NYChez

I miss the vomiting in the County Stadium bleachers, followed by clearing out a portion of the section, followed by the security guy coming out to spread the kitty litter.

Take a look at the Brewer roster from 10 years ago. Are you really saying that there were more likable Brewers back then, then now? The Brewers haven't had as many intriguing figures in a long time. http://www.baseball-refer...com/teams/MIL/2000.shtml

I would not start Escobar, Gomez, and Hart at the same time. One out of Counsell, Edmonds, and Gerut should be starting every game and batting 2nd. The alternative is to just eliminate the black hole and bat Braun and Fielder 2 and 3 behind Weeks. That would get you the additional 18 at bats for the season for each of Ryan and Prince.

Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover guy)

Molitor, Yount, and Gantner are the only position players to spend 15 consecutive seasons on the same team. There, we have the record again.

Best retaliation: trade for a knuckleballer before the Brewers' first series versus the Giants and bring him in to plunk Zito.

In your chart, I'd put the White Sox and Tigers in the "majority". On a long-term basis, they're not in the same category as the Angels, Cubs, etc. I'd also consider moving the remaining "tier 4" teams into the Red Sox category.

It's funny that his Baseball Reference most identical match is Joe Oliver, a catcher the Brewers picked up in the '90's at a similar career stage. He had one good season left. Hopefully Zaun has the same.

Guess I won't be going to a game there. My making out with Joe Mauer's girlfriend would violate the Minnesota Twins Fan Code of Conduct.

Anybody have a photo of it while it was showing a replay or video? I saw some Halloween display that had some blurry black and white pixeled video the other night, and it reminded me of the 1940's-quality board at our old ballpark. I still loved the thing.

My #1 game was the Friday night versus the Cubs when Braun took Heilman deep in the 8th to turn 2-1 into 3-2. That was also Trevor's coolest save. I think he threw 6 straight fastballs painted on the outside corner, with Frank Drebin (the umpire from Naked Gun) with exaggerated strike calls.

As part of the Chapter 11 fallout, Alfonso Soriano is now majority owner of the Cubs. Milton Bradley is minority owner.

I found myself rooting for Philadelphia in their game in Colorado last night, which surprised me because I don't particularly like the team. The reason: they are an interesting team and will make the remainder of the playoffs more interesting if they're involved. A Yankees / Phillies World Series would be much more interesting than Yankess / Rockies. I'm not a big fan of ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd, but I agree with a point that he makes frequently: if you can't be good, at least be interesting. There are only a handful of interesting teams in baseball. The Cubs, Red Sox, and Yankees are interesting because they're the Cubs, Red Sox, and Yankees (people love them or hate them). Other teams have to work to make themselves interesting. The Dodgers are interesting because of Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez (more so before the steroids scandal). The Cardinals are interesting because of Tony LaRussa and Albert Pujols. The Phillies are interesting because you never turn the channel when Ryan Howard is batting (and because they have a few top-notch guys like Utley and Rollins). It doesn't hurt being World Series champions. That brings us to the Brewers. I think they're perceived as being one of the most interesting teams in baseball. I think the main reason for that is Prince Fielder. Imagine where this franchise would be without Prince Fielder. There would be no playoffs. There would be no CC Sabathia (we wouldn't have been a contender). There would be no Hells Bells (we couldn't afford him). There would be 2 million fans instead of 3 million. There would be no "untuck 'em". There would be no Home Run Derby. They'd be in the "interesting zone" of an Arizona Diamondback or Texas Rangers - not interesting at all on a national basis and just marginally interesting locally. Because the Brewers need Fielder to be interesting, Fielder has more value to the Brewers than he has to the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs - or any other team that has interest in, and can afford to pay him. Fielder puts fannies in the Miller Park seats - the other teams already have full seats. The Brewers cannot afford to become uninteresting. They cannot afford, at any price, to not sign Fielder long term.

My only concern was Yo getting through the season healthy. If he does that, he'll be fine.

And all of us should have gotten out of the stock market and sold our houses in 2007.

The Yankees can't sign Fielder. They have Teixeira at 1B and A-Rod could very well be at DH by the time his days making $25 Mil + in NY wrap up. Having the Yankees out of the bidding will help the Brewers' chances immensely.

Back in the old days, guys didn't start hitting 73 home runs when they turned 40. Yount may have been one of the last MVP's prior to the steroid era becoming in full bloom.

A follow up question wasn't necessary because Yount was simply stating a fact. How could anyone, including Selig, challenge Yount's claim?

If they had a hall of fame for middle relievers, then Weathers would be one of the first inductees. Good pickup which should help save Coffee's arm and inprove everyone's effectiveness. If the Brewers were to have any chance to make a run the next 2 months, then this deal had to be made.

None of the ex Brewers on the Rays roster would have a significant role on the Brewers, except Balfour who was traded (in a pretty even deal) for McClung.

Forget about his lack of power, speed, and other "tools". I am just in awe of how many things Counsell does right. Every at bat he takes a perfect approach. If he's leading off an inning, he will take pitches unless there's a pitch exactly in his zone. With guys on base he will patiently wait for his pitch and take a chance and rip it. Counsell just never gives away an at bat. In the field, Counsell plays three of the most difficult positions in baseball pretty much flawlessly. On the bases, Counsell never makes a mistake. Minus a little speed, power, the beautiful swing, and the porn stache, and Counsell is the 21st century version of Robin Yount - the guy you watch if you want to learn the proper way to play baseball.

Would the Yankees and Red Sox spend that type of money on a 1B/DH even though they already have Teixeira and Youkilis?

The highly successful mid-2000's Red Sox teams had offenses consistently of a dominant Ortiz/Ramirez middle of the order, a couple other good hitters in Damon and Varitek, and dime-a-dozen guys like Bill Mueller, Keith Millar, Trot Nixon, Mark Bellhorn, and Doug Mietntkiewietz. If the Brewers sign Fielder to a huge, long-term deal (I think it's better than 50/50 than Mark A will force this to happen even if Melvin objects), then this could be the approach. The other 6 spots in the lineup would be cheap guys from the farm system or journeymen veterans. This would involve letting everyone else walk (Hardy, Hart, Weeks) now and through the end of Fielder's and Braun's deals. They might even need to trade guys who hit arbitration, not just when they hit free agency. All the other money spent on the team (besides Fielder and Braun) would go toward pitching. The question is: would this be a better approach than letting Fielder go, and instead of having $18 mil a year locked into one position, have $6 mil available to fill each of 3 positions? My feeling is that I can't imagine getting more bang for the buck out of $18 million than having a 1.000 OPS, 130 RBI, clubhouse leader who provides lineup protection for your .950 OPS, 115 RBI, face of the franchise. Being able to afford the likes of Mike Cameron, Braden Looper, and Trevor Hoffman wouldn't make up for the loss of one of the best hitters in the game - especially when considering that those are our successful big contracts. There's just as much chance that the extra savings would go to a Bill Hall or Jeff Suppan. Having two huge hitters and a bunch of youngsters and scrubs has a history of being a successful recipe. I hope we end up going that route.

Pitchers

CV just needs a week off. We went through this with him 2 or 3 years ago. He was dominant early in the season, and as the appearances mounted up he struggled, and then when they gave him some more frequent rest, he was good again. He is not a 70-appearance type of guy.