Thursday, July 3, 2008

4th of July double dose of the Brewer Mailbag!

God bless America! The place where people like writing in stupid questions to newspapers about baseball and clowns like me make fun of them in my low-trafficked Brewer blog!

Kick back, open up some Robinade...and lets get going. Today's questions come from the Monday and Wednesday editions of the JSOnline mailbag.

Q: larry of avondale,AZ. - do you really think alot of home run hitters in the line up will produce a penant.

MY REACT: No...it's not a good thing that the Brewers are hitting a lot of home runs. Scoring runs is a bad thing and doesn't lead to pennants.

Q: Mark of Oshkosh - Even though the brewers are putting together a winning season right now, the fans are frustrated by the way things are headed and know that they are not going to win the pennant. How long will it take before Ned Yost realizes that Weeks and Hall are not going to improve? Will it take him getting fired for him to change? There are other issues but these two in particular are brutal. On any given game we have 1/3 of the batting order (includes the pitcher) that are just about an automatic out. You just can't keep trotting this lineup out there...

MY REACT: What fans are frustrated? Has the news not yet reached Oshkosh that Bill Hall stopped being an every day player a month ago? While I don't think they are going to win the pennant, the wild card is a very realistic option that all Brewer fans should be excited about as the summer continues. Why can people never enjoy a winning season with potential for October? Why Mark? WHY?

Q: Craig Danula of Emerado, North Dakota - I might be the only one who thinks the Brewers should trade Prince Fielder. Considering their track record (or I should say lack of) for developing pitching, a trade of the Prince would be wise. I'd move him to an American League team in the off season. First on my list of teams to call would be the Anaheim Angels. They could definitely use a power bat in their lineup and their minor league system is loaded with prospects. In the coming years, Prince's contract will get real big...not worth the risk as his gut will get bigger as well. Your thoughts?

MY REACT: Re-read what Craig from Emerado just wrote. He just wrote that the Brewers should trade Prince Fielder because he might get fatter...completely ignoring Prince's actual results. Sigh...

Q: Michael of Delafield - I don't feel the Brewers; should trade any of their top minor league prospects for a "rental" player. If anything, they should trade Sheets and Fielder for young prospects. This Brewer team is not quite ready to win; either the division or wildcard. They should get something for Sheets while they can; and I do not see Fielder's agent and Brewer management working out a deal. Your thoughts?

My REACT: This is the dumbest question/comment in the mailbag. It's completely effing stupid. Apparently "Michael" from Delafield doesn't think the Brewers are "ready" to win.
Hey Michael, CLICK ON THIS.
For somebody just to write this in on a whim when a team is 8 games over and 2 back of the wild card just shows a level of asinine that can't be adequately described.
As far as the trading goes, here's my response. There are times when an organization needs to trade for the future. THIS YEAR is not one of those years. Eventually teams realize they are in a position that they can make the playoffs, and they need to take advantage of that. That means NOT trading Ben Sheets (your best pitcher) and NOT trading Prince Fielder (2nd best overall hitter). That means you DO make a trade potentially to bolster a problem area for the stretch run. That is up for debate. Unless the Brewers completely nose dive in July (like go 6-23 or something) the Ben Sheets (especially) and Prince Fielder trade talk needs to stop. Like NOW.

I'm just going to stop there and end with this basic comment. Why...why...after everything we've seen so far this year (The Gagne disaster, the benching of Bill Hall due to the fact he sucks, signing Freddy Krueger and then releasing him like 2 weeks later) can people not enjoy the success that the team is currently having?

The Brewers have the 3rd best record in the National League. They've currently got 5 guys in the starting rotation that you could label as (relatively speaking) effective. They've replaced their gas can $10 Million dollar closer with a journyman reliever who has converted 14 for 14 saves in his place. They stopped playing Bill Hall because they finally realized he is an overpaid piece of dirt. Unless you're Brad or AP, how can you not root for this team?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Julian Tavarez = Freddy Krueger...nice. I appreciate your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

how about that great game tonight... luckily i was at summerfest and didn't have to witness it on tv live. but at least the cubs and cards lost too i guess.

Anonymous said...

I went to 3 games this weekend; believe me, I'm rooting for this team plenty.

And yes, the Freddy Kreuger thing was great.