JJHardy7

I'd put Sarfate on the list, but I'm probably alone on that one. I'd rather have him in the bullpen than Julio.

I really worry that this is going to play out like the Balfour situation. I think it's pretty obvious that the Brewers are already missing what Nelson brings to the table. At least we got McClung for Balfour. Dropping Nelson for nothing was a bad move. They should've just waited for the AL series. There was zero good reason for Gamel to be in Milwaukee (since they were just having him sit on the bench)...until the Weeks injury.

I thought BBTN had a good analysis of this last night. John Kruk of all people noted that the Brewers should be OK as Counsell has a higher OBP than Weeks but won't hit for near the power. He was also aware Counsell has won two World Series rings. Gammons (I think) said the loss hurts but they should be able to get past it. The thing I worry about with Counsell is that he's old and has an issue with his knee. I just don't think he'll be able to play more than 3 - 4 times a week and be productive or have his knee flare up.

As far as the Escobar comments go... Escobar hasn't been terrible in AAA, he just hasn't been great, he also hasn't had an extended hot streak yet either. A little hot streak and he's up over .300, his power numbers have already begun to improve greatly. I wonder if all this focus on stealing bases has taken away from the rest of his game to this point. We're 6 weeks into the season, Hardy hasn't exactly set the world on fire either. In my opinion, Escobar still has a decent amount of room to grow with the bat. There wasn't much left for Mat to do with the bat. Obviously there are questions about Mat's defense, but his bat will play. I think Escobar is a year away form starting and that's not a bad thing. I think he also has some room to grow physically too. I'd prefer that the Brewers leave him at SS for now though. I don't see a real need to play him at 2B because he wouldn't be a huge upgrade offensively over Hall IMO. Now if Hall is terrible at defense that might all balance out. I do think Escobar will be a fine MLB player. I just wouldn't rush him up quite yet.

It DOES NOT make me lesser of a Brewers fan, just a smarter ballhawk. FACT: That is an opinion. It does question how big of a Brewer fan you are. You're putting your hobby ahead of the team and bringing bad press for Brewers and their fans. FACT: The glove trick is NOT illegal. Nor is it stealing. It's simply obtaining a ball that would not normally be attainable by the use of some sort of device. So if there's a car that isn't normally attainable, but I know how to hot wire it...does that make it right? I know you can't compare the two, but you're stealing and that's a FACT. I've been to a lot of baseball games and I've seen people kicked out for that or even trying to do that. Do you steal players gum or seeds too with this 'trick'?

What are the other 'official' nicknames of the guys on the team? I love Mat, but personally I don't know the other nicknames of the younger guys on the team. If they don't have them, Mat shouldn't have one...but if he did I'd go with Mat the Batt.

Weeks was on pace to be worth $29.25 million this year, per fangraphs. By comparison, CC was worth $30 milliom this year. To say Weeks was failing is as far from the truth as you could possibly be. I don't know how much I buy that in May though X. If he did it all year, yes Weeks would've had an amazing year. I'm not saying he wouldn't have. I am saying I do remember other stretches where it seemed like he 'broke out' and then he went the other direction. I feel like we've been saying for more than a few years now 'this could be Weeks break out year'. Again, I don't hate Rickie or anything like that. I just think it's May. His history does not indicate he would've kept this stretch up. For whatever reason, he hasn't been able to do that yet. We're over 10 months from opening day next year. Thats a huge difference from his last wrist injury. He will be 100% by the start of spring training. I don't think it's a huge difference. Didn't he have scar tissue issues with his wrist about a year after his last surgery? Or at least that was the thought around here. It may have been over a year. Now it is also both wrists. At what point does this negatively impact his bat speed? From what the JS posted earlier today, it seems like it's rare for this to occur on both wrists. He very well could be 100%. I just don't know based on his swing and how important his wrists are if he'll recover by next year. I'd have to imagine at one point or another this can't be good for his wrists. Who is Rickie Weeks? We really don't know. He's never put it all together for a full season. I'm not saying he won't be 'the guy' at 2B next year. I am saying it's probably about time to not think of him as the future at 2B...at least not without competition or a backup that is ready to step in should he slump again or get hurt. Until Rickie puts it all together for an entire season we can't just bank on him producing at a full year pace like he was so far this year. I'd love to see it happen though.

Lawrie is unlikely to be ready to start in 2011. Again the idea that Weeks being average at 2B was this huge yoke for the Brewers to carry for a few years makes little sense. I get the feeling that Lawrie will be fast tracked. I don't know if he'll be ready at the start of 2011...but I would imagine he would be up in Milwaukee at that time. I've never seen him in person, but he's again going to be one of the many Brewers that could have questions about his defense. If his defense is ready, I don't see a reason why he won't be up in 2011. Again, the idea that Weeks keeps failing to put it together means the Brewers need to start looking elsewhere. I'm not saying let's trade for Brian Roberts. I am saying we need someone that can backup him up next year, but can fill in as a starter if needed. Weeks is going to be 27 in September. So next season he'll be turning 28. I was hoping this year would work out for him, but it didn't. I'm not saying he's not talented. He is very talented. He just hasn't been able to put it together because at various times he's had issues on defense, injuries, and poor at-bats (which in part might have been due to injury). Even if Weeks is average if he's not on the field it doesn't matter. On the positive thing he's not expensive so by no means am I saying we should dump him. I am saying if Lawrie tears the cover off the ball all summer and does the same next year he will have a great shot to take Rickie's job in 2011. Again, I don't know all that much about his defense...so I may not be taking that into consideration as much as I should. I guess I'm not sold we'll see Rickie at the level he was at the beginning of the season again. For a guy that relies so much on his wrists to generate power, I really hope he's able to come back. I'm not against the guy by any means. I just think this injury could be hard to come back from and we've seen in the past he's been slowed by the injury well after the surgery.

I sure hope JJHardy7 is right about his progress. He's made progress. I don't know if this is ideal now, but it's the best option. I still think it was dumb to call him up and sit him on the bench. That move made zero sense and still doesn't. Weeks injury is further proof of that. I know you can't predict injuries, but if the Brewers don't call up Gamel/designate Nelson...we'd have Weeks on the DL and Gamel getting called up...and still have Nelson. Melvin said it himself a week or so back...'you never know how the roster will look a week from now'. A week later we lose Nelson, have Mat sitting on the bench doing nothing, and lose Weeks for the year. Not exactly how Mat expected to be given the job I'm sure, but might as well make a go of it. The only other thing I want to say with Mat is that Brewer fans need to be patient with the guy. If he makes a few errors in the next few weeks, let's not boo. That to me would be a sad state of Brewers 'fans'. I know many here wouldn't boo, but I question others. I didn't do a Congrats to Mat when he called up since I thought it was a dumb move and he really wasn't 'up' to stay. Now if he hits well I think he's up in Milwaukee to stay. Congrats Mat! I also think this could be the end of the Weeks experiment or at least the end of letting him figure it out. It's not his fault or anything, but there comes a point and time were Lawrie will be replacing Rickie. I think Rickie has a job in Milwaukee one more year and after that he'll be gone. This injury is not going to be easy to come back and we've seen how hard it is to come back in the past with him. I'm wishing him the best. I just hope he's somehow able to rebound next year. It's going to be tough.

I'm not going to 'blame' Weeks' injuries on his swing, but I have to wonder if he's having these wrist injuries because of his 'waggle' of the bat. I know it's not as violent as it used to be. I just can't believe he's had this on both wrists. Part of me wonders if this could potentially really, really hold his career back.

yeah looking forward to seeing what he can do at 3rd. Its a perfect game to put him in, as the twins are starting 2 straight lefties and we have already won the series. Gamel has hit lefties slightly better than righties in his career so far.

To me, the best solution is to move Hall to 2B and have him split time there with Counsell like he is now at 3B. If Gamel is going to stay up beyond the Twin series, he needs to be in there against righthanders and even some lefthanders (Gamel is not going to be a platoon player after all anyway). That's why I'd have Gamel play third backed up by McGehee, and have Hall play second backed up by Counsell. That would leave Counsell or Hall available to be used defensively at 3rd late in games in place of Gamel. I agree for the most part. I think Gamel should be at 3B the rest of the year. There's zero need to platoon him at all. He hits lefties pretty well. The only real question IMO if Weeks is out a long time is if they're willing to move Hall to 2B. And if they are who gets called up. I'd imagine it'll be The Hurricane for now and they'll see how things shake out the next two weeks.

Gamel is starting tonight per the JS. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/45305842.html Also, not good news on Weeks. Looks like he's headed to the DL.

If you don't bring Gamel in to play 3B with a 4-0 lead against a RH pitcher in the 4th inning, do you ever allow him to play 3B? This is still why I think it was dumb to bring him up. He'd be much better off playing everyday than 'getting his feet wet' by having great free seats to some baseball games. I really question why the Brewers did this since Mat was making great strides defensively. The only thing I thought was that since his bat was cooling off a bit they wanted to challenge him more...that can't happen unless he plays.

Move him to the outfield already. Why?

I know he made the majors for a bit, but did Kyle Peterson go under the knife too?

Are these other fans not at the same game? What advantage does he have that makes it so others don't have a chance at the same ball he does? If he's jumping seats, he has an advantage. This is one of the things that drives me nuts. You pay for a seat you sit in your seat. It's that simple. I highly doubt HY has gotten all that many baseballs from one given location. The HR ball he caught was probably not even in his seat. I know others do this too...but it doesn't make it right. If you want a better seat, pay more money. It's that simple. If you want to sit in a few different spots during the game, buy more tickets for yourself at the game.

This was likely stated by HY to remove doubt on the Marlins behalf as to whether or not the bats would be on ebay that night. The Marlins had every right to think the guy was a 'fake'. What's with the Marlins hat and such? I'm sure him being a 'fake' fan didn't exactly make the Marlins willing to help him out. It's flat out wrong to be wearing the the opposing teams gear and claim to be a fan in my book. I have a feeling HY will be going out of business in terms from getting balls from the opposing teams...and maybe even the Brewers.

Nelson opts for free agency... http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/45092532.html

I guess another thing I want to add (which some have touched on) is that this was a guy's first HR. He's put a lot of time and effort into this. As a rookie, he probably doesn't have a lot of 'say' (if any) in the clubhouse. I guess it also had to be strange for the Marlins to deal with a Marlins 'fan' who was asking for a lot. If he was wearing Brewers gear, maybe the story is different?

I think it is funny when adults sit in the ball park with a glove on I usually bring my glove to the park. I think it's just habit and at the Sounds games I'm usually in the front row...I bring it out of habit and I guess I don't want to get crushed if a foul ball comes screaming at me. It's happened a few times. Again, I stated it has value to him because he enjoys collecting baseballs. Fair enough. I used to collect when I was a kid at minor league games. To me, a ball was a ball though. I guess I just don't see the 'value' in that particular home run. To each their own. No, I do think that the truth is somewhere in the middle. Fair enough.

In this particular instance, I think you have to step outside the box a little bit and not think of the ball as you would think of it, as many of you stated it would have no value to you. As a collector of home run balls, this ball has "value" to Nick and likewise it obviously had "value" to Coghlen. Why does it have value to a true 'Brewer fan'? Collector or not...there's no way that ball has any value to you unless you're a Marlin fan or trying to make a quick buck. Nick then stated that all he wanted was a Hanley Ramirez game used bat. So he caught a ball from another player HR and he can pick what player does what for him? That's a joke and it's being selfish and greedy. I really, really hope other Brewer fans are better fans than that. I personally would've given the ball back for next to nothing since I don't know the guy that hit it that well, but I would admit I'd be down with the player that HIT the HR giving me a ball and a bat that is signed. And based on Coghlen's quotes...is Coghlen a liar? The Marlins organization a liar? I mean come on now. Coghlen and the Marlins officials could not let it go and kept pestering him. Well 'Nick' was a 'Marlins' fan. He should've helped his team. The thing besides the crazy team hopping thing is...why would you not give the ball back to the guy? I don't know much at all about the guy that hit. I will try to compare though. The Brewers and Marlins really don't have any type of rivalry. So let's say Brad Nelson crushes/crushed his first HR in Florida...and a Florida 'fan' wears Brewer gear and won't give the ball up unless he gets some Braun stuff, tickets, and other stuff. We'd all be pretty upset at said fan. It's a baseball. I understand trying to get something for it, but there comes a point and time where you should realize it's a baseball. The guy that hit it worked a hell of a lot harder to get where he is than any person that caught it. If it has zero meaning to the person that has it (which in this case it does), one would think you'd be willing to hand over for a few things that most fans never get...especially if you sport their gear.

I agree a lot with JimH here. If you are graduating soon, don't sit on a bad GPA. That won't help you get a job. I'm also saying never go out and always study. I am saying get your school stuff done and done right and then go out. I had a lot of fun in college, but I also focused on school. You can do both. UW-M for example has a terrible rate of freshmen (at least a few years back) that fail out their first year. You don't want to do that. And again, it's not that hard to get good grades in college your first few years. Go to class and study a bit and there's no excuse to not get a 3.0 IMO -- if you're taking the general classes. Companies do care about GPA -- imagine that. If it's not listed, they wonder why and if it's listed and not high they wonder why. In today's economy, you need any edge you can get.

Edit: Member or not, if he's got the nerve to act like that, we've got the right to call him out. Agreed. This is not 'pretend you're a Brewer fan and switch the jersey go gain things'.net. I think it's a flat out joke. First you ask for the moon...why? You fake being a fan? Can't even say the name right? Why? And on top of that...for whatever reason people want to put you in Brewer Fan HOF...and you do this?

The ball wouldn't mean very much to me. This is the point. Does the ball mean that much to HY? I doubt it. It's pure greed...that and the Marlins gear. Coghlan will make a lot of money, but is that his fault? It's his first home run. HY has no business being in any type of Brewer Fan Hall of Fame.