joepepsi

boy howdy, I don't know about that. The Mets were 54-56 after June 1 last year. Of course Santana, Pedro, and Maine as their top 3 is a good start, but the other two spots are iffy. The offense is really old and creaky except for Reyes and Wright. The Braves were 3rd in runs scored last year and had the 3rd lowest ERA. I realize Santana makes any team better, but the Braves look like the best bet in the East to really break out.

They have 3 dangerous hitters, Soriano, Lee, and Ramirez. I think it's safe to say both Lee and Soriano have their best years behind them, though both are dangerous. Ramirez is probably still in his prime. Fukudome is a wild card of sorts, but the rest of the lineup just isn't that impressive. THe Brewers are clearly the better offensive team. Cubs' pitching seemed to overachieve last year, while the Brewers' pitching underachieved. Brewers have the talent and depth to be one of the best staffs in the league, but they had that last year too and failed. So, they have a lot to prove. And Ned has to get better at handling the bullpen. Frankly, I don't think it will be that close between these two teams. Either the Brewers will struggle out of the gate, Yost will be fired and they won't ever get into the race. Or everything will work reasonably well and they'll win the division by 10 games.

The Blue Jays have a really solid. Their pythagorean record last year was 87-75. Their pitching is better than the Yankees. With a healthy season by Wells, Overbay, and Rolen could have an top third offense in the league. Rios could assert himself as a star this year. They're slow as molasses and don't have a lot of depth, but with good health they have a reasonable chance to finish second. If they make it to the Wild Card ESPN will be sure to give the credit to the hard nose, gritty style of David Eckstein.

Soto pounded the ball in Iowa last year, but it was his 3rd year with the team. I don't think he's a future star. I think he's the next Ramon Hernandez. At least on offense; don't know how he is on defense. Dempster was a good starter one year, back when he was 23 with the Marlins, 8 years ago. If he pitches 200 innings he's going to walk 100+ batters. I see no reason to believe that after 7 seasons as a crappy starter and/or overrated reliever he is suddenly going to "get it" and become a valuable starter. Hill and Lilly are solid pitchers. Lilly should regress a bit, Hill should improve. Zambrano is a bulldog and a workhouse and a warrior and a whatever-other-cliche you want to use, but his ERA and HR rate has climbed steadily of the past 4 seasons. In 2004 he gave up only 14 in 209+ innings with a 2.75 ERA. Last year it was 23 dingers, a 3.95ERA in 216 innings. Marquis is a decent middle rotation guy, sort of a righty Lilly. To me it's a rotation of Capuanos, Bushes, and Vargases. I say, bring on Opening Day. Let's play the games and see who's better. I like the Brewers' chances.

What Brewtacular said. BBC is better, so is stuff from CBC. American broadcast journalism is lazy and sensationalistic, NPR and Public television notwithstanding.

1. Braun misplays a fly ball in LF in May, crashes against the wall, makes a last second catch, crumples to the ground in pain, and is out until September. 2. Parra wins rookie of the year. 3. Brewers play in the World Series.

I stopped watching Baseball Tonight 4-5 years ago, and my blood pressure and heart rate went down almost immediately! I will watch games on espn and of course, FSN, but I won't watch any studio programs on either network. Frankly, I won't watch cable, network, or local news either, unless there is a breaking story. Newspapers are the only way to go for accurate information. And they ain't always so great, either.

No problem, great minds do think alike. I'm guessing so do sociopaths. I like your dates better, mine were from Yahoo. I cringed when they signed Kapler. It just felt like one of those signings where you knew management would do anything to make sure he makes the team.

As an aside, the Reds were in the running for Bedard over the winter but they told the Orioles Bruce was untouchable. Now they have Corey in CF who wasn't even good enough for the hapless, bumbling Orioles!

from the Cincy Enquirer:

Actually Kapler was signed on January 2nd, Cameron on January 15th. I think Kapler was signed because a) the risk was minimal and they were short a RH reserve OF, and b) Doug loves his ex-Rangers. He's at best a 5th OF'er. Nix, although left handed, is a better choice for that role, to say nothing of Gross, Dillon, or Gwynn.

I don't think anyone has said that, but if it helps your argument, then go for it....

JohnBriggs you hit on what I was thinking. Believe me I think Rickie is an exciting player and wouldn't want him off the team. But I do think Doug is going to need to make some creative decisions with his young players. It may not be a 3 year window to win, but the payroll is already, what, $90 million? How high will he be allowed to go without making it to the playoffs or Series in the next 3 seasons? Things are going to very expensive pretty quickly. Isn't Rickie currently sitting out with a swollen hand due to a misplayed grounder? Like Rickey Henderson with the A's he's the kind of player who can carry a team through the playoffs, but if he misses another half season his value is going to plummet. They won't win anything with Counsell/Nunez taking 250 at bats playing 2B.

I don't get the Kapler love either. If it's defense, well, isn't Nix supposed to be a pretty good CF'er too? If Ned and Doug refuse to put Gross or Hart in CF for the fist 25 games, wouldn't Nix be a better option than either Kapler or Gwynn anyway?

Of all the young stars on the Brewers, Rickie is probably my favorite. I expect him to have a great year despite his poor spring. But bear with me here. My pointy litlle head calculates the Brewers have 3 seasons to win the World Series with this talent core. I think they're going to win the division this year, but it's not a foregone conclusion by any means. If they stumble out of the gate with unsettled bullpen and rotation issues, and Cubs roar out front, things could get real ugly by June. Ned won't make it out of the All Star break, Ted will become interim manager, and season one will be shot. The winter will be occupied hiring a new manager and coaching staff; dealing with arbitration issues for Fielder, Weeks, Hardy, and possibly Hart(?), and season two starts with a ton of questions. Of course Roberts doesn't solve this worst case scenario. But here's what he can do: provide excellent leadoff offense with doubles power, a lefty bat, and very good SB %; greatly improve defense up the middle giving the Brewers one of the better middle defenses in the league; some salary stability since he's signed for the next two years, (albeit at a rather high rate); and prevents the Cubs from getting him. The downside is he's 30 and pipsqueak middle infielders don't always last last that long, Biggio not withstanding. But if anyone can, it would be a fitness freak like Roberts. Plus, they don't have to try and re-sign him after 2009. Weeks is arby eligible after this season. If he realizes his potential he's going to get very expensive, very fast. It's likely the Brewers will lose him to free agency, or if he never develops they won't want him anyway. For the Orioles it's a no brainer. With Markakis and Jones, Weeks would form an offensive core the Orioles could build around. It probably won't work as a 1 for 1 deal, there will have be an "evening" out with other players. Two years down the road it could look like a bad trade for the Brewers. On the other hand, the improved defense up the middle, and "stealing" Roberts from the Cubs just might prove to be the nudge the Crew needed to get to the World Series in the next two years. So, what do you think? Would you do it?

Yup. and teams voted whether they wanted to go or not. They weren't forced. MLB made deals to get the A's and Red Sox to agree. Then apparently, they backed out of the deals.

Not to nitpick, but it's Davis, Eveland, and Krynzel for Vargas and Mota. It hasn't worked out great for the Brewers, but the good thing is Melvin's deals tend to be organic. Part of a trade one year is pruned off and grows into another trade the next, which is pruned again in future years. This helps minimize the effect of trades that don't work so well...

Good post, olliegjw. Folks, professional athletes are entertainers. It amazes me people get all worked up over ARod's salary yet don't give a whit that Julia Roberts makes a much per picture, usually a 6 week committment, as Arod does in a year. Let's face it, it's been a long time since Julia's had any year as successful as most of Arod's seasons. Rock starts like the Rolling Stones make billions of dollars a year, but no one cares about that, despite the fact Mick Jagger hasn't had a good year since 1972. At the very least, you have these millionaire ballplayers who stood together and supported the staff and coaches who work with them. That's a nice gesture regardless whether all involved parties make money than you do.

Wow I hope I never work with most of you...

Igawa made 11 AAA starts. He was 5-4 with a 3.69 ERA in 68-1/3 ip. He did have fantastic K and K:BB rates, striking out 71 and walking only 15. But he also gave up 10 homers in those 11 starts. I'm not saying that's horrible, but it's not particularly impressive considering he was already 28 when he went to AAA, and he's a veteran of the Japan's major leagues.

But isn't that true?

No Manny Parra? But two Yankees? Oh, I see, the writer lives in Jersey....

The Baltimore Orioles were an original American League team in 1901. After the 1902 season they moved to New York and became the Highlanders. In 1913 they became the Yankees. Of course when the Browns moved to Baltimore after the '53 season they were renamed the Orioles. It seems there's always been a Baltimore Orioles team. I believe there was an Orioles AAA team in the 20th century before the Browns moved in. And there was a Baltimore Orioles team in the American Association, considered a major league, in the 1880's. In the early 1890's they became part of the National League. For most of my life the Orioles and Brewers have been my two favorite teams, while I despise the Yankees more than any other. So I think it's pretty spiffy how these cities are connected: the current Oriole franchise was the original Brewers and the current Yankees were the original AL Orioles.

For more on this topic go here: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=9212

Great post gregmag1. There is every reason to hold onto at least 7 of these guys. As much as I want Carlos V. to win a spot and do well, there isn't much to suggest he will be a better pitcher that Bush or Capuano. Also it seems to me Vargas will have more value sticking with the team all year than in a trade.