danzig6767

You really think teams are breaking down the door for Vargas? His value has increased slightly, but not dramatically, from when he was cut by Washington. Mike Maroth was traded a few weeks ago for a PTBNL. Multiple teams are after Lofton. I think it's fair to add a half a run at least to his ERA if you put Vargas on any team in the AL,so you're looking at a guy who would likely have an ERA in the 5 range or higher if Vargas pitched for Texas in that ballpark.I'm sure they would take that though given their struggles finding pitching,Lofton is a rental,and Vargas won't be overly expensive next year. They probably would prefer a prospect with a higher upside,but i can't see a team giving up a prospect of real value for Lofton. Maroth is an interesting counterpoint in that numbers wise,he's been pretty much a lefthanded Vargas with less strikeouts.

Of course it would be nice if the Cubs hadn't gone on their tear andwe had a nice 9-10 game lead,but one benefit for me at least,being in a tight pennant race makes the games even more tense and makes checking in on Cubs games more important. Obviously us making the playoffs is my main hope from this season and actually getting to watch the Brewers in playoff games would be a rush given i hadn't seen once since i was a kid watching the 82 Brewers.We do likely get to watch around 70 games of important baseball the rest of the season,i'm really going to enjoy the ride of daily games that finally matter this late in the season.The caveat of scoreboard and game watching of the Cubs is an added bonus for me. Not trying to preach here,but all Brewer fans should be sure not to forget to enjoy what's going on by playing games that matter alot after so many years where they didn't by now.Don't let a loss and/or Cubs win get you ultra upset,remember be happy that we finally have a reason to get all bothered by a loss on late July instead of wondering what quality veteran we can trade away to a contender.

The cubs seem to be playing all the teams that are playing like crap, their luck can't last. You don't win 15 of 20 games by getting lucky,they are a better team than they started out and not as good as they've been playing.

I like the middle deal although that might be a slight overpayment. How would it be overpayment and not giving up pretty much nothing? Gross hasn't proven anything except a nice 200 at bats last year where he didn't have to face lefties.Rottino is an overaged prospect who at best will be a bench player in the bigs.Zach Jackson is barely a prospect anymore,he's get beat up in AAA and didn't show anything impressive while up last year. If i'm Texas,i hit the reject button on that offer without a second thought and shop Otsuka elsewhere.If i didn't get a better offer,i just keep him over Gabe Gross and two fringe prospects.

When is the last time Baltimore had a really good starting pitcher or a good rotation? Can't see any reason they would trade Bedard unless another team made an offer so crazy good they couldn't say no.

I understand why Sheets is the main topic here,but i'm curious to see what happens if Balfour has a couple nice outings and looks impressive while doing so.

im more saying that bonds should not be dropping f bombs to reporters when he is on the verge of breaking sports greatest record Big deal,he's not the first athlete to be frustrated while playing poorly and to have a reporters question trigger a swear filled responce.Just because he's on the verge of breaking a huge record doesn't make him immune from letting frustration get the best of him.

Anyone know how much money the Cubs have to pay Kendall and if he has more time left on that horrid contract?

We already know he used roids to help him get the home run record.We already know his ego is bigger than his Mench like head. All the things constantly brought up about Bonds even if it's a total non-story like this was bores me silly.He's gonna break the record,some will respect him breaking it and many won't,minds are already made up about Barry.Creating a big story everytime he opens his mouth or even doesn't open it is the media craving for anything to talk about. I wish the media would just let him have his record and each individual fan can decide for themselves if they wanna respect how he went about breaking it.Plus,he won't be holding the record for all that long barring ARod not suffering a career ending injury.

hart would have had that I think so to

Why hasn't a guy like Joe Dillon received a shot by anyone in the bigs? I was just looking at the AAA stats and the guy has just mashed for three straight years.I understand he is over 30 and doing this in the minors,but wouldn't you think a guy who can post a 1.000 OPS three straight years in AAA be able to be at least a solid major league hitter on the cheap? For a guy like Dillon,are the odds ever against him getting another shot given his age even if all he does is beat up AAA pitching?Does anyone who follows the minors closely thing he'd produce in the majors if given a shot or is he simply an older guy that would be exposed facing pitchers his own age? (please don't put half your subject in the subject and the other half in the post. Make it easy to figure out what the thread is about from reading the title. -TC)

I understand why in todays baseball the walk and three run homer mentality is the main style of play given the dearth of pitching and small parks. With that said,i love watching very very fast guys do things like hit triples,steal bases,or fly around the bases after another batter gets a hit.From just an entertainment perspective,i'd love to have a Carl Crawford type on the Brewers.Ford most likely won't ever be that good,but i'd love to see speed like his at Miller Park one day if he develops enough to make it.

Unless the Reds really want to shed themselves of Griffey's contract,i'd just keep him if i was them vs trading him for basically Gwynn and Cody.

When i saw Roger Waters at Summerfest,i couldn't help but think he looks a bit like an older Yost minus the baseball cap. http://chordsoflife.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/roger_waters.jpg

I came accross this story by accident today while reading JSonline,so i went to google for more details via a Florida paper.I know it's almost easy to become desensitized to crime from out of control teenagers,but wow this story is amazingly brutal and i can't fathom how people reach a point where you can do something this depraved. www.floridatoday.com/apps...07006/1086

As far as the current situation goes, I don't think Yi ever plays for the Bucks, and that's too bad...but I don't blame the Bucks for drafting him. I think he will eventually 1.The owner of his rights in China would have to allow Yi out of his contract so Yi can sit out a year without getting professionally paid,or else Yi can't go back into the 2008 draft.That would mean he loses his cut of Yi's money that comes from say signing with the Bucks this year. 2.Yi can't play any basketball except with the national team or else he can't go back into the 2008 draft,not good for his development. 3.He loses a year of NBA money and a year of development against NBA players. 4.There was a poll in China where 68 percent of people there felt he should sign with the Bucks and i actually read a Chinese message board translated into English.I was suprised at how many were on the Bucks side and how many felt Yi was making China look bad.Plus,many basketball fans outside of Milwaukee in the US are viewing him as a prima donna who should prove himself on the court before making demands.None of this helps his marketability. 5.China wants him developing as a player in preperation to the 2008 Olympics being held in China.He'll get alot better playing an NBA season than by only practicing against his crappy Chinese teammates. 6.Sitting out a full year and slowing his development still won't assure Yi that he'd end up on one of his prefered teams in the 2008 draft.Teams he's prefer may not want to draft him in 2008,may not be in the position to draft him,or an "undesirable" could draft him on the belief that Yi/his handlers wouldn't be insane enough to sit out a second season. Two years of little organized basketball would be terrible for his development as a player and if he shunned two teams as an unproven player,i think the backlash would be tremendous.He'd being sitting out all this year only to enter the 2008 draft with absolutely no certainty that he'd get drafted by a team he desires. My guess is they drag this out,but there is plenty of downside in him sitting and i just doubt it happens.I'm around 90% he's in the NBA this season and about 75% it's with the Bucks.

Basketball is much more a team game than baseball,just aquiring talent won't win if the pieces don't mesh together.Harris seems ok at aquiring talent,but not at building a team. With that said,Harris isn't like a Packers GM where they are given full power to aquire players and coach.He has Herb Kohl butting in and owners aren't the talent evaluators they believe they are. My guess is we are seeing the last year of Larry Harris running the Bucks.

I think your overrating the effect of stolen bases. A stolen base never drives in a runner from 1st. The impact of stolen bases is very minimal. We aren't trading for Crawford,so i don't really get into debating over trades that have almost zero percent of happening. With that said,i do notice that in general,whenever guys like Crawford or any very fast player is brought up,the only real talk about their speed is how much value are stolen bases worth.Extremely fast baserunners like Crawford bring value on the basepaths besides being able to steal. They can go from first to third on some singles that a Jenkins like player has to stop at second.They can score from first on gappers that a Jenkins like runner has to hold on third.They can score from second on some singles where a slower runner has to stay at third.They can tag from third where slower guys can't along with tagging from second on balls a slower guy has to hold.They can force errors from infielders and outfielders that rush throws or overthrow because they know the ball has to be out quicker than if an average runner was running to first or trying to advance on a hit. Lastly,talk of steals often compares say a steal of second being worth less than a double,and that is true.Great basestealers like Crawford also steal thirdbase a fair number of times which creates many easier ways to score a run. As an aside from baseball value and strictly just from entertainment value,i love watching not only great basestealers,but fast great baserunners.When they are doing their thing on the bases,i find it a joy to watch along with extremely exciting.I wish there were more players like Crawford in the game.

ESPN has some flaws i don't care for,but i like seeing highlights.Whether it's Sportscenter/BBT/Football highlights,i'll watch because they provide the highlights i want to see. Guys like Kruk/Berman are annoying,but i'm not one to let game announcers or sports show hosts get me bothered enough to not see what i want to view.Kinda like Anderson and Schroeder,no way i'd hire either to call Brewer games,but just because they do a poor job i don't let them bring down at all the enjoyment i get from watching Brewer games. Now if they were the radio voices,then i'd be bothered by them quite a bit.

Not to turn this into a political-ish thread, but I would much prefer a Stewart interview with someone important, than say O'Really (deliberately spelled wrong) or Scarborough or just about anyone else doing the interview. I don't regularily watch any cable news show,but i have seen the Scarborough quite a few times and was impressed by him.I expected the guy to be your typical very partisan loudmouth that is the norm on cable news or talk radio,but he struck me as pretty fair. I get annoyed by and can't watch hosts that will be an utter hypocrite if their party or someone from their political side does something stupid or wrong,but the host will always defend them anyways.Scarborough when i've watched is willing to rip Republicans or Democrats alike and he actually has a sense of humor. As for Patrick,i can't picture him doing the Price is Right.

As stated, he's hellishly overpaid baseball wise, maybe by $10-12M. So he's worth 8-10 million a year in your opinion? I'm trying to figure how you possibly could think that for a top notch all around player in a market that is paying guys like Aubrey Huff 7 million,Carlos Lee 16 million,Juan Pierre 9 million,Suppan 10 million,JD Drew 14 million,Jeff Weaver 8 million,and Soriano 17 million. Baseball is swimming in money,8-10 million a year won't be buying you all that much anymore,certainly not a skilled all around player like Ichiro.The side benefits are another story and obviously add aditional value.

I'm no regular listener of his show,but i did here him talking about the Brewers and he put out the gem that the most important player on any baseball team is their closer.He followed that up by saying the the Brewers offense would be bad this year because we wouldn't have a .300 batting average hitter. That's all that i exactly remember from his commentary,but i do recall he also said some other pretty dumb things and wasn't impressed in the slightest with his baseball views.

It's possible Gwynn might hit like Roberts,but i highly doubt that Tony would ever be the basestealer Roberts is. Defensively i don't know how good Roberts is in CF,but i do think Gwynn looks to be an outstanding defensive player.Watching Gwynn play CF so far at least,he naturally takes great angles,goes back well,and has a nice arm.

Roberts pretty much put up his career numbers last year. And in the year prior his numbers were much better,the same for this season.I'm positive if you totaled all his at bats from 2005 through this season,they would be much higher than his numbers from 2001-2004.I'm to lazy to exactly calculate his last roughly 1500 (2005-2007) at bats vs his first 1500 (2001-2004) given he has nearly 3000 at bats,but by rough estimation First 1500--.265/.333/.360/.700 Last 1500--.305/.375/.460/.830 The reason for that is simple,he's a better player now than he was the first four years he was in the league.Not that this should be a suprise to see a young player get better as he matures physically and gets experience. Everyone can use what standards they prefer when evaluating/comparing players,i just in general am not a big fan of using career stats when evaluating a player in the present.Unless the stats for a player are very consistant from year to year with not much trending either way,all career stats tell is past performance and can very often tell a false story to what given players are in the now.

The problem isn't his spot in the order. The fact that he gets thrown breaking ball after breaking ball is because the book is out on Rickie that he is a dead-red fastball hitter...always has been It's true that he's struggled with offspeed stuff in the past also,but unlike this year,Weeks didn't swing at every crappy slider a pitcher threw to him. I'm sure he's in a mental funk right now like many hitter find themselves in at times.If though Rickie wants to see some fastballs,it would help if he stopped swinging at every slider/curve off the plate or in the dirt.Get the count in his favor instead of hacking at all the garbage and make the pitcher throw a fastball. Weeks right now reminds me a bit of when Jenkins would get in one of those deep ruts.He'd swing at every slider down/in they threw,you just knew a K was coming if he got behind in the count.