MJLiverock

For me Gross just seemed to be way overvalued. I probably woulnd't care one way or the other about him until reading the comments on this site about him. Yeah, I'll admit I like AVG but I hve always like OBP, but it is not like Gross was some great OBP machine. His career .343 OBP against mainly RH's isn't that dominating for a pure platoon guy. As has been pointed out guys like Kevin Mench and Wes Helms put numbers like that in their platoon roles and were hated for it. As for Gwynn, I like him because he can actually play CF and isn't needed for power on this team full of power hitters. And for what is worth, Gwynn's first 200 AB's are pretty similar to Gross's first 200 AB's in the Majors, both put up an OPS+ of around 66 or 67, not very good but Gross did improve and Gwynn seems to be improving as well. Gross was also a year older than Gwynn at those same stages. Gross arrived in Milwaukee and put up a pretty good year in 2006 but regressed mightily in 2007 and 2008 wasn't off to a great start either at the plate coupled with his subpar defense and pending arby eligibility he was the odd man out. If Gwynn develops into a .350 OBP guy which many believe he can then he has equalled Gross's best attribute. Gross has better power but Gwynn plays better defense and base running which this team needs more than another power stroke.

According to Dictionary.com Mediocre is not average. me·di·o·cre http://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.png -adjective 1. of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate. 2. rather poor or inferior. This about sums up my feelings on Gross as a player. Decent LH bat off the bench, bad CF option, average D for a corner guy, can't hit LH pitchers at all, best attribute is ability to walk. Not an everyday player. I never really cared for the point of brining up his minor league numbers, his ability to hit AA pitching 6 years ago really doesn't matter, if it did, then Ben Hendrickson would be an all star pitcher. Gross has been in the majors enough to show he is what he is, a 4th or 5th OFer. Gwynn brings a different skill set for the 4th/5th OF spot. I'll take the potential upside of the minor league pitcher they got since I don't think the Gross/Gwynn change will make or break the Brewers and somebody had to go with Cameron coming back.

Sorry for the special order people but one of the things that drive me crazy is people making special orders at fast food restaurants, especially Taco Bell. I always seem to get behind the person who takes forever to order because they have to add and subtract things to every item. Sunday afternoon I could hear the woman at the drive thru in front of me order a Taco Supreme with no sour cream and no tomatoes. Isn't that just a regular taco? I think if I worked in a fast food restaurant I would purposely make the items with extra tomatos or whatever just so I could hear people complain about it and point out that fast food is exactly that, fast food, not gourmet, not cooked to special requests, just $3 worth of junk crammed in a paper bag.

Like I said Floyd may not have been the answer but to say that Gross has been better than Floyd is wrong in my opinion. And pointing to the 2006 production of Gross just reinforces my belief that Gross supporters selectively choose which of his stats to look at since I can easily counter his 2006 production with bad 2004 and 2005 production. I used last year as a more recent showing of performance and career to get the more robust picture but unless you just want to take the good months of Gross while ignoring his many bad months you will never get me to believe Gabe Gross is anything special or better than replacement level since he can't hit lefties and doesn't really dominate righties while playing below average defense. I know I will never convince some that Gross isn't some OBP god but I have tried. For all the hatred of Mench on this board he was better at facing LHer's than Gross has ever been at facing RH's. Even during Mench's time in Milwaukee he put up better OBP than Gross in his platoon role yet Mench is hated by many of the very same posters who cling to Gabe Gross. I just don't get the Gross support by so many on this board when he really hasn't produced much except in small samples. I've read the posts in the offseason where supporters wanted Gross to play everyday (some in CF no less) because of how hot he finished the year after being called up from the minors. I too remembered him being hot but when I look up the stats I see he was certainly hot for August when he was .350/.366/.725, but I too forgot how he went right back to the bottom in September at .204/.317/.315 with more AB's. The more I look at his numbers the less impressed I become. I am starting to think he is Geoff Jenkins without the good defense and just as streaky versus RH but worse versus LHer. Maybe I'll refere to Gross as "Geoff Jenkins Lite". :D

It doesn't help when one of the supposed righty killers on the team really isn't that great at it. For a website that seem so focused on stats the rather pedestrian stats of Gabe Gross vs. RH's gets glossed over or ignored quite often. Sure he came back up in August and had a great month but he had a putrid month (with even more AB's) following that which never seems get mentioned. Those 40 ABs in August where he was extremely hot were the only thing that saved his numbers from being truly awful for the season. Laugh at Briggs' Cliff Floyd suggestion but Floyd has been better than Gross vs. RH pitching. (question will always be can Floyd stay healthy) Floyd may not have been the answer because of injury concerns but when will the string finally run out on Gross and his production and below average defense (another area that Gross fans scoffed at when it was suggested that he is not a good CF option). Floyd in 2007 249 ABs .281/.370/.422 -> .791 OPS Gross in 2007 172ABs .244/.328/.459 ->.788 OPS close but not because of his supposed great OBP skills Floyd career 3829 AB .261/.368/.492 --> .860 OPS Gross career 583 AB .254/.345/.422 - -> .767 OPS Floyd 2008 15 ABs .333/.412/.800 - -> 1.212 OPS Gross 2008 25 ABs .120/.214/.160 --> .374 OPS Granted the 2008 start is extremely small samples and Floyd with miss time with meniscus injury but Gabe Gross doesn't look all that fearsome as a LH bat specializing in playing versus the RH's.

All I know is my last trip from Orlando to Tampa took 1 hour 45 minutes each way. Granted that was from my buddies house and not Disney but even the traffice around Disney was horrible the last 3 times I was in Orlando. The distance from Sarasota to Orlando is listed as 131 miles so I'd have a hard time believing making the drive in 70 minutes, unless you average 112 mph :D I guess that's possible in a cop car with the sirens screaming. Either way, I would much rather go to Arizona to watch baseball than Florida, mainly because of the weather, distances, and general non swampiness of Arizona, somehow the desert has an appeal to me in the winter.

Not necessarily disagreeing with you but I remembered it taking about 30-45 minutes as well from Sarasota to Tampa depeding on traffic and it taking about 1 hour 45 minutes from Tampa to Orlando with me driving over the speed limit and traffic being not bad. I just checked Google Maps and they list the time at 2 hrs. 5 minute for Orlando to Tampa so my hour 45 isn't too far off, which brings a total of 2 hours 15 minutes to 2 hours 25 minutes with good traffic and driving above the speed limit. Everyone has their preference but to me Florida is a hell hole that I would rather avoid.

I haven't been to Spring Training yet but seriously considered it this year until I got roped into a destination wedding by my wife's cousin. I was interested in going to AZ for it and trying to make it a semi regular occurance now that my wife is interested in baseball but a move to Florida would greatly lower my interest in it. I would still probably go once to check it out but after that, meh. I have been to Florida many many times and wouldn't consider it that nice of place and certainly not a place I hope to live or retire to one day. I get the family fun idea of Orlando but once you are out of there what is so family/kid friendly about the rest of the state? The gulf coast is hours away from Orlando, so being in Sarasota doesn't make for a quick trip to Disney being 2.5 hours away in each direction. I have made that drive a few times and it is quite a boring drive. I have been to the Braves spring training games in Orlando and that ball park was nice but it didn't feel like I was very close to the players but I was in the club seats behind home plate. The park is attached to a mall so the atmosphere didn't seem very "basebally", more like going to see a Disney floor show or something. Given my choice I would definately prefere AZ to FL. (but on the upside if I wouldn't have to see Cub losers everywhere that would be a plus)

I go with neither anymore, but I used to watch SportsCenter. Now that ESPN News is in HD that is my top choice, the highlights are great in HD and the expanded info on the sides provides all the stats I care about.

I would add "Good Enough to Dream" by Roger Kahn as well. I read the book a long time ago as a kid but remember liking it. It is about his summer of being part owner of the Utica minor league baseball team. It provides a different perspective since most of the focus is on the minors and the difficulties of running a low minors team on a shoestring budget. A funny baseball book is Jay Johnstone's "Temporary Insanity." It is basically a recount of his career but is filled with the practical jokes, funny stories and lighter side of life in the big leagues. One of my favorite stories is his recount of locking Lasorda in a hotel room and blowing the smell of fresh made hot Lasagna into the room.

And don't forget the LH'd bats the Reds have versus all the righty pitchers the Brewers threw at them. I think Shouse was the only LH'er they faced since the missed Parra.

I kind of wondered last night if Bush was suffering from the old "Dead Arm" injury that crops up now and again for pitchers. Like you said his velocity seemed well below his norms that I remembered. He seemed to be missing high and away from batters last night, especially to the LH'ers or as was mentioned to Dave's arm side. He just didn't seem to be following through and left the fastball up in the zone or high and away in almost the same spot each time. Maybe his back hurts and he can't bend through it? Either way I just don't get how he could suddenly forget how to throw strikes.

Hello Mr. Strike Zone, I am Dave Bush. Have we met? I feel like I've met you somewhere before.

I saw this article the other day on this very subject. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-blackouts040608&prov=yhoo&type=lgns If the link doesn't work it is a Jeff Passan article from 04/06/08 basically saying baseball is looking at making the team redo their home market areas since the Baseball Channel is coming and most of these "home markets" were set up during the days of radio not cable TV and packages allowing coverage of every team.

I would say the 3rd base side gets more sun during day games, especially early in the season. My tickets are on the 1st base side and rarely have any sun. I know the outfield bleachers can be hit or miss, I have received a nice face burn sitting out there before. I don't get to many day games but this is what I remember, maybe someone else can add in.

What did Gagne use when he was with the Dodgers? I keep thinking he used an AC/DC song but can't remember.

Kind of ancillary to the subject at hand, but has anyone figured out why some games are in HD and others aren't? If they had the cameras and capability to broadcast opening day in HD what changed on Saturday? Do they take the HD cameras out?

I'll admit it that I am kind of a geek when it comes to HDTV/Satellite TV/ DVR etc. There are some HD displays that really have a lesser quality to them when compared to other HDTV's so that may contribute to some people's view of how good HD is. I know we have a small LCD( probably a 30" or so) in my office break room that is just terrible, I don't know what brand( it is some obsure off brand) it is but the picture quality is down right bad especially with non HD pictures. I would say that you should do plenty of research on the TV you are going to buy if you are looking and make sure it is what you want and it what you a paying for. The marketing of the HDTV's has improved but there are still little tricks. Never by what is called an enhanced definition TV or EDTV. These are not HD, many are 540P which is better than the standard 480i or 480p of a progressive scan dvd player but not HD with is 720p/1080i/1080p. Walmart used to sell a lot of these TV's and I know my assistant was suckered into buying one of these and was terribly disappointed when she realized it wasn't really HD after she saw my tv. You don't see these TV's much anymore because I think people figured out they weren't worth much. The old adage you get what you pay for comes up as well. Sure there are some cheap LCD's on the shelves sometimes ridiculously cheap, usually for a reason. Check to see which fortmats of HD it supports, and how fast the processor works. I have an old (close to 7 years now) 60" projection LCD, the picture is pretty good and works great for movies but it has problem with fast action sports. I can see the little jaggies or screen door effect on the screen in fast action. A lot of the newer LCD's can process faster and have greatly improved the screen door effect but I still saw some low end LCD's on the shelves that look horrible when displaying sports when I was looking for a new TV last year. My wife doesn't notice the effect on the big screen but I can see it. If you plan on watching a lot of sports on a LCD try to get the sales guy to put sports on the picture when you are in the store and compare or read up on which TV's are able to handle the faster action. Make sure the model number of the TV you like is the one you buy, I know Sony makes at least 3 different levels of some of the same sized LCD TV's, Panasonic also has many levels of their plasma, as does Samsung and probably all the makers. Basically just make sure that 42" LCD in the flyer from Walmart or Target is the same TV you are comparing it to at Best Buy or American TV, sometimes they only change one letter in the model number and TV is drastically different in actual performance. You won't need 1080p unless you plan on hooking up a Blu ray player or a video game system to it and even then you can survive without it, but it is pretty nice with those two add ons. There are no broadcast signals sent out in 1080p and really no plans for any so it won't help you there. I have a 42" Plasma that supports 1080p but haven't really used it (the 1080p capability) since my blu ray is hooked up to the big screen for movies so I don't even use the 1080p capabilites of the plasma yet. If you can afford it the calibration of a HDTV is worth it as well. I am color blind so my setting up of the colors will be off anyway but the professionally done calibaration looks great.

That is why I like Gwynn in CF for these 25 games. We have suffered through the Brady Clark play in CF where he had to play on the warning track because he couldn't go back on a ball and yet still got twisted up and let balls over his head while letting everything drop in front of him. Now we Braun trying to learn LF out there so I like having a natural CF'er playing next to him rather than a guy like Gross who is a below average CF'er. Hitting wise I just don't get the Gross love affair, the guy is just as likely to put a OBP of .300 as he is .400. Reading this site he comes off like some kind of all star but he has had some really putrid months in the majors so I just don't see he is some kind of slam dunk better option. Walks may not have slumps but defense doesn't either and Gwynn is a better option in CF defensively.

I used to send videos from my DirecTV HR10-250 (the old Tivo version of their HD DVR) to a DVD player with a built in recorder. Check the back of your reciever and see if it has either an S-video out or a composite video out (these are the three plug ins with typically yellow for video, and red/white or blue/green for audio, not the ones with Y, Pb, Pr, etc. these are video cables for HD) You should be able to hook the other end to the corresponding input on the DVD recorder (it may work the same for your computer but I haven't tried that method). You can leave your TV hooked up to whatever it is currently hooked up to but you may not see a picture on the TV unless you change the TV to accept the signal from the DVD recorder. Using a computer you may have to change the computer viewing settings to whatever method you have chosen to send the signal from the DVR to your computer. Without knowing your exact set up and menus on the recording unit I can't help much more and it may take some trial and error but it can be done. Just remember you can't use the digital outputs like HDMI or DVI to record from because of the DRM (digital rights management) encoding. Many of the boxes disable the output of the HDMI or DVI if the S capble or composite cables are used. You may also have to set your boxes output to 480I or 480P (if you have an HD box) in order to get it to work. It may seem complicated but it can be done. Just think about the output method you choose from the DVR and match that on your computer end.

Thanks for responding on the Braddock front Mass Haas and thanks for all the minor league info on here.

I didn't know where else to ask this but are there any updated on Zach Braddock? I know he hurt his arm last year but I haven't read or heard anything else about his rehab or when he is coming back. If I remember correctly, he was putting up some pretty good numbers in the low minors before getting hurt.

I guess I looked at the whopping 32 AB's for Gwynn after the All Star break and didn't really see it as getting AB's over any of those guys. Gwynn's AB's came early in the year when he was swinging a better bat that Gross, especially during April/May when most of the AB's came. Gwynn Pre-All star break; .297/.354/.341 Gross Pre All Star break; .200/.330/.363 In May alone Gwynn got 50 of his 91 1st half AB's and put up a .320/.370/.400 line verus Gross's May of 31 AB's putting up a .194/.306/.452 line. If anything using Gwynn over Gross during that time was the right thing to do. It seems like the Gross love on here likes to forget about a lot of the bad stretches of Gross's playing time. Just like Gwynn he is what he is, a 4th or 5th outfielder. Gross can't hit LH pitching and plays average to below average defense, Gwynn has no power and plays slightly above average defense.

I guess I am not following what you are trying to say here. It looks to me that the guy with the highest VORP (Jenkins) got far and away the most PA's. Mench and Gross who are basically the same guy just from opposite sides of the plate were second, and Gwynn barely played (Gwynn had 32 AB's after the all star break including only 10 in August/Sept so I don't think he contributed a whole lot to the blown lead).

I would guess $600 unless your parents claim you as a dependent. I think the $300 is the number people can get per dependent child.