Sage

I think the game is also on MLB Network tonight, if you happen to get that. It's the second option game, though, so it might not be shown. Worth a shot, though.

See, I wanted to go with Omen - The Axeman just for that awesome intro, but the rest of the song didn't do it for me. Nightmare got my vote. It's perfect for a closer's entrance, if you ask me. I also considered the Refused song and Bulls on Parade. Seriously though, how is The Good, The Bad & The Ugly winning? I'm sorry, but that will NOT get the crowd pumped up. It's boring. I don't even know why he put that as an option. I actually think the last three options may have been jokes...

Honestly, Young can NOT be any worse defensively at SS than Betancourt, and he's obviously a better hitter. He would be a great addition to our lineup, and I think we could work a deal around Betancourt + for Young, so long as Texas either eats a lot of his contract or sends us money to pay him. If we have to take on anywhere above 50% of his contract, though, Melvin should slam the phone down. I don't think we'll be dealing for Young, but it's entirely possible that Texas could get really desperate to deal him and would even take on the majority of his contract just to dump him. I think this is more of a wait-and-see situation right now, though.

No doubt that Reyes would be better than Betancourt, but, he just isn't worth the money he'll likely be asking for. Looking at his stats, he appeared to be back and healthy last season, and yet his defensive value dropped greatly from the expected, and his OBP was sad for a leadoff hitter. As has already been stated in this thread, our money would be better spent on retaining Rickie. Now, let's say we can acquire Reyes midseason for a modest package. I don't think anyone would be opposed to it. However, the Mets will most definitely be asking for prospects. As for the scenario of trading Hart to them, you forget who their GM now is. Sandy Alderson likely is not in the business of taking on big contracts. All in all, I think that, while he is an upgrade over Betancourt, the Brewers are better off not making a move for him. Keep whatever prospects the Mets would be asking for in return, and use our money on Rickie. I'm sure we can find a quality SS next year who won't cost us a lot (in prospects or money) that would fill the void successfully. And who knows? Maybe Betancourt gets his act together and has an acceptable season (doubt it, but you never know).

Interesting thought here. Is it possible that the PTBNL from the Blue Jays in the Villanueva trade is a CF or SS?

I'm actually with you on this one. Near the end of the season, when Go-Go saw more playing time, he was getting on base better. When he was getting on base, he was making things happen, and we were scoring runs. If he can get on base consistently, he is very good for this team. Okay, I love this deal. If we sign Greinke and Marcum to extensions, even better. If we don't, I look forward to the haul of prospects we can get by trading those two or by getting the high draft picks. Basically, we didn't lose any offense, by lost defense at SS by getting Betancourt. I'm with everyone here, though, in that I'd rather see anyone BUT Betancourt starting at SS. There are guys like Renteria and Cabrera out there who could fill that hole nicely, and moving Betancourt to a utility role would be a smart move. As for CF, like I said, I think Gomez will be good out there, and if he's not, we've still got Dickerson and Boggs ready to play right now, with Schafer waiting if he's needed. All in all, I'm really excited for this team this year.

Renteria and Cruz If we sign Renteria, I have a feeling we'd be more likely to see a Counsell/Renteria platoon, with Cruz serving as the utility guy on the bench. Agreed wibadgers, I would love to know what Breen knows.

"More concrete information on the #Brewers and Greinke. Don't know whether to come forth w/ info and risk looking like a fool next week..." That again from Breen. Makes me wonder. Does his "concrete information" involve us and the Royals being close on a deal, and does he not want to look like a fool if it falls through?

That's pretty much what I'm thinking. I think Melvin would be more willing to give Jeffress or Rogers than Braddock, to be honest, considering how valuable Braddock was last year. Now, in this scenario, I wonder if Melvin is really willing to create two holes (at SS and CF) in order to fill one hole (at SP). I mean, if we pull an Escobar/Cain/Jeffress or Rogers for Greinke deal, who plays SS, and can Gomez handle CF?

"I'm hearing the #Brewers are making a serious move for Zack Greinke. Even have gotten names. Working to confirm before specifics, though." That from Jim Breen on Twitter. He's still waiting on confirmation of the talks before putting out the names that he's been given. He does say that the deal would NOT involve Odorizzi or Heckathorn, but 3 guys with Major League experience. This makes me wonder who it could be, and if they consider either Mark Rogers or Jeremy Jeffress to have Major League experience because of their callup last season. However, it's known the Royals want a middle-infielder in the package. Escobar, perhaps? I doubt we'd want to give up on him, but I could see it happening if Doug is serious about getting Greinke.

Here's my thoughts. The Red Sox have acquired their big piece, and perhaps could get Crawford or Werth. That will probably push the Yankees to pony up as much money as possible for Lee. All those things could push the Blue Jays to make a big splash to keep in the race. They need a 1B/DH, and have a surplus of pitching. I think A-Gon and Dunn being off the market increases Prince's value, and I think the Blue Jays would be looking to land him.

My calling him a good defender was based on the RTZ stat from Baseball-Reference.com, since I can't find another stat for him. Not sure how accurate it is. RTZ shows that he's been a bit better at 3B than 2B, though. Anyway, I really like his stats. He's got 39 HR's in 4 seasons, so there's some pop there. He's also got 37 steals, with only being caught 9 times. Best part, though, is that he's struck out 220 times, and walked 212 times in 4 seasons. It would seem he's got good plate discipline.

Entirely possible. I'm not sure that would be the plan, since we would have a higher pick in the Rule 5 draft than Toronto (correct?). It could make sense, though. For example, we could pick Emaus in the Rule 5, and then have Toronto pick up, say, a pitcher that we also want from the draft, and send that pitcher as the PTBNL.

This caught me off-guard a little bit. I figured it was just that Macha didn't like him, but I guess he'd fallen out of favor in the organization. Good pickup for Toronto, a solid guy to help build their bullpen after losing Gregg, Frasor, and Downs. As for the PTBNL, I am kind of hoping for Brad Emaus. He's played mostly 2B, with a fair amount of 3B as well. His numbers suggest he's a solid hitter and defender (at both 3B and 2B), and I could see bringing him in allowing us to trade Lawrie/Rickie for pitching, or giving us another possible at 3B if we trade McGehee.

Zach Duke is a bit of bigger name, but that's all he's got. We'll get better production from Chris Narveson in the 5th spot than we would from Duke. I just don't think he's really worth the gamble. If we really want another 5th starter, we'd bring Dave Bush back.