PrinceFielderx1

The Giants are shopping Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/03/giants-shopping-ryan-theriot-mike-fontenot.html

If Chapman has to move to the pen because of this, wouldn't the Reds just have wasted 39 million on those two players (Madson, Chapman). They paid Chapman all of that money to be in the rotation, right?

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120323&content_id=27550958&vkey=news_cin&c_id=cin

Was it a fastball or a breaking ball that hit Nyjer?

I never really liked Dale Sveum as the Brewers hitting coach. I did like him in his short time as the Brewers manager, though. However, I'd rather have Roenicke as the Brewers manager.

Mat Gamel homered again! 3-run homer.

Gamel also went Yard! Very nice to see. For those who don't know this game is free to listen to on gameday audio.

Nyjer Morgan with his first Homer of the Spring.

I'm starting to like this Brooks Conrad guy. Does anybody think he will make the Brewers bench out of Spring Training?

Since Ryan Braun will be with the Brewers for opening day, what are the Brewers going to do with all of these OF's? Wasn't the reason why the Brewers went after Aoki was to take over for Braun should he be suspended?

If I'm the Brewers I would wait on extending Marcum. It really sounds like they are. Not just because he had a bad September and did poorly in the playoffs, but because he is changing his delivery, and we don't know how this will affect his performance moving forward. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/138294429.html Apparently his performance late last season warranted a change. I wouldn't called it a "tweak," because it sounds almost like an overhaul of his delivery going from almost all arm to using his legs and backside more to really take the pressure off his arm.

If Marcum really wants to stay with the Brewers, then the Brewers can wait to see how he does in the first few months of the season before approaching him with a new contract. However, if it's all talk, then I'd assume they will need to get it done before opening day or lose him to FA. This is the way I'm personally looking at it.

I'm on the Brewers sites everyday for updates on Brewers Major and Minor league information multiple hours a day. I usually visit and follow the Brewers Minor League sites on a regular basis. I have a good amount of free time during the day and at night (even late night). I could use the Majority of the free time to help keep the Link Report going with updates, news etc on a specific level of the Brewers Minor League system. I would be honored to help contribute if you would like my help. Just let me know.

It won't happen, because there is always the possibility that "if" his asking price comes down, the Brewers could renew their offer of 5 maybe 6 years, and get creative (Melvins own words) and make room for Fielder. Unless the Brewers upper management comes out and says 100% without a doubt that they wont be re-signing Fielder we have to accept that there is a possibility that they could re-sign him. Do we even know if the Brewers pulled back their offer of 5 years 100-110 million? So far, I haven't heard them say that. We don't know the books, projected revenue, new TV contract details etc.. I think that it's likely he signs elsewhere because there is no reports that his asking price has dropped, but I guess we will see. I'm pretty sure Melvin has said that they won't be signing Prince. Their offer to him went out before KRod, Gonzalez, and ARam were locked up. We don't need to know the books, revenue, etc. to know that a team in Milwaukee cannot sustain a $120 million payroll. Who said their payroll has to be 120 million? They could always shed some salary. Also if Doug Melvin has said that they won't be resigning Fielder, then please provide a link. I know that Doug Melvin is really good at making people believe he is saying one thing, but actually not really saying anything at all.

It won't happen, because there is always the possibility that "if" his asking price comes down, the Brewers could renew their offer of 5 maybe 6 years, and get creative (Melvins own words) and make room for Fielder. Unless the Brewers upper management comes out and says 100% without a doubt that they wont be re-signing Fielder we have to accept that there is a possibility that they could re-sign him. Do we even know if the Brewers pulled back their offer of 5 years 100-110 million? So far, I haven't heard them say that. We don't know the books, projected revenue, new TV contract details etc.. I think that it's likely he signs elsewhere because there is no reports that his asking price has dropped, but I guess we will see.

Fielder to Rangers "very unlikely." Per GM Jon Daniels

Does anybody know the latest of what is going on with the contract that the Brewers have in Phoenix, AZ with their Spring training complex? The last I heard was that their contract was set to expire after this coming season (2012).

Let's not overlook the fact that Fielder might not be very happy with the way things have been going this off-season to date.

Brewtank34, When Braun is likely to miss 50 games due to suspension and knowing that Gamel isn't a sure thing, you'd really want to go into a season in what would likely be Greinke and Marcum's last season with the Brewers with this many big uncertainty's? The risk is high. Even higher when you look at the other teams in the division like the Reds and how they have improved.

If Marcum can duplicate or come close to his success in 2011, then I would also. Something else I want to point out is that Greinke is making 13.5 million in 2012 and if we let him walk that is a savings of 13.5 million in 2013. Some of his salary can go to cover any raise Marcum would likely receive, and to other players raises. My whole thing is that I wouldn't want to commit to Marcum longer term, but a 1 year deal is more attractive, depending on what he does this season of course.

Does anybody think Fielder is happy right now that he is still unsigned? If not, if this drags out a couple more weeks, then does he fire Boras? Mitch Williams said on Mlbnetwork tonight as a player Fielder can't be happy right now that he is still unsigned looking at this from the players point of view.

The system isn't destroyed. The Brewers have 3 players in the top 100 prospect rankings, and a bunch of players who had big years last season. Also with the additional wild card team it will be easier than ever to make the playoffs. I believe that any team once in the playoffs can win the WS. So yes I would gladly trade prospects and sign Fielder to have a great chance to make the playoffs and possibly win the WS for the next 3-4 seasons. With the additions of Ramirez and Fielder, Green and Gamel would be blocked. Schafer is already blocked in CF with Morgan and Gomez there. Greinke and Marcum would net us some good draft picks if we let them walk to re-stock the system. Look, I don't think Greinke and Marcum are worth the money they will likely get, and I wouldn't give it to them. The Brewers finally have a good amount of quality pitching prospects in their system that will eventually go along with their offense, or that could be traded for a proven MLB top pitcher by next off-season. Many people were saying that the Brewers didn't have the prospects to trade for Greinke, but they did it anyways. We still have Greinke and Marcum for all of 2012. Also if the Brewers decide that they want to re-sign Greinke/ or Marcum and fail in extending them, then in 2013 they will be without Greinke, Marcum, and Fielder and will be forced to re-build in 1 year from now anyways. I'd go after Fielder, and let Greinke and Marcum walk.

Brewers without Greinke and Marcum but with Fielder = 2009 and 2010 BrewersAnd plus I don't think DM has any more prospects to trade for pitching. They'll probably be able to get 1 mid-rotation pitcher, but that isn't much. To fully advocate signing Fielder seems shortsighted. He's not gonna go below 100mil and the Brewers still have to pay for Braun, Gallardo, Weeks, and Hart. Not to mention that once they do sign Fielder they'll be badly handcuffed by the contract even if they trade Wolf and K-Rod. If the Brewers sign Fielder then they're possibly sacrificing the success of the team for 5+ years from now for a couple more opportunities for the World Series. Seems pretty shortsighted to me.I don't agree with this at all. The Brewers do have prospects to trade (Peralta, Gamel, Green, Schafer etc..) Heck they could even trade Hart. Also, some of those prospects I mentioned aren't in the top 100 of prospect rankings, but that didn't stop DM from getting Greinke. I believe at mid-season the Brewers would be able to trade Jungmann and Bradly, because it would have been a year since they were drafted. The Brewers would likely have an increase in revenue with the new TV contract starting in 2013, and with an increase in ticket prices. They would also save 20-25 million by not having Greinke and Marcum by letting them walk. The Brewers offense would be way better than it has ever been if Fielder was added to this current team for the next 3+ seasons. As for the pitching the Brewers could always trade for more. Doug Melvin has done it before. To say this is shortsighted isn't really thinking it through in my opinion.

I don't want to extend Greinke and Marcum for the money that they will likely demand. Greinke hasn't been as good as advertised and Marcum I feel has bad mechanics and relies on location, because he doesn't have the velocity to get away with mistakes. With that said, a GM knows his prospects better than anybody most of the time. If DM were to go after Fielder and say we believe that we can contend beyond 2012 without Greinke and Marcum, then I will take his word for it. After all this is a GM that will trade quality prospects for quality MLB pitching, because he's proven it. I trust Doug Melvin and his plan for this team, so far. If he can sign Fielder period, then good for him, and good for the organization.

Without knowing the details of the TV contract like you say you don't know (likely still the smallest in the Majors) and additional revenue details how would you know what payroll they could afford or what is considered "crazy"? This is a legit question. All I'm saying is that the Brewers were prepared to go 5 years for Fielder and there were rumors that they were willing to stretch it to 6 years. 5-6 years appears to be in the Brewers range.