BADGERJOBOB

Did the Twins make the playoffs last year with that luck?

Well if we use that logic than a Gallardo and Parra injury is also pretty likely and JJ Hardy is known to miss a few games here and there as well. The Cubs are still the cream of the crop in this division and the rest of the teams in it need a season where everything goes right for them to be able to compete with the Cubs.

Through CBS sportsline rumors section there is an article from a Boston writer that says a Boston trade for Fielder makes a whole lot of sense for the Sox. Its a move for Boston to negate the Yanks/Tex move. The article mentions Clay Bucholz as a starting point along with some additional young talent. Since I don't see this team making any more major moves this year, we should seriously consider this trade for 2010 and beyond. Need to somehow get Jacoby Ellsbury into this deal.

12-10 180IP 4.10 ERA 155K 1.45WHIP I'm with JB, not a number 2 pitcher at this point in time. If things go well this year, next year could be the year he takes a jump up.

Half of the bullpen you mentioned has less than 31 innings of MLB experience. Another has a history of walking a ton of batters. None have MLB closer experience. And you feel comfortable with this group??? Sorry I am not drinking the kool-aid if you think this club can make a legit claim to contend for a playoff spot. We sure seem to be banking on a lot of best case scenarios this year for a playoff run. Villy becoming a good closer when he has no experience. McClung getting over his propensity of wildness Yo being able to pitch like an ace for an entire year Parra stepping up as a solid number 2 Suppan getting better instead of worse when he is clearly on the downside of his career Stetter, DiFilice and Dillard pitching above average in the MLB when they have a combined 64 innings pitched with varied success No legit depth, starting or relief core, when injuries hit Julio having a year like last year than having a year like he had in 3 out of 4 from 04-07. And thats just pitching. The hitting and defense actually have bigger issues, question marks and prayers for high hope. This team had a legit chance of making this bullpen a whole lot better where we could have entered the season with a few less question marks and again this off-season it failed miserably. At this point in time, Melvin should be making moves that will help us for 2010-2011 and not worry about 2009 because we are so far behind a lot of other teams that are way better than us. I.e. Fielder needs to be traded now, Gamel needs to be moved to the outfield or firstbase and Escobar should probably be brought up this year. We should not spend a lot of money on a throw away pitcher like Looper. A year of pain this year will be a year of gain next year.

Well we don't have replacement pitching in the minors to come to our rescue so yes we do have to sign some FA starting pitcher (s) and a closer and when looking at the money that is flying around, spending money on an experienced closer this year is the way to go. Last year we are willing to spend $13 million on CoCo, did spend $10 on Gagne but now we won't spend $8 on fuentes, an upgrade over Gagne????? Unfortunately, it is a position of need and I for one am not on the love bandwagon of McClung or Villanueva to close out games. Where have they ever proved capable of closing games for a playoff contender? For comparisons sake, lets look at other teams who are in the legit running for a playoff spot. Mets? have 2 legit closers. Cubs? Have 2 closers. Phillies? One of the best in Lidge. Yea McClung and Villy are really giving me the warm fuzzies. not. Again, with what the market had to offer and with the money that was being handed out for starters and closers, at this point in time, we were better off spending money on a closer. At least that would answer one of the 10 or so other keep our fingers crossed that things go right questions. As far as where the money comes from???? First, you don't spend $10 million on a centerfielder who you wanted to trade, only to get stuck with him but thats another problem with this team that has been discussed ad naseum. We are saving a lot of money from Sheets and Gagne so spending $8 or $9 million for 2/3 years on a closer is affordable for any team that (a) needs a closer and (b) wants to compete for a playoff spot but oh yes I forgot lets toe the line of we are not the Yankees. We can't afford to spend money. To make any mistakes. Yada, yada, yada.

The Angels made a great move. They were able to get a very good closer at a very cheap price especially when compared to last year and the deal that Coco received. This was the year to grab legit closers on the cheap. Unfortunately, Melvin has whiffed badly.

And that's a good thing????? If it wasn't for Torres pitching way above his head as a closer, last year would have been a total bullpen melt down. And besides that, at least last year Melvin tried to address the bullpen by picking up Mota, Riske, Gagne and Torres by this point in time with Gagne at least having closer experience. What type of closer experience do we have this year? Julio? A bigger risk heading into the season than Gagne was last year and our only move this year with Mota, Gagne and Torres now gone from last year. And he made all of those moves last year on top of the big contract offer he made to Coco. This year, nothing. This season is shaping up into a potential HUGE disaster. We are going into the season hoping on a lot of improvement from A LOT of players. Moreso than in years past and that is not a good thing.

Yea and so did CC.......Its all about the money. And yet another one bites the dust. This is shaping up to be an awful off-season.

I think you are undervaluing the number of innings that Sheets and CC pitched. The year before last, none of our starters could get through the 6 inning and our bullpen falterd badly from overuse. We go into this season where based on past performance only Bush and Suppan can be viewed as pitchers who could consistently get us into the 7th inning and we are talking about Bush and Suppan. We can't bank on Yo and Parra but unfortunately we are. Thats a huge risk especially since we haven't upgraded our relief pitching either. There is a better chance for 70 wins this year than 85 in my opinion if we just go out and overspend on a Looper and some project closers.

I look at our entire pitching staff and other than Yo and Parra nothing else excites me. The key last year was that for much of the year you could count on Sheeter giving you 7 plus innings and CC gave you 7 plus every time out for half the year. That was huge for our bullpen. The year before it was over used, last year it was not. Now we are banking on Yo and Parra who have yet to go a full season of starts in the majors. Yo can go deep but Parra does not. We need quality innings eaters and we go into the season with maybe 1 we can bank on. I really wanted one of each this off-season. A quality bullpen guy and a quality starter. If we don't sign Sheeter, we will not be signing a quality starter and its looking real grim that we get a quality bullpen arm as well. That will spell huge problems as we get into the dog days of summer. And for the poster who said look at the Phils with Hamels and a bunch of scrap, unfortunately we don't have a 1 who is on par with Hamels (Hamels > Yo). We don't have a 2 who has Meyers ability (Myers > Parra). I know Myers had his problems early on but he does have a great arm and we don't have a closer in Lidge that won't blow any games (Lidge >>>>>>>anyone in our bullpen). The Phils got a bit lucky last year with Lidge not blowing any games. They would have been on the outside looking in with a Torres/Villanueva/McClung. We can sugar coat this horrendous off-season any way you want but the bottom line is that everyone around us has already made moves to get better and we are going in the opposite direction.

And the hits keep coming this off season.

Sounds like Melvin turned down a Hart for Kelly Johnson trade if one is to believe Ken Rosenthal.

I was looking at a list of potential non tender possibilities and thought maybe the following players could be of benefit to the Brewers this up coming year. Saito - If we are going with what looks like a bullpen by committee if we don't sign a legit closer, Saito although 39 and injury prone could be a nice pickup if he is not over used. Gabe Gross - solid backup outfielder Willy Taveras - horrible on-base percentage but great speed. Maybe a backup to Cabrera to cover our bases Chris Burke - a utility player Any others with potential?

Maybe we should dump all of our really good players for tons of prospects and hope to have a repeat of 2008 sometime within the next 10 years. What a joke. We cram 3 million people through the gates this year and we get the same sob story of how this team loses money and can't afford to pay anyone a decent salary. Attanasio is right in that in this economic downturn a lot fewer fans will go see a ballgame but it won't be because of the economy that fans won't go, it will be because this team won't have a realistic chance to compete for a playoff spot this year if we tourniquet our spending.

Lots of decent closers out there this off-season and they are on sale. I will be extremely disappointed if Melvin does not take advantage of the market and sign a legit closer for less money than Coco received last year. Heck considering that our starting pitching might be average at best (thats being kind), we could have signed 2 closers and made our relief pitching the strength of this team.

If we trade Hart, I wouldn't mind figuring out a way to get Hermida out of the Marlins. His left handed bat would look good in our lineup.

The Twins said they are out and are looking at other options including Beltre and Atkins among others.

Why trade for Jenks when there is a plethora of FA closers available.

Looks like Garrett Atkins might be available for the right price. He is not a left handed bat but would look great in our lineup.

That won't work since the Giants want Hardy for Sanchez. But the Giants are willing to trade Sanchez for Cantu which I don't see as an upgrade over Bill Hall. Plus Hall is just as versatile as Cantu, argueably more so.

So in the end we basically traded away all of our great prospects for an ace. I would rather spend the extra money it takes to sign CC and keep our prospects who we can plug in the lineup at a cheap price over the next 3-5 years with the hope that one of the prospects (Escobar?) turns into something really special.

I dont know how good Beltre really is as he has only had 1 really good year back in 2004 but if he is an upgrade over Hall I am all for it. Jonathan Sanchez is available. What about trading Hall to the Giants for Sanchez and than packaging Sanchez or Villanueva with a minor leaguer for Beltre.

That was such a dumb move by the Astros. Carlos Lee would have been a great pickup for an American League team. His defense is sooooo bad. It would almost be like us trotting Prince out in left field every day and watching balls drop in everywhere.

This is a very good pickup for a central division foe that will make the Cards better. I know its early but it sure seems like everyone else around us is making small minor deals/upgrades while we just keep spinning our wheels.