LouisEly

Because Garnett is 10x the player Redd is. Ray Allen didn't until he got put into a defensive juggernaut along side KG and PP in Boston. Kevin Garnett never won a title until he was on the same team as Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. When did the Timberwolves become a bad team? In 2005-2006 when they lost Cassell and Sprewell, yet Garnett was still there. You have to have a scorer to be a playoff team.

Anundsen must have read this thread because last night he looked like he wanted to shut up any critics - 5IP, 4H, 0 R/ER, 1BB, 5K.

If anyone is looking in Madison, my sister and brother-in-law are selling their house. 1600 sq. ft. tri-level plus basement, 3br + entertainment room/bar (they use it as 2 br, office, and entertainment room/bar since they have no kids), 2 bath, built in 2002, big deck (16'x12') out back, cedar fenced back yard, ceramic tile (doesn't get cold in the winter!), and is immaculate and has been meticulously taken care of. They/we finished the entire lower level and built the deck out back, $10K in recent landscaping. It is just behind American Family on the northeast side in a nice subdivision where the houses are all built 2000 or newer. Listed at $219K. I can send pictures; PM me if you would like details.

2-3 with a triple (#4 on the season) and two walks against Inman & co. Is he a power hitter? Not really, and thus will never have the slugging % to have a really high OPS. But I think Clancy is on to something here - he has a penchant for doubles (38 last year in AAA) and triples (four last year and four already this year), and if he can keep his OBP up around .370 and get to 2nd or 3rd fairly frequently on base hits, he could fill the role of leadoff hitter adequately. He played the entire season with a broken foot., which required offseason surgury. I don't recall the entire season, but didn't he get hurt about 2/3rds of the way through the season and his numbers tailed off severely after that? I seem to recall an insanely high number of doubles for him around or just past the midway point but tailed off. I can't find a game log for him for last year (didn't look too hard either - http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ).

I bought a house last November, and I am kicking myself for not waiting like 6 more weeks when I would have gotten $8000 for nothing. We ended up paying $160K for a house in Waukesha. Funny, I have $160K saved up for a down payment. I don't qualify for the $8K because I make too much, but still can't afford anything more than a 2-bedroom 35-year-old condo, because anything more than that will run over $550K. SoCal is not all it's cracked up to be. I'd think your best bet for value would be southern Waukesha county. Anywhere where subdivisions have been built in the last 5-7 years is going to be ripe with foreclosures and inventory.

"Last week I was as tall as you, and now I'm a foot shorter. You'd be mad too if you had African Shrinking Sickness!!!"

Heether and McGehee is probably a fair comparison, but Heether will have to find a place where he does not have to play SS, which most utility INF's can do. With Hardy and Counsell (and Escobar waiting in the wings), wouldn't that place be Milwaukee? Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying? He has played occasionally at SS and could play there in a pinch, but if called on to start at SS for an extended period of time the Brewers would have to be in a pretty bad place because that would mean no Hardy, Counsell, or Escobar, and a trade would be necessary.

This makes me a little sad, in my irrational old man kinda way. I always wanted Gwynn to do well with the crew. I can't help but root for likeable guys who display good character. Best of luck to you, young Mr. Gwynn. Amen. Great deal for Melvin. And if it's true that they have Gerut for two more years that is a plus. We just upgraded the bench significantly, and if Gerut can come anywhere near his road splits it will be fantastic. My guess is that Gerut gets at least two starts a week to either give any of the three a day off or start for Hart against tough righties.

And Hart's line last year was .759 and this year so far is .738 (see Monty57's post), so if Gillespie's MLE based on his AA season is .750 to .775 then he would be at worst a wash for Hart. The trend is looking very much like Gillespie is in his class.

In the big picture of things, IIRC the Southeast has been in drought conditions for a while, so while it is not ideal for baseball I think overall it is a good thing for the area.

The contracts for both Redd and Jefferson are both major anchors holding the franchise hostage, yet when Hammond was given a get out of jail free card for one of them he threw it away. Incredibly stupid decision. Can I ask, how is Redd's contract any more of an anchor on the team than say, Kevin Garnett's contract with the Celtics? Maybe I'm missing something, but the Bucks were 17-16 with Redd in the lineup last year and 17-32 without him. If he can't create his own shot, then how in the world does he average 21ppg when the opponents know that he is the only guy on the team who can shoot from beyond 15 feet? The only guy on the team with an AFG% higher than him was Bogut. If you take Michael Redd out of this lineup, who becomes your go-to guy when the game is on the line? People want to dump Redd and Jefferson... who does that leave left to score? Charlie Bell??? The reason those guys make the money they do is because they are the only guys on the team who can score!

He does not have the speed for CF. If Gorman Thomas can play CF for a team that made it to Game 7 of the World Series, then I think Gillespie has the speed to play CF. A guy who stole 17 bases and logged four triples in a season has adequate speed to play CF. His MLE for his decent AA year must be around 750-775 or so, nothing to speak of for a LF. What was Hart's MLE for the season he won Southern League MVP? his ceiling is far lower than Brantley's or Laporta's Both of those guys are gone. Brantley is struggling like Gillespie so far this year at AAA, yet Gillespie has a .050 higher OBP. And Gillespie's OBP in Huntsville last year was only .009 less than Brantley's. And he slugged a lot higher than Brantley, and had twice as many triples and over twice as many doubles as him. And weren't there questions about whether Brantley had a strong enough arm to play CF? Of course Laporta has a higher ceiling. But a "far lower" ceiling that Brantley? I don't know about that. I think it was Casey Stengel who once said, "Potential is a French word - it means you're not worth a (darn) yet." In theory, he may develop into more, but he's 25 and just a few AB's into AAA. He's 24, and will be for another month. Despite his "struggles", he's posting a .372 OBP in AAA. I don't think Clancy's idea is all that half-baked - he could very well have the best OBP skills of any OF in the organization, and that coupled with his adequate speed would make a very decent leadoff hitter. It's not traditional to have a LF as your leadoff hitter, but Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines were pretty good leadoff hitters who were left fielders. I am NOT saying that Gillespie is anywhere near as good as those guys, but it is not unheard of for a LF to be a leadoff hitter.

With Jack Z the formula was usually best (and safest) bat in the first round. I'm not sure that exists this year, so if I'm handicapping this race my gut feeling for the first round pick is: 1) Keyvius Sampson 2) Jacob Turner (Boras hasn't scared them away before) 3) Ben Tootle (see comments above from Seid via TLB) 4) Matt Davidson (they like bats in the first round) If Davidson's commitment to USC makes him slip past the first, he's a good bet for a sandwich pick. If Tootle is there at their sandwich pick I think he's a good bet. My dark horse for a sandwich pick is Tanner Scheppers. They don't seem to mind players with questions about defense who can hit if they feel they can move them to another position, so I'll put Jonathan Walsh into the picture in the sandwich round too.

Time to pick up where I left off: 2003 Draft - Grade: B All-Stars: none (yet) Solid Major Leaguers (starters): Gallardo (2) Average major leaguers (bench): Top prospects: Salome (5), Cain (17) Still developing: Rogers (1 - #5 overall), David Johnson (15), Periard (16) Those who got away... and came back: Dabroweicki (34), McCraw (37) A lot of the grade of this draft depends on how Cain, Salome, and Periard develop. If they do turn into solid major leaguers then it will grade higher, possibly an A-. For all we complain about Rogers, the rest of the first round wasn't that great either except for the pick seven spots later - Jared Weaver. 2005 Draft - Grade: A+ I'm not going to do the usual All-Stars/Top major leaguers/etc., because it still is too early for that, but let's just say that even though 2005 was a great draft overall, possibly one of the best ever for baseball, the Brewers draft that year could be one of the best drafts in the history of the game. Getting Braun alone is worthy of at least a B+, but take a look at the rest of this list: Ryan Braun (1 - #5 overall), Will Inman (3rd - no 2nd round pick), Mat Gamel (4th), Steve Hammond (6th), Michael Brantley (7th), Jemile Weeks (8th), Steve Garrison (10th), William "Zach" Braddock (18th), David Welch (20th), Taylor Green (25th), Omar Aguilar (30th). Good Lord. From that list they were able to trade Inman, Hammond, Brantley, and Garrison and not sign Weeks, but still have a ton of talent. And from those trades they were able to get Frederickson/Dykstra (for Inman/Garrison), and two more picks this year in the top two rounds (Brantley via Sabathia). This is the draft that will be the cornerstone of the team for possibly the next decade.

McClendon with another good relief performance... ERA at 1.88 and GO/AO at 2.53 so he is keeping the ball on the ground, and only 4 BB in 28 innings. Again I ask, why is Holliman starting and not McClendon?

Seems to me to be a Gabe Kapler type, but without the arm to play CF. He's already logged three triples this year and 7 SBs, and last year stole 17 bases to only one caught (with four triples). Could probably start for the bottom third of the league. Fortunately the Brewers no longer fit that description. Would be a great 4th OF/backup 1B at the least, but he'd probably want to leave eventually to get an opportunity to start (and make more money) elsewhere. A .858 OPS in the Southern League though is nothing to sneeze at (IIRC, it was higher than Hart's when he won the Southern League MVP). Hopefully with more experience Braun will be moved to CF or RF - he's athletic enough to play there. I certainly would feel a lot more comfortable with Gillespie taking over in LF in the event (knock on wood) of an injury to Braun than Duffy.

Think about this-how many opponents toss baseballs to Brewers fans during BP. The answer is not too many. I have been to many road Brewers games (most of them in LA the last five years, plus San Diego, San Francisco, and a number of others), and not once have I ever had a Brewers player toss a ball at me. I almost always have great seats, reasonably close to the dugout or bullpen. Maybe the "Tropical Tuesday" jersey throws them off. Not sure if I'd want to catch a baseball either, because from what I've seen if a kid is anywhere within 20 seats you get booed if you don't give it to them. (Personally, any kid that is privileged enough to sit in field level seats is lucky enough as is and shouldn't be given a ball just because he/she's a kid. Upper deck and bleachers, where my parents could only afford to sit - different story. Chuck the balls up there, not to the spoiled rich kid sitting next to the dugout.) My only advice to the author, and anyone reading this thread, is that with just about anyone and anything in life it's not what you do but how you do it that matters more.

Darnit, you beat me to it! I like my spelling better - "G-$$"

Counsell is unlikely to be able to hold up as an every-day starter for a full season, so my preference this early in the season would be to go with young guys who more likely have the stamina to hold up to playing full-time for the rest of the year: 1) Start Hall at 2B and Gamel at 3B with Counsell spelling each as needed and hope Gamel can cut it defensively. Bring up Iribarren or Catalanotto when he's ready. 2) If that does not work, call up Iribarren and let him and McGehee platoon at 2B with Counsell returning to super-sub (starting 3-4 games per week). I don't see a need to give up prospects or go outside the organization yet. Iribarren seems to have figured things out (or is more comfortable now that he's returned to 2B), and could play OF in a pinch so he is my odds-on favorite to replace Weeks. If neither of these two scenarios works out then I'd be more open to going outside of the organization once July rolls around.

Pppppppppppphhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhffffffffffffffffffffffttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!! (even bigger rasbperry) Hooray for LaRussa! Hooray at last! Hooray for LaRussa, he's a.... http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/0d7254e9bb80733919fc63c1f1c62c2f799e868.jpg

My point is that Seattle is going nowhere this year, and thus would be better off developing youth.

Another nice appearance? Why don't you guys believe in this guy? It's not that we don't believe in him... it's that as Brewers fans we are conditioned to believe the worst case scenario will happen and we are cautiously holding our breath that he is healthy and will stay healthy. Good call on him going to the AFL. Probably a good bet that Green will join him.

Getting ready to grill up my first batch of brats this spring What's taken you so long? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I like to make them one of two ways: 1)Boil them for a bit in some beer and onions and then grill them OR 2)Just throw them on the grill as is. It really depends on what I am hungry for that day. Do NOT boil - you'll burst the casings and lose all of the juice! SIMMER. Then brown on the grill on low heat (one of the only things I prefer gas to charcoal for - easier to control heat on the gas grill), turn frequently. Takes a while, but well worth it. Also have to have a store bakery hard roll type bun. None of those soft, off the shelf, could be hot dog buns. Have to disagree on that - I eat brats to fill up on brats, not to fill up on bread. The less bread the better.

Mike Sweeney is a luxury for a team like Seattle. And that's being generous because he hasn't been anything since 2005. Perhaps they hold on to Sweeney to see if they can get something for him at the trade deadline, but if I'm Seattle I view Nelson as an upgrade over him at this stage of Sweeney's career.

"We did this four years ago with Prince and it worked out well. He got his first taste of the major leagues. After interleague play, we'll re-evaluate and see where we are." That last sentence is very intriguing. I'm wondering if there was a handshake agreement between Melvin and Nelson where if Nelson agreed to go down to Nashville he would be given regular PT and hopefully get his mojo back, and then after the interleague series or no later than September 1st make good on the handshake agreement and bring Nelson back up. I'm guessing that Nelson had already cleared waivers, and if he had not cleared waivers they would have pulled him back and the move not made. Branyan said something interesting in the other thread about him in Seattle... he mentioned that when you are on the bench you feel a lot of pressure to get a hit every time you come up, and because of that you keep tinkering with your swing and ultimately mess it up. Nelson is probably going through that right now. If this was simply to bring up a pinch hitter, I would rather have brought up Catalanotto. Methinks Gamel will be seeing some starts, particularly with four righties coming up. In one of the articles they acknowledged that pinch hitting is very difficult for young players, so I doubt this was made solely for pinch hitting and would have brought up Catalanotto if that was the case.