DHonks

pogo, I hope you're kidding! I really hope we aren't seriously linked to him

closer: Axford setup 1/2: Henderson and Kintzler late innings: Gonzalez long relief or behind: Badenhop, Gorzelanny, and extra starting pitcher (although they could let Narveson start on DL to continue rebuilding arm strength)

I'm not said about it either. But I would be sad about it. He's the best prospect we've had since Escobar, and he's never gotten a chance. Hard to fault his off-season conditioning. His rehab focused on his knee and the Brewers said he looked good in December. Of course, some people constantly questioned Sheets' conditioning. He could have been the Cy Young at least one of the years had he gotten more run support, yet people still found fault with him.

I have a feeling I'm going to be unhappy with Taylor Green on the roster. As much as I loved him as a minor leaguer and stuck by him despite his injuries, I've been very unimpressed with him in the majors (maybe I just hate his stance??) and feel he's better served in AAA where he can try to put together more success. He's had about 1.5 good years in the minors, and I'd like to have him playing every day.

baldkin, I'm not sure it's 12 months anymore. Yo came back in 5 1/2 months from it. Gonzalez is full strength and he had his surgery a few weeks earlier. I think it's just more of a fluke with Gamel.

just saw it on the bottom line. Apparently the Mets want him to focus the next 3 weeks on strengthening his arm. Makes sense because the last two years he developed shoulder weakness in spring training and we had to shut him down

amazing how good this season has turned out for Wisconsin teams. I really thought Marquette would be good, but all my Badger fan friends declared them done when they lost the PG before the season. So it's good to see both teams overachieving. Sounds like they should be 4-5 seeds in the Big Dance. Now just 3 weeks and I'll be in Vegas, enjoying a good meal, and hopefully will have made some money on play-in games!!!

I've never heard of any of those places. I'm maybe in those areas you mentioned once per year.

sweet...thanks Menotti. I am currently a New Balance fan...best fit I've ever had, and they last so much longer than the more expensive Nike's. Plus, they used to be the only US made tennies, so I liked that.

Some good mexican options out here, but I have yet to find anything here that stacks up with the old Rudy's in downtown Milwaukee that we went to before Marquette games. Are you staying near the stadium, in Scottsdale, Phoenix, Tempe, etc?

thanks for all the responses. Glad to see I'm not the only one with this frustration. LouisEly, I never make it that way as the Casa Grande Outlets are about 2 hours south of me. Although perhaps I could venture to the Anthem outlets that are 45 minutes from me. Or when in Vegas next month maybe I'll find a store. I did ask my students, and even the 16-18 year olds said they were annoyed by the lack of decent options lately.

true, they didn't give up on Sexson, but the soured on him. Crazy looking back at how good that trade was for us. Sexson, Scutaro, Rigdon, and Kane Davis for Wickman, Bere, and Woodard.

I worry about the three viable options at 1b. I assume you mean Green, Morris, and Davis, but I trust none of them. I like seeing some more production. Green has had 1.5 good seasons, Morris 1, and Davis a couple (but for some reason scouts don't like him). Assuming it fits in our budget, I prefer Hart at $8-12M over these options at league minimum. If they show they are capable of producing, I will change my mind. I also wouldn't mind trading Weeks if he has a big year, but we have no viable replacement and we'd miss his offense (when healthy). Aoki and Gomez worry me most on the Brewers. I'm fine with them opening the year in the lineup, but I have no clue what to expect. Seeing as our rotation and bullpen are so young and cheap, I'm in no hurry to consider moving Yo, Weeks, Ramirez, the catchers, or Braun. Things change though.

Remember when the Indians gave up on Richie Sexson? 29 teams gave up on Nelson Cruz. Didn't all 30 also struggle to give Jose Bautista ample time to hone his skills? I'd love a flier on LaPorta.

Because those guys were always filler. Right now the Brewers system looks great at producing future filler. Our minor league depth is very good with this type of player. We are not very good right now with producing studs. Beginning this year--for the first time in my lifetime--we have enough quality minor league "filler" depth that we can have Green, Schafer, Gindl, Maldonado, and Bianchi all as backups. When backups are making the league minimum, it allows us to focus our resources on the marquee players. We are in a nice spot because we no longer are having to pay for 5 backups all making $1-3 million. Wolf had one great season here, one solid, and one terrible. I consider his signing to be an overwhelming success given how free agency generally doesn't work out for teams. I also look at players' past performance to determine future performance because players are--barring injury--likely to remain fairly constant. That is, their declines are rarely dramatic. Gallardo is a top 20 pitcher in baseball. We have no minor leaguers like him, but few teams do. I am really intrigued by what our rotation can do. I also like our minor league depth at present. The ultimate goal is to become like the Rays with pitching where you can trade your starters--whether a 1 or a 4--and get serviceable talent back because teams are overpaying. They always seem to be 5-10 pitchers deep. There's a chance that this could be the beginning of that for us. I really like the idea of having a few core players that are your expensive players with the rest being fairly inexpensive. Hart is likely signable in part because he's indicated a willingness to sign for under-market salaries. Weeks is signed for the near-term and he's such a great bat that it's worth sticking with him. Ramirez will likely finish out his contract at least fairly well. The biggest player to sell high on is Carlos Gomez.

what's weird though is that we keep getting lots out of the guys you are discussing. It's not like our team is full of wasted players. We have top 5 talent in LF, 3b, 2b, C, and arguably CF and 1b (with Hart healthy). I don't care a player's age if they perform.

Barton is a train-wreck, or at least he was at 20. I'd love to take a flyer on Branyan or Jack Cust for the time being. Branyan is preferable because his connections in MKE and general awesomeness

I've been putting off this rather inexpensive purchase for at least a year. Just none of the styles strike me. What's weird is that I teach in a HS and I've never seen students wearing any of the colors I'm finding in the stores. Maybe I'll ask where they get simple tennis shoes. I like the neutral tones so I can wear with jeans, cargos, or whatever else is comfortable.

Hey all, I recently went to the local Kohls and DSW to try to upgrade my old beat up New Balance sneakers. I was shocked that almost no styles have basic colors. Everything I saw from the major brands was orange, bright yellow, bright blue, neons, etc. Seriously, what happened to fairly basic, neutral toned shoes?

Lohse scares me because he was never very good till the last year or so. Of course, Carpenter was pretty awful in Toronto. Still, I get nervous with these St. Louis guys

What story are you talking about? There was this one from Haudricourt that was in the paper this morning, but I don't see anywhere in here that suggests that the clinic is leaking the info: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/brauns-team-must-go-to-bat-for-him-5n8ptnv-191567531.html I don't agree with everything Haudricourt states in this article, but I believe in the overall message, especially the last line: Leak by leak, your client is dying a slow public relations death. What are you waiting for? Patrick425, you linked to the article but apparently you didn't read it. "An MLB investigation last year determined the original leak of Braun's positive drug test came from someone his defense team consulted in Florida, so you have to wonder what's going on down there." That pretty much says the clinic leaked the info. Additionally, why doesn't Braun get American justice? Why is he guilty till proven innocent. I'm sorry, but people need to let these events sort themselves out. Braun is presumed innocent. No more amateur Monday morning quarterbacking

Surprised nobody mentioned the JSonline story posted last night that says that MLB's investigation into the leak of a positive Braun test revealed that a clinic the defense used for consultation in Florida is the one that leaked the news. If I'm Braun's camp, there's a reason we never paid the bill and that's because of breach of contract. If I'm this Bosch guy, of course I'd be upset and want my $20-30k.

toolivebrew, I see it differently. These updates from the blog have been worthless. They remind me of all the trendy "get to know your players" articles you find in which they ask for favorite fast food, favorite band, etc. In the past the previous groups have written some decent articles. Hopefully the content they post becomes worth viewing.

I have tickets to a WBC game. Has been lots of fun to watch the first two times through. These are some fantasy/video game lineups and it's fun to watch. As I've said before, it was great 7 years ago being in Panama and seeing all the old guys at bars to watch games on tvs. They couldn't believe Panama could lose to anyone, despite having only one big leaguer

yeah, was pretty cool. I drove to work in Scottsdale and it was 29....At least it was nice by mid-day, and should be nice next week