GenoSeligPrieb

Ooh, Monty, I'll go with what's behind Curtain # 4! As RoCo just typed, I seriously doubt the Brewers will spend around $13,000,000 on Menchkins next year. For less money, I'll bet you can get a LF who's younger, and can play against both lefties and righties. Do we bring in a stopgap, in the hope that LaPorta becomes closer to the bigs from college, a la Ryan Braun? Or do we just buy free agent Eric Byrnes for, say $10,000,000 (IF that will be enough to land him) to play LF or RF? Aaron Rowand? Andruw Jones? Torii Hunter? Adam Dunn? That $13,000,000 freed up won;t necessarily go directly toward replacing Menchkins, I understand. But I'm excited about what Doug can do with that kind of money available to him!

Toward whom? Barry Bonds? Examples, please...

"Usually a Jenkins thread devolves pretty quickly!! " Not from lack of effort, MoneyBall! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif What took you so long, Brett? THREE replies until the Carlos Lee bashing kicked in? Must be getting slow in your old age! Because this IS a Carlos Lee thread after all. Oh, wait....

"Leads me to wonder, what would "Baseball Tonight" look like if Costas produced and anchored?" I think it would look much more like This Week In Baseball. TWIB does a terrific job of covering which players and teams are either really hot or cold, even if *gasp!* they play outside New York. They cover players from flyover states as equally as they do the Red Sox, but hey, Boston IS in first place, so... Given his measured approach, and desire for a balanced competitive playing field, I could see a Costas-produced BBTN as watchable again. No in-your-face hosts like Kruk, no New York-based writers assuming the rest of the country give's a rat's beehind about the t-shirt Alex Rodriguez's wife's wearing, no dumb-ass debates with Stephen A. Smith "umpiring", no Strong Opinions, some honest discussions of the effects of chemical enhancements and big money on the game, and the Yankees only given attention when they do something noteworthy, like beating a good team for once, and not fattening up on cellar-dwellers. But again, I suspect because Costas's views are NOT for sale, that he and ESPN will not hook up for a contract anytime soon...

I like Estrada, and it's entirely possible that his legs are hurting (hey, he IS a catcher). But the Rockies announcer, George Frazier, was calling the game last week. And when JE camped under a pop foul behind the plate, with Prince rumbling toward him, as the ball plummeted back to earth, Frazier noted that, instead of taking another step or 2, and making that an easier catch, Estrada reached for the ball, and it kicked off the tip of his catcher's mitt, for an error. George astutely pointed out that, if he were to give it an extra step, the ball would have fallen closer to his body, and the batter probably would have been retired, but... OK, maybe taking that extra step would have been problematic to his legs. Or not. And again, I still think JE is the best catcher we've had since Ted Simmons (he hasn't had much competition for that tile in 25 years, but hey...). But if he's hurt to the point that he can't strain for that extra step, then Damian Miller, who's healthy and always hustles, should be well-rested enough to take a start or 2 from JE until a) he's healthy enough to go all out defensively, or b) Estrada's ready to give it his all.

"(And my two cents on Costas is that he's too prissy sometimes, but give me his learned skepticism over Peter Gammons' whoring anyday.) " Perhaps Costas IS too prissy (or metrosexual), so I can understand when guys say he's not their cup of half-caff, no-foam, venti skim latte. But I think he has convictions, which he'll express, regardless of the repercussions, which is more than I can say about Gammons. And maybe this is why Bob Costas does not draw a paycheck from ESPN. To me, Gammons USED TO be a don't-miss source for interesting in-depth baseball rumors. But ever since ESPN became Yankee-ized (which began during the playoff brawls in Fenway, when Pedro Martinez grabbed Yankee team mascot Don Zimmer by his jug ears and lawn-bowled him down the first base line), the network forces its on-air "experts" to discuss and hype the Yankees first, which, to me, seriously undermines their credibility. I mean, c'mon, the Yankeees are a so-so team, who have just flexed their muscles against a Devil Ray team rife with nobodies, that's even worse than the last place White Sox. But this weekend, ESPNews not only led with New York beating Tampa as its top story, but then the anchor breathlessly reminded America "...but they're only 7 games out in the loss column!!" Now THAT's some quality whorin'!

" If he quit trying to make the outcome of every ball and strike call seem like the fate of the world hangs in the balance, he would be a better sports announcer. " First of all, that sounds a lot more like Tim McCarver! Anyway, Baldkin already beat me to most of my point here, but NBC Sports was taken to task in the media for its "plausibly live" coverage from the 2006 Turin olympics. (And no, I refuse to call it "Torino", as NBC wanted us to) Those extra hours bought their editors time to sweeten every puff piece they could come up with, kowtowing to the Oprah crowd, as these edited soundbites and interviews were served up in prime time during Sweeps Month in February, up against American Idol. In response, NBC chose to feature more women's skating and other XX chromosome sporting pursuits. Hell, if they were lucky, maybe a Kerrigan/Harding/Gilooley episode could flare up, and *cha-ching!* ratings gold! So, when you have a network trying to court the ladies to watch sports, and you have a few hours to punch up a vignette to be easier for Ford Excursion-driving soccer moms to digest (i.e., less sports-heavy and skewed toward more emotional feature stories), you do it. And Costas, contractually obligated to NBC to do so, was working as he was directed to do, when he read another touching story from the TeleprompTer about (insert American athlete's name here)'s sick sister. A waste of his talents? Absolutely. But Costas, perhaps because of his height, hair, soft-ish metrosexual demeanor, scores well with adult women viewers, as authoritative and well-spoken, and not a testosterone-fueled knuckle-dragging baboon like a Tony Siragusa.

"Buck's a latter day Costas. Neither one of them deserved the jobs they got when they got them.....Costas got (his job) for who knows what reason. " Brett: As has already been noted, Bob Costas did not have a father or grandfather who was in the radio wing of the Hall of Fame. He did the grunt work, covering sports in some unglamorous outposts throughout the 70's, 80's...up until now. While I won't copy and paste his career resume, impressive as it has been, I'd say it's safe to say he got where he is today by earning it, unlike Thom Brenneman, Chip Caray, Joe Buck and so many jocks-turned-color men. I'm not taking issue with whether you like him or not, but you'll have a real tough time finding people to agree Bob Costas doesn't have the qualifications and credentials to back him up. "He genuinely loves baseball and isn't a slave to espn or the Yankees. That puts him above almost everyone else working in sports today. " Again, you don't have to admire him (although I do), but it was so refreshing having another national voice denounce Bonds and call his pursuit of Hank's record what it is: a sham. And on the thought you brought up here, Pepsi, it would be amazing to hear someone at ESPN convey an anti-Bonds or anti-Yankee sentiment. Hearing Costas say what 80% of America feels (but never at ESPN) about Bonds was a rare treat. "His book was silly and superficial though. Why do sports journalists think personal observation trumps fact or serious research? " I bought Fair Ball, and found it fascinating, and anything but silly. No more 4-hour baseball games? Stop all the expansion? Salary Floors and Ceilings? Count us in! Agree with him or not, but the fact remains that this was an OPINION-based book. He obviously did plenty of serious research into how his theories could play out in MLB, and backed them up with plenty of facts, otherwise his book come off as genuine as something Paris Hilton's publicist dreamed up.

Great. Another "I hate this Brewer, because I say he was in a bar, acting badly" thread. Mods?

17 pitchers in there tonight? Parra left to bat for himself with 1 on, in the 8th? Skip? Wanna field this one?

"I doubt its just they adjusted to him and thats it, before the adjustment he's a .950 OPS SS and after he's a .650 OPS. That is just too extreme. Its a little bit of each factor. " I actually do. Put an athelete in a situation where he won't be facing any unfavorable matchups, and he should thrive. Take 'em away, and start feeding him pretty much nothing but uncomfy situations, and his productivity nosedives. If only JJ would have reacted by NOT swinging at all those high and outside pitches the first week he began seeing more of them, he'd probably draw walks on those palte appearances instead of striking out more often, and/or making so many more outs, and opposing pitchers would have to look for some other Kryptonite. I know, it's easy for guys like us to say how we would have just simply laid off what appear to be appetizing pitches, but Skaalen, Ned and the veterans on the team should have put the word in his ear, right away, that they're starting to see some ugly swings at some bad stuff. And if they did (hell, someone probably did), then it's JJ's fault, as HE's failing to listen. Why does that happen so often on this team?

Ned can do whatever he wants, since so many forget that the ballclub in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is inconveniently, in first place, and their manager must do what it takes to keep winning. I think it will become a moot point anyway, as Bonds will probably get only 3-5 plate appearances all weekend. He SAYS he doesn't care, and he can hit anywhere ... blahblahblah, but ESPN and Fox and especially Bonds himself, all want # 756 to come in San Francisco, where those fans will cheer him, regardless of how many baseball rules, criminal codes, and laws of physics he continues to thumb his nose at. ESPN and Fox desperately want to frame this moment in a cascade of cheers from those dopey Giant fans. A deafening chorus of boos as the ball sails toward the RoadRunner High-Speed Cable sign, is not the soundbite the networks want. If it came in New York? Maybe, but still, they want cheers, even if they have to do some sound-sweetening to get the effect they're looking for. So, Bonds may even hit the MUCH-less historical # 755 in Milwaukee, but he sits or draws walks, after that. Because what George Bodenheimer and Ed Goren want from Bud....they get.

Too bad I was travelling and out-of-pocket for the last few days, whic means I'm coming late to a VERY good discussion here. I agree with many of you, especially Loopee, that pitchers see JJ swinging and missing at high and outside crap, and wanna bet that's what he'll continue to see, until he lays off it? I don't attribute it to sore legs, bad luck, a tired butt, his sense of "derscholgn" or even fatigue, as JJ himself said. Just poor pitch selection on his part, and excellent reactive scouting on the part of our opponents. I don't even attribute this to the levelling off process, or regression to the mean. Sure, he was hitting way over what anyone expected from him in the first few months of the season, but as Fatter Than Joey said, that was because pitchers hadn't yet discovered his weak spot. Once they did, and he reacted so poorly, that's all he was going to get. Just imagine if they didn't find his soft spot! He'd have 30 homers by now. Like Logan said, I expected him to be around .280 with 15-20 HR's. If he hits 5 more the rest of the year, I won't be surprised, but if he reacts (Jim Skaalen? Are you in his ear about swinging at the high-n-outside junk?), he could hit 10-15 more, and his average can climb back to the upper .280s and perhaps beyond.

"It looks like there's bumpable stuff on ESPN2's schedule. " SO, Casey, baseball fans like you think ESPN2's content is, in your words "bumpable", eh? Was the 2003 Canadian Senior Triples Lawn Bowling Championships "bumpable?" Do you consider "Stump the Schwab" bumpable? That 2004 Poker Tournament, which was taped live in Portsmouth, Ohio?............................................... Sorry... [fixed the code in the quote --1992casey http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ]

If Ned would have pre-emptively pulled Bush before the HR and the single that day, then I'd grant you that he's doing something different. But the wheels always seem to come off the cart for DB in the 6th or 7th, and Ned should have sensed that earlier. As for his bullpen usage since the ASB, it sure helped that Derrick has been so solid, as well as the outings for CV (5 K's in 2 IP!), and the Sheets-saving performance by YoGa. If any of them falter, Ned's wearing the dunce cap, regardless of whether he deserved it or not. I did like the way he handled "Goosio" Vargas (any fellow MST3K mysties out there?) yesterday, though. Of course, it helped that CV was well-rested, and everyone else has been so tough to hit, lately. And if we jump out to a good 3-run lead tonight, I expect us to finally see Parra and/or Balfour in there as long as the game doesn't get too close. The fact that Ned hasn't turned to either of them yet tells me he's not confident in them, and he's playing it very cautiously against Arizona, which has worked out well so far...

I don't enjoy the same baseball statistical resources everyone else has at their workplaces, so... Aren't Dontrelle's ancillary numbers, like BA-against, K/BB ratio, OPS-against, etc. noticeably better than Capuano's? You'd have to think so. D-Train's a very solid, youngish and heretofore durable SP, and these days, that's a rare commodity. In an era when SoupCan gets $10.5 mil a year, Buehrle gets even more, and Zito gets more than that, I can see Willis being unaffordable for us to keep anyway, so it's a moot point...

Sounds like you lived in that Chicago neighborhood, too! Garish hat and all, this old character was still a sympathetic figure on our block. He was imprisoned in a POW camp after he was shot down in WWII, so you could understand the drinking problem and some poor wardrobe choices: From April to late September, he'd be out there in swim trunks, flip-flops, a still-black crewcut, and that damned hat, listening to the Cubs, and pounding a Schlitz, occasionally washed back with a shot of Cutty, straight form the bottle. He was a hero for his wartime service, but also because he once physically chased our precinct captain out of his backyard with his rake.

"And its not like Willis is anywhere near as good as Sheets anyway, he's a 4 ERA guy in a big park." For his career, The D Train is a 3.61 ERA guy. This is his worst season, and he's been struggling with forearm tendonitis for the last few months. His contract's ending and he's also on the trading block, which doesn't help. He's never been a 4 ERA guy up until the last few months, and he's been hurt. "The only pitcher I think we'll get that can match his numbers is Gallardo personally. " Gallardo can match Ben Sheets, already?

"They allow those Miller Lite cowboy hat abominations in, but they won't let ya wear a bucket? Boo! " This week, DirecTV is giving me every game, so I've been watching, and I see the cameras don't miss a chance to pan over to those Miller Lite cowboy hats. Those crappy contraptions are about as cool and dignified as that floppy crochet beer can hat the sun-baked drunk across the alley wore every day back in the 70's. Imagine if those cowboy hat affronts to good taste were fashioned out of Budweiser boxes. Would they be shown on TV and not be banned? And as our new friend, number59 mentioned, if they didn't outlaw buckets on the head when the team's been awful these past 14 years, and then start prohibiting them now when the team's good, that sends a bad sign. Bandwagon jumpers welcome....long-suffering fans who've had to resort to wearing metal headgear to keep their enthusiasm up, are not.....because this ride will never end, and the Brewers will always be this good...

"As for hockey: one of the Stanley Cup games on NBC lost in the ratings head-to-head against 'Build a Better Burger' on the Food Network. The NHL cut its own throat long before ESPN dumped them.' Of course, pe, but as I wrote up the thread, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy with ESPN vs. the NHL. If the controller of all things sport in the US were to devote more than just a cursory 10 minutes a week, Thursday nights at 9 PM with Barry Melrose, that would help right there. If their talk shows (radio, TV, web) were to ever bring in NHL stars and let America get to know them better = better TV ratings, the sport would stand a chance. And especially if they'd stop trying to marginalize the sport out of existence, by mocking it, hockey could have at least had a chance to rebound. But the game broadcasts are NOT licensed to ESPN, so the network does nothing to give them the light of day.

Nice venom there, Jazzy. Keep posting here! The reason Kobe makes their list, is because he's got playa cred. He was doing some very NC-17 things with a girl who was age 17?, and how did he play it? By dropping $4 million in bling on his woman in exchange for her silence. He was able to get away with it! www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5861379/ Michael Jordan? Juanita eventually divorced him, but not until she got their estate here in Highland Park. Court testimony www.state.il.us/court/OPI...032152.htm shows that Karla Knafel indeed had an intimate relationship with MJ, and he paid his way out of that mess, too. Tom Brady's new girlfriend's birthday is on the same day his baby with another woman, is due, and ESPN laughs. These guys sell attitude, image....and apparel and other merchandising to the coveted 18-34 male demographic. And if you can score high Q ratings with that group, up goes your ESPN Who's Now? rankings. I'll bet you that if you took a gander at the weekly covers of ESPN The Magazine, at least half feature a scowling athlete, in a menacing pose (usually with arms judgmentally folded) often framed by darkened "ominous" lighting, looking down at you (multiple tattoos optional, but encouraged!). The tough-guy image is what they're peddling. And if an athlete is a New York player, all the better. This latest effort by ESPN to fill airtime with old highlights of players they want us to watch is just another way to push their various agendas. Want to bet that no hockey player makes it past Round 1 of Who's Now? And my money says they'll have a final 4 which features some combination of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Terrell Owens, Kobe Bryant, Roger Clemens and/or Barry Bonds.

Brian's putting it lightly! These are only some of those I could find... "Arizona will use De La Rosa, who's ready right now, in their rotation to replace Schilling!!...........Roberto Alomar to sign with St. Louis to replace Vina..........A-Rod's complicated trade to the Red Sox will be finalized this weekend............Jorge Posada for Tim Hudson........The Yankees are looking at sending unhappy Javier Vazquez to Florida for AJ Burnett.......The A's will give up Joe Blanton for Paul Lo Duca.......Bill Mueller to wind up with the Twins....Greg Maddux will likely sign with the Cardinals.......Andy Marte will thrive in Cleveland, a superstar, waiting to happen.......Gammons on ESPN.com: "Big Unit to LA Makes Sense"..........The A's are in the lead on signing David Wells......Boston will trade Alex Cora for Kaz Matsui............and the perennial favorite: Manny Ramirez will be traded this weekend! No, really, this time!" Meh.

First of all, Homer, you make a great point. I WOULD like to hear Dwight Gooden's take on this matter. He's an ex-Yankee (they DO tend to amazingly pile up the drug abusers don't they?), and a relative of Sheffield. But they didn't seek out HIS opinion, because I'd bet he'd defend his nephew, and that would be in contrast with their pro-Yankee stance. "Torre's plays favorites. His favorites are the players that got him rings. As it happens there is a number of black players who helped Torre get rings and they tended to be treated well by Torre." In 2001, after no Yankees were votes to start by the fans, Torre went to work, naming 6 Yankees out of the remaining 22 choices...leaving 8 teams (half of the AL!) to be represented by only 1 player. So when Darryl Strawberry goes on about how fair-minded Torre has always been, you need look no further than the fact that Torre picked only ONE Red Sox player, but added Mike Stanton to be an All-Star that year!

I like the way this thread is morphing! Here are a few cogent thoughts I admired: "ESPN is doing to itself what MTV did to itself long ago. The previous poster was right on--it's not about good sports info anymore--you can get that anywhere. But Who's Now? Only on ESPN. " This is SO true. I just wish there could be a way for the FCC or Congress or the Ladies Red Hat Club to unlock this monopoly that ESPN has on sports. The latest ugly trend for the BackBackBackBooYa network is contracting with trash sports leagues, in deals which, to no one's surprise, are ridiculously in their favor, as they control advertising, content, scheduling, etc. regardless of whether the American public WANTS to see this crap anyway. NASCAR, the WNBA, the X Games, indoor football...are all given better coverage than the NHL, because they can. It's a slippery slope when one network, THE only choice for daily sports coverage, decides what it wants to cover and what it wants to marginalize. I mentioned it before, but on The Dan Patrick Show, when the Stanley Cup Finals were going on, the show featured a mocking 10-second bit of "coverage" where resident screw-up Phil The Show Killer read results from the prior night's game, before being interrupted by the blaring saxophone theme from The Benny Hill Show. This suggested that it's a sport by and for, screw-ups, which is marginalized to a 10-second comedy bit. Why attack the NHL? Because they dared to lock out for a salary cap, their TV ratings are low, and most importantly, because they couldn't sign away their souls in a sweetheart deal for ESPN. So, in a self-fulfilling pre-emptive move, ESPN tries to portray the league as backward and amateurish. I'd like to never watch ESPN again, but in many cases, there's no alternative... " I agree...it's too bad ESPN's version of entertainment is garbage. Anyone seen the "Who's Now" segments of Sportscenter recently? I hope the producer who came up with that idea to force on viewers is now working for animal control somewhere. " The "Who's Now?" segments are begging for a parody. They're based on a made-up formula which is supposed to incorporate the athlete's success on the playing field, along with, get this, her/his off-court "appeal factors!" It just gives them an excuse to fill dead airtime with more Michael Jordan-tongue-out dunks, Barry Bonds homers and Roger Clemens taking bows in front of dimwit fans who are convinced THIS was the season he retires. Sickening.

If anyone caught another Dan Patrick-less Show yesterday, it was classic ESPN-in-full-Yankee-defense mode. This past week, the reprehensible Gary Sheffield played the race card again, directing his anger at Joe Torre. Kenny Lofton corroborated the story, and Sheffield also mentioned that Tony Womack could, too. Now I'm not here to agree/disagree with a man I revile as the Most Hated Brewer Ever. But what I do take issue with, is ESPN seizing upon a potentially inflammatory issue, which also, happily, involves the New York Yankees, and taking sides on what could have been a straight reporting story. Journalistically, it's OK to cover the story, no question. But what they did yesterday was to blatantly side with Torre, and by extension of course, Steinbrenner and the Yankees. By not-so-sheer coincidence, their choice to replace Dan Patrick was Yankee announcer/company man Michael Kaye. And Kaye was shameless. He chimed in with "...the story of the UTMOST (!) importance today is the Gary Sheffield matter, where he said..." Then Kaye took aim (paraphrasing). "This is a guy (Sheffield) who bounces from team to team, and you've got to wonder why. And Lofton? He was bittter, because he wasn't producing in New York. Womack? He was at the tail-end of his career as a Yankee, and was being replaced by Robinson Cano, so I could see his agenda." When reminded by a producer that Womack hasn't issued a statement either way yet, Kaye backstepped from Tony a bit, but he was still slobbering: "I've known Joe Torre for 12 years now, and you'll never find a nicer guy in baseball. Fair-minded, never played favorites... And after this break, we're going to chat with a guy who's played for Joe Torre, and who's genuinely a great guy, Darryl Strawberry!!" When he built up that introduction, I thought he'd bring in a Bernie Williams or a Scott Brosius or even St. Paul of O'Neill. But migod, Kaye's character witness is none other than a wife-beating, multiple drug offender, who has been (still is?) employed by the Yankees as something of a mascot, after Don Zimmer vacated the post. Someone who unfailingly, will defend Torre, Cashman, Steinbrenner, Costanza...anyone in the front office. To no one's surprise, Strawberry made Torre out to be a cross between Abraham Lincoln and Medgar Evers. Again, Sheffield is wrong to play the race card yet again, but I just wonder, if it were, say, Eric Wedge or Manny Acta (or any other manager, doesn't matter) who was accused of singling out certain players based on the color of their skin, ESPN would pounce on the story, but would they give the manager the same resources they have available to them, to defend him? We know that answer...