RockCoCougars

I don't think that Hanson is anything to get excited about. I think that the Braves made out well again. Looks like they are trying to recreate the Nasty Boys pen down there in Atlanta.

I'd think they've got to take a chance on one of the harder throwing relievers, preferably a lefty. They have plenty of open spots in the pen. Unless I'm forgetting about somebody, it seems like a long time since the Brewers have had a hit on the Rule 5, probably 20 years ago when they snagged Graeme Lloyd. The only two that I remember since then have been Al Reyes and Enrique Cruz.

I get the feeling that Bogut would be totally OK with never playing again. I guess that it was a smart move for him to 'come clean' at this point as it takes the heat off him and puts it onto the front office/medical staff... he hasn't been around long enough for the Golden State fans to throw their hands up in frustration. Now I'm not downplaying the severity of his injury, but Ray Lewis he is not.

Of those three (Bonds, Clemens, Sosa), the only one that I would even consider voting for would be Bonds... in my view, he was the only one of the three who had a HOF caliber career prior to juicing.

Any GM that would sign Dempster to a three year deal should be fired immediately. He's been pretty good- and is maybe still slightly above average, but he would be pushing 40 in three years. There are tons of innings on that arm. Signing him to a 3 year deal would be like taking out a 36 month bank loan to buy a 1999 Cavalier with 150,000 miles on it... for twice blue book value.

I think it may be still on the air. Last I saw it, Ozzie Smith was host, but to me it had lost all the mystique from back in the days where Mel Allen was host and there wasn't wall to wall 24/7 coverage on the Internet and a host of TV channels. Back then, the show kind of made the boxscore names/pictures on a baseball card come to life because these guys weren't on TV very often. It's kind of ironic that Ozzie was hosting, because TWIB definitely helped build his legend back in the early days with the highlight reels. The Padres certainly weren't on the Game of the Week very often. Heck, back then, the Brewers weren't even on the tube that often.

I've had DirecTV for roughly 15 years, but have been toying with the idea of moving back to cable. Back in the day, Directv offered far more channels/viewing options- especially for sports fans. Now cable has closed the gap in that regard along with the Internet viewing options. Probably the biggest drawback to DirecTV for me at this point is the fact that they don't really have a realistic option for internet service like cable does (they used to have satellite high speed, but it was incredibly expensive). I also don't like the fact that DirecTV has moved to an leased equipment system. Back in the day, you could buy your dish and put it up yourself. You also owned the equipment. These days, you are pretty much dependent on a technician coming out to your home to set up service, and they push you towards contracts to get the 'leased' satellite boxes. Another thing that really irks me about DirecTV is their refusal to make Fox Sports Wisconsin a full time channel (they say for 'bandwidth' reasons, but they've got at least 10 home shopping channels going at any given time). The positives are picture quality, generally good customer service and they are still probably the best one stop shop for sports viewing options. Bottom line, DirecTV was the bomb back in the late '90's, but it's becoming an increasingly obsolete technology. Sunday Ticket is pretty much their last defense, but I've noticed that is available on the X-Box or whatever. I've threatened to cancel on them a few times, but they have lured me back to this point with deals. They are going to have to really up the ante this time, because I'm pretty sure that I'm switching after the first of the year. My equipment is aging and I don't really want to enter into a contract.

As someone who normally doesn't get very excited about DVD releases, I have to say this one is tempting. I caught TWIB whenever possible on Saturdays and watched many of them during rain delays. I've never seen old reruns of the show aired anywhere either.

Surprising news to me. Strangely enough, I have to admit that I had thought that he had died several years ago. At the same time, I was surprised to know that he was as old as he was. Anyway, there is a book called 'Lords of the Realm', that I remember being very good. Very heavy on Marvin Miller content, and it details the beginnings of free agency in the 70's along with the economics of baseball at the time. Sounds dry, but it was a very entertaining read.

I will preface this by saying I'm not a huge fan of Feldman... but if the Royals set the market with Guthrie, this one looks like a steal.

Great win tonight. Regarding Ellis, I'm not going to complain. At least Bogut is someone else's problem this year... surprise, surprise he has another owie.

Please don't get me started on Lane Kiffin. I don't have a clue what he's ever accomplished to justify his status. I can understand his getting somewhere because of his bloodline, but he's gotten much further than he should have. As for USC, I'm surprised that their D held up like it did against Notre Dame. They've been pretty brutal all season. I'm not a big fan of Barkley either, from what I've seen, he's the least impressive of the 'name' QB's that they've had there over the past 10-12 years (Palmer, Leinert, Sanchez, etc.).

What am I missing here? Is this the same Jeremy Guthrie? If so, does he have incriminating photos of someone in the KC front office or something....I'd think he would have to in order to command a three year deal. Seems like every year someone breaks out to an early lead for 'Stupidest Move of the Off-Season'.

Not to veer this completely off topic, but if I'm Gomez, I'm chomping at the bit to get an extension signed this off season. He's basically been on a career trajectory of a rich man's Alex Ochoa. He could build on what he did last season, or things could go south fast. I think that he'd be well served to take the financial security of a multi year extension, Scott Boras be danged.

Well, Rod Carew was a 'terrible' hitting coach for the Brewers (or at least 'his' hitters were), so maybe it's a yin and yang type deal.

I think the specific difference is that they gave an unwritten promise to put more money into the team when they were lobbying for the new stadium and then basically spit in the face of that promise just 1 year later. This ownership group has had shady dealings in the past so they don't generally get the benefit of the doubt. From a pure baseball value standpoint the move isn't terrible. I can definitely see that side of it, but considering there is no 'salary floor' in baseball nor a written agreement for the Marlins to maintain a certain payroll, I don't know what they can do. Also, since the Marlins are getting some legit talent, I don't see how Selig can step in and block the deal 'for the good of the game' like Bowie Kuhn did when Charlie Finley was selling guys to the Red Sox and Yankees. Bottom line, Marlin ownership will get their payback in the form of dropping attendance. It is dirty pool in the sense that with a new stadium, the franchise undoubtedly took a big jump in value.... also stadium naysaers around the country are going to use this example as an argument against public financing of stadiums. That said, I don't really think that they can do anything about it outside of pressuring Loria to sell down the road.

Maybe I'm under-reacting to this deal because I was desensitized by that horrible Dodger/Red Sox trade, but this one doesn't seem to be much different than the typical salary dump deals that teams (including the Brewers) have been doing for years. These generally blow up in the face of one team or another, and unlike that Dodger deal, I don't see a clear winner here.

Segura easily. I take it that the Rangers weren't overly impressed with Olt during his stretch in the majors last season.

Kind of a 'Waste Management' type deal for the Blue Jays, but I'm impressed that they were able to land Johnson and Reyes without having to take Heath Bell back as well. I'd be willing to bet that they pitched this deal to Arizona first. Buerhle won't be horrible as a 5th starter, and this way they won't end up overpaying Carlos V. This is basically the same type of deal that the Marlins have been doing for the past 15 years. I'd say that the Jays have a much higher risk of things blowing up in their face, but this deal could also get them into the thick of the AL playoff picture.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. No multi-year deals for a free agent reliever. I'd do one and an option, but that's it. I'd rather they overpay someone for one year then get into a bad three year deal on someone else. Keep picking up guys off the scrap heap, and sign a few vets to reasonable deals.

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, two words.... Johnny Estrada. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at the time- 'wow he hits pretty good for a catcher, etc.'. Never again. I look at it this way, if Jackson were really the type of talent to command a three year, eight figure per deal, would that many teams have let him walk? I thought trwi7's initial post summed up pretty nicely that no team has yet "let him walk". I really think that, with Jackson, it's as simple as his results don't live up to his stuff & teams don't view him as a centerpiece. Nothing wrong with that, and it definitely doesn't imply anything further about him unless you want it to (short of anyone coming up with some evidence that he's had character concerns or whatever it is we're implying in this thread). Point taken. As I said above, I really don't suspect character issues in this case. However, I would argue that both the Cardinals and Nationals have let Jackson walk in the past year. I find both cases a bit perplexing, because both teams had/have the money to spend to retain him. Also, I find the lack of interest last off season (Pittsburgh was the only team to go at him hard....also a bad omen, in my opinion) to be telling. At a glance, Jackson seems to be a solid middle of the rotation guy, and the pitching market wasn't exactly brimming last off-season. I won't deny that Jackson has solid stuff and a decent track record, but there are too many red flags for me to want the Brewers to be 'that team' that finally locks him up. The major issue that I have with Jackson is that he seems to be inconsistent, I've seen him look unhittable, but I've also seen him get knocked around. If he were willing to take a one year deal, I'd be interested, but not on a 3/4 year deal. When it comes to free agent pitchers, the Brewers are basically in no man's land, in that they will never be able to keep up with the big boys in bidding wars for the top guys, so they are left to settle for the leftovers with low interest elsewhere. It follows that I'd stick with low risk signings.

Not to derail this thread too much, but Johnny Estrada was the only MLB player I've ever seen gain roughly 40 pounds during a single season. By September, I was fully expecting him to give birth.

I'm sure that Estrada's attitude issues and general laziness contributed as well. In this day and age, young cost controlled guys with talent don't move around that much without a reason. Don't you question why Washington didn't even tender Jackson an offer? It appears to be more of a talent thing in this case than another 'issue', but I certainly wouldn't dole out a big contract to find out.

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, two words.... Johnny Estrada. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at the time- 'wow he hits pretty good for a catcher, etc.'. Never again. I look at it this way, if Jackson were really the type of talent to command a three year, eight figure per deal, would that many teams have let him walk?

Dempster would be a horrible signing, followed closely by Lohse. I'm not a big fan of signing Jackson either, because there has to be a reason teams find him expendable each off season. That said, I'd go for Jackson in a hot second ahead of the other two. Even though I don't think he's an impact guy, Kuroda is a pipe dream. My guess is that he won't play anywhere not on one of the coasts, and I'd almost guarantee he is a Yankee next season. The bottom line is that I really hope the Brewers don't waste big money on a free agent pitcher. None of the guys mentioned in this thread are worth the money they will be asking for. My greatest fear is that history repeats itself, and that one or more of these guys will find the market lukewarm (a la Suppan, Wolf) causing their agents to make the hard sell to Melvin. Wolf wasn't a horrible signing, but wasn't a good signing either...Suppan was a disaster. I really hope that Melvin has learned his lesson on bidding against himself, doling out big money multi year deals to guys that no one else really wants. Go with the young guys,along with maybe someone who falls through the cracks on a one year deal or maybe somebody in a trade. If one of the aforementioned names finds a cold market and is willing to go for a reasonable one year deal, I'd listen. Otherwise, no way.