TwinsBrewersWorldSeries

Blackburn might have been getting lucky, but i'll take a 4.00 era / 1.30 whip from my #4 pitcher in the rotation any day. I agree that he's not going to improve the team by himself, but as I noted above, who is going to sign here for a reasonable contract that isn't 1) old, 2) injury prone, or 3) has some issues. Blackburn (even in his struggles), in my opinion is a better pitcher than anyone we could pay less than $10m to on the open market. Would I advocate trading Prince for Blackburn? Not a chance. But Blackburn can't possibly be any worse than Parra/Narverson/Davis right now. He screams "change of scenery" to me. But since we lose Bush likely anyways... trading Bush for Blackburn is essentially getting something for nothing. Edit: I disagree that Weeks and Hart are $10m/per players. As someone noted in another thread, very few 2B, make more than $5-6m/per. Weeks has been solid this year and is probably a top-10 2B, but he's also never made it through an entire season before and doesn't really have the counting stats. I think 5/30 would be a very fair offer to Rickie and I think that he would take it. Hart is a bigger question mark, but i think that GMs have learned and aren't going to pay massive dollars for mid-range players. If Corey finishes .300/.350/.600/.950 and repeats with a .900-.950 OPS next year, he'd probably get a big deal in FA, but an outfielder who to date has never put up over an .900 OPS over a full season is not going to get a huge offer. Maybe offer Corey 3/24 instead of he finishes above .900 ops this year

So I was talking with some buddies this weekend trying to figure out how we could turn Dave Bush and Prince Fielder into two serviceable pitchers for 2011 and beyond. This is what we came up with. #1- Trade Dave Bush to the Twins for Nick Blackburn. This is the simplest and most "no brainer" of the three. This would be a classic "sell high" based on Bush's past 2 months, and "buy low" based on Blackburn's awful first half. Blackburn certainly has the tools to be the 4.00 era /1.30 whip pitcher that he was in 2008 and 2009. He still has three more arby years of team control left. He's had an awful 2010, but i think would be a pretty impressive haul for 2 months of Dave Bush (who we are going to lose for nothing anyways). If Blackburn continues his Manny Parra impression, we can always cut him for nothing. Blackburn is better than any pitcher that we will realistically be able to acquire through free agency. Why the Twins make this deal? They have a better defense and bigger ballpark than Bush. Bush probably also sees how those factors have made Carl Pavano a borderline All-Star. They have a team underperforming and need to make a change in their rotation. They didn't get Lee and won't get Oswalt, but Bush would help stabilize a rotation with many question marks after Liriano and Pavano. #2- Trade Prince Fielder to the Rays for Matt Garza. The Rays have salary concerns and with their glut of young pitching, expect Garza (like Kazmir) to be traded. Garza is under team control through the 2012 season. They are in striking distance this year and Prince would be a huge upgrade in their lineup. In Garza, the Brewers have a legit #2 to pair with Yo that we haven’t had since Sheets/Sabathia led us the playoffs. Our 2011 Rotation: Gallardo Garza Wolf Blackburn Parra/whoever breaks through the minors first. Cain takes over in RF for Hart, who moves to 1B. I’ve been torn about trading Corey, but if he and Weeks are willing to sign team friendly deals (neighborhood of 5/30), I think we need to do it. The offense has been solid and we should have help coming through the minors, but we need to keep some of the old core to keep the fans engaged. Hart (with his height) reminds me a great deal of the Sexson years. I firmly believe that our best targets are early-Arby pitchers in a trade (not-pre Arby as a team is not going to trade solid pre-Arby pitching) and hope to ink these players to team friendly 3-4 year deals with an option or two. Garza would be an established pitcher & great haul for Prince, and Blackburn could be a solid #2-3 if he pans out, and only cost us Bush if he doesn’t.

I agree for 2011. if he'd sign for $5M + incentives... i'd be all over that. I think he's shown that he is durable this season, though the results aren't exactly screaming multi-year deal at this point.

Sometimes guys just need to "learn to pitch" again after a major injury. I still think Ben has some solid seasons left in him, even if this season ends up being mediocre

pre-2008 we were building... 2008 we reached the playoffs... last year we took a step back, this year we appear to have taken a bigger step back with Hart and Fielder possibly on their way out during/before 2011. If this team only wins 75 games, will we have a new GM by the winter meetings?

Blasphemy! Twins-Brewers is 5 automatic wins for the Twins annually http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ** i love how my reverse jinx helped the Brewers sweep for the first time in years! ** Don't compare Twins fans and Cubs fans. The Twins actually win on a regular basis. Cubs fans have to deal with E-Coli in the Chicago River.

Great suggestion MH. I'm on board. Get it done Doug. Escobar has been a massive weak spot for the Brewers this year

Congrats to Corey! He has really worked hard. Hope this first half is the breakout we've all been waiting for from him. I've complained about him as much as anyone, but am impressed that he has proven me wrong this season.

Gomez .235/.275/.377/.652 As a Twins fan, i hate to say it, but this might be all Gomez every shows. Cameron looks awful as well this year (saved $$), but Gomez looks awful Escobar .244/.300/.331/.631 As a Hardy supporter (he's having a crappy season), this was probably the right move (saved $$), but Escobar looks awful so far Wolf 1.52 WHIP 4.70 ERA looks pretty mediocre so far Davis 1.98 WHIP 7.56 ERA looks awful Hawkins 1.96 WHIP 9.26 ERA Hoffman 1.64 WHIP 8.28 ERA (hard to see that coming after a stellar 08-09) to be fair, my signings look awful as well... Ben Sheets 1.47 WHIP 4.98 ERA Rich Harden 1.68 WHIP 5.68 ERA in short, i think this shows that free agency is a giant crapshoot. Since you can't always time your draft picks turning it on together, we need to trade for some impact players. Its time to fire Melvin

I agree with the appreciation for the good sportsmanship. I guess that is the reason I hate teams like Argentina, Brazil, and Italy. It is one thing to be good and know you are good. It is another to have blatant disrespect for your opponent and the officials. And it goes without saying that there is no room in sports for cheap shots (insert name of the the brazil player who embarrassed his country and his sport). I didn't like that the "intentional hand ball" allowed Uraguay to move on, but by in large i feel the four teams left are all classy teams. Argentina being absolutely destroyed by Germany was absolutely beautiful. The world now can stop hearing how great the biggest cheater in the history of sports (mr. hand of god) and Messi are...

Brewers need to win 85 games this year or Macha, Ash, and Melvin should be sent packing. 7-8 (85 win seasons) and a few playoff appearances each decade shouldn't be asking that much of a good GM. Given DM's massive failure in putting together a decent pitching staff... year after year... its time to do something different

Would not be surprised to see Germany win it all. I like their "humble" nature compared to Brazil who make me want to throw up... guess its a Culture thing. GO GERMANY!

BF Nation! So i'm having a very good year for fitness in 2010. I started the year about 200-205 lbs, and have since dropped down to about 180-185, largely through running, getting better sleep, eating smaller portions, and limited soda use. Just ran my first half marathon last weekend in Duluth, and am looking at competing in a triathlon later this summer/fall. I'd like to drop another 10-15 lbs, and tone up/work really hard to get my college abs back (i'm 28). Anyone had any success with using Fish Oil/Omega 3? I'm not fat by any stretch of the imagination, but i'd really like to burn some of "my gut" that remains. I realize a pill won't do this for me, but i've heard that with the right level of exercise (and a certain heart rate), eating the right foods, Omega 3 can help burn fat cells along your abdominal area. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Oh, and for those that don't drink enough water... i probably have been drinking 10-12 cups daily for the past six weeks and feel great! It makes a huge difference

With the second half of the border rivalry starting tonight, i've been wondering for awhile when the Brewers will finally take as series from the Twins. Haven't looked it up, but i'd guess that it has been at least five years (10 series) since the Brewers last won 2/3 from the most successful small market team in baseball. I'll have my Joe Mauer jersey and Brewers ball cap on tonight...

I wonder if the Mountain West might try and grab someone else now that Utah has left. MWC > WAC for sure, but replacing Utah with Boise is a probably a draw at best for the MWC... That said, i'm not sure who the MWC could add that is not in a BCS conference to get them over the top

I agree, something fishy is going on. That is an even worse call than Jim Joyce's... the US played very poorly in the 1st half, but deserved to win

Sheets is now 14 ER in his past 6 starts (38 IP)... average of 6.2 innings per start, with a 3.31 ERA since the 2 game destruction. Very small sample size... but he might help somebody in the stretch run if the A's are out of it. He does have 14 walks in that stretch versus 36 strikeouts, but 14 walks seems high for Benny. Factor in 29 hits, and you're looking at 43 baserunners in 38 innings, for a very respectable 1.13 WHIP... Man Doug Davis is sure working out well for us

I would dispute this. They have not advanced to a world series ala 1987 or 1991, but i believe have six division titles in the past decade. I would say that the Twins organization is virtually identical to the St Louis Cardinals (minus the Cards World Series win). The Twins have the pieces in place to make a very nice run for it in 2010 and 2011... then, moving forward, their core (Span, Mauer, Morneau) is still locked up and then can start flipping some of their pitching when it starts to get more expensive (Baker, Slowey, Blackburn, maybe even Liriano) and replace them with even more arms. The twins don't rebuild, they reload. If you have a few premium players (M&M) that you build around, and you play the cycle right of trading high and buying low, you can have sustained success. Despite no world series wins since 1991, i think the Twins are a top-5 run organization in MLB, maybe even Top-3 and now they have a beautiful ballpark and revenue enhancement that will only improve their outlook

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300505128 5-0 start 1.49 ERA... (despite that awful contract) that it might have been worth it to take a flier on him if the SF Giants would have taken back some of our crap (Suppan, Hall, etc...) Between Zito and Lirano, we've seen some pretty big bounce backs early in 2010

http://sports.espn.go.com...rs/profile?playerId=6211 23 scoreless innings, the prohibitive April favorite for the AL Cy Young (think Greinke's hot start last year). Part of me wants to absolutely believe he's back, but i wonder if this is just a fluke. At what point to the Twins lock him up, or do they go year to year for two more years of arby? Lock him up, and he gets hurt... ouch Don't lock him up and he keeps this up, no chance they can resign him. He's making $1.6m this year and hasn't made much career wise. If he keeps it up through the AS Break, would you offer something in the neighborhood of 4/40? If not, what would you offer?

I've said it a thousand times. Melvin is great at taking an awful franchise and making them decent, but he is absolutely the wrong choice to lead this organization to taking the next step. Sheets signed a ONE year deal. That was extremely low risk. We had the money to spend this offseason, and we used it on gutter fodder... How would signing Sheets for $8.5M and then having him flop or get hurt be any worse than our Gagne signing a few years ago? Our pitching is still awful, and i have a very hard time seeing this team break 80 wins this season

This is where I think Doug Melvin and Ted Thompson sometimes trip over themselves and their ego. 150 IP at 3.25 ERA with 50 IP at replacement level (IMHO) is worth more than 4.75 ERA at 200 IP. Sheeter obviously had injury issues, but you can't tell me that he wasn't worth what we paid Hawkins + Davis. Stetter + Sheets > Davis + Hawkins, and it isn't even close even when you consider Ben's injury history Melvin has done alot of good things, but his handling of Sheets was deja vu of a Sal Bando type move

Weather not withstanding, i would put Target Field in the Top-5 in baseball... Target Field, PNC Park, Pacific Bell Park, Camden Yards are my personal favorites. That said, Miller Park is very practical and "blue-collar" like, and i think that fits the personality of Milwaukee perfectly. If I want to grill out with the guys, drink a bunch of beer, and beat the crap out of the sCrUBS, we go to Miller Park If I want to dress up a bit, see a good game, and then go out on the town, Minneapolis is much better than Milwaukee Overall, the Brewers and Twins are much much better than the crap in that state that is beneath us

Given Weeks injury history, i think he would be misguided if he turned down 4/24 or 3/18 $4.5 2011 $5.5 2012 $6.5 2013 $7.5 2014 (option - 1.5M buyout) Assuming he had a couple good years in there, he could cash in again in 2014 for a bigger FA deal

Oh no! Back to the dark ages pre-brewerfan! We are doomed. Can Bill Hall fix websites?