JohnBriggs12

Medical folks are working today I just threw that in there for some levity.

I don't think it will take much longer. Medical records will be faxed between teams and team doctors will look. It's a holiday right? Makes me think though that Martin Perez could be involved as his situation of coming off TJ surgery would require extra effort. It's not unprecedented for deals to be announced pending physicals though.

Could the impending trade of Gallardo be to make room to add Craig Kimbrell in a deal with Atlanta? Kimbrel has $34 million guaranteed over the next 3 years but Atlanta's in full rebuild mode at this point even more so with Nats acquiring Scherzer. We saw what a lockdown pen did for KC last year. Kimbrel would free up Broxton for 8th inning and leave 7th for Smith and Jeffress.

Andrus' contract runs though 2022. He's got negative trade value at this point. You can put that one back in your butt. Does Melvin care about the 2022 Brewers? Or even the 2020 Brewers? I doubt it. For 2015 Andrus is probably an upgrade over Segura and can hold the position until Arcia is ready and with the trade it will cost the team basically zero dollars. When Arcia is ready Andrus can split time at SS and 2B and platoon with Scooter. I don't want it to happen but I don't have faith that Melvin will make a trade that is really going to help the future of the franchise. Melvin make some mistakes but he's not an idiot. Andrus has $118 million remaining on his contract with a vesting option for another $15 million in 2023. Not arguing that Andrus isn't an upgrade this year, but you don't commit that kind of money without ownership approval and that's clearly not happening. If Texas put Andrus on waivers and Brewers had shot at claiming him, they still wouldn't take him nor would any other team in all likelihood. That's what I mean by negative trade value. Texas couldn't give Andrus away with that contract.

Andrus' contract runs though 2022. He's got negative trade value at this point. You can put that one back in your butt.

Not really. Soler is set in RF. Fowler will be the CF, and they'll go with a Coghlan/Denorfia or Lake platoon in LF. Sweeney will be 5th OF. Baez likely will start season at 3B and Alcantara at 2B. When Bryant comes up, one of those two likely will be sent down and the other will play 2B.

Being reported by Bruce Levine on The Score. This fills spot most in flux for the Cubs and signals that Bryant will be ticketed for 3B upon his arrival in May. Straily had no chance of cracking the Cub rotation.

They could afford to pay him close to market value. Once this year is over, they'd only Garza's $12.5 million as significant money devoted to the rotation. Yes Peralta and Fiers will enter their arby years soon, but those won't break the bank and by the time they got expensive, Garza would be gone. Zimmermann is not a Boras client, so it's not a lock he'd get to FA either. His family shows up every time he pitches in Milwaukee so the appeal of pitching here could be quite strong. Even if took a hometown discount, he'll get significant money no doubt.

Just speculating but I'm guessing the centerpiece would be Nelson. Maybe you could get them to take Parra who'd be an upgrade over Nate McLouth as their 4th OF. On top of that perhaps one of the prospects from the Rangers is included too. We do know one thing. The Brewers could not afford Zimmermann unless they first unloaded some significant money. With Lohse coming off the books in 2016, that's $24 million off the amount targeted for starting pitching, enough to pay Zimmermann with a little left over to put toward buying out Peralta's arby years. A Zimmermann-Peralta top of the rotation for the next 4 or 5 years is mighty appealing.

Medical review? Could they be looking at Perez who had TJ surgery in May?

The return on the deal wouldn't be just what the Rangers send back, but would have to include what pieces the freed up money can get. Of course that would be true if Gallardo signed elsewhere next year. Then again there would always be the chance he's bad this year and they don't risk a QO, or that he takes it and you end up paying almost $15 million. If they were going to dump Gallardo, I wish they would have done it sooner and had the funds available to spend when there was a deeper pool available.

Young SS always have value in trade market. So adding Sardinas would add depth they can deal later. I don't think it's a straight up deal though. Melvin never makes a deal without getting something back that helps the team in the current year. They need bullpen arms an a RH bat to platoon at 1B. Sardinas hit .263/.290/.358 in Venezuelan Winter League with 11 errors in 32 games.

How about Ryan Rua? Nice versatile major league ready RH bat, can play 1B, 2B, 3B and LF. Hit 32 HR between High A and AA in 2013 and posted an .866 OPS between AA and AAA in 2014 before being called up for 28 games for Rangers where he posted a respectable .740 OPS. Makes decent contact for a guy with some power too. Turns 25 in March.

I don't see the Brewers going after Scherzer or Shields. They'll bring in a guy like Roberto Hernandez for rotation depth. I'd like to thank whoever started this rumor for taking my mind off the Packers.

How about Ryan Rua and Shawn Tolleson in the deal?

They could get by with either Schafer or Wren as 5th outfielder and backup CF. If he's healthy, Gomez isn't coming out of the lineup very often anyway. If Gomez misses significant time, they are toast whoever his backup is. Aoki's contract is more in line with a solid veteran 4th outfielder. He's a better hitter than Parra and it's not close. Aoki gives you quality AB's mostly by fouling off good pitches. I would still look to see if I can trade Parra for bullpen help and use Clark in the corner OF backup spot. Clark had too good a year at AAA and 3 HR in 31 PA in majors not to be given a shot at a significant role on this team.

Gallardo's salary is the going rate for a quality durable veteran #3 starter which is what he is. If he doesn't get dealt, I'm sure he'll get a QO from the Brewers after the season too.

It's still a lot to pay for a bench player for a small market team. It's the going rate for experienced below average regulars so some team that views him in that role could still have interest I suppose.

Are you kidding? Oakland wouldn't have traded Henderson for a 35 year old Bando who was a Brewer to begin with because Oakland couldn't afford him. Still Henderson would have been in the minor leagues in 79 if he were Brewer property. There was no place to play him. First of all Henderson was a LF, not a CF and a terrible defensive outfielder. Lezcano won the Gold Glove that year and hit .321/.414/.573 at age 25 with 28 HR and 101 RBI and you have him platooning in LF with Oglivie? Did you ever see Sixto's arm? It would be a complete waste playing him anywhere but RF. That would be a great deal for Henderson, but they had no need for him at that point and Oakland couldn't afford Bando. No way they trade for him back at age 35 for a top prospect like Henderson. It's great hindsight, but there was also no way you could know Hisle would get hurt a month into that season and where to you play Murphy on that team, CF? Murphy also would have started that year in AAA had the Brewers had him. Maybe he gets called up once Hisle goes down, but he doesn't help that team much. You going to replace Gorman Thomas with a rookie in CF? It hurt big time losing Hisle to be sure, but they got by with the likes of Dick Davis, Money, and Bando in the DH spot and won 95 games and scored a ton of runs (804). The Achilles Heal that year was the bullpen and a rotation that wasn't as good as Baltimore's. It's as simple as that. Baltimore won 102 games. There's no way they could have known that Lezcano would never be the same player or that Hisle would get hurt and never fully recover. Likewise there's no way they could have foreseen the careers of Henderson and Murphy at that point.

I think the Brewer brass has convinced themselves that the collapse down the stretch was an anomaly. Why else would they throw money at Ramirez and essentially stand pat everywhere else save the one deal for Lind? I think they are using this uptick in season ticket sales, real or not, to reinforce what they already believe. I believe some aspects of the collapse were indeed real and haven't been addressed and that portends problems in 2015. Rather than pat themselves on the back for their salesmanship, how about investing in some arms in the bullpen to replace Duke and K-Rod or find a quality RH bat to platoon at 1B?

"probably due to many people rolling their 2014 post-season ticket deposits into a season ticket plan." And therefore it's not indicative of any greater interest in the team. They probably put that out there to try and convince fans that they don't want to be left out because interest is so high. It's kind of misleading. I don't sense there's a lot of buzz and anticipation for this season other than the normal appeal of baseball in these parts ie. the hope springs eternal stuff and the thought of warm summer weather and baseball.

Smith and Thornburg were both converted starters. Thornburg was worn down and ultimately injured within a month from heavy usage. Took Smith a little longer perhaps because he's a bigger guy. They need a rubber armed vet badly or we'll likely see same fate happen to Jeffress. Speaking of Thornburg, I would hope if he's healthy enough to pitch that they strongly consider turning him back into a starter at AAA and let him refine his secondary pitches. He was really good starting at the end of 2013 and much of that was his using his full arsenal, and this team is going to lose two starters either at midseason or for 2016.

Molitor didn't need to stick it to Brewers and by extension their fans by signing with the team that at the time had just edged them out in the division. He's no saint in my book. And yes that drug issue he had was over by mid 80's but if you watched Molitor play in 1983, there was something not quite right about him and we found out later he was sticking stuff up his nose. What should have been his prime years from 83 through 86, he was pretty pedestrian when he wasn't hurt which was fairly often.

Are you guys forgetting who owns this team? He's never going to sit by and field a team that doesn't at least have the chance to compete. Ticket sales are too great a percentage of revenue for this franchise. They'll have a solid core going into 2016: Gomez, Braun, Lucroy, Gennett, Lind, Scooter, Segura, Davis, Peralta, Garza, Nelson. They'll also have plenty to either spend on extensions or on FA, with Ramirez ($14 million), Lohse ($11 million) and Gallardo ($13 million) off the books in 2016. That's $38 million right there. If this season doesn't go well, I suspect they'll look to deal Lohse and Gallardo but they'll look for guys that can help them in 2016. I'm guessing they'll make a QO to Gomez after 2016 and take the draft pick. Their #1 prospect is a CF who figures to be more than ready by 2017. Arcia, their #2, looks like a stud who could force his way to big club by 2016. Maybe they'll move Segura to 3B to make room for him. This is never going to be a franchise that will be able to sustain big winning over a period of years but it's still capable of being competitive enough that in any given year with good health and some luck it can make the playoffs. Even when they had the infusion of high picks they had in the early 2000's, that group only made the playoffs twice. They could just not keep that group together financially. Drafting at the top of the draft for 4-5 years won't bring them years of excellence over time. It will give them what they have now, a chance when all goes right. That's not worth losing fan interest for 5 years in a market that relies on it.

You are looking at it too narrowly. Facing hitters from your own side regularly should make you a better overall hitter against all types as it forces you to be fundamentally sound at the plate and not pull off pitches. Gennett can get a bit pull happy from time to time and he looks inside a lot. I will bet that Gennett's numbers against RHP improve by being able to face lefties on a regular basis. He also will get to stay in the lineup when he's hot instead of sitting and cooling off for a couple days when lefties start.