jjfanec

If we get a Harden or Bedard, I want someone who is solid and proven durable. I would love Vazquez and one of those two. That gives us good potential. I like your plan MNBrew

I dont get the desire for Sheets, Bedard, and Harden. I would be okay if the were the second part of what we do, but if one of them is our headliners for the off-season we are in real trouble. Sheets has not pitched in over a year and struggled to pitch a full season before that, Bedard has been hurt the last two years, and Harden has been hurt (148 and 141 innings the past two years which is high for him) and he has not been able to go deep in games along with being only okay this year. Other teams will give those guys decent money so we wont get them that cheap.

I posted in another thread the same thoughts you had on the Yankees not getting involved. If they are out it at least takes away the team that can offer an unmatchable contract. If both LA teams are out that would be nice as well. Does Detroit really have the money for a big contract? I thought I had read where the economy was really hurting them, but I could be wrong. Could the Mets be players? Their rotation could use another ace and with the Yankees winning a series they probably want to make a splash. Lackey seems to be a competitive guy who wants to win so I think we would be attractive. With him, Yo, another pitch, Bush and Parra our rotation is solid. Braun, Fielder, Weeks, and the others can give us enough offense to compete and the bullpen looks pretty set.

With the money saved by trading Hardy and not resigning Cameron the Brewers will have the money to go after a top flight pitcher if they choose. Lackey is easily the best pitcher on the market and the bidding will be high with all the typical players (NY, LA, etc) potentially involved. However, the Brewers were willing to open the pocket book up for CC last off-season. He turned 30 this year. I have read where he might get A.J. Burnett money, which was 5 years 82 million. Obviously, we need pitching and the chances of getting Lackey might be pretty slim. But what would people be willing to spend to get him?

Could a Halladay trade be similar to the Santana trade where the team trading for him could try to sign him to an extension before finalizing the deal? That is the only way I see it making sense for the Brewers, although I am not certain if Halladay would want to play long term.

The Yankee's need to decide what they are going to do with Phil Hughes. If they move Hughes to the rotation like they should, they then probably have the rotation they need. CC, AJ, Pettite (who will come back in my mind), Joba and Hughes. That should be enough. They more than likely have to replace Damon and Matsui. They could go after Holliday or Bay to fix their lineup, but I think Lackey may not be a sure thing for the Yankees.

I would say that is still a pretty powerful lineup. Braun and Fielder are some of the best power bats in baseball. Weeks has very good power for a 2B. Gamel has good power. Hart has good power. Only SS and CF would lack power, and C is a question mark. Fielder, Braun, Weeks, Gamel, Hart (if it is good Corey) can all hit over 20-25 home runs which make for a good power team.

I wonder if Melvin will bring in another catcher as a insurance policy. I am big Lucroy fan but I would want someone a little better than Rivera as his backup in case he struggles. Lucroy is having a great fall but having not played above AA it makes me a little nervous to have him penciled in as our starting catcher.

The Hardy trade got me wondering how much we had to spend this off-season. Not having to pay JJ Hardy arbitration and not bringing Cameron back will save them a good amount of money. I dont have any idea what we have to spend and where we currently are at, but I know there are guys on this site that do. I am wondering what we are likely to spend in arbitration and what that leaves us for pitching and bench players.

The Big Ten is going to be tough this year. Mich St, Purdue, Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, and Minnesota are all ranked in the AP top 25. Minnesota has had a rough couple days as three players have been suspended one until the end of an assault trial, and 2 indefinitely after one got caught shoplifting and then resisting arrest. Who knows when they will be back. But none of the three started last year, two Royce White and Trevor Mbawke were supposed to play significant minutes, so Minnesota should still be solid. The Badgers will be an interesting team. They have a lot of guys back who played significant minutes. Bohannon and Hughes in the back court. Leuer and Nankavil in the front. It will be interesting to see what the young guys add. I still think they will jump in front of a couple of the teams ranked ahead of them in the Big Ten.

I'm not one of those people. I would take Lucroy over Salome, because of his bat. Lucroy is IMO the top catching prospect in the Brewers system and it will probably stay that way. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Salome traded. We will see though. The Brewers finally have a catcher who is turning into a top prospect. There are reasons to be very excited right now. I would not be surprised to see him traded either, but only if the Brewers are completely sold on Lucroy as the long-term guy. Salome's year in AA alone shows how high is upside is, but he has questions with his defense (various different opinions on where he is at defensively), his injuries (they are all different injuries but it is a red-flag when a catcher who will take a beating has injuries), and his highly fluctuating hitting numbers year to year (may just be result of injuries). All that said both are good prospects and since this is an AFL thread and Lucroy is playing there when looking at him, he has just been so steady. Career .845 OPS and throwing out 43% of his runners. Those numbers have carried over into the AFL so there is reason to think his numbers can stay where they have been in AAA.

There is no need to stay away from the board and talk highly of the guys you really like such as Braddock, Salome, and I think you were really high on Bryson when he was with us. It is great to have first hand insight. I think where you ruffle feathers is when you go out of your way to make negative comments about people liking a certain player. Lucroy is not loved more than any other prospect. He is our number 4 prospect on this board right in front of Salome (whom you really like). Most people think fo Lucroy as the safer prospect but Salome has the most upside. Lucroy has been incrediably steady and he is playing very well right now. Braddock is currently ranked 7th on the power 50, which is really high for a guy who is a reliever. He is loved by most. It is just cautious excitement. He is dominant when he is healthy, but like any prospect health is part of projection, so people temper there enthusiasm. However, with how he is pitching in the hitter friendly AFL people are going to have a hard time keeping expectations limited. He and Lucroy are both having great Falls and we should be really excited for both.

I agree with the connection then. I like seasons one and two of AD and then in my mind it slipped in season 3 but I just started watching it on dvd. Modern Family is the best comedy out there in my mind.

I am happy that Braddock is doing well and when he pitches someone usually comments but why the condescending attitude about Lucroy? You have made it clear you do not like him a ton as a prospect and that you are a Salome guy, but there was no need in my mind to start your post like that. Onto to Braddock, I am wondering if he is set in stone as a reliever now, or if he will get another shot at starting. When next years bullpen gets brought up he gets talked about as a possibility. People really like Braddock, I just think his injury history tempers peoples' enthusiasm. He is a terrific prospect and everyone knows that. It is waiting to see him stay healthy because his stuff is not in question at all.

Part of it reminds me of Arrested Development, but I do not think it pushes the envelope nearly the same way. When watching AD there are times where I think - how on earth were they able to say that on tv. I have not had any of those moments on MF.

It seems like people tend to overreact when someone says they like one prospect more than the other. I really like Lucroy and view him as our catcher of the future. That does not mean I do not like Salome. I love having two good prospects. I just like one a little more than the other. If the Brewers keep both I will be very happy. If the Brewers trade either one for the pitching they desperately need I will be happy. I would like to see them keep Lucroy because I feel like he is more complete, even if he does not have the upside Salome could have. For what it is worth Gord Ash had very good things to say about both players in his interview on I think it was brewers.com. I do not have time to put the link in here. He talked about Salome's improving defense and Lucroy great start to the AFL

My work had us take classes from Dave Ramsey (i work for a non-profit) and I think you misrepresent his position, at least from the classes we took. He was not selling us on his investments, as much as selling us on the dangers of debt and spending above and beyond. His budgets have room for going out to eat, getting cable and taking vacations. But he is leery about spending money you do not have unless it is on something that increases in value over time like house and even that he encourages a large down payment if possible to save on interest in the long run. We talked through risk/reward investment and talked about how a lot of how much risk you should take was based on your stage of life (time to accumulate wealth), your desired amount to live on, and your comfort level with taking risks financially. He talked about having safer more "sure thing" investments, but for people who were able to he talked about risk. Yes a lot of what he says is common sense, but after talking to many people his common sense about debt and spending could have saved a lot of people from the struggle they are in. Postponing having everything you want for a little while, so that you can be more free to have what you want in a few years is wise for a lot of people. Maybe you have talked to different people, but everyone (and I mean that) has used his principles to get out of debt has come out the other side very happy and in a very good place financially. Now there are probably stories of people who it did not work for, but it has worked for the many i have talked to. And you said cult personalities like Ramsey do not say anything new, well neither do the financial people I have talked to who advocate different philosophies on spending, debt, saving, etc. It mostly all stuff that has been out there. Some is just better than others. Like anyone you need to test what people say, so I do not follow everything Ramsey says, or any other financial person.

The more reports and Ash quotes I hear the more likely I think it is that Salome is packaged for a pitcher. He would be a nice player to add to a deal with JJ or Corey. The trade would take us from catcher being a position of depth to having a lot ride on Lucroy. if Lucroy tore up the AFL and spring training and earned a roster spot then I could see keeping them both with Salome repeating AAA to work on defense and durability. But right now if you were to trade one it would have to bee Salome because of the injury concerns and defense, in my mind. It is a nice position to be in to have to quality catching prospects.

While they play at premium offensive positions they both are the top (Braun) or second (Fielder) in OPS at those positions in all of baseball. I simply that is putting way too much weight on defense, especially for Braun. He is the best hitting OFer in all of baseball this year yet his defense is bad enough to drop him to a B-? He is not Carlos Lee or Adam Dunn out there. Fielder also was much improved on defense this year.

What is an A or A- in your book? Prince only gets a B+ while posting the 3rd highest OPS in all of baseball. Only the two future MVP's Pujols and Mauer are ahead of Prince. Braun gets a B- while posting the 13th highest OPS (while stealing 20 bases). No OFer had a better OPS than Braun in any league. You must have thought their defense was just terrible. I respect the time you put into making this list. I do not watch enough of their games (do not get them) to make a list like this. I am just trying to figure out what could get an A or A-.

For the injury concern guys a one year for Harden would be okay. If we could trade for a #2 or 3 type guy and then get Harden, the rotation would look alright with Yo, Bush, guy in trade, Harden, and Parra, Suppan, etc. Suppan and Narveson could give us depth for when Harden has to go on the DL. Josh Butler could get a year at AAA to see what we have in him. I worry about Harden staying healthy, but I also worry about Bedard, Sheets and some of the other FA targets. If Sheets was healthy I would probably rather have him than Harden because he will be cheaper.

I would steer clear of Liriano. He is afraid to throw his slider now and batters wait for it. His walk rates have increases as have the amounts of hits he gives up. All this while his strikeout rates have dropped. He did have Tommy John but he was back from that in 2008, but then got hurt again, missed most of that season. You would probably be able to buy low, but I just don't see a lot of value in the post Tommy John Liriano. Without his slider being as effective, hitters wait for his fastball and tee off on it. He also has a big inury risk. His worsening numbers, combined with injury concers make me wonder what he is really worth and if he is a guy this team can count on. I would not want him to be one of the two starters we bring in.

I do not know how great the Mets OF'ers are. Didn't they trade for Jeff Francoeur? He had a worse OPS than Hart this year and Hart can steal you some bases. That said I have no idea why the Mets who seem to lack pitching would trade Maine.

Milwaukee had 22 blown saves this year and Hoffman only had 4 of them. I know before Hoffman came back from injury we had a lot of blown saves. I am not sure how many of those games we lost but Hoffman's presence for a whole season would made this an above .500 team. It is good to have him back. It is nice not have to reconstruct our whole bullpen in the off-season. Melvin will be able to focus on the rotation now.

Who are these good pitchers? You have John Lackey as the stud. Then after that it seems like guys with serious injury questions (Bedard, Escobar, Harden) or guys who are not that great but will get more money than they should (Marquis, Washburn, Pavano) or guys who are old and most likely will only go to a coast or serious contender (Johnson, Wolf, Wakefield). After that I see Doug Davis and Pineiro. Pineiro could easily be in the guy who is going to get paid way too much category. I must be missing some people because we cannot afford Lackey, or taking chance on the injury risk guys. The other guys remind me of Suppan three years ago. Inning eaters who are getting older and do not strike people out. Not an appealing class, but like I said I could be missing people