tmwiese55

I thought it worked extremely well and they'll stick with it. Way faster paced and apparently there was significantly more HRs. Plus the eliminations create drama every 10-15 minutes as opposed to just beating a number. I would probably tweak the extra time somehow as it seemed everyone got 30 seconds extra. I don't know how they determine it but I'd shake it up somehow. For example, I thought Prince got a bit robbed because his shots in the first seemed to all be significantly longer other than the line drives than Fraziers, yet they got the same 30 seconds. The hometown guy hitting two last second walk offs really made it entertaining. I think the consensus will be that this was a home run and they'll go this route in the future. I agree Berman is unbearable, not only for this but NFL too. Just have to tune him out and I would agree that HR derby is tough to announce. Could stick some stiff like Joe Buck out there and it wouldn't help, at least Berman is trying to be upbeat. ESPN should just pony up for Gus Johnson.

He has said in an interview that the "developmental" scrutiny in the minor leagues is one of the reasons he struggled with walks and ERA. Im not sure what it says about his make up, the brewers development, or what but its interesting. He said that they hate walks and you knew if you walked a guy you wouldnt be getting a chance to move up, so it caused him to try to be perfect on the corners or not pitch to the right situations, you couldnt pitch around a good hitter with a guy on second and first base open and one out. Anyway i dont remember the whole transcript but i thought that was really interesting. He basically called out the brewers developmental guys for the high walks and high ERA and said what they are doing to try to keep you from walking guys was causing him to walk more guys. I just kind of go back to remembering that pitching is as much mental as it is physical. Jungmann's success kind of makes a guy wonder about Jed Bradley. Wow, that is really bad to hear. Might explain why they've been so bad at developing their own starting pitchers over the years other than Gallardo. That's tough to read. Hopefully some of those folks are gone now

Rizzo is the NL DH. Site I just saw it on had the statlines up, I hadn't looked at Goldschmidt and Harper in a while. Man are they having monster seasons, OBP over .450 in this day is major feat.

If you read comments about Braun in the All-Star Game on the MLB website fans talk about him like he is this terrible monster who is a lying, cheating scumbag who ruined the life of the man who kept his sample over the weekend. The hate and vitriol for him by some fans is so far off the charts it is ridiculous. You would think Braun was a serial murderer for heaven's sake. [rolling eyes] That's exactly what I think is ridiculous. The guy did do his job incorrectly and even if so it's not like it ruined his life, running samples for MLB is just a part time job. The media has put Braun/Arod out there as these pariahs so even general fans know. Yet Nelson Cruz was a feel good story in the playoffs and then at the beginning of this season. General population doesn't know this though. And they don't care when someone on their team is a PED guy, I mean, Giants fan boo Braun, pot kettle. I put a lot on MLB themselves too for perpetuating bad publicity against their own sport, these guys were using such minor stuff it wasn't even tripping tests for the most part. yet they want balls to the wall and used some shady methods to bust them anyway, creating more bad publicity for themselves. I understand the argument that would applaud them for doing it, I'm just saying you don't see the NFL and NBA going out of their way to find bad publicity. They generally look the other way and in the NFL when someone actually fails no one cares. NBA barely even tests and it's a sham anyway. MLB has the toughest test in the world and there's no reason not to continue it and to keep making it as strong as you can to catch masking agents and new stuff. But to basically have a detective group going out actively trying to catch people seems much. Anyway, glad they have the DH in all games now. Any idea who will be the NL DH then? If it's an OF like Upton then Braun will be seeing a lot of PT.

My take on Segura is that if you really get blown away by a deal then go for it. Otherwise I'm fine with keeping him as he could have a long term future at 2B after Arcia comes up. What I mean is that you don't have to trade him like say a Lyle Overbay when Prince was coming, he can switch positions. He'll likely never be the star he looked like in the first 3 months but he's a young, cost controlled, useful MLB player and has shown signs of improvement this year

Sure would make sense if they did. Hope that is the case. I guess that would increase the chance of Braun playing more than just one AB. Although i guess it would open up the chance that just gets on of the DH ABs

Seems more about the money than the future. Getting a second back is pretty minimal. ZaZa was really their only "thumper" center. This seems to really limit their flexibility. Would be nice to rest Monroe and have the option to go small (Hansen) or big (Zaza) depending on who they are playing. True, but money is about the future. Again, second rounders aren't as useless as everyone thinks but in this case I believe both picks are protected making them even worse. I wanna say we only get them if they're in the bottom 5 or 10 of the draft. So pure salary dumps along with the Trade Exceptions on both, which actually are valuable to the future. These trades save the team 10mil which they can spend on something else (think how much they've spent on re-branding, new court etc., then throw in new contracts they just inked) and freed up minutes for young guys to see how they look for the future since they can't win it all this year anyway. That being said, it's a little worrisome to go into the year with Inglis and O'Bryant as key backups but they're not looking at this year, it's all about 2018 and beyond. Another hidden thing is 'taking care' of good guy veterans like Zaza and Dudley, since we want to play younger guys instead of them the trades put them in a situation to play more and earn themselves a good new contract after next year. Players talk and when a team makes a classy move like that it gives them a good reputation out there (opposite of Sacramento/Philly).

4 reserve outfielders so one might get left to just being a PH but who knows which one, so I'd say 1/4. I assume they play with NL rules being in Cincy? Grandal is a PED guy too for the Dodgers, four of them in there.

That's not an absolute though with the variables in this case. It's absolute that he used but it's not that is what actually tripped the test. No one will ever know, even Braun. It is absolute that the handler didn't follow protocol though. Anyway, back to the game this year. Basically I just hope for no headlines and he flies under the radar. Being a backup though he might be in there at crunch time. Hopefully he comes through so we have home field in the WS (haha).

This is absolutely false. Braun himself admitted that he used PEDS. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/95927 ... es-ped-use The suspended Milwaukee slugger said he took a cream and a lozenge containing banned substances while rehabilitating an injury. "It was a huge mistake for which I am deeply ashamed and I compounded the situation by not admitting my mistakes immediately," Braun said in a statement released by the Brewers. -Of course we all know that he admitted to using. What he was doing was eluding the tests though, just like everyone else in that scandal. I'm not saying he didn't do it, obviously he did. I'm saying the test might not have been tripped had the handler not screwed it up. We don't know for sure and never will. Do you guys remember reading about it that time? The handler let it sit unrefrigerated in his basement over a weekend with big temperature changes, then left it in his trunk for a day while he was at work and it was a very warm day. This is not protocol and that is why he won the appeal. The biggest thing for me is the report that all players tested that day failed the test with astronomically high numbers, so high they were thrown out because something was messed up. But Braun's was slightly below whatever number it needed to be in order to get thrown out, therefore his stood until the appeal. There is a few other things that were brought up at the time. His mistake was using, especially if he was dumb enough to use in the playoffs before his mandatory playoff test. Second, was such a brash press conference. The attitude that he's worse than everyone because he lied is moot, they all lie and they all appeal. He had no choice but to stick to the story after winning the appeal, he just shouldn't have been so vocal about it when he knew there was a chance something would come out eventually. Which is probably why Matt Kemp never said anything either. Again, I see no reason he would have gotten more than everyone else had he not struck a deal first. You're arguing that because he boasted in press conference they were going to double his suspension, I don't think so. As others have said, most fans truly do not care. He still gets booed a bit but every team has someone like him on the team and the fans don't care. They boo him and crack jokes because it's easy and entertaining, just like they would if he was in some other scandal, like rec drugs or a sex scandal. Good point on Rose being the main story. Probably a good thing for Braun so he can fly under the radar without the media being all over him. Probably hurts him a bit though that its a division rival so they're more familiar with him. If this was say at TB or some random AL park the fans would probably be less aware.

Wow plush, talk about being a hater. If Braun would have waited he would have gotten the same 50 everyone else got. Instead he got 65, he was hurt anyway so that's probably why he did it. Braun did nothing more than the others and should be treated the same. Being a former mvp shouldn't warrant extra punishment. Not appealed? It worked and everything I read at the time the faulty handling probably did lead to the failed test. His mistake was that he shouldn't have been so brash in the press conference. Well that and doing it to begin with i guess. His only mistake post getting caught is the press conference.

Stupid of him to lie? So your move after winning the appeal would have been to admit it? Braun was the first person from the Miami scandal to admit and volunteered for a longer suspension than the others got. Two people from the same scandal got voted in, it's a joke and based all of media obsessing more over big names like him and arod. I think he gets in if he is clearly more deserving, whereas this year he and like 4 others were comparable and our team is bad. Peds will be a tiebreaker unless when it's debatable

Considering they're still below the luxury tax mark I guess i would have probably kept him. But they pick up that 2nd rounder and the trade exception for the future. For years we've been complaining about the win now moves that lead to mediocrity, I guess we should accept a move like this that is clearly about the future instead. Have to think they'll bring someone in with some experience to backup Giannis/Jabari. They can't be this confident in Inglis and O'bryant.

Yea it hurts to have lost two good veteran leaders that I think contributed greatly to their chemistry and play hard at all times attitude they had last year. Both guys were gone after this year anyway though so probably good moves overall. Clear 10mil and pick up two 2nd rounders. Plumlee only has 1 year left too as far as I can tell but he's probably restricted and can be brought back cheaply. I think he could be an ok backup big to have around. Keep in mind Henson will be gone soon too unless they're willing to pay way too much money.

Right, Bayless is about 3 mil and each of those was over 5. Think I'd rather have Dudley than one of Vasquez or Bayless though, even for 2 mil extra. The only backups at the 3/4 are Obryant and Inglis. There might be some kind of move to bring in a guy like Perry Jones from OKC, or that type of player. Heck, with the current roster setup it would be nice to have Dekker instead of Vaughn as he'd be the backup to Giannis and Jabari.

This is purely to save money since they just spent so much. Yes, he'd be nice to have for depth but with Monroe, Henson, Plumlee it's an area you can save. Might try to bring in more of stretch 4/wing type if they're not confident in that Inglis guy or Johnny Obryant. And 2nd round picks do matter more than people realize. Just this year in FA second rounders signed to monster deals:Middleton, Marc Gasol, Dragic, Millsap, Mathews(not even drafted), Danny Green, Jordan, Draymon Green, Ellis, and a few others, plus guys right at the end of the first like Jimmy Butler. These guys probably signed for more than the GDP of most countries. And besides that they're valuable as sweeteners to pull off other deals.

And maybe they should have traded a couple of the prospects they had back then (Jennings types) to "go for it" and they would have won it all?

Exactly. Do you think TB fans are saying it was all a mistake because they lost at the end? would they rather go back to the first 15 years where they get crushed every year. It was a heck of a run they had an enjoyable for them. I was just saying before we crown them as some genius team let's see how this all works as the essentially rode a pile of good prospects all at once just like we did. Except ours were hitters and theirs pitchers. now they've lost them all, lets see how they do. Sure looks better than ours right now as they've still brought up good young pitchers like Archer, Moore, etc. But it's still to be seen.

You guys are pretty much nailing why I have no desire to have kids.

What has Tampa won? See what I mean? We'll see how thing there being good lasts too as all their top guys are now gone and Longoria is declining quickly. Keep in mind they were terrible last year. This debate has been hammered endlessly on here already. My take is we overhype how we traded the system. Those trades we made cost us Cain/Brantley and Ordazzi as useful MLB players, that's really it. Segura/Escobar is a near wash. Maybe Lawrie will become good still but maybe the pitchers we got back from Greinke will as well. The only other route would have been to trade Fielder before his last year, which you might as well have traded Weeks and Hart then. How ballsy would that have been, to blow up a contender at that point, fans would have rampaged. Problem has simply been poor draft/development. STL never has high picks and rarely do they trade away really good players, fringe gus like Freeze sure but not the Pujols and Wainwrights, and they win every year. Looks like they just made a huge mistake in trading Miller too and they're still winning. Atlanta though, those guys are wheelers and dealers and very creative. Wouldn't be a bad idea to pluck some people from their management. But what have they won in the last 20 years? Again, I was just commenting that there is more to it than whether you won a title. There's value in increasing your odds as best as possible and enjoying the progress, season and competition of the playoffs.

I agree that it's a no brainer to trade him and gomez. I'm fine if they don't before the deadline as both their values are a little low due to poor seasons. Hope they finish the year strong and get big hauls in the offseason. Even if Lucroy stays at C he's not ever going to hit like he did last year again and we just can't afford 15-20 mil a year as he declines, even if he stays at C.

Sorry, didn't mean to start that whole argument again. It wasn't even what I meant. I was just referring to the attitude that if you don't win a title that it was all a waste. Basically that argument would lead to saying the Brewers should have never even existed, what's the point we never won. Or that every move was wrong because we didn't win it all. There's more to it. Yea of course Lohse has been brutal this year and it's shocking to see such a quick drop. but without him they wouldn't have almost won the division last year.

Yeah but what did it get us? We didn't make the playoffs either year. We didn't capitalize on his value by trading him and it cost us a 1st round pick. You have to try to win though don't you? Might as well fold up the team and leave with that attitude. Stems from the ESPN rings obsession. What did Robin Yount ever win us? Should have traded him after say 1983 and tried a different route.

He could be bitter about the ripoff contract he signed. At the time though it wasn't that bad of a deal since he was barely up in the bigs and who would've thought he'd improve so much.

I think I'd go with Jacko. Like has been said, his show would probably be better to see. Also, just think about how often you ever hear an Elvis song when you're randomly out somewhere, almost never. I still hear MJ all the time.