bill hAll Star

If the rumors of Hanley in LF are true, you have Cespedes, Hanley, Rusney, Bradley (played gold glove CF), Victorino, Betts if not at 2B, and Craig as OF candidates. Trades are coming.

Good god. Overbay slugged .333. Francisco is a butcher on defense but there is value in having a guy that is a flawed, yet decent hitter against RHP.

Oakland may have had the odd issue of being short on LHP-mashing corner/DH guys. Still seems like an overpay but he's a good pinch hitter to have and will crush lefties.

vs. RHP - Holliday (most days)/Jay/Heyward vs. LHP - Holliday/Borjous/Grichuk They can spell Holliday as he declines off and on with Borjous to bolster their defense.

Either the Cards will platoon him and he absolutely will have better numbers or they'll do as the Braves did and value his defense enough to play him every day. If you play fantasy, just play him against RH starters.

The Cards will be smart enough to platoon him and use him just as a pinch hitter/defensive sub against LHP starters, and that makes them much better this season.

Wait, what? Russell Martin? I had to Google who "Martin" was in case there was a player I was forgetting because I didn't think it would be Russell.

I know it worked pretty nicely with Weeks last year, but if at all possible, I'd like to platoon 2B with a guy that can play other positions on the RH side. A lot of this may depend on how much they think Aramis can play or more importantly, how much they trust Segura in another year that they are "going for it." I would have to think there are several available utility guys that can play 2B/SS or 2B/3B from the right-hand side. If not, we had better really trust Aramis to stay healthy or Segura to not be really bad. We'd have an excellent 2B platoon (if we acquire a Weeks-esque platoon-mate) but be basically punting on offense with Segura at SS.

If MA is resigned to "going for it" this year and then finally going with a bit of a rebuild or an absolute retool in 2016, then Heyward is a pretty solid get. I seem to remember the Braves platooning Heyward a bit more this year, but it's pretty obvious that he is an above-average/very good hitter against right-handed pitching. He's a career .840 guy and did it in a slightly tougher park/division to hit. Davis has value, but if there is a plan to rebuild, having a cheap, younger RH hitter that isn't a great fielder for 3-4 more years after this one isn't that big of a deal. By the time you're done rebuilding or retooling, you've got Davis on a 1 year contract at $7 million probably. If they got bullpen help and a little bit of salary relief, my pipe dream would be this roster on opening day: C: Luc/Maldy 1B: Lind/(RH 1B/OF - Van Slyke?)/Luc 2B: Scooter/Jed Lowrie/Segura SS: Jed Lowrie/Segura 3B: Aramis/Jed Lowrie RF: Heyward/(RH 1B/OF guy) CF: Gomez/Parra LF: Braun/Parra On any given day you can trot out 5 good LH hitters or you could trot out 8 (9 if pitcher) righties. Do things to solidify depth by inviting Kelly Johnson to Spring Training or signing him cheap. Plus you have a little depth of corner RH guys like Rogers. Heyward is also probably young enough that you could give him the QO and he likely wouldn't get himself stuck in a Morales/Drew situation and would sign a contract with somebody.

Heyward is a good defender so he isn't useless against lefties, but I would hope that if the Brewers brought in Heyward, they'd get a corner/1B righty or two if Davis isn't still around for Lind and Heyward platoons.

Which Red Sox 3B are we talking about? Middlebrooks? I guess if they gave him away and Doug was interested having a guy launch 25 HR in Colorado Springs at a .310 OBP, sure, I'd take him for free. Holt? Has value as a lefty utility guy but his BABIP luck clock struck midnight a few months into his season. Probably would have to overpay for a utility guy/fringe AAAA guy we could find elsewhere. Boegarts? We probably don't have enough to offer.

The "ace" discussion is a bit of a cost/benefit discussion, though. What's the opportunity cost of getting Scherzer? I have been in the mindset that if the Brewers rebuild, they should go with a pitching-centric youth development, so if that happens, wonderful. This discussion is moot, but we may not see the benefits until 2018 or later. Say we sign Scherzer for 8 years, $190 million. We get into the playoffs this year and Scherzer is dealing. What are the chances of winning it all? Let's just say 20% since we theoretically have the best or 2nd best pitcher in the playoffs, but this may be a bit high. There is a very likely scenario that Scherzer blows out his arm or at least loses effectiveness in 3 years. You've now potentially mortgaged 6 years after that for 1-2 years that you (hopefully) make the playoffs and have a better chance. Say we don't sign Scherzer but are very smart with our money, Braun returns to form, and we make the playoffs several times over the next few years. Now you're talking about a 5-10% over the course of several trips to the playoffs once we make it. I would liken this to the Rangers, maybe the Athletics (though they are a weird case), the Rangers being a pitch away from winning it all mostly without serious aces outside of the Cliff Lee year and losing most of the other trips. The opportunity cost can also be described in prospects. Greinke is an example. We could also net an ace like him at the cost of long-term value. We had a very good chance of winning it all with Zack that year but paid a few years down the road not having cheap seasons of Escobar, Cain, and Odorizzi. You could say the same about somebody suggesting a trade for David Price right now. This is why it shouldn't just be "go get an ace for the playoffs, duh!" When and if the Brewers are able to develop a pipeline of pitching or rebuild and stock with great prospects during an rebuild time, then the cost is not there. Right now, while our choice is "contend with an OK staff or go all in at a cost" it is not such a simple concept.

Giving up a draft pick and probably a lot of money for a guy that might not provide a ton of value away from Coors.

Of course Mcgehee will never be paid the same. However, if Casey McGehee is a free agent, all it takes is one team to do something foolish like look at RBIs and boost the asking price. McGehee has amassed 6 wins of WAR over 5 years. A-Ram has been worth 39 in 13 full seasons, including one season (2012) where Aramis almost had as high of a WAR (5.6) than Casey had over his entire career (6.4). The Brewers took a bit of a risk on an aging Aramis, but there was expected payoff and they got a bit of it. I would expect negative value from McGehee as he ages, so I don't care if he's a bit underpaid.

I would not touch McGehee with a 100 foot pole. Nice half of a season in his renewed approach, but he was sinking back to his old self in the second half.

I would much, much rather have Bonifacio over Ramon Santiago...and I believe that Bonifacio is overrated. Bonifacio is a hitter lacking power that can hit LHP, so that is a limitation on the offensive side. All of that said, he can still actually hit LHP, which is more than Ramon Santiago can say.

Rutledge is a great name to look at. I'm a bit mixed on Culberson. I think he's Elian Herrera-level of production away from Coors. LeMahieu wouldn't be terrible. If we could dump Broxton, my dream is to go after Jed Lowrie.

I'm not necessarily advocating that trade, but I do have dreams of being the National League Oakland with flexible corner platoons/switch hitters that doesn't crumble at the first injury. Creating a bunch of depth at the MLB level and high AAA level could allow that. I haven't looked into it much, but I'm not sure how much any contender really is going to want Gallardo. Baltimore maybe? I just can't see him being too high on many teams' radars. I don't think we'll get a "Marcum-esque" return for him.

.750 OPS against righties at Chavez Ravine isn't terrible. His .914 OPS away from home tells me he could be even better at Miller Park. Having some coin to spend would be nice as well.

Braun will make $20 million/year for about 5 years starting in 2016. I could see just non-tendering Parra, but I think their goal is to play 2015 baseball. Have 4-5 lefties or switch hitters so you aren't doomed when you face Latos, Lynn, etc...I think Parra will be more than a 4th OF. I think Davis' ABs will get cut into a bit, he's insurance for Braun having more nagging injuries, and Parra at the very least is a late game injury sub.

Yes. I agree. I didn't want to be saddled with another 3 or 4 year deal. We have a lot coming off the books after 2015. Lets keep it that way. In other news, I think this puts an end to any FA that will cost more than $1 million. Here is how our numbers shake up for 21 players which currently tally's up to $105 million: [pre]Name 2015 Ramirez, Aramis $16,000,000 Braun, Ryan $13,000,000 Gallardo, Yovani $13,000,000 Garza, Matt $12,500,000 Lohse, Kyle $11,000,000 Broxton, Jonathan $9,000,000 Gomez, Carlos $8,000,000 Lind, Adam $7,500,000 Parra, Gerardo 6,000,000 Lucroy, Jonathan $3,400,000 Segura, Jean 534,000 Peralta, Wily 515,000 Henderson, Jim 512,000 Jeffress, Jeremy 512,000 Thornburg, Tyler 505,000 Gennett, Scooter 504,000 Davis, Khris 503,000 Maldonado, Martin 502,000 Smith, Will 502,000 Fiers, Michael 512,000 Nelson, Jimmy 502,000.00 TOTAL - MIL $105,003,000[/pre] I would enjoy an offseason where Broxton is "given away" for free to a large market team and we spend big on Jed Lowrie to finish things out. Lowrie can play every day (mostly SS and be the RH half of Scooter's platoon with some 3B sprinkled in) and we'd have an incredibly good platoon lineup. Neither will happen as I don't know if anyone wants to take on Broxton's money (even if he's productive) nor do I think the Brewers are willing to give up on Segura.

I am in favor of this. There are better ways to spend $10 million, but in this "one year of going for it and then decide what to do" mode, there isn't an incredible amount better to do with $10 million. You're either going to not spend the $10 million for 2015, sign/trade for an equally risky $10 million, or take on long-term risk in a $10 million/year longer contract. On the surface, he's absolutely overpaid, but with both he and Gallardo, I'm not sure what else you can do with the money in the position they are in for one year with what is available.

That's fine if you believe that. There's no way the Brewers only face 27 lefties next year though (1/6 games). Just to be clear, I don't think it's a huge deal, but it matters some. It bothers me that the Brewers continue to waste a bench spot on a 1B platoon. You can have players that play multiple positions. Maybe Luc plays 25 games at 1B and Jimenez plays 15 while also backing up 3B. That's in the ideal case with injury not happening. Thankfully, corner RH hitters are the most abundant entity in baseball for replacement-level platoon guys. Anyone's AAAA 1B can come up for 2-3 weeks and hit lefties well enough to not kill you. (Cue somebody bringing up the 2013 Brewers).

You don't need a 3rd catcher if you let Luc play 1B once a week (or less, even). Especially in the NL Central where there are almost no lefties.

Which numbers will stick, the average and OBP, or the 6 home runs in a half season. Because that won't fly. Lind's HRs will very likely increase this year, but let's assume for sake of argument that he hits 12 with an .850 OPS in a full platoon season off of last year's 6 HRs in half a year... You know who hit 13 HR last year with an .840 OPS? Jonathan Lucroy. Playing every day and only hit 13. Any way you slice it, unless Lind completely crumbles, he's going to be a great hitter.