JohnBriggs12

This was reported as a done deal over a week ago in Chicago paper. Nice to see TH finally acknowledge it.

Good for Cappy. I always liked the guy. Glad he could come back like he did. He had a bad ERA last year, but his numbers indicate he should probably be better. Like I said, I'm happy for him. Good guy. He had the same problem he had with the Brewers. He couldn't get out of the 6th inning. His 6th inning ERA was 8.61 and OPS against was 1.039. If you've got 4 other starters who get deep, then you can live with it. But otherwise he's sure to tax the bullpen.

The Brewers would then have a ton of money and years going forward tied up into hoping that Braun and Prince stay both healthy and productive over the vast majority of their contracts. It also would seem to really decrease the odds of extending Greinke. I understand the appeal of keeping Prince and i won't be upset if it happens, but i just think that 6 years at that dollar amount is to risky, especially that he'd go from a defensive liability at firstbase to a massive liability that needed to be a DH. The only factor that i'm unsure about is exactly how much more money does the new cable deal with FSN bring in each year and thus will it lead to larger payrolls going forward so that Braun/Prince wouldn't be eating up roughly 40 percent of the payroll just by themselves? Fielder at 6 years $120 million is a lot less risky than 5 years of Greinke for $80 million. The failure rate for pitchers is much higher. Fielder will be 33 at the end of 6 years. The potential for serious dropoff in 6 years is pretty minimal. It's when he gets to 34-35 that you need to worry. I'm on record as saying I'd go to $132 over 6 with an option. I think that's about what he's going to get from somebody. I'd rather he get it from the Brewers than the Cubs. I never believed the $175-200 over 8 that Boras threw out there. He doesn't set the market, the teams do. Greinke is expendable. They just spent high 2 picks on college pitchers with high ceilings who shouldn't take more than 3 seasons to get to the bigs. They have at least 2 other guys (Peralta and Thornburg) who appear will be ready within 1-2 years. The ace of the staff, Gallardo is under contract through 2015. Have Braun and Fielder in the middle of the order and a young pitching staff. That's the formula I'd follow.

I could see the Cardinals signing Betancourt.

Sorry I'm not buying that. Yankees had home grown talent, but their rotation was bought and paid for for years: Wells, Clemens, Cone, Mussina, and on and on. Only Pettitte was home grown.

You must not have paid attention to him since 2006. Since then he's logged 311 innings, allowed 270 hits, 105 earned runs (3.04 ERA), fanned 270 and walked 137. In 09 he had a 1.73 ERA in 74 games. Last year he had a 2.63 ERA in 67 games and opponents hit .207 off of him. Those are pretty good numbers over some pretty long stretches.

I'm not sure Marcum would bring much more assuming GM's were paying attention to the postseason, but count me in with those who don't see Smoak as an upgrade over Gamel.

I'll go with Morris, Larkin and McGriff. McGriff's closet comparable is HOFer Willie McCovey, and I don't think there's been any hint of Crime Dog juicing. If that's the case, his numbers are worthy. Bagwell on the other hand had a body that suggested enhancement and he was a teammate of known juicer Ken Caminiti.

Giants are said to be wanting to trim some salary from their bullpen and are offering Jeremy Affeldt ($5 million) or Ramon Ramirez (projected at around $2.3 million). Both would be nice fits for the Brewers. Similar to Thornton, Affeldt is more than just a LOOGY (RH hitters batted .248 against him). He's useful either in the 7th or 8th innings depending on the matchups. Ramirez has put up some good numbers too and at that price would be a bargain. If Fielder does end up with the Cubs, having a guy like Affeldt around to face him and the likes of Votto late in games is critical.

Yes, if you throw out the best season anyone has had in nearly a decade, then two additional great seasons, they are pretty close. What two additional great seasons? The ones that were similar to Jackson's 2009 and 2011? My point is that if you pay Greinke based on his 2009 numbers, there's a much greater chance you are overpaying for a guy who'll be about as good as Edwin Jackson going forward.

Alexi Ramirez is a reach. But perhaps Gordon Beckham, who was drafted as a SS could be had. He's almost worn out his welcome on the south side but he's blessed with plenty of talent and a change of scenery might be in order. They'll definitely want something of value for that kind of package though.

Throw out Greinke's 2009, and Jackson is pretty close to Greinke so it would be worth considering for $4 million or so less per year. I'd only be interested if they also traded Wolf or Marcum or both though. Doing that would still leave room for Reyes. The Brewers are already at $38 million or so for their rotation this year, and adding Jackson would put them at $50 million. That's an awful lot to spend just on the rotation even if only for one year. I do like the thought of signing Jackson a lot better than extending Marcum or overpaying Greinke in dollars and years though.

I think the Nats would prefer to keep Morse at 1B and find an OF bat to play LF. But there doesn't seem to be much available, so now they are re-thinking the Fielder scenario. I'd certainly rather see Prince go there than Chicago.

How long before Sam Narron becomes pitching coach?

I agree with Al here. Some of you are vastly underrating Thornton's talent. Braddock isn't in the same category even with no off field issues. Yes he's older but not as old as Hawkins and Saito were and he works in the mid 90's. Thornton is no loogy either. He can dominate hitters from either side. They don't have any setup guys under contract right now. They have to fill one or two spots and quality doesn't come cheap. Thornton's salary is in line with his talent so even if the team is out of it, he's still marketable. The Sox have him on the market because they can use some salary relief. The key is not whether the Brewers pay his salary (he's worth it), it's whether the Sox would demand a great deal of value back. Thornton is a guy that can make letting Loe and his likely $2.5 million arby award go. That's plenty of salary relief for me.

He's certainly not cheap and I wouldn't want him to close, but considering the cost of quality bullpen arms, they could do a lot worse and Thornton would certainly allow them to non tender Loe. If it's purely a salary dump on the part of the White Sox, then I'd be all for it. Thornton was a bit unlucky last year. He gave up a number of seeing-eye hits early in the year. He could bounce back and be real effective in a new league.

There is no scenario where they'd end up just cutting him. None. Even if they inked Fielder or Reyes and needed the salary room, there would be plenty of suitors for K-Rod with just a one year commitment. If they don't sign either Fielder or Reyes, they certainly can handle a one year deal for K-Rod to fill a setup role that is currently not filled.

Not always. He gets his clients the money he wants when he gets the big boys (Yankees and Red Sox) in the bidding. Now I wouldn't put it past him or the Yankees that they are secretly in the bidding, but I'm skeptical he'll get anywhere near his asking price if the bidders are teams like the Marlins, Orioles or Mariners. Bidding against those teams, I wouldn't count the Brewers out so quickly. The Brewers haven't spent a dime so far. They raised ticket prices fairly significantly. They have a lot of money that will come off the books after 2012, and some they could still unload this year. They are in position to at least bid on Fielder or Reyes.

I've read where the A's are looking for a haul similar to what they got from the Diamondbacks in 2007 for Dan Haren. That deal involved 5 prospects going to the A's, including two in Baseball America's top 40 at the time, Carlos Gonzalez and Brett Anderson. Not sure the Brewers have the quantity or the quality the A's are looking for. Brewers have guys that could get perhaps a Brandon McCarthy from the A's, but not Gio Gonzalez.

I agree with YoungGeezy. It's not only that Axford is still cheap, he's not your average closer, he's one of the best in the game and perhaps the best ever to wear a Brewer uniform.

I just don't see the need for RH bats, other than a part timer that could do some platooning with Gamel.

cubsdie. May I remind you McGehee is 1 year removed from a 104 RBI season. Oakland has not had a guy drive in that many since Frank Thomas in 2006. Nobody thought Scott Podsednik had any value after he went from a .314, .822 OPS guy as a rookie in 2003 to a .244, .677 OPS guy in 2004. But he got the Brewers a middle of the lineup hitter. Oakland brass isn't a bunch of Brewer fans who still have fresh in their minds McGehee struggling. Teams look at guys as bounce back candidates and he's proven he can be a productive major league hitter. Teams don't give all the weight to a guys most recent season. Look at the Cubs giving Pena $10 million after he hit .196.

Are you serious? Linebrink? He was the 12th man on a 12 man staff in Chicago and still run out of town. The Braves used him in primarily in games they trailed.

I think you could get Balfour, but it'd take a lot more than that. That package gets you.........well, nothing actually. It might cost more like Thornburg IMO. I wouldn't do that. Oakland needs bats and I think McGehee still has value and so does Kintzler. Balfour is a 33 year old set up guy. No team is going to give up an a top of the line starting pitcher prospect for a non closer reliever in his 30's. Besides Oakland has young pitching. They need offense.

How about Grant Balfour? What would it take to get him from the A's? Would they have interest in McGehee? Perhaps say, McGehee and Kintzler? His contract isn't bad ($4 million for 2012, option for 2013 with a $375K buyout) and he's certainly a proven setup guy (26 Holds last year).