1/3 of the way through the season...

Just wanted to check in with everybody to see who's still "on board" with the current Brewers' team. There's been a decent amount of grumblings recently online and on the radio that a trade (for a starting pitcher again) will be the only way the Brewers' can remain competitive in the long run for a playoff spot. There's some truth to that on the surface. At 31-23, the Crew is on pace for a 93 win season (and most likely a playoff berth). Their expected W/L though (based on runs scored v runs allowed) has them on pace for an 86 win season as a result of their lower run differential. St. Louis is currently ahead of us in this respect. So the argument can be made on some level that the Brewers have over-performed this year to date.

But on the flip side, I see no reason to panic. We still are...after all...31-23 and tied for first in the central. The team has made improvements (I use that word loosely) at some of the bench positions with the dumping of Brad Nelson, Duffy, and the gas can. The loss of Rickie Weeks (based on projecting his hot start through a whole season) looms somewhat large but it looks like McGehee and C3 are at least up to the challenge at shouldering perhaps half of Rickie's production.

As surprisingly good (overall) as the starting pitching has been, there hasn't been a quality start in a week. With the way this rotation is built however, we (as fans) have got to get used to this happening a couple more times down the road this season. With the exception of Gallardo, these guys are all 5-6-7 inning pitchers. NOW, that's not a BAD thing. But there are going to be 2 week stretches where each guy goes 6 or 7 plus, and there are going to stretches (similar to this week) where maybe Gallardo struggles for a game and next thing you know each guy is struggling to get 5 innings in. Nature of the business.

So what are the major problems of the team? I see 3 main areas of improvement, 2 of which have been shoved down your throats numerous times so far this year all over, the last hasn't been mentioned much.
Manny Parra:
Just can't figure the guy out. He started off sucky, then went through a good stretch, and after his last start is at the low point of his young career. After his last start Adam McCalvy reported some alarming stats for the guy: At that time he led the NL in walks, losses, and earned runs. EGAD! We know two things about Parra: 1) The Brewers need him to be the pitcher he was in the first half of last year to succeed this year, and 2) he is seriously costing the Brewers wins so far with his abysmal performance. These 2 things don't mesh well. I'm just not sure how much more of a leash he's got, especially with Tim Dillard throwing quality innings down in AAA ball.
Bill Hall: I think it's safe to say the ONLY reason Bill Hall gets any playing time right now is because of his contract. The man is just putrid (yet somehow is currently the 3rd vote getter in the NL All Star voting amongst 3rd basemen...thanks Milwaukee!). A guy called in to the 1250 post game show last night and said what needed to be said. Hall's contract is what it is. Macha and Sveum need to sit him down NOW...TODAY...and say if he doesn't change his batting stance, listen to Sveum and maybe try to give this team a little help with the bat in the 2nd half of the season, he will be buried on the bench with almost 0 playing time because he can't be trusted as a pinch hitter. He will not see the field unless he listens to Sveum. It's gotten past the point of any kind of defense for Bill Hall. He's the worst player on the team. It's that simple. Yeah...I'll say Jody Gerut is better. Hell, I'll even say Kendall is better, and I'm about to bash him in my next paragraph.
Jason Kendall: Here's one that not many people are talking about. Jason Kendall. Good God is he done with the stick. After 178 plate appearances, he is slugging .260. TWO FREAKING SIXTY! You know who could slug .260 after 178 plate appearances in the major leagues? I'll tell you. ANYBODY. The receptionists who work in my office could do that. Matt's wife could do that. Watching a Jason Kendall at bat right now is like getting your teeth pulled. You do nothing but cringe and moan the entire time and you want it to be over. I know he's around for his defense and he brings hard to quantify "intangibles" to the table...but here's the question guys: AT WHAT POINT does Kendall's complete inability to be any kind of an offensive threat outweigh whatever value you want to assign to his defense and intangibles? I'm not sure of the answer to that. All I know is that with Mike Rivera, you are getting much more offense then you would with Kendall without losing as much on the defensive side. I mean really, is Rivera that bad? Of course not. I just hope that as we move forward into the season, Kendall's playing time decreases from 80% to closer to 50%. Who knows, maybe at this point in his career the decreased playing time with only boost his numbers.

We're all interested to hear in what you guys think. I'm still sticking with my original prediction of the Brewers being a 94 win team.

Parra Vs Cain

BREWERS
2B Rickie Weeks
3B Craig Counsell
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
SS JJ Hardy
CF Mike Cameron
RF Corey Hart
C Jason Kendall
LHP Manny Parra

GIANTS
RF Randy Winn
SS Edgar Renteria
LF Fred Lewis
C Bengie Molina
3B Pablo Sandoval
1B Rich Aurilia
CF Aaron Rowand
2B Emmanuel Burriss
RHP Matt Cain

Apparently, Mach Chicken Leg (sorry, had to do it) rejects the infamous Money Order. And that's a good thing.

Manny Parra = Vegas Party Animal

Kobe Bryant.

Michael Phelps.

Terrell Owens.

Barry Bonds.

Manny Parra.

Wait...Manny Parra...what?

Oh yes folks. Manny Parra. He likes to party. According to this WSJ article...he's been known to hob-knob it with some pretty cool people. He's "in" with some of the people "in the know" with certain Vegas entourages. I'm going to say no more...read the entire article as it is a must read. Here's the parts on Parra:

On a recent night, Mr. Sabathia and Mr. Jones were joined by Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Manny Parra. After watching a Kings game, they piled into a tricked-out party bus and around 3 a.m, unsuccessfully tried to squeeze it through a Jack In The Box drive-through to order more than $100 worth of fast food. Several weeks later, Mr. Parra and Mr. Jones went to the airport, caught a flight to Las Vegas on Southwest Airlines and, upon collecting their luggage, were whisked in a town car to the Palms casino. There, Mr. Jones high-fived nearly every staff member and shuttled Mr. Parra into the VIP check-in lounge. "I've never felt like part of somebody else's entourage until now," said Mr. Parra.

On Super Bowl Sunday, Mr. Jones watched the game from a black leather couch in the Palms casino's Playboy Club next to Mr. Parra, pro skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and several young women, while waitresses in bunny ears and puffy white tails served Mr. Jones margaritas. After Larry Fitzgerald's 64-yard touchdown catch, Buffalo Bills center Melvin Fowler ran over from across the club to give Mr. Jones a high-five before plopping down and asking about his plans for the night.

Mr. Parra watched Mr. Jones and wondered aloud: "How does he do it? He's not the athlete, he's not the celebrity, but in a way, he is. Sometimes I think I'm too humble."

My god. Parra? Seriously? Parra rocks it out in Vegas? Parra knows people? Parra seems to me like the kind of guy that Braun and JJ make fun of when they go out.

Picture a scene out in some LA club this offseason. Braun's got a table and has invited JJ out for the weekend. They've got their whole crew out there. 5 dudes, 8 chicks at the table. Parra strolls up:
Manny - "Hey guys! Ready for spring training?"
JJ (says nothing...looks at Braun)
Braun (surprised look on face)- "Manny? Hey...dude...what are you doing here?"
Manny - "Well...I was out in Vegas this past week, I'm just kicking it now for an extra week out here. What do you guys think of Macha? I hear he's a hardass."
Braun (without missing a beat)- "Coaching is irrelevant. I'm hitting 42 bombs this year irregardless. Who were you out in Vegas with?"
Manny - "My guy Julian...and some of his chronies."
Braun - "Julian Jones?"
Manny - "Yeah...you know him?"
Braun - "Yeah...I do Manny. Hey listen, it's not cool to make that shit up (he stands up...immediately 2 security guards move to the table)."
Manny - "Wait...I'm serious man..."
Braun (to guards) - "Show this guy (Manny) the door please. (to Manny as he's being escorted out) You better win at least 15 this year you dead-arm by August chump."
Manny (kicking as he's getting pulled away) - "JJ...help!"
Braun (looks at JJ)
JJ (doesn't say a word for a minute...then leans over to girl next to him) - "Isn't Ryan the coolest guy you know?"

Manny's Left Arm

As Parra continues to pitch well, his innings count rises. It's currently at 132. Not counting possible playoff innings, he's is on pace for 185. For comparison, he only pitched 131 in 2007, and the most innings he's ever thrown was 139 back in 2003 in beautiful Beloit.

Worried about possible fatigue as he approaches a whopping 50 more innings than his previous max? Should they "save" some innings for September/October? Maybe skip a couple starts? Limit him to 5 innings/start?

Thoughts?

Prince Fielder needs professional help

Wow...all I can say is that Prince Fielder needs some serious Anger Management.

Everyone take another close look at the clip.

The guy effing snapped. SNAPPED. He not only pushed Parra once, but then went after him AGAIN when the guy was up against the dugout seats. Could you imagine if he would have gotten another shove or punch in? He wasn't stopping with that second shove.

Speculation about what let to the altercation...is well...speculation. But you can gather from various reports how it basically went down. Parra came back into the dugout furious about his performance. He was going to head up into the clubhouse. He was probably going to calm down a little. I don't know. Prince got in his face for not staying out there to watch the top of the next inning. Maybe he even said: "We stayed out there and watched your (bleep). You can stay out here and watch our (bleep)."

So Parra stays in the dugout and walks away, angrily picking up/throwing down his jacket/cap. So this necessitates being violently attacked by the supposed "leader" of this team? I don't think so. Prince was completely in the wrong here. He should be ashamed of himself.

I have been a huge Prince Fielder supporter this year as many people have called for him to be traded or made fun of him for having bitch tits. There aren't many guys that OPS .900...I think the guy is a damn good hitter and very valuable to this team. That being said, I was absolutely shocked when I saw him get physical last night, UNPROVOKED. It would have been one thing to get in Parra's face and tell him to sit down and watch the rest of the game. Hell, I wouldn't have even minded him grabbing his shirt or something. But he attacked Parra and then when he was being restrained he looked like a freaking lunatic. Dude...calm the F down!

The immediate damage control that was done by Brewers management was laughable. Cirillo, Sveum, Bill Schroeder, Ned Yost...all chalked it up to the "dog days" of August...that the whole team was "frustrated." "Sometimes this stuff happens." You know what...fine. I agree with that (somewhat). But you have to call out Fielder. This is what I CAN'T STAND about Ned Yost. Why couldn't he say something like, "You know what...we're all struggling here. But that type of behavior won't be tolerated. Prince is going to have to stand up for what he did. We're going to move on and try to play better ball...blah blah blah." But no...he throws out some ridiculous line of "It's not a big deal," said Yost. "For eight months a year, we're a family. At times things happen, flare up, but it's between the family. It's in the family.

In the short term, I don't think this will affect the team in any particular direction. But long term, this may have some affect on Prince Fielder himself. The players can say all they want about how they are going to "move on" and "forget," but the bottom line is that Prince has lost all credibility. Whatever "leadership" role he had gained in the clubhouse is now gone. He was never a vocal leader, he "led by example." Well...your leading by example powers go out the window when you are the most standoffish player in the clubhouse that attacks fellow team members unprovoked.

All that being said...can we beat the Reds tonight? Christ...

Brewers 5, Twinkies 1

Nice bounce back win for Milwaukee led by a great outing by Manny Parra. The Twins were kept off the scoreboard until the 9th when Mitch Stetter served one up. Series is tied at one after the Brewers dropped an entertaining one on Friday. Thank you Guillotine Mota. He's turning into the guy the Mets booed unmercifully last year every time he touched the mound. Taking the series tomorrow would be big.

Bill Hall - signs of life? Could it be?

The Yovanni Decision...

Friday morning is a great time for a little armchair GM debate. The topic today: Yovanni's comeback this Sunday and the resulting pitching staff change. Baseball Prospectus essentially states that it's a toss up as to who is going to get moved.

Adam McCalvy lays it out right here in this article with the 3 possible options.
Essentially they are:
-Send Bush to the pen (or maybe send him down)
-Send Carlos to the pen (Bush stays in the rotation)
-Send Carlos or Parry to Triple A (Bush stays in rotation)

First of all, a few comments:
-Carlos is not going to Triple A. He is up here for good.
-I strongly don't believe that Dave Bush will be sent to Triple A. Even though he is having the worst year so far out any Brewer if we measure by VORP, his recent quality start probably saved his spot in the rotation. Ned Yost doesn't pull the strings on a guy who has averaged 200 innings the last 2 years.
-I also don't think that any 1 of these 3 guys are going to end up in the bullpen. It appears that management is dedicated this season to letting starters start, whether it be at up in the Show or in Nashville. Melvin loooooooooves starting pitching depth.

So what option fits all these comments? Parra going down to Triple A. This is where I thought he was going to start the year anyway (before Yo's injury). I know everybody really pounds Bush (trust me, I'm not saying he's a superstar), but it's not like Parra is lighting it up either.

The whole "not having a lefty in the rotation" may be the only thing that saves Parra. But I personally think he is going to be sent down. The decision is not clear-cut, but I do believe Bush should get the nod (right now) over Parra.

The good news? Starting pitching depth. If Parra goes down, Nashville's starting five is:
-Action Jackson
-Narveson
-Jeff Weaver (still chuckling about that)
-Parra
-Some guy named Lindsay

Keep the Bush bashing to a minimum. What do you guys think should be done?

Brewers Prospect Props

From CNNSI - Baseball's Top 100 Prospects.

31. Matt LaPorta, OF, Brewers: The best college hitter in last year's draft, the Brewers are taking a risk by trying to teach him how to play left field, but all he needs to do is become adequate there, because at the plate, he's a monster.

42. Manny Parra, LHP, Brewers: Always loaded with promise despite a propensity to spend long periods of time on the disabled list, Parra finally stayed healthy enough to reach the big leagues last year and cement a bid to join Milwaukee's Opening Day rotation.

76. Jeremy Jeffress, RHP, Brewers: A million-dollar arm handicapped by off-field issues. Jeffress can hit 100 mph with his fastball, and would rank much higher on this list if not for the multiple positive tests for marijuana.