TooLiveBrew

Ack. I hadn't seen that yet.

The Brewers' pen is in great shape right now. I liked the group of players out there already, but adding Saito is just fantastic.

Man, I'm out in NJ for the holidays, & they got absolutely dumped on yesterday & late last night. I'm not sure exactly how much snow fell, but the projected total for this particular area by 1pm today is 25". Our flight was supposed to leave Sunday eve., but got rescheduled for this a.m., so last night we were out clearing snow off the driveway in an attempt to keep our snow-clearing work this morning as low as we could. We were out there in the teeth of the storm; it's really been a while since I've seen a storm this severe. I had icicles form on my facial hair, including eyebrows & eyelashes. My jeans got soaked through wet eventually, & I had to go inside. I didn't bring any good snow gear, since the forecasts leading up to this trip had the local weather with sunshine & daily highs near 40. This is unreal. I'll try to post some pics later. Oh yeah, in case it wasn't obvious, our flight was canceled. We're now scheduled to leave sometime on Weds.

Curious about some levels -- guys like Peralta, Rivas, Scarpetta, Merklinger, & Farris are all listed at MLB. I assume that's just because they're on the 40-man roster. ... ?

Yes, but any feelgood talk about how nice it is to see the big bad Yankees miss out on a star FA is entirely canceled out (if not moreso) by the fact that Lee signed with Philly, another team the Brewers can't compete with economically. The Yanks missing on Lee doesn't do anything for me as a fan. It doesn't 'send a message' or 'make a statement' about future FA signings. It's nothing to celebrate in terms of the Brewers. It just meant Lee really, really wanted to get back with the Phillies & took the best offer they were willing to make (actually a kind of 'hometown discount' contract)

When he first signed there, i took some pleasure in seeing the Yankees for once lose out when they tried flexing their financial muscle to get whatever elite free agent they chose to target. Now that we have Greinke though, i actually feel like the Brewers have a legit shot to reach the postseason and if so, the Phillies could be a team we had to face. This was my point at the time -- Philly isn't some 'little guy' to empathize with. They're another huge market team that's more direct competition for the Brewers.

Junior Spivey had better stats than Weeks, should Melvin not have traded him to clear room for Rickie? I get that the situation with McGehee is a bit more complicated, but it's just bad logic imo.

Via MLBTR; terms not yet disclosed. For a 1-yr. deal as a first baseman, I can't imagine the Pads had to spend too much.

TH with a nice blog post on Gallardo's reaction.

Definitely looking forward to how it was, BC. Haven't tried the Lakefront holiday brew myself.

That's what I was trying to phoneticize! (<-- not a word) I wasn't sure how to do it... I realize that what I typed probably reads like "Grahhh-nkee", though. "Don't forget the Reds went to the playoffs last year too." What are these "play offs" you speak of? Are they a big deal or something? I just assumed they play the season, and then make the Yankees' rings.

Gamel on the other hand has done absolutely nothing on the MLB level (very, very small sample size) but he is still considered the better player because of "potential". I don't like Gamel better just because of some arbitrary concept of "potential". I think his physical tools are superior to McGehee's, and I love Gamel's swing & discipline. I actually think he's very capable of being a good option off the bench this season because his offensive skills are so polished. While it's easy to make a blanket statement & say people like a player because of potential, it's important to consider *why* people see potential. Weeks is a perfect example -- people actually (seriously) wanted him DFA'd a few seasons back, with no realistic foresight paid to the fact that he had the kind of physical tools to be one of the best 2B in the league (which is exactly what he was in '10). While I'm not trying to claim in any way that anyone wants Gamel DFA'd, there's been very similar lack of belief and/or foresight in his physical abilities so far from many fans. It also bothers me in principle when people want to stick with McGehee just because 'he has been solid' or 'he has been better than expected'. I don't hate McGehee or disagree that he's been a solid player, but I don't think that these should be reasons why an upgrade wouldn't be considered. Of course this will all be moot next season when Casey & Mat are the starting corner IF players. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I honestly believe we'll look back at this 2011 team in a few seasons & say, 'Wow, that team was stacked -- they even had Gamel coming off the bench!'

Well, if Hal Bodley tells me "Johnny Q-toe" is a good pitcher, who am I to doubt his vast knowledge of the Cincinnati Reds? Not to mention the Brewers' big addition, "Zock Grahnkee"

Good grief. My thoughts are with your family. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

I would be willing to bet that there were games in which Edmonds had more extra base hits than Dickerson's paltry 2 in 60 plate appearances, how's that for a small sample? Yeah! Dickerson sucks! But definitely don't mention that *he* was dealing with injuries in '10, too -- that'd ruin your argument.

Is Green really worth a 40-man spot?

That's exactly it, Invader. That one play happened to be in the nationally-televised postseason, so most baseball fans saw it. Nevermind that everything else shows Holliday as a solid to good fielder, we have one bad play on video!

What do you guys expect out of Lucroy this coming year? Will he improve offensively and/or defensively? I really wouldn't be surprised to see a solid year out of him. I think he showed in the minors that he can hit... he just needs to learn to take more walks and get on base more. I was pleasantly surprised by his defense by years end. My impression of Lucroy last season was that he had decent pitch recognition, and was tough to strike out. However, he didn't have much patience at the plate & too often chased pitches out of the zone to foul them off, instead of taking them for balls. I think honestly that's where his power 'went'. He needs to be more selective, and then not only will he likely draw more BBs & carry a higher OBP, but he should find better pitches to drive (instead of just trying to hit nearly everything). As for his defense, I was pretty underwhelmed. He was better than Kottaras, but that's not saying much. If his offense doesn't improve (I think it will), his defense will have to improve drastically to compensate. His arm looked average, and he was alright at blocking pitches, but I just didn't think he looked like anything special -- solid, though.

I just don't see the upside of signing him with guys like Dickerson and Boggs already signed. "Jim Edmonds" is a phrase people know. It's like why Mark Prior still gets talked about, but to a less severe degree. I agree that he was a good player, but his body just didn't hold up last season, and now he's another year older.

I'm assuming that's how Peavey meant it, MNBrew. If the Brewers want to put that money towards this year's budget, they only owe Yuni $1M. They could then treat the $2M buyout for '11 as just a part of the '11 budget.

I did in considering this discussion, and there's no way adding Rogers & Parra comes close to the quality depth that Cincy has.

I dunno, I think the Cards, Reds, & Crew are all pretty close when it comes to starters. And then can you really accurately say which bullpen is better, given how much of a crapshoot relievers tend to be? The Brewers & Cards definitely have the best top 3 on paper at this point, but I just think the Reds might be getting overlooked a bit. They'll have Volquez all season, no more Harang, and Leake/Bailey/Wood all with more experience. And while I can understand making the criticism that Chapman's BB rate isn't strong yet, that feels a bit like pointing out that Scarlett Johansson has a pimple. Imo Chapman is a bonafide ace in the making; whether he's able to blossom into that type of pitcher this season might make or break which of these three staffs is the best overall. Cincinnati looks to be 7-deep in quality starters (Volquez/Cueto/Wood/Chapman/Bailey/Arroyo/Leake). Neither the Brewers nor the Cardinals can boast that kind of depth. Chapman pitching as well as he's capable of doing in '11, combined with the Reds' depth, could well make them the best in the division. I think I'm about as big a Mark Rogers fan as there is (outside of Maine), and I want to believe Cappy & Narveson will perform well, but I just think Cincy is deeper. If I have to pick between just the Cards & Brewers, I lean towards Milwaukee. I'll admit part of that is probably homerism. However, I think that Carpenter's age & injury risk, along with the Brewers' superior depth, is enough to nudge the Brewers past St. Louis. It's definitely close, though. Very curious on Garcia as well. I can't see him repeating '10, but I could be wrong. If he repeats that's one heckuva #3. I have a hard time expecting him to repeat his '10 ERA, but his peripherals last season might be for real. My quick guess is that his ERA will be somewhere between 3.25 & 3.75 next season, which would obviously still be very good.

No grassy knoll or Greinke scoop here...but in this case, I have a rock-solid source. It's Bill Schroeder!

Mine too. This guy's going to be an awesome Brewer.

I'm just glad that Prince had the good taste to opt for the compression shorts.