fondybrewfan

My wife basically thinks cats are the spawn of satan. They are pure evil. That and she is pretty allergic to cat hair another menace. When I grew up on the farm we probably had about 10 cats at any given time but they lived in the barn and just ate random stuff, I don't know that we ever actually fed them, I suppose we would give them milk every now and then. I would personally much rather have a medium sized dog as a house pet rather than a cat. They just seem to get on my nerves. It is fun punting them every once in a while only to see them always land on their feet. So they do have some entertainment value

That seems like a pretty weak package. Despite the poor year, Swisher is still capable of . 260-270 average, a ton of walks and 25-30 HR's

I wouldn't mind going after Hoffman and Wood, although one or the other probably wouldn't accept a set-up role

I am not disagreeing with you but if the Crew had offered Ben 5/75 I am pretty sure he would have accepted it the moment he recieved the offer. I think Ben realizes he is going to have to accept a 1-3 year offer to try to rebuild his value. If someone offers him a 5 year offer he would be pretty stupid to decline unless it is incredibly low on the $ per year. My prediction for Sheets is a 3 year deal for at $15M a year give or take a couple million. I also don't think the Brewers offer is complete window dressing either. It looks like the Crews offer might be pretty comparable to all other offers except the Yanks. It isn't out of the realm of possiblity that the 2nd highest offer CC recieves will be from the Brewers especially if Tex signs with LAA and Manny signs with the LAD.

They traded Jose Ceda for him. The folks at NSBB are not happy about this at all. Ceda is their #4 prospect (baseball America) and is also a hard throwing rrighty reliever. They also seem to think that this may signal that Wood won't be back.

It looks like the Nats are really trying to retool their offense, obviously it wouldn't make sense to downgrade 3rd by trading RZ for Prince. I suppose if they think the upgrade at 1st would be higher than the downgrade from RZ to say Bill Hall they might still be inclined to trade RZ, but that seems unlikely. Zimmerman is literally the only guy on thier current roster that intrigues me and he didn't have much of a year last year. (Although can you really blame him with the lineup he was playing in?). I suppose Zimmerman and Lannan would be a decent starting point. Steven Shell might be a bullpen guy to go after as well. If they would take Bill Hall's salary I think I would do Zimm, Lannan, Shell, and a prospect for Prince and Hall. I am not sure if that really improves the Nats though.

I have to admit Pyscho T is a pretty sweet nickname. I am a little worried about his injury issues to start the year, hopefully Roy just lets him rest against their early patsies so he is 100% for their real schedule. I am not sure what to expect from UW this year. I think Landry is due for a breakout year. If they are going to be good Hughes has to become a more consistent shooter and passer. Krabby probably needs to look for his shot more as well. I am very worries about the #4-5 spot. Who is going to fill Stiemsma's and Butch's shoes. Practically none of the returning bigs got any time last year. I really hope Leuer picks it up this year. That Michigan game last year got my hopes up that he can be a star at UW.

I would do Prince, Gillespie, and Periard for Beltre, Morrow, and Putz. They are trying to get rid of Putz and Beltre's salary and Morrow has got to be one of the most promising young SP in the game. I think I would be comfortable putting Brad Nelson 1st to start the year if we do trade Fielder. The downgrade from Fielder to Nelson would be far less than the upgrade from Hall to Beltre, Torres to Putz, and a #5 to Morrow. Putz also had some injury issues this year, may be an opportunity to buy low on him.

Who the heck gave Svuem a 3rd place vote? I guess I don't hav a big problem with Pinella. The voting was done before the postseason was complete and it isn't like anyone else really made a name for themselves anyways. Who else should have gotten it if it is a regular season award?

No offense, but I need some explanatiion/stats that prove Santana was better than Lincecum last year. Not saying you are wrong or anything I just would like to see the evidence

I can't figure out why Santana got 4 first place votes. If you vote on ERA and total domination you vote, Lincecum, if you vote on wins you vote for Webb, if you vote on most dominant pitcher regardless of final stats you vote for CC. Not sure why anyone would say Santana deserves a 1st place vote. I guess it doesn't matter, the right guy won

1. Lincecum 2. Webb 3. Santana 4. Lidge 5. Sabathia CC got 1 first place vote Nov. 11, 2008 1:05 p.m. | The balloting was just announced for the National League Cy Young Award and San Francisco's Tim Lincecum won by a wide margin. CC Sabathia, who had a brilliant 17-start performance after coming to the Brewers in early July from Cleveland, finished fifth in the balloting. Lincecum garnered 23 of the 32 first-place votes, seven second-place votes and one third to total 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The 24-year-old right-hander was18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and led the NL with a .783 winning percentage and 265 strikeouts. He is the second San Francisco pitcher to win the Cy Young Award, joining 1967 winner Mike McCormick. Arizona's Brandon Webb was second with four firsts, 15 seconds and eight thirds for 73 points. Webb, the 2006 winner, finished second for the second consecutive year after going 22-7 with a 3.30 ERA. New York's Johan Santana had four first-place votes and was third with 55 points. Santana went 16-7 and led the NL with a 2.53 ERA and 234 1/3 innings. Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge, who didn't blow a save all year, was next with 10 points. Lidge had a 1.95 ERA and was 41 for 41 in save opportunities during the regular season. Sabathia grabbed the final first-place vote and also had one second-place vote and one third-place vote for nine points. Sabathia was 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA, with a league-best seven complete games and three shutouts for the Brewers. Chicago's Ryan Dempster was the only other pitcher to receive votes, getting four third-place votes after going 17-6 with a 1.96 ERA. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/34280929.html Edit: Link. -PF

I wonder what writing utencil Doug will use to sign the marriage certificate? A Sharpie perhaps?

Not to hijack this thread, but considering the supposed "Offers" from Atlanta and Chicago I find it highly doubtful hardy would have to be included in anything. Neither the Cubs or Braves are giving up a single proven player in their packages so Hardy, Jeffress, and 3 others is way beyond anything the current teams are offering. Salome, Periard, and another prospect or two seems entirely plausible to me, assuming the current packages from Atlanta and Cubs are actually what it would take to get him Ok back on the Hoffman topic. I would love Hoffman. The guy had a 1.04 WHIP and a .224 BAA, both very good numbers. He just gave up more HR's than usual last year. I would take Hoffman and his potential contract over Fuentes and his potential contract for sure.

I would be all for signing Hoffman for 1 year at $7M (I think that is what he got paid this year) with an $8-9M Team option for 2010. Then pull off a trade for Peavy centered around Salome and Periard. I would love having McClung in the 8th and Hoffman in the 9th. Plus Hells Bells is an awesome song.

That doesn't seem like much of a return for the Fish.

I am all for Holliday being out of the National League. Very happy the Cards weren't able to get him. I am not sure how this makes sense from the A's perspective, their is no way they sign him to an extension is there? This isn't going to get them over the hump in the division either. Very curious to see who all goes to Colorado

A good example of this would be Branyan's ungodly month early in the year, without that month we don't make the playoffs. Their are instances like this throughout the Brewers (Cameron's August, CC's 2nd half, Fielder's September, Sheets' April) and on every team. It just so happened that a lot of the Brewers all slumped at the end of the year and that Sheets was hurt. It is a coincidence more than anything but it seems like Sheets has become the scapegoat for some.

We also found out, after the fact, that Sheets was pitching injured during a large part of the 2nd half so shouldn't that have some merit? CC risked his health in the 2nd half by pitching so much, but Ben also risked his health by pitching at all. It was a miracle he had as many good starts as he had.

I had to babysit this past weekend. I have that darn "Down by the Bay" song stuck in my head.

Is anyone more comfortable with the prospect of trading Fielder since Nelson had such a good year at AAA and is having such a good year in the Winter League? If we could significantly upgrade another area of the team by trading Fielder, I think I would be comfortable giving Nelson a shot at 1st. He will be better defensively and I don't think he would be a huge liabilityoffensively if we started him in the #6-7 spot. I think he could do just fine. He won't be the offensive player that Fielder is, but the net gain of a Fielder trade might offset that a bit. And for reference Brad is hitting .304/.381/1.185 in 17 games this winter including 7 HR's. I don't know how good the league is though.

So two plays, which 90% of CF don't even get to, all of a sudden made Cameron a defensive liability? And how about his .821 OPS in July or even his .799 in June? The guy had one terrible month, so did virtually every other Brewer in September.

Then I would go with Fielder, Salome, and Gillespie/Gindl for Beltre, Putz, and Morrow. I don't think Hall has negative trade value, he is still young and his contract isn't that atrocious, plus he can play anywhere on the diamond

The situation is a little different. This would be a below market (In terms of $ per year) for a Top5 pitcher, Suppan's deal was market value for a mediocre pitcher. A good pitcher with a good contract is more easily traded than a mediocre players with a mediocre contract. Iget what you are saying though. I wonder what the going rate for Suppan would be this offseason if he were to sign a FA contract?

How about Fielder, Hall, and a prospect for Beltre, Morrow, and Putz? Beltre is a salary dump, Putz is an injury concern and salary dump, and Morrow is a very good young SP. Hall can fill 3rd for a couple of years and they get a lefty power bat in Fielder.