Animal100

I could understand a free agent being upset about pitching less if they were a Cy Young candidate or had a ligitimate shot at a significant individual accolade, but otherwise why would they be so upset about a slightly lesser workload? The free agent would still get paid their market value at the time of signing, and they would potentially have less wear and tear on their arm for future contracts. I also doubt pitching five fewer games a year would lower their market value once their contract expires. I can understand being a competetive person and wanting to play as much as possible, but a part of the reason a free agent would decide to sign here is because they would recognize that we have some young talent on the team which will need to fill a significant role in order for this team to make the playoffs. Besides, if it turns out that one of the new guys just can't cut it in the rotation (or gets hurt), then you go back to a conventional 5 man rotation. Easier to start the season that way that transition a bullpen guy to the rotation at some point down the road...

I was wondering what other people thought about going with a six man rotation for next year? If you assume our potential starting pitching candidate pool is Yo, Free agent, Estrada, Fiers, Peralta, and Rodgers, I think it may make some sense. Several of these guys still need to build endurance and I don't think they should be expected to go 175+ innings. Obviously, I would be very hesitant to expect Rodgers to make a big innings jump, but I also have too much hope for him as a starter to move him to another role. Plus, I really think that with Narveson coming back from injury, that he should be the designated long reliever this year. Also, Fiers wouldn't admit it, but I think he lost his effectiveness the last 1/4 of the year because he had a tired arm. Would repeating a 150-170 innings year be a more effective way to builld up his arm strength that pushing him to 185+ next year? I know it is more than likely that a club would use more than 5 starters in any given year, so normally a club will just move one guy to the pen or AAA until the injury happens, but what if an injury doesn't happen? Or, what if they make it to the stretch run before a guy goes down and then you don't have the guy from the bullpen stretched out for those critical games? Also, are the younger guys learning what they need to learn and building up enough endurance coming out of the pen? I think Rodgers is the only one who could benefit from more time in AAA, but he's out of options. In the Brewers particular case, I don't think that AAA provides any solutions to ease the log jam of good potential starters. Can anyone speak to the benefits or negatives of a six man rotation when it has been tried at other clubs? Does it make it too difficult for starters to get on a roll because there is too much time between starts? Does it allow them to go longer in games because their arm has more recovery time? Would fewer than 185 innings per starter help prevent injury?

Okay, this is a long post, but I don't chime in very often, so please hear me out on this before ripping it apart. I think resigning Greinke is the best option and provides the best potential future for the Brewers. It gives us the opportunity to stay competetive and we should add to the farm system with expiring contracts next year, not this one. I beleive the injury situation has made it so the only person we should trade this year is K-Rod. Also, it sounds like GMs are being a little tentative in their deadline trades this year as they sort out the new CBA value of making deadline trades. Here's what I would do: Starting Pitching: 1) Resigning Greinke is necessary - he is definitely the Brewer's best pitcher. Yo has got the talent, but he doesn't have the consistancy and wastes too many pitches to go deep into games. Greinke is a legit #1 and Yo is proving to be more of a #2. 2) Let Wolf & Narveson go at the end of this year and fill the 4 & 5 spots with best of Fiers/Thornburg/Estrada. Given the results this year, this actually should improve the rotation while saving enough money for Greinke's new contract and add a few bucks for other raises. 3) Offer Marcum Arby - he will more than likely take it as no GM is going to offer him a better deal due to his injury this year and past arm trouble. Then, trade him at the deadline next year for a prospect. Starting Pitching Result: More talented rotation at the back end and we can trade Marcum at the deadline next year (save a portion of his salary and get a good prospect back). The loser of the Fiers/Thornburg/Estrada battle or Peralta could slide into Marcum's slot at that point, and we have a very affordable rotation going forward for the next few years. Relief Pitching: 1) Trade K-Rod before the deadline this year for a propsect. The removal of K-Rod's salary would cover Marcum's arby salary increase next year with a little left over to cover some other player's raises. 2) There are certainly a few guys on the roster I would non-tender at the end of this year (such as Loe) as well. This would free up a few million to re-tool a couple spots in the pen. Or, they are going to have to do something with Rodgers and Scarpetta so they will probably fill roles in the pen next year at a very inexpensive price. Relief Pitching Result: Bullpen would hopefully be a little better (as it can't be much worse than this year). It seems like it's always every other year that we have a good pen. Obviously, with K-Rod gone and a few of the other guys currently in arby years being let go, the pen would also be much less expensive. Line-up: 1) Hart should be traded at the deadline next year for prospects. By then, hopefully Gamel or Morris is ready at first. 2) Try to trade or release Morgan in the offseason. Gindl or Schafer can easily cover the fourth spot as they gain some MLB experience. This season has shown us that Braun, Gomez/Platoon, and Aoki is the best way to arrange the outfield given the players we have. 3) Do not sign guys like Ishikawa & Izturis as they only waste salary. I think the Brewers need one solid veteran on the bech for leadership/pinch hitting, but that's it. Save the money. Line-up Results: We have basically the same team as this year only we will have figured out from the beginning to play Aoki in RF and Hart at 1st, maximizing the lineup. Also, you gotta believe Rickie won't have such a horrible start to the year next year and hopefully we won't get the long term injuries we have had this year. Our lineup is showing that they will produce runs. The weak spot is still SS, but maybe Gonzalez or Bianchi can adequately improve the results we are getting from Ransom, Izturis, and Maysonette this year. Overall: Yes, Greinke is our best trading option, but it's not like we are going to get the same caliber of player back in the deal for a rental player. We need Greinke back and if we do, we will continue to have a shot a the playoffs for several years to come. Even if we have to match Cain's contract, I think it is worth it and we can afford it with our farm guys filling the back end of the rotation. I don't see anyone in our farm system being a top of the rotation guy except maybe Nelson, and without at least two top pitchers (Greinke and Yo), we have no real shot at the playoffs anytime soon. Plus, we'll still get at least three decent prospects back in the K-Rod, Marcum and Hart trades that everyone on this board agrees our system really needs. Our team is not that far off this year, a few tweaks and a couple prospects from next year's trades and we could be in good shape without wasting Braun and Yo's prime years as we try to find a new #1 pitcher.

That plan would fit if we had starting pitching, but we don't, so position player depth is a luxory we can not afford. We can likely snag a nice starting pitcher for McGehee, and thats something we need to act on. Take care of the stating pitching 1st, if we need to add a position player during the season, we can do that then, through trade, just as we did very well the last 2 years with Durham and Lopez. Its far easier to add stopgap position players during the season than it is to add a starting pitcher. That plan for Gamel and the infield does still allow us to address the starting pitching as (Hardy/Hart/Prospects other than Gamel) would be traded for a pitcher and the salary savings we would get from possibly not resigning Kendall/Looper/Cameron could go towards a free agent; hopefully giving us two new decent pitchers. Also, as others have mentioned, I'm not certain that trading McGehee would net us anything more than a #5 pitcher at this point. GMs won't give up much for him without proof that this past season wasn't a fluke like his minor league career suggests it is.

It seems to me that Melvin should have a pretty clear idea of Gamel's role for next year, but you have to look at the team as a whole and assume a few very reasonable things: A) Prince is in his final year as a Brewer in 2010 B) Either Lopez or Counsel will be back but not both - my guess is Lopez costs too much to retain C) None of Gamel, McGehee, or Weeks are traded D) Hardy or Escobar is traded - my guess is that Hardy is traded and does not slide over to third With that being the case, you would have Weeks and McGehee covering 2B & 3B and Counsel again covering the super-sub role he is so good at. The preferred outcome is that: 1) Weeks comes back from injury and plays well, reclaiming 2B. 2) McGehee proves that he is not a one year wonder. 3) Gamel plays the year at AAA to reclaim his swing, cut down on strikeouts, improve his D, get a better work discipline, and try him out a few games during the season at another position (i.e. 1B to cover the loss of Prince in 2011). - If Weeks really struggles, then McGehee moves over to second and Gamel gets a real shot at third. - If McGehee has another good season his trading value will jump (and we could get more than the #5 pitcher for him we would get this offseason) or he could be our 2B / 3B for several years to come. - If Gamel has the year in the minors he is capable of, then he gets the 3B job in 2011 if McGehee is moved to 2B or traded; or better still, Gamel is the lefty that learns how to play first to cover the loss of Prince the following year while McGehee and Weeks cover 3B & 2B. Certainly there are some big IF's to that line of thinking, but it would potentially maximizes Gamel and McGehee's value and it seems like the most cost effective route. It also gives the Brewers depth so they are covered in case of injury. And, most important, they will have a plan in place for the departure of Prince.

I'm sure the Blue Jays would probably want another pitcher added to the list in a trade for Halladay (probably instead of Hart), but from what I have been reading on the Toronto papers, it's almost a foregone conclusion that he will be traded this offseason and now is worth about 40-50% less than what he could have returned to them at the trade deadline. Riccardi really messed that situation up. I think the Brewers could put together a package of players to get him without hurting our team: Hardy and Gamel fit a couple of their needs and we already have their replacements on the MLB team; Jeffress does still have a ton of potential which their new GM might get "high" on; and if we have to give up another pitcher, it may not hurt too much because we have a whole group of equal potentials that are about two years away.

Is there any way we could get Roy Halladay by trading some or all of Hardy, Hart, Gamel and Jeffress? With Riccardi gone, does that increase our chances? Halladay is exactly what this team needs...especially if we could get him signed to an extension for two or three more years. We need a front-line pitcher to lead the group and show Gallardo how to last more than five innings (right now Gallardo is really only a good #2/3 pitcher until he learns how to limit his pitches and throw a complete game once in a while). Please no more Looper or Suppan in the starting rotation. I cannot stand to watch those two pitch. I would think a starting five of Halladay, Gallardo, Bush, Parra and Narveson/Butler/Whomever would be a monsterous improvement over this year. Yes, I do still have some faith in Bush and Parra being sub-5 ERA pitchers if they have someone behind the plate who is a little less predictable calling pitches. Also, I actually would rather we trade Gamel over McGehee as I don't think his defense/work ethic will ever come around enough to have an established position and I think McGehee is more than a one year wonder.