JJHardy7

The Show apparently really tried to incorporate the entire game atmosphere this year. Not only did the Cubs fans throw my home run back, but later in the game a beach ball came on the field and Corey Hart had to carry it off. Do you have ps2 or ps3? I have the ps2 version and haevn't seen the beach ball yet, but that's pretty cool.

Is there any chance they don't want to move Corey to a different spot for the bulk of the 25 game suspension?

I'm a little worried with the strikeouts, but it's not enough at bats or even the regular season to get too worried. It's the same as being really worried about a pitcher right now. Rickie could be working on specific things and is probably not over concerned about it. Pitchers "struggle" in spring training trying to get their arm ready and trying new things or changing aspects of their game. His performance after his call up last year begs to differ. I think this is part of the problem. Can Rickie put together a year close to his performance after he was called up? I sure hope so, but he was sent down to AAA to work on some bad habits. Hopefully those habits won't come back once the games count.

What's the difference between innings in AAA and innings in MLB? I mean, all I hear is how Parra needs to limit his innings, but if he's getting consistent starts in AAA it's not like he isn't pitching. Will they just have him pitch less at AAA or what? If they only want him to get X amount of innings why can't they let him do it with the Brewers, even if it means missing a start here or there to "save" his arm? In Nashville at least, the managers play to win to a certain extent, but not to the extent that Milwaukee does. In other words, if Parra is pitching a gem they can take him out at any time per the instructions from the Brewers. It's easier to take him out in a close game in the minors than it is in a close game in the bigs. I also don't think sending him to the minors is to save his arm as much as it is to build it up. He'll get the ball every 5 days and if he's the 5th guy with Milwaukee its possible he wouldn't get regular work or would be in the bullpen.

1. Given Boras' track record, how do we even *know* that Prince was shown the Brewers' offer by Boras in the first place? Why do we have to know? It's not like this is Prince's last year under the Brewers control. 2. I think it would make perfect business sense for Mark A. to disclose the offer - either officially or have it "leaked" - so that Prince knows what the Brewers are indeed offering, especially if point #1 is true, which I strongly suspect is the case. It makes perfect business sense because it would show Prince that maybe his agent is not telling him the truth about what really is going on here. I don't think it makes any business sense -- we have other young players that will look at that offer and think it's too high or too low and that will change their expectations. 3. How do we know what Prince himself is willing to accept in terms of a contract, both in terms of money and length? Again - if Boras refuses to tell Prince the truth about the contract offer, how does Prince necessarily have the opportunity to refuse said contract? I think this point is more of Prince vs. Boras than anything to do with the Brewers. That's up to Prince and his agent and the Brewers don't have to be a go between or get in the middle of this if you think Boras is lying to Prince. If Boras is lying to Prince, that's Prince's problem and not the Brewers. 4. Mark A. did state that he wants to offer long-term contracts (see the JS articles from a week or so ago), but he has made a point of disclosing that Prince's long-term offer was already rejected (see JenksFan5's comment about what Powell said on-air). I see nothing wrong with dealing with Boras in as heavy-handed of a manner as necessary to embarass/shame Boras publicly while conveying to Prince how much the organization wants him long-term. I don't understand this point. The Brewers should try to embarass Boras? It seems that you have a problem more with Boras here than the Brewers and that's fine. I just don't think it makes sense to disclose the amounts or the terms given all the young talent in Milwaukee. It's similar to giving roses to a girl on the first date -- she's going to expect that or more as time goes forward. I think announcing the offer would embarass the Brewers organization because it would essentially be pitting Prince/Boras vs. Brewers and I think the media would run with that -- that's not the kind of press that endears a team to its current players or future free agents.

Vargas looked good last year too and then fell apart by the end of april so I'm not sure he'll earn a spot just with a good spring. It is too early to really talk about who has 'earned the spot' since these early spring training games mean virtually nothing. I agree. I think the Brewers pretty much have made their mind up one way or another regardless of what any player does unless they go to an extreme in terms of good or bad. The easiest solution would be a trade of one of the veterans before opening day.

I like the fact that it was divulged by Mark A. that he offered Prince a "substantial" contract and that it was turned down. The big question, though, is why didn't he divulge how much of a contract it was? Is that against the rules of the CBA? I think that if Boras is going to fight dirty and have his clients serve as his mouthpiece and/or reject contracts without even mentioning them to said clients, then the owners have every right to divulge what those offers that Boras isn't showing to his clientèle are. Why would he do that? Mark A. has stated in the last week or so I believe that the Brewers intend on offering all the young players contracts, but they're going to refuse "announcing" that they have made offers when they are rejected. I think stating what the offer was would make no sense in my eyes. It's not like Prince is a rare Brewer right now -- they'll have Braun coming up next and making this information public is in the best interests of the Brewers. If Fielder wants millions now, he can have it. He wants millions now and long into the future and you can't have it both ways. The Brewers have a system in place and Howard won the ROY and MVP...Prince did not. It's clear the Brewers would pay him millions, but why should they if Prince isn't willing to give up a year or two of free agency?

Thanks for the report! Charlie Fermaint looked like he did not give a hoot; I'm just curious as to what gave you the impression. I've never met the guy or seen him play in person, but I have followed him a bit through his career and he seems to be an enigma to a certain extent. Do mind giving more details in regards to Charlie?

Does anyone think there's a market for these for Vikings, Bears, or Lions fans?

They don't need to be DFA'd. Again the only one out of options is Vargas. Capuano and Bush can be optioned down. The only difference is they will still make $3.75 and $2.5 million in AAA and you'll have them spending a year of their prime in Nashville Isn't that essentially the same thing though (I know not literally, but in the sense that they probably won't be in the minors)? I don't think there's anyway they send Cappy and/or Bush to the minors and the Brewers are just trying to keep their value high in regards to letting them go for next to nothing.

simply put, there is no better place to limit Parra's innings than in Milwaukee. It's not just limiting his innings. In Nashville, Parra can get regular work if the Brewers are looking for it and there is a better place to limit the innings -- the minor leagues. Nashville can take him out after 5 innings if the game is tied or if they're up by 5 runs. I'm really high on Parra, but it's not the end of the world if he starts in the minors or CV even too. I think a lot of this is just positioning the Brewers to trade one of the veterans. If they came out and said, Sheets, Suppan, Yo, CV, and Parra are in the rotation all of a sudden Bush, Vargas, and Cappy lose some trade value. There simply isn't room to keep all three on the 25 man if they're not starters and teams know they could get one of them for nothing if the Brewers DFA one of them.

His first year up I thought he also had a nagging injury that reduced his playing time early in the season. He had major shoulder surgery the year before he got called up. He barely played at all in AAA and then was still recovering in the bigs his rookie year.

"I talked to him about that. Strikeouts aren't the only criteria. I'd like to see him more aggressive." Wasn't this a similar philosophy JJ Hardy had to adjust to once he got into the big leagues? I know he had his shoulder holding him back, but it's still an adjustment he had to make. He only had 84 at-bats so we don't know if the Reds' player is any good and his numbers don't mean a ton because it's such a small sample.

Even if it's 8 cups that's a lot of coffee. I wonder how many cups he drinks during a double header?

I'll second this question. Can't quite shell out for a PS3 yet, and I don't want to put money into a game if it's just a roster update. I've only played half of a game in Franchise Mode, but for the PS2 version it is pretty much the same in terms of game play in my mind. The guess pitch has a new mode where it will just highlight the block in red if you guess the correct location of the ball (it previously showed a target with the exact location). The pitching interface is slightly different. If you choose a curveball it'll show the movement direction and the degree of movement. It looks like it'll be pretty helpful because Sheets' curveball has a lot bigger break than some of the other pitchers. I wanted to get it pretty much for the roster updates (Braun, Yo, CV, Parra, etc). Braun is the best player followed by Sheets and Fielder and I believe (IIRC) Yo is #4 or somewhere in that range. Gagne isn't ranked all that high on the team. Braun is in LF (not 3b) and Hall is at 3b. It also looks like the solved the catcher situation since Rivera isn't one of the best players on the roster anymore. I believe the Brewers with the default rosters are ranked 10th overall. I think I really like the game due to the fact on the first pitch from Zambrano to open the season Weeks sent a HR to right field.

Are the catchers ratings still ridiculously high? Last year, Mike Rivera was one of the top-rated guys on the team. Yea that was bad. You could trade him for David Ortiz in some situations.

But if you throw Prince a little extra isn't it insulting to the other young guys if you don't throw them extra too? If their system isn't compensating enough they should change the system, but going outside of it for one player is just asking for a headache. I totally agree here. If our current roster wasn't full of guys who will be/are in this same situation, I could maybe see throwing him some more coin to be happy. He doesn't want to lock in some years now this is what he has to face. For a franchise like Milwaukee the system will stay in place in part to make the team competitive -- and that system will most likely last longer than Prince's time with the Brewers. What is Prince going to do? Go stink it up on the field because of his contract. The current situation he is in forces him to play his best and put up big numbers to get paid. It's almost the most fair contract process in all of sports. Perform for three years...get paid and then go year to year...before you totally cash in -- Ok it's the most fair until totally cashing in.

who cares, its not them end of story. if i remember correctly there were a few of you guys that really thought it was them. if so i hate to burst your bubble but it was not, and also a side note santa clause is not real. so if its on the internet then it must be true. I was able to get a few autographs through it so it was cool while it lasted, but there's just more exposure on the Brewers now nationally than there ever has been before. It'll be interesting to see what happens to those that were running those false profiles. and also a side note santa clause is not real Obviously, but there's no way you can say the same about the Easter Bunny. Just a few more weeks!

There are a few Brewers who have/had facebook pages. I don't know if they still are active or whatever. The nice thing about some of those facebook pages is there are a lot of fan pictures that people have posted. I saw Prince's posts about Favre and if it's actually him he used some pretty foul language regarding football so chances are it's not him. I know a lot of the players used to have legit pages, but once they got more popular took them down and people grabbed the names and related pics and put them back up. It's kind of sad since it's a unique way to interact with the. Some people have too much time on their hands to be a Brewer. Wouldn't it be more fun being A Rod or something like that?

To be honest, I try not to get too caught up in what the "experts" think. ESPN is almost always going to go with the big markets and that's just how it is. I'd rather the Brewers get as little publicity as possible and just win games. It does surprise me that after last year it looks like the Brewers are an after thought. The less media/pressure on the young guys early in the season the better. I have a feeling there will be plenty of it towards the end of the season and hopefully in October.

Honestly, stuff like this is part of the reason I like Braun. I doubt he really meant anything by the comment, it was probably more of a joke. Still, I think he brings just a little bit of swagger and cockiness, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it doesn't go overboard. I agree. I think it's even more of a reason why we need baseball back...enough with looking into words in print and determining how cocky or silly someone sounds. The Brewers need some swagger and cockiness if they want to do anything significant this year. They can't just fade when the pressure is tight. Braun backed up everything he can do with the bat last year and has barely played defense at 3rd and now that shouldn't be factor being in the OF. Why can't he say that? Do we want a team of good 'ol boys? I think without knowing the context of the quote it's clearly judging him too soon. The question could have been, "how do you feel sharing the cover of SI?" It's time for baseball to begin...

Are any of the spring training games going to be covered by MLB.tv?

Is there any realistic way any of those players takes a 10 year deal? I would be shocked if Braun or Fielder would do that unless the figure was at least $200 million. That said, I think for the Brewers to get Fielder to sign over the long term, the Crew will need to give a long-term deal to Rickie Weeks (10 years, $115 million - $15 million bonus, $10 million a year, with an offer to renegotiate after three years if he plays at least 140 games each year next year). I don't believe there are signing bonuses in baseball -- I may be wrong. All that money would be guaranteed.

I'd say Weeks. He has to have a full break out year sooner or later. If he does this year, it will give the Brewers a huge boost -- it'd be like almost signing a big free agent.

McClung will never clear waivers, as he throws 98. He can actually hit 101 mph...http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif