TheCrew07

Then you didn't look very hard. Teams that do well in the post season do very well in all 3 phases of the game; offense, defense, and pitching. The Phillies won it the year their pitching matched the rest of their game, the year Colorado squeaked in was their best pitching season, and most obviously the Brewers got there last year even though their offense was actually worse in '08 than it was in '07. It's not very difficult to go look year by year and view the team rankings by offense and pitching, I used ESPN's stat page.

I don't want to get into another handedness argument, but wouldn't it make sense to put the best possible TEAM on the field? We spend so much time arguing about position players when we should be discussing the rotation because we have no options there. If Mat batted from the right side I bet we'd see the same arguments about Fielder being the only LH bat... he's not staying in Milwaukee long-term nor should we want him to, his defensive issues limit his total value. The question is how to get the best value out of Fielder... as far as Prince is concerned the argument is draft picks vs prospects... not left handed batter vs left handed batter. X isn't going to let the 1B argument go because Mat would be 3.5+ win player tomorrow at 1B. I prefer he stays at 3B and DHs during interleague play. I don't see Melvin making a bold move and trading Fielder, and really I wonder if he'll move Hardy either even though he has a ready made replacement waiting. I know it's easy to trivialize what's going on in Cincy and Pittsburg but they are building terrific young pitching staffs. The Cubs already have the best staff in the division... the Brewers are on pace to have the 4th best rotation in the division while having a top notch offense. Historically how well do teams do that lack pitching? Look at Texas or Detroit last year, offense is great and puts butts in the seats, but pitching wins championships. Sure we can maybe squeak into the playoffs here and there but we aren't going anywhere unless the rotation gets addressed. We don't have to average 6 runs per game if the staff is only giving up 3.5 runs... St. Louis is always brought up because they had horrible pitching the year they won the title, but they played great defense, shortened their rotation to cut out the garbage for the playoffs, and Suppan pitched one of the best stretches of his career. In the post season their pitching was excellent, so yes they barely got in and won it all, but they played great defense and had a potent offense all season... they fixed the pitching issues in the post season by simply not letting their crappy pitchers pitch.

WI hits 3 HRs in the 4th with Dykstra getting his 1st but they are still losing 10-4 as Watten really struggled today. BC down 1-0 into the bottom of the 8th, Farris and Gindl with 2 hits a piece. Huntsville wins Game 1 in the 11th, Aguilar strikes out 2 of 3 batters for the save. Nashville up 4-2 in the 9th, Gwynn and Gillesie with 2 hits a piece. Smith coming in to attempt the save. edit. The boxscore gets me again, Dykstra's HR was actually a 3R HR in the 6th. Nashville wins. Braddock comes in and strikes out the side in the 8, BC ties it in the 9th.

Rogers walked 3 and only struck out 1, and all 3 walks came in the 2nd but he managed 2 scoreless.

As huge of a fan of FPS as I've always been, I preferred Doom & Quake to Duke Nukem. When we'd bring our computers together and game it up, DN got the least amount of run, we'd maybe play it for an hour or 2 at most, and we'd go from 8 AM till people couldn't stay awake anymore. I never really understood the appeal of the game.

The thought has crossed my mind, especially considering his relationship with Arod.

Here's the Daniel Meadows video.? Lawrie's unassisted DP is around the 1:00 mark if I remember correctly from editing.? It's late and I'm tired so if I'm wrong I'll edit my post later.

Here's the Cody Scarpetta Video

Long story short I was joking with my dad about taking some video for me and he actually did. He framed it like a football coach would so it's a tad too far away, but he got Scarpetta and Meadows and thought he got Ritchie but it was actually still Meadows for (us). I did a quick edit and put them up on YouTube. I'll put each in it's own post as the videos are done processing. edit. I didn't wash out the sound or even listen to it, so be careful if you're at work, no idea what's being said in the crowd.

Did I further Jinx him? edit. cripes...

I agree with the premise, fans shouldn't have a vote... if they do, it shouldn't be weighted very much. The Managers, GMs, and Players should decide who goes. We've gotten our share of very borderline players into the All-Star game recently... I participated, but in hindsight I wish I wouldn't have cast so many votes. Of course allowing multiple votes is the only way to attempt to equal out the fan populations of the various teams, which is another reason why fan voting is so flawed.

I was hoping that was a good "wow"... I feel bad for him on a variety of different levels as he fought so long and worked so hard to get so close to his dream. The only pitcher who's line I fear looking at more so far this season is Kris Dabrowiecki. It's too bad. Lame days off for Catchers... Salome is hot so keep trotting him out there I say!

Isn't the number 9 spot in the order outperforming the 8 spot in the order at this point?

Just heard on Rome that Trevor is going to be a guest at the bottom of the hour. Unfortunately I'm back in the office now and will miss it.

I often wonder if "scouts" plural is actually "scout" singular and it's basically the same comments defensively from spring training. Goldstein has never impressed me too much so I'm biased against his opinions and I'll leave it at that. Isom has commented on some nice plays Lawrie has made but beyond that I really don't know. I'm hoping to catch some games in the next 2 weeks with the DV camera and put some video up at least.

Interesting Analysis That last tidbit was surprising

Wow you think they'll bump him past this season? His glove could use the work and it's not like there's a pressing need at 2B, I could see if he slid over to 3B, then he could slide right in but Green is going to be playing 3B at AA some point in June hopefully. Don't get me wrong it's not like Huntsville is prospect laden, but that's a Griffey/Bonds type ascent through the system.

Trejo goes 0-3... he might be better off back in Helena, damn. 7-9 for WI is pretty brutal right now. edit. How does Escobar only have 3 doubles, next time he goes yard he has as many HR as 2B

Dillard gives up 3 in the first but rights the ship. Salome goes yard finally, maybe he's starting to break out. Nashville with 5 runs and no RBIs for Gamel, that's a rarity these days. Nashville up 5-3 to the bottom of the 5th. Jeffress follows up the first inning noted above with a Single, throwing error, walk, both runners move up on a FC and then a single but a play at the plate saves a run. Nothing note worthy prospect wise from the hitters thus far. Game is tied 1-1 in the 3rd. 2 HRs and a BB hurt Rivas who threw very well after the HR in the 1st until a single, walk, and HR plated 3 runs in the 6th on him. Haydel has 2 hits and BC has 5 XBH including a 3B and lead 6-4 going into the 7th. Bowman pitches well, only 1 BB against 3 Ks and Lawrie goes yard, WI up 1-0 through 4.

Hart already turned down a deal, Hardy will turn it around and get a big pay day, and Prince isn't good value for the dollar for a small market team. Why would any player sign a team friendly deal when they are 2 years from FA? Waiting until arbitration to sign a player gets the team nothing more than cost certainty ala Fielder and Howard. Players talk about location, chance to win, and so on but in the end it's all just fluff and they go where they get the most money, and that's not going to be Milwaukee. If we want more than 6 years of a player, we have to approach them before they are making 4 million dollars a year, not after. There's plenty of evidence around the league if you're looking for when to offer a long-term deal with team friendly dollars... I already put Shield's contract up in another thread... it's all there if you go to COTs. You might not be looking that far ahead, but Melvin sure has to and I prefer to have a longer term view of the club as well. I want sustained competitiveness, not a 2 or 3 year run where we sell out for 1 or 2 chances at the post season and reload again. The finances have to work and the talent has to fall together a certain way, I sure hope they have long term and aren't trying to build the franchise on a year by year basis. It's not all that hard to say X and Y are FA in 2010, who in the system could replace them? It's about as simple as it gets actually, I hardly drive myself crazy. The difference between me and many other people on this site is that I don't have to win now, I'm fine taking a shot here and there, but objectively if last year was our best chance then I should turn in my fan card. It's funny that people around here bash Wood, Prior, Harden, and Bradley but don't see it in our own players. Sheets was no different to a Cub or Cards fan than Wood was to us, they talked about him the exact same way on their forums as we do Carpenter and Wood on ours. Sheets was never going to be healthy enough to lead this team to the promised land, he's a very good pitcher, but he's not someone you can build a rotation around if you're a GM, but he's a great second option if you can him to the post season healthy. The system didn't produce enough pitching to go along with Hardy, Fielder, Hall, etc but we have capable replacements waiting in the wings and solid top of the rotation depth on the way in the low minors. We just need to bridge the gap with another top of the rotation starter, get Yo through a full season, and have Parra find himself and we'll be in very good shape in the short term and the long-term.

Huh, I've said many times he's streaky, he's clean for 2-3 weeks then the flood gates open again. When did I become a Gamel hater? He just needs to find some consistency. edit. You're subsequent post made even less sense... I've defended Mat tirelessly... I have no idea where you are coming from.

Just to be clear I have no problem moving LaPorta and Brantley for pitching and never did, my issue was with the choice of a rental player. I don't think the cupboard is bare, I really like Escobar, Gamel, Green, Lucroy, and Cain... I've been a Salome bandwagoneer (see my continual rants about Baseball America on the minor league forum) forever, I'm just not sure what to make of him. Lawrie is going to be very good and I really like Gindl and then there's toolsy guys like Brewer and Dykstra that may have an impact as well, not to mention there's always a sleeper in there someplace. Pitching wise we're thin and Jeffress hasn't done much to set aside my fears, but the kids in A ball are mostly pitching very well, so there's hope on the horizon, it's just a couple of years away from being MLB ready. When people whine about a true leadoff hitter I'll point to Brantley just to remind them that we had one in the system and moved him for pitching, there's no having it both ways. We have to give value to get value, no one is going to trade us Grienke for scraps... it's not realistic. When Melvin made the move for Sabathia it meant that there was not going to be another deal for young pitcher like Santana utilizing the farm system, we just didn't have the ammunition left to get another player with prospects, especially with the recent rash of injuries. We can target some near MLB ready players by moving a MLB player, but I'm in the minority that believes that idea has any merit at all. The main point I was trying to make is that we missed our window to sign our younger studs to team friendly deals like Braun's... where as the Rays have been the exact opposite, they've locked up everyone to team friendly long term deals. Since our players are walking in the near future, which is part of being a small market, to remain competitive we must have pieces in place to replace them. If we dump all our depth for rental players while we're in the first crop's window there's nothing left in 2012 and we're back to 2003 all over again while we wait on the draft picks to mature. If the team can move a MLB player that we're going to lose anyway for some quality top of the rotation talent that seems like the best case scenario to me. This team can remain competitive and I honestly think it would be even better in 2011 than it was in 2008 with a little pitching help. We may not have anyone who will hit 50 hrs, but we'd have as solid a 1-8 as we've had in a long time, maybe ever.

That's the way Mat rolls, when the errors come, they come in bunches.

People keep playing the "what if" game... If Sheets stays healthy and the offense doesn't tank, a lesser pitcher (a long term solution) could have had the same net result. You can't say "what if" in favor of the trade without considering the "what if" on the other side. Sheets getting hurt was entirely predictable given his history, I posted about the possibility repeatedly in the trade thread. It's not like it was a shocking occurrence out of nowhere. I have no problem with people that believe the playoff appearance was worth the trade. However I grow weary of people constantly dismissing the simple truth that CC Sabathia was not the only way to the playoffs, and the Brewers made the playoffs by 1 game with him. The whole "teams that win make rental player deals" argument is so far off the mark.... teams that can afford to be significant players in FA make rental player deals. The Brewers are not on an even competitive field... it's just the way the system works. I would have less of a problem with it if people weren't already talking about making another acquisition this trade deadline... with what? Cain and Green are hurt, Escobar and Gamel aren't going anywhere, Salome is hitting like garbage, and why would they move Lucroy before a decision is made about Salome? Green, Gindl, and 1 of Salome/Lucroy are likely expendable in the future. What pitching prospect should we part with? We only have 1 that's on anyone's radar... I'd be fine with Anundsen (since he's been high profile of late)but he's not going to get it done. There's a large percentage of the fan base that's way too concerned with what happens today or tomorrow in my opinion. Hall, Hardy, Fielder, Cameron, and Weeks will all be FAs in the next couple of years, if we trade away their replacements, then what?

I agree, neither catcher in WI has played very well offensively or defensively. I've been puzzled by Sean McCraw for some time, the acquisition, the placement, the playing time... he's never hit well, doesn't throw out many runners, I wonder what the organization sees in him.