Ball And Glove

Braun's statement this afternoon before going out for BP, apparently spoken without any paper in front of him: Meh. I was wondering how long it would take him to bust out the "IT WAS OUT OF CONTEXT~!!" line.

For anyone who wants to get a kick out of Milwaukee fans going at each other's throats: http://brewersfandemonium.yuku.com/topic/19520 The early consensus was that Braun's comments were out of line, but then the village idiots come out with the "WELL HE WAS RIGHT!!!11!" posts. After awhile, the more sensible posters seemed to give up, and the past few pages are just ugly. I'd imagine things wouldn't be so heated if the Cubs didn't take 3 of 4 over the weekend, so you guys can smile a bit about the Cubs turning Brewerfan into a nuclear war zone, too.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Joe Morgan made a good point last night. The minor leagues fall under the major league system and the test regime has to do with the minor leagues as well. So why can someone who's been suspended during the major league season be allowed to play in the minors. And comparing a suspended player to an injured player is not a fair comparison. An injured player on the DL is not being punished for violating the rules. Actually, the minors and majors have had separate drug policies for a long time unless that changed with the latest updates to the policies. I believe that the minor league policy is dictated by mlb while the major league policy has to be collectively bargained. But I'm 99% sure that they are, in fact, separate. They're still separate policies, which is why minor league players can still get suspended for things like marijuana. Brewers prospect Jeremy Jeffress recently tested positive for pot again and received a 100 game suspension. The next positive test will result in a lifetime ban from baseball. On the topic of Manny, his "press conference" upon reaching the park was predictably boring. "I'm here to talk about the game," "I don't want to talk about my medical history right now," etc. Boras sat next to him the entire time, ready to jump in Rosenhaus-style if he needed to.

That's kind of ridiculous. The Brewers, like 4 other NL central teams, are 4-6 in their last 10. They've scored 7 more runs than they've allowed. The Mets aren't kind of bad, but the Brewers aren't exactly good. Getting upset over not sweeping them is stupid. Trust me, I know it's pretty dumb to get upset about not sweeping any team in the majors. I was trying to say that if they can somehow beat Johan Santana, losing tomorrow would be a bit of a letdown (especially with Gallardo pitching). A bit of a predictable letdown given the way the team has played lately, but still kind of a bummer.

Santana's starts against the Brewers since joining the Mets: April 12 2008 (home): 6.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R (4 ER), 3 HR, 2 BB, 7 K September 1 2008 (away): 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R (2 ER), 0 HR, 1 BB, 10 K April 18 2009 (home): 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R (0 ER), 0 HR, 0 BB, 7 K More or less what you'd expect...scattering about 5 hits, tons of strikeouts. That first start was part of a pretty rough April by his standards as he struggled to adjust to new surroundings, but he ultimately settled down. I'm not expecting the Brewers to win tonight, but if they do, I'll be pretty upset if they can't sweep what's become a pretty bad Mets team.

The genius that is Ned Yost: "It's not a big deal. For eight months a year, we're a family. At times things happen, flare up, but it's between the family. It's in the family. It's a little bit rude when your neighbors are fighting next door for you to go knock on the door and ask what happened. We handle it ourselves. It's between us and it's nobody's business. But it wasn't that big a deal." :banghead:

Apparently Nate McLouth died, judging by how the players are mourning the loss: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4233488

The Brewers don't have the upper level pitching prospects to get a deal done, and really, they should probably stay as far away from Peavy as possible. It's way too much money to guarantee to a guy who'd likely be a 3.50+ ERA guy at Miller Park, not to mention the fact that it would absolutely cripple the franchise once he went down with an injury. It'd be an incredibly short-sighted move that would also be unlikely to pay off. If I were a Cubs fan, I'd probably actually root for Peavy to end up on the Brewers if he isn't going to Chicago. Short term it'd be bad for the Cubs, but it'd be a good way to guarantee that the Brewers wouldn't have the money to keep anyone other than Braun while also cleaning out the farm system.

Parra's got good stuff, but the control is seriously lacking. He struck out the side in the first inning before completely melting down after serving up a HR to Uggla in the second, and Macha wasn't about to bail him out tonight until he got to 100 pitches because Milwaukee's bullpen is already overworked. His control has always kinda stunk...even in the minors his walk rates weren't very good. This year, though, things have gone to hell...I believe he was second in the majors in walks allowed to Daniel Cabrera until Cabrera got cut loose by the freaking Nationals. The good stuff/poor control thing kind of reminds me of Jorge de la Rosa...the Brewers eventually gave up on him. Parra at least has options left, but the future isn't looking too bright.

Kosuke's probably the only one that was a horrible pick, but he was probably helped by the overseas vote just as much as the huge Cubs fanbase. The rest of the guys were either defensible picks or reserves voted on by players: Soto (starter), Soriano (starter), Dempster, Marmol, Wood, Zambrano, and Ramirez all made the game. Considering the Cubs were arguably the best team in baseball at that point, there wasn't much argument for those guys not making it. From the Brewers' perspective, Corey Hart started to die a week or two before the All-Star break, and that late throw that lost the game was pretty much the official beginning of the end. He's fallen off the face of the earth faster than anyone this side of Jeff Francoeur, to the point where the Brewers would probably be smart to sit him against RHP in favor of Jody freaking Gerut. As far as this year's voting goes, it's the first round, so I wouldn't get too worked up about it. The Brewers have been campaigning for votes since the day voting opened, and it's possible guys like Fielder and Hardy are being recognized by people outside of Wisconsin as former All-Stars so they're starting to get some recognition votes. The only Brewer who'll have staying power in any of the voting races is Braun...Fielder will eventually fall back behind Pujols and Howard, and Hardy will fall back behind Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez.

Looking like Tony Gwynn Jr. for Jody Gerut. Solid deal if it's true...the Brewers had no use for Gwynn and Gerut would allow them to dump Chris Duffy. Kind of weird that the Padres would do something like that considering Gwynn was on waivers earlier this year and could've gotten him for free...that's why I'm a bit skeptical about this actually being true.

They'll probably top out at 90-92 wins at best, and I fully expect the division race to be a dogfight once the Cubs and Cards get healthy again. That September schedule is pretty brutal, and like a few others said, a lot of guys are getting really lucky with BABIP. While the pitchers are overperforming, the hitting is actually scuffling a bit...guys like Hardy and Hart have had rough starts to the year, but you have to figure by the time they get going guys like Looper and Parra will pay for putting so many guys on base. The fact that Hoffman's been so lights-out since coming off the DL definitely helps matters, too. He obviously won't be unhittable all year, though, especially if he keeps up the pace of appearances he's been on.

The offense might be affected, but not as much as if they lost someone like Hardy, Fielder, or even Cameron (leaving Braun off the list because if he goes down, the season is shot). Counsell's about as good as Weeks when it comes to OBP (even a little better this year, but the BABIP is still pretty high), and if Gamel starts platooning at third, a Hall/Gamel platoon could pick up some of that SLG slack that they're losing with Weeks out. Not nearly disastrous, but still not a good thing, especially with Counsell having knee problems earlier this year in ST. I wouldn't be surprised to see them try a few things (playing Hall at 2B, Gamel full-time at 3B...talk about bad defense) before looking for a trade. If the Indians continue to fall out of it DeRosa might be an interesting option in a month or two.

That I don't disagree with...he's already paid in the past and he'll continue to pay in the future. The same goes for other players like him (Soriano, Pujols, etc.). I personally think that beanball wars are incredibly stupid, especially in the strategic sense of giving the other team a free baserunner, but it'll probably continue, especially in division games.

I didn't see much showboating...to me it looked like he smiled a bit after making the catch because even he was probably surprised he got it, threw the ball back in, and went to the dugout because it was the end of the inning. Maybe there was something different on a St. Louis feed, but that's all they showed on FS Wisconsin. It's not like he stood there and demanded that we all bask in his glow after the catch or anything. It was nice to sweep the Cardinals, and hopefully the Cubs can do the same. ;)

Weeks was pulled from the game after his first AB against the Cards yesterday after he felt something in his wrist that didn't feel right...considering his history of wrist problems, everyone had a bad feeling about it from the start. He went to get it checked out today by the same doctor that did the surgery on his wrist a couple years ago, and they found the same exact injury in the other wrist -- a torn tendon sheath under the wrist. Recovery time is 4-6 months. More on the story: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/45348082.html

You'll have a hard time finding anyone who Brewers fans despise more right now than this guy. It's the same guy who caught Geoff Jenkins' 200th career home run and demanded signed bats from Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, and J.J. Hardy in return a few years ago (notice he didn't even bother asking for something from Jenks himself). Asking for a signed bat from Coghlan is fine, even maybe asking for a bat and photo with the guy. But asking for a game-used bat of a completely different player that the kid probably barely even knows (Coghlan's been in the majors for a week -- you think he's on good enough terms with the team's star player to go and ask for a bat?) crosses the line. The truth likely lies somewhere between the two stories, but you'll have a hard time finding an outcome that doesn't make this guy look like a huge jerk. There was actually a heated 275-post thread on Brewerfan.net about the incident, and coincidentally, the "Happy Youngster" is actually a member of the site. Not-so-coincidentally, he didn't dare step into that thread.

I like Macha in that he doesn't seem liable to get caught up in trying to play a psychological game of beanball like Yost was (the image of warming up Seth McClung for the sole purpose of hitting Albert Pujols, knowing full well he'd get ejected is still fresh in my mind). I don't like in that he's whining about crap like this in the media. Let the players handle it the way they want to...if Braun wants to complain about what happened in Pittsburgh through the media, let him. If Fielder would rather respond by hitting a 400-foot home run, let him. Let the players do the talking on the field, and stay the hell out of the way. Recommending that the league take a look at it so beyond stupid and is something an NBA coach does. He needs to shut up and be happy with the fact that his team is hot right now, instead of whining about something that had no effect on the games played over the weekend.

Just guessing, but judging by how long it took for the suspension to come down (if it was a spring training test), it's possible he already tried appealing it and failed. Didn't Raffy Palmeiro try to appeal his suspension before it was announced?

Matt Stairs hooks a pinch hit HR around the foul pole to break up the no-hitter. Victorino gets on base. Not feeling entirely confident in the Brewers holding on to this lead...the same thing happened against Toronto last year.

Of course not. Shane Victorino's going to beat out an infield hit or something, which will inevitably start the 5-run rally to tie the game. Bush has looked really good today, though...he has one of these games once and awhile. He took a no-no into 8th against Toronto last year before Lyle Overbay broke it up with a triple.

Should be a good series. I caught parts of the Cubs/Astros series and thought they looked as good as ever. The Giants series didn't go as well as I liked, but it's early and there were some positive things (Weeks routinely going the other way for the first time in three years, Cameron making nice contact). Can't say I have much confidence in anyone in the bullpen, though, and I don't like the idea of Suppan pitching the series finale. I'll say the Cubs win the series, but the Brewers win tomorrow's game.

Well, both raked at AA last year, but an inflated BABIP was a cause for concern (especially Escobar), IIRC. I agree that Salome's a nice prospect, but he really got set back with that 50-game suspension at the end of 2007/start of 2008...it cost him a lot of ABs that he could probably use. I think both will be nice MLB players, but Escobar likely won't be much more than a defensive specialist and Salome would be lucky to be a hitting catcher with little defensive value. Apparently the Brewers are confident in either Salome or Jonathan Lucroy becoming a starting catcher down the road, considering they moved Lawrie to second base. This past offseason was rough, but things will get a lot worse if they decide they want to trade J.J. Hardy to make room for Escobar, or even if they move Hardy to third, where he'd barely be average offensively. I personally think the Brewers will be above .500 for at least the next two or three years, but I'll agree they won't pose much of a threat to the division leader unless everything breaks their way (kind of like last year). The gap between Gamel/Escobar and the rest of the farm system in terms of MLB readiness is a little scary, though...Jeffress is the only pitcher that really has a high ceiling, and he won't go anywhere until he puts down the bong and starts passing drug tests.

It's been awhile since I've been around that area of the ballpark -- I do recall sitting on bleachers in right field on one of my trips, but that was awhile ago and before Attanasio bought the team and starting making changes to the park. Looking at the Miller Park seating chart on brewers.com, there are two levels of bleachers -- "Field" and "Loge". Both sections are usually $20 for individual tickets, but go up to $30 for the Marquee Games (which includes the Cubs and White Sox this year...kind of interesting because I always remember the Mets and Twins series also being "marquee"). I wouldn't recommend sitting there unless you feel like dealing with the drunken obnoxious UWM students who don't know much about the Brewers other than the fact that Ryan Braun is good and they're supposed to boo everything Rickie Weeks does, though...but those are probably the majority of Brewer fans that decide to show up for series against the Cubs. Sadly, most of the baseball-loving Brewer fans like to stay home during those series for obvious reasons.

I think much like last season, if the Cubs are going to be doing any worrying about the Brewers, it'll be their own doing...the Cubs are the best team in the division, and unless other teams get an unexpected breakout season from a few players, they should sleepwalk to another playoff appearance. The Brewers will stick around in the wild card race again, though. They're mostly the same team they were before the Sabathia trade last season, and that squad was in the thick of things before Sabathia even came to town. I'd say the only big difference is that the Brewers will have a healthy Yo Gallardo instead of Ben Sheets in the rotation, which is a small step down (but not a huge one, IMO). The bullpen is probably a little better than it was last year, but it still won't be much better than average. I do like this year's bench better than last year's, but those guys won't get enough ABs to make much of an impact. I'd say the Brewers finish with something like 84-86 wins...a respectable year considering what they lost, but missing out on the wildcard by a few games. The only thing that really has me worried is Braun's continued struggles with the intercostal strain that's been flaring up again this spring...if he misses any extended periods of time, then all bets are off. I love Brad Nelson, but the Brewers need Braun in the lineup every day to have a fighting chance.