JohnBriggs12

McClung not better than DeFelice? I won't bother to respond to that. Anyway, here's what I don't like about Looper. He's gone 6 straight seasons allowing more than a hit per inning and 4 of those years he was a reliever. Good relievers usually allow well under a hit per inning so I'd say he was a mediocre reliever. I'm not sure Looper is any better than McClung, but he adds depth they sorely need. I'm not even 100% sold that it's McClung who he replaces. The chances everyone is healthy on opening day is never better than 60-40 anyway and one of the starters (Parra) still has one option left. Frankly, if they paid more than the D-Backs paid for Garland, I will think they overpaid. I will agree that "strengthening" the long relief role is meaningless. If you have to use a long reliever enough times that it makes a difference, well then, you're pitching is in trouble. I think if McClung goes to the pen, it means either Julio or Coffey will have trouble making the team.

I would think Wolf has a little more value than Looper because he misses a few more bats, has more starting experience and is lefthanded. It's pretty close though. I'd guess Looper at around $4 million. It was an about face from the respect they were saying publically they were pretty much done just last week. That's why I have a sneaking suspicion somebody on the roster reported some arm issue.

I'm thinking there's a medical reason for this about face. Maybe Riske had a setback or maybe one of the starters reported some stiffness. Who knows? The logical guy to drop from the 40 man is DeFelice. He'd likely clear and be able to be assigned anyway. Another guy who could be dropped is Rottino as he's a big longshot to make the team and is out of options. Now if they'd only get that bargain bat also.

Yeah, that's the thing: I just don't what the return would be on Corey.If' Corey Hart has so little trade value, that's a sign to me that the Brewers need an upgrade in RF and Abreu is an upgrade. I'd have no problem with Corey Hart as the 4th OF. Now that would be depth.

The fact that "he's afraid of the wall" might have helped him play in 150 or more games for 12 straight years. Abreu's been very, very durable. I heard Jon Heyman of SI on the radio a couple weeks ago, and he made the point that except for the "fear of the wall", Abreu's a fine outfielder. He's got a strong arm and can still run. He also pointed out that because he was a Yankee, the "fear of the wall" stuff gets way too much attention and over the course of a season, it means 5 or 6 would be outs turn into doubles. Considering the offense he provides, I could live with that.

While he was better previously, I'd wouldn't categorize his discipline as good. I'm more concerned with his lengthy HR slumps though than his lack of plate discipline. 20 HR in 612 AB? For a guy 6'6"? No wonder he doesn't draw walks. Pitchers don't fear throwing him strikes to get ahead of him. Once he's got 2 strikes, he's very vulnerable because guys his size have a lot of strikezone to protect. He needs to be more conscious of driving the ball and forget the silly bunting he tries so often. He's become too enamored with his speed. Once he starts launching balls, pitchers will become reluctant to throw him strikes and his walk totals will rise. That's when he can focus on his speed.

If Hall has much better numbers, it won't be because he's not playing against righties. He played against righties in 2006 when he hit 35 HR. Prior to last year Hall wasn't terrible vs. righthanders. In 2006 he had an .846 OPS against righthanders and hit 23 of his HR against RH pitchers. Even in 2007, he had a .713 OPS vs. righthanders and only hit 23 points less in BA than he did against LH. Bottom line is that when Hall's hitting, he can hit both. Two things got him last year. In April and May (not really a huge sample), his splits were more dramatic than they normally are. At the same time Branyan was unconscious at Nashville and the Brewers were desperately needing a lefthanded bat in their lineup. So Hall started getting platooned. That didn't help him as even facing mostly lefties in June, Hall hit just .164. Branyan predictably cooled off and Hall saw more time vs. both in July and his hitting picked up. He slumped a bit in August, and then saw his starts dwindle again and like most of the team he slumped badly in September. To me the key to Hall ironically is Trot Nixon. If Nixon somehow hits like he did 5 years ago, Nixon is going to take some playing time from Hart and Cameron (with Hart going to CF on days when Cameron sits). That will give the Brewers that 2nd lefthanded bat in there and allow Hall to play on a more regular basis. I think the only way Hall gets back to being a .260-.270 hitter with pop is by playing 80% of the time (against all LH and the 3-5 RH starters). On days when the opponent has a number 1 or 2 RH starter, that's when I'd stick Lamb in there. I think it behooves the Brewers to give Hall every opportunity to rebound in 2009. If he does, he can restore his completely damaged trade value while giving this team a needed boost. I also believe that given the dearth of experienced major league OF in camp, the Brewers need to give Hall some OF starts in spring. You never know when he might be more needed out there.

Not to us fans who remember Invader3K. Spahn and Mathews' images on Atlanta's wall sickens me. They were Milwaukee Braves. The Milwaukee Braves didn't honor Rabbit Maranville or any other Boston Braves.

From that article, it looks as if Nixon is going to be this year's version of Kapler. If he makes the team as a reserve left handed option off the bench and contributes similar to Kapler did last year, it could be the best transaction of this offseson.I hope so because if Trot Nixon turns back the clock to the Trot Nixon of 5-6 years ago he won't be just a reserve, he'll probably take playing time from Corey Hart, unless Hart takes a step forward.

Mass Hass, I'm not so sure you could term Lefave's numbers pedestrian. He had a .412 OBP at a higher level than he played at the prior year which earned him another promotion. His BA and power were down, but he still walked more than he struck out at both stops, so he might still have some value as an extra OF someday, very similar to a Mark Sweeney type player.

kramnoj, Sheets was hurt under his prior contract which had expired. This would be a new contract that went into effect after the injury causing him to be unable to pitch competitively. Here's the rule for FA who accept arby (and subsequently released): A Player whose Contract is terminated by a Club....for failure to exhibit sufficient skill or competitive ability shall be entitled to termination pay in an amount equal to thirty days payment....if the termination occurs during spring training but on or before the 16th day prior to the start of the competitive season...." Unless Sheets proved he got hurt after signing the new contract (which would be tough to do), I don't see how the Brewers would have to pay him anything but the 30 days.

Players are all reluctant to go under the knife. Sheets is a power pitcher, with a power fastball and a power curve. He's never had to really learn to "pitch". Who knows what he'll be like after surgery. If he loses just 2-3 mph off his fastball and isn't able to snap off that big curveball, he could be very ordinary.

You're right FTJ, he would have been owed 30 days pay or roughly 1/6 of his total contract so in your example, $2 million. Nevertheless, that wasn't bad gamble by the Brewers for offering it, because if he wasn't healthy they weren't on the hook for all that much. Sheets figured, even hurt, somebody would give him more than $2 million even if it was questionable how much he could pitch in 2009.

No he couldn't. FA accepting arbitration don't get guaranteed money.

Why offer him arbitration? That's easy. His contract would not have been guaranteed if he accepted arbitration. This also explains why Sheets didn't accept arbitration. Had he done so, he would have gone to camp, not passed his physical and the Brewers would have waived him. Both the Brewers and Sheets were better off seeing if after a couple more months he would have healed enough to pass somebody's physical. Obviously he couldn't.

Mystery solved. Nobody will touch him if he needs surgery, at least not anytime soon. Brewers probably knew more than they let on. That explains why they were reluctant to give up a pick themselves because they can kiss the one they would have received for Sheets goodbye. It's probably in the Brewers interest to pay for the surgery voluntarily.

After seeing that Wright still has an option, I like the deal even more. Compare him to the AAA starting candidates and he looks to be the best option if a pitcher is needed. Brae Wright and David Welch are just a few months younger and neither has pitched above AA. Narron is nearly 2 years older and had an ERA nearly 5 at Nashville. Gulin's 32. Narveson had an ERA of nearly 5 1/2. One thing is fairly certain and that is that unless DiFelice goes down, Nashville will have 5 left handed starters. His lack of big strikeout totals don't bother me much because he's always allowed well under a hit per inning in the minors and that to me says he's got decent stuff. I'd still like to see one more veteran starter brought in on a minor league deal for a look see in spring. The guy I like is Odaliz Perez.

Your value goes up the more teams get involved. Some teams aren't involved because of health or his class A status or both. Right now nobody is involved, so in effect, his value is zero. If he waits until June, he can prove his health by pitching in an independent league for a month. He can also eliminate the draft pick compensation being an issue. It also gives him extra time to heal (if he needs it) from his latest injury. But the big thing is teams will come calling that have had a pitcher go down or who realize they are a pitcher short. Just look what the Brewers gave up to get CC. Also as Clemens showed, teams will pay a lot if they think a guy gets them over the hump, even if its 65 games into the season. Is it a bit of a gamble for Sheets to wait? Sure, but we're talking about a guy who 2 months ago could have taken arby offer and got $12 million and who now apparently can't get $8 million. He's already lost.

Not exactly true PeaveyFury for two reasons. First, the Brewers were counting on the pick they'd receive for someone else signing Sheets, so in effect, they would be giving up a pick too. Secondly (and this is exactly where this is going), Sheets could wait to sign until after the June draft, when in the words of Willy Wonka, he can say to the Brewers: "You get nothing sir". Sheets' value goes up if he waits until June, makes a couple Indy league starts to prove his health, and a half dozen teams develop holes in their rotation.

What other deal can you unload two of the worst pitchers in the NL for a guy, who despite his flaws, is a coming off consecutive 20/20 seasons? I won't mention Blanco and Gwynn, because really aren't they the same guy? I'm all for shopping Hart for pitching, but those guys?

If Hoffman goes 41 for 41 in save opportunities like Lidge did for the Phillies, and the offense improves by 50-60 runs, then they probably have a good enough rotation. That's asking a lot.

The Phillies had a much better offensive team going into 2008 than the Brewers do now and it's front end pitchers that make the difference. The Phils scored 892 runs in 2007. The Brewers are coming off a season where they scored 750 and have not made any offensive upgrades that I can find.

I posted 1/27 on the Andy Pettitte signing thread that Wright would be a good waiver claim. Obviously it took a little more, but it's the type of move that needed to be made. Wright had a better minor league season than anyone the Brewers had at the upper levels in 2008 and he's younger than Parra.

The Giants are probably keeping their name in it to make the Dodgers have to pay top dollar. The Giants would have to dump a lot of payroll to fit in Manny and it's not easy to dump payroll these days. Dunn is sitting on the Nats offer because he'd prefer to go to LA. I can't imagine where Boras is going to get a better deal than in LA.

So you're saying if the Brewers had $10 million to spend in the open market and no Mike Cameron on their roster, your first choice would be to use all $10 million to sign Cameron over all the available talent on the market including some proven starting pitchers and left handed bats?