Big Reed

I think the brewers could afford buehrle for the next 4 months and then allow him to sign with somebody else as a FA after the season. The brewers may even want to keep him and sign him instead of cappy. the revenues for making the world series win or lose are tremendous. the problem that i see is that the White sox have a ton of young outfielders. they don't need or want guys like Gwynn, Gross or Nix. They already have those same guys with different names : Anderson, Sweeney, and Gonzolez. The white Sox appear to be in need of relief pitching. Would the brewers give up Charlie or Inman, Parra or Turnbow? in most of the trades made last year, the team giving away the veteran received the other team's top pitching prospect. I look at the Jennings for Hirsh trade and believe that the white Sox would be asking for the same value of player for Buehrle. Hirsch was houston's #1 overall prospect in 2006. in most Yankees proposals, the name Hughes is included. I highly doubt the brewers would be willing to trade charlie or Yo for buehrle. Would the White Sox be willing to accept inman or parra? Unfortunately, I think they would be able to get a better offer. I'd like to acquire Buehrle. But I don't want to give up the players I believe the white sox would be asking for.

I'd like to add griffey, but in looking at the reds, they are going to want prospects or young players in return for him, not veterans with $12 million salaries.. For the brewers to acquire griffey, the brewers would want to unload some payroll as part of the deal. however, the only reason for the reds to trade griffey is if they too could unload some payroll as part of the deal. neither team is really known as a team with a lot of extra money to spend. griffey sells tickets. without him, the reds would be looking at some other way to either sell tickets or drastically reduce their payroll. Down on the farm, the reds have several bright outfield prospects and Votto at first. I would believe their real needs are a potential future all star middle infielder, catcher, or starting pitcher. if the brewers were truly interested in acquiring griffey, i would have to believe looking at the deal from the reds' perspective they would be asking for players like weeks or hardy, or Charlie, Yo, parra or Inman. I realize brewers fans would never want to part with any of these players. and that's the main reason so few trades that fans propose are ever accomplished. the reds are not going to want the spare parts brewer fans are willing to give up. And the brewers are not going to rip apart their infield or young pitching just to acquire an aging $15 million outfielder. peter gammons likes to get people excited by throwing out 20,000 trade proposals that he thinks teams should make. but the reality is that only about 2 of those sure thing proposals are ever made. melvin said about 3 years ago that trades for hitters are made in the off season, and trades for pitchers are made at the trading deadline. looking at the trades that have bee n made at the past deadlines, melvin's statement is close to the money. a trade i could see happening: the braves trading Saltamachia or mc cann for griffey. it gives the reds an all star name that they can market. it saves payroll. and it provides the braves a power bat to put in their lineup.

lofton has played in a platoon for a couple of teams in the past. Although he usually got the majority of the atbats in that platoon. I have never heard him complain about doing so. the problem as I see it is that Hall is finally starting to explode. Would we want to platoon hall with lofton and lose what hall is currently doing? Hart has been tremendous batting lead-off. if we signed lofton, would lofton bat lead-off instead of Hart? I would like to acquire lofton. he's a nice veteran. he has some speed, and has been on some winning teams and seems to be a good overall person. but, I' m not sure where and how the brewers would use him if at all. an old guy I would like to see still playing is Bernie Williams. I think the Yankees demise this year has more to do with the absence of bernie than they would openly admit. Not only was he a great hitter, he was a clutch hitter and great club house influence.

if what trombone says is correct and I have no reason to doubt him, this is just another reason not to believe the stories printed in the New York tabloids. And that's exactly what they have become. They blurred out the picture and made up their own story to go with it. Yes the shirt is offensive and tacky. But the letters on the shirt were not what the paper claimed they were. I have to believe Mrs arod is not totally innocent. She knew exactly what she was doing wearing the shirt. and she knew exactly the reaction it would create. I'm old enough to remember the days when journalism was a respected occupation. It's too bad stories like this grab the sports headlines instead of stuff like there are 4 brewers on the all star roster.

I was also thinking of bryant gumble, robin roberts and kieth Olberman as former sportcasters who have moved on to bigger and also different entertainment industry occupations. Dan Patrick has been with ESPN a long time. He keeps getting beaten out by Bob Costas for that sports Emmy. Maybe he saw how many Emmies Bob Barker has won, and he's looking for a change of pace from sportscasting. I've noticed Patrick seems to be talking about his family a lot more now. maybe he's looking for a job with a little more stability. or maybe it's all just a huge running joke and satiracle comment being made on ESPN about our society that we actually care and look forward to finding out who the next price is right host will be. it's kind of like Sienfeld - we give huge importance to things that don't really matter.

Casey - I read the article. I'm not questioning the article. What I'm questioning is the truthfulness of the article. I have seen no other creditable news source come out and deny or substantiate the article and/or photo. With my knowledge of that newspaper and also forged/morphed photos that appear daily on the internet, I have to believe that the photo may be fake and the story is a lie. I dislike a lot of today's fashion. but a lot of today's fashion does border on the edge of profanity and obscenity. I wouldn't pay money for jeans that are already ripped no matter if they do have the name Ambercrombie or Fitch on them. But, I'm smart enough to realize many people pay money for them just because they are ripped and have that name. Why do people buy Tommy Hilferger or Eddie bauer stuff? the simple answer is because they can. Casey, it's clear you seem to believe the author of this story word for word. I say, consider the source before believing it to be true. and since this story is about AROD's wife, and not AROD, don't you agree it would be better as an off topic thread?

I heard them talking about this on ESPN radio this morning. I was not able to hear the entire story. the rumor was that Dan Patrick was actually thinking about applying to be the new Price is Right host. he definitely has the hair for the job. Last week Rosie's name was mentioned. Does this story have any truth or meat? or was Dan just joking around? I know a lot of ESPN sportscasters have gone on to bigger and better things besides sportscasting. Joe Garagiola actually hosted a game show for a couple of years - so it's possible.

for clearity's sake, did MRS Arod actually have a profanity on her shirt? or did it actually actually say FCUK ? Legally, implying an obsceneity is not the same thing as wearing one. i know a lot of companies that make a lot of money selling merchandise using words that have other meanings or their other meaning is implied. Colleges do the same thing. My wife has an Eye U tshirt. She's an optometrist. She went to Indiana Uuniversity - thus Eye U. I know Ball St University is famous for its Tshirts. You can guess what is printed on them. so for clearity sake, I'd like to know if the tshirt actually included an obsecenity, or if the obscenity was spelled differently and just implied. You can't tell from the picture. All you can truely see is the F. Based on the past lies and bad reputation of the New York Post, the word could have been Farm or Fire, or Four or Fatt or Foxy or some other 4 letter word that begins with the letter F. By blocking out the remaining letters, and in reading some of the other trash written by the New York Post, this entire story and picture could have been false. has another newspaper with an actual reputation for reporting the news in truth actually verified what was written on the tshirt? or are they just quoting the NY post? have the globe and enquirer come out with more pictures? was this picture from last week? or somebody's 5 year old file when AROD was a Ranger? Was this an actual picture or was it doctored? it seems odd no other picture exists? I guess she never got out of that seat? and no other paparazzi photographers were at the game to take their own pictures? this entire story seems kind of odd that only one blurred photo is being used.

do you think the trade of barrett might have also been for financial reasons freeing up some extra money for the Cubs to pursue a veteran player like Griffey?

I like Wilkerson because of his ability to play first and the outfield. but , he's been banged up all year. I'm not sure which Wilkerson the brewers would be getting. he does have 6 homers which would put him pace for 15 if he had over 500 atbats. I like the idea he would be a free agent at the end of the year. based on his 3 year production, would he be a class A free agent? or a Class B? or one not deserving of compensation? I'd love to rent the guy for a couple of months if we could wind up getting a supplemental pick for him after the year.

I noticed Sweeney is now injured and the Royals are starting to play Gordon at first. if he plays 20 games at first this year, he will have first and third base status for next year which would make him more valuable to me. My first basemen are sexson and nomar. Neither player is currently worth keeping. You guys don't sound like you're that enamored with trading gordon for hunter pence as being a great long term future all star like Beltran? Pence had a great year in the minors and is doing well so far, but you guys are still not gushing all over him? and you believe Gordon will be a better long term player?

this was originally a fantasy trade proposal to me .. Alex Gordon for Hunter Pence. But, looking at Houston's and KC's current teams, this might also be a deal worthy of making in real life. Put Pence in center field for KC and move Teahan back to third , and have Gordon start at third for Houston. I was given a call and asked since i had so many fantasy third basemen on my team, what would it take to trade for Alex Gordon. My first response was a lot, since it's a keeper league and he has a great future ahead of him. I then said it would probably take a 25 year old all star I looked at his roster and asked for Hunter Pence. This league is a money league and has 4 OF positions, 1 corner infield position, and a Dh position. and I can only keep 9 players every year. Since it's a money league and also a keeper league I think twice before trading potential stars. it's a 14 team league. Currently I have Miggy Cabrera as my starting third baseman. I also have Glaus, Alex Gordon, Ryan Braun, and dbacks' Reynolds. Two of these third basemen always sit on my bench. My outfield consists of Soriano, Griffey, Hart, Jenkins, Cruz jr and lofton. Normally, I would never trade a guy like Gordon. But I have no plans to trade Cabrera in the next ten years, and Braun is looking great. Although Gordon may qualify at first down the road and all I have there is nomar and Sexson - neither of whom I will probably keep past after this year.. Pence would fit nice into my outfield both now and in the future. I'm loaded at third, and Gordon a luxury i really don't need. My question is will Pence be able to keep it up? and remain at an all star level for the next 5 years? I fully expect Gordon to continue to hit as well as he's been hitting the past two weeks. Should I make this deal?

let's go Coco. get it done. great job turnbow. great job Yo.

In the spirit of who I'd like the brewers to go after, I think it would be nice if the brewers rented a potential free agent and then allowed him to walk after the year. The brewers are where they are today because of their smart use of draft picks. I think it would be really nice if the brewers could add a couple of first round supplemental picks next year. the way to do that would be to trade for a potential free agent, and then allow him to sign elsewhere after the season. people keep saying look at how great Oakland is. Well they kept Zito rather than trading him, and they ended up with several supplemental draft picks when he left to rebuild their team. There are a lot of great players picked in those supplemental rounds. I remember the braves picking catcher Saltamachia with one of their first round supplemental picks. So my input is to trade for a potential free agent- use him this year, and then get a pick for losing him.

The baby racoons are a lot cuter than my picture would suggest. They also allowed me to come within 5 feet of them without too much trouble. However, mama racoon is not cute. She's a big mama. Mama racoon is also destructive. Mama racoon was able to take the bird feeder off it's hook, slam it to the ground, and was able to open the bird feeder, and ate all the bird food. the bird feeder has a lockable top and mama raccoon was able to figure out how to open it. I would guess my first option is to remove the bird feeder - at least temporarily. You would not believe the variety of birds that have come to our back yard and lake ranging from bald eagles to indigo buntings to wild turkeys to hummingbirds. I see over 50 varieties of birds on a daily basis. I love to watch the birds, raccoons, and other wildlife that frequent our lake and nearby woods. However, I know what mischeof (SP) adult raccoons can cause. I've already had a hawk perch itself on my deck to enjoy the view of my back yard. What I don't want happening is to be awakened in the night by a raccoon looking for food.

here's a picture of two of the racoons.. www.pack121.net/DCP_3789.JPG I paid extra for the things such as a squirrel guard to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeder. but we have some really smart squirrels that were not deterred. the mama racoon, just opened up the bird feeder and emptied it on the ground. I guess perhaps we could just get rid of the bird feeder.

My wife bought an air pellet handgun and rifle to keep the squirrels off our bird feeder. I have found both guns to be extremely inaccurate from 25'. To me, it was a waste of $200. I shot a bb gun in scouts. but I have a bad feeling a bb gun would kill the squirrels and racoons. I had a friend who used traps for ground hogs in Ohio. he would catch them and then release them in the woods. i later read that trapping live animals and relocating them was against the animal rights law.

our house is on a lakeshore. We have a woods with a creek running through it right next to our house, and an alfalfa pasture across the street. I can see why the racoons like it here. Yesterday, we saw a momma deer and her 1-3 day old baby fawn walking down the road. These little guys are real cute now. but they will become fat, curious and ugly in a couple of months. I don't want our place becoming the neighborhood zoo. I also don't want pepe la pue and his cousin finding out about this great wildlife preserve.

For some stupid reason , I decided to mow our back yard: 2 acres of weeds. After doing so, mama racoon showed up digging in my new found grass. Today her 4 baby racoons joined her. I' m not sure where daddy racoon is. Maybe he's at the US Open, or in Detroit chasing sea gulls. or maybe he's that racoon I passed on the road just taking a 24/7 nap. it appears the baby racoons like to climb my trees. On a positive note, the squirrels who were eating all our bird food have now left. Does anybody know of a humane way to give these racoons a subtle hint that there are better places to live? Should i put out my racoon tail as a subtle gesture as to what hppens to racoons when they make humans mad? Do you think they would understand? or would they think this must be racoon heaven? I' m not real big on shooting or trapping or poisoning animals. but , i've also seen the destruction to aticks (SP)that racoons have done. our fearless attack cat meowed at the racoon a couple of times, and it kind of ignored him. is this a case for leemur man? Should I put on my Easter Bunny outfit? Should I send them one of my emails? Should I chop down the tree? Should I feed them some of the same food that gives me the runs and hope it has the same effect on them? any suggestions? ideas? I'll post a picture tommorow- they are kind of cute.

I thought at first somebody had hacked into the site.

I'm not sure about their farm system, but the phillies never did trade Rowand. They also have a young outfielder named Bourn who is a rookie this year. he has speed and is a pretty good base stealer. His elevation to the big leagues could make Rowand or Victorino expendable. Something to think about- Tom Gordon will return next month. he might be a nice guy to rent for 3 months and then allow him to leave. I don't know what his contract situation is. the brewers could swap vargus for Gordon without too much grief. or the brewers could hope to strike lightning in the bottle twice and try to pry away old timer jamie moyer just like they acquired Sutton. I doubt the phillies would ask for much in return for Moyer. or they could try to bring back an old favorite in wes helms. it looks like he's lost his starting job to Dobbs.

2001 - Space Odyssey. now there was an ambiguous ending. all of a sudden, he's in a different world totally separated from the rest of the movie. What was that all about? I never understood that ending.

I remember joehova making a lot of contributions (posts) to our political discussion threads. I'm unsure if those threads were deleted or archived. That may be why you haven't seen many of his posts. I really believe Prince is deserving of a starting all star berth, and I've voted for him. I realize cubs fans, phillies fans, brewer fans and cardinals fans are all biased about their first baseman and rightfully so- they are all great players.. I am led to wonder, if i was an unbiased Mets or Dodgers or Seattle fan, what national league first baseman I'd vote for? Would I vote for puhols because he carried the Cardinals to the World series? or would I vote for the guy who's having the best half season this year? I know I voted for Teixeira over Big Poppy for the AL first baseman because he actually plays the position. I also voted for Teixeira over Morneau without even looking at their current stats or past accomplishments. I just like Tex, and I voted for him. if I was the NL manager knowing that the winner of the game decided home field advantage in the World series, who would I play more against the veteran AL pitching staff? Prince or Puhols? It will be a tough call and I'm sure either Cardinals fans or Brewers fans will be second guessing his decision after the game.

rescue from gilligan's island comes to mind as they end up being rescued only to take another cruise and end right back on the same island. the last Pirates of the Carabean movie comes to mind. Will they somehow find somebody to take Will Turner's place? Mash had a terrible last episode leaving almost everything up in the air as they returned home and hawkeye basically had a nervous breakdown not being able to deal with war and death anymore.. the last Cheers episode had zero closure in it as they just sat on the floor talking about the past.. the last Sienfeld episode could have been better. Will there be closure to the last Price is Right? Will there be a bunch of spade and neutered pets as the last prize up for bid? and Bob Barker will leave the show walking his dog off the stage? The last episode I liked the best was from the Bob Newhart show. The ending scene had him waking up and talking to Suzanne Pleshette about this horrible dream he had about being an innkeeper in Vermont. For those of us who had watched his previous newhart series, that scene was CLASSIC.

which is cooler? the stuff you smear on your face? or the plastic eye black band aids that just stick on? I've seen some players use both eye black and sunglasses. I know for a fact Corey hart wears his sunglasses at night- or at least that's what I heard on my 80's rock radio station.