DHonks

mlbtraderumors speculates the Brewers sign Doug Davis and Jarrod Washburn. I'd be fine with that, as we could probably land both for the money saved by Hardy and Cameron. However, it'd be nice to also bring back Ben Sheets. A rotation of Gallardo, Parra, Davis, Bush, and Washburn would be a big upgrade. It would likely give us Mark Mulder and Capuano in AAA as alternatives. Signing Sheets would allow the Crew to either deal Bush or make him a swing man.

I'm going to view the offseason in its totality. That is, if these moves (no Hardy and no Cameron) free up $12-15 million to sign 1-2 pitchers, then I think the trades are effective.

I think this is brilliant. I was talking with my friend the other day, and we wondered when it became cool for grown men to dress for Halloween. I didn't know people in HS or college that did it, but now I'm hearing more people wearing costumes (still nobody I know). But dressing a dog for Halloween...that's funny.

at my old school the ladies came up with No-shave-ember to raise money for school programs. Of course, the kids thought that raising money would keep us in longer and torture us. They didn't realize that it was nice to get to report to work looking sloppy! Once knocked out for not raising enough, the teacher had to spin the "wheel-of-shave" to determine the pattern they had to shave the next day.

Stevo, seeing as Looper will be one of the better free agent pitchers, there's likely no reason for him to stick with the Brewers. He'll likely turn his mediocre year into a 2 year, $10 million offer.

I think McGwire could be a very good hitting coach based on his personality and that he was rather one-dimensional. He never hit for a great average, seeing that on a decent amount of balls he never had to even jog to first. I think he probably can help the average hitters more than the power hitters

For those talking about trading people on the DL, remember, there is no DL this time of year. Riske is on the 40 man roster, because there is no 25 man roster and there is no DL. He can be traded...buyer beware

For me Pizza Hut Pan Pizza >>>>> Dominos>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>every other chain pizza place. I just despise Pap Johns, Little Ceasars, etc. For the most part local ma & pa pizza places really make the best pizza, but every once in a while I like to get Pizza Hut or Dominos. See, and I've always thought of the mass chains as going: Papa Johns>Dominos>Little Caesars>Pizza the Hut. In college I loved ordering Papa Johns online where we could customize our Friday Lenten orders. Of course, to show how much I love those places, I'm eating a Tombstone pizza while I type this and haven't had any of these in probably 2 years

I think I last dressed up for Halloween when I was like 9. So I guess I don't get Halloween as adults. My students sure get into it though. Of course, that's cause they're going to parties and doing things we never dreamt of in HS

Since you can't see anything in this video, it reminds me of the movie National Security. It "clearly" looks as though Martin Lawrence is beaten, and he "clearly" has a swollen face, but the video showed nothing. This video shows nothing, as we can't see anything take place. All we can do is surmise what is happening based on some abrupt movements and a whole lot of volume.

Don't forget that McGwire was always a class act. He was always a very good hitter.

I nearly always support police/deputies. This video appears a bit excessive, but seeing as this is a site that constantly nags us about sample size, I find it hilarious that people would rush to judgment without knowing the whole story or seeing the whole story. They will sort all this out. I find it funny when I'm driving the van with my HS athletes in it and they all mock the cops we drive past. I don't get the disdain for police officers. To me, they're doing the same job that I (as a teacher) am doing.

X, when I look at the A's giving Cust a shot in their OF and Dunn in the Nationals, I tend to think that sometimes the offense can outweigh the defense. Carter would probably compare favorably all-around to a Carlos Lee if given opportunities

Coach, if that's Chris Carter, he was my favorite guy from when I did some work for the Dbacks. He's quirky, but fun, and can mash

JohnBriggs, nobody thought Trot would even make the Brewers. Mulder and Capuano are great signings. If they work out, wonderful, if not, oh well. I'm sure lots of the Cards fans were disappointed when they signed a Toronto castoff coming off major surgery, but now I think they're happy they signed Carpenter.

coach, Colby (Patrick) and myself has proposed splitting Salome and Lucroy in the big leagues. It would not overexpose them offensively, but would give them a solid way to break into the big leagues. Besides wanting a guy to play every day, what would you see as the pros and cons to this? It's sort of what wound up happening in AZ with Snyder and Montero. I figure that with catchers especially, having two good catchers would take away some of the wear-and-tear that adversely impacts catchers offensively, defensively, and with injury-risk.

I have no problem with Macha saying he didn't want to overexpose these hitters by playing them against top starters. But then why, when Gamel would have a good day, would he then not play for 3 days because Macha wanted to start Hall (bad for 2+ years at that point), McGehee (nursing a bum knee), and Counsell (nursing a bum knee)? Counsell and McGehee were huge surprises this year, but it drove me crazy to have Gamel sitting as the 4th 3b, when he should have been starting 2-3 days per week at a minimum

I remember Jeff Juden for his massive implosions both on the field and in the dugout. So much talent, but teams didn't want the guy around.

WiBadgers23 and Sungrasses, it's obvious you two haven't followed the AFL in past years, so I'll respond to your comments: [/i haven't followed the AFL in the past, but are these games usually this high scoring? i] Yes. The AFL is usually full of prime hitting prospects, but suspect pitching. Lots of the pitchers are guys with rust coming off of injury or tweener types (see Bausher, Wolfe, etc for Brewers in past years). I'd say that far more AFL hitters become studs than AFL pitchers. Teams baby their top arms, whereas they send their top hitters Apparently, the Major League organizations try to dictate the lineup and playing time during the AFL. The Dodgers wanted "their guy" (Lucas May) to catch 4 games a week. The Peoria manager was trying to accommodate the Dodgers when the Brewer brass got wind of it and balanced the catching time somewhat. Lucroy now seems to be catching 2 days per week. May appears to be getting 3 days, and on Saturdays, the taxi squad catcher (another Dodgers guy, Jessie Mier) plays. Yes, but it's nothing secret or sneaky. Teams meet (or conduct it over the phone) to name their AFL players. Based on team assignments, each team is able to designate a number of priority players for the AFL. The priority players are expected to start in approximately 5 games per week (out of 6). Taylor Green was clearly not a priority player, as he bought a 1st baseman's mitt just for the AFL to get him into the lineup (as was reported in what, July?). However, due to injuries and days off, he may log considerable time in the field at various spots. The policy of the league is that priority players get the playing time. Teams can also set rules for various players. For instance, I seem to recall the A's had a rule where Huston Street was allowed to pitch 2 innings, but not back to back days.

To be honest, I can't think of a highlight. I've loved Brewers baseball since roughly '91 or '92 when I was young. I've always been known as the eternal optimist. But in mid-June I lost much of my interest in the Brewers. They were playing awfully outside of a good 20-25 game stretch. The team had no signs of life, the offense was lackluster, the starting pitching in tatters, and the bullpen scuffling. This team should have been an 85-87 win team based on personnel, yet they failed. To me, Ken Macha surfaced as the problem. The hitters were changing their approaches, the defenders playing too deep, and on the bases the team was afraid to run or take an extra base. There was little effort to hit-and-run or bunt to avoid double plays, and Macha's response for failing to play smart baseball was "Gerut isn't a good bunter." When the Brewers fell behind this year, I had almost zero faith that they could come back. Last year they would fall behind and I still felt comfortable in most games. But I just felt that when we gave up 3 runs early, that the team would never be able enough runs to tie the game. It seemed that the hitting/scoring became even more feast-or-famine, as we lost lots of games when we gave up few runs.

Ender, I just wanted to mention that it seems unlikely that Looper is back as he'll be one of the most sought after free agent pitchers due to the lack of depth. As for Narveson, he could be a decent 5th guy, but ultimately our chances for the playoffs hinge more on Parra, Bush, and Suppan.

I'm just laughing that some thing Weeks couldn't handle CF, in part because of a weak arm (poor mechanics lead to a poor arm). I remember seeing him play an adequate SS in the AFL. He's got good ranger and arm strength.

At this point I consider Salome more advanced, because while Lucroy had a very good second half, Salome had a great entire season in. Salome's mediocre AAA debut is still ahead of Lucroy in my mind.

Kemp will be there, so that's 5 that can catch

I am thinking of heading back for Halloween weekend as well (Purdue is at Wis, so one buddy is available), Packers hosting Vikings, and I think World Series. Plus, weather still nice and warm, and cheap rooms are THE Hotel