Thurston Fluff

Watching him pitch the other day, Vargas threw more changeups in that game than i remember him throwing in five games combined last year. For the most part last season, Vargas was throwing just fastballs and sliders the vast majority of the time. I hope this is the case but often in spring guys work on a certain pitch. It probably would help for him to mix it in more but I wouldn't be surprised if he did what he always did vs what he's doing in spring training. Maybe if he was less "clutch" and pitched better all the time he would be at least an average pitcher Aren't you the guy who says ERA is a team stat?

I think he's a no brainer to make the team. He helps the depth in the outfield and infield. At first I thought they might carry five outfielders until Cameron came back. Now I think the fifth outfielder is Dillon with Goss, Kapler and Gwynn fighting for one job.

It's curious that it wasn't an issue when Weeks was sent down last year. (Maybe he sneaked through?) Yea I saw the post Ennder had about it being three years from the first appearance in a game and Weeks came up in September his first year since. Maybe September callups don't count toward that.

If it's like wine taste testers don't get to actually drink the beer.

You might very well be right. They really haven't been great for a couple years. I know they won a WS a couple years ago but that had more to do with a weak division and a hot run in the playoffs than how good that team was IMO. I'm kind of interested in seeing how long LaRussa sticks around. He doesn't seem to be the type to want to go through a rebuild att his point in his career.

This was in the JS. They mention the options and the reason they gave for it not being liklely was due to salary not waiver concerns. One would think they'd at least mention the waiver concerns if there are some. Then again it is the JS... Capuano, Bush, Villanueva and Parra all have minor-league options but the first two have salaries considerably higher than you usually see in Class AAA.

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought if they had an option left they could be sent down without be subjected to waivers. Weeks was sent down last year without going through waivers and he was one the big league roster for a couple years.

It is way too early to tell yet. That said we are fans and this is a fan board so why not speculate? If Cappy and Bush do have options left and they are not the best canidates I don't see any reason why their salary or service time int he bigs should prevent them from being sent down. If they are not the best options why not send them down and call them back up when they are the best option? If Vargas is pitching well and is the best option why would his decline after the first month or so last year translate to him not being the best option the first month or so this year? If he fades like he did last year then make the change. I couldn't care less if they have the same 5 starters all year or if they end up using 8 differant starters as long as the results are the best possible. The problem with Cappy, Bush and Vargas isn't so much that they are all so good as it is they all have their warts. If any of them were coming off good years last year they wouldn't be competing for a spot this year. They'd be penciled in like Sheets, Soup and YoGa.

cool. It's kind if like the Futurama episode where they made beer in Bender. WhenI get it going agian we should compare notes.

Something that I found works realy well when trying to get air into the mixture after it cools is a mixmaster. Most people swish it around a whole bunch but I thought why not use the mixmaster. I called my home brewer guy and he said it should work really well. It's a good way to get enough air into the wort so it doesn't stall.

I make both beer and wine. Have been doing wine for quite a few years but just started the beer thing about a year ago. Only got to make two batches so far because we are redoing our basement but am about to start another batch within the month. Fun hobby but make sure you don't boil over the wert. It makes one hell of a mess and isn't real easy to clean up. How did you learn to do it? Just read a book or did you get some help from the supply store?

Ennder I think sometimes you have to take into account the way numbers get built. Cappy put up good numbers in the first half and declined in the second half since he got here . If that happens once or twice it could be considered luck or random but when it happens year after year it's a pattern that will likely repeat itself. I like Cappy and think he's above average but if I had to put my house on his number post allstar break I'd have to take that history into account. Averages don't really take into account repeating patterns very well.

How does making him happy help us win? How is paying him more than we have to going to keep him here long term? How does a team remain solvent when they throw money away when they don't have to? Prince will drain the team for every dollar he can get then leave when someone offers him more. The way to deal with that is not to bow down to him simply to make him happy. The way to deal with that is to treat him the way his agent treats teams. If I thought he would play differantly for the extra money or stay with the team longer simply by paying him an extra couple grand then I'd be all for it. He won't so why throw the money away for no reason what so ever? While I agree Prince is part of the reason this team is now stabile he is not the only reason. If we started giving everyone who is part of the solution an extra couple hundred thousand we then have an couple million more on the payroll. for every $ you spend now you have one less $ to spend a year from now. If we need to fill a hole in the bullpen next season and come up a million short on being able to fill that hole will it be worth it? It's easy to tell someone how to spend their money. When it's your money and there is no reason what so ever to give it away would you just give it to a 23 year old kid on the verge of becoming very wealthy next year just because he wants it? Or would you keep it and reinvest it into the team for maybe another scout or a minor league instructor or maybe on promotions to increase revenue. Wise business poeple spend their money wisely. (pared back nested quote --1992)

Is it hard for them to find help since they are paying more bonus money to new people? Before saying anything one way or the other you should know what your bargaining power is. If they are desperate to fill the postions necessary you may be in a position to get a raise. If they simply do it because they don't care if you quit or not then obviously the situation is differant. If you can get another job in your field with relative ease maybe this is the right time to sign on with someone who appreciates experience more than your current employer apparantly does.

Ironic but I was just cleaning out my attic and came across my old set of D&D books. I thought about e-Baying them but figured they wouldn't be worth anything. Being a capitalist at heart my first thought was maybe his death will increase the value of them. I kind of felt bad for thinking that.

Will Ferrell never got the appeal from his SNL days on. He seems way to much of "I am thespian," overacting type. He's not very versitile even though he has funny material to work with. Kind of the male version of Tracy Ullman. Talented yet never quite funny. Saturday Night Live of the last decade. I was around from the very beginning and was one of the most influential comedy avenues in my life but they just aren't the same now. They lost the edge that made them so great. Perhaps it's because none of the stars view it like the pinnacle of their careers like the old "not quite ready for prime time players," did. Now it's more a way to get exposure to become the next Will Ferrell verse the old days when they just hoped to be good enough to stay on the air. No edge no humor.

Gotcha end. I think this is news because this is really the first sign from him that, after his arby years, he will not be a Brewer. It probably will take some time for it to set in to those who have been holding out hope that the Brewers could somehow, someway, keep Prince in the fold. For my part I never thought of him as a lifelong Brewer so it's not allthat big of a deal. I'll be happy watching him then when the time comes be happy to move on with someone else. I like the dude but never really get all wrapped up in one person.

Cold and snowy in February? Thank god Chicago isn't cold and snowy in February or that wind would really suck. The reason most people drive in Milwaukee is because they can without paying a toll every 50 feet.

I agree with end on this one. Most players who are in the postition of negoitiating big deals have already made enough moeny to be reasonably well of the rest of their life. In reality if any of us received the minimum for one year we would be in position to buy a decent house which is most peoples largest financial burden of their lives. If they make it to arby they already probably made their first million. After the arby years if they only made the minimum it'd be around $2 million. Most of that is done by the time most of us are just paying off our college loans and such. It is a gamble but they are pretty much gamling with house money. That makes it much less risky.

Why should we care if he's happy? It will not make any differance if he's all about the money. From everything we see, like his choice of agent to his whinning about his contract he's all about the money. This type of player you just pay the least amount possible until he leaves. Why pay to make him happy when there is no % in it for the team? As far as his dad blowing his money how the heck does that have any relevence to the Brewers? If he's mad at the Brewers for the choices he's made in his life then there is no making him happy anyway.

I don't think it has much to do with pinch hitting. The fact that Kendall is a righty and he's a lefty means Kendall can sit agianst a same handed pitcher and still give the backup the best chance to succeed.

Just my 2 cents worth on the pitbull thing. Pits are not more naturally prone to attacking like German Shepards are. They do have, I believe, the second highest bite pressure of any dog. For the record Akita's have the highest. Like Akita's the real danger isn't the frequency but the way they bite. They bite, hold and twist vs. bite, bite, bite thus they casue far more damage when they do bite. Pit's, like Akita's, are not for every situation. They require good traning with an expereinced owner. In the right situation they can be amazing dogs. My Akita certainly is and I don know several pits who are fun to play with. One has a bowling ball and 6" diameter, 10' long "stick" as his toys. I could sit and play with him for hours and he'd be ready to go pull my sulky afterward. Great dogs for scootering/sulky riding. My personal opinion is the primary reason for the pit's reputation has more to do with some of the type of people that tend to buy pit's. There is a segment (and only a segment) of pit owners who want the mean, junkyard dog. I think those people make a dog, who is naturally excitable with a dangerous bite, truely a dangerous dog. Everytime we start a dog discussion it's always pages long. Maybe we should just have an all urpose pet thread or something. Heck I think we already have our mascot in Tyson. If he dites anynoes ear off though maybe a change of mascots would be in order.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

That's a bit of a Catch-22 as far as I'm concerned. Ned Yost tends to only switch to the #2 catcher (in any given game) because of an injury. For that reason, Rottino's versatility is largely negated if he's the #2. IMO, the only way Vinny makes the 25-man roster is as a utility player / #3 catcher. With Rottino Ned could play him in the field when Kendall is starting and move him to catcher if something happens to Kendall. The only thing he wouldn't do is pinch hit for him or use him as a pinch hitter. Ned likes to give his players a full day off without pinch hitting so having Rottino as the occasional spot starter at multiple postions gives Ned some flexibility.

Weeks is already getting paid over $1 million, so no you can pay Fielder more. Heck Hart is making less than Braun even though he has more service time Weeks was a higher draft pick and signed a major league contract out of college. If Prince wanted to get that type of contract he could have went the college route proved himself at that level and been the type of draft pick capable of getting a major league contract. As it stands Prince will probably get more than Weeks when he gets to Weeks age. AS far as Prince goes this is part of what he singed up for when he signed with Boras. Giving a Boras client more money now in the hope of singing him to a cheaper deal in the future is not prudent. Boras will take the money now and later. With this type of agent you play hard ball from the word go. No incentive, no goodwill gesture, no appreciation will help get him to accept less money or buy out arby years for less than top $. With that being the case Prince needs to accept his choice of agent has a down side. No one is going to give him one cent more than they have to. There is just no upside to doing that in this case. Prince play hard, mash homers, drive in runs, enjoy the cheers in Milwaukee, help the team get a WS title and then take the best deal when the time comes. I'll cheer for you until that day comes. After that you'll just be another player on another team. I won't boo or cheer for you. I won't feel you abandoned our team or be mad at you for leaving. I'll just accept you wanted to be paid more than my team wanted to pay you. All the while cheering your replacement on in hope of another WS.

This is more a general question than one specific to Inman but are all k's equal in the minors? I'd have to think pitching to guys who will chase the 3-2, 88mph fastball, 3" off the plate looks good on paper but in reality it's more telling how poor the hitter's stike zone judgement is than how good the pitcher is. He's a control pitcher with marginal stuff so I'd expect him to be able to strike out a lot of undisiplined, marginaly talented minor league hitters but struggle with the truely talented ones. I think looking at any one stat ging to give a pretty incomplete picture with that type of pitcher.