So kRod, Saito and Hawkins are gone and the bullpen needs to be replenished. Depending on who you listen to we have somewhere between no money and $10M to replace Prince, Yuni, JHJ, CC, Casey, kRod, Saito, Hawkins. Given the priorities of the team (replacing Yuni) why would we spend any money on FA bullpen help?

I was reading this afternoons Scraping The Barrel: The Last Lesser Brewers and after being reminded of some of the other under-utilized arms that made appearances last season, I don't understand the desire to even think about any FA bullpen help. The reality is that we can't replace the bullpen production with out budget and the FA on the market are, as always, over priced. So why even try when we can replace them internally.

In Brandon Kintzler, Mike McClendon, Frankie De La Cruz, & Michael Fiers, we aren't going to set the world on fire, but at league minimums they are going to provide a lot better value than Todd Coffey, Sergio Mitre, Ramon Ortiz or just about any FA relief pitcher we can afford. And maybe we will have enough money to spend on a SS.

Besides, if the bullpen is full of rookies, doesn't that mean that RRR has to play at least one of them?

From ESPN

2. When you have so much parity like this, it only takes one or two players having bad seasons to derail a potential playoff bid. Which teams have given the most playing time to bad players? Looking at the primary playoff contenders, here is how many plate appearances each team has given to hitters with an OPS+ (on-base + slugging percentage, adjusted for home park, scaled to where 100 is a league average hitter) of 75 or less, entering Sunday's action. (From Baseball-Reference.com.)

National League
1. Brewers, 1250
2. Braves, 823
3. Giants, 809
4. Pirates, 660
5. Phillies, 534
6. Reds, 461
7. Diamondbacks, 456
8. Cardinals, 231

The Brewers are the team that should be kicking itself the most if it misses the playoffs, high in star power but a brutal bottom of the roster. Yuniesky Betancourt's line was predictable, but Casey McGehee has been even worse. Both have held their jobs. What is inexcusable is giving more than 300 plate appearances to vets Craig Counsell and Mark Kotsay.

The fact that we are even in contention, speaks volumes on just how weak our division is.

Any interest in Jake Westbrook next year to help fill out the rotation?

Lets be honest - we have no shot of signing Cliff Lee or Ted Lilly this off season so I was looking for other pitchers with some upside.

Westbrook will be a free agent for the first time at 33 years old.  He underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 08 which kept him out all of 09.  He had a pretty good year this year between Cleveland and St Louis.  32 Starts, 199 innings, 1.364 WHIP, 4.38 ERA (3.88 in StL) and a 2:1 k/w ratio

He is a righty and could make a good #3 pitcher for us which would give us a rotation of

YoGa

Wolf

Westbrook

TBD

Narv-Dog/Cappy

Last year he made $11M in the final year of a three year extension that he signed with the Indians. I have no idea what his market value is. 

Thoughts?  Is he someone that we just don't want to think about or will he get snapped up for gobs more money than he is worth by someone else?

BTW - interesting tidbit - whoever the Expos GM was in 1999 should be shot.  While researching this I found out that the Expos traded Ted Lilly, Jake Westbrook and Christian Parker to the Yankees for Hideki Irabu who only made 14 appearances for the Expos in two years and was out of baseball after 2002.

I found this article from Baseball Crank on what he calls High Quality Starts (HQS - 7 IP & < 2R). Baseball Crank put together a list of pitchers with 100+ High Quality Starts since 1920.  There are 188 pitchers on that list.  How many spent any significant time as a Brewer? 1 - Jim Slaton. And he barely qualifies to be on the list with 100 HQS

No other player on this list can be called a Brewer.  I can only find two that even stand out to me as someone who spent time in Milwaukee.  Don Sutton spent his 2 1/2 seasons in powder blue. And no one will ever forget the most productive half season ever by CC Sabathia.

I realize that as a team we are young.  We have only been around for 40 years.  But how much longer can we go as a franchise without getting that superstar Ace pitcher?

Another note - how in the name of the baseball gods did Nolan Ryan never win a Cy Young?

We had a Brew Crew Ball fantasy baseball league last year. If I remember correctly, Hyatt ran it.  Hyatt, are you going to run it again?  If not, are there any fantasy baseball experts that want to run one for Brew Crew Ball?

Since I finished decidedly in the middle (10th out of 20) of the pack last year I want to prove that I can finish in the bottom.

I needed 6 more words for a fan post

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.

I took the family out to Miller Park last night for the Border Battle - Timber Rattlers vs. Chiefs game.  Thought that I would share some thoughts, observations and opinions.

First a note - it was my four year old son's first 'live' baseball game.  'He' got the tickets for his birthday last week and I knew that there was no way that we would make it to the end of the game so we left after 6 innings.  Anything after the 6th, I can't comment on.

We sat in section 115 just to the left of the first base dugout. Great tickets and worth every penny of the $10 admission to a game at Miller Park.

Robin Yount showed up at the game last night.  Don't know why.  But he spent a fair amount of time in front of the Brewers dugout which was being used by the Peoria Chiefs. The funny thing is that Robin was there for quite some time before anyone in the stands recognized him.  Then the ushers went to work for crowd control.

via farm4.static.flickr.com

The person that he is talking to is Robin's old manager from Robin's days as a bench coach.  No not Neddy or Dale - but Bob Brenly.

via farm4.static.flickr.com

Apparently Bob's kid Michael is a catcher in the Cubs organization so he was in town to watch his kid play ball.

Robin threw out the first pitch - and I need a new camera - it just can't reset fast enough...

via farm4.static.flickr.com

Then Willy Peralta got the game going for real.

via farm4.static.flickr.com

Willy had his crap together for the first two innings.  Then hit a wall in the 3rd.  He suffered from cantfindthestrikezoneitis and ended up grooving a few pitches that were hammered hard.

I love baseball - but I can't tell what pitchers throw.  I am just not that good, knowledgeable or whatever but unless it shows up on the gun @ 95 mph I don't know what was thrown so I can't provide any insight as to what wasn't working for him. Sorry.

Up at the plate

Cutter Dykstra needs to hit the weight room and eat some protein... the boy is small.

via farm4.static.flickr.com

The picture doesn't convey how small he really is.  The T-Rats site has him listed at 5'11" & 180 lbs.  I think that he must have been wearing 2" platform shoes and 20 lbs of body weights when those measurements were taking.  But his lightweight makes him fast.  He can run.  His skills in CF still need some work.  On a few plays (line drives to be fair) he looked rather lost.  His CF skills kind of reminded me of Billy Hall when he first went to the outfield.  His speed really helped him make up for it though.

The player I went to go see the most was our first rounder - Mr. Brett Lawrie.  He certainly didn't disappoint.  Even to my untrained eye.

via farm4.static.flickr.com

His first hit of the night went all of 60 inches when he hit a little nibbler off of the end of the bat.  His wheels let him beat it out.  The next time that he came up, he hit a rocket that the Chief's SS made a great diving catch on to take a hit away from him.

He also showed some leather in the field.  One play he ranged deep and far to his left and made a spinning throw in which the ump made a bad call - but like the players the umps in in Low A ball too.  He still showed good range on the few balls hit his way.

A few other notes on the game.

Brett Lawrie wasn't the only one to flash some leather for the T-Rats.  SS Michael Marseco made a great play ranging deep to his right on his knees to throw out Bob Brenly's kid.  The T-Rats site has Michael listed at 5'9" & 145 lbs.  He isn't that big.  The boy is a stick.  NO - I will take that back - he is a twig.  If he tips the scales at more than 120 lbs, I would be shocked.   But with small size comes speed.  He is another fast kid.

Brock Kjeldgaard (1B T-Rats) hit a shot out to the second deck in RF.  Otherwise his name was the coolest part of his game.  It also confirmed the coolness of baseball names at the game.  Cutter, Kjeldgaard and Rebel Ridling were all on the field last night.

Before the game during BP I overheard a conversation from a couple of ushers basically questioning how many of the players needed notes from their mommys to travel on the team bus.  The maturity level between a 24 year old Ryan Braun and a 22 year old A Ball player really is amazing.  The catcher Sean McCraw even has the 'my first peach fuzz mustache' growth on his upper lip.

The game was good.  The kids had fun.  It was minor league ball with mistakes and goofs.  i.e. Sean McCraw appealed a swing to the first base umpire for a left handed hitter.

I am glad the Brewers did this and the wife and I agreed that we will go up to Appleton with the kids to watch a game there.

In this very young season, is it too early to start giving props to Mr. Hall?

Throughout the offseason a lot of smack (on this site and others) was directed at Bill E. Hall and his contract.  And given his offensive performance last year - some of it was deserved.  But for the first time in his career he made it through an entire off season without a position switch and knowing the position that he was going to play. He is back in the infield and it is showing. Both in the field and at the plate.

His defense has been stellar to start the season.  Some of the picks that he has made on the hot corner have been jaw dropping.  Even in tonight's game against the Reds, some of the plays that he made from his knees on balls hit so hard that he camera guy couldn't keep up with them.

His offense (on the very young season) is nothing to gripe about either.  He is OPS'ing .804 and has an OPS+ of 108

So the question(s) that I am posing is - Is it to early to start liking Bill Hall again and stop griping about his contract?   After all, he has only had one bad year.

I have to say that I am really enjoying the WBC.  Not just because there is a Brewer on Team USA either. I don't know if it is just because I am Jonesing for baseball because spring training games are not shown on TV, or if it is the international aspect of baseball.  I would suspect it is a bit of both, but more heavily leaning toward the international aspect with players that you don't see throughout the year.

Regardless of Bud Selig's negatives, credit must be given for the WBC and I hope that it continues.

About the only that could make it better would be a lack of Joe Morgan.

As I sit here watching the WBC, I have to ask - Do the Brewer's have any international scouts?  Do they have any presence in Asia?  I believe that they have a camp somewhere in the Caribbean. But I don't here anything about their scouts or I guess scouting successes from anywhere other than the US or if Brett Lawrie pans out, Canada.

There is some talent on these international rosters.  I look at some of these players and think to myself that in some of our needier thinner years (think Brady Clark in CF, Royce Clayton at SS or Ruben Quevedo and his 1.781 WHIP) that it really could have been interesting and maybe even worthwhile to have some of thees players on the roster.

When I went to Miller Park to pick up some tickets today, I stopped in the pro shop and was going to buy a USA Braun Jersey... except that it had the wrong number.  It had the number 8 on it and not Braun's WBC number of 18. 

When the goof ball that worked there came by to see if he could help, I asked him if those Jerseys should be marked at half price (they were $150) since it had the wrong number on it.  The guy looked at me like I was smoking crack.  He told me that Brauns number is 8 and showed me a Brewer's jersey with #8 on it.  So I grabbed a WBC Braun T-shirt with #18 on it and asked him which WBC item had the correct number...  So I asked him which item was going to be half price since one of them was wrong - yes I am a cheap bastard. 

The guy looks at me - he doesn't say anything - looks at his watch and tells me that the store closes @ 6 and that it was 6 oclock.

So if anyone wants a mistake jersey for $150 head on down to the Pro Shop at Miller park.  But if you want one with the right number - you will have to order on line...

I just paid for my tickets to the 'A' ball Border Battle at Miller Park on April 24th.  Even a week after the tickets went on sale, I was still able to get Section 115 Row 7 tickets for four people. 

This will be my son's first game and for $10 a seat for that good of seats at Miller Park it should be a great experience without destroying the budget.

Here is the link to get your tickets if you haven't already.  What else are you going to do on a Friday night?

From NBC Chicago

The billionaire Ricketts family has been selected by Tribune Co. as the winning bidder for the hard-luck Chicago Cubs.

The bid is worth about $900 million, according to the Web site of the Chicago Tribune, which also is owned by Tribune Co. The sale would include Wrigley Field and a 25 percent interest in a regional sports network...

Really - $900,000,000 for a 100 year losing franchise and a crappy stadium that is crumbling down and can only hold 41k fans. 

Not a bad return for the Tribune who bought it for 20.5M in 1981 and still didn't win jack.

Continue reading this post »

I gotta ask. What is wrong with him as a player?

From Minor League Splits

MLE Splits 152 IP, 4.81 FIP, 1.27 WHIP, 5.53k/9

What is wrong with Kei's AAA line?

Looking at his 2007 BR Game Log, he had three bad outings (7-8 runs), two shut outs and four outings of 2 run ball. It is almost Dave Bush like.  It really is hard to say that he is a wash out or that he sucks something bad.

Would anyone trade for Kei Igawa and on the assumption that we aren't paying all of his salary?

I really wouldn't mind having him in the rotation as the fifth starter.

What would I give up for him - a mid level, might be a prospect if the stars aligned kind of player and the Yankees picking up half of his remaining salary.  I would not trade Cam or Hall straight up.

I just don't get it and I hope someone else out there may be able to explain it to me?

What is the deal with arbitration and FA?  More importantly - WHY?  I don't understand why a team HAS to even offer arbitration to get the compensation picks. 

Gagne is a free agent (thank the almighty baseball gods) - so if Milwaukee wanted the compensatory picks they had to offer arbitration?  I wouldn't mind bringing him back for $3-4M but that would break the arbitration rules.  He will sign somewhere else with another team that sees value in him - so why shouldn't Milwaukee get the draft picks regardless of whether arbitration was offered or not? 

It just seems pointless and quite frankly stupid to offer arbitration to free agents