Little Slide Rooter

With a lot of players and agents, its just as much the city as the team and money. Especially Boras likes his big ticket guys in big ticket towns like New York and LA. Granted, if The Brewers were to offer up a massive deal, a player would take it, but if that player were offered similar deals with Milwaukee and New York or LA, a lot of players would chose to play in that big market. Look at Beltran. He made it clear that he felt more comfortable playing for a small market team, but Boras wasnt having that, and he ended up in New York. What small market team was offering the money the Mets did? It's not as if every client has gone to NY, LA, and Chicago. The reason guys have wound up there when they have is because those 6 teams are 6 of the richest. Boras plays the bad guy so his clients can get rich and be loved at the same time. He and Maddux have good cop/bad coped it to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. I remember when every single Cub fan was pissed at Boars for keeping Maddux from signing early in the offseason of 2004, like Boars was Buffalo Bob and Maddux was Howdy Doody. Maddux kept Maddux out trying to get a better offer. if Sheets wants to stay for less in Mill. he will. If he wants the money he won't. Hes already stated that hes going to at least tesy free agency, and CCs been very clear about wanting to go West.

Parra/Billingsly Bush/Lowe Suppan/Kershaw Nice. Those are pretty favorable matchups for the Dodgers. Dodgers have a tough lineup too Ethier Kemp Kent Manny Loney Martin Nomah Casey Blake Juan Pierre off the bench. This will be nice test for the Brewers after everyone saying how unbeatable they are after going 8-2 against 3 of the worst teams in history.

Parra/Billingsly Bush/Lowe Suppan/Kershaw

I predict the Dodgers sweep the Brew Crew.

With a lot of players and agents, its just as much the city as the team and money. Especially Boras likes his big ticket guys in big ticket towns like New York and LA. Granted, if The Brewers were to offer up a massive deal, a player would take it, but if that player were offered similar deals with Milwaukee and New York or LA, a lot of players would chose to play in that big market. Look at Beltran. He made it clear that he felt more comfortable playing for a small market team, but Boras wasnt having that, and he ended up in New York.

They become what the Reds were before they dealt Dunn. My thoughts exactly, basically. Gallardo - FA - Parra - Suppan - Bush Not great but I don't think the Brewers were intending on being a one and done team, although this was certainly their big push. There's a decent list of FA pitchers that they could get for less than Sheets or Sabathia. I know they already think Gallardo can be on that Sheets/Sabathia level with time (or possibly even now) Burnett Dempster Garland Oliver Perez to name a couple. Definitely not on the same level as CC/Sheets but still good enough to make them relevant. Also they still have several tradeable prospects to swing a deal for a pitcher. Who knows, I am just trying to say that we shouldn't assume the Brewers will just go away after this year because they have a lot of leverage to improve (after losing Sheets/CC). The big question with such a small market team is how long will they be able to keep some of these guys around? Fielder? Hardy? I know Braun just signed a big deal, and hart has a few years left under team control. They'll be shedding some salary between Gagne(if it werent for Melvin redeeming himself with the CC deal, that should have been enough to get any GM fired), Cameron, and to a lesser extent Kendall, so thats something, but what is available for them? Remember, even beyond CC and Sheets, there are a lot of teams with more money than the Brewers that really need pitching, like both New York teams, Philly, Detroit, Dodgers, and Texas(I dont know how they are as far as money gos, but I know they desperately need pitching).

Knowing how quickly MacPhail moves, we would be lucky to get him by January. If its for the purpose of a salary dump, I could see him moving quickly. Of course, the Cubs and Orioles have a recent history of trades that dont really benefit anyone IE Sosa, Patterson, Traschle.

This is probably nitpicking, but Gallardo didn't tear both ACLs -- he only tore his right ACL in the game against the Cubs. The other injury you're thinking of is probably the arthroscopic knee surgery he had on his left knee during Spring Training to clean up some torn cartilage...a relatively minor procedure (although the saying "there's no such thing as minor surgery" comes to mind). I agree that it's incredibly stupid to rush him back, though. Apparently his knee is almost full-strength, but he needs to build up his arm strength again. The problem is, with minor league seasons wrapping up soon, he might not have anywhere to go on rehab assignments. Considering the Brewers' future pretty much rests on that surgically-repaired knee (which also happens to be his plant leg), I'd be more apt to let him continue his rehab on his own throughout the rest of the season and come back full strength for the start of Spring Training. It'd be nice to have him in the bullpen, but it's not necessary to make the playoffs, and it'd be crippling to the franchise if he wound up with an arm injury because he's overcompensating for a weak leg. and enter next season without him (and Sheets and Sabathia) I hope people don't think that the Brewers are going to be a non-factor because of Sheets and CC leaving. If they're smart, they'll try to trade Fielder, or at least Hardy for a nice pitching prospect or 2 in the offseason. I cant see Fielders relationship with the Brewers lasting long, especially with Boras pulling the strings, so they may as well get something good while they have a few years of team control on him. As for Gallardo, I could see them bringing him back to the pen if hes up for it, as thats where they need the most help. If hes feeling OK through September, they'll decide what to do with him come October.

Should we even wait to bring this guy up for Sep callups? He's been crazy good all year. We shouldn't. I want Hoff playoff roster eligible. Doesn't matter. As long as somebody's on the DL at the end of the year Hoff can take "their spot" Howry+Crowbar=Hoff.

Hed definitely be tradeable, but wed end up eating a portion of salary. If we could get the kind of production hes given the Os so far, and end up eating like 5 mil next year for him to play somewhere else, Im OK with that.

Was it last year or the year before when the Marlins looked like they were about to give the Mets a run for their money, or at least the Wild Card and then completely fell apart around this time? After their series with the Cards, it looks like they're well on the way. Lets aid the process for them.

Id be bitter too if my once promising career went down the toilet because I wasnt able to use steroids or whatever anymore.

Considering Bill Halls fall from grace, the Brewers would love to have him, and Id just assume they not get nother power hitter.

Hes only owed 8 mil in 2009. Considering the steals we got with Johnson and Edmonds, we can aford to overpay someone.

Just in case Aramis does have to miss any time, and if nothing else to block the Brewers who are without Branyan. We can DFA Ward to make room. I don't want to pay him that kind of money to sit on the bench next year. And we can't block the Brewers. They can block us. Since hes cleared waivers, we dont have to techniclly block anyone anymore. I meant to stop them from getting him. Hed be great off the bench, and tradeable in the offseason.

Just in case Aramis does have to miss any time, and if nothing else to block the Brewers who are without Branyan. We can DFA Ward to make room.

Tonight. Mark Kotsay.

That game was one hell of a roller coaster ride considering we had a sizeable lead most of the way.

Between Hoff, Craig, DuBois, Torres, Scales, and Kroeger, thats quite an impressive collection of career minor leaguers we have in Iowa.

If Aramis had been injured, wed probably be working out a deal with Baltimore as we speak.

I dont know what was wrong with Marmol just before the break, but its seems well in the rearview mirror now.

Have we had multiple base runners every inning?

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh153/OleMissCub17/tackleowned2.gif Howry just standing there is priceless He deserved it and he knew it.

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh153/OleMissCub17/tackleowned2.gif And he was so close. Good times.

I mentioned him before. I was damn near crusified.