PrinceEatMeat

I didn't think you were. I have zero faith of Melvin upgrading the rotation for 2010. As to "the future" and "competing", wasn't that supposed to be now? I thought this generation (2008-2010) of players (Hardy, Weeks, Fielder) was supposed to compete for a World Championship, not a winning record. Now, we are talking about the next generation? We are throwing away this generation for the next generation. Please, read this as a question and not a statement with definitive tone. Until the mindset of the GM changes in regards to the rotation and how he acquires it, what difference does it make what generation of young hitters we have? I don't see the need to give up on this generation of our talent yet.We wouldn't be giving up on this generation of talent. It would be combined with the next generation. We'd still have Fielder, Weeks, and Braun, but we'd add in guys like Gamel, Escobar, Cain, and Salome. That could be a very deadly offense right there, and it would likely be better than the offense we have right now. With the way we have drafted for years now, I have no doubts that we won't have highly touted prospects to trade for a Halladay type pitcher two years down the road. By that time, this next generation will be established and be able to combine with proven stars like Braun and Fielder to form a contender. The only reason that I think this is the way to go, is because I'm not convinced that Halladay would put us over the top at least this year. Maybe next year, with a little more added support in the pitching staff, and possibly the offense, we could contend. But, is it worth trading away the future to compete for one year? If we do that, we may be a 70 win team for 2-3 years after that, instead of competing on a regular basis. I know that's not a guarantee either, but I think that we need to give it a chance at this point, only because we are more than a Halladay away from making the playoffs this year. My opinion would be different with a healthy Bush, and a consistent Parra already in the rotation, but we don't have that. And we also have significant holes in our offense compared to last year, with Weeks out, and Hardy and Hart not producing.

Let's not be sheep into the offers "thrown" at Sabathia and Cordero. I made the notation that DM does sign high valued closers. Again, a flawed approach in my opinion to after a guy to pitch 35-40 meaningful innings in games you are leading by perhaps as much as 3 runs as opposed to a starter who barring injury will net you 200+ meaningful innings. He was a "big time" free agent pitcher because that's what the Brewers billed him as. He was successful during a short period of time on a big stage. Other than that, the Pirates and the other teams he played for got #3-#4 type stuff that he will always bring. He may very well be hesitant to make a mistake, the difference being the mistake would be in hindsight with Halladay, not with foresight like Suppan. Mistakes in hindsight, I can live with.If he makes a mistake with Halladay, it costs of the future of the franchise if we give up guys like Escobar and Gamel. Sure, he overpaid Suppan, but he at least has been a decent pitcher for us, and it didn't cost us the future of the franchise to sign him. Signing a guy like CC for that kind of money would've cost us the future for sure.

His track record suggests he will do just that...."a decent starting pitcher". Otherwise known as Jeff Suppan or Braden Looper. Seriously guys...another decent starting pitcher will not make the Brewers contenders in 2010. That's all Doug Melvin does is acquire #3's and #4's in the off-season. Teams don't sell in the offseason, they try and get better. The best time to get front line starting pitching is now. A failure to do that and you can just plan on 2011 being a chance at the next winning season, let alone a playoff berth.I never said that we would be contenders with that rotation in 2010, I'm just saying that it probably isn't true that we will still have the same rotation we have now. Melvin will at least try to improve the team. I don't think we will compete next year if we have 2 or 3 rookies in the starting lineup either, which we might with Gamel, Escobar, and Cain. Maybe even Salome. If we hold on to these guys they will need a year or two to develop, and by that time we can either trade Fielder for an ace, or trade some other prospects for one. We could choose to try to compete with Halladay now, which is no guarantee, or we could develop our promising prospects, and possibly compete for at least a few years in a row. Those are the options right now. Since making the playoffs with Halladay is no guarantee, I think a lot of people wouldn't mind seeing us give our young guys a chance, and build for the future.

I don't think this is necessarily true. I think Melvin would likely try to deal Hardy and/or Hart in the offseason for at least a decent starting pitcher. I think Looper will be gone, and whoever we get with a trade will replace him. I think the only guarantees for our rotation next year are Gallardo, Suppan, and Bush. Parra will be in if he can pick it up for the rest of this year. If not. Melvin may have to either keep Looper, or look to acquire 2 starting pitchers instead of 1.

I think the big question here is if we would consider signing Halladay to an extension once we trade for him. If we had him for 3-4 more years, I think anyone would make the deal hands down. Otherwise, the only question is whether or not it's worth trading the future to compete this year and next year. It's a tough debate, and to be honest it could work out both ways. We could get Halladay, win the division this year and next year, and then rebuild after that. Or, we could go without him, and probably not win this year, and possibly next year, but win for a few years after that, assuming Gamel and Escobar pan out and we get some pitching for Hardy and whoever else down the road. This isn't something that anyone will agree on, because we could end up in a good position either way. It's just a matter of whether people want to compete right now, or wait a few years. I think we can compete no matter what at some point in the next few seasons.

Gamel has a chance to be a .900 OPS type of hitter while Escobar may never have more than a .750 or so OPS. The comparison to Alfredo Griffin sure doesnt excite me and makes me feel that Gamel is far less expendable and the one untouchable in my mind. I also dont see this team as being one pitcher away from a championship. We need to think of the future which is just as bright potential as the present. We are two games above .500 and have played poor baseball for the better part of the last two months. We are in a 4 horse race for one playoff spot and I just dont think we are a championship level team with or without Halladay.I agree with the fact that Halladay won't put us over the top. That's why I wouldn't even consider this trade right now. Maybe if Bush was healthy and in normal form, and Parra was consistently good, then I would do it. But right now, that isn't even close to the case. We need more than Halladay to get where we want to be.

I completely agree with this. I'd be very upset if Melvin gave up on Escobar before we can even see what he can do. Although, we could say the same for Gamel. He still hasn't been given a chance to play everyday, and I'd really like to keep him and see what he can do everyday at 3b next year. However, if I had to choose one to trade, I'd definitely choose Gamel. Shortstops like Escobar don't come along very often. At least we have McGehee at 3b, and Green coming up behind him. We don't have other options at SS other than Hardy, and he isn't even looking like a long-term option anymore.

Soup pitched great!

Don't look now, but Kendall has been on base 3 times as the leadoff hitter. He's sure making Macha look good this game.

Braden Looper with 3 hits?! That's amazing! Better than most of the guys on our team have been doing lately. He doubled his season hit total in one game.

I think it's because they wanted Pena in the home run derby.

Yeah, I don't get why it was him over Gallardo, but oh well I guess. Yo needs the rest.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/50579147.html Update: Hoffman is in.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/allstar09/news/story?id=4322001 Looks like Yo and Trevor may get in afterall.

I'm thinking that it might be a misquote, and he actually said worst. Nah, but that's what everyone thinks so why not just write it that way? He can pride himself on being the best 3b in the league at striking out, and not getting on base.

http://brewersbeat.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/07/hall_i_still_consider_myself_t.html This made me laugh, and also upset. Mainly because he gets to play tomorrow when he doesn't deserve to.

Here's a clip of Aaron in a home run derby. I'm glad I found these clips again. I remember watching reruns of the show as a kid in the late 80s. Watching that is hilarious. They pop up 50% of the pitches, and they go up there acting like it's an at-bat in a real game. Duke Snyder just swings and misses at BP pitches.

http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/15734/20090711/jays_want_too_much_for_halladay/ If this is true, we have no chance at Halladay. The Jays apparently want either Billingsley or Kershaw in a package from LA, which is ridiculous. We don't have anything close to that to give up.

I'm hoping for a Branyan vs. Prince finals. Branyan would win though. Branyan would put on a show that even Josh Hamilton would be jealous over.I think 3TO would be the best home run derby participant of all-time. I can/t think of anyone who would, or could, be better.

Werth only got picked because he's a Phillie in my opinion.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/allstar09/news/story?id=4319506 Congrats to Nelson Cruz. It's a shame that we gave him up in the Lee deal, but there was no way to forsee him being this good.

I think Melvin has every right to be pissed at Braun. He was kind of making it seem like Melvin hasn't been looking to improve the team. Like Melvin said, he's working year-round to improve the team. There just aren't any deals to make out there. I understand that Braun is upset about the pitching, as well he should be, but I completely agree with Melvin that he doesn't have the right to throw them all under the bus like that. Gallardo and Soup didn't come out after their great pitching performances that ended in losses saying that the offense was horrible and needs to score runs for them. It isn't right to throw teammates under the bus like that, and especially not publically. What Braun said is all true, but there is a place where he needs to draw the line. The same goes for Melvin though. I think that everyone is frustrated right now, and it is all just boiling over. It would've been best for Braun to tone it down a little, and for Melvin to not say anything publically in response.

On the bright side, we can throw out Gallardo, Suppan, and Looper against the Cards instead of complete crap.

Cam looked awful right there in a very important at-bat.

Soriano is completely useless this year for the Cubs. He now appears to be hurt once again. I don't get why he wouldn't just leave the game for a pinch-runner if he actually was hurt though.