strawbossisevil

Would you have said that to his face? He is after all, a human being. Just because one is on the internet doesn't give one free license to talk so disrespectfully at someone. That, in my book, is a great example of "being a tool". Just my opinion. I don't fault him at all for not putting up with such blatant lack of courtesy.

Ilikewisco, that's a video of Gonzalez, not Yuni. I think Gonzalez will be a major improvement in the field even in spite of what that video shows us.

Hamilton not only brings the bat, but he is a plus defender in LF, and average defender in CF. Both positions are higher on the defensive spectrum than Fielder. I think Hamilton is clearly the more valuable player. The question than becomes how much more valuable. How many games would he have to miss in order to even things out? I'll leave the answer to that question to the more stat minded members on the forum.

They are a very well run club in that they seem to make wise player additions that keep the team competetive. They have a high octane offense and are absolutely deadly on the counter. And have Oswaldo Sanchez as their goalkeeper. He's getting older, but still is probably one of the better goalkeepers playing in Mexico. Plus, the city of Torreón (where Santos Laguna play) is like a little Milwaukee. It´s home of one of the largest Corona factories in Mexico (thus the reason their stadium is called Estadio Corona), and the city is also known for being the chief milk and cheese producer in Mexico (home of the Lala milk/cheese company). Also home to the a John Deer tractor plant. The only difference is, of course, the weather as Torreón is located in the middle of the desert and has more dust storms than snowstorms.

I just can't get into it. It seems more boring than golf to me. Indoor soccer can be fun to watch. I'm not trying to pick a fight or blast fans of soccer, I'm just interested in what makes it fun to watch to the fans. I think it is the build up and anticipation of the play. As you watch more of it, you begin to see the play develop in front of you. Even if a goal isn't scored, the build up of a play can bring a lot of excitement as you see attack followed by counter attack. Think about when Landon Donovan scored to push the US on to the second round of the WC. The build up to the shot was exciting enough...and then when one goes in... pandemonium, ecstasy! Yes, the actual scoring is more limited, but every close call is exciting...you literally hold your breath hoping that shot is the difference maker. One mistake can be disaster. One other positive is that there are much fewer pauses in the action. There is no 5 second play followed by 30 seconds of standing around (american football). A break away or big save can happen at any moment with the right pass that is made at just the right moment.

Baseball: Brewers / Rays (I live near Tampa) Pro Football: Packers College Football: Wisconsin / Florida Soccer: Santos Laguna (Mexico Soccer) - They've been in the final a lot the past few years, but haven't won the title since I last lived in Mexico. Always runner up :/. Hockey: Tampa Bay Lighting College Basketball: Wisconsin

So it says "exclusively for season ticket holders" and then a bit later "no purchase necessary" and that you can enter the drawing via mail. Those two statements don't seem to jive so much, do they?

How do I know that those deals weren't available? 1) As TooLive pointed out, they weren't necessarily available as you indicated. Also, Melvin has come out time and time again about rumors to say that there is no validity to them. If you are going to base your entire argument on unsubstantiated rumor that time and time again has been proven to be false...then go right ahead...however if you do, don't expect me or anyone else to even consider your argument. 2) The going market for those type of pitchers at the time was much higher than what those "rumors" indicated. If the going rate for a Bucholtz (for example) was really as low as you indicate, there is no way that he wouldn't have been traded...if not to the Brewers to another team. More than likely, the rumors were wrong and the Red Sox/Rays/etc. were asking for a return that was very steep. Like has been said, young pitching prospects come with a huge price tag (per my point about the Garza trade). 3) I call them bogus because the going rate for prospect pitchers was much, much higher than the value of prospects like LaPorta or Brantley. You don't trade players who in a best case scenario become league average starters for top of the rotation pitching prospects. No team would make that kind of trade. Once again this is why I say that repeating over and over that those players could have been used to acquire prospect pitchers is bogus. The trade market overwhelmingly supports me on that. 4) The Kazmir trade is a once in a decade move. The Mets GM was a moron who became infatuated with a certain player whom he thought his team could turn into a star. It probably stands as the worst trade in the past decade. Expecting similar trades to be available as that one is being somewhat naive, IMO. There is a reason that GM (Phillips) doesn't have a job anymore. You don't make trades like that and remain employed as a GM.

He was BA's 2006 #1 prospect and Milb player of the year. To put it in 2011 perspective that would be trading Bryce Harper for Mike Montgomery. Yes, in the end it worked out for Tampa, but that is an extreme gamble. Garza wasn't a garbage prospect, but going from #1 prospect in the game to #21 is a pretty significant drop in talent. Even with the addition of a mediocre SS. Tampa Bay lucked out with Young never coming anywhere close to his immense potential, otherwise we would all be talking about how foolish Friedman's move for Garza was. Point remains, if you want a prospect pitcher in the top 20-30 range, the cost is going to be extremely high. It cost Tampa the top prospect in baseball to get Garza. The idea that the players included in the Sabathia or Grienke trades could have been used to acquire prospect pitchers like that is totally bogus. That was my chief point, and it is the point that you are refusing to address.

My point wasn't to compare it to the Sabathia trade. My point was if we want to talk about trading prospects for other prospects, it took the #1 prospect in all of baseball to get a prospect pitcher who peaked as a #2. They got lucky in that the #1 prospect amounted to nothing. Can you imagine if Melvin did the same thing? Trading a player like Fielder or Braun for a player like Garza? If those are the deals that are out there, the Brewers are best served keeping their hitting prospects or trading them for more difference making starters like Sabathia or Greinke. If anything, right now with the shift toward developing prospect pitching the pendulum has swung to where the best way to upgrade a pitching staff is by trading for players with a couple of years left on their contract. Both Greinke and Sabathia were absolute steals for the Brewers. To say they could have used the players in those deals to get a prospect the likes of Garza is naive...as I pointed out above, that would take a #1 prospect type players. Neither of those trades included players of that calibre.

The Rays traded the number #1 ranked prospect in all of baseball for Matt Garza. It's easy to forget that. If Delmon Young had turned out to be a Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder type player as he was being billed, that trade would have looked much worse. Garza was/is a solid pitcher, a solid #2. He is not, however, in the class of a C.C. Sabathia or the top pitchers in baseball. He has a career ERA a hair under 4 and his strike out to walk ratio is only about 2-1. In retrospect it looks good for the Rays because Young never panned out. They got a #2 for an average MLB outfielder.

Melvin isn't as good as Freidman. Neither are the other 28 GMs in baseball. Melvin is, however, a top 10 GM. Very few prospect pitchers are traded, it simply doesn't happen often. Almost every GM knows that cost effective pitching is one of the most valuable things that a team can have, so that is why all this call for the Brewers to trade for "high ceiling prospect pitchers" is absolutely bogus. You don't see trades like that often, you simply don't, especially for unproven offensive prospects. No one was ever going to trade a Clay Bucholtz caliber pitching prospect for a Matt Laporta or Alcides Escobar or Lorenzo Cain, even if you bundled some of them together. The market has recently undervalued stud pitchers entering their last season(s), and Melvin has taken advantage by trading prospects that were good (but not great...with the exception of Lawrie) in order to get great production. And look what has happened, it has gotten our team to the playoffs twice in the past few years. You discount the playoffs. I don't. The whole purpose of the Farm System is to build the MLB team so that it can make the playoffs. And, once again, Melvin has the team looking like a playoff contender going into 2012. And once again the big league club should have an attendance of 3 million +, which is due in large part to the moves Melvin has made. As far as Melvin not extending his players...he did so with Braun, Weeks, Gallardo, and Hart. He tried to do the same with Fielder, but if the player doesn't want a deal, you can't force a deal on him. Weeks extension had to wait due to health issues, but the extension was team friendly, as was Hart's and Gallardo's and Braun's. He's done a great job locking up much of the core of our team for the long term. Has every move that Melvin made paid off? No. But then again he is certainly above average compared to the majority of GMs in baseball. I'm content with above average...you apparently aren't content unless he is Freidman (aka the top GM in baseball). Good luck with that. You are setting yourself up for disappointment. It's like being disappointed that we had Prince Fielder as our 1 baseman, because the Cardinals had Albert Pujols. Yes, Pujols is better. But in comparison to the rest of the league...most envied us.

Seriously?Oh he is serious. Logan has never liked Braun. He likes a couple Brewers. Pretty sure that Betancourt was his favorite and that he spent the other night weeping into his pillow when he heard the Brewers went in another direction. But that is just hear-say. Can't wait for his new nickname for Braun that no one else will use. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

I look at it this way. I don't mind spending this kind of money on K-rod as long as there aren't better options available for us to use that money to improve our team. It probably isn't the most efficient use of our money, but I guess I don't see a player that can vastly improve our team available in Free Agency. If the question is whether I'd rather have AmRam or K-Rod...I'd gladly take K-Rod on a one year deal, versus spending big bucks on a guy who is likely going to get paid significantly more than he is worth over multiple years. The same is the case for Rollins. Signing those players for what they would like would hurt the Brewers in the long run. K-Rod is a short term budget hit. Another poster mentioned getting both Saito, Hawkins and Hairston for the same price. However, I think expecting both of those pitchers to remain healthy and effective is a roll of the dice (as we've seen the past couple of years). K-Rod is the more dependable pitcher at this point because he is nearly a decade younger. Hairston would have required a major overpay and a two year contract to keep him from going out west. I don't think that would have been a wise use of our money either as he also is an ageing player. At this point, I don't think there are any really good options for using K-Rod's allocated contract dollars to make a significant improvement to the team. Perhaps there is one available via trade...and its even possible that K-Rod could be used in such a trade. In the end, the only way this is a bad deal is if it prevents the Brewers organization from signing a player who will truly help make us better (not only this year but long term). So, I won't complain about it until it becomes clear that is the case. In fact, the contract may help us avoid making moves that would really serve as negatives to our club's ability to compete in the long term. It will also encourage our team to focus on making use of the prospects that we currently have at positions like 3b and 1b, which I applaud. It's time to give Gamel and Green their shot. I don't think there are many better options than those two on the Free Agent market anyway, and especially not any worth spending significant money on.

Does Android have a patent for the notification bar? If they do, then yes, it would be stealing. If Android does not, then Apple is free to copy the notification bar.