Brian the Automator

Nope... they just haven't been officially placed yet.

Yes: www.brewerfan.net/ViewPlayerIndex.do If he's still on the player index, he's still in the organization.

"We are going to do the best job we can," Bowden said. "We are going to have the best 25 men on Opening Day. There could be a trade between now and Opening Day, of which we have to have other things in place. So we are going to be flexible. We are going to be Tom Brady at the line of scrimmage between now and Opening Day." Yeah... except Tom Brady doesn't suck.

[ You didn't even mention that Jason Simontacchi will be their #3 starter. ] Correction: Simontacchi will EVENTUALLY be their #3 starter: washington.nationals.mlb....p&c_id=was ouch.

An injury to the middle or left side of the infield, and they're completely screwed.... not that they were all that strong up the middle anyway. This is a bad, bad team.

[ I don't know anyone's contact info from the White House, but we could scrimmage deersveum12's team. ] I'm fine with scrimmaging both... It would be fun for all involved.

It would be sweet if we could scrimmage from the fellas from White House.

I really do think he has a point... We have an overload of outfielders and a very serviceable, durable backup catcher that will likely be lost on waivers. I think with Closser in AAA, there's still plenty of depth to go around... especially if the Brewers can swing something they need more in 2007 (like a bullpen arm).

[ Miller's salary isn't a problem for a back up catcher. ] It depends on whether you can trust him to not be on the DL sporadically. For the Yankees, not a problem... for someone else? Perhaps.

I don't know.... it depends on rather he'd be the closer on perhaps the league's worst team, or a setup guy on a contender. Wow. I can't believe I was in a position to say that.

[ The problem is that nobody is going to trade for Rivera. If they want Rivera, they'll just wait and claim him on waivers. ] If you get two teams that want Rivera, you now have demand... I think a trade is still possible. [ They guy to trade is Miller. ] I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I don't know if teams are going to trust him enough to be a starting catcher (which his salary somewhat dictates) or if a team rich enough to carry that kind of backup catcher would want him. The Yankees might be a good fit, though....

[ Would this be the longest name ever on the back of a Brewers uniform? ] Yes and no. William Van Landingham, if you count the space, would have the same number of characters. He didn't play for the Brewers in the majors however, so Ben Hendrickson would be the next runner up, but he's tied with several other Brewers (De Los Santos, Clutterbuck, Etchebarren, Gandarillas, Householder, and Obermueller). Interesting to note: On May 29, 1996, Van Landingham started against Jason Isringhausen, then a starter for the New York Mets. They tied a record for the longest combined names of two starting pitchers.

[ Don't need him...we already have a Cordero as our closer. ] I don't think the Brewers are completely stacked in the bullpen by any means. I wouldn't mind Cordero at all as a setup guy, if the price is right.

Screw the stadium, I love Nashville for a vacation destination.... All I'm saying is that their new AAA affiliate better be in Waffle House country.

[ And Cordero pitches at RFK... ] I already looked it up.... his home/road splits don't indicate any assistance from RFK. I don't think anyone here is saying "trade Inman and Gallardo for Cordero", but relievers with his type of numbers with 3 years remaining until FA fetch a good price.

[ Two prospects, like Yo and Wil, are probably feasible. ] I could get on board for trading quality prospects for a guy with 3 years left on his contract like Cordero... However, I think Gallardo and Inman would be a STEEP price. Closers get a pretty penny in arbitration, and I would certainly take that into consideration when swinging a deal like this. Maybe the Brewers could get away with unloading more lesser prospects with potential upside (Hendrickson, Jackson, Brad Nelson, Lou Palmisano...etc, etc, etc) along with more of a blue-chip prospect for Cordero.... If I'm the Nats, I could be looking for prospect quantity instead of quality, just because they're in such dire straits.

Historically, Lieber's a guy who needs some pitches to settle in... I'm not sure I'd want him to be fighting fires in the bullpen.

[ the main point is that today was not the first time somebody refered to brewerfan regulars as elitist. and it's not the first time somebody admitted that other posters tend to haze newbies for 6 months to a year before they were accepted. that is something i would like to see changed. ] If some people view us as elitist because we have high standards, so be it. I'm not a big fan of new poster hazing, but there's a difference between a noob and a noob with attitude problems. Since Billyhallfan's here, let's take him as an example... High school kid and pretty green when he showed up. He was plenty polite from the outset, even though it was clear that he wasn't really into the swing of things. I haven't seen many posters come as far in a short amount of time he has... that's really awesome, especially for someone of his age. I wish that I would have been so eager to learn in high school. On the other hand, you have JonDoe who said he "only speaks the truth". That's going to seriously rub people the wrong way... I know it did for me. He started a second topic (the Bush one) which was short on facts and big on opinions... Given that people had a bad taste in their mouth and felt that this was another trolling attempt, I can understand the apprehension. Personally, I was willing to give him a fresh slate and just be factual with answers, and I WAS disappointed that other people didn't act the same way... but this wasn't a case of a gaggle of regulars harrassing an ordinary noob, so I didn't start throwing out discipline. I would like Brewerfan to remain SOMEWHAT elite intellectually in nature... It's really what separates us from the pack. I don't think we should look down on other people, because they look for different things in sports and want to discuss it in different ways. We're baseball nerds, we're different. I want to live in a sanitized non-trolling environment where we don't want to have to deal with people ranting and venting. There are other message boards where more ranting and venting takes place, and people don't seem to mind. At the same time, I hope to attract and educate people who want to gain a different perspective on things, and I would hope that people would welcome them with open arms.

[ why do i hate the use of stats in baseball stats so much? because for every stat in baseball that a conclusion is based on, there exist at leasts 10 other stats and formulas that can prove that stat wrong or predict a totally different outcome. ] If you look at stats objectively and in a proper context, allowing for as big of a sample size as you can gather, stats more often than not all lead to the same conclusion. Sure, I can take a 100 AB sample size from someone and another and snapshot from another time period and cite contradiction, but that's not responsible. Dismissing stats because you can cherry-pick any stat to prove anything isn't prudent. I hope I would be called out if I did that, and I hope other people are called out if they do that as well... or at least preface with a disclaimer that you're using a certain stat and sample size for a reason.

[ I don?t think we need to force new posters into a certain way of thinking. We don?t want all posters to be similar thinking robots that only espouse WHIP, VROP, etc. ] Let's draw a distinction between a standard stat like WHIP and a complex formula like VORP. People who come here are expected to learn as they go along, and if they're rough around the edges when they come in, it's our job to add our expertise. OBP, OPS, SLG = simple. VORP, OPS+ = not simple. If we can't at least factor in more than one stat to an argument, the argument is weak. I'm fine with weak arguments, as they can often seed fruitful discussion, but the idea that gets thrown around that WHIP is only for statheads seems disingenuous.

[ Still, we should always strive to be above that. ] I agree.

[ I've heard the label of "elitist" placed on this site, and I'm beginning to see why. As a group we could do a much better job of welcoming newer posters. Education of newer posters should be a goal, and rejecting them without trying to show them why they recieve flak here for their ideas or opinions is truly elitist. ] I think people jumped on him a little early in that thread, but he burned bridges before when he said that he "only speaks the truth". I agree, he should be given another chance despite whatever opinion he has.

This has to be recycled, unless the Brewers plan on sending Vargas to the pen or something... wouldn't seem like much bang for the buck there.

Mackowiak would be much more tolerable via LHP than Counsell... Although, he'll pretty much be rendered useless once Braun is ready to go. He wouldn't be a bad bench guy, tho....

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