Bnowell4evr

If the Brewers bring in a FA, I don't think youth will be the biggest factor. They may look for a Dempster type that would only be looking for a shorter deal. Why sign a guy for a longer deal and potentially block other min wage pitchers the Brewers are developing?. What happens if more than 3 of: Estrada, Fiers, Rogers, Peralta, Thornburg, Hellweg, Burgos should be in a MLB starting rotation, but are blocked by a FA signing? That would seem to be paying more to get similar results plus wasting an asset(s) by shuffling them to the bullpen or keeping them AAA. Easy you go with the 5 best starters regardless of money. Why would you take out a better starter just because you have a fill in that makes less than him? And making a stacked bullpen is a problem I wish we had every year. If we ever get to the point where we have way too much pitching for our roster then you start making some trades.

I'd be willing to go 4 years 52 mill on Anibal Sanchez. Compare his numbers the last 3 years to Gallardo's and he stacks up very favorably. His fastball velocity (91.8) is exactly the same as Gallardo's. His WAR the last 3 years (12.0) is better than Gallardo's (10.6). He's young so theres plenty of tread on the tires. We need an impact starter and Greinke is too rich for our blood but for a fraction of the price we can get a very solid #2. I don't know about you guys but I'd go to war with a rotation of Gallardo, Sanchez, Peralta, Rogers and one of Estrada/Fiers.

What are the inning limits were looking at with Rogers, Fiers, Peralta, Estrada and Thornburg next year? That concern is the #1 reason why I want us to sign a FA starter this offseason. We need someone who can go out and pitch 200+ innings with an era at or below 4.00 like we got out of Randy Wolf in 2010 and 2011. The last thing I want to see is us having to shut down our young pitchers in the middle of a playoff chase.

Which would imply that the "fact" is that there has never been a position player-for-pitcher trade made in the MLB. Interesting concept, which if true would mean that we couldn't trade Greinke for Olt, because in order to get a pitcher, you need to trade pitching and Olt is a 3B. Good thing it's not really a fact, because it would be upsetting to know that we couldn't trade Braun for a pitcher. That would really limit his value. I'd say the real "fact" is that value gets value in return. If one GM has a pitcher and needs a position player, he will work a deal with someone who has a suitable position player and is looking for a pitcher. The point I was trying to make is that most teams that get young pitching in trades are usually giving up a talented veteran pitcher in the first place. It's different when you get to the trade deadline in the pitchers FA to be year because at that point you're just trying to get more value than the comp picks you'd otherwise receive. Of course there has been trades for positional players and pitchers but what deals have we really had on the table? Prince Fielder for Daniel Hudson? Corey Hart for a Brandon Beachy? I'd rather have our 2011 season than a couple pitchers recovering from Tommy John. I know you blasted the Carlos Lee trade a couple times but I look at that rental trade in a different perspective. If we had kept him we would have only received two comp picks but we traded him for a year and a half of Francisco Cordero and two comps picks so Its not like we traded down when you look at the actual value of the trade. I know there was some rumored deals on the table for names like Ervin Santana but without any real proof that he was really offered I can't get upset. The only trade I really feel Melvin botched was the Lawrie for Marcum deal when other teams were shocked that Lawrie was on the block.

What pitchers have the Brewers had to trade like Ryan Dempster and Anibal Sanchez? Sorry to interrupt your little rant with facts but pitching gets pitching in return.

That is true. I forgot about that. But even set up guys (remember Linebrink) normally fetch a lot more than a no upside arm Linebrink was a type A Free Agent to be so whatever any team gave up had to be roughly equal to two comp picks. The Mets were just petrified of his option vesting and the only teams they could trade K-Rod to had to have an established closer in place so they couldn't be picky.

K-Rods value is totally different this year compared to last. A year ago K-Rod had a clause in contract that would make his 17.5M option vest if he had a certain number of games finished.

I could of swore the Giants were demanding Prince Fielder AND JJ Hardy for Matt Cain a couple years ago.

I don't think Greinke's value will suffer much considering the Giants traded Zach Wheeler for a half season of Carlos Beltran with no chance of getting comp picks. If there's a bidding war (and with the way Greinke's pitching there will be) we should get a nice return.

Because we can't get close to equal value for a guy who's hitting well below his career average and has the type of character concerns that teams refuse to touch? Why would you get rid of a guy for nothing when he's worth far more to our team than the junk we would get in return?

Bruce Seid gets my seal of approval for this 1st round.

2 of Coulter/Gallo/Roache/Hensly would make me very happy.

I don't think theres any way we lose 3/5 of our rotation. If Greinke and Marcum both left then we would pick up the option on Randy Wolf. Not to mention Greinke seems like he plans on sticking around a while.

I disagree about the NFL comp system being better. The best pick we would've gotten for losing Prince would be at the end of the 3rd round and it would've only been 1 pick instead of 2.

Taylor Jungmann checks in at #58 on Keith Laws top 100 prospect list. Not too bad for a guy who will lucky to be a #3 in the pros http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/eyes.gif

First, Gamel has hit LHP as well as RHP for his long tenure in the minors, so I don't know why people say he needs a platoon partner other than the fact that he's young (MLB experience-wise) and left handed. You should probably check out his splits from a year ago and you'd understand why people like me think he's a platoon bat. vs LHP.213.280.375.655 vs RHP.347.408.6021.010 http://minorleaguecentral.com/player.php?pid=451143&split=2011 I'm done arguing about this adderall abuser now. Were either gonna sink or swim with him starting so there's nothing more to say.

You're right were not banking on Erick Almonte were banking on a guy who posts stupid stuff like this on myspace. Jason Parks @ProfessorParks CloseFrom Mat Gamel's presumably extinct MySpace bio: "I also like aderol (sic), i think it might have saved my batting avg this year." #Brewershttps://twitter.com/#!/ProfessorParks/status/146685785339461632 Now I need to clear some things up. I never said Gamel needs to be replaced so I hope that isn't directed at me. I want him to start every day against RHP but at the same time I want an insurance policy in case he doesn't get the job done. This isn't a normal year for the Brewers with 3/5 of our rotation possibly leaving so our window to win is pretty much this year unless we bring back Greinke and our young arms pan out. I get the whole point of adding cost controlled players but lets not pretend that the $3M it would take to sign Derrek Lee for one season would bankrupt this organization. If everyone wants to give Mat Gamel the shot without having any competition then why not just start the rebuilding phase right now? Lets sell off Greinke, Marcum, Wolf, K-Rod and go back to the days when we dreamed about having a .500 team. Those days were awesome http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/tired.gif.

I don't get the reasoning where people think we can just wait around until June or July to make a trade for another 1st basemen. Were gonna be playing without Fielder and Braun for 50 games so if Gamel sucks were done when June or July comes around. Instead of planning for the postseason we'll be selling off Greinke, Marcum, Wolf and K-Rod. Fans just don't understand whats at stake this season and it frustrates the heck out of me.

Interesting comparison with Troy Glaus. I assume the scouts think Gallo might be able to stick at 3rd? It would be a shame for his arm to go to waste playing 1st.

So are non roster invitees, Juan Perez and Dan Meadows both of whom have decent long shot chances at roster spots. Parra has never excelled vs. lefthanded hitters so he's not really a viable loogy. I'd rather have Carlos Lee than Derrek Lee. I would too all things being equal. However they're not with Carlos Lee being property of the Astros along with making $18.5M this year. Derrek Lee could probably be had for a similar contract to what Casey Kotchman just signed and wouldn't require a good prospect that the Astros would want for eating $15M of Carlos Lee's contract.

I've never seen a more enigmatic player than Edwin Jackson. He's got ace like ability but pitches like a back of the rotation starter. I just don't get how a guy with that good of stuff can be as hittable as he is.

I'm trying not to examine this based on statistical production, but appx. talent level instead. I don't think Loney compares well as a hitter to Gamel. The only way he compares well is that he's not a very good hitter for a 1B, and that's what people have already started to label Gamel. Take a look at Loney's MiLB numbers -- even in the offense-crazy western PCL he didn't really hit home runs with any regularity. These guys are just not good comparisons imo. I can't guarantee that Gamel will prove his doubters wrong, but I think it's better to examine him from a scouting standpoint than a statistical one at this point. Even if you go with stats, Loney's MiLB career doesn't even come close to Gamel's. The funny thing, to me, on the stat-based Gamel examinations, is that two seasons of a throwaway number of PAs is what has everyone concerned (beyond assumptions about his character). If the Brewers had never given Mat cups of coffee in 2010 & '11, you're looking at a guy with a MLB career OPS of about .760, and who the casual fan wouldn't assume "can't hit big-league pitching". But an unproductive 15 PAs in '10, & 26 PAs in '11 so greatly affect the small sample that is Gamel's MLB career up to now, that instead people are convinced this is just another failed prospect we're talking about here. In the closest thing he's ever had to meaningful big-league playing time, Gamel has already basically matched Loney, and that was two full seasons ago. Mat's a better hitter now than he was in '09, and as he continues to develop & display his skills, hopes for just a mid-.700s OPS will be a thing of the past imo.This is a great post but you also have to remember that Loney was a lot younger at each level compared to Gamel. When they were 20 Loney was playing in AA meanwhile Gamel was just in A ball which is a big difference considering power tends to come with age. You had to wait until they were 22 to judge their careers equally at the same level. Loney @ age 22AAA - .380/.426/.546/.973MLB - .284/.342/.559/.901 Gamel @ age 22AAA - .238/.304/.381/.685 Loney @ age 23AAA - .279/.345/.382/.727MLB - .331/.381/.538/.919 Gamel @ age 23AAA - .278/.367/.473/.839MLB - .242/.338/.422/.760

I'm familiar with Loney's H/R splits' date=' but his past two seasons of performance on the road have stunk as much as his performance at home. He's just not a powerful hitter. If a Loney-caliber hitter (based on what I think Loney's talent is, not small sample splits) is all Gamel winds up to be, I'd be disappointed.[/quote']You got a point about Loney's H/R splits the last 2 years but I don't consider 1500 PA's to be a small sample size. Zips projects Gamel with 16 HRs over 135 games which is pretty much James Loney level if he played at a different park.

Colby I'm wondering what you think about Joey Gallo? I'm intrigued by his LH power. Edit - Did a search and saw you said he's a Branyon clone.

I'd argue that Brewer fans are underrating Loney's power because of the stadium he plays in. Just look at his career home and road splits. Home - .272/.335/.385/.719Road - .302/.357/.479/.835