nate82

Well it is at least a severe underpay compared to what he would have gotten in FA. Maybe he just likes it here.

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Independent-Contractor-(Self-Employed)-or-Employee%3F and http://www.irs.gov/uac/Misclassified-Workers-to-File-New-Social-Security-Tax-Form Those two links should help.

Kind of off topic but I believe you could figure out a players bat speed. ESPN has some stats for home runs with the speed off of the bat. You would just have to plug that into a formula and get the bat speed for that player off of that hit. Once you have collected enough data you will then have that players bat speed within a margin of error. http://www.hittrackeronline.com/top_sob.php

Picked up The Show yesterday and was playing the Rockies and when Cuddyer comes up Mat V states listen to that welcome from his old city Minneapolis. Ummmmm what? Gotta love bugs in video games.

Axford for Porcello?

I wanted Vlad last year to be the backup 1B. Vlad Green platoon wouldn't be all that bad until Hart got back.

The day after this years draft is when the compensation goes away.

To me Hamilton is closer to Juan Pierre with a bit better defense but not by that much. If Hamilton stays with the Reds I fully expect Baker to have him hitting lead off and he will probably hit around .235 to .250 in the majors with a very low OBP with an extremely low OPS. While his speed is nice he has a few holes in his swing which will get exposed in the majors and I wouldn't be surprised if he is a complete flop. I expect him to have a career close to what Pierre has had. Hamilton to me is just not a top 50 prospect as he is lacking in a lot of other tools besides his speed.

Record: 80-82 Division: 3rd behind the Reds and Cardinals All Stars: Braun, Weeks Disappointments: Gallardo, Axford, Lucroy Surprises: Davis, Morris, Segura World Series: Tigers over Reds Hopefully Melvin trades Gallardo, Hart, Gomez, and Weeks before the deadline.

Old Chicago is over by the Peoria Sports Complex or there about same with Gallagher's and Padre Murphy's. And you haven't heard of Carolina's? If you ever come to Phoenix and want some good traditional Mexican food go to Carolina's on E Mohave. Also if you are in the downtown area Downtown Deli which is on Monroe and Capital is a great sandwich shop! It is right next to the Chase tower which is about a half of a mile from the Dbacks stadium.

Have you gone to Carolina's? The one on E Mohave Street is the best but it is not in that great of an area. I like Old Chicago the best over on Bell and 59th. Gallagher's and Padre Murphy's is also nice. Not sure how young you are Dean Machine but Hurricane Bay can be rather fun or any bar on Mill Ave in Tempe.

I wouldn't hang out all that much around anywhere but the facilities in Maryvale. There really isn't much to do around there and you don't really want to be staying there after the games especially if it is after dark. As for a good Mexican restaurant Macayos isn't all that bad as that is the only restaurant I have been to near that area. The closest one is about 12 min away on W. Thomas Rd. An FYI the Royals stay at the Comfort Inn & Suites on 13337 W Grand Ave or at least the majority of their minor league players do.

Green is a utility player at best there is no stepping up and proving he belongs in the majors he is what he is. Khris Davis should be the one showing what he can do in the majors not Green.

I still hate Maryville.

This times eleventy billion! I finally got my work to allow me to use Firefox over IE YEAH progress!

What? Both Taylor and Coulter are not an embarrasment defensively. I am not sure what you are going off of but both of these two are very athletic and should become more than adequate at whatever position they will play. Coulter may not stick at catcher but that wont be because of his defense there. It will be more along the lines of the Brewers wanting his bat in the lineup sooner rather than later. Coulter will probably become an average to an above average defensive 3B in my opinion. He is far from what you have described his defensive abilities. Drafting based on defense should be the very last thing being evaluated as defense can be taught while athleticism can not be.

Jennings wants to be traded? http://www.bucksketball.com/2013/02/ford-source-says-brandon-jennings-has-irreconcilable-differences-with-milwaukee-bucks/ Apparently the Mavericks are one of the teams interested in Jennings. Not sure if that would be a fit for the Bucks.

You are missing the point on BPA. Best player available doesn't mean the most advanced player. Most college players are going to be a little more advanced than HS players but that doesn't mean the college players are going to be better or the BPA. Actually if you look in past drafts I would say that HS pitchers mainly and college pitchers are about on equal footing in terms of how advanced they are. For example most college pitchers are still getting by on one or two pitches and still need to refine that third pitch. The same can be said about HS pitchers as they are mostly getting by on one or two pitches. Actually I think you can make an argument that HS pitchers will be more advanced after year 2 or 3 in a teams minor league system than a college pitcher is at that same time in college. College pitching coaches are not all that great in developing pitchers as they are only there for a few years and a majority of the coaches really don't have anything to benefit from grooming a pitcher so they are ready for MLB. Since MLB isn't a real big recruiting tool for college baseball teams as it is for football and basketball there is no real incentive for teams to really make a player ready for MLB.

He is spot on on the void of upper tier talent for the Brewers but I am sorry but the Brewers have a better farm system than he gives them credit for. Ranking the Brewers farm system this low is just rather silly especially when you have the White Sox, Phillies, Yankees, and the Dodgers being far worse than the Brewers. Now the Brewers do not have a top 10 or even a top 15 farm system but they are not the 29th worst. The White Sox are even more void of top tier talent than the Brewers are and even the Dodgers and Phillies are even far worse than the Brewers. I would put the Brewers around the 20-25 range with a huge gap between them and the Phillies, White Sox, Yankees, and the Dodgers. His rank is really far off and I don't get how he could put the Phillies, White Sox, or the Dodgers ahead of the Brewers. I could see the Yankees but not the Dodgers, White Sox or the Phillies.

Even with being the highest paid pitcher in the game right now Felix actually got less than what he would have gotten in FA. $200m+ is probably what Felix would have got in FA.

Not really. Once Gallardo's contract is up he is gone as the Brewers will not be able to afford him. If the Brewers are not able to get a contract extension with Gallardo before the end of this season the better option would be to trade him away for some talent that will help. The Red Sox are always just one player away from competing as they can open up their pocket books and get anyone that they want. Plus Gallardo can become a FA after the 2014 season if the next two seasons he either wins the CY Young award in 2013 and finished third in 2014 or finishes 2nd and 3rd in 2013 and 2014. If he doesn't the Brewers have a 2015 option at $13m. So the Brewers have 2 more years of Gallardo and then he is gone. Now should the Brewers trade Braun then also? It makes more sense to trade Gallardo next off season and if the Red Sox are willing to trade for him you take the two prospects I suggested and you don't look back. This is close to what the Red Sox did when getting Beckett though they had a little bit of a better team when they did that trade. Also I am not willing to give Gallardo anything close to what he will want and that is going to be something close to what Greinke and Cain got. Gallardo is definitely not worth what either of those pitchers got. I really do not get this argument that if you trade one player you have to trade another because why exactly? Trading Gallardo adds talent to the Brewers and gives the Brewers a higher chance of winning with Braun than it will by losing Gallardo to FA and getting a comp pick. I do not want to see the Brewers extending Gallardo at all unless it is a team friendly deal and I just do not see Gallardo doing that. A player normally does not take two team friendly deals in their career and I don't see Gallardo doing this either. Gallardo in FA is going to get Greinke money type and it will probably be a lot more per year. To extend Gallardo right now it would cost the Brewers at least $20-24m a year. Do you really want to be paying Gallardo $20+m a year?

Well in order for the Brewers to get talent back they are going to have to trade talent. Gallardo is really the only tradeable piece that the Brewers have right now and to be honest Gallardo is gone once he hits FA there is no way the Brewers are going to be able to compete with the Red Sox and the Yankees who will have a lot of payroll available to them when Gallardo is a FA. After this season the Brewers need to trade Gallardo as the draft hasn't really worked out all that well in terms of impact players as of right now. Not going to turn this into a trade suggestion post but the Brewers either need to draft better (possible but not likely) or sign some international talent (probably not going to happen at all). Right now there is no cycling of talent. While I liked the last draft as the Brewers actually went with some athletic players pitching is still rather blah its good but nothing that screams #1 or Ace type of a pitcher right now.

A return like what the Rays got for Shields is something that I would be looking at to get if the Brewers do decide and trade Gallardo a year from now or whenever. The Red Sox actually make a lot of sense as a trading partner then. Bogaerts should start in AA this year and will be in AAA by the end or the middle of the season. This would then make him MLB ready for the 2013 or 2014 season which would almost be perfect for the Brewers. Matt Barnes will probably start out in AA this year for the Red Sox and again should be ready for the 2013 or 2014 season. Both Bogaerts and Barnes would be mid season call ups in 2013 which would be the earliest that they would get to the majors 2014 is probably more of a safe bet on those two. Pat Light is probably the furthest player away but I like him a lot and he should be a rather good #2/3 but will probably only be a #3/4 starter. Garin Cecchini is behind Bogaerts and the earliest you could expect him would be in 2015. If the Brewers were to get Bogaerts, Barnes, and Light for Gallardo I think you have to do that trade. Getting one grade A player, a B+ player, and a B- player for one guy is something small and mid market teams have to do. You have to take the risk here and hope that one or two of these guys pan out as their low cost service years are greater than two or three years of Gallardo. I believe the 2015 roster would look rather nice with: C: Lucroy, Maldonado 1B: Morris 2B: Gennett SS: Segura 3B: Bogaerts LF: Braun CF: Schafer RF: Roache SP: Rogers, Peralta, Fiers, Barnes, Jungmann, Scarpetta, Nelson, Thornburg, Light, +more There is definitely enough depth at SP where the Brewers could trade a Scarpetta, Jungmann, Thornburg or a Fiers for a bat if it is needed. The reality of the situation for the Brewers is that the Brewers need an impact player in the minors and right now the Brewers are void of that talent at this time especially for position players. It makes sense for the Brewers to trade Gallardo after this year and it makes sense to trade him to the Red Sox as they have a need for a pitcher like Gallardo and they have the prospects to do so.

Xander Bogaerts/ Garin Cecchini, Matt Barnes, and Pat Light. I would insist on Bogaerts or its a no deal.

I am in AZ and have been using MLB.tv for the last two seasons. I watch and listen mainly on my PC but I also watch from my PS3. The quality is rather good. I only get blackouts when the Brewers are playing the Padres or the Dbacks. You might get blacked out when the Brewers are playing the Dbacks not sure how far the Dbacks coverage is.