Fatter than Joey

Darren the Terrible Getting rid of Darren the terrible was as sweet as when we traded stupid Bill Hill

Compare the Brewers to the Phillies for a second. I think your comparisons are fair enough -- I'd certainly trade divisions with them though.

But those that are predicting us to be sellers by the deadline because of the rotation, isn't that more of an argument to be buyers and acquire a starter before it gets to that point? Agreed, however I think the original post was looking at our current roster. I'm sure we could make a run if we started trading our prospects -- but I think most teams could make this sort of statement.

I agree with Pedro's assessment. 1.) Rotation -- Bush/Villy/Suppan/Parra have not been able to over the 5 inning hump regularly. I realize that we don't need shutouts from the backend of our rotation, but needing four IP out of our BP each time these 4 guys start is not good. Sheets/Yo have been fantastic, and Suppan has had some great starts -- but Suppan will need to pitch more like a 2/3 than a 4/5 for this team to win. 2.) BP -- Our BP is still very very problematic -- as a unit, they are walking more players at a greater rate than anyone in the NL. Our BP was bad last year, at this point I do not see how they are much better this year -- especially if the BBs continue. Furthermore -- the BP does not have a solid long guy, like we did last year with Villy. McClung is crap, he is fine pitching in 19-5 games, but he is not a sufficient long-reliever in a game where it is 4-4 in the 5th and Parra is gassed. 3.) Defense -- Moving Braun off of 3rd was huge -- but our ss/2b/1b is among the weakest in the NL, Weeks struggles to throw the ball above Fielders ankles -- and all 3 of them have limited range. Having Cameron will help -- but the right side of the IF is not playoff caliber. 4.) Offense -- Again having Cameron will help here. Obviously the offense is underperforming -- Weeks has sucked so far this year, Hardy is hard to watch -- I am not sure what to say outside of the offense isn't going to pick up the defense and pitching if it continues on like it has. 5.) Management -- Of course I don't think Yost has the chops to pull this team together, esp. after losing Yo -- but bigger than that, the roster management this year has been bizarre. 14 pitchers, having TGJ being your go to guy off the bench when the bases are jacked and you are down by 4, batting TGJ second in Cameron's absence, etc... I know it's early and things can change -- but things are not going to necessarily change because we hope they will.

The Brewers need BRAN-YON

Does Waterloo still have their amateur baseball team, the Bucks? They did last year

This additional revenue should be used to pay down the debt owed on Miller Park & if this debt is paid off then go into a rainy day fund for the ballpark. In this way the tax burden on the public would be lessened &, or retired. Yes, I think this is a good point, not all of the revenue needs to go to the Brewers payroll... But, if you think of the money dumped in local hotels, pubs, restaurants, etc... Even ushers and vendors at the park would get more hours. -- I think this would be a wonderful infusion of money in Milwaukee. I hate the Cubs, but I certainly would not put myself above taking my family to a random Cubs game, in the summer, if say, Johann Santana was pitching...

NL pitchers have amassed 4 HRs and 1 triple this year as batters.... Guess what team gave up the triple and 3 of the 4 HRs??

Losing Gallardo really hurts the Brewers but I don't think it's going to effect the rest of the players' production. Parra has pitched like this all year. I don't know what Yost expected bringing in TGJ with the bases jacked. Last night we got the bases loaded 4 times. I am sure the Brewers are bummed about losing Yo, but I don't think it has a measurable effect.

Are you really criticizing Yost for his love of the righty/lefty matchup when pinch hitting? Yes -- Dillon was a better choice there. Blame Melvin for assembling a team with one freaking left-handed power hitter. Branyan or Nelson need to be up. Yep. Couldn't agree more with you here.

Outright waivers - these waivers are used to position a club to remove a player from the 40-man roster (to "outright" him off the roster as opposed to optioning him to the minors, in which case he stays on the roster). Outright waivers are irrevocable, meaning that if a team asks these waivers on a player and he is claimed, it does not have the right to "revoke" the waivers and pull him back. This is the one that pertains to Turnbow -- at least if the Brewers have any intention of hanging onto Turbow. I think they DFA'd Turnbow on Friday -- then there is a seven day period where DM can try to trade Turnbow and a 3 day period where Turnbow sits on the waiver wire. So basically if the Brewers try to send to Nashville they run the risk of Turnbow being claimed, and paying $2.7M of his contract. If they unconditionally release Tbow, then they pay him to sit at home his full contract - unless some team wants to spend $3.2 to take a chance on him. I just don't see how the Brewers get out of paying Tbow's contract.

The Ramirez thing was in the off season and several years ago...but the whether the intent was to send him to AAA is not a factor (I think). That and the Ramirez thing happened in 2003 -- there have been new labor agreements in place since then. There are essentially 3 waiver periods -- Feb. to 30th day of the season -- 31st day of season to end of July -- End of July to February. The rules and waivers are different in each period. Would the Brewers actually think there is any possibility of keeping Turnbow and sending him to AAA, if another team can pick him up for $400K? Probably not, thus the urgency to try and trade Turnbow.

If a team waives a player and another team claims him, then the team that claims him takes on his entire salary/contract. This is not true, when a player is put on irrevocable waivers when they are sent to the minors. Semantics. There are different waivers for different situations, and different points in the season.

good luck man, my experience has been say the least amount of words you can, and make a lot of head movements.

This certainly indicates the salary has to be paid by whoever claims a player: Again, this was done in the off-season, different waivers, and different waiver rules -- plus there was a new labor agreement since 2003, so other things may have changed as well. EDIT: -- The other difference is, we are trying to send Turnbow to AAA, Ramirez wasn't going to be sent to AAA.

I can't say I've ever heard this before, as I've always heard that the claiming team picks up the salary. I have tried over the years to keep waivers straight -- there are a few different types of waivers which account for different salary situations. Also the time of the year makes a difference. For example after the trade deadline a few years ago, the Dodgers claimed Loazia from the A's and had to eat his salary for that year and the next. That was after the trade deadline and was revocable waivers. The A's normally would have pulled Loazia off the table, but because he sucked and had a hefty contract they let the Dodgers have at him. This scenario makes sense to me as it works as a honesty check for teams that would claim players willy-nilly to block all potential trades. Now this time of year, it's a different scenario. Obviously the Brewers want to cut ties with Turnbow and that's why he is on waivers. The Brewers aren't trying to trade him to make a playoff run. These waivers are irrevocable, which if you think about it makes sense in a 10 day DFA period. The DFA period exists to give the team and player a 10 day "limbo" to figure out what is going to happen w/o tying up a roster spots. Things need to conclude at the end of the DFA period, and irrevocable waivers makes sure that this will happen. From a labor union standpoint -- Turnbow would be screwed if he could not get the opportunity to resume his career with another team, -- therefore it makes sense to me that the claiming team only pay the league minimum, that way Turnbow's contract will not prohibit him from getting more work. At the end of the day, DM has very little leverage here. The best case scenario would be if there were multiple teams interested in Tbow. In all likelihood there is probably only one, and rather than make a trade for Tbow, they will just claim him on waivers and tell DM to pound sand.

My understanding has always been that tribes do not like the use and marketing of their heritage for commercial means, especially when they do not have control over it. I can certainly understand people not wanting their bloodline being represented by Chief Wahoo. I also think it is ridiculous for people that aren't Native American to define "what is offensive", and I think Native Americans are irked by other people telling them what they should and should not find offensive. We find pride in our sports teams, but that cannot be compared to the heritage of a people that have had a pretty violent history these last 200-300 years. There probably are not a lot of Native Americans walking around today that are not too many generations removed from either being forced from their homes at best, or violent deaths at the worse. Seeing the typical baseball fan spend $100s of dollars on tickets/shirts/plastic tomahawks, and drunkenly spewing "Go Tribe" -- is probably a very bitter pill to swallow for someone whose great-grandparents were herded onto a reservation. That said, I think the PC gets taken to far. If a tribe and university are able to work together where the tribe feels suitably compensated and represented, I think the gov't or NCAA should butt out.

Any opportunity for increased revenue should be jumped on....not to mention its a good chance to see more baseball and root against the Cubs! Agreed. It would sure dump a lot of revenue into Milwaukee. I really do not see a downside to this

No way I trade Hart. I'd rather keep Hart and trade Prince for a young stud pitcher, then put LaPorta at 1B. I agree, I suspect Cameron is a stopgap for Hart in CF. Prince is very replaceable at 1b, Hart isn't in CF. If Hart can play CF, I think he has more value than Prince.

So you suggest that if this team manages to keep its head above water in the first half of the season, Doug should inexplicably jettison the season by trading Sheets for prospects? The ensuing rotation would make this team the laughingstock of baseball. I agree -- Of course If we are 20 games back in July I'd look to move Sheets.... but not at this point.

Any blame to Yost on this is just ridiculous. Is it Yost's fault there was a collision? It was a freak play and unfortunately it happened to the Brewers. I guess I'll just have to understand that there are some that will try to blame everything on Yost. No one has blamed Yost for the injury.

The question is how was that missed if it was a complete tear? Yeah, I appreciate what Brian said about blame and whatever, but this whole thing doesn't make sense to me, and I just want to understand it better. I thoroughly appreciate everyone's ACL input, I feel like I have learned something. Things get missed sometimes, it happens. It doesn't make him an incompetent boob. Exactly, which is why they shouldn't be trusted 100% of the time.

If you want to be pissed at someone, be upset with the trainer, because even in football at the highschool level, they have the final say. I find it highly unlikely that the coaching staff ever encountered a torn ACL in baseball before, they are extremely rare, not like football. OK -- I apologize for being tiresome -- I am not going to to pretend I like Yost, or remain objective about him -- however it is statements like this that I am having problems understanding. If baseball trainers have likely never encountered ACLs problems, why is Yost blindly listening to them? -- It just seems like a pretty crappy basket to put all your Yo eggs in. The trainer should have been able to feel if the ligament were completely torn while examining Gallardo. You have to blame the trainers 100%. Do you think they told Yost it was torn and he left him in the game? You tell me. If the trainers should have been able to tell the ACL was torn and didn't -- then I would agree they are to blame as well. However this seems entirely incompetent to me, -- which is possible -- however going forward I hope Yost doesn't put 100% confidence in these guys. I guess I know Yost has been in baseball for almost 30 years, it seems to me he would have encountered a couple of occasions where trainers whiffed on a gametime diagnosis, and would have the experience to realize that trainers make mistakes, and allow for than when dealing with a guy with talent like Yo. There was no reason to expect Davey Lopes to diagnose a shoulder injury and no reason to expect Ned to diagnose a severe knee injury. I agree 100% -- and really this is my point -- there is no "blame" -- it was an accident, I just wish Ned would err on the side of caution in the future. Ned doesn't know at that point of the collision what is damaged and to what extent. If that would have been Sheets, he would have come out I have to think. The difference is with Sheets, he is likely gone this time next year -- Yo will be hitting his prime.

Because now they actually know the ACL is torn and LONG TERM it can do damage to other knee ligaments. Thank you. This is exactly where I want to go with this. I guess what I would have liked to see, is Yost operate under the worst case scenario with the franchise's most valuable player. Damage control. After the on-the-field evaluation, they thought he had a minor knee injury. I don't doubt that. No one on the field had any sort idea what the problem exactly was. Imagine if Ned had taken Yo out, the relievers got rocked, and after the game we found out Yo was okay, and the trainer said he could continue, but Ned overruled. This board would be going ballistic. Maybe you would have been. I would have seen Yost trying to prevent further injury. The collision was pretty violent, I don't think taking Yo out would have been controversial at all. If this was the 7th game of the WS, I'd been AOK with Yo going. TH just said on Homer's show that Kendall didn't notice anything wrong with him after the injury. This really doesn't mean a lot.

My guess is that the doctors told the Brewers that he can't pitch anymore with the torn ACL. Then that's what should have happened yesterday.