TooLiveBrew

Keep in mind these are all pretty much on-the-spot answers... Starts his offseason regimen in November. Started hitting in November this offseason (earlier than normal) Toughest pitcher to face: Jake Peavy -"He has the stuff... and my number" -"When he's on, he can throw it in a paper cup." -Tidbit- Peavy had signed to play at Auburn when Gabe was a Tiger, but obv. got drafted Host mentioned many Auburn fans have taken to the Brewers as a sort of "adopted team" due to Gross. Fanbase in AL! What's expected in 2008 for the Crew? -"The biggest thing we're expecting is really to be riding the stick of the NL Central again." -"Boy, you look back over a season of 162 games, and you can pick multiple games that you feel like, 'Ah - I can't believe that one got away from us.'" -"Experienced youth" on the team - listed Prince, Rickie, J.J. Hardy, "several [young] guys that are very, very talented." -"Our offense, I think, will be very, very good." -"I think we've got pitching depth - in fact, I think we've got about 8 guys trying to figure out into 5 spots... our biggest thing, pitching-wise, is just staying healthy. If we can stay healthy, I really expect us to be in September chasing down a playoff spot." How are fans in Milwaukee, & how do they compare to fans in other MLB cities? -"That has been one of the biggest surprises to me - how much I've enjoyed being a part of that organization because of the fans. Milwaukee is really more of a blue-collar city... the best place to relate the values & attitudes & just everything about the South, the closest I've been around... somewhere else in the country is the Midwest." -Fans are "very, very loyal... they enjoy rootin' for the Brewers win, lose, or draw, they love pullin' for Milwaukee - and they really appreciate when you do well for 'em." -The only other fans he really has to compare: Toronto -"Toronto has good fans, but Toronto is a hockey town. They love the Maple Leafs, and that was their #1 thing. If the Blue Jays did good, that was great, and if they didn't, you know, 'whoop-dee-doo!', so to speak. But Milwaukee, really, they're a baseball town. They love the Packers, don't get me wrong, but the Brewers are their team - and it's pretty fun to see their passion." On the run at the playoffs in 2007: -He'd been missing the competitiveness of his Auburn teams until the Brewers last year. This man sounds/ed hungry. -MP filled almost every night to capacity - "Playing in front of a capacity crowd, it's always an electric atmosphere... just a spark in the air." Opposing stadium Gross likes/loves to hit in: -"The stadium I would most like to play in is Philadelphia. Not only is it a great stadium - I really enjoy the look of the stadium - it's just an extremely *giggles* good hitter's park." -"Anywhere I go, the stadium could be terrible, but if it's a good hitter's park I'm gonna be happy about it." -Revised favorite stadium to play in is Fenway - really looking forward to getting back there.

Aha! Thank you trwi. That's the one, for sure.

What else is a homer article going to do? Point out the shortcomings he hasn't overcome? Of course they're going to point to the things he's doing positively. Throwing 140 feet for an MLB catcher? Not something to get excited about imo. You CAN'T just dismiss and throw away Kendall's 2007 performance in Oakland. Ok, that's true. However, when attempting to postulate his future success, you certainly can treat it as an extreme case to be taken with a large grain of salt. Now, if he'd stunk to high hell, and his BB/SO numbers lined up with career norms, then I'd be trumpeting just as loudly about Kendall. However, since they weren't, I tend to view them as affected by something aside from 'suckage.' Maybe he was dinged up, maybe he had to re-adjust some swing mechanics... who knows? I just don't think it's anything but reasonable to expect (at worst) a .330 OBP from Kendall next year. Given the crap we had in 2007, that's a very significant upgrade. EDIT: The 2007 numbers for JK tell us what we could plausibly expect from him in '08. See, they don't necessarily, though. To you, they do 100% (give or take). To me, I see them as so out of whack, they make me want to look deeper. I'm not sitting here trying to tell you Kendall's going to play like his 28-y-o self again, just that his improvement in OBP is going to be very impactful for this offense.

Nice, GSP. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I wish they would have announced this around October last year. I think this board would have exploded, literally. Not meaning just BF.net, but I wonder how much of a role all the public distaste for Yost played in Melvin "forgetting" to announce this. I'm guessing right around the time of the two Attanasio votes of confidence (Oct. '07), this was ironed out. Very savvy play by Attanasio & Melvin.

I know for a fact this play I'm thinking of was Corey, but I'm not sure whether he slipped or just made an ugly drive. I know he horribly mis-played the ball (bright sun), but he might have just tried to lay out far too late, hence looking like an ugly slip. Iirc, that was the 'Bush giving up the 7th-inning HR after cruising' game.

Nice find, AT. Doug knows how to play the game, to be sure. That's very reassuring to read, but then again is probably just general Melvin vague-ness.

That's a really cool find. Makes me wonder how anyone ever convinced people that there's a totally practical use for a 3-cent piece!

His time in Oak. in 2007 saw BB/SO numbers so out of whack with his career norms, that you almost have to throw them away out of principle. I fully expect Kendall to be around a .335 OBP with defense as bad as Estrada's at worst. Basically, any hitting of his upside by Kendall will mean our improvement at C is monstrous rather than the 'marginal' where it stands from a pessimistic outlook on 2008. And by the way, there's no reason to not be pessimistic regarding Kendall. I just think many here are over-stating it, and basing said over-statement largely on wonky Oak. 2007 numbers.

But signing him to an incredibly risky contract in order to buy one year of FA (& like I mentioned, a stab at a HT-discount)... does that capitalize upon anything? I sincerely want to know what you meant here, Sam-o. In both cases (Cano & Tulo), the contracts seem completely unnecessary - for slightly different reasons in each case.

What bugs me about the crap network isn't any sort of geographical bias. It's their lack of accuracy & attention to detail. It's probably the worst place to go out of sports outlets to actually get informed about any given sport, since all they care about is highlights & making each other feel more important. As SF said, there's better analysis at BF.net on a daily basis than you'll ever find on the crap show.

Oh, no argument with that. However, it's very incorrect to say there's no physical demand/exertion, or that there are only one or two tough calls per game.

I'd be surprised if Shelly Duncan didn't at least get a look at 1B. He certainly has the size/frame to play the position.

in a baseball game, there's maybe 1 or 2 bang-bang plays in the entire game. plus you're not moving at all.... no physical activity required.... I'm going to go out on a limb & guess that you've never umped softball or baseball. 'No physical activity' is all I need to arrive at that conclusion. Also, there are at least 2 bang-bang plays in any game I've worked.

Now, this trend might take years to really take hold, but the Tulo and Cano contracts have changed the atmosphere of business. The contract the Rockies gave out to Tulowitzki was just downright foolish. They're putting an awful lot of stock in the hopes that he'll give them a gigantic hometown discount when he hits FA. Plus, it's not like Colorado is working with one of the bigger MLB markets. I don't think these contracts have changed the business, more that the business has changed, and these deals reflect that.

You might think differently if you'd seen the WSJ since its most recent redesign (in the last month). But that's another rant for another time. Interesting. I'll have to try & get a look at one when I'm back in WI.

You'd find that most guys stink with the count 0-2 (or even 0-1). If Kendall can hit around .260 or so, his OBP will be a huge upgrade over Estrada.

Yea - if Crisp were the other choice, I'd have rather just stuck with Hall, too. Didn't he actually slip and fall twice last year? Didn't Hart do the ol' slip-n-fall near the RF line at SF in the second half last year? Not saying Gabe didn't slip another time, just wondering.

Weeks could well prove the most expensive to re-sign, given his position. That said, Fielder's probably going to get play-money digits.

Cameron runs well, plays good defese, and Crisp is nowhere near the hitter that Cameron is. No way I prefer him, plus we'd have had to part with at least one player to do it. No thanks. Gross will get plenty of PT.

It'll be a better world when we can cut down our use of paper as much as possible. This is sort of sad news, but also sort of not. I'd always felt the WSJ was the superior product, but never saw this coming.

I'd say baseball is very easy since there's 4 umpires on the field watching basically 1 ball go around... You'd be wrong then. It's definitely not 'very easy.' Especially since the vast majority of baseball umping is done with 3 or fewer umpires. Hardest would probably come from soccer, hockey, & basketball. Too tough to pick imo.

Lofton can't play CF anymore and his peripherals took a big hit last year. Don't forget his inability to hit LHP. Cameron was the right choice, 100%. Thanks for the recaps.

Instead of most movies having the usual happy endings, the trend was to have unhappy endings, or bizarro world endings? How would some classics end? It's funny that the word "classics" ended up in there... since most classical storytelling did not include the 'happy ending.' I personally believe that the desire for a feel-good ending can ruin a perfectly good story (see Stranger than Fiction for one example). That said, I'm a huge fan of the tragedies. Oh, and great thread, and the alternate endings so far have been funny as hell!

All they need to do is add Tim McCarver & Joe Buck, and I'd buy a copy just to destroy it.

Well, it's great that the Wii added MLB2K8. However... Best Booth in the Business - 2K Sports proudly brings back the duo Jon Miller and Hall of Famer Joe Morgan to the broadcast booth, delivering the deepest commentary available. NNNOOOOOOOOooooooooooo.....