Milwaukee Brewers

they just like to think they are.  Either way, they're like the Milwaukee Brewers starters right now, starting to fade after the 5th innings; the season isn't done yet and the talk is quieting.  The emails are slowing, nicknames are crawling.  I'm disappointed, a league where I picked the people to bring it.  I thought my mix was on spot; I thought I had a killer dish to keep people coming back for more.  In the end, it looks like I'm missing a special ingredient.  I'm missing an Anthony Mason like Point Forward on a run and gun jump shooting Bucks team; I need that spark to get me over the top.  I can't just throw anybody into a spot; I'm not Ted Thompson here.  I don't throw darts and hope to find a starting offensive line for a fragile QB.  I need gamebreakers, PTP'ers.  I need The Answer, The Truth.  

Continue reading "College Fantasy Football"

In the National League, the elongated double switch shows again why pitching statistics are quite poorly attributed.  A traditional double switch involves the manager inserting a position player into the game  for the current pitcher and a new pitcher for a position player--typically one who just made an out, so that the new pitcher won't be batting for nearly a full trip through the lineup.

Continue reading "More Thoughts on MLB Pitching Statistics"

With the end of the trade deadline just passing, the everyday brewer fan ponders whether or not the Brewers will have enough to make it into the 2009 MLB playoffs. Doug Melvin failed to make the C.C. Sabathia like trade that he did in 2009 and instead settled for a former Brewers, Claudio Vargas. With the Brewer's pitching staff currently with a huge dent in it. Should Melvin have considered making a more effective trade? The answer we will not know until October. But with heavily coveted prospects in Alcides Escobar and Mat Gamel, it is hard to understand why Melvin did not decide to make a larger deal. With Cliff Lee, Jarrod Washburn and even the likes of Jake Peavy swapping jerseys, not making a deal to that caliber is a bit confusing. With injuries to Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush the Brewer's organization will have to look to other solutions in order to patch up their pitching rotation. Claudio Vargas would be one direction that the Brewers may look, with a 11-6 record in the 2007 season. Vargas still could be a great addition to the Brewers organization. But will it be enough?

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The Brewers gave up two touchdowns last night to the Nationals and only managed one of their own in a 6-14 loss, dropping them to 1 game under .500 on the season and 4 games back in the tight NL Central.  The Crew has ripped off 3 wins in their last 10 games, while the now Central Leading Cubs have reeled off 8 wins in their last 10.  Frankly, the Brewers have NO chance to win the NL Central.  The Cardinals, who have a superior pitching staff to Milwaukee, added Julio Lugo and Matt Holliday is protection for Albert Pujols.  The Cubs haven't added anybody; they don't need to.  Their line up is expensive and filled with talent as is their pitching staff, Rich Harden, Alfonso Soriano, Milton Bradley, Carlos Zambrano, and Carlos Marmol turning their seasons into AVERAGE seasons by their standards is like making 5 huge trades.  All they need to do is get healthy and play average seasons down the stretch, and they'll be neck and neck with the Cardinals. 

Continue reading "Brewers Future"

Here'e another quirky entry into the "Win" category:  http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4318608.  If we used Team pitching statistics, that win would simply go to the Nationals pitching staff, which clearly it should have.

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As the Brewers wrap up a series against the Cardinals and Tony LaRussa's peculiar lineup strategy, I thought it might be worth thinking about what would make certain lineups advantageous.  LaRussa has been hitting the pitcher in the 8th spot, with a position player hitting behind him in the 9th slot, for several years now.  Why?

Continue reading "The Merits of the Pitcher Hitting 8th"

The last couple of season, the Milwaukee Brewers have not fared well in their last two series before the All-Star break. Milwaukee went 1-5 in 2007 and last year finished the first half on a 3-4 skid. In 2008, a win by C.C. Sabathia over the Cincinnati Reds saved Milwaukee from being swept by their division rivals on the last day before the All-Star break.

Continue reading "Brewers Need Strong Finish Before ..."

I got into a discussion with Sean yesterday about the post I made a couple of weeks ago concerning when a runner has officially taken possession of a base.  We consulted the rule book (online at baseball-almanac.com, a great site) and found no specific details about the situation.  (Though, admittedly, I did not carefully pore over every bit of it research-style, since we were simply having an entertaining discussion.)  While shifting through various alternative scenarios to try to tease out the answer, this fun one came up:

Continue reading "More Baseball Rules Discussion"

This game typifies why the open base need not always be filled.  Particularly with the winning run on third base, you are asking quite a lot of your pitcher to confine him to the box created by bases loaded.  The Brewers should have gone after Soto--a player coming in cold off the bench--with runners on second and third and 2 outs.  Instead, they blatantly pitched around him for 3 pitches, then intentionally put him on with the fourth pitch to set the stage for the walk-off walk.

Continue reading "Brewers - Cubs and Walk-off Walks"

Why are pitching statistics so quirky?  For instance, why does a starter need to go 5 innings to earn a win?  And why should a starter get a loss if his team eventually scores more runs than

Continue reading "Team Pitching Statistics in MLB"

I thought it would be fitting for my first post to discuss a rules question I've thought about for baseball for quite a long time. Here's the situation: Runner on first, less than 2 outs.  The pitcher accidentally goes into the windup, and the runner takes off for second.  (Or the runner takes off, then the pitcher goes into the windup.)  There is a strange combination of blazing speed in the runner and very slow motion in the pitcher's windup.  The runner reaches second base before the pitch reaches the plate.  The batter hits a lazy fly to the outfield.

Continue reading "Rules of the game (MLB)"

So the Brewers lose their second straight to the Rockies and take the series loss. Having Dave Bush on the mound against Jorge De La Rosa it looked like an easy victory for the crew before it even sta

Continue reading "Brewers drop another tough one"

 Vs

(Bernie Brewer)               (Somalia Pirate?)

And the streak goes on.....I'm not too suprised. This is will be the 15th win over the Pirates in a row. Even though todays game was not the most exciting it just comes to show how the Brewers pitching has been turning itself around since the start of the season.

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The Seattle Mariners picked up injured closer Chad Cordero in the offseason. Cordero was a solid major league closer with the Washington Nationals for years. Foxsports reports that the Mariners are likely to use Cordero as mid season trade bait if they are out of contention early as they are expected to be.

Continue reading "Speculation: Mid Season Trades"

Last season in late September the Brewers picked up Mike Lamb, to be used as a pinch hitter and reserve player. Lamb went 3 for 11 during the stretch run, but was not put on the post season roster. On tuesday the Brewers decided to essenially release Lamb, by not putting him on the opening day roster. He has the option to play for AAA Nashville, but will likely hold out for another major league gig.

Continue reading "Brew Crew clears spot for McGehee"

After playing their first meaningful October baseball games in a quarter century the Milwaukee Brewers have a tough road a head of them. They will dearly miss all 6 feet 7 inches of CC Sabathia, as well as injury plagued Ben Sheets. The 2009 Brewers will rely on young talent in their pitching staff, which is generally not a recipe for success. Maybe they should give the Rays a call.

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Every time Yovani Gallardo and Manny Para take the mound during spring training, Milwaukee Brewers' fans hold their breath a little bit. After making the playoffs for the first time in 26 seasons last year, the Brewer faithful know this year's success rests on the untested arms of these young pitchers.

Continue reading "Hoffman Injury is a Bad Omen for Brewers"

With World Baseball Classic ads starting to be run of ESPN, talk about starts to fire up. You’ll start hear U-S-A, olé olé olé, my country his better than your country, but seeing as how I was born and raise in the good old US of A, that’s is the team that I will be talking about. The 2006 World Baseball Classic team looked like it could prove that baseball was America's past time. You had the king of Swing in Ken Griffey Jr., two captain of their respected team in Derek Jeter and Jason Vartex. You have a batting title winner in Derek Lee, and a soon to be Homerun king in Alex Rodriguez. You had a loaded pitching rotation with Rodger Clemens, Dontrelle Wills and Jake Peavy and a dominating closer in Brad Lidge. USA was going in with a “this is going to be so easy” kind of mentality. But that wasn’t the case. Team Mexico and Team Canada proved that they could play with the big boys, and the USA struggled against Pacific Ocean rivals Team Japan and Team South Korea. But this year is different in different ways. Team USA will bring in a Mark Johnson, who helped lead the USA Olympic baseball team to a Bronze metal. But that’s not going to be the only difference. The king of swing Kin Griffey Jr., who lead the team in batting average and tied for first in homerun, won’t be playing of team USA, as well as the man he tied for Homeruns Derek Lee said that he won’t be playing either sighting that Red Sox’s Kevin Youkilis would be getting most of the action at first. A-Rod, coming o ff steroid problems, as said that he won’t be playing for the USA, but he will play for the Dominican Republic (maybe he’ll get more steroids, ha). Derek Jeter has said the he’s game for the classic and is the captain of team USA. Veritex, who played but did suffer and injury, won’t be playing after struggling to land a job back with the Red Sox’s. Rodger Clemens has retired and face a crap load of legal stuff, so don’t look for him to pull a Brett Favre, and the WBC was the down fall of the D-Train, who after being traded to the Tigers was given a hug contract and then sent to Single-A ball. The 2009 team will have a veteran pitching staff with such aces as Padres Jake Peavy, Astros Roy Oswalt and the Orioles young ace Jeremy Guthrie, as well as Cubs control pitcher Ted Lilly. Added to the Bullpen are lefties John Grabow (Pirates), J.P. Howell (Rays), and Matt Thornton (White Sox) as well as the guys that set the big men up; LaTroy Hawkins (Astros), Scot Shields (Angels), and Brad Ziegler (Athletics). And there is a frenzy of different player that could take the closers role left by the withdraw of Twins pitcher Joe Nathan, Blue Jays B.J. Ryan, and Angels new comer Brian Fuentes, but there are still several pitchers that could get the nod when it comes time. Heath Bell, Matt Lindstrom, and Jonathan Broxton could get start on closing games early as both are being handed the closing job because of the departure of the past closers, Bell for Trevor Hoffman, Lindstrom for Greggs, and Broxton for Takashi Saito. Joel Hanrahan for the Nationals did well the few times that he was called on, but I don’t see him as the guy manager Davey Johnson will turn to. And that leave only the big apple’s J.J. Putz, who before being traded to the Mets was a dominant closer for the Seattle Mariners, and is the person I see getting the nod for the ninth inning. Catching will be an area to watch during this World Baseball Classic because manager Mark Johnson is only bring two young catchers with him, Brain McCann and Chris Iannetta, compared to the team before that brought three. While Brain McCann has been in the league for several years he is mostly know for his bat than his game calling and Chris just finished his first full season duty as a catcher. While both of these catchers are young they aren’t fast and they are inexperienced when it comes to game calling. The Infield has been re-vamped from the 2006 team, which really didn’t have much speed but they hit for a high average. This year there are players with crazy speed, such as Jimmy Rollens, who stole 47 bases for the world champs (Phillies), and AL MVP Dustian Pedroia, who swiped twenty bases (Red Sox’s). But those aren’t the only players that will run, there isn’t a player that is on the infield roster that doesn’t have a stolen base, and we all know that Derek Jeter (Yankees), and David Wright (Mets) can run, but not as fast as Rollins and Perdoia. The corners will be guarded well with David Wright, a two time gold glove, Kevin Youkilis winner of the gold glove in 2007, and finally Chipper Jones, who hasn’t earned a Gold Glove yet, but has never had a fielding percentage below .950 since 2002. If someone were to go down Indians Mark DerRosa has experience at every position on the field (ok, well not pitcher and catcher but I’m sure if they asked he would do it) and can serve as a solid back-up. The Outfielder has changed from what it was in 2006. The 06 team had good players but they never really came out and showed who they were. The team had some speed with Randy Winn and Vernon Wells and there was defense but that in Wells, who’s a three time Gold Glove winner and Francoeur who the pervious season season lead the league in outfield assists. Other than Griffey the outfield really struggled with its hitting. This year you won’t have Vernon Wells returning to hold down the fort but you will have the Tigers’ power hitting, fast running centerfielder in Curtis Granderson, the Brewers young kid Ryan Braun, who didn’t commit a single error in the outfield last year, the Nationals new power house Adam Dunn, as well as the Phillies hard noised flying Hawaiian Shane Victorino . With everything being added up the road to reclaiming baseball as America’s past time won’t be as easy as pie. Team USA has first to go though team Canada, Team Italy, and Team Venezuela, all have several players with major league talent. Team Canada gave team USA fits which lead to the early exit. Team Venezuela won’t be any easier seeing as how they too have many good major leaguers on their roster. Team Italy, while wanting to prove that they have talent, I don’t see them being a hug threat to team USA. Overall, team USA wants to show that they can win, and I will predict an advance to the second round where they will take on the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico. There who know what will happen. It will be a though road from them, but in the end it will depend on how well team USA’s pitching will do against power house countries.

Continue reading "2009 Team USA World Baseball Classic"

With the Brewers 2009 not look so good with the young amount of talent that needs time to grow, the following season does promising to the naked eye.  Ryan Braun didn’t look to show any sig

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e MLB review a tape last year to give a great pitcher the benefit.

Last season CC Sabathia of the Milwaukee Brewers threw a one hitter against the Pirates. The one hit was a questionable dribbler which Sabathia bobbled. Many believe this should have been charged as an error for Sabathia and he should have finished with a no-hitter, an even more prestigous accomplishment than a triple double.

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           With the Milwaukee Brewers 2008 season over with a 3-1 series loss to Philadelphia Phillies, there are many off season questions to answer.  What I will focus are Dale ­­­­­­­Sveum be the manager in 2009, who is going to be the bullpen in 2009, who will fill the two empty place in the rotation, will the ownership go out and get anyone, who will be in centerfield.   

Continue reading "Brewers 2009 offseason to do list"

I didn't think I'd have a relevant opportunity to revisit one of the points in my most recent Brewers blog entry so quickly.  That point being:  Ray Durham was a great pickup and, given his experience and steadiness - especially in the field - maybe we should be seeing some more of him. 

Continue reading "As I was saying about Ray Durham..."

The Brewers will soon take the field for their first official October baseball game in over a quarter of a decade. After years of near misses and many more "rebuilding" years, the Brewers have finally seen a gain from their investment. Milwaukee's core of players has stepped up to take the team, and the city to a place never seen by Miller Park.

Continue reading "October Baseball 10/1"

Like all of you Brewers fans, I'm beside myself happy about the Crew making the post-season.  CC is THE MAN.  That guy's a frigging bull.  I have never seen a pitcher carry a team the way he has, particularly the last 2 weeks of the season. 

Continue reading "Giddy about the Brew Crew"

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

A couple of observations about last night's big Brewers win over the Pirates.

Nice to see Braun hit the fool out of that ball for the game winner. It's been a long September for Braun (avg. around .200 and only 1 HR in coming into Thursday's game).

Continue reading "That's what I like to see"

s called up any players from Double-A and/or Triple-A to fill the expanded 40 man roster.  The Milwaukee Brewers add to their roster pitchers Mark DiFelice, Tim Dillard and Mitch Stetter, along with third baseman Mat Gamel, shortstop Alcides Escobar, catcher Angel Salome, infielder Joe Dillon, catcher Vinny Rottino, outfielder Tony Gwynn and first baseman Brad Nelson.  So let’s get acquainted with the possible future of the

Continue reading "The New Young Arms for the Brewers"

With Jason Kendall’s 110th game behind the plate, the Brewers are now contractually obligated to pick up his $4.25 million option for 2009.  While the Brewers signed Kendall for his experience and solid game calling, he also has proven to be unyielding behind the plate.  In 2007, when with the Athletics and Cubs, Kendall threw out only 20 or 131 base stealers.  This season he has thrown out 30 wimpy base stealers and only allowed 42 stolen bases, throwing out 42 percent of runners attempting to steal.  Granted the season isn’t over, but that 42% is a higher percentage than in any of his three All-Star seasons, 1996 – 23%; 1998 – 27%; 2000 – 30%.  On top of that, he has only allowed four passed balls this season, tied for second fewest in his 12 year career. 

Continue reading "Jason Kendall is like a rock"

By now the story has been beaten to the ground. Prince Fielder's altercation with Manny Parra in Monday's 6-3 loss to the Reds has turned many heads towards a team trying to break out of a losing slump. So far, everybody in the organization is confident that the scuffle is nothing but a poorly timed altercation during the heat of competition. Teammates have already brushed off the incident as nothing more than Monday's loss as they prepare for Tuesday.

Continue reading "Disaster Relief 8/4"

It took the national media until the very end of July to hype a series being played in Milwaukee.

Until now, the Brewers have quietly been sitting in third place in a division that in years past has been branded "The Worst Division in the National League". Hidden behind constant coverage of the timeless Chicago Cubs and the professionally consistent St. Louis Cardinals, the Brewers have emerged as a true contender beyond their division rivals.

Continue reading "The Series You Were Waiting to Hype, ..."

If ever there was a sign that the Brewers’ future is now, it’s in their recent acquisition of veteran Ray Durham, who should shore up their leadoff spot, as well as allow Rickie Weeks the time off he sometimes needs when mired in a slump. Since they’ve already gambled their future on C.C. Sabathia—who’s looked amazing so far, winning all three starts and throwing complete games in two of them—it only makes sense for them to do whatever they can to push for the pennant this year.

Continue reading "Brewers Grab Durham"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

The other big trade that happened recently was the Cubs’ acquisition of the oft-injured Rich Harden from Oakland. This move is typical of Oakland’s business model, which involves shedding young stars before they get too expensive, often in exchange for other young or undervalued stars. In this way, they’re similar to the Florida Marlins, except that the Marlins tend to load up for concentrated runs at the championship (they have as many championships in the last decade as big-market Boston, and more than the Cubs have in the past hundred years), while the A’s tend towards consistent competitiveness.

Continue reading "NL Central Trade Analysis, Part Two"

Still playing ketchup here, trying to make up for a four-day absence from the blog, so I want to start with the big trade of last week, the CC Sabathia swap. The usefulness of this deal to the Brewers is a little dubious, as CC is likely to be a half-season rental, but let’s break it down:

Continue reading "NL Central Trade Analysis, Part One"

And probably not your own Braves, either. I watched them boot the ball around last night with a long-time Braves fan; three first-inning errors led to three runs, and they never recovered, losing 4-3, in a game without Chipper and a host of others.

Continue reading "Not Your Daddy's Braves"

For many baseball fans, last night wasn't a great night to watch baseball, as blowouts predominated early on. But, because of the beautiful game that is baseball, only three of them continued in their lopsided fashion, with the best of them highlighted by a homer from Micah Owings, the best-hitting pitcher in baseball, whom teammate Conor Jackson said had the "best pop" of anyone on the team. And all of them showed something about the winning and losing teams, proving that any baseball game is worth watching, even when it doesn't seem exciting.

Continue reading "The Night of the Blowouts"

ng his green card in light of the federal investigation, will probably lead to another down year.

Milwaukee Brewers

Can Ben Sheets stay healthy?

Sheets always seems on the verge of becoming one of the best young pitchers in the game when he is healthy, but his seasons always end up broken up by frequent stints on the DL for one thing after another. The Brewers have some young pitchers with tons of potential in Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra as well as some serviceable veterans, but they really need Sheets to become the ace of the rotation and innings eater that he is capable of. Unfortunately it is tough to predict if he is past his injuries as they have so often been the unforeseen and freak variety. With him in the rotation, a middle of the road staff becomes one in the top third of the league, something Milwaukee will need in order to compete with the Cubs.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: NL Central"

I am thoroughly looking forward to the Hank Steinbrenner Era. It seems he is hell-bent on replacing his father as the most obnoxious loudmouth, know-nothing owner in baseball. After watching the display he put on this winter in the Johan Santana Sweepstakes and his recent comments about the existence of Red Sox Nation, I don’t believe there is a bigger blowhard in sports today. All we need is for him to revive the Billy Martin routine with Joe Girardi, a possibility that may not be that farfetched as it appears Girardi not necessarily that easy to get along with. Little Stein seems to be unpredictable and impatient and not only expects the team to win now, but to do so in spectacular fashion. Earlier this year, Hank implied that general manager Brian Cashman would be on the hot seat if the plan to hold on to their young pitching instead of going all in for Santana didn’t pan out. If Steinbrenner allows his arrogance and impetuousness to take over the organization, I envision a return of the Yankees to the "glory" years of the 1980's when George was the show.

Continue reading "Looking Forward to the Hank Steinbrenner ..."