TooLiveBrew

I think pretty much every player benefits from more ABs and perhaps I'm overestimating him based on his 2008 season but I think he can put up a .270/.340 kind of line with an everyday job. No, I agree with that completely. I think one reason why Melvin added Gerut is that he is a heck of a lot better than most replacements we could easily find for Cam. I don't think Gerut would be close to Cameron in terms of defense, but he probably wouldn't be a huge dropoff on offense.

Uggla will also be gone from the Marlins so that will probably open up a hole at 2B for them I know someone else (can't recall who, sorry) mentioned in the ML forum the example of SD trading Todd Walker when he unexpectedly became a Type A. So for this example, Lopez would accept arbitration, and then be traded to FLA for [something]. That way the Brewers wouldn't have to risk overpaying him to back up Weeks at 2B & PH occasionally, and still get something for him in return. Come to think of it, I wonder what the Marlins might send back for an offer of Lopez+McGehee. I think, as of now, the Fish probably view Emilio Bonifacio as the eventual successor to Uggla if he isn't retained. So imo they'd at least have interest in one of Lopez/McGehee, and probably both given Bonifacio's anemic offense. Oh, and by the way, nice thread idea LE.

People gripe that we can't be sure of the opportunities he's had to obtain pitching, but you can't honestly believe there weren't potential moves out there during the past 3-4 years involving one or more of these guys. Not to mention that this is a guy who wasn't willing to work with the organization & consider moving to 3B. Not that I even agree that's the right use of/role for J.J., but I don't know where his pristine image comes from. Hardy has made excuse after excuse for his struggles the past few seasons, and this season did seemingly nothing to change his approach at the plate, which was yielding disastrous results. On the direct topic at hand, I am very glad the Brewers made this decision. I don't at all agree that Hardy was screwed. If anything, J.J.'s poor production screwed Melvin over in depleting his trade value. This might even help Hardy long-term in terms of contract value(s). It is about time this club stopped treating guys like Hardy, Hart, and Weeks as if they had some inalienable right to a spot on the major league roster. How does Weeks get dragged into this? He was even sent to AAA, not to mention he was probably the second-best position player we had this year prior to his injury. And Hart had really righted his offense before his appendectomy (iirc), too.

Ultimately though, it's on Melvin's doorstep to make sure the Major League roster is balanced. DJ, you keep repeating the same generalized comment, that 'Melvin should have done more.' Instead of just throwing that generalization out there, let's hear some ideas you propose. As far as I can tell, there was one trade made last offseason that would satisfy your desires -- Edwin Jackson to DET. Now, beyond the one trade that one GM out of 30 was able to swing, what else are you after here? Melvin listed off great examples of the volatility of the FA market in the McCalvy article, and I would venture to guess that you'd be one of the first in line slamming Melvin had he signed Lowe (who didn't want to play here) & crippled our payroll by not identifying good SPing. What he did was play the lowest risk (short contract) on the FA market, and thankfully he was right to do so. Long, expensive FA contracts are never/rarely a good idea. And before you talk about how he's had X number of years, really, I'd like to hear you provide some tangible examples and/or comparisons. Trades that actually happened. It's not that I doubt you can find any, it's that the blanket statements of how bad Melvin has been -- like "People gripe that we can't be sure of the opportunities he's had to obtain pitching, but you can't honestly believe there weren't potential moves out there during the past 3-4 years involving one or more of these guys" -- without any tangible comparisons are getting tired. I really hope your response isn't along the lines of, 'It's not my job, that's Melvin's job.' And for the record I agree with you that the use of LaPorta was ill-advised, but I think Melvin saw a shot to go after the WS (not just the postseason) & took it.

Curse you, Theo Epstein, & your savvy manipulation of a stupid baseball rule! Hard not to admire shrewdness of that magnitude -- I never even stopped to consider that Wagner would net Type A compensation. Not sure Papelbon would understand if you tried to explain it to him, though. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Like the story, weatherman http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif What would excite me is letting the last month be a preview of next year. Let's see Gamel every day. Let's see Alcides every day. The kids might struggle a bit but Gamel will hit a couple of tape measure shots that will get everyone chomping at the bit. We'll watch Alcides go first to third and start getting fired up by seeing him and Ricky in the same lineup next year. This is exactly what I want to see as well. Especially Gamel, but that's probably obvious. However, since Macha is 'managing to keep his job', expect to see lots of Craig Counsell & Casey McGehee. Oh joy.

9 K's over 5 innings is nothing to sneeze at. The Pads are still a big-league club, like it or not. Most importantly, a 9 K, 0 BB game looks very familiar from Smoltz (great command, & good stuff).

Excellent idea on BAL, southpaw. I just have no familiarity with the O's minor league system, so I don't know which young arms might be in play. For those ignorant like me, here is BA's top 10 prospects list for the O's. Keep in mind this is from the past offseason, but the rankings for pitchers shook out like this: 2) RHP Chris Tillman (came from SEA in the Bedard deal) 3) LHP Brian Matusz ("best curveball" & "best changeup" in the system) 4) RHP Jake Arrieta 6) RHP Brandon Erbe 8) LHP Troy Patton 10) RHP Kam Mickolio ("best fastball" in the system) Weiters was still listed as the #1 prospect, so barring injury or regression, you can probably just bump each ranking there up by one.

I'm sure the Red Sox feel great about cutting Smoltz loose after this... turns out the Cards noticed he was tipping his pitches, and his first start for STL was 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K (75 pitches)

I don't get all the criticism of Melvin on not getting pitching this season (the past offseason, ok I get it). Who was out there? The Brewers were at least in on Peavy & Bedard, literally the day before both went down with injury. And then what other pitcher of significance did anyone add via trade this season? Cliff Lee, and the Indians told the Brewers we didn't have the pieces they were after. I guess we could have ponied up for Peavy in the asinine hope we'd still be 'in it' come September, but I'm sure glad Melvin didn't. So once again, what good does Braun whining or anyone blaming Melvin do? This season, there wasn't pitching to be had for the Brewers. This past offseason, there was.

But it wasn't based on one play. His routes are still routinely bad, and he rarely makes a decisive play if the SS is running back & tracking a shallow fly. He waits for the IF to give way, when at any level of ball, both the OFs & IFs are coached that those are the OF's balls, and it's his job to call off the IF (whose job is to then get the heck outta the way). The only redeeming factors Braun has in the field at this point are his speed & arm, which can often mask just how badly he reads balls hit into play. I don't believe he will never become an average or above-avg. defender in LF, but it pains me every single time Brian Anderson calls him a very good LF -- which he did yet again last night. Braun has a long way to go out there, and I can live with mistakes... what I can't live with is lackadasical play, which imo is exactly what resulted in last night's gaffe. He was doing his little hot-stuff trot to the ball, and by the time he realized he'd completely misread the ball, it was far too late. And I will freely admit (as if it wasn't clear...) that I posted out of frustration last night. Probably should have collected my thoughts better & made a more constructive post, but after a second straight gut-punch of a loss, I just didn't. There's that good advice Bill Murray gave the groundhog in Groundhog Day -- "Don't post angry" ... or something like that http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Geez -- don't complain to the Mets about injuries this season. Ouch.

Sorry... the Brewers' collapse this season has definitely impacted my overall interest, and I certainly haven't kept this thread updated like I'd wanted to...

He can't play several positions -- at least well -- He is a terrible SS. I would imagine he could handle 3B just fine.

A team that hasn't been mentioned (if it has, I missed it) is the Marlins. They're only 4.5 games out of the wildcard. I could see them trying to add some bullpen help. Good call, trwi. And the latest I knew, their closer/back end of the bullpen was up in the air. Plus, they might have some youth that would be attractive.

Braun made up for that error. Struck out on four pitches and swung at two that were balls. Braun's "defense" was beyond mockable. That dude single-handedly screwed any shot the Crew had at winning that game late. Thanks, inconcievably bad "route" you took to that easy F7 putout, Ryan! Hooray for having no clue as to how to play little-league caliber OF defense! I genuinely think that was the easiest OF play I've ever seen botched. Any calls for him to move to RF (including my own) need to just shut up. He's still a terrible defender.

I really can't see how Lopez would net 500-ish ABs with the Crew next season. The only place he'd see ABs is backing up Weeks at 2B & PH-ing, and there wouldn't be a ton there. I wasn't aware of/paying attention to what his salary number would be in my prior comments, so I apologize. If he can be retained for a reasonable amount of $, I think he's a no-brainer to bring back.

There's no way we get Lester for Fielder. Even straight up Even though I think this thread has turned into more of a Transactions Rumors/Proposals thread, I have to vehemently disagree, at least in principle. If anyone thinks we couldn't pull at least one pitcher like Lester at this point for Fielder, I think he's kidding himself (apologies to the many female posters). If the Brewers can't get at least someone comparable to Lester when dealing Fielder, I'd rather they just take the comp picks. Imho Lester for Fielder slants in favor of the Red Sox. Yes, Fielder has been that good this season.

What facts am I ignoring? I actually can't agree necessarily that defense is a push, because I haven't seen enough of Morgan's d. I know Cam's defense is about as good as you can find, though. You can pretend you're using OPS if you want, but you're not, you're only going by slugging percentage because Morgan's OBP is a tad higher. I'm sorry paul, this just isn't a question to me. An OPS of .818 (Cameron) leads to more runs scored than an OPS of .756 (Morgan), especially when the OBPs are basically identical. And beyond that, Cameron has a career's worth of work to demonstrate that he works BBs well & also SLGs well. Morgan has only demonstrated that it's taken him until his peak seasons to actually even get a fulltime job, and even now he can't hit for power or BB. I get it, you like speed & the SB, & you hate strikeouts. But the problem is that K's don't ever show any more negative value than any other outs, and basestealing doesn't show any real increase in runs scored (because of CS). I understand you are stating that you prefer Morgan, but the problem imo comes in when you're telling people that the statement, 'Cameron is the better player' is just preference. It isn't.

Yeah, at worst there will likely be a lot of PH opportunities, & backing up Rickie at 2B makes some sense -- facing tough RHP, in general giving Rickie time off v. RHP would be nice.

Yet Macha chose to go with a gassed Coffey against their best hitter. Incompetent may be too strong and I apologize, but I still didn't like the move. Macha overall is probably not "incompetent' (though I won't praise him much), but that decision was incompetent imo. Though obsessedwithbrewcrew is right in #80 -- every manager makes stupid decisions, at least from time to time.

How has it been proven he is a superior player? Because at worst for Cam their defense is equal, and his offense, as proven by those pesky facts, is superior. You're the only convinced that Morgan is more valuable. I don't see how you just claim Cameron is superior offensively because he hits more home runs and a few more extra base hits. If you can't see the irony & just plain error in this comment, then no one should even bother carrying this discussion with you any further.

I could see Counsell being moved, and if not, perhaps Lopez. Hoffman could certainly go, but not sure how much could be expected in return for possibly just a month+ of him. And I can dream that Kendall will be dealt away.

But he's managing to keep his job! Anyone could see that Coffey totally didn't show signs of being gassed the inning prior, and that asking a short reliever to go 4 innings was a great idea!

http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Honestly, what would you have to say if Jack Z didn't draft a bunch of bats? (About time? [/rimshot])