DoubleSwitch

perhaps i take that last comment back if segura is hurt

well... at the very least we can be happy he didn't send rickie into the field that's gotta count for somthing

Looked plenty safe to me. I don't understand the reluctance to use a challenge.

nice to see segura put some good wood on a ball

Yeah, that's what I thought immediately after Braun's first homer. A nice start, but I don't think it will be enough.

well... at least it wasn't gone. I thought it was a sure thing off the bat.

Yeah Roenicke has done a good job playing matchups now that he has all those leftys and I'm a big fan of being proactive and letting KRod close. As far as bullpen management goes I don't think there is any room to criticize RRR so far. The only thing he's done that really annoyed me was having schafer bunt with 2 on no outs against Atlanta. I think he deserves a little credit from the crowd that loves to hate him.

Feels awesome when somebody else is leaving Badenhop in to face a lefty with a lefty warmed up for a change

Team of destiny confirmed. Next stop: 160-2.

hahahahahaha best free agent pickup of the year DM, I believed in you all along.

Here we go! inb4 Overbay ends up knocking in the go ahead run.

8 times

All of a sudden, everyone is an expert on thumb surgery? I can only assume Braun made his decision in good faith while consulting with people with much more knowledge and information that anyone in this thread. I really don't think it's fair to second guess Braun or the medical staff on this one.

Not to break up this pity party here, but I was really impressed with Estrada showing some guts today without his best stuff. Gomez is looking even better than last year, not only is he hitting the ball hard, but he's showing some patience. They're outplaying the defending WS champs in their home opener and if you read this thread you'd think they were down 10. The clutch hits will fall in eventually.

I would have cheered him too if I were there. He'll catch his share of abuse over it on the road. Like it or not he's our guy for the foreseeable future, so I think it's good the fans have shown they're still behind him. The whole moral panic over steroids is so overblown that I think it's natural for home fans to respond to that over reaction. People stood and cheered for Yovani the drunk driver and Francisco the woman beater yesterday as well. Those are both undoubtedly far worse than anything Braun has done, but for some reason that doesn't seem to register.

Yup, owbc is right on. I'd recommend anything Wendy Thurm has written about TV rights to get a good picture of the motivations and problems with the current system. Basically you won't see a mlb.tv for all type system until the current cable TV business model is dead in the ground. The good news is that might not be too far away, whether through legislation(doubtful), or people increasingly cutting the cord(much more likely.)

There's one pretty huge reason: Cabrera would have said 'no thanks'. It's not like the Tigers don't know that a shorter deal would have been better than a longer one. Cabrera got the deal he got because that's what it took to keep him. Also as far as the Brewers backing up the Brinks truck to anyone's front door, I would have given it to Greinke over Fielder.

Really happy for Bo, he deserves it. That charge was pretty ticky-tacky so it soothes my conscience a bit that Arizona got one more possession even if my heart was going 150 bpm at the time.

Mark Trumbo took home 4.8 mil in his first Arb Year, I think Trout might have gotten a tad more. That being said, yeah, the Angels probably paid more than 30 million for each free agent season. The value is in only buying 3 instead of 13. Give me the first three years of the Cabrera, Fielder, Cano, Pujols etc contracts any day. The problem is that teams don't 'give' guys contracts, they negotiate them. Waiting a year will make him more likely to just go to free agency, and it definitely wouldn't result in you getting an even sweeter deal. Mike Trout at age 26 would have been the most valuable asset in baseball history, and hes agreed to hold off until 29 to hit the market and give up his most valuable seasons. I figured they might buy one free agent season, and that two would be a windfall. Three is an incredible steal.

Actually bought out 3 free agent season, the deal starts next year. Trout left a ton of money on the table, I can't believe he signed, honestly.

Mike Illitch spends money like an idiot and that means the players should be punished? I would argue that increasing the % of revenue sharing is a better approach for increasing competitiveness and a more even financial footing for teams, while salary caps are primarily a means of putting more money in the owner's pockets. I'm always annoyed when people rail against pro athletes salaries and talk about the poor teachers/firefighters/unemployed/whatever as if capping players salaries would put more money in their pockets instead of an even richer dude than the player. I don't know about the rest of you, but I tune in to watch the players, and there is no one else who earns their chunk of 8+ billion in annual revenue as much as they do. Of course the whole point is moot, because the PA would never allow it. While the NFL, NBA, and NHL all have had lockouts in the past 5 years where their players get bent over the negotiating table, you have to respect the organization and loyalty of the players at the very least.

>What about Melvin's m.o. suggests he'd trade Estrada after a good season to make room for a prospect? When have the Brewers ever been in a position where they could afford to trade away a starter who could give them average to above average innings? They've never really had this kind of SP depth ever in Melvins tenure, depressing as that is to think about. The 2011 rotation was better at the top, but that team had paper thin depth and got extremely lucky with health. Coincidentally, when they did need another starter it was Marco Estrada who pitched very well in the swingman role. He started the year in the rotation, but had long stretches between starts and threw in relief in between. Latter in the season when he was needed again he went back in the rotation and performed, throwing 64, 94 then 100 pitches in three starts. So, not fully stretched, but also not 3 to 5 games before he could pitch a full game like someone said earlier.

Estrada is the better pitcher right now and he should get the call. Even if he only ends up making 15-20 starts that's still more valuable than a full season out of the pen. Injuries will come and Thornburg and Nelson will likely both get their chance to start. If were talking about a future ace, top 20 prospect, then yeah I think you give him a shot and let him work through some stuff. I know compared to the prospects we have Thornburg looks pretty great, but he isn't that type of guy. A future 3/4 fringy type guy like Thornburg has to earn his rotation spot with his play. He isn't one of the 5 best guys so he shouldn't start in the rotation it's as simple as that. Throwing some innings out of the pen isn't going to kill him.

I don't think Corey has to apologize for leaving, or that he should feel bad for taking the Brewers money last year. Nobody expects these things to go the other way around. For example Luc is probably going to end up leaving ten million on the table in arbitration alone by signing an extension before he broke out. Nobody expects the Brewers to give him any extra money, or give him a sweetheart deal on his next contract. Fans love to talk about loyalty come free agent time, but they're often the first to turn their back on a player when he's not performing.

A couple things I want to comment on. First the Rays haven't put together a good draft since 2007. Guerrieri looks like a nice player, and he'd be their first good in house pitching prospect in a while. I like Andrew Friedman, he's forward thinking in a lot of the way that Doug never will be, but a lot of his best moves are major league stuff. I think it's pretty clear that in the early to mid 2000's there was something special going on in the Rays scouting dept. and a lot of that took place before Friedman was even in charge. I'm almost more impressed by the high school guys they drafted and couldn't sign than the guys they actually got. Mike Pelfrey, Jacoby Ellsbury, Kris Medlen, Tommy Hunter, Wade Miley, Ike Davis and Mike Minor were all originally taken by the Rays in mid to late rounds during that time. You see the other side of that strategy in the post 2007 drafts. Tim Beckham and Chris Sale were two high profile flops, but those drafts pretty much missed from top to bottom. Just like when things turned bad for the Brewers this was when the Rays started winning and stopped picking in the top 5 every year. Over Seid's tenure the Rays have drafted much worse than the Brewers. Secondly I'd disagree that the only worthy way to spend your prospects is on are guys with 3+ years left of control. Nobody is giving up pre-arb major league pitching. It's the most valuable commodity in all the game and Corey Hart and JJ Hardy weren't going to get it done. Also I'd say the Greinke trade was a great move, even based on what we knew about those players when we traded them. Doug may not be great, but I think he's learned from some mistakes and gotten better. We haven't seen things as baffling as Carlos Lee for Francisco Cordero in years. Every time you're really frustrated with the Brewers just remember you could be a DBacks fan. They turned Three talented young players into Mark Trumbo and a bad closer, and then gave 23.5 million to Bronson Arroyo.