TheCrew07

Me neither... I was bombarding them with hate mail but I stopped about a week ago but it was obvious that I was just continually getting the same canned responses. I really liked Dish up until this MLB Network fiasco.

I think if he stays at second he's more likely to skip past Farris, then them demote Farris to promote Lawrie. As in he'd skip A+ and go right to AA with Farris staying in A+ next season.

If Weeks starting playing more towards his potential they could think about an extension, but it would depend on where they see Lawrie ending up. 2B, 3B, OF... whatever.

How would Prince not be an expensive DH at over 10 million per season? Thank you for proving my point for me. What's the difference if they pull a muscle trying to field a bunt? Maybe we can put a 10th fielder out there and put the pitchers behind a screen to protect them. Then maybe they can only pitch 40 pitches in a game so they last longer before the inevitable injury strikes... These guys are paid a ton of money to play a game, they should be able to fulfill the requirements of the position, just like any of us meeting the requirements of our job. If a player is incapable of playing his position, then the team made a bad decision paying for his services. I too hated watching Sheets at the plate, partly because he ran like a duck but mostly because he didn't care. I'd rather MLB doesn't become the NFL where pitchers are so sacred they have special rules protecting them like the QBs do.

Dillard, Jeffress, Rivas, and Bowman... I like.

Have we seriously reached a point where our expectations have been lowered to such a degree that we don't expect people paid to play a SPORT to be conditioned properly so that they can run 90 feet without getting hurt? This is like when people were complaining that the Brewers tested 60y dash times and players got hurt. The are professional athletes, not fat men playing bar league softball, how about they simply do what is required to play their position. The DH would only make it harder for the Brewers to compete because instead of having cheap bench players they'd have to drop additional money on a player who's only value is that of a hitter, costing the team millions extra every season.

He's looking more like the player he could be, he's on track to hit for very good power numbers. Instead of worrying about walking he actually attacking good pitches. Thus far I like what I see... I'm one of the few that never liked him leading off, I hope he continues to aggressively attack strikes. His bat speed is phenomenal, there was just no way he was a 10 HR a year guy with those kind of natural gifts.

They typically shuffle players up at the break. I wouldn't be surprised to see some pitchers, Gindl, and maybe Brewer bumped up to AA. Brewer didn't really earn his promotion last year either so I think they'll bump him anyway even with Heether there. That would allow some of the A ball pitchers to move up to A+, maybe some of the youngsters from last year's class to move into the WI rotation.

I love that fact that Yo can pitch that poorly and only give up 3 runs, he definitely didn't have his good stuff.

You know the more I think about the Pirates the more I like that team, they aren't that far away. It's apparent they don't care much for Milwaukee because of the losing streak, but they have nice young core... Wilson aside... I hope he ends in the AL where I never have to see him play again.

Cody gives up 2 HRs, Huntsville down 3 to 2 going into the 7th in game 1. At BC Jones is pitching well, the top of the order scores 3 runs on 4 hits, all singles in the first. Nashville just underway

On Inman his K:BB is real nice, but I wonder when he's going to get economical enough with his pitches to move up? There's no way he should be in AA again... I don't see him starting in MLB if he averages less than 5 IP per start, maybe the bullpen projection was correct all along. Hmm, that made me wonder about Hammond who I had to go look up. He's having a pretty nice season as well.

haha TLB.. most excellent find.. my favorite part quoted below. My theory is that just like basketball players, baseball players have too much muscle and not enough body fat. My theory is that a credible journalist would do more research on hamstring problems, which would have led him core strength and muscle balance issues, I doubt flexibility would have been problem with Z.

If you're looking for a definitive answer I don't have one. 1 or 2 errors as a team... be serious at least, Gamel reduced his total dramatically in 1 year. They'll likely do nothing and defense will continue to be a problem. I'd rather try something than sit on my hands but it's not my organization, I feel there's more value investing in the development of their own players than paying market value for filler, not to mention the lost wins along the way. Better defense = Better players = Better team = More wins = More fans = More attendance and merchandise sales.

You may be right cost wise, I honestly have no idea, even if it did cost $1,000,000... what would the return on the back end of the investment be? How many wins would solid defense be worth from day 1 for 8 position players? What's the average cost of a marginal win? Absolutely they need time off, though many of our players have played winter ball, which is why I lean towards getting in extra work during the season. The benefit of the off-season is that they wouldn't be potentially impacting a player's play during the game (in the event they wore a guy down). I'm not aware of teams doing anything beyond roving instructors, but I clearly stated I don't believe in following the existing model for the reasons previously mentioned, they aren't going to achieve better results by doing exactly what they've always done.

You think MiLB coaches make 200,000 a piece? They aren't going to be able to draft perfect players, especially drafting at the bottom of the 1st round, they are going to have to develop guys. They've done an excellent job targeting impact bats, I wouldn't want that to change at all, keep those impact bats rolling in. They could do more in the off-season as well... send a coach to the player so it doesn't cost the kid anything, or bring the top prospects in for extra defensive work... I'm not advocating one thing over another, I just believe they have to do a better job putting players in the best position or committing the resources the players need to make it at their current position. What they've done hasn't worked defensively.

What's an extra coach cost at every level? I have no idea what those guys make but it can't be much, maybe an extra 250,000 combined for every level? They don't know who's going to make it, but how can they wait to develop defense until they are sure when a player hits AA? Why wouldn't we want Lawrie busting his hump right now, instead of waiting? There's just not enough time... Identifying players who need the extra attention wouldn't be that hard, hell we can do that sitting on our butts typing messages on a forum. Every player needs the daily instruction and my guess is that other than taking ground balls during BP (if they do in the minors?) not much else happens, and that the coaches don't have time to individually break down and get meaningful work in with all their players. The Brewers depend so heavily on the farm system that I don't think they can follow the same model as other teams, they need to be ahead of the curve and maximize the value of the studs they develop for the short window (compared to the player's career as a whole) that they have them. Repeatedly churning out players with defensive deficiencies diminishes their overall value while they are with the Crew, especially in the early years, as I hope they improve the longer they stay. Injury treament/prevention and defensive development seem to be 2 areas where the Brewers could greatly improve as an organization.

I don't, just financial speculation if Gamel doesn't stick at 3B they won't let him rot in the minors another year, Cameron won't be back for 10 mil per, and Cain will lose 3 months of development time when all is said and done. Anyone who follows the minors knows how much I like Cain and Gamel... I'm not sure Lo Cain will be ready unless he really tears up the AFL. If Cain is ready and Gamel doesn't stick at 3B, then Hart and Cameron are expendable, If Cain isn't ready then 1 of the 2 is. The easiest thing for everyone involved would be for Gamel to stick at 3B, and that's what I'm personally pulling for. I'm surprised by the Hall to LF move, interesting speculation all the way around there.

I highly doubt that they move him from 3B during the season as I've said numerous times. I don't think this is an issue so much with Gamel/Braun/Weeks/Fielder/whomever as it is an organizational flaw in developing defense or moving players to a spot where they will be successful. For example, putting LaPorta in the OF made no sense, he's a 1B/DH, always has been, maybe it worked for him and increased his trade value I don't know. Hart bounced around multiple positions, Braun had to pickup a new position in MLB, Weeks has taken YEARS to approach average, Fielder... well he'll likely never be average despite being a pretty good athlete for his size. Nothing in Gamel's lines suggest he's a platoon player, he could hit LHP and provide ROY quality offense tomorrow if the organization had been more aggressive and moved him to a different position (regardless of need at 3B). I understand what's best for the team is Mat staying at 3B, but that's not what I'm speaking to, nor is that X's point about the bench and the lack of options against LHP. If the organization is/was adamant about Weeks playing 2B and Gamel at 3B, then get them the help they need early. Go to them in the off-season to work with them, or bring them to AZ on the team's dime, it doesn't matter. Just get them the support they need to develop their game to the best of their potential. Weeks defense was never addressed until MLB (and no roving infield instruction just doesn't cut it) and Gamel never got help till AA when he finally made some progress. Constant repetition is the only way to relearn movements, telling someone the right way they should do it isn't going to get it done and never has.

I don't mind signing FAs, I think the Brewers can get reasonable value in deals for position players, pitchers on the hand, not so much. The top of the scale the Brewers can afford are aged pitchers on the decline that averagish so I think FA pitching is terrible market for the Brewers. There's much better value in position players on the open market, for example Cameron has been worth every penny thus far in his 2 seasons and he's much less likely to suffer a significant injury than a pitcher is.

A metal error would be throwing to the wrong base or trying to make a play when he should eat the ball. While he does some of the latter, I would qualify the majority of his errors as physical in nature as he's doesn't set himself properly to make the plays. Since he has good instincts in the field, I think he could be a MLB quality 3B in time, but how long will it take? Is he going to get enough perfect repetitions in to relearn his movements properly? Remember in a game there's no time think, there's only time to react, which is why he continues to struggle. When you're pushed, your body works off of muscle memory. There may be some "I hope I don't air mail this throw" going on, but generally his issues are tied to his feet. Originally I thought Braun was a such a superior athlete that he could have made a decent 3B, but in hindsight he probably never had the instincts for the position. I'm not sure what's best for Mat, he's shown he has very good range, but he makes a ton of errors, there's a better chance for him than there was Braun, but without a certain table on defensive improvement, I'm really not sure what the best move is for him. My guess? If he fails at 3B in AAA then Hart moves to CF and Gamel goes to RF for next season. I don't see Fielder going anywhere, I think Melvin is going to ride him out and I would hope they don't let Gamel's bat rot in AAA for another season.

I'm not ignoring other metrics and that really wasn't the point of my post... UZR/150 was used... therefore I reasoned that Gamel would be bad, but not historically bad like Braun was and why that would be. I merely commented that I feel players were being rated on what they could do, not what they actually did when the range factor is being calculated. I also threw out TotalZone's rating of Gamel from last season cause that's pretty much all we have for MiLB players other than fielding percentage(thanks Battlekow for the original linkage). Instead of blindly defending the metric, consider what I'm actually trying to say... and just because Gamel would likely be very bad instead of historically bad doesn't mean I'm saying he should stay at 3B. X has made some excellent points about the bench and Gamel's bat. We had this discussion on the minor league forum already, Gamel would be a 3 win player with the bat tomorrow if they wanted him, maybe better, it's very difficult to sit on offense of that caliber for an extended period of time, especially if you're losing offensive production with Braun on the DL. If one of the starters isn't sitting, we have no RH OF option off the bench, and if Braun were to hit the DL, we have no RH options period. Gillespie is about all we have, and he's struggling as he gets his feet wet in AAA right now.

Wow, a tough 1st inning defensively for WI, Sanchez with another hit already, he's tearing the cover off the ball. Mass if you have any connections to Chris it would be nice if he could get some background information on him, scouting reports, why he was rule 5 eligible, what the Brewers saw, etc. I'm really surprised they plucked him out of the GCL when we have no presence there. edit. I was looking at Sanchez's numbers a bit closer and noticed his .500 SLG is entirely driven by 2B, I then looked at his size and noticed he's only 167 LBs, if he could add some muscle there's some power potential there as well, he could crack double digits if he got up around 200 LBs.

I think you posted that backwards... the more balls he puts in play the less opportunity he has to walk? Or am I not understanding what you mean?

That may have been the case, if I ever attempt it again I'll give that a shot