I Hate Geoff Jenkins

AB BA OBP SLG OPS
vs. Left 82 .122 .247 .183 .430
vs. Right 288 .295 .357 .455 .812
Total 370 .257 .332 .395 .726

I also hate ned yost for playing Jenkins against lefties.

Krivsky's still dealing

Cormier and Lohse for Germano and RHP Zach Ward. Cormier for Germano makes sense because Cormier still present a viable LHP for a struggling bullpen. He has had a good year, although I'm not sure what percentage of his inherited runners have scored. But the Ward for Lohse trade worries me for two reasons. Aside from the fact that Loshe is not very good and makes way too much money for his bloated ERA and inability to locate his pitches, what really worries me is this disturbing trend of Krivsky almost exclusively looking to the Twins for pitching. Joe Mays was a poorly scouted bust--despite the fact he actually came from the Royals and was released. But why must he always look for ex-Minnesota prospects who have lost their edges or passed their primes?

Ward, a 22-year-old RHP, was a third round pick last year and has posted a repectable 2.29 ERA for Single-A Dayton. I hate to see trades like this because the Reds likely won't need Loshe past this season.

But if they win, all is forgiven. I will be in Cincinnati this weekend for a family shin-dig. Anyone who wants to come to the Queen City and accompany us to Friday night's Reds/Braves game is welcome. The big donkey will certainly christen my maiden voyage to the Great American Ballpark with a smoke-stack blast.

How did you Tappers fare on Friday night?

Carlos Lee/Nelson Cruz Trade Venting Post

Let's hear it here...what do you all think? I know there has been a lot of phone calls and emails today, but I want to make this a community conversation. Let's use this activity to get the board back to life.

John Sickels' Top 20 Brewers Prospects in Review

John Sickels, for those that don't know, is my favorite minor league baseball analyst. Check out his site at www.minorleagueball.com. Today, he reviewed his preseason top-20 propsect list from the Brewers. For simplicity's sake, I've copied it in total. I thought you all might enjoy. If you go to his site, you can read other people's comments.

Top 20 PRE-SEASON Brewers Prospects in Review

This is the PRE-SEASON list. That means it was generated BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED and that the grades were PRE-SEASON. Anyone complaining about the grades based on 2006 performance will be smacked up the side of the head with a J.M. Gold autographed baseball.

1) Prince Fielder, 1B, Grade A- Hitting .290/.343/.504 with 18 homers for the Brewers. And I think he will get better than this in time.

2) Ryan Braun, 3B, B+ Hot lately, up to .283/.330/.505 in 26 games for Double-A Huntsville. A decent full-season debut although perhaps not quite as good as people expected.

3) Jose Capellan, RHP, B+ 4.29 ERA in 40 games for the Brewers, 38/19 K/BB in 50 innings. He will do better than this eventually.

4) Corey Hart, OF, B Hitting .357/.410/.446 in 40 games for the Brewers, just 56 at-bats. Not really a .357 hitter but he is a solid guy who just needs playing time.

5) Zach Jackson, LHP, B 2-2, 5.40 in 38 innings for the Brewers, 22/14 K/BB. Not great by any means, but most rookie pitchers struggle initially.

6) Yovani Gallardo, RHP, B Combined 7-5, 1.66 in 18 starts between Class A Brevard County and Double-A Huntsville. Emerging as one of the top RHP prospects in the game.

7) Dana Eveland, LHP, B 8.13 ERA in 28 innings for the Brewers. Like Jackson, he's struggled, but has little left to prove in the minors and still has considerable upside.

8) Mark Rogers, RHP, B- 5.07 ERA in 16 starts for Brevard County, 96/53 K/BB in 71 innings. Blistering stuff shows up in his K/IP ratio, but his command is terrible. At this point he could develop into anything....Nolan Ryan, Colt Griffin are the possible extremes.

9) Nelson Cruz, OF, B- Hitting .302/.380/.525 for Triple-A Nashville, with 17 steals and 19 homers. Impressive power/speed combination. Contact is an issue and his batting average may not hold up in the majors, but he should at least be a decent player.

10) Will Inman, RHP, B- 1.33 ERA in 61 innings for Class A West Virginia, 74/13 K/BB with zero homers allowed. Big-time sleeper that you should watch closely.

11) Tim Dillard, RHP, B- 3.33 ERA in 111 innings for Huntsville, 70/31 K/BB. Competent strike-thrower who can start or relieve. Doesn't dominate but gets the job done, at least in the minors.

12) Ben Hendrickson, RHP, C+ 2.12 ERA in 15 starts for Nasvhille, but a 12.00 ERA in 12 innings, 21 hits allowed, 8/9 K/BB for the Brewers. Needs a change of scenery. Has nothing left to prove in the minors but hasn't been able to hold a rotation spot in the majors.

13) Dennis Sarfate, RHP, C+ 3.81 ERA in 21 starts for Nashville, 93/69 K/BB in 106 innings. Must improve his control in order to post decent numbers in the majors. Should get a shot next year.

14) Manny Parra, LHP, C+ 2.84 ERA with 57/31 K/BB in 51 innings for Brevard County. Good ERA and K/IP rate but too many walks.

15) Alcides Escobar, SS, C+ Hitting .249/.290/.315 in 59 games for Brevard County, with 17 steals. Good speed but his power is non-existent and his walk rate is also weak. Athletic and will have a good glove with more experience, but hitting is a problem.

16) Hernan Iribarren, 2B, C+ Hitting .329/.371/.408 with 17 steals for Brevard County. Proven high-batting-average hitter, but power remains mediocre and he needs to improve his baserunning.

17) Angel Salome, C, C+ Hitting .300/.357/.454 for West Virginia, with 29 doubles. A fine prospect with a strong bat.

18) Michael Brantley, OF, C+ Hitting .286/.390/.329 with 14 steals for West Virginia. Patience and speed make him a good leadoff guy, but power is very, very weak right now.

19) Lorenzo Cain, OF, C+ Hitting .299/.374/.408 for West Virginia, with 24 steals and 21 doubles. Toolsy, fast, with some power potential.

20) Kevin Roberts, RHP, C+ 5.04 ERA in 80 innings for West Virginia, 81/41 K/BB. Good strikeout rate but control troubles have inflated his ERA.

Comment: While most people are aware that the Brewers have a good farm system, I think they are still underrated to some extent. Fielder is obviously successful, but Hart, Braun, and Cruz also have potential to be solid regular players, if not better than solid. There are some interesting players on the West Virginia roster, and the team has shown that it can find players in Latin America as well as in the draft. They're not the Dodgers or the Indians, but this is a good farm organization.

Please let this be true

The Twins have long coveted Carlos Lee, and now there is talk in baseball circles that the Brewers will move him if they continue losing before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. In the Twins clubhouse, eyes grew wide when the Lee suggestion was made, but staff members insisted they had heard very little of substance on the trade front.
-- Minneapolis Star Tribune

Unfortunately, with an upcoming homestand, this team may actually throw a couple wins together. Even if they play .500 ball the next week, we can't hold onto this guy. Also, for everybody that misses the days when this board used to rock with posts and comments and such, this guy is done with work next Thursday and is going to post his ass off. As soon as everybody gets to school, i suggest you do the same, there's still plenty of sports to discuss, locally and nationally.

Swan Song

I'm leaving the Brew City on Saturday. My wallet needs to find greener pastures. Just thought I'd make it official on a post. I am sad that I won't be around for the team photo next week. I guess thems are the breaks.

But on a more serious subject, why are the Brewers using Dave Bush out of the bullpen today? Since when was he demoted? They are already shorthanded witrh starters even with Okha back. Sheets will surely fall apart again once they throw him back in the mix, so I just don't see the reasoning behind moving Bush.

Promiscuous Bub, hahahaha! I love the name change in the fantasy league Roberto!

Trade Rumor Bull from Steve Phillips

Ol' Stevie said that the Brewers are in the mix for Abreu...To me, that sounds rediculous mostly because they already can't afford Lee @ $12mil yearly. There's no way they could take on Abreu's $38mil for the last two years of his deal.......right?

You people in the Brew City need to help me out here if I'm missing something...

A gem from John Kruk

on baseball tonight: "Some of these teams that are going to be in contention this year and beyond need to go after Soriano and sign him long term . . ." that's fair, he's a great player, but: " . . . he's going to be good for 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases pretty much every year". Not only has he never done this, only three players have ever done this. And they didn't do it pretty much every year. They each did it once, and at least one was roided out of his mind. He did come close in 02, but I doubt he'll ever steal 40 again, especially if he goes to the middle of a competitive team's lineup.

The Trade?

Despite standing up for him against all of you who thought the Reds were stupid for trading for Arroyo, I see no good in this trade for bullpen help and middle infioelders.

Flat out, there's zero logic to it. What was once afeared lineup is now mediocre. If they are going to quit on this season (which they certainly did), they should have at least gotten something for the future. This Bray kid better cure cancer...

I'm now thoroughly depressed and confused. Even if this trade somehow by the hand of God helps them get into the postseason, the team I loved to watch and root for is now dead.

Club Tap Softball and Brewers/Cubs Series Thread

Yo gang, I got the game review, box score and season stats up from this week's game. It was quite a memorable game, though for all the wrong reasons. How we pulled off a tie is beyond me. It's a loss in my book. Damn shame!

I apologize for all the pop-ups. Next year we will have to invest in a real webpage; perhaps a webpage that would allow for a message board and more video capabilities. We could record our games. How cool would that be? We could even link to the at-bat theme music that we can play if we win either of the next two games. Remember that I said we could do at-bat music if we finish .500.

The Brewers really need to take the next two from the Butt-Cubs. Going into the break less than 3 games back would be huge. Thoughts on the Brewers and my new favorite player Mike Rivera?

AJ Pierzynski, are you fucking joking me?

player A (pierzynski)
.326/.371/.446, 5 hr, 13 bb

Player B (hafner)
.319/.461/.656 24 hr 69 bb

what? and don't even get me started on Liriano . . . or Verlander. maybe somebody is on the phone with Jeff Gillooly, I don't know.

Where the fuck is everybody?

If you jerks don't begin entertaining me, I will be forced to make cuts.