twobrewers

I think you are overreacting a little here. People come to this site because they are Brewer fans. Second guessing a managers decision doesn't make them any less of a fan than yourself. If everyone on this board agreed with everything everyone else said - there would be no point. You can't have a discussion without different opinions. Otherwise every post would be "I think the Brewers are great!" - quickly followed by "I agree! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif " - and then another "I can't wait till their next game!" Having different opinions on topics doesn't have to mean you two hate each other personally. One person wants to see the Brewers managed one way - another person wants it another way. And looking back - I believe you started to make it a little personal with the "I've forgotten more baseball than you ever knew" comment. If you want to keep the discussion fair and reasonable - you need to follow your own rules and refrain from personal attacks. Not to mention the fact that if you don't want to read people doubting Ned's decisions - you can chose not to read the "Ned Yost Yay or Nay thread". I am not sure what else you expected to find posted in such a thread?

I saw the grimace/pain on his face - but not being a big Estrada fan, I took it as "Man, he is so slow and fat he can barely run from 1B to Home. Look how winded he is!" However, you are probably right that it has more to do with wear and tear on his body than being out of shape. (I still like my story better though)

I don't want to pile on Estrada - because you are probably right that he is playing at less than 100%. (Though 75% seems pretty low) Anyways, during Monday's game he was on first base when Counsell tripled. Estrada almost got thrown out at home - on a triple! By the time he was rounding 3B he might as well have been crawling. I have NEVER seen anyone moving so slow on the base paths. It was actually really comical - Counsell looked like he was going to catch up to him and slap him on the butt a few times to get him moving!

I believe he can qualify even if he doesn't have enough at bats. If he is say - 10 at bats short, they will just count those 10 at bats as an 0-10 for the purpose of computing the batting title. However, since he isn't batting .350 anymore - taking an 0-10 would pretty much drop him out of contention. Regardless, still an amazing rookie year.

I completely agree. I was excited to see Hart batting with 2 players on base. Hart doesn't hit into DP - and has been an RBI machine lately. As soon as the walk Jenkins, however, my heart sank to my stomache as I realized Estrada was up next. Granted he BARELY got a ball deep enough to score a run - but I think Estrada has a better chance of hitting into a DP that hitting a sac fly.

Only 203 at bats though. He had 479 in AA the year before that weren't very good at all. Since we have had him he never put together a full year of great play.

Good point. I guess it isn't really fair of me to compare him to Prince, Braun or even Laporta since Rickie isn't playing a "power" position. So while I still think his minor league career is underwhelming - for a 2B that might not be so bad.

While Rickie has played pretty well since his call up from AAA - it is still safe to say he has had a very disappointing year. Many on this board expected Rickie to someday become the kind of player who could hit 30HR and steal 30 Bases. This was suppose to be his break out year. While looking through my media guide last night - I couldn't help but wonder why Rickie received so much hype as a young player. He was the second over all pick in the 2003 draft. 2003: He bats .348 with 1HR in 63 at bats for Beloit. 2004: He bats .259 with 8HR in 479 at bats for Huntsville. He leads the league in doubles with 35. He steals 11 bases and is caught stealing 12 times. He strikes out 107 times, while walking 55. 2005: He bats .320 in 203 at bats for Nashville. He hits 12HR and 14 doubles. He steals 10 bases and is caught once. He strikes out 51, and walks 28. 2005: He is called up to Milwaukee. In 360 at bats he hits .239 with 13 HR and 13 doubles. He steals 15 bases/caught twice. He strikes out 96 times/walks 40 2006: He is in Milwaukee the entire year. He bats .279 with 359 at bats. He hits 8HR with 15 doubles. He steals 19 bases and is caught 5 times. He strikes out 90 times/walks 30. I don't see any numbers that are particularly impressive. In 2005 for Nashville he played pretty well. He clearly struggled after being called up. And since 2005 - he has never really put up any kind of power numbers to speak of. His 2004 season in Huntsville was very poor. And this is even ignoring the fact that his defense was shaky all through the minor league. Looking at Princes numbers in the minors - it was clear he was going to be a beast. The same can largely be said for Braun. (And for Laporta so far) Lets also not forget, the Rickie was a collegiate player. He wasn't a 19 year old kid we draft (like Prince) who might take some time to get adjusted. Rickie was playing against high quality opponents in college already - but his numbers never really translated to the minor leagues. So my question is - where did all of this hype for Rickie Weeks come from? Was it all based on his collegiate career? (NCAA best .473 batting average) Was it based on his high draft selection? (2nd overall) Was it based on scouting reports? Or Was out team just so bad back then that he was really our only prospect and thus received more hype that was justified? (Nelson Cruz and Wil Inman)

What the? How the? Why the? Did we just get Yosted?

I just hope this is really going to be the Sheets we know and love. My gut tells me to expects lots of fastballs with more changeups than usual. I can't imagine he is going to push the curve with his blister problem. Add that to no rehab start - still plenty to be nervous about. But then again, better than sending up Vargas!

You say that like it is a bad thing. HE IS OUR 5th STARTER! It seems like half the people love his wins - while the other half point to his poor peripheral stats and his "luck" thus far. Lets be honest, Vargas has not been the cause of our decline this year. He has been pretty much what we would expect from a quality #5 starter. He has decent stuff, has made all of his starts thus far and can usually go 5 innings and keep us in the game. If you want to be angry at the pitching staff - I think their are others that are more deserving of our rath. Cappy has been god awful. Suppan has been slightly below expectations. Sheets is hurt again. Our bullpen is terrible right now.

Being a poor defensive player doesn't make you a good DH. Estrada has a horrible BB rate - and very limited power. I fail to see how anyone would be interested in having him as a DH. He doesn't exactly measure up with the Thome and Ortiz's of the world.

I actually asked about this awhile back in the trade rumor forum (I think) If Laynce was right handed and putting up those numbers - he would be a decent option (cheap too) to platoon with Gross on the big league club. (Plus, if I remember, he plays center field too) Being a lefty, he has no use to us. I just hope that we can find one team with a similiar player (limited upside - too old - no room) who is right handed that is looking for someone like Nix. It's a long shot - but it's really only trading junk for junk. And we would actually be getting the worse half of the platoon. (As right handed platoon batters don't play that often) He does have a .913 OPS against right handed pitching.

I would say that is about right. That is too rich for my blood - but we always overvalue our players and undervalue the players we want to acquire. Crawford is having a great year. Guys like that don't get traded. Posada will never happen. First, we aren't going to outbid the Yankess AND the Mets for his services. I can't see anyway he doesn't resign with the Yanks. He can even take less money and make it back later by being one of the legendary Yankees. The guy is just a Yankee through and through - not quite on the level of Jeter, but close. Verducci at SI.com just wrote an article about how old all of the free agent catchers are and looking at the sharp decline after a certain age. I had Estrada - but I don't want to see money tied up in a player in decline either. Link

How many post into this thread do you think it took before Hauser wished that he had never started this thread? As an avid Jenkins hater - I think he has done exactly what has been asked of him this year. I can't complain.

Is Rickie a bad bunter? He hasn't hit a home run since April I believe - but he never tries to bunt. At yesterdays game, the 3B was 10 feet behind the bag while playing against Weeks at every at bat. With Weeks' speed, you don't even need a great bunt to get on base with that positioning. In addition, if he can start to lay down a few bunts for base hits - it might open a few holes for him in the infield to drive the ball through. Let face it, Weeks has been having a horrible year. He isn't hitting the ball really well. And he has lost all power at this point. If he could at least bunt for a hit and be a threat to steal he would be significantly more valueable to this team than just hacking on every at bat. If he is a bad bunter - I hope he plans on working on that during the off season.

Yes - but Santana is a free agent after next season. So we only get him for one season - and if we wanted him after that, why trade Braun? You could just wait until he hit free agency and go after him. So you would be getting ONE season of Santana, Mauer and Garza (who hasn't done too much honestly) I am not saying it still isn't a good offer - but I don't think turning it down would be enough to have someone commited just yet. And that outfield you listed....that might be the worst outfield in the league. Of course, the Twins would never offer that anyways...but you get the idea.

From Jon Heyman of SI.

I could vent this...but since their is already a Hurrican thread. I like getting news on hurricanes. Obviously Katrina was a national news story. But living in Wisconsin - I could care less about a tropical storm that is barely north of south america. EVERY time they find a new tropical storm they make it a national story. Frankly, 3 inches of rain and 40 MPH winds isn't newsworthy. Now when we get to hurrican level and evacuation time - by all means, proceed.

Let's face it - we are pretty hardcore Brewer Fans. We see the team through these rose colored glasses that the rest of the world just doesn't understand. We have faced years of sucktitude and have only maintained our sanity by always "looking at next year" We had hoped this year would be next year. To make matter worse, we started the season 24-10. That was a perfect storm of EVERYONE playing great at the same time. We were never that good. So lets take off the glasses and get back to reality. Bill Hall struggled for months to learn his position. Last year he played out of his mind. He is a good player - he is by no means an elite player. Corey Hart was hurt for a significant portion of the year. It was great to watch his resurrgence around the midpoint of the season - but he was pretty bad early in the season. J.J. Hardy is a slick fielding SS with limited pop in his bat. He was always a weak link in our offense. That fact that he went on a HR/Batting craze never changed him. He was incredibly lucky for 2 months - and pitchers were giving him high and inside pitches to hit. Ignore Capuano and Hardy as all stars. It was a fluke. They both had had incredible short term success (1/2 season) that warranted a spot on the squad. That doesn't mean they were one of the best players in MLB. Plenty of bad players have made the all star team - Ask the Royals. We have plenty of pitching depth - but little pitching talent. We have up to 8 starters we can trot out to the mound when everyone is healthy. But the fact that we couldn't ever figure out which 5 were best gives a pretty good indication that none of them were that good. Ben Sheets is hurt again. Early in the season EVERYONE said we needed him healthy to win. He is hurt. YoGo is a rookie. VERY rarely does a rookie pitcher experience huge success in his first year. This kid is very young. When it comes to being a rookie pitcher - you can pretty much call the first year a trial run. Suppan was a ton of money at an average (but healthy) pitcher. Paying him more money didn't make him a better player. He is little more than a guy to take the ball every 5 days - and to be fair, he does have the most IP. Weeks is potential. At some point, potential has to be realized. He has been battling injuries this year and last. But we need to accept that given his "special" trait of bat speed - his wrist injuy might keep him from ever realizing his talent. At this point, he is one of the worst 2nd basemen in the league. Coco is a flawed closer. He was traded from Texas for a reason. He is good at home and horrible on the road. He also seems to tire pretty easy. He isn't going to have a .56 ERA all year. Maddux isn't God. Everyone here seems to say so. He has had some success with certain pitchers. But LOTS of pitchers have come through that haven't had good years under him. He has had pitchers leaking talent that he was unable to harness (De La Rosa) I am not saying anything is his fault - but he can't turn water into wine. Ned has never done anything to show he is a big time manager. He carried a clipboard for a number of years on championship caliber teams. But being #2 and the head guy are two very different roles. I don't mean this to be a vent. It actually isn't a vent at all. I am just trying to point out that we shouldnt' be winning every game. We have some serious flaws on our team. In fact, the only reason going into the season people thought we had a chance was because our division was soooo bad. They were right. We are an average team. We have been hurt by injuries. We are in a really bad division. So I am going to try to enjoy that fact that we are in first. I know it doesn't mean we are that good. But it's still pretty funny to watch the Cubs continue 100 years of crapulence!

The Worlds Oldest Person dying bothers me.. That's about as newsworthy as the worlds youngest person being born. WHO CARES! That is what they are suppose to do - DIE. They were 114, of course they freaking died. And in another month the next oldest person will die.

I know MANY people are on the Fire Ned bandwagon as of late... Am I the only one who wants to fire him and go with Kremblas the rest of the season just to light a fire under the kids butts. I don't honestly think Ned is at fault, but firing him would let EVERYONE in the clubhouse blame him and move on. I want to scapegoat Ned publically to take the blame off of the players and let them start over.

ARGGG!!! Vent! Vent! Vent! I can't take this anymore. I am almost dreading having tickets for two games this weekend.

Al - I believe the quote has the Chiropractor asking how it feels and Homer answers... "That feels (!) ...a little ....better" (starting out really excited and calming down as he says it) And then the ok, now see me for the next couple of years line.

Just bumping this and offering my services as well. I think you have a fantastic deal you are offering there! I have two tickets already for my wife and myself - but I am sure I could find two more people to attend with us. I would gladly mail you the bobbleheads. Pass on me for now - in the hope that you can find someone else who actually needs the tickets to get themselves into the game. But if all else fails, I would be happy to get your bobbleheads for you.