madbad2000

Yeah, let's lay off high heat. High Heat, if you hear something, share it. We are all here for the same thing and take all sources into consideration. Those with less substance are treated with less certainty. Let's avoid the bullying by ripping his comment with sarcastic trade rumors. We can go to twitter for those.

Thanks for sharing Toby. A nice perspective to keep in mind.

Yeah, not a fan of the Cardinals. At this point, if you can pay you can play! We are open for business!

I do not think the Tigers match up that well and that's fine. I'm perfectly happy seeing their name dangled while the division leading Indians are also in the race to acquire Lucroy. Hopefully they pull the stick out and get comfortable with the idea of having to deal talent to acquire talent. Cleveland is my preferred trade partner since they have a stocked system that matches well with their obvious need at catcher. And personally I would prefer they acquire Lucroy and a RP for their run...outside of Baltimore, which I have an affinity for do to my proximity to the area.

It's more for the Mets fan base. If Sandy can show that they are being active, trying to improve the team, the Mets fans will give him a pass because obviously Milwaukee is being unreasonable. I highly doubt that leaks and public comments affect the Brewers front office at all.

Cleveland should be looking longterm in the playoffs. If they make it to the World Series, how do they expect to compete throwing out a lineup with 2 black holes including their pitcher slot? The fit is too perfect. Cleveland is getting an All Star catcher for 2 playoff runs. I'm pulling for the Indians. Not a time to be cheap

Things are shaping up nicely for us. The Indians and Rangers have both had offensive set backs due to injury and could use Lucroy's bat. Both have gaping holes at catcher. They also are both in first, looking at setting up for a deep playoff run and are in the same league. Both have deep farm systems that I would like to pick from. Both need relief pitching which we also have some nice pieces. Couple that with the Yankees on a winning streak which hopefully stalls them from selling their relievers and we are sitting pretty. I keep checking the sites expecting to see the trade made any moment. The anticipation is intoxicating. Hopefully we're not underwhelmed by the trade, but with the current environment I think we'll do great.

I always loved the way he approached the game. How many times did you see him hit the ball and beat it out for a single. Most players after seeing the hit would have dogged it.

I'm not buying the Indians are not looking to improve their catching either. It seems like positioning on their part. Imagine them making it to the World Series and their pitchers have to hit now...you have 2 black holes in the lineup. Have fun with that.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/07/giants-prioritizing-relief-additions.html

And none of that got him to $160 million. Power...end of story. Those factors are nice and add up to him being a more valuable player than Khris. Again, not the point being made which was obvious all along. Power got Chris Davis more money than he should have, power will get Khris Davis more money than he will likely deserve. Chicks dig the long ball and so do GMs/Coaches.

The package. While it is tempting to get "the guy," I think at this stage of our rebuild we could use multiple potential guys. This is assuming you are not picking out lower level guys at random, but have scouted and identified multiple players that have serious potential. Prospects are such a crap shoot that I generally prefer multiple chances to hit. If we are talking 2018 and we're looking to fill a potential MLB roster hole with a hot prospect in AA/AAA, then it would be more palatable to target that one guy.

This is so wrong I'm not even sure why I'm replying. Oriole Davis is such a superior player. It's not even a comparison really. Not that I love WAR but Khris Davis has a lifetime 5.2 while Oriole Davis matched that last year alone. Well I'm not sure why you're replying either because it wasn't a matter of whom is the better player. Chris Davis got paid because he has power, plain and simple. The ONE thing he does really, really well. I would gladly take Chris Davis over Khris Davis straight up, no other factors. The fact that Chris puts the ball over the fence (and the Orioles bid against themselves) are the reasons he made $160 million.

But it's pretty much the only thing he does well. And that one thing got his namesake $160+ million from the Orioles this off season.

Cutting out 4 home games is a pretty big deal. On ticket sales alone it will cost a team like the Brewers approx. $3mil yearly and a team like the Red Sox could be looking at a $9mil hit yearly. Once you start considering the losses at the team store, concessions, TV money, and parking I would imagine such a move would cost team A LOT more on top of just ticket sales. Also keep in mind TV money would be hit for all 8 games not just the home games. Simply put you are cutting out 5% of day of game revenue. That is a pretty hefty price to pay. Not saying it can't happen, but it won't be very easy. It is like the exact opposite of what the NFL wants to do right now. The owners want two more games for revenue and the players want nothing to do with it. When you factor in what teams like the Red Sox are spending/have spent on the International Market they would come out far ahead in terms of money saved. This is a bad example since the large market teams would likely be against an International draft since they have an advantage in spending. If you look at the rest of the league, there is huge incentive to normalize the international market and have a better chance at getting those players instead of watching them head to the Dodgers or Red Sox or *insert team going way over their slot." I don't think the NFL is a great counter example since they only have 16 games/8 home games. Adding one extra home game is a 12.5% boost to home ticket revenue compared to 4.9% for MLB. There are also other factors at play such as positioning of the Owners vs. Players. In the NFL the players want to eradicate the franchise tag and will need a major concession, which the Owners could play the 2 extra games card. In MLB, the players are pushing for less games which leaves some leverage for owners and while the International Draft might not be a 1 for 1 swap in all cases, it would be a nice start to package with something else that they want.

I wouldn't rule it out or even say it's a longshot at this point. The Owners are likely to push for an international draft to rein in the wild west that is the current international slotting system. Concessions are going to be needed and a few games less, which would mean 4 less home games per team, is a small price to pay for securing a better system that will likely save the owners more than they would gain from losing one series.

Well the steam seems to be rolling towards a 154 game schedule...doing a best of three series for the wild card shouldn't be that big of an issue if they drop down from 162.

I was at Lowes this morning picking up some lumber for some projects I'm doing this weekend. I pull out my phone to verify from my list that I have all the lumber and hardware and an associate comes up and asks if I'm catching a Pokemon. Darn you Nintendo, not even Lowes is safe!

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/allstar2016_96hrderby/how-david-ortiz-stole-show-ken-griffey-alex-rodriguez-home-run-derby An interesting read about an event that I had never heard of happening in Appleton.

I've enjoyed following Davies. I am currently living in Oriole land and they could really use someone like him on that staff. It's amazing the O's are still in first with the starting staff they have run out there. The talk has been about the loss of trading Eduardo Rodriguez for Andrew Miller, but if Davies keeps it up the move to grab Parra might hurt them more long term than grabbing Miller in a playoff run.

We are talking about the minor leagues here where players are supposed to be working on their skills. It's fairly obvious that Arcia has mastered defense at SS. We have other players that could use the reps there. Arcia needs to continue to work on the bat. You have an opportunity to get him some game time at a position he should be able to handle easily while keeping him in the lineup to work on the at bats. It's not that big of a deal. He is a long term shortstop, make no mistake about that.

I think the strategy has merit if you have money. Basically you need to identify the mid to lower level round 1 guys...give them a guarantee of $3 million which is above what their slot would be. You would need to reassure them continually during the draft and say...prospect d, you are going in round 4 for 3 mil. Another perk is that you only lose the next two first rounders...so the following draft you "could" do something similar, but after that first year teams know what you're doing and could counter.

I'll say that is an interesting idea. I could see a team like the Dodgers trying it similar to how they went crazy during the international period knowing they would be locked out for 2 years of major signings. Could work in a deep draft I suppose and you had deep pockets.

Looks like a great chance to showcase our trade talent to some potential buyers in person and in their own ballparks.

Something else to consider is that DS has picked up quiet a few lower level lottery tickets. The Brewers just "need" less filler at the bottom end. Taking a flier on a long shot doesn't hurt them and can only help if something odd falls their way.