NievesNoNO

I think Jurrjens is a bit overrated. He seems like a lesser version of Marcum. I wouldn't deal Hart for him. If they'd want to talk about Beachy then I'd listen but I think they really need Hart's offense this year.

He can and has. He has chosen to hide out and limit his comments to non-specific denials...saying "This is all BS...", etc. This is my take as well. Hey, if he doesn't like the speculation then he CAN end it and put his face in front of a camera and tell his side. However, it appears that he has instead chosen to put himself behind a spokes person and legal team. Not really the best way to come out and say you're innocent, imo.

If we sign J.D. Drew he'll join Franklin Stubbs as my least favorite Brewers of all time. Kottaras Green Farris Schafer Hawpe

This is how an even trade should look. Considering we signed Ramirez it made sense to move McGehee. I think he'll bounce back. I don't know much about Veras except that he had a decent year last year and throws the ball hard. Everything being equal I'll take my chances with a guy that can run it up there in the mid 90's. He looks like he should fill the 7th inning role or ideally be a guy that you bring in when you need a strikeout. From the Pirates end, if McGehee bounces back they moved an average middle reliever for a solid everyday player which is always a win in my book. Good luck to Casey!

This pretty much sums up my feelings as well. The only "highly unusual circumstance" here is that Braun is one of the games biggest stars in the prime of his career while he's getting busted. If he's really not guilty why not just get your face in front of a camera and say your innocent. All that legal stuff is crap with regards to not being able to make a statement and speaking through PR people. BS, get your face in front of a camera and tell "your side" of the story then. However, if you need the extra time to make sure all your 'facts' are lined up then by all means take the extra time. ----- Continued here: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=30579

Wow, I'm beyond disappointed!! Guilty, without much doubt unfortunately. If he REALLY didn't do it he would've put his own face in front of a camera instead of making a statement through his spokesperson of how 'he didn't knowingly take anything'. #%#%% BS. This hurts has much as when Molitor left for Toronto.

That's not what deferment is about at all. For good or bad, it's a simple decision to postpone paying more up front. It's not like they're paying him the same and then adding extra on the back end just because they like the guy. I undstand what it is but it doesn't sit well with me to be paying somebody who's not on your team for an extended period of time. I do think I misundestood the deferred money part. I thought he was saying pay the guy 30 mill per plus the deferred portion. As I read it again I believe what he's saying is play him 15 per season and defer the rest. I think I might have a different feeling if Prince was retiring a Brewer after the contract but to pay somebody while he's playing for another team doesn't seem right. Like I said, it's a creative thought, just not something I would pursue.

If they'd like to keep Grienke (or Marcum) they need to treat them like free agents right now and offer them legit money and do what ever else it is that they do for free agents to lure them in. Start playing the game now or there's no way they're back once all teams are bidding.

I think it's a creative thought but for me personally if I was a GM I couldn't bring myself to ever defer money. It seems like rear kissing to me. You're all ready paying the guy for the time he's here but you're telling him he's soooo great that you'll pay him for 8 more years whether he's here or not? I like Fielder, he'll make some team better but imo it's just time to move on from him. The Brewers need to move on with the rest of their off-season. There's plenty of options to make the team better but they need to (if they haven't all ready) focus their resources on other opportunities.

I'd love me some Cahill. Definately one of my bigget man crushes. Maybe it's time to get at little creative now that K-Rod's in the fold. Gamel, Peralta, Schafer, Axford for Cahill and Pennington Trade Wolf for cheap mlb ready relief pitcher. Trade for Morales. Too much IMO. I know Cahill is still young but his 09 and 11 seasons were just about average, especially when you consider he pitches half his games in a pitcher's park. I think Peralta could be just as good as Cahill. I think Gamel deserves his shot and Morales hasn't played in a year and a half. Schafer should be a solid 4th OF and Axford is obviously incredibly valuable with his contract.I don't disagree with any of what you said. Now with Gonzalez we don't need a shortstop, at least short term. It was really a very spur of the moment post. I do really like Cahill though. His stuff seems like it should get better results. I watch him pitch and I think Brandon Webb, but his results clearly aren't there (yet). I'm looking forward to seeing Peralta in our rotation sooner than later and he very could well end up as good as Cahill. It'll be interesting to see if anyone ponies up enough to get Gio or Cahill. They both should require a substantial return.

Hooray!! Gonzalez is a fairly substantial defensive upgrade, not so much on offense. Solid signing given the alternatives.

I'd love me some Cahill. Definately one of my bigget man crushes. Maybe it's time to get at little creative now that K-Rod's in the fold. Gamel, Peralta, Schafer, Axford for Cahill and Pennington Trade Wolf for cheap mlb ready relief pitcher. Trade for Morales.

Hmm, things are getting interesting. He's not getting traded, not getting cut, he'll be a Brewer opening day and I'm ok with that. Sometimes you take calculated risks. This one didn't turn out like they planned obviously, but he's still a very good reliever. It also probably means we'll be forced to rely on a few more young players which I'm good with.

Couldn't agree more. Letting JHJ go, but giving McGehee another chance is ridiculous. McGehee is fools gold, and just a terrible, terrible baseball player. He should be working at Lowes. Honestly, part of me feels like Melvin has been conditioning the fans since the season ended to get accept the fact that the Brewers aren't going to spend any money. If you read all of his public statements since the NLCS ended all the signs are there, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. If any of you guys follow hockey, it's exactly the path the Nashville Predators went. After coming so close to advancing to the Western Conference Finals last year, all they needed to add was one 'legit' first line scorer, and they would have been a force in the West. So, what did they do? Not only did they NOT add that scorer, they subtracted other talent and took chances on bargain basement waiver savers. They went from having 9 million in cap space (last year) to having 14 million in cap space this year! I can conceivably see the Brewers using this season to 'save' money. Just a feeling I get. I think JHJ is being amazingly overrated. He's a nice utility player who was decent pickup for the Brewers when they needed a fill in. I'm not sure whether McGehee will bounce back or not but I'd be fine going in with Green and McGehee battling it out for the 3b job. McGehee has two seasons covering 1000 ab's of .800 OPS, while that's not great it's adequate production if he could get back there. Hairston has played 14 years and cracked .800 OPS once in a part-time role.

Exactly. You can't fall in love with a utility player to the extent you overpay him. When you need them, they can be had via trade. Hairston for 1 year at $2.5 million made sense, otherwise move on. Ryan Theriot is a likely non-tender by the Cards and perfect for that role too, or in a pinch be everyday SS for you. Agreed. Hairston helped the team out down the stretch but not retaining him is nothing to get too worked up about. I really would like to see this team fill more bench roles with young players all ready in our system. If you really need a guy like him down the stretch you can do just as the Brewers did this year and get somebody at the deadline.

If money is more important than time you could Priceline it. Haven't done it in quite a few years but if it still works the same way as long as you don't care how many connections you make you can save some $$. I once flew from Milwaukee to Chicago to Cincinnati to Atlanta and then to Scottsdale. Took all day, but I did save money http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

I actually don't think a championship would increase the value much over what it is now. They've had a pretty consistent revenue stream that I'd say is pretty close to being maxed out without some creative marketing or something. The franchise is only as valuable as the amount of profit it's able to produce. Edit: Consistent over the last few years.

I don't think Ramirez is an upgrade defensively. I'd like him on a two year deal, however it's maybe sounding like the Angels and Tigers might be in the mix. Somebody will give him 3 years. Hopefully not the Brewers. As an alternative, I'd like to see the Brewers bring in Kousmanoff and let him and Green battle for playing time. At worst Green beats him out and we have a defensive replacement and some power off the bench for pretty cheap.

I'd like Green just fine as our 2b/3b utility guy. Ramirez on a two year deal would be ideal. He'll more than likely miss some time and be less than stellar on D, but his bat is still legit. This is a little off topic but why is it that we don't fill our bench roles with guys from our system. We've spent all that time developing them and then for some reason feel the need to let the Counsels, Kotsays and Wilson's of the world hang on with roles. Green, Schafer, and Farris would all make excellent bench players imo.

I'd vote Bagwell and Edgar Martinez. I used to love to watch Edgar hit. He's one of the best pure hitters in the last 30 years in my mind.

So your saying he did a pretty good job then? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif I would agree than Melvin makes safe moves and as much as I like him as a GM, wouldn't mind seeing him take a few more higher risk/reward type moves. I would much rather fill most of our bullpen roles and bench with players from our system instead of the "gritty, battler, veteran" types. It would be nice to see more of our young players that we took the time to develop getting a chance to contribute, even as bench players. I would have no problem moving Axford for the right player. I'm not sure Alonso fits that bill as he's really only a first baseman.

As others have all ready noted, Avast and Malwarebytes are my top choices.

While I don't think there's any chance of this happening I've been wondering if a smarter alternative to the off season would be to make a run at Edwin Jackson (as opposed to trying to sign Reyes or Prince). I think you could get him on a 3-4 year deal for between 10-13 million per. To me, he's still one of the player that's done the least with his talent but he's still a solid option and better than both Wolf and Narveson. It would improve the rotation, likely improve the bullpen (Narveson), and provide a little cushion should we lose Wolf, Greinke and Marcum following this season. He's a big strong dude that doesn't really have any injury history. He's still young enough and when he's right can dominate any lineup. I also don't think he'll lose much value over even 4 years so if they wanted to move him (imagine that) I think they could get some solid value in return. Part of me believes Jackson + Cedeno/Gonzalez/Santiago + Hairston > Reyes

I agree with the sentiment that it's not really a question of being able to afford Reyes (or Prince) it's whether or not it's a good financial decision. While the team seems to be in a good financial situation right now whether the payroll is 80 or 110 million that's still is not enough for the organization to eat a bad contract and be successful. I don't think there's any chance Reyes' production matches the contract he'll get ( I suppose very few free agents do) but overspending to sign him or Prince is still a compelling argument whether or not you think they're worth the contract or not based on the fact they should have a legit chance to make another run at at a title, at least in the short term. The more I think about it I'd rather add some solid complimentary pieces to this years solid core and see where it goes rather than take on the risk of signing Reyes. If it came down to it I'd rather pay a little more for Prince as I think he is less of a risk.

I too think they could to better than Gamel and Green. The fact that they're willing to deal him I think speaks volumes about their stadium/financial situation though. At this point if nothing gets resolved they really need guys that can even just fill out their roster who are MLB quality. The Reds and Royals would be much better matches in my opinion. Here's my video game type trade: Gamel, Green, Axford, Schafer, Narveson for Gio and Balfour Gio's control is quite concerning. He might end up being Jonathan Sanchez 2.0, not that that's horrible just not all that great.