Fear The Chorizo

If we can get a deal like Luc's simply by adding a no trade clause to it I would be for it every day, all day no matter the hassle it creates when it comes time to trade them. We will have to disagree on that point...I think when a small market team needs to maximize value via trade and pull the trigger, they can't be restricted by NTC limitations in the event one of the few suitors of a player happens to be on a no trade list. In this instance, the same contract that supposedly makes Luc so valuable is the only reason he is still a Brewer

I think losing out on mejia is going to sting the further we get away from this trade. Wouldn't be surprised to see him listed as Clevelands top prospect after this season, and among the best in baseball. Basically if this exact package were offered for lucroy at next year's deadline, with still 1.5 years left on lucroys contract, people would be universally ecstatic about that level of return. I guess at least we will have these players to watch compared to whatever the brewers finally do get for Luc, and walk away affirmed that a small market team should never offer a contract with a no trade clause in it.

Something g doesn't add up, if Cleveland doesn't want to start him next year why wouldn't they just exercise his option and then trade him this offseason? Gotta be more along the lines of lucroy insisting that option be eliminated, and both the brewers and Indians balking at that.

Lucroy signed the contract that he is playing under, right? This isn't leverage, this is him screwing the brewers for declining another contract extension.

Yup, remember the mets package that was panned? That probably is off the table, too. This screws the brewers at the deadline this year. Best thing for lucroy is now to exercise his option and deal him at the winter meetings to whoever has the best offer that isn't on his NTC list

Going to be one awkward walk into the clubhouse for mr. Lucroy this morning... $$ over winning. Who isnt on his NTC?

That gomez trade was panned until people realized Hader was a potential stud. At the time the focus was all about phillips and santana Btw, lucroy was never a top 100 prospect himself, which says all you need to know about relying on what number a player is at any point in time.

Could very well be that the 4th is one of the pitching prospects that is pretty well regarded, and both teams don't want to confirm the name until Lucroy formally waives his NTC so they know a deal is done. I say it's sheffield

I think the lack of a marquee prospect arm coming back with this deal for lucroy has more to do with the brewers and Indians lining up another trade sending a reliever their way. Still two days to make trades, and the brewers are definitely not done yet. Oh, and so happy the mets are pounding sand tonight...Really hoping the lucroy no trade hurdle gets cleared and this thing happens. If the deal falls through because of that, there's no market worth trading him in until this offseason.

As others have posted, 70 is between 1 and 100... which is what mejia is ranked TODAY as a prospect, with that arrow pointing way up.

So when Stearns trades Will Smith to Cleveland for McKenzie tommorrow, will people be happy again? Btw, this is a big haul for lucroy...Mejia should be too young to be making big time minor league noise and Allen will be a mlb regular. Both are top 100 talents that will be on such lists 1-2 years from now.

Unless Lester and Lackey get back on track, I think the Cubs are going to be shorthanded in their starting rotation come playoff time - In 2015 They beat the Pirates in the Wild Card game and the Cards in the Divisional round largely because Jake Arietta was untouchable and the Cards' starting staff wasn't dominating. Then they ran into a young Mets staff + Familia who held them in check in a best of 7 game series format that finally showed the warts of the rest of the 2015 Cub staff. Arietta's still really good, but he's not unhittable and guaranteed to get through 8IP every start like he was last year. Yes, their bullpen is much stronger than it was after Chapman's been brought in...but I can see postseason history repeating itself when they have to win a 7 game series against a team with a superior starting staff #1-3 unless they bring in another quality starter.

Addison doesn't intersect with Waveland. Sorry, but I couldn't resist. Carry on. Haha, didn't intend it to mean the intersection...lets add clark and sheffield to surround wrigley

Good for the Cubs to "go for it"...but boy that's a steep price. Yes, they currently have the SS position more than covered at the MLB level, but trading away that kind of prospect at a premium position gives them fewer options a couple years from now when all that young position player core needs to get paid. Right now the Cubs' payroll is pushing $170MM, think of where it would need to go to pay guys like Russell, Baez, Schwarber, and Bryant anything close to fair market value? The centerpiece prospect in this trade appeared to have the potential to replace one of their MIF regulars when they started getting expensive. Additionally, I still think they need to go out and trade for another difference-making starting pitcher. I'm looking forward to seeing bewildered Cub fan faces on Addison and Waveland as Scherzer & Strasburg shut them down in the postseason.

Since MLB rosters basically were limited to whites only through practically the 1st half of its existence, I have a hard time comparing stats from that era to today's game considering over 1/2 of this year's all star game roster wouldn't have been allowed on the field if it were 1940. There have been so many different eras in baseball, there really isn't much of a point in debating "best 50 or so MLB players of all time". I think a more accurate measure would be breaking up MLB history in 25-year increments and identifying 1st, 2nd, 3rd team rosters.

The best time to trade Braun would be this (or future) offseasons, when all MLB teams looking to build their rosters for the next year that could afford at least a good chunk of his remaining salary would be potential suitors. Particularly for teams looking for dramatic upgrades in the OF or DH via veteran free agency - if they lose out on whomever the marquee OF free agents are, trading a few key prospects at other positions who may be blocked or still years away starts making a lot of sense to bring in a hitter the caliber of Braun. Getting all those moving parts to come to terms by an in-season trade deadline would require desperation or a plain crazy owner/GM combo for the team trading for Braun.

Chapman would be foolish to sign an extension now, and the Yankees would be foolish to deal him in that scenario unless they got a king's ransom for him (i.e., more than the Cubs' #1 prospect)...it's very possible that Chapman turns around and resigns with the Yankees for next year. The Cubs have insisted they won't be trading Schwarber, but he would sure be an ideal fit for the Yankees to be their DH for the next decade.

It's such a sellers market right now, and teams looking to buy are trying to figure out if any other clubs are willing to deal too try and get some of the asking prices down. As a Brewer fan, now's the time to root for teams like the Yankees and Tigers to go on a little run and convince themselves they shouldn't sell.

Virtually anyone drafted seventh overall will be perceived as having that kind of value as a prospect. Agreed, which is why dealing LaPorta as a centerpiece landed an ace pitcher. LaPorta was perceived as having that kind of value as a prospect. He didn't turn out to be a perennial all star - just like most of the 7th overall selections in the MLB draft since 1965. Twelve 7th overall selections since the draft started in the 60s never even made it to the big leagues (not counting four more guys selected 7th overall from some of the most recent drafts). The average career WAR for 7th overall selections that did make the show is 9.3...not too bad, but considering over 1/2 of that WAR value comes from three players (Kershaw - 53.5, Tulo - 42.6, and Frank Thomas - 73.7) over 50 draft years, the rest of the 7th overall draftees don't look so great collectively. Don't get me wrong, quality MLB players have gone 7th overall...but there have been even more also rans and busts that reinforce just how much of a crapshoot the draft is.

If the Brewers didn't draft LaPorta, the Sabathia trade doesn't happen and the Brewers arguably would have had zero playoff appearances over the last decade (If that 2008 team hadn't made the postseason, other trades could have made moving MLB pieces that would've fractured the team that won the division in 2011). So, drafting him 7th overall was worth it - his impact for the Brewers was allowing them to bring in an Ace pitcher for a playoff run. On the day he was drafted, many wondered "why draft another 1B when you have Fielder?" - the answer to that question early on was he could be a fast riser and a potential trade chip. If the MLB FA compensation rules weren't so stupid, drafting LaPorta could've wound up with the Brewers getting Mike Trout, who was picked 25th in the first round and the Brewers were all over that spring.

I think you can't pigeon hole yourself into one or the other When you're talking about trading away marginal veterans at the trade deadline, I think you shoot for whatever package of "diamond in the rough" talent that is years away - if one turns into a MLB-caliber player or prospect you can flip down the road to improve the MLB club you had a good trade. When you're talking about trading away a MLB-cornerstone player (Lucroy, Braun, Greinke), I think you're better off minimizing the size of the package to get the highest-caliber prospect you can. I think you still want to have an extra prospect or two added in since today most teams won't part with a consensus top 10 prospect, but you should want to replace that caliber of veteran talent with a player that has the potential to be that kind of a difference-maker once they're in the majors.

Player development personnel, most notably in the lower levels of the minor leagues, is an area that's commonly undervalued or even a complete afterthought for many of us always looking to find the best trade pieces or draft eligible talent for the Brewers - if you draft a guy based on upside that needs development, you better be certain that you have quality resources to maximize their potential. If you don't, you're basically trying to build an organization with one hand tied behind your back. IMO, one of the reasons entire draft classes appear to stink for several years is the people in the organization tasked with developing them collectively stink at their jobs or that particular organization's budget/process for developing players isn't competitive with the more highly respected MLB counterparts. When I see the smallest market in baseball stretch their payroll at the MLB level to retain homegrown stars through free agency or bring in veteran talent, I question what % of those dollars were poached from other parts of the organization where it could be much more effective in the long term. I'm not saying for certain that the Brewers' organization lacks quality and resources in the player development department because I frankly have no idea who they have (or had) in place - results on the field speak for themselves, though. I remember one thing Epstein/Cubs brass insisted on throwing $ and resources at early on in their Chicago tenure was the player development side of things - that organization was a laughing stock in that department during the tail end of the Hendry years, partly because they threw all available dollars at the MLB payroll during their sale to inflate the value of the team.

Garza's a sunk cost for this season, and likely the next (any trade involving him would probably include the Brewers paying most all of his remaining salary). I think you just give him the ball every 5th day and hope he finds something that will make him palatable to a team looking for a veteran starter to fill out their rotation this offseason. Dealing him at this year's deadline won't happen.

Reports are out that he signed for $3.65 Million. Not all that he wanted, but over slot money and a slight bit more than what Boston recently had on the table ($3.5M). Good decision for the kid and for the Red Sox. I think if you're a high school pitcher and you're drafted in the 1st round, you'd be foolish to pass up signing a contract and waiting another calendar year or multiple years should you decide on going to college. College will always be there for you after your career (if you even need it). Players in the bigs have a much easier time playing chicken with their longterm financials by going year to year with arbitration instead of signing an initial extension, because they're already established big league players with a track record. If a kid declines to sign a contract arguing over $200K and proceeds to blow out his arm, he won't ever be drafted as high as his original selection and odds are good his career will be over with before it ever started (and without several million in the bank).

While seemingly playing the first 1/3rd of the regular season like a 125-win ballclub, the Cubs have really struggled over the past few weeks leading up to the AS break - this has opened the door to both the Cardinals and Pirates, teams that got off to bad starts and had injury issues who appear to be righting the ship for a stretch run. The Cubs have had some injuries that have tested their depth, but they are still scoring enough runs. Their biggest problem has been poor starting pitching over the past month, and frankly it's not that surprising. Arrieta was basically untouchable from June 2015 through May 2016, but his innings load during that same span has been drastically higher than any other point of his career - he's still a darn good pitcher, but it looks like his phenomenal run has fizzled out and is now struggling to make it through 6IP consistently. A telling indicator of arm fatigue is a loss of control/command - which is exactly what he's been struggling with over this bad stretch. Hammel has been uneven of late, and this tends to be the time of year when his performance starts suffering. Lester has been brutal his past few starts, but may be able to right the ship with a little extra rest. While Lackey hasn't been poor, he hasn't been able to pick up the slack, either. While much of the focus for Cubs' trade targets has been adding relievers (their pen has been uneven all season, and has struggled even more as the starters have forced them to pitch more innings lately), I think they need to explore adding another starter if they want to keep the Pirates & Cardinals at bay. I don't think they're in danger of completely nosediving, but there are now some real warts on a team that appeared indestructible just a few weeks ago.