HiAndTight

I think that saying is a little overblown when it comes to 16 year old Latin American kids. Just because they feel as though they have to go after pitches and try and make an impression that walking will not accomplish to the scouts does not mean they can't be fixed of that as they age. For all the Vlad's, there are lots of LA players who work the count and take lots of walks. Also, given the number of studs coming over from Latin America as opposed to Asia, coupled with the fact that they have a League over there so that everyone knows about the best players, I'd just assume we continue to focus on Latin America.

He did have surgery on both of his knees and then had the 2nd most walks in the NL the next season. He had minor surgery on one knee and then hurt his other knee in an incredibly flukey situation. And a young pitcher who had that many walks, yet still posted such impressive numbers, who by the way has never had a major issue with walks wouldn't really equate to a TJ surgery IMO. Becketts was and remember the Marlins also traded Lowell and at the time he was a rather good and serviceable 3B. Actually, if I remember correctly Lowell was due to make roughly 10 million dollars(perhaps just a shade less), had a recent injury history and the Marlins were looking to dump his contract meaning his value was pretty much neglegable at the time.

Again, people may think I'm crazy, but I wouldn't do Lawrie straight up for Johnson. It's not because I don't think that'd be a fair deal, in fact, I think based on current value we'd be getting an incredible deal. I just think Lawrie's going to be that good that I would make him almost untouchable. So I hope the Marlins value Gamel more than Lawrie right now. I hope they don't value Lawrie that much at all. I understand we're going to have to give a lot to get a pitcher like Josh Johnson, I'd just rather we keep the large group of very talented pitchers we've got and Brett Lawrie. Anyone else, go ahead.

I don't agree at all. I think the average Brewers fan looks at it as "JJ Hardy-All Star, Carlos Gomez-.229 hitter.....WHY!!!". If we were to trade for Johnson they'd see a ace caliber starting pitcher getting traded for a guy most average fans still don't really care about and a prospect that most average fans see struck out a lot, and so he must be terrible. And I really do think that is the way the average fan thinks. They'd love this deal....which makes me think...this MUST be terrible, right? Seriously, this would be a nice guy to grab, but I would be picky about who I'd give up. Gamel, McGehee, Hart(who they wouldn't likely want), Salome, Cain....guys like that, fine. Definitely not Lawrie as I don't want to trade him at all. Not for Halladay last year and not for Johnson this year, and I really don't want to trade guys like Willy Peralta as I don't think their value on the trade market is going to be anywhere near to what they're capable of doing.

I'm a huge, huge fan of it. Alcides Escobar signed for 33K and unless I'm mistaken, he was 16 when he signed. Either way, you're usually going to sign a lot of Rolando Pascauls and Santo Aybar's before you're going to hit on a guy, but if you sign 10 of them and spend 4 million total and end up with just one Alcides Escobar, you're getting a great, great deal. I like the Brewers newfound aggression on the Latin American market.

I don't believe he would put up better numbers with the Brewers than he did with the Sox. In fact, I believe his numbers would actually decline a bit not having the Green Monster out there. I'm not one who buys into defensive metrics as much as others, but I think a lot of people are vastly underrating defense. Cameron's the type of guy who if you get to watch him everyday, you see just how easy he makes it look. Bay on the other hand is awful. The difference between their defensive values far outweight the difference in their offense IMO. Plus, if you took Cam and put him in Boston with the Green Monster, I think his numbers would see quite a jump.

You can take this for what it's worth, but knowing several people who work for the Brewers, and who deal with these players on a daily basis when they do many of their community events, I have not heard Good things about Lopez. Many of them had more.....disparaging remarks about him than any player who they've ever dealt with. Like I said, I don't expect you to take a poster on the internet talking about people he knows who knows.....etc..as gospel, just something to consider.

It'd be shocked if we got Prince signed simply because of the Boras issue. What would it take for Boras to say it was alright for Prince to give up his right to test the open market? 22 million per year over 5? 25 over 5? I don't know, but I don't think it'd be wise. I do agree Mark A is going to try and possibly get Prince signed when he becomes a Free Agent, I just don't believe it's in our best interest. As far as Smoltz, I'd love to sign him. I wanted to sign him last year as a FA. I really like the idea of going after 2-3 of those types, John Smoltz, Duke from the A's, Mulder for the price of 1, even Ben Sheets, and then going after one legit, more reliable starters. Trade for Lowe in a deal in which the Brewers pay him maybe 10 this year and 12 from there on, sign Sheets for 1 year 4.5 with 3 in incentives, a team option for 14 next year or a 1.5 buyout, maybe a mutual option, Mulder for 1 million on a FA deal, and Smoltz or Duke for 3 million. That's 18.5 million, and from there on our, you just hope to get equal to one starter out of Sheets, Smoltz/Duke, and Mulder. A pretty safe bet IMO. Most likely Mulder won't do anything, Sheets will be lucky to throw 175, which would be incredible for us, and Smoltz possibly ends up as a reliever. But I think that's the type of approach, however aggressive it may sound, for the Brewers to address their pitching without really locking themselves into anything long term. Then after next season you have Suppan, Riske and Hall off the books, and most importantly, Mark Rogers, Cody Scarpetta, Mike Jones, Amaury Rivas, Eric Arnett, Rob Wooten, Zach Braddock, Willy Peralta, Alexandre Periard and Evan Anundsen are all either up in the big leagues, or at least knocking on the door(with the caveat that there will likely be injuries and set backs) giving us our next wave of big league pitching. It just depends on how badly the Brewers want to try and bridge that gap with a competitive team and how aggressive they are willing to be in order to get that accomplished.

Wow....I really vehemetly disagree with this. I think Rivas is most definitely something to get excited about. A guy who throws in the mid 90's and has the best change in his league is a pretty exciting young prospect. Taylor Green IMO is a Mark Loretta type prospect with more power, also a nice encouraging young player who I believe will develop into the prototypical #2 hitter for years to come. AS for our system starting to look pretty grim, again, I just really disagree. This, IMO, is the deepest group we've had in years. We may not have the high number of the top tier power hitters. In other words our top 5-8 may not be as good as they've been, but I think this is as good of a 10-40 as I've ever seen. Heck, when Brett Lawrie is getting comped to Rogers Hornsby, that in and of itself is exciting. I also loved the Brewers draft last year and believe it will end up being the best draft of the last 10 years. Picking up two projected top 3 round picks in the 15th and 16th because we were willing to spend was huge. As for your comment about nothing more than just stop gaps in the higher levels, guys like Salome, LuCroy, Gamel, Escobar. On the mound you still have Braddock and Rogers who will start in AA along with hopefully Periard who reminds me very much of Derek Lowe and was really coming on strong prior to last years set backs. Butler looked good, Wooten. Arnett should be able to make a very quick ascent through the minor leagues should he stay healthy. So maybe we just have very different expectations, but I really like our system and more importantly, I love where it's heading right now. As far as Cain and Green, I don't think there is any question whatsoever that both would be snapped up were they have been left unprotected. In fact, I'd exect both to be among the top couple picks of the draft. Cain is a guy who many thought would start for us in CF this upcoming year, and Taylor Green, if not for a injury plagued season could also be pushing for a spot on the 25 many out of ST'ing.

I don't think there's any question you were being rude there. I'd imagine there are ways of voicing your opinion that coach is overly complimentary of Angel then saying you can't take anything he says seriously, and that his posts offer no insight. It's kinda like the "no offense, but........" and then saying something that's most assuredly offensive following. If you have to say no offense, try a more tactful way to put it. In any event, its' always difficult if you're talking about someone you really care about and have a close relationship with to be completely objective, especially when they possess the physique and physical attributes of Angel Salome.

Count me as one of the few who doesn't believe that a year with Mike Rivera as the starting catcher would be a very pretty sight. I know he was somewhat decent two years ago, but this was coming off a .215/.275 type season in AAA and if memory serves was with only about 20 games started, if that. AS for LuCroy vs Salome, I just don't see how Salome could possibly the the more complete prospect at this point. I believe he's got the higher upside in that I believe with his pure tools, a 70 arm, his power potential, and his potential to carry a high BA, that he could end up being a very, very good catcher. However at this point LuCroy can help out the offense without getting a hit, and he seems to be at least average defensively. I envision LuCroy posting a .255/.345/.410 type line nest year and Salome could easily be under .300 with his OBP.

Sorry for the consecutive posts, just a very interesting topic to me. As for this post, I absolutely love Weeks and believe he will be a MVP candidate at some point, however this deal would be incredibly difficult to pass up were it offered. Perhaps we offer McGehee+Hart instead giving them a RH'ed OF'er and a viable option in the event that Jones goes down and some protection for Prado at 2nd in McGehee.

Exactly. I'm incredibly fearful that we're going to go and lock up Davis and Washburn for 3 years and somewhere around 8-11 million dollars each. I don't know if there has ever been more painfully obvious warning signs with a FA pitcher than with Jarrod Washburn. Doug Davis is a nice guy to have, but again, what's he going to do for us? Derek Lowe I believe is a pitcher who can pitch at the top of a rotation as a #2. Davis and Washburn are low end 3's and 4's. AS for our IF, I am of the belief that trading Prince is the wise move, then you could insert Gamel into 1st and he'd immediately be a well above average defender over there. That however won't happen, but I agree Weeks has improved a great deal, Escobar is absolutely incredible. Prince isn't good, but he only slightly below average least, and McGehee is a far better defender than he showed last year. Either way, I don't buy into the argument that because you have a poor IF defense you don't want GB pitchers. I always want GB pitchers. Obviously I'd prefer a strikeout pitcher, but if you keep the ball on the ground, you'll do alright.

I think delusional is a bit much. Lets not forget that Derek Lowe's final numbers were inflated as a result of an unlucky BABIP, and a couple of bad starts. Now I don't pretend that throwing out starts is a valid way to go about evaluating a pitchers worth, just that if one start or....3 starts as it were results in a pitchers ERA jumping up ~.60 runs or more, then you have to consider they were a good pitcher for the vast majority of the year. The guy is 39, but I believe he's a pitcher who will age well. He's got a nice easy, fluid delivery, he's always been a workhorse, and he relies more on movement, and location than he does velocity. Now the fact that he is a guy who can throw in the low 90's with sinking fastball is a big part of who he is, I just don't think you're giong to see a jump to Suppanian level ERA's consistently.

Suppan's contract is not that bad since if the Braves traded Lowe straight up for Suppan they would have a lot of salary relief which would allow them to extend Vazquez another year or two. The Braves would be saving about $28m over the next three years ('10,'11, and '12 )by trading Lowe for Suppan. If the Braves are really looking to cut salary then they would be stupid not to do this kind of a deal. That $28m could easily translate into a FA or extending Vazquez a couple of years. On the other hand the Brewers would be dumb to accept this trade. It would make their financial situation even worse than what it is currently. The problem is, the Braves could very likely just trade Lowe and get nothing back in return or at the very least trade him for a marginal prospect(at worst) and take on 3 million a year. Derek Lowe's a very good pitcher who struggled just a little bit last year. Javier Vazquez is also a good pitcher, but Derek Lowe is a dependable workhorse who you'd have under control for 3 additional years. Were the Braves willing, I'd eagerly jump on a Lowe+10 million for Corey Hart and perhaps a mid level prospect. Not quite a Caleb Gindl, but perhaps a Axford, a Farris, someone of that caliber. But I have a favorable opinion of Derek Lowe and believe he will perform at a 3.85-4.15 ERA for the life of his contract, while taking the ball 30+ times a year. Trade for Lowe, perhaps move Gamel to RF if you are in fact confident that McGehee can handle the job(perhaps even if you are not as Taylor Green will be ready shortly), sign a low risk type guy in Mark Mulder or someone of that caliber, and then possibly look at one more FA. Perhaps Ben Sheets for a 1 year 4.5 million dollar deal with 3.5 in incentives and a 14 million dollar team option with a 1.5 million dollar buyout?

Certainly he will cost less. That he is better is something that at the very least is up for discussion. In any event, unless Pudge would come in for 1.5 or somewhere in that range, something that's incredibly unlikely, I'd just as soon sign Kendall to play the role of mentor to LuCroy or Salome(whichever ends up being the one next year, though LuCroy certainly would get my vote at this time). Bring back Kendall, as the one thing that he's still very good at is understanding the game, something that the Brewers tried to help LuCroy improve at by mandating he track every single hitter and every pitch on nights he wasn't catching in the Fall League. At the end of the day though, that's about the only reason you bring Kendall back. He'd be a very cheap mentor to your young guys. If they're talking abuot bringing him back to start 100 games again........