piccione88

I am not sure if this has been posted elsewhere, but I could not find it. Chuck Greenburg, and Nolan Ryan's Group have beat out Mark Cuban for the right to buy the Texas Rangers. Bob Nightengale of USA Today says the winning offer was 385 million, but when you include assumed debt, the price will be just short of 600 million. I would have liked to see Cuban win the auction, if for nothing else than to have his deep pockets in a bidding war for Fielder. I know next to nothing about Greenburg, but I do not see them being as willing to spend money on a team like Cuban has proven he is more than willing to do with the Mavericks.

Really they only have to think that there is a decent chance that they could be better than two of those teams, since the wild card is going to come from the east just about every year.I will admit that is a pretty tough sell, but they do have alot of potential, and could easily break out next year. They are not the most likely trading partner, but they could be a team that takes a chance, like the A's did with holliday, albeit in a much tougher division. If they struggle again next year, they can try to flip him at the deadline.

The orioles are one of the more intriguing possible suitors for prince this off-season. It is not outside the realm of possibility that they could get involved, and they have a boatload of solid pitchers. Matusz is probably off limits, but a trade involving both tillman, arrietta, and a low level nugget would be a good return. Both pitchers, esspecially tillman are struggling a bit this year, and the o's might be willing to part with them. The orioles could have a great lineup if Jones, and Wieters reach their potential, Roberts will be healthy again, and they have Scott and Markakis. Their rotation still would be deep, and they have other pitching prospects in Erbe, Britton, and Hobgood, just to name a few.

Sold

I have two tickets, with parking pass for tomorrows game, section 334, row 7, seat 11. The face value is $40.00 each, I am asking $50.00 for both tickets, and the parking pass. The game starts at 2:00 pm, so if you want them just give me a call by 1:00, I would prefer to sell them today though, as I have a busy day tomorrow. Just PM me.

80-82, the brewers are about as good as they were last year, we have better pitching depth, and slightly better defense. Offensively this team has took a step back, but is still one of the top offensive teams in the league. Alot of pieces need to fall into place for this team to get the division, but I am not counting it out.

Having the sox, and tigers does lower the possibility for the other teams in the Al Central, however the big advantage is that the wild card team will not be locked up every year by the Sox, or Yankees. It would be nice to have the 4th best team in the playoffs, rather than whoever wins the central.

1)R.Braun 2)Y.Gallardo 3)J.Suppan 4)R.Weeks 5)M.Parra 6)T.Coffey 7)C.Hart 8)C.Villanueva 9)D.Bush 10)M.Stetter 11)M.Rivera 12)P.Fielder 13)A.Escobar 14)C.Counsell 15)M.Gamel 16)J.Gerut 17)T.Hoffman 18)M.Cameron 19)J.Guthrie 20)H.Blanco 21)D.Braden 22)M.Difelice 23)H.Iribarren 24)R.Liz 25)A.Heether

I highly doubt that Melvin passed up a viable starting pitcher in order to get Hoffman. As for next year, signing Hoffman, does not prevent us from picking up a starter. If the Brewers can pick up two starters through trades of our infield depth, we could afford to bring back both Hoffman, and Cameron without raising payroll.

I highly doubt that Melvin passed up a viable starting pitcher in order to get Hoffman. As for next year, signing Hoffman, does not prevent us from picking up a starter. If the Brewers can pick up two starters through trades of our infield depth, we could afford to bring back both Hoffman, and Cameron without raising payroll.

I highly doubt that Melvin passed up a viable starting pitcher in order to get Hoffman. As for next year, signing Hoffman, does not prevent us from picking up a starter. If the Brewers can pick up two starters through trades of our infield depth, we could afford to bring back both Hoffman, and Cameron without raising payroll.

I do not want any part of Molina,he has very little upside, he is not going to be cheap, and will likely require us to give up a pick.

If I was Melvin this is what I would try to do. New Contracts: Counsell 1 year/2 mil, Cameron 1 year/8.5m+ 2.5 in incentives, H.Blanco 1/1.5, Hoffman 1/7m+ 1.5 incentives, plus a couple scrap heap relievers. Trades: Hardy to the orioles for, Guthrie, and Liz McGehee, and a mid-level prospect to the A's for D.Braden Non-tender: McClung, and I am assuming that Looper declines his option So my roster would look something like this C) H.Blanco, 1B)P.Fielder 2B) R.Weeks 3B)M.Gamel SS)A.Escobar LF)R.Braun CF)M.Cameron RF)C.Hart IF)C.Counsell(soft platoon at shortstop) OF)J.Gerut UT)A.Heether(although this does not seem likely) 2B/OF)H.Iribarren/minor league free agent C)M.Rivera Rotation: 1)Y.Gallardo 2)J.Guthrie 3)D.Braden 4)J.Suppan 5)D.Bush The only locks for the bullpen in my opinion are Coffey,and Hoffman if hes re-signed, Stetter, and Villanueva are probably safe bets as well. This roster would cost roughly 79 million after you factor in the 7 million owed Hall, and the 4.5 owed to Riske.

You have a very valid point in regards to the playing time, I overlooked that. I would take into consideration, the fact that the league has in essence banned Bonds from the game these last couple of years, but I can see alot of people saying that was justified, and playing time still should be taken into consideration. As for Pujols blowing Bonds out of the water when it comes to OPS, if you ignore IBB, I think that is a flawed argument. Bonds was not being intentionally walked just because he had bad hitters behind him after 2002, although that is a part of it. The biggest reason in my mind, is that Bonds was a bigger power threat than Pujols. Bonds ISO for the decade is 402, compared to Pujols' 295, a 107 point difference.Also you cant just assume that Bonds would get an out every time he was intentionally walked. Lets say Bonds would have got 200 less IBB, had he had a better hitter behind him. If Bonds hit at his normal rates for the decade, in those plate appearences, he would have got roughly 46 hits, 16 of them homeruns, 1 triple, 9 doubles, and I would guess at leat 35 walks. If Bonds had done that instead of getting intentionally walked, he would still have a much more impressive line than Pujols. Offensively there is absolutely no comparison between Pujols, and Bonds.

The Sporting News magazine announced that Albert Pujols is the Player of the Decade. " No muss, no fuss, no drama-and no longer much debate about who is the best player in baseball. For much of the decade, the debate focused on Rodriguez and Barry Bondshttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/2.gif. But in nine seasons, Pujols has never not surpassed a .300 average, 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. Those Hall of Fame numbers (by age 29) define him only slightly more than his all-around pursuit of excellence." I know Bonds is not a very popular guy, but I just dont see how what he did from 2000-2004 does not make him a lock for player of the decade. Bonds OPS+ during those years was 241, and his OPS from 2000-2007 was 221. Pujols has never had a season with an OPS+ over 200. Bonds was also by far the best player of the decade at getting on base his OBP for the decade is 517, something that Pujols again has never come close to in a season let alone throughout the whole decade. Not to mention the four MVP season's in a row. I get that Bonds is not the most popular guy in the world, but he was by far the best baseball player of the decade. I hope that one day people can look past the fact that he used steroids, and just enjoy the fact that they were lucky enough to see possibly the greatest hitter of all time.