TooLiveBrew

As best I can tell, there isn't any video unless you subscribe to baseballwebtv.com (via the Perfect Game link) EDIT: I see there's some video on the MLB scouting report. For now, the UT baseball site has some 2009 game video available -- link. Not sure how much longer that will be up on their site.

Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man... http://snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com/the_baseball_collector/images/will_ohman.jpg I'm getting nervous

This must be what Tedaldtada is referencing: Link

What evidence do you have that suggests his MLB lines wouldn't have followed the same exact pattern? I have none, except that he didn't hit AAA pitching well to start the season. What evidence do you have that his MLB lines would have followed that pattern? I had no intention of derailing this thread with Melvin/Escobar talk. *looks up* I'll say it one last time, it's not good business to keep prospects buried in the minors for service time. It creates unnecessary animosity on the player's behalf. This is nothing but your own speculation. Just about every MLB team does this, and the only time you hear complaints about it are in the most extreme of cases. In general, there is nothing to support your claim.

I plugged the 2010 CHONE projections into Baseball Musing's Lineup Optimizer tool. The results from the CHONE data are here. I literally did a double-take when I saw the first lineup it returned (averaging 5.14 runs per game): WeeksFielderGomezBraunEscobarHartMcGeheePitcherZaun Of course, the optimizing tool doesn't factor in that there's no way you'll be able to bat Fielder or Braun anywhere but #3 or #4. Literally every result batted the pitcher 8th, with Zaun the most common #9 hitter. It's pretty interesting how often the tool has the same guys (Gomez, Escobar, Zaun) batting 3rd or 9th. I didn't run it with Gamel as the starting 3B, even though he's who I'd prefer.

I know I'm nitpicking to an extent, but "below average" /= "bad". The average NL RF put up a .781 OPS in 2009.

Why do you need to get a shot in at Melvin regarding your oft-stated dislike of his approach to pitching in a Prince Fielder thread? what made Escobar significantly more ready in August than he was in April? Maybe the fact that his AAA OPS in April was barely over .700, and improved each month from April through July (.825 OPS). He only got in 29 PAs in August before being called up, so I didn't factor it in.

I just don´t see how it is anyone´s right to say how others should feel about the situation. If what Hart and his agents actions in the arbitration process don´t bother you. No one is saying you have to change that tune. I agree. I don't ask you to change your tune. I just find the implication that Hart hasn't worked hard enough to be reckless. Maybe the reason he's been able to drop ~20 lbs. this offseason is that he's worked really hard in past offseasons to bulk up with muscle. There's never been anyone as far as I can recall that thought he looked even remotely close to out of shape at any point in his MLB career. I understand why some people are annoyed with Hart over the arbitration thing. I just think some are taking it too far & too personally. I´d rather do what is best for the team I do too, but the tricky thing imo is that what might be best for the team is to let Hart get back on track. It's a tough decision.

He was an All Star player the first half of 2007, and since then he´s been a platoon player at best (which I feel he should be to start out this season until he proves otherwise). But he can't prove he's not a platoon player if he doesn't get ABs against RHP. I don't disagree with you in general, as I'd like to see Gerut (& hopefully Edmonds) get a solid amount of PAs v. RHP this coming season. However, I'd rather let Hart play everyday until he proves he's a liability against RHP -- he actually hit them much better than LHP in 2009.

Thanks, owbc. The quality on that feed will likely be much better. EDIT: At least I'll have to assume it would be. Thank you, Time Warner, for somehow not being on ESPN360's 100-ish long list of providers

Right, but why do you feel it necessary to say that? To me it implies that you already dislike Hart & question his effort & dedication.

I don't understand where the implication that he might not give 100% comes from. This, imo, is the problem with fan expectations. Sometimes dips in performance aren't related to effort given by the players.

I need BF's help. I can't remember what thread it was in (I know it was Off Topic), but several people shared websites where you can watch televised sporting events. The Lost premiere tonight is going to prevent me from watching UW host MSU on tv. However, I'd be more than happy to watch online. One thing I also remember people mentioning wrt these tv show broadcasting websites is that they were less than optimal, in terms of quality. So if anyone can weigh in with which one/s is/are the best in terms of that, I'd really appreciate it. Oh, and if you can even remember which thread had this info, that'd be fine too. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Thanks in advance. ... EDIT: I found a site that should work, so nevermind. I just hope it works http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

I think there is a very good chance Hart finds himself playing CF at times this year. He's lost 22 pounds and hopefully has regained a bit of the athleticism that contributed to him becoming an above average player early in his career. If he can do that, he can give us a serviceable CF'er. Not Carlos Gomez, but not a complete butcher out there either. Weight & athleticism have little or nothing to do with why Hart isn't a good defender, esp. in CF. He doesn't read the ball well, & takes subpar routes.

The problem with Damon is that he's not a .365 OBP bat anymore unless he's playing half his games in Yankee Stadium. He's likely to be somewhere around .350 (I didn't base this just off '09; .350 is appx. what his past three years road OBP works out to be). Not bad, but not exactly special, either. And especially not at the delusional price Damon seems to be demanding.

What do you find wrong with 5.50 ERA being replacement?

I just can't get into New Belgium. I don't know if they use some sort of common malt or yeast strain in all their beers, but man, all their beers taste the same to me. I'd be shocked if you think Mighty Arrow tastes like these... but I kinda know what you mean about their beers sharing something in terms of flavor.

I believe it would be Jason Kendall

Fielder fired his previous agent, so that shows that he has a little backbone in such matters. Didn't he fire... his dad after he found out Cecil was taking his money?

I should've posted about this earlier, but I just forgot to do so. I'm not sure how new it is, but I recently tried New Belgium's Mighty Arrow Pale Ale. The hops are just incredible, really flowery aroma. You don't often (imo) find beers with this good of hops in the midwest. It's not overly hoppy or overwhelming in any way. For my tastes -- I love Pale Ales -- this is as good a beer as I've been able to find in WI. As of now, the BeerAdvocate score is a B+. I honestly don't seek out really hoppy beers, but this one is a winner. Given how much I liked Mighty Arrow, I'd like to try their Ranger IPA. This one I would expect to be really hoppy, perhaps overwhelmingly so to some. However, they've showed me that they know how to employ hops, and I'd be curious to try their first shot at an IPA. Per their website, "This clear amber beauty bursts at the starting gate with an abundance of hops: Cascade (citrus), Chinook (floral/citrus), and Simcoe (fruity) lead off the beer, with Cascade added again for an intense dry hop flavor. This beer would certainly not be for everyone, but I hope I get a chance to try it out. I also tried Capital Brewery's new(er) U.S. Pale Ale. It was solid, not nearly as good imo as Mighty Arrow, but a bit more mild so I could see how some might prefer it. BA grades it a B- so far. I'd have to agree... maybe a B grade. Man, does the Capital Brewery website need improving. How boring.

So would it be an East/West divide of the conference? Indiana Illinois Michigan Iowa Michigan State Minnesota Ohio State Northwestern Penn State Purdue Pitt Wisconsin That East division would be insanely loaded in terms of football.

I don't see anything from Fielder's comments in that linked article that indicate anything. Of course he's not going to come out & say, 'Man, I'm outta here asap', or 'There's no way I'd ever leave Milwaukee'. I have to agree with Melvin. There just isn't a story to this right now.

We don't know how far apart they are, maybe only 300k or 500k, but we had 6 other arby eligible players who felt just fine getting paid what their contemporaries around the league are. I don't follow you on this statement. By agreeing to (assumedly) midpoint deals, the other players are getting paid what their contemporaries are? And Corey Hart wouldn't be at $4.8M? I'm sure there are plenty of corner outfielders worse than Hart that make at least $5M. I agree that from an outsider's perspective, it seems odd that Hart wouldn't just settle with the Brewers at the midpoint. But who knows, maybe the Brewers weren't willing to meet at the midpoint. Maybe they feel their offer of ~$4.1M is more than fair, wouldn't really go any higher than $4.25M, & Corey or his representation felt slighted that the Brewers went to the midpoint with everyone else. Not saying that's a likely scenario, but we know it's untrue just as much as we know any of the other conjecture in this thread is untrue. Like I said, it's not that I don't find this situation odd & wish it would be settled at the midpoint so it's over, but I just don't understand why people are so quick to jump to conclusions that they really have no way of knowing.

Plus, Prince plays the least physically demanding position. Not to mention that Griffey just absolutely gave his body up on a consistent basis playing CF... at least while he was with Seattle.

What TLB is trying to say is the system and the Brewers didn't give a damn what kind of seasons him, JJ, Prince, etc were having a few years ago (06, 07) when they were puting up All-Star numbers and the Brewers were just renewing their contracts for 430K, etc. That's the system. I'd look back through the archives if I thought I'd find it, but I didn't see anyone vouching to give Corey or Prince more money then? It's ok for the "system" then, but now it's not?? Let's just let the "system" play out and worry about what Corey does or doesn't do on the field, but let's not try and pretend for one second that you'd wouldn't try to get an extra 600k out of your employer's system, when that same system didn't give a crap about your performance in the past. This is basically what I was getting at, yes. So because he had a good 2007, he just gets a pass from now on? That's absolutely not what I said. I said the fact that he put up an .892 OPS has created unrealistic expectations. He is absolutely worth roughly $4M-$5M unless he's actually "trending downward", but realistically, there isn't any way to know yet whether he's trending downward, or if he's merely had a couple of down seasons. His LD% last season was basically identical to his 2007 number. The rest of his swing data looks pretty similar aside from him just swinging less overall in 2009 (Hart & the team have addressed this, basically saying that he's not going to be asked anymore to take pitches for the sake of taking pitches like he was in '09). The only thing I can see that's been down is his HR/FB%, which iirc tends to fluctuate for all players. I could be wrong on that one, though. I hope someone can confirm that or refute that. Nady appears to have put it together in 2008 (4.0 WAR), then was setback by injuries in 2009 and basically did not play. He isn't coming off of 2 underpreforming years where he just plain sucked. One good season out of a 6-year career from Nady definitely means he's put it all together? A season in which he had a .337 BABIP, his BB & K rates really weren't much different from career norms? I think he's a pretty apt comparison. And why is Nady's injury history relevant, and Corey Hart's isn't? Who's to say that the appendix wasn't giving him problems he was just trying to gut his way through? After all, it was described as an emergency procedure -- why isn't it possible that he was dealing with pain for a decent chunk of the season? I don't pretend to know, but it just seems all too convenient to say that the appenix issue doesn't count. Your assertion that we shouldn't "pretend that nobody would try to get an extra 600k out of our employer when that system didn't give a crap before" doesn't apply to Corey' situation at all. How does it not apply? Because you're annoyed at Corey Hart for not being a perennial .900 OPS player, & he's looking to make as much money as he possibly can? Hart can easily lose his arbitration case, and I'm sure he's well aware of that. Maybe he feels like risking an additional ~$300K is worth it with a decent shot at an extra ~$750K. I mean, we're talking about nearly an extra million bucks there. Does he deserve it? I don't even think it's worth it for fans to worry about that. The extra money he may win will mean next to nothing to the Brewers, and could mean a whole heck of a lot to Hart & his family. If he wins his arbitration case, he's certainly not hamstringing the Brewers' payroll flexibility. And if he loses, well then I guess he felt that risk was worth $300K. I mean, some people are literally passing judgment on this guy over an amount that means zero to the Brewers' competitive chances in 2010 or beyond. It just makes no sense to me. I'd like to say, on the record, that I really don't like or dislike Corey Hart. I just find the backlash & venomous distaste overwhelming.