tmwiese55

I think an argument can easily be made that something that helps heal and recover faster could be considered Performance Enhancing, well simply because it would enhance performance. I'm on your side as being ok with it, but it's totally logical for them to include it. Logan, Adam laid out exactly why it would be logical to have quit after 2012. If he gets caught now he loses over 100 mil as he has a lifetime ban. In 2012 prior to his first suspension all he was facing was a 50 game ban while he was making next to nothing (relative to MLB money). I'm in the camp though he'd have to be pretty stupid to use in 2012 to avoid bad PR since he just got away with it and had a chance to salvage his reputation still. Then again, it was pretty stupid to use in the playoffs when you know you're going to be tested once in the playoffs. Wait until that one test is done and then use all you want.

If Cousins hits the market we just won't have the most to offer unless you include Parker or Giannis. Simmons actually did a top 3 or 5 list of teams though to get him and I believe he had us 3rd, but he had us giving them Giannis. I think he had Orlando 1, Knicks 2. Personally I'd put Boston before MKE because they're loaded in draft picks to trade, I think he was trying not be a homer though. I suppose Cousins just might not want to play in Boston though. Bottom line, I don't see anyway we have enough to trade for him without Giannis or Jabari involved. I agree with Brewballs. Unless somehow they manage to do it under the radar so there is no bidding war. Regardless, all of our #1 picks we could offer would be 16 or lower, don't see anyway.

Yea obviously it's illegal so shouldn't try it. Simply meant if I were picking the rules I might lighten it up a bit as I think there was an overcorrection. Or at least if whatever they're using doesn't trip the test, then it's probably minor enough to not care. Well I believe some of these guys who've been caught were actually prescribed their steroids to recover from injuries and given allowances to use them, but then used them longer than they were supposed to. Arod actually was getting some kind of testosterone waiver most of his career, I don't remember exactly what it was though. You're right though, it's not getting lightened up any time soon.

Put me in the camp of the thumb injury is more important than PED. But PEDs I bet would have been helpful in overcoming that and his other multitude of nagging injuries. From what I understand that is what PEDs are used for now. There's really no way to use the all out steroids of the Bonds/Mcguire era due to the testing, so they use just to keep fresh on the grind of the season and to recover from injuries. Personally, I'm fine with it, I'd rather see the guys on the field than hurt or sitting out to rest.

I agree with Brew in that yes he's never going to have a jump shot. I just wish he was thicker and had more athleticism. I totally agree with FV that you don't need him to have the offensive game. Putbacks, catch/dunk in the Tyson Chandler mold is all you need if you play great D, like he does. He just can't be on the floor at the same time as another non-shooting big like Zaza or Sanders before. I'd rather just keep Henson too while you try to draft/develop someone better. He's ugly around the hoop but he finds a way to finish a decent amount.

Great game by MCW but it's the only good game he's played in the series and really might have blown game 3 just as much as he won this one. Regardless, we all like his potential. Not sure if we need Hollis-Jefferson with the Jabari,Giannis, Middleton covering those three wing type spots already. I think the backup there needs to be a shooter, not a defender (I guess like Mayo in a way). Shooting is target 1 since we can survive another year with Zaza/Henson/Ersan/Plumley at bigs. Target 2 is a good young big in the Sanders mold but a little thicker probably, screen/roll/catch/dunk/protect rim. I like the direction FV is saying, stay the course, do your best in this draft, maybe trade up if you see an opportunity you like, then make your decisions after another year. And yes Middleton will get resigned, huge reason for the Knight trade is the decision to sign Middleton instead of Knight.

Any reason you're that high on Koufos to give him 8mil/yr. He's never stood out to me as someone worthy of starting and that much money. Quickly scanned his stats here and from what I can tell he scored more than 10 pts twice all year. I know he's a backup but for that kind of faith you'd have to seen flashes? I guess what I'm getting at is why not just keep Henson instead of getting him? probably half the money too.

One of the biggest stereotypes people that don't watch the NBA will say is that there is no defense. There's really never been more complicated defenses than there is now, huge emphasis on it from most teams. Compare this to the golden age of 1980s and there's way more D now. There was probably more in the early to mid 90s and then it got to be even more in the late 90s and early 00s where they were essentially beating each other up on the court. I think they've found a good middle ground right now to open it up to be more entertaining. I also have always not liked the "thug" argument people made. Not that I disagree with it. But my beef was more that it's hypocritical to say that about the NBA while being an NFL fan instead, as most people that say this are. When really it's always been worse in the NFL.

Very good post Reilly, well said. And superfly's 'grass is greener' thing, that's pretty much what I'm getting at. good cliche to sum up my point. For this proposed lineup, I think that's what most people here fear. putting out another team with a 80ish win projection, but hoping to get lucky and make the playoffs. Though I'm a little worried a route similar to this is likely based on MA's history, though I doubt they'll get someone as good as Zimmerman. More likely another Garza type. In this route, losing Gomez the year after for nothing will hurt the future, then the same with Lucroy after that.

Well if you guys want to go completely into a Houston level teardown then so be it, that's fair. But there's nothing wrong with having some competent players on the team to win some games. It's good for young guys' moral to not just destroyed when they come up so you don't have such a losing mentality around. Me, I'd rather keep guys like Nelson/Peralta who are cheap and cost controlled. If they do well maybe throw them Gallardo type cheap extensions to keep them to age 30/31 and then look at trading before they hit FA then, they could be here when hopefully the next group of prospects come up in 2017-19. Well actually since Nelson came up late you probably don't even need to do a contract, arbitration will take him to that age. You could argue this way as a good long term strategy too, it would spread prospects out a bit instead of trying to bring them all up in one rush like we did last time. Which for a small market will cause issues when deciding what to do with them later. Take the Cubs strategy bring so many guys at once, would work for a few years but we couldn't sustain because we don't have the payroll to sign them, they can sign then guys that actually pan out.

Reilly, you now I'm not saying that but you just don't bring up your best pitching prospect in the last what 9 years and trade him after two seasons because he had 3 bad starts. I just feel people on here perpetually overvalue prospects, kind of an example on a recent thread was a discussion of what to do with the middle infield with possible 3 guys in the minors. Someone else made the point about waiting to at least see if these guys make the big leagues before trading the current guys. That's what I'm getting at. You have to field a major league team, can't just trade everyone over and over. So you trade him and of the guys you get back one of them comes up but can only throw 92, well trade him because he doesn't throw fast enough, he'll never be an ace. When does it stop.

So trade everyone who's not a cy young contender? Kid's 25 and throws 98, no way he'll get better with good coaching? Struggled the first two months of his rookie year and has been a good pitcher since, teams need numbers 2-4 starters too. Maybe you hold off on an extension for a year or two to hopefully see that improvement and to not see another injury but why would you give up on him, this is exactly the type of thing we need more of coming up the system.

For people like you who got turned off to the NBA years ago. It's a good time to come back and give it a shot, a lot has changed in the last 4-5 years. last night's game wasn't a good example, but in general the game is much more open, fast paced, with lots of passing and movement. As opposed to the mid 00s of slow down isolation grind it out style that rightfully turned lots of people off. Wait until the apparel with new logos comes out, much better than the current.

Man I'm sure glad some on here aren't running the team with the knee jerk reactions. Willy goes 17-11 with a 3.5 era at age 24. He has three bad starts in a row (when the whole teams is struggling) and ya'll say he sucks and either should be traded or sent to the minors. Come on people. It's this perpetual trade for the future attitude that I think gets overblown on here. Yea I wish he had more of an out pitch to get more strikeouts but you can pick apart a flaw in everyone. They'll still have control over him for what 4-5 more years, this is exactly the type of guy they should be holding onto and embracing. Instead you want to kick him while he's down and give up on him after 3 games. If he turns it around and finishes this year ok, prime candidate to buy out the arby years and one or two of FA for cheap just like they did with Gallardo and then trade him when he's 30 or 31.

There's a really funny thing about Oquendo out there from the Sklar brothers if you haven't seen it. Can probably just Youtube "The Utilityman" and find it easily. Basically they make a long argument saying he's better than a bunch of hall of famers due to selectively choosing stats. The Sklar Brothers and the "Utility Man"[edit] Main article: Cheap Seats In 2004, a comical one hour special aired on ESPN and was produced by MLB Productions about José Oquendo. It featured Randy and Jason Sklar of Cheap Seats going on a trip all the way to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on a campaign to get José "The Utilityman" Oquendo inducted for his versatility to play any position on the baseball field. The special included the Sklars receiving Oquendo's blessing to lobby for his spot in Cooperstown, collecting signatures for the petition, and giving a lackluster presentation to the Hall of Fame's committee. After initially denying their claim, the committee agreed to place his plaque in a spot that fits his utility specialty- the utility closet.

Again, I don't think I've seen anyone on this thread here say they don't like MCW or that they shouldn't have done the trade. All they've said is right now this season they would've been better had they kept him, frankly I don't see how anyone can argue the other direction. 11-18 post trade, 30-21 pretrade. The team currentlylacks shooting, big time, and that's what Knight provided. MCW was great tonight, was able to consistently get to the rim for the first time all series. I wonder what was different on the Bulls tonight though, maybe Rose slowing down after playing this many consecutive games with full minutes and only one day off in between? Because all the other games they've just sagged off MCW cutting off his drives. Or maybe MCW just played better than he has the other games, could be that simple. This is why most, including me, are fine with the trade. Can see the potential and what he brings to the team with more of a playmaking ability going forward as Giannis, Jabari hopefully develop more into the scorers. And with his size on D the ability to switch all positions on D. Factor in Knights main limitation of not having great vision to be a creator type PG, and the contract/cap reasons and we get it and it makes sense and really hope he takes a step up next year and becomes a star. The team's D last night in the 3rd and 4th was absolutely insane. Bulls really couldn't get a shot off other than a contest jumper. I thought the refs really kept Chicago in the game in the 3rd quarter with a lot of 50/50 calls that went their way, I couldn't find much to complain about in the 4th though other than the one time they just hammered Giannis going up for a dunk.

I'd be really surprised by a win tonight but really they've competed in all games so who knows. Getting that game 6 in Milwaukee would be really good experience and just good for the city and to drum up support for the team going forward and to get the stadium done. It's not like the other recent playoff appearances when there wasn't this future upside like there is now. Those were like 'great, we squeaked in the playoffs with some mediocre veterans', although they did almost beat Atl that one year. I think you get my point though, this actually has the feel of optimism for the future. Think of it like the first year OKC made the playoffs but lost in the first round, then they kept progressing each year until the made the finals. but the harden trade and injuries stopped the momentum.

No way the Brewers will try that lawsuit route. I'm sure the Yankees, who can afford the best lawyers on the planet, looked at all the possible avenues and decided it wasn't worth the risk. Let's see what happens when they supposedly try to withhold his bonus for his next HR, from what I read the Yankees will lose that in court without much doubt. I think it's as simple as if there was nothing written in the contract saying a PED suspension means you have the right to void the contract, then there's no way they're getting out of it. Either way, I think the Brewers should wait and see what NY does with Arod and it looks as though they're not going to try it so that route is a lost cause as advised by the Yankees lawyers. So for those 5 years let's say he gets 6 mil extra each and one more year. 56 mil total, then pay half to the government and agent and it's 28 mil. Yes most players do gamble in order to get that 28 mil but I don't think it's crazy to say eff it, give me my money and I'm set for life. I'm not about to look up examples but pretty much all guys who stay with their original teams take extensions don't they? I'm not about to look if they took them 5 years before FA or not. Well actually take Miggy and Howard, they signed theirs 3 or 4 years before their first deals ended and both those guys are going to end up ripping off their teams, Howard already is.

After signing the first one locking him through age 31/32 he might have just figured he was pot committed and best at that point better to get as much as you can. Free agency at 32 is different than at 29. Perfectly reasonable to think, "shoot, I shouldn't have given up those few years of post arby as I will hit free agency too late, might as well take the money now and never have to think about it". That's the most likely and simplest scenario. Who knows though what was really going on with him. It's hard to believe it all played out this way.

Yea it's a different topic if you just say the extra extension. If he was cheating the whole time why not just quit when you got the extension to avoid ever being caught? Can just chalk up the drop off to getting older/injuries and no one would ever think he's a cheat. My guess would be that he was an occasional user when he had a nagging injury. Man was it colossally dumb to take them during the playoffs when he knew he was going to get tested. Although I still don't rule out that test was a fluke if all the stuff reported at the time are true. Reason for taking the extension when he did could be as simple as being able to put 105 mil in the bank without having to risk injury. He was locking in 20 mil per year for his 32-37 seasons, if everything goes well he wasn't going to get more than 25-30 mil for those years but maybe getting another year or two at the end of the contract. If you have two injury riddled seasons (like he just did, was hurt prior to suspension anyway) before FA he might not have gotten that much. He was able to lock in that he would never have to worry about money ever again.

Not true. Because while Suppan was a disaster, save his meh 2007, and remarkably ill advised signing at the time without second guessing, the Brewers were still able to put a good team on the field. Braun is in steep decline with absolutely NO sign of hope other than praying he will see 2012 again, and the big dollars haven't even started yet. His contract will cause the Brewers to make spending cuts elsewhere. So your point is that it's a disaster because we can't field a team around it? You can't say that for sure yet either, I don't think we'll be competitive the next few years either but it's not because of his contract. It's the awful drafting the last several years. Who's to say they couldn't be competitive with a potential 15mil/year albatross? They just did it for a few years with Week's roughly 10 mil wasted contract didn't they? And in one of those years you had Hart's contract while he was on the DL all year. Put those two together and you're probably over 15 mil. I guess Weeks is another one to consider on the list. Also, Bill Hall's extension.

If I remember correctly everyone assumed Oquendo would take the job after LaRusa left and then thought he might be offended and leave STL when he didn't get the job.

This is a topic most could easily do off memory since the last 20 years are really only relevant in the post free agency area. Before that the dollar amounts were so small that they wouldn't even be in consideration. And with the Brewers being such small time spenders there aren't a lot to consider, therefore Braun would almost by default be in the top 10. Top of my head Suppan and Hammonds would be worse, could argue Randy Wolf and potentially Garza if he doesn't give something more in the next couple years. Gagne and Looper too but they were only one year deals. To me it's too early to say this right now about Braun, there's like 5 years left on it, as I said before if he pops out two or three 280/340 30ish HR seasons along with a couple statistically similar years to last year I don't think it should be considered a disaster contract when you factor in the immense value they got at the beginning of the deal. If looks like he has the last two months of last year and so far this year, then you have a debate. I'm not ready to accept that he can never be a really good hitter again. In 2012 post PED scare he had his best year, have to think he was clean that year. He was fine in 2013 before the suspension (not MVP level but still good), 2014 was fine until the last two months or so (again not MVP level but fine). I don't expect him to be MVP level again but I'm not ready to say he can't be good. Also, for those saying he knew he'd eventually get caught with PEDs and that's why he took the extensions. I don't buy this at all as some kind of grand plan by him. Any reasonable person would have just quit taking after they signed the extension if they new they'd eventually be caught since there is no financial incentive to do it any more (ie Pujols and Verlander possibly). He either thought he'd continue to beat the tests because it was such a minor thing he was doing and/or he actually only did it a couple times here or there to overcome nagging injuries as he's somewhat insinuated with his talk since then. If he knew he'd be caught he would've quit taking them after he signed.

Sorry, the Davey Nelson thing was a joke. Thought everyone would have gotten that. I liked the Jose Oquendo idea. As much as I hate the Cardinals, Brewers need to start instilling their way of play into their system.

You realize he might not have gotten hurt had he not been traded right? the whole sequence of events changes. Also, you have to remember there is a period of adjustment for him joining a new team and a team which just traded half it's roster so they all had to adjust. Just remember how well the Bucks were playing before the trade, that's what matters in this specific discussion. Even people like me who are taking this side of the agreement agree with the trade being done so it's kind of a pointless argument.