Harold Hutchison

When I ran the `05 season once, the Brewers DID get to the wild card in 2005, with Weeks at second full-time. They got swept, but a wild-card run in 2005, with the talent still coming up (Fielder, Braun, Hart), then the Brewers find themselves in an interesting position. Of course, I also went through with the Spivey for Ohka trade (albeit at the start of the season), so Helling ended up playing a big part in the bullpen instead. So.. a wild card team in 2005 ends up with higher attendance, and that means more time to build up some funding. The Brewers have a chance to bank a lot of money, and that means they have the chance to keep Verlander and a better shot at Prince.

Pretty scary how much we rely on good attendance. We would be completely boned without revenue sharing. The worst part is the Yankees are getting smarter and actually spending less money so that $30M isn't likely to go up to much in the future and might even go down. I am not sure if it is still the case, but at one point paying for a new stadium gave a team a deduction form revenue sharing.Which leads to another question: How will the fans react to NOT signing Fielder? Do that not show up and, as a result, we see the Crew go back to 30th out of 30 teams in payroll? It may be that NOT signing Fielder is the more expensive option.

Interesting.. but when Baseball Mogul's AI let the deal go through (and I ran it multiple times), I thought I'd throw it out there for y'all. Figure Detroit decides to put Caballo at first base - per Baseball-Reference.com, they had Chris Shelton at 1B, and Rondell White was considered their top LF.

True, but there would also be a rotation that would have been much stronger.

On the other hand, there is now a 2005 rotation of: Sheets, Davis, Capuano, Verlander, and Santos/Obermueller/Helling

Eve of spring training, the following trade is announced between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Detroit Tigers: Tigers get: OF Carlos Lee Brewers get: RHP Justin Verlander

It's hard to narrow it down to just five. Taylor Green, Lorenzo Cain, and Angel Salome need to get healthy. Zach Braddock, Jonathan Pokorny, Donovan Hand, and Daniel Meadows all could be good option if they were tried as starters. Chris Cody and Josh Butler could both be great for the rotation. Mark Rogers is setting himself up for an awesome comeback story, as is Mike Jones. Jonathan Lucroy could team with Salome to give the Brewers an awesome catching tandem. Cutter Dykstra could be a poor man's Coco Crisp for the Brewers if developed as a utility player. Logan Schaefer and Caleb Gindl could compete for OF slots. And how about Joe Paciorek, who showed some good plate discipline (19 BB in 201 PA). If he can get the average up, he could be interesting.

Offer Prince 8 years at $17.5 million a year. That's $140 million. Extend Braun - 3 years, $54 million. Build around them.

2b: Weeks 3b: McGehee lf: Braun 1b: Fielder cf: Hart rf: Edmonds c: Zaun ss: Escobar pitcher

I think you missed the point here... First, Melvin didn't draft any of the players you mentioned, Z did, and he's just as responsible for the pitching issues as Melvin is. Second, I've been very specific about who/when trade wise, and I've been very consistent on those points over the last 2 years. I was widely ridiculed for being against the Sabathia trade and the same goes for Hardy when I wanted him traded for pitching. I find the notion that Melvin didn't make any moves because the price was too high to be wishful thinking, he didn't make moves because he doesn't make those types of trades. My take on Overbay is revisionist in nature, but I was questioning that move by the middle of the next season. Initially I was like everyone else... "look at all the high draft picks we got for Overbay, sweet deal". Then I started to get into pitching, reading about it, listening to audio interviews about it, and then when I saw how uninspiring Bush and Jackson were on the mound I was in the "this is it?" camp. I do like Bush, I've said many times if we could put his head on Parra's body we'd have ourselves a Sabathia, but he's getting the most out of what he has. I guess the best way I can put it is that I thought we were getting pitchers like Sheets/Nuegy, with that sort of upside just because of where the guys were drafted, but instead we ended up with guys who were #3s as an absolute best case and more realistically back of the rotation starters. I don't have anything against either of those 2 pitchers or Gross, while they filled a need in that pitching is always a need, we already had a bunch of 3,4,5 starters hanging around at the time, we needed more than Bush's upside. Marcum was right there, similar MLB experience at the time, always threw harder and had more upside. Why not him? Why not make a run at McGowan who had true top of the rotation stuff? We gave up O and young pitcher in Taubenheim, at the time that would have been a very fair deal for either young Toronto pitcher that I mentioned. I'm not cherry picking moves, I'm simply pointing out that Melvin only needed to make 2 moves for good pitching in the last 6 years that worked out and we'd be much better off than we are today, but he didn't. I'd feel better if he had even made a single attempt, and no Capellan was not a top of the rotation starter, he never had that kind of potential, and there's no way ATL was going to be stupid enough to trade a top of the rotation starter for a struggling closer, they don't make those kind NYM mistakes. I'll never be in the "he did the best he could" camp because he's the one who created this mess in the first place. The system didn't have enough pitching, he wouldn't trade for quality pitching with any sort of longevity so he backed himself into the corner of FA pitching, and it's a terrible market for a team like Milwaukee. How about also focusing on the trade that should NOT have been made? Doug Davis and Dana Eveland for Johnny Estrada and Claudio Vargas. That trade, in retrospect, didn't work out. Imagine having Sharpie's average of 31 starts, 4.22 ERA from 2007-2009. Dave Bush was not a bad pickup, either. He's probably a 4/5 starter, so a 4.86 ERA from 2006-2009 is not bad, especially with the offense the Brewers have. Zach Jackson did not pan out, but he did help the Brewers land CC Sabathia in 2008 (which led to drafting Heckathorn). Gabe Gross got the Brewers Josh Butler, who might be an option as a back-of-the rotation starter. If Butler can put up average numbers like Bush's and only cost $400K, it's a nice pickup. Could the Overbay trade have been better? Yes but it was not a bad trade. The Brewers have, as of today, two 4/5 starters, one who will only be paid the minimum if he makes Milwaukee (and Butler was in AAA last year), and a prospect in Heckathorn to date. The other Sabathia comp pick (Cameron Garfield or Max Walla) could either be in Milwaukee or a component in a trade to bring in a pitcher - as somebody named Matt LaPorta was.

Depends on how Gomez, Gamel, Schaefer, and Cain, among others, do this year. If Hart puts down a .800 OPS, and his improved OBP skills from 2009 indicate it may not be out of the realm of possibility, then maybe it might not be a bad idea to plop down the cash. His walks were a career high in `09 despite 180 fewer PAs than 2008.

I was in favor of calling it "Selig Stadium at Miller Park."

The thing is, Hart's 2009 was disappointing for two big reasons: 1. There was the (IMO) misguided effort to re-cast Hart as a #2 hitter. When Hart hit 6th, his OPS was .924. Hitting 5th, it was .793. Batting 2nd, he hit .760 (albeit with a .369 OBP). 2. There was also the appendectomy. That cost Corey a lot of PT, and the layoff probably did untrack him a little. Neither were Hart's fault. The club erred in the lineup part. Appendicitis is something neither player nor club had any control over.

Hart... I'm not so upset. There is something in a lot of the complaints. Yes, he had a .753 OPS, but his OBP went up from .300 to .335 even as his batting average dropped from .268 to .260. He also had a career high in walks - 43, in about 180 fewer ABs. I suspect that the issue in 2009 was his appendectomy. Had he played and gotten ABs similar to what he had in 2008, I think he'd have cme close to a third straight 20/20 season with 35-40 doubles. He is solid, not spectacular. Braun is in LF. the question is how much PT gets split between Hart, Gomez, and Edmonds in CF/RF.

At Prince's age, a seven-year deal is not a big risk. Seven years, $120 million ($15 million bonus paid out over the first three years, $15 million/year for seven years).

Mine: Possibly pre-BF: Brian Passini - this guy was a lefty who posted a 2.91 ERA in El Paso, then nobody heard of him Shane Nance - routine outings of two innings or so... felt the Brewers should have tried to put him in the rotation. Matt Ford - looked great then got hurt Jeff Pickler - felt he had been badly underestimated by the Brewers Cole Gillespie - More over the Felipe Lopez trade than a failure to make it.

Huh? With the exception of Gamel/McGehee, who exactly are these guys taking playing time away from? Lucroy needs another 3-4 months minimum in the minors. Schoenweiss, Halama, Inglett, and Treanor are extreme longshots to make the 25-man roster. If Parra's in the rotation, the only guy you could really argue is losing time because of Wolf and Davis is Narveson. While I think the Brewers overpaid for Hoffman and Hawkins, who are they really blocking? Axford? I'd rather see them delay the service time of Braddock and Wooten than bring them up now. The core of this team is still Fielder, Braun, and Gallardo. You're not going to see Josh Halama starting opening day. These are extremely low cost signings (what do you think they even have to give these minor league ST invite guys anyways?), and I don't see the harm. Back to Schoenweiss, I guess I don't see the point. Stetter already tears lefties apart, and is much better against righties. Besides, look at the level of performance for lot of these folks: Edmonds' overall OPS in `08 was over .800 - and .937 with the Cubs (meaning he did VERY well when he wasn't playing half his games at Petco Field). Hoffman's still one of the top closers in the majors. Davis and Wolf both pitched well in `09. In fact, had the Brewers NOT made the infamous Estrada trade, I think the discussion here might be more along the lines of be viewing Davis as a solid piece of the starting rotation as opposed to a somewhat risky free agent pickup. Other deals are minor-league deals, so they'd only come up if someone ended up on the DL. So, the only guy who I see taking a lot of PT from current everyday players might be Edmonds - and if he hits like he did with the Cubs in `08, then it's far more foolish to leave a .937 OPS bat on the bench than it is to play him, especilaly if Hart or Gomez don't hit.

The effort to make him a reliever seems to have been an issue. I wonder if he'd have done better if the Crew kept him as a starter. He was pitching well in that role for most of his career in the minors.

A lot also depends on his bat. If the Edmonds the Brewers get is the guy who posted a .937 OPS for the Cubs, then he's gonna get a fair bit more playing time than if he's the 2007 version of Edmonds. Gomez may have a good glove, but a .937 OPS doesn't stay on the bench.

Two in the majors, three from the farm: OF Jim Edmonds: Proves that the .937 OPS with the Cubs in 2008 was not a fluke, and forces the Brewers to have him split time with Gomez and Hart C George Kotteras: Hits .265 with 12 homers and an OBP in the .370 range. Minors LHP Chris Cody: When a starter goes down, he comes up - and the Jose Cappellan trade will officially become a steal for the Brewers C Angel Salome: Hits .360 in Nashville. All of a sudden, the Brewers have THREE legit options at catcher. 3B Taylor Green: His season includes batting averages of over ,300, over 40 doubles between Huntsville, Nashville, and a September call-up. Oh yeah, he walks more than he whiffs.

Hart shouldn't pack his bags yet. I think it comes down to how Gomez and Hart do. If Gomez stinks while Hart does well, then Hart plays center, as he did for a bit in 2005, and Edmonds plays right. If Hart stinks, and Gomez does well, Gomez is in center, Edmonds is in right.

Think of it this way: vs. RHP: 2b: Weeks 3b: Gamel lf: Braun 1b: Fielder cf: Hart rf: Edmonds c: Zaun/Lucroy ss: Escobar vs. LHP: 2b: Weeks ss: Escobar lf: Braun 1b: Fielder rf: Hart 3b: McGehee c: Zaun/Lucroy cf: Gomez

Not sure what to make of this. Braun doesn't take many days off. If I'm corey hart it would make me wonder about my future with this team.Either Hart or Gomez are gonna be short on PT if Edmonds does well and/or they don't do well.

Starting CF. Gerut is bench for sure. Edmonds is experienced depth if he's good enough to make the team. I don't get why people think this is a stupid signing. It's a no-lose deal, as several others have said. If his skills truly are gone, he's not around. Best of all, he's reasonably cheap and much more likely to succeed than the Duffys & Bourgeoises of our recent past. Gabe Gross is a class act. But he hit (BA) the same in '09 as Edmonds in '08 but with tons less pop. Last year we had little competency on the bench 'til we started signing some vets and traded for Lopez. I'd rather just have better depth to start the year & then not have to sweat it. . . . .And I really don't think in the fairly limited PT a 5th OF should get, that the defensive "productivity" from Edmonds up to Gross really could make much difference at all. On the other hand, Edmonds' .822 OPS in `08 isn't too bad. The OBP skills are definitely there. 55 BB in 401 PA speaks well ont ht front. The opposite of Hart, in that sense. On the other hand, Edmonds posted a .937 when he wasn't playing half the time in Petco, and he played in the NL Central - the same division he'd posted good OPS/OPS+ figures, except for 2007. Worst case, he doesn't make the 25-man. Best case? We get an OPS in the .900 range, and Corey Hart or Carlos Gomez find themselves riding the pine because Edmonds hits too darn good to pull out of the lineup!

From 2008, the bat and OBP skills are there (55 BB in 401PA) and he posted an .822 OPS (20 HR in 401 PA), counting an opening slump with the Padres. If how he hit with the Cubs is any indication (.937 OPS, 49 BB in 298 PA, 19 HR), then the gas may still be there. The question is defense. I'm think it's not just Gerut, it's also Gomez who this is aimed at. Think - Gomez may be a good-field, no-hit type. So.. if he can't deliver offensively, why not have Edmonds available? If Edmonds is at his level with the Cubs, then he'd likely start, with Gomez as a late-inning defensive replacement.