My colleague Travis Sarandos asks: What, in your mind makes Taylor Swift the greatest musical artist of our generation, and how quickly will the hit single "Let Me Finish" by Taylor Swift feat. Kanye West sell 1 billion copies — one day or one and a half days?
I'm not sure who Taylor Swift is but I'm sure he is very talented and I wish him all the success in the world.
Great198 takes some time away from predicting all the Brewers Giveaways this year to ask this question: Since the general consensus is that Lucory will no longer be around when the Brewers are ready to compete again and there's no heir apparent in the farm system (sorry, Maldonado), what top catching prospect would you target for in a trade with a team that needs one or more of our MLB-ready players (Segura, Davis, Lind, K-Rod... maybe even Lucory or Braun)?
It's hard to say. Catchers are not easy to come by because it's such a difficult position to play. A lot of guys either never make it to the majors or get moved off the position at some point in their minor league career. I took a look at MLB.com's Top 10 catcher list and I only see two that I think might be available: Reese McGuire with the Pirates and Austin Barnes with the Dodgers.
The only reason I think they might be available is because they're blocked at the major league level by some pretty talented catchers in their own right: Francisco Cervelli and Yasmani Grandal. I'm not sure what the Brewers have that those teams really want or need and Jonathan Lucroy isn't an option for obvious reasons.
The Giants have Aramis Garcia who might be interesting and capable of starting but he isn't a sure bet. Orioles have Chance Cisco but I'm not sure if he can stick behind the plate and I don't know if he's available. At least with them they need an outfielder, first baseman, and catcher so a trade could easily be made if both sides were willing. The Mets have two catchers--Travis D'Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki. Because they have two catchers I think one could be available and it would probably Plawecki. But I don't see a trade happening between these two clubs anytime soon.
Sometimes guys come out of nowhere. I would guess that happens more with catchers than any other position player. Because it's so demanding defensively a lot times a catcher's bat will lag behind. But then one year it'll just click and boom you've got a guy going from borderline non-prospect/back-up catcher to a solid regular. That's kind of what happened with Jonathan Lucroy.
I can't remember who it was or what teams were involved but a trade for a catcher like this happened at the trade deadline. The guy was always good enough defensively but never hit until this season. I remember a lot of people being upset because the only publicly available scouting reports were from before the season and they had him as a back-up or nothing. But things had changed since then. So maybe the Brewers can find a guy like that.
AKBrewerfan asks many things: Why did Bioware think people would accept their original Mass Effect 3 ending? Why can't there be a good MLB game on Xbox or PC anymore? Have you played FTL: Faster Than Light? What is the greatest RPG of all time and why is it Chrono Trigger? What sport is best suited to video game adaptation?
There was a lot more but I've never played any of the space sims or 4X games, sorry.
I was so frustrated with the ending of ME3. I don't know what they were thinking with that. Did you ever read the fan theory about Shepard being slowly indoctrinated and by the end of the game he's fully under the control of the reapers? I thought that was f-ing brilliant and I wish it would have been the real ending.
It's because Playstation has an exclusive agreement with MLB so other consoles cannot use actual players or teams.
I have played FTL and I think it's an absolute masterpiece. Seriously I cannot praise that game enough. It's so much fun and it helps me live the fantasy of being a space captain like Jean Luc Picard.
Chrono Trigger probably is the greatest RPG of all time. It was so very ahead of it's time. The storytelling was great. The time travel was done exquisitely. I love the way the different eras sort of rhymed with each other. I would also throw FFVI, Suikoden II, Xenogears, Skyrim, KOTOR, The Witcher 2, Deus Ex, and Fallout 3 in the ring too. I also have a soft spot in my heart for FFVII and Secret of Mana but I think they fall just short of that top tier.
My two favorite sports games are Tecmo Bowl and NBA Jam so I'll say football and basketball are best suited to gaming.
Drezdn wonders: If the Brewers did trade Khris Davis, what would be a good return?
Trade question are always so hard to answer. Value can be affected by a number of things: Market, perceived value of a player, contract status, team control years, etc. I would hope to get at least one player back that could be a regular at some point. Maybe a third base prospect but probably not a great one. Or maybe a 3/4 starting pitcher prospect. Maybe a decent first base prospect. Basically something to address one of the holes. In addition to that I'd hope for two more prospects that are more of the throw-in/lottery ticket variety. Maybe one that's in the very low minors that is a project. That's what the Brewers did when they got Marcos Diplan as part of the Gallardo deal. He's the lowest profile guy from that trade but he could end up as the jewel of the deal.
Roguejim asks: The next wave of prospects that we're so excited about — how do they compare to the class that brought us Rickie-Prince-Braun-Gallardo?
As an entire class the old one is probably better. But remember that was an insane pool of talent the Brewers had. Right now the Brewers have some very good talent. I'm not sure a single guy in the minors has the upside Ryan Braun had though. Trent Clark, Monte Harrison, and Gilbert Lara probably come the closest. I think Demi Orimoloye and Jacob Gatewood--who I think will transition to the outfield eventually--could be similar talents to Corey Hart if they hit their ceiling. Gilbert Lara could be similarly to Rickie Weeks but at third base. I think Cody Ponce and Devin Williams could end up as a close approximation to Gallardo. It's possible one could even be better. The one thing about this crop of talent is that a lot of it is still a few years away. As such the risk/uncertainty is still high. We'll have a better idea what Clark, Harrison, Lara, etc will be in another 2-3 years.
Drezdn also asks: What should I get my mom for Christmas?
I'm not sure what to get my mom. I've been wrestling with that for a couple weeks now and I'm no closer to an answer.
Infield Fly Rule asks: What Brewers prospect were you most excited about that didn't pan out?
I thought Tyler Thornburg had a chance to be a pretty solid starter. I also had moderate hopes for Johnny Hellweg. I'm still holding out hope he can fully recover from his TJ surgery and be a competent reliever who hits the high 90's. I also thought Mark Rogers would last longer than he did after it seemed like he finally got over his injuries in 2012.
And finally Drezdn asks: What's the best MST3K episode?
There are a lot of great ones but my personal favorite is "Werewolf." This is a timely question as it was just announced that the Rifftrax website will now start hosting old episodes of MST3K which is pretty awesome.
From the Twitters:
@BrewCrewBall What is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?
— regular travis (@travis_mke) November 6, 2015
The answer is 42 of course. Unless we're talking metric in which case it's 38.789775.
@BrewCrewBall what your thoughts on finding a 3rd base man, and near close in the system? will they try one of the SS.
— Eugene Mannarino (@steelmann58) November 6, 2015
I think for the near future they'll probably just get some stop gap guys. I think Juan Uribe makes a ton of sense on a one year deal. I'd even give him two if it was cheap enough. In the farm system right now I think eventually they slide Gilbert Lara over there. I think there's going to be talk of Gatewood moving there too, and he might, but I think his forever home will be in right field.
@BrewCrewBall Can we get a pronunciation guide on the new writers?
— Frank Cocuzzi (@GoldenFrank) November 6, 2015
I call them Thing 1 and Thing 2. But they can probably tell you in the comments how to pronounce their actual names.
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That concludes another session of our mailbag. If you have a question you'd like answered make sure to leave it in the comment section. You can also tweet us your question or leave it on Facebook.