DHonks

I had an Ipad to run my smarthouse when they came out. Never really used it as a tablet except for household controls. My fiance and I loved Ipad2's. I always craved something smaller and more portable. When the Mini came out I got it in LTE and its everything I've wanted in a tablet. It's with me all the time, and I love it.

totally unrelated, but just curious. What is your college degree in?

Adam, I'm sorry to hear of your losses. I lost my mom rather suddenly in July. I'm 31, she died at 70. I take solace in how she made many people happy and that she lived on borrowed time (she received a kidney transplant when I was 17). While there were many times in my life that she could have died from sickness, she ultimately died shortly after going to bed on July 10th (technically died on July 11th). It's been brutal on my dad, who was in bed when he heard her horrific gasp. He'd been a light sleeper for 30 years of her health problems, and he looked over when she made the noise and asked her to sit up. He's still haunted by things. She'd had some health "red flags" in the weeks before her death, but nothing that screamed death was imminent. I have the last 8 months of my mom's phone calls saved to my laptop. My biggest worries are how my 71-year old dad has seemingly been in decline in the last few years. 3 years ago he was 68 going on 55, meaning that I'd put him physically and mentally up against most that are much younger. So much of his energy in my lifetime has been spent as breadwinner and caregiver, and now he doesn't have anyone to care for. He's at his happiest either when with my niece or with the 2 dogs my fiance and I have. He craves that feeling of someone needing him. I don't need to keep going on. Adam, the best advice I have is to take care of yourself. If you need help like my dad does, find a grief counselor. Obviously, learn from your family's mistakes, but look at what opportunities they provided. Fondly remember their great traits, but also keep in mind their faults so that you can be a wiser person. Try not to be bitter or angry. Try to accept that you could not change them. Surround yourself with others....whether friends' families, spouse's family, etc. Not to try to one up you, but I had a high school classmate that--while in college--lost both his parents in the same year. Here he was, 19 or 20, and he was the only family his little sister had left. My dad's really good friend from grade school lost both parents at a young age. Here he is at age 71, a prominent orthopedic surgeon with a loving wife, two kids, one grandkid, and two younger siblings that he and his wife helped raise while he went through medical school. I'll stop rambling now, cause these stories are making me sad and likely won't help. But best wishes and thanks for thinking of asking your question on this message board

bombers, that's a bad example. As was noted in a major article last year, Woodson only came to Green Bay because they were the ONLY team willing to give a multi-year deal. He now loves it, and it's changed him as a person.

in MLB, payroll does not equal wins. I'm concerned about revenue streams. I think MLB needs to increase the sharing of local media money just as it centralized the funds from Sirius XM and the internet.

Sounds like the Cubs got a nice deal. $52 million is $13 million per year. Jackson's worth at least 10-20% more per season.

brewcrewdue80, then why did we pursue two years of Dempster when he's past due? He had his first one in 2003. 1 year of Marcum with an option makes more sense

why pay top dollar for guys that 1) don't want to play here unless overpaid and 2) aren't very good? If we want to wait till early February, we can probably land a pitcher that can contribute at the right price. The teams that sign free agents early in the offseason either are targeted by a player/agent or are willing to overpay

I wonder if they could talk Notre Dame out of their new deal. I mean, it allows ND to compete with similar schools AND be independent for football. Lots of good Catholic and Jesuit schools...I remember as a senior at MUHS, many of us talked about how cool it would be if there were a Catholic or Jesuit conference. That was 1999. Of course, I went to college in a Catholic/Jesuit conference, as every West Coast Conference team fits the bill except BYU, although they share similar religious convictions

This is a bargain for the Cubs. The guy has been as good as Greinke over the last 3 years, and he just signed for 60$ of Greinke's annual salary. Good signing for the Cubs...it pains me to say that

I'd take Marcum for 1 year $10 million or 2 years $18 million with an option. Jackson would probably come much more expensive.

by the way, the thought came from the comment on mlbtraderumors. Also, Clubhouse Confidential did a great piece comparing Sanchez to Greinke over the last three years

I'd take a flier on a young reasonably priced arm if we could get him rather cheaply. I wonder what it would take.

Jackson was supposed to be the centerpiece of the package in the trade that would have sent him to Milwaukee in return for Richie Sexson. He was iffy at first, then blew out his shoulder. It wasn't until with the Rays that he started hitting upper 90s again. He's been very good since then

You get taxed on where you play, so the difference is like 5%. I guess. I was assuming with 95 games played in states with no income tax instead of 102 in a state with 13.3% income tax, it could amount to a sizeable difference.

Interesting that he chose the Dodgers over the Rangers. The Rangers could have offered far less money and--thanks to state income tax--he could have made the same or more. Throw in the expensive cost of living in SoCal compared to Texas.

Jackson likely desterves $14-15 million per year. If he'd take a 2 year deal as you suggest, he'd be the biggest bargain in modern sports free agency

PrinceEatMeat, not only is Dempster older, but earlier this offseason the medical staff said that guys tend to come back from Tommy John surgery strong only to wind up having other issues later on. Dempster had his surgery probably 6 or 7 years ago.

That's not fair. Brad Nelson never really recovered from the broken wrist and his prospect status was almost nothing when he made it to the big leagues. it's totally fair. Gamel has had multiple serious injuries. Morris could very well have injuries. The odds of these guys ever producing like Corey Hart are really low. I still hope Gamel is given a shot in RF, but I've sort of learned that many prospects never amount to much. I used to always be high on prospects and turning over the roster, but now I realize that that was foolish. Hart wants to stay, is willing to take a below market deal, and is very good at 1st base. It's quite likely that a 3-year extension would be beneficial for both

to my point, I really like Gamel as a player. I just think it's foolish to trade an established all-star for a player that is more likely to be Brad Nelson 2.0 than he is Mat Gamel 2.0

TheCrew07, Jose Rijo came back from 5 Tommy John surgeries and was quite effective. Not trying to say you're wrong, just saying that it's possible

paul, why do want to deal an above average 1st basemen with tremendous power and an under-market contact IN HIS PRIME to make room for a prospect that could be the next Mat Gamel, Kevin Barker, Joey Meyer, Alex Escobar, Corey Patterson, Brandon Wood, Sean Burroughs, Russell Branyan, etc? Morris could be a good 1st baseman, maybe even a star. But it would be foolish to move Hart for Morris until he's at least performed in AAA.

I'd like us to build a huge offense and hope our pitching keeps up. It's the Indians-Rockies theory from the 90s. Hitters can be safely signed to 3-6 year deals. Pitchers...not so much. I'm also surprised to hear rumors of Dempster given his arm surgeries and how the Brewers had a comment earlier in the offseason that several years after Tommy John surgery, other parts of the body tend to break down

Not necessarily. We wouldn't be far over budget if we dealt Aoki and Gomez. Plus the added ticket sales and expected division championship would bring attendance back over 3 million

To respond to what others have said...I would move Aoki and Gomez in a heartbeat to create room because there's a chance their value will never be higher and because they are very cost-effective. Other teams are generally trying to dump salary. We could probably get some pretty good players in return for them.