TheCrew07

Wow I hadn't checked in on him yet this year, his K/9 is 14.9! His BB/9... 1.7... I'm pleased he's doing so well.

Actually that's exactly what Chris said during the broadcast, I used his phrasing "jobbed" in my post. His blog post was much less inflammatory

It is interesting to see you take this position. When I said that LaPorta was treated like property because he was traded, you seemed to scoff at the idea. Has your opinion changed? Boy how do I explain this without a dropping a name, and I'd rather not given that he'd like to get back into baseball as a coach at some point. I guess I'll address LaPorta first. I do believe that all of the players are assets for the organization, I've never been shy about that opinion. I do however believe LaPorta is a first class douche... it's not just one thing, it's first hand reports of fan interactions with him, it's Buck Rogers making his refusal to sign jerseys for a charity auction public, it's how hard he pushed religion in his blog when his actions paint him to be the opposite of what he's preaching... he strikes me as a hypocrite. I've repeatedly said I didn't have a problem with him being traded, I just had a problem moving him for a rental player with larger rotation issues looming on the horizon. As far as how the organization is viewed, I guess I'll just tell the story being as vague as possible. I never really thought of how the Brewer organization was viewed by players until the end of last summer. A bunch of us were sitting around a table with a former major league pitcher consuming beverages after a golf outing, we were the last 6-8 people still hanging around, it was very late in the evening and the outing had started at 11 AM. He was telling some stories and the question came I think from my father if he was looking to get back into the game. The player was traded quite a bit in his career, signed some FA contracts with some teams, he saw quite a few organizations. He named 2 organizations that he wouldn't hesitate to join and the Brewers weren't one of the teams. He has been getting calls, some organizations are very interested in him even just coming down to Spring Training to talk to the young pitchers, but he just didn't feel like he was ready to jump back in at that time. Well naturally another person at the table asks about Milwaukee and it was very obvious he didn't want to say anything bad about the Brewers but he clearly didn't want anything to do with the organization either based on his expression and body language. After a pause he looked up and just simply shook his head no. I then asked, "even with new ownership?", the player's expression didn't change and he said "word gets around". I thought about that part of the conversation quite a bit over the next couple of weeks because I found it so surprising as I felt Milwaukee was on the right track moving in the proper direction. Then I really started thinking about it from a player's perspective... comments made by Bryson about the night day and difference in medical treatment between Cleveland and Milwaukee, and the Hardy situation from last season was fresh at that time. Then I started thinking about Hart turning down his contract extension and it occurred to me that he might have an axe to grind in that he had to repeat AAA and sit on the bench behind an inferior player. Gamel's situation came to mind, if he ends up being the .850+ OPS hitter I think he is what incentive does he have to sign with the organization early given what happened last year and how his character has been dragged through the mud by certain quotes in the JS? I'm all for calling a spade a spade as fans, but coaches and management have to be more tactful than that. All in all I've had to come to terms with the idea that Milwaukee may not have the best reputation with the players, and unfortunately when we're trying to buy wins at a discounted rate, the player holds all of the cards. So in a way, I've become hypersensitive to the issue. I didn't mean to imply that the Brewers necessarily did anything wrong with Stern, just that there was the potential there he was jerked around. I'd really like the players to view Milwaukee as a 1st class organization, and unfortunately I don't think the organization has progressed as far as I had originally hoped. I realize this is just one former player, and I have no idea where he was getting his current information from, but it did give me a moment of pause and the conversation did challenge me to view the organization from a different perspective.

That's who Mayo has the Brewers taking in his latest mock draft. Could you repaste a link to that latest Mayo mock draft? When I click your blue link it just takes me to a page quoting your message to reply to it. Thanks.Oops my bad.

One guy I'd like to see later would be Cameron Bedrosian, the Brewers have been big on bloodline picks in the past.

That's who Mayo has the Brewers taking in his latest mock draft. EDIT: Fixed link.

We already have Parra, I don't want to trade for a more expensive and older version of him. We will be done with Suppan after this season, the Brewers would be on the hook for Perez in '11 as well, I'm not sure how that's a step in the right direction.

I didn't mean to suggest that Sabathia was his only opportunity, it's just that he's never dealt position players away unless he was forced to by pending FA or a super prospect needing a spot on the roster. While I've wanted him to trade a guy or 2 away, I never expected him too because he's never done it in his career. The time frame of the Sabathia deal was just the most obvious place to address future of the rotation with Sheets' impending FA staring him right in the face, and given he also had the prospect ammunition to get it done without dipping into the MLB talent pool. I also didn't mean to suggest that the Brewers would have made the postseason in 2008 without Sabathia, that was a point I never argued, not even then. I believe we would have had a reasonable shot in 2008 regardless, and a much better chance of competing going forward with a better rotation. I agree that the playoff appearance absolutely was a spike in revenue through the 2009 season, but I don't see having a positive impact this season or beyond for the Brewers. Ultimately the best way to fill the ball park is to keep moving the franchise forward, I don't see much false hope around the 3 Brewer sites I visit the most anymore. Melvin has had plenty of opportunities to make a difference, he just keeps choosing poorly, and I'm not going to fault Peterson for that.

Ding! Ding! Ding! And what do we have for our winner?

So, when do we start blaming Peterson for a lot of this mess?I'm surprised the pitching coach issue took so long to come up over here, it's been talked about quite a bit over at BCB. Peterson hasn't had much of an opportunity to work with Parra as a starter. Yo is pretty much the same guy he was last year though he had an encouraging start last time out, he's just getting way too many full counts. The rest of the guys are old and/or have declining skills, I'm not sure what Peterson is supposed to do with Davis, Suppan, and Bush? Bush is pitching well enough given his limitations velocity wise, he's just never had great stuff even when he was pitching around 88 MPH. Narveson is about at his ceiling, he's not filthy but is holding is own with what he has. Any magic a pitching coach would have would be tied to pitchers who still have the ability to get better who are in the starting rotation as Peterson would be able to work with those guys during the side sessions between starts. The only 2 starters that would fit the bill are Yo and Parra (who's back in the bullpen), and I'm not sure the pitching coach matters in Parra's case, his issues appear to be mental in nature, the stuff is there. Maybe a sports psychologist would have been a better investment than a pitching coach in his case. The blame here lies squarely on Melvin's shoulders as he stopped building rotation after the team broke out in 2007. Once the team got competitive he went into band aid mode patching holes through FA and with rental player trades, spending his assets (not only dollars but players) in the least efficient manner ossible and it caught up to him these last 2 years. There's no such thing as competing for a championship with a rotation that is just "good enough". He continues to do well picking up scrap heap players that can contribute, even with guys like Narveson, but we haven't needed to swap out pitchers at the back of the rotation, we've needed to address the top of the rotation and it just hasn't happened in Melvin's tenure outside of one rental player trade that I believe ultimately set the franchise back. Melvin traded his one shot to acquire a pitcher of significant talent without having to give up a MLB piece for a rental player, the emotional response to a playoff appearance aside, was that one appearance worth losing the nest 2 years and maybe 3? Peavey and I had a long discussion about "going for it" during the Fielder window prior to and again after the Sabathia trade and I was adamant that the Brewer's window to compete didn't have to close with Fielder. I believed we had enough positional depth that we could upgrade other positional spot and replace Fielder's production through 2 or 3 guys, but if we acquired more pitching we'd be right there in the thick of the race year in and year out. Fast forward 2 years and I no longer hold on to any hope that Melvin will trade to acquire the pitching we've so desperately needed and knew we were going to need once Sheets departed. Instead of the window staying open as long as possible, it may have already closed when very few of us were paying attention.

How was the ground rule double a lazy fly ball? It was a slicing line drive to the corner, Braun never had a chance. It was hit hard.

Prior to Macha I was the last person to ever complain about a Brewer manager, I defended Yost constantly around here, and for what it's worth I thought Macha handled the pen pretty well last year. I admit I don't like the guy, mostly because he doesn't care about player development at all, but this year his bullpen use has been extremely frustrating, he's regressed. There is simply no reason to pitch 5 different relievers for 1 inning after the starter only goes 4, common sense should tell a manager to stretch a couple of those guys through 2 maybe 3 innings if possible instead of using the entire pen. He's created this mess by rarely running his best relievers more than IP when he can, and the flip side is that when a reliever like Hawkins obviously didn't have it, he left him out there to rot for over 40 pitches... what's the sense in that? Then he pitched him the next day again! I just really don't see any sort of plan being put into action game in and game out... well I take that back, if his plan to run every reliever 1 IP so he's available again the next day I think that plan sucks. As far as Hoffman goes, I have a hard time with classifying hard hit balls as unlucky because they landed very close to being foul. There's nothing unlucky about very hittable speeds, in a very hittable location, getting getting hit hard... it's just bad pitching. The double down the line that started it all ended up thigh high right on the outside corner... that's exactly where a LH hitter is supposed to take that pitch. Even if Hart catches that Cantu ball (a bloop double no doubt), a run still scores and the Brewers are still losing going to the 8th. The base hit to score the final 2 runs was once again belt high on the outer half, hit hard and hit exactly where the batter is supposed to take it. I thought the pitch sequencing on the strike out was very well done, but the rest of inning was pretty poor, even the bunt was an easy pitch up in the zone.

The T-Rats win on a wild strike em out throw em out, I was worried they were going to blow their 3rd game in the 9th inning out of the last 6.

Hey Garfield gunned a base stealer when I listening! This has been a very good game, and Chris if you read this I completely agree about Odorizzi getting jobbed for pitcher of the week. I think Heckathorn is making case as well with 14 IP and 2 runs allowed, a lack of gaudy strike out totals will probably hurt his case though.

Well that's not the way I wanted the inning to start.

Ha the guys on the major league forum won't like this but it worked out. Heckathorn gave up a lead off double, the runner moved to 3rd on a 6-3, Isom moves the IF in, the next batter grounds it to Gennett who makes a good pick and a poor throw but Garfield recovers in time to get the tying run at home. 1 out from Heckathorn completing his 3rd 7 IP outing a in row. edit. Wooo! A 3-2 CU freezes the hitter and Heckathorn is out of the inning, going to the change in a 3-2 count is a very good sign.

Bowman hit by a line drive in the 1st inning and is pulled from the game, when is this injury bug going to land on someone else? The injuries in the minors the last 2 seasons have been ridiculous.

lol man I hate that picture with a passion, but it was so unexpected as an avatar I had to laugh.

Chris just said Mike Trout hit his 6th HR of the season, I sincerely hope he's promoted before the T-Rats see Cedar Rapids again. I'm beginning to dread playing them as much as I was dreading Beloit's pitching earlier this season.

Dennis with a real nice back handed stab in the 2nd to record an out and then another nice play by Dhanani. Heckathorn with 2 ground outs and strike out in 8 pitches if my math was correct. Good pitching and good defense make me happy. And as I type this Dykstra goes yard. This has been a very enjoyable game so far.

I'm not that type of guy that normally slows down to look at an accident, but for some reason I'm morbidly curious about this year's Brewer team even though I have no confidence in the pitching and I keep watching these games even though I know I'll just end up thinking about how pissed I am at Melvin.

The salaries are close, but we're on the hook for Suppan's buyout as well.

If he was like a 23 year old I'd be quite a bit more interested than I am today when he's 28. Parra lost so much time to injury he's a still a young pitcher relative to his age, just like a Mark Rogers type. I think Willis is done as a starter.

Can the Brewers really afford to be that cold with any player regardless of talent? I don't think it's a stretch to think that Stern was jerked around here, I really think the Brewers need to be more of a players organization, not that the rats should be captaining the ship, but I'd rather see them go out of their way to treat players with as much dignity as possible. I would hope that the organization handled the situation with as much class as possible, but this does appear on the surface to be a potential situation of don't let the door hit you on the way out. I honestly believe for the Brewers to compete they need to buy wins at a discounted rate with Braun type deals, but the player has to be willing to sign the deal, and how you're treated on the way in and on the way out makes a difference, word gets around. From the conversations I've had with a former player he's made it pretty clear that Milwaukee doesn't exactly have a glowing reputation... and I'm talking about the way the organization treats it's players, not the city. This is all stuff that we as fans generally don't care about , but it's made pretty clear to me that all these little things do matter to the players. As far as the move itself goes, the only other OF on the 40 man roster is Lo Cain, and I'd rather he not be called up to sit the bench like Gamel and Lucroy before him. I just don't like where this going.

He's been great fielding the ball for the most part, the problem has been his arm, he's makes some of the most awful throws I've seen this year when he's in a hurry.