brewtank34

If he was a lefty, I'd say sure, but we have no need for him right now.

good point about the no trade clause....however, I do remember that Peavey said he'd open up his list if needed to get out of SD. So, I think Melvin could be offering something and see how it flies.

If that actually occurs, you gotta give it to Hendry for not giving up and making things work the way he wanted them to work. If Peavey becomes a Cub....... I would hope that Melvin is taking notes on how to be a GM in the MLB.

The 2 biggest "Must Have's" are having Weeks and Hall have career years! I'm actually excited to see what the lasix surgery does for Hall as well as what Randolf can do for Weeks. I think that we'll be in it for the wild card all season long...no doubt. Whether or not we make it, it's above average.

This offseason has grown tiresome! I must dance! http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3273/2764844447_5ca893942b.jpg?v=0

Good Luck Benny! It's too bad the love between the Crew and Sheets wasn't stronger....he could have saved a weak starting rotation. As much as I'm going to miss Benny (as he was no doubt fun to watch when he was healthy), I'm not going to miss the anxiety of losing him for the season everytime he stepped up to the mound or hacked at a slider. I don't know who Melvin is going to bring in, but he will add one more SP...I highly doubt it's going to be via the Free Agent market. My money is on him making a trade for a young stud or a young #2-4 rotation gapper. Best wishes Benny and Cheers kid!

Ding ding ding! We have a winner folks. Macha has the rep of getting the most out of his players. I'm not going to predict anything because I agree with Steve (#13) point of view. I'm just looking forward to watching some good baseball under the guidance of Ken Macha, Randolph and Sveum. I can't even explain how much more delightful of a baseball year it's going to be w/out having to listen to Ned Yost's voice. As for the team....I agree that Melvin is not done yet...we will see another SP and move McClung into the pen. It's going to be a very competive team. The only thing I wish is that we can somehow get a better lead-off (lefty) guy and move Weeks down in the order....if that happens, we will be very competive.

i hate to say it, but the Crew offense should watch a little bit of the 2008 Cubs....I enjoyed watching them move the runners over into scoring position and then taking advantage. I'm really hoping Sveum what he's doing. At least we know that the guys respect him and will listen to him.... Hey Dale, please help Rickie find his swing!

MN...I couldn't agree with you more on this. We have unbelievable talent on our team, and for it to be lost on the whole of the team trying "to be the hero" like you said was our main downfall last year....this one reason got us in so many of our offensive slumps. These guys are professional hitters and for them not to be able to get a bat on the ball is crazy to me....you don't even have to swing that hard...let the bat do the work. Example: Ryan Braun's on first and Fielder is up...the defense has that major shift on. Are you serious Prince? You can't just swack at the ball or even bunt it over to the 3rd base side to get get Braunny in scoring position for Hart to drive him in? Instead, how many times did we see a ground out to the first baseman or mid-range outfielder, AKA, the 2B as you are trying to knock the cover off the ball? That's just one example....If Macha can get these guys to start playing smart "team" ball, I think we will score a sizeable amount more runs than Yost's regime resulting in more runs support for our average pitching staff. (fixed code --1992)

Can't believe I forgot about Club Paragon!!!! Great Food, lots of TV's

Fanatics, Stenny's, Sobelman's!!!!!

Glad to see! It's too bad that we couldn't get a long term contract for him. Fielder gets at least double that!

I have voiced my interest in Cordero in a couple of posts now, but I feel we have a better shot at getting Hoffman....there's too many other teams interested in Cordero, and we're 1 of 2 teams interested in Hoffman. I'd hate to lose out on any/all of our FA attempts. Get the deal done with Hoffman and what falls after that falls after that.....

Way to go outside the box Macha! Good managing decisions hopefully paying off already!

Question? If I go out to a bar tonight that has the NBA League Pass, will the game still be blacked out?

CC Sabathia must be pitching that night

With Mark A's comments to Bloomberg, it raised a question in my mind. The question is whether or not his comments are a sign of weakness or strength/smartness. I actually going on record applauding Mark A for his comments. A salary cap is not desperatley needed in MLB, however who can argue that it wouldn't make it better? I out there hoping that many of us don't feel that Mark A's comments were a sign of weakness, rather a pleed to better the game of baseball. Look at the NFL and what a salary cap can do. Here's me hoping that the rain of the wicked Yankees is close to ending. (added link --1992)

ESPN is reporting 8 years/180 million...just sick!

Brewers...you get to skip GO and go straight to jail!

for what it's worth...There's a report from MLBTR via Onley that the Brewers "might take a look" at RP Brandon Lyon. He's looking for a multi year deal. His stats aren't horrible: 26 sv out of 31 opportunities. His ERA is quite large, but I think it's mainly due to a poor August in which he gave up numerous runs in non save opportunities. Not a bad choice. I think I'd rather have Smoltz or even Looper close as some other options.

I'd also be ok with Looper being our Closer.

With a signing like this and a possibility that no other SP's get signed/traded for...is it ok to assume that DM and Mark A are waiting for next year's crop of: Lackey, Beckett, Bedard, Harden, Hudson, Meyers, Wellemeyer etc?

With MLBTR's most recent report that it may be likely that Fuentes isn't going to get nearly as much as he orignianlly wished for....what are your guy's thoughts on Chad Cordero? Could be had for less than Fuentes and has proven to be a doable closer.

I'd be ok with 3/18 million. If we can unload Suppan (along with some major cash of course) and obtain another 1-2 SP, I'd be ok with this. We need a quality arm between Yo and Manny.

SEASON http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif TEAM http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif G http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif AB http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif R http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif H http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif 2B http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif 3B http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif HR http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif RBI http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif TB http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif BB http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif SO http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif SB http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif CS http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif OBP http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif SLG http://mlb.mlb.com/images/trans.gif AVG 2003 Texas Rangers 146 529 66 137 29 5 26 84 254 44 120 1 2 .331 .480 .259 2004 Texas Rangers 145 545 101 153 34 2 38 112 305 68 117 4 1 .370 .560 .281 2005 Texas Rangers 162 644 112 194 41 3 43 144 370 72 124 4 0 .379 .575 .301 2006 Texas Rangers 162 628 99 177 45 1 33 110 323 89 128 2 0 .371 .514 .282 2007 Atlanta Braves 54 208 38 66 9 1 17 56 128 27 46 0 0 .404 .615 .317 2007 Texas Rangers 78 286 48 85 24 1 13 49 150 45 66 0 0 .397 .524 .297 2008 Los Angeles Angels 54 193 39 69 14 0 13 43 122 32 23 2 0 .449 .632 .358 2008 Atlanta Braves 103 381 63 108 27 0 20 78 195 65 70 0 0 .390 .512 .283 Manny Ramirez's stats over the last 6 years. 2003 Boston Red Sox 154 569 117 185 36 1 37 104 334 97 94 3 1 .427 .587 .325 2004 Boston Red Sox 152 568 108 175 44 0 43 130 348 82 124 2 4 .397 .613 .308 2005 Boston Red Sox 152 554 112 162 30 1 45 144 329 80 119 1 0 .388 .594 .292 2006 Boston Red Sox 130 449 79 144 27 1 35 102 278 100 102 0 1 .439 .619 .321 2007 Boston Red Sox 133 483 84 143 33 1 20 88 238 71 92 0 0 .388 .493 .296 2008 Boston Red Sox 100 365 66 109 22 1 20 68 193 52 86 1 0 .398 .529 .299 2008 Los Angeles Dodgers 53 187 36 74 14 0 17 53 139 35 38 2 0 .489 .743 .396 Pretty comparable....