TooLiveBrew

I was Doc Brown a few years ago to my (shorter) friend's Marty. Don't forget to cuff your jeans! And he had a cardboard hoverboard, which completely sealed the deal. Props are always awesome.

I don't think he's coming here though, because it just makes too much sense for him to sign with the Rangers I know what you mean on the Texas angle, but Berkman has said he wants to play 1B (as opposed to DHing). I'm guessing Moreland is probably going to be the guy at 1B heading forward for the Rangers. I would definitely be in favor of signing Berkman to a one-year deal

Catcher is probably the last position the Brewers should or will consider throwing money at this offseason aside from LF

I had to post this, even though it's probably not going to help X. Has to be one of the best costume ideas ever:

Nelson Cruz was "untested" once upon a time, and he was traded. I'm sure plenty of fans wish we'd hung onto him.

Bob was released from the hospital on Wednesday

Ultimately, and this is something I have said many times, we need to stop putting our worst defenders at first just because we have no other options. It's not just a first base problem it's an organizational problem. LaPorta moved to first, Lawrie moved to where ever he will end up, Gamel moved to where ever he will end up, Braun to the outfield, Hart moved around. Lawrie initially told the Brewers he wanted to catch since he thought that would be a quicker path to MLB, but then he changed his mind & didn't want to catch anymore. As best I can recall he's at 2B since he has the athleticism needed to handle 2B. Hart was moved from 1B to the outfield, which is generally considered more challenging. LaPorta wasn't moved, he was a DH/1B guy coming out of college. In fact the Brewers actually tried him in the outfield, attempting to maximize his value as a player (CLE played him in the OF as well). Braun was a SS & 3B at Miami, but the Brewers recognized early on that they'd need to play him at a less-challenging spot -- optimistically they tried 3B, & clearly that was a bust. If I can see an organizational problem, it's not putting an emphasis on defensive talent, and drafting too many all-bat players. Basically every organization moves guys around in the minors, whether to develop versatility or to challenge a guy less or more on defense. Frankly I like that the Brewers try to see if guys will stick at positions where their bats would be more valuable; that just makes good sense imo (& one reason why I've lobbied so often for Gamel to remain at 3B).

Gamel is known for not making much of an effort to play 3B well, and has already complained about 1B kramnoj addressed the first part well. Gamel didn't complain about 1B, he said he thought it was tougher than RF. Comments like this are how the flawed perceptions of players get fanned across the internet. EDIT: From the objectively titled "Gamel not excited about 1B" blog entry by TH Note that the first sentence is TH's own conjecture. Nowhere did Gamel complain, in fact, he went as far as to praise guys (Fielder, indirectly) that work at 1B. And honestly, has anyone ever heard Mat sound excited about anything? He's a pretty laid-back guy, at least in terms of how he comes across in interviews. I'll never take how someone thinks another person "sounds" as a valid way to judge a person's character or work ethic. Imho if TH wants to make the claim that Gamel has a negative attitude about 1B, TH needs to back it up. Provide a quote. Explain yourself. He did neither. A beat writer wants to present a player in a certain light, so he slants his blog entry one way. Different beat writer, but instead of AW titling his post "Hardworking Gamel taking initiative", it's merely "Gamel could wind up an outfielder"

I don't know if that the poll has anything to do with this or nothing to do with it, but the new manager thread has come up blank every time I've clicked on the new post icon today. I think I've done so ~4 times.

Anyway, my spidey sense says that this report isn't on the mark. Good call Toby. I kind of had that sense too, for no good reason other than it just seemed random, came out of nowhere, and is about a week or so early given the state of the WS. It's Mark A's money, not mine. Like logan said, it's extremely unlikely that money is coming out of Attanasio's pocket. And if you've bought any tickets, merchandise, etc. from the Brewers, then yeah it kinda is/was (very partially) your money. I share AndThat's concern about a gigantic manager salary weakening other, more important, aspects of the organization. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Ahhh! Invader ftw. Hilarious. And, dang, I hadn't thought of that as an avatar, slick call. Wouldn't a house of cards fold? Touché. I have to bow out of this, I've been severely outclassed in consecutive posts now.

Hope Logan can take out some pent-up frustration on the AFL pitchers

It's probably going to take a lot for him to give up his cushy job at ESPN. Sure, but how much can the guy really make in Bristol to justify $3.33M AAV? I'd imagine a $2M salary would significantly outshine his ESPN pay.

I guess just the Norskies. I like the Fighting Norskies better.

Well, now. This is interesting. Somewhere, the Scott Rolen to the Brewers thread is cackling. Umm. What? EDIT: For comparison's sake, Joe Girardi signed a 3-yr., $7.5M contract with the Yankees prior to the 2008 season. So Bobby V. reportedly wants the Brewers to pay him 133% of what the richest team in baseball pays its manager?

I'm quite surprised you'd want Melvin. I always thought you thought all retreads are pretty much the same. I think most managers (not just retreads) are pretty much the same. Iirc there are a couple/few comments in the thread that people who know DBacks fans say that the AZ fans tended to like Melvin, and that he was a good in-game guy. Valentine is an intriguing hire, but I know nothing about his managerial tendencies. I looked through his past teams & where they sat relative to their league(s), and couldn't get a feel for how small-ball he is, etc. I really have no problem at all with Valentine, but ideally I'd rather have a guy get hired because he's actually a good manager, not just because he's entertaining or funny. I'm not claiming I know Valentine isn't a good manager, just saying that all I know about him so far is the wrapping paper, and not the contents. With Melvin, there's at least something to point at him being a good choice, strategically. Plus DHonks's comment back in the A.J. Hinch gets fired thread has always stuck with me, assuming that since Hinch replaced Melvin, Melvin was not of the "frat boys... running the show" down in AZ. Hah, actually in re-reading that thread, there are two specific comments that state that he loves the sac bunt & that he's a terrible in-game manager. *Sigh* Oh well. At least I can safely say I really don't know much about any of the potential hires. I do trust that Doug won't hire a small-ball guy, since that's been an emphasis of his to avoid. Hopefully he doesn't break from that now. It really sounds like Roenicke is a small-ball manager, and I have my suspicions that Cora would be too. But all I can really go on are assumptions at this point.

Career 3.54 ERA, 1.08 WHIP in 61 IP against the Crew. Glad to see him out of the division as well.

Wow, really... I'm the only vote for Melvin so far. I knew I'd be in the minority, but man.

The house of cards is crumbling! I tried to warn us this day would come!

Same here. Either way, it's going to be really cool to see one of those franchises win this WS.

What would Macha have to do with whether a guy scores from first on a double? Wouldn't that only be on Fischer & the players?

While Roenicke is almost certainly to adapt his managerial style to the strengths and weaknesses of the players on his club, these two teams seem to show that Roenicke is inclined to [1]attempt to steal bases often (he also led the California League in stolen bases and stolen base attempts while manager of San Bernardino), [2]will use the sacrifice bunt and [3]doesn’t like to put opposing batters on base via the intentional walk. 1) Yuck 2) Yuck 3) Ok ... (I added the numbers within the quote) I don't want to see Roenicke hired if he's going to preach about giving up outs & 'manufacturing runs', but given the fact that Cora has been part of Ozzie's team, I'd be surprised if he were much different.

I can't be the only one that instantly thought of Very Tall Man... http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/6/60/Very_Tall_Man.jpg

Not really, to be honest. I've had it in Ireland and this is not Guinness Draught by any stretch. Interesting. Now I really need to get some.

Yes, that too. Good point.