LouisEly

Braun is who they switched out - Yelich is in LF

Called it. Now for my next trick, Stokes to the A's for a lower-level prospect. The A's did alright the last time they acquired a short, weak-armed LF with some power from the Brewers.

This is great, thanks for finding Webb's montage. Looked like none of them were on a fastball - first couple were a nasty curve, then looked like either a wicked slider or changeup. Hopefully the walks have been a function of working on those off-speed pitches. If he throws upper 90's and can harness that curve and change... wow.

Damn. A few folks might be revising their top-25 lists. I've said it before, there's a reason the Brewers drafted him ahead of Burnes. Shutting him down for precautionary reasons after drafting him set him back a little, but the upside is there. That draft of Ray, Erceg, Feliciano, Webb, Burnes, Brown, and Henry could go down as being one of the best team drafts of any team this decade.

At least they didn't blow it like the Cubs did today - tied after seven, gave up one in the 8th and four in the 9th. The Cubs are not invincible.

Still only one out in the top of the 9th too. Edit: Ellis walks, Hedges doubles, now 2nd & 3rd with only one out. Add an intentional walk and a single and now Padres up 10-5.

Still only one out in the top of the 9th too. Edit: Ellis walks, Hedges doubles, now 2nd & 3rd with only one out.

As someone who has driven I-94 many times, I appreciated the Pine Cone reference.

The other interesting split is starter vs. reliever: Starter: .805 Reliever: .605 Perhaps they are looking at him in a multi-inning relief role.

Did the Rockies just bunt over runners with their #7 hitter, leaving their #8 hitter and pitcher to drive them in? Seriously?

Maybe this is one of those claim him, try to DFA him later and sneak him through to the minors kind of things.

The Brewers are not in a position to carry a Rule 5 pick on the roster next year (or likely any of the next four years for that matter), so no reason to go into the Rule 5 draft with less than a full 40-man roster unless there is some type of imminent trade that would send an unprotected player for a 40-man roster player. Worry about NRIs making the team in late March if it happens. Miguel Diaz had a disastrous 2017 in the majors, but pitched really well at AA this year before the callup to AAA. Still wish the Brewers had him in the fold, as those AA numbers could have made for a decent trade chip (or perhaps allowed the Brewers to keep Medeiros). As historically bad as BAL and KCR are, and with CHW and SDP not that far behind (ahead?), I could see a few more Rule 5 guys than normal being kept next year. Not worth the risk of losing anyone. Add Bethancourt (need 3 catchers) and as many pitchers as possible. Right now I see six openings - drop: Asher, Kratz, Orf, and one of Saladino/Perez. Add Bethancourt, Supak, Kirby, QT-C, and two of Ponce/D. Williams/Bickford/Harber, and try to deal Stokes and others (Perrin, Derby) for lower-level prospects who don't need to be protected. Edit: forgot they have to re-add Nelson. 50/50 on Suter as he will miss all of 2019, but I could see the Orioles/Royals claim him and 60-day DL him for all of 2019. So that makes 4/5 adds.

Dave, I appreciate the advice, particularly about escrow companies. The problems are: 1) We are the HOA - it's a four unit building, self-managed. 2) One of the listing agents is the owner of the unit that is selling right now 3) The ground floor unit (not the one for sale) is rented out - that owner always resists to spending money on anything. I met the tenants the day I moved in and the wife said to me, "NOTHING gets done around here." 4) We had a special assessment last year for some other repairs - I pleaded with the other owners about putting in extra funds to build up reserves, but the other owners declined and only wanted to put in the minimum to cover the repairs. The ground floor owner, obviously, because he rents out the unit, but the 2nd and 3rd floor owners have now both sold in the last 4 months so I think they didn't want to put in extra because they knew they were going to sell soon. Three of the four units will now have turned over in the last 14 months. My agent works for the same company as the listing agents though, so I'll notify her and see if she can find out who the buyer and/or escrow company is. The sad thing is, if I had known these units were coming up for sale I could have sold my rental property and bought both of them. Then I'd have ~72% control of the building and could do whatever I wanted.

It's pretty amazing that the Brewers bullpen is so good that a 3.27 FIP/3.46 ERA is considered general suckiness. Really speaks to how far the Brewers have come and how good the bullpen is.

Sogard in the lineup for the AZL Brewers, so he's not playing for CS tonight. Bethancourt with his 19th dinger of the year. I never would have guessed he was anywhere near that.

The Brewers must sleep better on airplanes than I do.

It all depends on years/$ left on their contract. Gray is on a one-year, $6.5M arbitration contract. He'll have only a little less than $3M left on his contract, and a team can cut bait with him after the season. The thing to remember is that Yankee Stadium is a hitter's paradise, especially for lefties. Gray's home OPS-A this year is .930; his road OPS-A is only .647. Given those two things and given his past success, I say highly unlikely that he makes it through August waivers. Same with Matt Harvey - he only has ~$2M left on his contract - highly unlikely he makes it through waivers. Danny Duffy, on the other hand, has three additional years and $46M left on his contract. Much better chance he makes it through waivers, but $15M/year is not much for a free agent SP who averaged >3 bWAR each of the last two seasons and is only 29. James Shields is owed ~9M the rest of the year. While SD is paying the White Sox a significant part of that, the Sox are under no obligation to send that to any team who claims Shields. Very good chance he makes it through waivers. Jordan Zimmerman (2 more years, $50M left after this year) is absolutely clearing waivers.

Wonder if there are any attorneys here who have worked in real estate law, or more specifically, HOA disputes between fellow owners. Per some posts I previously made, there appears to be a roof leak and I am the top unit of a 4-unit building. I've had water come through in three different places in the last six months now, it's been dripping in one place since 7/1, and I now have several large cracks in my ceiling that are getting larger and the ceiling appears to be sagging. I made them aware of the leak back on 7/1. Took a while to get contractors in here who would actually send an estimate, and I got and shared an estimate with them on 7/24. After a week and additional requests from me they said they were good with it, but we don't have the funds in the reserve to put 50% down. When I submitted a request for a special assessment due mid-August, they all quickly rejected that - one owner is selling and closing on 8/20 and doesn't want to deal with it (said they will include funds in escrow for their share of repairs), one is a newer owner who said she wasn't expecting this and doesn't have the money, and the third just pushed back and said we haven't agreed on dates. Are there laws as to a time frame when known defects have to be repaired? As a HOA, are there requirements to provide funds for repairs within a certain time? I'm most concerned about the cracks, as waiting until after 8/20 to get funds means another month with a bucket in my living room and another month under ceiling cracks that are getting larger. All roofing companies I've ever dealt with want 50% up front, balance upon completion, so we can't do the work now and bill later. Any legal advice would be greatly appreciated.

Probably was a low density like 3lb. I have one on my guest bed, but I made sure to go with a 4lb density so that it's a little firmer. People like it a lot, and I also take it with me camping. Works well on the tent floor. Overall, I do find the toppers to be inferior to the mattresses. CHL121, you seem to know a bit about the technology. What are your thoughts on the cooling gel that is infused on some of these? I had the original Temperpedic, purchased in 2002, and that sucker sure did absorb heat. When I moved I got rid of it and purchased one off of Overstock that had air channels in it. Worked better, but after 5 years it had a little sag and I found the 14" thickness to be a bit too much. Now I have a 12" one I bought off of Woot.com (I believe a Simmons Curv) that has gel in it and seems to do a good job of dispersing heat. I don't wake up sweaty, but I also keep the temp at 76 and use just the flat sheet, no comforter, and have the ceiling fan going.

I thought it was just a live look-in on the Cubs game. I'm in Chicago, but they previously had the Angels-Rays game on, not the Cubs.

I thought the game was supposed to be on MLB Network. I'm getting live look-ins.

Three nights in a row with national TV coverage - woo hoo!! Hopefully I don't have to watch the end of this miserable Angels-Rays game and they switch over.

With the Cubs now having four LH SPs, I think it's worth every penny of someone else's $40M to have Braun crush those lefties and beat the Cubs in the playoffs. Rationally, Braun's line drive % is higher this year than his career average and his hard-hit % is slightly higher than his career average. I'm inclined to believe that his .264 BABIP this year - with the line drive % he's had - will eventually normalize towards his career BABIP of .328 and result in a higher OPS.

His basic stats - BA, OBP, SLG - so far this year are below his career averages, so if that's the case he won't get a raise.

One more thing - I don't know if he's always been like this, but he is also working with Suter-like quickness. Maybe he learned from Suter that working quickly helps keep hitters off-balance. I get the feeling that Johnson likes the cutter - Miley, Suter, Anderson have all been throwing it fairly effectively. It's been very sharp, as has been his curveball. He's also been throwing high fastball and then dropping the curve down, a bit like a LH Ben Sheets. Maybe it will sustain, maybe it won't, but as long as it's working... roll with it.