RockCoCougars

Here is my list. Gallardo '07 Sheets '01 Eldred '91 Navarro '89 Bosio '86 Wegman '85 Higuera '85 Haas '78 Slaton '71 Off the top of my head, that is all that I can come up with as far as the organization developing starting pitchers who sustained more than a year or two of above average pitching. Though I may be missing a few, nine pitchers in 42 years is not very good, and a few of these guys are a stretch. There are some guys I thought of who I'd put at about MLB average, but there weren't many of those guys either (D'Amico, Karl, Woodard, Sorenson, Augustine to name a few). Bottom line, I know that past occurrences don't correlate with future events, but still. For whatever reason, this organization has been absolutely horrible at developing pitching.

As a long time Brewer fan, I have it in my blood to be skeptical regarding minor league pitching. For whatever reason, this franchise has been very snakebitten over the years in regards to drafting/signing and developing young pitchers. More specifically, they have turned out 2 above average MLB starting pitchers in the last 20 years. Even going back further than that the list is very short. My point here is that I would be happy if one of the prospect pitchers panned out. It follows that I see resigning Greinke as a high priority.

Scheduling is huge in the NBA, and the Bucks have a big advantage there. With a back to back on the road, the Knicks are playing their 3rd in 4 days tonight. Considering that the first two were against the Bulls, who play a physical style, and I've got to guess that they should be dragging against a well-rested Bucks team. The Bucks should win this one, but I never assume anything with this squad.

1.7 seems pretty low to me, even considering that Greinke missed a month. He had a few bad starts that really dinged his overall stats. Also, it's far from a lock to assume that the Brewers would get the 2011 version of Estrada as a replacement for Greinke. I know that he exceeded my expectations for last year big time. You also have to consider the fact that both Wolf and Marcum's spots are in flux as well. At any rate losing any wins off a potential 90 win team is huge. Very few 85 win teams make the playoffs, but I'd guess with the extra wild card that almost every 90 win team will moving forward.

Just noticed that the Iron Maiden/Alice Cooper bill is playing Rock Fest by Eau Claire as well.

Three years ago, Soup was the #2 starter. This year, there is probably the talent level for an 85-90 win team. Remove Greinke and replace him with a Suppan (even at the back end of the rotation) and you are looking at a team that will top out in the high 70 wins.

I'd say that the best case is that the Brewers make a World Series run again this season, because the window could be closed thereafter.

I don't like passing judgement on anything this early in the season.... so let's say that I hope that he improves. Did anyone else catch the post-game interview with Rickie on Saturday? Those guys were relentlessly trading 'um's' and 'ah's'. Combined there were more 'um's' and 'ah's' in that 90 second interview than I had in my first real job interview.

if you were assembling a team of Hall of Famers and you needed a power hitting LHB corner outfielder, who would you take between McCovey & Jackson? McCovey was mostly a 1B, so I'd say Jackson hands down. Everything else being equal, I'd take Jackson as a hitter too. It's kind of interesting that offenses were down in MLB during both of their peaks, but McCovey didn't really do much the last several years of his career.

First of all, welcome to the site. I do have to razz you a little here though. What rock have you crawled out from under? I will give you a break because you are in Iowa though (full of Cubs or Cardinal fans, I'd assume).

Well I'd like to win every year and you don't do that by squandering opportunities to make your organization stronger. Why is K-Rod so irreplaceable? He's just an 8th inning guy... how do you know there isn't someone in the organization who pitch as well as he does this season? Relievers just don't carry much value and if there is someone out there who overvalues why not take advantage of the situation. First of all, I have to say that closers are so 'overrated', they're probably undervalued now. I'm sure that all the GM's in baseball are aware of this idea, and I highly doubt that the Red Sox would give up much more value for a reliever after trading for Bailey. That said, I think Brewers fans have been lucky that the team has basically been able to plug Option B or Option C into the closer role every few years since Plesac faltered in '91, and these fall backs have done quite well,(though the shelf life has varied...). That's not a common thing. Many teams with playoff aspirations have been foiled by an unsettled bullpen. As for K-Rod being overvalued as an eighth inning guy, what is the alternative? We've seen set up guys perform poorly in the past (recently Linebrink, Loe last May, etc.). Who is going to step in? I know that the clever answer is 'whoever fits the situation best', but that ain't happening. Roenicke and pretty much every manager these days uses situational relievers (rightly or wrongly). I actually am somewhat nervous about K-Rod's potential this season, but I certainly don't want Loe used as the primary set up guy again. The second issue here is what does Boston have to offer the Brewers? The only name that I've seen in this thread is a shortstop who looks like a watered down Alcides Escobar (except this guy hasn't hit in the minors). I don't see how he would help any time in the near future. Is there anyone else?

Again, what does Boston have that makes the Brewers better this year? As I said above, I'm not worried about 2014, I want to win this year. If Buchholz didn't have the broken back thing, I guess that I'd do Marcum/K-Rod for him, but I highly doubt that they would. K-Rod is the type of player that would probably have more value at the trade deadline. Right now, teams see their 'closers in waiting' through rose-colored glasses. It's likely going to take a bunch of blown saves to get that to change.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Time to go nuclear on the guy. Put Nickelback's Greatest Hits on repeat (if they don't have a greatest hit album, put the 'big' one in). Then leave the house for your own safety.

Based on the performance of '25th men' breaking camp with Brewers over the past several years (Almonte, Nieves, Duffy, Nelson, etc., etc.), I'll set the over/under for Ishikawa's batting average at about .170.

OK. After a quiet few weeks, word on the street is that Howard has been campaigning to get Van Gundy fired. If I'm the Magic, I say enough is enough and trade this guy for the best offer this summer. Addition by subtraction if you ask me. The only way this guy is going to win is by riding someone else's coattails.

I see the point, but wouldn't such a move severely weaken the bullpen this season with an eye on 2014? K-Rod accepting arbitration probably cost the team Saito and possibly Hawkins as well. If K-Rod were to be traded and God forbid, Axford went down with an injury, what then? This doesn't even consider the fact that Loe would go back to the role that he had last year at this time.... Bottom line, I feel that (like Morgan) K-Rod has more value to the Brewers as it stands now then he does on the trade market. If we were looking at a team without playoff aspirations, maybe you could convince me of such a move, but I want to win again this year.

Of course, but don't you have to get MLB talent for him at this point? I don't see any glaring need as things stand for the Brewers. Let's say that Gonzalez was going to be out for a long period of time and the Red Sox had an MLB ready shortstop who was blocked... then we may be on to something. At this point, I don't see a match. Let's face it, the Brewers have been selling the whole K-Rod/Axford combo hard. Wouldn't they come out of things with egg on their face if they traded him for an A/AA prospect or two right now?

The problem is that there is no selling high on K-Rod in my view. I could see him being moved to dump salary but that's about it. No one is going to give a good prospect up for a guy that they could have had for a one year deal a few months ago.

Right. Let's limit the window to the trade deadline when the return is at it's lowest possible point... Team's no longer get compensation for letting rental players walk. K-Rod's value is at it's peak right now going into the season. Shall we start the rebuild now then? The bottom line is that, on paper, the Brewers don't really need anything outside of perhaps a backup SS. All the spots in the lineup are filled and there is a surplus of outfielders. There are not even any question marks in the starting rotation. Therefore, any trade of K-Rod will either be for prospects, a salary dump, most likely a hybrid of both. These are the mark of a rebuilding team. I'm not concerned with getting peak value for K-Rod. First of all, I don't believe that his value is very high (considering what the Brewers gave for him- nothing, and the fact that anyone could have signed him to a one year deal in the offseason and there were no takers), and secondly I'm fully expecting that he will walk with no compensation at the end of the year, and I'm fine with it.

The organization (well, at least Powell) touted Barker as a legit ROY candidate the first several weeks of the season.

I don't see a match. It's pointless for the Brewers to trade for prospects right now. Let's see how things stand at the All-Star break.

There are two sides to this coin. I'm sure this was the line of thinking that Sal Bando had for 1993. 'If we give Molitor $3 million per, he and Yount will be making over 1/4 of our payroll. With that money, we could go out and get Dickie Thon, Tom Brunansky AND Billy Doran. After all, Molitor is just a DH, and we have replaced his production with Kevin Reimer.' We have differing views here. In my opinion, you cannot win without proven, star quality players. To retain these types of players, you will eventually have to pay bucu dollars. As far as the core, they are all locked in for two more years at the least. Why not make a run at it while the window is still open? It's obviously a risk, but I don't buy into the notion that the Brewers can be perpetual contenders by always making moves with an eye three years down the road.

Leonard would have been a lock for the Bucks back in the late 80's. I'm assuming that if this is truly a deep draft, he will fall to the bottom third of the first round.

Exactly. I think that you have to overpay a bit to retain Greinke. Otherwise, you will be overpaying anyway- ponying up to the table for risky contracts (Suppan/Wolf) or for mediocrity- the Braden Loopers and Doug Davises (2010 version) of the world. $4-$5 million here or there adds up as well. Penny wise, pound foolish. I'd rather have them skimp on the bullpen, if need be, as it seems to be easier to mine 'nuggets' there. Next year, K-Rod will (barring another arby fiasco) be off the books. Take what Greinke is making now and what K-Rod will be making and combine it, that's probably going to be a starting point after Cain's deal.

I think that we have to get out of the small market mentality here. If Attanasio wants to continue winning, he has to look into doing a deal with Greinke. Yes, it may look like a big chunk of money tied into a few players, but you also have to consider the fact that salaries will almost certainly continue going up faster than inflation. I'd assume with the new TV deal, that revenues will as well as long as the team puts a decent product on the field for the next few years and attendance doesn't plummet. Having 60 or 70 million tied up in a handful of guys seems crazy now, but it may not be so in five years. After all, who could have predicted 5 years ago that the Brewers would be pushing $100 million in payroll for 2012?