Thurston Fluff

So what you're saying is you lost your lunch at work?

There are a lot of entertainers one level down from the stars. I know of several who have carved out livings on cruise line circuits, studio musicians and stand up comedy. There is also a huge market for private events where most people, myself included, make a decent portion of our living from. The whole entertainment industry is largely made up of small time entertainers finding a niche in narrow geographical locations. Not all of them are large metropolitan areas either. Speaking of entertainers, if anyone happens to be in Los Angeles a guy by the name of Alex Rabe does stand up there. He grew up in Black Creek. So if you're in LA sometime help support a local guy and check out his show.

How much of an upgrade can be expected for next to nothing? This just seems like an unreasonable expectation to me.

We needed immediate help in the rotation without mortgaging the future. Considering how Lyles has done so far I don't see how today is the day to complain about Stearns doing nothing to help the situation.

I seriously considered majoring in music (along with Mechanical Engineering) but multiple people in the music world told me that it wasnt worth it if I couldn't devote my life to it and even then it would be a crapshoot. Now that there's 10+ years between me and my graduation, I do play the what if game and wondered what Id be doing now if I went the music route. I went into college to be a teacher and came out committed to doing comedy in some capacity. Then I met my wife who used her Sociology and business degree to be a balloon artist. So I did little comedy sketches for money around the valley and she did balloon art. Together we carved out a niche and have sustained ourselves for the last 30 years. While I wouldn't change a thing I also sometimes wonder what it would be like to have a normal job. What I do know is I would have more money and a better retirement plan had we both worked normal jobs.

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.

I bet every team will have very good numbers when they score five or more runs. I suspect most teams have a losing record when they don't hit a homerun. I think most teams will have a very poor winning percentage when they give up five or more runs. So unless those raw numbers are put in comparison to something they are pretty meaningless.

This. They did a balancing act because it is silly to give up on a season when the team is in the thick of it and is equally silly to give up the future on a team that is only in it because the rest of the division is as average as we are. Keep what you got, make a few fringe moves that doesn't hurt your future, and see what happens.

I agree but would word it differently. We are not going to be successful playing the FA game the way big spenders play. I think there is room to play in FA but it has to be short term contracts and bargain bin hunting.

i wish we would have kept Dubon and was fine with everyone else. I don't even mind trading Dubon because I don't think he's a ft for the bench role and he doesn't really have a place as a starter. He the wrong fit this team at this time. I Just think we should have traded him in the winter for a better fit going forward.

I been in Montreal the last few days and I must say their cuisine is surprisingly good. I don't know how they do to it but the McDonald's filet-o-fish tastes exactly like those in the US. Burger King's Whopper is almost identical. The Subway I went to. You couldn't tell it was Canadian at all. I can't wait to try the Montreal Taco Bell tomorrow.

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?

I don't get what is so "yucky" about this move? Here's what's yucky...now stop and think about this for a minute...IF this is all they do today..a team that is right in the thick of things for a playoff spot this year needs pitching...So, let's just assume Faria is with the MLB and goes into the rotation for the Brewers...they have filled their MAJOR pitching needs with...wait for it..Jordan Lyles and Jacob Faria?? Hang the NL Central banner now! They are in the thick of it without those two additions. By adding two small pieces we just helped the pitching in an admittedly small way but we added to an already contending team. There is no reason to think adding those two will do anything but help. We added them without hurting our future to boot. In fact we helped it. It seems like you are one of those who would go all in every year the team is in contention. Which is fine if you plan on only being in contention for two out of every twelve years. For myself I'll take this type of move knowing this team has a better chance to contend of a consistent basis.

I don't think he was limited to guys who could start the next two days. The team could just as easily went one bullpen day and use a spot starter like Houser the other. They don't even really need a long start out of the spot starter given the way they option players in the pen. They could also send down a position player to cover more innings if things got ugly. They will need to figure out the starter position in the next week but they could have got through two games then have a few more to figure things out. As it is I think this move was made more with an eye to the pen than it was just to get through tomorrow and Wednesday.

I've been trying to eat more vegetables lately. So today I deep fried my bacon in vegetable oil.

Yes I did play and it will take me a week to recover. They usually play shirts and skins and I always made sure I played shirts because, well, Grandpa body. This time around I was hoping I'd be skins and show them what their future is. Kids need a little trauma in their lives. But they already knew grandpa plays shirts so no such luck. I am certainly owning the name. I thought it was hilarious. Gotta say though, tough call between root beer barrels and butterscotch hard candies.

I was thinking the same thing. The thinking was the Brewers would need something back that helps this season but if Shaw can be that guy then the Brewers could help their farm without hurting their chances this season.

The reason I can't put Cal Eldred on the list is because he was abused so badly he didn't stand a chance. His injury was so predictable the way Garner used him it should have been considered illegal. Good question. In some ways it almost seemed like Selig wanted the Brewers to suck so he could get some amount of competitive balance. But Bando was also not very creative. He simply did it the way it was always done and never tried to find a new way to compete. Just seemed too willing to use the financial constraints excuse to cover some fairly significant flaws in his player acquisition and development strategy.

It might be easier to list who wasn't a disappointment during the Bando era. I'd mention Ben McDonald via Homer's rule but someone might confuse that to mean he wasn't a failure.

To be fair, there were a lot to disappointments to choose from during the Bando era. Which probably explains why Scott Karl hasn't been mentioned yet.