owbc

Models flipped twice on that last Milwaukee storm. First it looked like a big snow event, then storm track appeared to be well south, and then at the last minute things shifted back to the original forecast. Always want to avoid that as a forecaster, but sometimes it can't be helped. Just takes a 20-30 mile shift to mess everything up. Jet stream already looks like the spring pattern. Very active. The next one looks like the biggest storm of the winter for the Midwest. But the track is more typical of late March to early April. Best chance for heavy snow is north of a Minneapolis to Green Bay line. Huge swath of 12"+ totals showing up on the forecasts right now. Good chance at smaller areas of 18-24" from Central MN to Northwest WI. Can't really trust the forecast until wave makes it to California on Monday night, but very confident that Southern WI will be almost all rain. Here in South Florida it has also been a warm winter. Only 2-3 cold fronts strong enough to cause sweater weather. Opposite story in eastern Europe. The jet stream has been very high amplitude the last few winters. Lots of debate over whether that is a consequence of global warming or not--specifically the huge reduction in sea ice over the arctic. It's a big experiment and there will be plenty more data soon since it's obvious that the ice isn't coming back. Ice loss is 30 years ahead of the "worst case scenario" from the 2007 IPCC report. Will be interesting to see the political reaction to the next report in 2014, sooner or later the evidence will be impossible for even the most ardent deniers to ignore.

So from your perspective, the results should have been thrown out immediately after the procedure was not followed? And that is the standard procedure in testing? If it is so important, then it is amazing that there would even be such an opportunity for a mistake like that to be made--and that MLB is "vehemently" defending their side despite an obvious violation of the policy. Instead, MLB should be admitting error and drafting a new policy to ensure that the mistake does not happen again. No matter what the perspective, the testing policy is now severely compromised in the eyes of the public.

Been digesting this for the last few hours. It seems like some critical piece of information is missing. I find it hard to believe that Braun was cleared just because the test spent an extra day in a fridge. That's just a single problem and they are saying "multiple problems". We still have no idea what caused the positive test. Braun says he revealed details from "every aspect of his life". Why would he do that if they were just contesting the chain of command? And of course everyone rushed to judgment. That's the way society is--every piece of news is usually framed to fit preconceived opinions. We all knew MLB would defend the testing process. We knew ESPN wasn't suddenly doing to declare Braun clean. And honestly, the story from Stark is right, an objective observer is still left with way too many open questions. There has to be more to this--and Braun is going to get a long list of questions tomorrow that he needs to answer directly. Otherwise the speculation is going to continue.

Kruk: "If the test was positive then he should be suspended for 50 days if he failed the drug test." "Shame on Ryan Braun for not coming out and saying hey, I did it." "I'm not accusing him of anything, but IF he failed the test, he should stand up and say it." He just said all this live on ESPN.

Don't care what the technicality is, probably MLB's way of covering its butt, Braun's going to be in the lineup Opening Day, that's all that matters. If he never tests positive again people will forget this eventually. YES!!!!

After Braun's woahs are solvdd?

We will absolutely have a decision this week. I don't think it will leak more than a few minutes before the official announcement. It's a slow sports week so it's bound to be the #1 story. The actual suspension ruling itself is important to the 2012 Brewers, but the circumstances surrounding the case are of most interest to Braun's future reputation. It of utmost importance that Braun is cleared of PED use, even if he still has to serve the suspension for not reporting a drug or whatever. I expect that all the details of the case will come out.

Just drove around the park about a week ago to take a look. The stadium is basically done. It stands in amazing contrast to the ugly Little Havana neighborhood around it. The park itself looks great, very modern, nothing like Miller Park at all or any other ballpark that I have been to. They did some smart things like tinting the outfield retractable windows to prevent glare and not putting any advertisements up to block the view of downtown. It should play as a pitchers park since they kept about the same dimensions from Sun Life. Wind will blow in from LF when the roof is open in April and May and with the huge left-center power alley it will not be a fun place for RH power hitters. Roof should be closed for all of June-September. I have tickets for the exhibition on 3/7 (just three weeks away!). They are letting 15,000 fans in for games against Miami and FIU (the first game is actually a high school game on 3/5). At that time I will take pictures and report back to BF.net on the stadium. I am very much looking forward to it. As for the "thing" in center field, I hesitate to judge until I see it in person. Miami is a big, gaudy, bright, obnoxious kind of place, so the "thing" might actually be a decent fit. The aquariums behind home plate will be unique. The traffic/parking concerns are the biggest problem. Only season ticket holders get to park in the garages (only 5,700 spots). Everyone else has to fend for themselves, which probably means parking on a lawn or in a creepy ally.

Quite a surprise since most expected him to sign with Miami. But Ozzie Guillen wasn't sold on him and the initial offer was rumored to be for less than $30 million. Despite the question marks, it's undoubtedly a good PR move for the A's.

Yes they got the 6 seed in 2004 in exchange for playing at the BC. It was a fair tradeoff in my opinion. 90%+ Badger fans in the building. I was at the first round game vs. Richmond and the second half was the loudest that I ever heard that building. I think the Badgers scored on something like 17 straight possessions. The Pitt game was a 2-point loss. What really matters is the matchups anyway. Of course you don't want to travel halfway across the country, but the Badgers seem to have unusually bad luck running into hot teams at the wrong time. It really hurt to lose to Butler last year since they finally had a winnable path to the final four.

Wisconsin awakens with 5 minutes left, suddenly they are getting some action in the paint and hitting their shots. Going to go down to the wire.

I was thinking Greinke for the home opener and I forgot Gamel. But if Hart ends up as the starting 1B by mid-season, then it will be 4 except for games that Gallardo pitches.

I agree, you never know how long the attendance can stay up. It definitely shows why having a nice TV contract locked in can be beneficial. It's hard to define a big market--look at South Florida--almost the entire population of Wisconsin lives within a 1 hour drive of Sun Life Stadium, yet there were routinely about 5,000 people at Marlins games, even when the team was decent. Obviously there are countless reasons why that is the case, but the point is that what really matters is the total number of customers, not the total number of people. The Brewers have won over plenty of loyal fans in the past 5 years and they have encouraged Miller Park to be social destination through the promotion of tailgaiting and the various entertainment options. We don't know yet how many fans will stick around when the team goes through another tough stretch, but I think they will have to be really bad to get back under 2.5 million. One of the most important ways to build a loyal fanbase is by sustained winning. The boom/bust cycle doesn't work as well. Mark A. is a smart guy, he understands that you have to reinvest the additional profits into the team. While we don't know the details of the CBA, I think the Brewers strategy will remain consistent--they will continue to favor adding players through trades/free agency as opposed to through the draft. They have to be smart about it, but it can work. The Brewers are losing the home-grown aspect of their team--it wasn't long ago that 6-7 of the starting 9 were from our minor league system. This year, the home opener could feature only 3 home grown players (pending Braun suspension). Losing role players isn't all that important. But it does hurt to lose a franchise player like Prince Fielder. And if Lawrie becomes a star, that will hurt as well, those kind of players do not come around every day. The star players are the hardest to get and the Brewers will never win a bidding war for them in the open market. It's nice that MLB has arbitration in the first place so that a player like Prince can stay in Milwaukee for 5 years. I think MLB should strive for developing a system where mid-market teams can sustainably keep their star players. Even St. Louis won't be the same without Pujols--and although the Twins kept Mauer, they had to do it at a dangerously high price. In exchange for losing the compensation for Type-B players, there should have been more compensation added for Type-A, or at least for any player signing a deal worth over a certain monetary value like $20 million/year. Make it two 1st round picks, or a signing tax that goes back to the original team, or some other way to discount the price for the mid-market teams. It will be better for baseball in the long run to encourage the stars to stay with their original team.

I hope Yost has learned to get along with the media if he's going to win MOY. He certainly didn't win himself any votes in Milwaukee--and his bad relationship with them almost certainly hastened his demise.

Are the Brewers even a small market team anymore? The 2012 payroll is going to be in the top 1/2 of the league, possibly in the top 10. Yes, I know the market size is small by the traditional definition, but they act like a mid-market team in the tier right below the teams that can afford Pujols/Fielder. In the last 3-4 years, deadline deals have been much more beneficial for the Brewers than building through compensatory draft picks. The Brewers never got much for CC Sabathia but it didn't matter, they got what they needed out of him and moved on.

It really is amazing how Bo continues to rotate new players (and coaches) into the system. The Rob Wilsons are almost unheard of, almost everyone gets better each year. Remember that guy Vander Blue--what happened to him? Brust and Gasser are both better.

Interesting discussion. I agree there is no clear-cut winner, injuries and deadline trades are going to have a big impact most likely. If you added a check for coaching, I would give it to the Brewers. The Cards/Cubs have too much inexperience to make a determination at this point, although Roenicke had plenty of questionable decisions in 2011.

Player of the Year: Weeks. (Unless Braun gets to play all 162) Pitcher of the Year: Greinke Rookie of the Year: Aoki-dokie (will start 120+ games) Most Improved: Lucroy Surprise Player: Manny Parra (fills bullpen role and gets about 10 starts) Disappointment: Gamel (hope I'm wrong) 1) No contract extensions 2) Some relief pitcher, not expecting any major deals early 3) 89 wins, 1st place NL Central 4) Expecting some decline from Braun, but that MVP award is wide open with Pujols gone

I'm happy for Prince. He gets to be on a perennial contender and the city of Detroit needs him. He will be motivated to eclipse his father. He did everything we could have asked for in Milwaukee and I'm sure he will always be welcome here. Maybe we can sign him back for a year or two when he is 38-39.

The purpose of the tournament is to find the National Champion, and based on past results, seeds as low as 11 can make the Final Four. If more at large teams were to be added, they would be seeded at 12 or lower, only above the weak conference champions. If they want more teams involved in postseason play, they should consider working with the NIT to allow more teams and get more national exposure.

This is getting way off-topic, but Sprecher makes the best (and strongest) ginger ale and if you like Vernors I highly recommend it. Maybe the Brewers should try a contract with Sprecher for sodas--they could sell root beer alongside the regular beer for about $5.00/cup.

Big resume-building road win for Wisconsin @Illinois today. When was the last time they won @Illinois and @Purdue in the same year? Amazingly, if they win the next two (winnable games), the Badgers would be right back in the conference title picture. If only the Michigan State game had turned out slightly different.

Coke was the sponsor back in the '90s so I guess they could go back. Do they even sell that much soda at the ballpark? It seems like 75% of the sales are beer, especially since people can bring in their own soda.

This isn't a very impressive storm. Most areas are probably only going to see 4-6" from this and it is going to be light and fluffy and fall over a long period of time. But at least you guys are getting something for a change.

The 20 free views system is seriously flawed. The number of views is stored in your cookies, so all you have to do is delete your cookies and the views reset to 0. I expect that the NYTimes will eventually amend the free view model and papers like the JS will eventually follow to discourage users from cheating the system. I have continued to read way more than 20 NYTimes articles/month using this method. JSOnline's problem is that it is virtually unreadable without Adblock. I recently visited JSOnline from a computer without Adblock and I was shocked at the number of annoying ads and popups. I guess that is what happens when you give your product away for free. Once people expect something for free, it is hard to get them to pay for it. Charging $4/month is almost as cheap as free. In comparison, the NYTimes charges $15/month.