Prince James

Man, how quick of a fall from grace for this guy. I know Branyan deserves to start right now, but Hall would have been platooning no matter what with the way he had been playing. I have always been a fan of Hall, but I never could have seen this dramatic of a drop off for him. I almost hope he is traded now for his sake, although I don't want to see this happen as a Brewers fan. Cincy might offer Jay Bruce for him just to get him off of our roster... I must say that I have been impressed by how he appears to have remained a positive person in the dugout during games. It sure seems like he just enjoys being there and he supports his team. Has he made any additional comments about this situation lately? I would be suprised if he has.

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/7fe15398861ebda35e7ca90696ee315113c764d.pjpg and http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/7a3156938c1fbaafa205489daf25dcbaafc274c.pjpg I cannot take credit for this, I found it on someone else's site, but it still applies. or maybe http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/7fe15398861ebda35e7ca90696ee315113c764d.pjpg and http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/aa6158978c17b0a0456d7fa1e6c4fcfde561c7e.pjpg

I work for a company that has a facility in Shanghai. It is interesting going over there, because everyone who speaks English takes on an Anglicized name. You get your Minnie's, Smythe's, Alex's, etc... However, the absolute best name of all my colleagues over there is: Robot Lo They pronounce it like Robert, but every bit of company documentation has his name written as Robot. I cannot tell you how excited I was to meet this man.

I agree with the post above about working the count. Cueto looked awesome last week, but make him throw strikes and be as patient as possible. He has had a little reputation of being wild in the minors at times. Try to get into his head. If he gets his confidence going, we may be in for a long evening. Pretty tough week for the Brewers this week with Cueto, Harang, and Santana.

Looking at this again, I agree with you guys. This was not an error by Lee. I actually kind of agree with getting rid of the error stat completely. How could a guy like Fukudome get an error for that bang-bang play where Rickie levelled Soto and Gwynn came in behind the play to score.

I actually think it did hit his glove. It bounced in front of him and it skipped over his head. Carlos Lee, that is.

Geez! I was just watching the Astros/Cubs game at Wrigley and saw Fukudome hit a line shot to left that got by Carlos Lee. 2 runs scored and they gave him a 2 RBI double. The ball hit the ground in front of Lee and he should have had it, but it bounced past him to the wall allowing the second run to score. It really should have been an error. Didn't Fukudome also hit the double off of Braun which should have been an error on Braun? Is this normal to happen at a home park or do these things get modified later? None of this matters so long as the Brewers win, but I just wanted to know.

I am stuck over here in The Netherlands, but YAY!, I can actually get the tv broadcast of the game since it is only a national blackout. Hello Brewers' game tomorrow... Anybody else find the Bush interview painful to watch?

So should our previous GM as well (his name slips my mind at the moment...)

I want to play: 1) A 'Soy Dog' will be added to the Sausage Race to appease Prince, and it will win its first race. 2) The Brewers will have a road record greater than .500 3) None of our "excess" pitchers (Bush, Vargas, Capuano) will be traded this year *) The Pirates will have a better record than the Brewers at the end of May (had to include this one in honor of Kruk's "bold" predivtion last year)

OK, this may not be as strange as Pie's or Matsui's injuries, but it does involve a Brewer: Delgado, in the role of "runner on third," had been struck on the right forearm by the splintered bat of teammate Brady Clark It actually "stabbed" him in the arm. I think I recall this happening a few times before, meybe even in the Brewers' minor leagues. (edit: unambigufied thread title --1992)

Nice first inning by Sheets.

I travel a lot for my work and I have a questions about mlb tv on mlb.com. I see that the blackout depends on where you are and not where your credit card shows you are from. Therefore, if I am in Dallas, I will be able to watch a live Brewers game, so long as it is not against Houston. I was wondering how this works if I access mlb.com tv from Europe. Will I be able to watch live Brewer games when I am working in the Netherlands? Will any blackout rules apply to me when I am in Europe?

That's funny, I actually traded AROD for Weeks last year before the season began. I still ended up winning the league, but the trade was less than optimal. I think I am going to end up keeping Webb, Braun (eligible at 3rd and OF this year), Fielder, and Pujols, hoping that I can get BJ Upton (eligible at 2nd and OF) with some of the higher draft picks I already traded for. I sure hope I didn't miss the boat when I traded away Cabrera. Thanks for the advice guys. It hurts saying goodbye to guys like Dunn, Chris Young (ARI), Hunter Pence, CoCo, etc., but that's part of the fun.

Hi All, I am in a keeper league with 12 teams (head to head). SB's have a minimal impact, and we do penalize players for K's and Errors. We can keep 4 players from the previous year and I had a pretty good team last year. I was hoping for a little advice. I already traded Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez (and low round draft picks) for significantly higher round draft picks. I still have Pujols, Fielder (we have one DH), Braun, Webb. All of which I plan to protect. I was considering pulling another deal where I might send any of the above 4 players to another team for another high draft pick, and then protect BJ Upton. There is a lot of Brewer love in our league, so dealing a Brewer might realize a pretty high return. Thoughts about Upton or any of my 4 targetted protected players? Also, I have Weeks, Hart, Hall, Coco, and Valverde on my team, but I do not consider any of these guys "protectable.

Yeah, Pena. I completely forgot about him. It makes me feel a little better knowing that there is at least one guy coming through our system who might be of service as a closer or late inning guy. RayKingsForemanGrill. I like your tag name and I appreciate you supporting the fact that I stole the Bill Hall Godfather picture from you. That Bill Hall thread is my all time favorite thread. Not to change the topic, but I was also the guy who was calling down to Nettleton, Mississippi, to find out if there was an official Bill Hall Day. Wait, can Bill Hall close games?

With the astronomical costs for a decent closer nowadays, I was thinking beyond the 2008 season and what the Brewers might have in mind. I don't believe we have any closer-style of pitcher in the minors at the moment who we could expect to be here in the next 2 years, so it would seem we need to keep signing guys, or hope to sign/trade to get a non-closer and develop him into a decent closer. That said, I wanted Rafael Soriano so bad before the Braves got him in the 06-07 offseason and I think a guy like him could have very well served as our closer for 2-3 years. I just shudder to think about wasting these years with this potentially great offense by putting out a sub-par closer (i.e. Cincy Reds). I like what the Crew did this year and they did not mortgage their future doing it. However, we and they know that it will all start over again next year with filling the closer role. Gagne won't be here no matter what in 2009. Turnbow might be the best option with his contract, but I don't expect him to regain that status. I don't know much about Riske, but the little I do know tells me that he is not the long term option at that role. Maybe a guy like McClung will emerge, but that is unlikely. I have nothing to back my thoughts up here other than feelings. What I want to know most is if there are any closer options ascending in the minors? (if, in fact, closers are developed in the minors...) If nobody is ready for next year, then do you think we start 2009 with another slew of 1 year contracts or do we look to make a big time signing of a proven closer or a reliable setup man who could be easily converted to closer? It is this issue which has me most worried about the upcoming years more than anything else. I like our plan for 2008 and I bet it will work out, but I am not certain that we could land so many relatively proven pitchers for 1 year deals as we have this year. Please tell me that we won't waste the upcoming years after 2008 we have with these guys by throwing out a cruddy bullpen, or lose most of them by signing some closer for a monstrous multi-year salary. Note - Whay do I always start looking beyond the current season right before it is about to start?

I have not looked in the book stores yet, but I was wondering if any publications have come out yet previewing the 2008 season. I know there has been some online stuff, but I personally like buying a magazine. If there have been some released (MLB or fantasy), I am curious as to how the Brewers and their indivdual players are projected to perform for the upcoming season. Not that this makes any shred of difference, but it keeps me going for the next month and a half.

That someone was me! I never even saw this post when it first came out. I was the guy who had way too much time on his hands and ended up calling the mayor on his cell phone (getting the number from the local librarian). I find this really funny. I recall someone on the post recommending that I accompany Bill on the float during the first annual Bill Hall Day parade, but it seems I have missed my chance. By the way, can anyone help me drag up that old post?

By the way, I did not post this thinking that if the impossible happened and Bill Hall is traded, then I would appear to be some sort of sage. Just wanted to say that up-front.

Done deal! More seriously, I just have this bad feeling that a player I really like (or at least want to like) is going to be on another team by the end of the day today. Probably just trade-deadline jitters.

I hate to even think about this since I LOVE Bill Hall, but I am getting nervous with all of this trade talk that Bill E. might be one of the players who could get dealt due to his high value and appeal to other clubs. I have no other reason to think this, except for the fact that I have given up having any expectations of this club. I know that nobody on the team is untouchable, so I won't be naive to think he wouldn't be traded at some point. I have not seen his name come up much in the trade rumors, so maybe there is a reason he is not being mentioned. Maybe it is just all the Gwynn Jr. talk, maybe it is the new contract, maybe it is his recent injury, or maybe his value is just lower now thatn the team feels it could be. I would welcome to see other people comment on what they think the odds are of Hall getting dealt this year, no matter how sad it may make me.

You are probably correct. They might not even get the bat on the ball.

I don't know if anyone noticed my previous post, but an Atlanta loss tonight, coupled with our most likely win, will leave the Crew with the best record in MLB (in May!). I am going to enjoy it while it lasts.

I think if ATL and BOS keep losing tonight, and we hang on, we will have the best record in all of baseball. (maybe not counting Japan)