Hey Tom

I talked to my source* and he said the Brewers are firing Yost this afternoon.

Go ahead and put that on the website.

*my dog

The Time has Come

Ned has got to go.

In saying this I realize that the majority of the current problems are out of his control.

• Prince's inability to hit for power, or hit any pitch on the outside half of the plate
• Braun's complete lack of plate discipline
• Hart's absence of power
• Hall's.......well you could say a lot of things. I'll just say "inability to hit"
• Hardy and Weeks' embarrassingly low averages
• Gagne
• (insert pitcher here)'s ability to work past the 5th or 6th

I could obviously go on.

I found myself defending Yost a lot over the past couple years. I felt that a lot of Milwaukee baseball fans were too quick to blame the manager for everything. I've thought (and still do to a point) that Brewer fans overestimate the ability of some of the younger players. I thought it was almost lazy of Brewer fans to blame Yost instead of actually looking deeper into the problems of this team.

I've understood that Yost can't make the bullpen pitch well. He can't force the pitching staff to get through the 6th. Was he ever a "great" manager? Probably not, but he was never the chief problem with this team.

However, the time has come for a change, and it might not even be Yost's fault. If this is just the case of Yost taking the heat for 25 guys not doing their job....well than that is what needs to happen. Lets face it, as much as we'd like to replace Hall/Weeks/Hardy/etc. with some players who can actually hit - its not going to be done this year.

I don't want to put Yost down too much - I appreciate what he has done with this franchise the past few years, but lets face it, the Brewers wouldn't be letting go of a coaching legend, or even an established manager with a track record for success. This isn't like if the Cubs fired Pinella. After six years, Yost is still an unproven manager in the major leagues.

At this point, I don't see how replacing Yost as manager could hurt the Brewer's 2008 chances. I'm assuming that this order will need to come from Mark A. as I don't see Melving making a move. Lets hope that Mark A's perspective (and money) is the one that wins out in the next few weeks.

Well....

God bless the Cactus Notes:

"See, I'm a nice guy," Yost joked. "I don't know why people don't know it."

This implies that Yost knows he is an asshole. I like this.

I'm also assuming the key word here is "joked." To help you out Ned, here is a guess why you come off as somewhat of a dick - someone wrote an innocent sentence about your love of coffee and you replied:

"Why would you write that? I don't drink 25 cups of coffee a day," Yost said. "Maybe seven or eight or 10, but not 25. And why is that anybody's business, how many cups of coffee I drink? That's the stuff that (ticks) me off."

I'm willing to give him another chance to redeem himself for the ridiculousness of last September, but I think its a fair assumption that he is a dick - right? Its probably a good trait of a manager and nothing to shy away from.

Embrace it Ned!

Breaking News

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not one for breaking any news. Go to a real internet website for that crap. HOWEVER a Yost Infection tipster sent me an email this morning with some breaking news that I could not keep to myself.

My tipster tells me that there will be changes in the traditional sausage race. Due to outcry from the Milwaukee Latino community the Brewers have decided to discontinue the Chorizo sausage from the sausage race festivities.

The removal of the Chorizo sausage has caused a stir within the Brewers marketing department. With all of the already ordered merchandise and money invested in a sausage race with 5 sausages, the Brewers have done an internal search for a replacement similar to the Chorizo that can be identifiable to players, management, and the fans.

The Brewers met with various organizations to try and come up with a suitable replacement sausage. The Salami, Keilbasa, Andouille, Braunschweiger and even the Pepperoni (are you kidding me?) all made their cases. HOWEVER, since many of these sausages carry some sort of racial stereotype with them (both German and Italian groups have promised mass boycotts if the Brewers name another sausage after them), the organization had to, for the first time - go with a non sausage mascot for the race.

After much consideration from management, the Brewers have decided on a new entrant in the traditional race: the Coffee Bean.

While obviously not a traditional choice, the coffee bean symbolizes the changing times. Where at one point the citizens subsisted on sausages to supplement their dietary needs, today Americans thrive on their daily cup of joe.

Surprisingly- my tipster said those familiar with the debates all point to the passionate speech by Ned Yost as the main reason for the change. Yost apparently spoke for upwards of 3 hours about coffee, only pausing to take a sip from his Venti Latte from Caribou and to talk briefly about a computer he was building. After his long soliloquy, Yost reportedly said, "Please, I beg of you - do not outlaw coffee from the dugout. I need it. I must have it. You take away my coffee, I will not only leave this team - I will end my life."

When informed afterwards what the debate was actually about, Yost replied "fuck it - use it in the god damn race, why do I give a shit?" All parties in the room were passionately crying at this point- and the Coffee Bean passed with unanimous consent.

Amazing.

My tipster was able to sneak out this picture taken a day later with the prototype together with the other sausage:

Expect a full out press release and new marketing campaign to emerge later this week. Don't forget-- you heard it from the Yost Infection first.

Yost = Tony LaRussa??

So Ned is going to stick with the idea to bat Kendall ninth in the order. I don't think most people really think this is much of a big deal and I don't think this matters much either. I would however, like to see the numbers that Yost came up with that justify the move.

Most studies (including an exhaustive 2005 Baseball Prospectus statistical analysis) on the batting order show that outside of the obvious -- getting your best hitters the most ABs -- it doesn't really matter.

No harm in trying something new - I'd just like to see if there is legitimate data, or just something Ned thought up after his 14th cup of coffee while building a new supercomputer and thinking about the recent NASCAR event at Talladega.

I think the most difficult part in batting the pitcher 8th is dealing with both the fans and the media. Its an unorthodox move...everytime the 8th spot comes up with the bases loaded or everytime the offense struggles, one of the things they're going to point to is the batting order. Though it doesn't matter all that much- its what will happen. I predict that after the Brewers first losing streak Yost will scrap the idea. My guess - April 23rd.

Whenever you get mad, just remember that Craig Moeller once graced the 8th spot. You can't do worse.

Beating a Dead Horse

Seriously?

I just about spit out the water I was drinking when I read this line from Monday's Camp Report on JSOnline:

Cactus Juice: In the game Sunday against the Angels, first baseman Prince Fielder's glove was knocked off by a hard, high liner. Fielder scrambled without his glove to pick up the ball and record the out. Asked what he thought of that play, manager Ned Yost had to admit that he didn't see it. "I was getting a cup of coffee (in the dugout)," said Yost, who drinks about 25 cups a day

Yost drinks 25 cups of coffee per day? Are you serious? This just elevated him from "Manager I criticize all the time" to "Fucking Legend." This is Wade Boggs territory here.