jjfanec

I actually think this exactly why Hoffman's agent told Tom Huadicourt they were "working to make Hoffman a Brewer" He will close in Milwaukee which hopefully trumps geography.

Again you can read what I wrote saying they might not need the depth if they get Peavy, but they will be relying on Harden to stay healthy for a full year and Zambrano to hold it together for a full year (he has struggled and worn down down the stretch the last two years). Dempster will more than likely regress a bit. They had no real depth if an injury happens which seems likely with the guys they have.

I am not sure if you were responding to my post, but I was referring to their lack of depth if they traded for Peavy because they would likely have to give up Fontenot and Marshall to do it and that would crush their depth.Bradley is an upgrade over Edmonds with the bat, but he probably will not put up much better numbers than what Edmonds did as a Cub when he had a .937 OPS. He is just as injury prone and he is not the fielder Edmonds is. It is still an upgrade but for 3 years 30 million it should be an upgrade.

If Fuentes got 2 years 17.5 million. I would think 2 years at 10 should do it, but I have no idea. I do agree a one year deal is a strong possibility or a 2 year with an option.

Hoffman solidifies our bullpen in my mind. Allow Carlos to be our Marmol type guy and you still have Riske, and McClung (if you sign a starting pitcher), along with Stetter, Julio, Coffey, and one of the young guys maybe. I would be on board with that bullpen. Hopefully it is a small enough deal that we have the flexibility to bring in a starter as well.

The problem is who are they going to trade for Peavey? By trading De Rosa they are forced to keep Fontenot in my mind who was supposed to be part of the deal. That leaves Pie, Marshall and Vitters as potential people to trade but if they do that they cripple an already weak farm system and have no rotation depth. With Z, Peavey, Harden, Lilly and Dempster maybe they do not need depth, but the injury history of Harden and the increasing injuries for Zambrano means they would need someone to start a fair amount of games this season. They already trading good prospects to get Gregg so their system would be bad. They would building for a one-two year run with as many guys they have that are aging.

This is a great question. I know many questioned his range to play CF when the Cubs signed him, so I assume that would still be an issue. He has a great arm, but if his range is below average, with Soriano and Bradley that will be a rough OF. Bradley may be a decent fielder when healthy, but when he is nicked up his range will go down. This team will struggle defensively. Bradley bat will play well for them though. I really disliked the DeRosa trade for the Cubs. He was such an important part of that team and they are now thin up the middle with Theriot, Fontenot, Cedeno, and Miles. It will be interesting to see what kind of number Fontenot can put up with more playing time, but I am sure they are assuming Theriot's BAbip will drop from the .340 clip he had last year, somewhere closer to the norm. His BABip has fluctuated quite a bit in his three full seasons. If it drops even to .320 with his lack of power he will be a liability, add that to Miles or an unproven Fontenot, I do not what questions this team has answered, or how they have made themselves that much better. That being said I really dislike the Cubs so I am biased

My comment was made to show your comment about there being more player movement in the NFL than in MLB as being a false statement. However, I do agree with a lot of what you just said. I think the big difference is the guaranteed money in MLB compared to the NFL. The NFL's contracts not being all guaranteed makes keeping players easier. I actually think CC would have been able to stay in Milwaukee under the NFL policy because the long term deal would not have been near as crippling in the future. Also a cap also caps the high end salaries in a league. A-Rod would not have gotten his contract in the NFL because a cap keeps from huge contracts. In MLB you can definitely build a team around players like you do in the NFL. In the NFL you build around a QB, RB or defense. Under a cap in MLB you would have to choose if you wanted to put most of your money in your starting pitching, if you wanted to build around offense, or if you wanted to go for all around solid. The Brewers would choose to build around Braun, Fielder, Hardy, CC and Yo, like the Packers would build around Rodgers, Jennings, Driver, Grant, Kampman and Woodson. It is interesting to think of what MLB the salary cap in MLB would be. Last year the average payroll was 90 million. I do not know how a cap would work around an average like that but 90 million is 9 million more for the current Brewers roster. I am sure the Marlins would love a salary cap.

Every single year dozens of players leave their teams because there just wasn't cap room. There is way more financial movement of players in football than baseball, it isn't comperable at all.Actually, I do not think that is accurate. There are some positions where there is a lot of movement in the NFL, but lets look at 3 big positions QB, RB, WR. Last year the big FA qb was Chad Pennington (who was cut), the big RB was Michael Turner (who was not a starter) and the big receiver was Bernard Berrian (Randy Moss resigned with the Pats). At other positions like CB there was really only one big guy in Asante Samuel. The reality lower teir guys move around a lot in the NFL but the top guys do not, unless it is through trades. Just a quick glance at the Pro Bowl rosters this year show that Turner, Jeff Faneca, and Samuel are the only guys I know of who were free agents this offseason. So, out of 80 players only 3 were free agents. The Franchise Tag allows football teams to keep their players as well. Big name players move in football but I would not say at the rate of baseball. This year Tex, CC and Burnett left their teams and they were not even all-stars. The all-start probably leaving their teams include Manny, Sheets, Wood, Crede, and Varitek. Throw in solid players like Abreu, Dunn, Ibanez, Bradley, Fuentes, Hoffman, Hudson, Burrell, not to mention guys like Santana who would have been free agents had they not been traded and signed by their new teams. Big players leave small market teams all the time in baseball. They are just traded instead of let go into FA, which would not have to happen with a salary cap. Most of your top players would stay and your middle teir guys would be the ones moving around.

With the Angels losing out on Tex and saying they will not go after Manny this trade seems to make more and more sense. The problem with trading Fielder is he is our only left-handed everyday bat, so we would need to find at least one somewhere else. Maybe we could get Adam Dunn at first base or one of the other LH corner of/dh on the market. If we could get Santana back plus another player and then sign Dunn I think that would make us better.

The Twins can keep Mauer they just need to decide if it is worth it. They will be moving into a new stadium. He is also a guy who is more than just a great player, he is a hometown kid who is the face of the team. However, just like many did not want us to sign CC because it could have crippled us, the Twins will have to ask the same questions about risk versus reward. He is a young guy who has had some knee trouble, so what position will he play. He is a pretty light hitting DH. As for the Red Sox I think this shows restraint by them. They chose not to offer a huge contract to Tex so they could move on Mauer in the future. They did not want to be locked up in a ton of big long term deals when Mauer becomes a free agent. It is the same think NBA teams are doing for LeBron (in a sport with a heavy luxury tax, that almost acts like a cap). It is a calculated risk for the Sox because the Twins could sign Mauer or trade him in his last year and the Red Sox would miss out, but it is a risk they are willing to take.

As a UW-EC alum I would recommend the LC or EC route as well. I planned to transfer to Madison after my first year but with my major I had no real reason to go to Madison and EC is a good school for a lot of different programs. As a positive Eau Claire has had a really good club team over the years. When I was there they even made the Collegiate club team World Series and I think it was down in Florida.

I do not think you would have to add anything with Hart, in fact I think we should get something back in return. I like the idea of adding Johnson but who is playing LF for us next year if we trade Hart.

I think people are wondering if there is any way Salome could stick somewhere else. People know Lawrie could stick somewhere else. I have always like Lucroy as our future catcher and have thought trading Salome when his value is high is a great idea. He has questions about his defense but an AL team would be excited to get him because even if he does not stick to catcher his bat will play. I agree with the idea to give Lawrie a year at catcher and if that does not seem to work put at third or somehwere else.

If we could get Peavy without having to give up Parra or Jeffress I would be happy. Young pitching is the weak spot in our system so if we can keep those guys it would be great. Peavy, Yo, and Parra would be really nice for the next 3 years would be very nice. The linked rumor seems to be iffy but we can dream.

I guess I do not know how to read defensive metrics than because for range factor he was right next to Bill Hall and for zone ratings he was right next to Longoria, two guys who can play third base from what I have seen.

I was wondering the same thing. He seems like a great fit for the Brewers. He was 5th in MLB among 3B in OPS. He actually had a better OPS than Longoria. I do not know much about defensive rankings but from what I could tell he was not terrible. If he is non-tendered we should go after him.

Melvin said he needed a left-handed bat last year, but still signed Cameron, so I doubt he will do anything stupid just to get a left-handed bat

If we trade for Melky and get Gross I would feel okay with our outfield. Gross could spell Hart if he goes into a slump and gives us what Melvin has said he wants. Good OBP and a left-handed bat. If we could find a third baseman who fits that bill as well I think we would have a solid lineup. Weeks I do not know who would hit here. Cabrera or 3b Braun Fielder Hardy Hart Cabrera or 3B Kendall I wonder if Greg Dobbs from the Phillies will be available after the Ibanez signing. All the money we have could be used for pitching and we would have a very similar lineup to the one we started the year with and it did alright.

I am down with Gross as well. I like him as a 4th OF even though i think he could start if needed. Saito is interesting as well. i have no clue how he is recovering from injuries but if our payroll is nearing its limit he is worth a look

Dobbs can play 3B so he would be a great fit for this team. A left-handed hitting 3B, but I wonder with Feliz's injury questions if they will keep him around. They definitely do not need another left-handed bat though. I wonder what he would cost in a trade. He would be a better option than Mike Lamb for a platoon with Bill Hall.

It is funny because I bet the BBTN people will be loving this move. All week they were bragging up Ibanez as the best of the left-handed bats out there. One guy even said he played good defense.

WHIP is an important stat for a reliever because in one inning stints less guys on base leads to less runs and less chance for big innings that kill closers. If you look at WHIP you will see all the top relievers (except K-Rod) near the top. Guys like Nathan, Rivera, Papelbon, Marmol, Soria, Wood, and Fuentes were all in the top 25 of all relievers and those are a lot of the guys who had top years as relievers. As for the K numbers he may not be a k per inning guy but I think he does show the cries that he has lost his stuff may be a little over exaggerated. It seems like every stat is misleading to you except his ERA which is a bad stat to judge a reliever because one 4-run balloons their ERA. Is he one of the best relievers in the game anymore? No, but he is a better option than McClung and the rest of the in house guys.

What would it take for us to get in the discussion? I know they want young pitching and we do not have much of that.

In his latest blog Tom talked about who the Brewers were looking at terms of pitchers. Looks like we are talking Randy Wolf, Randy Johnson, Jamie Moyer and John Smoltz. I am intrigued by both Johnson and Smoltz. I know they both are old but they would not be long term contracts most likely each one year.