danzig6767

I saw his contract situation being a fairly large part of the discussion and mentioned multiple times, did it have to be in every single post to be considered relevant for you?

Yea Turner Hall is a nice cozy venue for seeing a low priced show usually

The Leafs are my favorite NHL team also. I won a 100 dollar bet on them during my teen years and thus they became my favorite team. Plus, besides what you said, they have sweet uniforms. http://leafsown.com/kidd.jpg http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/pimg/APInc/APNewsFeatures/2010/03/13/Oilers_Maple_Leafs_Hockey-59391.largeslideshow.jpg

I don't like the Gooden signing regardless if it's for the MLE, but do agree to many people are going overboard in calling the signing Gadzuric part two. Gadzuric was a contract that couldn't be moved for so long not just because of the dollars/years on the contract, it was also because he had no skills at all on the court that could be attractive to other teams. Gooden for his shortcomings is at least a good rebounder and can score decently, it's partly why he's been on so many teams. Granted, none of his previous teams ever had to try and trade him while on a long term contract at 6 million per, but if after a year or two the Bucks want to move Gooden, it shouldn't be some near impossible task as Gadzuric and his contract was.

I'll be very very disappointed if it comes out that Melvin didn't submit an offer for Haren, he's exactly what the Brewers need, especially when you factor in his reasonable contract.

Yea for me, that signing of Gooden is the biggest wildcard for both how good the team ends up being this year and how we'll feel about this offseason for Hammond a few years down the road. Ideally, Gooden will be solid for the Bucks this year and next, but Sanders develops well over that time and then someone is willing to take Gooden's contract off our hands.

I feel it's stupid to retaliate because *in my opinion* it never 'sends the message'. If it did, wouldn't Larrusa's guys not get hit, ever? Wouldn't Ozzie Guillen's guys not get hit, ever? Retaliation doesn't EVER end with a "you got us and we got you so now we're finished". It usually escalates until 2-3-4 guys are hit, someone's hurt, and a handful of guys are fined and ejected. If someone has empirical proof that retaliation keeps their guys from getting hit in the future, I'd love to hear it, because I honestly don't believe it one bit. Come on, why try making your point with such extremes that aren't even remotely realistic? I specifically said instances where i felt it was clear to me that an important player of mine was drilled, not every day hit batters. Even if Tony or Ozzie went out in the media and said they'd have a pitcher drill an opposing hitter in the face for each time one of their batters were hit, some Cardinals or White Sox would get hit because the high majority of hit batters are accidental. Instructing retaliation in those kind of instances i find ridiculous. In the instances though where a manager has pitcher drill a batter like in the case of Prince the against the Braves and similar crap like that happens sometimes during a season, your damn right i'd return in kind unless baseball starts consistently cracking down better on this. If a manager never responds when bush league intentional drillings of their important players happens and if MLB isn't preventing it, what reason would an overly aggressive manager have to even think for a second to not throw at one of our guys? I'm sure you'd rather there weren't i'm angry over something so i'll throw at a top hitter managers out there, but there are, we've all seen it many times. I simply wouldn't let those types feel they can intentionally throw at my hitters with impunity unless taking the high road was rewarded by MLB handing out suspensions. If instead you would just sit there in the dugout each time supposedly taking the high road at intentional drillings, that would be your decision, but i wouldn't appreciate it if i was those players getting drilled.

I'd much rather use Braddock in the setup man role for at least two more years and seeing how his arm holds up before even considering him in a starting role. Maybe then it could make sense to try the switch. C.J. Wilson in Texas was a RP for his first five seasons before trying him in the rotation this year and he's been very effective, so it's not like if Baddock was used in the pen for a couple of years that he has to stay in that role permanently. Plus, while starters are obviously more important than relief pitchers simply because they throw so many more innings, back-end of the bullpen pitchers aren't without importance as we saw early in this season as Hawkins and Hoffman's terrible struggles was a significant role in burying the team. A cheap young duo of Braddock and Axford the next two/three years or so handling the 8th-9th innings could be fun to watch, but obviously somehow the rotation and team defense will need upgrading for those two to be closing out important games instead of as things are now.

I would keep him in the rotation like others would given the Brewers are out of it, but i'm really losing hope in that Manny will ever turn it around. The guy throws 92-95 and hitters consistently seem to rip his fastball like it was 85mph instead. I've heard others say his fastball is too straight, but tons of effective pitchers throw a very straight fastball. Sheets threw a very straight 4-seam fastball. Gallardo throws his fastball straight as an arrow. So does Axford. Watch most pitchers in MLB that throw hard, their 4-seam fastball is as straight as the one Manny throws. His problem is almost entirely command, instead of regularly hitting the corners as Sheets did and Gallardo does now, Manny leaves his over the plate to much. He also throws a curve, split, and change, but he doesn't have consistently good command of any of his secondary pitches. Maybe if Manny went to the pen and tried mastering just one of his secondary pitches instead of having mediocre at best command of three secondary pitches, he'd be more effective? Lastly, i wonder if is very over the top motion is partly why lefties kill Parra along with his command issue? It's hard for any lefthander to be effective when they can't even get lefthanded hitters out at a good rate.

Yea i think it can sometimes make teams or other managers think twice before doing something as ridiculous as the Braves did toward Prince. Now i'm not talking about retaliating every time one of your hitters gets hit because most times i do think a hit batter isn't intentional and responding to that is ridiculous. I'm talking about when another team intentionally throws at one of your better hitters simply because they for whatever reason have a bug up their butt over something they deemed inappropriate. Especially if the pitch is thrown above the waist at your player. If baseball isn't going to consistently take real action in these kind of instances and i'm a manager, i'd want that other team/manager to know that if you pull crap like that and drill hard one of my important players which could cause injury, then you better be willing to except the consequences for that when one of your important hitters steps in the box and the potential harm your decision put that important player in. Like i said before, i'd much prefer MLB started taking a stronger stand on this stuff instead. If they aren't though, you and others are free to believe that it's stupid to retaliate and instead should just suck it up and take the high road, but i wouldn't be that way if i'm managing. The Brewers have a lot of money at stake with guys like Prince/Braun and i simply wouldn't just sit back and let any other team or manager think they can intentionally throw at them whenever they pleased over silly socalled unwritten rules or whatever caused it without any fear that one of their key guys would also soon be facing a hard baseball throw at 90mph would have their name on it.

So long as MLB does a better job at policing this stuff, then i agree with you. If they won't though and i'm a guy like Prince or Braun, i'd rather have a manager that i know will retaliate for intentional beanings like happened in Atlanta so opposing teams think twice before throwing at me.

While that could be an appealing scenario for the Bucks, the problem is that next years potential free agent class is flat out terrible. If Carmelo signs an extension with Denver as many expect him to do, there aren't really any big impact free agents that could be available. The next most appealing player would probably be Al Horford, but he'll be a restricted free agent meaning the Hawks could match any offer and likely would do so. That's partially why so many teams tried to have cap space for this years free agent class. Not only were there a bunch of impact free agents this offseason, GM's knew that the 2011 free agent class would be terrible. This is the 2011 potential free agent class, unrestricted and restricted. http://www.realgm.com/src_freeagents/2011/

I don't like at all the amount of hitting batters on purpose that goes on in baseball, especially how some managers seem to view almost any hit batter situation as intentional that needs retaliation. That said, i do wonder if Macha being so less inclined to instruct retaliation that does it lead to guys like Prince getting hit more often as was the case the other night? Take a manager like LaRussa. He seems to have his pitchers throw at the other team whenever he feels someone hit one of his guys wrongly or for his belief of showboating. It bothers me sometimes. That said, if a pitcher on another team threw at say Pujols or Holliday in the manner they threw at Prince in Atlanta, that other team would know that it's almost 100 percent certain that LaRussa would send in a relief pitcher to drill one of the better hitters on the other team hard. That might make the other team think twice about even throwing at one of the Cardinals better hitters in the first place because it then will be putting one of that team's better players at risk when they next stepped into the batters box. As i said before, i'm no fan at all of this intentionally throwing at hitters crap, but i can see where some of these managers that are more known to consistently retaliate would end up preventing some of these intentional beanings of his players simply because the other manager would have to worry that one of his own hitters very likely would end up getting hit in return and 90mph fastballs can easily injure any batter who gets hit.

Those guys are mostly brutal. I say Hart to first. Outfielders are easier to find. I'll say Braun to 1st. In the offseason, the Brewers will have more money than they can spend. I'm not sure if either will be a great investment, but the team could easily afford Jason Werth or Carl Crawford. I hadn't thought about moving Braun to 1st if Prince was traded, but it is an intriguing idea. His bat carries to first and if he could play the position decently, it removes one of the multiple bad defenders on the team. At some point Melvin has to address upgrading the Brewers defense if he wants to see the team get to the postseason again before he ends up getting canned.

In general i agree. It gets on my nerves when some managers have their pitchers drill a guy on the other team almost each time one of their guys gets hit as if accidental hit batters don't happen. It can really get ridiculous. In the case of Fielder the other night though, that was completely uncalled for by the Braves/Cox and if i was managing the Brewers, i'd have sent out say Villanueva and have him return the plunking and not a soft one. Sometimes a hit batter situation is so egregious as in the case of Prince that a manager can't just sit back and hope the league office takes action for him. Plus, whether some fans think it's stupid or not, i'm sure some of those players will hold it against a manager that seems to never instruct a pitcher to retaliate. After throwing at Fielders head and then drilling him in the back with a 95mph fastball, i'm surprised that Prince didn't go to the mound, he IMO would have been entirely justified in blasting that pitcher.

I also like to listen to Bill Simmons, but for whatever reason, man any podcast from ESPN drags my computer down to a crawl and no other podcast on other sites cause the same.

I could be wrong here because i'm far from a cap expert, but i believe the Bucks only have a 2 million dollar exception to use on a PG. If that's true, it really limits the pool of players for them to go after.

No. The Lakers have won 2 titles in a row with trash at the point. Chalmers is already better than what they had, plus Wade and LeBron are both among the best passers in the league. Their bigger problem will be a guy who can legitimately play center. I think they're good on the perimeter, especially if Mike Miller joins the team. No team has any combination of perimeter players anywhere close to LeBron, Wade, Miller and Chalmers. Even if they add the worst guard in the NBA (Jennaro Pargo? Royal Ivey?) to fill out the rotation they are still way ahead on any other team. If they get a competent player like Jason Williams or Carlos Arroyo instead, that would be excellent. As for big men, Joel Anthony is horrible and useless and I hope he leaves. That would leave the Heat with just Bosh and their 2 2nd round bigs, Dexter Pittman and Jarvis Varnado. I'm actually pretty high on both of those guys but it's a tall order to expect a 2nd round big man to be able to contribute much in his rookie year. Ben Wallace would probably be the ideal pickup but I don't know if he would be interested in Miami or in taking the minimum. If not him, Kurt Thomas or perhaps even Kwame Brown would a nice pickup. Udonis Haslem is undersized and would likely eat up the Heat's 2011 MLE but he wouldn't be necessarily be a horrible option either. Really, if the Heat come out of this somehow with Miller, Arroyo, Williams, Wallace, Haslem, and Thomas to go with the big 3 and Chalmers, they won't lose 5 games. Miller is rumored to be happening. Wallace and Haslem probably aren't too likely but the other guys could happen (they've all played for the Heat before and are likely looking at near minimum deals wherever they sign). I agree with you Joe that the only main concern for the Heat is finding some reasonably capable bigs to fill out the roster. All the need from a PG is the ability to help handle the ball a bit and hit open threes, James and Wade will be the creators on offense. If they can add say 2 bigs that can defend and rebound decently, then they'll be ready to roll. That said, i'm not sure i'd make them the favorites yet for this year. After this season though, they'll be able to put better role players around their big three.

He throws righthanded As for how Gamel was treated by Macha, i wasn't a big fan of it either, but bottom line is highly thought of prospects have got sent back down to the minors for a variety of reasons over the years and the simply gotta suck it up and perform to get back up. His numbers so far this year are very disappointing, especially the .392 SLG.

I'm generally not picky either who calls sporting events i watch. That said, if given the option to replace Schroeder with someone like Cirillo, i'd be all for it. I've grown tired of Bill saying the same stuff over and over and over again. For example, nearly every damn time a 3-2 pitch is thrown and taken by a hitter, Bill says how could he take that pitch? Doesn't matter if it resulted in a walk, Bill let's us know that basically he would never take a 3-2 pitch unless it was gonna hit him in the face. In the end though, even if i'd prefer Bill be replaced, he's not annoying enough to make me turn the sound on mute and if i'm buzzed, some of his dumb comments can crack me up.

Dude, that's not even funny. Do you realize how epic that .02 points has turned out to be? You probably, do, and are just making me relive the horror. The Brewers had Mike Trout targeted last year, and the Angels picked him 1 spot in front of us. If we would we gotten the Yankees pick, we'd have drafted Trout, who is having 1 of the greatest 1st full seasons of any HS draftee in recent history. He is hitting 362/453/528 with 43 steals in 51 attempts while playing good defense in CF. Well that's just depressing. I'd rather have not known that haha. Uggg, i never heard that and if true that blows big time given the struggles of Arnett. Time will tell what Trout will do going forward, but i remember one day Ted Thompson i believe talked about when he worked under Ron Wolf, the Packers had Ray Lewis on the phone to tell him they were going to draft him with the next pick. They even had Lewis written on the card to turn in. Then on the TV screen they see Baltimore take Lewis. Thompson said Wolf was flustered and he ended up taking the LT Michaels from USC who was a bust. One pick away from a HOF player.

That is losing baseball trying to play small ball to score 3 runs. Better pitching would certainly be welcomed as well as better defense but bunting and stealing bases is not anywhere near the problem with this team. The core issue is Jack Z and Melvin drafting for offense and nothing else and I get why they did it. The second issue is we are still early in the rebuild, we are still on the first set of players drafted and it is usually the 2nd set of players that are the ones that put you on the map long term. Rebuilding a sad organization is a 10-15 year project. It's a 10-15 year project if the owner makes bad decisions in who he hires as his GM.

Yea elite true superstars are so incredibly valuable in the NBA, more so than in any other sports. Whatever they get paid, they are underpaid in regards to actual value they bring. Guys like James and Durant should make double or triple what Joe Johnson does if salaries weren't capped. As for the Bucks, i'd want no part of Iverson. Anyone know if Shuan Livingston is an unrestricted free agent?

Yea our current infield defense is terrible, Braun is very below average in left, and Hart misplays balls all the time to go along with a very inaccurate arm. Gomez sure doesn't look like he'll ever hit well enough to play everyday in CF, whoever is the everyday guy in CF better be a quality defender if largely the same group of position players are brought back because i see no reason to believe that any of Fielder, Weeks, McGehee, Braun, or Hart will show significant defensive improvement next season.

The way that trade backfired on Atlanta is one reason why i highly doubt the Brewers could get a package that good. Mix in that most big spending teams that might be willing to pay Fielder don't have a big need at first base, i don't think there would be a line of suitors trying to outbid each other in a trade for him. Homer on 540 has interviewed Buster Onley and Jason Stark, both said that they highly doubt Melvin would be able to get a near Tiexeria like deal for Prince because there wouldn't be a bunch of teams after him and because of how highly teams today value young pitching that can be cheap for multiple years. Mix in Prince having Boras as his agent and him being poor defensively, i really fear that if Doug eventually shops Fielder, the offers will be underwhelming.