RockCoCougars

Call me crazy, but I don't think that this team would be any better this season with Lawrie and Escobar. The future would look better, but I'll take last year's playoff run in exchange.

Yeah, he certainly did have a chip on his shoulder. It certainly seemed like Sheffield's primary goal almost from the get go was to get out of Milwaukee. He had the flashy image with the well publicized arrest in the off season of '88, but I remember being stunned picking up the paper one morning after his first outburst. I think the first thing that he went off about was the pitchers not protecting him... I think that he called them 'girls'. He also strongly hinted that he wanted to be traded- probably the quickest trade demand in MLB history. I remember Selig bending over backward to appease him (brought his parents to town, etc.), but in hindsight it seems that the organization handled him the wrong way (though you could assert that Sheffield wore out his welcome almost everywhere that he played...) Sheffield came to the bigs with a ton of hype, I'd say maybe the most hyped Brewer rookie ever. He and Griffey were kind of like the Trout/Harper of '89. Bottom line, if this board would have been around in '89, it would have imploded.

Could somebody be so kind to give a quick summary of why Sheffield is so hated in Milwaukee? I know he was a tool and accused the club of being racist (wiki), but what are the specifics? Mostly he just had a big mouth. Over a period of a few years, he trashed nearly everyone associated with the Brewers including in no particular order: Harry Dalton, the entire pitching staff, Billy Spiers, Paul Molitor, etc. He whined when he was sent down to the minors, when they moved him to third, when Dave Parker was traded, etc. Obviously, the claim that he tanked some throws on purpose didn't help him either. I think a big part of this disdain was that outside of one season, he pretty much sucked as a Brewer, then after the trade, became an instantaneous Triple Crown contender. This certainly indicated that he may not have been, shall we say putting out maximum effort during his stint as a Brewer. With age, I've actually softened on Sheffield over the past several years. The Brewers organization literally got off on the wrong foot with him when their inept medical staff of the late 80's/early 90's failed to diagnose a broken foot his rookie season and let him play on it for several weeks (from what I remember, a chunk of it in the minors). You also have to keep in mind that he was a 20-ish year old kid, completely out of his element. I'm sure that a lot of us had maturity issues and/or said stupid things at that age. Also, he later denied his quote regarding the throwing errors and the box scores don't really bear it out.

I actually like Grimm, but Buckels seems to be a huge longshot at this point, and I'm not a fan of the mini-middle IF that they offered to throw in. If I'm Melvin, I don't do a deal like that, which has a very good chance of looking horrible in five years. I'd rather let ZG walk and take the pick.

The Angels' trade package was fair, but if the reports are correct, the Ranger offer was crap. I would have taken the draft pick instead of that deal.

If a team- any team, is willing to take on Lee's contract, you had better believe that they (most likely along with others) will be waiting to outbid the Brewers for ZG's services come December.

I can't figure out why you would call up a guy from AA to play him out of position and platoon him. Why would you start the service clock for that type of role, when you already have a lineup brimming with RH hitters? For an organization so hesitant to trade prospects, they sure seem pretty reckless about wasting service time (guys like Perez, Grimm, etc.). Maybe they are planning on sitting Michael Young or something, so I'll withhold judgement. That said, the cynic in me sees this move as damage control to help justify Daniels failure to acquire a front line pitcher.

Gary Sheffield's return to Milwaukee - waited a long time for that. My mother claimed I was the only one that remembered him. She was quickly corrected by the resounding chorus of boos. It warmed my heart. I didn't like the idea of the Brewers going to the NL, but one thing that I did like was the fact that Sheffield would have to come back to Milwaukee. Solely for heckling purposes, I actually ordered lower box tickets to what I thought would be Sheffield's first game back . I remember sitting in a bar on a Friday night a few weeks before the game and seeing the crawl on the ESPN screen that Florida had traded him to the Dodgers in a deal for Piazza. From what I remember, his glorious return to County Stadium was delayed by quite some time... maybe even into the next season. I was very disappointed.

The way Dempster is dealing tonight, I'm sure the pressure is off the Rangers' G.M.

As others have said, definitely Willie Mays in his peak for me. However, if you replace a guy with Maddux with a horse like Walter Johnson who could give you nine innings almost every time on three days rest AND come out of the pen, I would rethink. The ideal guy might be a young Babe Ruth who could kill two birds with one stone.

Regardless of what's going on in his life, Josh Hamilton has been putting up Rickie Weeks first half numbers since late May. I wouldn't even entertain the thought of giving him a mega contract.

Tough to say. At this point, I'd probably be inclined to keep the veteran bats and go with the young starting pitchers. Obviously, that leaves some holes, and I'd try to sign a bunch of vets on one year deals. Obviously the pen needs to be overhauled, and probably one veteran starter. As for SS, I'd try to get Drew from Arizona on a make-good type deal, but I have a feeling that a lot of G.M. will be trying that.

I've been to WS, playoff, milestone games, etc., but Easter Sunday still stands out to me.

I'm baffled by what part or the Sheets situation you think was lucky. He didn't get burned on K-Rod at all, he took a slight risk to try to win a World Series and we had the best team in the NL but failed when the important part of the year came. This post seems completely silly. He offered Sheets arbitration when he had a mangled right arm. All Sheets would have had to do is agree to arbitration and he would have collected 8 figures to sit at home for the entire season. Yes, he did get burned by K-Rod. Most people were stunned when K-Rod accepted arbitration, and it was obvious that Melvin made no contingencies to carry K-Rod's salary. The only reason that he offered K-Rod arby was for the draft pick.

I can't stand the Giants, so it would have been awesome to have seen that trade go down.

You could likely do a nice revamp of the bullpen and sign a veteran starter for less than $13 million total. Marcum has had issues related to durability both years he's been here, so I wouldn't take that risk. I'd look into signing him, but not for that kind of money. I don't think he deserves almost a 100% raise based on this season.

If you are reading this Doug Melvin, no draft choice is worth the risk of burning $13.4 million on an injured Marcum next season. You got lucky with the Sheets situation, and got burned on K-Rod. I hope that you've learned your lesson.

I'm not worried about Ramirez' contract. It's not like it looks like complete garbage like the Suppan deal did with 2 years left. As long as Ramirez is able to finish fairly strong and healthy, they could probably move him in the off season if their plans dictate it. 3B is a need position these days, and take a gander at the 3B that will be out there on the free agent market. The White Sox seem to have a surplus of pitchers (some quite expensive) and may have a hole at 3B (unless you buy into Morel). That could be one possibility.

Regarding Ramirez and Hart, I think that you can make two decent comparisons to guys who were traded in Hanley and Pence. Supposedly the Dodgers were interested in ARam, but they needed a shortstop as well. I would have jumped at an offer of Eovaldi for ARam, but in looking at the Hanley deal there is no way the Dodgers would have done that. Hanley can play shortstop and is younger with a much higher upside, and the Dodgers gave up basically Eovaldi straight up for him. As for the Pence/Hart comparison, perhaps Hart has a bit more value because he's cheaper next year, but I'd put those two right in the same boat. No way do I deal Hart for what the Phillies received for Pence.

This is how I feel. A lot of people get all hot and bothered over Shields, but he really doesn't do it for me. He's definitely a solid MLB starting pitcher, but not an ace type guy. I certainly wouldn't pillage the farm system for him.

Ramirez's contract now has negative value (it was very backloaded). I would trade him for nothing. Hart is worth what he's getting paid. A valid argument, but I don't think that the Brewers will be rebuilding any time soon. Therefore, I'm not sure if I'd want Melvin to have that extra payroll space burning a hole in his pocket this winter. He could take the 2 years owed to Ramirez and compound things by giving someone like Kyle Lohse a 3-4 year deal for big money, doling out multi-year deals to relievers, etc.

Why would anyone want to trade Hart or Ramirez based on the return that teams were getting? The Phillies traded Pence before he became a rental, and he brought a fringe OF, a minor league reliever, and a low minors catcher (a longshot even with the eye popping numbers). Three teams were in full fire sale mode, and in doing so, I believe they hurt the market for other teams making deals.

Personally, I think that the Brewers will need to add one or two vet arms, but I'd greatly prefer to do so on one year deals. Outside of the pipe dream that is ZG, there is not one player on that free agent list that I would want to commit big money to. There are a lot of guys that may be available on one year deals though.

Ask me in 5 to 10 years... To be honest, right now I'd have to give them a 8 on the move solely based on the fact that they seemingly went for upside and didn't put all their eggs in one basket. I wanted pitching and shortstop help and they tried to address both.

I wonder if they'd take Veras back if the Brewers gave them their $250,000 along with him...