JohnBriggs12

Coming from Madison, you might want to consider Wrigley Express bus from Schaumburg (Northwest Transportation Center), right near Woodfield Mall. Departs at 11:15 and drops you right off in front. Usually gets there a hour before first pitch so plenty of time to have a cold one before. Course if you plan on sticking around after game, then not a great idea unless you want to do some shopping at Woodfield.

While I'm surprised the Brewers have kept Lohse around rather than just releasing him as they did with Wolf, I'm guessing they felt Lohse's professionalism was worth having around.

Was just going to edit my post and mention that. Yes Davis fits the age and experience level very well. Whether he's a cornerstone player ability wise is at least debatable though. Even Gennett if this turns out to be his "off year" fits the profile age/experience wise. Davis is probably not the "sure thing" Rizzo was, and committing to him does create an outfield log jam. But maybe to fill a need at 3B, C or 1B, dangling a Taylor or Reed or Raoche as part of a deal is what they'll need to do and that brings me back to my original point that not all prospects help you by playing for you.

Cubs prove my point. They went out and got veterans to fill spots. They traded two minor leaguers for Miguel Montero because they had a need there. They traded for Carlos Fowler to fill CF, also a need spot for them. Rizzo is their best hitter and he's no rookie. He's in his 5th year, and was already in the big leagues when he was acquired. Coghlan, who's hitting 3rd in their lineup was a FA signing. Outside of Schwarber over the last month, the other Cub rookie/2nd year guys have been disappointing actually. Rizzo's arby years were bought out with a 7 year deal in what looks like now to be a very team friendly deal but he's the key to their offense. 2/5ths of their rotation are veteran free agents one of which would be out of Brewers budget. Hendricks was picked up in a deal for Dempster true, but Arrietta was already in the big leagues when they got him from Baltimore in 2013. No team does it all with rookies and 2nd year guys which is the only point my previous post was making. Rizzo is the Cubs best hitter and he's in his 5th season. Brewers success with their earlier crop was because of two guys, Fielder and Braun, that gave the Brewers the best 3-4 hitting combo in the game for a few seasons. Both were drafted, not traded for. The other guys were interchangeable and just along for the ride. Astutely, Melvin turned Hardy into Gomez, but once Fielder left, that still wasn't enough. As to your point about pitching, the Brewers appear to have 3 young guys in Nelson, Jungmann, and Peralta that are the cornerstones of a fine rotation, all of whom are home grown and did not require trading anyone off to get. Nelson has both the demeanor and the stuff to be an ace which he has been over the last month to 6 weeks. Wasting their peak seasons by surrounding them with a lineup of scrubs while they wait on some prospects is problematic too. I don't see a Rizzo on the Brewer's current roster, namely a cornerstone who's a few years ahead of the bumper crop who leads them. Braun's too long in the tooth, and Lucroy is only signed for two more years. They could lock up the 3 pitchers and assuming all stay healthy and productive for 5-7 years, that'd would be great. But we all know what happens with pitchers.

Braves and Indians completed a significant deal a few days ago, Chris Johnson to Indians, for Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn in a deal involving bad contracts. The waiver deals pick up toward the end of the month as teams try and set a playoff roster. We don't hear about deals getting blocked.

It was pretty much the consensus that Braun would remain at or near his peak longer than Fielder and certainly to age 33 or 34. That certainly isn't the case in 2015. Braun's trend is downward.

Some of the talent in the farm system can and likely will be used in deals to fill in spots on the major league roster. It's completely unrealistic to think that a lineup of all rookies and 2nd year players save Braun will be on the field in 2017 or that such a lineup could compete.

While I don't hold out much hope for Sardinas hitting, the two pitchers look promising and this return was for a year of Yo. Seems pretty good to me? Well it depends. There are a lot of variables. Gallardo might have been worth close to that return at the deadline too, and had they kept Yo and dealt Lohse for a slightly lesser package over the winter, they might have come out about the same return or slightly better overall with a few more wins though not likely enough to prevent the sell off. If they had to do it all over, I'm sure they'd have dealt Lohse and held on to Yo.

The jury is still out on the return for Yo. It might turn out to be rather minimal or could still be a nice package. Sardinas is a smooth glove but with a questionable bat. Knebel throws hard but so do a lot of short relievers these days. Diplan is years away.

Labeling any guy in the minor leagues as a future ace is pure fantasy. So much goes into what makes a guy an ace at the big league level. Brewers might have more than one or they might have none. Only time will tell. Drafting a big arm in the top 5 of the draft insures nothing either.

Nelson is absolutely emerging as a legit ace. I live out of market, and trust me, the ex-players in the booths for other teams talk about him in those terms.

Counsell really doesn't fit the definition. Herrera's more akin to Cody Ransom. But I don't like him taking AB's away from Perez, who's 24 and who they need to make a decision on.

Why all the venom directed at Segura? Virtually the entire lineup is below average. Lucroy is -.01 WAR this year. Perez cooled but still should be out there everyday instead of Counsell giving time to 30 year old Herrera. Peterson's a career minor leaguer. Gennett's having a bad year. Braun is a shell of what he was. Yet all the venom gets directed at Segura and Schafer? At least Segura stays healthy. When the middle of the order hitters don't produce (Lucroy, Braun) or get traded away (Gomez, Parra), too much scrutiny is placed on the guys who aren't expected to shoulder the offense. Segura's not a perennial All Star. He's a stopgap until Arcia arrives.

Those expecting a Lucroy trade are going to be disappointed. His trade value is way, way, down. With two more years of cheap control, there's plenty of time for him to re-establish it. As for Davis, power is in more demand than ever and this is a guy with a career .480 slugging percentage who's not even arby eligible for another year. There's plenty of value there, and unlike the case with Lucroy, there's talent ready to replace him.

Will be very interesting to see if Burgos gets added to the 40 man and gets a Sept call up.

They can and likely will have a better roster than they have now on opening day next year. They'll be players available the won't cost much who are better than some they have now. That doesn't mean they expect to contend. But they have to put on a show that's at least entertaining from time to time.

There were still using him against lefties at 2B but there haven't been many of those. Hector was 0 for July and August. Wonder if Gennett will get some starts vs LHP or if they'll play Perez at 2B and Rogers at 3B? What happened to the plan to let Scooter play vs. both? He's made two starts vs. LHP, both when he was in his early season funk. Bench is better with Rogers.

Dombrowski is 59. He's not replacing 63 year old Melvin. From the "why didn't I do that?" department. Story of how Dombrowski got into baseball: He interviews then White Sox GM Roland Hemond for some school newspaper back in the 70's. He tells Hemond he's interested in a job in baseball and asks him how to go about it. Hemond says come to the winter meetings and talk to people. He does just that, meets up with Hemond who hires him and eventually becomes assistant White Sox GM before he turns 30. Around that same timeframe, late 70's, I went to a game at old Comiskey Park with a co-worker friend of mine who was originally from Rhode Island. Turns out his family lived on the same block as Hemond and one time Milwaukee Brave pitcher, Chet Nichols who was a high school teammate of my friend's dad. My friend asks me if I want to meet Hemond and we go to his office off the concourse, he tells security who he is, and Hemond invites both of us in and chats with us for a good 20-25 minutes. Hemond had worked for Braves so naturally I asked him about those days. If I had only asked him for a job! True Story.

Mark Buehrle (37) A.J. Burnett (39) Chris Capuano (37) Bartolo Colon (43) R.A. Dickey (41) – $12MM club option with a $1MM buyout Marco Estrada (32) Doug Fister (32) Gavin Floyd (33) Jeremy Guthrie (37) – $10MM mutual option with a $3.2MM buyout J.A. Happ (33) Aaron Harang (38) Dan Haren (35) Tim Hudson (40) Hisashi Iwakuma (35) Scott Kazmir (32) John Lackey (37) Cliff Lee (37) – $27.5MM club/vesting option with a $12.5MM buyout Tim Lincecum (32) Kyle Lohse (37) Mike Pelfrey (32) Alfredo Simon (35) Ryan Vogelsong (38) Jerome Williams (34) Chris Young (37) Who ya got? There's only one guy on that list I'd want.... and that's for pure comedy gold. Signing veterans to fill out a rotation is fine. The killer is signing them for more than a year or two at overinflated prices. The number of guys who are going to be available this winter is incredible. Of all years, this might be one where you can actually get quality from the bargain bin. You didn't even include 30 year old Ian Kennedy who after the first inning looked pretty good the other night. Lets see how Cravy does the rest of the year. If it's obvious he's not ready or not a guy who looks like he's a major league starter over time, then they might need to spend $5-6 million on a veteran on a one year deal. Fiers is gone and somebody needs to replace his innings. Even if Cravy looks fine, they'll probably bring in a non-roster guy or two to compete in spring. When you have a guy like Cravy with options, you can build some depth behind the top 3-4.

Cubs are increasing their night game totals. Won't be any real difference.

Cravy's 26. This may be his only chance to make an impression. You don't take it away because you are afraid he's not physically up to it at 26, the age pitchers are at their prime. He hurt his oblique last year. It's not like he was coming off surgery or has a long history of ailments It's his big opportunity. Give it to him.

Kang put up considerably better numbers. Pass.

When Davis is in one of his hot streaks, he's as dangerous as any hitter in baseball. They don't last all that long, usually just a few game, and the burn out as fast as they show up, but boy they are fun to watch. You could see it coming on last night with that rope he hit into the gap for a double. He had one mini-burst against the Cubs in May, then had another just before he got hurt. It was just a matter of time with playing everyday that he'd have another.

I always thought most pitchers were better during the day, at least for the Brewers. Maybe something about the batters having to deal with the sun/shadows? It's usually just the opposite. Most pitchers do slightly better at night. Fiers was better at night. Peralta's better at night. Lohse is about even in his long career. Not enough of a sample on Nelson or Jungmann. Shadows affect hitters probably as much in early innings of night games as they do during the day. In many places, the ball doesn't carry as well at night either. I think Garza's splits are pretty unusual and the fact they've been compiled over a long career show that for whatever reason, he performs better more often during the day. Right on queue, 7 innings, 2 hits, 1 run today.

Got to believe only reason Lohse is being kept is for perceived clubhouse presence. He's essentially the 13th man on the staff now and I can't imagine him being used as anything more than a innings saver in blowouts. Maybe he's a good influence on the young guys or they seem to think he is.