thebruce44

I will just throw Pat Listach's name into the mix as well.

I was actually surprised to see how well he played 3rd last year (in an admittedly short sample) compared to what I was expecting from the negative reports.

I know it all has to be approved by Bud, but when has MLB said no on a deal? I honestly can't remember them turning something down.

Wonder what will happen to Jody in the future. I think he could have been a servicable player if healthy and given enough playing time. I have to think there is a team out there for him somewhere.

Yikes. Well, I wish the Highland 30 was only $80, and, what did you get? Were you not scotch drinkers already? Any of it left??? jjk - What is your budget on scotch? Have something in mind? Need a recommendation? We got him this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagavulin_Single_Malt One of my more refined friends recomended it. Scotch just isn't for me no matter the quality. I have my tastes when it comes to booze and I don't think they will be changing anytime soon. I hit 30 in 9 months though so who knows what the future will bring.

Sure they would turn that down. You are basically sending them Rivas and Casey. All of the others don't have much value. Can't tell if you're serious... Yea I am serious. Thats a pretty bad offer. I assume you are only asking because I didn't mention Hart as having value. He is scheduled to make around $9 mil a season for the next 3 years. Obviously its debatable if this year's Hart is the Hart you are going to get going forward, but I think the chance he is worth $26 mil over the life of that contract is around 50%.

Agreed, we've finally got a lot of young power relievers. We should have at least 4-5 guys in our BP the next several years who are promoted from within, not signed from outside the org. Well, I agree there's no reason to sign a vet middle reliever to a Hawkins/Riske type contract next year. But that doesn't mean Melvin made a mistake doing so in the past. Hawkins and Riske were both proven, consistent relievers. I understand what Melvin was trying to do. When you have a rotation that includes Narvy/Parra/Bush/Cappy/Johnny 5 innings then you better have a bully that can eat a lot of innings. So how would we have felt if the opening day pen included Loe, Axford, Chris Smith, Villy, etc.? Sure, some look good now, but I don't think most would have been comfortable with a bullpen full of guys who are unproven, or in the case of Villy, Narvy, Smith, etc. guys that ARE proven- but proven to be mediocre at best. So you sign a proven guy like Hawkins for the 8th, Hoffman for the 9th, and a cast of thousands for middle relief. So I get it, it just didn't work. If you didn't expect significant regression from Hawkins you were setting yourself up for disappointment. Best case scenario was that Hawkins was worth his $3 mil this year and $4 mil next year. Most likely case was that he came in below value, but still near it. Worst case is that he gets injured and doesn't pitch both years. Considering he is an older reliever, thats a lot of risk for very little upside. I would call that a mistake and I did when the signing took place this offseason.

Salary dump? This move saves us, what $150k this season? Its like you are just saying random stuff trying to find a way to argue with everyone. We just got a guy who will make around $0.5 mil the next two seasons, plays defense, gets on base, and has some upside. These moves that shave a couple mil here and there are what sustain a team like the Brewers.

I think most were pretty excited. I felt fairly alone in being against the signing. However since I am wrong most of the time I don't take any joy in being right on this one. I just feel like when we have a lot of talent in the AAA bullpen we don't need to sign guys who should be declining due to age. McClendon sounds like a guy who could potentially get hot for a season or two and really help the club. Count me in as a someone who would be curious if they could stretch him out to be a starter. If Prince is gone next year and replaced with a competent defender, I think our infield defense could actually be above average and wouldn't mind a GB pitcher in the rotation.

I would love to send them Fielder while also taking back a bad contract in return (or paying part of Fielders 2011 salary) to sort of buy a couple of prospects from them in addition to setting them up for a very nice run next year. Seems like a win for everyone involved.

Sure they would turn that down. You are basically sending them Rivas and Casey. All of the others don't have much value.

We got my buddy a $80 bottle of Scotch for his 30th a couple months ago. There is something about expensive Scotch and being older/mature. Of course, we all tasted it, thought it was terrible, then switched to 40s of Malt Liquor.

Yes, and don't forget how you can't throw inside vs pitchers if you're not good enough to go command your pitches. Just ask Carpenter. Of course....that must not apply to when he's pitching to Gallardo. And if you do get hit, you should turn to the crowd and drop the loudest f-bomb possible. Teach those kids a few new words when they head to the park. Thats the classy way to act.

Bejar was doing the same thing back when they played the Pabst in 2007 (Neko was there, too). I've always loved his contributions the best. I sing "Testament to Youth in Verse" to my son when he's acting up. Yea, his songs were excellent live as expected. Its not too often a "rock" group can get half of a packed Grant Park to join in a harmony of no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no's.

Do you know if they tour with Neko Case and Dan Bejar? I am seeing them in a week at Lollapalooza and hope its not just Newman. I know they will be at the Madison show so i'm assuming they will be at lollapalooza. i wouldn't be going if they weren't. They were all there at Lolla. My favorite part of the show was just watching how weird Bejar is. When its a song that he didn't write, he just walks off stage and gets another beer. Comes back out eventually cracking one on the way out, picks up an instrument and plays or just stands there. For 2 songs I think he was playing but had his back to the crowd for some reason. Then he just switches on his rock star persona and kills it on his songs. As for other bands at Lolla, Cut Copy blew my mind. I had only heard a couple of their songs, but they put on an awesome show. It was too bad hardly anyone was there because Green Day had started up. Those that were saw an awesome show with a lot of interaction and great music.

Your experience is different than mine, and I believe of others here. I have emailed TH a few times. I believe he has responded to every one, within a day, often within hours. I should have clarified. You are correct that TH often gets back to me when I have a question for him (he has been very good about answering questions about player options and details like that he has more access to). But when it comes to a correction or if I constructive criticism (and I always try my best to keep it constructive) I get nothing back except sometimes from their editor.

I have sent several emails to TH and AW, but they aren't very accessible. More often than anything, I get a response from their editors who I usually cc on emails. Complaining to them in person is not an option due to security. I would have though that was fairly obvious. A lot of us do blog about the team. In fact, there are a lot of blogs from member of this site I check out for more in depth Brewers writing than what is in the JS. Personally, if I had the time to write about the Brewers I would go the blog route as well. I would never work for a company like the Journal Sentinel. And I know 3 people who used to work there. The news paper industry as a whole is a sinking ship.

Which may also be part of that $2 mil backup outfielder they will pay next year.

That said, I bet that the list of people who have polished off a 12 pack of Spotted Cow is very short. I did it once at Jazz in the Park back in college. I agree there are certain beers that I have a negative connotation about the people who drink them. At the same time if you are going to generalize you are setting yourself up for failure and to be looked at as a condecending jerk You see a guy drinking a corona...yeah, thats strike one. Lime in it, strike two. Aviators, strike 3. Popped collar, calling his friends "brah," pecking away on his iPhone or blackberry, telling stories about how many hot girls he has got with...well then you can form your opinion. But 2 weekends ago I was at a party and all that was left was corona. I had 2 and they were good, or at least better than nothing. I don't want to be viewed in the same group as that guy I just described. If someone wants to lump me in with them then I could really care less about that person's opinion on me or anything else for that matter.

Is this just a gut feeling or can you back this up somehow?

Right you are. Didn't know catchers could have pickoffs too. You rarely see them throw over to first (Yadi seems to love doing it though). I got picked off by a catcher once in little league. Pretty embarrassing, but made me aware of it.

Can't disagree with that at all. I usually leave it in the bottle just because I am less likely to spill then if I make violent hand gestures.

Just got caught up on this season. Pretty weak for the most part, but the last episode with Vince taking Sasha Grey to meet Stan Lee and Ari's "situation" with his wife was hilarious. Not to mention E and Sloan's convorsation over the phone with Bob Saget in E's office. Good stuff all around. Seemed like the old episodes.

Going back to Blue Moon after a Sunset Wheat reminds me of the sensation of eating cereal after drinking some orange juice.

No condescension necessary. Simply put, the people in Madison who would have drank Zima in 1993 now drink Spotted Cow.... generally the type that only have a beer or two, poured in a glass of course- so they can stick their pinky in the air while they drink it. Spotted Cow is definitely the trendy brew in Madison, and it is favored by the Yuppie set and served at every 'Mover and Shaker' function. You may think that it's a decent beer, and that's your opinion. Personally, I think it tastes like watered-down Grain Belt, and that's my opinion. In my opinion, it's definitely not worthy of the hype or worthy of the price tag. Going further, it may be locally produced, but there are several local microbreweries that actually brew a more 'authentic' beer.That is condecending and not at all true. I drink a variety of beers. I had 5 guinness pints after work last Friday. Split a case of highlife with a buddy on Saturday, and had a Miller Lite last night around 10. I like Spotted Cow. I prefer several other New Glarus brews over it like Fat Squirl. But at the same time, I wouldn't make fun of anyone who likes Spotted Cow or compare it to something like Zima. I'll make fun of tasteless beer, but don't understand making fun of this. Do people just not like wheat beers? I love trying out different Hefeweiss beers at German restaurants. I had no idea that made me less of a man or meant that I only drink 1 or 2 beers a night out of a glass. I can assure you thats not the case even though I probably am a yuppie.