brewfandave

Yes but he can't catch a cold, from what I have read. Actually, I think a lot of his errors are on the throw. And hes been much better so far this year in the minors. Reports are that he has very good hands. He only has two errors so far, both on throws. Of course, when he committed the second error, he later hit a home run - a common occurrence in Spring Training.

The Zambrano thing was a joke implying that he has command issues, especially when flustered. I was hoping to get laughs and maybe a "hey, he DOES have command issues!" out of it. I think Z is a tremendously talented pitcher occasionally held back by his tendency to melt down. I thought "barely contained lumpy wildman consisting chiefly of high fastballs and animal fury" was clearly enough a joke. When it comes to performance, I don't care if he's an ass on the mound - I'm not saying his attitude will hold him back - I'm saying the lack of self-control that sometimes leads to meltdowns might. I'm also waiting to see if Sheets can last a season. Good catch on the multiple injuries. I don't think he's the second coming. I think he's an ace-caliber pitcher when healthy, and hope he stays healthy. I also think Zambrano IS an ace pitcher. Anyway, can we chalk this up to a joke blown way out of proportion? PS - if you're going to call any Brewers "lumpy," Prince Fielder is usually the obvious choice - there's a great Dugout with him and the Miller Park Sausages...

Apples to oranges. The better risk comparison is this: What's more likely: Sheets getting injured or Zambrano succumbing to being a barely-contained lumpy wildman consisting chiefly of high fastballs and animal fury? For the record, I was never implying or assuming Zambrano would get hurt. He doesn't seem like the injury-prone type.

The injuries are in the past, even though hes already left a start early in the first month of the season? Injury not injuries. The back injury is what ruined his seasons in '05 and '06. Pulling him from the game with a groin strain in 40 degree weather was a precaution. He returned the next start and pitched as well as he's pitched all year. Remember the "finding his curveball" part? His curve started dropping in that last start. With his curveball dropping like it used to, expect the Ks to go up, as that's his "out" pitch, and hits and ERA to go down.

Its between .290-.300. He certainly won't be as bad as he has been this year, but he'll be the pitcher who posted a 3.64 ERA/ 1.34 post all star break last year who only had 2 really good months the entire season. He has been abused for 3+ years and its catching up to him. And what will Ben Sheets be? About the same - fewer walks, about the same number of hits and a slightly higher propensity to cough up gopher balls. Ben Sheets has finally figured out his curveball, which bodes poorly for opposing hitters. It's easy to forget just how good Ben Sheets is since he's been hurt for so long, but his 2005 numbers were stellar before his injury, and his '06 numbers weren't terrible, either. They steadily improved from July. This tells me the injury is in the past, and he has his stuff back.

There are a couple of scenarios. First, with Braun, the Brewers are waiting for enough time to pass to not burn too many pre-arbitration years. I don't know how that works because I know very little about the arbitration process, but I've heard late May-early June talked about for the cutoff date. This coincides pretty nicely with interleague play, methinks. With Braun's glove being the issue (although AAA reports show that he's only committed two errors), he's an ideal DH. From rumors I've heard (and these are friend of a sister of an illicit mistress of a Brewer scout's secretary sort of thing), this is most likely. Then, when interleague play ends, we could slot him into the starting third base role vs lefties, leaving Graffanino and Counsell in their proper place, as a backup for Rickie Weeks and JJ Hardy, respectively. Of course, should there be any sort of injury to the starting infield, he'd be up by the end of the day. An amusing note - in Spring Training, in every game in which Braun committed an error, he later hit a home run. What happened this week in Nashville? He committed his second error and then hit his (eighth? ninth?) home run. This kid could hit balls out of the park with a whiffle bat. I believe that Yo Gallardo is going to stay in AAA unless there's an injury or somebody explodes. With Carlos Villanueva really starting to pitch, and with Jose Capellan showing up at games, there's no reason to call up Yo for the bullpen. Remember that this kid started last year in A-ball. They don't want to rush him too much. Gallardo is really exciting, though. Among scouts, he's considered to have "ace" stuff, and he's regarded in the same class as Philip Hughes or Cole Hamels. Of course, being in Milwaukee's farm system, he's a prospect, where a guy like Philip Hughes is a phenom. Such is the nature of the media.

Here's how it appears to me: The Brewers have no, count 'em, zero offensive superstars. Count Fielder, Hall and *gulp* Craig Counsell as you will, but nobody on this Brewers team comes close to a performing-to-expectations Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano or Aramis Ramirez. What they do have are seven position players (likely eight, upon the callup of Braun) in any given lineup who are capable of going out there and putting up performances upwards of an .800+ OPS. Then, yes, they do have a bench largely capable of replacing most of those players with capable production, especially in the outfield. As for the defense, other than one brutal stretch by Hall and another brutal stretch by the entire infield, the Brewers have been solid on defense, and, as you would expect from a very young team, they're only going to get better. See: Weeks, Rickie.

Well, it's less expecting Braun to come in and be a world-beater than to come in and out-hit the equivalent of (looking at Cub stats) Cesar Izturis platooned with Jason Marquis. That's right, folks, Craig Counsell is the best third baseman on the field for the Brewers right now with an OPS of .629, and that's almost 100 points higher than his platoon-mate. As for other players, it's likely that Jenkins and Mench won't each maintain their pace, but a .900 OPS from each of them hitting against the right pitchers (Jenkins v. righties/Mench v. lefties) isn't an out-of-this-world prediction. Then there's Bill Hall and Rickie Weeks, sporting BAs of .247 and .237. Bill Hall, even if you consider him being in line with career stats, is unlikely to keep hitting below .250, and Rickie Weeks won't either. I think what the Cubs get from Soriano once he remembers that he's a Major Leaguer will be equaled if not outdone by Weeks and Hall doing the same.

He normally waits for the 10th? Hehe, good catch :oops: he usually isn't brought in in the eighth.

This is true, yet I've seen other managers, including Baker, bring a reliever in only to have him IBB the first guy he sees. Stupid move. Yes, yes it is. Over at brewerfan we're expressing some surprise that Yost actually brought in Turnbow to face a hitter in the ninth.

If they were going to intentionally walk him, they'd have left Brian Shouse in. Turnbow's job is to get people out, not arrange the baserunners in proper fashion. Turnbow has some pretty nasty stuff, and while Derrek Lee is good, well, even the best hitters make outs 2/3 of their at-bats. Lee is also coming off a broken wrist, which can throw off your swing.

That depends if we put somebody out there bad enough to give up those... So, probably. Our bullpen is terrible.

Judging by the Gameday pitch location, Williamson looks like he's terrified of Carlos Lee putting one onto Waveland.

Prior is a strike-out machine today. See my pre-game scenarios, though - this bodes well for the Brew Crew. I don't think Brady Clark even lifted the bat off his shoulder for that one.

You mean the Cubs aren't the only team that does this? Let's just say that the only teams the Brewers' starting rotation (Cappy excluded - he's a stud) can get out are the Brewers and the Cubs.

Knowing the Brewers hitters, here's what you can expect out of Prior: Scenario A ("Let's all pretend to be Glendon Rusch"): he pitches like crap - control issues, lazy curves left up in the zone, dead fastball. He one-hits the Brewers through eight, throwing about 95 pitches. Scenario B ("Portrait of Mark Prior as an Ace"): he's on - mid-90s fastball with movement, twelve to six curve, biting slider... the Brewers shell him and he leaves in the third with at least six earned runs. It's frustrating being a Brewer fan because they can be so good and so bad in the same week, especially with such vastly different performances. I'm serious about those scenarios - the Brewers shell aces like nobody's business (last two games against Roger Clemens: about 6 IP, 12 ER), but they can't hit soft-tossing lefties, junkballers, and desperately-called-up rotation-filler rookies.

Just so you know, you guys aren't the only victims of poor managing and crappy play. We put Dan Kolb out there to hold a lead, and let Chad Moeller bat three times in one game, including in the ninth inning with a man on, down three runs. We Brewer fans were, honest to God, cheering for a strike-out from Chad Moeller because that's the best result we could reasonably hope for.

At the top of page 5, a Brewer fan said that CLee is the worst defender on the team. In reality, he's a little below average, but not that much. Stats show that Weeks and Jenkins are worse in the field: http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/rings/discussion/2006_defensive_ratings_through_june_22/ In my defense, my comment about Carlos Lee was that he's slow, lazy and doesn't have much of an arm. Anywho, enjoy the gift courtesy of Danny Kolb. We Brewers fans, since we hate Chad "Bad Chad" "GIDP" Moeller as much as you Cub fans hate Neifi, are blaming it on his calling.

It was hit so hard that it bounced off the wall fast to a very prepared Carlos Lee who sent it back to second base. Combination of a solid hit and good defending sunk that double. And a perfect throw by Lee. It was a very nice play. Aramis did the right thing in trying for a double. You've got to tip your cap to Carlos Lee. :D Wait, what? Carlos Lee might be the worst defender on the team. Yes, I am aware that he's on a team with Rickie Weeks and Bad Chad Moeller.

Dave Bush got his first road win of the season last week, so he may have found some kryptonite. That, or he'll give up six runs in four innings. You never know when he's pitching on the road.

I just laughed because I knew the comeback was too good to be true. Our TV announcers like to talk about all the Brewers' come-from-behind wins. Most comebacks are too good to be true against us. Most of us discount that because it's kind of a BS stat, but this team is hard to put away, especially when the bats are hot. There's nothing for heating up the bats like a stint against the Cubs' pitching, which is the only staff more volatile than our own (but only arguably).

Kansas City is no longer the team we need to surpass for the worst record in all of baseball; Pittsburgh is. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh isn't cooperating; they're losing even more than the Cubs right now. Don't lose faith, eventually the Cubs will play the Pirates. The Brewers will also eventually play the Pirates at PNC Park again. If you ever want to watch the wheels come off the season for a mediocre Brewers team, watch them take a mid-season trip to PNC Park.

We've been debating this among Brewer fans about Turnbow, so it's not just you guys. Now that I think about it, there isn't an "elite" or "shut-down" closer in the Central these days. Cardinals - Izzy - always had trouble with WHIP, but was able to minimize damage for two charmed seasons Reds - Weathers? Coffey? Do they even have a closer? Crew - Turnbow - one of his nicknames is "Wild Thing" for a reason, folks. Astros - Lidge - Game 6, Albert Pujols. Cobs - Dempster's having some trouble. Pirates - do they even bother with a closer?

= Complete Game shut out The fun is in guesing the # of pitches it takes. Young lefty with an average or worse ERA. Sounds about right. You should find some tougher prognostications. :wink: He's a bright prospect, though, and his poor ERA may be due to the fact that he wasn't expected to be called up until next year, but injuries and exploding prospects (see: Hendrickson, Ben and Eveland, Dana) forced the move. His K/9 (14K/17.1IP) and BB/9 (2BB/17.1IP) look to be serious trouble for your Cobs, though. He's also a lefty. I predict a first career shutout, myself. This will either be a classic strike-out pitchers' duel, or the ump will make a bad call early and Zambrano will then explode and proceed to hit four batters and give up seven home runs in the next three innings.

We are, but it's tempered by the fact that we also have two starting pitchers (including our ace) and an infield starter on the DL. Anyway, here's another Milwaukee-themed idea for you: "Only the Cubs could make me cheer for the Brewers"