Big Reed

I will agree with Al on this issue. one of my biggest beefs in the past was when several of my posts were deleted. the posts were deleted without warning or private message. ( for new posters, this happened several years ago, and the situation was resolved.) however, there does seem to be a double standard about posts that insult or make fun of other posters. i recall a poster whose first name I believe was Clancy or something like that. it seemed like everybody cut him down. and nothing was ever done to those who mocked his posts. I also recall many people ripping Al saying he brings it on himself. and there was no action taken against those people who ripped Al. i also recall a poster who was mocking brian in an unpublished chat session two months ago, and he was banned imediately. we seem to have a different standard when we rip posters verses when we rip moderators. and yes, sometimes whether it be in fun or jest ... sometimes a moderator posts something that is out of line and he/she is deserving of being ripped. however, when ripping a moderator or his post, there is always the fear that being banned will be the result. i know if i rip Al and call him a toyboy, nobody will do anything. but if tell brian he has bad taste in socks and pets, it will be my last post made. I recall the last time i was banned. i was defending the rights of somebody else's free speech. I wasn't defending my rights. i trust we have all learned something from that . I think Al has a very valid gripe. Al and I go back a long ways. We hated each other for years. he rubbed me the wrong way, and I replied in kind ten fold. but through our differences, we realized we both have a lot in common. the same goes for myself and Brian. I think the moderators should revist this issue outside this board to make sure they are all on the same page. I can understand why politics and religion subjects are not appropriate. the best of intentions always ends up bad. but personal attacks are also not appropriate.

that sounds a little bizarre that the marlins would even suggest Sanchez could be their starting centerfielder. they went through last year with several young centerfielders. they even traded one away. Sanchez does have speed. however, he has a lot of negatives. I think the statement tha t Sanchez has a chance to be their starting centerfielder was just positive spin given out by the marlins. What were they supposed to say after they signed him? that he could start for their AA team? if the brewers signed Borchard who I believe is available, I think they'd also say he has a chance to be their starting center fielder. I've heard the brewers say gwynn could be their starting center fielder. that doesn't mean it's close to reality. Sanchez? if he gets his act together and goes out and wins a job, I'll give him credit.

to those who wish we'd get something in return for jenkins. actually we already did. His name is Suppan. Signing Suppan pushed our payroll about $7 million over what it was supposed to be for this year. I don't think anyone would have complained if we had traded Jenkins for Suppan. So by trading him for little in return now, we've essentually traded jenkins and his contract for Suppan. We could have traded him for lieber. but we traded him for Suppan instead.

I like koskie, but i believe if he approaches those 500 atbats, he'll be traded just like bell was traded to the brewers last year. I doubt very highly teh brewers will allow koskie to reach his option totals.

the ideal situation would be to bring braun up in mid season and trade koskie at the trade deadline. if koskie is healthy and productive through july, he will have some trade value. I believe koskie also has a very big option for 2007 that kicks in with 450 plate appearances. i know the brewers will not want koskie to reach that goal as they could not afford to pay him that salary next year.

I still ask the question- why would the brewers want to obtain another second baseman? before he went down, Weeks was finally showing he could handle the defensive requirements of playing second base. So his reward is he gets moved to CF? I also don't see why the yankees would do this deal. they are said to now be in the running to sign Zito. if they need another stud pitcher, the can always sign clemens. they don't really need to trade their all star second baseman and a stud pitching prospct to get Sheets. I would also think the Yankees would set their sights a little higher than Sheets - somebody like Santana or Osborn or Willis.

I like the offer, however ..... many people forget Weeks was playing some mighty fine defense for more than a month before he injured himself. I would guess the desire for Cano is because you have lost faith in Weeks as a second baseman. if Weeks can play second base like he did that last month, the brewers don't really have a need for another second baseman- or a need to move Weeks to CF. on the other hand, it would be to see weeks play an entire year without being injured. I worry more about his injury history than his fielding skills. I think Cano's stats are chiefly a result of batting in the Yankees' lineup.

I wasn't sure if this should be off topic, or posted here. mods- take a look and post where you think it is best suited. I frequently go to the YMCA to exercise. The Y also have a computer room with 4 HP computers that I sometimes use to browse the internet. However they have several problems when browsing. problem 1: Every time I go to yahoo fantasy sports, the browser will automatically go from the fantasy sports page to a page not found. I will see the page for about a second clear as day before I get the page not found error. Is this some sort of a blocking device? problem 2: this involves posting on this site. I can post 1-3 sentence posts from the YMCA computer to this forum without any problem. however, when I try posting my usual 3-10 paragraph posts, the browser freezes up when I try to send the post. I can go back and the broswer is working fine. it just refuses to allow me to post long posts. I don't really know what the memory in the computers are or what type of server the YMCA has, or how it is connected to the internet. I just found it odd the computer would allow me to post short posts, but not long ones.

ok thanks. ok thanks. I know some teams make a tremendous use of stats for their personnel decisions. In football I've seen some teams who swear by the combine results/stats when drafting players, where other teams swear by actual game performance whe n drafting payers. I personally like the use of stats, and have used them in my selection of fantasy baseball players. But I've never carried the analysis to this degree before. It's perked my curiosity.

I've seen a lot of new stats and new stats abreviations used in brewerfan posts in the past year that I've never seen used anywhere before. Since baseball is an old game, have these stats and their abreviations always existed? or are they new ones made up by brewerfan posters? Do other major publications use these stats? Does Bill James? baseball America? sporting news? Are these stats useful? Do they serve a purpose? have they helped you win a fantasy baseball title? Do chicks dig guys who know the definition of VORP? Do any of you actually talk about some of these obscure stats at work ? or in public? I'm kind of lost as to why we need so many stats. The dodgers seemed to really like Juan Pierre despite the fact that the majority of his stats were bad. Does this mean that the Dodgers brass is stupid? Does this mean some fans carry their analysis of baseball stats too far? Were you able to use these stats to predict Rogers' injury? and the fact he'd be out for an entire year? Did these stats predict Turnbo's implosion / downfall? I guess if it keeps you from killing each other, these new stats are ok, but do they have a real tangable purpose ? other than for inclusion in posts, can you provide me how these stats can be used in real life? Stats are data. How can this data be translated in something useful? other than your own personal knowledge of that data? I like stats. but as they say, too much of good thing is not always a good thing. can you provide me some examples of how I may use some of these new stats you discuss here?

I think Sosa's plan is to be clean during the Spring training drug tests, and then start taking the juice; hit his 12 homers to get him to 600 and then stop taking the juice before his name is randomely selected.

watchout endaround- you're starting to become sarcastic and sinacle . Like ME !!!! the nex t thin g you know you'll start leaving spaces inbtewee n the letters you type.

you know times are getting desparate when washburn- despite his mediocre 2006 performance is starting to look like he might have been a great addition for the money he asked for.

I didn't have any problem with two live brews' response to my post. he made many good points. We share many of the same views. We also have a couple of views that differ. A question I raise is how did the White Sox go from a payroll of $31 million in 2000 to a payroll of $102 million in 2006? Where did all the money come from? I realize they won a world series, but that's a tremendous jump in payroll. I can't believe it was all made possible by a huge jump in attendance. the White Sox did not get a new park in those years. Did they get a new owner who was willing to open his pocket book and actually spend the money it takes to win a championship? is Reinsdorf still their owner? Did he use profits made from the Bulls, and then apply them to the White sox? I ask myself, if the White Sox can go from a payroll of $30 million to a payroll of $100 million in 6 years, why can't the brewers? What is holding us back from also becoming a big spender? the problem I have with the entire profit issue is that tradionally the owner is not concerned about making profit on a year to year basis. Traditionally the baseball owner only makes his profit when he sells the team. Traditionally a baseball owner has made his fortune from other investments, and his baseball team is typically just an expense write off. That's what it is for Steinbrenner, and the owners of Toronto, Baltimore and many other baseball teams. That's also what it was for Ted Turner, Autry and Busch.. Turner never operated the Braves with the concept that they had to remain in the black each year. Gene Autry almost spent his entire fortune on the Angels in his attempt to build a winner. Auggie Busch didn't care what the Cardinals budget was as long as they kept selling beer. The best example of an owner who was soley invested in his baseball team and needed it to make a profit every year was the White Sox Bill Veeck. And Veeck eventually was forced to sell his team. Mr A represents a new breed of owners who are more investment / fiscal oriented. There is nothing wrong with an owner wanting to make a profit every year. I had just hoped the new brewers owner would be a more traditional really rich one like Sam Walton's son or Bill Gates who wanted to use the brewers as his tax write-off and be willing to spend a lot more money on payoll, and not be concerned about the bottom line. Unfortunately, Selig sold the team to a wise investor rather than a foolish old spend thrift. Mr A is credited with expanding his payroll to almost unheard of levels for 2007. But what is not being said very often is that he also received a huge chunk of money from revenue sharing and also a huge chunk of money from the sale of the Nationals. So, in reality, he's not really opening his own pocket book and spending any more money for 2007 than he did in 2005 or 2006. He just has additional revenues given to him to spend. MR A is a great owner and does care about the brewers sucess and future. I just had wished the brewers were sold to somebody like bill gates who was looking for a tax write - off and was willing to $pend $100 million a year. and unfortunately I doubt Mr A will ever be that man. Suppan would be a great signing if the brewers didn't have to worry about their financial limitations. While Mr A has breathed a healthy infusion into the brewers, he has not resolved the problems the brewers face as a small market team. The brewers don't have a level playing field to compete in. That's not Mr A's fault. It's been pointed out by the baseball Commish that many low payroll teams have won a world series. But that doesn't mean the playing field is level. it just means those teams had everything go their way for one year. I'd really like the Brewers to sign Suppan. but realistically, I don't see how they can.

I don't think my statement about Mr A was that outlandish. there are several well known forums that discuss the brewers(JSONLIne,realgm,espn). and there are posters here that also post on those and other brewer related forums. This forum is by far the most positive about the brewers' future and Mr A. it's also the most informative and factual. However, there are many other forums where posters are not as generous in their feelings and remarks towards MR A and are starting to call him the second coming of the Seligs with his eye first on profit. A lot of those posters have been banned from posting at this site. So one could assume that the views expressed on this site do not represent the most accurate total viewpoints of the casual and diehard brewer fan. Don't kill me. I'm just the messenger. I'm just telling you that on the other forums, Mr A is getting a bad rap for his frugality and for being a profit first oriented guy. I will grant, Mr A has increased the brewers' payroll dollars twofold. but so has almost every other baseball owner. The yankees payroll in 2000 was only $92 million. the white sox payroll in 2000 was only $31 million. In 2006, it was $102 million after allowing frank thomas and his lofty contract to look elsewhere. The brewers payroll for the past 5 years was ranked 26th in 2006; 29th in 2005; 32nd in 2004 when the team was up for sale; 30th in 2003; 23rd in 2002; and 25th in 2001 and 2000. To me when you look at payroll rankings rather than just dollar figures, it appears that Mr A has essentually brought the brewers back to about the same level of spending as the Seligs were at before they placed the team up for sale. To me, Mr A with a new Miller Park is not improving the Brewers' payroll to any higher ranking among his ownership peers than where the Seligs were. Yes, he's spending more money, but the rankings of spending are about the same. Historical facts would reveal team payrolls are usually at their lowest prior to a sale, and their increase rate is usually at its highest after a sale or after winning a championship. I don't believe it's a realistic statement to say Mr A has doubled the payroll without also including some qualifiers i.e. when he bought the team, the Seligs had purposely lowered the payroll to consumate the deal. And Mr A is also receiving a lot more revenue sharing money now than what was received at the time he bought the team. Has Mr A's payroll increase equaled the same rate that MLB has? it's one thing to flat out state Mr A has doubled the payroll. It's another thing to provide comparisons to what other owners have done in the same time period. Stats can be used both ways. It's called spin and slant. I've noticed Geico and Progressive never try to compare their rates to USAA. Their rates aren't even close. that's called misinformation by not including all of the facts. I believe the same applies here. is the glass half empty or half full? if the brewers can't afford to sign Suppan at the going market rate, what type of a message does that bring home to the players? I'm a firm believer FA contracts are not going to go back down next year or any subsequent year. . if the brewers have to worry what signing Suppan will do to their remaining salary structure and what will happen 3 years from now when Sheets, Weeks and Fielder all want big money extensions, then I have to ask are they actually any better off now than they were under Selig's ownership? I'm extremely concerned that three years from now the brewers will have to make a tough decision and keep only two of Sheets, Weeks, Capuano and Fielder. a new stadium and new ownership were supposed to provide for all our needs. yet we still find ourselves making decisions primarily based on financial limitations rather than on talent levels. I realize this is sounding like a broken record. but if we can't afford to sign a Suppan, the message it's sending me is that we can't afford to sign anybody. not now and not in the future. melvin can only work the phones so long. After a while I'm sure some other team is going to offer him a contract he can't refuse, and a budget that will allow him to make the type of deals he is accomstomed to making. I feel Melvin is probably the best GM for a low payroll, small market team. but he can only do so much with the budget he receives to work with. now go out and sign Suppan!! and make me happy.

I would think not signing Suppan would create a bigger effect on whether the brewers sign Sheets or he decides to walk. The brewers have not really been a big player in the free agent market. Our new owner Mr a is already getting a bad rap of putting the bottom line and profits ahead of winning. if melvin doesn't go out and sign Suppan, what does that say about he brewers' real intentions? it tells me nothing has really changed, and that $$$$$$ profit is still the driving factor. players like Sheets will realize this. neither he or his agent is dumb. When a guy like Sheets sees we don't want to go out and acquire a quality pitcher, and that we expect to win with rookies and second and third year players, he's going to want out. At the end of sheets' contract, he's going to want to go after one more big contract, and he's going to want to sign with a winner! No matter if the brewers sign Suppan or not, Sheets is going to ask for $15-20 million. And there will be teams offering him that much. if the brewers think if they sign Suppan they won't be able to resign their other players like sheets, then they need to re-evaluate if they want to remain a major league team. If you can't afford to pay your players the market rate, you need to get out of the market. if your current expenditures are based on wha t your future limitations will be, then you don't have enough money to play the game in the first place. if you can't afford to risk losing money, then you shouldn't play the game. the Brewers are a baseball team- not a mutual fund. Perhaps somebody should inform MR A baseball teams are not supposed to be profit producing investments. perhaps, he should have done some research before buying the team on what the money expectations and requirements would be. A payroll of $60-70 million in 2007 is no longer considered to be very big.

but endaround, you first stated that huff wasn't any better than any of our players. want to edit that post? and i can't believe with all of the great lineups the brewers have had in the past 10 years, jenkins has still never been able to drive in over 100 runs, yet huff despite the lousy players on tampa bay's team has done so twice while not being their #4 power hitter. in looking at their career numbers, they are about the same. What I can't believe is why people are so down on jenkins and saying he should be a platoon hitter. before last year, Jenkins was a career .255 against lefties and .307 against righties. A lot of guys would be proud if they could hit .250. I know Council would nbe. rather than just making generalizations, why can't you just say huff is asking for too much money and the brewers cannot afford to sign him? just admit we're a small market team with limited means . We're too POOOOOOOOR!

Why not instead use the words from Sporting News in their 2006 scouting report? they said his defense was not very good at any position he played. he has a bad arm and runners can take an extra base off him. he's a DH! he's a steady run producer batting in a lineup with little protection. . the main critisism I read here is he costs too much! it doesn't mean our players are any better than him. it just means we can't afford to add him. so..... We'll try to get by with what we already have-.

I have doubts ....... I remember last year when Melvin said he made a viable/honest offer to Washburn. it turned out Melvin's offer was the lowest one on the table. Washburn would have been a fool to accept it. but it looked nice to be able to tell brewer fans, I tried to acquire him. it also made brewer fans feel nice that Washburn had a mediocre year last year. Was Washburn's year any worse than Sheets? I also see an immediate give away of Jenkins if the brewers acquire Suppan, because the brewers' payroll cannot afford to add Suppan and his salary without jettisonning at least $8 million to somebody else. And if other owners realize the Brewers can no longer afford to keep jenkins, then all the brewers will receive in return for him is some low ceiling AAAA prospects. looking at the supposed offers on the table, if I were Suppan, I'd take the Brewers' offer over the Pittsburgh, Colorado and KC offers. but Suppan would be a fool not to accept the Mets' offer. the mets just non tendered Zambrano to open a spot in their rotation for Suppan. To me this just looks like another case of melvin bidding low knowing the player will not accept our offer. Weren't the brewers also in the bidding for Jason Schmidt too? or was that just another spin created story? I like Suppan and think he'd make a great addition to the brewers' starting rotation. however, like I said - I have my doubts. I don't doubt the brewers made an offer. My doubt is with Suppan actually taking it seriously.

endaround I implore you to take another look at the brewers' team and say those words again. while huff may want more money than any current brewer is receiving, he is better than a lot of them. I think a better statement is that the brewers are just too cheap and would rather start guys making less money. Huff can play first, third and the outfield. While koskie is probably a better defensive third baseman, Huff is a far better hitter than Koskie. huff's defense at first is better than Fielders'. Fielder could revert ot being a dh in interleague games. Huff would also make a great left fielder allowing the Brewers to keep Hall in the infield where he belongs. Hufff would make a great addition to this team. he's also a lot better than Nix, Clark, Council, Mench, Miller, Graffy, and Jenkins but hey, the brewers don't have $10 million to spend on just one guy. So just forget that Huff is even on the FA market. and keep aiming your sights on those $2-3 million nuggets

here's the link from the pittsburgh paper. www.post-gazette.com/pg/0...593-63.stm it basically says that pittsburgh has $17 million to spend this off season, and is looking at trying to acquire a right handed starting pitcher. they have had zero luck trying to sign a FA, so they are now trying to trade for one. they plan to use their relief pitching depth to obtain Lieber- probably offering Gonzolez. pittsburgh had offered gonzolez to the braves for first baseman laroche , but the deal fell through supposedly bcause pittsburgh was too slow on something and Atlanta filled their hole trading for Soriano. so now - you are the phillies - wh would you rather have ? turnbow? or pittsburgh's Gonzolez? the article said texas is another team after Lieber.

ESPN had a headline as part of its insider that said the pirates are now trying to obtain Lieber. Wow, the brewers and pirates in a bidding war for Lieber! I don't have ESPN insider, so I don't really know what the pirates may be offering. however, this is obviously why the other deal with mench and turnbo for lieber didn't go down as planned. the phillies are now playing the brewers against the pirates for the best deal possible. So do the brewers ante up? or do they allow the pirates to acquire Lieber? EDIT: Please don't put titles in all-caps. -PF

a vaild point was just made hidden inside that post. a brewerfan said he'd rather have Huff than Jenkins or Mench. I would also rather have Huff. and I believe most GMs would rather have Huff. the problem in trying to trade jenkins or mench is that a GM can sign huff for a couple of million more and not have to give up anybody to do so. While melvin is trying to make a trade involving jenkins and mench, other Gms are still shopping for FA outfielders. melvin is obviously trying to get something in return. if you are a GM, why give melvin something of value when you can just go out and sign a nixon or a payton, or a gonzolez, or a huff? jenkins and mench are good outfielders, but there are too many other FA outfielders gms can sign without giving up anything. it was pointed out if you sign a FA, you may be looking at ending up with a long ternm deal on a guy. that's not the case with this year's FA hitters. Piazza signed for one year to be a dh. Payton signed for 2 years. Nomar signed for 2 years. Gonzo signed for 1 year. jenkin's one year deal is not as attractive as we might think it is. I don't see jenkins or mench being traded anytime soon, and definitely not before all of the other FA outfielders sign with somebody. I also don't believe the brewers will receive much in return for either jenkins or mench while guys like huff, nixon and lofton are still available.

I like Marquis. I have to believe he will improve over this past year. Although, La Russa lost all confidence in him and doesn't want him back. I also like Mulder. I have no idea how good Mulder will be after his surgery or when he'll return, but several teams are talking to him, so they must feel he will be ready. I've got no idea of much much money each pitcher would demand to be paid. I think both pitchers are better than Mench, Lieber and Lilly. how's my typing?

the comment if someone goes down, so do we is perplexing. how much lower can we go? are you expecting the brewers with their current cast to be division or wild card contenders? it's kind of simple- if lieber gets injured, you give Yo or jackson a chance to shine. if they do badly, it's not as if the brewers are the denver broncos with the play-offs in sight. the brewers are the brewers.