RockCoCougars

I disagree. Clemens and Hersheiser didn't even pitch half the decade. If you only want to use half the decade, I'd go with Steve Carlton. Blyleven missed an entire season, and really wasn't that good outside of a couple of years. You could make an argument for Steib and Ryan, but that's it.

To me, Mo Vaughn has always been the best recent comparable to Prince. Vaughn didn't start to break down until his early/mid 30's. Going by listed weight, it's going to be tough to find any comparables to Prince. If he truly weighs 275 pounds, he's going to have to work hard just to maintain that weight (he'd be better served to lose some) as he ages or things will take their toll.

Jack Morris is a guy who has been hurt by a high ERA, but to me he's a Hall of Famer. He was probably the best starting pitcher of the eighties, and I'm not sure who would be second (Dave Steib perhaps). A lot of his career stats were tarnished somewhat by his final few seasons (he started to decline in '89), not to mention that he played most of his career in a hitter's park with a short right field porch. The fact that he pitched one of the best games in World Series history in '91 should put him over the top.

So many red flags with Ramirez. 1. Missed an average of over 40 games over the past three seasons 2. Will be 34 next season (I actually wouldn't be surprised if he was older due to his D.R. background and MLB debut at 20) 3. A butcher defensively at third 4. Has a history of putting up big numbers in contract years (see 2004, 2006, 2011) That's almost enough to make me shy away altogether. He'd be a decent risk for a few years in the likely event Prince is gone, but it's probably a coin flip whether he'd be worth it in the end. More than two years, you are playing with fire.

Melvin says Ramirez also has interest in Milwaukee Does that mean that he will take a two year deal? If the Brewers give this guy four years, odds are it will end badly.

In my view, Trammell was as good or better than Larkin, and he's been largely ignored. It's still amazing to me that perhaps the best team of my lifetime (1984 Tigers) has no Hall of Fame players.

Eldred, Bosio and Navarro were all studs down the stretch in '92. I don't think that Eldred even came up until mid to late July. I believe that Garner ruined him in '93.

Crime Dog didn't need to juice. He was a master of the Tom Emanski training regimen.

If I was going to pick a borderline Yankee to get in, Thurman Munson, Don Mattingly or even Paul O'Neill would be ahead of Williams in my book. Bernie is overrated not only because he played for the Yankees, but he's also overrated by WAR in my view because he played a pedestrian center field.

It's about time that I finally get to witness the greatness of DeJesus in person. Can't believe that Beane let him walk. I guess he was usurped by another genius.

If the Internet was in full swing back in '89, the 'Sierra was robbed' whiners would have been out in full force. Nothing like the Kemp whiners though.

1980 had a great lineup particularly Coop and Oglivie. That team was pretty much destroyed by the bad pitching. Most of the starters were disappointments, and Reggie Cleveland, Augie and the boys from the bullpen gagged a lot of games away that year. I remember a horrible stretch in the summer.

I'd vote for Jack Morris, and that's probably it. I used to be on the Lee Smith bandwagon, but as the years go on with closers, his career doesn't look so good. Bagwell was a juicer in my mind, too many coincidences for him not to have been. Further, though he seems to be gaining steam, I don't see how you could vote for Larkin if you don't vote for Trammell.

hyperbole... and how likely is Axford to repeat last year's success? What if he pitches 3 wins below this year, is the drop off from 3 to 5 using your unsupportable 5 that much to kill a deal? It's very unlikely. That said, if you move him for an unproven bat, and then sign Broxton, the Eric Gagne experiment and the Trevor Hoffman encore season would look like smashing successes. Broxton is just that bad. Thank God the Royals signed him. As for Alonso, he was great in garbage time down the stretch last year, but he's shown only middling power in the minors. I'd prefer to give Gamel the shot.

Is Don 'Gem Mint Mark McGwire Rookie' West still an announcer? I loved that huckster on late night home shopping back in the day.

Must....resist... opportunity to go on annual rant about how Beckham is one of the most overrated players in the game...... ahhh.... he's a poor man's Casey McGehee. Sorry, couldn't resist.

I'm glad this is over. I've been tired of hearing about it on every 'hot stove' website four times a day for the past month.

I thought that Cain was the biggest loss of that trade, figuring that he'd turn into a Darryl Hamilton type. If he doesn't pan out for the Royals, that deal is looking really bad from a K.C. perspective. As for reacquring him, perhaps he will be available in a year or two. It's doubtful that K.C. would send him back to the Brewers so soon.

The more I think about it I'd rather add some solid complimentary pieces to this years solid core and see where it goes rather than take on the risk of signing Reyes. If it came down to it I'd rather pay a little more for Prince as I think he is less of a risk. Agreed. In the end, I think that there is a lot of uncertainty after 2012. 3/5 of the starting rotation could be gone. Even if the payroll is there for these guys, there is no guarantee that the Brewers won't get outbid by a big market team. I just don't see the young arms to step in to fill the void. I think that the Brewers need to forget about Reyes and make an honest effort to resign Prince. In the likely occurrence that doesn't happen, I think they need to push hard for a Greinke extension. My greatest fear is that the Brewers get shot down for Prince, give someone like Rollins/Ramirez a bad three year deal on the rebound, miss on Greinke and then extend Marcum while adding some overpriced 'pieces' on one year deals.

Hmmm... an oil cartel that doesn't make money? Not on this planet.. Obviously that didn't come out right. I meant more along the lines that a cartel can increase prices whenever they feel like it, down economy or not. As for payroll, I think it's defeatist for fans to assume that 90 million is the limit. Obviously, the costs of running a business have increased over the past few years, and I would expect the Brewers to keep increasing prices on things to keep up with that. At the same time, I'm not a babe in the woods. Considering 3 million in attendance, with the associated concession and parking revenue along with national TV money, I'd be shocked if they only broke even last year, especially considering the playoff money. Looking at the financials of Tampa during their WS run in 2008, they reaped over $17 million in revenue from their postseason alone(2 extra home games than the Brewers). The Brewers may have broken even on the books by retiring extra debt, depreciating the facilities, scoreboard, etc., but they should have made a healthy profit otherwise. Throw in the fact that they will likely reap extra millions in local TV money beginning next year, I don't see why a payroll increase to the mid-high 90's for the next few years is unreasonable. I'm not ungrateful to Attanasio, because he has increased the payroll and the product on the field from the Selig shoestring operation, however at the same time, revenue is through the roof as well. This perfectly illustrates the fact that you have to spend money to make money.

Glad the Brewers didn't sign him.

From the article..... "Talks with Fielder hit a significant roadblock on Monday" I take it that 'roadblock' may have been some sticker shock on the part of the Nationals.

Again, it's that small market mentality... while I agree that you can't use 2011 to determine your budget 5 years out, I'd say it's a near guarantee that they will draw 3 million next year and probably in 2013. As long as the team puts a good product on the field, the honeymoon will continue. What are average ticket prices? Then you've got the suites (which I would guess increased even more than the ticket prices), a new TV deal, merchandising, promotional money, concessions and the team even seems to control the parking money now. I'd guess that the team would be close to 80-90 million on ticket/suite revenue alone. Another thing that people don't often consider is that Attanasio assumed a lot of debt when he bought the team. Interest rates are far lower now then they were when he bought the team. Refinancing that debt could potentially shave millions in costs per year. Bottom line, unless you are an oil cartel or something, any business that can increase prices in this economy is making money.

Way too much money for a setup guy. Unless the Sox want to eat some salary and take little or nothing back in return, I pass.

Broxton is horrible. A swing from Axford 2010/2011 form to Broxton as closer would result in at least 5 additional losses.