RockCoCougars

If Estrada keeps getting the job done in the rotation, he should be starting. I think that based on his performance as a starter last year, he's earned a shot. I don't see how moving him to the rotation really hurts the bullpen because barring extra innings he's not getting in the game after the 6th or maybe the 7th inning if the Brewers have a lead. The bottom line is that the Brewers have over 10 million tied up in three late inning set up men. These guys and Axford need to get the job done. At any rate, it was no stretch to assume that the bullpen would regress this year. Last season, outside of a bad month from Loe, everyone out there pitched out of their minds.

Watching History Channel. Saw an ad for a new program starring the Sklar brothers (twins from that old ESPN Classic clip 'comedy' show). I find them incredibly annoying and irritating, and it bothers me that someone else gave them a show.

It's one play in a long season. I just hope that he keeps getting on base, another hit and he's over .200- I think.

It's Marcum's turn in the rotation to turn in a complete stinker, I guess. Props to Ishikawa as well. He has already outproduced my expectations.

I don't really have any interest in Oswalt. He doesn't seem to want to play unless it is under his terms, he's older with back issues, and he really wasn't very good last year. Unless he's been 'training' with his old teammate Clemens (who used to also play the waiting game), I don't think he will be all that good pitching rusty. All that said, I still say that he will be in a Cardinal uniform before the season is over.

I just can't get past the fact that Michaels has a syndicated program. If anything, this speaks to the lack of quality in local radio these days. Program directors will do anything to cut costs. Personally, I'd rather listen to Musak any day then listen to Michaels blather on about things he's not very knowledgeable about, but that's me.

That's what I saw here as well. Bottom line, it was a great baseball play by both guys. I give Castro a lot of credit for staying in the game, the guy seems Mike Matheny tough. He didn't go whining to the media through his agent either, like a certain catcher in the Bay Area either- not that anyone would care, because he's not a 'star'.

Jurrjens to AAA. No wonder the Braves put him on the trade block last winter. He's been garbage since the ASG last year.

Braun is specifically not allowed to make a direct statement about this stuff. The statement he did make was authorized as a compromise measure given the circumstances generated as a result of the original leak. He faces liability for violating the agreement. I was not aware of this. Is there a link somewhere above this in the thread? I'm sure that I've missed a few pages here and there on this monster.

Exactly. The less that I hear from Braun (which has basically been nothing since the presser), the more dubious things look. Like you, I see no reason for him to selflessly remain silent to protect an unknown entity- especially since there is no gag order. Even with my Brewer blinders on, this seems pretty far fetched. I don't believe for a minute that Braun would sit on a slam dunk exonerating him with the public....even if meant leaving MLB, teammates or anyone else out to dry.

Great play by Gamel. Buster Posey would still be on the ground crying like a small child after that one.

$100M in the hands of someone who has no clue how to manage money will result in bankruptcy. Exactly. What I've never understood is why these guys feel the need to make 'business investments' anyway even though they should be already set for life. Isn't signing an eight figure contract enough? Why would you want the hassle of running a business or managing property after you retire when you could diversify with low risk investments and then just sit back and count your money while you are on your 365-day vacation?

I'm just going to start posting how pathetic the offense looks every night in the game thread. It seemed to do the trick last night. Things can honestly only get better from here. Hart and the catchers have cooled off and Ramirez, Weeks, Braun and Morgan aren't as bad as they have looked. The only guy who has hit the ball consistently well (for the most part) over the first few weeks is Gamel.

I will admit that I was all for the Brewers hiring Valentine... let's just say that I'm glad that they went in another direction. I really don't think that he's going to make it until the All Star break.

I think that the FSN guns are a tad fast. At any rate, 91/92 is on the low end of an average MLB fastball. These guys are getting blown away like they are facing a young Nolan Ryan or something. It's one thing to get shut down by a guy with average stuff, it's another thing to not even be able to make contact.

Wow. These guys are really a joke at the plate right now.

We all know how the Brewers hit guys with little to no big league experience. I didn't know that they did hit these guys.... I really think that there is more to this than an old wives tale. In large part, the he Brewers have never hit 'guys they haven't seen' well.

He's referring to Gaylord Perry putting K-Y on the ball, I'd guess.

Thanks for that list. That said, I have to take it with a grain of salt because they have Bret Saberhagen so high. Maybe in odd numbered years he was an all time great. I think that throwing more innings to accumulate stats is part of the deal. The amount of innings that these guys were able to log is amazing. They took the ball every third or fourth day and completely took the bullpen out of the equation. For almost all the modern guys, they had closers to come finish things out when they tired. You have to consider that some of the old timers were pitching with sore/tired arms in the late innings of games, which may have hurt their stats. I would like to put Pedro higher on my list due to his dominance in 'Roid-Ball', but to me, he didn't get it done long enough. I'd put him more in a class with Sandy Koufax than Walter Johnson.

To drop to a top 5 lottery position, the Bucks would have had to lose an additional 7 to 9 games, a few to teams behind them like Cleveland. That would have been almost impossible without making a farce out of things. They could have completely 'tanked' and moved up a few draft positions, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. As far as trading the 'best asset', as I said above, good riddance. I was watching a Golden State game the other night and saw Bogut clowning around in his suit on the end of the bench again. This is the role that he seems most comfortable with- he actually seems more happy when he's not playing. I have no faith that the guy will ever stay healthy for a full season as he gets older. I have no problem with the Bucks trading him, but the only valid argument may be that he was traded too late. At the same time, I can't say that I was in favor of trading him before so I won't second guess. I was extremely disappointed in his injury this season, and his quotes to the Bay Area media tell me that he's not the kind of guy that you want to depend on or build a team around. The major problem with scrapping a team in the NBA and rebuilding is the salary floor. Coming off the playoff season a few years ago, no one had any reason to believe that things would go South as they did. The team added pieces and contracts to build on that season, and most of them flopped. I guess that they could have tried to flip those pieces for the Calvin Booths and Raef LaFrentzs of the world and then put a D-League team on the court, but that's easier said than done. Most of the teams behind them in the standings have been bad for years and it's easier to do this. I guess that you could argue that the Bucks have been bad for years, but that playoff run 2 years ago was a real double-edge sword.

I guess for a guy used to making eight figures, $2-$3 million is 'nothing'. He must not have wanted to play too bad. Kind of like when Latrell Spreewell turned down eight figures from the Timberwolves, because he had to 'feed his family'. Last I heard, his yacht was repoed.

As much as I'd like to say 'Yes', I have to say no dice. That said, the legend of Shoeless Joe in American lore is bigger due to this scandal than any of his contemporaries outside of Babe Ruth and maybe Ty Cobb. He'd probably be largely forgotten otherwise.

I'd go as follows for the Top 5: Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Warren Spahn, Mathewson/Gibson/Feller/Carlton if you ask me. To me, Halladay has a ways to go (5 more decent years) before he hits the Top 20. He's closer to Mike Mussina than All Time Great at this point, if you ask me.

I thought that the type of waivers that Kottaras was put on last year was the revocable type that almost everyone clears just because of the fact that they're revocable. Regardless, the same could have been said of Nelson Cruz before his breakout season -- not comparing the two, just saying values can and do fluctuate and the premise of this is more of what he would be worth at the deadline if he continued to be a nice contributor. I'm pretty sure that anyone could have had him on a waiver claim. The Cruz comparison is valid to a point, but he has had some sustained success, not just a handful of homers and big hits. If for some reason, Kottaras had to step into a full time role and put up some nice numbers for an entire season, then we may be onto something.

Any team could have had Kottaras for nothing roughly a year ago. Recent hot streak aside, I highly doubt that anyone would give up much value for him.