FVBrewerFan

What about Carlos Luna?

Sure, and see them play for a month. If they have until May, take advantage of that time.

Anxiously awaiting the first poster to predict they make the playoffs. (Also, Clancy's prediction for Suter to be Surprise player, ROY, Cy Young, and MVP ; )

Those are the kind of moves that put them where they are now. Snell and Beas aren't going to get huge offers from anyone, and if they do- goodbye. You just can't invest much cap space in role players. Cap space needs to be preserved for 3 big contracts, and you better get those right.

Yea, remember they use piggy-back starts in Appleton. So they will actually have 4 or 5 more starters there. I could see them starting Williams and/or Kirby there. As far as Lopez goes, it's possible he could start the year in the Brewers pen, but I doubt it. In fact, I think there's a better chance he will start the year in the Brewers rotation. Just because they may want to stagger when Hader, Lopez, Woodruff, Ortiz, heck maybe even Wang join the rotation over the next couple years. Hader they may want to wait a bit to start his clock. But I don't think that's much of a concern with Lopez or Woodruff. So I could see them trading a SP before the end of ST. Plus, there's always injuries that come into play. Finally, if Garza's performance and/or attitude are terrible it's possible they cut him loose. That would open the door for Lopez or Woodruff, and I just get this sense they want to give Lopez a shot, certainly don't want him in CS. Then Hader comes up at some point this year, probably before the AS break. Woodruff gets a taste of MLB in September, then joins rotation full time to start beginning of next season. That would be a realistic way to trickle these guys in.

Let's not pretend he's a good on the ball defender either. I agree, he's at his worst off the ball, but he can't stay in front of someone in open space, and doesn't play good defense in the post either. But like I said, that's all fine if he's not your #2 option. In fact, I could see him being a real stud off the bench as the 6th man. You don't need great defense, just scoring. Seems like a perfect long term role for him.

So how did your cook turn out?? Seriously though, wow, close call! I'm the other way, crazy carefull with ashes. I only put them in the trash on garbage day when my can is down by the road. Also, a good reminder why we all should have a fire extinguisher handy, and know how to use it!

Yep, you answered your own question there!

Brewers Record: 73-89 Playoffs: No Brewers MVP: Braun Brewers CY Young: Davies Brewers ROY: Hader First player traded: Guerra (before season starts) Surprise player: Barbosa Disappointing player: Shaw World Series: Red Sox over Nationals

I remember seeing a statement by Braun a couple weeks ago already saying he felt the best he has in years.

Baseball Prospectus: 12) Brinson 19) Hader 41) Ray 59) Diaz 68) Ortiz 75) Phillips 99) Clark Interesting, no Woodruff or Dubon, but they still have Philips and Clark.

I would be fine if they just DFAd Garza. Especially if they decide one of Hader, Woodruff, Lopez is ready to go and they want to start him right away. If that's not the case, I'm fine if they keep Garza. I really don't care if Milone or Anderson gets bumped from the rotation temporarily, or they go to a 6 man rotation for a while. We're still in mid-Feb, and I have a feeling this will sort itself out. It's not like they have 9 proven, dominant starters that they need to sort through to make this work.

I don't mind it once they bring a couple of rookies up, as it would be a great way to limit their innings. But I definitely wouldn't start the season this way just to get an Anderson or Nelson into the rotation.

It is a valid argument. There are baseball fans (admittedly declining number) who don't want any rule changes. Yea, baseball added gloves 100 years ago. That wasn't a rule change, it was taking advantage of new equipment. Just like today, adding replay is fine (even though I'm against it.) Multiple angles, extreme slo-mo, etc. weren't available in the past, or any video at all for that matter. Change the divisions, playoff structure, etc. Fine. The league has expanded and changes needed to be made. Shorten the season, it wasn't always 162 games. None of those things bother me. But when we start talking about putting a runner at 2nd out of thin air, I strongly object. For all the reasons I mentioned in previous posts. Ending a game in a tie?? If the end result they're looking for is more fan interest, how will fans feel about attending a game for 3 hours, or even watching it on TV and having it end in a tie? Heck there were near riots for ending an All Star game in a tie. I don't like rule changes, but I am open to them if they make sense and don't hurt the integrity of the game. I realize I'm probably all alone, but none of the suggestions I have read in this thread meet those requirements. Other than the home plate ump take more control of trying to speed the game along, that's fine. But dictating how a manger uses the bullpen, creating a BB when no pitches are thrown, using a ghost runner at 2nd, ending games in a tie...these are all concepts I can't get behind.

I don't want to minimize the loss of Parker, but let's not overstate it either. It really hurts for this season, suddenly having to replace 20 points a game. Long term, it just MAY work to the Bucks advantage. Very soon, they would have been forced to offer a max contract that he probably didn't deserve, or lose him and get nothing in return. Now, when he returns again they can sign him to a very team friendly contract. Also, takes the pressure off, he can be the 4th best player instead of trying to make him the 2nd best player on a really good team. That's really a stretch for Parker, given he'll never be a good defender much less a great defender. He can score, and that's a nice commodity to have. But they would have had a really tough decision to make on him. Now they can take a step back and figure out the best way to build a team around Giannis. I only wish I was confident they had the right people in place to make those decisions.

How would you even score that? Does base runner get a PA? Is it a BB? Fielder's choice? When the runner scores the winning run, does he do so without an ab? Does the losing pitcher get charged an earned run who was magically put on 2b? Yea, I really hate this idea.

Yea, couldn't have been more wrong about that prediction!

See, if Gonzaga is a #1 for sure, they barely have a better RPI than Wisconsin. Obviously Big 10 is way down this year but playing the Maryland, Purdue, Ohio St, Northwesterns etc. is overall as tough as Gonzaga's schedule. True, no big wins for UW, but if they go 30-3 that's a whole lot of wins against "good" teams. They're #7 AP right now, so I don't think it's crazy. Still unlikely, but there's a lot of ball to play yet. What do I really think? Yea, I think they lose a couple games yet and end up as #3-4 seed.

Sure there is. If they go 30-3, winning Big 10 reg season title and Big 10 tourney they will absolutely be in the mix for #1 seed. Some of those teams ahead of them will stumble, happens every year. RPI hurts them, but that isn't the only factor the committee uses. If Gonzaga goes undefeated, will be interesting to see if they're denied a #1 seed. Like I said, not very likely but they do have a realistic chance at being a #1 seed. Just way too early to say there's not a chance.

Thing is, it's difficult at best to come up with realistic for any if the Brewers position players other than Braun and Scooter. Thames is coming over from Korea. Arcia will get his 1st full season. Santana hasn't been able to put in a full season. Villar and Broxton burst on the scene, is that the trend or will they fall back significantly? Just really tough to project players with minimal MLB experience, so while I always find this stuff to be interesting reading I don't take it too seriously.

I don't want to speak for Patrick, or any other season ticket holder. But I imagine if tickets could be sold to Brewer fans for a little less than Cubs fans, they would do that. Problem is, it's hard to ask for a premium on tickets to family and friends. I know whenever I have extra tickets for anything, I will either give them away or ask for face value. Just depending on the situation, who it is, etc. I would feel weird asking more than face, especially way more than face.

Yea, just using eye test I can't picture Janis being a CB. Trevor Davis, I can see. Not that I expect it to happen, don't get me wrong. Just interesting to think about. I do think Goodson could be a small part of the CB solution though.

Realistic chance the Badgers will be the first #1 seed to lose in the 1st round. First, they need to get a #1 seed, of course, but I think they can earn that by losing maybe one more game, then winning the conf tourney. That will be tough to do, but possible. Then all it takes is some horrific shooting by the Badgers, and the other team to shoot the lights out for one night. Add in foul trouble for Happ or something, I can really see them getting upset. That said, they could also make the Final 4 again.

As to your second paragraph, the Brewers can afford a lot of undervalue contracts, but they can only afford a few market value contracts. They need to get undervalued players wherever and whenever they can. If you lock up players at market rate (which will occur if you wait until year 2 or 3 of arby to sign the extension), then you end up in a situation like we just got out of, with most of our money going to a few aging guys and no money left over to fill in the holes. Then you become completely reliant on your farm pumping our starting quality MLB players every year or you end up playing guys like Yuni B and Overbay (the second time around). Signing a player at that stage is effectively the same as signing a free agent, and smaller-market teams can't build a roster that is too reliant on free agency. But if you don't lock up good young talent, you better have the best farm system in MLB for many years running. Because you would need to rely almost 100% on the system producing 2-4 MLB ready players every year. And even at that, it would be very difficult, at best, to be a winning team consistently with a roster filled 100% with players that have 5 or less years of MLB experience. It's a little different that just signing FA off the street because those players are going to be a little older. If you like the projection of guys like Villar, Broxton, Arcia, etc. I think signing them to 5/6 year contract after 2-3 years of service time isn't a bad way to go. You'll never get it right 100% of the time, but a team like the Brewers need to roll the dice a little on a few manageable contracts. I'm not even saying the guys I mentioned necessarily, they're just examples. But what if a Hader, Ortiz, Woodruff etc. looks really good after 2-3 years? Top end starters cost a fortune, so to me it's worth signing them to an extension if you can. Devil is in the details, of course, in terms of dollars involved.

Seems like a great guy, heart goes out to him. Maker better play 30+ minutes a game now.