JohnBriggs12

It was completely unrealistic to think that the Sox would have dealt Hudson AND Beckham for Fielder. I reside in the Chicago area and know many Sox fans (most who hated the Hudson for Jackson deal by the way) and hear a lot of talk radio down here. I don't believe most Brewer fans understand how highly regarded Beckham is. There was a discussion prior to the season on radio on whether the Sox should deal Beckham straight up for Adrian Gonzales. The consensus was amongst most Sox observers that they shouldn't do that. Now Beckham has had a disappointing year so far (he's been coming on strong lately), but keep in mind this is a guy who played in just 59 minor league games prior to getting to the big leagues and was the 20th rated prospect in all of baseball in 2009. Many still project him as a future All Star. While I didn't necessarily advocate a straight up deal for Hudson, I certainly thought he was good enough to be the centerpiece of a deal for Fielder. It certainly sounded as if the Sox would have included another player, just not Beckham. Even if I had to include Parra to get Hudson and say, Viciedo, I'd have done that in a heartbeat.

Wow, the 2nd home grown pitcher to make it to the majors in the same season (the other was Braddock) and neither were high picks. Personally, I'd be tempted to see how he'd do starting a few games. He has started some in the past. I can't think this is sitting too well with Villanueva. As for Hawkins, at this point, just shut him down for the year.

My guess is if you want either Hunter or Holland, Texas may insist you also take Feldman and the $11 million he's owed over the next two seasons. Feldman's numbers this year are pretty ugly. Maybe a Lewis/Harrison combo might make more sense. McCarthy is such an injury risk that he could be non-tendered.

Just a reminder, that Daniel Hudson that beat the Brewers with 7 strong innings and is 3-0 in the NL with a 1.59 ERA, going at least 7 innings in each start, is the same Daniel Hudson that Melvin supposedly wasn't interested in getting for Fielder because in his mind he had a ceiling of a 4th starter. Doug of course must have been reading his 08 pre-draft scouting report on Hudson, whom he passed over in the first 4 rounds that year.

Getting talented major league ready young pitching for just hitters, either established or prospects is problematic. You are limited to teams desperate for offense or with such an abundance of young pitching that some are blocked. Very few teams are desperate for offense at 1B. There are solid major league FA bats available that a team like Seattle that isn't all the deep in pitching talent doesn't have to give up it's one near major league ready pitcher. The few teams with an abundance have been mentioned on here many times. Texas is the one that stands out. TB has them too, but no money to pay Fielder.

I tend to agree with Ennder. It's about his fastball. He can throw strikes with it, but he doesn't really command it. It also has little movement at all. That leads to his inefficiency with his offspeed stuff, because he doesn't trust in his own ability to throw a fastball where he wants and he knows he won't be able to miss the sweet spot on the bat with it. It's gotten to the point with me where he's almost unwatchable.

take a look at what Brewers replacement level starters have done over the past few years-Estrada, Mike Burns etc Okay, lets look. The Brewers were 4-4 in Mike Burns' 8 starts in 2009. If we play the "Dave Bush" game of throwing out his 2 worst starts (which by comparison to Bush's implosions aren't all that bad and in fact they won one of those), Burns had an ERA of 4.09. Now Burns did only have 2 "quality starts" out of 8 (he missed one more by one out), but I do think the bashing of Mike Burns is way overblown. As for Estrada, he only made one start. He did piggyback Parra very effectively in his first appearance. The only "stunt" I'm aware of was the one by Macha to use him on two consecutive days after he threw 52 pitches the day before. I have a hard time blaming a marginal major league pitcher for complaining of arm fatigue only after being told he was being sent down. As for who would replace Bush? Loe has been a starter most of his career. There's absolutely no reason he couldn't give you results similar to Bush if they reverted him back to a starter. Yes, he's been very valuable in the pen, but bullpen arms are much more readily available and they may have several in their own system. If you're worried, his credentials far surpassed Burns' too. Loe was had for next to nothing as minor league FA. But it doesn't have to be Loe either. There is probably another guy out there who's next year's Kameron Loe. That's what I meant by shrewd waiver claim. It doesn't necessarily have to be a waiver claim it can be a minor league contract given to someone. Let's not forget that the year prior, they picked up Narveson. There's no reason to pay significant dollars to a 5th starter type.

Some of the comments indicated worry about Dickerson "stealing AB's from Cain" and the like. First, Cain has all of what, 16 major league AB's? You don't help the team by insuring that a rookie plays everyday because his backup isn't any good. When Hart first came up, he shared time with Gross. Gross enabled Yost to sit Hart against tough right handed starters. That helps build a young player's confidence. When Hart got to the point he proved he could handle being in there every day, they moved Gross. There are plenty of AB's to go around. Not only does Dickerson offer protection in CF, he enables them to give either Braun or Hart a day off now and then. We've seen this year instances where Braun certainly could have used a day off. We hadn't seen that in the past. I think Dickerson figures to be at least the equal of a healthy Gerut and he won't cost nearly what Gerut did this season. You never know too, if a guy will emerge late like McGehee did when an opportunity presents itself. Dickerson could be that type of guy, but that would be a bonus.

You would "non-tender" Narveson who's not even arby eligible until 2013, and spend what $5 million to bring back Bush as a 5th starter? For the same dollars, I'd take Narveson over Bush. As it is, he's at least $3 million cheaper and under control for several more years. KC would not go for that deal for Grienke. First, as good as Odorizzi is, KC will command a major league ready arm back in any deal for Grienke and no Parra doesn't count. Parra is a throw in. The only way the Brewers can get that is to involve a 3rd team. They also don't need a 3rd baseman. Gordon's back up now and he's too good to continue to struggle.

Dickerson isn't completely without power. He's 6'3", 230 lbs and hit between 11 and 14 HR for 3 straight years from 05 to 08. He's been raking at AAA in his rehab assignment. I'm with Jeffryscott. Dickerson would be decent competition for Gamel in RF if Hart moves to 1B and at worst, a solid backup. He might be energized by change of scenery too. This is definitely getting value where there didn't appear to be much. If Fielder goes, they need some LH bats, and I would imagine Dickerson could give Cain rest against tough lefties. Who's next, Counsell?

Wolf has more value than that. Come on! Say Wolf goes 5-2 with a 3.30 ERA over his last 10 starts (60 innings). That's quite plausible considering his recent form and his numbers down the stretch the last 2 seasons. That would leave him 13-11 with a 4.38 ERA for the year and 24-18 over his previous 2 seasons. He'd have value to many teams. Yeah he's fairly expensive but it would only be a 2 year commitment, and a similar guy like Ted Lilly might be demanding a 3 year deal.

I'd like to take a look any of 3 bullpen candidates for 2011, Brandon Kintzler, Mike McClendon or Donovan Hand.

I agree. The Brewers are paying Narveson $406,500 and the team has won half of his 18 starts. There really is no reason to pay a premium for what is available for shrewd waiver claim (whatever happened to Estrada anyway?), or a minor deal could net you. Every year there are arms available that are capable of doing what Bush is for minimal investments.

"I want to see Alcides show any sign at all he's starting to figure things out at the plate." What are you watching? Since the All Star game he's hitting .296/.329/.383. He's got the highest line drive percentage (22%) of any of the regulars. His spray chart shows hits from foul line to foul line, equally distributed. I'm not a big fan of BABIP, but his is pretty low considering his impressive line drive rate. He could easily be hitting around .280-.290 had he found a few more holes. I'm confident that by the end of the year his overall numbers will be more indicative of his offensive talent, which I believe is considerable. For the rest of the season, I'd like to see Narveson step up and establish himself as a decent starter. He's close right now. His WHIP is respectable and I think he knows what he's doing out there. If he can avoid and/or minimize his rough innings, he gives them a cheap option in the rotation going into 2011. I'd like to see Wolf continue his recent form and finish the season strong. He's got time to get his numbers to respectable. If he does that, he's got some trade value even with his contract and I firmly believe to get young pitching they are going to need to be able to offer a quality veteran that a team might be wanting. I want Lucroy to firmly establish that he can finish a season off, and negate any thought of them looking for a veteran in the offseason.

I don't buy the Branyan or Deer comparisons at all and heaven forbid the Gomez comparison.. Davis is a .342 hitter in 600+ AAA at bats. Branyan was a .260 hitter at AAA and Deer hit .245 there. Gomez never hit higher than .286 anywhere. Guys with as bad a plate discipline as you describe don't hit .342 in A ball much less AAA. Why has he struggled so far in the big leagues? Probably because it just came so easy for him in the minors that he got some sloppy habit that big league pitchers exploited. Plus he's probably a bit over anxious. But he's only 24 and has terrific talent. Nelson Cruz had no plate discipline at 25 and 26 in first couple major league trials.

I sure hope so. He was a waste of a roster spot in Minnesota, and a waste of a roster spot this year in Milwaukee. I'd say its pretty safe to say that the Gomez + Escobar + Wolf for Cameron and Hardy swap was pretty much a disaster. Hardy was having a lousy year (really has come on lately), but about the only good thing that you can say about having Escobar and Gomez on the field was that we were saving money. Cain is cheap as well, and as many have noted, a huge upgrade from Gomez.Cameron and Hardy have 38 RBI between them. Neither has been able to stay healthy. Wolf hasn't been as good as hoped but he's not been a total disaster. Brewers are .500 (12-12) in his starts. Escobar has 31 RBI, and has hit the ball better than his .255 average would indicate. His line drive percentage (22%) is higher than Braun (19%), Fielder (20%), Weeks (17%), Hart (20%), and McGehee (19%) and way better than Hardy's 15%. I think it's safe to say nobody on the Brewer roster has hit into more bad luck than Escobar.

I'd take Bush over Parra but that's not saying much. For all the "quality starts" the Brewers are just 9-14 when he starts. In only one of his 5 seasons as a Brewer were the Brewers over .500 when he started and that was when they were 15-14 in 2008. A lot of his quality starts just barely qualified and still resulted in losses. He gives the team zero chance to win when he has one of his awful starts which is about once a month. He'd be worth a contract as a 4-5 starter for teams lacking a minimum salary option that could match those numbers, but not more than one year with an option and certainly not for more than $5 million. There's usually a glut of guys like that on the market.

You're misreading that. That is a 0.055 percent chance at the division. As in, 5.5 times in 10,000 not 5.5 in 100. They are out of it. As for why they are out of it? They'd have to win at least 90 to win the WC or the division, most likely. They are 52-59 with 51 games remaining. They'd have to go 38-13 to get to 90 wins. That's .745 winning percentage, or 120 wins over a full season. That just doesn't happen. The White Sox were 38-13 between June 9th and last Thursday. They certainly aren't a super team, but they don't have a Manny Parra in their rotation either.

I don't see much too similarity other than the position they play and that both possess speed.. First there's the obvious. Cain hits righthanded. Hamilton hit lefthanded. Cain is taller, and really impressive physically. I remember seeing him a few years ago playing in the Hawaiian Fall League. I remember thinking he sure looked the part. Hamilton was a fairly thin, wiry guy, not the guy who impressed you much physically. Not that Hamilton wasn't a very solid player, he was. But Cain has the physical attributes to surpass Hamilton. But he's got a ways to go.

Braves were 256 games over .500 in Milwaukee, so they are 269 games under everywhere else. Their worst record in Milwaukee was 84-78 in 1963. To be fair, the first couple years of the Mets and Colt 45's (Astros) was like having 36 games vs. AAA competition on your schedule. Seven of the ten teams in the league were over .500 each of those years. In reality the 62 and 63 Braves squads were major disappointments.

Cain may be up before then. Gamel and Villanueava are sure bets as is Cruz as I think Counsell will be dealt to a contender. That would serve dual purpose of freeing up a spot for Farris too, though he'd probably be limited mostly to pinch running duties with Weeks playing everyday. Gerut figures to be DFA'd once he's healthy too. That will free up another roster spot as would transferring Estrada and Davis to the 60 day. I don't see any purpose bringing Davis back at this point. Butler's iffy in my book. His roster spot may be needed elsewhere in the winter. I do think we'll see any and all of Rivas, Jeffress and Rogers, all of whom are on the roster and might benefit from just the exposure. If as I suspect, the Brewers dump a reliever or two or three off the roster via trade or release, we could see a Kintzler, McClendon, or even Donovan Hand. Remember Axford wasn't on the 40 man last year at this time either and he came up.

His problems aren't in his head. He's got the same head he always had. The Cubs would be fine with his antics if he could still pitch. Heck, they would have tolerated Bradley if he had hit. He's nowhere near the pitcher he was and that's why the Cubs don't tolerate it anymore. A scout who saw him pitch for Iowa was quoted as describing his stuff as "middle reliever stuff at best". Don't be fooled like Seattle was with Bradley into thinking oh "its all in his head".

Charlie O. Finley was a very shrewd hands on owner that despite a background in insurance, was an excellent evaluator of baseball talent. Don't kid yourself. The "swingin A's" that won 3 straight championships were put together by Finley. This headline appeared in The Sporting News either in 65 or 66: "Finley Dickering to move A's to Milwaukee". I immediately became an A's fan. Unfortunately, nothing came of it because city fathers in Milwaukee at the time wanted nothing to do with another "absentee owner" after the Chicago scoundrels had whisked the Braves south. It certainly didn't help that Finley was based in Chicago. Personally I think they made a mistake. The Chicagoans that moved the Braves out of town were then Cub owner Phil Wrigley stooges. Wrigley first had them buy into the White Sox initially to move the Sox out of town. When they couldn't get controlling interest, they set their sights on the Braves. Finley was a lot of things, but he was nobody's stooge. Imagine how the A's would have set the town on fire?

Pirates claimed Chris Resop off of waivers from the Braves. Losing has it's advantages. I'm sure the Brewers would have liked to grab him.

When you're almost 28, there is no such thing as upside. It's about results. His "stuff" gets crushed. He's allowed 10.5 hits and 4.4 walks per 9 innings in his career. I'll take the 1 less hit and 1 less walk per inning. Parra's got over 400 major league innings to 165 for Narveson. They are less than a year apart in age. A case could be made that Narveson is still adjusting to facing major league hitters. His career WHIP of 1.419 is pretty close to major league average. Parra's career 1.658 is not.