RobertR

I'll make some predictions. BEST PICTURE: Boyhood DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater (Boyhood) LEAD ACTOR: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) LEAD ACTRESS: Julianne Moore (Still Alice) SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) ANIMATED FEATURE: How to Train Your Dragon 2 DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Citizenfour FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Ida ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Imitation Game ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Grand Budapest Hotel CINEMATOGRAPHY: Birdman COSTUME DESIGN: Grand Budapest Hotel FILM EDITING: Boyhood MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLE: Foxcatcher MUSIC (SCORE): The Theory of Everything MUSIC (SONG): "Glory" (Selma) PRODUCTION DESIGN: Grand Budapest Hotel SOUND EDITING: Interstellar SOUND MIXING: Whiplash VISUAL EFFECTS: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 ANIMATED SHORT: Feast LIVE ACTION SHORT: Boogaloo and Graham

I'm sitting at 4 of 8. I'd like to see Birdman and Selma this week (to go with Whiplash, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Boyhood, and The Imitation Game). Whiplash is my favorite of what I've seen, but I'd be just fine with The Grand Budapest Hotel or Boyhood taking home the big prize. Overall, I think it's a good list of BP nominees. It seems to be coming down to Birdman and Boyhood based on the buzz. I don't know how much suspense there actually is among the general public considering that both movies are modest successes at the box office, so this should be a good test case on whether "suspense" sells.

I don't know how far back we're going for "our era". The documentary Red Army makes a heck of a case for Anatoli Tarasov of the Soviet Union being way ahead of his time for hockey.

The Brewers actually have a good record of developing position players. Developing pitchers on the other hand...

New York does have very good young pitching. And the division is weak, other than the Nationals. Obviously, with the number of teams involved, the Brewers certainly don't have the inside track for the wild card. But, I don't know if anyone does. Good health, good luck, and some astute roster moves are the things that will probably decide the wild card teams.

Here's Baseball Prospectus's Projected Standings for the NL Washington 91 wins New York 81 wins Miami 80 wins Atlanta 75 wins Philadelphia 70 wins St. Louis 89 wins Chicago 81 wins Pittsburgh 81 wins Milwaukee 80 wins Cincinnati 79 wins Los Angeles 97 wins San Diego 85 wins San Francisco 84 wins Arizona 73 wins Colorado 71 wins Two playoff teams are going to come out of the scrum I bolded and the Brewers are in that group. Frankly, I believe the Padres are going to find that their parts don't actually fit together, especially their outfield defense and they're going to do worse than that projection. I also wouldn't be surprised if the Brewers do acquire a good reliever before the start of the season which should shift them upwards in the projections. Obviously, they need Braun to be the hitter he used to be. And Lind to be able to fake it enough at first base. And, good health. But, they do have a chance. The question I ask is, assuming the Brewers are able to get off to a good start, is whether they're able to pull off the moves that they would need to vault them up? They sure could have used Morneau last year and Doug wasn't able to make a deal. Complacency is one of the problems that this team has to avoid.

I know many will probably wait until home video, but Whiplash is well worth your time. The ending, in particular, is incredible. And it really deserves the highest level of sound quality.

I suppose you could make a rule that you have to have 2 infielders on each side of second base, but honestly if the SS starts 1 inch on his side of 2nd, isn't that still a shift? And can you imagine the complaining when a big market team, say the Yankees, loses a game because of this arbitrary rule? Fortunately, everyone seems to realize that this trial balloon is really dumb. Also, for the record, I don't have a real problem with shifts affecting left-handed hitters more than right-handed hitters. They have a natural advantage in the first place by being one step closer to first base. If that evens things up some, then no big deal.

Blue Ruin is very good. I think there are a lot of people around here that would like The Guest. Especially if you have a soft spot for 80s style action movies with synth scores. Plus it has a great lead performance from Dan Stevens that totally blows away anything he did on Downton Abbey.

Terrible idea. Probably not implementable either. Believe it or not, some people like to see good defense as well as offense. There's a natural, within the rules, cure for defensive shifts if teams believe it's hampering their offense. Go the other way occasionally. If some players can't adjust, then maybe guys that will go the other way are the new market inefficiency.

At this point, they'll miss Gallardo, but the trade certainly solidifies the everyday lineup, gives them the financial flexibility to get a reliever or two, and strengthens the farm system. Frankly, it probably makes more sense for the Brewers than the Rangers. I do think it means that the Brewers will be making a run at Zimmerman in the off-season. Anybody know the latest on Johann Santana?

Apparently, judging by the box office of American Sniper, the Oscars can still make a difference at the box office. Obviously, it was primed to be a success, but the size of that opening surely had something to do with the Oscars stamp of approval.

Here are the Academy Award nominations. BEST MOTION PICTURE: American Sniper Birdman Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Selma The Theory of Everything Whiplash DIRECTOR: Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Birdman Richard Linklater, Boyhood Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game ACTOR: Steve Carell, Foxcatcher Bradley Cooper, American Sniper Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game Michael Keaton, Birdman Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything Julianne Moore, Still Alice Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl Reese Witherspoon, Wild SUPPORTING ACTOR: Robert Duvall, The Judge Ethan Hawke, Boyhood Edward Norton, Birdman Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher J.K. Simmons, Whiplash SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood Laura Dern, Wild Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game Emma Stone, Birdman Meryl Streep, Into the Woods ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Birdman Boyhood Foxcatcher The Grand Budapest Hotel Nightcrawler ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: American Sniper The Imitation Game Inherent Vice The Theory of Everything Whiplash FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Ida (Poland) Leviathan (Russia) Tangiers (Estonia) Timbuktu (Mauritania) Wild Tales (Argentina) ANIMATED FILM: Big Hero 6 The Boxtrolls How to Train Your Dragon 2 Song of the Sea The Tale of Princess Kaguya PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Interstellar Into the Woods Mr. Turner CINEMATOGRAPHY: Birdman (Emmanuel Lubezki) The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert Yeoman) Ida (Lukasz Zal & Ryszard Lenczewski) Mr. Turner (Dick Pope) Unbroken (Roger Deakins) COSTUME DESIGN: The Grand Budapest Hotel Inherent Vice Into the Woods Maleficent Mr. Turner DOCUMENTARY: Citizenfour Finding Vivian Maier Last Days in Vietnam The Salt of the Earth Virunga DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 Joanna Our Curse The Reaper (La Parka) White Earth EDITING: American Sniper Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Whiplash HAIR & MAKE-UP: Foxcather The Grand Budapest Hotel Guardians of the Galaxy ORIGINAL SCORE: The Theory of Everything (Johann Johannsson) The Grand Budapest Hotel (Alexandre Desplat) The Imitation Game (Alexandre Desplat) Interstellar (Hans Zimmer) Mr. Turner (Gary Yershon) ORIGINAL SONG: “Everything is Awesome” from The LEGO Movie “Glory” from Selma “Grateful” from Beyond the Lights “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me “Lost Stars” from Begin Again SOUND EDITING: American Sniper Birdman The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Interstellar Unbroken SOUND MIXING: American Sniper Birdman Interstellar Unbroken Whiplash VISUAL EFFECTS: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Guardians of the Galaxy Interstellar X-Men: Days of Future Past ANIMATED SHORT: The Bigger Picture The Dam Keeper Feast Me and My Moulton A Single Life LIVE ACTION SHORT: Aya Boogaloo and Graham Butter Lamp Parvaneh The Phone Call ------ Some general thoughts. The Academy loves Clint Eastwood. And Robert Duvall. I expect that the general public will be mostly bored with these Best Picture nominations. People turned out to see The Grand Budapest Hotel, for pleasure, but otherwise these are mostly unknowns to the general public. I expect people will turn out to American Sniper, that The Imitation Game will take it's nomination and run with it like The King's Speech, and that Selma will get a boost, but, for the most part, the Academy is inferring importance on these films instead of the audience. Gone Girl, for instance, would have gone a ways towards adding sizzle to the awards. Few of the films could be described as cutting edge in form in any way. Boyhood is the big elephant in the room, obviously, but the next biggest experiment might be the sound mix of Interstellar. Or the cinematography of Ida. Other than that, it's a pretty unexciting year. A score nod for Under the Skin or a Supporting Actress nod for Tilda Swinton in Snowpiercer would have livened up things. Biggest snubs. Ana DuVernay. The Lego Movie. Life Itself. Force Majeure. Biggest surprises. Bennett Miller. Bradley Cooper. Robert Duvall. Steve Carell. People really think the fake nose on Steve Carell looks good? I've seen 3 of the Best Picture nominees, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Imitation Game. My interest in the rest, ranked from most to least, is Whiplash, Selma, Birdman, American Sniper, and The Theory of Everything.

I'm still kind of miffed that the Dean Taylor regime never gave Marco Scutaro a chance. A simple move like that could have bought them an extra year or two with J. J. Hardy.

I agree Drew wasn't any good last year. There are reasons to think that missing Spring Training and the time off were culprits in that performance. Or maybe he's done. Still, the upside there is pretty high. And, even if Segura bounces back and Gennett figures out lefties to an extent, there are probably 70 starts available between 2B, SS, and 3B over the course of the season between expected injuries and just scheduled days off. Aramis isn't getting any younger. And Drew would be a potential trade chit if he bounced back and the Brewers still were out of it. Obviously, there's risk there to go with the expense. But, if the Brewers are serious about making a run, you at least have to consider where they can upgrade. Especially since there will be a significant amount of starts. I'm not convinced that the middle reliever that they're targeting that will maybe pitch 40 innings is going to be more valuable than a utility infielder that will get a significant amount of starts.

Well, IMO, the Brewers have a big blindspot as far as backup middle infielder is concerned. Given Gennett's platoon issues, there's potentially 60 starts that I'd rather not just give away. Depth has absolutely been an issue the last few years for the Brewers, along with complacency in addressing problems during the season. I get that the Brewers probably have relievers on top of their priority list. I'd be more lenient if I thought the team would be proactive during spring training and the season, scouring the waiver wire and trying to make trades. If you're going to try to compete, then try to find every edge you can.

Maybe by giving Lucroy actual days off, and playing an actual first baseman, we'll keep Lucroy fresh. I just do not get the fascination with finding ways to get Maldonado into the lineup more. He's a fine backup catcher, but if we have worries about our offense, then a fine backup first baseman will give a lot more bang for the buck.

Yeah, for $5 million, I'd have loved to roll the dice on Drew. You could have used him to keep Aramis healthy and fresh too. I understand that starting for the Yankees is probably more glamorous, but I think you could have also sold a shot at the post-season is more realistic for the Brewers than the Yankees.

He's also an outfielder so his presence would have hopefully removed the likelihood of Logan Schaefer or some other offensive blackhole OF'er being forced on the roster. True, but Parra is clearly a better outfield option than Bonifacio. I'm more worried about having a backup SS option than upgrading 5th outfielder. Heck, I'd rather spend $8 million on Stephen Drew, who might actually make a difference, than $4 million on Bonifacio.

The thing with Bonifacio is how much you believe he can play SS plays a big part in the evaluation of his usefulness. If you don't believe he can play SS, you have a platoon 2B-mate, that can be a below average 3B in a pinch, and can pinch run. Since you still have to carry a backup SS in that case, there's certainly an opportunity cost. If you do believe he can play SS, then I agree, it's a missed opportunity. I'm not convinced that he can fill in for more than a game or two.

I think September just left a bad taste in our mouths. But, from where I'm sitting, the Brewers have this going for them in 2015. 1. If Braun is healthy, 3 of 8 everyday starters can have MVP aspirations in Lucroy, Gomez, and Braun. 2. The starting rotation can go at least 6 deep with what looks to be average to well above average performance. Most of the rotation looks to be pretty durable too. 3. It's not unreasonable to predict improvement by Segura. Lind promises to replace a big black hole. Parra is a really solid 4th outfielder and 1st bat off the bench. Maldonado is a solid backup catcher. Yeah, they're a bit challenged in OBP, and Gennett and Lind probably need platoon partners, so the Brewers can use a pair of backup infielders. But when utility infielder is arguably your biggest need, you're doing something right. The majority of teams in the NL have bigger lineup problems than the Brewers. 4. We'll see about Thornburg and Henderson, but if they come to Spring Training healthy, that will surely help the bullpen. The Brewers are about a .500 team. But, .500 with a little luck, isn't really far from contention. The way I look at it, there's nothing wrong with the Brewers running out with the attitude that they can contend. If they do, great. If not, sell off at the deadline. There's no reason to think that there won't be demand for Lohse, Gallardo, Ramirez, and Parra, barring injuries, at the deadline. The one thing I don't want at the deadline is to do nothing. Either be a contender or sell, but don't be inactive. Heck, looking around the NL, which has 5 playoff spots, I like the Brewers in 2015 better than the Braves, Mets, Phillies, Marlins, Padres, Rockies, Cubs (who will be both exciting and have some growing pains in 2015), Reds, and Diamondbacks. Obviously, I like the Cardinals, Pirates, Giants, Dodgers, and Nationals chances better. You can make the argument that the Brewers are the 6th best team in the NL. Yeah, they have a hill to climb, but by the same measure if only one of the Cardinals, Pirates, Giants, or Dodgers slip, due to injuries, age, team dysfunction, etc. the Brewers could be right there. I think this could be the last hurrah for the team, with the Cubs set to join the Pirates and Cardinals in a year or two, but the scenario for the Brewers making the post-season isn't that far fetched.

I know you have to give something to get something, but I would have liked to have kept Lorenzo Cain around. The Cirillo deal was a massive disappointment. That wasn't even the worst deal of that offseason. Jose Valentin (w/ Cal Eldred) for the useless Jamie Navarro and John Snyder has to rank right up there. John Snyder wasn't even good in the minors. That and the Cirillo deal pretty much doomed Dean Taylor from the get go. (I suppose canning Taylor and helping force out Wendy Selig-Prieb were ultimately good things.) The Greg Vaughn trade couldn't have possibly gone worse.

I'm imagining a Scrooge McDuck style money vault for the Bud Selig Experience. Obviously, Selig is an important part of the history of the franchise, probably the only reason there is a team in town, and deserves to be honored in some permanent way. I don't think anyone really questions the intentions. We'll see about the actual execution of those intentions. Personally, I think they could do something like the Packers Hall of Fame. Or, perhaps, simply name it the Brewers Museum. Multimedia clips from all eras of the team, memorabilia, mascots, all the different uniforms, etc. Too bad Lakefront has the old chalet.

Yeah, minimizing the plate appearances of Maldonado is a way the team can improve. I'm fine with him getting a start every 5th day, but it's diminishing returns after that.

Dancing is a very generous term for what they do. The Brewers can probably just play more popular hits during innings and get the same or more crowd involvement.