NievesNoNO

Yuck. This would be one of my least favorite Melvin moves ever. He's still owed a good amount of money and has lost at ton of ability... and seems like a class A jerk. Please don't give anything for him. No, no, no.

I'm assuming that's sarcasm. Those two were not close to the same class as Shields.. in their best year

That sounds about right. If they keep the years to 4 and in the 60-65 mil range I think he makes for a solid investment. He's likely on the downswing but still solid enough to keep value. I'm encouraged that it doesn't really look that he's lost velocity despite his declining K% and SwStk%. His BB% was a career low last year. Maybe that's a fluke or maybe a conscious effort. I don't know enough about him to say. I know some would like to roll with some of our young guys or make a run at Zimmerman next year. I don't see the Brewers landing Zimmerman. They could shift a potential would-be starter into the bullpen, an area of need anyway.

I don't know. It seems like they should've gotten a fair amount more for Donaldson. Feels like he just called up the Jays and asked what they'd give for Donaldson and took the first offer. Obviously not the case, but I just have a hard time believing had all other teams known he was available that there wouldn't have been a substantially higher package out there.

I like this as a quick first move that makes the team better. I'd much rather go with Lind and whoever as opposed to signing LaRoche to what will likely be a fairly hefty price tag. It's not a high profile type move but short of trading Gomez or Lucroy I don't think there's going to be any jaw dropping trades or signings. I'd say this team has one more shot for everything to fall into place next year before they should consider tearing it down. It at least feels like the organization has a short term plan for this off-season as to what they'd like to accomplish.

Pretty much agree with this. He's productive on offense and in the field. Especially with our fly ball pitchers, I think he's even more valuable to this Brewers team. I'm not against moving him, but you better make sure you get a sure thing back in return.. preferably young pitching.

Many good ideas here! Mine are: 1. Get rid of the ridiculous 162 game schedule. Baseball purists be damned. The 1 game "play-off" is a disgrace. If you're going to add play-off teams then at least do it right and give them a series. Watching/playing baseball in 35 degree whether is absurd... especially in the post-season Shorten the regular season to accommodate. I know, I know... but what about the stats.. We won't be able to compare players in 150 game seasons to those who played 162. Well a lot has changed in the game over the years. Let's move forward. Great players will still be great. 2. Stop the All-star home field advantage. 3. International draft. 4. DH for both leagues 5. Enforce the batters box lines. Batter are on top of the plate and it's altering the game. I'm 100% confident that batters are being hit with pitches that could be called strikes on the inside corner on many occasions. They are getting hit and then getting angry about it..... it starts a domino affect with retaliation... etc. etc.

Why has Jeffress become the go to late inning guy?

The D-backs manager and organization has sunk to a new level. What a joke. This kind of stuff has got to stop. Fine, if you'd like to throw inside to McCutchen all game and play by the pathetic "unwritten" rules that some say exist, but to drill one of the biggest stars in the game between the shoulder blades in a meaningless ninth inning AB is classless & shameful. I give credit to McCutchen, as he showed the most amazing amount of restraint I think I've seen a player show after not only an obvious beaning but an obvious attempt to injure him. If MLB would like to keep their stars in the game they need to step in and leverage some larger penalties when obvious attempts to harm another player are made.

Well, if you judge any of the Brewers managers by people's opinions then they have never once had a competent manager. Agree with you. Garza's health for the remainder of the season is more important than another inning or two that you'd expect our bullpen to be able to hold. The good news is the Brewers are still in first place, played some decent baseball against a team you know that's going to push things all the way to the end. Did anyone truly think the Brewers were going to run away with the division? This division is going down to the final few game of the season. There's going to be some tough losses some unexpected wins and I'm going to do my best to enjoy a good team with a shot to win the division and get to the playoffs. Every close loss doesn't have to be someones fault.

Yep, I agree with this. It's up to the Brewers manager/coaches to bring it to the attention of the umpires, maybe before the game and let them know they think they're being thrown at.. let them know how many times Gomez has been hit.. that sort of thing. I'm not completely against some sort of subtle retaliation, but the best way to get them is to beat them in their house and hey... maybe over-celebrate on their field a little or something. Let them be the ones to lose their cool.

Yep, pretty much agree with this. I like the deal a lot.

No. This team is very good. Even after what is hopefully their worst baseball of the year they still have the second best record in the NL. Their offense will continue to put runs on the board and their pitching while not great is good enough. I agree, that I don't necessarily like our starting pitching head to head with other would be playoff teams but I'd like our lineup head to head against anyone. They don't need to be the best team to win. As others have mentioned, their injury situation is better than most for the time being. This team is pretty well rounded with a solid 4 starters, speed, power, solid options in the pen, and some nice defense up the middle. While some of those things might not mean much over the course of a season, having options and depth to impact a single game in the playoffs is pretty huge. Their bench needs some work and I'd take another reliever but this team is primed for a deep run into the post season IMO.

I'd get rid of the Objective in favor of a list of qualifications that make you a good candidate. Have you considered working for a staffing agency and have them do some of the job hunting for you? I'd try to be open-minded about what exactly qualifies as a job in your field. You can probably use your skill set in a good number of jobs that maybe technically don't fall under your field or what you'd like to do long term. However, as others have basically said, sometimes having A job is more productive than searching for THE job. Once you're in an organization you'll have more contacts and resources available to continue to grow. There's a lot of good advice given. Good luck to you.

I actually like the idea of aquiring Davis. Maybe he has a Chris Davis type revelation. He certainly has at least a small history of success. If he gets it all to click he's a difference maker, which cannot really be said of the other options being tossed around at this point. If not Davis, then I'd rather just hand the gig to Morris and see what happens.

To pull a top 10 prospect from anyone's system is a steal for a reliever you picked up a few months ago. Well done.

July 29. Krod to Boston for Anthony Ranaudo

I guess he joins the rest of them that stood in front of the camera and told a bunch of bold faced lies. It would be pretty cool if the guy collecting the samples came out and had a press conference now. Braun is the same as Bonds to me now.

Harper, Trout, Harvey, Jose Fernandez, Machado, maybe Matt Moore..... I actually wouldn't be opposed to finding out what other teams would give for him. He might be the best trade chip they have this off-season to improve the pitching.

I agree with a lot of what LouisEly posted above. This team still has enough talent to turn it over and get something in return. I'll agree they need to do something about the pitching... obviously: Immediate trade targets (some stolen from other threads/posts): Gallardo to Red Sox for Barnes and Boegarts/Bradley... if you could get any team to give up two top 50 prospects for Gallardo I'd take it... maybe that's being a bit optimistic Zach Lee for Ramirez? Drew Smyly for Weeks + ? The Rays are still pitching tight..... MAYBE you could entice them with Lucroy and Aoki and pull a couple of pitchers off their top 10 prospect list I think Braun, Segura, and Gomez are your building blocks. I'd also throw Lucroy in there unless the right deal presents itself as I think Maldonado can at least not hurt you behind the plate. The organization needs to do a better job of filling bench and bullpen roles from within. At least if they aren't producing MLB caliber starting pitching they should be able to produce some reliable relievers. Maybe they need to ID players earlier on who are just simply not going to cut it as regular players and start carving out their nitch earlier in their career. Sometimes I get the feeling like the team holds out hope against all odds that a player becomes something that they're not going to be. That doesn't mean they can't have value, but focus on improving their skills for their role and get them up to the big club and let them play in a bench role or as a reliever. Some of the hard throwers the organization has now, and I'll include Peralta in that group.... maybe if you can't control 3-4 pitches enough to be a starter, what two pitches can you throw for strikes?... great, work on those and you're a reliever. I really dislike playing the free agent pitcher game. I would limit all free agent acquisitions to starting mid-level type bats. They're more plentiful and projectable and you stand to at least get equal value for the contract in many cases.

Interesting stuff. I guess MLB fans can't have it both ways. We can't clamor for more testing and a cleaner game and then ridicule MLB and cry foul when one of our own is on the hot seat. It does seem odd and counter productive for MLB to be so intent on suspending some it's own biggest and brightest employees but it also was fairly ridiculous to watch the home run record be broken by arguably one of the games biggest cheaters as MLB stood by and cheered.

Everyone's got there own opinion but my take is that when it's all said and done Braun speaking in front of the cameras at Miller Park will end up being one of the biggest bold faced lies in baseball history. We can talk all day long about how there's no proof, the alleged paper that the name are written on, the chain of custody, blah , blah, blah. For me, the bottom line is as much as I've been skeptical of reports in the past, as sketchy as they might have seemed all of them I can remember ended up with the players accused being eventually found 'guilty'.. some even admitting to it. Where there's smoke there's fire. This feels no different to me. Turns out Canseco might be one of the most truthful players of his and future eras. The question for me is, do I care? Somewhat. Unfortunately, I enjoy baseball too much to just throw it away. The game as it stands right now doesn't seem much cleaner than cycling. One busted player is like finding one mouse in your house. Either just let the game/players/medical technology do as they will and enjoy the show or lay down something more stringent. Random blood tests that must be completed at an actual lab. One positive test= 1 year suspension without pay. Second and you're done. That wouldn't be fool proof either but it would be better than the current system. I really do hope Braun is telling the truth but really why should I think much differently about him than I do about a guy who claims his dad went to the same clinic for weight loss? So, really nobody has denied a connection to the clinic, it's just that they all have a different reason to why their name appears on a supposed list. Hmm..

I like this for the Indians. I think Bauer will be a stud. Just because Arizona was looking to get rid of him doesn't necessarily mean they know something the rest of the league doesn't. Could just be that they don't have enough patience to work with the kid. Perhaps they've forgotten he's all of 21, and hasn't really faced an ounce of failure as a baseball player.

Interesting. Jackson has gone from being a fairly overrated young pitcher who was ready to have his breakout year for about the first 8 years of his career to someone who actually seems to be somewhat under-appreciated. I'd much rather have him over Dempster. I'd be willing to go 3/36 on him with maybe an option for a 4th. He's a strong bet to finish at 200 innings, still youngish, and throws plenty hard. He'd add some much need stability (imo) to a still mostly unproven rotation.

I don't see Seattle making a move like that, their AA pitching staff to start the year was phenomenal from a talent standpoint and hitting tends to carries much more value dollar wise in FA. They would be better off holding onto their pitching and working to plug positional holes in FA. By the end of 2013 Seattle could have Felix, Hultzen, and Paxton in the mlb rotation. If Taijuan Walker progresses he could also be there but more likely 2014, I think he'd be up no later than 2015. That's a ton of fire power, 3 young pitchers who profile as 1/2s best case and 2 of them are left handed. Seattle had more impact LH pitching on their AA team last year than we had in our entire organization, if I were Jack Z I wouldn't move any of those guys. Paxton tops out at 98, Hultzen at 94, and Walker 97 with "electric life" as a 19 year old. Yeah, I don't think they'd move Paxton either but you never know. It's a nice thought to keep those 3 together but that's a team that's under some pressure to inject any sort of offense into that lineup. Unless they manage to sign Hamilton or put together a couple trades they'll be in a similar situation as last season. Seattle does have some nice arms (supposedly) beyond their big 3. Pryor and Capps are guys mentioned to have big arms and pretty much MLB bullpen ready right now. Include them both and/or a guy like Furbush and that could be a way to re-make the bullpen without spending any $$.