Sunday, July 10, 2005

Brewers thoughts

*Mike Maddux is worth every single penny the Brewers pay him and then some. Greg Maddux may be the professorial pitcher, but Mike Maddux is the true teacher. The Brewers trade Dan Kolb? No worries, Kolb becomes a setup man in Atlanta and Maddux turns Derrick Turnbow into a harder throwing Kolb.

*Jeff Jenkins is going to be the key to the second half. Jenks is spanking the ball going into the All Star break. If he can continue this in the second half, he makes Carlos Lee an even more potent clean up hitter and Jenks will be the linch pin in a offensive juggernaut, along with Brady Clark, Ricky Weeks, Lyle Overbay, and Bill Hall.

*Prediction: Ben Sheets wins 12 games in the second half.

*Prediction: The Brewers finish the year at 80-82.

*If Jenkins does start to pick up the pace in the second half, it is going to be very interesting to see if Bob Melvin sticks with him or tries to trade him. Jenkins is a helluva a defensive outfielder. He is also a guy I consider to have a winner's attitude. That's tough to get rid of when you have a young club you are trying to infuse with a winning attitude.

*Overbay could end up being the bigger trade bait in the second half. The problem is, who is going to be looking for an Overbay type guy?

*Ned Yost is going to be a successful big league manager. I just hope it will be here and not somewhere else.

*Bill Hall will not be in the long term future of this club. He is a very solid utility big leaguer, an asset to any team. With the infield talent this team has growing at all levels, though, I don't think he'll ever have the offensive consistency necessary to beat down the competition.

*Prediction: J.J. Hardy will struggle through this entire year offensively. Hardy has hit a lot of balls very hard this year right at people, though. Next year, Hardy will be a .280 hitter with 15-20 homers.

*A note from today's game-the Braves' Sunday jersey's are hideous.

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