jerichoholicninja

The salary cap helps create parity in the NFL but the two biggest factors are injuries and an only 16 game schedule.

Considering his job is to get off his butt only 4 or 5 times a game and swing hard I don't think it's that big of a deal, provided he fully recovers.

Maybe one of those bottom 3 goes to Philly for Papelbon. I wouldn't like it but it's a possibility.

Is it basically a forgone conclusion that Papelbon will be a Brewer before opening day? I mean deals very rarely get this public without ever happening.

Speaking of things that drag on forever, is there a danger that the Brewers will start getting bumped off of FSN at the end of the NBA season since the Bucks might actually be playing for something?

I can't believe they said that. They should be saying, "We just had a new position open up and were wondering if you were still interested" Way to flaunt your own incompetence.... This is what I was thinking. When they said who they were I figured the person they hired didn't work out and they were just going back through everyone who applied. To be fair, though, a few years ago this same company offered me what they called a "graphic design" position after a recruiter gave them my resume. When they brought me in to show me the job to see if I wanted it they took me to the factory floor to show me how to assemble the product I would be making. They considered it "graphic design" because every now and then I would have to type something into a computer and center it. Needless to say, I turned them down then too.

Craig T. Nelson

I'm thinking Padres and Marlins are the front runners but the Yankees can't be discounted because, well they're the Yankees. Put me down for $70M/4 years to San Diego.

I applied for a job right before Thanksgiving. They called me today and the person on the phone said they just got around to looking at resumes and wanted to see if I was still interested. You posted a job over 3 months ago and are just now getting around to looking at resumes? No thanks, not interested.

I was going to post about him a couple days ago and then I looked at his numbers. Nothing too great. Walks too many, doesn't strike out that many. However it's a minor league deal for a guy who would probably make every team's bullpen so I like it.

I'd like to see Yadier Molina endorse raincoats for umpires.

No. Negative defensive value anywhere you put him and he's the standard low OBP, HR or K, Brewer hitter. Doug can't wait to sign him.

I'm sorry but the Brewers never will be able to afford these players. Huh? By the time these guys hit FA, you will likely have a rotation with Peralta, Nelson, Fiers, Jungmann all either in the early years of arbitration or pre-arbitration. Same with Davis, Scooter, Segura, Sardinas, Arcia in the everyday lineup. The only one making serious coin at that time will be Braun. Not sure why they couldn't afford to keep Lucroy who: -Will be in his early 30s -Has already begun to transition off of catching thereby diminishing his $$ and -Is the face of the franchise and arguably the most beloved Brewer since Yount Or Gomez who, granted will be expensive, but by no means will be out of the Brewers price range given the state of the Brewers payroll as we can predict it today. Russell Martin just got $82M over 5 years at the age of 31. The Brewers shouldn't be committing that amount of money or years to a catcher, face of the franchise or not. And if Gomez was a free agent there is no way the Brewers could compete with the offers he would get.

I'm sorry but the Brewers never will be able to afford these players.

"The more you buy, the more you save." Umm, no.

no team claimed herrera, and he was outrighted to colorado springs. he'll be in big league camp as a non-roster player. I'm surprised but I guess that says a lot about him if 29 teams did not want him.

Chicken or the egg. Do shorter people make not as good pitchers or do teams just avoid shorter pitchers. I believe it's more because teams just avoid shorter players. I remember reading an article a few years ago that said most teams won't even scout a pitcher unless he's over 6'2". Seems rather stupid to me to ignore a large portion of the population just because of their height. This isn't basketball.

A 1 game playoff between the 4th and 5th "best" team in a league is fine with me. I don't see it as any different than a tiebreaker game (163rd game). In theory it should lessen the chance of wildcard team advancing since they will probably start their best pitcher in the wildcard game leaving their next opponent to start their best pitcher in game 1 and perhaps a second time in the series.

I don't know why SD would want him. They clearly would like to win now and I don't see Sardinas being any better in 2015 than what they currently have.

This is really hard to follow but you know that the current rules are that any pitcher brought in has to face at least one batter, right?

Other than God Bless America on Sundays the 7th inning stretch takes literally 15 seconds longer. If that.

assuming no injuries and a 12-man pitching staff, the cotts signing seems to have sealed wooten's optioning to the minor leagues to start the season. brandon kintzler is paid too much to be optioned, and tyler thornburg, with an option remaining, could fill the long relief role for the club. jim henderson could be optioned instead of wooten, but that's doubtful. will smith, jonathan broxton, neal cotts and jeremy jeffress have to be considered locks. working in wooten's favor to remain on the 40-man roster: of relievers currently on the 40-man likely to be optioned in 2015, he has the most big league experience (compared to corey knebel, wei-chung wang [being converted to a starter], michael blazek and johnny hellweg [still considered a starting pitcher?]). if pursuits of jonathan pabelbon and/or francisco rodriguez are legit, the brewers aren't left with a lot of experienced pitching depth in the minors. The health of Thornburg and Henderson will have to be considered. I could easily one or both of them starting the year on the DL.

Will Smith will now be the LOOGY. Smith's numbers vs lefties are awesome - here are the opposing LH hitters stats vs smith .167 / .245 / .271 / .516 ... Cotts will face hitters from both sides of the plate but Will Smith won't have too. I do agree with JB though, $3 million does seem high for a guy who hasn't been all that affective throughout his career (outside of his great 2013 year) but who knows, maybe the Brewers saw something and think they can get him to replicate his 2013 year. I would agree that Smith should be a loogy but I think Ron would disagree with that. He's going to be the 7th or 8th inning guy (pending KRod or Papelbon) addition and will get hammered by righties.

Yes and no. I believe tax payers are paying for over half of the Vikings new stadium. The Packers are unique being that they don't have a billionaire owner to invest in the team.

Here are all four players stats from 2014 per Fangraphs. Player: ERA: / FIP: / K/9: / BB/9: / Holds: / GB%: / IP: Cotts 4.52 / 3.58 / 8.51 / 3.11 / 19 / 34.7% / 66.2 Coke 3.88 / 3.98 / 6.36 / 3.10 / 5 / 55.6% / 58.0 Thatcher 3.86 / 3.43 / 8.01 / 1.19 / 6 / 34.4% / 30.1 Maholm 4.84 / 4.96 / 4.33 / 3.57 / 0 / 54.4% / 70.2 (8 starts) Based on these numbers I would consider Cotts to be the most well rounded option. I did not realize his K/9 rate was so high. Coke has struggled the past couple seasons and shouldn't be counted on to produce like he did earlier in his career. Maholm would be seviceable at best as a starter (see Gorzelanny in 2013) while Thatcher is considered a true loogy meaning he would only be counted on to pitch less than 40 innings. None of that is their numbers against lefties which is what really matters with these guys. I just quickly perused their career numbers vs lefties and Thatcher is the best. Cotts has really only had 2 good years his whole career when he was 25 and then 33. He missed 3 years with injuries and was not as effective last year as he was the year before. I can't get any gauge of what to expect from him since his numbers are all over the place and then when you factor in his laundry list of injuries he's just way more unpredictable than those other guys. I'm sure he won't be a disaster but he seems to be far from the surest choice of what's left.