danzig6767

Even if they get this stadium, it's gotta be such a drag for the few fans they have to play in the same division as the two money printing machines in the Yankees and Red Sox.

I think Melvin saw the slim pickings and high price of relief pitchers in free agency and took a 3 million dollar flier on Mota. His numbers aren't pretty the last few years and odds are higher that Mota won't be able to be trusted in high leverage situations, but he does throw 95 and has experience. Relief pitchers often can be up and down from year to year, i think Doug is just hoping to get lucky with Mota and if he ends up being a bust, the price wasn't overly high.

The Brewers problem last year wasn't the offense, they were 5th in the NL in runs scored and they scored more runs than anyone in our division. They missed the playoffs because of their horrible defense, bullpen issues, and Ned Yost didn't help either. If you want to find a fault with the offense, it wasn't swinging for the fences, it was swinging to much in general. The Brewers need to take more walks.

When i watch Travon Hughes on the court, his body type, the way he moves, and how he looks on his crossover reminds me alot of Stephon Marbury.

I might take comfort in Mota's other stats if his ERA didn't stink the last four years

I remember seeing Mota pitch a few times the last two years and he still throws very hard, but for whatever reason, he just doesn't get people out like he used to.

I've always agreed with those that feel paying big money to a closer on a team likely to win say 70-77 games is like putting fancy rims on a car with terrible brakes and numerous engine problems. When it comes to teams to look like they should contend, then i start seeing some rational to pay quite a bit for a closer. It's true they don't pitch nearly as many innings as a starter, but in most games they do pitch, if they do their job you do win the game and many times when they don't, it's a loss instead. So let's say you have a contending team and closer A blows six saves on the season and the team loses four of them. Then lets say closer B was there instead and he blew 11-12 saves and the team ended up losing 7-8-9 of those games. Given how often division/wild card berths are so often decided by 1-3 games, those blown saves easily could be the difference between making or not making the playoffs. I'm not much a reader of all the saber sites out there, but i know i've seen sometimes where win values are given to player and how much money that roughly is worth per win. So how much cash in these formulas would a top notch closer be worth that causes say 3-4 less losses to a team? I also agree with those that say an 8th inning setup guy can be nearly as valuable as the closer because those three outs in the 8th are needed for a closer to get a chance to finish a game, but he gets less cash and glory for it. Saves no doubt are a pretty contrived stat. With that stuff said, at this time in baseball, all teams will use a closer. A better closer vs an inferior closer will win a team anywhere from 1-5ish extra games. Even though they pitch limited innings compared to starter or an everyday player, to me it seems their impact on a final record for a team can be pretty high individually even with their limited time on the field. Is a closer on a contending team in tight playoff races worth 10 million if they aren't turning many would be wins into losses? Say the 10 million dollar guy prevents three or four games from being losses compared to lesser closer making 5.5 million, that would seem worth the money to me. Agree or disagree? I ask because i find myself sometimes wanting to Brewers to just give Cordero 4yr/40 million if he'd take it and other times thinking, man that's to much for a closer that often only has to get three outs with a 2-3 run lead. Then i think of us getting someone else to close that struggles somewhat, costing the Brewers 2-3-4 extra games and us missing the playoffs by a game or two. My apologies for rambling and this post is a bit disjointed, but i'm struggling a bit to figure out what i'd like Melvin to do if Cordero would stay, but we had to offer 4yr/40 million. I generally feel the closer role is overrated and it's a dumb stat, but i'd be very leery of entering next year with a possibly shaky closer situation given i suspect the Brewers will be in a tight race again this year.

Me also

I have little doubt he will, baseball is swimming in cash and teams will spend it

When you're guessing at something in large volumes, being wrong quite often is almost inevitable.

The right way for the Pirates to rebuild is to draft better The only real major difference between the Pirates and Brewers is JZ drafted Fielder/Braun/Weeks/Hardy/Hart/Gallardo while the Pirates drafted a bunch of pitchers who either didn't pan out or got hurt. All those high draft picks and draft picks overall and not one really good positional player to show for it or a Gallardo level pitching prospect either.

My biggest concerns are depth at guard and the ability to score, but Ryan is a top notch coach ad trust the team will be solid.

You pretty much summed up my thoughts to a tee. Been awhile since i picked up a King book and don't really feel any desire to change that. My mother is an avid reader and gives me plenty of her books when she is done with them, but she's not a King fan so i haven't even thought him in awhile.

I wonder if Melvin checked into Lidge? I think Cordero is probably a goner and Lidge would have been a nice pickup if we didn't have to pay a heavy price in prospects. I know Lidge would get nice money in arby, but the bright side would be it's only one year while Cordero is likely going to want four years.

I have no problem with replay so long as it's handled quickly College football has replay and they almost always manages to get plays replayed in about a minute or less. Unlike pro football, the replay is done upstairs and a ruling is sent down quickly, the right call is then handed out. Baseball should be able to figure out a similar system.

I was telling my buddy to remember that the Packers Monday Night game would get moved up if there was a game five in the World Series.Then we got to wondering what if it was the Brewers in the World Series and it went up head to head with a 5-1 Packers team playing on Monday Night Football,which game would get better ratings in Wisconsin? Obviously a large percentage of local sports fans would have a firm grasp of the remote control flipping back and forth,but i wondered a few questions and i think i know how it would go,but i'm not positive about it. 1.Which game would get a higher rating in Wisconsin? 2.If the Packers got higher ratings in all of Wisconsin,would the Brewers World Series game get higher ratings though in the Milwaukee area? 3.If Wisconsin overall sports fans only were forced to choose and could only watch one of the two games,which one would get chosen more? 4.If Milwaukee area sports fans only had to pick one game,which would get chosen more? My guess is the Packers game would get higher ratings in Wisconsin,but the Brewers game might get a slightly higher ratings in Milwaukee The only sports fans picking a game questions i'm not as sure of.The Packers draw such huge ratings because so many non-sports fans or minor sports fans still love and watch the Packers,kinda like my mom and other people i know that don't really follow other sports, but watch the Packers almost every week. With people like that excluded and asking only Wisconsin/Milwaukee residents that like and follow all the major sports teams in the state to at least some degree,i really would have a harder time guessing.I think more in the Milwaukee area would pick the Brewers game,but question if the Crew could overtake the Packers in all of Wisconsin even if it would be the first World Series since 1982.

I'm so glad the Brewers are out of the AL,i can't remember the last time i watched an AL game that wasn't the playoffs.IMO if a team wants to have a Jack Cust,Travis Hafner,or David Ortiz,have them put on a glove and play baseball. So long as they keep the DH out of the NL,i don't really care if the AL keeps it.I don't see any huge advantage in the World Series for either side so if the AL wants to keep it,more power to them,it's not like i'll be watching.

I had a job for a little over a year where i absolutely hated the owner/boss.Her husband,the co-owner/boss was a great guy,but he was one of those wussy types who lets his wife control and walk all over him.Well everyone there hated his wife and during a very busy time,she fired a guy and another one quit.I for the most part had to cover for their most important clients plus mine and was putting in 65-70 hour weeks,yet the beotch had the nerve to give me her typical attitude sometimes,which her wimpy husband would apologize for. I finally had enough and decided to myself that i'm quitting.So i waited for a time when some of her critical clients stuff was due and had to be finished.She came up to me and asked how the work was coming along,work which i had purposely dragged my feet on,and i told her not close to being done and that by the way,i quit.The look on her face was priceless and she actually said,you can't quit.To which i followed with,yes i can and do.I didn't get to apologize to her husband on the way out which i regret. I generally never would quit a job without giving notice,not good for future references.That was an exception and about 3 months later i happened to get seated by her table while going out to eat.I couldn't help but smile as she glared at me,but did feel a bit bad for her husband sitting there with her.Part of it is his own fault for being a wuss,but he was a really nice guy.I can't imagine how miserable it must be to being around a woman like that all day at work and then having to go home with her.I'd stab myself in the eyeball with a fork before i'd live like that.

The year they won the World Series,the were down 3-0 to the Yankees.In that extra innings game,there were two balls hit by the Yankees that i still remember were about an inch or two foul that would have won the game and sent the Red Sox packing.Either ball hits the chalk line instead of being an inch or two foul,suddenly they aren't so clutch and Red Sox fans are left feeling they are cursed and the Yankees own them.

Yea the stadium shakedowns made the mafia look like chump change street panhandlers.All these cities though didn't do what could have been done,call the owners/the leagues bluff.There simply aren't many markets left that could support a baseball team,yet you had 3/4 of the league basically putting a gun to the head of taxpayers and threatening to move the team if a stadium wasn't built for them.If the cities all said no,what was baseball going to do,move 1/2 or 1/3 of long established franchises to smaller market cities with no long standing ties to baseball? Say Milwaukee,Cincinnati,Minnesota,Kansas City,Houston,Florida,Seattle,Philly,Pittsburgh,and San Diego all said screw you MLB,build your own damn stadiums and stop asking taxpayers to build them?What was baseball going to do,bail on all these cities and move to places like Des Moines and Nashville?On top of that,you had NFL and NBA teams also with their hands out threatening cities.Not enough had the balls to say no to what in most cases was just a bluff. Gotta hand it to these leagues.Looking back at how it all went down,i still can't believe they pulled it off.The timing was perfect though for it.Those were the Clinton years where the economy was bursting at the seams both locally and nationally,plus no wars going on.If the leagues tried pulling that now with mass amounts of pro teams wanting a new park/arena,they would get alot more build it yourself answers.

Brett I saw that you smoke.Did you know that Wisconsin is about to add a $1.25 tax to each pack of cigs?I still smoke,but cut back alot from a pack a day to less than a half a pack a day.Even though i don't smoke much,i buy my cigs on the internet,26 a carton for Marlboro Lights vs 40 a carton if i were to buy them from a store or gas station here.Once that new Wisconsin tax hits,they will be over 50 a carton.People who smoke alot are crazy if they don't buy them off the net given they are nearly half price. I know a lady that chain smokes,she said she smokes 3-4 packs a day,which is insane to me.She must spend about 250-275 a month on cigs and she isn't well off financially.I told her to buy her cigs off the net where she would save 8-9 bucks a carton,but she's not computer savy at all and doesn't trust buying stuff online.So she spends 33-34 a carton and buys two a week even though her brand online can be had for 22-23 plus shipping.I don't get it,she may as well light about 80 bucks a month on fire and once that tax hits,she'll waste nearly 180-200 a month.

I'm not a Yost fan,but agree with you Ajay that the piece in Hardball Times wasn't all that impressive nor written in a convincing fashion about Ned's faults.

My attempt at mind reading Doug when it comes to a professional hitter would be a high OBP guy that reaches that OBP via more a high batting average/solid amount of walks moreso than a guy with say a .260 batting average that walks a ton.Kinda like a Carlos Lee light type of hitter since obviously Melvin wasn't talking about a guy making truckloads of cash.A consistent .280-.300 batting average hitter who walks enough to carry a .350 plus OBP,some power included being an added plus.

Dane Cook being popular bugs me His special was on HBO and even though he sucks,i watched part of it.The parts i watched were painfully bad,yet everyone in the crowd was laughing like he was the second coming of Richard Pryor. I don't get his appeal at all

The current Red Sox team is tough for me I hate Boston fans and hate the Red Sox franchise,Curt Schilling is also one of my more hated athletes.I love nothing more than to see Boston fans suffer through any painful playoff loss,but i'm a huge fan of Manny and like Ortiz also.It cracks me up how Manny poses after his home runs and the goofy stuff he does in left field.IMO baseball needs more players with personality like Manny. I still hope the Red Sox say make it to the World Series and lose in some heartbreaking fashion in game seven,but so long as Manny is on that team i'll watch and hope he provides some it's just Manny being Manny moments.