Nader Raider Tim

A few other seemingly cheap options JD Drew, Hideki Matsui, Endy Chavez, Scott Hairston, Juan Pierre, Rajai Davis (trade). Obviously those names don't blow you out of the water but it would give the Brewers a veteran to make Gindl, or Schafer earn playing time. Drew and Matsui can get hot and be a real nice bat. Chavez and Hairston are just 4th outfielders who I like and would be league minimum guys who I think should outplay that. Pierre and Davis may be the only potential "everyday" players or the bunch and would give the Brewers a crazy stacked speed lineup. I don't see the Brewers starting 2 young players, Gamel and Gindl on opening day. I definitely think that if Brauns suspension is upheld the Brewers with start LFer not currently in their organization.

My first gut reaction to reading this was that this would only increase the odds that Grienke would keep an open mind about signing an extension. Not saying I am correct about this, it's just players switch agents before signing there "Career Contracts" frequently. With Grienke switching now it seems to give the Brewers a window of oppurtunity to approach him with an extension. With that being said I would imagine that Grienke is going be shooting for a mega money contract, which means no major hometown discount. With that being said hopefully the Jared Weaver contract would help to keep Grienke's value deflated a bit. Middle of January Brewers sign Grienke to a 5 year $92 mm contract. (With the Braun issues, I need to fill my head with sunshine rainbows and lollipops)

I'm just anxious to get some kind of update on a timeline for the appeal. I know we will never get a true behind the scene's look at the evidence but I am just stuck sitting on the edge of my seat with this one. Hopefully all turns out well for the Brewers.

It wouldn't be completely impossible for a sample to be mixed up, or contaminated, so lets hope the first test was a mix up of some sort.

Just out of curiosity, if guilty would the Brewers have the ability to void his most recent extension? I know it has about no chance of happening but would it theoretically be possible?

At times like this I wish I was a more eloquent and verbose man. Seeing that I am not I simply want to shout random words in a very angry tone. Until I hear differently I am going to hope for the most complex and unbelievable chain of events what can put none of the blame on Braun. Right now I am going with Chris Carpenter and Albert Pujols kidnapped Braun in the playoffs and forcibly injected him with steroids. That seem's like a classy thing to do. Here's to hoping the story ends up being POPPYCOCK!

For me I hope that the Brewers have the SS pool rated as follows, when factoring in likely salary; Alex Gonzalez, Rafael Furcal, Anyone but Yuni, Petitioning the league to let them play without a SS and finally bringing Yuni back. Alex Gonzalez is Yuni bad with the bat, that I don't argue with at all. He is however a very very nice player with the glove. I may not be enthralled with giving him 2 years 7 million which is probably around what it would cost to sign him, but that is the going rate for pretty decent middle infield options. He is cheaper than Furcal and with a healthier track record. The Brewers need to be pinching pennies, IMO, with K-Rod excepting arbitration now. If the Brewers sign Furcal for the minimum he would probably concievable sign for 2 years 18 million, they still need to factor in his fragile health and sign a medium to high end backup which would probably tack on another 2 million. Furcal might have been the best choice when the flexibility was there to sign Furcal and a player like Jerry Hairston who could take over when Furcal gets banged up. Now the Brewers are in a position where signing Alex Gonzalez would hopefully still enable them to have enough money to still keep Saito.

How could the Brewers try and pry Kendry Morales away from the Angels now? I know it wouldn't be cheap, but it also shouldn't be so expensive to the point where the Brewers would lack the ability to pull the deal off.

Time to start some trade Axford rumors? (edit; If I wasn't to lazy I would try and figure out how to put that in blue, but alas I am just that lazy) The Brewers took a risk, and it blew up in there face. It sucks but with the changes to the Free Agent compensation it was a risk worth taking. I was especially optomistic about the Brewers getting picks for K-Rod when Papplebon signed for crazy money, then Nathan signs for crazy money. Now it's time to look at the positives. The Brewers won't lose to many games in the 8th or 9th innings. If it wasn't the case beforehand it most definitely is now, this is the year Melvin proves what he is made of.

Ramirez and Alex Gonzalez would be a nice duo to add to the Brewers. Not earthshattering but still should provide enough financial wiggle room to make a few other moves.

I don't argue with the fact that when healthy Josh Johnson is an amazing top 5 (ish) pitcher. The problem is Josh Johnson is a walking injury. Expecting a healthy Josh Johnson come playoff team isn't something a team with World Series goals should realistically count on. My comment about the "Ace they seem to be coveting" is based around the fact that they have tried to get Gio Gonzalez and have kicked the tires on making a run at James Shields.

What about getting creative and trying to wow the Marlins with an offer for Hanley Ramirez now that it looks like they are getting Reyes? I'd love to think a package based around Shaun Marcum, Tyler Thornburg and prospects would be able to do it, I know it wouldn't. So would you be willing to try and trade something along the lines of Zack Grienke and prospects (?Thornburg and Gamel?) for Hanley Ramirez and Ricky Nolasco? Grienke would give them the Ace they seem to be coveting. From the Brewers perspective it would be an attempt at buying low on Ramirez and Nolasco. I know the Brewers would need to kick in quite a bit more than just Grienke but get creative with it. The Marlins are putting themselves in a position where they may have to move Ramirez. He supposedly isn't to keen on moving from SS, and I doubt Ozzie would be OK with a pouting Ramirez. I in no way want to trade Grienke but there is no way the Brewers can get another SS with his upside and Nolasco is a bit of an enigma.

I've never asked a girl out until she told me some variation of "So, uh, are you going to ask me out or I am going to have to be the one who does it". I've never been to a Brewers game where they played a Division opponent. I've never eaten an Olive. I've never punched anyone. I've never downloaded a song / movie.

I've talked with a couple different places about getting something made, and it has always been mega pricey. Perhaps I just need to shop around at Cabinetry business but about a year ago when I was talking with a local company it was $350 or so per shelve. If I were to get 4 like I am would through IKEA it would be $1000+. Thanks for the suggestion and maybe I'll start trying to just mass email any and every cabinetry company around here.

I am in a Fantasy Baseball League with the guy that runs it. I can promise you he isn't going to rip off. It's a small scale set up, so I am just guessing that it is a little bit of Holiday time busyness. I'll check back this weekend and if you haven't heard anything I'll send the guy that runs it a message on facebook, or sooner if I get time to hop on facebook.

I've been looking for shelving for my collection of Vinyl Records forever and final am starting to break down and just get the IKEA Expedit Series of shelves ; http://www.ikea.com/us/en...roducts/50103086/. The problem is I live in Appleton (ish) and am really not to enthused about the idea of driving 4 hours each way to buy $300 worth of shelves. When I look at ordering online the shipping costs start at $349 and have went up to $450 depending on how much I got. Does anyone know of any method of cutting the shipping costs in half or so? Does IKEA ever have discounted shipping? Online googleing around I ran across some people saying that a lot of small trucking companies in their area do IKEA runs, where they take orders go and pick up the items and deliver them for typically around half the cost if IKEA Shipping. Does anyone know of any place that does that around here? Or if anyone has any good suggestions for moderately cheap alternatives to the IKEA Shelves for storing records I'd love to hear it. There are alot of similar shelves to these at Target and the like but most of them are to small or to flimsy to support the weight.

I pay very little attention to NBA so my knowledge is limited. Oddly enough, I am really only interested by the storylines and offseason. Initially I thought swapping Bynum for Bogut would be awesome. Bogut injuries have me really scared about his long term effectiveness. With that being said I thought Bynum would be signed for longer and cheaper than he is. Bogut is controlled for 3 more years at 12 mll per and Bynum is controlled for 2 more at 15.5 per. I don't get why Bynum is so highly thought of. He's big and athletic and has upside but it sure seems like he is nothing more than a money sink. 1 out of 5 seasons being healthy. When his contract is up someone is going to still give him mega money. It's also ridiculous that the NBA couldn't have done away with players forcing their way out with the new CBA. If Chris Paul forces his way to NY and Howard forces his way to LA the NBA should just contract about 8 teams so only the major markets are left.

I know earlier in the week mlbtraderumors was saying that the new Type A money was going to be $11.5 million or something around that.

Looks like the Brewers catch a pretty huge break with the new CBA at least in regards to K-Rod. According to mlbtraderumors.com; Heath Bell, Michael Cuddyer, Kelly Johnson, Ryan Madson, Josh Willingham and Francisco Rodriguez will all be modified Type A free agents under the new CBA, according to Rosenthal (all Twitter links). Teams that lose these players after offering arbitration will obtain first round picks in the slot before the signing team. So this should still make it very, very, very likely that the Brewers will offer him arbitration and still get a 1st round pick. No mention is made to a supplemental pick but hopefully that would also be a part of it. Here's to hoping the Marlins, Mets, Reds or Bluejays sign Rodriguez.

Firstly didn't know whether I should start a new topic or just throw this in with the Brewers 1st Base thread. I started the new one because while the topic is partially based around the Brewers it is also more broadly focused on any team signing him. Also let me start by saying I know Albert Pujols will not be signing in Milwaukee. However, I've been curious to see what others opinions are on Pujols ability to generate revenue for a club weighted against his contract size. For sake of argument I am going to use the Brewers as the signing team, although the argument is valid for any club. While I am bad at writing out my argument the gist of it will be gotten. This is one of my favorite "bar" conversations lately. So let's say the Brewers sign Albert Pujols to a 9 year $240 Million contract, with an additional 2% share of the team. Along with that contract there would have to be an "adjustment" of the Brewers payroll going forward. Instead of a payroll pushing $100 Million over the next few years management would have to adjust and be willing to push it into the $115 - $125 range, or about what the Twins assumed payroll will be this year. Firstly Albert is a great player, a team based around Albert and Braun would be a scary offense for years and years. No singular move would make the odds of the Brewers making the playoffs over the next 5 years than signing Pujols. Along with improving the Brewers on the field signing Pujols would vault the Brewers to a whole different scale on national fanbase. More national coverage, more jerseys, more attention from the national media. Pujols brings with him a yearly chance at MVPs and in the future a hopeful run at the Home Run title. With all that Pujols can bring would he also have the ability to inflate the overall value of the Brewers? To me Albert screams Barry Bonds, and I mean that in the good way. If the Giants would never have traded for and signed Bonds where would that franchise be value wise, and where would they be in terms of national fanbase? While I will agree that Pujols will not be worth every penny of his contract over the life of the deal will he be so far off that the difference wouldn't be recoupable? Again this isn't meant to be a the Brewers should sign XXX thread it is simply a conversation about what kind of value on the field and off, long term and short term that Pujols will bring to whatever team signs him. I only used the Brewers because well I like the Brewers. Realistically a team like Pittsburg signing Pujols would probably be able to generate more revenue by signing him. The Brewers should hopefully have build up a fanbase that will drawn 2.75+ million fans for the next few years. A team like Pittsburgh signing Pujols would get a massive boost in ticket sales.

Really happy to hear that K-Rod won't have the old type A status where the signing team has to give up a pick. IMO it was going to be to big of a risk to offer him arbitration, now it seem's like a lock for the Brewers to offer him arbitration. I too was wondering about the Saito option also. Hopefully that possibility is a moot point and the Brewers just find a way to resign him. As a semi related tangent would a Saito resigning help the Brewers in the future attempting to sign Japanese import free agents? I'm not talking the Yu Darvish's of the world but Hisanori Takahashi or Koji Uehara etc.

An Axford deal similar to what the Rays do would be lovely. Give him 4 years of guaranteed money and get 2-3 option years tacked on.

http://www.zombiephiles.c...ie-weapons-found-at-home Baseball Bat is only #2 on the list.

Brewers Sign Casey Kotchman 1 year 4 million with another 2 million in GP bonus' Grady Sizemore 1 year 7 million with another 3 million in GP bonus' Joel Zumaya 1 year 2.5 million Alex Gonzalez 2 year 4 million Brewers Trade (able parts) Corey Hart Casey McGehee Shaun Marcum So the Brewers team of only the locks to remain would be: C- Jonathan LuCroy 1st - Casey Kotchman 2nd - Rickie Weeks SS - Alex Gonzalez 3rd - Taylor Green LF - Ryan Braun CF - Nyger Morgan RF - Grady Sizemore Starting Rotation Yovanni Gallardo Zach Grienke Randy Wolf Chris Naverson ??? / Wily Peralta (when he earns a rotation spot) Bullpen Jonathan Axford Joel Zumaya Brandon Kintzler Kameron Loe Bench Jerry Hairston, George Kottaras, Carlos Gomez, Matt Gamel (Backup plan for Kotchman) So looking at things the Brewers needs are as follows. 1 - Additional Starting Pitcher 2 - Additional bullpen arms 3 - Upgrade at SS 4 - Upgrade at 3rd Base 5 - Bench Player Following my plan the Brewers would then have Corey Hart would be the only player for sure needing to be traded. Shaun Marcum could be traded or kept for the rotation spot available. Casey McGehee could be kept to fill one of the remaining bench spots or could be traded (or non tendered) for a more pressing need. On my way out the door when I get home tonight Ill try and see if I missed anything and will edit from there. This may not be the sexiest offseason and I doubt that is going to be the reality of what happens but it's my tentative conservative plan. With Sizemore bouncing back, Kotchman on regressing slightly and Zumaya staying healthy this Brewers team could still be very, very good.

With the abundance of Closers on the Free Agent Market I would be all about shopping Axford for the right price. However with the abundance of Closers on the Free Agent Market who would be willing to pay premium prospects to get Axford when there are probably going to be some really nice closer bargains this year.