nate82

I hate Jim Cramer but his books are easy to read if you don't know a lot about the financial markets. If you are looking for advice take the advice from the talking heads on the radio and TV shows with a grain of salt. A majority of the talking heads have an agenda behind what they are telling you to buy and sell. This is very prevalent on MSNBC Money the analysts they have on there are usually trying to push stocks that they own or are in connection with. Jim Cramer's books

Actually they didn't lose money last year. It was reported earlier that the team turned a profit last season. If the salary is to be between $80-85 million then there is enough room to sign one starter but I don't see any starters other than Sheets who looks like he doesn't want to come back that the Brewers should sign. Wolf's price will come down and should fit in the budget.

He hasn't had that much abuse compared to other pitchers that are named around here for a trade. Verlander has had as much abuse as Cain has had. Matt Cain SEASON TEAM #PIT #P/PA #P/IP #P/GS 2005 SF 716 3.96 15.5 102.3 2006 SF 3306 4.04 17.3 106.0 2007 SF 3353 4.03 16.8 104.8 2008 SF 3607 3.87 16.6 106.1 Total -- 10982 3.97 16.8 105.4 Justin Verlander SEASON TEAM #PIT TBF #P/PA #P/IP #P/GS 2005 Det 182 54 3.37 16.1 91.0 2006 Det 2970 776 3.83 16.0 99.0 2007 Det 3355 866 3.87 16.6 104.8 2008 Det 3528 880 4.01 17.6 106.9 Total -- 10035 2576 3.90 16.7 103.5

I'm not completely OK with the rotation it does need work but I don't see the Brewers going after a starting pitcher. Since most of the guys worth taking a look at are going to cost a draft pick and are probably out of the Brewers price range. Unless one of the players comes at a deep discount I don't see the Brewers signing someone. Sheets would have been one of the players that the Brewers would have went over the expected budget whatever that maybe. If there isn't a trade for someone I doubt Melvin will make a move to get a starter I don't see many pitchers available for the Brewers to realisticly get in a trade. Maybe Wolf will come at a discount and the Brewers will sign him. Wolf would be OK to put between Bush and Parra. Wolf would make a nice #2 or #3 pitcher for the Brewers if the price and years are right though.

MLB and the NHL are very similar in scouting. Both go to other countries to scout players for the NHL it is Europe and in MLB it is Asia and South America. The NHL is the only sport that you could compare to MLB. The scouting and farm systems is somewhat similar MLB is deeper. Revenue sharing does need to increase though. I'm hoping in the next CBA that revenue sharing will increase with the inclusion of TV contracts counting towards revenue sharing. I believe teams like the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, and Cubs should have to share some of the revenue that they get from their TV contracts. There should also be a minimum team salary cap. Minimum team salary cap would be determined by adding Scouting, farm system, and player salaries together to get a minimum salary. Also all players wishing to enter MLB should have to be drafted if they are from the age of 17-26 years old. No one under the age of 17 can enter the MLB draft. I really hate it that players from Latin America and Japan get to skip the draft and sign to teams with the most money. I also believe MLB needs to make its own camps in China and not let teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and other teams to set up camps there and basically get a scouting edge on every other team in MLB.

The angle of impact is probably what saved the people on this plane and that the pilot was able to ditch the plane in the river rather than crashing into the river.

I still think this is a possibility that Fielder could be traded to the Angels. I believe a trade of Ortega, Wood, Willits, and Trumbo would get it done for the Brewers. Trumbo would be the 1B for the Brewers in 2010 or 2011. More than likely in 2011 or later though. Willits and Wood would be throw ins and Ortega and Trumbo would be the two main players coming in from the trade. The Angels are loaded with pitching talent and would make a perfect trading partner in dealing Prince. Ortega could be a #1 or #2 type of a pitcher and if Wood could show some of the hype that was made about him he could become a steal. The Angels have a full OF right now and Willits looks to be the odd man out. I would take Willits over Gwynn and Iribarren for depth. If Cameron were to be traded for more pitching help Willits would be adequate to take over in CF not an ideal candidate for it but he would be better than Cabrera/Gwynn/Iribarren.

I'm going to go with a bad year it happens and it was probably bound to happen to him. He is still a #1 and I would rather have Verlander than some other pitchers mentioned around here in trades. In the deal I posted earlier the Tigers would start to become competitive in 2010 again. But I believe the Tigers would be looking for pitching prospects more than positional players to fill out its team. Maybe if the Brewers could trade Fielder to the Angels for some young pitching and then flip those prospects for a Verlander + package would be nice.

I should have put OR instead of and. Prince and Cabrera are about the same defensively at 1B. Both should be a DH. I just don't see Prince being someone the Tigers would go after since Cabrera would be just as good as Prince at either 1B or DH. I believe the Tigers will probably just move Cabrera off of 1B and into the DH role in a couple of years.

I would do Weeks, Salome, Braddock, and Gillespie for Verlander and Polanco. That is probably over paying for Verlander and Polanco. I would only do this if we could have both Verlander and Polanco at the start of the season. This would then allow the Brewers to move Green back over to 2B and he should be ready in 2010 to take over at 2B? Before anyone posts it no Prince wouldn't be interesting for the Tigers. Cabrera already has 1B and the DH locked down.

I believe Melvin will look at the available starters Wolf, Looper, and others and then look into the trade route to see if there are any pitchers available in a trade. The rotation we have right now is probably what it will be on opening day.

I really don't agreewith your bench here. With Nixon on the team there is no need for Gwynn. Iribarren would do just as good as Gwynn would and Iribarren can play more positions than Gwynn could. Iribarren could play 2B, OF, and SS if needed. Gwynn would be just another OF and with Nelson, Hall, and Nixon already on the team the Brewers need someone who can also play more positions if needed. Iribarren should at least be equivalent to what Counsell brought offensively to the Brewers last year and defensively it would be a slight downgrade.

Actually Fielder, Braun, and Hart were rather good with RISP. Fielder had a .890 OPS, Braun .862, and Hart .840. Hart was just behind Kapler with RISP in average but Hart had about 100 more AB's than Kapler did though. I believe OPS is more important with RISP than average. If you go by fangraphs clutch stat in 2008 Weeks had the highest with a 1.25 the lowest was Hart with -1.28. Kapler had a -0.17.

OK but what about when he was with the Mets and that doesn't explain why Crawford went down so far playing in the same parks for the most part.

OK but what about when he was with the Mets and that doesn't explain why Crawford went down so far playing in the same parks for the most part.

I'm not sure if this is in the right spot so you can move it to the right area if it isn't where it should be. I know there are a lot of stat gurus on here who could help me understand some of these questions I have about UZR/150. First question how reliable is the UZR/150? Second question why is there such a disparity between years for example Mike Cameron's UZR/150 went like this; 11.9, 15.2, 3.4, 5.4, -7.2, and 13.3. I didn't include his 2005 season because he was injured that year. Why does did it swing like that? Someone of Mike Cameron's caliber in defense wouldn't it be more consistent? Crawford has this happened to him to between the years of 2004 and 2008. As you can see here at fangraphs. I'm mostly wondering why Crawford went from 4.7 to 28.6 from 2007 to 2008.

I'm not sure if this is in the right spot so you can move it to the right area if it isn't where it should be. I know there are a lot of stat gurus on here who could help me understand some of these questions I have about UZR/150. First question how reliable is the UZR/150? Second question why is there such a disparity between years for example Mike Cameron's UZR/150 went like this; 11.9, 15.2, 3.4, 5.4, -7.2, and 13.3. I didn't include his 2005 season because he was injured that year. Why does did it swing like that? Someone of Mike Cameron's caliber in defense wouldn't it be more consistent? Crawford has this happened to him to between the years of 2004 and 2008. As you can see here at fangraphs. I'm mostly wondering why Crawford went from 4.7 to 28.6 from 2007 to 2008.

This trade dies with the Brewers sending Suppan to the Nationals. The Brewers would have to pay the majority of Suppan's contract for this trade to even work. With the Brewers paying for majority of Suppan's contract it doesn't make sense for the Brewers to do that. Suppan would be more valuable pitching for the Brewers than the Brewers trading Suppan away and paying for a majority of his contract. If the Brewers were the Yankees or another high market team it wouldn't be a problem.

I didn't say better and having Hart in CF wouldn't be a wise choice. Hart was just barely average in RF I don't want to see what Hart would be in CF. No Swisher wouldn't make a good replacement if Fielder would be traded. Defensively no but I'm not sure Swisher's defense woudl be adequate enough to replace the offense lost. 1B isn't a premiere spot where defense is valued very highly. Cain would only cost about 1/4 the price of Swisher also.

Lorenzo Cain would be just as good as Swisher would be and he would be cheaper. I would rather keep Cameron this year and then take my chances with Cain in 2010.

I also said that the Brewers would probably have to thrown in someone like DiFelice or Dillard to even out the trade.

Along with those 40 HR's Dunn brings he also brings a .380 OBP and a .900 OPS. His defense is his biggest downfall and he would be more valuable as a 1B/DH. Over at fangraphs in value wins they had Dunn at 1.9 and Hart was at 1.6. I'm not saying Hart is worse than Dunn just based on last year. Dunn's offense is still better than his defensive downfalls though. Dunn will be 30 years old at the end of the season though. I would really like to add Dunn to the team because of his OBP skills other than Fielder there is no one else on the Brewers who has good OBP.

Yes but if the Brewers are going to get a starting pitcher they are either going to have to trade someone or take on more salary. With Hoffman signing and the increases in the arbitration eligible players the team salary should be close to $80 million which is about where the team was at the start of last year. I'm guessing there is about $5 million of wiggle room to add another player to the team. That means Melvin is going to have to trade for a starting pitcher if he is going to be acquiring a starting pitcher. I don't see any players the Brewers could or should sign for $5 million. In order to even trade for a starting pitcher the Brewers are going to have to trade value (prospects), buy low and sell low, or increase the team salary to about $90 million. I could see Bedard as the buy low and sell low partner with Hart. If the Brewers can trade Hart for a starting pitcher like Bedard. Replacing Bedard with Hart should add 1 or 2 wins to the team. Adding Dunn would be a wash with Hart IMHO. But then there is the problem with the team salary again. Dunn probably wouldn't be able to be squeezed into the teams salary range. I'm not 100% confident in trading Cameron to the Yankees for Cabrera would net us that many more wins. An OF of Braun, Cabrera/Gwynn?, Dunn would be a rather bad defensive OF and I believe it would cost us more wins than Dunn's offense could bring back for us. The Brewers still need another starting pitcher. This is going to be addressed in a trade I believe. Dunn makes sense for the Brewers if the Brewers trade Hart/Cameron. But Hall would need to be traded and that opens up a bigger hole that I don't believe Melvin wants to open up.

I believe Hardy is about equal to Jeter in range probably a little bit better than Jeter though. So I don't see how that really matters. The difference between Weeks and Hardy and Cano and Jeter should be very little defensively.

It still doesn't really make sense for the Reds really. If the Brewers could get Greinke with a Bailey + deal why couldn't the Reds do the same? Plus Dye has more trade value than Hart does right now. With the way Hart ended the season his value in a trade plumetted. I don't see how Hart would get Bailey even if Bailey's stock has come down a bit. Then you have the problem with the Royals not really wanting to trade Greinke. That is the real problem right there and I believe trading both Escobar and Bailey would be overpaying for Greinke. I would rather go after Bedard and use him as the #2 in the pitching staff and go from there. A rotation of Gallardo, Bedard, Parra, Bush, and Suppan would win as many games as a rotation of Greinke, Gallardo, Parra, Bush, and Suppan. Plus the Brewers wouldn't have to give up so much to get Bedard. I would rather have Bedard for 1 year and have the future flexibility to trade either Fielder or Hardy/Escobar for some young stud pitching.