LouisEly

If the deal is still being formulated/discussed, ATL has to decide who to offer. They'll need to look at the Brewers current team and try to assess needs and figure out if some of the younger guys are legitimate MLB players or just stopgaps, particularly if the prospects coming back are upper-level. They should - like any good GM - try to see the needs of the other team from that team's perspective to help formulate an offer that gives value to the other team but depletes their own resources as little as possible. That's the key to negotiations - offering something that is perceived to have a lot of value to the other side but has little cost to you.

Atlanta. He'd be a big name for their new park, he's still only 25 (younger than any Braves position player except for Mallex Smith), and he's arguably better than any OF that played for the Braves this year, certainly has a higher upside than any OF who played for the Braves this season. His contract isn't terrible, and if he can rebound to anywhere close to his 2014 he'd be a bargain. He'd be a great buy-low candidate for them. Might explain why Ted Simmons was at the Brewers game yesterday - a 3-teamer with LA, MIL, and ATL. MIL sends Braun to LA, LA sends Puig to ATL and salary (Anderson? Ellis?) plus prospects to MIL, ATL sends prospects to MIL. (Of course, that's assuming Simmons was scouting the Brewers and not the D-Backs. Maybe they are trying to take advantage of Dave Stewart again.)

A poster in another thread said the Brewers have shifted their West coast scouts to the Dodgers organization. The Dodgers OF has been terrible and injured; Thompson is on the DL, Puig may be headed there, and neither is having a great season. Howie Kendrick has been playing LF for them. Ethier is due back in early August; he can take over RF. Add Braun in LF and you have a major offensive upgrade. While Braun is expensive, he isn't a rental. Even if Kershaw isn't back this season, all of the Dodgers core players will be back next season. There are salary balancing options with the Dodgers (Brett Anderson, Puig, Ellis, Kendrick; maybe Ethier). An Anderson + Puig or Ethier + Ellis package would more than balance salaries this season to negate any luxury tax hit on the Dodgers. The Dodgers first priority though is to figure out what is going on with Kershaw, and if they need/want to make a move for Archer/Moore or Sale. If Urias is on the table for Sale, then the Dodgers may have the prospects to pull off trades for both Sale and Braun. Holmes was specifically mentioned by the poster as someone the Brewers were scouting. Holmes, Brock Stewart, and taking a flyer on the rehabbing Walker Buehler would lessen the need to get pitching back for Lucroy, and leave plenty of prospects to send to the Sox/Rays for Sale/Archer. Dodgers could send Urias, Bellinger, Verdugo, and Cotton to the Sox for Sale, and then Holmes/Stewart/Buehler to MIL for Braun, and still keep De Leon, Montas, and Calhoun. If MIL gets Puig back in the deal, they can flip him in the offseason for a couple of prospects, bringing back five prospects for Braun.

It takes two to tango. It's very likely that other teams are low-balling Stearns now trying to see if he'll budge (we saw that supposedly with the Mets). Negotiations 101. Most teams that need a catcher have other needs too, and they are trying to get the best value to shore up any of their needs. Cleveland is pretty well-defined, but they do need LHRP too.

While highly ranked, those four are all still in A-ball. The fact that they haven't faced the jump to AA has to discount their value a bit, so I don't think it is too far-fetched. Minorleagueball.com has nothing higher than a B+ rating on any Indians prospect, including Frazier. That being said, I think you are right in that it won't happen. Swap out Hillman for Sheffield and Santander for Bradley, add in one of Greg Allen/Luis Lugo/Don Wakamatsu and that's more in line, and something I would be personally happy with. One guy who must come back is Sicnarf Loopstok. Best. Name. Ever.

Interesting that the article says the Yankees wanted Kyle Schwarber for Miller. With Rizzo at 1B and Schwarber a defensive liability in LF I would have parted with him in a heartbeat for Miller.

Most games are going to be at night - no sun - and it's not just the heat it's the humidity. Dew point was in the 70's - that is considered in the meteorology world to be "oppressive". Most stadiums are either going to be closed & air conditioned (Arizona, Tampa) or completely open-air. Having the roof mostly closed was not helping. Cleveland and San Francisco will certainly be much cooler. Texas gets hot but doesn't have the humidity; according to weather.com the humidity over the next 10 days in Dallas won't be more than 60% except for the days it is projected to rain. I wouldn't say that Cubs relievers were spectacular - Richard, Nathan, and Wood all gave up a hit and a walk in an inning or less of work. Strop, Rondon, and Boyer were taking advantage of tired hitters, and the mound was in the shade by that point. Not sure at what point the mound was no longer in the sun, but that would be a factor. Point being that anything can happen in one game. Maybe Smith had trouble with the ball (cue incident in Atlanta), maybe he didn't hydrate himself properly, maybe he didn't get a good night's sleep. One game doesn't define anyone in this sport.

Given the heat conditions with the roof mostly closed, lots of people played poorly on Sunday. Lester (you saw the sweat pouring off of his cap), Braun, Lucroy, Brewers infield defense... it was a tough game.

[sarcasm]Yes, but Nieuwenhuis improved his trade value![/sarcasm]

What I don't get is how nobody caught him. There had to be players or clubhouse attendants or someone in there while he was cutting the jerseys up. "Hey kid, here's $100, go wash the pine tar off my batting helmet. I'll get these unis out to the guys." (Finds closet or bathroom stall.)

This. Not sure about how Frazier has more power when Zimmer has a higher career SLG and has hit one more HR in ~30 more non-walk/HBP PAs over the last two seasons. Zimmer strikes out more, but he also walks more and has a higher OBP. Same with Bradley, yes he strikes out a bunch but he also has a nice walk rate and just turned 20 years old and is in high-A ball. He is far from a finished product. That all being said, there isn't much difference between the three. For Lucroy, I'd take: One of Frazier/Zimmer/Bradley One of Aiken/Mckenzie One of Hillman/Mejia/Diaz Throw in Smith and it's: One of Frazier/Zimmer/Bradley Two of Aiken/Mackenzie/Sheffield Two of Hillman/Mejia/Diaz/Clevinger If we are looking for the next Brantley - a lower ranked guy who is rising - Cleveland has those too. Here are some other guys I would not mind coming back in a trade: a) Yu-Cheng Chang, SS/3B - holding his own as a 20-year-old in high-A, has a very nice .275/.346/.491 line with 11 HRs and plenty of room to grow in his listed 6'1", 175 lb frame; 18th in the Carolina League in OPS b) Anthony Santander, OF - don't see him on any list, but he's a 21-year-old switch-hitting OF with a very nice .289/.360/.500 line with 15 HRs (second to Bradley on the team); he's 3rd in the Carolina League in HRs and 14th in OPS. Flying under the radar because he was hurt last year and struggled as an 18/19 year old in A-ball. Not sure if he's playing LF because he has to - he's 6'2", 190 so he's no sloth - or because of other players on the team, notably... c) Greg Allen, CF - not as young as the other guys and in his 3rd year out of San Diego State, he's been getting better every year. While 23 years old, he's a switch hitter who has a .425 OBP, more BB than K, and 38 steals. That kind of OBP + speed, coupled with a switch-hitter and a CF, could become quite a valuable player. If you see any of those three coming back in a deal, don't be upset.

Good. Now Evans knows that Stearns isn't giving anyone away and if he wants Braun or bullpen help he needs to act quickly and pony up.

The fun part is that my next job is very likely going to be in state #3.

Nice outing by Zack Brown today. Looks like everybody had fun in Pensacola tonight (sorry, it never gets old). Literally everybody had fun in Colorado Springs, as everyone in the staring lineup has a hit and Reed is the only one without at least two hits. What's the scouting report on Pina? He had a pretty good year in Toledo last year too.

Wondering if there are any tax accountants or attorneys that can help. My position in MO was eliminated effective 6/1; 5/31 was my last day of work. I was living in MO at the time when I was working there, but moved out of MO on 6/3. My former employer didn't process my severance check until 7/15, and when I received it this week they took out full state withholding for both MO and WI - to the tune of a combined 12.1%. When I inquired they said they take out withholding for both states. I understand that this is the case when you live in one state and work in another, but usually that situation is known and you file the appropriate forms with your employer to take out the right amounts; you are not fully taxed in both states. Also, there was no point in time that I was living in WI and working in MO. I could understand if they split it, but it just doesn't seem right to take out full withholding for both states, especially when I have not been given the opportunity to file a W-2 for WI. And it shouldn't be up to my accountant to figure this out eight months from now (and get the correct amount eight months from now). Anyone know what the law is in cases like these?

This has been in my sister's attic for a while due to the many moves I've had to make, and with the many moves they have had to make they are probably getting sick of keeping it. I don't see any on Craigslist or eBay that aren't signed and/or restored so I don't know what the market value is now; the cheapest one I've found is $800 but it is signed by Yount. Obviously this has not been restored, but I'll put it out here and give you folks a chance at it before I put it on Craigslist. I'll sell it for what I paid - IIRC $200 $150 - or you can make an offer. Will deliver to the Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Fox Valley, or Stevens Point areas or anywhere in between. Any questions please ask.

Great. Show me the data. If we're back to anecdotes, 1) short distances usually equal worse mileage (unless they have a hybrid, which very few likely do) thus more gas consumption, B) are their summer jobs full-time five days a week or are they part-time 3-4 days a week (my HS jobs were part-time) where they would be driving less than going to school five days a week, 3) you are assuming everyone lives on-campus and don't live at home to save money. I think a lot more live at home and commute than used to.

Interesting anecdote about this series. Friday - Hammel (ERA of 3.34) vs Nelson (3.39) Saturday - Lackey (3.75) vs Davies (3.79) Sunday - Lester (2.89) vs Guerra (3.06) Total combined ERA differential between the three starting pitcher matchups - 0.26. I wonder if that's a record (obviously excluding the first week of the season when everyone has 0.00)

My point was that the increase in families driving during the summer (I never denied the anecdotal claims about traffic on certain roads on certain days) is offset by the decrease in HS/college students driving during the summer. The decrease in families not driving during the school year months is offset by the increase in HS/college students driving. The 8% isn't the jump during the summer - it's the range from the lowest month (January) to the highest month (July). In January you have families not driving on vacation and students not driving to school for 2-3 weeks and weather keeping people off of the roads, thus it is the floor. April was only 3.5% less than July, October was only 1.4% less than July. The real "jump" for the summer is only ~2.5%. I ran an analysis of all of the years creating indexes for each month relative to the average for the year, and then averaged the indexes. The range from the lowest average monthly index (January) to the highest average monthly index was ~7.5%. June had the highest index at 102.9, followed by August (102.7) and July (102.1), so the "jump" during the summer over the average month has been on average ~2.5%.

Thank you NMF. In 2015 peak was July at 26,309 but October was 25,931 and April 25,390 (trying to avoid months with holidays). Lowest month was January, a whopping 8% less than the highest month of July. Considering that for a significant part of the country January is about road avoidance (weather - snow, ice, etc.) and many colleges are on winter break until mid-late January, there really isn't such a thing as the summer driving season.

That's two days a week, and if you are referring to the summer, it's for three months. Kids are driving to/from HS/college twice a day five days a week for nine months a year. I still want to see data on gasoline consumption by month in the U.S.

LaPorta had a .978 OPS in Huntsville in >360 PAs when he was traded. He was a top-30 prospect pre-2008 and pre-2009. If you want top-50 prospects back in return for Lucroy, etc., LaPorta fit that definition.

Can someone please provide me with data/a link to data that proves the existence of "the summer driving season"? I hear people talk about it all the time on CNBC but I cannot find any data to prove it. I don't buy it. I'm sure it was true as recently as 30 years ago, when very few HS and college students had cars and when there were a lot more middle class families and destinations that were affordable to middle class families, but now you have tens of millions of high school and college students who are driving to school every day from September through May/June. In LA there was far less traffic in June/July/August on the roads, and LA is a travel destination, but there are so many fewer students driving to school during the summer that it dwarfs the additional summer vacation destination travelers. You also can't tell me that there are more families driving during the summer, especially with the admission fees charged by parks and resorts now. I think I heard someone say that they took their kids to Great America and an all-day all-you-can-drink soda bottle was $22 (and she felt that was a good value based on what the individual soda prices are). I can't believe that stimulates more driving during the summer.

Do the Tigers have the prospects to get it done? Verlander and Cabrera are nearing the end of the line, and we know how desperate that owner is to win a WS. It would have to be low level guys though, as Detroit has nothing in the upper levels. Would need Stewart, one of Manning/Burrows, and Tyler Alexander (or both Manning/Burrows) at the minimum, maybe Jimenez too. Prefer not to take a corner OF in Stewart but Manning & Burrows are a long ways off and far from a sure thing. Also take back McCann who is only 26, flip him to Atlanta for another prospect. Is that enough for Lucroy?

How come it seems like when the Brewers trade for "The Package" it doesn't work out (Grienke, Sheffield, Vaughn, etc.) but when the Brewers trade away "The Package" (Grienke, Sabathia) the package always seems to pan out? Like HighHeat (welcome to the board BTW) said, if you are trading an elite player at an elite position you should get back both - you should get "The Guy" as part of "The Package". I don't know if Detroit has the prospects, but if you talk about owners who really, really, really want to win you have to put Detroit in the mix. Verlander and Cabrera are getting to the end of the line.