kramnoj

He was banged up last year, I think that was the main reason he caught so few games That's not exactly a point in his favor. If the Indians want to move him and no other teams offer anything of note, I think it would be good to offer some players that aren't important to the Brewers to snatch him. But I wouldn't want to give up anything that could be used to improve the Brewers either through their own play or in acquiring a pitcher, as Stevo notes above.

How much can he actually catch these days? He's only caught 51 games this year, and 55 all of last year, and he was a bad hitter last year. I just don't think he's a good bet to be a good hitter and catch 120 games in the NL.

That's all fine and good, but many of those guys are also better at their jobs than the Brewers current pitchers. If you had a choice to spend $10M on Cameron or a SP that would be better than a AAA pitcher, but would be less valuable than Cameron, would you then choose to spend that money on the pitcher? The idea behind Wins Above Replacement is that all Runs are equal. There is only so much money to go around and it is gonna be a neck of a lot easier and chaeper to find a CF than it is to find 5 guys who give you a chance to win every day. Having a good CF in the lineup can also give you a chance to win every day. Melky was worth less than a win combined in 2007 and 2008. He's having a good year this year, but that only means he's going to be more expensive next year.

Here is the list of FA SP Brandon Backe HOU Miguel Batista SEA Josh Beckett * BOS Erik Bedard SEA Daniel Cabrera WAS Bartolo Colon CWS Jose Contreras CWS Doug Davis ARZ Justin Duchscherer OAK Adam Eaton BAL Kelvim Escobar LAA Jon Garland * ARZ Tom Glavine ATL Mike Hampton HOU Rich Harden CHC Tim Hudson * ATL Randy Johnson SF John Lackey LAA Cliff Lee * CLE Braden Looper * MIL Jason Marquis CHC Kevin Millwood * TEX Brett Myers PHI Vicente Padilla * TEX Carl Pavano CLE Brad Penny BOS Odalis Perez WAS Andy Pettitte NYY Joel Pineiro STL Sidney Ponson KC Jason Schmidt LAD John Smoltz BOS Jarrod Washburn SEA Brandon Webb * ARZ Todd Wellemeyer STL * club option I think that Cameron is better at his job than most of these pitchers are. And I am guessing that the better pitchers either won't sign here, or will be signed by other clubs. We'll have to see how the offseason goes. The Brewers could get lucky in that the Yankees may not be in the market for a pitcher (or only one). The Red Sox may not be in the market for one. If the buyers aren't out there from the big markets, and if the other markets are suffering from the economy, the Brewers may benefit. It will hopefully be an interesting and productive offseason for the Crew.

Too many other places that money needs to be spent. Where would you like to see money spent, and at how many positions? And is there any talent worth chasing at those positions? If we only look at FA, there isn't anyone at C that is intriguing, and I doubt that the Brewers are going to be in on the best pitchers. Given what's out there, I think I would rather bring back Cameron.

We might have been able to get Coke as well as Cabrera for Cameron, provided we threw them a couple million. I don't believe that was a real possibility. The Yankees were asking for the Brewers to pay some of Cam's salary to get Melky. Then it was rumored that they would pay all of Cam's salary if the Brewers took Igawa. Besides, what would the Brewers have done with that money? It wasn't enough money to go get a better pitcher. Lopper and Hoffman were a good return for the money spent this offseason.

It's still before 11 PM out here in PST! Jack Z should just be getting his second wind! I can't imagine being Melvin in a situation like this. Two sides are dancing around each other, trying to feel each other out, trying to reach a trade without showing your hand or looking desperate. And then it's time to go home and turn your brain off so you can actually get to sleep and then come to work the next day refreshed. But you will have to wait until late morning or early afternoon for the dancing partner to get to work on the west coast and get through the rest of his morning activities before they pick up the talks again. Edit: Yahoo! Travel tells me that if they want to get Washburn from Seattle to Milwaukee Monday before 1130 PM, they need to get him on a plane by 2 or so.

Really? He can never play 3B again? Yes, I don't think it's a coincidence that he is playing so well while getting full time at 1B. I think it's silly to say that he is no longer a 3B. But if he came to the Brewers, it wouldn't be to play 3B every day. He would, at most, play 3B against some RHP, and I don't think he would take over for Casey there. Casey has done well with regular PT, I don't it would be efficient use of resources to have him only play against LHP. But maybe he would benefit from one or two days off a week against RHP and Branyan would be a nice option to have. It would of course be difficult for Branyan to stay good while sitting on the bench, so I am fully aware this isn't a great solution, but with a couple of banged up MI on the roster, it would be nice to have Branyan as an option. Edit: It's after midnight, do you know where your GM is? He said they work 9-midnight most of the year. Did Melvin and Z hang up the phone recently? We should really have MP spies for times like these.

IIRC, Michael Kay of the Yankees would deliver this line when Colome came in from the bullpen to pitch for the Rays "And Jose moves from Column B to Colome".

If there is a trade made, how many would be in favor of including Branyan? Hall could go to Seattle with the Brewers picking up all (or most) of the salary. Include Gindl and/or some fringe A pitcher that Z might like. I haven't thought this all the way through, which is usually dangerous for me, but with a banged up Casey, and a hamstrung Felipe, I kinda like Branyan for depth at 3B. Are there other teams that are looking at Branyan, or could the Brewers hope to get him for not much? Edit: I typed Gindl, but meant to type Katin. Not really sure why I made that mistake, other than it's late and I didn't think it through completely, which I already acknowledged was dangerous.

What would be the combination of players that the Brewers could give up that they would miss the least, while still being attractive for Z and the Ms? I just have a hard time believing that Hardy, Gamel or Escobar will be traded for a package where Washburn is the prize, but then I don't know what players beyond that would be the answer for the Mariners.

edit: I don't understand any "moderator" stuff that was said, as if I'm greater than the common man/woman of brewerfan.net. We have a clear case of a moderator being treated differently than a regular member. A member said that if x happened, he would never post again. A moderator stepped in and said this would be enforced. We had a different case where a moderator said that if Gallardo pitched again last year, he would quit the board. This wasn't enforced by a moderator.

It was inexcusable to keep throwing him out there with his 1:1 k/bb ratio. He isn't good at all. Dillard isn't impressive here either with his 44/42 ratio this year. Hopefully he can manage some success and keep the Brewers afloat.

Furthermore, DM has enjoyed a new stadium, and new ownership, which has changed the Brewers standing in the "small market" arena Seems to me that Melvin has taken advantage of the new stadium. He's built a team that people come out to watch, and stay home to watch. Compared to other teams, Melvin has excelled in that area. I'm sure it's true that somewhere out there people exist who could do better than Melvin. I just think it would be difficult to find that person, and I'd rather enjoy the success that Melvin has brought this franchise rather than go through the learning curve of a new GM who could easily do worse. People like Jim Duquette exist who will trade away Kazmir for nothing. Melvin won't make that mistake.

Melvin looked into trading Cameron for Melky. Reports were that the Yankees wanted the Brewers to pay part of the contract, or possibly take on Igawa's contract, without giving up the extra good pitcher that many here were expecting. Even if the Melvin had made a straight up trade of Cameron for Melky, what would have been gained? The Brewers heading into this season really didn't have glaring holes, other than hitting at C. They had a fair amount of positions that could have been league averagish, but they didn't have any Jeff Francouers. It's much easier to improve a team that has huge holes than averagish players. I thought Melvin did a great job of spending the dollars he had this season. That probably just means that my idea of building a team matches his, but I wouldn't have done anything different than he did this offseason, given what we know. Regarding drafting strategy, did Melvin regularly pass on obvious pitching prospects to draft hitters? I freely admit to not being a draftnik, but if most other teams focus on pitching, it stands to reason that a strategy of BPA will lead to hitters being more available. I used to think Melvin was a top 5 GM. I don't think I could support that, but I think he's at worse average, and I personally believe he's better than average. He has also presided over a remarkable resurgence of strengthening the fanbase of the Brewers. It's easy to look at individual moves and say that he hasn't done well. But overall his tenure has been very good for the Brewers franchise in attendance and in viewership. I believe Melvin's goal has been to continually build a contending team while making moves to go for it when reasonable. I personally think he's done a very good job of that.

I can't use this season's stats to see who is better but you can use AA and a handful of AAA stats and say definitively Gamel is better. If anyone is saying that you can't use this season's stats, they would be mistaken. What is being argued is that all things should be looked at in context, and that Counsell's career tells us more about how good a hitter he is rather than the smallish sample of half a season. Of course, a discussion about the hitting merits of Counsell vs Gamel seems to be missing the other part of their job, which is defense. Counsell clearly wins in that area, so Gamel can't just have similar offensive numbers to Counsell, he needs to hit significantly better. I think the Brewers would have been better off putting Gamel at 3B and platooning Casey and Counsell at 2B, but it doesn't seem that Macha is on board with that. Since GMs don't write out the lineup card, I think Melvin did a decent job of acquiring talent that Macha would use.

I don't know if some here are aware that Fernando Martinez has those stats in only 45 games in AAA. Certainly impressive enough for a 20 year old, and not a small sample, but it should be noted that it's a month and a half of games. He also is sporting a .517 OPS in his 29 game major league stint this year. He's certainly a legitimate prospect, but I think some may have not have a full picture if they assume that he's been hitting that well in AAA all season.

Moneyball is many things to many people. To some it defines the new stats. To others it is a small market team trying to exploit market inefficiencies. Michael Lewis took those aspects and framed a story around the underdog A's. It's about a 102 win team that was going to lose Giambi and Damon and somehow became a 103 win team with Hatteberg replacing Giambi, despite never playing 1B. I read about the first 2/3 of the script. It doesn't really involve a lot of actual baseball action. It is mostly about the people, and the story. It's a drama, there will be moments of humor, the script follows the basic formula of any Hollywood drama. While the book is about stats, it doesn't go that deep into the actual stats. Stats are the tool to drive the story, but it is at heart a story.

I have really enjoyed this version. There are some mistakes, such as teams signing a Type B player surrender a 2nd round pick, but I have really enjoyed it. I have probably started a 2009 Brewers season half a dozen times as a GM trying to win a WS and playing out 15 years or so to try to get one of the current Brewers into the HOF. I haven't succeeded in either one of those goals yet (well, I have won a couple of WS, but I think it was like in 2016 or something each time). Gallardo starting off as a 20 rated player is annoying, but he will sometimes develop into a 50 or 60 player (on the 80 player rating scale). The game loves Swindle. There have been a few times where he became my closer for a few years. I would definitely recommend the game for anyone who loves playing at GM.

Here is a link to the Moneyball script https://webspace.utexas.edu/jsk79/www/Moneyball.pdf Sorkin has been asked to touch it up, Pitt still wants to do it. Peter Berg has been mentioned as a possibility once the screenplay is done. I was surprised to learn that of the different movies that he has directed. For sports, he directed Friday Night Lights (the movie). I also enjoyed, in their own way, The Rundown, The Kingdown, and Hancock. As for how this can be made into a movie, I would recommend that anyone who has time to kill read the linked script. It's obviously not Oscar material, but it reads like a typically successful Hollywood drama (faint praise, I know). It's obviously dramatized in order to make it a movie that people will want to see, but it's an interesting story about underdogs that try to find a new way to beat the big boys. Pitt has the star power to draw a certain amount of interest, just by himself, and I imagine that he would have a blast playing Beane (especially in this script). I'm disappointed that Soderbergh got dropped, but he was going to take the movie in a different way than the studio wanted. He talked about making James an animated character, because his scenes were far too deity like in this script and were out of touch with the rest of the movie. I don't know how much he was joking, but I understand the sentiment after reading the script.

I think Bedard might be one of the top 2 FA pitchers this offseason. You never know when a team that wants to improve pitching will overpay in years or dollars for FA (see Lowe, Meche, etc).

For those who have unfortunate encounters in the future, it would be interesting to see how the Brewers text message to security service responds.

Thanks for the link, that was a great read. I was surprised to learn that the company doing all the work to install the equipment doesn't really know how to use the data it will be collecting, but I guess that's not their thing. It will be interesting to see how expensive they will make the data for the public, and who will be able to afford it. And of course, assuming that some will be able to afford it, how will they decide to use the data, and how intensive will that work be? How does this affect Baseball Info Solutions? This is just a guess on my part, but they seem like a company big enough to take on the task of using this data. It seems like it would be too much for people to do anything with this on a part time basis. Of course, the biggest part is figuring out what to do with the data. Once that has been done, I guess the rest is just maintenance.

It could just be gamesmanship by Melvin. He doesn't want to seem too eager by calling right away. It might make him seem desperate and imply that he is willing to give up more than he intends to. It's not like Halladay is going to be traded tomorrow. Toronto will wait to see what every team that is interested will offer before making a deal, there's weeks to make this trade happen, and it doesn't have to happen at all right now, it can wait until the offseason.

Rivera didn't catch Bush's last start, so it may not be that obvious. I personally hope that Rivera gets matched up with Parra, but I don't think the team shares that opinion.