RockCoCougars

I strongly agree with this. Gallardo and Greinke would give the Brewers one of the top 1-2 punches in baseball. If Wolf can pitch closer to he did in most of the second half as opposed to the first half, you have a solid #3. Sign a cheap 'project' with upside (Francis, Harden, possibly Bedard) for the 4 slot on an incentive-heavy deal and resign Cappy for the 5. If they aren't traded, you still have guys like Narveson, Parra and Villanueva to stand in if needed. With all the bad contracts going off the books (Suppan, Hall, Riske, Hoffman, Davis, Zaun, etc.), the Brewers should be able to make all of these moves at pretty much a wash on total payroll even with the buyouts, arby raises, etc.. Extend Rickie, keep Prince at least until the deadline and give it a go- if that means moving Lawrie and Rogers or Jeffress, so be it.

Did you have to pause for a second after thinking that it was Rollie Fingers at first?

Maybe Prince has been thinking, and is putting out a feeler to see if the original extension offer still stands. If he doesn't lock in, he's taking a huge risk that he gets hurt or has another down season. In such a scenario, he could be leaving a huge chunk of change on the table. As for the 'Boras won't do this or that' stuff, Prince made it clear last season that he is Boras' boss, not the other way around.

What was the new farm director's name that year, Al Goldis or something? He, Bando, and all the scouts who worked on the 92-94 drafts in particular should hang their heads in shame. I'm not going to look, but I know they were truly pathetic. It's goes without saying that the old regime- Dalton, Manno, Poitevant (etc.) were greatly missed during the first week of June.

Weeks needs to be kept, and I hope that an extension can be worked out before spring training. This should be one of the top priorities of the off-season. Despite the injuries, he's gotten better every year, and being that he's only 28 years old, I have a feeling that it wouldn't be fun watching him hit his prime somewhere else.

This simply is not true -- Blue's drug problems surfaced when he was with the Royals in 1983. Now, he probably was using drugs well before that, but his legal problems happened well into the down-side of his career. Blue was never talked about as a HOFer in the mid-70's to early 80's before his legal problems. Blue's career simply wasn't good enough for the HOF, and there were so many good HOF starting pitches in the mid-late 70s, Blue gets rightfully placed on the back burner. I'm not sure about that. Blue had 165 career wins on his 30th birthday. He also had a Cy Young, an MVP, and several World Series under his belt. It seems like he was in the All Star game every year. If he'd had half the longevity of a guy like Sutton or Gaylord Perry and stayed out of prison, I don't think that there is any reason to believe that he couldn't have pitched until 1990 or so. I don't think that he ever really had any injury problems. Like Dave Parker it was a combination of poor conditioning and drugs that eroded his skills and cost him the HOF.

I think there have been a lot of bad selections in the past 10 years or so: Cepeda, Tony Perez, Sutter and Rice to name a few (though I'll argue in Dawson's favor until my face is blue, the sabermetrics just don't do him justice). That's becoming the issue now, "if so in so is in, so should so and so"- I'm guilty of this too. For example, in my view Dave Parker was a much better player than Jim Rice. Though they both peaked right about the same time in the late 70's, Rice maintained playing pretty well until about 1984, but unfortunately Parker got out of shape and started partying a little too much... so he disappeared for a few years in the early eighties. Then, ironically enough, Rice basically started to wash up in '85 and Parker started to resurrect at the same time. Had Parker not wasted a few seasons, he would have easily been a HOF, probably gotten to 3,000 hits, etc.

I'm really starting to believe that Fielder isn't going anywhere. The teams that do have legit pitching to move either are set at first base or can't afford to pay him (Tampa), and the teams where he seems to 'fit' don't have anything worthwhile to give up for him (Chicago WS, Detroit). I say that you keep him around. Either he has his patented huge odd-season year, and he can be flipped for something at the deadline (or perhaps help carry the team to the playoffs), or he has another season similar to this one, in which case he may become affordable to re-up. As I've said before, if there isn't a huge trade market for Fielder, why are we assuming that teams will be falling all over themselves to give him $130 million in free agency? If Fielder can't bring a guy who can be a legit #2 starter in 2011 (not 2012 or beyond), I'd rather take the two draft choices. It looks like Melvin is leaning the same way.

I may be an old fart, but I think the ball and glove should have never been dropped. It's always rated one of the 'best sports logos' ever. Based on merchandising, I think the Brewers and MLB realize this too, also look at how many people you see wearing it at the games (almost as many as are wearing the 'new' stuff'), it's popularity is evident. Frankly, I think the current uniforms are crap. Not as bad as the 'Mickey Mouse' logo from the late 90's or the Notre Dame rip-off from the mid-90's, but still crap.

Great guy, I'm sure. Horrible third base coach. I haven't yelled at the television at a Brewers 3B coach this much since Rich Donnelly.

This staff doesn't excite me much at all. You have a first time third base coach (at least in the majors, I'm assuming that he coached third while managing in the minors), and a pitching coach who was just canned in Baltimore, and the token former manager (albeit a poor one) as bench coach in Jerry Narron. I would have preferred to bring Castro back over Kyles as well, to help with the communication issues that the Latino players claimed to have last season. Iorg doesn't rub me one way or the other, because the first base coach is pretty meaningless unless they do some work with the defense.

I think Mattingly is one of the most overrated players of all time. He had 4 fantastic seasons, 1984-1987, and then wasn't really anything special after that. In the 8 seasons he played after 1987 he topped .800 OPS only 4 times, just once reaching into the .820's. He only played 13 seasons, those last 8 hitting just 99 homers with a .347obp/.424slg. His peak didn't last long enough, and his health didn't allow him the years to run up the counting stats. Take away those 4 great years and all you have left is an injury prone Wally Joyner. I agree that Mattingly had a short spurt of greatness, but in those four years he was the best player in baseball hands down. If I had a vote, I'd still say no though. That said, if you look, his and Puckett's career stats were very similar. Both had their careers ended by injuries. I think that Puckett's sudden departure due to the glaucoma got him a lot of votes as opposed to Mattingly's slow decline from his back problems, which probably hindered his stats in the latter part of his career as well.

I think that if you do it, you have to trade Lawrie for that proven 1/2a guy like Greinke. Though Latos is very impressive, I don't see them moving him. Otherwise I don't see a match. I think that the Padres waited too long, 2 years ago I would have done Lawrie as part of something for Peavy (bullet dodged). Maybe he was part of the deal that was rumored to be almost done before Peavy got injured. Speaking of Toronto, I would bet that Lawrie was part of the rumored deal that Halliday shot down. As for what they have now, I love Morrow as a #3-ish starter, but I don't think that he's enough return for Lawrie. I don't see anybody else on Toronto that would interest me.

Allen has a strong case. Dude was a BEAST who didn't put up huge counting stats. The Hall is VERY inconsistent when you look at players, and try to apply standards. Bob Johnson is out.......(.899 OPS, 138 OPS+, 2,051 hits, 288 homers) Chick Hafey is in..........(.898 OPS, 133 OPS+, 1,466 hits, 164 homers). And they played the same position, in the same era. Color me confused. For some guys, if they didn't have the counting stats, they're not getting in. Some guys put up huge numbers over a short span, and they made it. (Hack Wilson). Inconsistent standards. Agreed. I was too young to see him in his prime, but the stats speak for themselves. Allen was basically the Joey Belle of his time, but more dominant relative to his peers. His personality kind of got him blackballed, but his stories of playing in the minors in the segregated south kind of make that understandable. You are right on about the short span thing as well. Puckett makes the Hall- which I don't argue with- but Mattingly doesn't? Though I may sound like a Yankee homer (I'm far from it), I'm always kind of shocked that Thurman Munson doesn't get more consideration. He was arguably better than Fisk (definitely defensively) during their primes. After his death, there was talk that he planned of retiring and even if he hadn't he'd have probably moved to first full time at some point.... but considering the fact that he was only in his early thirties when he was killed- had he caught a few more seasons, and then moved to first or DH for a few more, he would have accumulated enough stats to get in.

I agree that Garvey doesn't belong, but in my view he was the best of these players (outside of maybe Blue). Up until the mid 80's, Garvey would have been considered a shoo-in. Had he not fallen completely off at the end of his career, he could have eeked out a couple years as a DH somewhere and gotten to 3,000 hits. Blue just self-destructed. Outside of Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson, he was probably the most talented left handed pitcher since Spahn. If only he could have stayed off the coke- which I believe he ended up retiring from- after a prison term, suspensions, etc., all he would have had to have done was to stay active throughout most of the 80's to make it. Most of his stats were compiled before the age of 30. He was basically the Dwight Gooden of the baby boomers- their careers paralleled each other so much, it's scary. By the way, where is Dick Allen? In my view, he definitely deserves some consideration. Is this for guys who have not yet been considered by the veterans committee? I doubt it because a few of these guys have been off the main ballot for some time.

Ben Sheets. Seriously, none of the above due to talent/cost/injury risk. I'd rather take a flyer on Rick Harden (who isn't on there and is available unless I'm missing something) as a #4 who should be relatively cheap with upside (even though his velocity was down last year, he's still young). Though he was pretty brutal last season, he made it through pretty much unscathed. Mortgage the farm system for Greinke, resign Capuano, and you have the following rotation: Greinke Gallardo Wolf Harden Capuano with Narveson, Parra, etc. to step in if necessary.

Didn't Caldwell beat Guidry twice that season? Between Caldwell and Higuera, the Brewers had a patented Yankee killer on the staff for over a decade.I seem to remember another 'Mike' beating Guidry for his only other loss that season. I can't remember who it was though. One of the best, if not the best seasons, for a pitcher during my lifetime. That said, I think that he falls just short. As I said, Blue should have been in the HOF, and would have had he been able to keep his nose clean (literally).

Tommy John was not a Hall of Famer in my view, at least as a player- maybe he should be enshrined because of the surgery. He was mostly mediocre over his career, anybody could compile those stats pitching for 40 years or whatever John did. Of that list, I would say the best player was Steve Garvey. I know Simmons gets a lot of play for the HOF - is ranked high by Bill James, etc., but I think that he falls just short. Yes he was a catcher, but mostly a DH for his last 3 seasons with the crew. When he did catch with the Brewers, he wasn't that great behind the plate though I know that he was no spring chicken. I'd say he falls just short. Al Oliver was a great hitter, but was no better than Cecil Cooper and was mostly poor defensively- where is Bill Madlock? (not that he should be in either) Blue probably should have been a HOF, but some personal things got in the way, and he was pretty much washed up by age 30. Frankly, I don't think that any of those players deserve to be in. My guess is that Miller, Martin and Steinbrenner are locks at some point.

He's still young, but it's looking like he's headed toward the Boulevard of Busted Phenoms. I was impressed with Mujica when I saw him last season, so I think this is a good deal for the fish.

Got it. I also agree about keeping Peterson. The guy has had some success, the staff started to turn things around at the end of the season- and he's going to get paid anyway. I just don't want Roenecke to hire a crony that he's 'comfortable with'- I shouldn't have dropped 'mediocre' in there, because I don't care if the guy was a Cy Young winner, if he doesn't have a track record of coaching success at the MLB level, I don't want him. When managers hire a crony, it should be the first base coach or the bench coach (I guess the bullpen coach would apply too, but that one doesn't really mean anything. Maybe they should bring Castro back, so they have someone to communicate better with the Latino players.). True, guys like Maddux were 'unproven' when the Brewers hired them according to my definition, but that was a different team at the time coming off a 100 loss season.

Point taken, we've seen that with Rod Carew and Dave Stewart. That said, do you really want an unproven guy to be the fourth pitching coach in four years? Pitching coaches have a huge influence in my view, and it's kind of like the NFL teams changing coordinators every year. Letting Maddux go over money is one of the unsung blunders in Brewers history in my opinion.

I was not meaning to trade an offensive player for Braun but trying to gauge his actual trade value among players with similar contracts. You must have missed that part, but if you are only willing to trade Braun for Felix or Price in all of MLB than you are probably being a bit of a homer. Most of those guys aren't locked in for another 5 years, except for the ones who were rookies last year. I'm not rolling the dice and trading Braun for any rookie (though Posey would be tempting). Braun has a four year track record, many (if not, most) rookies who have big first seasons are pretty much flash in the pans. To trade Braun, you have to balance skill, age, contract length and contract amount. That's why I wouldn't trade him for most of the guys that you listed. Not even to mention that unless something cataclismic happens, you can pretty much pencil Braun in for the stats he had last year at minimum, pitching is risky- any of those pitchers are one injury away from taking a huge nosedive.

I hope that there are no mediocre pitchers that are now pitching coaches somewhere in the minors that Roenicke crossed paths with during his playing career.... I would prefer to keep Peterson rather than hire someone who's never coached in the majors before.

Maybe it's the homer in me, but I don't think that I would trade Braun for anybody on your player list though Ramirez or Posey would be tempting. Mostly because Braun is better and/or cheaper/locked in for longer. As for the pitchers, I'd probably do it for Felix and Price and that's about it. I wouldn't roll the dice on Strasburg, that's for sure.

Paul Molitor was 'injury prone' too. After all, he was 'just a DH' when he was allowed to walk by Bando. The difference between Molitor and Braun was that Molitor missed tons of games, Braun has averaged about 30 homers 100-some rbi and a .310+ batting average in the past two 'injury riddled' seasons. Based on his contract and his production, Braun has to be one of the top 5 most valuable players in baseball when it comes to trade value (much more than Gallardo in my opinion as well). Harp on his defense all you want- personally I think that he should have been kept at third base. When he moved to the outfield, many said defense in left field doesn't matter. Where are those people now? If you are that concerned about his defense, put him at first base, he is an elite hitter on a Hall of Fame pace. You simply don't trade him when you are a market like Milwaukee and have him locked in for 5 more seasons (most likely the prime of his career).