BREWCREW5

Does anyone know if Hoffman will sweet spot or throw in an inscription?

With everything on the line...I'm taking Braun.

and a better Gallardo...

Let him go and sign there. I will enjoy watching him go on the DL continuosly.

Photos are all sold. Thanks for the interest.

I keep reading that there will be a lot of money coming off of the salary budget for 2011 because the end of Hall's and Suppan's contracts. I am wondering what the Crew will be looking to have available. Next year's free agent market looks pretty good right now. I am wondering if raises to players we have now will just eat up any savings. Im sure someone on here has probably figured it out already?

Jim Gantner-up close picture Cecil Cooper-up close picture Gorman Thomas-up close picture Ben Sheets (olympic team USA uniform)-legends of the field COA Manny Parra-Legends of the field COA Corey Hart-Legends of the field COA I am out of room in my office. Im not looking to break the bank. If you want all of them, that would be even better. Send me a PM.

I keep hearing all of our really good pitching prospects are far down in the system. How far away is this wave and how good do some of these guys project to be?

I know that some on here are interested in framing stuff themselves. I used to have some items framed at a sports shop for me. It was expensive and this was in the winter of 2007. I had a Favre 16x20 framed and it cost me $165, another Favre jersey framed there that was $250. I'm sure the prices have probably gone up. Now, I frame everything myself. I shop at Hobby Lobby and Michaels. I typically buy the wood frames (the section without the glass) at Hobby Lobby (they are almost always 50% off). Then I drive over to Michaels and buy the standard UV glass and acid free matting. I was given this Tony Romo jersey last Christmas from a friend of a friend of Romo's. I just framed it myself and the total cost out-the-door was roughly $135. http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k300/jimhaas/?action=view&current=IMG_2259.jpg The frame was $40 at Hobby Lobby, the UV glass was $56, the acid free matting was $14. I needed the glass and matting cut and the rest of the expense was an acid free foamboard (which makes of the back) and other materials (wire hanger, etc). The UV glass and the matting, foamboard was not on sale. Hobby Lobby within the last year raised their UV glass prices and now are really expensive. I should also mention this is the first jersey I have done. It is in a 24x36 size frame. The jersey basically gets sewn to the matting by a thread that looks like fishing line. I went to Michaels during their custom framing 60% off sale for a quote on this jersey. The quote I got was for $268 and that came in a cheap looking black metal frame and was a type of small shadow boxes. I am not a huge fan of the shadow box.

AJAY, do you have a link for this? I see that it is "close" on mlb.com but I am not seeing this anywhere else. Also, from what I am reading, this doesnt look to just be Bill Hall for Kotchman. The mariners are also sending a minor league player and CASH along with Hall for Kotchman.

I could see the crew signing Davis or Washburn late for cheap.

I think it is funny that on foxsports.com the link says "cubs sign power hitting CF". Byrd hit 20 home runs last year in his contract year, before that, the most he hit in a season was 10. Now he is a power hitter? Wow.

His best year was last year. Suprise Suprise, it was a contract year. His defense in center is below average. He is injury prone and will be 33 in August. He has posted an OPS over .800 the last couple of years though.

Because its Mark Mulder, probably one of the best pitchers available a couple of years ago.

brewerfan.net

Correct.

Just figured I would add a quote from an article on Foxsports.com about the Vazquez to Yankees trade. "Vazquez will be in the final year of his contract, pitching for one last big free-agent score." That sentence pretty much sums up my type of "contract year" type of thinking.

Toolivebrew- Thanks for checking out the stats on this matter. To me, contract years is common sense type of thinking. Apparently not so for others.

I dont think anyone here is saying that EVERY time someone is in a contract year they will somehow magically perform better because of it. Im not sure if you think that is what I am arguing. What originally started this is that you wrote "this contract year silliness needs to stop". I do not agree. Some players/people are going to play harder and prepare better when they know that a several million dollar, guaranteed contract is on the line. Now, once that large, guaranteed contract is signed maybe one does not feel as inclined to take extra batting pratice, work out as hard, dive for that ball, etc. Because not many of us personally know many of these players, at times, bringing up a possible "contract year" result, such as I did with Silva, should be brought up.

It seems pretty apparent that the Crew will sign Mulder. What originally happened to this guy? I was wondering if he is going to be ready by spring training? Can we really expect anything positive from him? (edit: more explicative topic title --1992)

We live in a world of "what have you done for me lately though".

For some players certainly. You are silly if you dont think they are going to train harder, work harder in games, stay longer in games and be more focused when they are going into a contract year. It is human nature my friend.

Are you serious? Marquis was a had a 4.01 ERA last year. Suppan had a 5.29. If Suppan was a free agent, he would probably try to sign as a long man out of the bullpen or trying to sign 1 mil/ 1 year incentive laden deal with the likes of the Pirates or Royals. Still amazes me how every free agent pitcher is compared to Jeff Suppan, it really does.

Can anyone explain why Silva has been so bad? The guy was pretty good pitching in the AL in 2007. 2007 was also a contract year.

2 years for 15 million. Not a horrible deal. http://masnsports.com/2009/12/nats-to-sign-jason-marquis.html