SB Nation - Jody Gerut

NL West in Review: Center Fielders

Poseidon's Fist — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:00:29 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Don't forget about this guy.

Matt Kemp was a beast this season, but that doesn't mean the Dodgers had the best CF spot last season. For the second straight week, Los Angeles surprisingly gets pushed to second place by a team without a primary starter.

San Diego started the season with Scott Hairston and Jody Gerut platooning in center field, but by the All-Star break, both had been jettisoned, with the only returning position player being their new center fielder who had been in AAA all season to that point.

But don't let Petco Park and the constant new faces fool you. The Padres were strong in center field last season.


Teams	Players	Avg	HR	RBI	OBP	SLG	wOBA*	WAR
1. San Diego	6	.292	17	65	.356	.445	.358	5.37
2. Los Angeles	4	.292	24	98	.350	.472	.371	4.97
3. San Francisco	4	.266	17	79	.305	.419	.332	2.76
4. Colorado	4	.269	17	58	.345	.451	.341	2.14
5. Arizona	5	.219	17	61	.288	.379	.291	-1.18

Hairston saved almost all his San Diego offense for his CF starts, posting a ridiculous .458 wOBA in 148 PA. His eventual replacement, Tony Gwynn Jr, had the best OBP in the division outside of Hairston matched with fantastic defensive play. That was enough to supersede the Dodgers, who had neutral defense and just a 13 point wOBA* edge. This can teach us two things - it is indeed a team game, and don't discredit the Padres' offense, as Petco Park can mask a lot.

All the proof and stats are under the fold.

Here's your visual breakdown, with the CF positional RAR set at +2.5. The Dodgers' team UZR is indeed included; however, it is equal to exactly zero:

The bottom three slots of the NL West's 23 center fielders are occupied by Diamondbacks. For the full player rankings, click here.

For the raw data and calculations, check this Google Docs link.

Arizona

2009 in Review

Chris Young was supposed to be an anchor to a Diamondbacks lineup with visions of a division title. Instead second worst defensive CF in the division (via UZR) and battled the Mendoza line most of the season. Given his performance in recent years and underwhelming showings from his replacements, Young was given a long leash, one in which he finally turned into a strong(er) finish, highlighted by a 3 HR performance at Coors Field.

Chris Young

#24 / Center Field / Arizona Diamondbacks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 200

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Sep 05, 1983

2010 in Preview

In reality, Young's disappointing 2009 didn't come out of left field. He might have been one of the more overrated hitters in the game before the season; taking park adjustments into account, he has just as many above league average (wRAA) hitting seasons as I do - zero. His OBP marks in his three seasons plus 2006 callup are as follows: .306, .295, .315, .311. He is an ultimate hit or miss hitter, and the reality is he might not be longterm answer. Unfortunately for Arizona, he just finished out the first year of a 5-year $28mil extension expiring after the 2013 season. The 26 year old will make $3.25mil next year and will be given a shot to show he can be more consistent and effective.

Colorado

2009 in Review

As expected, the Rockies appear to have a pedestrian showing due to Dexter Fowler's epicly low UZR score. This is a good time to mention UZR's apparent disdain for Rockies' CFers, as Willy Taveras has two seasons with a UZR lower than +8. Both came with the Rockies, and both were below negative two. Fowler had an uneven but nonetheless impressive season for a prospect who surprisingly leapt from AA to start Opening Day. Carlos Gonzalez put up big numbers in CF, much coming when Fowler was injured late in the year. Despite far less PA, CarGo produced more overall for the Rockies than Fowler (remember the UZR thing).

Carlos Gonzalez

#5 / Center Field / Colorado Rockies

Height: 6-1

Weight: 215

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Oct 17, 1985

2010 in Preview

Fowler was pegged as a great defensive player in the minors, so it will be interesting to see how UZR treats him in the future. While some of his poor score may be typical UZR hootenanny, he did have his uneven moments that could be improved. As it stands now, he will get the majority of reps in center, but if Brad Hawpe isn't traded, Carlos Gonzalez could cut a good portion of ABs from Fowler with Smith starting in left.

Los Angeles

2009 in Review

Matt Kemp should have been an All-Star. He earned the NL Silver Slugger and Gold Glove for center fielders, so unsurprisingly he trounces the division individually. He is truly a five tool player, and he could easily post a .300-30-100 season with 30+ SB's next year. An absolute beast, or Bison, as he is called. It really makes you wonder what Joe Torre was looking at when penciling him in the bottom three spots in the lineup 70 times last season.

Matt Kemp

#27 / Center Field / Los Angeles Dodgers

Height: 6-2

Weight: 230

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Sep 23, 1984

2010 in Preview

Kemp will be in center field nearly every day next season, probably higher than seventh in the lineup. He just missed being arbitration eligible via being a Super Two, so he will be quite the bargain again in 2010.

San Diego

2009 in Review

As outlined above, a tag team of Scott Hairston in the first half and Tony Gwynn Jr in the second half made the Padres quite formidable. Will Venable also raked the ball to the tune of a .468 wOBA over 53 CF PA.

Tony Gwynn

#18 / Center Field / San Diego Padres

Height: 5-11

Weight: 195

Bats: L

Throws: R

Born: Oct 04, 1982

2010 in Preview

In my opinion, the Padres made a trade for Gwynn that put them in a difficult spot, a la Dan Hawkins. How do you get rid of the son of a Hall of Fame franchise hero if he doesn't cut it? Luckily for San Diego, Gwynn did cut it last season, and the Friars should be confident putting him in center full time in 2010. The 27-year old barely has a year of MLB service time, so he is still under complete team control for cheap.

San Francisco

2009 in Review

Aaron Rowand was an All-Star and received MVP votes in 2007 with Philadelphia. Brian Sabean promptly overpaid to bring Rowand in. He has been overwhelmingly average in his tenure by the bay - in fact, Fangraphs crowned him the third most average hitter in 2009.

Aaron Rowand

#33 / Center Field / San Francisco Giants

Height: 6-0

Weight: 220

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Aug 29, 1977

2010 in Preview

With three years and $36million remaining on that bad contract, Rowand is sufficiently entrenched in center field in the near future. He had a complete no-trade clause last season, but has a "limited no-trade clause" each of the three years. I'm fine if he stays in San Francisco until 2012.

The Weekend Linkfest!

NoahJ — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:00:47 -0000

Some things to read while being a real man or while putting up your holiday decorations.

I would like to preface this by kind of letting everyone know what is going on. As KL posted friday, Morineko, FtJ and I will be your new weekend editors. What that means is we will be hanging around and posting a weekend news post to keep things alive on the weekends. KL asked us to "make it our own" and do what we'd like with the post. I, personally, will probably be following the same basic format as the Frosty Mugs, though I can't speak on whether the other two will be doing anything radically different. Hopefully we can get it so it is nearly as active on Saturday and Sunday as it is Monday-Friday. If there is anything you would like somewhat different, at least from me, feel free to voice whatever is on your mind.

And if you are arriving late today, be sure to check out Jordan's and Jeff's excellent-as-always posts below this one. Both posts relate to the JJ Hardy/Carlos Gomez trade, about which I have an abundance of articles, so let's get right into the bulletpoints for that:

The Bucky Channel likes the trade. However, they also think Gomez should lead off, which is probably a bad idea.
Wisconsin's Sports Tap also is a fan of the trade, and gives a pretty good look at what this means for the Brewers.
Carlos Gomez says that he'll hit in Milwaukee with a full time job
The Official Site has an article about Alcides Escobar, along with Hardy's thoughts on the player Escobar is and will be.
Casa De Machado says their good-bye to JJ and also thinks that Corey Hart will be traded with Jody Gerut taking over in right field.
Milwaukee's Own Brew Crew Fans likes the trade and likens Carlos Gomez to another player with what seems to be a similar skillset, Michael Bourn
Miller Park Drunk has a big roundup of what various places are saying about the trade.

Tom H also sees the Bourn comparison. I have also seen/heard comparisons to Jose Reyes in various places as well.

There are other links, but there is nothing really to differ them from the rest. Most people either like the trade or are at least OK with it. I only saw a couple places where the author hated the trade.

In other news, it sounds like Mark Mulder will probably be a Brewer sooner than later. We;ve been hearing that for a while, but I haven't heard of any displeasure about the Brewers taking that risk. As long as there is no big guaranteed contract, I don't really know how you could be upset with that.

Baseball Daily Digest has a very good article up about new Brewers pitching coach Rick Peterson, his time in Oakland, and his work with their "big three". It's definitely worth a read.

The Arizona Fall League's Rising Stars game was yesterday, and the only Brewer, Mark Rogers, didn't get a chance to pitch in the game. Here is the gameday with the boxscore.

Roguejim has a fanpost about pertinent off season dates. Circling the Bases has an even more complete list full of offseason dates.

Circling the Bases also says that the Phillies will be in the market for a third basemen to replace Pedro Feliz. Would they have any pitching the Brewers could get for McGehee or Gamel?

Several different sites have been ranking the New York Yankees World Series winners. I will link to the Hardball Times version because they have links to several others if you are interested.

Other than all that, I just have a few quick, interesting links:

If you don't like ESPN, Brewed Sports gives you another reason to dislike the World Leader.

BizofBaseball makes the case against implementing a salary cap in baseball.

In Cuba, there was a case where the Umpires using instant replay might still have led to the wrong decision.

And I don't know what the holiday was, but the city of New York had some sort of parade. Something to do with the Yankees I think? I don't know, Jay-Z was there, so I am guessing it must have been important.

That's about it. Unless of course you want to sign Seth McClung up for some anger management classes.

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:23:45 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

Braden Looper reacts after giving up a home run to Justin Upton on Saturday, May 2. Looper is one of several below-replacement level players who spent significant time as a Brewer this season.

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while establishing an acceptable salutation.

In the weeks following the 2009 season we've spent a fair amount of time discussing what went wrong, but this graph at Beyond the Box Score probably sums it up better than any other: The Brewers were the fourth worst team in all of baseball at keeping below-replacement level players off the field, losing 5.4 wins.

Looking forward, the Brewers have unveiled their spring training schedule (FanShot). Mark your calendar now: the first game will start at 1 pm Arizona time on Thursday, March 4. I've got roughly four months to figure out if Arizona time in March is one hour or two hours behind Central time.

Could Felipe Lopez have a tough time finding a home this offseason? Jorge Says No! has a look at the developing market for second basemen, and doesn't see many teams with money to spend.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee may not be the first choice for Wisconsin native Jarrod Washburn, who told a reporter he'd like to return to Seattle. Hopefully the front office won't overspend to convince him otherwise.

View From Bernie's Chalet is holding out hope for the return of Ben Sheets, and proposes a one year deal with an option for a second. I still think Sheets is going to disappoint someone next spring by reporting to camp out of shape and nowhere near ready to compete after a year off. If he can prove he's ready to pitch, I'd be willing to take him back...but I'm not sure how one can do that in a non-WBC season.

I'm operating under the assumption he'll be back until told otherwise, but Miller Park Drunk seems relatively confident that Mike Cameron is already gone, and has a look at Jody Gerut as a possible 2010 replacement. He presents three possible outcomes: Gerut is good, bad, or injured.

Jonathan Lucroy is tearing up the AFL, hitting .385/.407/.615 through his first seven games, but that wasn't enough to earn him a spot in the Rising Stars Showcase, which will be televised on MLB Network this Saturday. In fact, the only Brewer prospect on the roster will be Mark Rogers, who's posted a 12.27 ERA in 7.2 AFL innings. Zach Braddock was also snubbed, despite allowing just one earned run in 8.2 innings and picking up two saves.

Elsewhere in the minors:

Minor League Ball needs your help selecting a Community Top Five prospects for the Brewers. In the early going, guys like Cody Scarpetta, Jake Odorizzi and Eric Arnett, who all have high ceilings but are very far from the big leagues, are getting a lot of attention, while guys like Angel Salome and Jonathan Lucroy are not.
Project Prospect ranked Mat Gamel as baseball's sixth best third base prospect.
Rattler Radio has a look at some of the holiday specials the Timber Rattlers are working on, if you're looking for something to get that special someone in Appleton...or me.

I don't have any transactions to report today, so we'll jump straight into other notes: This might be one of the creepier things I've seen in a while, but superstition would suggest it now needs to happen for World Series Games 6 and 7: Todd Zolecki has a photo of The Harry Kalas Cake that was in the press box before last night's game. Kalas, a long time Phillies broadcaster, passed away earlier this season.

I haven't spent much time discussing the Cubs' sale because it moves at an excruciatingly slow pace and is covered well enough elsewhere, but I thought this milestone was worth noting: With the sale finalized, investor Laura Ricketts is Major League Baseball's first openly gay owner.

I link to Beyond the Box Score a lot, as you've probably noticed, as it's quickly developed into one of the premier places for stat-based baseball conversation and research. A lot of the credit for that development belongs to Sky Kalkman, who announced yesterday that he's moving on. If you've enjoyed Sky's work at BtB as much as I have, stop by sometime today to say thank you.

On this day in 1981, Rollie Fingers was awarded the AL Cy Young and a year later, Pete Vuckovich was awarded the 1982 version.

I was unable to find a Brewer birthday today (Fatter than Joey will probably point one out in the comments), so we'll have to settle for wishing a happy birthday to Hall of Famer Bob Feller, who turns 91.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: I'm leaving on vacation in a few hours, and will be gone until Sunday. Fear not, though, I've left the site in capable hands with the moderators you all know and love and an All Star cast of Guest Muggers while I'm gone, and I've got some posts scheduled to appear during my absence, as well. All told, you probably won't notice I'm gone...or may wish I'd stay away. Either way, I'll be back on Monday morning.

Drink up.

Taking a look at some early projections

KLSnow — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:35:51 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Can Rickie Weeks bounce back and have a strong 2010?

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Earlier this week, ACTA Sports sent me a preview of the hitter projections from 2010's Bill James Handbook. Obviously, it's still really early, but I found some of the projections interesting, so I thought I'd pass them along to you.

Let's start with your likely leadoff hitter for the 2010 Brewers:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Rickie Weeks	425	.259	.357	.449	80	48	23	5	16	56	100

It's probably worth noting that even Bill James, who tends to be relatively optimistic, doesn't project Weeks to play a full season in 2009 (he has him at 114 games). Even so, these numbers are probably a little optimistic. The .259 average is a slight drop from 2009, but the .357 OBP is actually 17 points higher. Weeks was off to a hot start slugging in 2009, posting a .517 slugging percentage, but this .449 projection would be easily the second highest of his career.

Other potential second basemen:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Felipe Lopez	565	.281	.352	.400	79	58	31	3	10	60	104
Craig Counsell	342	.246	.337	.327	45	25	15	2	3	42	51

While James has Lopez playing a full season, he projects to be less productive, losing 55 OPS points to Weeks. This line for Counsell looks fair, although the Brewers are likely in trouble if they actually need him for 342 ABs.

Follow the jump for lots more projections!

Both because he could feasibly bat #2 and because he's possibly the most interesting projection:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Alcides Escobar	504	.288	.326	.377	75	48	22	4	5	28	77

If Escobar can put up this kind of season and still play the level of defense we've come to expect from him, I'll be overjoyed. James also projects him to steal 42 bases in 54 attempts, adding roughly 18 bases to his value. The walk total may look low, but it's actually a bit optimistic: Escobar only averaged 23.3 walks per season over six years in the minors. Escobar's primary source of value will almost certainly always be his glove, but if he can put up a .700 OPS in the majors then he'll be a significantly above average contributor at short.

The other option, of course, is J.J. Hardy:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
J.J. Hardy	528	.254	.320	.422	70	68	28	2	19	50	92

This isn't as strong of a bounce back as I was expecting to see. Certainly, Hardy adds a little bit of power over Escobar, but his OBP is actually a little lower, and his base-stealing ability is completely negligible (James projects Hardy to go 1-for-1 stealing bases). These numbers are roughly the midpoint between Hardy's very good 2008 season and extremely disappointing 2009.

Moving on, I think it's pretty safe to assume Ryan Braun will be batting third and playing left field on Opening Day, unless Anthony Witrado is promoted to GM:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Ryan Braun	615	.315	.378	.593	112	119	42	6	39	53	112

Those are MVP-quality numbers if ever I've seen them. Braun projects to be an elite player again next season, and if the award doesn't go to Albert Pujols (projected to go .333/.443/.642 with 44 home runs), Braun might have to be considered the frontrunner. These numbers would set new career highs in slugging, RBI, doubles and home runs, while tying a career low in strikeouts.

And, unless something changes before spring, Prince Fielder will likely be hitting behind Braun:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Prince Fielder	601	.286	.393	.574	103	124	37	2	44	96	135

With these numbers, Fielder would still be one of the National League's premier hitters, but his production would actually decline a bit from 2009's numbers in all three slash stats, RBI, home runs and walks. Fielder won't turn 26 until May, so it seems strange to project him to decline, even slightly. With that said, he'll still be one of the NL's elite hitters.

The way things stack up at present, the leading candidate to bat fifth and play third base is likely Casey McGehee:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Casey McGehee	492	.272	.328	.429	63	76	30	1	15	41	86

Like many of us, James expects McGehee to come back down to Earth a little, but these projections still have him as a solid-to-slightly above average third baseman. All three slash lines are significant steps down from the .301/.360/.499 numbers he put up in 2009.

The other option, of course, is some guy the Brewers have on the end of the bench:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Mat Gamel	455	.277	.354	.464	65	73	28	3	17	53	142

These projections, especially the OBP, seem a little high, but Gamel projects to outperform McGehee in nearly every way en route to a .818 OPS. This is yet another piece of evidence to be used in the argument that the Brewers should sell high on McGehee to make room for Gamel in the lineup.

(I know at least a few of you would probably like to see a projection for Adam Heether here, but he doesn't appear in James' projections. Sorry.)

Until told otherwise, I'm going to continue to assume Mike Cameron will return to play center field and bat sixth:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Mike Cameron	561	.237	,328	.428	79	74	32	3	23	71	171

These numbers aren't the best argument for opening the checkbook to keep him around. Clearly, James is expecting age to catch up with Cameron, who would lose 13 points in average, 14 in OBP, 24 in slugging, and strike out over 170 times for just the second time in his 16 year career. These numbers still aren't terrible, and combined with good defense Cameron is still likely an above average center fielder. But, with that said, paying anything like his $10 million 2009 salary for performance at this level is a questionable decision.

Dropping all the way to the seventh spot in the lineup in right field, here's Corey Hart:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Corey Hart	533	.272	.332	.467	78	76	37	5	19	43	110

This would actually be a pretty nice bounce-back season for Hart, with his highest batting average, slugging percentage and run total since 2007. Entering his age 28 season, it's possible Hart will never be the player we all thought he might be after hitting .295/.353/.539 three years ago, but these numbers would be acceptable for a corner outfielder.

While we're on the subject, here are the projections for some other outfielders on the Brewer roster:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Frank Catalanotto	110	.273	.360	.418	14	12	8	1	2	10	14
Jody Gerut	162	.259	.326	.420	23	20	9	1	5	14	25

I'm not sure either of these stat lines suggest either of these guys should play everyday, but they project to be solid fourth and fifth outfielders next season, and if it won't cost too much to do so, I'd be fine with bringing both back. Thankfully, there's no projection for Corey Patterson.

I'm preparing myself for disappointment by operating under the assumption that Jason Kendall will continue to catch and tie up the eighth spot in the batting order again next season.

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Jason Kendall	409	.254	.338	.320	43	35	19	1	2	37	44

I'm not sure what James is smoking here, because even this lackluster projection seems a little too high. In two seasons as a Brewer, Kendall has hit ..244/.329/.315, and I'm not sure he can even repeat that at age 36, much less improve upon all three numbers. Kendall is likely getting the benefit of the doubt based on an extensive major league career, but recent evidence would suggest he's sliding downhill, not mounting a comeback. I'm not sure where one finds the data to support even a small offensive resurgence from a weak-hitting 36 year old catcher.

Interestingly enough, James' projections don't have Mike Rivera, but they do have Angel Salome:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	K
Angel Salome	240	.296	.345	.442	30	39	15	1	6	18	45

This is much higher than I would have projected Salome, who I think might be the third best of the three internal options to replace Kendall next season (Sadly, Jonathan Lucroy is also not projected). With that said, Salome is projected to out-OPS Kendall by 129 points. Remember what it was like when the Brewers had a catcher that wasn't an offensive black hole? Me either. I'd love to see what that's like.

So, what do you think of these projections?

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:40:04 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

I'm hoping we'll have a picture of Rick Peterson without a Mets hat soon.

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Some things to read while earning your cat-holding privileges.

The Brewers made Rick Peterson's hiring official yesterday, and he immediately turned his sights to Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra.

Peterson also tweeted about his new gig, and was welcomed into the fold by Seth McClung (more on McClung later today). Miller Park Drunk also welcomed Peterson, and started him off with a cheat sheet on Brewer pitchers.

Now, perhaps the Brewers will get started on the task of acquiring some pitchers for Peterson to coach. Dave Cameron of USS Mariner has the Brewers trading J.J. Hardy to the M's for Brandon Morrow, and Matthew Pouliot of Circling the Bases has a hypothetical trade sending Prince Fielder to the Red Sox for Jacoby Ellsbury and Michael Bowden. Meanwhile, over in Speculationville, Roguejim wonders if J.J. Hardy might be a fit for the Pirates.

Could Jody Gerut end up as a bargaining chip in a trade? Amazin' Avenue lists him as a player who may be undervalued this winter due to a low BABIP in 2009. Gerut posted a .230/.279/.376 line last season, but hit a much more respectable .272/.341/.447 in August and September.

Wherever pitching help might come from, there doesn't appear to be much of it on the horizon in the minors. Baseball America has their final minor league pitching leaderboards up, and the only Brewer mentioned (Evan Frederickson) is among the leaders in a category you don't want to lead (walks allowed). Frederickson, a sandwich pick in the 2008 draft, walked 82 batters in 97.1 innings for Wisconsin this season, and has posted a 5.22 ERA in the minors.

Perhaps Josh Butler will be the exception, though: After playing all over the minors and in the majors this season, Butler is blogging from the AFL (FanShot) His first post covers his wild season, AFL teammates, food and weather.

We've covered the list of reasons why Felipe Lopez should be offered arbitration and the opportunity to return, but Miller Park Drunk has the counterpoint: the list of reasons why Lopez doesn't fit into the Brewers' plans and will almost certainly not be back.

Around baseball:

Braves: Pitchers Buddy Carlyle, Jorge Campillo and Vladimir Nunez have been removed from the 40-man roster and will become free agents. (h/t Rowland's Office)
Mets: Released reliever Ken Takahashi.
Pirates: Reliever Chris Bootcheck rejected an outright assignment and is now a free agent.

Because of the arbitrary nature of the cutoff line for Super 2 players, there's good news for the Diamondbacks and bad news for the Giants today. Slugger Mark Reynolds fell three days short of the service time required to be a Super 2, will not be arbitration eligible and will remain under team control for four more seasons. Tim Lincecum, on the other hand, was over the cutoff by about a week and will be arbitration eligible this offseason.

Three managerial vacancies remain, but at least one team has eliminated Ned Yost from contention: The Indians are believed to be conducting second interviews with four candidates, but Yost is not one of them. Manny Acta is the only finalist for the Indians' job that is also a candidate for the Astros' job.

Over the last few seasons, baseball has shifted heavily toward emphasizing young players and prospects, but here's a reminder on the importance of not looking too far ahead: Lookout Landing has a list of 44 players who appeared for the Mariners in 2008. Less than two full years later, only ten of them are still with the organization. Things can change pretty fast.

Livan Hernandez spent the end of the 2009 season with the Nationals, and despite the fact that he's long past the prime of his career, he'll likely be looking for work again this offseason, because he needs the paycheck. Hernandez reportedly has serious financial issues that could lead to the foreclosure of his home in Miami.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that the postseason has had some pretty exciting games and interesting storylines, the top story once again is terrible umpiring, and a call Big League Stew is calling "the worst call of all time." I keep hoping that maybe, someday, Major League Baseball will be shamed into action on this issue, and do something to either correct inept umpires or put effective umpires in their place. It's likely a pipe dream.

I've spent a fair amount of time lately discussing the Arizona Fall League, partly because there's not much baseball being played lately but also because I find it fascinating. If you're having a hard time getting into it, maybe you should check out Geoff Young's look back at the 2001 AFL, which featured a bunch of future productive major leaguers...and Bill Hall.

Speaking of prospects and development, Derrick Goold has a nice conversation starter about age as it relates to prospects, and when one becomes too old to be considered one (h/t BBTF). In last year's Community Prospect Rankings, we ranked a couple of older players (Brad Nelson and Tim Dillard), and I'm guessing Adam Heether might sneak into this year's list as well.

Finally, this link isn't really baseball related, but I'm dropping it in today because I think it's important, and if you or someone you know coaches youth or high school sports I hope you'll read it: Driveline Mechanics has a look at overtraining in high school sports and its consequences.

Happy birthday today to Gabe Gross, who posted a .797 OPS over 2+ seasons as a Brewer and turns 30 today, and to Franklin Stubbs, who was virtually worthless as a Brewer and turns 49.

Drink up.

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:40:29 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

Former Brewers manager Ned Yost looks great with someone else's logo behind him.

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Some things to read while keeping your pimp hand fuzzy.

The search for a new pitching coach might be about to get much more interesting: Rick Peterson, considered by most the odds on favorite to get the job, is also interested in the vacancy in Florida. If Peterson turns out to be unavailable, the search may start from scratch.

Meanwhile, yesterday was interview day for Ned Yost in Houston. Inexplicably, Yost still doesn't seem to understand why he was let go in Milwaukee, and said this when asked about it:

"Don't lose 10 out of 13 games is the best thing I can figure," Yost told reporters in Houston, "and hope your offense stays on track so you don't struggle to score runs."

Alyson Footer also quoted him as saying the Astros are "one starter away from having a really good staff." If the Astros hire Yost, fans in Houston can look forward to a 2010 season full of "really battling" and "being one pitch away from getting out of it."

In yesterday's Mug, I noted that Mike Burns had been outrighted to AAA, but neglected to mention that he's injured: He presumably still has the labrum pathology that he was diagnosed with at the end of the season. It's a bit more challenging to demote an injured player, but TheJay has a look at the CBA's rules regarding such transactions.

I also mentioned Jon Heyman's decision to leave Prince Fielder off his MVP ballot. Thankfully, we're not the only ones upset about it: James Bailey of Hardball Cooperative has an in-depth look at Heyman's ballot, and the reasons Fielder should be on it.

Plunk Everyone has compiled a list of difficulty rankings for several stats around baseball: Follow the link to see where Jason Kendall, Ryan Braun, Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan, Prince Fielder, Braden Looper, Mike Cameron, Yovani Gallardo and Felipe Lopez rank among the best in baseball at the things they do.

If we learned one thing about Jody Gerut this season, it's this: he's miscast as a bench player. Among the 20 most frequently used pinch hitters in baseball this season, Gerut ranked 17th in OPS off the bench, ahead of only Mark Loretta, Greg Norton and Greg Dobbs. I have a feeling we'll have "Who is the real Jody Gerut?" conversations on more than one occasion this winter.

Further proof that it'd be really, really difficult to get fair value back in a deal involving Ryan Braun: Rowland's Office has a hypothetical deal sending Braun to the Braves for Jair Jurrjens, one of the game's top young pitchers. Even if you assume their expected values were exactly the same, Jurrjens has a few days over 2 years of service time, meaning he's under team control for four more seasons (through 2013), and will be arbitration eligible after next season. Braun, meanwhile, is under contract and cost controlled for two extra seasons (through 2015), and his salary never exceeds $12 million.

(I use Cot's Contracts all the time for info like that, and frequently forget to cite them. If you need contract info, Cot's is the place for it.)

In the AFL and on the farm:

Project Prospect's Friday topic of conversation is Lorenzo Cain, who's off to a pretty good start in the AFL and is expected to play roughly 4 times a week in an effort to bounce back from a rough 2009 season. They've also got a nice primer on what to expect from the AFL and they're looking for a scouting report on the speed of Taylor Green.
Wisconsin Sports Tap has a look at the season that was for the Huntsville Stars. It's kinda bleak down there, but Jonathan Lucroy is a nice bright spot.
Actually, statistics would suggest it was pretty bleak all over the Brewer minor leagues this season. Baseball America has the final batting leaderboards for 2009, and the only Brewer appearances are among the leaders in stolen bases (Eric Farris had 70) and strikeouts (Brock Kjeldgaard, Joe Koshansky and Brendan Katin all made the list).
As noted in BA's Minor League Transactions, the Brewers released 12 minor leaguers yesterday (FanShot). The most notable name on the list was 2004 third round pick Josh Wahpehpah.
Alcides Escobar, Mat Gamel and Angel Salome all made Baseball America's list of the top 20 prospects in the Pacific Coast League. Tom Haudricourt had mentioned this previously, but that link will take you to the team's press release.
John Sickels of Minor League Ball has a look back at his top 50 pitching prospects entering 2009, including a pre-suspension Jeremy Jeffress.

The Hendies tournament continues over at Brew City Sports: Follow the link to cast your vote in the Excrement Eight.

If you like your roundups of Brewer news, but wish there was less reading involved and maybe a bit more rambling, then you may be the perfect candidate to try out View From Bernie's Chalet's new video blog.

Or, if you like Brewer related fan fiction, you may want to try out Witrado's Quest and Doug Melvin's Hunt for October.

I'm sure this is exactly what Major League Baseball had in mind for the postseason: After a long delay between rounds, baseball is back and the main topics of conversation are weather and divorce. Jon Heyman thinks the Yankees and Angels will get the game in tonight, but could have a hard time tomorrow. Diamond Leung has the scoop on each side's attorney in the McCourt fiasco.

It could be worse, though: Fans in Texas aren't getting playoff baseball, and they're also not getting their playoff ticket money back until sometime in November. (h/t 6-4-2) The money is reportedly "tied up with MLB," and may already have been used to pay off some of the cash the Rangers reportedly had to borrow to make payroll this season.

If you ever doubted the usefulness of Twitter, doubt no longer: In amidst conversation about last night's NLCS opener, Jason of IIATMS presented me with a Nickname of the Year contender: Ronnie "Staypuft" Belliard.

On this day in 1982, the Brewers scored six runs in the seventh inning en route to a 7-5 victory over the Cardinals, evening the World Series at two games apiece.

Happy birthday today to Freddy Parejo, who spent the 2009 season patrolling the outfields in Huntsville and Nashville and turns 25 today. Birthday wishes also go out to Brian Harper, who spent the 1994 season as a Brewer and turns 50.

That's all I have for you today, unless you wanted to read about the rebound of Krispy Kreme or the rising price of chicken wings. I found both of those links via C. Trent Rosecrans.

Drink up.

Probably misusing MLE: Where could the Brewers have done better?

KLSnow — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:00:20 -0000

Looking for some idle speculation on the first Brewer-free Sunday afternoon since February? Here's something to play with.

Because of Jeff's brilliant work over at Minor League Splits, we can take any Brewer above rookie ball's minor league stats and get their MLE (major league equivalent), a baseline estimate of how they would have performed in the major leagues this season.

So without further adieu, here's a look at how Brewer minor leaguers might have performed in the majors in 2009, and how it compares to the players the Brewers actually used in their place.

Catcher

Player	Team (Level)	Avg/OBP/SLG	MLE A/O/S	MLE OPS
Jonathan Lucroy	Huntsville (AA)	.267/.377/.416	.219/.307/.327	.634
Angel Salome	Nashville (AAA)	.288/.338/.420	.249/.285/.342	.627
J.R. Hopf	Huntsville (AA)	.249/.318/.363	.206/.258/.291	.549
Corey Kemp	Wisconsin (A-)	.269/.364/.379	.182/.239/.245	.484
Carlos Corporan	Nashville (AAA)	.217/.262/.285	.192/.230/.250	.480

Brewers used: Jason Kendall, who hit .241/.331/.305 (.636 OPS), and Mike Rivera, who hit .228/.326/.342 (.668 OPS)

This is likely the most obvious position where you can make a solid argument that one of the minor leaguers should have played over the guy the Brewers trotted out there. Kendall had a nice finish to 2009, batting .271/.370/.391 after August 7, but still only out OPS'ed the hypothetical performance of Jonathan Lucroy by two points, with Angel Salome not far behind him.

Beyond Lucroy and Salome, it's a long way down to the next level, though. Corey Kemp's 2009 performance was pretty impressive in Wisconsin, but he's easily the third best catcher in the system above rookie ball right now, and he's still a long way away.

Follow the jump for the other positions!

First Base

Player	Team (Level)	Avg/OBP/SLG	MLE A/O/S	MLE OPS
Joe Koshansky	Nashville (AAA)	.218/.319/.441	.189/.267/.358	.625
Erick Almonte	Nashville (AAA)	.295/.367/.365	.253/.307/.301	.608
Kevin Melillo	Huntsville (AA)	.249/.344/.392	.207/.280/.309	.589
Steffan Wilson	Brevard Co. (A+)	.272/.352/.420	.208/.266/.308	.574
Brock Kjeldgaard	Wisconsin (A-)	.248/.340/.454	.167/.221/.278	.499

Clearly, none of these guys are even comparable to Prince Fielder, who posted a 1.014 OPS this season.

In fact, the complete lack of a viable first baseman in the upper levels of the minors is a little startling. If something were to happen to Fielder, the best internal options to replace him would almost certainly be in the big leagues now: Mat Gamel and/or Casey McGehee.

With that said, Steffan Wilson's performance in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League is notable, and Brock Kjeldgaard had a decent offensive season overshadowed by the fact that he led his league in strikeouts for the second straight season.

Second Base

Player	Team (Level)	Avg/OBP/SLG	MLE A/O/S	MLE OPS
Hernan Iribarren	Nashville (AAA)	.307/.360/.396	.269/.310/.335	.645
Shane Justis	Huntsville (AA)	.271/.339/.376	.225/.278/.309	.587
Eric Farris	Brevard Co. (A+)	.302/.344/.388	.238/.270/.304	.574
Brett Lawrie	Wisconsin (A-)	.275/.342/.438	.192/.232/.282	.514

These are the only four players above rookie ball who played a full season with second base as their primary position. The Brewers used Rickie Weeks (.857 OPS) and Felipe Lopez (.810 OPS) primarily at second, and obviously there's no comparison.

The upside is pretty low among the upper level guys: Iribarren had a nice season in AAA, but likely projects as little more than a utility/backup type in the majors. 2009 was Justis' first season as a Brewer. He's 26 years old in AA.

With that said, there's a lot of upside in the lower levels. Eric Farris had a very good season for Brevard County, and added 70 steals in 76 attempts. With that said, he's been leapfrogged in the organization by Brett Lawrie, who continues his rapid ascent toward the big leagues.

Third Base

Player	Team (Level)	Avg/OBP/SLG	MLE A/O/S	MLE OPS
Adam Heether	Nashville (AAA)	.300/.398/.506	.256/.334/.409	.743
Mat Gamel	Nashville (AAA)	.281/.368/.479	.242/.309/.388	.697
Taylor Green	Huntsville (AA)	.267/.344/.372	.220/.276/.308	.584
Zelous Wheeler	Brevard Co. (A+)	.263/.365/.383	.199/.273/.283	.556
Juan Sanchez	Wisconsin (A-)	.249/.308/.318	.172/.207/.221	.428

The Brewers used Casey McGehee (.859 OPS), Craig Counsell (.766 OPS), Bill Hall (.606 OPS) and Mat Gamel (.760 OPS) at third.

Behold Adam Heether. While most of the talk about Brewer minor leaguers this season revolved around guys like Alcides Escobar, Gamel, Salome, Lucroy and Lawrie, Heether quietly outhit all of them. And while Craig Counsell had an incredible and unlikely bounce back season, Heether's MLE line is nearly comparable. He also played five positions this season to keep his bat in the lineup while Mat Gamel played third.

Behind him and Gamel, Taylor Green had a season to forget, and Zelous Wheeler's ability to get on base made him valuable in the Manatees' lineup. Sanchez was one of the last players drafted in the minor league phase of last year's Rule 5 draft, and played all over the diamond for Wisconsin and Brevard Co. despite never having played above the Gulf Coast League.

Shortstop

Player	Team (Level)	Avg/OBP/SLG	MLE A/O/S	MLE OPS
Alcides Escobar	Nashville (AAA)	.298/.351/.411	.259/.301/.345	.646
Sergio Miranda	Brevard Co. (A+)	.297/.355/.380	.229/.272/.292	.564
Yohannis Perez	Huntsville (AA)	.262/.314/.353	.221/.259/.287	.546
Michael Garciaparra	Huntsville (AA)	.216/.302/.261	.184/.249/.223	.472
Brent Brewer	Brevard Co. (A+)	.226/.290/.291	.176/.224/.231	.455

The Brewers used J.J. Hardy (.659 OPS) and Alcides Escobar (.701 OPS)

Alcides Escobar's AAA performance and J.J. Hardy's service time status combined to be just enough to get Escobar into the big leagues for good back in August, and we'll see what happens from there.

Meanwhile, there's not much in the system behind Escobar. The next viable shortstop prospect behind him may very well be 2009 draft pick Josh Prince, who hit .263/.373/.313 between Helena and Wisconsin this season and stole 38 bases in 50 attempts. The Brewers have to be close to running out of patience with Brent Brewer, who repeated Brevard Co. in 2009 and was actually significantly worse in his second attempt.

Outfielders

Player	Team (Level)	Avg/OBP/SLG	MLE A/O/S	MLE OPS
Brendan Katin	Nashville (AAA)	.244/.306/.506	.214/.262/.413	.675
Drew Anderson	Huntsville (AA)	.290/.368/.439	.241/.303/.350	.653
Logan Schafer	Brevard Co. (A+)	.312/.374/.441	.242/.288/.335	.623
Caleb Gindl	Brevard Co. (A+)	.284/.366/.469	.217/.277/.345	.622
Adam Stern	Huntsville (AA)	.280/.350/.374	.233/.288/.303	.591
John Raburn	Huntsville (AA)	.263/.370/.345	.218/.301/.267	.568
Chuck Caufield	Huntsville (AA)	.248/.312/.337	.210/.259/.280	.539
Lee Haydel	Brevard Co. (A+)	.278/.307/.343	.219/.241/.262	.503
Freddy Parejo	Huntsville (AA)	.239/.280/.314	.204/.237/.259	.496
Michael Vass	Wisconsin (A-)	.240/.307/.384	.164/.204/.249	.453

The Brewers used Ryan Braun (.938 OPS), Mike Cameron (.795), Corey Hart (.753), Frank Catalanotto (.728) and Jody Gerut (.672) in the outfield this season. And if they'd had to dig much farther into the organizational depth, it likely would have been a problem. Brendan Katin can mash a mistake, but his exceptionally low plate discipline (35 walks, 164 strikeouts, .305 OBP) will likely keep him from ever being a serious prospect.

Meanwhile, the top two outfielders in the Brewer system might both have played for Brevard County this season, as Logan Schafer won the FSL batting title and Caleb Gindl provided the power behind the Brewers' most successful affiliate this season. Among the top prospects, Schafer is also the only true center fielder: Adam Stern also played primarily in center this season, but was terrible defensively.

Lorenzo Cain, meanwhile, had a terrible 2009 season, and didn't even make the top ten to appear on this list. Before suffering a knee injury and after returning, Cain posted a .213/.287/.317 line between multiple levels this season, posting a .448 MLE OPS. Hopefully Cain reports to camp healthy next spring and prepared for a huge bounce back season.

Tuesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:39:55 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Curry - AP

Trevor Hoffman delivers a pitch during the ninth inning Sunday, in what won't be his final Brewer appearance after all.

Browse more photos »

Some things to read while staking your claim.

If the Brewers keep up this pace, they'll have all of their offseason work done by Thanksgiving: One day into the offseason, the Brewers have one problem solved, as Trevor Hoffman signed a one year deal worth $8 million with a team option for 2011 (FanShot). Tom H. is reporting that both the option year and potential buyout contain escalators tied to games finished in 2010.

Here's some reaction around the web:

Evan Brunell of The Hardball Times thinks it was a logical move.
Jorge Says No! thinks the Brewers overspent and could have better used the money on other priorities.
Rob Neyer notes that Hoffman's BABIP has been very low over the course of his career, but that's also true of many other premier closers.
Dave Allen of FanGraphs notes that Hoffman has a lot of "rise" on his fastball, which leads to more infield flies and a lower BABIP.

While Trevor Hoffman was signing his new deal, the list of Brewers awaiting surgery continued to grow. On top of Casey McGehee (knee), Craig Counsell (knee) and Braden Looper (knee), it was announced yesterday that Manny Parra will have arthroscopic surgery to "clean up" the AC joint and "remove some friction" in his shoulder (FanShot). The issue didn't prevent Parra from making his final starts of the 2009 season, but that doesn't keep me from wondering if it should have.

Meanwhile, there was good news on the medical front for Corey Hart, who met with a hand specialist and received confirmation that his injured fingers were sprained, not fractured. He should be fine in a month's time.

BBWAA ballots for postseason awards are due in on the final day of the regular season (which, as it turns out, is now today), but it will still be several weeks before we find out where Prince Fielder stands in the race for NL MVP. Walkoff Walk compared Fielder's 2009 season to some of the best years at the plate in Brewer history, and ranked him third on their NL MVP ballot. Meanwhile, Quevedo at the Buffet makes a passionate case against trading Fielder this offseason.

Speaking of awards, Yovani Gallardo finished second in the balloting for NL Comeback Player of the Year, far behind Chris Carpenter.

With Trevor Hoffman back in the fold, the Brewers have one less opportunity to get compensation picks for free agents this offseason, but they still could cash in: The latest Elias rankings are out, and they have Felipe Lopez as a Type A free agent, along with Jason Kendall, Mike Cameron, Braden Looper and David Weathers as Type Bs. Kendall did not receive any bonus points for leading the majors in beer plunks.

MLB Trade Rumors also has a list of players who could be non-tendered this offseason, and Dave Bush, Seth McClung and Jody Gerut are on the list. The three of them would likely command around $8 million in arbitration for next season.

Seth McClung doesn't sound very optimistic about the possibility of coming back in 2010, but BCB has started a Facebook petition in an effort to convince the Brewers to bring him back. As of this morning, it had already climbed over 20 members. Let's push that number a little higher today.

Attendance at Miller Park was down about 1% this season, but that's better news than you'd think: According to the chart at that link, 19 major league teams saw a larger decline in attendance this season, with eleven teams losing more than 10% and four teams losing over 20%.

Alcides Escobar can probably be penciled in as the Opening Day starter at short for the 2010 Brewers, but does he have a brighter future than Washington's Ian Desmond? FakeTeams has the argument for both sides, and a poll.

In the minors:

BaseballHQ has scouting reports for the Arizona Fall League, and ranks Mark Rogers and Rob Wooten as the second and third best pitchers on the Peoria Javelinas. AFL play opens one week from today.
Jonathan Mayo is working on a formula to determine the minor league pitcher of the year, and Evan Anundsen checked in at #8 on his list. He posted a 2.69 ERA and struck out 118 in 130.1 innings in Brevard County this season.

As I just mentioned, the AFL starts soon with other winter leagues soon to follow, but if those aren't enough for you the Wisconsin Sports Tap has an offseason survival guide. Hopefully we'll start the countdown to spring training soon, but the report date for pitchers and catchers has yet to be determined.

Need a mental warmup this morning? It took me 30 seconds to name the seven ways a batter can safely reach first base. I got the hard ones first and spent 20 seconds with a brain cramp before remembering an obvious one.

Is anyone out there a member of SABR? After reading Wezen-ball's pitch this morning (and noting SABR's discounted membership for anyone under 30) I decided to give it a shot for a year.

How much does defense impact a mediocre pitcher? Fungoes uses Jeff Suppan as a teaching tool to answer that question. If you're making a list of proper uses for Suppan, "teaching tool" and "batting practice" should both appear above "starting pitcher."

And, from one bad contract to another: Dugout Central chronicles the life and times of Bill Hall.

Happy birthday today to Jerry Stephenson, who appeared in two games for the Seattle Pilots and turns 66, and Valerio de los Santos, who appeared in 183 games as a Brewer and turns 37.

Drink up.

Kirbir's Pictures of the Week: Special Season-ending Edition

kirbir — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:00:42 -0000

Well, that's all she wrote. The 2009 season is over for the Brewers. Time to kick back and watch the other teams in the playoffs... unless, of course, Ghost Hunters is on.

Follow the jumps for pictures and McAwesome!

Carlos Villanueva got his only win of the season after starting Saturday. Fortunately (or unfortunately), sometime before Sunday's game, he shaved off the 'stache.

Alcides Escobar tried to make his case for why he should stick around in the majors next year when he barely beat out a tag at first base.

Craig Counsell caught a mid-game Holliday, as the Cardinals left fielder tried to steal a base.

Jody Gerut got an RBI single, proving that's he's worth more than just his awesome at-bat song.

Ryan Braun got his 200th hit of the year via a home run Saturday, becoming only one of four Brewers to do so. Sunday, he stole his 20th base of the season also, becoming only the second Brewer to get 30 HRs and 20 steals in the same season. The other was Tommy Harper in 1971.

Trevor Hoffman kept things interesting Sunday afternoon, when he walked three batters in a row. He's "pretty close" to becoming a Brewer next season. EDIT: If you haven't seen the news, the Hoff is sticking around. (fanshot)

Prince Fielder hit his final home run of the season Sunday afternoon in the ninth inning. My favorite part about the HR was that it came right after Albert Pujols broke a record by getting his 185th assist of the season. Karma is a beautiful thing.

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures from the whole season. In case you can't tell, Prince is hugging Felipe Lopez and Craiggers is hugging Esky. It's nice to see two players who have been on the team for a while embracing the newer players, despite the short length that those two have been on the team.

Oh, and I couldn't find any recent pictures of Seth McClung. :( This is one of my favorite pictures of McClung from last season. (If you haven't visited, it's also the background on Seth's twitter page)

All pictures, except for the one featuring McAwesome, are from Yahoo! I wanted to apologize for the recent lack of KPotW posts. My classes have proven to be a little more rigorous than I had expected.

Brewers 9, Cardinals 7

KLSnow — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:08:45 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Curry - AP

Chris Narveson throws during the fourth inning Sunday.

Browse more photos »

W: Trevor Hoffman (3-2)
L: Todd Wellemeyer (7-10)
S: John Axford (1)

HR: Prince Fielder 2 (46)

MVP: Prince Fielder (+.482)
LVP: Chris Smith (-.329)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

They certainly made the last one interesting.

Powered by Prince Fielder's two home runs, including a go-ahead shot in the ninth, the Brewers appeared to be ready to complete a three game sweep of the Cardinals in St. Louis, and untuck one final time for 2009. Fielder's three hits in the game left him with a 2009 batting average of .2994, but also in sole possession of second place on the franchise list for most home runs in a season, with 46.

Alas, it was almost all for naught, as the Cardinals rallied to tie the game on Chris Smith in the eighth and again on Trevor Hoffman in the bottom of the ninth, costing him his 38th save and sending the game to extra innings. Then, in the tenth, Jody Gerut drove in the winning run on an infield single, scoring Alcides Escobar with the winning run. Ryan Braun's RBI double drove in another run as the Cardinals imploded defensively,

Jeff Suppan started today's game and went just two innings, allowing one run on two hits, but Chris Narveson picked things up from there, allowing just one additional run over 4.1 innings of work, giving the Brewers an opportunity to run out to a 6-1 lead. With Hoffman already having pitched, John Axford pitched a scoreless tenth to pick up his first major league save.