Brew Crew Ball: FanShots

Brewers win arb case with Veras

2012-02-14T16:48:29Z

Brewers win arb case with Veras

says Heyman.

Brewers, P Jose Veras have arbitration hearing

2012-02-13T19:39:49Z

Brewers, P Jose Veras have arbitration hearing

The panel is expected to announce their decision tomorrow.

ESPN, meanwhile, may need some time to discover that we're talking about Veras, not "Jose Vargas."

RRR Q&A (ZZZZZZ.....)

2012-02-12T15:15:08Z

RRR Q&A (ZZZZZZ.....)

This is behind the paywall. Take a look if you're a subscriber, or if you haven't hit your 20 complimentary articles for February yet.

I thought it was ok to touch on a couple of the highlights from the shiny new sunday Journal-Sentinel I get every week now. Lots more if you're a subscriber. (Not trying to convince anyone, just pointing that out so I can hit the elements of the fair use doctrine. The quotes below probably represent about 5% of the entire content of the interview. Kyle or one of the mods can delete if they think I've crossed the line.)

"You're not going to be able to replace what [Prince] did offensively.... With the personnel we have, it allows you to run more. But if we're running into a lot of bad outs, you need to do something about it."

Not exactly the St. Crispin's Day speech is it?

"I don't want to say I need to see a lot from (Mat Gamel)... Some guys are really quick starters and some guys aren't. If I go just by spring training I'd say that I need to see that he's driving the ball and getting good at bats... He needs to feel that we're not going to just give him a week and say "Hey, you didn't hit. We're going to change." (Actual Ken Macha quote.) He's going to get a good shot to win the job and get a good shot in the season to stick with him for a while to see what we have."

On defense:

"Our infield defense will be better with the personnel we have." (Translation: Yuni's gone, so we won't shift like we're playing badminton against a one armed opponent anymore.) We played some poor games defensively in the last series we played against St. Louis. But it looked a lot worse than it was because (the Cardinals) didn't make one mistake." Wrong. Just wrong.

Doug Melvin and SABR

2012-02-10T10:23:39Z

Doug Melvin and SABR

For those of you who have complained in the past about some of Doug Melvin's moves and those who have wondered how much he takes into account new metrics for analytics, it appears he's at least aware of the concept.

Melvin will be speaking at the SABR Analytics Conference in Mesa AZ which runs March 15-17th.

Heyman says independent arbitrator involved in Braun's appeal not beholden to 25-day limit

2012-02-10T04:41:45Z

Heyman says independent arbitrator involved in Braun's appeal not beholden to 25-day limit

So, I guess we're just waiting forever. h/t MLBTR

Hear Me At 3:00 Today On The Score 1570 (Appleton)

2012-02-08T20:09:39Z

Hear Me At 3:00 Today On The Score 1570 (Appleton)

I'll be stopping by The Home Stretch with Justin Hull around 3 to catch up on the Brewer offseason.

UPDATE: If you missed it, here's the archived audio.

Brewers Unveil Spring Training Broadcast Schedule

2012-02-08T18:30:55Z

Brewers Unveil Spring Training Broadcast Schedule

Six games will be on FS Wisconsin (with Brian Anderson and Bill Schroeder calling three of them).
16 games will be on WTMJ with Bob Uecker and Joe Block.
BA, Rock and Joe Block will call 14 more games on Brewers.com.

Behind the Paywall - Q&A with Del Crandall

2012-02-08T17:25:05Z

Behind the Paywall - Q&A with Del Crandall

If you've got some views left (or know how to get more, wink wink) this interview that Dave Heller posted with former Braves catcher/Brewers manager Del Crandall is really fantastic. Great insights about Hank Aaron, Robin Yount, and what it was like to play in Milwaukee in the 50s (sounds a little bit like what it's like to play here now, but I am biased as being part of the fan base he praises).