nate82

$9 million when you take inflation into account.

I agree but it doesn't leave much for a trade. Since you would be trading LaPorta an OF/1B depends what Cleveland sees him as. Then you are going to have to throw a pitcher in there which Villanueva fits perfectly a major league ready starter or reliever. That leaves either Gillespie, Salome, Lucroy, Escobar (Won't be traded not much depth at SS in the minors), Jeffress (one of the few good young pitching prospects in the system so I doubt he gets traded), and Gwynn/Crabbe/Iribarren. I agree that the Brewers shouldn't trade more than one of their top 5 guys in this deal. But it might be the price you would have to pay for Sabathia. Should the Brewers do that? I'm not sure. But if the Indians were willing to take a LaPorta (future 1B/DH of the Indians), Iribarren (super utility player), Villanueva (starter or bullpen guy), and Hall for Sabathia, Rafael Perez, and a Player to be named later. It wouldn't be a bad deal for the Brewers or the Indians.

I believe earlier in the year the Indians offered something like 4 years at 16 or 18 million. I believe Sabathia wanted 6 years. Maybe if the Brewers could talk him into it for 5 years at 18 million. I still don't like that though. Even though the Brewers could afford that the should would be another question. I don't think the Brewers should sign Sabathia and Sheets but one or the other would be a good move. It would just depend on the # of years of the contract. I'm not to worried about the dollar amount just the years.

I'm guessing that a deal for Sabathia would be something like this LaPorta, Salome, and Villanueva. Salome and LaPorta would be the 2 comp pick players and Villanueva would be the starting pitcher or reliever the Indians would be looking for. I don't like trading Villanueva since that leaves us with either Bush or McClung as our long relief option. Not a perfect trade and it leaves a hole that Villanueva was taking up. Maybe the Brewers would also get someone from the Indians bullpen with Sabathia.

It would then depend on the need for the Indians and which deal fills that need and if they are getting more than two comp picks worth.

Or you could be giving up a future Nelson Cruz also. It swings both ways. To me LaPorta is replaceable because he is just another right handed hitter. Those are easy to replace compared to a left handed pitcher or batter. With Sabathia and Sheets if both walk we have two type A free agents leaving. Both probably going to either Anaheim, Boston, or the Yankees. Which would give us 2 extra first round picks if either goto any one of those teams. OF depth in the system is not something to be worried about either. There maybe another smaller trade that involves some of the minor league OF depth the Brewers have with Kansas City's pitching depth in the minors. I wouldn't count out a deal with the Royals and Brewers.

Damian Miller Jr.

There are only two series that scares me for the Brewers that will make my pessimistic prediction come somewhat true and that is the games remaining against the Diamondbacks and that 4 game series in St. Louis. If we can come away with 2 wins against St. Louis who could be tied for the division or even leading the division after this weekend is kind of scary. I do believe the Cards and Cubs do have a harder schedule than the Brewers have though so they could also slump a little and we would be right where we are right now at the end of July which isn't great but its not awful either.

3 @ Arizona (2 Wins 1 Loss) 3 vs. Pittsburgh (3 Wins) 4 vs. Colorado (3 Wins 1 Loss) 3 @ San Francisco (2 Wins 1 Loss) 4 @ St. Louis (2 Wins 2 Losses) 3 vs. Houston (3 Wins) 4 vs. Chicago (3 Wins 1 Loss) 18-6 Optimistic prediction 3 @ Arizona (1 Win 2 Losses) 3 vs Pittsburgh (2 Wins 1 Loss) 4 vs Colorado (2 Wins 2 Losses) 3 @ San Francisco (1 Win 2 Losses) 4 @ St. Louis (1 Win 3 Losses) 3 vs. Houston (2 Wins 1 Loss) 4 vs Chicago (2 Wins 2 Losses) 11-13 Pessimistic prediction.

Starting pitcher no. Since the win is not really in the hands of the pitcher only. You have to take into account the defense and other things that may prevent a pitcher from getting a win or a loss. Wins and losses are a very weak stat to say if a pitcher is doing good or not. You need to look at their WHIP and the runs scored for the starting pitcher. You can be a great starting pitcher and only have 5 wins and 15 losses on your record. Or you could be an average to below average pitcher and get 13 wins and 7 losses in a year. If the pitcher doesn't get run support they will have a lot less wins than pitchers who get a lot of run support. Wins and losses are such a lousy stat for starting pitchers to determine how good they are. There are so many different factors that go into a win that are out of the control of the pitcher. I bet the percentage of wins and losses that are caused by a starting pitcher is smaller than all of the other factors that go into wins and losses for a starting pitcher. You also can't judge managers on wins and losses either. What you can judge a manager is how the players are performing. I'm not talking about HR's, K's, or RBI's here. I'm talking about are the players being lazy on the field. Not backing up plays when they should be. Most of the time you can tell a manager has lost his team by looking at how the team is playing. The same holds true for any sport really. You shouldn't be judging a manager or a coach on how many wins and losses they have but more on the lines of how the players are performing on the field and their general attitude toward playing.

I wish he was a guard though. Maybe the Bucks will still ship either Mo, Redd, or CV yet.

Now Branyan is into computer's they must be cloning Branyan! Branyan's batting 'edge' computer-aided

Picking Bogut that year was the correct pick for the Bucks. You can't pass up a player like Bogut. Yes Paul would probably have been a better choice in hindsight. I would still have picked Bogut with that pick since good to great centers are as rare as good to great PG's.

I could see the Bucks trading with the Pacers or the Sonics for one of their other picks in the draft.

I was thinking more of a Keith Van Horn type of a player. A better defender though.

You could put Redd at SF. He is 6-6 a lousy defender though so it doesn't really matter where you put him. I doubt a Redd and the draft pick would get us the #2 pick though. Might have to throw in something else.

I'm just hoping the Bucks can trade up with a Mo + or Redd trade. I would really like to see Mayo as a Buck or even Gordon if he will be playing as the SG.

There is no need specifically that needs to be made but I really don't see LaPorta with the Brewers in the future. I believe he was drafted as a trading chip further down the road more than anything else. I would rather see the Brewers trade LaPorta and get a guy like Sabathia or Bedard. I love Bush and Seth has worked out great so far but I don't beleive they will continue to pitch like they are right now good or bad. I would rather have Sabathia. If we lose both Sabathia and Sheets at the end of the at least we get 2 comp picks each for them. We made the Linebrink trade last year I don't see a problem with trading away a LaPorta + for a Sabathia it makes the Brewers more of a playoff contender with Sabathia than without him.

Gordon would be a SG I wouldn't mind if they put him in that spot but if they put him in the PG spot it is definitely yuck.

As much as I love Beasely I don't think the Bucks drafting Beasely would be a good fit. We already have a Beasely player in Yi. If we are to trade both Mo and Redd in a deal we would need to get another SG. I wouldn't mind taking Mayo with the #2 pick and passing on Beasley. If for some reason the Bulls take Beasley and we have the #2 Rose would be the perfect fit.

Sabathia is a Brewer. The bobble heads never lie! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/natewwii/sabathia.jpg

I don't know about double plays but the Brewers are ranked 9th in Defense efficiency if that has anything to do with that though I'm not sure but it is an interesting statistic. From baseball prospectus Data Updated Through June 24 2008 # YEAR TEAM LG PA AB H BB SO HBP HR ROE DEF_EFFhttp://www.baseballprospectus.com/images/down.gif 1. 2008 BAL AL 2,936 2,557 656 301 421 34 88 29 0.723 2. 2008 OAK AL 2,848 2,541 606 248 533 27 54 19 0.718 3. 2008 TBA AL 2,860 2,562 625 250 526 16 65 21 0.716 4. 2008 ATL NL 2,980 2,613 644 280 527 24 67 35 0.714 5. 2008 CHA AL 2,852 2,577 633 212 531 25 64 30 0.713 6. 2008 CHN NL 2,986 2,643 650 265 570 33 75 32 0.712 7. 2008 PHI NL 2,965 2,655 681 251 500 23 84 29 0.712 8. 2008 TOR AL 2,952 2,650 647 233 570 30 66 23 0.712 9. 2008 MIL NL 2,977 2,638 680 281 508 16 91 34 0.711 10. 2008 BOS AL 3,058 2,703 662 292 592 25 72 33 0.711 11. 2008 ANA AL 2,920 2,640 679 226 475 17 73 20 0.710 12. 2008 SLN NL 3,003 2,697 704 240 444 24 71 20 0.710 13. 2008 DET AL 2,942 2,568 675 303 409 34 66 26 0.709 14. 2008 HOU NL 2,946 2,637 714 250 483 22 110 27 0.705 15. 2008 ARI NL 2,955 2,624 650 227 585 42 66 35 0.704 16. 2008 NYN NL 2,997 2,616 671 280 535 42 78 36 0.704 17. 2008 SDN NL 3,048 2,727 701 252 543 14 72 19 0.702 18. 2008 FLO NL 2,986 2,603 680 303 496 25 73 40 0.702 19. 2008 COL NL 3,066 2,696 722 287 470 28 76 28 0.700 20. 2008 KCA AL 2,968 2,667 705 247 510 13 78 27 0.698 21. 2008 NYA AL 2,913 2,619 691 233 515 23 70 26 0.695 22. 2008 CLE AL 2,914 2,640 718 218 477 21 82 23 0.694 23. 2008 SFN NL 3,023 2,621 679 316 583 23 72 26 0.691 24. 2008 WAS NL 3,115 2,742 750 289 518 21 87 28 0.690 25. 2008 LAN NL 2,898 2,573 667 252 559 24 61 31 0.690 26. 2008 TEX AL 3,156 2,759 775 322 439 30 75 39 0.688 27. 2008 CIN NL 3,060 2,702 731 265 606 24 101 31 0.684 28. 2008 MIN AL 2,970 2,730 784 188 435 19 86 27 0.684 29. 2008 PIT NL 3,145 2,746 786 316 442 26 81 36 0.683 30. 2008 SEA AL 2,996 2,630 719 288 517 28 67 27 0.68

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Hall looked good today. I was especially impressed with him going to RF later in the game off of a RHP which was nice.

I wouldn't. Yes Counsell has been doing well since Rickie has gone down but I would wager my money on Weeks being able to do better over the long run. Counsell right now in his career is not an everyday player.