Nader Raider Tim

Amongst my friends group I've been bringing up Chapman's name as someone I would love to see the Brewers gamble on. I know that is a huge gamble. Probably a gamble so large the Brewers can't risk it but it might be just the high risk high reward deal the franchise needs. The little bit I was reading about his workouts are going very well. Hitting 96 on the gun and consistantly hitting 93-94. The top offer known to be on the table is 5 years 15 million. For arguments sake I have been using the numbers 5 years 22.5 million as what the Brewers would have to offer to "lock" him up. 2.5 million up front as a bonus then 4 million per year. Ideally set up so it would be 1-3 million year 1 and going up from there. Signing Chapman would be a nice way for the Brewers to get an infusion of young talent into there franchise that would be hard to do without a bold move like this. If Chapman was draft eligible he would be a top 5 pick, and depending on the year top 3. The Brewers won't be picking that high for a long time (cross' fingers). Chapman is a gamble but it is one that I wish the Brewers would roll the dice on. A 5 year deal for 4 million per isn't going to be an albatross of a contract on a 80 million + budget. Sure it would sting if he flopped out miserably. The other way of looking at is if he flops out so horrible that he wouldn't be tradeable with the Brewers picking up half his remaining contract it would probably be injury related which hopefully insure would cover.

I try to read 3 books at once. 1 book for the car. 1 for at home when I have a few minutes and 1 that I read when I have hours (day's) to burn. Recently finished: Irreligion: A Mathematician Eplains Why the Arguments for God Don't Add Up (2.5 of 5 Stars) Torture Taxi; On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights ( 4 of 5 Stars) Censored 2010; The Top 25 Censored News Stories of 2008-2009 (5 of 5 Stars) City of Windows; An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance (5 of 5 Stars) Just finished this for the second time. I am pretty much out of books so I have to try and hunt some down. Hopefully the library finally has something good, doubtful though. The only book I have left I haven't read is Moral Minds; The Nature of Right and Wrong. The books is theorizing that morals have become instinctual.

Rotoworld is saying that Yohermyn Chavez is the PTBNL http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=5364 Gah this along with the VAzquez trades are deals that I would have loved the Brewers to make.

Well if Carlos Silva is worth Milton Bradley then Suppan should be worth at least Bronson Arroyo...right?

Silva has had only 1 season with and ERA+ of above 100 once in the last 4 seasons and that was a 102. The other 3 season he put up an ERA+ of 50, 65 and 75. I just don't see how there is anyway he has an ERA of below 5, and it very likely could be much higher than that. (Now that i've said that watch him have a massive career rejuvination. edit: The deal is much better looking now that the Cubs are saving 9M. Silva plus a player the Cubs can sign for about 5 million isn't a bad deal at all. (Rick Ankiel?)

That is a great trade for the Mariners. Especially if they aren't sending much money with Silva. There must have been no market for Bradley if Silva is all the Cubs could get in return. Bradley in a down year has an OBP of .378, in a "down" year. He posted his first OPS+ of below 100 for the first time since 02, and his previous 2 seasons he posted a 154 and 161 OPS+. Jack Z is going like a man possessed. This is quite an impressive offseason for him.

Hinske would be a nice player to pair with Counsell on the bench. I honestly haven't thought about him at all but it makes some sense. I've been hoping for Jerry Hariston Jr. but if Counsell signs Hinske would fill more of a need.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=2437 Orioles close to trading Chris Ray for Millwood. Gah, I would offer up Todd Coffey in a heartbeat for Millwood.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=3719 Harden is apparently willing to take a 1 year incentive based contract. The offseason would be so, so, much nicer with a high upside arm like Harden. Offer him a 1 Year 10 million dollar deal with 500,000 for 100 IP, 125 IP, 150 IP, etc. Logically Harden is probably out of the Brewers price range with the signings of Wolf and Hawkins. On the other hand Harden could be the "difference maker" that could justify going overbudget.

Gonzalez is a Type A free agent

I would most likely be in.

I would think that trading for Pagan, assuming it can be done cheaply, would be a great move. It would allow the Brewers to non tender Corey Hart, which is something that I think can and very may well happen anyways. Gerut would remain the 4th OFer, with Pagan in RF, Gomez in CF and Braun in LF. Pagan would also be insurance on if the Brewers need to send Gomez down to the minors at some point next season. Corey Hart will probably make 5+ million in arbitration, that money could probably be better spent in the pitcher fund. Let me be clear I am not advocating letting Hart walk, but I am thinking that it might be the smart move. Hart for 5 million or Pagan for 1 million. That extra money could go into the Harden, Duscherer, Wolf, Penny, et al fund. Pagan for a prospect in the 10-20 range in the top BF50 and another nugget or two. It could make quite a bit of sense in a roundabout way.

http://rotoworld.com/cont...amp;hl=271013&id=662 Looks like Jeff Clement might be heading out with Jarod Washburn. Speculation Morrow could be gone too. Washburn, Morrow and Clement is exactly the kind of deal I would want to see the Brewers do. Try and trade JJ Hardy for Washburn, Morrow and Clement. I am sure the Brewers would have to throw in something extra I just don't know how much. Morrow and Clement were fabulous prospects but their stock has fallen. Maybe Hardy and Salome. Clement and LuCroy would give the Brewers some nice young catchers and Salome could potentially DH in Seattle. Or Alcides Escobar and someone like Evan Anuundsen for that package. I would be less enticed in trade Escobar for a non star, but netting Washburn and 2 high tier prorspects might be enough to entice me.

Ugh, you made me want to buy this. Quick someone tell me it sucks...

Hardy and Salome for Bucholz is probably closer to what it would take to get a deal done. The Red Sox are undoubtedly looking for a Catcher of the future. I am sure they would ideally want to get a Victor Martinez, but he will cost an arm and a leg. Trading Bucholz from a position of depth and getting a short term upgrade in JJ Hardy and a potential long term upgrade at Catcher would probably be pretty enticing. Not saying I would undoubtedly do a trade like that but I would spend a lot of time entertaining the idea of it.

I am (was) in school for Printing in the Fox Valley Area, I will try and email a couple of the teachers and see if they have any contacts down near Madison. They have contacts all over so I'll see if they know of anything in the area. It'll take a few days but if they know of anything I will PM you.

Now I don't really know anything about Brandon Allen but his minor league numbers don't seem breathtaking. This is one of the type moves that I hope that Melvin was exploring. I would have to wonder if Cole Gillsepie (Perhaps add in a "nugget" style player) could have enticed the Diamondbacks. A reliever with stuff as good as Pena would have been nice to have.

Ryan Braun to Toronto for Roy Halladay and Scott Rolen

Depending on who the PTBNL is this seem's to be a Beane steal. A player who has been playing very well for a season and half now, who is under control to (or through not sure?) 2011 for a couple of pitchers who seem pretty darn non spectacular.

Seid's comment's regarding Heckathorn don't sound all that promising. I would be a bit disappointed if Heckathorn isn't signed.

Local radio in the Appleton area is screaming to pull off a JJ Hardy for Brad Penny deal. Yeah that is right straight up JJ Hardy for Penny. Gotta love local radio.

The real question is how high does Peavys ERA go now that he isn't pitching half of his starts in an extremely hitter friendly ballpark, and he has to deal with the DH. Does Peavy regress into a 3.75 - 4.00 ERA pitcher? His career Home era is 2.8 and away is 3.8.

Yeah the game just came out and is super buggy. I gave up trying to play it. I do love GLB though.

I am going to check around and see if I can get a couple friends together to head down for this.

Player of the year: Prince Fielder. The hefty herbivore ends up hitting .285/.390 with 43 homers. Pitcher of the year: This one isn't tough at all. Yovanni Gallardo is the only real choice in my mind. (Although it could be Roy Halladay) A healthy Gallardo is could, and should put up 15-18 wins a 3.25 - 3.5 era. Parra would be the only member of the rotation that could challange Gallardo for Pitcher of the year awards but the odds of that are relatively low in my opinion. Rookie of the year: Omar Aguilar. Aguilar gets called up late July and ends up the year splitting time with Villenueva as setup man. 20-25 IP with a 2.75 era. Gamel would be the obvious choice but I am going to go with a sleeper here. Unsung Hero: Carlos Villenueva. Villenueva ends up being the best Brewer reliever. He comes in for multiple innings when need, replaces Hoffman when hurt or tired. He ends up with 14 Saves a 3.35 era in 75+ innings. Minor League Impact Player: Lorenzo Cain. Cain is on here for 2 reasons. He does infact have a breakout year spending half a season at AA and half a season at AAA. He also is the main prospect in a trade for Roy Halladay. The Bluejays end up being in deep financial trouble so they look at sheading payroll. The Brewers end up getting Halladay and a dissapointing BJ Ryan for Lorenzo Cain, Zach Braddock, Efrain Nieves and a PTBNL. The trade part may be a pipe dream but I do think that the Bluejays finally end up trading Halladay and Cain does also have a breakout year. edit: Brewers record 86-76 good enough for a tie for 1st place with the Cardinals. I just don't think the Cubs pitching will be that great. Zambrano isn't what he once was. Harden can't stay healthy. Dempster will end up closer Braden Looper numbers than Roy Halladay numbers. Lilly will be Lilly a real nice starter. Milton Bradley plays in about 85 games, why Bradley didn't sign with a AL team is just baffling to me. Lee continues to regress, and Aramis Ramirez slightly regresses. TheRiot does have a breakout year.