JohnBriggs12

Somebody has to play CF for Brewers. I'd prefer Ceceliani myself. He hits lefthanded and has raked in hitter friendly Las Vegas this year despite not doing a whole lot when called up earlier by Mets.

The rate of returning to prior form after TJ is around 80% Wheeler was terrific last year. I could live with a Wheeler and Flores, as the two main pieces, along with say Ceciliani and Fulmer and add Sardinas and Broxton to the deal.

Looks like it might be the end of the road for Capuano. Not much demand for a soon to be 37 year old pitcher with ERA over 6. Unless of course you are the Brewers that wants to keep one in their rotation.

Rivera took until age 26 to reach AAA and hasn't played SS at all this year. He's more the type of return you'd like to get for Cotts, not K-Rod. Utility player seems his ceiling. Taylor's just another very young guy. I think if you are giving up an All Star who's controllable through 2017, you'd better get a little more in return than that.

That wouldn't be enough for Gomez alone in my mind maybe not even Lind alone.

The bottom line for Melvin is this. Either he gets more than the value of a supplemental first rounder in a deal or he holds on to Parra. In this winter's FA class there are 3 OF in their 20's. Justin Upton, Jason Heyward and Gerardo Parra. Both Upton and Heyward are locks to get QO. Their 2015 OPS are .752 and .760 respectively. Parra's currently sits at .889. We've all seen the projections for Heyward in FA. They're astronomical. Many teams will look at Parra as cheaper (but not cheap) alternative. Roll your eyes if you want, the reality is Parra is going to get a minimum of $10 million per over a minimum of 3 years as a FA, and so he's worth a QO.

Last night's win assured the Brewers of their first winning month since June of last year and the first back to back months of .500 or better since Aug-Sept of 2012!

Parra is also 4th in triples, 7th in doubles and 8th in slugging, and he's in the top 20 in a bunch more offensive categories. Melvin just can't give away a player like that even for a rental. He has to get value in return. If offers aren't up to that, he's got options. The QO card is leverage.

I don't think Parra has ever been considered just an average defender. He's a gold glover. He is average or slightly above average to avoid argument...He is not close to what he was 2-3 years ago. No, he's the same fielder, it's the metrics that make it appear he's not. Fielding metrics are dubious to say the least. He likely wasn't as good as they showed him to be when he won the GG, and he's certainly better than they show him to be this year. Further his overall defensive metrics go down the more time he spends playing CF where his range isn't great. He's textbook in the way he goes back on a ball. He rarely makes a false step. You could use his play as an OF training aid. He's occasionally missed cutoff men this year, and those instances have hurt his metrics. You guys are all underestimating Parra's value. Melky Cabrera, at 30, got 3 years, $42 million after turning down a QO after a season hitting .301/.351/.458 on top of a season hitting just .279/.322/.458. Cabera's number one comp through his age 29? Mark Kotsay. Lets compare Parra to Michael Brantley. Prior to 2014, Brantley posted OPSs of .623, .702, .750, and .728 from age 23 to 26. Last year he posted .890. Was that a fluke too? He's fallen back a bit this year to .821 not unlike one would expect of Parra in 2016 but certainly still good. If Brantley were a FA, is there any doubt, he'd get a QO? Absolutely not. Too big a risk for the Brewers? I remind you the Brewers paid 37 year old Aramis Ramirez $14 million this year after he drove in just 25 runs in the 2nd half last year. I'm pretty certain the floor for a 29 year old Parra coming off his best season is a bit higher than that of a 37 year old Ramirez. Besides I think Parra will get a 3 year offer in the $30-$36 million range and he'll take the security that provides him over a one year deal and the Brewers will walk away with an extra pick. In this era we're in, offense is at a premium and teams that lack it will pay to get it. Brewers will likely end up signing a value FA to replace Parra's lefty bat next year anyway. The recently traded David Murphy, who'll command $5-6 million would fit that profile, so the risk really isn't $15 million but more like the extra $10, as it was with Ramirez.

Cravy is physically mature at 26 and not a premier prospect. He needs to pitch to prove his worth. Sitting him would do him no favors as for non premier guys, out of sight is out of mind. Fiers was none the worse for wear when his innings bumped up. Sure he wore down some but in the long run going through that probably made him better. He was injured the next year by a batted ball.

I'm fine with a 6 man rotation just one that doesn't include Lohse. He's had 21 starts. That's more than bad half season. Nobody is going to be fooled if he posts one or two decent starts in August.

Royals have surrendered a lot of pitching talent this week. Can't imagine them doing any more.

Miami reportedly will listen to offers for young CF Marcel Ozuna, who's back in AAA raking after a somewhat disappointing start in Miami. There's some suggestion Miami's trying to manipulate the start of his arby years, after Boras rebuffed them in their efforts at a long term deal. Now it's suggested that Miami would take a player in a similar stage of control, with a need for a pitcher. Mike Fiers might be a good place to start though it's likely they'd want a decent prospect along with him. Considering the likelihood that Gomez gets moved if not this week, then this winter and he could bring back a pitcher in the deal that could slot into Fiers rotation spot, Ozuna seems like a good fit.

MLBtraderumors is reporting that the Marlins will listen to offers for Marcel Ozuna. Ozuna was recently sent down and Yelich moved to CF. They suggest they'd be interested in swapping players with similar control. Is Fiers and a prospect for Ozuna logical? Ozuna would give Brewers a nice young controllable (through 2019) replacement for Gomez. Ozuna's been absolutely raking since being sent down after a not so awful but disappointing start in Miami: .249/.301/.337

As I have pointed out numerous times, it wouldn't be the end of the world if they can't move Parra. I think it's more likely than not that he will, but any 28 year old coming off the season Parra is having is going to get a QO as a FA. I put that out there a month ago when his OPS was just a bit over .800 and all I got was skepticism in return but he's added about 50 OPS points since then. For the first time last night BA and BS speculated that Parra is going to be in high demand as a FA. That's a signal to me that it's been suggested by someone in the know that a QO is a consideration at least. At the very least, this possibility and his hot July, have upped the Brewer asking price on him. If they get it, great. If not, the payoff is a bit down the road in the form of a high draft pick or he signs with the Brewers and they deal Davis. In either instance they will add quality to their system.

That's not true at all, there's no platooning in the low minors and rarely do you see it even at AAA. I stand corrected though I do think it's fairly common at AAA for non-prospects who share positions.

Marcos Molina or Gabriel Ynoa? Maybe Michael Fulmer? Brewers have leverage with many teams looking for a bat. Glad it appears they are using it.

I'd take his minor league splits with a big grain of salt. Usually the left-handed hitters in the lineup against a lefty starter are the top hitters period so they don't face many average left-handed hitters. If he were converted to relief, he'd probably lean more on breaking stuff to lefty hitters as that would be his primary job. That's not to say he can't have a career as a finesse lefty starter. But he's going to first have to get an opportunity and at 25 and still in AA, who knows if that will happen.

Completely different. Axford had fallen out of favor with Brewers and was a reliever. Lind is an effective middle of the order bat and those guys don't fall off trees like relievers do. I wouldn't rule out a deal with Cards if their offer is insanely good. Just being the "best one out there" though isn't good enough if it's not enough value for Lind. I'd want Rob Kaminsky in any deal with them. Charlie Tilson too if not Piscotty.

Look the Brewers basically announced to the world that they were sellers back in May, and many in the press and some GM's took that as "it's time to fleece the Brewers", so undoubtedly Melvin's got a lot of inquiries from teams that he knew probably weren't matches or weren't willing to make serious offers. I'm sure he gets back to the teams the Brewers have determined have the pieces they would consider and takes his time getting back to the rest.

Teams "going for it" pay dearly for aces, especially relatively inexpensive ones like Cueto even on rentals. Cueto can be the key for a championship, at least that's the Royals thinking. I don't think teams see Gomez or Lucroy in the same light. Lucroy is probably not at his high selling point, and the Brewers have nothing behind him. I doubt he goes anywhere.

Apparently the Reds wanted left handed pitching back. Interesting group. Two of the three are at or close to major league ready. Lamb was highly rated early on, fell off and is having a great year at AAA now at 24. Finnegan is highly rated but struggled at AAA. He might need a bit more seasoning. Reed is moving fast. Reds didn't settle for low minor league guys for Cueto either.

Nothing new here. Lind's name has been out there for 2 months and Cardinals have need. Key word is "believed". Lind doesn't have to be traded, and even if he is, I doubt the Brewers would have interest in helping Cardinals. It's a completely different situation than with Ramirez, as they control Lind beyond this year and Cards would pick up his option even if they intend to deal him after this year. Nothing's impossible but Lind's been out there for a while so I imagine Melvin's got a hefty price on him as he should.

Hernan Perez just might be that decent 3B. He's done nothing so far in a Brewer uniform to indicate he's not. If the rotation of Nelson, Peralta, Jungmann, Fiers, and Garza stays in tact, and they hold on to Lind, they can be competitive early next year, provided they find a way to bring back Parra or find and adequate guy to replace Gomez. Gomez is the only guy that gets the prime talent back in return. A lineup of Lucroy catching, Perez at 3B, Segura or Arcia at SS, Gennett at 2B, Lind at 1B, Davis in LF, Parra or Gomez or some average type in CF and Braun in RF might not scare a lot of teams but with a solid rotation, it's good enough to stay close in the first half and in today's game that's really the objective starting a season. The system is getting stronger, and a year from now they will have the ability to add in July if they're close. The rest of the league isn't that strong. Nelson is an emerging top of the rotation pitcher. It remains to be seen if he goes all the way to ace, but when he's on, he has ace like stuff.

Cishek's peripherals, a .782 OPS against, a 1.59 WHIP etc. are really no better than Broxton's so there's some hope that if Broxton can keep stringing scoreless outings that they can move him in a waiver deal in August.