"save the franchise" article about the crew

[BREWCREW5]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/12585816/save-this-franchise-brewers-will-require-a-little-magic-to-repair/rss

 

Im my opinion, this article is horrible. The writer cares more about sneaking in funny sayings than reporting.

[SZBrewerFan]

Yeah I read that last night as well, and it is (and the writer is as well) a complete joke. How nonsense like that article is even put in print is beyond me. There is absolutely no "reporting" to that article, just a poor attempt at satire and humor.

[hawing]

Eww, one of the comments included this:

Jeez, the Brewers already gave up on Sheets and Sabathia who were their two All-Star pitchers in '08.

It may not surprise any of us that the commenter's avatar is a Yankees logo.

[ecjimg]

My favorite part is his suggestion to trade Gamel for a "B-Grade reliever".

[crewcrazy]

Larry Dobrow never claims to be doing any reporting, and even pokes fun at his own "analysis" a few times ("Non-Helpful and Semi-Realistic Suggestions," etc.). With that said, I don't agree with everything he has to say -- others have targeted his idea of trading Gamel to Oakland for a B-grade reliever, I took more issue with his idea that the Brewers are paying Trevor Hoffman to be "the Michael Jordan of good guys." The Brewers are paying (and probably overpaying, but we'll see where the market goes) Hoffman to be a very, very good closer, but maybe he missed Hoffman's 2009 season. Who knows.

 

I did like this line, though:

 

The Cardinals lack depth behind their superduperstars, the Cubs appear to be paralyzed organizationally, the Astros are dumb, the Reds are poor and the Pirates aren't trying.

 

One of the more accurate observations in the entire opinion piece, if you ask me.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, I read that the other night and shook my head at most of it. He claims the Brewers shouldn't have re-signed Hoffman and gone with "one of the other great closers on the market" for less, but doesn't actually suggest anyone. No mention of how good Hoffman was last year, either. He seems to not really present a firm plan for the Brewers to upgrade their pitching, suggesting trading for the likes of Derek Lowe, but also suggesting they go hard after Lackey. Yeah, maybe if they can balloon their payroll to around $100 million, otherwise there's no chance of that happening.

[JohnBriggs12]

I don't agree with too much, but he's got a point on Hoffman. They signed him quickly before the market was established because Melvin has difficulty multitasking and signing Hoffman was basically picking low hanging fruit. So he figured he'd take the risk of spending a couple million too much to get it off his plate and who's going to fault Melvin if Hoffman struggles some next year? I also think he could have waited longer on Hardy. He might not have gotten a better offer than Gomez, but why make that move in early November? If the Twins wanted Hardy, I'm sure they'd make that same deal in December.

 

His point on Weeks' turning the DP is pretty spot on too isn't it?

[HiAndTight]

I don't agree with too much, but he's got a point on Hoffman. They signed him quickly before the market was established because Melvin has difficulty multitasking and signing Hoffman was basically picking low hanging fruit. So he figured he'd take the risk of spending a couple million too much to get it off his plate and who's going to fault Melvin if Hoffman struggles some next year?

Or maybe they just signed him because he had a fantastic 2009 season, they needed a closer for 2010 and Hoffman wanted to come back.

 

It amazes me how much people read into simple things and how critical they can be of those simple things.

 

I also think Melvin has more difficulty with a financially strapped team in a small market than he does doing several things at once. Being a GM is awfully easy when speculation and poor moves have no consequences.

 

Heck, I've advocated a lot of moves that would have worked out great. Edwin Jackson last year. But I also tend for forget about the ones that would have crippled the franchise. Heck, I preffered we outbid the Dodgers for the services of Jason Schmidt rather than pay for Jeff Suppan.

 

As bad as that deal's been, at least he's taken the ball for us.

[Thurston Fluff]

If the Twins wanted Hardy, I'm sure they'd make that same deal in December.

 

Or they find another shortstop in the meantime. It may be they only wanted Hardy but not likely. It is more likely they wanted a shortstop and Hardy was one of them they might have interest in. Attempting to out wait them may have taken away one of the best trade partners they had.

 

I try not to take articles like that too seriously. It sucks that we are still more of a sideshow attraction for the national media but that will only change when they become annual playoff contenders. Until then we always have each other. (Que the sappy romantic chick flick music).

[brewizard]

It sucks that we are still more of a sideshow attraction for the national media but that will only change when they become annual playoff contenders.

 

THAT is what this article is really about - reaffirming our place as a sideshow. That one playoff appearance? Apparently a fluke. If I were a national writer, that's what I'd see too. Heck, that's what I see and I'm a fan!

 

If the Twins wanted Hardy, I'm sure they'd make that same deal in December.

 

I believe Melvin waited too long to trade Hardy - precisely one year too long...

[Thurston Fluff]

I believe Melvin waited too long to trade Hardy - precisely one year too long...

 

Even if we had known what would happen to Hardy last year I'm not sure it would have been wise to trade him last year. I don't think Escobar was ready to be an every day player last year. While they may have got more in return for Hardy it may have hampered Escobar's growth as well. So the net gain would have been somewhat lower by that.

[Ennder]

Escobar was not a viable option going into 2009 so if that was the plan it was a bad one. Now trading Hardy and picking up a 1 year SS might have worked assuming we found the right deal which is harder than people seem to think it is.

[wishicouldhit]

I wasnt goin to waste my time to re-read this article because i thought it was stupid the first time i read it. I have a feeling mark and doug didnt agree with this authors plans