TooLiveBrew

Just put Taegukgi on hold at the library, Brewtacular. Thanks for the recommendation. I just noticed this post. I saw this film a few months ago now, but it was incredible as well. Definitely a little something different.

Team unity? http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/01Nkh0K9hheOW/x610.jpg Milwaukee Brewers' Rickie Weeks, top, reacts with Corey Hart, lower, after both scoring on Prince Fielder's game winning hit in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros Friday, Aug. 6, 2010, in Milwaukee. The Brewers won 6-5. Link

However, this does look like a good trade on Tampa's end. I agree, with the caveat that I don't know anything about the other guys the Rays gave up. It'll be hard to determine the real value of this trade until the MiLBers coming to Chicago are known. Ultimately the Cubs probably kept their best prospects in this deal -- guys like Cashner, Castro, Vitters, Carpenter, & McNutt. But I do like the talent Tampa got in this one. Hak-Ju Lee is an interesting prospect, even if his star faded a bit in '10. He's still a rangy SS that hits LH & shows solid plate discipline numbers. Archer looks better than just a solid prospect imo -- FB sits in the low to mid-90s, and his BB rate improved drastically at A+ last season. Even though his control still needs refining, he pitched pretty well as a 21-yo last season at A+ (2.85 FIP) & AA (3.41). Baseball America apparently ranked him as the Cubs' #1 prospect. Chirinos was rated the Cubs' 12th-best prospect by Kevin Goldstein (he had Archer at #3). He's an interesting one, a catcher converted from the infield, which explains why he'll be 27 next season & only have gotten to AAA. Looks like he has some power & plate discipline, but I don't know anything about his defense. I pulled what little info I could find on these guys from FanGraphs writeups, most notably Joe Pawlikowski's review of the Garza trade from Chicago's perspective

I didn't want to start a new thread, but Black Swan absolutely belongs in this topic. Saw it yesterday, and whoa. Mindbending, intense, gritty, and incredible. If Portman doesn't win the Best Actress Oscar, something's wrong. She was amazing. It's been a really, really long time since a movie has given me that much of a rush*. I was blown away, and obviously can't really say enough good things about this film. I was expecting to like it. But it's easily one of the best movies I've ever seen. * And no, that's not due to the Kunis-Portman sex scene. I'm sure that didn't hurt, though. EDIT: Is there just a movies thread? I know there's the DVD rental day one, but I mean just a thread for movies in general. I see someone started a thread for True Grit, and I know there've been threads on other movies... might be a good idea to create one.

I don't think this makes the Cubs serious contenders, but it makes them a serious threat to nip away wins from STL/CIN/MIL. And like Ennder said, with luck being what it is, who knows what scenario plays out & maybe the Cubs are in the running. I also agree that Garza's not an elite pitcher & that the Cubs' ages will work against them -- Dempster: 34 Zambrano: 30 Soriano: 35 Ramirez: 33 Byrd: 33 Fukudome: 34 Pena: 33 At least one of those guys will probably wind up missing significant time this season.

I don't see anything that jumps out (aside from a notable misspelling later in the piece); seems like a pretty good overview of the system. Falls in line with the notion that the system has plenty of solid players, but not many potential stars. Interesting to me (I have my doubts due to his size) that he seems to be so sold on Gennett: 7) Scooter Gennett, 2B, Grade B-: A very good hitter, needs to polish defense but could make a lot of noise in '11. Keep close track of him. ... Trades tore the guts out of this system and there isn't much left. Rogers, Scarpetta, and Kentrail Davis are all capable of making an impact, but all three have significant questions as well. After that, you have a huge mass of guys who can be contributors but not stars or even regulars, or tools hounds who are very raw. One exception is Scooter Garrett, who I expect will sneak up on people this year I was disappointed with his grade for Morris, but his comment made me feel better ("Plenty of power potential, but something makes me wonder if he'll fully live up to expectations. I might be underrating him.")

As for OBP... no one ever walked their way into the HOF, and no one ever will. Rickey Henderson essentially did. He doesn't post the gaudy SB totals without the nearly 2200 career BBs (2d all-time) & .401 OBP (tied for 55th-best). He was a LF with a career OPS+ of 127 (tied for 200th-best). What made him special was that he got on base so much. Obviously the BB wasn't his only offensive skill, but it was by far his most valuable one. It was the reason he was able to play into his early & mid-40s -- his eye at the plate allowed him to carry a solid OBP even when he was batting in the .220s.

1. No post in this thread will best this one.

Why would we want to resign Greinke and/or Marcum? I like both guys... but look at age, look at how much they will cost, and look at their stuff. I get that you're frustrated the Brewers haven't overhauled how they assemble talent, but to question Greinke's stuff (age too) is just absurd. Greinke is the definition of IMPACT PITCHING (http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif), so maybe you just meant Marcum's stuff, but if that's the case you didn't word it well at all.

clancy, did you mean the bullpen couldn't be better? Tom posted some details of the Saito contract today, and an estimate on the current total payroll.

What has changed between the end of the season and now that would have changed anything when it comes to prospect evaluation and ranking? Could it be that he's had to take a closer and more extended look at the guys the Brewers sent to KC since he had to re-evaluate the KC system? Odorizzi has definitely seemed like an overlooked prospect to me thus far.

Keep it in perspective. Like FloodPants said, "derail the season" could mean something as simple as overall costing the team 1 win over other alternatives. I don't think it's hyperbole to state that Betancourt could cost the Brewers one win in '11. I think it's a good thing so many fans are aware of just how crucial each & every win is going to be this coming season. I get the impression you think people are worried Betancourt is going to be worth like -86 games. This discussion really isn't that dramatic. If the Crew still had a solid option at SS, people would be wringing their hands about CF. It's just that kind of season coming up. Every detail matters.

UW-Michigan at halftime. UM looks pretty good, and definitely like a Beilein team. They're probably going to be pretty good in another season or two (heck, even just later this season). Hopefully the Badgers can start knocking down some more shots & the Wolverines cool off. Definitely has been a good game so far.

I don't know or particularly care how WAR is calculated, but I have a tough time believing that Sizemore was ever a better player than Braun. The reason you're having a hard time with that is precisely because you don't care how WAR is calculated. It's not hard to learn. Sizemore was a far better player than Braun, because Braun is a bad defender at the easiest non-1B position. Meanwhile Sizemore was an excellent defender at the premium OF spot. Sizemore the DH < Braun the DH, but WAR isn't an offense-only stat. If you want to talk about how Braun has been superior to Sizemore, you'll have to just discuss their offense. Obviously Braun's bat has been better than Sizemore's. I'm working on the assumption that WAR overvalues center fielders based on their peers. This would also explain why Cameron had such a high WAR while he was here. Offense is harder to find at CF, but guys that play elite defense like Cameron & Sizemore did get rewarded mightily for their glovework since it's a challenging position. The reason Cam has posted strong WARs is that he's been a great defender, and for his position a very good hitter. Correct me if I'm wrong, but basically you could put Braun in center field, his defense could be brutal, and his WAR would take a big jump regardless? Not at all. Braun's defense would be even worse in CF, and WAR factors in both defense & offense. His offense would be more valuable at CF, of course, but I don't even want to imagine him trying to play CF. That's an ugly thought. I don't know WAR well enough to guesstimate roughly what Braun would produce at CF, but I'm sure someone else here could take a reasonable shot at it if he/she is interested. Might just end up being roughly equivalent to what he's done at LF overall.

I'm surprised how high Alomar's was, too. Glad to see him get in, as well as Bert. Sucks to see how little support Edgar Martinez got. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

“I couldn’t believe it,” Jeffress said. “I thought I would be with the Brewers forever, for all that I came through and how much stuff I had been through with the Brewers coming from the bottom to the top.” This made me a little sad to read. I know I'll really be rooting for Jeremy. “I’m going to spring training as a set-up guy for the closer,” he pointed out. I'm surprised a team in the Royals' position wouldn't try to get him to stick as a starter. They certainly won't be contending next season, so why not let him start in AAA? The obvious answer is they don't believe he can start, but I'm just surprised they aren't even giving it a shot.

Why i value Axford so much is that i do believe that it's usually very hard to win a playoff berth for any team if they aren't good in the back end of their pen. Those main 3-4 guys who come into so many close games around the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning. I completely agree with this. You need two or three very good relievers if you want to be a serious contender. There are so many hypothetical situations to present where a 7th or 8th (heck, or even 6th) inning would be a far more important inning to lock down than the 9th. It's not that I'm inherently against saves, or closers, it's just that I'd like to see the best relief pitcher used as a 'fireman', not a closer. If the fire needs extinguishing in the 9th, so be it. Especially in today's game, where managers seem wedded to using their best RP as a Closer (often a setup/8th inning guy as well, if not a 7th inning guy too), it's so important to have another top-shelf arm or two or three.

That's all well & good, but from Weeks's perspective, he just plays for FA if that's the Brewers' stance. There's a risk he could get hurt again, just like for any player, but I think multiple teams would be willing to match or beat the Uggla contract for Weeks as a FA. I don't believe the Brewers have the kind of leverage you think they do with Weeks. I'll hope your approach works, though, and the sides agree somewhere between 4/40 & 5/60. That would be a phenomenal deal for the Crew (I just don't expect it). With that said, I do expect the Brewers & Rickie to be able to come to terms on an extension. It'll probably just happen closer to ST like logan said in the Weeks extension thread.

I would have no problem matching the Uggla deal to sign Weeks. He was one of the best players in baseball last season (one of 16 position players with 6.0 WAR or better); getting him at ~$12M AAV would be a great deal.

I think he will fit in fine as he will bat 8th and who cares what he does I do, along with many others. When every win is so much more valuable, you can't afford to say 'to heck with' any spot in the lineup. If he's going to suck at the plate & and suck in the field, as he's been doing for the past three or so seasons, that's a big deal when you're fighting for that 90th/91st/92nd win.

Do you mean the extension doesn't change anything because the appx. market value for Weeks was already $12M AAV? I don't see much reason for Rickie to not hold out for something around 5/$60M now (if he wasn't already). Talent-wise, he's at least as good overall as Uggla, probably better. And he's 3 seasons younger.

We know that Betancourt is awful. There's years worth of data to prove that. Not to mention firsthand/eyewitness accounts, but some people apparently don't believe that's reliable. I'm really not sure why anyone would need to see it firsthand, since there is literally nothing backing up the assertion that Betancourt might be an asset at this point.

Agreed that microfracture injuries are brutal. But Grady Sizemore pre-injury was a far more valuable player than Ryan Braun, because Sizemore was a good defensive centerfielder. At this point, I'm not sure how well Sizemore will recover... but prior to the microfracture injury, the hyperbolic thing would be to suggest that Braun was a better player.

I'm getting technical here... this is a tricky contract. His '11 salary is $7.5M, his '12 salary is $9M* (club option w/$500K buyout). The '12 option only increases to $10.5M if he wins a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, makes the ASG, or "ranks high in MVP vote", whatever that's supposed to mean. However, he also has a clause in his contract that, if he's traded, his remaining salaries increase by 10% and he gets a $500K reassignment bonus. Additionally, if traded, the '12 option flips to a player option (team is off the hook for the buyout if Sizemore declines the option). Phew! In short, if a team trades for Sizemore this season, his base salaries are $8.25M for '11, & $9.9M for '12 ($11.55M if his award clause kicks in). I'm assuming that $500K reassignment bonus would just be applied asap, whenever he was traded. Assuming the only realistic way a team would trade for Sizemore this season is if he's healthy & producing, the acquiring team might just be getting a rental. In that case, the Indians might not be able to ask that much for him. After looking at this in more detail, I hope Melvin & Co. keep Sizemore on the radar as the season progresses. * His 2008 ASG appearance upped the '12 option from $8.5M

I don't think locking down the 9th is any different from locking down the 7th or 8th. I think you need talented relief pitchers with live arms, but I don't think some just have a mystical power that others don't. Mo Rivera isn't a great closer because he dominates the 9th inning, he's a great closer because he has unbelievable stuff & command. He just happens to get used in the 9th inning most often because baseball invented a stat that made it appear more important than it actually is (imo). I think Axford absolutely has the stuff & makeup to continue to be a relief ace caliber pitcher. But I think Braddock does too, along with Saito.