RockCoCougars

If it came to it and the Brewers were selling, I'd probably do Eovaldi for Marcum straight up. Don't know if the Dodgers would though. They don't have the firepower to get Greinke.

The Dodgers have nothing that I'd be interested in as a seller.

I've posted this before, but never gotten a firm answer....why does everyone seem to want Pastornicky so badly? If the Brewers are going to be dumping guys and shedding salary, I'd prefer that they wait until the off season and throw some money at someone like Stephen Drew rather then trade assets for a guy that looks to be a borderline starter, best case. Drew seems to be on the outs with the Diamondbacks and maybe he will be a J.J. Hardy type buy low guy on the market.

Ha. I remember watching the Yi draft with a friend. When the Bucks drafted him, I confidently said, 'They must have a trade in the works'. When it sunk in that they were actually keeping him, I got a real sinking feeling. Next to Darko, that guy has a case for being the 2nd biggest international flop ever. Obviously, you can't expect too much at the 14 spot, but I was pretty disappointed. I think that either Zeller or Royce White would have been a better fit for some scoring down low... obviously the Bucks think that Gooden will provide all they need for that. At any rate, It's pretty obvious that the Bucks don't think much of Larry Sanders.

Not if Kyle Davies, et al. is your number two.

I still can't figure this one out now that my hope that he was picked for someone else is gone. Apparently they coveted the guy. The one thing that I didn't want was another 'project big'.... the major problem here being that I don't think Henson has much upside. Watching Carolina play last season, I think that the argument could be made that Henson was the 5th best player on the team. I'm not one of those heart-broken about missing out on a guy like Jeremy Lamb, but I wanted Zeller at the 14 spot. He probably would have stepped in immediately as the Bucks best offensive big man. The guy will never be a star, but I'd bet that he will be an effective player who will still be in the league in ten years.

I predict that the Internet pundits love the Celtics draft.

It surprises me that Keith Law and some others think Olt would be a stretch in a potential Greinke deal. Mike Olt is 16 months OLDER than Brett Lawrie. Olt has also struck out in 29% of his AA at-bats this season. I would still be supportive of the Brewers acquiring Olt for Greinke, but I think it would be the Rangers who would be foolish to say Olt is untouchable when trading him would bring back a #1/#2 caliber pitcher for a WS run. Keith Law is a clown. He overvalues prospects big time. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. We are not talking about some run of the mill player here, we are talking about one of the elite arms in the game. Say what you want about it being only 12-15 starts... you could also be talking 6 or 7 post season games. I'm assuming that anyone trading for Greinke has bigger aspirations than solely making the playoffs.

Yuck.

I'll be glad when the Bucks pick and I can turn this train wreck of a broadcast off. Must they inject a human interest story with two awkward interviews into every pick? I normally don't watch ESPN, and when I do, I'm reminded why in a matter of minutes.

One guy wouldn't leave Melvin alone, telling him he needs to sign Greinke long-term. Just a lot of inappropriate stuff. Not inappropriate at all to me

I don't really want Olt. I don't think that he's a sure thing by any means. Sure, he's tearing up the Texas League, but guys have been doing that forever. He looks to strike out a ton, and at that level, that tells me that there are holes in his swing. With Ramirez under contract for a few more years, I don't see a spot for him in the near term anyway. The Brewers need a shortstop and you can never have enough pitching. Better that then to build a Greinke trade around a guy who could very easily turn out to be the next Matt LaPorta

I'd take Holland back as a throw in, but that's about it. He is what he is, and that's a middle or back end of the rotation guy. He'd step in perfectly for Randy Wolf. He'd be cheap at first, but the contract gets a little dicey toward the end. All and all, it'd be better than tossing a contract at a similar guy on the free agent market. Once again, I will add the disclaimer that I'm not trading Greinke unless he won't sign an extension, the Brewers are more than 5 back in four weeks or so, and I'm blown away by a deal. Like I said, I'm not settling, I'd rather just things play out after the season. One thing that hasn't been talked about much is that even if it gets to the off season with Greinke still in the fold and unsigned, other teams may balk at signing him to a huge deal and giving up a pick. I'm thinking that I'd do Feliz/Grimm/Holland if it gets to that point. In this scenario, I'd give them K-Rod as well if they were so inclined. I still think that you hold out for Profar though, even though I was against it about 7 pages on this ago.

I'll let Greinke walk and take the two picks if Texas comes with something like Holland, Perez or Grimm and some low minors guy. If I'm 'overvaluing' Greinke, tough. I'd argue that Greinke is probably a top 5 SP in baseball this year, and if Texas wants to win a title, he'd be the best guy out there. If they want to keep their prospect base together for 2014 and beyond, too bad. In that case, you move on- you don't take their scraps. Bottom line, there is no rule that Greinke must be traded. I want to extend him, but even if he won't bite on that, you don't simply take the 'best' offer. Don't trade quality for quantity, this isn't 2002 with about 6 holes all over the field. The Brewers have all the leverage unless they come off like desperate 'sellers'. Let teams come to you and if they make a bad offer laugh and hang up on them. Tell them to go big or go home.

This is going to be fun to watch tonight. Seems like there are at least a half dozen guys who's stock is rising big time. Lots of trade talk buzzing around as well. I bet there will be lots of surprises.

Where are you getting that Derek Holland is "substandard" MLB fodder? He had a 16-5 record and an ERA under 4 last year in the AL at age 24. He also had 162 strikeouts facing lineups that don't include pitchers. Just 3 years ago, he was ranked as the 31st best prospect in baseball. He allowed 1 run in 10 innings against the Cardinals in the World Series. His ERA is up a little this year, but his WHIP is better than Darvish who is actually 2 months older. Only in somebodies dream world where every minor league pitcher is the next Verlander or Sabathia, is Holland considered "fodder". He's also locked up through 2016 at a pretty reasonable cost. At worst, Holland is a solid #3. Sounds like the PR piece that the Brewers will release. Add in the 'he led the league in shutouts last year'. It scares me to death, but I could see Melvin asking for him, the key reason being... He's also locked up through 2016 at a pretty reasonable cost. Career WHIP nearing 1.4. The guy is a mid rotation starter at best. Right now, when he gets back, he's clearly the #4 starter and maybe the #5. He'd be the odd man out if Feliz wasn't injured. This would make him a good trade piece for the Rangers, and I could see Melvin biting because of the contract. Bottom line, if Texas doesn't think that a guy is good enough for their rotation down the stretch, why should the Brewers want him?

He will probably be a toss in on a Greinke trade...

I don't want Perez. I don't care how highly BA ranks him, he hasn't been good in the minors as evidenced by the low strikeout totals and 1.475 WHIP (yikes). He's really been knocked around in AA and AAA. He seems to have slightly above average stuff for a lefty, but nothing mind blowing. As for Grimm, I'd be interested, but as a secondary piece....good stuff, but really a crap shoot.

I'm not sure. Something in my gut tells me that White is going to be a good player in the league. He kind of reminds me of Shawn Marion. That said, he's build like Marcus Fizer which scares me, in addition to the Iowa St. tie. I think the the major issue is that he will be a SF and his shooting is pretty suspect. There are some other issues with him, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him turn into one of the better players from this draft.

Outside of the top two prospects, I'm not sure that I'd want to deal with Texas. I'd be interested in Feliz as part of a deal, but I don't want guys from the low minors, middling pitching prospects or substandard MLBfodder like Derek Holland. I see no reason to help Texas out again like they did with the Carlos Lee trade. If they don't want to pony up, let them make do with Oswalt or some other b-level guy. Of course, to me this is all contingent if Greinke won't extend and the Brewers are out of the race.

Not crazy at all. I'd definitely give him a long look there.

No draft choices sent by the Bucks... I thought that Houston was attempting to stockpile picks. If so, I like this one a lot. Hopefully now they don't trade both picks to move up.

The "only way," a guy can possibly get 140+ more hits is if he gets a full time job next year and plays the entire season? Vizquel's hanging around to get to 3,000, and there will be teams that will give him a job. And 50 hits is hardly a "major stretch." He's averaged 68 the last two years during which time he's hit .268/.334 For a utility IF'er who can play 3rd, SS and 2nd base and still play them all pretty well, and who again, is ALSO a bit of a novelty who can draw fans. ESPECIALLY if he's playing on a second division team like say...the M's where he started his career? And actually, he should finish this season around 2880 or so. So you're talking about 120 more hits for a guy in incredible shape who's obvious mission is to get 3,000 hits. Lets say he plays until he's 49. That's 30 or so hits a year. I think you're dismissing what 3,000 hits means to him, his status as a Venezuelan icon which I think gives him some traction, and frankly, his ability. Utility IF'ers don't need to hit .350. He's doing his job and he's done it good enough that teams will keep bringing him back until he gets it. And again, the M's are the team that I think are more likely to than any other. Bottom line, if (and that's a huge if) age doesn't catch up to him in a big way, I don't think that he's going to find anyone willing to give him a job for the next three seasons. At this rate, we are still roughly 2.5 years before he even becomes a gate attraction. He's hitting .224 with no extra base hits at this point. Maybe he will match Franco and go until he's 49, but wouldn't bet on it because Franco was still hitting well off the bench almost until the end. Better hitters have come up close to 3,000 hits and had to call it quits. You are right that his glove is the one thing that he has going for him, but I don't think that's enough. As I said, the only way that I think that he gets it is if he can catch next season on with a bad team and gets a shot due to a situation like the Brewers do at SS right now. Maybe if he can get about 400 PA, and if he can get about 100 hits or so, then he has a shot. Lots of ifs.

This is one draft where it makes no sense to trade up. It's deep, but there aren't multiple guys with the potential to be franchise players. After Davis (and I'm not convinced that he's going to be a superstar), I don't think that there is much of a drop off with not much difference between the #2 and guys at the end of the lottery. Many people seem very high on Drummond, but I think that he's going to be a major bust. He looks every bit the dominant force until he steps unto the court. Outside of being a rebounding/defensive presence largely due to his size, he was largely a non-factor for Connecticut last year. Didn't the Bucks already have Benoit Benjamin?

I just looked this up but a team that averages 4.2ish runs/game is expected to score 3 runs about half the time. I think the Brewers are a bit above that but i don't think fans realize how often even an above average offense scores less than 4 runs. We are not talking about a bell curve here. A team can't score less than 0 runs, so those 8+ runs games really skews the distribution. I've looked at run distribution a lot over the years. Some might be a little more extreme but all teams are all over the place in terms of runs scored. It's the maddening part of being a baseball fan. Thanks. The Brewers seem to be on the extreme end of maddening though. They've also scored 0 or 1 less times than they've scored 4 or 5 runs.... roughly 20% of the time. To me, I think that it's more that they are dependent on the home run ball to score, and it seems that they hit home runs in bunches. It's tough for them to string together more than two hits in an inning (as indicated by the team batting average in the .230's... wow, has it ever been this low in team history?). I'm not sure about the small ball thing. I don't know what it is, but the Brewers have seemed to be poor fundamentally at offensive execution for a long time. It's almost ridiculous how hard that it is for them to get a lead off double over to third either by hitting the ball to the right or bunting.