RockCoCougars

I think that Wolfie's NTC was only for the first year or two.... if any contenders want to bolster their rotations, he should be fair game.

If Aramis doesn't have a no trade clause, and I don't think that he does, there's not a thing that he can do to block a trade. The way that he's swinging the bat as of late, I've got to think that he would have a decent degree of appeal. I've certainly moved past the train of thought that moving him would be solely a salary dump- meaning that I certainly wouldn't give him away.

I'm honestly surprised that Greinke didn't take the money, if that's actually what was on the table. He's taking a pretty big risk pitching down the stretch- the odds are against injury, but with that much money left on the table, I'd be nervous if I'm him. Going further, wasn't his agent the same guy who represented Sheets? How many millions did that late season injury and the foolish decision to decline arby cost him?

Looks like a salary dump for the Astros. The Pirates getting Wandy at this point would be pretty much akin to the Brewers getting Wolf three years ago. I don't see this as a huge upgrade, but it is certainly a sign that the Pirates are going for it.

Without looking at the stats, the only teams that I've seen with pens in the same ballpark of bad as the Brewers this season would be the Mets and the Cubs (I'm guessing that the Twins and the Tigers are near the bottom, but they aren't sniffing the Crew's pen). That said, I think that the exploits of the past month have put the Brewer bullpen in a class of their own.

These guys are an absolute joke- the worst pen that I've ever seen in all my years as a Brewer fan. I say that you trade, sell, whatever anyone that you can in the next week. Then start the DFA's with the clowns no one wants. I wouldn't mind exchanging bullpens with Nashville at this point, and I'm completely serious. These guys should be embarrassed.

I wouldn't trade Braun, Fiers, Gallardo or Maldonado. Anyone else I would be open to discussing. I'd be very reluctant to trade Thornburg, Bradley, Nelson, Peralta, Gennett or Jungmann, too I actually thought about Fiers and Maldonado as well, but to be honest even though I'd have to be blown away- their value may not ever get any higher. As for Gallardo, I'd actually talk about him right now. Without a ton of luck, I don't think that the Brewers will be competitive for the next few seasons. It's quite likely that by the time they are ready to compete again, Gallardo's contract will be almost up. At that point, we could be in the same boat as we have been with CC, Prince, or ZG.... either that, or (hopefully not) Gallardo will have had some injuries or will have been ineffective- his contract a burden. Now may be as good a time as any to look into moving him.

OK, found another comp. I went with a Texas 3B from the past in Dean Palmer. He struck out a ton down in the Texas League too, though he was quite a bit younger. I'm torn on the whole Olt thing, because I'd prefer to get pitching back for ZG.

Erik Bedard - 1 year/$4.5 million Bruce Chen - 2 years/$9 million Capuano - 2 years / $10 million Colon - 1 year/ $900,000 Aaron Harang - 2/$12 million Kuroda - 1 year / $10 million Malhom - 1 year / $4.75 million Joe Saunders - 1 year / $6 million Edwin Jackson - 1 year / $11 million Wow, depressing. This looks like a list of Brewer free agent targets circa '97. Anyone else think that a total rebuild should start now, as opposed to holding onto a few pieces and then patching a team together next season with guys of this caliber? It feels like we are in the middle of a 2008/2009 stretch, only without Prince. Frankly, the only guy that I wouldn't listen to trade talk on at this point would be Braun.

Olt strikes out roughly 1 in every 4 plate appearances in AA ball, which is about the pace that he's had for his career. Find me another guy that struck out at that clip in the minors and then became a stud hitter in the majors. The best comparison that I could think of would be Russell Branyan. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the muscle, but I'm not sure that he had the career that some are projecting for Olt.

Cubs fans are now comparing Dempster to Dwight Howard on mlbtraderumors. Love it.

This is really shaping up to be another K-Rod situation. I hope that the Brewers learned their lesson and don't end up giving Marcum $12.5 million next season. I wouldn't mind looking into bringing him back, but unless he pitches like a Cy Young candidate down the stretch, I wouldn't give him anywhere near that salary, especially since I don't buy the 'discomfort throwing' thing... what's he been out for like six weeks? I have to think that there is something, maybe even something minor, structurally wrong with his arm. As for Marcum, of course he's going to try to gut it out for the rest of the season, it's a contract year and there are millions at stake for him.

Come on, I agree that prospect lists are not the gospel, and I agree that many-if-not-most prospects do not live up to their potential. But are you actually arguing that prospects not listed in the BA Top 100 have a higher success rate than prospects that are listed in the BA Top 100? Absolutely not. Obviously with the information that they have, BA should be able to cherry pick a list of guys with better chances of success (though it's still a crap shoot). At the same time, if a player was so highly rated, why would a team deem him expendable (giving 5.5 for .5)? Granted, maybe the GM is stupid/desperate or maybe he is blocked. However, maybe the player has not been able to cut the mustard in the majors or the scouting FO staff have internally identified some flaws in his game and feel that he is not as good as the rating would indicate. I tend to think that is the case here with Delgado. Frankly, I'm not certain that the BA rating adds any value to a given prospect from a front office perspective, though it most certainly does with the fans.

Actually it's just the opposite. I have more faith in the Brewers scouting system to find guys than I do in some ranking by a magazine. Go to the 'Trade Rumors' board, and find me something for Greinke with a non 100 prospect(s). Many people here are too carried away with this list, that's all that I'm saying. I'd rather have the Brewers make a move for some unknown 19 or 20 year olds who may make 'the list' in a few years than take some guy who has already been on the list and hasn't performed in the majors, causing his current team to deem him as expendable. I get that, but by saying this you're pretty strongly implying that the brewers wouldn't have scouted the player on "the list" or who has been in the majors. They're going to scout everyone and take back what they think is the best package. I agree in the respect that I want the Brewers to get the best possible package. If that is three guys in A ball, then so be it. and a lot of guys on top 100 lists are in AA or lower and still a few years away from making the majors. It's not just guys who couldn't perform (as 22 year olds) and were deemed expendable. Anyone traded has been deemed expendable, so I don't know how much sense that makes. I understand that you think that trading for a top prospect is still a crapshoot, no matter what any list says. I agree with that, as well as the notion that prospects tend to be overvalued a lot. I just think that the draft or unknown 19 year olds are a much much bigger crapshoot, so when you're in a situation where you need to trade a guy like Greinke shooting for a top ranked prospect is the best route. Yes.... that's pretty much my take in a nutshell. Over the years, it seems when the sellers make out on these deadline deals, it's because they mined some player(s) from the lower minors. Maybe I'm jaded, but over the years I've been a Brewer fan, I've seen them trade too many guys, settling for the 'Former Rated Rookie Whose Prospect Is Dimming/Blocked by a Better Player' guy. I see that guy in a lot of the trade proposals bandied about here... meaning that I'd rather see a Gary Sheffield-type deal than a Greg Vaughn or Cirillo deal.

Actually it's just the opposite. I have more faith in the Brewers scouting system to find guys than I do in some ranking by a magazine. Go to the 'Trade Rumors' board, and find me something for Greinke with a non 100 prospect(s). Many people here are too carried away with this list, that's all that I'm saying. I'd rather have the Brewers make a move for some unknown 19 or 20 year olds who may make 'the list' in a few years than take some guy who has already been on the list and hasn't performed in the majors, causing his current team to deem him as expendable.

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If you made an effort to educate yourself on who the better young players in baseball are, I'd respect that your dismissal of them was at least informed. Well, I have read the lists... which is about as much as the next guy has on here. I follow the minors a bit, but certainly not as much as I did when the Brewers were in Beloit and I was younger. Back in those days I actually had a subscription to Baseball America. I also have to temper the general enthusiasm for flipping Grienke for a prospect because from what I've seen over the years, more often than not most hotshot prospects bust to some degree. The same goes for 'deadline' type deals. My cynicism is based on these realities. More often then not, these deals turn out to be forgotten footnotes a few years down the road. I think that it's foolish to trade ZG and forgo a high draft pick, settling for a substandard deal, because some guy was named on 'the list'. I'd rather depend on the Brewer scouting staff to mine a couple of high upside, 'no name' guys in A ball than cave in for a guy because he was ranked #79 on some list. I'm sure the Brewer brass feels the same way, but I guarantee you if such a trade was made there would be people here carping because of some newspaper/blog rumor that the Brewers could have scored a 'Top 100 prospect' as an alternative. I do take exception that I'm uniformed though, especially in this particular case. I generally give a reason that I don't like a trade rather than 'he sucks'. That's better than most who go around trumpeting some meaningless rank as a justification for making some deal that is probably better suited for a video game.

I'm not giving up on Axford just yet, but outside maybe taking a flyer on Parra, I see no need to keep any of the others moving forward. K-Rod for obvious reasons, and Loe/Veras are not worth what they will bring in arby (even though they've both been borderline brutal this season). I could actually see a little trade value with Loe and Veras, because at a quick glance, their stats do not belie how bad either of them have been (just hide Veras' 1.7+!! WHIP and focus on the strikeouts... wow is he lucky that his ERA is 'only' 4.7. )

Neftali. Pedro Feliz was the awful infielder. Matt Harrison is okay too. Career 4.14 ERA, 4.20 FIP, 4.30 xFIP and the last two years he's had ERA's of 3.39 and 3.02, FIPs of 3.52 and 3.57 and xFIPS of 3.85 and 4.03. Those are two that I forgot, but I still think that I'm missing another one.

Absolutely not, I prefer the term 'prospect worship'. My issues as of late involve the fact that, until Saturday, I was still of the thought the Brewers had a chance to be competitive this season. I also had hope that Grienke was amenable to signing an extension, and that has also faded. Though I'm OK with selling (even Grienke) at this point, the issues related to most of the Brewer pieces having low to no value and the fact that teams seem unwilling to part with top prospects remain. I hate to be a Debbie Downer raining on the Prospect Parade here, but let's just say that I think that this team is much further away than a Delgado and Zach Lee (or whoever) from competing in the next few years if all the free agents defect....I think that the Brewers will have to get extremely lucky with both their few in house prospects and the inevitable 'vet free agent' signings to compete. I would have been very underwhelmed if the Brewers had traded Grienke to the Braves with Delgado coming back as the main piece.... I'd prefer to let ZG him walk and take the draft pick, if it came to that. I'd definitely rather trade him for multiple 'toolsy' guys in the low minors at this point than for someone like Delgado. I'd rather see a long term approach, because I don't see this team competing over the next few years without ZG.

I'll admit to knowing nothing outside this thread about Delgado, but ever since the Jose Capellan experiment, I've been wary of any pitching prospect the Braves are willing to give up. Exactly. Outside of Wainwright and Jason Schmidt I can't think of one pitcher that the Braves surrendered in a deal that turned out to be pretty good for the long haul (actually I think there is another that is slipping my mind right now), and the Braves have moved a TON of young pitching over the past 20 years.

I do not believe I have read one person declare this "the best trade ever". But if we want to get into that discussion, as well as one about "is the braves GM that dumb?" perhaps we should look at the last time he rented a player for half a season. I assume that you are talking about the Texiera deal which was horrible for the Braves. At the same time, they've won a lot more then they've lost when it comes to trading away the right 'prospects'. I'm not saying that Delgado is horrible, I'm just saying that he probably has the least upside of the Braves pitching prospects. I get the feeling that some people here would have been happy getting him back as the key piece of a deal for Greinke and I just don't see it. Do you consider (or did you about 2 months ago before they each had a chance to debut) Peralta, Thornburg, and to a lesser extent Fiers prospects? Because Delgado is younger than each of them. Fiers is no longer a 'prospect' to me, but Peralta and Thornburg (at this point) are. I don't really get excited about Delgado's age. He's been in organized ball now for six years, and still has control issues. I'd probably be more forgiving if he was a year out of college or even if he was a lefty, but he's going to have to make a huge leap in command to be successful. I just don't see it Again, this is a no lose situation for the Cubs. Maybe I didn't see the 'best trade ever' quote verbatim, but people are gushing about this one all over the net. All that I see is .5 vs. 5.5 and Rental vs. Top 50. Obviously the Braves have more risk in this move, but they are OK with that because they want a vet to help them make a postseason run. The Cubs have little at stake. If Delgado sucks it's OK because Dempster was just a rental.

Based on your posts you're unimpressed with every prospect. also this. Is Delgado really a 'prospect' anymore? He's been with the Braves for most of the season. For a young 'fireballer', he really doesn't throw that hard, nor does he have an out pitch that can consistently miss a bat. He also has a penchant for walking guys, and when he gets hit, he generally gets hit hard. I wouldn't say that he's a fly ball pitcher per se, but he has that kind of stuff which wouldn't be a good thing in Wrigley. The bottom line here is that almost universally everyone is gushing over how this is the best trade ever. Do people really think that the Braves G.M. is that dumb? My guess is that Delgado was seen by him as the most movable of the Braves pitching prospects, and he was probably right. As for the Cubs, this is really a no lose situation for them because I keep seeing the terms 'Rental' and 'Top 50' thrown about. If Delgado pans out it becomes a steal, if he flames out, oh well they tried. In that sense, it's probably a win for the Cubs, don't get me wrong....but not as big a win as people are making it out to be.

Count me as unimpressed with Delgado. From what I've seen of him, he doesn't seem to have very good stuff or command.

Haven't we looked into this multiple times and found that the Brewers' offense is no more "streaky" than other teams? Offense in baseball is, in general, fairly "boom or bust" to the observer. I've seen some numbers, but I would still argue that the Brewers are more streaky than other teams. I'm even more inclined to say this because people are always throwing the RPG stat out there to compare the Brewer offense with other teams in the N.L. (lots of bad offensive teams this year) and past Brewers teams. To me, the bottom line is this. I think they are very boom/bust in that it seems that they are either going to be one extreme or another. More specifically, they seem to rarely score exactly 4 or 5 runs in a game. In fact, the only team in the league who has hit these numbers fewer is the Padres. The Brewers have actually had more games in which they have scored 3 runs than they have in which they've scored either 4 or 5 combined. This is big because a team that scores 3 runs in the N.L. has won about 39% of the time this season, while teams that score 4 runs win about 54%. The failure to get that 4th run on the board exacerbates a weak bullpen, etc. Frankly, I think that the Brewer offense is not only streaky from game to game, but also from inning to inning, but I can't find stats to back that up. It seems that they've had a ton of games this season in which they've only scored in one or two innings, if at all. Again, this probably is not uncommon in baseball, but I'd bet that this version of the Brewers has a higher trend toward this than the league average.