Fatter than Joey

Wow FTJ, you just made me look the fool by laughing out loud. When you gots to gets your uni adjusted because your pipes are too large -- you should be visited by time travelers. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_W_dkegpBsgE/SlU_a2AWSxI/AAAAAAAAAOA/8MGnTZnu80M/s320/ted.jpg

they said on the TV broadcast yesterday that the entire bullpen signed a ball in exchange for the Escobar HR ball. That's awesome. I am not sure why the BP felt the need to deface an entirely good ball though -- but it is great that Escobar got his ball back, w/o being held over a barrel.

I agree with Stevo. I'm surprised so many are so tolerant of Looper, especially given how much Suppan is vilified on this same site. They both pretty much suck -- and I don't expect either to be much better next year. I wouldn't exercise Looper's option -- unless you knew that Bush/Suppan were going to be out next year for some time.

I would go back to 1922 and watch Rogers Hornsby put up his gaudy, ridiculous season. Did you know that Hornsby led the league in BA, OBP, SLG and OPS for 6 seasons in a row? The 1919 World Series to see how Shoeless Joe Jackson played: He hit .375 and got thrown out of baseball. Right -- and then you could see him play poorly in the games that the Sox tanked. I am pretty sure I would take Russell Branyan back in time with me to meet Ted Kluszewski, and watch them hit bombs, in between battling communism and helping NASA launch satellites.

Also not sure why you think stating my own opinion on the matter is "scorning" and why you think I am not entitled to question the wisdom of these athletes and their agent's decisions. I happen to think security and the certainty of $50 million, or whatever, with the opportunity of another contract for more money subsequently, is a better financial decision Just to be clear, the statement I made that you refer to, was a generality and not directed at you specifically. That said -- I do think that there is a slippery slope in offering general opinions on financial risk and reward without truly understanding a specific person's financial situation entirely. We do not understand or know what Prince has for liabilities, assets or business ventures, therefore our opinions on what risks he should take are unfounded. Also, speaking generally I do not like it when fans determine, that X Million dollars is "enough" for an athlete, and they are scorned for taking X+1 Million. I don't expect any athlete to leave any money on the table. Lastly, I never said you could not or should not express your opinion -- I am just not in agreement with your position, and I am doing nothing more than arguing it. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Per this link: the Mariners are stuck with Hall's 2010 option as well, so the Brewers are really saving about $1.75M. That's the first time I have seen that reported. I am guessing you meant "2011 option" and not "2010 option" -- Just so everyone is clear here is how things break down as I see it: Hall's contract situation 2009 -- $6.8M Guaranteed 2010 -- $8.4M Guaranteed 2011 -- $9.25M -- with a $500K option to buyout. Once the Brewers decided to DFA Hall, they were on the hook for ~$1.6M + $8.4M + $500K The 1.6M is an estimate of the portion of salary owed for 2009, 8.4M is for 2010, and of course the 500K is for the 2011 buyout. -- The total that Hall would be owed would be $10.5M -- If Hall would have not found a new team to pick him up -- The Brewers would have had to pay him $10.5M through the end of 2010, this would be the maximum that the Brewers would pay directly to Hall. Now, if the Brewers would have DFA'd Hall, and not made a trade, yet Hall would have been signed as a FA by some team, then they would have paid Hall the league minimum, which is $400K. They would pay Hall ~$100K for the remainder of 2009, and the entire $400K for 2010 --- for a total of $500K. It is important to understand, that this ~$500K, is not "in addition" to the Brewers contract, but rather it would pay a portion of the existing contract. So in 2009 Hall would receive a check for ~$100K from his new team, and ~$1.5M from the Brewers for a total of ~$1.6M. In 2010 Hall would get $8M from the Brewers and $400K from the new team. If this trade with Seattle had not been made -- and Hall would have signed with another team -- The Brewers would have gotten ~$500K. in salary relief. It is incorrect to say "Hall would have been signed for nothing" -- although $500K isn't that significant. Seattle traded some Flores guy, and then sent the Brewers $1.75M in cash to the Brewers to help pay Hall's contract. If Seattle wanted to just sign Hall, they could have done it for $500K, instead of paying the Brewers addition $1.25M -- however, Beltre contused his testicles, leaving the M's with a hole at 3b, and there were probably multiple teams interested in Hall - so the only way to guarantee acquiring Hall's service was to trade for him. Here is the bottom line. DM gave Hall a terrible contract, and the Brewers will end up paying Hall about $8.75M to play for other teams in 2009-2011. DM did soften the blow by getting an additional $1.25M back by working out a trade with SEA. we could have had to pay Hall $10M.

As always, I think that is a foolish risk to take and Ryan Braun made the right decision in securing enough wealth to exceed his lifetime needs/wants. I am not sure we should pretend to know what a person's lifetime needs or wants are. Perhaps Prince wants his own Dorito factory in his guest house? -- In any case every professional should not be scorned or questioned for maximizing the amount of cash he can make.

Trades in August aren't simply about determining who is a good fit and making a deal, especially for someone cheap and useful like Counsell this year. Fair enough -- However, at this point, if he gets claimed by someone other than CHI, -- I suspect it will be another playoff team looking for some depth or to deal with an injury -- I don't think it should matter to the Brewers where he ends up.

That's all well and good, but he still has to clear waivers. Considering his usefulness, I find that unlikely. This isn't true -- He could be claimed, and then traded to the team that claimed him -- The only teams that are realistically going to claim him, are teams that could use him for the playoff run. How on earth is Kendall a possible Type B? Wow. He played 151 games last year, and will probably end up with ~140 games this year ... The way that the compensation works, is that it looks at the Brewers having to replace a guy that caught ~290 games for them over the last 2 seasons.

Suppan is a lock because the Brewers don't have 5 SP that are better than Suppan when he is healthy. This is true as of today -- however, FA+ a trade may change that -- in either case though -- Suppan is going to start 2010 as a Brewer, and that is locked in by his contract. Even if Suppan is injured and at 75%, he still will be on the team to start the season.

I think the fact that he got another team to pay ANY of Hall's salary when they could have had him in a few days and paid absolutely nothing. This is not true -- Any team that would have signed Hall would have given the Brewers salary relief of the league minimum -- which would have been prorated for this year and $400K for next year. Likely the Brewers would have gotten ~$500K for this. Since Beltre has a testicular injury, the M's needed a 3b/IF -- there would have been no guarantee that Hall would have came to SEA, Hall could have had multiple teams interested in his services, so Jack Z had to pay a bit of a premium to ensure Hall ended up in SEA, which is where that other ~$800K comes in. Now, ~$800K is better than a kick in the head, and DM certainly did get us something back, -- but I think you are giving him a bit too much credit -- Teams would NOT have been able to get Hall for "absolutely nothing", and there was probably enough interest in Hall that DM had some leverage in making a trade. I really can't believe people expected a useful return on Bill Hall. Agreed -- I think we made the best out of a bad situation. If Beltre didn't injure his testiculars, we probably would have gotten even less of a return. It was a bad contract, though, so if you want to complain why not start with why Hall got his deal in the first place. DFA Melvin.

yeah -- I think we have shifted from "are we still in it" to "can we finish above .500" I say no to both

Though, on the other hand, there's something to be said for keeping the guy happy and in his home town, if you want to sign him next year. And I do love me some Counsell. I suspect Counsell would be OK getting traded to a team making a playoff run.

Who would you rather have today, Pudge or Kendall? I'd take Pudge. Me too especially at a base 1.5M salary.

Winning this triple crown is more impressive than the "true" triple crown. I am not sure that this is true -- Winning the batting title while hitting the most HRs, is pretty impressive as well. I'd be curious how many players have ever won BA/OBP/OPS -- my guess more have won this than the "true" one. EDIT: Ruth -- 1 times Cobb -- 3 times Bonds -- 2 times Williams -- 5 times Hornsby -- 7 times (6 in a row!) Wagner -- 4 times Musial -- 2 times Foxx -- 1 time Pujols -- 1 time. So I don't think it is harder to do than the "true" one-- It may be more sensible of an award though

The Mets-- They decided to start their train wreck in April this season instead of August.

I think people harping on the veggie part was mainly for laughs. Yeah -- I thought the "crushing and sprinkling a bag of Doritos on a salad" was a hilarious idea. I think most people were having fun with it, albeit at Prince's expense.

Tom said Prince doesn't talk about it, but he guessed he's on a "'modified' vegetarian diet." Whatever that means. It probably means now that beef is a leafy green. I suspect Prince is on some sort of restricted, yet reasonable diet -- one that he can easily stick to. I noticed the whining has stopped. This means that either people realized that vegetarianism has no relationship to hitting ability, or, he is eating meat and the morons think that there is a relationship between meat-eating and hitting prowess. I am certain the whining has stopped because Prince took care of business and got himself into better shape. I am not sure the path he took, and I am not sure it matters other than I think Prince deserves a lot of credit for grabbing the tiger by the tail. I think Prince deserves a lot of credit for getting himself into shape, and I think he did deserve a lot of the criticism for letting his "robustness" affect his play in 2008. Stating that "vegetarianism has no relationship to hitting ability" is probably splitting hairs. It is obvious that good diet has an impact on run production and defensive performance -- If Prince needed to eat more veggies, then so be it.

I took the boy this afternoon, and both he and I loved it. I was more interested in the trailer for Zombieland. That looks awesome.

It's just good to see 3 wins in a row -- regardless of our playoff chances.

Homer, I thought for sure you'd list FTJ. He doesn't have the cajones do that. I think somehow Eric Cartman needs to get serious consideration.

However, I'd been impressed until recently as he's shown great hands, an accurate arm, and good range. It's more a mental/effort thing.

Don't you think they'd be willing to give up more to get him for two years, instead of only one... No. Nothing substantial at least.

Yeah. I don't understand why JJ Hardy is exempt from getting sent down due to poor performance, and why he should automatically be entitled to a roster spot no matter what. I agree with this 100%. If JJ is/was not in the top 25 Brewers -- send him down to AAA. I just don't think sending him down for the sake of saving a year of control is a good idea.... If sending him down is primarily performance based, I am with you.

That is just not very good business reasoning at all. He hasn't played well, and has basically had two good seasons out of five. It's not like he has a really strong track record that will have pundits screaming at the Brewers to bring him back early. I really appreciate and understand your point Invader and you make it well, but in the spirit of debate.... I think this topic is intriguing I don't know how on one hand you can point out JJ has had "only 2 good years out of 5", and then claim that there is going to be a ton of value in that extra year of team control. If this was Prince -- It would be easy to see that value. I know Prince signed an extension -- but Prince is building up for a serious long-term payday, unlike JJ who at this rate, is going to be quite affordable for just about any potential trade partner. JJ is making $4.65 this year -- He will probably make close to that, if not a little more for 2010 -- say $5M -- the worst he can do is 80% of 2009. If he plays crappy(ish) in 2010 -- With an Arby year, he is going to get about $5M, in the FA market, probably less than that. The bottom line, is that I don't think teams are going to view JJ as unaffordable in 2011 at this point. I don't see a good reason to upset the player's union for JJ.