RyDogg66

Yeah for Graffanino! Starting Counsel and Graffy in the same game is like playing with one arm tied behind our backs. So frustrating.

Meanwhile third base is a black hole in Milwaukee.. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif and when do we start hearing the dreaded "S" word that ended Weeks's season last year.

Nothing like keeping Counsell and Graffy fresh on an important road trip to New York to face the best offense in the NL after a tough loss...http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

I would say our batters need to prove more than Sheets does. The only thing that has concerned be about Sheets this year has been his K rate and his KK:BB ration. Like you said brett, once that gets back to where it has been the last three years I think Sheets will run off 5-6 wins in a row. Where this game is important is for our offense to do something vs. this rookie pitcher. I know Pelfrey is highly thought of but he IS a rookie and has been getting beat around a bit, I should know, he was on my fantasy team for most of this season. We need hits and we need to limit outs on the basepaths. If we can do this I think we win this one 6-3.

No Stevo, it has to be based on payroll, not winning %. Why should the A's or Twins get penalized if they finish with the best record in baseball, when they are spending the least amount of money? Why should the Cubs be awarded for being awful AND spending a lot of money? Reread the reasons for basing it on payroll. If the bottom teams in payroll CANNOT lose draft picks by signing free agents, they might be more willing to sign a free agent or two. The system will also prevent teams like Boston and New York from getting boat loads of comp picks for letting an otherwise useless FA to them, who may just squeeze in the TYPE A category and getting picks for him.

That is what the above system is to prevent. The teams that are adding 2-3 Type A or B free agents each year as well as losing 2-3 are mostly high payroll teams. This system prevents them from getting a lot of comp picks and other teams picks.

Maybe this is a stupid idea, or one that would be impractical to implement, but Ive given it some thought, let me know what you think. First, let me address what I feel are some of the problems with the current draft/FA compensation system. 1. It hurts the players. No, not the A-Rods or the world, but the Graffy's of the world, and most likely someone like Mench or Jenkins. The reason being is that talent wise they may be worth a 2 or 3 year deal at "market value" for the sake of argument lets call it 5 million a year. However, they may not be worth losing a draft pick for, so teams do not offer them a contract and they accept arbitration and get a one year deal worth 4.5 million. They could be leaving millions on the table because of the draft pick implications. 2. It helps Big Market teams more than Small market teams. For as long as I can remember teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, Braves, Mets, Cardinals, etc, etc have had a lot of picks late in the first round and in the sandwich round. That is because a. to get those picks you have to offer a player arbitration Large market teams can offer any and all of their FAs arbitration without fear of the player accepting arb, because if they do, the large market team can absorb the hit in salary for a player they didnt really want. Small market teams may not offer a player arby because they wouldnt be able to pay him for one year even if he did accept (Vlad Guerrero comes to mind); and b. Large market teams in the hunt for the playoffs often trade for FAs to be and with the addition of the player for the stretch run they acquire two high draft picks as well. The way it inevitably ends up is a team like the Royals or Reds may have a top 10 pick, but then not pick again until the 50s or 60s, while the Yankees and Red Sox may not pick until the 20s but have 4 picks before the Royals make their second selection. With the high flame out rate of MLB draft picks, even 1st rounders, having 4 picks in the top 50 is much better than having picks 5 and 60. The only current protection for small market teams is that they cannot lose their first round pick if they pick in the first half of the round. This is based on the record of a team. Essentially what you are doing is REWARDING poor team mangement and penalizing good team management. Look at the Cubs, they pick what, 3rd this year? Like they need their pick protected, meanwhile the A's and Twins are handcuffed because they finish in the top half of the league. My system would be based on the end of the year payrolls. I would also keep the tiers of FAs as they are now, but probably eliminate the Class C FA pool, if it hasnt been already. The rules would be as follows. TIER 1 TEAMS - Teams finishing the year in the bottom third of the league in payroll (21-30) can sign any free agent they want without losing ANY draft picks. Once they sign the free agent, the team that loses the player, if they are in the bottom two thirds of the league in payroll (11-30), will receive 1 pick in the sandwhich round between rounds 1 and 2 if the player is a type A player. If the player is a type B player, the team losing the player is awarded a sandwhich pick between rounds 2 and 3. if the player is from a TIER 3 TEAM, that team will receive no compensation. TIER 2 TEAMS - Teams finishing the season in the middle third of the league in payroll (11-20) cannot lose their first round draft pick if they sign a free agent. They can lose a 2nd round pick, or 3rd, down the line depending on how many FAs they sign. The team losing the free agent to a team in this TIER 2 would be compensated as follows: TIER 1 and TIER 2 TEAMS losing a Type A free agent would receive two picks, one pick in the sandwhich round between rounds 1 and 2 and the 2nd round pick of the signing team. Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams losing a Type B Free Agent would receive a sandwhich pick in between rounds 2. TIER 3 TEAMS - Teams finishing the year in the top third of the league (1-10 in payroll) CANNOT receive draft compensation for ANY lost Free Agents. They would also LOSE their first round draft choice if they signed a TYPE A free agent, and their second round draft choice if they signed a TYPE B free agent, etc. etc. I have other ideas that go into more detail, such as, if a TIER 3 teams signs multiple FAs, the team losing the FAs would receive two sandwhich picks, one in between rounds 1 and 2, one in between 2 and 3, if the pick from the TIER 3 team would be in the third round or later, etc. etc. Now, one might say that you are awarding a team that is being cheap, and penalizing the team that is spending money. This is not true. What you are doing is giving the small market team incentive to sign players away from the larger market teams without losing their bread and butter (i.e. draft picks to build for the future) meanwhile, teams like the Angels and Yankees are not going to STOP signing players to insane deals simply because they dont get as much, or any, draft compensation. Those teams are not at all about the draft, never have been. They rely more on international scouting in the Domincan Republic, Japan, Venezuela, etc. Ok, tear it apart...

The Pirates are just God awful. Adam LaRoche is completely useless. They;ve got some decent pitching but thier lineup is 2002 Brewers-bad

If you are going to take the guy out if he gave up one hit, why send him out at all? This has put Ned in a tough spot. Cappy crusing, under 100 pitches and comes out and promptly gives up back to back hits. I really want to get mad at Yost for not bringing in Cordero to close it out to start the ninth, but I dont think I can. Just a tough spot to be in.

....and back to back hits by Estrada and Mench. Maybe Yost will learn his lesson that "being aggressive on the basepaths" is baseball-speak for "our offense stinks so this is the best way to move runners along"...only our offense doesnt stink.

Bill Hall...keeping the tradition alive of having Centerfielders who are terrible on the basepaths. STOP TRYING TO STEAL!!!

I didnt say Id do that deal, but that is probably the type of package that would be needed to get a guy like Harden.

Bill HAll now OPSing .806. If this is a slump, I cant wait until he "breaks out"

I wonder if Phillies fans are talking about benching Ryan Howard after a slow start? Sheesh people. The only thing Gwynn has in his favor is his defense.

Will Inman, Kevin Mench and Carlos Villanueva I was coming to post the same thing. Shopping him already? Sheesh. In season trades are so un-Beane like.

I was just thinking about this yesterday after the 10-1 loss. I think run differential is a good stat to use, but it is flawed in many ways. For example, good, consistent starting pitching and a very good back end of the bullpen will get you a lot of 3-1 and 4-2 victories. Then, when a starting pitcher falters and you bring in a long guy who isnt very good, maybe you lose 9-3 or 10-1. You'd pile on a bunch of 2-3 run wins and then have a 5-6 run loss and be about even. I think Cleveland's run differential last year put them at well over 90 wins based on the numbers. But their bullpen sucked and that back end of their rotaion was pretty bad as well.

?????? 1. Who bats 4th? 2. If you think he is CONSISTENTLY BAD, what will change batting him 5th? 3. Your post will surely look ridiculous in a few weeks. That is all.

I think I just put her over the top. 24% second place 23%

The Astros would be lucky to get a guy like Capellan for Lidge. Lidge is essentially what Turnbow was last season, only Lidge hasnt turned it around and is paid 4x as much.

Nice, getting nickel and dimed to death now...

Groin injury for Sheets. That cant be good. Those can last a while.

So when is Llilly supposed to come back down to Earth?

It was a good start, no doubt, but he struggled with his control and wasnt striking many out. More bats on balls = more chance at hits.

I know it is just a typo, but it is kind of funny to see how many pitches per start Ted Lilly has thrown this year.... www.sportsline.com/mlb/ga...25_MIL@CHC I guess the more things change in Chicago the more they stay the same.

Isnt Sheets from Louisiana?