Now that DM has declined to offer arbitration to any of the Crew's free agents I have a funny feeling that the Fire Doug Melvin bandwagon will need a few extra cars to hold all of the people jumping on it.

Just as the question was posed when as the fire Ned Yost bandwagon was filling up, it is only fair to ask the same question of those jumping on the Fire the Canadian Mustache Bandwagon.  Who should replace Doug Melvin?

We obviously missed the chance to have Jack Z.  I don't see anyone else in the organization to promote from within.  Sorry - Gord Ash doesn't really do it for me.  So who would you bring in for interviews?

I don't have enough knowledge to start the list of interviewees.  The only names that come to mind for interviews would be Paul DePesto and Kim Ng of the Dodgers and maybe someone from the Theo Epstein tree. Baseball Prospectus has a list from June 2008 of their Top 10

I do have enough to start the 'Do Not Interview' list.

Do not Interview

1. JP Riccardi
2. Ned Yost
3. Steve Phillips
4. Jim Bowden

I would really like to see someone who knows what a database and excel spreadsheet is and maybe even how to use them.

Who is on your 'Do Not Interview' list? 

Who is on your 'Interview' list?

Continuing the theme that the season is over, let’s talk about the MVP for the Cardinals series.

For an October waiver wire pick up, I don’t think that anyone can say we didn’t get value for Casey.  Re-reading the Fan Post that announced the signing was full of… well blah.

 "…not sure I get it" – Our dear former leader Jeff Sackman

"I don’t know how he’d be an upgrade." – TheJay

"A major league equivalent of .636. A poor man’s Craig Counsell?" – roguejim

"He could be the next Jeff Cirillo!" – roguejim [Sarcasm?]

"McGehee was born on the day of the first World Series win in Brewers history. Picking him up off waivers was a no-brainer." – TheJay

No real emotion one way or another.  There wasn’t even much emotion shown (in this post anyway) for the lost of many a fan favorite Joe Dillon who lost his spot on the 40-man for Mr. McGehee.

Here are Casey’s business vitals.

He is in the first year of his professional career so he made league minimum $400,000.  The Brewers (or whichever team owns his contract after the December meetings) have to more years of full control, plus his three arbitration years of salary control.

 From this morning’s BR page

88 Games (61 Starts)

289 PA

261 AB

46 Runs

78 Hits

15 Doubles

1 Triple

131 Total Bases

13 HR

49 RBI

26 BB

47 SO

.299 Ave

.358 OBP

.511 SLG

.870 OPS

124 OPS+

 Defensively he isn’t exactly flashing the leather – at least consistently.  At 3B has an .897 Fielding% where the league average is .956.  But that is only in 46 games @ 3B.  The rest of his starts came @ 2B where his fielding % is average but he only has 20 games started there.

The 2010 Season

The next savior to the organization is in Nashville waiting for spring training.  In my opinion Mat Gamel has served his time and barring a colossal implosion between now and April 2010, he will be the starting 3B for Milwaukee next year.  Yes there has been talk of moving Mat to Right Field, but let’s be honest, if the organization was going to make the switch, wouldn’t they have had him playing Right down in Nashville instead of waiting for Gamel to get to the Majors before making the switch.

Will Craig Counsel retire?  Who knows. He is having a career year (.778 OPS) and could go out on a high note.  Or he could play another year where Career Craig Counsel and his .695 OPS returns in the form of a 39/40 year old utility infielder.  I believe that the decision to return is 90% Craig’s.  Team manglement will re-sign Craig for another $1M if he wants to return.

Making the assumptions that Craig will return as super sub and Mat is the starting 3B, is there room on the roster for Mr. McGehee?  How much playing time would he get?  Looking at early 2008 as a model if McGehee isn’t starting, he probably won’t get much.  Before Rickie went on the DL, Casey only started two games.  And it wasn’t until Bill E fell completely out of favor with Macha that Casey began playing consistently.

There is no doubt that Casey is having a career year this year.  I don’t think that it is reasonable to expect him to continue this pace through his career.  His minor league numbers simply don’t support this production.

What is Casey worth on the trade market?  I don’t know.  Every time I speculate what someone is worth, I am put back in my place by someone who isn’t as clueless as I am.  I don’t think that he brings back a big name.  But can he get a #4/5 starting pitcher with a AA prospect?  Is that shooting too high?  Is he only worth an average RP?

What do we do with Casey?

While there are still some games to be played, the season is virtually over - and talk of 2010 has already begun.

My first question was where is the next years starting pitching going to come from... and quite honestly it is too difficult of an answer right now. 

So lets move on to a slightly easier question -

What do we do with Felipe Lopez??

He has done nothing but impress me since he became a Brewer.  Looking at his BR page, with the exception of his time in Washington (playing @ RFK), he has had an ok career.  He has played 2B, 3B & SS in his career so he has some utilitariansim.  Yes I know  utilitariansim isn't a real word - but hell fake words never stop Anthony Witrado so why should it stop me.

Given that he is on the verge of becoming a Type A, there is no doubt that we should offer him arbitration.  But then what.  After all, Rickie Weeks and his wrists should be healthy by spring training.  So where does he play?

If he accepts, we have a switch hitting player that could play a role in next years team.  He could give us a super platoon between Weeks, Escobar, Gamel & Himself.  He could give Weeks or Escobar a day off @ SS/2B against RH-SP and Gamel a day off against LH-SP.  That scenerio would give all four of them 500+ ABs for the season and not have a drop off when a starter needs a day off.  And lets be honest - if any expects Craig Counsel to have a career year again next year, you need to share what you are smoking.

If he doesn't accept - no hard feelings - thanks for playing and for the draft pick (hopefully a first rounder)

What roll if any do you see Felipe playing next year?

BTW - Cots has his agent listed as the Evil One Scott Boras

I was at the T-Rats game tonight.  Hopefully I will post the pics tomorrow when I can see straight.  Right now, I can barely see I am so tired.  Unfortunately, for Jeff Suppan, the Beloit Snappers had no problem seeing the ball out of Jeff's hand.

When I paid the $3 to the parking lot guy he mentioned  the "Soup" was pitching.  In a moment of clairvoyance, I told the attendant that he will probably get shelled.  Jeff's first inning was clean and gave me hope.  It was short lived.

Suppan got absolutely shelled in the second, third and the part of the fourth that he pitched.  Against a low-A club full of players that are so young they need their mom's permission to cross the state line.  I don't think some of them need to  shave more than once a week.  The Snappers were absolutely crushing the ball off Jeff Suppan.  The T-Rats reliever that came into the game Nick Tyson, was a monster and a complete polar opposite of Suppan.

Soup's final line - 3.1 IP 5 hits 4ER 0BB 1K

The 5 hits that he gave up - an infield single, three doubles and a triple.  According to the stadium gun, Soup's fastest fast ball (that I saw) was 85 MPH.

Updated with photos and random thoughts

via Clint Elmore farm3.static.flickr.com

Jeff Suppan throwing one of the few pitches that don't get smashed by the Snappers - of course that is because the game hasn't started yet. This is from the Timber Rattlers game on August 15, 2009

via Clint Elmore farm3.static.flickr.com

Visual proof if Jeff Suppan's 'Fast' Ball.  Yes it does read 85 MPH.  On the plus side - his curve/change registered as low as 66 mph. This is from the first inning of the Timber Rattlers game on August 15, 2009

via Clint Elmore farm4.static.flickr.com

Saturday night was a Tribute to Elvis night... Fang the T-Rats Mascot took part in the fun

via Clint Elmore farm4.static.flickr.com

The T-Rats staff really needs someone who knows photoshop.  Someone did a really bad job of 'drawing' an Elvis wig on Brett Lawie's scoreboard photo.

All a part of the fun of Elvis Tribute night in a minor league park.

via Clint Elmore farm3.static.flickr.com

Brett Lawrie coiling up to bloop a single over the short stops head in the first inning of the game on August 15, 2009.  Brett was later picked off/caught stealing.

Some other random thoughts on the game now that I am not so tired...

Josh Prince is FAST - like Bill E Hall in a track suit fast - if not faster.  If he ever learns how to play defense and hit...

Whoever says Brett Lawrie can't play defense didn't see the double play that he started (I believe it was in the 6th)  Web Gem nominee.

Brock Kjelgaard (or however you spell his name) can not play left field.  I have seen better routes to the ball taken on city softball leagues.

Cory Kemp might have something.  Played a good first base and didn't look stupid at the plate.  Of course he is an old A baller so maybe that had something to do with it....

While the tickets and parking where cheaper than Miller Park - the food and beverages were not.  Also - I am a tall fat guy and had no room whatsoever in the 'good seats' We were four rows off the field in actual seats (compared to bleachers benches) and had no leg room.  But the tickets were only $10.

Since those in the know love talking about how so much of Jason Kendall's value is in 'calling a great game', I would like dispute that and connect it to Manny Parra's struggles.

Manny's struggles are well documented, but can they be attributed to Jason Kendall?

Manny has 16 starts.  14 of them have been caught by Jason Kendall.  2 by Mike Rivera.  Those two were his first two back from the minors after the all-star break.

In the 14 starts caught by Kendall,  Manny pitched 69.2 innings gave up 93 hits, 22 doubles and 10 home runs.  He walked 44 and struck out 58 for a SO/BB ratio of 1.32:1.  Opponents had a split of .320/.408/.512/.920

In the 2 starts caught by Mike Rivera, Manny pitched 13 innings gave up 8 hits, 2 doubles and no home runs.  He walked 4 and struck out  for a SO/BB ratio of 3.25:1.  Opponents had a split of .170/.235/.213/.448

Manny's first two starts back from AAA were caught by Mike Rivera, with his last start against Atlanta caught by Jason "calls a great game" Kendall.  His first two games back was the Manny Parra, we were all projecting him to pitch like.  On Friday, he regressed back to Manny 2009.

So since we have a large sample size of two starts, I think that I have definitively proven that Jason Kendall does not call a great game and that Manny's struggles are not Manny's fault, but they clearly rest on Jason Kendall's shoulders.

Has anyone hear, or more likely read about, anything regarding Chris Capuano?

The latest thing that I found on him was a McCalvy article that had him throwing @ 105 feet at the end of May.  Throwing BP in early June and could see game action in early July.

It is now July 21st and have heard nothing about BP or minor league sessions or ??

It would be nice if someone had access to the Brewer's GM, Asst GM, Clubhouse, Trainer, or Parking Attendant and could ask about white CC

The best part of last night was not so much that Prince Fielder won the Derby, it was that right after he got the high fives from all of the kids - Prince offended the baseball world and committed the ultimate baseball crime of untucking his jersey.

via d.yimg.com

Prince committing the worst of all baseball sins... having an untucked jersey... while standing on Albert Pujols' home plate in Saint Louis. 

Eat my shorts Cardinal Nation

Congrats to Bretts big sister for winning the ASA National player of the year honors earlier in the week. 

But the only reason that I even looked her up is that she is currently pitching (ESPiN right now) and see that she dyed her hair Corey Hart Jet Black and I must say that she looks much better as a blonde.

via media.canada.com

Danielle on the right with the blonde hair

via grfx.cstv.com

Danielle with dark hair - but not the Jet Black that she has on the mound right now.