Harold Hutchison

If it is the Braun of 2007-2012, I dispute that he'd be a disaster. We'd be having a guy who lead the league in SLG twice and OPS twice, and whose average OPS over those six years was .943. With the 2007-2012 version of Braun, I can live with 26+ errors at third base. I think, in this case, the bat largely outweighs the defensive issues.

Yeah, it's too bad that the Brewers don't have another player capable of playing third base on the roster... one who delivered huge offensive numbers until a couple of injury-plagues years... Oh, yeah... they DO. Time for #8 to come full circle.

The real key to me is that the Brewers have options. They can ride a bullpen, and the starters will know that they only have to worry about getting through six innings, because then the 2015 version of the Nasty Boys take over, and close the door. Or, at mid-season, they can deal a reliever for help elsewhere (third base? outfield?). K-Rod could help in that regard... or Broxton, or whoever.

How? I think teams would prefer to have relievers on one year deals. Too much volatility to want them for more than the one season. It's not like Broxton's trade value was helped because he had an extra year. K-Rod's been VERY good - good enough that he may be worth the two years. 32 is not that old for a relief pitcher, and one with 348 career saves will draw interest. Given his sub-1.0 WHIP in 2014, and his lights-out performance for the Crew in 2013, this is well worth it.

K-Rod (9th) Broxton (8th) Henderson (7th) Smith (LOOGY) Kintzler (short) Jeffress (middle) Willis (long)

Love the deal. The extra year also could enhance K-Rod's trade value this year (if the Brewers need a third baseman) - it wouldn't be a few-month rental.

If starting pitchers under 6'2" are being undervalued... then perhaps that is one area the Crew should look into investing in heavily. Kind of a "Moneyball" approach to pitching.

Nelson and Peralta look like they will be huge assets... Until free agency comes along and the Brewers lose out because some team offers `em $20 million a year. If I'm Doug Melvin, I'm trying to get Peralta to sign a seven-year deal that buys out arby and a few FA years. Say, seven years, $60 million ($4 million bonus, $8 million/year).

I'm surprised more players are not going for deferrals.

While it is an academic exercise along the lines of "could've, would've" that may or may not go to "should've," I think Prince would have had a revival returning to Milwaukee the way Cirillo did after his injury-plagued time in Seattle. Plus, you get that Braun-Fielder-Ramirez-Lucroy-Gomez from 3-7... that's an offense that can win a championship - and have its way with pitching staffs. Even with the $114 million over six years... yeah, Prince would've been worth it. When healthy, he's averaged 35 homers and 108 RBI and posted a 162-game average of 36 homers and 109 RBI.

Why? It's a lot like the extra point in football. Sure the pitcher might throw it to the backstop, but it happens so rarely that it makes sense to just let the batter take his base without wasting time throwing pitches. Simply put, from the rules of MLB: A ball's definition has been defined since the game's started. I'm leery of fiddling with that.

Scherzer went to the Nationals http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/106789260/phil-rogers-max-scherzer-makes-nationals-clear-favorites That said... as for possible return. How about the Brewers package Lind and Gallardo for Prince Fielder and Jurickson Profar?

Assume, for a moment, that during the 1978-1979 offseason, the Brewers make two trades: 1. Larry Hisle is traded to Atlanta for Dale Murphy, Jamie Easterly, and Steve Bedrosian 2. Sal Bando is traded back to Oakland for Rickey Henderson. The proposed opening day lineup is: 2b: Paul Molitor ss: Robin Yount 1b: Cecil Cooper dh: Gorman Thomas lf: Ben Oglivie/Sixto Lezcano rf: Dale Murphy 3b: Don Money c: Charlie Moore cf: Rickey Henderson What alterations, if any, would you make to this lineup? As another aside... how far do you think this team goes in 1979 and beyond?

I like all of these except the intentional walk rule. An IBB only takes a minute, at most anyway, but this is taking the opportunity away for players to steal a base and a pitcher to screw up. I'm a huge fan of the 3 time out limit. That should make a sizable difference in game time. There's no reason a catcher has to go to the mound multiple times during an inning. If the pitcher can't remember the scouting report that's his own fault. Yes, on the batter's box rule, but I'd add a minute to the inning break and pitching change clocks (three minutes for between inning and three minutes, thirty seconds to let the pitcher get tot he mound and warm up and get filled in on the situation by the manager and catcher), and maybe limit the "time outs" to either one per inning, or to maybe only apply those limits when the manager can come out of the dugout. No limits on when the catcher can come out, because there are pinch hitters, pinch runners. Maybe put a time limit on how long the conference can be (does two minutes sound good?) might be a better option than limiting the number of conferences. As for the IBB rule... I hate it. Make the pitcher throw the pitches.

For Cirillo and Karl, the Brewers got Blanco (never liked him), Jamey Wright, and Jimmy Haynes.

With some of the retrospectives, I was wondering: What are the transactions/roster moves that you, as a Brewers fan, wish the franchise could "have back"? They can be trades, free-agent signings, allowing a player to depart via free-agency, or even management/use of the players who were on the roster. The five top moves I would like back: 1. Allowing Paul Molitor to depart as a free agent after 1992. Perhaps the most heart-breaking for me - even as someone who was just a high-school sophomore at the time. But also he was a very valuable player - and had plenty of baseball left to play. He should have been a Brewer for life. 2. Trading Dante Bichette in the 1992-1993 offseason for Kevin Reimer. Had the Brewers kept Bichette, they'd have had one of the better power-hitting outfielders of the mid-to-late 1990s. Reimer was done after 1993. 3. The three-team trade with Oakland and Colorado in December 1999. Brewers traded Jeff Cirillo and Scott Karl, two of their better players - and got duds in return. Cirillo, in particular, flourished at Colorado before a detour in Seattle. 4. Moving Ryan Braun from third base. Long-discussed here, but imagine this: Suppose the Brewers had kept Braun and his offensive production from 2008-2012, at third base, and instead had hit the free-agent market for a left fielder? Probably a better offensive team overall, and not as much of the revolving door the Crew had between Bill Hall, Casey McGeehee, and the aging Aramis Ramirez. That A-Ram money could probably have picked up a very good outfielder from 2012-2014. 5. Three-team deal with the Mets and Rockies in January 2002. The Brewers trade Jeromy Burnitz, the protection in the lineup for Richie Sexson, and got Lenny Harris and Alex Ochoa (plus Glendon Rusch) in return. How did that deal - or the 2002 season - work out?

For me, Ryan Braun getting those hand issues resolved has me optimistic. He comes in 100% healthy, it's a whole new ballgame with him, Lucroy, and Gomez at the heart of the order. There's a lot of off-season left to play out... and who knows what will happen?

One other thought: End the requirement for clubhouse dues in the minors, and maybe also have the parent club add not only more meal money (say, $50 a day) as well.

When the MLB minimum is $500,000 or so, then yeah, minor-league players should be paid more. Seriously, why not set a minimum salary of $60K/yr for A ball and below, $90K/yr for A+, $120K/yr for AA, and $150K/yr for AAA?

At this point, extending Gomez and Lucroy is priority one. Maybe put Lucroy at first base against lefties, as a platoon partner with Lind.

Maybe the Brewers need to scout harder in Japan... and try to make trades. Take a look at T-Okada from the Orix Buffaloes: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=okada-001tak He looks like a decent OF/1B option... and the cost might not be so high. The Brewers need to figure out what it would take to get some younger players from Japan or elsewhere. Or how about this pitcher, Takahiro Matsuba? http://www.baseball-reference.com/japan/player.cgi?id=matsub000tak Lefty, 23 years old, 2.93 ERA in AAAA... worth trying to pick up.

The other problem: At some point, Carlos Gomez will get that $20 million/year deal from the Yankees... and will the Brewers be able to match that? If I got blown away by a deal (#1 starter, good 1B, two-three top ten prospects), I'd consider moving Gomez. But I'd have to be blown away... Harper wouldn't do it for me... unless the Crew could get a long-term deal past 2019.

Thinking this through... it also gives the option to put Braun at first. Parra's bat looks better than the Overbay/Reynolds platoon at first. Slight upgrade.

Sounds like a heartbreaking issue on the home front: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140716&content_id=84887248&notebook_id=84887706&vkey=notebook_mil&c_id=mil Not sure how much that played into this... but it can't have helped.

Today marks the 27th anniversary of a moment of Brewers history. On this day. no matter how bad it turns out to be, just think of what the 1987 Orioles went through 27 years ago. After they probably did the finishing touches on their taxes, they had to go to work - there was a game scheduled that day with the Milwaukee Brewers, who sent Juan Nieves to the mound. At the end of that game, here was what Juan's line looked like: 9 innings pitched, 0 earned runs, 0 runs, five walks, seven strikeouts, and NO HITS ALLOWED. Hope that helps you get through this day.