GenoSeligPrieb Back In The House!

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Migod, it's been a long time! But things in my personal life that I promise NOT to bore everyone with, have kinda sorted themselves out, and well, I guess you're stuck with me again.

 

Back to baseball.

 

My first regular post is about 2 issues that have been bothering me for a while lately

 

First, let's start with Roenicke. Not to open a sore old wound, but I haven't seen anyone ask this: Why did he let LaRussa's pitchers to basically throw at Ryan and Fielder in the NLCS without ANY balls coming near David Freese? We Brewer fans get a championship-caliber team once every 20 years or so, until some low-lives like Boras start taking key players away from us, and when we get there, what do we have? A manager who doesn't argue calls, who allows the opponents (and it just HAD to be St. Louis of all teams) to bully us. At one point, the TBS cameras showed Furcal standing with his spikes literally a few inches outside the batters box as that bast$&@ Freese did, because there was NO fear of chin music coming from Brewer pitchers.

 

After that series, I wanted Roenicke (and Marcum of course) gone. 1 down, 1 to go.

 

2 points for the price of 1 post.

 

I also never saw where any reporter asked Attanasio why the fans are basically being punished for not filling the stadium every game last year to watch K-Rod and Axford ruin our season, with a much-lower payroll. I genuinely appreciated when Mark paid up, but once Fielder's salary slot went unfilled, that was that. Now we're going into a season with a #1 offense, but 4 shaky rotation spots & that same shaky closer. This lineup won't stay this powerful indefinitely. A trade for a REAL #2 should have been made, since Greinke's slot also went unfilled.

 

I expect about 82 wins this year, which seems like a huge wasted opportunity.

 

At any rate, I'm thrilled to be back, but as Chief Cynic, understandably, I'm not as optimistic as I was before Roenicke and Attanasio brought me back down to the ol' Skeptic Tank

[Patrick425]

Welcome back Geno!

 

Agree on both points. Especially the 2nd one.

 

I'm not overly thrilled with the off season moves and the cutting of payroll. Like you stated, they are not going to have this lineup forever and I feel like they are wasting this window of opportunity. I would have had no problem trading prospects for a real #2. When you are the Brewers and you have a chance to make the playoffs, I'll always be for trading unproven talent for proven talent. People who don't agree with this, are either too young to remember or have chosen to forget the years of 1993-2006 (especially the early 2000's), among other not so great years in Brewer history. They have only made the playoffs 4 times in 40+ years! When you have an opportunity and the talent the Brewers have now in there offense...you go for it!

 

It just seems like Antanasio has had a change of heart. When we needed an Ace down the stretch in 2008, he went out and got Sabathia. Then he made the big trade for Grienke and also signed Marcum. He seemed to understand the Brewer's situation as well as the need to reward the fans for their support. In my opinion, he did not do that this off season.

[brwrsfan]

I don't disagree on either point and I am also less then thrilled with what turned out to be a relatively boring off season...I'm not really sure what options we had. What pitcher would you have liked to target? I can't imagine us signing a top FA pitcher, so that leaves a trade.

 

Teams aren't exactly giving away #2 starters, and when they do, they ask for a ton in return. With our minor league system really not great, I'm not sure we had the ammo to make such a trade unless we're talking about including guys like Peralta, which would just seem silly. I don't like the lower payroll though. They could have made a stronger push to get guys that could have helped (like Dempster or Jackson IMO). Not necessarily ace type pitches, but very solid guys that could have solidified the rotation.

[JohnBriggs12]

I fully understand what they are doing with the rotation. Between them Estrada and Fiers made 45 starts last year, a combined 266 innings, with a 3.69 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and 278 K's. Those aren't exactly typical Dave Bush or Doug Davis (prior years 3 and 4 starters) type numbers and the sample size isn't all that small. Given their age, price, and amount of controllable years left, the Brewers had to give them another chance to validate those numbers before moving on to other options. If indeed those numbers are indicative of their quality, the Brewers will have freed up a lot of money to spend elsewhere. Sending them to pen or back to minors at this stage, is in effect giving up on them as starting pitchers. Doing that after the seasons they posted is premature. Rogers is out of options and it's time for him to give a return for the patience shown by Brewers. Narveson at under a $1 million is as good as the low level FA out there too. With this offense, they can still stay in the thick of it long enough to grab a pitcher mid season for the stretch run all while several others close to the majors throw in AAA.

[Ennder]

The answer to part 1 is two fold. #1 the umps were not calling the inside corner for a strike so they couldn't pitch inside. Over and over and over again they called balls on clear strikes on the inside corner. #2 the umps warned them about throwing at players so the Brewers played scared of getting a SP tossed since they had no depth.

 

The answer to part 2 is because it was a crappy FA list for pitchers and we had no need for a hitter. I do wish we had picked up better bench guys though. Our bench is pretty awful and has no depth at all.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I'd like to see RRR with a little more selective fire when dealing with a bully like LaRussa as well. The message should have been delivered during the season. I'm not a big eye for an eye guy, but baseball's unwritten rules date back to Neanderthal times and seem to be the only language certain Neaderthals like LaRussa understand. Other than that it's the running themselves out of innings, first inning sac bunts or the overly stringent bullpen roles that defy logic or a situation that really get me. That being said, he's not much different than most managers and seems like a decent enough fellow so I try not to get too bent out of shape about it.

 

I'm willing to cut Mark A & DM some slack on the payroll. They probably stretched enough to lose some money last year...his pockets aren't so deep he can do that forever. He's shown a willingness to spend and/or trade when they see an opportunity. Signing one of this year's overpaid FA pitchers or trading what few prospects we have left would be the only thing they could have done different and that would have elicited even more outrage. The best thing to do with money is to spend it when you get a good return on it. The bench may be thin, but the bullpen should be better. They have room to increase payroll if the starters keep them in it. Let's see if these youngsters can carry us. Who knows, maybe this .500 team can catch some breaks and contend for a wild card spot. I wouldn't project it, but the odds are high enough that they have my attention...especially in Febraury.

[jerichoholicninja]

I haven't like Ron from day 1. He's basically been the worst of Ken Macha (no fire, no beanings) and Ned Yost (idiot who makes stupid decisions based on grittiness) put together.

 

There wasn't anything that really could have been done this offseason without hurting the future of the franchise financially or prospect wise so I don't blame Doug for doing practically nothing.

[Ennder]

I haven't like Ron from day 1. He's basically been the worst of Ken Macha (no fire, no beanings) and Ned Yost (idiot who makes stupid decisions based on grittiness) put together.

 

I'm pretty indifferent to him myself but I don't see this at all. Macha was pretty much a complete boob and Yost is probably the worst in game manager in the history of the game. Roenicke is just completely vanilla. He does dumb things from time to time but they are the same dumb things most managers do unlike Yost who does dumb things even mediocre managers don't do.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

My SP wish list - unfulfilled - started with Brandon McCarthy, Dan Haren and to a lesser extent, Edwin Jackson. DM should have also tried to get someone from Miami's fire sale, and Billy Beane is always giving away decent young SPs. Joe Saunders is not awful & he'd be cheap. Likewise, Zambrano & Valverde (while both are a bit...."quirky?") may also be a buy-low good risk. Papa Grande would be a nice hedge for Axford.

 

I DO see Gorzellany in the rotation soon to pick up for a Rogers or a Fiers flameout, and Gonzalez will probably close if...when...Axford implodes

[TooLiveBrew]

Welcome back GSP!

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Ennder:

 

One thing St. Louis was able to do, was to throw at Ryan & Fielder first, BEFORE the warnings we're issued. As I recall, we had an opportunity to do the same thing right back to them, and our weak inexperienced "take-the-high-road" manager chose to take a pass. Weak sauce. That was torture for me

[xisxisxis]

WELCOME BACK GENO! I'd give you a big bear hug if I could, but you'll have to make do with the cyber equivalent...

 

My first regular post is about 2 issues that have been bothering me for a while lately

 

Being a Raider and a Brewers fan you must have a ton of issues, Heck you must get punched in the nads more than twice a day...

 

 

First, let's start with Roenicke.

 

i'm with ya if it's for showing people the door. I can imagine if I was the last of Mike Scioscia's lieutenants to get a gig And coming to a team where they fired their manager in a playoff race that I might be a little concerned about my job security. Maybe RR doesn't want to piss off other teams in the hopes they might hire him after the brewers relieve themselves of his services. Could he just be so nice that he wants to finish last rather than protect his players? Maybe he's ahead of the curve with his sabermetrics and doesn't want to give the other team a free ride, but if he actually understood sabermetrics he wouldn't be bunting in the first inning.... D'oh.....

 

 

I also never saw where any reporter asked Attanasio why the fans are basically being punished for not filling the stadium every game last year to watch K-Rod and Axford ruin our season, with a much-lower payroll.

 

One of the great benefits of owning the Brewers is a media group thankful for any little piece of info that the team gives them that they don't want to piss them off. Or maybe they've bought into the same line that a majority of the fan base has that milwaukee should just be thankfull they have a team and they don't rock the boat. i think the ownership group is not happy that they didn't get a dividend check last year on their investment. So they don't want another year like that so the payroll has to go down. After all, many of the ownership group are carryovers from the Selig days and while they may have believed WSP, ABS, and LP that owners don't make money, they have been getting great returns during the Attaturk years and have become used to a nice dividend check every year. As long as the fans are clueless, the media is just looking to continue there symbiotic relationship and the other owners want to have Mark's love child there won't be any difficult questions asked as the Brinks trucks haul the money out of the fans pockets to parts unknown....

[Ennder]

I don't have even a tiny bit of a problem with them not throwing at guys in that series. Throwing at someone wouldn't have changed a thing about how it played out, not even a tiny little bit. I do have an issue with us not crowding the plate the same way they did though when it became completely obvious they weren't going to give anything on the inside. Part of the issue is that the Cardinals have better hitters than we did though. Too many of our hitters on that team hit the same way in every situation against every pitcher, no adaptability at all.

[Roderick]

I'm willing to cut Mark A & DM some slack on the payroll. They probably stretched enough to lose some money last year...his pockets aren't so deep he can do that forever. He's shown a willingness to spend and/or trade when they see an opportunity. Signing one of this year's overpaid FA pitchers or trading what few prospects we have left would be the only thing they could have done different and that would have elicited even more outrage. The best thing to do with money is to spend it when you get a good return on it. The bench may be thin, but the bullpen should be better. They have room to increase payroll if the starters keep them in it. Let's see if these youngsters can carry us. Who knows, maybe this .500 team can catch some breaks and contend for a wild card spot. I wouldn't project it, but the odds are high enough that they have my attention...especially in Febraury.

 

Exactly my sentiments. The Brewers could spend money on a #2 pitcher and still not be in the playoff hunt. A key player gets hurt or the other couple of youngster pitchers don't produce or Axford melts down and no one capably fills the closer role. I like the wait and see approach. If the Brewers owners put $10M in their pockets this season, I am sure they will be willing to run in the red in a future season if that is what it takes.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Ennder: I don't equate hitting Freese with a World Series berth, but LaRussa knew that he could get away with it, without payback and without harming his team's chances pne bit. It also set a tone. As a player, could you respect a manager who was afraid to answer back at a bully like TLaR, even verbally? We came off as the same old, small market team who was not "big-time enough" to play with the big boys.

 

My boy, xis! Wassup, casual fan?! Even if we suck this year you better stick around. Now we need JoPal, NDOG & other cynical ****** like us!

[Ennder]

I would like to think I'd find much better reasons to respect the manager than whether or not he potentially put a guy on base for free in a big game when it wasn't going to do any good. Very few managers in the game throw at people anymore because it just doesn't do anything anymore.

[homer]

4.5 years between posts. Impressive! Welcome back. Thoughts on Brady Clark?

[Nottso]

I always hoped that instead of putting a man on base for free, Roenicke would have had whatever fireballing reliever was available at the time throw one into the dugout and bean TLR.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Ennder:

 

Ordinarily, I'd agree, but this was LaRussa - a man whose M.O. is to get in the other team's heads. To paraphrase Sean Connery in "The Untouchables," when Roenicke was afraid to match LaRussa's borderline tactics, much less even call him out for them, it was like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

 

 

And Homer? Brady Clark is going to burn in Hades, when he dies since he already leased his soul to Mephistopheles for the chance to bat cleanup a dozen times in '02.

[JimH5]

Welcome back, Geno--

 

I've been a fan of your written word since the fastball.com days.

 

Smart and funny stuff always makes me happy.

[JimH5]

Welcome back, Geno--

 

I've been a fan of your written word since the fastball.com days.

 

Smart and funny stuff always makes me happy.

[Iron Chef Napalm]

Geno's back?

 

This season might be interesting after all. The returned level of cynicism adds a rainbows and sunshine to my day.

 

My expectations of a manger were so crushed by Yost and Macha that I can't drum up any fervor over milquetoast Roenicke.

[pogokat]

I guess the rumors of your demise were greatly exaggerated...i think you were just faking an injury to skip spring training...or 5 spring trainings...

[foamboy1]

Welcome back, GSP.

[brettac1]

Best in the business.