PrinceFielderx1

The Brewers should have made their initial offer much high, then knew what they had, which is why they wanted to extend him so soon. When you do this you can't low ball you actually have to shock him with your offer. I stand by my opinion that the Brewers messed up the negotiations.

Lee your wrong. The Brewers will have the best offense in baseball this season.

Prediction - Brewers trade for a solid everyday 1B man by trade deadline. Not someone long term, but on 2 year minumum deal.

mnbrew, Not likely at all.

It's the most energetic regular season game of the year if your not in contention in September. I'm saving all my money for playoff tickets to the NLCS or WS should that happen. Might go to 3 games depending on my schedule.

Agreed. Peralta will be one of out top 3 pitchers this season. Anybody that says that about him totally missed his second half of last season.

I was watching the Brewers on MLBTV on Sunday and he made some real nice plays at first. I have never seen him play before Sunday and real small sample but it was a good first impression. His minor league numbers are pretty good also, so he has history of success. He has good power and good plate discipline and his OBP last season proves it. Also, did good in the AFL, in off-season. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=595386

I'm not that upset with the decision as you seem to be. I'd go with the better defensive 1B man with way less strikeouts any day of the week. Guys we are going to have the #1 offense in baseball even with our current 1B offensive projection production. Overbay has a better eye at the plate and makes way more contact and plays good defense at 1B than reynolds. As a temporary solution that works. A platoon is still possible also, just replace Reynolds with Jason Rogers.

Victor Roache has a much better chance to be the 1B of the future in as little of 2 years, or less.

Exactly correct on everything. I've been saying this for about a year now. Guy's a guy that I highly believe will make the team as a back-up at 3B and SS is Elian Herrera. He played 3B today and showed excellent range with a stabbing grab all the way out in the SS position while playing 3B and hit a homerun. He's having a good spring.

Monty I agree. They will need a utility player to step up and one that can play 3B/SS. This discussion deserves it's own thread.

20-8

You just became my favorite poster and you have no clue why.

This idea is for people with a low baseball IQ. Braun earned that MVP whether on HGH or not. It takes a GREAT hitter to do what he did, not HGH.

... well that and an unproductive farm system. I rate a teams farm system as 50% of what needed to develop a good team. They other 50% is a GM that can fill needs by adding multiple good players to the roster by trading 1 good player and by utilitzing FA market wisely. The thing is the farm system doesn't have to be all that good to aquire those players as Doug Melvin has proved, which makes having a good farm system less important. I'll just politely disagree with both of you.

I guess they are re-searching how they can gain so much weight by eating nuts all day.....

If you believed everything being written about players this time of year, you'd be convinced every team is coming north with 35 players, not 25. The Brewers on one hand have been publicly marveling about Francisco's awesome power this spring. But they still went out this winter and looked at virtually every other option available at first base, eventually bringing in a flawed guy like Reynolds and the aging Overbay. If that's not a lack of confidence in Francisco, I don't know what is. So Rosenthal is speculating on a landing spot for "Fan"cisco. It gets people talking. That's his job when it comes down to it. If he gets a HOF vote and get's paid over $30,000 a year for creating discussion, which anybody at this site can do, then this is such a waste of money. Worse than the Federal Government spending 500 million on the research of squirrels.

[sarcasm]You should take his job. Your takes are pretty awesome.[/sarcasm] I've predicted more trades/signings than he has in his entire career months before they even happened (Sabathia, Greinke, Ramirez, Marcum etc...) You would do a better job than him, trwi7, and add some sassiness that should get you plenty of attention. That last part should be in blue, but I'm color blind and so that rule doesn't apply to me.

I'm surprised Rosenthal still has a job.

No. I wouldn't extend Gallardo. If he has a good season this year I'd trade him and give his spot to Thornburg or Nelson. Actually, I'd find a way to work both of them in, because Estrada days in Milwaukee are numbered in my view. He'll get expensive and not be worth it.

My bad, I apologize. I love the minor leagues and saw a possible connection with Brewers plans to platoon 1B till they know what they have in Roache, which they should find out "very" soon.

The top 100 prospects thing these minor league analysts do is so pointless for the reason you suggested. A player could be ranked 130 and by mid-season he's in the top 100 or even top 50. The only prospect rankings I go by are the top 15. I also agree with what you wrote, however I'm not over looking his defense, because I said he should be moved to 1B. Many prospect analysts said the Brewers selecting Roache was a steal if he can bounce back after injury, which he's starting to do. Steal meaning he should have been a top 10 pick hadn't he'd been injured.

Says whom exactly? Are you really suggesting that teams think every player taken in the 1st round is going to hit .280 or better as a professional? There were only 29 qualified players in the NL who hit .280 or better last year. Each team on average only has a couple of those guys from year to year. Of the HR leaders, Pedro Alvarez who led the NL with 36 only hit .233. In 3rd Jay Bruce hit .262, farther down Justin Upton .263, Dominic Brown .272, Ryan Zimmerman .275, Giancarlo Stanton .249... being a productive run producer isn't necessarily about the hit tool, those guys who can hit for AVE and SLG... those guys tend to be Hall of Fame candidates, perennial All-stars, they are the cream of the crop, they aren't so easy to find, and rarely are impact college players drafted that late in the draft. I highly doubt you've ever watched Roache play a game, and he played a full season last year, it's just that only half the season was worth discussing. Nor do scouting reports change like the wind... on very young players they may; 16 year olds out of Latin America and 18 year old HS kids from the states, but for good reason as it's nearly impossible to project how bodies will change and prospects will develop when they are that young. By the time the players reach 21-22 years old the reports don't change much, and furthermore what changed in Fielder's scouting reports? They just got much more detailed as he moved up and BA had more information from more sources about him but the same core themes carried through year to year. If you read the MiLB forum you will see that posters like myself really want Roache to succeed, we need him to succeed, but we also try to ground the discussion in realism rather than over-the-top fanboyisms. It's fine for you to say you think he can hit .280 but at least base it on something other than you pulled a number out of a hat and now aren't willing to back away from a somewhat ridiculous comparison to start with. In fact I'm having a hard time believing I've posted so many times in this thread about something so outrageous, it has largely been a waste of time based on your responses. No scouting reports change like the wind because young players learn how to hit a breaking ball. You can't deny that. They change all the time. That's just 1 example of many.

Roache has finished a half season, and so there's not significant data for scouts to go on. Also, you don't hget drafted in the 1st round only because of raw power, you have to have proven you can hit. Hence why the Brewers drafted him. Yes, Roache will progress in the coming years. Considering the amount of power production he's had in the minors his potential is VERY high and the fact that he can hit. I'm not saying that he's Prince Fielder 2.0 right now, but he as close to Prince Fielder as we are going to get and that bods very well for the Brewers and him as a player. My guess is that he explodes this season and all projections/scouting reports on him change by August of this season. As you can see I usually don't use scouting reports as a basis for future projection. They change like the wind.

I go back to what I originally said. Doug Melvin wouldn't have drafted Roache in the 1st round if he didn't think he was going to be a very good hitter w/ power. Scouts change their scouting reports all the time as prospects make adjustments. Pardon me if I take what the scouts say with a grain of salt.