Nader Raider Tim

Not to sidetrack the discussion here but now that we know the exorbinate cost of FA pitching (Meche, Lilly horrible deals), would going after Vincente Padilla in retrospect have been a good move. His deal dosen't seem as horrible as the others. It seems like Suppan will get a similar deal 3-4 roughly 11mil per. So the question I pose to you is who would be the better value Padilla at 12mil per or Suppan at 11 mil per?

Rumor has it that he is asking for a 4 year 36+ million dollar contract, while I like him and don't think that the money wanted is that far out of the realm of reasonable as previousally posted we don't have room for him. Maybe if Jenkins, Mench, and Clark all get traded, but that seems to be an unlikely occurance.

This would be good, signing. Suppan is a quality pitcher, who eats innings. The only real problem that I have with trading Doug Davis is the increase in workload that our bullpen would have to deal with. Suppan is/and should continue to be an innings eater. The other way to look at this deal is that he is proven to be a decent/good pitcher. He may/does not have the upside that a Padilla/Meche, has but he also dosen't have the downside. I really think that Suppan would be a very nice addition. Plus a player like Suppan is likely to keep solid value, making him a very tradable commodity. If the Brewers aren't going to compete they would be able to unload his contract easily and get back value. Suppan is a tru #3-4 starter, and is likely to maintain #3-4 value for the next couple years, baring unforeseen injuries

While I do think that Chone Figgins definitly can be had, and Santana might be able to be pryed away, Wood will not be traded. Wood, Kendrik, Weaver, all are untouchable. The reports are that the Angels wouldn't even talk about putting them in offers for Crawford, Manny, A-Rod, so getting Wood is out of the question.

About Dave Bush, Melvin was also raving about him at the end of the season, in an article on milwaukeebrewers.com. I seem to remeber him, somewhat, comparing Bush's secondary stats, to that of Carpenters and saying something to the effect of Bush having a very solid career in front of him. I personally have no problem with Bush in the 3 spot, and Villenueva in the 5 spot. I do think that Sheets has the capabilities of being an elite #1 Starter and should have the title, but with the last few injury plagued seasons (Albeit flukish injuries, not your typical major injuries), I would feel a lot more compfortable to have another solid front line starter. Capuano as a #2 scares me a little his second half collapse really made his numbers come back to earth and I would classify him as a true #3 starter (with upside). Vargas in the #4 spot is a giant question for me. Don't know much about him but I think looking at his numbers, moving to more of a pitchers park, and having Mike Maddox he should be able to give us solid ERA out of the #4 spot. (4.45-4.8) The problem is the difference in innings pitched from him to Davis. A Mulder addition would be nice fit. He could provide us with pitching depth, potentially give us a great 1-2-3-4 combo, come ?playoff? time.

I still can't believe what a steal the Braves are getting! Argh that is the sort of steal I would have loved Melvin to pull off.

Well, lets just say I love this thread. What I hate is relative strangers telling you about how depressed they are. Call me a jerk but it really sucks having someone put that responsibility on you. In the past 6 months I have had 3 people i barely know get into hour long conversations with me about how depressed they are. 2 of them about how they are thinking about suicide and the other about how she tried it. The most recent situation was today at school a girl that I have had a class or two with and would chat with occasionally abit began telling me about how she hasn't liked life at all in the past 8 years. It turned into a 2 hour discussion. When I was trying to get her to go to the counselor she wouldn't and said not to worry she wouldn't kill herself because she is to afraid of the physical pain. I'm kind of a big jerk so I don't know why strangers feel compfortable telling me about their depression. But more importantly I don't know how to appropriatly handle that situation. Sorry to bring the mood down.

I hope this turns out to be like the Overbay trade. When that first came out I believe that it was rumored to be for just Dave Bush. Then when the deal finally happend it wound up being a lot better than rumored. It does appear that this deal isn't a sure thing by any means though.

Correct me if I am wrong, because I am not positive that I am correct. When Rogers was drafted though wasn't one of the positives about him was people thought that he wouldn't have arm troubles. I seem to remeber reading an article that refered to his arm as indestructable.

these are both discussed in the Rocco Baldelli trade thread. Rotoworld made what they thought were fair trade possibilites Ramirez for Wise Villenueve, Capellan, Aquino for Baldelli Keep in mind those rumors apear to be simply the "fantasy" of the author of the article

www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=3326 Rotoworld is reporting that the Astro may offer Willy Tavares and a young pitcher. The Twins may offer Jesse Crain and a young pitcher. If the Twins actually did offer that I don't know how the Rockies could say no

I would have to think that the Brewers could match or beat that offer. I really know very little about Marmol, but because I never heard of him I am going to assume that he isn't on par with a Gallardo. If the Rockies want a CFer we could offer something along the lines of: Brady Clark Tony Gwynn Jr. Zach Jackson If the Rockies want a corner OFer we could offer: Geoff Jenkins Zach Jackson The Jason Jennings Saga, seems to be one of the more entertaining stories this winter meetings. There are a lot of rumors flying around I am very curious which ones are true. Some offers seem like crap others seem like the Rockies are asking for the moon.

Personally I think the Cubs got a steal. The Colorado/Pit part looks pretty even. Edit: Rotoworld is reporting that deal has be TALKED about, but they also say that the Cubs would be giving up Marmol (Pitcher) in the deal

If that is all that it takes to get Baldelli I think you would have to jump on that. Getting a player like Baldelli without giving up any of your core players or one of your elite prospects, IMHO, is a bargin. If that deal happend I would think that we would have to go out and pay whatever it takes to get Jason Jennings. I don't really know what it would take but from some of the other rumored offers out there it shouldn't be to horrible of a price. Hypothetically even after doing both those moves the Brewers would need to improve their bullpen, hopefully Jenkins, Mench and Clark could net us 2 quality relievers. 1- Baldelli 2- Estrada 3- Fielder 4- Hall 5- Weeks 6- Hart 7- Hardy 8- Koskie/Graffinino/Cirrillo/Braun Starting Pitching Ben Sheets Chris Capuono Dave Bush Jason Jennings Vargas That looks like a potentially very good team. The bullpen would need some pretty major improvements though.

Sorry but I had to bump up this thread. OK, I work with a "huge" Brewers fan. Problem is he also is a huge Cubbie and Red Sox fan and won't shut up about how they are so much better franchises because they always sign at least one high ticket free agent. Grrrrr.....It is getting out of control now. When I bring up the Estrada/Davis trade, all he can talk about is that it isn't Soriano. Is it possible to forcably remove fan status from someone. I just wanna shake him, like a nanny shakes a baby.

I have always enjoyed reading the Power 50 and thank you for the time and effort you put into it. I just hope that whoever takes over will do as wonderful job as you.

www.topprospectalert.com/top100baseballprospects.htm

I'll throw down my top ten. I haven't seen any of these guys play so I am just going off of stat's. 1. Ryan Braun 2. Yovanni Gallardo 3. Will Inman 4. Cole Gillsepie 5. Angel Salome 6. Carlos Villenueva 7. Jeremy Jeffress 8. Charlie Fermaint 9. Tim Dillard 10. Steve Hammond 11. Lorenzo Cain 12. Mark Rogers 13. Hernan Irrabean 14. Tony Gwynn Jr. 15. Dennis Sarfate 16. Manny Parra 17. Brendan Katin 18. Brent Brewer 19. Micheal Brantely 20. Mat Gamel

Yeah I thought that Blanton was 4 years younger than he is. Braun would be way to much, but I still think that Jackson and Rogers, or players of equal value, would have to be involved.

Zach Jackson, Ryan Braun, and Mark Rogers would probably have to be the starting point for any Joe Blanton trades.

If Gary Mathews Jr. = 5yr 50 mil Julio lugo @ 4yr 36, or 5 yr 45 is a steal

Ok since this is all pure speculation on our part I will throw my 2 cents into the conversation. Hypothetically speaking if the Brewers/Red Sox/Angels are looking at pulling of a trade, I would think a few things would be relatively probable to happen. First: Manny would obviosally go to the Red Sox, so they are going to need equal compensation. (No offense but Jenkins, Turnbow, et. al. isn't going to work for them Two: Chone Figgins would be involved. The Angels have obviousally been shopping him and have little use for him. I believe Melvin was quoted as saying finding a leadoff hitting speedy CF was the top priority of the offseason. Three: Santana would have to be involved in some facet, another player they have obviousally been shopping. They also seem to have Wood, Kendrick Weaver as untouchable, so Santana would be escential for aquiring a player of Manny caliber. So logically a starting point of any transaction would be as follows: Red Sox - Ervin Santana Brewers - Chone Figgins Angels - Manny Ramirez How do you even out the values? Who would be most likely for the Brewers to trade? My rough estimate would be something along the lines of: Red Sox: JJ Hardy, Ervin Santana, Scott Shields Brewers - Chone Figgins, Rob Quinlann Angels - Manny Ramirez, Zach Jackson I personally think that is a pretty even transaction, that is beneficial to all involved. In regards to the Brewers portion of this HYPOTHETICAL transaction, would Figgins and Quinlann be equal to JJ Hardy and Zach Jackson? EDIT:This is what the lineup would look like: 1 - Chone Figgins 2 - Rickie Weeks 3 - Prince Fielder 4 - Billie Hall 5 - Corey Hart 6 - Geoff Jenkins / Kevin Mench (Platoon) 7 - Johnnie Estrada 8 - Corey Koskie / Rob Quinlan (With Braun hopefully demanding this spot I would like that lineup. After this year Gross and Mench could platoon in LF or the Brewers could look to improve outside the organization. Also hopefully Braun will have pushed his way into the 3rd base job.

The way I see it all they need to do to "thin the herd" is non-tender Mench or trade him.

Dope, totally forgot him. I was going off the last few peoples posts and just never thought about him. Well then scrap the Mench/Lopez trade and just non-tender Mench

C - Johnny Estrada 3m 1st - Prince Fielder 382k 2nd - Rickie Weeks 500k 3rd - Billie Hall 4m SS - J.J. Hardy 408k RF - Geoff Jenkins 7.5m CF - Corey Hart 382k LF - Jose Guillen 4.5m Bench Damien Miller 2.25m Brady Clark 3.8m Craig Wilson 4.5m Pedro Feliz 4.5m Yohannis Perez 500k (???) Starters Bennie Sheets 10 Chris Capuono 3m David Bush 425k Vargas 2.75m Carlos Villenueva 380k Relievers CoCo Cordero 5m Turnbow 2.3m Wise 1m Capellan 383k Aguino 383k Brian Shouse 1m Sarfate 380k Trade Gross or Jenkins for minor leaguer Sign - Jose Guillen 1yr 4.5 mill (w/option for year@7 with a 500k buyout) Craig Wilson 2yr 8.5 million Pedro Feliz 1yr 3.5mill (w/option yr @5.5 w/ 500k buyout) We replace Mench with a better platoonmate for Jenkins. Jose Guillen is a low risk high reward player. If Guillen flops massively we could rush Braun a bit, ala Rickie Weeks/Junior Spivey situation. Pedro Feliz would give us a backup for 3rd, 1st, SS, and LF. Total Cost 64.75 million I wouldn't be to dissapointed if hypothetically we could get Aubery huff instead of Guillen and Feliz, but Huff would get a multiple year deal and I wanted to stick to deals that would keep the Brewers long term flexability. P.S. Is Corey Hart horrendous in CF, I don't get to watch many games not having cable and working 2nd shift. Edit: Oh, I almost forgot offer up Estrada or Miller to the Giants for the next Liriano, Nathan and Boof Bonser. (that should be in blue) Edit of the already edit post: Forgot Brady Clark