LouisEly

There's a month and a half left in the season. I'd be wringing my hands if it was May 19 or even June 19, but it's July 19th. If Gatewood is eligible for fall instructional league I'm sure he's heading there and will be back at 3B getting more reps. Based on his production, I'd have him back at low-A next season with Erceg at high-A.

If it makes you feel any better, the Cubs loaded the bases with nobody out in the 9th down 2-1 with Sczcur/Bryant/Rizzo coming up but couldn't get the ball out of the infield.

You cannot seriously be arguing that the Cardinals draft just as bad as Milwaukee. No, I'm saying that: 1) The Cardinals drafting well is a recent phenomenon; back in 2009/2010, Cardinals fans were saying the same things about their drafts versus the Brewers drafts that you are saying about the Brewers drafts versus the Cardinals drafts now. B) Cardinals first round draft picks had very little to do with their World Series titles, except for Rasmus being used as trade bait. Lynn was good in the bullpen against MIL, but awful in the World Series against Texas. They won the World Series because they traded away recent draft picks for established veterans, signed veterans to free agent contracts, and hit big on a late draft pick who nobody had on their radar (Pujols). 3) It's not the first round where they have done well - it's later in the draft (Carpenter, Rosenthal, Adams, Siegrist) and an international free agent (Martinez) who they are lucky to have because his initial contract with Boston was voided. They've had plenty of misses in the first round. 4) For most of 2009-2013 the Cardinals were drafting ahead of the Brewers - they should have drafted better. 2009 - drafted seven spots ahead. 2010 - drafted behind but botched it (Zack Cox, Seth Blair, Tyrell Jenkins). 2011 - drafted behind but Wong has been arguably no better than Jungmann. 2012 - twice drafted ahead of the Brewers first pick, one a hit (Wacha) the other not so much (James Ramsey). 2013 - Brewers obviously didn't have a first round pick, Cardinals had two. To use your own words, you cannot seriously be arguing that the Brewers should have drafted as well as the Cardinals did during Seid's tenure.

The Cardinals also drafted Chris Lambert, Tyler Greene, Adam Ottavino, Clayton Mortensen, Pete Kozma, Brett Wallace, and Zack Cox in the first round. Let's not pretend that they've hit on all of their first round draft picks because they haven't. According to B-R, the highest career WAR of any player the Cardinals drafted in the first round (including supplemental picks) since 2000 is Colby Rasmus' 18.1. Lance Lynn is next with 11.2. Braun (42.7), Fielder (23.8), Lawrie (15.1), and Weeks (11.2) are equal or better. Yes, most of those were drafted higher than the Cardinals usually pick, but 2/3rds of the players you referenced above (Miller, Wacha) were drafted before the Brewers had a draft pick those years. Talent levels vary with pick slots from year to year, and all bets are off prior to draft pick compensation in 2011 anyway. The Cardinals haven't had top 10 picks since the 90's - they hit on one (Drew, but flipped him for Wainwright), not so much with the other (Braden Looper, #3 overall). Braun is equal with Drew, Weeks better than Looper. (This is known as the "recency effect" - people tend to place more weight on recent events even if events further in the past have just as much weight.) The Cardinals made their hay with trades and free agent signings. They flipped Drew (who should never have been a Cardinal to begin with) for Wainwright. They flipped mediocre first round draft picks (Wallace, Mortensen) for Holliday. They signed Chris Carpenter as a free agent. (They signed Kyle Lohse as a free agent too.) Yes, they drafted Molina (the Brewers drafted Lucroy) and Pujols (nobody had him on their radar). And they re-signed all of those guys except Pujols to big, long-term contracts well into their mid-late 30's (Pujols to a big contract through age 31, Lohse to a big contract through age 33).

If my math is correct, prior to the callup Andy Wilkins had 29 days of major league service time (Aug 31, 2014 through September 28, 2014). He was called up on July 6th, so today marks his 14th day in the majors this year, which would make today his 43rd day of service time, thus vesting him for MLBPA's pension. [sarcasm]Awful, horrible, disrespectful Brewers treating players that way. Shame!![/sarcasm]

The one thing that is missing and the one question that needs to be asked is, do we have the best positional coaches in the system who can coach players up? Looking at the Cardinals and now Cubs, I believe that a lot of their success is due to having the best pitching coaches in the game. Looking at the transformation of Arrieta and Hammel and the success of Hendricks (a soft-tossing 8th round pick from Dartmouth, kind of their Davies) and Rondon (Rule 5), I have a hard time believing that Bosio isn't a big part of that. Also, no one on their entire pitching staff is a home-grown draft pick. They had success with some scrap heap guys (Arrieta, Hammel), but only one starter is a big free agent signing. And they aren't afraid to sign pitchers over the age of 30 (Lackey, Hammel, Lester). Yes, talent is important but the Cubs haven't gotten to where they are by spending top 10 draft picks on pitching. And I don't think you need to if you have the best pitching coaches in the game.

He had a pretty good year last year too. I think some were a little too quick to anoint him a low-ceiling wasted draft pick. Still only 25, he was in AA less than two years after being drafted. The Brewers players who saw him at spring training were pretty high on him for a reason.

Unless my eyes are deceiving me, the Indians don't have a lefty on their entire staff. That sounds like an overpay to me.

If we're dealing with the Indians... me likey Bobby Bradley. Lucroy + Smith for Bradley, McKenzie, their choice of Sheffield/Aiken, their choice of Hillman/Esparza.

Billy Hamilton has a career BA of .241 and career SLG of .333. How in the world do you even come close to walking that guy?

The Brewers have a starting pitcher with one good half season to his name.

It never fails. Every time I go away for a few days with little to no access or time to access the internet, something big happens with the Brewers, usually a trade. Now accepting donations for my next vacation to be taken before July 31st. Although I will be pretty busy at a conference starting tomorrow through Wednesday...

Depends on supply and demand. If the supply/demand for players who can play multiple OF positions last year is the same as the supply/demand for players who can play both 3B/2B this year, then you are correct. If the supply of 3B/2B players this year is lower, or the demand higher (or both), then you may not be correct. If multiple teams need 2B/3B and Hill is the only one on the market, then teams might very well overpay especially if the other team(s) inquiring about Hill are in the same division or league.

For what? It's not like we have a 2nd half pennant chase to worry about. If we're showcasing him for a trade I think the ASG would be a good platform. If he has to sit for a few games in mid-late July (or August if he passes through waivers) to rest his back that will hurt his trade value much more than the ASG will help him.

+1000. The media is so desperate for ratings/clicks/"the scoop", etc., that they are willing to put anything out there and name names regardless of who it hurts.

Marco Estrada, 2016 All Star. What could the Brewers have gotten for him this July?

Rock had a good point, between the thumb and the back four days off would do him well. Not like he would be playing nine innings, but still he could focus on rest/rehab instead of the All Star circus.

I think the point is that between Della, Tele, and Henson the Bucks have $30M tied up with Giannis approaching restricted free agency. I know the cap is going up, but I want to make sure that the money is there for him along with one other star player. Henson is a sunk cost, but between Della and Tele that's $19M/year that could have gone to a better player.

Their contracts have been voided, but they are not true free agents. Their bonuses count towards the 2016-2017 bonus pool, except for the first $300K. Not sure what the Brewers pool was, but if the top three guys only got ~$2M total I would think they would have some room to go above the $300K exempt limit.

With Boston you are absolutely correct - everyone with a big salary there is an important piece to that team that they cannot give up. There are solutions with San Francisco as they have several unimportant pieces who are free agents after the season, not requiring a terrible contract to come back to MIL. SF could easily send Pagan, who is a free agent after the season, back to MIL to balance out that trade along with one of Javier Lopez or Sergio Romo (I'm 98% sure you can trade players on the DL prior to the trade deadline) if the Brewers include Torres. Gregor Blanco could be added if the Brewers include Nieuwenhuis. They could also send Peavey, who is also a free agent after the season, back to MIL; MIL would have to include Guerra, but then I don't know if SF has the trade chips to make that happen given how valuable Guerra is especially to MIL. Or MIL could include Chase Anderson. But Pagan + Lopez + Blanco + prospects for Braun + Nieuwenhuis would balance. The Dodgers get a little trickier, but Brett Anderson could be sent to MIL to balance out the salaries. Other than that it might have to get creative; LAD could include Utley and Ellis but the Brewers would have to include Gennett/Maldonado. Howie Kendrick's contract isn't that bad, and if Braun is off the books next year the Brewers will definitely be able to afford it. But Anderson + Ellis + Van Slyke + prospects for Braun + Maldonado would balance.

Over (5): Hill Torres Nieuwenhuis One of Garza/Carter One of Lucroy/Smith/Thornburg/Jeffress Hill and Torres for sure. KN's positional flexibility and LH bat will net cash or a bag of balls (didn't say he'd be traded for much, just said he'd be traded). Carter and Garza both have their warts, but with the lack of both power and starting pitching available along with Garza's reasonable contract and Carter's downright cheap salary someone will pony up a good return one of them. I think someone will have to wow DS to move one of those last four guys and I think one team will, I just don't know for which one.

You're telling me that a guy with league minimum salary - in a year when the Braves sent cash with Bud Norris, who is on a one-year $2.5M contract, to the Dodgers of all teams - is not someone that a contender would see any value in? The league minimum salary wouldn't mitigate any risk? The innings issue is an issue with people age 26/27 and under. By age 27 a person is physically mature. C.J. Wilson threw 123 innings as a 22-year-old in 2003, was then sent to the bullpen after missing all of 2004 where he never pitched more than 73 innings until 2010 when he pitched 204 innings at age 29 for the Rangers. Threw 200+ innings for four years, then 175 in 2014, then got hurt about 130 innings into 2015, basically pitching over 1000 innings after jumping from a 73 inning season to a 204 inning season before getting hurt.

In AA in 2013 Kolscheen had a 2.30 ERA over 66.2 IP and gave up 47 hits, walked 25, and struck out 85. In 2014 - with about 2/3rds of his innings in the PCL - across three teams he had a composite ERA of 2.43 over 70.1 IP, gave up 66 hits, walked 12, and struck out 68. Didn't pitch well in the PCL in 2015, but pitched reasonably well at San Antonio in the Texas League, also known as a hitter's league. I don't know what kind of stuff he throws - he's 6'6", 235 lbs so I'm guessing he's not a Rob Wooten-esque soft tosser - but it seems odd that he was given up on without a shot at the majors.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/07/red-sox-international-penalties.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MlbTradeRumors+%28MLB+Trade+Rumors%29 I think the bigger news is that the contracts they had with five players from the 2015-2016 signing period have been voided. Those players will retain their signing bonuses, but are free to sign with other clubs. The first $300K does not count towards a team's pools in the upcoming period. Those are the guys to go after.

Let them order first, and if they order expensive wine then order an expensive entree and sides. See how they respond.