MJLiverock

So he could score on a flyable or even a slow roller to the infield.

If everyone believed there was no chance of him running the it was a good time to go. He got thrown out on a perfect throw. I have no problem with him being sent. The brewers need to take some chances vs. Halliday.

I've read all the books to date and have to rank them among my favorites, the 5th book of 7 or 8 planned is coming out this summer after a long wait. The problem HBO is going to have is trying to fit all the information and background stories into the show so that viewers will have an understanding of the characters and their old hatreds, alliances, distrusts, etc. The books' characters are very well developed with many having their chapters and storylines that will be difficult to really delve into in a dozen or so episodes. The motivations of each character change and move around quite a bit so deciding on who is good or evil is sometimes a fine line. The books also give a lot of detail about why some are the way the are, i.e tragic events or horrible upbringing. I won't give away anything that wasn't in the first episode other than a bit of background that may or may not be evident right away. Most of the story focuses on the corruption, fight for power, politics, and of course fighting, while slowly teasing out more information about each character. There aren't wizards like Gandalf, or strange non human Orc armies threatening, other than trying to figure out what is going on beyond the Wall. Basically, Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon (the current King) led a rebellion against the old King, whose sole surviving family members are on the run in an another land across the sea, Daeneyrs and Viserys Targaryen. Their family ruled for many generations and are a bit mad - - incest will do that. They came to power on the backs of dragons, which have all since vanished. Viserys has delusions of granduer about returning to power. The guy who appears to Daeneyrs at her wedding and is from Westeros, her home, was once once of the King's elite guards for her father. The old king was killed by Jamie Lannister who was supposed to be guarding him and his family as part of his elite guard. His father was the King's Hand, or right hand man. The Lannisters are the richest family, their home is on top of a gold mine and they crave power. Jamie and his father basically switched sides from the King to the rebels at the last minute when defeat looked real and sort of said, "See we were with you all along." Nobody trust them, but they are powerful, Robert agreed to marry the daughter ( he wanted to marry Eddard Stark's sister but she died), Jamie's twin, Cersei, to try and keep them loyal and providing gold. The incest between them in the first episode is in the books, they sort of view themselves as potential heirs to Targaryen empire and take on their incestual habits. They are the extreme narcissists. They also have a dwarf brother, Tyrion, who in the books is much more deformed than just being a dwarf. He is sort of a genius and one of the best characters in the books in my opinion. He isn't too fond of his sister but idolizes his dashing, elite warrier brother a bit. The current Hand of the King, Robert's right hand man died, hence Robert trekking way north to ask Eddard to come replace him. Eddard's wife gets a note from her sister saying that the Hand of King was murdered. Her sister was married to the guy and fled to the family castle in east. As the opening scene showed there is a giant ice wall way to the north. It is manned by men called "Crows" for their dark clothes. It is sort of an exile for criminals, poor, etc. They guard the wall. There are people on the other side of the wall called Wildings, they sometimes scale the wall and raid villages, etc. But there is also an old legend about White Walkers, or The Others, a sort of walking dead that inhabited the other side of the wall long ago. Most believe it just a fairy tale. The wall is very ancient and the construction of it is somewhat unknown IIRC. The people of the north where the Starks live have more contact with the Crows and tend to believe more in its importance. The further south you go the more people view it as just a bleak place to send criminals and such. Eddard Stark has two daughters, three sons, and an illegitimate son, Jon Snow. He also has a brother who serves on the Wall, as well has ward of one of his underlords, Theon, who is about the same age as his oldest son and illegitimate son. King Robert has 2 brothers who will appear later. There are also a number of other important families from other regions that each have their own agenda and loyalties.

Punto has only played a handful of inning at SS with his peak of about 58 games worth back in 2008. Betancourt may be terrible but I fall into the camp of believing almost every name mentioned is no better. Punto, Luis Cruz, Izturis, they all have warts and none are a slam dunk better option. Cruz and Izturis are so horrible offensively they negate any defensive improvements, Punto is a utility player who I would doubt would last a whole season at SS and not be just as bad. The margin of error on any projection system makes all these guys end up in the same category, replacement level. One may be worse one may be better but there is no guarantee which guy it will be and at this point I wouldn't give up anything for the miniscule chance it makes the team any better. Replacing garbage with garbage is just making a change to make a change.

I've got it on 733 for DirecTv in glorious SD

On a slighlty related note http://www.onionsportsnet...idents-with-offer,19959/ Even though it is the Onion, the article itself is safe for those concerned about off color language.

No, we haven't. Hardy has been much more valuable than Gomez. We didn't need Hardy last year but this year he would be really helpful.Hardy would be adding negative value to the team right now. If Hardy was on the Brewers right now Counsell would be the everyday SS. Hardy right now is a platoon player because he can not stay healthy. Exactly. Hardy was hurt for a good portion of last season, playing in just over 100 games and getting 375 PAs. Escobar would have had to be used for a good portion of last season anyway. Hardy would have been getting paid, $5.1MM last season for his 375 PA's and putting up his .320/.394 line. Gomez only managed a .298 OBP which is a difference of about 8 fewer instances of getting on base compared to Hardy but costing the team about $4MM less at $1.1MM vs. $5.1MM in salary. Unless you feel those 8 bases extra non outs were worth $4MM then Gomez was a better option last year. Especially considering it would have meant Jim Edmonds in CF everyday, praying he wouldn't fall apart, to start the year until Cain was ready. That was the biggest reason why Hardy didn't bring much in return, he was going to get $5+MM in arby and it made him expensive. Now in 2011 Hardy is making $5.85MM and is headed for the DL again. Gomez may be expendable now that Morgan is in the fold but he is still $4.3MM cheaper than Hardy, and is actually playing. If Hardy and Gomez play about the same as last year in terms of PA's and OBP which is entirely plausible the whopping 8 non outs doesn't justify an extra $4+MM in salary, although the Brewers could probably afford it.

Considering this was probably his last year, a 100 game suspension would have effectively retired him anyway.

Unless of course you are ZIPS. Either way neither is a world beater. Kotsay .256/.309/.375/.688 Inglett .254/.316/.352/.668

I'm not sure which way Melvin will go, Nieves for the D, or Kottaras for the bat. I too think he'll lean toward Nieves just to not have a defensive liability as the back up, but I wouldn't be surprised either way.

Based on what LuCroy has done thus far, I don't really think his bat is any better than Kottaras at this point. Definitely better defensively though.

Izturis may be marginally better defensively but is still horrible especially given the variability/accuracy of any of the defensive metrics. Izturis is worse offensively with similar OBP and zero power. Hard to see any sort of upgrade in Izturis, especially if something has to be given up to get him, even a bag of balls would be too much, considering he is likely to provide zero net gain. He is a replacement level player just as much as Betancourt is.

Izturis is terrible and is far from a guaranteed improvement over Betancourt. Why give up anything for another terrible player.

Nah, those comments and attitude pretty much epitomize the "St. Louis Class". Always quick to find fault and come up with vague meaningless perceived slights.

My Cardinals fan friend says Holliday is only expected to miss a week or two. Didn't Hart miss nearly a month with his appendectomy? I seem to remember his taking a long time to recover but maybe it was coupled with another injury?

He probably has to wait and see who is available. Teams that fall by the wayside or deside to go with a youngster will be more willing to deal as the season progresses. I didn't see anyone on the scrap heap that was a clear improvement, just a lot more guys with plenty of questions surrounding them as well.

I can barely make to the games on time as it is when leaving work and driving from Madison to Milwaukee so I almost always eat at the ball park. There's no time for tailgating and I really don't think the prices for the hot dogs and brats are all that bad. I'd rather eat a ball park dog or two than bring in a footlong Subway sandwich. I think the only food I've ever brought in was peanuts.

And I suppose the Cardinals lineup is not considered a "Stars and Scrubs" lineup by experts? Or the injuries in the Reds rotation don't matter but the Brewer's are insurmountable? I get raising questions but to do so while overlooking just as obvious holes or injuries in the competitons seems like a half baked poorly thought out argument.

I still remember staying with a buddy at his Dad and stepmom's house a few miles outside San Antonio and having to bang our shoes a time or two before putting them on because his Dad warned us the scorpions would sometimes crawl inside them.

The angst over letting a player like Dickerson go reminds me of another vastly overrated backup outfielder some on this board fell in love wtih, Gabe Gross. The guy was nothing more than a worse hitting Kevin Mench, yet teeth gnashed and it was like we traded a future all star. A few years later and it hasn't mattered a bit and the guy is barely in baseball. I guess it is a good thing that the Brewer's actually have a battle for the 25th spot instead of fielding team full of guys who should the 25th man.

I understand the turnover percentage of possessions is important and a very good stat for efficiency. It just bugs me when announcers keep playing up the, "only 7 turnovers a game" line which is related to pace of play. Regarding Pomeroy, yes the are efficient, but Pomeroy also ranks them 345/345 teams in adjusted tempo. The slow pace isn't a myth.

This reminds me of the arguments back in 08 or 09 when people used WAR to argue that Nate McClouth and Nyjer Morgan were better than Braun.

Announcers and fans of the Bo system love to point out the lack of turnovers and taking care fo the ball, and WI's assist to turnover ratio. Wi's tempo is so freaking slow that of course they don't have many turnovers, there are fewer possesions to even turn the ball over in. WI had one of the lowest assist totals in the Big 10, they were 10th in the league. I don't mind working the clock to get a good shot but how many times do they just pass it around, not attacking and throw up a bad shot as time winds down. That is not productive use of the clock. Whenever WI has these games where they can't score it gets blamed on bad luck or just a poor night. WI fitters away time and then shoots a contested or off balance jumper from 19-22 feet and misses, and it's bad luck? I'd bet that over half of Taylor's jumpers last night were with a hand in his face or he was falling one way or another. Not to mention the times they give up driving to the basket and kick it back outside. Can anyone on this team take it to the rim or does that get a guy benched for scoring too quickly? When Taylor had the ball in the lane in a one on one situation and then kicked it back to a not wide open player on the perimeter I wanted to scream. If he can't take it the rim one on one at this point then he isn't the guard everyone gushes over. And seriously what was Bo complaining about the intensity question at the half? If his players were intense and trying their hardest then to me that says they must be as slow and unathletic as often portrayed because if that was their best effort they weren't getting to anything. Milquetoast. That is the word I think of when I think of this offense. Taylor was completely gasses in the first half, leaving FT's short, getting blown by on D, bent over grasping his shorts during breaks, yet he can't come out because WI only manages to recruit one ball handler at a time? Wquentin Smith answers an ad in the school paper and becomes the primary back up point guard? Bo's agent's kid gets into games despite not being able to guard a statue or get any closer to the basket than 3 point land and Rob Wilson still can't get off the bench. At some point the staff needs to stop trying to prove how good of coaches they are by coaching up walk ons and guys they landed in recruiting battles with North Dakota State and Drake and start coaching some guys who can turn into more than role players. As you can tell I am ticked off and tired of watching more Bennett Ball 2.0.

If you believe in the market setting the price and value - - Dickerson has been traded for an aged and gimpy Jim Edmonds and a mediocre middle reliever in the past year. Dickerson is what he is, a journeyman backup player that really isn't anything irreplaceable.

I wonder what these same scouts think about the Cardinals lineup and rotation or the Reds rotation questions. It's not like there is some super team without question in the NL Central.