adambr2

Agreed with all of this, though I don't think it's too far-fetched that he's back next year. Not a great fit anymore though.

Nah, this is way too far the other way IMO. Thames STILL after being absolute trash as you describe has the same OBP, higher OPS and higher WAR than Braun, with more HR despite missing a huge chunk of this season. He's had a rotten August. No doubt. Its one rotten month. Prior to that he was a very useful lefty bat as he was last season as well. He's putting his 2020 option in a lot of doubt, but no reason to throw in the towel on him now. I just find it odd that Nate brings up some good points on Thames quoting his hard hit percentage and ISO that ironically Braun defenders use frequently to support their stance that he (Braun) has been unlucky, not bad, but when the shoe is on the other foot, Nate is quickly dismissed. Braun is 291/336/485 in the 2nd half, good for 822 ops. Based on the eye test, Braun has looked much better as well. I think Braun is a better option than Aguilar at the moment, though that's definitely debatable. Braun vs Thames is not even remotely debatable right now. Braun is the better choice, it's not close. That wasn't my stance. I never said Thames is the better choice right now, I just can't understand why in the first half, when people like me said Braun was done, (to which I'd say I was wrong), and other people pointed out that there were signs of optimism in his hard hit contact rate and ISO, are not only dismissing that when it pertains to Thames and calling him DFA territory trash, but exaggerating negative aspects of his performance such as K rate. (It's not 40%). To me, just seems unfair and contradictory. And I don't dispute that Thames looked terrible in August, but he absolutely does have some peripherals in his favor.

Nah, this is way too far the other way IMO. Thames STILL after being absolute trash as you describe has the same OBP, higher OPS and higher WAR than Braun, with more HR despite missing a huge chunk of this season. He's had a rotten August. No doubt. Its one rotten month. Prior to that he was a very useful lefty bat as he was last season as well. He's putting his 2020 option in a lot of doubt, but no reason to throw in the towel on him now. I just find it odd that Nate brings up some good points on Thames quoting his hard hit percentage and ISO that ironically Braun defenders use frequently to support their stance that he (Braun) has been unlucky, not bad, but when the shoe is on the other foot, Nate is quickly dismissed.

It wasn't really a discussion of moving on from Braun but rather Braun vs. Thames on the playoff roster. But yeah Braun will be on the playoff roster. I still believe Thames will, too.

So far MLBtraderumors has said Nottingham and Santana are coming up. Got to think there will be more right now too.

Yep. It probably takes 3 Packer 1sts to compare to 2 Bear 1sts. I would have loved Mack and it's annoying to see him go to the Bears, but not annoying enough to give up that return AND figure out how to pay him. Now if he had gone to the Vikes that would have sucked.

I don't have a problem with the move, not complaining about it, but at the same time I don't really get this one. Rosters are expanding and Keon I'm sure will be up so it's not like we need Granderson for defense. If we just wanted a lefty bench bat, just don't see much difference between this and seeing what Brad Miller is up to.

If they didn't see him as a C anymore, they may have been pretty open to dealing him. Catching prospects who have to move to 1B or the OF usually lose a ton of value.

I hope the Cubs back up the Brinks truck for Harper's overrated butt.

Looking like the last game before the break all over again. Potential nightmare.

Interesting that Hamels and Gonzalez used to be the #1 and #2 prospects for the Phils.

At this point they clearly have no intention of calling this regardless of how bad it gets.

I'm worried there's going to be a 2 hour rain delay now just to play 1 more inning.

Barnes reminding us why we haven't seen him up here in awhile.

I had pretty much given up on Lara awhile ago. It's just disappointing that the Brewers' most massive international investment ever, ended up being such a dud.

Are the Cardinals ever going to cool off?

Holy cow this is a whiney opponent. About what??

Time to wake up, guys.

This entire post makes assumptions about Braun's nature and who he is as a person. What has he done in the past 5 years (since he accepted his suspension) makes you believe this? Unless you know Braun personally or know someone who does, I don't think you can make this assertion based on anything other than opinion. I'm fairly certain that all of us are making assumptions about Braun's nature and who he is as a person. He accepted his suspension because he was left with no choice, and I make my assumptions on what I believe he was up to since his Miami days. You're free to believe what you want as well, but I will say that pulling off a good guy act for the sake of appearance is not a difficult thing to do. Sammy Sosa managed to pull it off for years, all the while he was roiding and on at least one occasion, bat corking.

Agreed, with the disclaimer, if they can take 2 out of 3 at Miller and then sweep at Wrigley, that would do it. But yeah, the Cubs have opened things up. To really have a shot to even make things interesting against them you probably need a sweep somewhere and 5 out of 6 overall.

Well crap, no insurance, let's hope 2 is enough.

Guess he's not going to get a chance to find out, another HBP.

Whatever you have to do to win this game, I don't care if it means calling on a starter, we can call up whoever we want in 2 days. But yeah I really don't know what the right answer is here or who is available. Barnes is not my first choice, but he's not my last.

Right, hard to call this do or die...but it's probably the case with our pen situation. Well. That qualifies as getting it done. How about a couple more?

Top of the order up, they've been relatively quiet today. Gotta get it done now.