fondybrewfan

how many posts can one make in a single thread saying we are going to be bad before one gets sick of posting? It is November 6th for gosh sakes, Melvin now has $15M+ to spend on pitching, lets wait until Spring Training before declaring that we are going to suck.

Melvin said that he is expecting Weeks to bat leadoff next year. It will probably either be Gomez or Escobar in the 2 hole with the other in the 7 or 8. I still think this is a pretty solid trade and just from looking around the world wide web, most non-brewer and non-twins fans think this is a fairly even trade considering the cost savings for the Brewers

Gamel is definitely the most obvious remaining trade chip for a SP. I doubt Melvin picks up a big money FA, more than like a low cost high reward guy or two. If both Looper, Cameron and Kendall are sent walking, Melvin does have the ability to take on a good chunk of salary in a trade though.

I highly doubt Melvin is trying to punt 2010 because he darn well knows that their is probably a 50%+ chance that 2010 is Fielders last year as a Brewer. There is no way he would punt the last year that we have our best player.

My 2 cents Obviously Gomez is going to be a major downgrade offensively and perhaps a slight downgrade defensively so as of right now the team is a lot worse. However the Crew is essentially saving $13M by doing this transaction which is certainly enough dough to acquire/sign a very good SP. So as long as that new pitcher adds more to the club than the loss of Cam subtracts I am OK with the trade. Right now based on talent alone it looks terrible however. Obviously Gomez brings a ton of speed to the table but overall pretty poor offensive skills. The 2010 team is shaping up to be a team that will steal a ton of bases, but those same speedsters have pretty terrible OBPs. Maybe if Doug waited longer he could have gotten better talent in return, but I really think he did this deal now so he would know how much $ he has to work with going into this offseason to acquire pitching. In a lot of ways it makes sense, but in a straight up talent for talent swap it does not look good.

This is kind of weird. I am actually excited to come home after work and watch Jennings play. I can't say I have felt that way about the Bucks since 2001. For whatever reason I also really like Warrick. Maybe it is because the Bucks actually have someone who can actually dunk. I am still expecting them to win about 35-40 games, though. Get Jennings a running mate in next years draft and I would start to feel really confident about the Bucks.

That is one thing I really dislike about the NBA. For whatever reason most coaches have very strict substitution patterns. They have in their mind when to sub and it really doesn't matter if a player is hot or is playing terrible. Of course if it were up to Jennings would play 40+ minutes a game, so what do I know. The difference between Jennings and Ridnour is really night and day, I can't believe there was even a thought to start Ridnour. Their 3rd PG, Okic or whatever is name is, looks pretty pathetic thus far. I will also 2nd the idea to let Meeks play. At worst the guy is a good shooter. Its not like Redd had a complete game either. Even if Meeks is a bad defender and a so-so rebounder how is that any different than Redd? From what I saw from him at Kentucky, the guy can score.

If their is such a thing as a St Louis style Hot Dog, it better be on the menu. Even a Chicago style Hot dog would suffice

So Brandon Jennings is the starting PG, not a bad decision he is the future after all. I am going to go with a record of 38-44 this year, if Jennings plays well and no one gets hurt for an extended period of time I will go with 41-41 or 42-40

For me Pizza Hut Pan Pizza >>>>> Dominos>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>every other chain pizza place. I just despise Pap Johns, Little Ceasars, etc. For the most part local ma & pa pizza places really make the best pizza, but every once in a while I like to get Pizza Hut or Dominos.

I used to be pretty bad as well. One 12 pack of cans would probably only last me a day and 1/2 on weekends and 4 days during the week. Nowadays I only have one every so often, maybe one every couple of weeks. My wife is an organic freak and she is pretty insistent that MD is one of the worst things you can possibly put in your body. So I was really forced to give it up. Every once in a while when I need a pick me up at work I will hit the vending machine but I really make an effort to stay away from the stuff.

TH has a new blog up that shows the strong possibilty that Mark Mulder could end up in Milwaukee due to his connections with Macha & Peterson. Wouldn't be a bad gamble at all and it would cost virtually nothing if he flames out. If Melvin does sign him I don't think he should count as one of the two starters because you absolutely cannot depend on him being healthy enough to make it through the season

Absolutely every team is probably going to try this strategy this year because of the lack of top level talent. Outside of Lackey there isn't anyone that deserves a long term deal. SO teams that had pitching problems this year have no choice but to take some risks either by trading away talent or signing guys like Smoltz, Sheets, Mulder, Hudson, etc. If this isn't Melvin's strategy he is an idiot. He should be looking to sign a high risk high ceiling guy and should also be looking on the trade market. 25 of the MLB teams probably won't even bother contacting the Type A's.

I was just wondering if anyone on this board has had any experience with the cookware My wife and I attended one of the presentations last night where they cook you a dinner and give you the whole sales pitch. Going in I had no interest whatsoever in buying anything Anyways the more I learned about the cookware the more interested I became. The fact that cooking does not require water or oil is incredibly appealing as those type of substances remove a large portion of nutrients from food. The food also cooks at a low temperature and the need for the stove is all but eliminated so you would save quite a bit on that portion of the electric bill. My main concern was the huge price tag. It is way above and beyond the normal price of cookware and the presenter told me that this is due in large part to the amount of titanium in the cookware which is extremely expensive. Obviously I know the company is out to make money so I am sure they make a nice profit on the stuff. The stuff is not sold in stores, which was scary at first, but once I realized that no one would buy it in stores because of the price tag it makes more sense why they sell it this way. One of the clinchers was an "experiment" where we tasted the after effects of baking soda and water from the pans we used currently and that stuff tasted like metal. Now I am not sure if this was just a clever sales pitch or if these metals really do get in our food, but that is what put me over the top. It was absolutely disgusting. To imagine I might have those kind of metals inside my body from using my current cookware kind of freaked me out. No wonder people have so many health problems is we really are injested this stuff. I ended up buying a set and got a huge discount by trading in my old cookware (They donate it to charity with the exception of Cast Iron and one other kind, they just pitch cast iron). I still spent a ton of money but the stuff has a lifetime warranty (including if you pass it to your children) so I will never have to buy cookware again. I just figured the health benefits and the eventual cost savings make it more reasonable So I was just wondering if the money I just spent was well used or if I just completely wasted it. Anyone else have this stuff? We should be getting it in about a week and we are super excited but I am a money freak and I am having a little buyers remorse. My wife absolutely loved the stuff so I guess that is what put me over the top. She does her research and is a health nut so I thought it would be a good investment. It also seemed more reputable because the presentation was in a organic food store and the presenter owned her own organic farm so the people knew what they were talking about. Plus we personally knew the presenter So I just wanted to here your thoughts if anyone else has this stuff or if you have any cookware that might be better or the equivalent but cheaper

And Rogers as an AFL debut to forget

My ideal scenario would be to bring Sheets back, trade for a #3 type with Hardy/Gamel/Hart as trade bait and bring in one of Duchsherer, Escobar, Webb, Smoltz, or Bedard. None of these players would command much guaranteed money or anything more than 2 years. We would be picking up 3 starters but my last group would probably have to earn a spot in spring training. Gallardo Sheets #3 acquired in trade with Gamel/Hardy/Hart/Etc as trade bait Bush Duchsherer, Escobar, Webb, Smoltz, Bedard Assuming we get lucky and both Sheets and our #5 turn out to be good investments that is definitely a playoff worthy rotation w/o having to spend a huge amount of money. I would keep Parra & Narveson down in AAA is injury reserves. Suppan to the bullpen, if he can't do the job there Melvin should have no hesitation to just release the guy since it is the last year of his contract. Looper should be gone. In 2010 we should theoretically have more AAA pitching depth to work with. Mike Jones should be up there and there will be a pretty good crop at AA if Melvin wanted to go that route to fill a hole in the MLB rotation.

Even if you are not going to use a credit card, it is still wise to hold on to one for credit purposes. I have like $20,000 in credit cards available to me. I don't use them at all but they help your credit score immensly so long as you balance isn't too high of a percentage of your available. I needed to use credit cards a lot in college just to get by, it is a huge relief knowing I don't have any CC debt anymore, and I can thank the First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit for that. Now if only I could rid our $35,000 in student loans.........

He would essentially be free, The Cubs will probably pick up atleast 8o-90% of the rest of his contract just to get rid of him. Maybe the Crew would have to give them a mid level prospect. Bradley would come extremely cheap for any team that wants to take the risk. I am not so sure that the Cubs wouldn't trade within the division either. Yeah maybe Bradley would step it up against the Cubs, but he will likely implode on his own teammates sooner or later just like he did with the Cubs. If you can get a player of Bradley's calibur for $2 million a year you have to atleast consider it. He is an injury concern and isn't a good OF anymore but it is only $2M, so there isn't that big of a risk. For $2M if he sucks its no big deal, obviously the larger concern is the potential to currupt team chemistry/clubhouse

I bought Trans Siberian Orchestra tickets this past Saturday. I wanted to get (4) 2nd level tickets that were advertised for $45 each. I have always sat in the upper deck and I wanted to see what it would be like to be a little closer. I didn't want to pay $56/ticket to be on the ground level. Anyways I got to checkout at Ticketmaster and all of a sudden those $45 tickets had turned into $70 tickets. What a joke. A $10/ticket facility fee and a couple others fees increased the advertised cost of the ticket by over 50%!! Needless to say I cancelled that order and went back and get upper level tickets which still came out at $34/ticket (advertised at $25) I don't know if Ticketmaster pulls that on all concert tickets or if it is just a Bradley Center thing but it is a joke. A $10 facility fee!!! Seriously, its the frickin Bradley Center for Petes Sake.

At this point I am atleast tempted to roll the dice with McGehee as our starting 3rd basemen next year and see what we could get for Gamel in an offseason trade. Gamel would be a nice piece to offer in a trade for a SP. I don't expect McGehee to replicate this season and I am certianly not advocating signing him to a long term deal. But from what I have seen thus far he could be at least a league average 3rd basemen both offensively and defensively. But then again there may be a desperate team this offseason looking for a 3rd basemen that has had some success. Melvin is going to have a make or break offseason with all these decisions he has to make.

I have a really bad feeling that this is going to get voted No again. If the company really does leave, the union will have had ample opportunities to save their jobs thats for sure. Me and my job will be fine if Merc leaves, but its not as if I won't see the consquences: county sales tax, higher water bills, higher property taxes, lower property values, etc, etc. The city of FDL and the county will lose an absolute ton of revenue if Merc leaves. Of course they won't cut back on costs, they'll just pass on the lost revenue to everyone else. The writing is already on the wall.

Laid off people are more than welcome to search for other work if they think they can make more than $12/hr. Those people who are actually voting on this (Those not laid off at the moment) have no risk of seeing their pay drop. The problem is $12/hr is the prevailing wage around FDL for manufacturing jobs. If they vote no those that are making $20.hr have 0% chance of finding another job at that wage and probably only a 5% chance of finding a $12-14/hr job (Especially since about 1,500 other people are going to be applying for every job that opens up). It feels like the union still believes that MM is bluffing and has no intention of leaving. I just can't rationalize why the union is voting no: 1. Those members who are voting are not going to see a reduction in pay 2. Even if those members get laid off they will come back at their old pay 3. Recalled workers or new hires will be hired at the prevailing wage 4. MM is basically guaranteeing they will be around for 7-12 more years (7 year union contract, 12 year deal with the state) 5. If they vote no they lose their jobs within the next 1-3 years, end of story What do they have to gain by sticking to their guns?

If the union votes yes I just don't see the company's incentive to move. The company is guaranteed 7 years of wages freezes, the can hire new people at market rate. What exactly will be their motivation to move? What is going to be different 3 years from now? The economy will certainly be better, production will probably be up and by all accounts FDL has much more capacity than does Stillwater. Besdies I thought the Stillwater plant would close and that work would come to FDL. Therefore if MM just wants to up and leave in 3 years they will need an entirely new facility which will be much more expensive. Also if Merc leaves within 12 years the company would have to pay a hefty penalty to the state/local government for reducing the work force. Although the contract doesn't say that without a doubt MM will be here for the next 7 years, the local and state incentive packages certainly make it worthwhile to do so.

I don't think it is all that great that Kendall wants to come back.... The only reason he wants to be here is because we are the only team dumb enough to keep starting the guy.

I have obviously been following this cery closely. If the union does vite Yes to the changes this coming Thursday or Friday I would say that they will be around long term in FDL. I mean the new contract is like 7 years long with wages freezes. There would be no reason for Merc to just up and leave 3 years from due to labor costs. My conservative estimate would be that 90% of the folks around town agree with the company rather than the union. Although most anger has been directed at the union leadership. They have really bungled the whole process. If they Vote No again I don't even know what to say. The non-laid off employees would be throwing away a $20/hr job with no hope of finding anything anywhere close to that around here. Yeah the laid-off employees and new hires would only be making $12-$13, but it isn't like that is terrible either. Certainly better than not having a job. I have believed all along that Merc wanted to stay in FDL as long as they could hire employees at market rates rather than $20/hr which is really high for a manufacturing job in the lower Fox Valley. I don't think they will hesitate one bit to move to Stillwater if the union votes no again, and they have every right to do so.