Bombers

According to prospect watch, the A's get the Jays #3, #9, and #14 prospect right-hander Kendall Graveman (14), left-hander Sean Nolin(9) and minor league shortstop Franklin Barreto (3).

The Blue Jays trade ex-Brewers farm hand Brett Lawrie to the A's for Josh Donaldson http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?storyId=11951977 Update: also going to the A's: right-hander Kendall Graveman, left-hander Sean Nolin and minor league shortstop Franklin Barreto.

Ya, that is true. Maybe this is the year where 4 guys get in during the same year. Smoltz may be the odd guy out but Randy and Pedro should be in for sure.

I wish that would happen but the tough part is a voter can only vote for 10 people (and they never use all 10.) Plus a player needs to be on 75% of the ballots. It makes it tough to get more than 2 in, in any given year. See this: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hof/hofmem3.shtml Last year saw 3 voted in and so did 1999 (Ryan, Brett, and Yount) ... But it's rare. I think it's the unit, Smoltz and Biggio

New: 1. Randy Johnson 2. Pedro Martinez 3. John Smoltz 4. Gary Sheffield Top Carryovers from last years ballot: 5. Craig Biggio 74.8 6. Mike Piazza 62.2 7. Jeff Bagwell 54.3 8. Tim Raines 46.1 9. Roger Clemens 35.4 10. Barry Bonds 34.7

Boston spending some coin this off season. Must be nice to wake up and say "ah who shall I buy today" with no care for a salary cap

Fixed I agree. I thought he would get more. So does Jose Abreu go to DH?

@BNightengale: The Chicago #WhiteSox just signed 1B Adam LaRoche to a 2 year, $25 million contract. That isn't a horrible contract. But glad it wasn't us

I think too many people put too much emphasis on numbers. Not trying to be rude, but do the litmus test of looking across the diamond. We have good players spread out all over. And to think that they can't finish better than .500 again is discarding many factors including a huge one in luck. Teams get hot at the right time (see the Royals) and teams fall off at the worst times (See the Brewers) ... In reality, you have no idea who will improve and who will not. One thing I am pretty positive on is I feel they are more of an above .500 win % team than a less than .500 win % team. Lets take a look at their overall win %, their 3 big streaks, and the rest: [pre] Wins Losses Total Win % Overall……. 82 80 162 0.506 Win Streak 20 7 27 0.741 Lose Streak 1 1 11 12 0.083 Lose Streak 2 1 13 14 0.071 Remaining 60 49 109 0.550[/pre] If you take the .550 win percentage against 162 games, that gives them 89 wins. I do honestly feel, that is a good representation of how good of a team they are. If things go right, they will win 90, if they go really sour, the will win 74. If things repeat from last year and they have these horrible streaks, then .500 seems about right. I do think adding Adam Lind does make an improvement over last year (even with losing Rickie Weeks.) The largest unknown of this team is going to be the bullpen. If the bullpen turns out well (and lets be honest, no one has any idea on if it will or won't) then this team has a real shot at 90 + playoffs. If the bullpen isn't good, even with good play from the rotation + positional players, I just don't think it's good enough to overcome a bad bullpen. So in the end, my non statistical - quick glimpse analysis says, yes I do believe they can be better than 82-80 record. And one last note, as I have said all along; if we are going to pick a year to have a clunker and be out of the race by June - well this is it. Teams overpay during races, it just is what it is. With expiring contacts of Yo, Lohse, Ramirez, Parra - I really do feel that could net a decent haul into our farm.

That is bananas. @JonHeymanCBS: marlins, stanton close in on record $325M, 13-year deal. expected to include no-trade and opt out. http://t.co/jgujHFAZm3

On that note, is Mark Loretta coaching anywhere? Him, Cirillo, Matheny, and Counsell were the 4 I was referring too I have always wondered what Jeff Cirillo and Mark Loretta were up to. Those are two guys who didn't wow you in athletic ability but certainly wow'd you with what they accomplished on the field. Jeff was an 11th round pick and Mark a 7th rounder. I understand where you are picked doesn't matter but it wasn't like these were two guys you were expecting to put on such an accomplished career. Jeff played 14 years and finished with a .296 / .366 / .430 / .796. Mark played 15 years and finished with a .295 / .360 / .395 / .754. These guys definitely understood hitting. And both played great defense. Per Wikipedia: Cirrillo - He currently resides in Medina, WA and works as a MLB Scout with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Loretta - Loretta retired after the 2009 season. He will join the Padres as a special assistant to the baseball operations staff. (Doesn't say if he is still there) ... Then it talks about his managing with the Isreal team: Loretta coached the Israeli national baseball team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifier in September 2012. Israel lost to Spain in extra innings in the Pool Finals, missing out on a spot in the World Baseball Classic If the Brewers were to ever can RRR, I would definitely be interested in these 2 (Cirillo and Loretta)

On the flip side, starting July 30th, the Brewers begin a stretch where they play 23 home games and only 8 away games. The month of August is packed with home games.

Winning sells tickets. End of discussion.

I was just coming on here to post about the bobblehead news for 2015 and this is as good as any place to talk about it. The Brewers are running a promotion on their twitter feed promoting the bobblehead games. If you retweet their tweet announcing the game, you enter a drawing for some tickets. So far they have announced: 4/12 vs Pirates - Rob "Easter Sunday Home Run Hitter" Deer. Has he had a bobble head ever? Not sure. 4/26 vs Cardinals - Wily Peralta makes his bobble head debut. Well you're a big leaguer now Wily. 5/10 vs Cubs - Hank the dog on Mother's day. Any guesses if he will be sporting a pink collar? 5/31 vs Dbacks - Bud Selig. The ex Commish. 6/14 vs Nationals - Carlos Gomez - Is this 3 3rd straight year for Cargo? 6/28 vs Twins - Paul Molitor. With him now being the Twins manager, this will be a good tribute to the other teams manager. Good work Brewers

Pretty disappointing that Molina won over Luc considering Molina missed 2 months

Beltran went from .830 in 2013 to .701 in 2014. Konerko went from .857 in 2012 to .669 in 2013. Carlos Lee went from .788 in 2011 to .697 in 2012. The point his guys don't fade from prominence. They hit a wall. Hard. I believe Ramirez is going to have a hard time posting an OPS over .700 in 2015. Ramirez' post All Star OPS was .715 last year. That was with a hot August in there. The rest of the time he was awful. He simply cannot drive the ball with any regularity at all. That's not even mention his lack of ability to run at all. From the Brewer perspective, I believe the sole reason they picked up their side was as a message to potential FA in the future that they give guys the benefit of the doubt at the end of careers. I honestly can't believe they actually believe Ramirez is worth the extra $10 million. I hope the Brewers do the right thing and stick Ramirez in the 7th spot in the order. He's not a middle order of the hitter anymore and they've added Lind to the mix. Batting 7th, his base clogging should be less of a factor. I agree with the point that Ramirez is no longer a top 1-4 hole hitter. However, I disagree that he is going to just hit a "wall" and completely fall off. For every guy who has hit a wall at age 37, there are guys who have done fine. Bobby Abreu at age 37 - .253 / .353 / .365 / .717 - Clearly, the power numbers are down, but I will take an OBP of 353. or Torii Hunter at 37 - .304 / .334 / .465 / .800 Ramirez line with 2 outs was .310 / .363 / .484 / .847. If he is batting 5th, I think he could succeed as that spot seems to be up with 2 outs often. I guess the point is, each person is different. Power numbers will always decline as guys get older but a .350 OBP isn't something to sneeze at. In my opinion the deal is fine because it's only 1 year.

Yes. I agree. I didn't want to be saddled with another 3 or 4 year deal. We have a lot coming off the books after 2015. Lets keep it that way. In other news, I think this puts an end to any FA that will cost more than $1 million. Here is how our numbers shake up for 21 players which currently tally's up to $105 million: [pre]Name 2015 Ramirez, Aramis $16,000,000 Braun, Ryan $13,000,000 Gallardo, Yovani $13,000,000 Garza, Matt $12,500,000 Lohse, Kyle $11,000,000 Broxton, Jonathan $9,000,000 Gomez, Carlos $8,000,000 Lind, Adam $7,500,000 Parra, Gerardo 6,000,000 Lucroy, Jonathan $3,400,000 Segura, Jean 534,000 Peralta, Wily 515,000 Henderson, Jim 512,000 Jeffress, Jeremy 512,000 Thornburg, Tyler 505,000 Gennett, Scooter 504,000 Davis, Khris 503,000 Maldonado, Martin 502,000 Smith, Will 502,000 Fiers, Michael 512,000 Nelson, Jimmy 502,000.00 TOTAL - MIL $105,003,000[/pre]

Ya no kidding. I want nothing to do with Reynolds and his LHP splits: 2014 - .173 / .277 /.296 /.573 / 113 PA / 3 HR 2013 - .225 / .319 /.406 /.725 / 182 PA / 8 HR He cemented his get out of town card when he forgot how many outs there were in a pennant race. Sorry, I just don't want him back.

I like the trade. Crazy splits but finding a RH platoon mate should be doable

Later Rickie! Thanks for the 10 years! My guess is he goes to the Texas Rangers

This is a good point. 2008 - 72 wins (4th in division) 2009 - 88 wins (5th best record in NL and would have made playoffs in today's format. 3rd place in division.) In 2010, they won their division by 2 games with 92 wins. (5th best record in baseball, but 2nd best in NL and got a 2 seed) 2011 - 86 wins, no playoffs. (6th best record) 2012 - More of the same, won their division and were a 3 seed with 94 wins. (5th best record in MLB and tied with 2 other teams) 2013 - 76 wins, a losing record and no playoffs. 2014 - 88 wins and landed the 5th seed. (Tied for the 8th best record with 2 other teams.) They really have not dominated the league, they have just dominated the post season. (when they make it) ... Which makes it hard to ignore the 3 World Series wins in 5 years. Especially if they get another one in the next few years. I think by default most align "dynasty" with not only winning your league championship but also winning your division on a consistent basis. (Think mid 90's Cowboys, 90's Bulls, 2000 Patriots, late 90's Yankee's) Not only did those teams rack up titles, but they consistently won their division. The Giants are a bit of an odd ball. In the last 10 years, they have won their division twice, but yet have 3 World Series titles over the past 5 years. I think that's what makes it hard to label them a true Dynasty. But in today's day and age of free agency, one does have to marvel at how they continue to perform well on the big stage. Great for them and their fans as this is a decade for the ages for them.

Guys with 3 rings: 1. Tim Lincecum 2. Matt Cain 3. Madison Bumgarner - Is just awesome. He is now 4-0 in World Series games with one 5 inning save. 4. Jeremy Affeldt 5. Pablo Sandoval 6. Sergio Romo 7. Javier Lopez LHP 8. Santiago Casilla 9. Buster Posey *Travis Ishikawa won it in 2010 and 2014 (so that's odd) * Gregor Blanco is the only OF to have more than 1 ring (he has 2) from their 3 world series teams. They basically took 2 guys (Posey & Sandoval) and tied them with some awesome pitching and just plugged and played with the other positons. They certainly seem to always find good players to come in. I just don't see how you can say anything but Dynasty. Especially if they re-sign Sandoval.

Which makes the question, are they a dynasty? They have as many World Series wins as the Red Sox do since 1919. (3) they have the same amount of World Series wins as the Cards do since 1968. (3). Yes the Yankees have 27 Championships. And were one of the best teams ever from their run during 1996 - 2003. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws.jsp?feature=club_champs But this Giants team has 3 World Series wins over 5 years. In the end the only stat that matters is how many rings do you have? They got 3 over 5 years with no signs of slowing down.

They have won 3 World Series in 5 years. They did it this year without Matt Cain. Who was their best pitcher. Now Bumgarner is. If they resign the Panda Bear they could repeat.

And there it is ... Your new manager of the Chicago Cubs. Per CBS Sports: Joe Maddon has agreed to become manager of the Chicago Cubs, Jon Heyman reports. (Updated for source)