TooLiveBrew

It's just as much of a disadvantage for AL teams playing in NL parks as it is for NL teams playing in AL parks. Some AL fans I know often refute this by pointing at how the DH makes teams have to build deeper overall bullpens, and that the AL teams have the luxury of having a guy good enough to be a full-time AL DH as their first PH off the bench. Meanwhile, the NL teams don't get any real advantage when they have to use the DH (since most NL teams' "DHs" would be so outgunned by an AL DH)... and when they're in a NL park, they don't have an advantage either, because their pitcher still has to hit.

Your post got me curious, so I checked out his/their(his wife) Twitter account, & found this shot of Mat celebrating the New Year in style, with Manny Parra -- link (image is large enough I didn't want to post it here). Manny looks about 18 years old, I swear. Also, Mat & family with Robbie Cano. Couldn't not link to that one

The Brewers were 2nd in the NL & (perhaps obviously) all of MLB last season with 85 sac bunts. It's definitely something to worry about.

I cringed when I read that, too. There's a great quote in Moneyball (the movie) about bunting... I thought I'd be able to find it online, but no dice. Basically, Beane says he doesn't want his team bunting anymore, and that they should be happy any time an opponent does -- 'they're giving you an out -- take it!'

The note McCalvy posted says he asked Gamel "compared to this time last year", so I'd assume that wouldn't be compared to his (post-ST) playing weight last season. And he certainly never appeared 'soft' or overweight last season once I could watch on MiLB.tv (not that you get great close-up shots or anything, but still).

McCalvy's latest blog post has a mention of Gamel in the 6-8 spots, and also this:

I recently watched Moneyball, too, and thought it was pretty good but definitely not great. For me, the main sticking point was how the movie framed Beane as the hard-luck loser (afraid of being called a loser/failure) who fought his whole life to never have to be called a loser again, and presented the 2002 A's as basically being as bad as the Indians in Major League. Not one mention in the entire movie of the SP trio of Zito/Hudson/Mulder, the biggest reason(s) the A's were a good team that year.

Wouldn't it be like saying "buy some Pepsi", where the noun could either be singular or plural? [/more-english-nerdery] And totally agreed with ilovebeer on being glad this blog is back. They did a really good job last season.

I use this thread to check in on how they're doing. I can't bring myself to watch.

"Rango" Gore Verbinski I just watched this tonight. It's beyond phenomenal. I'll hint at one spoiler - Timothy Olyphant's performance is particularly good.

I think the Cespedes signing & trade for Smith indicates that Crisp isn't viewed as an important long-term piece, as well he shouldn't be. I'd have a hard time believing Beane is planning around getting PAs for Crisp. On Cespedes... people downplayed the level of competition in Cuba when the Reds signed Chapman, which seems to be working out alright for Cincy. It's not about what 'level' anyone thinks the Cuban league is at, it matters what your scouts have to say about whether or not the player will translate to MLB. Obviously the A's feel he will, at least enough to justify the pretty modest salary & contract they agreed upon to sign him. I mean, Brett Lawrie clearly wasn't ready for his delayed-by-wrist-injury promotion to the big-leagues in 2011, depending on who you asked. Then he came up & hit. The Jays were ready to make that promotion at the start of 2011 because he was ready, talent-wise, not because he'd done [X] at level [Y]. And if simply being near Manny is enough to significantly affect the development of young players, then the young players are your problem, not Manny Ramirez. It's like being upset that Melvin gave a NRI to Izturis because he can't hit, & will infect the other players with suckiness. I honestly don't really care one way or the other about Beane, I think he's a solid GM who receives too much praise & far too much criticism. I mean, yes, you can make a GM look bad by listing only the moves you don't agree with. But none of these you've listed are major, or really even matter, in the big picture. Big-picture-wise, Beane has been consistently building towards the A's contending once they get a new stadium. He's sold high pretty well recently on his pitchers who are in arbitration years (Cahill, Gonzalez, Breslow), and has helped build one of the better farm systems in MLB. John Sickels sums up the situation in Oakland nicely, in his '12 Top 20 Prospects feature: "This system was looking pretty thin until the flurry of trade activity this off-season. You now have the nucleus of a future starting rotation with Parker, Cole, Peacock, Gray, and possibly Milone, plus some staff-filling arms backing them up."

Because he offered one of the best hitters of the last 50 years a NRI? He's doing what he always does, looking for value while not really spending any money. There's no way this move can hurt the A's.

I'd like to think it was the main inspiration for getting the picture plastered on that wall

I'd like to think it was the main inspiration for getting the picture plastered on that wall

Burnett is a gas-can at this point, imho. He always walked guys, but now he doesn't have the huge FB velocity to get away with it as much. He's also got to be a pretty big injury risk at this point, too.

BCF, I just wanted to say that, even though I know who's pictured in your avatar, all I can see is Lumbergh from Office Space.

From Adam McCalvy's latest blog post: http://mlblogsbrewersbeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/2012-02-20-09-26-05.jpg?w=555&h=416 "Here’s some new artwork that was installed outside the clubhouse here in Phoenix"

From Adam McCalvy's latest blog post: http://mlblogsbrewersbeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/2012-02-20-09-26-05.jpg?w=555&h=416 "Here’s some new artwork that was installed outside the clubhouse here in Phoenix"

As I mentioned in response to Hofbraunhaus's post on this in the random MLB news thread, kudos on a really good career to Mike. Sad to see him go, but glad that we got to enjoy him for a while with the Brewers.

Class act, & really good career. Happy trails, Mike.

Marcum's definitely open to it, but he doesn't make it sound likely: "There hasn't been (talks)," said Marcum. "When we were doing the arbitration thing, we were told they just wanted to do a one-year deal. I'm assuming that's what that means -- we're just doing one year and they're going to let me walk."

This nails it for me. Very well-said.

He did mention he's having a hard time caring at this point

This, imo, is what makes Summerfest. I usually don't go to the Marcus Amp. shows (nothing against it, though). To me, it's all about the big acts that play the side stages. That's just an atmosphere you can't easily find elsewhere.

Yeah, can someone link to the actual story or press release? EDIT: I do not mean this as a shot at anyone else, but I also had a problem in finding the article