nate82

Hey Star Wars: the Clone Wars is actually a rather good animated series. Plus if Disney could somehow get the guys who made this opening cinematic for this game would be awesome! 2013 New Superman movie. http://youtu.be/ll39CAovGrg

For what its worth the Scouting Book has Peralta ranked as the 53rd best prospect (http://www.scoutingbook.com/prospects/matrix-by-sb). Players ahead of Peralta: CHC OF Jorge Soler, SEA C Mike Zunino, MIA 3B Zack Cox, MIN OF Byron Buxton, TOR RHP Noah Syndergaard, BOS RHP Matt Barnes, TB RHP Chris Archer, SD RHP Casey Kelly, HOU OF George Springer, CHC SS Javier Baez, BAL RHP Kevin Gausman, and TOR OF Jake Marisnick.

Are you sure that Capellan wouldn't have been rated as high as he was in todays scoouting reports? There are plenty of pitchers like Capellan that get rated rather high and are only 2 pitch pitchers and who can throw rather hard. Aroldis Chapman is someone who is comparable to Capellan in that regard (Chapman throws three different pitches). Plus scouts have always liked velocity from a pitcher. If a pitcher can throw hard they are rated rather highly regardless of how many pitches they can throw or can't throw. So your statement there is rather false as I don't see how he wouldn't be rated rather highly if he is able to throw at a rather high velocity. Capellan was clocked at 97 MPH in 2007 which was his max velocity that year and he sat around 92.6 in the limited time he played in 2007. He definitely was a bust but he was a rather good pick up for the player the Brewers gave up.

Yeah I forgot about Sanchez but I believe he will resign with the Tigers or sign with the Orioles. Lohse maybe the exception but if he gets a QO who is going to sign him and lose a pick for Lohse? Santana and Haren were not all that great in 2012 so they should come rather cheap. Dempster will get a 2 or 3 year deal at no more than 10-12m a year. I just do not see that much of a demand for these pitchers. Most of the teams that are going to be adding a starter will be doing so are not big spending clubs. The Yankees may pick up a starter but they are not going to give someone like Lohse a Wilson type of contract as that would put them over the luxury tax cap.

Giving up anything of value for Santana would be bad and at that price it would be even worse. If the Brewers wanted to add Santana they should just wait for the Angels to decline his option and pick him up for around $1-2m for a year. Santana wouldn't be bad as a 5th starter and hoping that he somehow comes back to where he once was. I have this feeling that the Brewers are only going to add a starter if they are able to get the starter at the price they want. There are going to be a lot of guys to choose from that the Brewers will be able to pick up either through a trade or through FA. I am actually starting to look at FA and other than Greinke I don't see the other pitchers who are available getting a big contract. The only player I could see getting a big contract will be Jackson everyone else is either going to have to settle for a 1 or 2-year deal or in Lohse's case a 3-year deal. I don't think there are many teams out there this year that are going to be looking at this FA class and saying they are going to be spending a lot of money on these FA's. If you look at the teams that are going to need a starter none of them are teams that are normally big spenders. I believe there is going to be an excess of average starters on the market this year in FA. Haren, Santana, Lohse, and Dempster will all be available in the average category while you will have Jackson and Sanchez in the above average category and only Greinke in the elite category. Greinke will get paid but Lohse, Haren, Santana, Dempster, Sanchez, and Jackson will all be waiting a long time before they get signed. If Jackson or Lohse get qualifying offers they may scare some teams away like the Brewers, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, etc. The Pirates to me would be a team that would be very interested in Jackson but may pursue Sanchez instead if Jackson gets a QO. The Orioles again would be a team interested in either Jackson or Lohse but if they get a QO I don't see Baltimore going after either of those two. I believe teams will try and go the trade route this off season as the arms in FA are just not worth the draft picks in Lohse and Jackson with only one real viable option in Sanchez but he may have increased his stock by pitching rather well in the playoffs. The trade market this year is going to be rather competitive and is going to be a sellers market as there are going to be more teams involved than normal as FA doesn't have the quality of arms to be a viable option this year. There are plenty of relief pitchers to pick from and this will be a buyers market something the Brewers need to exploit. Breaking down the off season I don't see the Yankees playing in FA all that much as they are going to try and get under the luxury tax cap and the Red Sox don't look as though they are going to be major players either. The Dodgers look as though they are done spending with reports that they may trade Ethier. The Cardinals look to be set and will go with their younger pitchers they have coming up over the pricier veterans they have now. The Cubs don't look as though they are going to be players in FA this year either and neither do the White Sox. The Tigers may retain Sanchez and I think that will be there only move in the offseason. The Angels will look to be retaining Greinke and like the Tigers will probably be there only move. Nearly all of the big market clubs look as though they are going to be silent this off season in FA Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Cubs, White Sox, and the Tigers. Maybe I will be wrong but from what I have been reading and hearing it doesn't sound like any of the big markets are going to be going after many players in FA. The Rangers are a wild card to me and I think they may splurge on Hamilton and then again they may not. Should be an interesting off season which is going to start rather quickly.

Hopefully the radio can make a comeback. I am sick of all the 70's, 80's, and sometimes 90's rock stations first they all play the same dang songs and there are just way to many of them. I can only listen to a repeating list of KISS, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, AC/DC, and Ozzy for so long and then my ears start to bleed.

Marco Estrada will be under his first arbitration season so he will cost around $2m which is not all that expensive but he is not cheap anymore.

Hamilton at a min will cost $20m a year. Hart, Gomez, Gallardo, Axford, Braun and Estrada will all be making more than they were last year. Taking into account all the raises the Brewers will have for 2013 just Axford, Braun, Gallardo, Estrada, Hart, Gomez, and Ramirez is at about 46.25m of the budget which is a difference in salaries from 2012 of approximately 16.79m. That 40m is rather small when you take into account the raises that the team already has coming. The budget for the 2013 Brewers should be somewhere around what the Brewers had during the 2010-2011 season which will put the team at or around $90m. I just don't see any room for Hamilton without trading someone or non tendering someone like Estrada and a few others. If you keep everyone you are looking at a budget around $100-110m which I just do not see happening. So if the Brewers really do sign Hamilton expect Hart to be traded or a combination of players to be traded. Weeks, Estrada, and Gomez would all be looked at to be traded.

Assuming the Brewers sign Hamilton there is a lot of injury risk concerns with that team. Hart, Braun, Weeks, Ramirez, and Hamilton are all rather high injury risk concerns. Now add in Lucroy who plays catcher and you have another player who is going to be injured off and on. The biggest concern for the Brewers is what happens when you have two or three of Hart, Braun, Weeks, Ramirez or Hamilton injured? At 2B you have Bianchi and Gennett as your top two options while at LF you have Schafer, Davis, Gamel and Gindl? I just don't see the point of adding Hamilton as he is a rather high injury concern plus if you sign him you almost have to either trade Weeks and Gomez or Hart. Now Weeks doesn't have all that much trade value right now and you would not be getting much in return for him while Gomez has a positive trade value. Hart is probably the player the Brewers decide to trade away and I believe then the Brewers would have to sign Hamilton to play 1B and I am not sure he would want to do that. Trading Hart or Gomez may actually be a good idea for the Brewers but I just don't like the signing of Hamilton as he is a rather high injury risk concern with a team that has a rather high injury risk already. I don't see the Cardinals going after Hamilton as they have nowhere to play him. If the Cardinals don't have room for Berkman why would they have room for Hamilton? Yes I know Hamilton is a better player than Berkman but Craig is someone who is cheaper and can almost bring you as much production as Hamilton can. I just don't see the Cardinals as a fit here and the same with the Reds, Cubs, Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, and some other teams. I believe there are only a few teams that are going to be in on Hamilton. The teams that I see going after Hamilton are the Brewers (I don't like it), Rangers, and possibly the Red Sox. I believe like Fielder last year the market is rather small for Hamilton though there maybe a team that comes out of no where and surprises everyone and makes a huge offer to Hamilton but I am not sure there is a team like the Tigers this coming off season. I believe the Brewers will do the 5-years $100m offer to Hamilton and the Rangers will walk away. The Brewers may actually be the team that lands Hamilton and they maybe bidding against themselves in this situation.

Already being discussed here.

He may very well become Alfonso Soriano by the end of his contract.

I'm assuming the Nats will make a qualifying offer to Jackson, so it'd cost the Brewers their first round pick unless I'm remembering the new CBA rules incorrectly. Yes the Brewers would lose their 1st round pick and yes the Nationals are going to offer Jackson a qualifying offer. They may not sign Jackson to a long term deal but he is definitely going to get a qualifying offer. Lohse is also going to get a qualifying offer and the Cardinals may get stuck with him if they do give him a qualifying offer as I don't see many teams that will be willing to give up a 1st round pick for a #3 at best starter probably looking at a #4 or more likely a #5 starter getting paid like a #1 or #2 type starter. I'm not sure teams are going to be willing to give up a first round pick for Jackson either. Also remember that players only have a few weeks to decide on if they will accept the offer or not and teams only have a short period to offer it also (I think I am remembering the new CBA correctly on this).

It could work if you had 5 good-average young players coming up at the same time and a really good veteran pitcher. It would allow you to manage the younger players innings without putting them in the bullpen. This would be a very highly unlikely scenario.

That is a very bleak outlook on the Bucks but it is rather accurate. I am not expecting much this year from the Bucks and that probably means they play way over their heads and become a 4-6 seed. The Bucks have the talent to get in as an 8 or possibly the 7 seed. I believe the Bucks are in for another year of being average to just below average.

Definitely without a doubt better.

There are some good rock bands out there right now. I really like Five Finger Death Punch, Halestorm, Stone Sour, and Staind. Lzzy Hale from Halestorm reminds me a lot of Pat Benatar but with a better voice (my opinion).

I don't like Floyd at all as I believe he is just an over hyped player and he has never really impressed me at all. I would rather give money to Santana than Peavy as Peavy is going to be looking at a multi year deal. The White Sox are going to have enough cash to bring back both Floyd and Peavy. I believe you said this last off season that the White Sox were going to dump Floyd because they didn't have enough salary room. I just don't see this at all as he is only signed for $9.5m which isn't all that much for the White Sox and they will be able to give Peavy something around $10-14m a year for 2-3 years.

The MLB Network last year aired a few games last year if I remember correctly. I know they had the championship game on TV and at least one or two more.

I know you are being sarcastic here but I would look into seeing if he would give up Brett Anderson. He is signed through 2015 with two team buyouts and depending on what the Beane would want for Anderson I would definitely be interested in him. The Brewers would have him for his prime but he maybe to much of a injury risk to sign to a longer term deal or even give up the prospects needed for him. Another pitcher that is going to be talked about in the trade market will be David Price but I don't see the Brewers having the prospects needed to land him. Ubaldo Jimenez maybe another option that the Brewers could look at. If the Indians are willing to take someone like Bradley or Scarpetta for him straight up I would do that trade. Maybe Jimenez has a bounce back year and voids his option for 2014 or he doesn't and the Brewers would be able to buy him out at $1m. Though the Brewers may not have to trade for Jimenez as he maybe bought out this year as there is a team option with a $1m buyout not sure the Indians will do this as they gave up a lot to get him. I don't believe Jimenez should be all that expensive in a trade and giving up either Bradley or Scarpetta shouldn't be a problem as they look to be extra pieces right now in the minors. I would prefer to get someone younger and more cost controlled than Jimenez but I also don't want to give up the prospects that it would take to get someone like that. My ideal candidate to trade for would be Danny Hultzen but I doubt Jack Z would trade him away and the Brewers do not have the prospects to trade away to the Mariners for Hultzen either. Maybe a Gallardo and Gamel for Hultzen, Paxton, and Liddi? I think I might be dreaming again with that trade.

Why?

No problem. Word his Jimmy Nelson is starting today. Naturally, they are calling for rain in Phoenix. Hope they get it in. Sky looks rather clear right now. At least from what I can see in downtown Phoenix.

When healthy Anderson is a solid number one. His curveball is as good as Sheets was. So no the A's are not missing anything pitching wise. As for Shields the Brewers should not trade away what it would take to get Shields.

I don't believe Santana will get $5 or $6m for one year. I think he will be lucky to get $2-4m for one year. But you are right that getting two good bullpen arms would be a better option that is why I said I would prefer the bullpen arms over a starter. The reason why I brought up Santana is because he is not going to cost all that much and if the Brewers are going to spend on a starter this off season I would prefer someone like Santana where you won't have to tie up a lot of money or years into him. I was all for getting Jackson but the Brewers push at the end of the year basically throws that idea out. I don't see the Brewers signing a free agent that is going to cost them their 1st round pick. This is the reason why I don't see the Brewers going after either Lohse or Jackson as they will both more than likely get qualifying offers from their teams maybe not Lohse but the Brewers need to stay far far far far far far away from Lohse.

Ervin Santana on a 1-year deal would be the best option for a starter. I would rather spend that money on a bullpen arm or two than a starter.

That would be awesome.