umphrey

I hate it how MLB screwed up at every point in the process, and then still felt the need to totally throw Braun under the bus in the " not guilty" announcement

I hear you on this, it's been awhile. I just wish that all 4 of them weren't pitchers. The lack of impact bats coming along scares me an awful lot. I couldn't agree more. We have a number of guys that are perceived as middle of the rotation starters (upside) and some good, cheap bullpen arms. If that's all we get (minus the busts) I'm pretty happy. I don't see an offensive prospect that looks like more than a utility player unless you go to 19 year olds in rookie ball. That is a much worse situation. Edit: you could argue Green and Shafer, but I see Green as about replacement level starter long term, Shafer as 4th OF/platoon. Upside. Not as valuable, or as many prospects, compared to pitching.

Baseball America has Peralta at 56, Jungmann 70, Bradley 71 http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/top-100-prospects/2012/2612998.html

I have a feeling that we will hear something early this week

Veras is in arbitration until 2014. Casey McGehee until 2015. Casey is making about $500k more this year (negligible?). Who was the more valuable trade piece?

Yeah, I was expecting as much. New year, new players, new discussion though. It's pretty simple this year IMO. KRod is a closer, he's used to having an inning. He probably wouldnt adjust well. Leave the 8th and 9th alone and go case by case for the other bullpen innings. Loe, Veras, etc. never had the luxury of settling into an inning slot and they never will because they aren't good enough, so they just have to live with it. Clarification: KRod-8 Ax-9, not suggesting KRod should close

Why? I think having a closer is important. Mix and mashing the 9th inning isn't a good idea to me. As for the 8th, usually I would agree, but with KRod you just give him the 8th. The difference in quality is massive between KRod and Veras/Loe/etc. Also KRod needs to pitch 1 inning, not 1.1 or .2. He loves to walk 2 guys and give up a single before getting 3 outs in a row (which drives me crazy) but because of that you need to bring him in for a full inning. Maybe on some days you could do better by giving him the 7th to get through the middle of the order and give the 8th to a lesser reliever against the bottom of the order. I don't think that works with KRod though. Most relievers are such extreme creatures of habit, they want to know well in advance how they are going to be used so they can prepare mentally/physically for it. KRod is like that, it seems. 7th inning and earlier, the talent is a wash, so I hope we pitch whoever is throwing well that day and find a matchup we like. I'm glad we added Veras because we didn't have anyone else in that group who could get strike outs. The trade off is he's wild, so we can't use him against patient hitters.

I'd guess the talent level would be something equivalent to a midpoint between AA & AAA in the US (think guys we'd label as AAAA types). I don't disagree that Cespedes could wind up being well overhyped. Yeah I wouldn't disagree with that. What I don't get is why Oakland would only sign him for 4 years since he'll enter as more of a prospect than a true veteran, by the end of that contract he'll probably be close to his ceiling. I thought a team would want 6 years of control for Cespedes. They will put a lot of effort into developing him for 2 maybe 3 good years and watch him leave as a UFA, best case scenario.

This sells Cuban baseball way too short imo. It's not MLB, but it's definitely not like A-ball. He had a triple slash in 2011 of .333/.424/.667 last year. That avg and obp don't even crack the top 30 in those leagues. Slugging .667 was good for 5th best. 2 years ago in 2010 he hit .345/.426/.617 and it wasn't good enough to get him into the all star game. He hasn't been hitting MLB pitching or anything close to it. Look at some of the stats in his league, they are insane. Cuban stats

In a Roenicke Q&A he specifically mentioned a 7th inning guy and he considered Loe and Veras the two main candidates. Here's the full quote about our bullpen:

Since he's pretty much coming out of A ball, he's going to have to either adjust really fast or be really awesome for the last 2 years of the contract for it to be worth it.

If Braun is suspended, I just hope we aren't in the position where after 50 games we are well below .500 and everyone is just waiting for Braun to come back and save the season by himself. I would really like it if Weeks, Hart, Ramirez, Gamel, etc. show that they can put together some offense, and then add an all star to that.

Is it so terrible to pay a reliable middle of the order 3B/1B $12M per year with a 3 year commitment? Also all that matters is that he's making $12M per, not $16M in 2014. It's actually $6M, $10M, $16M, $4M and it's cheaper for us to pay him that big number in 2014 and defer $4M all the way until 2015. Although, I don't like his 'first pitch' mentality, but if he produces with it I won't complain. Not necessarily. My guess is that they structured the contract the way they did because they couldn't afford any more payroll this year. By backloading it the way they did, they basically made him untradeable, as few if any teams are going to be willing to pay the 2014 version of Ramirez $16MM + a $4MM buyout unless the Brewers pick up a good share of the contract. In my opinion, they would have been better off paying him $12MM / year, but again, they probably couldn't afford the extra money this year. The Ramirez signing was definitely a "go for it" move for 2012, and I just hope he holds up (both physically and production-wise) for the next few years. I also hope his signing doesn't keep us from extending Greinke, who is far more important for the continued success of the Brewers beyond 2012. Disagree. It's the same money going in or coming out and it doesn't matter what you label it in the ledger. If they trade him with 1 year left and $20M effectively left on his contract they could send the other team money so they can pay it to Ramirez...or the Brewers can pay Ramirez that same money now and not have to send it away in a trade. Deferring money is always good for the team. If they want to, they can essentially choose to make him into a $12M per year player at any time by just putting the difference in the bank and labeling it the 'Aramis fund'. Even if they want to trade him, they can shop Aramis and the 'Aramis fund' package and there you go, his value is $12M per year.

Is it so terrible to pay a reliable middle of the order 3B/1B $12M per year with a 3 year commitment? Also all that matters is that he's making $12M per, not $16M in 2014. It's actually $6M, $10M, $16M, $4M and it's cheaper for us to pay him that big number in 2014 and defer $4M all the way until 2015. Although, I don't like his 'first pitch' mentality, but if he produces with it I won't complain.

Yeah, I do practically the same thing, but I've pretty much given up hope that we'll get any real news before the last 24 hours or so of the deadline

I think in hind sight it was a solid signing. Personally I really value what he brings to the table as a lefty who pitches a lot of innings and is consistent, despite not having great stuff.

If we see him play much it means most of the following has happened: Braun is suspended Aoki is a bust Shafer/Gindl haven't shown much Morgan's production fell off Gamel is struggling and Hart has to take his place at 1B

I guess if you can add a replacement level player in the minors it's a marginal positive. We are a little saturated in the 'mediocre lefty outfielder' department though. Is the AAA outfield going to be Shafer Gindl Patterson?

Unless he can't hit lefties much at all at the big-league level, which is entirely possible for Schafer. I think his '12 AAA time is going to be very important for his continued development. From Sickels, "excellent fourth outfielder" isn't some backhanded compliment. I assume that when people say things like "excellent 4th outfielder" or "middle of the rotation starter" they are talking about where they fit in a division winning team. Besides, a 4th outfielder who is "excellent" in that role is going to play quite a bit on a division winning team, or pretty much every game for an average/below average team.

I think there are only 2, and to me there is only 1. Gallardo. marcum was our best starter for 5 months last year, i know he struggled in september and the playoffs but you can't just forget about april - augustHe was good and everything, but if you are going to go with the incumbent, it's Gallardo. Most productive, Gallardo wins every category. Best postseason, Gallardo wins. Best projected 2012 you might pick Greinke in that category (I wouldn't personally). Even if you want to go with most experience, you go with Wolf. There just isn't a single category that Marcum wins in this discussion.

we open up at home against the cards i never get too excited on who the opening day starter is. we have 3 pitchers that you could make a case to do it which most teams can't say, that being said its got to go to yo I think there are only 2, and to me there is only 1. Gallardo.

The Reds are the best team to me. Latos will be good, Leake and Cueto are good. Arroyo is crazy bad though. They have some flaws on offense like Stubbs and Rolen are awful. The Cards are a house of Cards, they have some upside as a team, but losing TLR/Duncan is going to affect them...and Pujols of course. Wainwright, Carpenter, Freese, Furcal, Holliday, Beltran, Berkman, relying on all of those guys to stay healthy would scare the hell out of me. I think they are set up for a massive crash next year.The Brewers, not as good as last year, but fairly similar team. right now, Reds > Brewers > Cardinals

Maybe if we move to the AL. He is a DH now, he will be a FA at 36 years old.

I think Aoki is going to be well worth what we paid for him. No one knows how his bat is going to make the transition, but I'd imagine a really good defensive player in Japan is going to be a really good defensive player here too. There isn't much difference, especially in the outfield where you don't have to communicate much throwing the ball around the infield. His bat is an unknown, but baseball is about adjustments, and he must be pretty good at that to have the awards he does. I'll quote Wikipedia here. It's obviously not a good place to go for scouting reports but I've read real scouts say pretty much the same thing but in pieces