DuWayne Steurer

Gridiron Gang I opened a new membership at Family Video, so I get half price rentals for a month, so I'm taking advantage of it by renting movies I probably wouldn't normally rent. I knew this movie would be full of Hollywood sports movie cliches, and it was. I knew the movie would be full of "good kid turned bad, put in the system and turned good again", and it was. I knew it would have at least a few "inspirational speech" moments, and I knew there'd be a few "tear jerker" moments, and there were. And even though I knew pretty much how this whole thing was going to go, it was still a very good show, from where I sat. Sometimes formula works I guess.

The Protector I came into this one hearing good things, so maybe I expected more out of it. If you've ever seen a Jackie Chan movie, you've probably seen this. I guess I should have expected that, but there ya have it. Ok, it's not a bad movie, Tony Jaa is a heckuva martial artist, and the story is something mildly different. 2 hours of chop socky fun that could have been worse. Monster House I know everyone says this was a good movie, but I really am not a fan of animated pictures, be they CGI or hand drawn. That being said, after watching it, my main complaint was that it was too short. Far better than I figured it would be, and I'll say it right here, almost as scary than any gorefest the studios are putting out nowadays. Why? Most of the "goodguys" in the slasher flicks are young adults or older, and the main characters here are kids, that, ya know, still believe in the boogeyman. There's a few parts in this movie that make you remember what it's like to be a kid, and feel like you're all alone in the world. Great movie.

One more comment, does anyone else find it funny, that on that list of pitchers, the worst pitcher is Jeff Suppan. I think that definitely speaks volumes about the depth we have with our pitching right now. Not only that, but if you go by ERA, Gallardo would be our 2nd best pitcher. And Bush is better than Capuano in this projection. Which to be honest, I don't think would surprise a lot of people if it happened.

Jet Li's "Fearless" I really enjoyed this flick. It's not as flashy as the usual stuff that's coming from Hong Kong these days, but the story is just as good (if not better). Yes, it's pretty much a 2 hour advertisement for Jin Wu sports, but I can live with that. Every movie has to be about something, after all. If you like martial arts movies, but don't get into the wirework like what you'll see in Hero and Crouching Tiger, you'll probably like this.

Crank Eh......lot's of blowy up stuff, but not much substance. It's like the movie Speed, except in Jason Statham's body instead of a bus. And well, no Keanu Reeves (which is a good thing, right?) You, Me, and Dupree I was told this movie was laugh out loud funny. It wasn't. It wasn't even *chuckle softly* funny. It's not a bad movie, for a chick flick, but it's not funny, and it doesn't really go anywhere. Talladega Nights I admit, I love lowbrow humor, and laughed my sides to pain a few times. That doesn't mean it's a good movie. It's not supposed to be. If you didn't like Anchorman, then by all means, don't watch this. If you liked Anchorman, or it at least made you laugh, you're probably ok with this one.

Not trying to open a can of worms, but a lot of times if a guy cuts down his swing to make more contact, he loses a lot of the aggresiveness that allows him to hit the ball hard when he does make contact.

My point is however that there is little chance of Suppan signing to play in Milwaukee, so members here didnt need to argue with one another. And this is getting said about every free agent. So people are disagreeing. I didn't see it as arguing, and if it was, it's not like it's getting ugly. What exactly are we supposed to argue about on a baseball message board in December? I guess I'll be back in spring, when everyone has signed and we won't have to be told who will and won't be coming to Milwaukee.

I'm no mod, but I'm sure there's been repeated posts by mods towards people who more or less tell other posters to "stop talking about this player because we'll never get him". We're free to *speculate* all we want, regardless of how unrealistic it might be in someone else's opinion.

I do agree with that, and if brettac thinks that Jenkins will rebound, than I can respect that opinion/POV as well. I'm hopeful (but skeptical of course) that Jenkins can rebound a touch and have an .800-.825 OPS season. I would hope at age 33, his physical skills have not declined to the point where he can't hit much better than a mediocre middle infielder. To basically mirror your comment Peavey, I don't mind Huff, but 4 years of him at 9 mil per is way too much.

Again, ERA is a poor predictor of future success. That might be the case, but in 6 of his 8 years, his ERA has been better than league average. WHIP and k rate and everything else are great statistics, no doubt, but Suppan has consistently been average/above average despite having poor secondary stats. If it was only a few years in which Suppan performed well, I'd be leery, but it's not.

Huff is only 2 years younger than Jenkins, and from all accounts, terrible defensively. I'd rather just play it out with Jenkins and make a move next offseason, when the FA market is supposedly going to be a lot deeper than commit to Huff for 4 years.

Seems like the Brewers are throwing away a lot of junk for a decent return in that trade. Maybe I'm thinking too highly of Crain, but that seems slanted a little too much in the Brewers favor.

I would not want to see him break Hank Aaron's record in any uniform, let alone a Brewers uniform. He's one of the few guys in baseball that I hate so much that I'd still hate him as a Brewer. No thank you, a million times.

10 mil isn't cheap if his cardboard knees finally fall apart and he gets 72 at bats this year.

I started a thread the other day about the future problems that the Brewers will face in FA, and lo and behold, I'm instantly reminded by another poster (non mod) that "this discussion is already taking place in the Soriano thread" Well, my thread wasn't locked, but that's not the point. The Soriano thread was about Soriano, and this year's free agent crop. My thread was about the future of the Brewers ability to be able to sign free agents in general. I think that's more than enough of a difference to warrant a new thread. That being said, it seems like there's a decent thread going, and suddenly, WHAM! it's locked, with a link to a similar discussion that's buried 4 pages back and 3 weeks old. I know this forum costs an arm and a leg to run, concerning post counts, views, and so on, and I appreciate that, but I know most posters don't want to go digging 5 pages back to make sure there's not another topic mildly similar to what they want to start a thread about. And it seems quite often that the topics are different enough to warrant different threads. That, and a lot of posters don't bother once the post count in a thread reaches a certain point, because you feel like it's not going to get read, because most of the people in said thread have said what they're going to say. And then right on top of the main forum, is a thread about who should be in the OF, Hall, Weeks, or Braun, and I know we've had that discussion just about as often as the "strikeouts don't matter" threads, and nobodies made the point of linking to one of the many threads on the topic. Now, this isn't exactly the same issue as the OP brought up, but for the sake of similarity, I didn't start a new thread. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif I think people are just looking for some consistency.

The highest OPS Podsednik has had in the last 3 years is .700. Over the last 3 years Roberts has put up OPS' of .753, .784, and .772. Podsednik was caught stealing in 19 of 59 attempts last year, while Roberts was caught stealing 6 times in 55 attempts. Roberts is 34, Podsednik is 30. I think Podsednik is at the age and experience where we can safely say that what we see is what he is. Podsednik has also proven he can be a key member of a championship team. Some people put value in this stuff, I don't. He was on a great team all around. That was still a 90+ win team whether they had Podsednik or a league average player in his place, imo. If we're going to use postseason appearances as measuring sticks, maybe I should point out that Dave Roberts has a career batting average of .321 in 28 post season at bats.

I have absolutely zero interest in Scotty Po, who hasn't seen the north side of a .700 OPS for 4 years. His stolen base rate last year was pretty bad, and he doesn't carry a high enough OBP to even come close to offsetting his terrible SLG%.

Unbelievable. We ripped off the D-Backs again! I love this trade. It's not the big middle of the order bat we needed, but I'll bet Damian will play much better in 60-70 games than every day. GREAT trade!

I'd love me some Craig Wilson in a Brewer's uniform. Guy has been underrated his entire career.

I'd rather have Crawford than Giles. Giles is a touch too old for me to have a lot of interest in him, unless there's just no other options out there. I know his numbers are somewhat hampered by Petco, but he's just not the threat he used to be.

Well, considering what guys are getting this off-season, I don't think 12 mil per is all that terrible for 3 years for a guy who's probably going to give you a .800 OPS or so, with great defense and 20+ homers. And he is still only 28 entering the season. I'm not thrilled about Beltre, but considering that there's nothing left on the market for "big bats", and also consider that we're just as likely next off-season to be able to afford a top notch bat in free agency, and this might not be a bad move. IF they can get Seattle to even eat say, 3 million per, it becomes a lot more paletable. I sure wish he'd walk more though.............

What's the skinny on the last 3 years of Beltre's contract?

Also of note is that Figgins is as versatile as duct tape and brings a WS ring/attitude. Just like Damian Miller? That WS ring doesn't mean squat in 2007. And for what it's worth, I'd way rather have Kenny Lofton than either Figgins or Roberts. Or Pierre.

I guess the question is this. Would you rather give up something of value (Davis) to get Figgins, or just sign Dave Roberts or Kenny Lofton? I don't like what Figgins brings to the table. He's Juan Pierre without the flash. (Granted, Figgins is a much better defender). I guess if I'm choosing between Figgy and Roberts/Lofton though, the sticking point for me is that I don't have to give up anything to get the free agent.

McCann is probably about as untouchable as any player in the league. You don't trade away .950 OPS catchers who're only 23 years old.