JoeHova

No, it doesn't. Nebraska is a national brand in football. Meanwhile, Missouri gets bumped down to lesser bowl games because their fans travel so poorly. The Big Ten network already has the St. Louis marketso however popular Missouri is there is irrelevant. Kansas would be a better fit if they desperately want the Kansas City market for whatever reason. Kansas at least has one standout program, unlike Missouri, and they are also better academically. Every so-called positive that Missouri brings to the table is also brought by a dozen more desirable universities. I just don't understand why the Big Ten is even considering them. Geography seems to be the only reason. It would be one thing if Missouri's athletic programs were as weak as they are but the school was great academically. Instead, they are far worse academically than any of the 11 current members and they would arguably only be better athletically than Northwestern. How do they help the Big Ten get stronger in any way? It just doesn't make sense. Inviting Missouri is expansion for the sake of expansion. That disgusts me. They might as well just invite Iowa State if they want to go that route. The Big Ten is supposed to mean something, not be a haven for every state school in the Midwest.

I really hope the Big Ten doesn't add Missouri. They don't seem to bring anything to the table, unlike Nebraska, which at least brings a good football history. Missouri doesn't seem to add any value to the league athletically (according to Wikipedia, they've won 2 national titles in their entire history in all sports, with none in the past 45 years. All of the state schools in the Big Ten have won at least 15) or academically (Missouri seems to be worse than all 11 current members, although possibly slightly better than Nebraska). I'd even prefer Pitt to them. There's no reason to add Missouri just because they border Iowa and Illinois. The only way I'll accept them is if they are part of a package deal with Texas and A&M, which seems very unlikely. I'll have to give up my Big Ten fandom if they let in Missouri because it just reeks of a nonsensical panic move that will do nothing but hurt the brand on and off the field.

Changing positions isn't remotely the same thing as quitting. A comment like that seems gratuitous when none of us know the factors that led to him not wanting to catch anymore. Perhaps the Brewers didn't like how he handled a staff and told he'd need a few more years in the minors to work on that. Maybe catching wore him down too much. Maybe he got Mackey Sasser Syndrome or his knees have been aching or he has a serious anxiety problem. There could be any number of reasons why he would ask to move. In fact, there was always talk about him possibly moving to a new position because he usually had a fairly large amount of errors for a catcher. Maybe he just wanted to expedite that process.

Did you read his retirement statement? Did you notice how he forced his way out of Seattle? (Luckily the Mariners got a much better player (from that point on) in return for him.) Or how he wouldn't move from centerfield in Cincinnati despite being arguably the worst defensive player in the league? The list goes on and on. Griffey is one of the least likable players in sports but because he smiled a lot the media hyped him up.

Good riddance. He went out with no class, just as would be expected.

I can't blame Brewer for the decision to quit/retire. He's played 5 years and it's got to be frustrating to have not improved in that time. In fact, his best OPS at any stop was .724 in the Arizona League the year he was drafted. On the one hand, he made it Huntsville, which means he was only 2 levels away from the majors. On the other hand, he has a career .650 OPS and appears to have been moved off of shorstop. That said, I hope he made this decision due to a desire to do something else and not solely out of frustration.

When you say no Angel Salome, do you mean that he just didn't play or that he didn't show up in Huntsville at all?

I'm happy for Chris. It's pretty impressive to make it back to the majors after being gone for 2 1/3 years due to injury. I hope he pitches just as impressively, but even if he doesn't, it's nice to see him back.

There are only a couple things that I consistently grill. My favorite things to grill are prime New York strip steaks. NY strips are by far my favorite steak. (Filets are 2nd but those are much less forgiving so I seldom cook them, I rely on restaurants for that cut.) I treat them very lightly because it's a quality cut of meat which already has a lot of flavor. It's imperative that you let them sit out uncovered for a bit before cooking them, they should be almost room temperature so that they cook evenly. I just do the classic thing and brush them with a thin coat of olive oil (I used to use extra virgin but that has a low smoke point and I got sick of the billowing clouds of smoke so I started using half extra virgin and half light olive oil). Then I sprinkle them liberally on both sides with fresh cracked pepper and sea salt. (I use sea salt because I like the bigger crystals compared to table salt. Freshly cracked pepper is a more complex flavor than pre-ground pepper, which is why I use that. It's a little less one-note.) Anyway, then I throw them on the heat for somewhere between 4 and 7 minutes on each side, depending on how hot the grill is, how thick the steak is, and how well I want it done (my wife prefers it a little more well done than I do). I only flip once, if possible. Sometimes I undershoot it and have to flip a 2nd time but I don't think that's a huge deal, it just makes it a little harder to keep track of the doneness. After I take it off the heat, I let it rest for 5-10 minutes so that the juices reabsorb into the meat. I usually let it rest closer to 5 than 10 minutes because I like it to still be relatively hot. I usually will sautee a little bit of shallots and/or onions and mushrooms (I like shiitake but buttons will do fine) to go with the steak. Sometimes I'll put a little bit of bleu cheese or feta on top of the steak while it rests, just to add a little contrasting texture and flavor. I think that makes a perfect entree. My 2nd favorite things to grill are tuna steaks. I treat them much like the strips, except that I add a little ground shallots, garlic, and onion and a little pink and green peppercorns. They cook a little faster than beef but are excellent. I've always loved tuna, it's my favorite fish. They can be eaten just like a steak but I often make them into a nice tuna melt with a slice of gouda or sharp cheddar, some sauteed red onions and a mayonnaise made with ancho chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder. Any bread will work but I prefer a relatively soft one so the tuna doesn't slide out when you take a bite, which can happen if you use a real firm or crusty bread. One of my wife's favorite things that I grill are the pork center cut loins that endaround mentioned on the 1st page. They are much like cutlets, which I like because I don't like pork chops at all (unless it's a thick cut kurobuta). I cut off the little strip of fat on the side because I hate pork fat. Then I coat them on both sides with tomato powder, salt and pepper, and garlic/onion powder. I like pork well done so I cook them about 8 minutes on each side even though they are thin. They're delicious. And the last thing I like to grill often is bacon. It needs to be thickly cut but it works surprisingly well.

Apparently he comes off the bench for his Mexican team so Bradley is supposedly going to leave him in that role. I guess he'll be the 6th man, so to speak. It seems bizarre that a guy who has a knack for scoring would get so few minutes but perhaps he's a liability in other areas and can't be hidden for an entire game.

Glad to see that Jay DeMerit did end up making the final roster. I know it was assumed he would but it's still nice to see it come to fruition.

This is what I was just about to say. Who is the next Prince or Braun? Or even the next Hart or Weeks? I still have some hope for Salome (and Lucroy, to a lesser extent). Lawrie is doing fine in Huntsville but he hasn't dominated a level like the other guys had by the time they reached AA. Other than those 3 guys, none of whom are sure things, who is there? Cain? Gindl? Green? I don't know that any of those guys are good bets to ever be MLB starters. The system as a whole seems pretty weak to me because of the numerous blown (or at least unimpressive) high picks in the past 2 drafts. It seems to me that the franchise could use an infusion of talented players regardless of whether they are pitchers or position players.

Yes.

Close, but not quite. The D-Backs, Reds, Mariners and White Sox all have worse announcing teams. That said, I can't even watch a Twins game because of Blyleven and Bremer. They are execrable and they don't cross over into unintentional comedy the way the Mariners and White Sox teams do. I would rank the bottom announcing teams as: 30. D-Backs 29. Reds (nothing redeems these 2, listening to either makes me wish baseball had never existed so I wouldn't have to be subjected to their maundering fatuousness. Sometimes, listening to them, it seems like all life, not just baseball, would have been better off not existing.) 28. White Sox 27. Mariners (both of these teams are awful but it can sometimes be entertaining listening to them pretend that various awful players on the home team are somehow worthwhile. One has to be in a certain self-hating mood to put oneself through the ordeal of a game called by either of them but at least they (usually) don't make one contemplate the bliss of nonexistence.) 26. Twins (not quite as bad as the previous 2 but they don't have the unintentional comedy, at least in my opinion. Of course, my disapprobation for Twins fans (and Minnesotans in general) may be why it's hard for me to see the lighter side of their idiotic commentary. Living in the Twin Cities, I have to actually interact with a vast number of imbeciles who have been influenced by their doltishness.) 25. Brewers (this team is closer to run of the mill inane and trite than they are to abhorrent like the previous 5. The next time I hear someone say anything interesting on this broadcast will be the first. I had high hopes for Anderson but Schroeder has dragged him into the morass. I fail to understand why Schroeder apparently has a job for life despite having no apparent interest in following baseball beyond what he sees happen in front of his face. Surely there must be somebody out there who could actually look up a park factor now and then rather than judge whether a stadium is a hitters park by how many home runs the Brewers have hit there in the past few games. Schroeder defines the term anecdotal, and not in a good way like Uecker.)

Oh, so I could only get an easy one? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif You were wearing that style recently? I've worn sideburns before but never anything that outlandish. Seems like that would take a lot of sculpting. Did you get a lot of comments from people?

General Burnside

Hi everybody- I'm doing a bit of spring cleaning and I think it's finally time to dump some of my old electronic equipment. Most of it can be straightforwardly given to Goodwill but I don't know what to do with computers or cell phones. I don't want to just trash them because they tend to have a lot of personal information on them (plus, I'm not sure you're supposed to do that anyway). Does anybody have any suggestions about what to do with them? I seem to have a vague recollection of some charity where you can donate cell phones to soldiers overseas, is that still going on? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Good luck to Lucroy. If he can play well, Zaun might be tradeable at the deadline.

The league should call up NPB and see how much they would want to license their team names. Who wouldn't want to be a Dragon or a BayStar? Or maybe a Swallow?

This isn't a new thing. mgl has been saying that since he first released UZR for public consumption. I do agree that the vast swings the different data sets cause in UZR have highlighted that defensive stats should be taken with a grain of salt. Of course, mgl would retort that the same is true of offensive stats, and he's right.

Are we sure that Sveum wouldn't be the interim manager? I can see an argument for him because this is his 5th season with team and they liked him enough to keep him around after his previous interim stint. Randolph would surely leave in a scenario where he was passed over for manager though, I would think. Not sure if the reverse would be true. I wonder which of the two the players like better?

What?

Even people who thought the Mariners might be contenders were quick to point out how weak their offense was projected to be. For example, Szym over at bbtf thought the Mariners were probably the favorite in the AL West even though his ZiPS projections had them with only 2 above league average hitters (Ichiro & Bradley, btw). Their lack of offense was hardly a secret or something that only a doyen could suss out.

No. No, it isn't.

Yeah, except people actually want the other guy.