Reader Poll Results

"Who you got?"

Brat: 10%

Polish Sausage: 20%

Italian Sausage: 10%

Hot Dog: 30%

Chorizo: 30%

Gamel Raking In AAA, Should Start 11' In Milwaukee

I know some Brewers fans out there are down on Mat Gamel. They think, because he did not come up last season and hit right away ala Braun or Fielder that he is not very good. Well, I never got that feeling. I still think Gamel will hit and hit quite well at the big league level. I still somewhat attribute his slow start for the Brewers in 2009 to Ken Macha not playing him often enough (we all know the "zim-zam" situation), he never got a chance to adjust to big league pitching with regular playing time. He got off to a slow start this year after missing the beginning of the season with an injury. He had a stint at A+ Brevard County and then AA Huntsville. Now with 65 games at AAA Nashville his numbers are starting to look more "Gamelesque". .312/.385/.494 with 9 HR and 51 RBI.

Of course it would be nice to see Mat hit a few more HR's and I think he can be a 20 to 25 guy in the bigs. But as long as he can hit around .300, carry a high OBP and mash doubles I would be very happy. Basically what I am saying is I am more than comfortable with Gamel being in the Brewers Opening Day roster in 2011, I don't care if it's at 1B or RF (with Hart moving to 1B). We all know Prince should be and needs to be moved for pitching, Gamel is the man to fill that spot as the left handed power bat in the Brewers lineup.

The Brewers Finally Make A Trade!

Not a blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination but the Crew sent "Grandpa" Jim Edmonds to the Reds for 28 year old OF Chris Dickerson. Not a real big deal get you excited type of trade, but a good trade non the less. Edmonds was not going to be back next year as he will most likely retire or would not have been resigned. So the Brewers flipped him for a left handed hitter in Dickerson who can play all three OF positions well and the corners above average, also under team control for the next 4 seasons. That was the key part of the deal. With Braun, Cain and Hart more than likely entrenched as the OF, Dickerson will not be a starter but should be a very solid and cheap 4th OF for the next few years. In parts of 3 seasons with the Reds, Dickerson has a line of .274/.367/.421. Not to shabby and I like him more than Jody Gerut.

Now let's hope that Doug Melvin can also flip Counsell or even Hoffman for players that could help in the future for the Brewers.

Brewers All-Time 25 Man Roster

I was bored the other day and decided that since it is the Brewers 40th anniversary, it would be cool to construct my all-time Brewers team. Any player that played in a Brewers uniform from 1970 to 2010 was eligible. I didn't just pick the 25 best players, I picked a 25 man roster as if I had to manage and play games with these guys. So I have a starting lineup, bench, starting rotation and bullpen. It was very hard to narrow this down to 25 guys, but I picked what I thought was the best team. With that said, there were some players left off who certainly deserved a lot of consideration and could have made the team.

Let me know what you think of my team and what yours would look like. Just write something in the comments or email me. So without further ado, here is my All-Time Milwaukee Brewers team.

Starting Lineup

1. Paul Molitor - 3B

2. Robin Yount - SS

3: Cecil Cooper - 1B

4. Gorman Thomas - CF

5. Prince Fielder - DH

6. Ryan Braun - LF

7. Jeromy Burnitz - RF

8. Ted Simmons - C

9. Jim Gantner - 2B

Starting Rotation

Pete Vuckovich

Teddy Higuera

Ben Sheets

Mike Caldwell

CC Sabathia

Bench

3B: Jeff Cirillo

IF: Don Money

OF: Geoff Jenkins

OF: Ben Oglivie

C: BJ Surhoff

Bullpen

Rollie Fingers

Dan Plesac

Mike Fetters

Doug Henry

Francisco Cordero

Ken Sanders

Just Missed The Cut

Greg Vaughn

Sixto Lezcano

George Scott

Tommy Harper

Richie Sexson

Chris Bosio

Jim Slaton

YouTube Classic: Let This Remind You How Good Braun Is

Brewers return to action tonight at Miller Park to start a series against the Astros. We all know Ryan Braun has struggled this season (for him), but he had a really good series against the Cubs. If that was not enough to remind you how good he is, I found this cool piece ESPN did on him during last season. Enjoy!

Manny Being Manny, Again

I'm getting quite tired of "Manny being Manny". Parra of course, not Ramirez. Today Parra was typical Parra. He was fantastic for 5 innings and ended the game with 8 K's. Pounding the zone throwing strikes and looking like the pitcher we all know he could be. But then as per usual, the 6th inning rolls around and Parra loses it. And as usual, he was THIS close. Had a couple of hitters down 0-2 and was unable to put them away, and since he seems to do this on a very regular basis it still has me wondering if he knows what he is doing on that mound at all times. I truly believe he mentally falls apart when the going gets tough. When it was all said and done Parra did not make it out of the 6th and was tagged for 6 earned runs. With today's loss he is now 3-9 on the year with a 5.67 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP.

I'm really not sure how much more Parra I can take. At some point when does "potential" become "failure" when a player never reaches that "potential"? How much longer can the Brewers give Parra a legit chance to be part of this teams present and future? I don't know the answers but I hope we find them soon. It's only this frustrating because we can all see how good Manny could be. But will he ever let himself be that good? That is the question. During the post game show today Jerry Augustine said something that made sense to me. There really is nothing more Peterson or Macha can say to Manny, he has to do it himself reach down and just get it done. Augie is right.

Reader Poll Results

"Should the Brewers extend Rickie Weeks?"

Yes: 93% (15 Votes)

No: 6% (1 Vote)

I Did Not See That Coming

I was pretty shocked when sitting at work today in my cubicle I got an email from Brewers.com that simply read:

"Corey Hart and Brewers agree to contract extension"

Really? Corey Hart? The guy myself and many other Brewers fans speculated for a few months now would be traded this season because his value was high and the Brewers had no shot to extend him before he hit free agency? Yes, that Corey Hart. I was fine and on board with trading Hart if the Brewers could bring back a good, young, big league ready pitcher for their rotation. But that never happened, and I am glad Doug Melvin did not settle for anything. Hart wanted to stay here and he got his wish and was rewarded for a stellar 2010 so far (.288/.346/.565 23 HR 72 RBI) and a 2nd All-Star appearance with a 3 year $26.5 mill deal.

I like the deal. It's only 3 years and it's not to high of a price for a productive corner OF. With Fielder all but gone after this season, it would have been tough to replace both he and Hart's offensive output. Now they will only have to replace Fielder. And they are already getting prepared for that by giving Mat Gamel some starts at 1B down in AAA. Good move for Hart and a good move for the Brewers.