Brewers Buy or Sell: Lynda Schneider Edition

This Weeks Guest:

Lynda Schneider:

Lynda is a small-town farm gal (Belgium, WI) with a passion for baseball.  Forget the Green Bay Packers, her Wisconsin team is and will always be the Milwaukee Brewers.  Miller Park is her “home away from home” for spring, summer, and fall.  Winter months are spent following the off-season chatter on the internet, Milwaukee Journal website, and MLB Network.  When approached with the opportunity to blog about the Brewers and their minor league affiliates, Lynda said “Why not.”  While she is no expert on baseball, she thought it would be fun to give a fan’s perspective of her favorite sport and team.  Lynda is the newest member of the RtB staff.  Be sure to follow her on Twitter @lyndalou45.

The way this works is simple. I make 5 realistic statements about the Brewers. Lynda tells me if she is “buying” it or “selling” it. Then she has to defend herself. If it was just a True or False test, then what would be the point.

1) The Brewers will cut Felipe Lopez and Josh Wilson when Weeks and Gomez return from the DL.

SELL IT —  (It’s an obsolete “buy it or sell it” in regards to Lopez, since he was designated for assignment (on Sunday) to make room on the roster for Narveson.) As for Wilson, leave him right where he is.  The reason being is that if I were a part of the Brewers staff, I wouldn’t activate Weeks or Gomez until September 1st, when rosters can be expanded.  They do that, then no moves would have to be made.  If one of them is ready before September 1st, then send down a relief pitcher.  In my opinion, the Brewers are succeeding on the field without Gomez and Weeks, so there is no need to rush them back to the game.  I would rather see them back at 100% for postseason play than back too soon.

2)  Ryan Braun will win NL MVP in 2011

BUY IT — Braun has this one all wrapped up.  He’s batting .330 with 24 homeruns, 81 RBI’s, and 87 runs, not to mention 26 stolen bases, and he appears to be well on his way to “30/30 club”, plus it’s looking pretty good for him to earn a batting title.  The best part, he’s done all this while suffering a few injuries/setbacks.  Not only is his offense phenominal, his defense is just as amazing, with committing only 1 error this season.  Who could ask for any more from the “Face of the Franchise”?!  The only player I could see taking the NL MVP from Braun would be his own teammate, Prince Fielder, whose also having a fantastic season.  My pick would be Braun over Fielder.

3)  Prince Fielder will agree to a short-term (big money) contract if the Brewers make a playoff run this season.

SELL IT —  I, as all Brewer fans, would love to see Prince stay with the Brewers, but it’s highly unlikely.  After the season he has been having, he’s due a lot of money (how much, may depend on what happens with Pujols).  Face it, he has the legendary Scott Boras as his agent, and in my opinion, there is no way Boras is going to let Prince “settle” for short-term contract; hey, the guy makes a percentage off of Prince’s contract.  I have heard rumors that Prince has been house-hunting for a temporary home in Wisconsin, but it’s all rumor, probably generated to give the Brewer fans hope.  He’s gone after this season, and he’s headed to a NL team, possibly the Cubs, the Cardinals (if they lose Pujols) or even the Nationals (who seem to have a boat load of money to spend on players).   So long, farewell Prince Fielder.  We enjoyed the ride while it lasted.

4)  The Brewers are the only team in the NL who can beat the Phillies in a best of 7 series

BUY IT — It’s a buy, if the Brewers can keep the past in the past (2008 post-season).  They matched up and killed it in the series earlier this season (in Philly), besting the Phillies #1 and #2 starting pitchers (Lee and Halladay), and I have a lot of confidence in the Brewer pitching staff, especially with the way they have been pitching since the All-Star break.  I feel the Brewer bullpen is stronger than the Phillies, so if the Brewers offense can chase the Phillies starting pitchers early (say 5th or 6th inning), the Brewers definitely could pull off the win.  If you would have asked me earlier in the season, I might have said the Giants over the Brewers, but they haven’t been overly impressive as of late, but would still be my second choice, with the Braves possibly a close third.

5)  Nyjer Morgan will get his own talk show in the off-season called “Plush Talk”

SELL IT —  He definitely has the personality to pull off his own talk show, but the world is not ready for Nyjer Morgan.  Actually, I’m not ready for “Plush Talk”.   The pre-game/post-game interviews with Nyjer Morgan/Tony Plush are entertaining and hilarious, but that’s because they are spontaneous and fresh.  Seeing Nyjer Morgan/Tony Plush everyday in a talk show might put people over the edge.  Let him be a “spot” guest on MLB Network during the off-season.  I would love to see how he and Harold Reynolds would interact – could make for some good entertainment

Thank you Lynda for your completely unbiased accounts on Brewers baseball.  Please be sure and check out some of Lynda’s articles on our site.  She wrote a terrific article last week about the “Diamond Dancers”.  It is a must read. 

In Brewers news, we split the double-header yesterday.  That means we finally lost to the Pirates this season.  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  However, since the Cardinals lost to the Dodgers last night, the Brewers hold a 9 game lead over St. Louis with 32 (don’t quote me on that) games left to play.  Won the first game 8-1, lost the second game 9-2.  

Chris Narveson left the first game of yesterday, due to a pesky fingernail that began to pull away from his body during the 6th inning.  Narveson is expected to make his next start without incident.

Go Brewers!!!