BrewCrewRising

Personally it bothers me. My ancestry is mostly Irish, and I hate the fact that the Domers seem to claim the whole nationhood for their dumb school. But you can't compare the Indians with "The Fighting Irish" in terms of logos. The ND log is a leprechaun, and is a fictitious being, whereas the Chief Wahoo is a caricature of an entire people. If ND changed their logo to a drunken, whimsical looking Irish person, I think you'd notice a lot more people being vocal about it.

Are you counting the fact that Suppan is in the bullpen? That seems to be a separate issue, and I think the way you phrase that is misleading. It's not like Melvin went out and sought that $30M for the bullpen and that's what we got. I think Attanasio was a driving force behind that stupid contract. If that was DM, then that's a knock against him but Suppan didn't go to Melvin's house for dinner and get wooed. Riske is about $4.5M of that. Nobody (or close to nobody) on this board or anywhere in the media thought that was that bad of a signing. It didn't work out. Injuries to pitchers happen, and in truth, that's one of the reasons Melvin is a bit shy to sign big deals to pitchers. That he didn't inherit a great farm system worth of pitchers, and that he can't afford to spend the big dollars on free agent pitchers isn't his fault. Show me a GM who consistently goes out and signs cheap to reasonable FA bullpen pitching talent. There might be some, but there aren't many. If I'm going to rail on his construction of the pitching staff it's going to be that he's uncreative in his trades, and is too wary of trading for pitching talent (long term). That he sticks with garbage too long (Yost and something tells me Macha) is another knock against him.

I think it's a religious thing though. I'm pretty sure the First Church of Satan requires that you hate the Packers.

I love this! Mostly because it has me laughing like a fool at my desk right now, but it would also make it easier for ESPN to hide their bias and tick me off all the time. Also, please note that the top two teams from the Bristol division would be automatically entered into the playoffs.

Jeff Passan has a very simple idea for realignment: go back to having just the leagues and eliminate the divisions. I don't like the idea of the Brewers going back to the AL though for a few different reasons. I don't think they could afford the big bat that you'd have to spend on the DH, and I don't like that it would make the Brewers seem like they just can't decide where to be. I do like the idea of the simplicity of it, though I think then you'd also have to combine it with scheduling based on previous seasons win/loss. Thoughts?

Like others here I don't mind the results. We got to the playoffs, and I'm not optimistic we'll return soon. We got a monkey off our back. I'm far more likely to wonder what would have happened if we'd never made some of the other smaller trades we've made. What if we had kept Balfour instead of trading him for McClung? Would our bullpen have been a lot deeper, and would we have had a better 2008? (I don't really think so, and after Balfour's 2009 season I no longer regret that trade). JJ now has 2 HR's this season. Is he going to go have a career season now? (Logically, I know I shouldn't think this, but it's been my fear that we let him go at the wrong time). With CC for those prospects, the risks and possible rewards were known and accepted by management and fans alike. You may disagree with them, but they're hard to flat out denounce. I think the CC we rented was the best possible version of CC. The "smaller" trades and change-of-scenery trades that have more unpredictable results are the ones that are more likely to bother me more.

Somebody whose initials are 'BP' owns some ticks, and the ticks themselves own something. Since it's in the Major League forum, I can only guess that the ticks (owned by BP) own something major league baseball related.

When he said that the chemistry was great, but that most of those guys are gone, I wonder who he's referring to. Cameron?

I agree with this completely. I'm starting to think that Melvin is the Yost of GM's: He was good to get young club going and has some nice opening moves in that regard, but doesn't really have an end game to put the pieces in place. Yes, offering Lopez arby would have been a risk, but I don't think a monumental one. Worst case scenario is that he accepts and we pay him about 5-6M a year. I think we could have traded him, at least by the deadline. That way the Crew could have gotten two more young promising farmhands (assuming one from trade, and one from draft.) But if Melvin wasn't going to do that, what was the point of that trade? When they traded for Lopez the need was clearly for pitching. Lopez's D wasn't going to magically improve the pitching. In this sense Melvin wasn't even thinking a move ahead.

If anything, plasma doesn't last as long. You're more likely to get problems with your screen over time from images being burned into them. They use more power than LCD as well. They havebetter pictures, and are cheaper, but LCD's use less power, generally last longer, and will provide a better picture in a room with more light.

Interviewing the manager they just had before Cooper is hilarious to me. I think the Astros should take this to a new level of madness and interview Cooper with those other 10.

Thank you all for the time and input. This has been very helpful.

Thanks for the replies. I've confirmed that U-Verse won't suit my needs, so it's either DirecTV or Comcast. I've been hearing horror stories about DirecTV though, but mostly online reviews. People saying that the customer service is horrible, or that the reception is very touchy. I'm guessing Theavrock doesn't experience that. But has anybody else had a horrible DirecTV experience? I'm wondering if certain regions are worse for DirecTV than others.

I'm hoping somebody can help me out here... I'm moving in a few weeks (to my first house!) and the wife and I want to get cable or satellite TV or something. I'm in Chicago, and the choices I'm considering are Comcast, DirecTV, or ATT U-Verse. I want something where I can get the Crew when the season starts. If I get Comcast I can get MLB Extra Innings. But if I get DirecTV or ATT U-Verse, I can only get MLB EI with DirecTV (I think). I don't really want to do Comcast, and I think DirecTV or ATT U-Verse might be better in terms of HD offerings and the like. Both DirecTV and ATT U-VERSE offer the "Sports Package" which includes FSN North, but then there is some language about it not including out of market teams for the sports pacakage, and in a different promotional paragraph they say that the Sports Package is great for college sports. Does anybody out of Wisconsin have "The Sports Package" on DirecTV or ATT U-Verse, and did it allow to you watch the Crew during the regular season without having to get MLB Extra Innings? Thanks!

Last offseason Type A FA's Orlando Cabrera and Orlando Hudson both signed 1 year deals. If a contender needs a closer, and theres a few that will, they'll sign him. He's had a great year. He's more valuable now that he's shown that his dominace isn't just the byproduct of a great pitchers park. Half the teams would only have to give up their 2nd round pick. I had corrected my post with an edit to acknowledge that a 2nd round pick was also an option. But still it doesn't seem rational for a team that would give up a 2nd round pick - a team in the lower half of the complete 2009 MLB standings - to give up that pick for one pitcher who may last just a year, and not net any picks when he exits, and who may be injured for a good part of the season. That is just my very humble opinion. As far as Cabrerra and Hudson....... Cabrerra and Hudson aren't 42. They're 35 and 32. Both aged in baseball terms, but less likely to be at the end of their careers. So, if you only sign them to a one year contract, and you have confidence that they'll be contenders, you can reasonably assume that when they leave after a year that you'll recoup that first or second round pick. You are less assured that Hoffman will be playing the year after you sign him (assuming you sign him to a one year deal) and so you know you won't recoup that pick. I admit I was too hasty with "NO team would sign him" , but I do think a lot of teams will give pause to signing a 42 year old who might be playing beyond a year, and I do think that would make it more likely that he accept arbitration as opposed to netting draft picks from the team he ends up with in 2009. He's a proven reliever, but he's aging and has recent injury issues. He's not as likely to allow you to recoup your first/second round pick because he could retire soon. So, the majority of his value, unlike younger FA's, is not that you'll be able to recoup some of the assets, it's pretty much in his ability to pitch in the 9th for one year. There are teams that might think, "that's all we need!", but I'm skeptical. The Padres didn't offer him arbitration last year. I think had they done so, he would have taken it. Now, you can argue pretty convincingly that he just wanted to stay in SD, but I do think there would have also been the concern on Trevor and his agent's part that maybe teams would shy away from him because of the draft pick cost/return ratio. I just don't think he's a slam dunk to get draft picks if he elects FA after arbitration. I think he would accept arbitration with what ever team offered it to him.

Strangely, Hoffman has more value if he's ultimately a type B as opposed to a type A. Nobody would sign Hoffman if the Crew or any other team offered him arby. Whatever team offers him arby is going to be the team that signs him. He would cost a 1st round pick, and who is going to give up a first round pick for a 42 year old closer who showed in the last season that he might have injury issues? It's not like you'd sign him for 3-4 years and have a piece to your puzzle for an opportunity window. You'd be rolling the dice on a season essentially. Edit: I was a bit hasty with the "cost a 1st round pick" since depending on the team, it might just a 2nd round pick. But still, I have to believe that Hoffman would accept arbitration from whatever team has his rights in the off season. He's had a good year, and would probably get close enough in arby as he would on the open market, without the risk of not being signed, or not being signed until the last minute because of the draft pick consequences to value ratio.

The '57 Braves work of course. I'd like the watch the Hammer over the course of a season. His thin, wiry arms belied by the knots of steel in his wrists that produced homeruns at a marathon pace. The Ted Williams playing with the .400 season on the line was a great one. I'd love to see the Babe's approach at the plate. Just wonder how a Titan like that went about his business. I'd like to see Jackie Robinson play. Mostly like to see how it differed from the players around him. How other players reacted, and how off-guard they seemed at a guy they hated juke around the bases with grace and guile. I'd like to see how Cy Young pitched as a reliever a day after pitching a complete game. I'd like to see the famed Spahn/Marichal match. I'd like to see Willie Mays rob a home run. I'd like to see the Reds first game and know I saw the first game of the oldest MLB franchise.

The Cubs couldn't afford to not sell beer for a game, let alone a series. It's like hundres of thousands of dollars in revenue, and it pays for at least 3 Soriano strike outs, and 4 hopping catches.

Because Corey is cheap and can be controlled for a few more years cheaply.

He's right in that there is no difference losing 6-5 or 13-2, or even in winning 6-5 or 13-2. Each one results in a loss or a win. However, if his analysis stops there, then he does need to be fired. If he doesn't realize that a team that wins 90 games 6-5 is just glaringly lucky, and that a team that wins 90 games 13-2 is dominant, then he has no business being a GM. But since I didn't hear it first hand, I don't know what he was responding to, and he intended to say. But sftcluels's quote does disconcert me a little.

You might as well tell him you won't need off during October 2010 either, while you're at it... Well that is very gloomy-gus now, isn't it? You don't know what the off-season holds. I have to admit, I'm losing faith in Melvin as being the guy who can pull it all together, but I'm not going to throw the whole future in trash.

I had told my boss about a month ago that I may need a few days off in October. I was thinking playoffs. I will tell my boss that I probably don't need those days off. I will still hope for the best though and subscribe to this 12 step program for the time being. Still a few months left, and baseball is just more fun if you can believe. As long as they are not 2004 post All-Star bad, I can still have some fun. This is a great thread. The only thing that could rival this thread is a thread entitled, "It's so crazy that it might just work". Maybe it would work in giving us a bit of hope, maybe it wouldn't.

I think in terms of talent value, it's much less than we gave up for Sabathia, whom we only rented for 3 months. I don't think that does it for 1.5 seasons of Halladay.

Yes, you are correct. That does change that. Although, I think it would be easier to convince Shapiro to part with Lee. He's been stocking up on young talent, and he migh as well go the distance.

Lucroy might be the better all around SS since Salome has defensive concerns. In truth, both Salome and Lucroy are expandable since Kendall will be playing with the Crew until he is 45. You don't really solve the logjam at SS by giving up Escobar since JJ is not signed long term. You only remove concerns of a SS logjam through next year. Even if I do believe in Rickie Weeks, how does that make Lawrie expandable? He's a few years away, and in a few years Rickie is going to be an expensive FA. I like Rickie, but before his injury he was only just turning it around. He hasn't proved his doubters yet. It seems like a lot to rent Halladay. Seems like more than it did to rent CC, and we had a more complete team around CC. EDIT: I'm not against the trade idea overall BTW. But I do think it takes more than Hallday to make us true contenders, and that's my concern about trading all that talent away. Also, I don't want them to trade Escobar until Hardy is signed to an extension.