Brewers trade John Axford to Cardinals for PTBNL

[brewcrewdue80]

Applause? Maybe. I hope Ax pitches circa 2012 for Stl. down the stretch just so Pitt can win the division. But at the same time, You have to wonder the quality of the PTBNL may hinge on Axford's success for Stl. before being decided on. It's doubtful the player is anyone worth future promise to make the Bigs though. We'll see.

 

Non-Applause though because with Axford out, Figaro called back up, I see the bullpen winning another game down the stretch vs. losing 1 and that 1 win is going to be costly in draft position. This may have just assured the Brewers don't get a top 10 pick anymore.

 

I'm foreseeing a 4way tie for 8th in the draft in which Milwaukee finishes with the 12th pick in that scenario due to tiebreakers....

[craigharmann]

wait until axford takes a sip of that magic st.louis water. he will be pitching great in no time lol

 

Why does that magic water make for amazing pitchers of baseballs, but horrendous pitchers of beer?

[Thurston Fluff]

Melvin has always looked to get a young arm back in any deal, so my guess is it's more than likely a pitcher.

 

Can Nick Delmonico pitch?

[trwi7]

You have to wonder the quality of the PTBNL may hinge on Axford's success for Stl. before being decided on.

 

McCalvy made it sound like the PTBNL will be named next week in which case it wouldn't hinge on Axford's success.

[dlk9s]

Top 3 for sure, but no baseball organization is better than the Yankees organization.

http://i.imgur.com/NstnI.gif

[markedman5]

Tom ‏@Haudricourt 3m

Signs starting to point to reliever Michael Blazek as player in #Brewers trade of John Axford. Details coming http://jsonline.com .

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/221945311.html

[trwi7]

Hard fastball and control problems just like Axford.

 

Speaking of Axford he just completed his first inning for the Cardinals. Got Clint Barmes to flyout, Felix Pie (yes, that Felix Pie) to ground out and Jose Tabata to line out.

[brewcrewdue80]

You have to wonder the quality of the PTBNL may hinge on Axford's success for Stl. before being decided on.

 

McCalvy made it sound like the PTBNL will be named next week in which case it wouldn't hinge on Axford's success.

 

 

Wasn't aware of that when I made my post. I had read it was going to be decided in the next month. Makes it even less likely the Brewers get anyone worth anything in this deal aside from the salary relief and not having to deal with the process of Arb in the offseason.

[TURBO]

Found this on Rotoworld:

 

Brewers acquired RHP Michael Blazek from the Cardinals to complete the John Axford trade.

Blazek is a nice get for the Brewers, as he's thrived in a full-time move to the bullpen this season, posting a 1.97 ERA with 52 strikeouts over 45 2/3 innings between Double- and Triple-A. He's been up-and-down in his brief time at the major league level but has a chance to be a nice setup man.

[DHonks]

I'm betting the Cards decide to convert Axford to the rotation for next year, he goes 17-4. Just like Wainright, Bottenfield, Looper, etc, he'll be a good starter.

[Jimbo]

What are the odds Axford saves Game 7 of the World Series this year? Given the Cardinals recent history, it may be greater than you think.

[Mr Southpaw]

Michael Blazek goes from the 5th baest prospect of the Cards to the 11th best prospect of the Brewers. None of the ten in front of him are on the MLB roster (Maybe Hellweg). Why do people say our minor leagues cupboard is so empty?

[Mr Southpaw]

After reading the top 20 ay MLB.com, I feel even better. Two of our top three pitchers are a couple of hairs away from being in Milwaukee, the rest of the top twelve includes an entire lineup card, and we have six starting pitchers in the 10-20 range either a year or two away from being Brewers.

 

We already have a good core group with Peralta, Thornberg, Gomez, Davis, Schafer, Gennett, Segura, Braun, and Lucroy. 2015-2020 should be very good years for the Brewers.

[igor67]

Even if both were having down years snagging a couple of teams 5th best prospects for relief pitchers is pretty good value.

[djoctagone]

2013 was michael blazek's first season on a 40-man roster, and he's been shuttled back and forth this season by the cardinals. thus, he has two minor league options remaining at the start of 2014 spring training.

 

the brewers roster is back at 39 with the acquisition of blazek.

[trwi7]

Michael Blazek goes from the 5th baest prospect of the Cards to the 11th best prospect of the Brewers. None of the ten in front of him are on the MLB roster (Maybe Hellweg). Why do people say our minor leagues cupboard is so empty?

 

Because it is? The top 4 of the Cardinals (Taveras, Wacha, Wong and Gast though I have no idea what Gast is doing that high on the list) is far better than Nelson, Jungmann, Hellweg and Taylor and that's even after the Cardinals have also graduated Miller, Rosenthal, Martinez and Adams off their prospect list this year.

 

We're just so ridiculously far behind other teams, especially the teams in our division on high upside prospects as well as depth.

[Roderick]

Blazek is a much better player than what I thought the Brewers would get for Axford. Makes me wonder if the Cardinals see something they can fix with Ax and were willing to pay the price.

[Outlander]

Now that they received Blazek I think the Brewers can also let Badenhopp walk or trade him if there is any interest, would save them probably a million bucks.

[Roderick]

Now that they received Blazek I think the Brewers can also let Badenhopp walk or trade him if there is any interest, would save them probably a million bucks.

 

I think I would spend that $1.5M extra (over min.wage) to keep Badenhopp instead of counting on every single one of the pre-arby young guys to be healthy and pitching decent next year. So if a combination of Thornburg/Blazek/Wooten/Hand/Figaro(?) doesn't have a good spring we aren't trying to find a pen guy late and they are stashed in the minors for the inevitable injury or performance issue. It shouldn't be a big deal to trade away Badenhop if all the pitchers are healthy and the young guys are performing.

 

You just want to keep Badenhop away from lefties as much as you can. The other scenario would be if the FO feels they want to sign a different veteran bullpen guy who is better or cheaper than they can let Badenhop walk.

[Baldkin]

You just want to keep Badenhop away from lefties as much as you can. The other scenario would be if the FO feels they want to sign a different veteran bullpen guy who is better or cheaper than they can let Badenhop walk.

 

Our manager has proven he has no idea how to use pitchers in this manner. See: Loe, Kameron.

[jerichoholicninja]

There seems to be some hate on this board for Badenhop. Other than ERA his numbers this year are the same or better than last year which many thought were a fluke. He's been quite good.

[joepepsi]

Our manager is probably the worst manager ever in bullpen/pitcher management. Ron "wait till he gives up the lead then replace" Roenicke.

[hawing]

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=MLB&id=6071&line=411052&spln=1

 

As some of my students would say, I DON'T EVEN.

[igor67]

The ghost of LaRussa lives, I guess the Cards really did need an Ax man.

[Outlander]

Molina almost got hit the previous inning, looked like both benches were warned. I would guess he wasn't trying to hit Tony Sanchez, nobody made a big deal of it.