Funketown

Not great last year, but 50% from 2005 to 2011 is pretty darn good, if you ask me!

22nd is way higher for the Brewers than I would have expected, although after looking at 23-30, I guess I'm not that surprised. Mark Attanasio's ROI on this team must be pretty good.

You're out of the loop. Hart's not going to be ready on opening day. There's just not enough time to get him enough AB's. That hurts a bit. Not to derail the thread, but does anyone have a good idea how many games he'll miss?

^Am I out of the loop? To start on opening day, Kotsay would need to start at CF, unless Hart is unhealthy, which seems somewhat unlikely. It looks like he'll be on the roster (unfortunately) but having him start on opening day would be terrible.

Yeah, the desire to put teams there is pretty much just nostalgia. I remember NHL '92 with Teemu Selanne on the Jets and Mats Sundin on the Nordiques. Plus, the Nordiques had one of the greatest jerseys of all time! Honestly, the NHL would probably stand a better chance in Hamilton, Ontario, and even there they'd struggle to draw Maple Leafs fans. I just don't see another Canadian team coming in the near future, although I'd love to see it due to my childhood memories of the 8 Canadian team NHL. I'm really hoping this is finally the year for my Canucks. I'll admit I've only caught a dozen or so games this year, due to general business/grad school apps/dog/life, but man have they looked awesome. If the Sedin twins played in Washington, New York, or Chicago, they'd be up there with all the ESPN superstars. I enjoy watching those two play more than any other combo in the league; just pure artistry and vision on the ice.

This. Hopefully they have a good plan for Gamel down at AAA. I'm not sure what to do about the guy.

...and Mark Kotsay moves one roster spot closer to Milwaukee.

You have to imagine the likes of Colorado College, UMD, North Dakota, etc. aren't too thrilled about this.

Oliver Perez just became available. Not that I'd be too keen on signing the guy.

I don't agree with this, but perhaps I'm not as shocked by this move because I'm not completely sold on Chapman yet. He has the potential to be phenomenal, but his minor league walk rate was downright scary last year (52 in 95 innings). I'd give him another half a season to start in the minors and then decide. I don't think he's ready to start in the majors, but moving him to closer seems quite premature.

^ I remember back in high school I mooched a bottle of Goose Island's Christmas Ale from my friend's parents. My comments? "It tastes like an ash tray!". I think an IPA would be worth trying, just to see. One of my first craft beer revelations was drinking Goose Island's IPA as a freshman in college. I wasn't in love with the level of bitterness, but it taught me that beer could be so fresh, so aromatic, so awesome. One thing on IPA's, and beer in general, is to make sure you're drinking it out of a glass. Beer is so much about aroma, and a fresh IPA can smell pretty darn delicious. Dancing Man Wheat and Weihenstephaner's Hefeweizen are excellent German wheats. Neither are overly bitter. I also really enjoyed Hoegaarden, which is a Belgian style wheat, although I usually don't care for Belgians wheats. Another good one might be Ayinger's Ur-Weisse, a darker wheat with some nice burnt sugar and banana flavors. Again, the beer spectrum is incredibly vast; so just try out some different things. You'll find some horrendously disgusting at first, but you'll probably enjoy quite a few as well. On another note, I spent this weekend in East Lansing, and man is the Michigan beer scene great. East Lansing is probably the worst larger city for beer (outside of Flint), but I grabbed about a dozen Michigan singles, along with some Stone that I've been missing since it's no longer being distributed in Madison. Bells, Founders, Dark Horse, New Holland, Jolly Pumpkin, Kuhnnenn, Shorts, ... Oh boy. Also, I stopped at FFF for dinner on Thursday. Fun place. Lots of ink, piercings, and beer. Food is good, not great. The beer is spectacular (although I wasn't wild about their Saison, Rabbid Rabbit, which seemed a bit...typical; never thought I'd say that about an FFF beer!).

.250/.285/.400/.685 When a guy has been ready to "break out" for four years, there is reason to be concerned about his production during the upcoming year.

^ I've got to admit, I'd be ragging on Lawrie if he said that. Braun may be an arrogant dude, but he's our arrogant dude.

I never thought about that, but I wonder if this has been discussed at all by DM. He's a pretty bad outfielder, but I imagine he'd be an above average 1B. However, I imagine Braun wouldn't be too fond of this idea.

Bravo. If Greinke loses 3 starts, this is not a big deal at all. That's probably less than .5 wins lost. Unfortunate, but as long as he can get healthy, we have no reason to worry. That said, I'm disappointed that we'll have to wait 3 starts to watch him.

Also, I sampled Tyranena's Down n' Dirty Oatmeal Chocolate Stout at Steve's Liquor the other day, and I think you might like that one as well. It's pretty darn good.

...And in 2010, he posted a .239/.306/.376 line. Going forward, he probably projects as a .250/.325/.375, being very generous. In the past two seasons, he's played only 175 innings in the outfield along with 600 at 1B, and there's a reason he doesn't see any time in the outfield. He can't play the outfield and he doesn't hit very well. He just isn't a major league quality player anymore.

Ahh yes, why I love baseball. The guy hit only two homers in the past two seasons combined in the minors, and he takes Vinnie Chulk out of the park. I know it's only spring, but this is the kind of stuff you can't help but enjoy.

I've not had Oscar's C.O.S., but I may have to grab a bottle some time. I always binge on big beers and stouts/porters during winter. Here are a few I've really liked recently: Bell's Java Stout: Pretty big coffee stout, not something you could drink more than one of, but a nice sweet dessert stout. Lost Coast 8 Ball Stout: Oatmeal stout, quite sweet and chocolaty, with a sizable bitter hop kick for a stout. New Glarus Coffee Stout: Somewhat one-dimensional coffee stout, but pretty darn enjoyable. Young's Double Chocolate Stout: A bit on the pricey side, but a very good, creamy chocolate stout. Tyranena Doubly Down and Even Dirtier: Not sure if this is available anymore. Imperial (8%) porter aged with cacao and vanilla. Very sweet and very chocolaty, but I did find it a bit too sweet to drink alone. I'd suggest Lost Coast 8 Ball and Young's Double Chocolate.

^Just out of curiosity, how does one acquire a lion steak?

There was a story going around that some tool filled a growler with his 10 oz. of PTY, and then tried to sell it on ebay. I guess I never see the allure of these huge hype beers. I can get Expo Stout for $3. I can get fresh Hopslam for $3 (a couple months ago), Dreadnaught a bomber for $10, etc. How much "better" can Pliny really be? To be worth the cost of acquiring, it better literally taste like a unicorn riding a rainbow to a pot of puppies.

I love hating the Cubs.

In the past five years, he's put up -1.3WAR total. He just isn't very good.

Katin > Kotsay. Why not? He defends better than Kotsay, and he can actually hit a bit.

I wonder if Lawrie will get special treatment from the Canadian media because he's a Canadian. Kind of like a hometown kid raised 2,000 miles away.