Never Outhustled

Like I said, Hardy is on pace to be worth about $8 million this year, because of his defense. Do you expect Hardy to fall off defensively? There's no evidence to suggest that at all, his UZR/150 is actually better than it was last year. I'm not suggesting extending him, I'm just disagreeing with the gross exaggeration Hate The Rodents made.

Thats only you opinion, and its factless and baseless. I doubt the team would give Hardy an extension, but too assume it would be a terrible investment isn't based on the information we have. What if Hardy has a year next year like he had last year? Its possible, unless he's suddenly washed up in the prime of his career. 2 years of the contract would already be paid for in production from just 1 season. Hardy was worth $30.8 million over the last 2 years, thats awesome production. Even this year, while he's have a dreadful year at the plate, he's on pace to be worth about $8 million. What kind of contract do you think Hardy will get? For your opinion to become fact, he'd have to get what Texerira got. I don't think thats what anyone is projecting.

On a team with pitching problems, and a team with pitchers that rely heavily on there defense, we need to have the best defense possible. I'd pass. If we wanted Dunn, we should have signed him in the offseason, and moved Braun to RF, and traded Hart for pitching. We knew Hart to Dunn was a lateral mave in the offseason, but at least then we could have gotten a pitcher. I'm sure we could have gotten Edwin Jackson for Hart in the offseason, but I don't think any of us realized that Jackson was about to breakout. In hindsight, that deal would have completely changed our team.

Melvin is the only connection we have to this guy. 1 of his All-Star seasons he pitched for Ken Macha. If nothing else, he's a lights out reliever.

That went over my head, can I get an explanation.?

The Jays have a better catching prospect, JP Arencibia, in AAA. If the package includes Gamel, wheres the SS they want? You have the value right, but haven't addressed their needs. Your correct in that Parra doesn't need to be part of this deal.

Theres no point in firing DM now that Jack Z is gone. Jack Z should be our GM, not Melvin. Jack Z is solely responsible for our success

I think Melvin is a good GM, but for some reason he just doesn't win. In the cycle of things, this years club should be dominant. Its hurt us that Melvin has repeatedly given out contract extensions to players who had no business getting them, leaving us stuck with there poor production instead of just moving on to better options. Melvin just doesn't seem to understand pitching.

I wouldn't get too worked up about this Parra rumor, because it comes from Josh Heyman, the same guy that reported that completely bogus Halladay-Mets rumor. The Jays may have asked about him, but we'll say no and the Jays won't consider that a deal breaker. If we don't include Escobar, that will be a deal breaker. The Jays have alot of interesting young mid-rotation types. Those used a ton of high picks on pitching, they're the opposite of us. They also have a top catching prospect. What they don't have is prospects at SS and 3B.

When I saw Green play he didn't seem nearly agile enough to play 2B. he has a big butt and heavey feet. He physically reminds me of Tyler Houston.

Why would we keep Green if we're keeping Gamel? Would Toronto really desire Cain instead of Green when they're stuck with Wells in CF forever? Also, Cain has a clear starting path here, so I'd like to keep him.

Yes! Here it is, a breakout through game of sorts for Mark Rogers. 4 shoutout innings, just 2 hits, no BB, 4 K. It would appear they're inching his pitch count up, or he was incredibly efficient. Edit: Rogers comes out in the 5th and retires another batter before being replaced. Awesome.

If Prince is traded before he's FA, then we should get a pretty serious bounty in return, which would make it pretty easy to put together a team in 2012. Have you forgotten that, even though he's only signed through 2010, we control Prince through 2011? We're 4th in Runs Scored without Weeks putting together a full season and without Hart figuring anything out. My proposal has Gamel staying here, plugged in on the cheap. Heres a recap of my offer from post #247: Toronto has asked for a Teixeira type deal, that includes an MLB ready SS. The Teixeira deal included prospects ranked 1,2,3,14, and 17 in Atlanta's system, though most were a few years from being MLB ready. Toronto has alot of young pitching, but need offense. Their OF is set for years. We're the perfect trading partner for them. Escobar is the MLB ready SS. Brett Lawrie is a guy they wanted to draft, but we picked 1 spot ahead of them. Taylor Green is the type of player their scouting style would appreciate, a high OBA hitter who may not look the part but gets results with very good batspeed, and he would fit perefectly taking over for Rolen when his deal is up, or if he's dealt before then. Those are prospects 1,3,and 8 in our system. To Toronto: Escobar, Lawrie, Green, Periard, their choice of Peralta/Scarpetta To Milwaukee: Halladay, SS Juan Diaz (from Seattle) To Seattle: Marcos Scutaro The Teixera deal also included LHP Ron Mahay to Atlanta, so I thought Toronto should throw in a player too, and Scutaro is obsolete with Escobar in town. Seattle is contending, and could really use a SS. Juan Diaz is athletic, a strong defender, and is having a solid season in A+. Toronto gets 3 Canadians in the deal, which should help with the PR nightmare trading Halladay will be.

How is he making improvements to his offensive game? His OPS is down this year, he has been hovering in the mid-700s. His only good offensive year was a year in which he had an incredibly high BAPIP. He's not a super young, totally inexperienced guy who might suddenly have the light go on for him. He has played a full year at every level except AAA, and he's just 5 weeks away from doing that, with a pedestrian OPS. Compare his AAA numbers to our other prospects when they were in AAA and you see why I don't think he is close to being an asset. It might be presumptious that I think it might be years before he's an above average offensive SS, but it might actually be presumtious to say he'll ever be an average offensive SS.

The team is 4th in Runs Scored, the offense isn't mediocre. Then look at the 5 rotation spots. 1 is outstanding, 3 are a little below average. 1 has been atrocious. Halladay would be replacing that. The Brewers had 5 starters competing at a tollerable level when they aquired CC last year. last year, our offense was only ranked 6th, not 4th. Halladay would actually have a bigger impact than CC did because of what he'd be replacing. How does that differ all that much from this year though? We'd be replacing Counsell/Hall with Gamel in a lineup that is already 4th in Runs Scored. We also likely be looking at offensive production from the catcher position. Which of the traded players would be added to the team in 2012? Just Escobar. Green is blocked by Gamel. Lawrie might not be ready by then, with just 2 more years in the minors. We will have already added Cain and 1 of the catchers. I think Gindl is an under-rated player, who should easily replace Hart. We could add a FA. We have 4 starters right now that we've signed as FA's, plus our closer.

It will take multiple prospects, including a SS, to get a player like Halladay. If trade Gamel, who else do we through into the deal to get a valuable enough package, and how do we supply them with a SS? An argument can be made that Escobar is more valuable than Gamel in a vacuum, but if we are talking about aquiring Halladay, then the package is made much easier using Escobar and Green. The problem with waiting is that the window we have Fielder for is shrinking. The Brewers, nor anyone else, has a prospect in their system that could instantly replace his production. keeping Escobar and Lawrie doesn't change that.

The Brewers are only a small market if you use the archaic system Bud Selig used to judge market size. That is total population in the area. In the Business world, they use demographics. Certain demographics will support baseball much better than others. Our area has huge population in those certain demographics. That was the driving force behind Attanosio's desire to buy the team, he knew with a professional caliber business model, the team would be immensely popular. Atlanta, though much larger in total population, is lacking in the relevant demographic, which is why they struggle in attendance despite there massive success the last 15 years. Pittsburgh is a triple whammy, low population, the wrong demographic, and an uninspiring stadium.

Its going to be years before Escobar is an above average offensive SS. Gamel's OPS when starting at 3B was 82 points above the average 3B this year. Gamel will give us a middle of the lineup anchor through 2015. We don't even have room for Escobar until 2011. I'd much rather deal Escobar than Gamel.

We do have a long range plan, and its a great one. Build around Braun and Gallardo. The Pirates haven't had a player like either in years. The Brewers have Braun through 2015, and Gallardo through 2013. Any prospects that come up are compliments to them. The Brewers are also demographically a much larger market than Pittsburg, and it shows in our TV ratings and attendance. This has lead us to a payroll about $40 million larger than Pittsburgs. We also have the ability to continue to grow our payroll if we have success. Winning the WS is a huge financial windfall. If the Brewers trade a prospect like Escobar, It doesn't even affect us until 2011, and even then its of little impact. The Brewers offense in 2011 can include Weeks, Gamel, Braun, Fielder, McGehee, and Hart. Thats a good offense. We could just plug in a cheap, defense 1st SS, and have a contending caliber offense. The difference between Escobar's WAR, and a good defense no-hit veteran SS will likely still be minimal in 2011. We would also have the resources to add a real SS, if one is available, because we would have dirt cheap starters like Gamel, Cain, and one of the catching prospects. This team is in great shape going forward, and it can easily afford to make a move for a dominant player.

Its becoming obvious that the illness Jones was suffering from was effecting his pitching. Now that he's past that, he can continue his very strong 2009 season.

That was just bad scouting by the Twins. They had better offers for Santana. Cleveland got more for just 1/2 a season of CC. In the past, some tweaks in the players contract help to avoid him from demanding trade. I wouldn't worry about this too much. Given the oppurtunity, I'm sure Melvin could sell Halladay on the idea that the Brewers are true contenders, and are heading in the right direction.

Thats interesting Nate82. I thought Snell's stuff looked awesome against the Brewers earlier in the year, IIRC, it was the game where Gallardo's homer was the only run. I'd offer Brendan Katin, and get this done so Snell can take Burns next turn. With Snell's contract options, he could be a steal if he gets himself right.

Thats not factually true. It took him 2 starts to stretch out last year, then he went at least 6, with quality starts, in 5 of his next 9 before returning to the pen. He got outs in the 7th twice. He works as deep or deeper than numerous other starters we have. He is clearly better than Burns.

Cody has a chance to be decent, Penny has clearly established over the last 1 1/2 that he's not good. Cody gives us a better chance to make the post season than Penny. What Penny did years ago is irrelivent, as injury has destroyed that pitcher.

He was given only 2 starts. I'd say his 4.24 ERA in 12 starts last season is more relevent than those 2 starts. Burns, in his career, hasn't been a good AAA pitcher.