JohnBriggs12

I laugh at all the proposals involving the Twins, knowing full well that many on this site are close to the Twins situation so naturally want to pair up the two teams in deals. I'm somewhat the same way with finding matches between the White Sox, who my brother follows, and the Brewers. That being said I did call the Podsednik for Carlos Lee trade in advance (my last such prediction that came true), so I'll keep trying such as with my suggestion for Segura to the Sox. I frankly don't see a match between the Brewers and Twins, and contrived proposals involving big money players such as this one will go nowhere.

Strikes out a lot and doesn't hit for much power. Not a great combination for a corner of. Takes some walks but that may more be because he has trouble putting balls in play and gets deep in counts as a result that it says about him have a great eye at the plate. Odd move in my opinion. Yes they are short LH OF bats in high minors but this guy? Doubt he survives on the 40 man this winter.

Sardinas is a prospect but he doesn't carry a "can't miss" label. In fact he doesn't even have a position that he's an heir apparent to. He might be an adequate 2B at some point allowing them to perhaps deal Gennett sooner or later, but nothing yet suggests he's on a level above Scooter. Certainly not offensively. Service time is an issue for guys that project to make $10+ million or more per season down the road. I wouldn't put Sardinas in that category. That's not saying he won't get there but odds are against it.

All the questions were about whether Nelson could handle a full time starting roll. If they knew he'd perform like he has, and I believe they had that in mind, on paper it was a solid rotation. Turns out the two veterans making good money were monumental failures. Had they performed to career norms, and the lineup hit at all the first month, they were good enough to hang around in the WC race into July in which case we never know what they would have done. My guess is they went into the season thinking they had a team good enough to be in the mix into July. Lack of offense, made worse by DL stints to some key guys, and the failure of the two highly paid starters, particularly Lohse, doomed them right from the start. As for picking up veterans to fill in some gaps and or guys who would take short term deals to build back value, they have one of those in Lind who's option they can pick up for a modest $8 million. Santana's not really a CF but having both his and Davis' bats in the lineup along with Braun and Lind, gives them a powerful middle of the lineup. Enough to contend? Probably not, but they'd have plenty of trade candidates again in July and who knows, if a Perez blossoms at 3B and Arcia comes up and becomes a ROY candidate, they could be pretty good. I might even consider making a one year offer to a guy like Samardzija or Fister who will want to build back up lost FA value. Both are young enough to bounce back and have some real value at trade deadline. I'd be inclined to dump Garza though in either case.

Well nobody "needs" to be in a starting rotation, but the Brewers have multiple guys that might have to be sorted out, and that's not all that easy to do strictly on their minor league performance. I'd rather they do that in 2016 than 2017. Buying service time for all but premier prospects, especially pitchers, is rather foolhardy. How many pitchers stay in the same rotation until their control is up anyway? I'd give Garza around a dozen starts next year. If he's gives you 6 quality starts in those first dozen, fine, give him another 10 or so but if not, then pull the plug. His value will be negative and he won't be in the plans for 2017. They have to figure out who will be.

He has been beyond pitcher-batting bad against lefties. Scooter has a .295 OPS against lefties so far. Herrera's is .654. Gennett made two starts vs. LHP, both in April, when he wasn't hitting anyone, right or left. He gets maybe one AB per week against them now always against lefty relief specialists who are especially tough on LH hitters. He crushed LHP in his stint in Colorado Springs hitting .375/.412/.688 in far more chances (32) than he's had since in Milwaukee. Herrera's OPS vs. lefties is down to .605 by the way. If Gennett could see a particular lefty more than once a month and starters who aren't particularly effective against LHP, he's a good enough hitter to match or better what Herrera's doing against them. Allowing him only to face the premier lefty specialist types a couple times a month only enhances a false narrative that he can't hit them.

You can't construct a team of all RH bats even one that isn't built to contend for 2016. It's tough on everyone in the lineup you are trying to develop if the opposing pitcher is seeing all RH bats. For all the nice young talent that's emerging, there's no LH power threat among them at least until Phillips arrives. No matter how much talent there is, lineups on winning teams always have balance. Teams with lots of LH power are especially dangerous (see Cubs since Schwarber arrived to go with Rizzo) That's why I expect Lind to be back. The fact is Rogers isn't 3 years younger and he's also right handed and RH bats are redundant in this lineup. It's tough for him, but you can't arrange your team for one guy. As for Lucroy, normally yes, you'd rest him some as the season winds down but he's trying to get the taste of a bad season and a bad finish last year out of his mouth so as long as he's hot, you keep playing him. Plus it helps the young pitchers to have a veteran behind the plate. Now would be a great time to play Perez everyday and let Gennett get some work against lefties though but that means sitting Herrera which for whatever reason Counsell is reluctant to do. Herrera for all his big hits is not a core player and it's astounding he's in the lineup every day. Counsell wasn't reluctant to sit Peterson to give Santana work but I see more benefit in finding out what they have in Perez and giving Gennett a chance to show he can hit lefties. Those two are just 24 and 25 year olds after all. Perez has had just as much success vs. RHP in the minors as he has against LHP. Gennett was tearing up lefties in his minor league stint earlier but hasn't made one start against them since. The only lefties he sees are the specialists who get paid to get lefties out specifically.

They are likely to let Garza "start anew" for 2016, but if he doesn't perform the first couple months they may have to do what the Cubs did with Jackson and just eat a whole lot of salary. No sense throwing him out there if he's holding back a young arm.

Hopefully Counsell will use Sardinas as the RH platoon partner with Gennett and maybe give Segura a day off here and there. Herrera's been a nice story but he's not a good RH hitter. Can't understand why Counsell didn't just let Gennett face some lefties. He couldn't do worse than Herrera.

Have you been watching? Brewers have been getting more production at 3B since they traded Ramirez. Herrera has an .842 OPS as a 3B, where he plays exclusively as a left handed hitter his dominant side. Perez has been decent as well as the RH portion of the platoon. I'm guessing both will be back next year.

That's not what I'm hearing and I'm in Chicago. They're ready to move on despite the fact he's picked it up over the last month or so.

White Sox figure to have an opening at SS.

Guessing he'll be used to bail Garza if needed tonight and possibly replace him in the next turn. He's been on a nice roll lately.

Yes they were impressed. Kent Tekulve in the post game suggested the Pirates will need to factor this rebuilt Brewer team into the equation not for 2017 and beyond but for 2016. He commented that Brewers rebuild came "just at the right time" when a lot of teams out there were buyers and was helped by their having guys other teams wanted. His partner mentioned the difference was Bucs had better starting pitching at the top, but watch out if the Brewers improve there. Indeed.

Can we stop putting minor league baseball players into yet another victim category?

I'm all for rewarding a guy for a great minor league season who wouldn't otherwise see a major league roster like say a Nevin Ashley, but Lopez has elevated himself to near the top of the list of guys I see in the opening day rotation in 2017. No need to start any clocks for him until 2nd half of 2016 at the earliest.

Was not much separating Lopez and Wagner.

The FA market is so flooded with starting pitching that they could easily fill out the back end of the rotation with a low cost veteran (preferably a lefty) type who could be dealt later or moved to the pen to make room for one of the young guys. Hopefully Garza will regain enough form that he's marketable too, but if not, I'd just eat the remainder of his deal just like the Cubs did with Jackson this year. That way they wouldn't have to start the year committed one young guy presumably Davies at the expense of a half dozen or more others who are all also close to the majors. Let those guys battle it out and then go with the best at midseason. I personally think Hader and Lopez (though there are other strong candidates) are the two most likely guys to join Nelson, Peralta and Jungmann in the 2017 rotation and neither is quite ready to start 2016 in Milwaukee.

It is but is it worth a sandwich pick you could have gotten by giving Parra a QO? "Solid #5" is an oxymoron. Either you are an effective starter or you are not. I was unimpressed by the debut. Great changeup and keeps his straight fastball down, but he could use a slider or some sink to his fastball. Can't see him being a successful starter based on what I saw though it was only one start. Reliever maybe.

I'd like to see Perez playing everyday, and gasp, Gennett getting another start against a LHP (he had 2 in April all season). Counsell knows that managers own their records and making excuses like we were rebuilding and my bosses wanted to look at and develop young players doesn't fly when interviewing for that next job. Ask Dale Sveum. That being said, it's unlikely they'll slip lower than the 6th or 7th pick. Remaining schedule is a tough and Garza's still in the rotation.

Garrett Cooper has certainly been under the radar but he's always hit. If he ever develops a bit more power, why not include him in the conversation? He's got a Cory Hart type frame at 6'6" 230.

Exactly. This isn't your 2013 Brewer farm system anymore where any guy who could throw hard was untouchable because frankly they didn't have much. There's no room for 27 year olds on a roster who have next to zero command. Whoever the new GM is won't have the incentive of trying to make a past trade look good either, one reason Hellweg has hung around as long as he has.

Closers are overrated until you don't have one. Bullpen failure, especially late, sabotaged the entire 2012 Brewer season. Losing games late affects the entire team. Many major league pitchers have said from experience that the last 3 outs of a game are the toughest ones to get. I'll take their word for it. It also takes a certain type of individual to put a 9th inning failure behind him and not be affected by it the next day.

Count me skeptical on Davies. It seems to me that Brewers are anxious to showcase return on the Parra deal and to justify dealing Fiers when they did. If Davies were significantly better than the arms the Brewers have at AA, I doubt the O's would have parted with him. Will be watching certainly, but not anticipating greatness.

I'm guessing but I wouldn't be surprised if any or all of the following on the current 40 man are removed at season's end: Hellweg, Kintzler, Guilmet, Centeno, Clark, Schafer. I could see Rivera being assigned too since he can't refuse his assignment. He doesn't strike me as someone that anyone would take in Rule 5 draft.