TooLiveBrew

Some of the best combos of hitting with fielding at the hot corner at the college level that could be candidates around the sandwich/second round... Thanks, and coincidentally enough, that's where I felt the Crew might be able to find the type of player I had in mind. There are some other guys that could move to 3B, such as Gordon Beckham, a SS for Georgia, and David Adams, currently a 2B at Virginia, that project to hit for more power The org. clearly has not had any aversion to moving players to new positions, so those are both interesting. However, this conversation is probably best suited for the draft forum. Very true - I honestly sometimes get the two jumbled together in my head as the discussions carry on.

Barb has had a combination of being uninformed about Chris Benoit's "illegal" drug use, which it wasn't because he had prescriptions for his drugs and misquoting me. Except that having a prescription doesn't necessarily mean it's not illegal.

Yet there is someone that is revering Chris Benoit but feels nothing for Heath Ledger and his now fatherless child. That's not what he said at all. I don't feel anything at all for Chris Benoit except anger. What he did was unforgiveable to say the very least. That's BCR, from post #45.

Are there any college 3B who field well, and hit at least (projected to MLB) moderately well? I could see a high-ish pick being used on someone to take the reins from Hall after 2010/11. Someone like Zimmerman but perhaps not quite as highly rated?

His first half at Huntsville last year was pretty encouraging, and his numbers did improve significantly (aside from batting average) from 2006 to 2007, both spent at the AA level. I noticed that 2007 was Lou repeating AA - and to be fair, he improved like one would hope. I think his patience at the plate can really help him in AAA - but it'll have to go hand-in-hand with some more solid/solid+ SLG for Lou to have offensive appeal. If he's as good defensively as is being mentioned, I really think he could help as a backup C as early as mid-2008.

The Cubs played .580 ball over the last 100 games. Translate over a full season, that's 94 wins. The Brewers were 24-10 in the first month. Translate that... You just can't say that the Cubs are for sure going to play .580 ball based on games from last season. Too much changes from year to year to make that assumption. Now they have everyone back, a manager that knows his team, and they've added a little here and there Fukudome, Lieber... ? Their SP is not as good as ours, their defense is better than ours (but not by nearly as much as '07), and their offense can hardly carry our offense's jock. Both teams will be around 90 wins, and it'll come down to the head-to-head matchups yet again imo.

Interesting, thanks for correcting me. I've just heard so often how the PCL is known to play for the hitters, I didn't realize it was a regional occurance. I then revise my statement to 'if he can sustain that OBP north of .350, along with his D, he has tremendous potential as a backup C.' Fwiw, I really would love to see Lou translate his BBs & SLG to the MLB level.

Prince will be a Brewer - at least - into 2011. He will be worth whatever annual salary he is awarded in arbitration, too (obviously the Crew could try a short 3/4-yr. deal). Once he is a full-fledged FA, I just don't see how the Brewers can retain him, feasibly. Could the contract be afforded in terms of a budget? Perhaps, maybe even 'probably.' But with how much it's going to take to re-sign him, you have to ask whether or not it's more valuable to have Prince, or to be able to retain Corey, YoGa, Villanueva, etc. There's likely no sure one-to-one Prince/'No Prince, but players X, Y, & Z' comparison that could be done, but I think it's only logical to suggest that the financial freedom without what will surely be a gigantic contract for Fielder (2012 will be his age 28 season) will allow for keeping more players. I, for one, think that Miguel Cabrera's contract (whenever he signs it) will play a large role in helping to determine what Prince's will look like. Teixeira's contract should help clarify that, too, since he obviously plays the same position.

I like the BB totals & rate that Lou carries as a C. Coupling that with what's been reported as strong defense, and that's an ideal backup catcher imo. However, I agree that we need to see how he does at Nashville this year. If he can't out-hit or roughly match last year's .256/.368/.419/.787 in the hitter-friendly PCL, I'm not sure if we should be in such a hurry to make him the backup C. The good thing is that he can always stay in AAA all year, and look to compete for a big-league spot in 2009.

Benoit's steriods weren't illegal because he had a doctor prescribe them for him. You are wrong on your assumption there that Chris Benoit was taking drugs illegally. Ask Paul Byrd how his prescription is holding up. A prescription doesn't mean automatically that a drug is legal. If Ledger died via sleeping pills, that's a different situation from anabolic steroids imo.

Correct, however I didn't get the impression that Jason's eyesight was quite as bad as Hendrickson's. Btw, I think we all deserve a collective pat on the back for not making the obligatory Ben Hendrickson joke here! Huzzah!

The bold-faced is definitely part of my thought process. However, I'm speaking in terms of the individual, too. For me - personally - the thought of an accidental overdose is so terrifying. It's one thing to know, 'Ok, I want to and am going to kill myself.' It's so much more horrific for me to think of not meaning to OD & then doing so. With the suicide, the individual has agency & plays an intentional role. With an accidental OD, sure there are elements of personal responsibility, but you weren't trying to die. I'm not sure that necessarily explains/ed it well, sorry...

Is it reasonable to assert that his BABIP at home, as opposed to Coors Field itself, played the biggest role in his success there? Coors is great for hitters and all, but a .370 BABIP is really high.

Silverstein has grown in muscle significantly since Aflac how long ago was this event?

If the Blu-Ray is something you want, & the extra cost of a PS3 doesn't deter you, go for it. The Show plays quite well on the PS2, and barring some major glitches in 'upgrading' the game to PS3, I'd bet it's killer. I checked into the Wii for baseball, and the only ones I can find that they have are MLB Power Pros & that NBA-Jam-ish version. Not cool.

i think most accidental ODs are because a person has developed such a tolerance for something that they have increased the dose they are consuming to dangerous levels trying to get the effect that they got the first few times they used the substance. Bingo - that's probably the best way to explain it. There's that saying that 'you're always chasing your first high'. Brewers19 said it well, too - tragic any way you slice it.

Yea i see Villanueva being one of the bigger wildcards for this years team, i could see a fairly wide degree of results from him this year. It wouldn't shock me at all if he was very good and put up an ERA in the 3.5 range or was in the 4.5 range. Villy's BBs from 2007 concern me. 53 BB is quite a few in just 114 1/3 IP, but I also wonder if the Brewers' over-use of him & his subsequent tiring has/d anything to do with that relatively high BB rate. However, his minor-league ratios don't look to indicate that we should expect 4+ BB/9 IP for him as a norm. He's a wildcard - that's the best way to phrase it. I'll remain cautiously optimistic, but let's just hope those extra BBs were from fatigue.

It's quite possible that since Ledger reportedly had trouble sleeping that it was no more than an accidental overdose. Well... He said he averaged 2 hours sleep a night - trying to run his body down like he imagined the Joker might feel. Anyhow, after filming wrapped he said he had a very hard time getting back into a normal routine and began using sleeping pills which he said "failed to work". I wonder if the drug in this case was simply something stronger he hoped would help him sleep better. Geez, I just hope it wasn't accidental - for his sake. If it was intentional, then it is what it is, I guess. I wonder if there's a real chance that it was stronger sleeping pills that got him really hooked... then mixed with a night of drinking? Ugh. In any event, I apologize for speculating.

The funny thing with Tulo is that what looks to have skewed his home split the most (perhaps not, perhaps Coors Field still outweighs this...) is that BABIP. I hadn't seen that it was that extreme. If anything, his road production will probably improve with his home production tailing off.

As morbid as it is to say, I'd hope a million times over that this was an intentional overdose versus an accidental one. The guy has a young daughter (with Michelle Williams)... so sad, however it happened. http://www.layercake.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/hmm.jpg http://i.ivillage.com/E/325/mini_me/E_Mathilda_325.jpg

Sure, every now and then someone would say he'd do something differently before hand, but that was far less frequent than the multitudes of 20/20 hindsight second guessers. I agree the second-guessers were more numerous, but especially in 2007's IGTs/chat there were plenty of people who made their comments/'moves' well before the outcome was determined on the field. It was most certainly more than 'every now & then.' calling people names isn't going to make it any more true. And, if I remember correctly is strike worthy on this website. That's a bit of a stretch - while I respect that you don't appreciate it (for me, getting called a 'hater'/'blind hater' has gotten old), it's not him calling you/anyone some inherently awful thing. Just a word he made up along the way...

That was a sweet, sweet feature in MVP. I find myself trying to argue calls during the replay of missed calls in The Show... you can guess how often that's worked out for me. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Can someone explain the "break out animation" for me? The Show pretty clearly has used pre-loaded animation paths or tracks that your fielder(s) will follow. Sometimes, it's to your benefit (when you biff a play), but in most cases it can get rather annoying - watching a guy "catch" a ball that you can see comes down a yard away from his glove... but he still catches it! Some of the replays used in at least the '07 version looked intentionally framed/cropped so that you'd just miss the discrepancy - seeing the player catch the ball, but omitting the huge glitch that the pre-loaded player animation simply ends with the ball falling into his glove, regardless of where the ball actually was. Is that a bit better? EDIT: So what 'break out' means is that you can break your guy out of a specific (pre-loaded) animation if it's not the right route to the ball. However, I found this part - "Change a fielding decision and branch out of any animation after the first branch point." a tad suspicious... is it that you can break out anytime after the first branch point (read: start of pre-loaded animation), or that you can only break out after the first branch point, and not after any subsequent ones.

Police have confirmed that drug use may have played a role in his death, but haven't announced it as the official cause of death yet. "'We are investigating the possibility of an overdose,' [NYPD spokesman Paul] Browne said."

The problem for MLB is that the MLBPA has to agree to any such penalties. It was a small miracle that Selig & Co. got the penalties they did, sadly. I'm not sure how it works in the NFL. I'd be all in favor of making the first offense a one-year penalty, with a second offense 5 years, third lifetime ban. Those will probably never happen, though.

Thanks for that link, J. Some highlights, imo: Multi-Branch Fielding - Branch Point Technology goes to a new level as gamers you can now take full control of fielders and break out of any animation in the process. Change a fielding decision and branch out of any animation after the first branch point. With Branch Point Technology, MLB 08 THE SHOW provides unbelievably smooth, fluid transitions for seamless double plays and relays. PlayMaker Fielding - The fielding interface brings the player attributes together with the user's skill level. With the Fielding Zone Marker, the fielder's fielding attribute rating will determine the size of the zone that surrounds the ball and its eventual landing location. With highly ranked fielders, the ball marker will be displayed sooner and smaller, making it easier to judge fly balls. ... Release Point Pitching - Taking video game pitching to a whole new level, gamers must utilize a timing mechanism to learn and realize each pitchers pace and release point, which varies from pitcher to pitcher. ... New Umpire Personalities - Providing even more realism to the diamond, MLB 08 THE SHOW features umpires with unique tendencies and animations. Each umpire will have his own definition of the strike zone, and it's up to the gamer to figure out if the umpire is calling the zone high, low, or giving the corners. ... Managers / Coaches - MLB® managers and coaches will be on the field calling the shots. As J mentioned, nothing revolutionary. It's about time they get some real coaches in the game, and it sounds like they're making the umps more interactive - something I thought they did well last year as a gradual step. I'm relieved to see that you can break out of fielding animations. That got pretty frustrating, though again, they did a nice job of upgrading it from '06 to '07 imo. The most impactful change seems to be the 'release point pitching.' That sounds intriguing.