dadofandrew

All the decisions based on priority are contractual and money based, they are not spur of the moment. I assume the Packers' pre-game advertisers are guaranteed WTMJ with no exceptions. The Brewers spoke a couple years ago about going with a lesser radio station that would basically feature them, but decided not to.

I also assume Thursday's game will be the biggest crowd. They wouldn't schedule weekday matinees if they didn't sell. Many families, older folks, and people that live a ways away NEVER go to night games, only daytime affairs.

Part of Narveson's value is his low salary and team control seasons. I'd see someone else being dealt before him, as Greinke, Marcum, and Wolf are all FA's after '12, and are far spendier.

Farris can't go to NYM, he's been in MIL. X was saying they may have removed Farris from the 40 to make a spot for Cruz. I do not know, but considering it was 7-0, I assume they just wanted to give a reserve INF an AB or two.

Weekend games are all but sold out the rest of the summer, so you'll get a very good price for almost anything. Let's be honest, casual, bandwagon, and true fans buy more tickets when things are good.

You can't teach velocity. There's only three real tools you can find in indy ball, speed, power, and velocity. Considering Axford's past, you can never have too many live arms.

90% of it was fluff anyway. As pointed out, Gomez/Braun/Weeks have missed time/returned unable to run 100%. Lucroy, McGehee, and Fielder are not going to run, or take the extra base. Much of the pretend angst over outs on the bases is just not understanding math...with two outs, you should get runners thrown out at home, as long as they have a 30-35% chance of scoring. That leads to some easy outs if the defense makes the play/decent throws. HOU losing a meaningless runner to end the game is bothersome. Most outs on the bases are not.

They do limit SRO only seats, but I do not know if they have ever reached it since they decided how many. Pretty safe other than a playoff game.

Why would CIN not keep him? He's cheap and effective.

Lawrie might be as good as Braun. I hated giving him up, and still do. That said, if Marcum continues to be an elite SP this year and next, it's tough to question the trade. Doug had a plan, and he worked it. Hopefully, Marcum will stay healthy and effective.

Only one D1 school in the state, sans basketball. And, everyone knows Badgers, no one knows Stout or Oshkosh elsewhere.

You can trade a gujy on the DL with commish permission. Parra or Kintzler could be on the list, but the Mets seem unlikely to take either, given their status.

I've never heard of a team carrying 40, I think the '08 team had 37, and several guys had only 1-2 AB's in a month. 35 tops would be my guess. They can move another guy or two to the 60 day DL if they need to add, unless they all return. It seems to me like they bring up 8-10 guys every September, regardless of the situation.

If he'd agree to go to Nashville for a month, I'd promise him a call up in September. After he clears waivers, at the minimum of course. Lyle might have to go to Huntsville for August, given younger prospects at AAA.

Obviously, Weeks, Gomez, and Kintzler if they get healthy. They only have a few spots on the 40, so many in the above post are not going to happen. Some of them do not have to be added his year even. I would assume Gamel, Maldonado, 3 pitchers for blowouts(DiFelice, Peralta, Rivas?), maybe Farris, Herrera. With the guys not on the 40; Green, Schafer, Gindl, de la Cruz, Meadows, Boggs, Rivera, and Almonte will get consideration, though I'm not sure how many non-roster guys can be added, probably just 3-4 at most.

Doug will probably claim a favorite LH reliever at a time until they clear. After a few go through, he'll try and deal. More teams will be out of the race in a week or three as well. With KRod and Axford in the 8th/9th, there isn't a ton of incentive, unless some LH's hit homers at some point.

If memory serves, they either have to be on the 25 man, or on the 40 man replacing someone on the DL. With the Crew having several on the DL, they'll be able to pick and choose a few guys not on the 25.

His ERA is under 4 if you remove his games versus powers BOS and NYY, mostly against teams with a DH. He projects at about 3.70 in the NL, so he'd be a solid pickup for any team looking for a SP, and obviously, a steep upgrade from Narveson. Marcum has certainly improved away from the AL East, using this helped many of us see just how good Marcum was away from the beasts of the East. That said, I bet the Crew is there scouting Mike Gonzalez, who has been excellent versus LH bats this year, despite being injured and ineffective overall. He's a FA after '11, and Doug went after him last year, when BAL got him by overpaying and promising him the closer's job.

The throws in question were, at best, hardly sure outs. Perfect throws may well not have got the runners. Lucroy also caught both well in front of the plate and had to swipe backwards. I doubt Prince has a quick release either. But again, people see what they want...they see a high throw and even if the foot is crossing the plate when the ball is caught, they want to blame someone. Hart, Braun, and Morgan have all beat throws home this year with the infield in, despite the claim of many that they should never go with the infield in. As for how shifts affect, Yuni has about as many plays "out of zone" as he had all last season, so KC looks like they played straight away for everyone and maybe a step towards RF when Prince or his clone were up. The Royals have been an anti-modern club for ages, so that makes sense. Shifts are just math, if a guy is going to hit it to area A 90% of the time, load up area A. Some insist on crying about that 10%. To me, it's like having the nuts in hold 'em on the turn and folding to an all-in bet because "he might hit his outs." And, most defenders are about average, 0-10 runs over the course of 162 games. That's why only guys like Gomez and Dunn get talked about, for most, the difference is minimal.

I feel Prince has improved as a 1B, and the numbers support that. From research at Fangraphs: 1st 3 years:-26 UZR, -33 DRS Last 2.5 years:-4.5 UZR, -17 DRS Since 2009, Konerko, Dunn, and Howard all have worse UZR's and DRS's than Prince. None are all that close. I prefer UZR because it simply passes the eye test better, I feel DRS exaggerates value, both positive and negative. I think we'll hear exactly that this winter, citing the same numbers, when Prince is a FA. I have little doubt he works hard at it, and has worked his way up to probably being about as good as he ever will be, given his physical limitations. He makes routine plays (42 errors in first 3 years, 12 in last 2.5). He even has more scoops of late (68 in first 3 years, 81 in last 2.5). I cannot look at those numbers and not admit change for the positive. Now, if you choose to ignore said improvement, say defensive metrics do not work, or work for everyone except Prince, you have every right to do so. I choose to take the numbers available and see if trends emerge. Last offseason, many said the Brewers would be horrible defenders. I took a contrarian position, stating simply that 7 of 8 defenders were the same, and while I did not expect Yuni to be better than Alcides, any change was likely to be minimal. That made sense to me. Thus far, it has been accurate: 2010: -3.7 UZR (16th in MLB), -38 DRS, (27th) 2011: +0.5 UZR (15th), +10 DRS, (4th...yes 4th, despite many claims they are horrible...also note that most every team in MLB is "negative" in DRS, meaning to me, the baseline is off, hence my dislike) Now, a few weeks ago, they were higher, but since then, Yuni and Casey have both struggled. The metrics match what has been seen. Weeks was also defensively challenged when he arrived and has seen a similar obvious improvement. Many were slow to acknowledge his vastly better play at 2B as well, and in some cases, still are: Since 2009: +5.2 UZR, -5 DRS 2007-8: -5.5 UZR, -12 DRS 2005-6:-23.3 UZR, -21 DRS Again, it's steadily improving, and the math goes along with what I've seen. Again, some choose to ignore the metrics. I do not. Often, some choose to ignore the metrics only when they do not match a conclusion already arrived at. Prince is a bad 1B, so UZR is flawed for 1B...though it seems to work for Dunn and Howard, guys I'd put at the bottom of my list; and for Kotchman and Votto, guys with positive UZR, and good reputations at 1B. Same thing with Rickie, we still see the "move Rickie to CF" debate every year, despite the fact his numbers are solidly middle of the pack, if not higher. Old impressions die hard. Prince will never be Doug Mien....wicz, who I saw play 1B for the Twins for years when we lived there. He was very good, and his +42 UZR and +40 DRS over his career indicates that. But, using the same criteria, Prince has improved, and is now plenty capable of being referred to as "average," or "passable," and many will. His defensive numbers have given folks ammo to use. At the very least, he has improved from where he once was. Failure to admit that is an option, but it's not what what I choose to do.

Prince's UZR over the past three seasons is -4.5, which means he costs the team about 1.8 runs a year, compared to the average 1B. The forest is tough to see, all those trees get in the way. Next.

USA calls SVU episodes from 2009-10 "new." It's a cable thing. They have some sort of window before they hit syndication.

Fielder and Braun are both nearly average fielders. Neither is anywhere near a DH at this stage of the game. Unless you see Gamel play 1B or LF, I think he'll DH during interleague, if they can find a roster spot for him.

All teams have regulars PH part of the time...that should level out.

I don't mind the bench at all, and by the looks of it, the PH numbers are 3rd in the NL. I'm not sure what you'd consider a "good bench player"...obviously, they don't make much money, and obviously, you don't want a "prospect" wasting away on the bench, unless his ceiling is only that of a bench player (in which case, he's where he should be). Kotsay and Counsell are nearly perfect vets with decent OBP skills, Gomez is not a bad reserve OF, and Wilson/Nieves...well, I'm not sure if you've taken a glance around MLB, but SS's and C's don't hit, never mind reserve SS's and C's. You know, in a utopian world you'd have a guy like Ryan Ludwick on the bench (as previously suggested in another thread), but realistically, guys like mirror Corey Hart's stats and make $5M or more don't sit on the bench. Maybe they can look to add a veteran bat in August, but as for now, they are a very solid defensive crew that gets on base. EDIT: I just looked at the benches of the top three MLB teams...Cards, Phillies, Yankees...not many Ludwicks there either. SL has Allen Craig in amongst crap, Phillies...I dunno, Ross Gload? Yanks? Well, their starters are really good. (edit: fixed link --1992)