LouisEly

Option years start at the beginning of a season, so if someone is added to the 40 in the middle of the season and still is in the minors it doesn't count as an option year. TH is correct in that you need to be "sent down", which typically happens at the end of spring training for most players on the 40. The exception would be if they are added to the 40, called up to the majors (and thus added to the 25) and then sent back down. They have to add JJ to the 40 before the Rule 5 draft anyway, so it is 5 months early. They had an extra space, and no reason to risk anything for just 5 months - so long as the Brewers continue to do their own testing.

Cutter Dykstra goes yard, and now has an OBP of .402 - don't write him off yet. Congrats to Hunter Morris and Max Walla on their first dingers of the year. Pokorny in 37 IP has given up 26 hits, 12 BB, and K'd 57. He hasn't started a game though - does he profile strictly as a reliever, or is it a numbers game because of Odorizzi/Heckathorn/Bucci/Lasker/Howell?

You mean that Cameron guy who's being paid $7.75M this year and has only played in 31 games?

Inglett a backup player with a gimpy ankle for much of the last month+ has 3. You do realize that Inglett got those before he hurt his ankle, right? Come on Logan, you have to have athletic ability and speed to hit triples. I don't think it's any coincidence that in 3100 plate appearances Fielder has 8 career triples (and he's more athletic than people give him credit for) and in 2400 plate appearances Weeks has 22, in 1300 PA's Gomez has 14, in 4000 PAs Zaun has 9, and in 750 PAs McGehee has one. There's a direct correlation there.

I can't get 4G yet, but I really hated my old phone and decided that if I'm going to upgrade I'm going to go big. If I had a halfway decent phone I would have waited until I got 4G coverage but I'll need the GPS function and handy apps in a week and a half when I move and have no idea where I'm at or how to get around. A buddy of mine works for Sprint and he's been testing the 4G markets and has raved about the Evo. Got it yesterday and have been monkeying around with it - really cool so far. Sprint has a supplemental data charge for this phone of $10/month. I'm sure you know, but you can connect the Evo to any WiFi hotspot with it and it surfs and downloads super fast that way. As for coverage, I've had Sprint for at least 10 years and never had a problem with it. There will always be little holes, as the reception in the lower level in my house isn't great (2 bars) but if I go upstairs it's much better (4-5 bars). I travel a lot for work and pleasure, and having a nationwide digital network like Sprint is nice because your phone works the same wherever you go. I have Verizon for my work Blackberry, and I was at my parents house outside of Fond du Lac and even though I had all four bars the download was slower than when I have only one or two bars here in LA. With other networks, all signal strengths may not be equal.

HTC Evo from Sprint Android platform, not on AT&T network, 4G.

Jefferson is one of several guys who are opting out of deals likely to pay them more than they will get elsewhere. With those guys, especially ones who have already gotten their big contract like Jefferson, it's about a ring. They are opting out hoping to sign with a team that LeBron and/or D-Wade and/or Bosh and/or Boozer/etc. is going to. I think there is more to the possibility that two of the aforementioned players end up on the same team, and a guy like RJ who has already made $60+M in his career would love to go to that team even at a lower salary because of the chance of getting a ring.

Well, at this point I would think that the optimal solution would be to trade whichever pitcher not named Gallardo, Parra, Narveson, Braddock, Axford, or Loe they can get the best value for. In the event that the only pitcher they can get anything for is Bush and the return is minimal, I say hold on to Bush for now as the closer you get to the end of July (assuming that Bush continues to post a low-4.00 ERA) the more valuable he becomes. In the event that there is no appropriate return in trade for any pitcher excluding the six mentioned above, I'd say move Narveson to the pen based on his splits and send Villanueva or Braddock down. Yeah I know CV gets Ks, but his Ks overrate his true value because the rest of his stuff isn't that good. If hitters guess that he will throw his 89 MPH fastball and he does, it gets hit hard. His 1.41 WHIP this year isn't helping him either. Yes he has a good change which gets Ks, but with the rest of his stuff his change needs to be Hoffman-esque great in order for him to be an above-average reliever, and it isn't. He's not terrible (well, actually in a small sample with RISP he has been terrible this year), but he's not above-average either. Edit - forgot Step 1: Fire Ken Macha

So if you are considering a player as a bench player/pinch hitter, it would make no sense to look at his stats as a pinch hitter or with runners on base/in scoring position, the situations that person would predominantly be in? Logan, I've already looked at him somewhat objectively. Some people choose to just shout, "MLE!! MLE!!!", but as we've seen with McGehee so far MLE's aren't exactly gospel. He's gotten his OBP up to over .380, he's athletic enough to have 10 total triples over 2008 and 2009 - only one less than Escobar over those two years - and he has a plus arm. These are just additional stats to support the argument. It should partially have been in blue as it is just as much a function of my frustration with the ML club's poor performance with runners on base & in scoring position.

FTD seems to be pretty appealing to the young hoopsters nowadays...

Cutter Dykstra's OBP is up to .389. Turns 21 tomorrow. If he can keep that OBP up he may have a future.

Katin's OPS w/runners on - 1.216; w/runners in scoring position - 1.154 I seem to recall it being over or darned near 1.000 in both categories last year. For this reason alone he should be given a shot, as this is something that is sorely needed on the major league club.

If someone goes down they can trade a 2nd round pick for someone else's backup PG. Here's a thought... would you do this, and would it make sense? My understanding is that with the free agent deadline looming, if a team doesn't do a sign-and-trade they will lose those free agents without any compensation. So... on the verge of losing Chris Bosh, the Raptors do a sign-and-trade with Milwaukee: Bucks get: Bosh, Toronto's backup PG Jarrett Jack Toronto gets: Sanders, one or two first round picks, Redd to balance the salary Bucks get Bosh's production for the same salary as they are paying Redd and get the PF they need, and get a backup PG; Jack is a decent 3-point shooter (41.2% last year, 35.6% career). Toronto gets something in return for Bosh instead of letting him walk for nothing (Sanders and one or two first round picks), and are only on the hook for Redd for one year or could trade him as an expiring contract. Bosh has said he wants to go to a team where he will be a true PF and not an undersized C - Bucks have Bogut at the 5 so Bosh can be a true 4. Would that make sense, and would you be willing to take on a max contract for Bosh?

According to Gameday, Parra's fastball has only been around 89-91 instead of 93-95. Hopefully it's just a case of not being able to get loose and not anything serious.

As for Gerut and his ability to play CF and/or all three positions, the Brewers already have Gomez and Edmonds to play CF. What do they need a third guy to play CF for? The issue is more about redundancy of Gerut (already have a bench full of LH hitters and two guys who can play CF), and how Katin would reduce that redundancy by adding a RH power bat off the bench. That, and Katin is healthy. And he's gotten his OBP up to .379, so maybe he is making strides trying to improve his OBP to become a more viable ML player.

Gallon is on the FTD bandwagon: "If you don't fear nothin in the world ... You gone #FearTheDeer about 1 hour ago via Echofon" Amazing to think that MKE is starting to be a place where players actually want to play.

Odell Jones says hello.

Couldn't have happened to a better team! http://images.yuku.com/image/gif/4bd15994833519c190381b639410cf6310ba54f.gif

Hmmm... three run lead against the bottom of the order of perhaps the weakest hitting team in the league? If it isn't Trevor time now, it never will be.

Another quality start for Bush.

And if Chris Carpenter blows out his elbow again, Jamie Garcia's walks start catching up to him, Pujols strains a hammy, Scott Rolen shows his age and reverts back to 2007/2008 form, and Mike Leake's WHIP and workload catches up to him (and starts hitting like a pitcher), that can change the landscape very quickly too. There's no guarantee that STL or Cincy hold their form - they could easily collapse just like the Brewers did. Especially Cincy - their pitching is nothing special, and I'm sure the stats guys can show that Leake's peripherals don't translate into his results. It was only a couple of years ago that the winner of the NL Central was 83-78.

I will agree that most people 25 and under can have any type of physique that they put their minds do. My contention is that over the age of 25 that isn't possible for as many people as those 25 and under. If you think that just about everyone can have a great physique if they dedicate themselves to it, I ask you this - do you think that everyone can score >1500 on their SATs? I think the scoring has changed now and 1600 is no longer a "perfect" score, but that's beside the point. Do you think that everyone can score that high if they just put their mind to it and study harder? Or is it possible that some people just don't have the capacity to think as fast, read/comprehend as fast, or remember as much as others? Why are some people born with defective vision and need glasses in kindergarten (like I did), others have vision that deteriorates quickly in their teens/20's, and others have perfect vision into their 40's? There are things about us that we just can't control, no matter how much we try, and vary significantly from person to person. The truth is that our physical makeup is not an exact science. It's not as simple as what you eat and how much you exercise. The whole "calorie" thing is far from gospel - that is easily disproved, as it is not what you eat/drink as much as it is how much of what you eat and drink is absorbed. I encourage you all to read a book called "Live Right 4 Your Type" by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo. It is the only book I've read that acknowledges that not everyone can be successful living by the same lifestyle and diet. I was absolutely amazed when I read the section on people with Type O blood at how accurate they were at describing me simply based on my blood type.

Range is so important, much more so than fielding %.

Did Haislip grow after college? I could have sworn that when they drafted him he was 6'8" and played SF. Basketball-Reference has him at 6'10". I don't recall Haislip playing PF - I thought he was a SF. Never thought of the Paul Pressey comparison for Hobson. Interesting...

Yep - six games at home against two of the worst teams in baseball, missing each of their top starters. When I looked at the pitching matchups I thought they could take 2 of 3 from the Twins, and was pleasantly surprised at the sweep. I think they can take 5 of 6 from the Mariners/Astros and who knows... a week from today they could be only two games under .500 on July 1st staring at a 4-game set against STL - who isn't good against lefties - with Wolf, Davis/Narveson, Parra, and Gallardo scheduled to take the mound. After that it's seven at home before the All-Star break. Plenty of time. For now I think Narveson goes to the pen, Braddock down to AAA for more seasoning - from what I've seen he could stand to work on his control a bit. Let's see where they are at the All-Star break.