Big Reed

one of the biggest reasons for the success of the mavs is not the ridiculous spending of mark cuban. It's the fact that he went out and hired almost twice the amount of assistant coaches as his competition. and he hired smart coaches and advisors who actually know what they are doing. I would think he would take the same approach to the Cubs. Cuban surrounds himself with intelligent people. he might have the final say, but he is provided a lot of valuable insight before speaking. i could see cuban going out and stealing the best GM and coaches in the business. You should realize cuban would probably install the best and greatest world scouting system. if the brewers have any hopes of getting to the world Series, they had better do so before Cuban buys the cubs. In the past , cubs owners could care less about the cub's actual performance on the field. With Cuban, I have to believe that the profits will continue to sore, and that he will turn those profits into wins on the field. ESPN was asking what team besides the Yankees would be able to afford paying AROD $30 million. Cuban would find a way.

anybody check on the new movie release dates as a possible factor? the new movies usually come out on Wednesday night or thursday. I' m thinking the brewers go to see the movies their first or second night after the game, and then are tired the next day. by Sunday, they've already seen transformers and Ratatuliue. I would hate to state the obvious: that certain club performers at certain clubs only perform Thursday through Saturday and usually take Sunday and Monday night off. Anybod y know whic h days are wet tshirt days and cheap beer days at the local night extablishments? With a young club I have a bad feeling they have a tendency to party, and a tendency to party more on the weekends rather than maintaining their baseball focus and going to bed in their own room and actually going to sleep at 10 PM. I have a bad feeling some oats are being sown and our players are out on the town.

back to the price is right. you can talk about Dan patric k in the other thread. Since obviously, he's no longer being considered. how about tommy lasorda? i could really see tommy hosting that show. or would the guy who's the host of LINGO take over? I've noticed he's bee n the emcee of about 10 game shows already. or what about Regis? or for a different appeal, Simon the Coward ?

rickey as a hitting coach could be interesting. he definitely knew the importance of getting on base and how to get the most from an atbat. I could see a certain shortstop taking full advantage of his tips if Rickey is willing to actually teac h somebody his craft. In the past, Rickey was a little selfish in sharing his wisdom. rickey was all about rickey.

I'd love to add salty. he never played first base before last month. his calling ticket to the majors was supposed to be his catching ability, not his hitting ability. bush for salty would be a tremendous long term hoist, although it doesn't do much for the brewers this year. Having both estrada and salty would be nice depth for an off season trade.

I think the problem is that most fans don't believe a mediocre 6 innings pitcher is worth $12 million a year. but the reality is that's exactly what mediocre 6 innings pitchers command on the free agent market. if you want a good pitcher, look at the contracts Zito, Pettite, Schmidt and Clemens received. None of those four pitchers has come close to truly earning the money they are being paid. But, that was the going rate. I was shocked to see the 2007 Camry costing $30,000. I said to myself, a Camry shouldn't cost $30,000. So, do I look for a mediocre GM or Ford product that will only give me 4-5 innings per tank of gas and sometimes just shut down for no reason? or do I spend the going rate for what is a quality yet not really top of the line car? I' m talking Camry here , not Lexus. is a Camry really worth $30,000? Is a 2800 sq foot house really worth $280,000? That's what my new house is going to cost me to build. Some people will say I got a steal. Others won't believe I was willing to pay that much for just a house. I could have gotten a national home for a lot less. I think the brewers knew exactly what they were getting in Suppan. Did they overpay? probably so. but they were willing to do so. i think some doubters should look back in history and review the contracts the brewers gave to Sal Bando and Don Sutton. Sutton was a very expensive addition. but he paid dividends. I think we'll know Suppon's real value in November.

I've bee n pulling for the brewers to acquire Weathers all year. but given a choice, I'd take a healthy Otsuka over Weathers. My reasoning is two-fold. First. Otsuka is from the AL. A lot of NL batters haven't faced him this year and will have trouble hitting against him the first time they see him which will lead to his success this year. Second. the Reds don't need any outfielders or outfielder prospects. The reds have several nice outfield prospects in their minor league system and would have no real interest in guys like mench, gross nix or gwynn. The reds would want pitching prospects like parra or inman or Jackson or Charlie. I think all 4 are probably worth more than Weathers. So , I think the brewers could acquire Otsuka without giving away one of their prized pitching prospects.

I prefer to use a players' numbers over their last 3 years and then compare them to that player's numbers for their career. if the past three years are better than the career, then I say go after that player. I think Roberts is a huge upgrade over Graffy based on his speed and defense. Stolen bases mean more to me than OPS does. I think I'm probablly the only guy at brewerfan that likes Pierre. The Dodgers seems to be winning games this year. the Yankees were winning games when Damon, jeter and AROD were stealing bases. And yes, I like Crawford too. he steals bases. One of the rerasons I like Weeks, Hart and braun is their ability to steal bases. Endaround made a good point, and I would like to echo/highlight it. He asked why trade both Bush and Graffy for Roberts when Loretta could be had a lot cheaper. The Astros originally signed Loretta as insurance at third base. if as endaround suggests, loretta could be had for a cheaper price, I say go for it. And I'll echo brian's comments. I think Weeks needs a couple of weeks/month away from the majors to get his game baclk on track. Right now, Weeks is helping nobody.

well, I guess we all know what the big announcement was going to be. patrick's words were kind of vague. he said he hopes to do something in radio, but also says he wants to do something challenging. Sounds to me like he was offered the job .. Come on down dan, you're the next host of the price is right.

Endaround, what's not to like? I think a batting average of .284 is having a nice season, and you're finding fault with his .322 average ? if you're going to bring stats into your argument for or against a player, i believe you should use more than just one stat. This is why I hate the use of stats to judge a player. Because you can always find at least one stat a player doesn't exceed in. When I look at Robert's stats I see something totally different. I see a player who's been very consistant for the past 5 years. he's good for 20+ steals, 30 doubles, 80 runs, 60 walks, 80 kos, a .280 average, a 340 OBP and 8 errors. Roberts' career numbers for the past 5 seasons provide a nice basis of what to expect. if he hits 50 doubles, or has a .322 average, that's gravy over and above what you would expect. I think if you are going to trade for a player, you make your decision and expectations based on what the player has done over the course of the last 4 years rather than what he has done lately. foolish trades are made by gms drooling over somebody who was hot for a month or one year. i doubt the braves have lowered their trade request value for Andrew jones just because he's off to a slow start this year. brian roberts would be a nice addition to the brewers. he's also having a nice year. I don't understand how you can say that you are unsure he can maintain his BA. Surely, he won't maintain his current average. but he should very easily be able to maintain a .280 average. Combine that with his steals and fielding, and he makes a very nice addition and a huge improvement over our current second baseman. Roberts can also play shortstop and dh. it's clear to me that Weeks needs some type of wake-up call / evaluation. this is Weeks' third season at the major league level. one would expect some improvement and more consistancy in his game. We've seen a lot of flashes or what "MAY" come in the future. but flashes of what "may " come don't win ball games. Consistancy does. I hate to bring up the name Biggio. Biggio was definitely never a superstar. But he was consistant. I think Brian Roberts' best stat is his consistancy. You know what you are getting. he has a nice norm, and he's not going to deviate much from it. Would I look at Roberts as the Brewers' long term solution as a starting second baseman? No. I would look at him as a stop gap filler for this year. I also have a little place in my heart to see the brewers acquiring Mark Loretta. this is not to be meant as a slam against Weeks or reserve inflieders Counsell and Graffinino. I don't believe the brewers' recent slump against the Pirates and Nationals should dictate a major trade or mass overhaul of personnel. I don't believe we should give up on Weeks. but winning teams are ones who make adjustments. Starting hart and bring up Yo and braun were adjustments, not moves made out of desparation. it would appear to me additional adjustments- not wholesale changes are in order.

You also forget, we could have spent a ton of money to sign Zito or could have taken a flyer on Weaver. Suppan is doing exactly what the Brewers thought he would do. They didn't really overpay to sign him. Suppan was never viewed to be the brewers' ace or #2 pitcher. He was supposed to be a #3 or #4 rotation filler and allow guys like Yo and Charlie the opportunity to advance into the starting rotation gradually. Yo would have burned out in August if he had started in our rotation in April. At the begining of the season most people expected both Capuano and Bush to be a lot better than Suppan. I hate to point this out, but the brewers wouldn't be in first without Suppan's pitching. another thing to think about- the brewers were not close to signing any other quality veteran free agent pitcher this Winter.

A lot of deals are made around the all star week. this trade could happen sooner than expected. I have to believe melvin is thinking about the trade the reds made last year when they made a big trade and acquired an injured reliever who was supposed to be an integral part of that trade. I have to believe melvin is waiting to ensure otsuka is healthy for the long hall with no lingering problems that may resurface. Any trades melvin makes will be focused on winning this year not next, so the guy we obtain must be healthy.

i was there in 88-89. my eyes hurt for the next three days because of the smog. I believe it's a lot better now. the park and fans were great. I didn't think the traffic was any worse than going anywhere else in LA.

I like weathers. I think he'd be a great set-up guy. i doubt the reds would ask for much in return. he's not really a closer type of reliever. the reds also have Guardado coming back after the all star break. he was great for the reds last year before injuring himself. he had converted 8 of 10 saves. I like Guadado better because he's a veteran lefty reliever. I think the reds' asking price for him would be about the same as for weathers. I think he would be a better fit for the brewers' bullpen and provide a better lefty/righty combo.

We go to St Louis about 6 times a year and have found some pretty good deals using hotel.com. the Hampton Inn by the zoo is a good choice. We also got a great deal at a Double Tree Inn on west 270. Some great bargains ($60-80)can be found staying at the La Quinta Inn, Best Western Holiday Inn express, and Comfort Inns on the west side of town. You can get anywhere in St louis in about 15 minutes. A place that I've always liked, but never stayed at is the Milennium Hotel. It's the one with the circular tower next to the Arch. it goes for about $120 a night which is cheaper than its surrounding hotels. www.expedia.com/pub/agent...m=f&shtl=1 You can find some red roof inns under $50 on the west side of town. as part of my search I noticed the baseball park hilton said that 26-29 july had some of their highest rates of July and August. they were sold out. Who would have thought hotel rates would rise just because the brewers were coming to town? My reccomendation is to look for a hotel either by the airport or the west side of town and drive to the game. there is plenty of downtown parking. You could park at the Arch and walk over. . .

sorry guys. I guess it's ok to go after Lofton now. he probably would have been cheaper last week. I guess I shouldn't have suggested we also acquire Nomar because he can play first, shortstop and third.

I like durham. I'm not sure where in the batting order the brewers would put him. I think a lot of his productivity / stats are the result of him batting third/fourth in the giants' order. if he were to bat lower in the order, I think he would be a lot less productive. I still have confidence in Weeks. however, his wrist may be worse than he's letting on. it also could be a chronic condition. I also have to wonder what type of production can we expect from somebody hitting 8th in the order? if weeks was hitting first, how much of an improvement in his production would we see? if Hart or Braun were hitting 8th, how bad would they be? The guy I'd really like to acquire is Nomar. The brewers drafted him in 1991 (5th round) but didn't want to spend the money to sign him. bringing him back now would be like correcting that mistake. Nomar can play first, shortstop, third, and has played a few games at second. I' m not sure what his problem was in Boston that made them so enamored with replacing him, but I think he'd be a great fit in Milwaukee. Jeff Kent also comes to mind as a guy who can still hit but is being pushed out of LA by younger players.

gotta agree with you ru rah rah rah. after spending $120 for 3 seats to watch a game, I would never be able to explain it to my wife either why i would throw back a ball that could be worth $1 million. that's why i'd keep it and then sell it. I've never understood why people throw back balls to begin with . it seems so stupid. you catch the ball only to throw it back? that sounds like something Cub fans would do. I sure wouldn't want to copy a cub fan tradition. I can see it now, your wife sees you catch the ball on TV. She goes out and buys a Lexus. and then you come home and say you threw it back out of defiance. Yup, that would go over real big.

I'll assume you were talking about the dback's Byrnes. but on close examination, the rangers' Byrd is also putting up some very decent numbers since his call up. similar names - similar results.

I still believe it would be the smarter move to acquire lofton before hall gets injured, than to try to look for an injury replacement player after the fact. Fortunately we already had graffy and counsel in place when Weeks was injured.

I'd love o add griffey. I just can't see any viable trade package that cincy would see as acceptable. then again, their GM made a terrible deal sending Casey to the tigers, and made a terrible deal with the nationals last year. So who knows?

i would agree with you Dr Wood, except. I'd rather have lofton on our team before Hall gets injured, than to try to trade for him after Hall gets injured. I can't forsee the rangers asking for much in return for lofton currently. We could probably obtain him for gwynn or gross and throw in a AA pitcher. however, if hall is injured and out for the season, i could see a lot of teams asking a lot more for their veteran Cf knowing that we'd have to pay their asking price. I could see texas demanding a better player in return for lofton. Kinsler is now injured. How about graffy for Lofton?

I would sell the ball. there's nothing wrong with selling items of value. people sell jewelry and art pieces all the time. people sell baseball cards without giving it a second thought. People sell their 4 H raised and fed cow and pig. Good bye Babe, Wilber and Charlotte. hello pork chops and hot dogs. people sell their 1964 VW bug. I would have no problem in catching the ball and then selling it to the highest bidder. if Cooperstown wants it , they will have to be the highest bidder. i have a baseball with fielder, weeks and gwynn's signature on it when all three played for Beloit. if somebody made me an offer for it, I'd take it. College education costs are not on the down swing. Univ of Michigan's out of state tuition isn't going to disapear. i love baseball, but i have bills to pay and future medical care and college expenses. it all adds up.

the potential problem that i see is in looking at the brewers' potential play-off opponents, is that all of them have money and resources available to spend to improve their current teams. they also all have a past history of making trade deadline deals acquiring all stars from also rans. the mets could easily trade Milledge and end up with a Crawford or Icharo. Stranger and more lopsided deals have happened. The Mets will also have a fresh Pedro for the stretch run. the Dodgers and Padres are always trading prospects to acquire veterans. the Pads just acquired Bradley and Barrett to shore up their needs. In order to win in the play-offs , the brewers are going to have to add some last piece to their puzzle. because I'm certain the other three teams will be adding somebody as well. I'm quite confident the gm's for the padres, mets and Dodgers will be very active in the next two months addressing their perceived needs. I'm also quite certain melvin will be earning his money as well.

I recall back in 1982 and in 1983 that the brewers used their revenues made in 1983 to pay off some of their expenses and payroll costs for 1982. As a Gm, melvin has to realize his window for opportunity to make the play-offs and world series is very small at best. he should realize that if the Brewers make the world series this year, the money spent this year will be recouped two fold next year. that is why I say the brewers should start looking to acquire rent a players like Buerhle. there is a difference in renting a player verses acquiring a guy who still has 4 years left on a very bad contract. renting Buehrle for 4 months would be a good move. Trading for somebody like Meche or Weaver would not. Garland would make an interesting option. the White Sox tried to trade him to Houston in the off season. He has pitched very well lately. I' m not sure what his contract situation is. Zazquez would also be a good option. He has pitched a lot better than his record would indicate.