madtowndrunkard

If I'm Doug Melvin I'm none too happy that this has been dragged out as long as it has. Any ideas of when the announcement will come on a decision? Why wouldn't they have an answer today? Maybe the hearing called for further investigation? My guess if hes' going to be suspended they had answer by the time the hearing was over. If they are reluctant to suspend him, then I could see a delay to debate and confirm Braun's testimony.

Why aren't the Giants and SD in the mix? Two teams that all they really need is offense. Yet neither is interested in spending the $. I think it's great seeing Boras choke with one of his biggest clients. I agree, I think the Nationals will get him...and really they make the most sense. With Prince in their lineup they are a contender...with out Prince they are not. But if Prince accepts a shorter deal with an opt out clause, then why isn't he re signing with the Brewers? With Prince the Brewers would be a top 3 team in the NL.... no doubt about it.

Texas is saying that Prince is not going to happen, now that they've signed Darvish. So it's now between Washington, Seattle, and Baltimore.

I think it's pretty obvious we'll be adding another 1st basemen. No way Melvin goes into this season with Gamel and no plan B. Expect a veteran signing late.... Melvin will target an aging vet who has experience playing first...give him a 1 year deal. You have no choice but to create a competitive situation for our first base spot. Then the loser will be our bench player. There are plenty of guys still in FA who would fit the bill perfectly. Their price goes down by the day come late Jan. I would not be shocked if it were Pena or Johnson. Maybe even noted head case Luke Scott. Really if Scott were not a head case everyone would probably love him as an option. Plays left field and 1st...and has a little pop. Sounds like a perfect fit really....and Wisconsin is now gun friendly w/ plenty of opportunity to kill animals. I would think Scott would love a one year deal to convince others he's not really that bad. I think Casey Kotchman is still out there as well. I think he would be my first choice if I were Melvin. But you'd probably have to give him a longer deal.

Axford the premier closer in the NL? I'm guessing Craig Kimbrel might disagree with you....along with anyone who knows who Craig Kimbrel is. As for extensions.... this is a perfect time to extend Marcum. His career numbers say his late season collapse was a fluke. Don't forget he was easily our best pitcher in the 1st half of 2011. I'd be fine giving marcum a 3-5 year deal. His success has never been based on power so I think he'll be a solid SP for a long time. Greinke IMO is a bigger risk. He's going to get $60-70 million in his next deal. I'd love to see us extend him, but he's not a safe bet IMO. Point is, the Brewers should sign extensions with both pitchers. We've got little in our minor league system. I believe Wolf is also in a contract year.? Not to mention the talent we gave up for these 2 SP's. Lawrie is going to be superstar....and if we let Marcum walk - that makes that trade maybe the worst in brewers history.

Awesome....now we can trade Braun.

You think $1.5million is a lot for a utility player that spends most of their time on the bench? Melvin routinely gives out more money to equally unproductive players. Craig Counsel anyone? Wasn't he making something like $2-3 million per year for while? Not saying that Punto was the move Melvin should have made. But just saying Melvin has no problem over paying players. Aramis Ramirez is a great example. We will regret that move at some point. I really wish Melvin could hire someone to handle the off season personnel moves. Just keep Melvin away from the negotiations and decision making when it comes to FA's and trades. He's horrible for the most part. Melvin has been riding the wave of the Weeks, Prince, Braun, Yo draft picks for far too long..and doing little to take advantage of what we've got. . Now Prince is gone and we've got 1 legit season to show for it, and we're on our 4th manager in 4 years. We can only pray that Marcum has a break out year...because that deal might go down as one of the worst in brewers history. We are going to pay Ramirez $12million per year to play 3rd base. We just traded a future allstar 3rd basemen to Toronto last year for Marcum. Lawrie would have been making near league minimum and we are now paying Marcum around $7million this year, plus $12 to Ramirez. . Some how I feel like we could have managed our money better - or maybe spent $ on a SP instead of dealing away a future stud in Lawrie. When the deal was made I was on the fence.... I wanted to see what Marcum brought to the table before I passed judgment. Now that I've seen Marcum on his best and worst days I have to say this was a horrible move. We'd need a couple all star seasons from Marcum for this to work out... likely he'll walk in FA next year. We are now tapped financially with holes to fill if we want to legitimately make a serious run. The first half of this year will be interesting. If it doesn't work out it will be a major fire sale in Milwaukee.

Heck we mine as well ask for Pence and Bourn as well. Then they wont have to pay all three of those guys.

I don't see this as a good move at all. Veras's career numbers say he's an average RP. He had the best season of his career last year with the Pirates. McGehee had the worst season of his career. If both players go back to their average we will regret this deal. Does this mean we are still looking for a 1st basemen? I would assume so. You can't just hand the job to Gamel. You have to have a legit bat to compete with Gamel. I thought McGehee was a solid option to platoon at 1st. The FA market sucks for 1st basemen. Can a trade happen? I don't see us really having any good players to sell, unless we deal Grienke or Marcum.

Almost every business in the US has increased prices over the past couple years. Trust me, they aren't all making $...and those that are making $, aren't making much. Almost everything costs more....almost every expense the team has goes up every year. The cost of food alone has gone up considerably the last 2 years. Just for concessions to maintain the same profit margin they'd have to increase food prices 25% or more, compared to 4 years ago. Transportation costs have gone way up. Insurance costs in most cases are higher. Engery costs are way up compared to 4 years ago. And most of all player salaries are up. The wage increases of Braun, Hart, and Weeks this year, easily eat up Prince's salary last season. Last season was probably close to as good as it gets for ticket sales $. Im' sure there is a chance of a small increase, but its not enough to make a big difference in payroll. The TV deal is most crucial. Advertising $ will probably be close to as good as it gets next year as well.... we'd basically have to win a WS to see a big jump in advertising $. I think Mark has done a nice job of maximizing cash flow for this team....which is the reason we've seen payroll approach $100million. From what I've heard the Brewers goal is to break even. Meaning Mark is willing to increase payroll to the point were he's close to breaking even...he doesnt need income off the team..and if he started raking in profits he'd be giving half of it to the government. Mark understands long term investing... the Brewers are along term investment for him. As long as the team can pay off debt and increase value he's good. It sounds like Mark is willing to take a loss (or invest more $ into the team) to lock up Prince. It's a safe bet that Prince will produce, and he does help ticket sales. Reye's is a gamble not worth taking, unless you can easily deal with him not performing up to his contract.

He was a good bench player. Maybe our best player off the bench this year. So why the hate? He at least had respectable AB's. He knew how to work a pitcher, he got on base. You cannot blame him for the defensive blunders in CF. That was Roenicke's fault for putting him there in the first place. Kotsay was added depth in RF and a good pinch hitter. I would have liked to see him stay. I'll be surprised if we can afford to get much better on the bench.

From http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/desire-to-win-now-kept-greinke-from-joining-nationals/2011/03/22/ABA2NPFB_story.html It is on page 2 near the bottom. Not really saying he will go there but there is interest on Greinke's side to go to the Nationals. I think Greinke's goal was to pitch for a potential playoff team for a couple years and become a FA. Pitching for the Nationals last season likely wasn't going to help him increase his value or win a title. Going to Milwaukee made sense for him. I don't think we'll sign Greinke to a long term deal unless we over pay him. He's got a huge opportunity to increase his value for his next contract. I see Marcum as being the more likely guy we sign this offseason.

especially with out meetings with other teams. The marlins with Reyes and Pujols would be pretty scary.

What we are today will be very different by the end of the 2012 season. So to guess what we'll be in 2 years is really pointless. We do have a corp of players locked up long term. We don't know who we'll sign this year or next. I wouldn't be shocked if we locked up either Marcum or Greinke long term. Knowing our owner wants to win, I think we'll be competitive as long as we have a solid corp of players. As of right now and the next few years we do. If McGehee rebounds then our team will have a totally different outlook. Really I think we are rebuilding every year. If we do nothing to address our defensive and offensive issues this off season then I suspect we'll be sellers at the trade deadline. It will all depend on the sucess we have in 2012. I have a hard time believing we'll rip apart the team if we're a playoff team in 2012. I can't believe we'll start this season with only 1 SP signed past 2012. That's not going to happen.

Thanks for bringing that up.... yikes... I was trying really hard to make my self believe we just gave up a minor leaguer. Not that I hate Marcum. I think he's a solid pitcher. But I have little doubt that deal could go down as maybe the worst trade in Brewers history.