Winter Meetings and Rule 5 Draft Thread

What do you all think Doug Melvin & Co. will do in the Winter Meetings, which start on Thursday? What would you like to see happen?

I think Melvin is going to make a few moves, as this is his favorite time of the year to do so. As you recall, this was the time when the numerous moves were made last year and the time of the Sexson trade. So, let's just focus all our thoughts and questions in this thread, and let's all get involved, as this will be the last major Brewers event of 2005. We all like the Brewers here.

66th Best Team?

Does Marquette's OT victory over reigning postseason NIT champ South Carolina make Marquette the sixty-sixth best team in college hoops? Will this team be the best team that doesn't make the tourney? Personally, I don't see Fitzgerald ever being decent as a 6'9" backup point guard, but Amoroso needs to keep getting the quality playing time that he got in the USC game for this team to be effective, especially in the Big East. Anyone who watched the Great Alaska Shootout final Saturday night on ESPN2 knows that Amoroso is a solid option on the blocks and from deep. I love his tenacity and his offensive rebounding ability and the combo of him and Dominic James could be a solid one for the next few years.

Feel free to chime in...

Marlins's Fire Sale

What do you guys think about the most recent fire sale by the Marlins? These moves have really piqued my attention.

Let's ignore any politics around the team and any stadium deal.

What the Marlins gave up:
Getting rid of Lowell is a major plus. Delgado was getting paid a lot, but he was really good. Beckett is not getting paid what he is worth because he is still young. I don't think his blister problems will continue, so he is one of the top pitchers in the National League.

What the Marlins probably will get:
Hanley Ramirez: I think he is the probably the single most overrated prospect in baseball, with Feliz Pie being a close second. Very little if not no numbers back up his hype generated by Gammons and the Red Sox nation.

Anibal Sanchez: Good numbers and could become a very good pitcher, but beware. TINSTAAPP (There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect). I say this because of the high percentage of "can't-miss" pitching prospects that fizzle out.

Mike Jacobs: Good power but not much else. Very impressive in a late season callup by the Mets, but minor league career was up and down. Not a good first base prospect, but I hear he can play some catcher, meaning he has value there.

Yusmeiro Petit: His minor league numbers may be the best of any pitcher in baseball, though his "stuff" is not rumoured to be too great. Again though, TINSTAAPP.

I think this argument comes down to the value of prospects versus major leaguers. If you think the Marlins could have competed next year, then I cannot see how you justify these deals.
I think major league stars like Beckett and Delgado hold much more value than regular baseball players like Lyle Overbay, which justifies the high salaries of the stars.
The Marlins have some good young pitchers in the system along with Jeremy Hermida, who I think may be the best OF prospect in baseball. And let's not forget about Miguel Cabrera. If Petit and Sanchez turn out to be top starters, the Marlins or whatever the franchise is called at the time, will be very good in four years.
Now, get some draft pick returns for Burnett, dump Todd Jones while the pickins is good, trade Juan Pierre to the Cubs for anything those clowns have left in their system besides Felix Pie, trade Luis Castillo to the Giants, and get value for Guillermo Mota and LoDuca. Also, if someone is willing to give up the farm and barn, move Willis.
The worst thing a team can do is have a plan (a firesale for instance) and not completely go through with it. What good are these other players now that the Marlins have no shot to win next year? Think about how much more young talent the Marlins could get from these players in one of the best seller's markets ever.
My instincts say that the Mets deal was a good one but the Red Sox deal was not a good one for the Marlins.

The results are in . . .

sadly, only four people voted for this years winners. If you don't like who was selected, too bad.

AL Exec of the Year:
Mark Shapiro, Cleveland Indians

AL not-Exec of the Year:
Tie, Dave Dombrowski, Detroit Tigers and Bill Bavasi, Seattle Mariners

NL Exec of the Year
John Schuerholz, Atlanta Braves

NL not-Exec of the Year
Tie, John Hendry, Chicago Cubs and Dan O'Brien, Cincinnati Reds

AL Walter Johnson
Johan Santana*, Minnesota Twins

AL Jose Lima
Jose Lima*, Kansas City Royals

NL Walter Johnson
Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals

NL Jose Lima
Eric Milton, Reds

AL MOP
Alex Rodriguez*, New York Yankees

AL LOP
Tony Womack, New York Yankees

NL MOP
Al Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals

NL LOP
Christian Guzman, Washinton Nationals

* denotes unanimous winner

Random Chuck Norris facts

In case you haven't seen this yet, it's worth a look and a good laugh. These are the top 30 Chuck Norris facts http://www.4q.cc/chuck/index.php?topthirty . My favorite is "Chuck Norris was the fourth Wiseman. He brought baby Jesus the gift of 'beard'. Jesus wore it proudly to his dying day. The other Wisemen, jealous of Jesus' obvious gift favoritism, used their combined influence to have Chuck omitted from the Bible. Shortly after, all three died of roundhouse kick related deaths."

Miami 'Canes throwin' down the beats

For those of you who haven't heard, several former and current Miami football players have been identified as members of "The 7th floor Crew", a group that recorded a profane rap song at some point in the last 2 years. The 7th floor is a floor in a residence hall at Miami. I'm not going to say now that this surprises me, but I found a copy of the song today, and it might be the funniest thing I've heard in a while. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of insulting women, but wow, stick with it for the full 9 minutes and you'll hear such lyrical gems as "Come on fellas, let's gets weird, stick your d**k up in her ear. " and "We 'bout to run a seven-man train all up in you." Enjoy : http://media.putfile.com/7th-Floor-Crew .

BREAKING NEWS: Cubs sign MVP finalist.

Ok. This post is funny because I am able to be completely serious yet uncontrollably condescending. . .
On Thursday, the Cubs agreed to terms with 33-year-old relief pitcher Scott Eyre. The deal includes a $1.5 mil signing bonus, $7 mil for two years, and a third season player option for $4 mil. There is a no trade clause and incentives of up to $2.5 mil. (And I'm not sure on Eyre's status, but this probably cost the Cubs their second round draft choice.)
Holy shit. Now, to be fair, Scott Eyre had a good year. In 68 innings, he posted some good numbers. But, in 68 innings, a lot of things can happen. Considering that he was used exclusively as a lefty-specialist, his numbers should be good. Such a benefit is outweighed by the fact that the team is carrying a pitcher that will face only two batters each time he comes in. Eyre has not had a good major league career, and he is 33 years old. This contract is designed to limit any possible benefit from Eyre pitching well and, at the same time, magnify the problem if he pitches poorly. He is guaranteed $8.5 mil for two years. That alone is a lot for a relief pitcher. If he pitches well, the bonuses kick in and he makes $11 mil. At $5.5 mil a year, he better pitch really well. If he completely blows ass, he will take his option at age 36 and cost the Cubs another $4 mil in 2008. If he pitches well, then he will decline that third year option and leave the Cubs. What I'm saying is that the signing is high risk, low reward.

But, I'm wrong. Scott Eyre is not just some relief pitcher. He is an MVP finalist. (That's why we here at BrewCitySports have our own voting). In case you didn't know, Scott Eyre got a vote in this year's NL MVP balloting. Don't believe me? Here: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051115&content_id=1268475&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb#results
If you just looked at that list, try to stay focused. We aren't talking about Jose Reyes or David Eckstein. Let's just keep our attention on Scott Eyre for the moment, please.
$la$h will like this: Scott Eyre is more valuable than Pedro Martinez. Think about that for a second.

This highlights one of my favorite annual online-reading moments of the year. My favorite moment every year, of course, is reading the scouting reports on draft day. No matter how many times I read things like "pitches downhill," "is a pitbull," and "body similar to Doug Drabek," I am going to laugh, and loudly at that. But, waiting to see who writers thought were among the 10 most valuable players in the league is getting to be just as funny. How in God's name does Scott Eyre enter that list? Even if you are a Bay Area sports writer, what is going on? I can think of about 10 Giants players more deserving than him. Look at the names on the list above him!

How funny is this vote? What do you think of the Eyre signing by the Scrubs? In terms of overall disgust, how much do you have? Or, is it sheer hilarity, as it is to me?

only a few days left to vote

this is your civic duty. well, basically we want to know what you think, but we'll have to seriously re-evaluate our blogger-member relationship with those people who refrain from voting.

The more sensible NBA shakedown from someone who watches it religiously between baseball seasons...

Eastern Conference:
Playoff Seedings
1) Detroit
2) Miami
3) Boston
4) Indiana
5) Cleveland
6) New Jersey
7) Washington
8) Milwaukee


Atlantic Division

1) Boston
2) New Jersey
3) Philadelphia
4) NY Knicks
5) Toronto

--The Atlantic shakes down into a war to see who can beat up on each other the most inside this division. None of these teams are really very good, nor does one of them have to be to win this division, but Boston with solid front court play from LaFrentz and Jefferson and last year's 6th man of the year Ricky Davis taking over a starting role leads them to the playoffs as this division's #1 team. The Nets have two prime players and one very overrated "star" and not much of a bench. Philly is Philly with AI doing all of the work, but this team will be a force in time with Andre Iguodala and Sam Dalembert. The Knicks are well coached but don't have the right players to implement Larry Brown's defensive plays, and Toronto is just plain the 3rd worst team in the conference even with Jalen Rose, Chris Bosh, and Mo Peterson, just barely ahead of Charlotte and Atlanta.

Central Division

1) Detroit
2) Indiana
3) Cleveland
4) Milwaukee
5) Chicago

--This could easily be the toughest and closest division race of the year, barring suspensions to Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, and Jamaal Tinsley. Detroit pulls it out simply because their defense has improved under first year coach Flip Saunders while their offense is leading the NBA in FG% and fast break points. All of these teams have a realistic shot at making the playoffs. Cleveland is the likely candidate for 4th best team in the East with King James, Drew Gooden, and Zad Ilgauskas, plus the additions of Larry Hughes from Washington and Eddie Jones from Miami...and don't forget about Donyell Marshall.

Southeast Division

1) Miami
2) Washington
3) Orlando
4) Charlotte
5) Atlanta

--This division has one great team, one playoff team from last year that lost its best players, and a couple of teams who are still looking to turn the corner. Orlando without Grant Hill is just another team, but Josh Howard is continually improving. Charlotte and Atlanta are still lightyears away, and Washington is beating up on a weak schedule (sans the W against San Antonio) to get off to a fast start. Losing Kwame Brown and Larry Hughes hurts a lot, and this team will miss their defense as the year rolls along. All of that leaves Miami atop the scrap heap with a team full of stars and not enough basketballs to go around.

Western Conference:
Playoff Seedings
1) San Antonio
2) Phoenix
3) Denver
4) Houston
5) Dallas
6) Utah
7) LA Lakers
8) LA Clippers

Southwest Division

1) San Antonio
2) Houston
3) Dallas
4) Memphis
5) NO/OKC

--This division race will be a lot closer than most expect it to be. With most NBA analysts picking Houston as the 2nd best team in the whole Western Conference, I have to disagree. Dallas with Avery Johnson as head coach plays enough defense to win games in the regular season. Yao and T-Mac will be scary for Houston in the playoffs, but they're not deep enough to compete with the likes of San Antonio (Jon Berry and Dikembe Mutombo aren't gonna cut it). Memphis is young and talented, but still looking for a sizeable contribution from its bench, and New Orleans can't really be expected to do much, especially after trading Baron Davis near the end of last season.

Northwest Division

1) Denver
2) Utah
3) Minnesota
4) Seattle
5) Portland

--Not much to say here, each team isn't all that good. Denver is the deepest team, but not the best coached...Utah holds that distinction. The Jazz could surprise this year if Memo Okur continues his solid play. Minnesota and Seattle are on par, but both are not quite decent enough to see their way to the playoffs. Portland is awful, though in their defense they do have 4 significant minute-grabbers who didn't play college ball, and one guy who stuck out a Freshman year campaign with Izzo at MSU. Don't be surprised if the bottom three in this division finish in some kind of flip-flopped order as compared to what I predict.

Pacific Division

1) Phoenix
2) LA Lakers
3) LA Clippers
4) Golden State
5) Sacramento

-- Phoenix still has the reigning MVP (or MP3 if you've seen the commercial) and a jovial cast of shooters around him. They can still score with anyone. The Lakers and Clippers get the nods at 2 and 3 because of 1) coaching in the case of the Lakers (Phil Jackson) and 2) alien power in the case of the Clippers (Sam Cassell). Golden State has Baron Davis and not much else, at least not on the glass, which is where they suffer. Sacramento is purely terrible on defense and can't rebound at all.

Playoff Predictions - East

Detroit over Milwaukee
Miami over Washington
New Jersey over Boston
Indiana over Cleveland

Detroit over New Jersey
Miami over Indiana

Detroit over Miami

West

San Antonio over LA Clippers
Phoenix over LA Lakers
Utah over Denver
Houston over Dallas

San Antonio over Utah
Houston over Phoenix

San Antonio over Phoenix

NBA FINALS

Detroit over San Antonio (6 games)

--The Pistons recover the crown with a solid bench effort from Antonio McDyess and Carlos Delfino, plus a Finals MVP by the name of Tayshaun Prince

BCS MLB Postseason Awards

Disagree with who received hardware this offseason? nows your chance to make a difference. this is the first annual BrewCitySports postseason award polling. We will vote for NL and AL Executive of the year, Walter Johnson, and Most Outstanding Player (yes, I HAVE to be different). Vote for your top 3 in the comments for this post. Lets try to get as many people voting as possible. That means some of the less frequent contributors as well. My picks are

AL Exec.
1. Mark Shapiro, Cleveland (5 pts.)
It didn't initially appear as though the tribe would live up to expectations, but when T-hafner finally got healthy, the Indians, of a meager $40 Million payroll, just barely missed out on the playoffs. Milwood signing looks like a relative steal now.
2. JP Ricciardi, Toronto (3 pts.)
Put together a competitive team in a nearly impossible division
3. Billy Beane, Oakland (1 pt.)
They hung around for a while, and he made some great trades for the long term success of his team. An early favorite for the '06 award.

NL Exec.
1. John Schuerholz, Atlanta (5 pts.)
I feel like he got the better end of the Hudon trade, although Hudson spent significant time on the DL. Found injury replacement for Larry Jones and made the corner outfield situation work. Got bested (more or less) by nl gm #2 in Kolb trade, however.
2. Douglas Melvin (3 pts.)
This guy just plain knows what he's doing. put the brewers in position for their first non-losing season in 13 years and continues to prepare for immediate AND long term future.
3. I don't know, I'll throw a point at whoever with this one. (1 pt.)

AL Walter Johnson
1. Johan Santana (5 pts.)
I almost gave this award to Rivera, but Santana's stats are simply phenomenal. to carry a sub-3 era in the AL is tremendous. also had a 5.25 k/bb ratio.
2. Mariano Rivera (3 pts.)
we all know about him
3. Mark Buehrle (1 pt)
Again, didn't really know who to vote for, but he works quick games and doesnt walk anybody. worth a vote in my book.

NL Walter Johnson
1. Chris Carpenter (5 pts.)
Argument already posted
2. The D-Train (3 Pts.)
Argument already posted
3. Jake Peavy (1 pt.)
Park factor makes a difference in his stats, but he's what ben sheets could be if he ever stayed healthy

AL MOP
1. Alex Rodriguez (5 pts.)
led in OPS and HR and gets a huge VORP nod over Ortiz, Hafner, and Teixeira for playing 3B.
2. Travis Hafner (3 pts.)
T-haf gets the nod over ortiz despite injuries for two reasons. 1. i like him. a lot. 2. When he was healthy he was better than Ortiz. thats right, better.
3. Ortiz (1 pt.)
Quite possible this guy wins the MVP tomorrow

NL MOP
1. Derrek Lee (5 pts.)
It really, really pains me to give this award to a Cub, but his numbers support it. He didn't walk quite as much as pujols but he mashed the shit out of the ball all season. There was a stretch in there where every time he stepped up to the plate I was expecting him to hit at least a double
2. Albert Pujols (3 pts.)
If Andruw Jones beats this guy for the MVP I will be outraged. Pujols is the Karl Malone of the major leagues: always very deserving of an mvp, and sometimes the best player, but often overshadowed by bigger names or single statistics (see: Michael Jordan)
3. Jason Bay (1 pt.)
This guy is so underrated its scary. Incredibly young and put up a shitload of production for a terrible baseball team.

There you have it. don't give explanations if it will deter you from voting. i'd just like to see what happens.

Who's gonna win it? The Bucks! The Bucks!

I will admit, I was not able to watch the Bucks game last night in real time, I instead chose to watch a movie that I have already seen. Twice. However, I caught the highlights, though, and it was one of the best finishes to a game I've seen in a while. Its that statistical anomaly of a scenario that makes NBA games take 20 minutes to play out the final two. In short, the bucks were down 6 with 30 seconds left, and through trading 2 free throws for 1 with Indiana and hitting a timely three pointer, they found themselves down 2 with 7 seconds left and no time outs. Fred Jones (Indiana) missed his second free throw, and the bucks collected the rebound. The ball was passed to Mo Williams, who dribbled it down the court, tyus edney style, and stopped 30 feet from the hoop (that's really far away) with a second and a half left and drained the winning three pointer as time expired. With all the excitement of that game and a 4-1 start, and my preseason prediction that the Clippers would make the playoffs (E will verify that), I am going to make my bold, baseless predictions for where each nba is going to finish in their respective conferences, including playoff results.

Eastern Conference
1. Miami*
2. Indiana*
3. New Jersey*
4. Detroit (Will finish with better record than New Jersey)
5. Milwaukee
6. Washington
7. Cleveland
8. Orlando
9. Philadelphia
10. Chicago
11. Boston
12. New York
13. Atlanta
14. Charlotte
15. Toronto (will make a run at worst record in nba history)

Western Conference
1. San Antonio
2. Denver
3. LA Lakers
4. Houston (will have better record than LA, maybe also Denver)
5. Phoenix
6. LA Clippers
7. Utah
8. Dallas
9. Golden State
10. Memphis
11. Minnesota
12. Seattle
13. Sacramento
14. Portland
15. Oklahoma City

Eastern Conference Playoffs
Miami over Orlando
Indiana over Cleveland
Washington over New Jersey
Detroit over Milwaukee
Detroit over Miami
Indiana over Washington
Indiana over Detroit

Western Conference Playoffs
San Antonio over Dallas
Utah over Denver
Lakers over Clippers
Houston over Phoenix
Houston over San Antonio
Utah over Lakers
Houston over Utah

NBA Finals
Indiana over Houston

There, I know you don't care, but hopefully you made it to the bottom.

NL Cy Young Debate

Today, Chris Carpenter was announced as the NL Cy Young winner, to no surprise here. The guy had an outstanding season. Do I think Clemens should have won it? Yeah, maybe, but I'm not surprised Carpenter won. What I don't understand is all these people that are up in arms that Donty Willis didn't win, as though his credentials are head and shoulders above Carpenters. Lets take a look:
Pitcher A
ERA: 2.63
K: 170
BB: 55
K/BB: 3.09
HR: 11
K/9: 6.47
G/F: 1.4
QS: 25
W: 22

Pitcher B
ERA: 2.83
K: 213
BB:51
K/BB: 4.17
HR: 18
k/9: 7.93
G/F: 1.98
QS: 27
W: 21

Some of you may recognize that player A is willis and Player B is carpenter. I just don't see the argument (which came from everybody I listened to on espn today) that Willis should have won. I'll admit, these are kind of rudimenetary numbers to use for analysis (the last of which is only thrown in for effect), but I don't fully understand all the Sabermetric valuations to comment on those. Anyway, the very best anybody can hope for is that carpenters higher era/hr totals make it a wash, but even then, they always look for the player on the best team . . . and last time i checked the cards were the best team in the majors last year while the Marlins watched from home. for those interested, here are clemens' numbers

Player wrC
ERA: 1.87
K: 185
BB: 62
K/BB: 2.98
HR: 11
K/9: 7.88
G/F: 1.41
QS: 26
W:13

Anybody that can make sense of more sophisticated sabr stuff, by all means fill us in. my next post will be about the bucks. get excited.

Detroit

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-pistons-kings-apology&prov=ap&type=lgns

This is too funny. It's so true that Detroit is the way they showed it. I guess people from Detroit refuse to accept the truth.

Cy Young Winners

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20051107/sc_space/mathematicianspredictcyyoungwinners

This article looks pretty good and I believe the results. As rediculous as it is that wins is the dominant factor in choosing a Cy Young Award winner, this pretty much proves the point.

turkey bowl VI

for those interested (including anybody reading this board and anybody they know) we're playing tackle football at my house the friday after thanksgiving. thats friday, november 25, three weeks from today. all are welcome save those who wish to piss their pants on my property.

This article is too funny. I cannot believe it's actually true.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2208944

Basically, Nutt yanked Johnson for the ball game vs the Cocks, and elected to play with Dick instead. The O-line could not protect Johnson from being sacked, but perhaps Dick’s greater maneuverability will enable him to escape the pocket unmolested and release the ball downfield to Penix.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=170934

(Ok, so Penix is actually redshirted this year, but hey, so was Dick, so you never know. That passer/receiver combo may be in the near future.)