kramnoj

I don't believe that signing a Tybe B FA costs the signing team anything. The team that lost the FA just gets a sandwich pick. So the only disadvantage to signing a Type B would be that one more sandwich pick gets added to the draft. I think there are enough prospects to go around that adding one more pick to the draft wouldn't be a big deal. Certainly not enough reason to delay signing Grudz if that was deemed the best move.

Yahoo cycles through their front page. Matt Kain's picture shows that DiFelice was on the front page, that's why the left tab "featured" is a different color than the other tabs. Unless you are saying that making the front page isn't impressive, because they have wacky animals on the front page. Eitherway, I think it's neat that he got this attention, even if he has to share it with Animal Viral Video of the Day.

Here is Fangraphs leaderboard at 2B: http://www.fangraphs.com/...pe=6&season=2009&month=0 Weeks was the 4th best player at 2B so far this season, per their stats. Definitely a disappointment. I had convinced myself that Weeks being on the DL for a little bit would have the silver lining of Gamel getting good exposure at 3B and then Weeks could come back to finish the season. I don't think the Brewers need to look elsewhere. The internal options should be decent enough for now. We'll see if Gamel can stick at 3B and Counsell should be fine with 3 or 4 starts a week at 2B. Hall always plays 2B against LHP and Casey gets a few more starts. If the Brewers lose ground and the previous players don't plan out as well as hoped, then the Brewers can look for an option down the stretch.

I was considering the timing of the move again. I was wondering if the timing might have something to do with how long Gamel has to stay up before he can be sent back down again. I was perusing the stuff at Cot's, and I didn't see anything. I saw that a player that is sent down to the minors has to stay there for 10 days unless there is a DL move. I had thought there was a similar 10 day requirement to stay in the majors. If that is the case, the timing makes some sense. The Twins series is this upcoming weekend, but the next time that a DH would be involved would be June 15th. So if Gamel is up for 10 days, which would be better, bring him up early, let him feel what it's like to be a big leaguer, let him DH and then send him back down until the Cleveland series? Or let him stay in the minors, bring him up Friday, start him for 3 games and then have him sit on the bench for 2 series afterwards. I just have a feeling that the Brewers had some intentions that went beyond Gamel's playing time. Based on some of the reporting that came out in ST, I think the FO wanted Gamel to spend a little time with guys like Cameron and then cap it up with 3 games at DH. Then he goes down for a few weeks to get the regular PT and comes back up again for Cleveland and Detroit. One thing I haven't quite figured out is the chain of events that goes from Nelson DFA, Gamel called up and then the Cat called up? Will Frank have enough time to come up after the Twins series? And if he does come up and then Gamel comes up again in June, what corresponding move would happen? Does Frank come up with some convenient tendinitis and spend 15 days on the DL in June and gets well in perfect timing and Gamel goes back down?

Johnson started the year with 3+ years service time, so he 2.5 years from FA. He does make some sense as a potential target if the need arises.

I don't think you move Hall. He's having a fairly productive year at third base so I don't see why you move him. Hall is crushing lefties. He has been bad against RHP, just as he has the two previous years. Gamel at 3B and Counsell at 2B against RHP should be a nice combo. Against LHP, you leave Gamel at 3B, where he actually has a reverse split in the minors and you take advantage of Halls offense at 2B.

I don't think Durham is coming back unless he gets a decent paycheck. I'd rather save that money and go with the popular plan listed already, Gamel at 3B and Counsell/Hall at 2B. If Weeks did have to go on the DL, I think I would rather bring up Swindle than bring up Irribarren. Counsell and Hall should be expected to provide better overall production, and I think the 2nd lefty would add more value than having a backup player.

At 3B, hitting-wise Hall has been solid this season Hall vs RHP in 2009: 683 OPS. It was 557 last year and 713 in 2007. This is who he is.

QS is a stat in limbo. Nobody that is hardcore into sabrmetrics will use it, and it doesn't have much support among regular fans, because they think it means that a pitcher with quality starts will have a 4.5 era. Of course, in the higher offense era, a pitcher with 4.5 ERA isn't bad anyway. I think QS does a good job with it's goal: how many times does a pitcher do a decent job of keeping his team in the game.

QS is a stat in limbo. Nobody that is hardcore into sabrmetrics will use it, and it doesn't have much support among regular fans, because they think it means that a pitcher with quality starts will have a 4.5 era. Of course, in the higher offense era, a pitcher with 4.5 ERA isn't bad anyway. I think QS does a good job with it's goal: how many times does a pitcher do a decent job of keeping his team in the game.

QS is a stat in limbo. Nobody that is hardcore into sabrmetrics will use it, and it doesn't have much support among regular fans, because they think it means that a pitcher with quality starts will have a 4.5 era. Of course, in the higher offense era, a pitcher with 4.5 ERA isn't bad anyway. I think QS does a good job with it's goal: how many times does a pitcher do a decent job of keeping his team in the game.

I don't think 3/$20M would get it done. That's pretty much the minimum that he would make if he was healthy and good. 3/$24M might work if Bush is motivated enough that he wants that security over the risk of having a career ending injury. Bush has made less than $8M in his career, afaik, so he might be interested in a deal that could give him more lifetime security. If he wants a deal closer to what he perceives his market value might be, it would probably be tough to get a deal done. I think I might go as high as 3/$27M, more than that, I think the risk is getting too large.

Vegas is an interesting city. I've never been there, but deserts get cool at night, so I don't think fans would necessarily bake in the sun. If they have to delay games to 7:30 like they do in Texas, that probably isn't a big deal. It is too small to have a team just based on Vegas residents, so the question is would there be enough tourist money to support the team. I suppose it would depend entirely on how the big casinos treat the team. If they think they can sell packages that would include games and hotel, and if they would buy luxury suites for their best clients, it could work. If they saw baseball as a threat that eats up disposable income that should be spent in the hotel, there's probably no chance of getting the business support that is needed. The other interesting thing that I've seen people talk about is just how different Vegas is as a community. If a large portion of the community is dependent on working in the casinos and relevant businesses at night, how much of the population would actually be able to attend games?

Hall is struggling against RHP again. A 3B platoon with Hall/Gamel would give the Brewers the best offense at that position, and would also give them a better PH option each game. With Gamel getting most starts against RHP, he would be getting regular PT and the rust factor wouldn't be as much of a concern. If Gamel hits and plays decent defense, I don't see why the Brewers would send him down.

I used to believe that, based on speculation I had seen elsewhere. I'm not sure what the basis for the belief is. But that belief doesn't appear to be true. If you look at Cot's: http://mlbcontracts.blogs...1/milwaukee-brewers.html it lists Gamel with service time of .028, and that means 28 days.

Looking at Prince's gamelog from 2005, he came up on June 13 to start interleague play. He stayed through 2 series after the last interleague game and played on July 3rd. His next game in the majors was Aug 18th and it looks like he was up for the rest of the season. So it looks like he got sent down for 6 weeks or so to get regular playing time.

Others can explain Super 2 better than I, but I'll share what I understand. It basically gives a player 4 arby years, rather than 3. It doesn't affect their FA status. Battlekow mentioned this first in this thread, but it does seem like the Brewers waited long enough so that Gamel wouldn't earn a year of service time by being called up this year. That means the Brewers could leave Gamel up all year this year, and get 6 full years of service after this year. If Gamel qualifies as a Super 2, then the Brewers only get Gamel at the minimum for the full seasons of 2010 and 2011 (and this year of course). Then Gamel will get 4 years of arbitration. When I and others were talking about this move costing the Brewers millions of dollars, this is what was being discussed. Because Gamel already has 28 service days, the Brewers couldn't wait until the typical June date that is mentioned to avoid Super 2 status. They would probably have had to wait until July, instead. As another data point, in Braun's contract, he earns an additional $6M if he would have qualified as Super 2 after the 2009 season.

Gamel is turning 24 in July. Major leaguers don't pass their prime at 27. Braun turns 26 after this year, so does that mean that he only has 1 good year left? Gamel is under team control through 2015, when he will be 30 at the end of the year.

If not I think Salome could move there in favor of Lucroy. Salome is too short to play 1B. Who is the shortest regular 1B that anyone can remember?

Hockey has the Rangers, Devils, and Islanders. There was, for some time, 3 baseball teams in NY. I think the time with less than 3 teams in NY is shorter than the time that there had been 3 teams in NY. Not very relevant to today's sports scene, but somewhat interesting.

At this point, success this season is more important than the few million this would cost the Brewers a couple years down the road. If Gamel wins just one or two games because of his success as a PH, that in itself could be worth the cost if the Brewers get to the playoffs this year. As for bringing him up now, as opposed to for the Minnesota series and throwing him against ML pitching, I could see the Brewers wanting to break Gamel in a bit and ease his transition a little to the big leagues. IIRC, Gamel didn't spend much time with the Brewers last September because of an injury. I'm excited, he should be fun to watch.

The best place for a new team would be Brooklyn, or Jersey, somewhere around there. The two NY teams built smaller stadiums. That means that some fans are going to be seeing fewer games, or paying more for the games they go to. By increasing the supply of baseball tickets, demand and thus price would presumably go down for the existing NY teams, decreasing the advantage they currently have. It's not likely to happen, but it would be great if it did. Other places that I've seen mentioned: Portland and Vegas

My guess would be someday MLB will expand again, to an even 32 teams, and then things will get balanced out more evenly. That presents it's own questions. Do you have 8 4-team divisions and stay with 4 playoff teams? Do you go to 4 8-team divisions and have 2 WC teams? Or do you go with 8 4-team divisions and then expland the playoffs to 6 teams per league? Go with 2 WC in each division and the two best teams in each league get a bye for the first round? Or go NBA style, and have 8 teams from each league make the playoffs?

Have you done a projected payroll for 2011. If you did I think you'd realize what great shape we're in going foward. There are so many variables that I haven't done one. I don't know if Melvin will want to retain Hardy. I don't know if I can assume a Brewer prospect to be ready at C. I don't know who will be playing 1B. There's certainly a possibility that the the 2011 team could feature Escobar at SS, prospect at C, Jeffress and one other prospect as SP, Cain in CF, Green at 3B, Gamel at 1B, etc. I just won't assume that all of that is true. Lets lock this guy up through his prime years. It could be a steal, and we would at least get our money's worth. Yes, it could certainly be a steal, but I don't think it's a given that he would be worth whatever he's paid. He's yet to have a good, full healthy season, and 2B is a tough position to play.

If you have 15 teams in each league, and you want all 30 teams to play on one day, then you need to have an interleague game every day that all 30 teams are playing. For some people, that isn't a good idea. You don't want to have games in September, when games feel more important, to be decided by interleague play. It's more exciting if September is played between division rivals. it seems ridiculously unfair that the teams in the NL Central have to beat 5 other teams to get a guaranteed playoff spot when the AL West teams only have to be superior to 3 other teams- This is true in theory. I guess the reality of the situation though is that Pittsburgh and the Reds are two of the smaller markets in the game, so it's not quite as bad as it could be. I'd much rather be in the NL Central than replace Baltimore in the AL East, for example.