Thurston Fluff

That is mesmerizing... You can't watch that video without realizing that these guys truly believe in what they are doing! Thanks for the link, I might have to check into these guys. Wish it was in English, but still very cool! Try this version with Jacoby Shaddix. I think they plan on releasing an album with english singers on it. I know Lzzy Hale did one with them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqnVTBzyX1c

I've been getting into these guys lately.

You are skewing statistics to suit your argument. Now let me try. I am almost positive that DHonks is referring to JJ's last three appearances, where he's pitched a total of 3 2/3 innings of 1-hit ball. Small sample to be sure, but there's no denying that he has looked better over the last week. Isn't using the last three games also skewing the stats to fit the argument?

It's easy to fall into a trap of thinking all top prospects on every team is somewhere in the talent level as other team's top prospects. I think sometimes that gap can be much wider than even dedicated fans can appreciate.

True. It isn't like Stearns fixated on those two pitchers and didn't even bother talking to other teams about their players. The fact this was the best he could get says a lot about what other teams think about Dubon. i hope the for him but I don't think he's going to turn into Gennett.

The rotational piece you want means trading Hiura. There really isn't anything else in the system worth enough. I do not want to trade Hiura. Basically you are asking for something that isn't possible. I disagree 100%...No way any of those guys available should cost Hiura. Grisham?? Sure, totally fine with that plus other pieces. That's what I thought they would pull off, using him in a deal for one. Now that we see the price for Greinke and the comments from Stearns on the price of quality starting pitchers I think we can safely assume Grisham was not going to get us a quality starter. I think losing Grisham would haveen be a bigger mistake than losing Dubon big time. I agree but that doesn't mean he was somehow going to get us a starter of any quality. All it would have done is hurt us later on.

I will tell you what a needle mover is...To me it's a player or players that you acquire, that almost EVERYONE in baseball or associated with baseball in anyway can clearly see by acquiring that player you made your team better for a pennant race, or into the postseason. They are a proven commodity, very consistent in what they do and will make an impact down the stretch...some examples of this...when the Brewers acquired CC Sabathia=HUGE needle mover...do they make the playoffs without him?? Absolutely NOT. When they acquired Zach Greinke=HUGE needle mover. When those two took the mound every night, you felt like you had a legitimate chance to win every night they pitched. You knew they were VERY unlikely to get shelled(it happens to everyone). Examples this year...Greinke to the Stros...that pretty much locks them in as the clear American league favorites to at least get to the World Series, and now with that rotation can go head to head with the Dodgers, easily. Shane Greene to the Braves...model of consistency, night in night out when he closes. he comes in, almost always he will finish it out...=Needle movers. What the Brewers did today are NOT needle moving moves...they can be I guess, but..you hope/wish/cross your fingers that it can. Not enough of an impact for it to be a CLEAR upgrade for anything. especially the rotation. The Astros were already one of the best teams in the AL much like the Astros circa 1998 before trading for Randy Johnson in his prime. That put them as the clear favorite to win the NL and in perfect position to compete with the Yankees. How much did that needle move? They got beat by the freaking Padres. Johnson did very well in the playoffs. But the needle doesn't move for squat by a single player. It's a concept that doesn't fit a sport where one person has so little impact on the overall product no matter how good he is. But even if there was a mythical creature that fit that description you don't seem to accept Grisham as the centerpiece of a trade wasn't going to get him.

The rotational piece you want means trading Hiura. There really isn't anything else in the system worth enough. I do not want to trade Hiura. Basically you are asking for something that isn't possible. I disagree 100%...No way any of those guys available should cost Hiura. Grisham?? Sure, totally fine with that plus other pieces. That's what I thought they would pull off, using him in a deal for one. Now that we see the price for Greinke and the comments from Stearns on the price of quality starting pitchers I think we can safely assume Grisham was not going to get us a quality starter.

Just saw this after I posted. I said it before all the trades and still believe today that is what we should have done. We are competitive and would have remained so. I don't really mind any of the trades except the Dubon one because they also have an eye toward the future. What I don't want is them selling out for a single season if it means hurting future seasons.

When did the term needle mover become so fashionable as a way to describe a single player? It's as if only one big move can make a difference while a combination of little moves can't. Taking all the moves together we are aruguably better than we were yesterday. How isn't that moving the needle?

Diaz has had a phenomenal season in AAA so far. He deserves it. He's well on his way to being a top 100 again. At least Brinson is floundering. You don't want the team you traded with to go 4 for 4. compare Diaz's 2019 in AAA to Saladino's, and you'll soon realize a TON of minor leaguers are having a phenomenal 2019. Including Diaz in that trade meant the Brewers were committed to Hiura at 2B instead of Diaz since their development timeframes were essentially identical - I'll make that same decision every single time. Until all these prospects actually become productive everyday MLB players, it's way too early to heap praise on them. In fact I'd say the odds are still stacked towards only one or possibly 2 of these four prospects developing into an MLB starter that has a career that reaches through the 1st 6 years of team control and into unrestricted free agency. That pretty much means the Brewers robbed the Marlins of one of the top 5 players in the entire world through his prime, who is making less than most veteran #5 starters. I don't think that means the Brewers robbed them at all. I doubt any team trades for that many minor leaguers thinking all of them are going to pan out. They get that many so they have a better chance of getting any of them to pan out. Then there is the issue of timing. If one pans out during a span where the Marlins have other young talent hitting their stride that one player will do far more towards them actually winning something than Yelich was going to do over the life of his contract when there was little else on the team to help them win. The timing of a prospect's arrival I think plays at least as important a role as overall productivity.

Didn't Yelich specifically say he wasn't going to tinker with his swing? From an article on Brew crew ball I read he actually hasn't changed his swing as much as the timing of his swing. That could just be coincidence or it could be something the Brewers do that spotted it that Miami doesn't. I do think though that there has to be something to all this new stuff the Brewers are doing that changed from what they used to do. Or what other teams who aren't having as much success do.

This is something I've thought about for a while now. How much credit/blame goes to the new club for that change? Miami might just not have the same level of scouting, coaching or analytics the Brewers have so the players involved might not perform the same as if they had been with the original club. Would Brinson have struggled the same here as he has there for example? That to me is the one thing we can't know when assessing the success of a trade. Obviously Miami has had success in developing top talent players but how much success has the Jeter era really had?

Even if they don't it's still doesn't mean it was a mistake to trade Yelich for them. Yelich's only value to them was as trade bait. He was not going to help them win anything. So if they get any positive value down the road when they have a chance to win was better to get the lesser total talent than to keep the greater overall talent at a time it couldn't help them.

The Marlins are far better off with some young talent because Yelich wasn't going to matter a hill of beans for their playoff hopes in the next couple seasons. The Brewers had a lot of young talent that could have helped build a good solid core down the road but weren't going to be the bona fide all star they needed now. Each team gave what they had but couldn't use for what they needed but didn't have. How is that a loss for either team?

While I only get half of the references, Midnight Misadventures With Mallika Dua is hilarious. She is outstanding in that role. Kind of Colbert Report type of character spoof without the political overtones.

Some of the kids that work for us listen to K-pop. It has to be the single worst genre ever. I'd listen to country or muzak over that stuff. Then again I'm 55. If I like the same music as teenagers there is probably something wrong with one of us.

Taxi is one of those shows I can watch and laugh no matter how many times I've seen it before. Same with Married With Children and WKRP in Cincinnati.

Yeah, that was high quality January baseball reading right there. Hot takes just flying. Obviously there were people who loved the deal, and people who hated it. Hopefully those who hated it, or were extremely upset by the prospects we gave up, have come around. Yelich truly has proven to be a special player. While I wasn't one who hated the deal I didn't love it either. I was skeptical the overall value was going to be in our favor. It's still to early to know that but Yelich has produced so well now that even if the value slants in their favor down the road I am fine with the trade. Sometimes the timing matters as much as overall value.

I'm an OG (original gamer) my first game was pong and I've played ever since. My first computer game was Civilization on a Tandy before windows came out. It took an hour for the intro to play the first time I played it. Have had every version of Civ since. I like strategy games like Civ as well as open world games with some amount of story line with them. The Witcher, Fallout, Skyrim stuff like that. I've finally set up my desk so I can pedal an excesie bike while playing. I fell less guilty that way and average about 20 miles a day now.

Yea, way too early to say it was a great trade for the Brewers. At the very least it looks like the Brewers got what they wanted. Just far too early to know if it will be as good of a trade as the Gomez/Fiers trade was. THAT was great trade, will probably end up being exceptional. And yea, I won't be happy if the four traded away all become HOF players. That would mean it was a horrible trade. I'm not sure if this was directed at my post about being wrong about the relative production or not but let me clarify what I meant. I thought the Yelich deal would help us some this season but not enough this year to make a difference compared to what we'd have got from the others. I was wrong about that. I agree it's too early to know if it's a good trade overall but for this season, and probably next, we are getting much more production than we'd have had with some combination of Broxton, Brinson and Phillips.

I was one of those who was skeptical that this trade was going to give us much more production than we'd have had to be worth the cost. I'm very happy to be wrong.

I always felt that was one of the best things about Firefly. It mixed the best of westerns and sci-fi so perfectly.

I just started watching Comrade Detective on prime and it is quite funny.

Trailer Park Boys. New season starts at the end of the month!!! Decent.