Giving Thanks

Well I have to say I am thankful for many things on this Thanksgiving version 2008. My fiancee who actually tolerates me and even wants to marry me, my friends, my family, a solid job in a shitty economy and the fact that gas prices have fallen to around $1.75 per gallon. But the thing this year in the sports world that was the thing I was by far most thankful for was that the Brewers traded for Carsten Charles Sabathia on my birthday July 6th and he was able to in my opinion become the MVP of the NL and lead the Brewers to the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. Since I was not even 1 year old the last time the Brewers played October baseball it was amazing to experience playoff baseball for the first time in my life. And although the team as a whole played good ball and had a good year I'm not sure it would have been possible without CC and of course Mark Attanasio for ponying up the money for him and Doug Melvin green lighting the deal with Cleveland. Thank you, and I hope in 2009 I have even more things to be thankful for because of the Brewers organization.

Macha And Brenly Already Interviewed?

According to Tom Haudricourt's Brewer Blog on Jsonline.com Ken Macha and Bob Brenly have both already interviewed with Doug Melvin for the Manager's job and Willie Randolph will be next. Buck Showalter, Bobby Valentine and Davey Johnson seem much more like long shots at this point. So basically you can almost bet that either Macha, Brenly or Randolph will be the next Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. Many have called Brenly the worst Manager to ever win a World Series some eve to go as far as calling him "lucky" mostly because he had Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson on his pitching staff during their primes. Randolph reminds me to much of Yost, so I guess I'm giving my full endorsement to Ken Macha to be the next Brewers Manager. Although he was fired after only four seasons in Oakland he had four winning seasons including two divison titles. But failed to do anything in the playoffs and that is why he was fired.

Melvin Extended! Sveum, Jobless

As was well speculated Brewers GM Doug Melvin was given a 3 year contract extension. He had 1 year left on his previous deal so that means 4 more years of Doug in charge (although some think Mark Attanasio calls the shots) through 2012. I'm quite please with this, getting Melvin extended was the first thing that had to get done this offseason. For the most part Doug has been a great GM for the Brewers, sure he has made some bad signing (Gagne, Suppan) and bad extensions (Hall, Turnbow) but no GM is perfect.

And to go along with the news of Melvin's extension was the news that Dale Sveum will NOT be considered for the Manager's job. Although Sveum is a good guy and did win 7 of the final 12 games to get the Crew into the playoffs, in the end I believe Melvin as well as Attanasio moving forward want to get a proven veteran Manager to manage this club to bigger and better things. The three names getting the most mention seem to be Ken Macha, Bob Brenly, Willie Randolph and Buck Showalter. I would be fine with either Macha (who was Melvin's original choice over Ned Yost in 2003 but Macha signed on the the A's) or Showalter. Not a big fan of Brenly or Randolph at all. Some others getting some mentions in the media and blog world are Bobby Valentine, Davey Johnson and Buck Martinez. But those three all seem more like long shots at this point compared to the first four I mentioned.

I would venture to guess that Melvin will have a decision and will name the next Manager of the Brewers within the next 2 weeks. It's exciting and hopefully whoever is chosen can step in motivate this young club and get the most out of the players. With or without Sabathia and Sheets this team can contend again in 09' and this is the first step.

Brewers Draft A Catcher In 1st Round Of 2008 MLB Draft

With the 16th overall Pick in the 1st Round of the 2008 MLB Draft the Brewers took Brett Lawrie a catcher out of Brookswood SS high school in Langley, B.C. Canada. Lawrie is a right handed hard hitting 18 year old who has also played some 3B and 2B. He has plenty of wood bat experience playing for Team Canada's National Junior Team which is a huge reason the Brewers took him. Some compare him to a young Craig Biggio, that sounds pretty good if you ask me. Seems like a good pick, we are not real deep in the system as far as catcher's go. Besides Vinny Rottino in AAA and Angel Salome in AA we are pretty thin so this pick makes sense. Click here for more information on Lawrie. No game today for the Brewers, it's a team off day before they start their 3 game series in Colorado Friday night.

Ryan Braun Locked Up! Signs 7-year $45 Million Contract Extension

I don't even want to get into last nights awful loss when we blew the lead. And I certainly don't want to talk about today's loss when Ben Sheets pitched his first poor game of the season after getting lit up in the 7th inning. Today it's all about the franchise of the Milwaukee Brewers, my favorite current Brewers player LF Ryan Braun. Today Owner Mark Attanasio and General Managers Doug Melvin/Gord Ash made a huge and very important move for the future of this great franchise when they locked up Braun for 7 more years after this season. Braun will be a Brewer until at least 2015. This deal will take Braun through his prime and will probably end up looking like a steal in the end since the Brewers were able to buy out his arbitration and a few years of free agency. This made me very happy and trumps the shittiness of today's game. Now I do hope the Brewers are still able to re-sign Prince Fielder at some point, but if I could only sign one of the two there is not a single doubt in my mind Braun would be the choice. While I like Fielder and think he will be a very good player and multiple time All-Star in this league, I think Braun has that special talent that only comes around once in awhile and could be a Hall of Fame type player. Look what he did in his rookie year, one of the best in the history of the game and so far this season off to a another strong start. And I think he will be the last Brewer to wear #8 as it will be retired up in the rafters someday with the greats of Young, Molitor, Fingers and Aaron. Braun is that good, he has 5-tool ability. He will hit for average, hit the long ball, drive in runs, steal some bases and I think he will be close to a gold glove caliber LF when all is said and done. He has already made some nice catches and throws this season and will only get better at his defense as time goes on. Everything about him screams "superstar" to me and so many others in Brewers Nation. Another reason he was more important to lock up then Prince is because Matt LaPorta another young special talent down in AA is ripping the cover off the ball and is a natural 1B even though he is playing OF in the minors. So what did Braun do on his big day? Well he was only 1-4 but the one hit was his 10th HR this season deep to centerfield. I'm actually excited at the fact that my kids (will probably have one within the next year or two with my soon to be wife) will get to see Braun in a Brewers uniform. A great and historic day in Brewers history now it's off to Boston for the Crew, gonna be a tough 3 game series and just the beginning of a tough 10 game road trip.