Brian Anderson on WSSP

[dpapo]

Just want to give a heads up that Brian Anderson is currently on WSSP. It sounds like there is some charity program going on that he and WSSP are a part of today. Anyway, they have spent most of the first half hour talking about charity, but mentioned that they are going to start talking some Brewer baseball as well.

[lukevan]

Cool, any kind of recap of their discussion would be greatly appreciated.

[dpapo]

They spent most of the final half hour segment talking about the closer situation. Apparently Brian Anderson was on the previous hour as well talking to different hosts on WSSP, but I missed it.
Spent most of the time talking about the closer situation.
--Began by alluding to a phone interview that Melvin did with Allen from Channel 4 news. Melvin made a comment about how there was a strong chance of Turnbow being the closer or something to that effect. Did anyone actually hear the interview with Allen.
--Anderson and Sparky (the host) talked about having Turnbow as the closer for a while. Sparky brought up Turnbow problems, walks, bad outings being really bad, how poorly Turnbow did coming in with men on base, his mindset and how Turnbow mentioned that the booing had an effect on him and that he may want to leave. Anderson responded by talking about Turnbow's stuff, how he stays in both physical and mental shape. The comments about booing and possible leaving being taken out of context. How Turnbow is a year older and may have learned from his experiences. A bit of back and forth.
--They talked about the contract Cordero got. Sparky was critical of Melvin for pulling out of the negoations instead of just telling Cordero's agent to come back to them after they got their highest offer. Anderson mentioned that giving a 4 year contract for a closer is really risky. Not many closers have a long career, used Rivera as an example of one of the few closers that has been able to do it for a number of years. Said you can't trust that an agent would be honest and that the Brewers may have only ended up negoating agaisnt themselves. The offer they made was already a risk, especially for a 4th year. Said ask Texas fans about giving Cordero the 4 year deal that he got.
--Anderson mentioned Mota and McClung as possible other in house options due to the power arms they have in his opinion.
--Was asked about the Crawford, outfield and Sheets rumors. Anderson said that he didn't know any more about the rumors than what we hear and read. Talked about Sheets being an ace, but of course if the Brewers could improve themselves by trading him, Melvin would probably consider it as he is always looking for ways to improve the team.
--At the end, someone asked about the director of Brewers broadcasts on FSN leaving and Anderson mentioned how the Brewers were up for a couple Emmy's and how they had the 3rd highest local broadcast ratings behind only Boston and Seattle. Higher then both New York teams and the Cubs.

[rluzinski]

Thanks for the recap. Nice to here that Anderson seems on top of everything. I hadn't heard about the ratings being so good? Is that old news?

[pitchleague]

thanks for the recap!

 

WOW! Higher local ratings than the NYY, NYM, and CHC?!?!? Interesting fact--wonder where he found that. The emmy award nominations is no surprise as I'm sure they are regional Emmy's (as in the past).

[dpapo]

I'm sure Anderson talked about more Brewer stuff the previous hour that I missed as at one point he alluded to something he said the previous hour, but as I wrote I just missed it. Forgot to mention a part comparing golf to baseball players and how important the mental aspect of the game is. How golf players do more to prepare for the mental aspect of the game and how baseball could and should be doing more in that regard.

[jason21nl]

How golf players do more to prepare for the mental aspect of the game and how baseball could and should be doing more in that regard.

I don't want to turn this into a golf vs baseball thing. But come on, is he serious here? Golfers will fold if they hit a bad shot, or if they look at the leader board and see a certain Tiger Woods. If they were so mentally tough, they wouldn't freak out when someone is talking or snapping a picture of them. Mentally tough is standing in a batters box trying to hit a 95mph fastball, where if a pitch got away it could drill you.

 

of course, I hate golf so I don't think very highly of golfers.

[areacodes]

How golf players do more to prepare for the mental aspect of the game and how baseball could and should be doing more in that regard.

I don't want to turn this into a golf vs baseball thing. But come on, is he serious here? Golfers will fold if they hit a bad shot, or if they look at the leader board and see a certain Tiger Woods. If they were so mentally tough, they wouldn't freak out when someone is talking or snapping a picture of them. Mentally tough is standing in a batters box trying to hit a 95mph fastball, where if a pitch got away it could drill you.

 

of course, I hate golf so I don't think very highly of golfers.

 

Sure sounds like he is serious there and I can see how it could be similar. Looks like your hatred of golf may have skewed your opinion. He never said anything about mental toughness (as far as I can tell from the recap) he was talking about the mental aspect of the game. For baseball there is a huge mental aspect to the game, especially for closers... they need the right mindset. I totally agree with BA in the sense that baseball players should do more to work on the mental aspect of the game. As for golfers being more prepared for it, I have no idea but he did spend a lot of time around golfers so I'll take his opinion on it.

[homer]

Golfers, with a few exceptions, are playing for their paycheck every week too. I'd say that adds just a wee bit of pressure.

[JohnBriggs12]

jason21nl,

 

Golfers don't get paid unless they perform. What a novel concept. And they don't fold when the see Tiger's name on the leaderboard. The fact is Tiger is better than the rest and they know it. If you haven't golfed competitively, you cannot appreciate the mental toughness that sport takes. One bad swing can mean zero dollars earned that week. As Sam Snead once said when someone in baseball told him how easy it was to hit a ball just sitting there. "That may be but you guys (meaning baseball players) don't have to play your foul balls." I suggest you take in a professional golf tournament in person some time. There are many more adults who play golf than play baseball. The touring pros are the best of the best (top 200 out of 40 million or so that play the game).

 

The pitcher is much like the golfer in that he initiates all the action and has to be very precise. I'm sure that's what Anderson was referring to when talking about the mental aspects.

 

As for his other comments, he sounds like what he is, a house man for the Brewers.

[jason21nl]

of course they have to play for their paycheck, but don't act like these guys are hurting in the pocket. Sure Tiger is better than them, but nobody steps up and challenges him. I never said golf was easy. I can hit a 90mph fast ball, but I can't hit a golf ball straight to save my life. I'm just saying that it takes incredible amount of mental toughness to play baseball. I think he is selling baseball short on that. As far as me taking in a pro tournament, no thanks.

[jwill535]

of course they have to play for their paycheck, but don't act like these guys are hurting in the pocket. Sure Tiger is better than them, but nobody steps up and challenges him. I never said golf was easy. I can hit a 90mph fast ball, but I can't hit a golf ball straight to save my life. I'm just saying that it takes incredible amount of mental toughness to play baseball. I think he is selling baseball short on that. As far as me taking in a pro tournament, no thanks.

then how would you explain Man-Ramhttp://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Like others have said, you strike out, its no big deal you get to go out there and hit again. While in golf, one bad shot and your round is shot.

 

[jason21nl]

one bad shot and your round is not shot. You have to rebound and hit your next shot well. Just like if you strike out 3 times, you can't have a let down on your 4th ab because it might be in a position to win the game.

 

I know my dislike of golf has skewed my opinion, but Id go as far as saying golfers shouldn't be considered athletes, right along with nascar drivers. I'll probably take heat for that, but thats my opinion.

 

this is getting off topic of what BA had to say.

[jwill535]

i hate Nascar as much as the next guy but it takes alot of physical ability to race a car for 3-4 hours fighting it.

[TerraceReserved]

Holy cats, 3rd highest local rankings! I had no idea. Pretty awesome, just goes to show what winning can do to a city.

 

jason,

golfers shouldn't be considered athletes? What they do is incredible. They can hit a ball 300 yards, loop it around trees, make it spin every which way, putt with unbeleivable accuracy, and other stuff I'm too lazy to think of. Golfers have as much skill in their game as other athletes have in their sports.

[And That]

No more golf talk in this thread, if you please. If you want to discuss why or why not golfers aren't like NASCAR drivers ad nauseum, we have this whole big off-topic area on the site. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[dpapo]

One more key thing that Anderson mentioned that slipped my mind because I'm getting older. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif And they really didn't follow up on it. But, Anderson said that he knows for a fact that the Brewers payroll will (can) be higher this year. I believed he mentioned this when they were talking about Codero. Anderson said it doesn't make sense to sign players just for the sake of doing something, but basically Melvin does have permission to increase the payroll. Didn't say how much and it wasn't followed up on.

[endaround]

After all we know bowlers are the only true athletes

[recte44]

Did he say McClung might be considered for closer? Wowza, someone else said that on these boards and got laughed at. Now who was that....hmmmm.....

[Brian the Automator]

Did he say McClung might be considered for closer? Wowza, someone else said that on these boards and got laughed at. Now who was that....hmmmm.....

Dunno, I thought several people said McClung had closer stuff.

 

[decktard]

Did he say McClung might be considered for closer? Wowza, someone else said that on these boards and got laughed at. Now who was that....hmmmm.....

Dunno, I thought several people said McClung had closer stuff.

 

Tampa was trying to turn McClung in to a closer for a while... it didn't really pan out for them. Not to say that his power can't be harnessed but he obviously isn't closer material at the moment.