This move pauses Hardy’s free agent clock; he entered this season with 4 years of service time. This means that he becomes slightly more desirable as a trade commodity since a team receiving him in a trade would control him for both 2010 and ‘11.

You’ll notice, Craig, that I have not had much to say about the Brewers of late in the ATH posts. I think it’s pretty apparent why, and last night’s throttling by the hands of the Padres was just too much.

I don’t know if these are the right moves for Melvin - and, like you said, they’re probably too little, too late - but I think it’s obvious that *something* had to be done. (Of course, that *something* should’ve been a trade at the deadline, when they still had options…)

In all three cases, action was needed. It’s a shame that it was this, though. Castro, for example, was the bullpen coach from 1992-2008 and had been striving for pitching coach all that time. I can’t imagine how bad he must be feeling after the organization cast him aside. He should never have been made the pitching coach, and he can’t really go back to being the bullpen coach this year, but you still have to feel for him.

JJ has been struggling offensively all year, but he’s still a valuable player, especially defensively. And, with Counsell, Lopez, and McGehee all having better bats this year (and with Counsell’s SS defense being close enough to JJ’s), the smart move was to have those three get the bulk of the at-bats. But that was a move that should’ve been made weeks ago. I don’t see how sending JJ to Nashville will change anything, especially since bringing up Escobar only leaves them with the same “4 infielders for 3 positions” problem.

Billy had to go. That was the right move, even if it’s a sad one. He just wasn’t deserving of a roster spot anymore, even with the big contract. Which is a shame, because I really liked the guy. It was a *long* time coming, though.

This season has not gone well since interleague play started, and it’s looking incredibly bleak, even with the chump schedule in August. Right now, my only hope for the postseason lies in the “they’re still mathematically alive!” argument. That’s not a good place to be.