Tag: Milwaukee Brewers (Page 4 of 13)

      MLB Trade Rumors: Halladay, Wells and Rolen

      July 20, 2009 /

      – Anthony Riber of Newsday writes that if the Yankees really want ace Roy Halladay, they might have to take Vernon Wells too, who could fill their potential void in left field…

      …however, Ken Davidoff of Newsday essentially contradicts his co-worker by writing that GM Brian Cashman prefers to improve his roster this year without taking a dive into the trade market. So in essence, the Bombers might be fine with staying pat around the trade deadline.

      – Speaking of Halladay, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Brewers could have the ace in their sites, as GM Doug Melvin has already had a conversation with the Blue Jays regarding the “Doc.”

      – The Giants are still in search of bats, but it’s unclear if GM Brian Sabean wants to pull the trigger or not on a bat like Matt Holliday or Jermaine Dye. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News threw out Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen as a possibility for San Fran as well.

      – Bill Ladson of MLB.com is reporting that there isn’t much of a market for Nationals outfielder Austin Kearns, who has been delegated to back up duty in Washington.

      MLB

      Braun calls out Brewers’ pitching staff

      July 6, 2009 /

      Following the Brewers’ 8-2 loss to the punch less Cubs on Sunday, Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun called out his pitching staff and said that he hoped the club would make a move to acquire more help.

      “Their starting pitching is a lot better than ours,” Braun said after the Brewers were beaten 8-2 Sunday. “They threw the ball a lot better than our starters did. They certainly swung the bats better than we did. Clearly they were the better team. It’s nice to get the one win but they clearly outplayed us and outperformed us all series.”

      “No matter who is in there, we have to find a way to throw the ball better for us to have success,” said Braun. “I think when you’re constantly behind in games, it’s not easy and it’s not fun. Their starting pitcher was clearly better than ours this series.”

      The Brewers host St. Louis for a three-game series beginning on Tuesday and Braun is hoping Brewers general manager Doug Melvin makes a move soon to improve the Brewers.
      “I wish I got to make decisions like that. But I know he’s trying to make our ballclub better,” Braun said. “I know he understands the significance of making a move and making it soon.”

      Considering Braun is hitting .326 with 16 home runs and 58 RBI, he’s certainly doing his part to help the Brew Crew win. He’s also entitled to vent his frustrations after Milwaukee’s pitching staff gave up 21 runs in four games to a Chicago team that couldn’t itself out of a wet paper bag the past couple of weeks.

      Braun’s right – the pitching staff has been brutal lately, but him calling out his teammates is a slippery slope. As long as his ‘mates respect Braun as a leader (which is totally different than respecting him as a player), then his comments will probably inspire. But if they view him as a star shooting off his mouth, then the backlash isn’t going to help the Brewers in the long run.

      Who knows, maybe Braun’s comments are exactly what the pitching staff needed to hear to get their act together. We’ll see if what he said has a positive or negative (or neutral) affect on the club.

      MLB

      National League All-Star voting–who is leading and who should be

      July 4, 2009 /

      Last week we picked apart the American League all-star voting. Well, this week we will look at the National League, and after last night the starters have all been selected (aside from pitchers). You ready?

      First base
      Leader: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
      Mike’s pick: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals.       Well, this one is a no-brainer. Is it possible that Albert gets better with age? Yes, and his numbers border on staggering. 81 games in, he’s batting .336 with 31 homers and 82 RBI and a slugging percentage of .748. That projects to 62 homers and 164 runs batted in. What’s more, dude has a .993 fielding percentage. There is little doubt Pujols is the best player in the game, and he gets to flaunt it in front of his hometown crowd a week from Tuesday.

      Second base
      Leader: Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
      Mike’s pick: Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies.       This one is also a no-brainer that the voters got correct, though as a Mets fan it pains me to say that. Utley has 17 homers, 54 RBI, he’s batting .303 with 16 doubles and a .980 OPS—all unbelievable numbers for a second baseman. This guy is a gamer.

      Shortstop
      Leader: Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
      Mike’s pick: Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins.       This is getting to be a trend, but the numbers in the National League don’t seem to lie, do they? Hanley is batting .344 with 13 homers and 58 RBI, 26 doubles, 12 stolen bases and a .972 OPS. By comparison, he is hitting 119 points higher than JJ Hardy and 132 points higher than the slumping Jimmy Rollins. Case closed.

      Third base
      Leader: David Wright, New York Mets
      Mike’s pick: Mark Reynolds, Arizona Diamondbacks      . Wright was leading the league in batting for quite a while, and he’s currently hitting .333 but with just 5 homers and 42 RBI. By comparison, Reynolds has clubbed 22 home runs with 57 RBI while batting a respectable .271. At a power position, I’m giving the nod to the guy barely anyone gets to see play.

      Catcher:
      Leader: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
      Mike’s pick: Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves.       This is close, because Yadier’s brother Bengie has 10 homers and 46 RBI for the Giants, but McCann is batting .311 with 8 home runs and 33 driven in, with 15 doubles and a respectable .988 fielding percentage.

      Outfield
      Leaders: Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies
      Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
      Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
      Mike’s picks: Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies
      Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
      Brad Hawpe, Colorado Rockies      Ibanez is having a career season, batting .312 with 22 homers and 59 RBI, and Braun just continues to rake, with 16 home runs, 58 driven in and a .326 average. But Beltran, while he plays in the biggest media market and makes mega-bucks, is not going to get my all-star nod over Brad Hawpe. Beltran is hitting .336, but has just 8 homers and 40 RBI. Hawpe is hitting .328 with 13 homers and 56 runs batted in, 25 doubles and a stunning .993 OPS. If Manny Ramirez was playing most of the season, he’d probably be on this list, but I can’t consider a guy who’s only played 28 games, regardless of why he missed all that time.

      Starting pitcher
      As you all know, pitchers are chosen by the managers and will be announced this Sunday.
      Mike’s pick: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants. Last year’s NL Cy Young winner got off to a slow start, but has been mowing hitters down lately, to the tune of 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA and league-leading 132 strikeouts with just 28 walks in 114 innings. Arizona’s Dan Haren is a close runner-up, with a 7-5 record for a crappy D-Backs’ team, and a league low 2.19 ERA with 113 K’s and 0.81 WHIP.

      Relief pitcher
      Mike’s pick: Heath Bell, San Diego Padres. When this former Met helped christen Citi Field by mowing down his ex-teammates in April, I thought it was just a phase. But dude leads the NL in saves with 22, and is 3-1 with a 1.34 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 33 innings of work. And here’s the best stat of all—Bell has saved or won 74% of his team’s wins. If he keeps that up, Bell will contend for the NL Cy Young and even garner some MVP votes.

      Barstool Debates, Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, Happy Hour, MLB

      Team by team MLB draft rankings: Best drafts of the last 10 years

      June 9, 2009 /

      With the 2009 MLB Draft set to kickoff at 6:00 ET tonight on the MLB Network, SI.com did a cool feature in which they rated how each club has fared over the past 10 years when it comes to the draft.

      The Brewers were rated number one and it’s hard to argue with the ranking after looking at the names Milwaukee has drafted over the years: Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, J.J. Hardy, Manny Parra, Rickie Weeks, Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo. Amazingly, this club also drafted Hunter Pence (Astros), but couldn’t sign him.

      The Red Sox were rated No. 2, with Kevin Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester and Manny Delcarmen leading the way, but the site left off a glaring omission: Jacoby Ellsbury. The Rays actually drafted Ellsbury in the 2002 draft, but never signed him. The Sox then nabbed him with the 23rd overall pick in 2005 and he’s currently their starting centerfielder.

      Speaking of the Rays, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Tampa ranked higher than No. 4 in the next couple of years. Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, James Shields, Andy Sonnanstine and David Price are just some of the names they’ve drafted in the past 10 years. Don’t forget that they were the team that also drafted Josh Hamilton before he got injured and then became the poster child of what not to do when you’re an inspiring ballplayer with loads of free time on your hands.

      You look at a club like the Nationals ranked No. 8 and you wonder why they’ve been so awful over the years despite drafting so well. Then you realized they dealt Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips all in the same trade for Bartolo Colon and it all starts to make sense.

      If you’re wondering whom SI had ranked last, it was the Astros; only Hunter Pence was worth noting of the players Houston drafted the past 10 years. The White Sox were second to last, although if Josh Fields, Chris Getz, Clayton Richard and Gordon Beckham develop like the club hopes, I highly doubt Chicago will be ranked that low again if SI does another ranking like this in the next couple of years.

      MLB

      Glavine considering grievance against the Braves

      June 7, 2009 /

      According to FOX Sports Ken Rosenthal, pitcher Tom Glavine is considering filing a formal grievance against the Atlanta Braves for his release from the team last Wednesday.

      Glavine feels his release was done for financial reasons and not to clear a spot in the rotation for hot prospect Tommy Hanson, who is making his major league debut today against the Milwaukee Brewers.

      Rosenthal asked Braves general manager Frank Wren for his reaction:

      Wren said the decision was made for performance reasons, not business reasons. The team promoted top prospect Hanson rather than activate Glavine.

      According to the MLB collective-bargaining agreement, no player can be released from a team because of financial reasons. Glavine would have received a $1 million bonus if he had been activated from the disabled list for Sunday’s start.

      MLB

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