The stache

D'Arnaud and Noah Syndergard? Nope, don't like it. Dickey is 38, and yes, a knuckle baller could play to his mid to late 40's. But his age is not the concern. It's his track record. He was great last year, and maybe he's a late bloomer. But outside of 2010 when he was 11-9 with a 2.84 ERA, when has he ever pitched well? That's a hefty price to pay for a guy without a track record.

I wasn't expecting us to sign Josh Hamilton, and resigning Zack Greinke was a pipe dream. But I expected the Brewers to go out and at least sign a servicable starting pitcher to bolster the rotation. Well, pretty much all the good and halfway decent pitchers that were available have signed elsewhere. What the hell is the front office doing to improve this team? Or, are they throwing their hands up in the air, saying "gee, we hope our young pitchers can step up in a big way!" This is absurd. We have done NOTHING to improve our team. NOTHING.

So, let me get this straight. The Rays have the following starting pitchers available to choose from: David Price (Cy Young Award winner) Jeremy Hellickson (2011 AL Rookie of the year) Matt Moore (may be better than both Hellickson and Price) Jake Odorizzi Taylor Guerrieri Mike Montgomery (wanna bet the Rays coaches get him back on track??) Chris Archer Are you freaking kidding me? If Evan Longoria can stay healthy, Longoria, Desmond Jennings and Wil Myers give them a hell of a core, not to mention a guy I like that might be at the majors within a year, Mikie Mahtook. The AL East was tough enough as it was. The Blue Jays and Rays have both bolstered their talent base in a big way.

This contract being given to Greinke is just ridiculous. $24.5 million a year....for him? He's a really good pitcher, but that's ace money. King Felix and Justin Verlander are smiling somewhere. Both will see offers of near $30 million. Just insane.

Anybody else getting a black band on the top of the screen during the playoff game against the Cubs?

Yount's catch to end the game, saves Juan Nieves' no-hitter. Goosebumps every time I see it. Two outs in the ninth, he faced Cal Ripken Jr (walked), and then Robin layed out to catch Eddie Murray's drive. I am loving this collection.

Ten minutes of the '82 Brewers clinching the AL East, with Howard Cosell and Keith Jackson doing the color and play by play....wow. That brings back some memories. I'd have loved to see the whole game, as Robin went off with two home runs and a triple. Another highlight thus far, the eighth inning of game 5 of the ALCS....Harvey Kuenn lifting Gorman Thomas for Marshall Edwards proved before the seventh proved to be huge, as Don Baylor hit a drive to left center field that would have easily been extra bases if Edwards had not raced over and made a leaping catch into the wall. Doug DeCinces singled the very next at bat, so it might have been a tie game. .

Just got mine in the mail today. Watching game 5 of the '82 ALCS now. I will report back once I have watched the entire thing, which won't take long! God, what a stroll down memory lane. Love Keith Jackson saying how Ben Oglivie had been quiet in the series after hitting 34 home runs in the regular season. Then whamo, Benji golfs it to the right field seats! Also, wow, what a gun Charlie Moore had in right field. Gleefully waiting for Coop's two run single.

Right, and that's what my first post was referencing. I'd guessed 5 or 6 of his stolen bases came against Barajas. I wasn't far off.

As far as this whole steroids and the Hall of Fame debate goes, Eric Byrnes on the MLB Network had a great solution the other night. Vote the players in that deserve it based on their performance, and then have a section of the MLB Hall of Fame that explains the steroid era. Don't exclude anybody at all that is suspected because we're never going to know definitively who used, and who didn't. Players that did use are going to be voted in at some point (Bonds being a prime example). Players that are worthy and didn't use might not get in because they are somehow guilty by association (they were a power hitter in the steroid era, ie Bagwell and Piazza). I'd rather induct somebody that used than exclude somebody that didn't use.

I have to agree with this. As much as I hate that Bonds broke Hank Aaron's career home run record because he juiced, he was easily a first ballot Hall of Famer before he started bulking up. He had 259 home runs and 300 + stolen bases, 3 MVPs, 5 gold gloves and 5 silver sluggers....before he was 30. And his later years? Well, you can say what you want about how steroids made him even more of a home tun threat, but when you hit .370, walk 198 times, and still hit 46 home runs...at age 37, you're a great player. In a four year span from 2001 to 2004, Bonds walked 755 times. That's one of the most mind-blowing statistics I've ever seen.

I got my e-mail notification that Amazon has mailed it, so will be here in a few days. My God, I'm so excited. I can't wait to watch all four of these games. But the 1982 games are the ones that have me squirming like a kid that's had too much Jolt cola. I can't wait to see Robin, Molly, Coop, Stormin' Gorman, Benji and the gang on my TV again. And the extras are the icing on the cake. I might just watch all 4 DVDs back to back.

Agreed. I think he should be in the Hall. For those of you that have not seen it, I highly recommend the Curious Case of Curt Flood, an HBO production. Quite educational. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/21/sports/22rhoden2_650.JPG RIP, Marvin.

Ryan Braun's 2013 stolen base projection just dropped from 31 to 26.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to you, too, jjkoestler! I'm happy to have incredible family and friends in my life.

Their numbers weren't close, though. Braun hit 17 more home runs. Scored 30 more runs. Stole 29 more bases. Drove in 9 more runs (would have been a bigger discrepancy if the Giants didn't have Melky Cabrera hitting .346 in front of him). Posey had an advantage in average and OBP. Braun was a finalist for the gold glove. Posey was not.

Awesome find! I just ordered mine from Amazon. Can't wait to watch this!

I think it's safe to assume that come tomorrow night, we won't be discussing Ryan Braun's second MVP Award (though I still think he's the most deserving candidate). However, I've read that there's a good chance that he won't finish in the top 3, either, with some voters leaving him off their ballot altogether. Could he finish as low as fifth? The finalists are Buster Posey (the new "it player" that everybody is fawning over. Billy Ripken actually said that Posey is the second best player in the entire game behind Mike Trout), Brauny, Yadier Molina, Chase Headley and Andrew McCutchen. Here are their numbers side by side: http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/4415/nlmvpcomp.png The argument for Posey has been that he plays a premium position, and provides great offense from the catcher position. I've also heard the "well, they won the World Series with him in 2010, missed the playoffs when he was hurt last year, and won the World Series again this year when he came back" narrative (though I'm sure that new additions Melky Cabrera hitting .346 for 459 at bats and Hunter Pence driving in 45 runs in 60 games have nothing to do with their renewed success. Plus, Posey only had a .756 OPS in the 45 games he did play in 2011). As far as him playing catcher, he had a negative dWAR (-0.2). He had the second worst stolen base percentage allowed in the NL (73%), and allowed the most total stolen bases (87). He's not a great defensive catcher. Middle of the pack at best. He was not a finalist for the Gold Glove this year (Braun was a finalist for the Gold Glove in left field). The argument that the Giants wouldn't have won the World Series with him is a viable one. But the argument that the Brewers would still have been in playoff contention until the end of the season without Ryan Braun is ridiculous, especially after losing Prince Fielder to Detroit. The narrative should be that Braun, after a tumultuous offseason in which his PED test results were leaked, and the validity of his appeal victory questioned, answered the critics by having the finest season of his career, putting up numbers that bested his 2011 NL MVP campaign, and that without Fielder in the lineup. But the BBWAA, which had no problem voting a 37 year old Barry Bonds MVP after hitting 73 home runs (when he'd never hit close to 50 in any one season during his prime), are now going to feign indignation in voting Braun lower than he should be in the MVP. The facts: Braun was the only hitter in all the NL to finish in the top 3 in every major offensive category: average, slugging, on base, OPS, home runs, runs, RBI. He was the NL's only 30-30 player. And he was, as mentioned before, a finalist for the Gold Glove. Posey had a higher batting average (.336 to .319), and a higher OBP (.408 to .391). Braun hit 17 more home runs, stole 29 more bases, scored 30 more runs. On MLB Network, I actually heard somebody (I think it was Billy Ripken) that Posey's lower RBI total was more impressive that Braun's because "Braun drove himself in more". Well, when you consider that Posey had the best hitter in the Majors in front of him for 500 at bats (.346, Melky Cabrera), and the guy hitting directly in front of Braun for the majority of the season, Rickie Weeks, struggled to get his average above .200...his statement seems pretty ignorant. And the latest narrative is that when a catcher puts up the kind of numbers Posey did, it's pretty much a no brainer that he should win the MVP. Well, look at the years Mike Piazza had. He was on playoff teams with the Dodgers. In 1997, Piazza hit .362 with 40 HR and 124 RBI, and yet he didn't win the MVP. Why? If catchers are so highly valued when they can produce this kind of offense, why did the BBWAA not select Piazza after having the greatest single offensive season in history by a catcher? Get ready for it, the screw job is coming.

At least he'll get one award for his spectacular season.

Gonzalez had an atrocious year in the field. Where is the supporting #s to justify his winning it? Also, Braun got hosed out of the Hank Aaron Award when it was CLEAR he was the best offensive player in the NL. And now per Tom Haudricourt, several BBWAA voters, the same sheep who had no problem voting for Barry Bonds and his pumpkin head when it came to MVP, are now going to feign moral indignation in excluding Ryan Braun from their ballots even though he WON his appeal.

Why the hell is Carlos Gonzalez the Gold Glove winner in left? Third lowest range factor of all NL left fielders (1.71 to Braun's 1.93), only a very slight fielding pct advantage (.982 to .979, second-worst and worst in the NL for their positions), and dWAR is a joke. Braun's is not great (dWAR at 0.1), but CarGo has a dWAR of -1.9.

Why would Scutaro be series MVP? He hit .250.

Maybe by batting .500 in the series, and having a 3 home run game?

The game is won and lost on runs scored, so it's never made sense to me to discount RBI or runs scored. And I think both stats should be equally weighed. But they don't tell the whole story. If Trout singles, steals second and third, and another hitter gets a single to drive him in, the other hitter gets credit for that RBI, but it was really Trout's speed that got him into scoring position. And therein lies the problem with focusing so much on the Triple Crown stats. They in and of themselves do not tell the whole story. Ender, I think your comment that Trout has a 10% chance to win the MVP is way, way off. We'll see soon, but I think you are grossly underestimating his chances. This is supposedly Cabrera's greatest offensive season ever, and his OPS was only about 30 points higher than a 20 year old leadoff hitter. So while he has a slight edge in offense, again, when it comes to defense (and base running), there really is no competition. If you weight everything, Trout was the better player in 2012.

.281 lifetime average 2,077 hits 517 2B 316 HR 1,287 RBI 1997 NL Rookie of the Year 8 Gold Gloves 7 time All Star Quite a career indeed. 2004 was his best season. .314, 109 runs, 34 HR, 124 RBI, 1.007 OPS in only 142 games. All Star, Gold Glove, 4th in the MVP