DHonks

That's a great deal for the Phillies. Given how dominant Papelbon has been, this seems a touch under the market value for a closer of his caliber. The only thing holding him back might have been the Supply of closers this year

good move for the Twins. He's not expensive. I'm not a huge fan, but besides Reyes, Rollins, and Furcal, this crop is unexciting. Only Carroll and Scutaro could be genuine upgrades. Barmes solves one problem but creates another

mlbtraderumors says Carroll is about to sign a multiyear deal with an unknown team. Any chance we could be the unknown team? It wouldn't mind it if we signed him or re-signed Scutaro. Throw in resigning Hairston, and we'd have much better infield defense and OBP.

kramnoj, Gamel was not given a shot. One game he batted leadoff and got on base 3 or 4 times while making some great plays...his reward was he didn't play for several days while Bill Hall did. I hated Macha for many reasons, and this is one of the lesser reasons.

You're completely ignoring the fact that Braun, Hart, Morgan, Weeks, Marcum, Gallardo etc. will all be getting pretty substantial pay raises. Braun, Hart, Weeks and Gallardo alone are going to make $13.25M more combined than they did in 2011. Morgan and Marcum will get sizable increases as well although we don't know exactly how much. Gomez and Loe will also get raises. Hence why Hart and Gomez could be dealt, and Loe non-tendered or traded. Unfortunately I don't think Gomez has any value, and Loe probably is worth more to us than another team.

part of the problem is that many of the players are from nearly broke backgrounds. NCAA regulations say they can't hold jobs during the season and severely limit their out-of-season work (to avoid boosters paying them tons for minimum wage jobs). If I were from a nearly broke background and couldn't take a date out unless it's for free, I would probably feel cheated as well.

cvollbrecht, why would we need to unload Marcum or Wolf? Reyes would slide into the payroll spot of Fielder from 2011. If Gamel is at 1b, we'll have a cheaper 1b/ss combo in 2012 than 2011, and that's with Reyes. As for the pen, I'd love to bring back Hawkins and Saito, and how much money will they get at their ages? We had a very strong bullpen, and I don't see it getting much worse even if it remains intact (except KRod)

Mass/Jim, thanks for keeping me busy all those days and nights reading through your thoughts and linked articles/box scores. I remember being amazed late in high school (graduated '99) to find that I could learn more about the Brewers farmhands than the weekly notes blurb in the journal sentinel. At first I was hooked on USATODAY.com for boxscores (in college I'd wait to see how High Desert did), Baseball America for statistics, and AOL's message boards. After a while, I discovered Brewerfan.com. I'm not sure if it's because of Jim Powell, an internet search (google wasn't around yet), or a comment somewhere else, but I found brewerfan.com and immediately was drawn to the minor league forum. I could discuss the Brewers--and their prospects--with so many knowledgeable fans. I wasn't alone with my insane love of the continually crappy Brewers!! The minor leagues gave us reason for hope. We all found prospects we loved to follow. I recently reminisced with a former Brewers farmhand--Mark Erster--how wonderful it was to follow those guys with such promise. Eventually my love of the minor leagues took me to work for a friend in the Arizona Fall League. Much of my love of the minor leagues is because of the work that you did on the minor league forums. You were a spark that made possible the saber vs scouting arguments and debates over Kade Johnson or Jason Belcher. Some of us loved guys like Jose Mieses, Ryan Poe, or Jeff Pickler. I like to think that your work on this site is what helped the Brewers host minor league games at Miller Park. People actually cared about the future of the organization in part because they had information--you put it all conveniently in this one place. Thanks again Mass/Jim!

Napoli quietly went about his business catching bullpen sessions. The ball always jumped off his bat with authority, but there was question as to whether or not his defense was passable. He played 1b, DH, and C. That team also had 3 other catchers I think--Carlos Ruiz, Jeromy Brown, and John Baker. While Browny was a favorite of mine, I later learned he had some demons in the minors that held him back. Throw in that the squad also had Josh Wilson (he's had a serviceable career), Ryan Howard, Mark Teahen, and Huston Street, and that was a pretty good squad.

Barton, like Loney, was a huge mess when I saw them in the AFL. Loney's head was on straight, he was just an ass. But Barton was both an ass and a problem kid. He may have matured, as that was 6 years ago. But I doubt it since it seems this guys don't change. Napoli, Howard, and Drew were good guys...Barton and Loney were a pain.

still no. At $6 million, he'd be vastly overpaid. I'd rather have Branyan at $500k or Gamel at $400k

MNBrew, Fukudome was very good with the Cubs. He's good defensively and good with OBP. He was only a flop in the eyes of Cubs fans.

there was lots of speculation it would be finalized before the World Series...so why worry?

Yes, players need to be able to hit. But defense is really the undervalued tool that evolved after OBP. Instead of adding runs to a team, it subtracts runs from the opposing team. A lack of defensive skills have held back others. Mat Gamel? Jack Cust?

I'd like to think that Gindl's stats are better than Hart's in part because he's played in leagues at a younger age, didn't play in High Desert, and consistently has had a better OBP. Perhaps he's similar to Hart, but I think he'd be a much better option in RF.

Al, how is defense silly? We saw an inept defensive team this year. It must get better, although it can't get worse. Scooter needs to become adequate before he reaches MLB

I've read speculation on mlbtraderumors that Boston could be a great fit for Hart...do they mean LF?

Gomez is still arguably the worst offensive outfielder in the league. His defense is outstanding--a 9.5/10. But Morgan is pretty good as an 8. Gomez really can't hit, especially off lefties. Morgan even openly admits he can't hit lefties. Whether or not they return depends on how much they'll make as a tandem.

KRod must be offered arby since we know he wants a 2-3 year deal to close. What's the worst thing that happens? He accepts and we pay good money to a dominant setup man on a 1-year deal?

the only way we should keep Prince is if we switch back to the AL, instead of the Astros.

1. Reyes SS 2. Morgan CF 3. Weeks 4. Braun LF 5. Gamel RF 6. Hart 1b 7. Green 3b 8. Lucroy bench: McGehee 1b/3b, Gomez CF, Hairston UT, Maldanado C, Wilson SS. Against a righty the bench will be all right-handed. But vs a lefty we can put McGehee, Hairston, and Gomez into the lineup. Wilson is currently a decent option as the 25th man where he doesn't do much well, but does nothing terribly. He provides a versatile player that can play any position in a pinch, is cheap, and likely accepts his role The real challenge is with the pitching staff with all the guys coming off the DL. We know Parra will likely be on the 60-day DL, but beyond that nobody really knows.

I wasn't meaning to be nit-picking, since I'm a teacher and hate it when students correct me when they know what I mean. But if he thought he was in AA, then his stock would definitely jump. If he made a typing mistake, then it's fine.

should someone tell John that Gindl held his own in AAA, not AA?

type A or B doesn't depend on free agency status. If depends on where you rank among MLB players at your position.

I need a few days. But I think the key is sort of the Billy Beane approach that it's easier to build a team that can win over 162-games than over 5 or 7 games. Still, this lineup needs more balance. One major difference between the Cards and Brewers was that the Cards seemingly hit an infinite amount of seeing-eye singles that found holes. The Brewers' approaches tend to lead to more unproductive at bats (pop outs, strikeouts, etc). Sometimes the Brewers looked more concerned with working the count than they were with getting on base. The Cards swung at the good pitches they saw, irregardless of count. Finally, the Brewers' defense needs some obvious upgrades. We likely have the worst defensive RF, 1b, and SS in MLB, Weeks is merely adequate, and McGehee is slightly below avg. Finally, Hairston needs to come back at 3b, SS or UT, and we need another player or two like him.