colbyjack

Just to clear a few things up... As noted, each user can submit two designs. Please post the design within this thread so everyone can chime in on the designs they feel are the best. Do not email them to me or any other staff member. When all of the designs are submitted, the Brewerfan.net staff and moderators will take the top 3-5 designs as discussed here and choose one winner based on the fan's response, our preferences and what we feel will be most suitable to put on display. Since we haven't done this before, we may change things up as we go. I may take the pictures submitted here and add them in a different thread that will be used for voting purposes only if this thread gets too cluttered.

Just to clear a few things up... As noted, each user can submit two designs. Please post the design within this thread so everyone can chime in on the designs they feel are the best. Do not email them to me or any other staff member. When all of the designs are submitted, the Brewerfan.net staff and moderators will take the top 3-5 designs as discussed here and choose one winner based on the fan's response, our preferences and what we feel will be most suitable to put on display. Since we haven't done this before, we may change things up as we go. I may take the pictures submitted here and add them in a different thread that will be used for voting purposes only if this thread gets too cluttered.

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

Due to popular demand, Brewerfan.net is announcing its inaugural t-shirt design contest. All users are invited to submit a t-shirt design. The winning submission will be available for sale throughout the 2008 season in the site's online store: http://www.cafepress.com/bfdotnet Please follow a few simple rules to keep the designs tasteful: • Try to convey a positive, family friendly message. • Please do not use profanity. • Please do not call out certain players or other individuals affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers (ie: Fire Yost, Braun Rulz, etc.). • Due to legal licensing and rights, we can't use the club name "Milwaukee Brewers" and we also cannot use any visual representation of the team's or other MLB logos, and/or players and other club personnel, without their approval. • If you have a catchy phrase but you aren't artistically inclined, feel free to contact me at pebert@brewerfan.net and I can try to help you get your slogan in a graphic format. • For accomplished designers, please create your artwork at a high enough resolution (300 dpi), or better yet, use vector-based artwork (Adobe Illustrator). The shirts are produced through CafePress, so there is no limit on colors. • The winning submission must be willing to have us tastefully add the Brewerfan.net logo to the shirt. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, February 15th. The winning submission will be determined by the votes of the users with the final winner being decided upon by the moderators and staff members at Brewerfan.net. And of course, we reserve the right to back out of this in the contest should anyone decide to not play nice and/or if all of the designs submitted just plain suck. And If you are one of our users that currently produces t-shirts, please do not steal ideas presented here, copyright them, print them onto t-shirts, sell them and sue us later for using something you claim to be your idea. That wouldn't be cool. So have some fun and don't discount yourself just because you don't fancy yourself as an artist. The more the merrier, so get crackin'. To learn more about how to post pictures within a post for all to view, please visit the site's usability FAQ: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=4194

My point of Pierzynski vs. Knoblauch had to do with the actual return they got. Francisco Liriano, Boof Bonser and Joe Nathan was an incredible haul for the Twins. That trade alone may be the greatest fleecing in the past 5-7 years. And I too thought the conversation was about the Minnesota Twins, not Minnesota sports in general.

I think the myth persists as long as the Yankee and Red Sox keep outspending everyone. Is it really about outspending other teams? I think it has more to do with winning (wasn't the AL vastly superior in interleague play?), and it wouldn't hurt for the NL to turn the tides on the AL in the All-Star Game for a good decade. While the NL has won the World Series three of the past seven years, there hasn't been one, dominant team over that span (The D-Backs, Cardinals and Marlins have all have some pretty dramatic ups and downs). The myth may not be as strong today had the Braves been more of a true dynasty throughout the 90s in a time that the Yankees completely dominated the game. The success of teams with a wealth of budding young stars such as the Brewers, Rockies, Phillies and even the Marlins will go a long way in helping remove this myth, but those teams need to prove they can be successful over time before the national perception is changed. Or ESPN can move their home base of operations to St. Louis http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

I completly agree that you can never have enough pitching depth, but I'm a believer in quality over quanity. If you read a few of my posts above, you'll see that I'm with you in the quality over quantity pack. However, there's nothing wrong with stockpiling arms. Minnesota teams certainly don't have a very good track record when it comes to trading their stars. At least not since Knoblauch. Those that remember the AJ Pierzynski deal would beg to differ with you. And if you choose to argue that Pierzysnki wasn't a star, neither was Knoblauch. What other trades have they botched?

The pork variety argument was compelling, but there's no way I can't eat steak or burgers the rest of my life. Beef it is.

My problem with this trade from the Twin's prospective is they already have a surplus of pitching depth on the minor league level. There is no such thing as a pitching surplus. That's actually reason enough for me to like the trade slightly more. Stock up and hope a few of these guys stick. I don't think the Twins will be all that bad next year honestly (I like their offensive balance since they acquired Young, as Mauer-Young-Morneau-Cuddyer, or however they stack up, will be tough to pitch to), but trading away arguably the best pitcher in baseball for 4 unproven guys is tough to swallow. I know others have already suggested this, but what does this mean for Joe Nathan? Keep an eye on his name at the trade deadline. He could fetch more in late July than Santana did today.

Instead of trying to figure out who the Mets prospects compare the best to Brewers prospects, just look at their rankings according to BA: #2 Guerra #3 Gomez #4 Melvey #7 Humber The Mets system isn't as deep as the Brewers, but taking ranking for ranking that's a package of Parra, Escobar, Jeffress and Brewer. The true equal value may lie somewhere in between, but it is worth noting that the Mets are giving up a pretty good dose of talent to acquire Santana. However, none of them are truly can't miss, and none of them have significant playing time at the MLB level. The four prospects are much better than a couple of draft picks, but if I were a Twins fan I would be on the cranky side today.

I agree that I would have rather had Hughes if I were the Twins, or even one out of Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester or Clay Buccholz for that matter, but that's still quite a bit of young talent heading to Minnesota. And the Mets of course got a bonafide staff ace while showing up the Yankees and Red Sox. However, they've dealt a lot of young talent the past couple of years.

I heard that Luis Pena paid to go to this event with his own money. I think a guy like Luis wasn't invited largely because he's further up the organizational ladder. For the most part the program focuses on the players from the lower levels of the system. At least that's my guess.

A baseball diamond is set up for RH throwers. All throws eventually (in theory) travel to first base, of which it is extremely beneficial for a 3B, SS and 2B to be RH. I've often thought about playing left-handed baseball/softball in which first base would actually be third just for kicks. Like a Mac, I would only be appeasing 5% of the population. As Mass noted, if a LH has a strong enough arm, he's going to be given every opportunity to fail as a pitcher before he's stuck behind the plate, and by then that pitcher would be 43 years old, so it would probably be too late to find out. First base is the only position on the field where defensively it's beneficial to be LH, and even that has nowhere near the benefit (and need) of being RH at the other IF positions.

There's nothing wrong with LaPorta's throwing arm. He may have stayed behind the plate longer at Florida if it weren't for the presence of Brian Jeroloman, who was considered a very strong defensive catcher. However, I don't think that is in his future, unless as DrWood suggested it's a way to somehow salvage his career if he doesn't pan out (a la Eric Munson). If he were to be groomed as a catcher his development time would be severely slowed, and it would have needed to have been a move that was made right away. The guy hasn't caught for over 4 years now. And while Gamel bats lefty, he throws righty (which is why he plays 3B), so that doesn't really have a bearing on him vs. LaPorta at 1B.

Toby did a really nice job projecting the 2008 rosters last October: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=8754 I think he's right (as well as bretsky07) guessing that Goetz is more likely to open in West Virginia than he does at Huntsville.

No, I haven't talked to Butler since I saw him pitch in high school. It was a cold day, but he touched 91 and clearly showed the potential for more velocity. Pretty good breaking ball on that day as well, as no one could touch him (except for one guy that was pretty excited to hit a double off of him). That would have been pretty cool to have both Butler and Seidel in the system right now.