Photo taken from Google Images

• “If a guy hits .300 every year, what does he have to look forward to? I always tried to stay around .190, with three or four RBI. And I tried to get them all in September. That way I always had something to talk about during the winter.” – Bob Uecker
• “I led the league in “Go get ‘em next time.” – Bob Uecker
• “The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud.” – Bob Uecker, Sports Illustrated 1980

Some people are unaware that Uecker was involved with the WWF too. He made a special appearance at Wrestlemania and Wrestlemania III. One of the funniest moments I can remember seeing footage of was when he was interviewing Andre the Giant and after making a comment to him, Uecker was choked. In 2010 Uecker was inducted into the WWE (formerly known as the WWF) Hall of Fame. Uecker was on the show Mr. Belvedere and he hosted Bob Uecker’s Wacky World of Sports and Bob Uecker’s War of the Stars.



Uecker definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame—or I should say Halls of Fame—because after April he will in three different ones. It makes sense though because throughout his professional careers he has bounced around a bit and shown his talents in a number of different ways. In each role he was able to showcase his humor and over the years his love of baseball hasn’t declined in the slightest.

Editor’s Note: After a brief ad, here’s Mr. Baseball talking about his love for Wisconsin.

Both Zack Greinke and Shawn Marcum are in the middle of working on contract extensions. The Milwaukee infield is abysmal with the exception of Rickie Weeks. The Brewers really relied on the Fielder/Braun combo for a large portion of their offensive production. If I were the GM over in Milwaukee I would use this opportunity to rebuild. Don’t sign fielder, shop Greinke and Marcum and get some pieces that will help you for 2013-’14 because 2012 is essentially a loss without Braun in the lineup. I think the biggest mistake would be to continue the game plan and hope that they can pick back up in the second half of 2012. The offense isn’t strong enough to hold everything together without Braun in such a strong division.

Should K-Rod finish 55 games – he has finished 34 so far this year – the Brewers will be on the hook for a whopping $17.5 million in 2012. Rodriguez has been among the elite relievers of the past decade and is still only 29 years old, but his shine has come off in recent seasons due to decline, injury and his notorious arrest after assaulting his father-in-law in 2010. K-Rod has merely been much closer to an average reliever rather than an elite since signing his heafty 3-year, $37 million contract with the Mets in 2008. $17.5 million would be financially crippling to a mid-market team such as the Brewers as they try to reload for 2012.

With the Brewers tied for first place at the halfway mark, this calculated dice-rolling continues a pattern we have seen from Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin since last offseason. After 2010, many experts speculated the Brewers would trade their star first baseman Prince Fielder – a free agent after 2011 – for club-controlled talent to create a window for contention a few years down the road. However, the Brewers front office identified current market trends that undervalued players one or two years away from free agency while the price of prospects had risen in recent years. Thus, the Brewers decided not to trade Fielder, mortgage the farm for star pitchers Zack Greinke and Shawn Marcum, and declared 2011 as the year the Brewers go all-in for the NL Central crown.

Axford has been an integral part of the Brewers success in 2011 and they will probably count on him in 2012 as well, but with the financial complications K-Rod brings with him to the team, Axford’s health and performance may be the most important asset to the Brewers success in the present and near future.

Milwaukee Brewers’ pitcher Chris Narveson tossed seven shutout innings against the Cubs Saturday night, allowing just six hits and one walk while striking out nine.

Through two starts (13 innings) thus far, Narveson has yet to allow a run, and boasts a 1.00 WHIP and 14/4 K/BB ratio. The 29-year-old journeyman is currently owned in just 16 percent of Yahoo! leagues, which begs the question: Is he worth a waiver wire flier?

Narveson has endured a long, winding road which has led him to where he is now. Originally drafted as a second-rounder by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2000, he underwent reconstructive elbow surgery in 2002. Two years later, he was one of the players to be named later in the Larry Walker trade, landing him in the Rockies’ system. In 2005, Narveson was sent to Boston in exchange for Byung-Hyun Kim before being claimed on waivers later that season by St Louis, the team that drafted him.

The well-traveled Narveson signed with Milwaukee as a free-agent after 2007. He pitched in 52 games at Triple-A as a starter and reliever in 2008 and 2009. In 10 minor league seasons, Narveson logged the following totals:

• 1010 1/3 innings (205 games, 177 starts), 3.89 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 7.5 K/9, 3.3 BB/9

Narveson cracked the Brewers’ Opening Day roster in 2010, posting a 4.99 ERA in 167 2/3 innings (37 games, 28 starts). His strikeout rate (7.35) and walk rate (3.17) were respectable, while his FIP (4.22) and xFIP (4.15) suggest he was a bit better than his near-five ERA indicated.

Now installed as the Brewers’ No. 5 starter, Narveson mixes a less-than-overpowering four-pitch arsenal. His fastball sits in the high-80s, complimenting his 80 mph changeup. He also throws a slider and slow-rolling curve, which was his most effective pitch last season (7.5 runs above average).

If he can throw his four-pitch mix for strikes (44.5 percent strikes in 2010, MLB average 46.5), and keep his walk rate in the low threes, Narveson could offer decent value in mixed leagues. Given 28-30 starts on a Milwaukee team that is likely to contend for a division title, he could chip in 12 wins with an ERA in the 4.00-4.25 range.

His next two starts are likely to come at Pittsburgh and at Philadelphia. Monitor his performance before plugging him into your fantasy team’s starting rotation.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: FANTASY BASEBALL INSIDERS

Follow Fantasy Baseball Insiders on Facebook and Twitter

2011 Position Rankings: C / 1B / 2B / 3B / SS / OF / SP

Previous articles from Fantasy Baseball Insiders:

• Angels’ Tyler Chatwood to Make MLB Debut on Monday
• Why Jered Weaver is a Top 10 Pitcher
• Buy or Sell Edwin Jackson’s Hot Start?
• How Good is Cubs’ Starlin Castro?
• Week 1 Closer’s Corner: Axford, Lyon, Burnett & More
• 2011 All-Breakout Team
• The Top 10 Rookies in 2011
• 2011 Big Board: The Top 100 Players
• The Sub-2.50 ERA Curse: Why Five Elite Starting Pitchers May Regress in 2011

Trevor Hoffman photo taken from Google Images

Trevor Hoffman Calls It Quits

So, after the trials of the 2010 season where Glenn’s little brother saw himself loose his job as the closer for the Brewers for a while, yet rebound and still get his 600th career save (most ever), he decided to hang ‘em up! Here is the video of his retirement announcement…

By the way, his big brother Glenn Hoffman was the SS for the Boston Red Sox from 1980-1987, then turned to coaching. He managed in the Dodgers minor league system up until 1998 when he became the interim manager of the big club in mid-season (replacing Bill Russell). The next year (1999) he became the club’s third base coach where he remained until 2005. Since then (2006) he has been the third base coach of the San Diego Padres.

Yankees‘ Andy Pettitte Announces Retirement

Yesterday, longtime Yankees (with a short stop playing for Houston from 2004-2006) pitcher Andy Pettitte retired after 16 seasons. Pettitte is the all time leader in playoff wins with 19 (in 42 starts, which is also a record).

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

As an aside, Pettitte may also need to testify in court this year against former teammate and friend Roger Clemens on his PED use. Might this be part of the reason Pettitte isn’t playing in 2011 and left the door open for a possible return to the game in 2012 (if he gets that itch back once the season begins)?

It seemed that it was just yesterday that the Brewers ability to contend hinged on an x-factor of whether Rickie Weeks could stay healthy and effective. While Weeks has played very well this year, this has not stopped the Brewers from being non-players in the pennant race and getting lapped by the Astros for 3^rd place in the central.

However, like they say, the best laid plans sometimes go to waste and unfortunately the same can be said about this season. While this team is clearly talented, that talent has not translated to success as the Brewers have been hovering between 5 and 12 games below .500 for pretty much the entire season.

Before moving on to the burning questions for the off-season, it is time to hand out some awards (both good and bad) for the season.

Note: All stats through 9/17

MVP (Hitter): Prince Fielder .270/.404/.893 143 OPS+

This one was more of a judgment call than anything else. While several of the Brewers hitters had solid seasons, none of them really stood out above the pack. Corey Hart was in consideration but he did most of his damage within a limited part of the season.

Ryan Braun had a solid season by normal standards but he did go cold for a long stretch and his power numbers were down this year. Prince Fielder had a solid season hitting another 30 homers, drawing lots of walks and playing day in day out despite getting hit by a pitch seemingly every other day. While I know RBIs is a slightly outdated stat and not the best way to measure performance, it’s still a bit concerning that he’s gone from leading the NL in RBI to being 5^th on his own team in RBI in 2010. However, in the end I used OPS+ as the tie-breaker and Fielder outperformed his team-mates in this metric.

Honorable Mention: Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, Casey McGehee, Corey Hart

Photo of Brewers Closer John Axford by Icon SMI

MVP (Pitcher): John Axford 8-1, 2.19 ERA, 21 Saves, 183 ERA+

The competition for this award was sadly a lot weaker than the competition for the above award. In a related story, the Brewers are in 4^th place.

While it may not seem logical to give the award to someone who was in Nashville until May, Axford has a strong case.

The first two months of the season were known for many things, one of those being blown saves. While Trevor Hoffman has had a great career (not to mention a solid 2009 season), 2010 was not his year. By May, it was clear the Brewers needed a new closer but no runaway candidate to step-up.

This is where John Axford comes in. In addition to single-handedly bringing the handlebar mustache back into style, it turns out that he’s a pretty good closer as well. While the decision to have Axford close games came too late to salvage the season, he turned out to be one of the few bright spots on a pitching staff that struggled in 2010.

Honorable Mention: Yovani Gallardo, Kameron Loe, Joe Inglett

Photo of CF Carlos Gomez by Icon SMI

LVP (Batter): Carlos Gomez .239/.291/.357

Before discussing this choice, I have to start out by admitting this choice is a bit biased as I wasn’t a big fan of the trade that brought him here (I thought they could have gotten more for Hardy) and  I’ve never been completely sold on him being an everyday player.

Still, I was willing to keep an open mind and at least give him a chance. While he brings some assets to the table (blazing speed and defense) there were simply too many holes on the offensive side of the equation. While I can (somewhat) overlook the low batting average and lack of power, the one thing I could not overlook was how often he swings at pitches that aren’t even close to being strikes (in full disclosure, this is one of my biggest pet peeves). While he’s still very young and could overcome these struggles, the bottom line is his performance in 2010 was not very encouraging.

(Dis)Honorable Mention: Alcides Escobar

LVP (Pitcher): Jeff Suppan 0-2 7.84 era 51 ERA+

Many deserving recipients but why give this to someone who got released months ago and now pitches for St. Louis. This is more of a “lifetime achievement” award for the work Suppan has done since signing with the Brewers prior to the 2007 season.  While there are other worthy candidates for the LVP, I can at least think of something positive to say about their performance (for either this year or during their time with the Brewers).

(Dis) Honorable Mention: Trevor Hoffman, Manny Parra

Here in Milwaukee it is tough to watch September baseball and, no, not because the Packers’ begin play. It is an all too familiar scenario. In March the team says that it has the makeup to be a contender only to watch them slide into oblivion by June 1.

This year is no different. A repeat performance of last year’s woeful starting pitching doomed the team almost from the start.

So why do I even go to watch a team that has no chance of winning – a common occurrence in these parts? Maybe because I have season tickets that I do not want to waste, maybe it’s the allure of a ballpark that draws me like a magnet regardless of who is playing and how well.

No, watching baseball in September is not exciting, or necessarily fun. At the end of this season one will pay full price to watch the Marlins field a squad of rookies against a hometown team playing out the season. Not this fan. I’ll give my ticket away and build towards the anticipation of the 2011 season despite the fact that once again we will hear how the off season moves will make the team a contender only to witness the same old scene.

For those losing teams who want to sustain fan involvement in September, how about offering long suffering and loyal season ticket holders the opportunity to sit in what will become empty premium seats for half price?  I believe that this will draw more fans even as another miserable season comes to a close.

Buehrle’s Balks

A controversy broke out last week with the White Sox when pitcher Mark Buehrle was charged with a balk. Why is this rare call drawing so much attention? Because Buehrle’s balk was called by Umpire Joe West’s crew. Nothing unusual except that it was the fourth time this year that he was called for a balk, and all four times it was West’s crew who called it. No other crew has called it on him.

This is curiously suspicious but West has been known as a maverick umpire. He told the Royals recently that they could not have a day/night doubleheader to play a makeup game even though he had no authority to do so. Earlier this year he yelled at the Red Sox and Yankees to speed up the game. Hey Joe, if you want to speed up the game, make the hitters stay in the box between pitches as the rules require.

Pitchers, especially left handers, balk much more than its called, like holding in football. Andy Pettitte looks like he balks every time he throws to first.  This is one of those plays that usually gets overlooked like when the player misses second base on the relay throw during a double play. So that’s why this West adventure is so bizarre. Only Joe West knows what’s behind this wacky action whether, for some odd reason he’s singling Buehrle out, but with no further investigation by the league office we’ll never know.

Can The Brewers Defy a 40-49 Record and actually make a playoff run?

The one good thing about hope is that it cannot be killed (no matter how faint it is). The reason I say this is even though the first half has been rough to the Brewers, mathematical elimination is still a couple months away (and thus faint hope still remains for the Brewers to contend, even if said hope is on life support). According to CoolStandings.com, the Brewers go into the All-Star break with a 1% chance to make the playoffs. On the half-empty side of the equation, this tells us that if the rest of the season played out 100 times, the Brewers are going to fall short 99 times. On the half-full side of thinking, this tells us that if the season played out 100 times, the Brewers would make the playoffs once. Since there is no way to know whether or not this is the one time out of a hundred, I decided to take a look at a few factors that could help the Brewers make the most out of this 1%. While I am not crazy enough to guarantee this would happen, they do have some factors in their favor.

1- The NL Central is a fairly weak division:

Despite being 9 games under .500, the Brewers are in a relatively weak division (sitting at 8 1/2 games out….that may not be close but then again, teams have come back from bigger deficits) where you may not have to get past 85 wins to win it. Obviously, the Pirates & Astros are also-rans, the Cubs have been performing well below their talent level, leaving us with the Reds and Cardinals.

The Reds have been one of the surprise teams in the NL this year. However, they have yet to prove that they can play consistent ball from start to finish. The Cardinals, may be in second but are probably the most likely of these two teams to run-off with the division. The Cardinals are much more star-heavy with the likes of Carpenter, Wainwright, Pujols, etc….but they too are not without their flaws (especially with pitchers like Hawksworth and Suppan populating the back-end of their rotation).

2- The Back-End of the Bullpen has shown signs of improvement:

Trevor Hoffman Photo by Icom SMI

The one thing that set the tone for this rough first-half was the bullpen. In April, the Brewers bullpen was blowing saves like they were going out of style as the 1-2 combo of Trevor Hoffman and LaTroy Hawkins were responsible for several come from ahead losses early on. Fortunately, an upgrade to this duo was only a couple of call-ups away.

In the last couple months, bullpen meltdowns have been kept to a minimum as John Axford has been given the closing role. Axford has literally come out of nowhere (he was pitching in A-ball as late as 2009), converting his first 10 save opportunities and has stopped the trend of the 9th inning being a house of horrors for Brewers fans. This resurgence has not been limited to Axford. The Brewers have also managed to find a reliable set-up man (who also started the season in Nashville) in Kameron Loe. While originally, it looked like Kameron Loe was just the guy getting called up to take Jeff Suppan’s roster spot, he has turned out to be a pitcher who can be relied upon in high-leverage situations.

3- The Starting Rotation has shown signs of life as well:

Yovani Gallardo Photo by Icon SMI

Of course, this is all reliant upon Yovani Gallardo quickly recovering from his oblique strain. Speaking of Gallardo, he has taken the next step and established himself as the ace of the Brewers staff…..the type of ace that would be crucial in helping erase an 8 1/2 game deficit. Beyond that, there are signs of hope from the pitchers behind him.

Free agent signee Randy Wolf has given up 2 ER or less 4 times in his last 6 starts, lowering his ERA from 5.31 to 4.56. Dave Bush has bounced back from a rough 2009 season. He’s been a quietly steady pitcher as he has given up 3 ER or less in 14 of his 17 starts. The only reason his ERA is as high as it is (4.14) is due to a couple of bad days at the office (one against the Cubs and one against the Twins). If you take out these two starts, his ERA drops down to 2.96. If Bush and Wolf can build off of this momentum and whoever remains in the rotation between Davis, Parra and Narveson manage to at least be competent, the Brewers could make the most of their 1%.

4- Favorable Schedule

If the Brewers are going to make good on their one percent chance, their schedule in the next month or so allows them ample opportunity to make up those 8 1/2 games. While they start the second half against a solid Braves team, 20 of their next 23 games are against teams with a losing record (Pirates, Nationals, Cubs, Astros, and Diamondbacks). If the Brewers can take advantage of an easy stretch to go on a hot streak and if the Cardinals and Reds don’t run off with the NL Central, the Brewers could make things interesting.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

5-With Their Offense, Don’t Count Out The Unlikely

Even with the Brewers notorious struggles on the pitching side, the Brewers have demonstrated a capability to score runs almost as fast as they give them up. With a line-up anchored with the bats of Ryan Braun & Prince Fielder (which were beginning to heat up right before the break) not to mention Casey McGehee, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks, et, al……..the Brewers have several players who are capable of going yard on any given At-Bat.

6-Will This Be Enough?

Image by AStrangerintheAlps via Flickr

It’s clear that the Brewers have more talent than their 40-49 record indicates. If the Brewers keep doing what they are doing on offense, Gallardo comes back fairly quickly and maintains his status as an ace, the Brewers get at least average production out of the rest of the rotation and the bullpen continues to improve, they have the pieces in place to make a surprise out-of nowhere run and take the central.

However, even if all of these factors ultimately work in the Brewers favor, this is still a very tall order. A lot of things would have to go right on their end not to mention they would need both St. Louis AND Cincinnati to struggle as well (and this is BEFORE taking into account that Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and others may be traded turning that 1% chance into a less than 0.1% chance).

Will the Brewers pull off a miracle run? Probably not. Do we know whether this is amongst the 99% of seasons that indicate the Brewers will fail in this task or is this season amongst the 1% where the Brewers will overcome the odds stacked against them? Nobody knows for sure. Is this reason to at least pay attention in the second half? Yes

What Went Right:
May was only 31 days long and it has (finally) come to an end. In all seriousness, I would put the first week of May in the what went right category. The Brewers played well that week, winning 5 of the last 6 games on their west coast road trip by taking 2 of 3 from a solid Dodgers team and taking care of business against the Diamondbacks. This stretch got them to within one game of .500 and gave a brief glimpse of hope that contention and the north side of .500 were right around the corner. On a long term note, it looks like (for now) the Brewers found a pitcher than can be relied on to close out games (John Axford).
What Went Wrong:
They followed up this nice stretch by not winning a game for a week and a half. Things have gotten so bad that they are struggling to even keep up with the Pirates for 4th place. The struggles plaguing this pitching staff both last month and last year continued through the month of May. In addition, the injury bug struck hard last month as several players (Hawkins, Davis, Zaun, Gerut, Edmonds & Gomez) have made visits to the disabled list.

Best Hitter:

Corey Hart Photo by Icon SMI

Corey Hart .253/.313/.659
In all likeliness, this is probably the first and last I will refer to someone as a best hitter with an on-base percentage that low. However, anytime someone puts on an awesome display of home run power similar to what Corey Hart has put on, you’ve gotta tip your cap to it. While the aforementioned injuries obviously did more harm than good to the Brewers, this power breakout could be seen as the only silver lining to dealing with the injury bug as Hart did not get regular playing time (i.e. time to hit home runs left and right) until he had the chance to play everyday when Edmonds and Gomez had to go on the DL.
Worst Hitter:
Alcides Escobar: .250/.317/.359

While Escobar projects to be an exciting and better player in the long term, he has endured some growing pains in the short term. His tendency to be not very selective at the plate caught up to him during the month of May. On a positive note, the potential he has shown indicates that this is merely a bump in the road and not a sign of things to come for the next few years.

Best Pitcher:

Yovani Gallardo Photo by Icon SMI

Yovani Gallardo 3-0 2.31 era
While the Brewers pitching staff has (justifiably) taken a lot of flak for the team’s under-performance, Gallardo has quietly put up a really solid month and a really solid season. Based on early returns, Gallardo has indeed taken the next-step in becoming an elite pitcher. He may not be getting this attention as general discussion regarding elite pitchers has been placed (deservedly so) on pitchers such as Ubaldo Jiminez but Gallardo has quietly put up a 2.41 ERA and a 164 ERA+ in 2010 and based on only being 24, its likely that Gallardo is only going to get better.
Worst Pitcher:
Marco Estrada 0-0 9.53 era
Originally, this designation was going to be given to Jeff Suppan. However, since he recently got released, I deemed it necessary to go another direction with this designation. Estrada was one (amongst) many players that was called up from Nashville in an attempt to shore up the pitching staff. Despite Estrada starting strong (giving up 1 run in 4 innings in his Brewers debut) and going through  some unusual situations (starting a game on 0 days rest). However, even within the context of the Brewers, a 9.53 era isn’t going to get it done.

Best Game:

May 9  Brewers 17 Diamondbacks 3
One way (amongst) many to determine the best game is by how much fun you had while watching. Looking back on the month of May, this game was by far the most fun to watch. Why was this game fun to watch? Well outside of the D-Backs scoring a couple first inning runs, the Brewers pretty much imposed their will on the Diamondbacks for a few hours. The Brewers kept hitting and hitting and hitting all night long as the outcome of this game was not in dispute after the 5th inning. Honestly, this game would have gotten the pick even if nothing historical (such as a player hitting for the cycle happened), which Jody Gerut happened to do on this particular night.
Worst Game:

May 31 Marlins 13 Brewers 5
I almost went with the Twins 15-3 blowout win for this designation, but gave this game the nod due to the legitimate hope of winning this game and the cruel way said hope was taken away starting in the sixth inning. For the first 5 innings, this looked to be a fairly easy win as the Brewers opened a nice 4-0 lead and Chris Narveson looked to be un-hittable. Then, the rest of the game happened. The Brewers (with a chance to blow the game open) leave the bases loaded in the 6th as Narveson lined into a double play. Then the Marlins, finally get to Narveson (who was kept in for one hitter too long), the Brewers go to their bullpen and the next thing you know, that promising looking game turns into a blowout loss.
Some Final Thoughts:
Well, that month didn’t go so well. Still, life (and the baseball season) goes on. It’s not the easiest thing to put a positive spin on the last month of ball, but there has been some silver linings.
1) It has become even clearer that Gallardo is a pitcher that the Brewers can build around (for a reasonable price). This may not help the Brewers contend this year but Gallardo’s pitching is good enough to make an impact on a playoff bid in 2011 and beyond.
2) The Brewers are getting a first look at  who they can depend on in the long term. While I would have preferred for this to happen under better circumstances, the in-season looks that the Brewers are getting at pitchers such as Marco Estrada, Zach Braddock, John Axford, Kameron Loe etc. should help to determine who can be counted on to help the Brewers contend in future years and who can be counted on to help the Brewers as we progress deeper into the 2010 season.