paul253

"Look, he’ll move up when he moves up? Patience. All we need is just a little patience." He'll move up when he moves up. That's very intuitive. The question is when. Before he turns 23? When he has 15 starts in a row giving up 2 runs or less (he's at 9 right now)? When he starts going full games without walking someone? When? What more does he have to do in low A ball to convince the organization that he should try pitching against more advanced hitters? I am the only one getting really frustrated by this?

I'd consider skipping Thornburg all the way to Huntsville to see how he handles it. He is absolutely dominating low A ball.

Thanks for the vote of confidence! Still trying to sell some here.

I think we need to spend all available money on Marcum and Greinke. As long as we have them + Gallardo, I can't see this ever being a bad team. Offensively, most of your players are signed long term and the ones that aren't we have decent replacements for in Gamel, Green, Gindl, Schafer and Komatsu. Shortstop is obviously the exception but I think you could find a decent free agent. I'm more concerned about someone who plays solid defense and can make contact with the ball offensively. I honestly can't see a whole lot of options that would be worse than Betancourt.

Yuniesky Betancourt is literally the worst hitting major league regular I have ever seen. The guy is absolutely worthless. Calling him a terrible situational hitter would be a compliment. His approach never changes, which I guess would be fine if he actually could hit. But for someone who is so bad at hitting as he is, you'd think he'd actually concentrate on advancing runners or driving in runners who are on third base with less than two outs. But nope, not Yuniesky. I would rather see Josh Wilson play every single day because at least he brings good defense (or so I hear). I've had it with Betancourt. What Melvin was thinking by having him included in the trade with KC I have no idea.

I didn't want to start a new thread just for this, but Jim Callis on Baseball America was asked what teams' #1 draft picks would also be the teams #1 overall prospect. In addition to a few other teams, he more or less said that both of the Brewers first two picks would now be their top prospect. "Surprisingly, I only came up with four 2011 draftees who are locks to be their team's top prospect in the 2012 Prospect Handbook. In order of selection, they are Mariners lefthander Danny Hultzen (the No. 2 overall choice), Diamondbacks righthander Trevor Bauer (No. 3), Astros outfielder George Springer (No. 11) and either of the Brewers' two first-rounders, righty Taylor Jungmann (No. 12) or lefty Jed Bradley (No. 15)." Does this say more about Jungmann and Bradley or the Brewers system? Where would you guys place Jungmann and Bradley in the Power 50?

I don't think it makes sense at all. He is obviously being affected very negatively by the injury and he's rapidly running out of time. If he had the surgery a few weeks ago, he could have been back by august and pitched a few innings in BC then head off to the AFL with his eyes towards Milwaukee's bullpen in 2012. What does he accomplish by pitching hurt right now and posting terrible numbers?

But then he has 12 teams and after his first round you would have 6, but then what? I assume the top two teams in each league would have a bye. If I were a baseball team I'd love to have three days off before a playoff series. That way you are basically assured that your ace is going to pitch game one. That's huge. I don't think sitting for three days after playing 162 games in like 180 days is going to hurt anyone's timing.

Any offers are good. I am very willing to negotiate and may throw in some for free if you buy a couple others.

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I've finally decided to put my entire bobblehead collection up for sale. I'm not looking to make record profits here but I'm also not looking to be insulted by offers. That's why I am posting them here before I do craiglist or Ebay. Most bobbles do not come with boxes and those that do say "w/box" after they name. Prices are negotiable but I'm looking for something like $8-10 per bobble. Obviously some will be more and some will be less. I am willing to give better deals to those who buy more and I can email pics to anyone who is serious about buying them. I have some pennants that I am putting up to. I am looking for like $3 each for them but I'd be willing to include them for free if someone buys 2 or more bobbles. I'd prefer to deal in person and shipping is not included in the asking prices unless we specifically work it out. For the two autographs I have I am asking maybe $10 each. I do not have certificates of authenticity because I just got them randomly so they are more for someone who is looking to collect as opposed to someone who is looking to re-sell. Like I said I am willing to negotiate on pretty much anything, especially if you buy multiple items. And I don't have them listed but I will have all the remaining bobbles from this season with boxes. Thanks guys Brewers: Barrel Man (2008) John Axford (2011) w/Box Doug Melvin (2009) Beer Vendor (2010) Bernie Splash Zone Casey McGehee (2011) w/Box Chorizo (2007) w/Box Hot Dog (2006) w/Box Bratwurst (2009) Polish (2007) w/Box Italian (2010) Hank Aaron (2010) Cecil Cooper (2010) Robin Yount (2010) CC Sabathia (2010) Ryan Braun (2010) Robin Yount (2006) Jeff Suppan (2009) Prince Fielder (2007, 2008) Cecil Cooper Pinstripes (2006) Jason Kendall (2009) Ben Sheets Blue Jersey (2005) Ryan Braun no bat (2008) discounted or included for free if you buy some others. Corey Hart (2008) JJ Hardy (2008) Trevor Hoffman (2009) Zack Greinke (2011) w/Box Minis: Vuckovic w/Box Moore w/Box Gantner w/Box Cooper (blue) Caldwell w/Box Thomas (no bat) Kuehnn (head broken) Timber Rattlers: Scooter vs Snowman w/Box Bernie/Fang Shaking Hands w/Box Bernie/Fang Lounge Chairs w/Box Admirals: Phil Witliff Rich Peverly Ryan Suter Tony Hrkac Bob Uecker w/Box Legends of the Diamond Series Polish Sausage Miscellaneous Items: Marquette Basketball Final Four Ring on stand (same material as most bobbles in the shape of a final four ring.....not an actual final four ring) Padre Serra Jumpin’ Monk Bobblehead (I'll explain what it is but if you like obscure bobbles I guarantee you'll have a very difficult time finding this one) Autographs: Bud Selig Baseball Ray Allen Rookie Card Pennants: Brewer’s old Logo white/blue with pinstripes (2) Brewer’s new logo dark blue and gold (2) Brewer’s 2008 Wild Card Champion old logo Packer’s 1996 Super Bowl Champion "Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Marquette Golden Eagles blue/gold

It's going to be hard enough for a small market team to win it as it is. So long as there is no cap on how much a team can spend on its payroll that will always be an issue. However they are ways around this. Fixing the draft is the biggest way. If you can consistently get the best amateur and international players to the worst teams without forcing those teams to spend an arm and a leg to sign them, you'd go a long way towards evening things out. The Brewers will never be able to outbid the Yankees unless there are really dramatic changes, changes that will never happen in MLB, but just making it so the best players don't fall to the better teams in the draft will be a big step in evening things out and keeping small market teams relevant. It's how the Brewers did it. The Royals are in the midst of doing it. Teams are starting to realize how important prospects are, not only to step into your lineup, but also to trade to get those free agents you'd never be able to afford. The 2011 Brewers are an ideal example. Most of their regulars are homegrown and they use other prospects to trade for top of the line pitching.

I didn't mean to start World War Three over a draft question here but thanks Geezy for those links. It was exactly was I was looking for. Also, I got a little laugh when I read the headline of the second one: "Never too early to look ahead to Class of 2012". I suppose I should have clarified my original post a bit when I said "but does anyone know how the 2012 draft is going to shape up". Like I said, I wasn't looking for a mock draft or anything, just some names and a look at what positions may stand out like how college pitching stood out this year.

Why not just add two teams and switch to four divisions in each league? It seems like such a simple solution and it doesn't involve all sorts of changes. Interleague would be more fair because you could just match up one division in each league with one from the other league and not have to have instances like Milwaukee playing Boston and the Yankees and St Louis playing Baltimore and Toronto. I'm sure you could find two cities that would want and could support a Major League Baseball team. This would be my ideal scenario: AL East NYY, Boston, Toronto, Baltimore AL Southeast TB, Florida, Atlanta, Charlotte AL North ChWS, Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland AL West Seattle, Oakland, LAA, Portland NL East: Philly, NYM, Washington, Pittsburgh NL Southwest Texas, Colorado, KC, Houston NL North St Louis, Milwaukee, ChC, Cincinnati NL West SD, SF, LAD, Arizona

The team is a couple games out from having the best team in the league and the constant complaining is crazy Does that mean we can't take a glaring weakness in our lineup and try to improve it? Bentancourt may as well just go up there, close his eyes, and swing. It couldn't be any worse than what he is doing up there now. He is not the ideal SS but with our pitching who cares. I care when our offense can't muster more than a run or two and we lose 2-1 or 3-2 despite our starters having excellent outings. I care when we lose 7 games in a row while scoring a cool 7 total runs and getting shutout three times. I care when we need a rally started only to watch Bentancourt go up there and pop up the first pitch to the shortstop. Just because our pitching is doing well this season doesn't mean everything is perfect. We will win with pitching and a very dangerous top half of the lineup and be happy with what the bottom can give. Most teams would beg to have our problems. Unfortunately when you talk about pitching you also have to include the bullpen. For as many games as the starting pitching has won, the bullpen has lost quite a few as well. This is why you need guys who can hit too. You can't go up there expecting Narveson to throw 8 shutout innings every fifth day and you can expect every 1-0 lead to hold up. The Brewers have been about as dependent their #3 and #4 hitters as a team can be. Knock on wood but if Fielder and Braun cool off at the same time this may very well be a below .500 team.

Hey can someone help me out here. I'm sure this has been talked about somewhere but I don't want to dig through all the threads to try to find it. Taylor Jungmann has got one of the funkiest releases I've ever seen. Is there any concern about injury here? Is he going to have to adjust his mechanic? That release just looks like it hurts. Other than that though, he is looking really impressive through two innings. Nice to see 93-95 on the gun. Hopefully that can last deep into the game.

Hey can someone help me out here. I'm sure this has been talked about somewhere but I don't want to dig through all the threads to try to find it. Taylor Jungmann has got one of the funkiest releases I've ever seen. Is there any concern about injury here? Is he going to have to adjust his mechanic? That release just looks like it hurts. Other than that though, he is looking really impressive through two innings. Nice to see 93-95 on the gun. Hopefully that can last deep into the game.

Hey can someone help me out here. I'm sure this has been talked about somewhere but I don't want to dig through all the threads to try to find it. Taylor Jungmann has got one of the funkiest releases I've ever seen. Is there any concern about injury here? Is he going to have to adjust his mechanic? That release just looks like it hurts. Other than that though, he is looking really impressive through two innings. Nice to see 93-95 on the gun. Hopefully that can last deep into the game.

Hey can someone help me out here. I'm sure this has been talked about somewhere but I don't want to dig through all the threads to try to find it. Taylor Jungmann has got one of the funkiest releases I've ever seen. Is there any concern about injury here? Is he going to have to adjust his mechanic? That release just looks like it hurts. Other than that though, he is looking really impressive through two innings. Nice to see 93-95 on the gun. Hopefully that can last deep into the game.

Hey can someone help me out here. I'm sure this has been talked about somewhere but I don't want to dig through all the threads to try to find it. Taylor Jungmann has got one of the funkiest releases I've ever seen. Is there any concern about injury here? Is he going to have to adjust his mechanic? That release just looks like it hurts. Other than that though, he is looking really impressive through two innings. Nice to see 93-95 on the gun. Hopefully that can last deep into the game.

How about enjoying this season and seeing where the picks from this year fall. Yes it is to early. Geez...I am only half kidding around here but relax a little bit. I'm not asking for a mock draft or anything. Just something like the what the strengths and weaknesses might be. CNNSI did a mock draft for the 2012 NFL draft like a week after the 2011 NFL draft Anyone who follows college football knows Andrew Luck will most likely be the #1 pick. I don't follow NCAA baseball at all but I'm sure someone who does may have an idea who is going to be draft eligible and what positions seem to stick out. Same with people who follow all these High School All-Star and Showcase games. My apologies.

The thing that irritates me to no end is how St Louis always seems to win no matter what. Down 18-0 going into the bottom of the 9th? They'll find a way to score 19 runs. And I swear every time I look at their schedule I think "man can it get any easier?" It's like the play Houston and Chicago every friggin week! And everyone has to have a career year when they play for St. Louis. Kyle Lohse? Kyle McClellan? If these guys pitched for us their ERA would be somewhere around 7. God I hate St. Louis!

Well Furcal makes $11M this year. You think his salary will be $7.5 next year? Well I think it will certainly be less that $11 million. I don't know how much teams would be will to give him but he's getting older, he's having some health issues and his offensive numbers are down. I don't think a 2 year $15 million deal is too far off. I could be wrong. Shortstops may earn more because they play a more premium position. Plus I would assume Bentacourt is gone after this year regardless of any other wheeling and dealing. I am not feeling as optimistic about that as you are. Apparently Melvin actually wanted him included in the trade I don't know why he'd do this but unless he feels he can sign someone like Reyes, Rollins, or Furcal, he may decide just to hang onto Bentancourt for one more year. I really hope I am wrong.

Thornburg is now 6-0 with a 1.61 ERA through 11 starts and 61.2 innings. 47 hits, 21 walks, 67 K's and a 1.10 WHIP. I'm just saying.....