over the course of the season luck will have little to do with a player's statistics. JJ is just a pretty streaky hitter and to me I think it's all about his vision. When he's seeing the ball he's on fire and when he's not he goes south pretty quick. I personally think Escobar knocking on the door and trade rumors are getting to him. Nobody else on the team really has a position player in AAA that looks like they could take a starting job at the major league level this year besides JJ.

Above average power hitter that is an average outfielder. LaPorta is not an average OF. His defense is pretty poor IMO.

X predicted this pick. I'm impressed with X and I like the fact that we got a guy that some had going higher. I'll admit I don't follow these guys until they're drafted so I'll defer to the experts and look forward to reading what everyone has to say about this guy.

How come it took so long for Macha to get there and pull Cameron away? That is what I was also wondering. It seemed to take him forever to get out there.

He's been in the minors 5 full seasons, he hasn't been rushed regardless of what people continue to post. His readiness has nothing to do with his Age, MLEs, or projections... people continually confuse development with projections. I think I understand where you're coming from TheCrew07 in a way. I just think your point isn't 100% right nor 100% wrong. I don't think there's a 100% flawless way to know when a player is ready or isn't ready. You can only look at it from the Brewers view and what they have in Milwaukee right now and I don't see Escobar starting at most positions with his bat right now regardless of position. To me, that means he's not ready for this team, but again there's no right or wrong way to know IMO. I know he's been in the minors awhile, but I still believe he isn't physically there just quite yet to be ready for the bigs. I still think Escobar is going to be a very good MLB player and I've thought that for a long time. I just don't know how he fits this year on this team.

Don't we have an Escobar thread already? We do, but the question asked here is if Heether could be in the mix as SS with Hardy and Escobar so it is somewhat related.

again, Escobar's readiness has nothing to do with Hardy. That's a developmental issue when team thinks his game has progressed to the point of being MLB ready. He will not replace Hardy's production this year or next year because he won't hit 20ish HRs, but that has nothing to do with his readiness. Well what line do you expect him to produce then? His bat right now has everything to do with his readiness. There aren't a ton of light hitting SS in MLB anymore and I guess the debate goes back to how much power does Escobar have or not have? I still think he's a year away. I don't see the need to duplicate Hardy's rookie season. Escobar is still a pretty skinny guy and as he matures I believe that power will come. Where would Escobar rank on the list below today? http://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player_stats.htm?pos=SS&league=3&sortby=ops&filter=

Escobar isn't ready yet according to whom? I don't get understand this line of thinking at all... he'd be replacing an All-Star SS, so how would he force his way on to the roster the way Weeks, Braun, and Gamel did? He's not going to hit 25 HR this year or next year... Melvin has even acknowledged he's ready, he'd be up in 2 weeks if Hardy wasn't on the roster. It depends what team Escobar is 'ready' for. He's not ready given the lineup for the Brewers this year IMO. He'd be ready for other teams simply because we need offense out of the SS position and Hardy beats him by a decent gap IMO. This isn't a knock on Escobar. It's just with Kendall, 'The Corey Hart Experiment', 2B, and 3B having questions/ups and downs/hard to project we need to shore up the other positions and keep them like they are. Didn't Macha say Escobar had 'a lot to learn' or something like that during/after spring training?

I don't think I agree with that, as the Brewers just opened the season with veteran minor leaguers Mark Difilice and Brad Nelson on the roster, and Casey McGehee is just 9 months younger than Heether. McGehee wasn't ever in the Brewers minor league system. My point is there have been guys putting up numbers who haven't gotten called up (Steve Bray comes to mind) despite high levels of success during the season (excluding September). IMO they don't normally call up minor league veterans unless there's an injury and I think that's the same case with Heether. He could win a job, but it'd have to be next spring like with Brad Nelson this year.

1) Most players in AAA are something other than first-time-around prospects, but not all of them hit over 1.000 OPS. So not necessarily. 2) IIRC, he asked for the move to AA. He wanted to work on his defense at SS, and wasn't going to get games at AAA with Escobar. Wasn't it a playing time thing too? With Gamel, Escobar, and The Hurricane in Nashville the beginning of the year there just wasn't a lot of room for him. I think he asked/was asked to go to Huntsville where he could play. IIRC I think he asked to go to AA. It was either sit on the bench in AAA or play in AA. Again, I think there is a decent gap between AA and AAA, but I do believe you need less time at AAA because the gap isn't huge. I still think AAA is important because you can determine pretty quickly how good a player isn't (ie batters are more patient and pitchers and more consistent). I do think though that playing at AA is obviously much better than sitting on the bench in AAA. I think Heether can play all IF positions. I'd prefer him at 2B or 3B over SS though and I don't know if he's a legit SS in the bigs.

Just so we get this straight -- Calipari is potentially getting a second Final Four appearance stripped from the record books, yet he's allowed to continue coaching...and Kelvin Sampson is essentially banned from college basketball for making too many phone calls to recruits? It's all about World Wide Wes. He's pretty much Cal's 'handler' for a lot of his recruits. Again, I'd read up on him. I had no clue who he was until a few months ago. Some think he's one of the most powerful people in all of sports.

I think schools all over do this sort of thing. I mean...look at Dozier.....what a joke. 1250+ to 720 or whatever. That should be a clue right there. Didn't Dozier go to Memphis and Georgia said no because of his big SAT jump? I always think it's funny when people discuss how college athletes get "paid" by having their scholarship and a miniscule stipend from the school. Not to be mean, but I hate this logic. Have the players go play in Europe than if playing NCAA Basketball is so bad. The same goes for football...if you want to publicly get paid go sit out three years and go pro. There are a lot of athletes on scholarship that play their last game in college. Paying college athletes would be the worst idea ever IMO. If the NBA wants a better minor league system, that's fine. I just don't think it will ever work. It's much easier for a basketball player to jump in the NBA and start then it is for a baseball player. There's a reason why the NBA and NFL don't have or have weak minor league systems. I know athletes likely get paid more than their scholarships. I've heard about it from a ton of schools and such so it's not a shock. I do think colleges should be held to higher standards and I also think they way $$$ is given out in athletics should change. If you get busted, you should not get the same amount as others in your conference. Working down here we have given Kentucky fans a hard time the past two months. We all knew what Memphis was doing and Kentucky will be busted in the next few years too. If you haven't looked up 'World Wide Wes' on Google, I'd check it out. It's a good read and it's why 'Coach Cal' never gets in trouble.

There really is not much of a difference between AA, and AAA. There is a decent size difference IMO. The biggest jump though is usually A/A+ to AA. In AAA, you're often times facing guys that pitched in the big league level at some point/top prospects/former top prospect. It's not the biggest jump, but if a hitter struggles in AAA it's usually not a good sign. Again, it's not the biggest jump, but I feel that pitchers in AAA are a bit more advanced than AA because you'll see those AAAA pitchers. I'm not saying this will be a good indication of MLB performance, but a guy like DiFelice was in AAA for awhile...that's a bigger challenge than facing a lot of guys in AA. I guess I'm just saying that the percentage of players that play in AAA is most likely a decent clip higher than those in AA. They had him play 12 games in left field last year. I would imagine that if he looked decent they will give him some work out there again this year. I wouldn't read a ton into that. Kremblas played a lot of guys in the OF. Part of his philosophy was that the more positions guys can play the more likely a fringe player gets a chance. I think I posted a year or two back that I thought Heether would replace Counsell at some point. I like him for what he is and if he plays better than I think he will that's fine by me. I just hope he gets bumped ahead of the hurricane (not a knock on him) if there's an injury. The reason I say that is because I believe Adam can play a few more positions.

It amazes me that Heether doesn't even get mentioned as a possible option... At some point we are all going to have to take notice of what he is and has been doing at Nashville! Escobar has much higher ceiling than Heether. I like Heether too, but the reason he doesn't get mentioned is because he's most likely not the long-term answer at SS. Heether's biggest plus is he can play anywhere. I'd like to see him get a shot in the bigs on the bench, but that might be next year. Again, this isn't a knock on Heether it is just hard to project guys that have been in the minors for awhile. I really do hope Heether gets a shot, but I'd guys Escobar and the hurricane would be called up before he is if injuries and/or trades happen.

wrong thread Im hoping? I don't think so. He's in one of the pics in the original post. Looks like they all signed stuff for a bit.

There is no good reason to think Gerut cannot hit righties and there is no good reason to think Hall cannot hit lefties. I cannot believe how quickly people turn on part time players like Gerut, if they struggle for 5 AB suddenly they are useless. I don't have an issue with Gerut at all. I think he'll be fine and he's a pretty good player for his role. The main issue here IMO is Gamel vs. Hall. Gamel should play everyday. He's hit lefties better than righties in his career. If he can't play everyday in MLB send him to AAA. In other words, it all comes down to what you do with Hall. I see much more benefit from playing Gamel everyday than I do trying to have the guys split time. I'd move Hall back to super sub. Hall has had plenty of time to show what he can do and to be honest he hasn't shown much. He can hit lefties some and I'm not ignoring that. If he's a super sub, you could have him give guys break against lefties.

If Mat Gamel was any other player everyone would be calling for him to sit. If Mat Gamel was any other player everyone would be calling for him to sit. What? I guess I don't understand what you're saying. I've posted plenty on Gamel in the past. I've seen him play a lot and I think he'll be fine at 3B. I just hope he plays everyday. I think his bat is MLB ready and his defense is close. The Brewers have never really had a guy that was ready with both when they came up (at least there's more that weren't ready). He's still developing and from what I've seen he's done that quite a bit the past 2+ years and playing everyday and coaching are the major reasons why.

So, I have to take back the notion that it's completely irrelevent when trying to judge how well a pitcher pitched. It's simply trumped by any number or other stats. Really, the only time a pitcher's win/loss record trumps every stat is when the question is, What's the pitcher's win/loss record? Well...if you have good stats you put your team in a position to win games. The only two ways W/L for a team doesn't matter is if the hitting sucks or the bullpen/pitching sucks. There's clearly a gap between starts of other players and Manny. I know baseball is a stats filled game, but winning is the name of the game. Manny just isn't putting his team in a position to win. I know that there is luck, lack of run support, etc. I'm not saying W/L of a pitcher is everything in terms of the pitcher's individual record. I do think that the team's record in games started by the pitcher is significant if that record continues to be quite different than the rest of the starters. I guess I just don't see how it's not if that continues. I think this is part of the thread too. Parra's 'deal' is he's not putting this team in the best position to win games. He should be sent to AAA plain and simple IMO. I do think the Brewers are worried about where his head is at and that's why he'll get another chance. I really like Parra, but he really, really needs a veteran to help him out. Didn't CC somewhat help him out last year IIRC?

So if it's a guy who is not good at baseball, it's understandable if people question is character? I know that really is how it works but aren't we supposed to pretend that's not true? What in Braun's character is questionable? I'm probably somewhat the target for these shirts, but I couldn't believe the price. I did a quick google search and it looks like they go from $75 or so up (at least from the site I went to). For a t-shirt? No thanks. I'm not a fashion person at all. I don't see a huge deal with this at all. If people like it, so be it and best of luck to Braun. I actually thinks this speaks to his character...he's getting fellow MLB players to support in the picks to start the thread and in a few posts above he's hit up the celebrity market. If this thing goes well and shows Braun he can 'market' more than his baseball skills from Milwaukee, that's fine by me. Best of luck to him. I do think it's cool he's starting his own business. I do actually think Brewer fans should support this venture 100% (not by buying the clothes). The knocks on small markets in most sports is that the non-sport contract money is bigger in bigger markets.

Having coaches and players vote is the problem. They see very little of the games. You could have teams' scouting departments vote on it. I'd be fine with McLouth in RF, the point is going from Cam to McLouth in CF would be like a 3 win swing in defense. It would be ugly. Oh it wouldn't be ideal, but I'd rather have that as an option. If we got him now, at worst he'd be at CF next year. Hopefully there would be more moves to get him to RF. His defense is probably about the same as Hart's only he can throw runners out with his arm as well. I don't know if it is poor arm strength or just poor accuracy but Hart is pretty terrible at holding runners or throwing them out. In your opinion, is this evidence enough Hart should be moved?

Again, I'm not saying he's a GG. My point is he could've played in the Brewers OF next year. I think he's a bit more suite to play RF. It's not like the Brewers have a ton of options next year besides Braun. Not sure your point here. You want to add players to teh voters? The award is so screwed up because managers and coaches vote for it. I would have a tiered system of players/managers/coaches and maybe some media type. There should be a way to fix this problem.

If they're going to make a move for pitching, I'd rather them get someone who is actually still good, not someone whose best years are far behind them. I agree, but to me it doesn't hurt to sign one of these guys to a low contract. I say that about them and any other free agent...we wouldn't have to trade any prospects in order to get someone who is 'good'. I'd rather roll the dice with a cheap free agent for a few weeks before I think about getting rid of prospects.

He was the best player on the Pirates And your point is.....http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif I think Palmeiro pretty much proved how terrible the gold glove voting is when he won one after only 28 games at 1B and the rest as a DH, Jeter as well for a whole different reason of having no range and winning one because he is flashy. I agree here. Would it make more sense to have the players/coaches vote for the winners? Obviously having some type of rule that you couldn't vote for players on your team.