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bush league knee jerk pass the buck move Do I see the 2012 team slogan here? I'm really glad the first round of rearranging the deck chairs has worked. Now what about that ice-berg to the starboard captain?!!!?

It is such a long shot for a minor league to make it in the bigs. And with a team having as many holes as the 2013 Brewers, I'm just skeptical they will find them in the system that was so dismissed at the beginning of the year. Jim, your series of posts here are one of the reasons i still come to Brewerfan, excellent unbiased analysis. Of course any system has bright spots you can point to such as burgos and last year (not this year) Wily Peralta, but all systems have bright spots. All systems have a breakout year by a few players who never see day 1 in the majors. No matter what anyone says, it IS pretty damning that the brewers system is rated so low. There is a lack of projectable talent in the Brewers system compared to other systems and unbiased 3rd parties almost all agree that is the case.

I wish they would just get this over with. Dougie's too busy making sure he can swing a deal for Kotteras to field calls about Greinke..... if the Brewers could only afford more than 1 phone line or a GM who can multitask.....

Keep Ax and Parra. Take the others out back behind the shed and put them down. Keep Parra? The career era of >5, WHIP 1.63, BB/9IP >4.5 in almost 500 IP Manny Parra? The only time Manny was an asset to the team he spent the year on the DL. He'd be the first one in my list, i just can't see how looking at his career as a whole how anyone wouldn't 1) throw up in their mouth 2) wonder what photos of Melvin he has; and 3) want him gone yesterday. He's in his year 29 season he has consistenly walked too many people, has crappy stuff with a fastball that isn't fast enough to make up for an almost complete lack of movement. he ain't young with potential, he's past any prime you could see, and he's topped out as a terd. I'd keep Loe before Parra and I have an irrational dislike for Loe....

(3) Gamel. I'm just throwing this one in gratuitously; his name hasn't come up much lately. But nobody ever agrees about Gamel, so I'm presuming that some still want him to start at 1b while others want to dump him in a ditch somewhere. That's just how it goes with him. I think the best thing for Gamel is to put him in a platoon situation next year. Hart would be the regular 1B and Gamel would back him up. Matt then gets into a significant number of games as the RF against RH pitching splitting time with Aoki in RF. I'm expecting Morgan to be gone (well hoping) and I'd have Schafer and Gomez platooning in CF. If Matt gets enough experience in RF, he can backup 1B, 3B and the OF. If he can't succeed in a platoon situation then I think we have to move past him. Same with Taylor Green, if he can't have success with 3-4 starts a week (2-3 at 2B and 1-2 at 3B) then we have to move on....

I don't understand. You daid Braun is the only guy you would keep for sure, but then at the end you say "absolutely no reason to blow up the team." Braun is the only player in the group "will not trade", all the other players are in the group "willing to trade". just because they are in the "willing to trade" group doesn't mean any of them are in the group "will be traded". You are making the assumption that these are the same. The only player that should be traded at this time is Greinke. And you give examples of change at virtually every position. Maybe you don't like the term "blow-up" but that's exactly what you're recommending. blowup is when you attempt to trade anything of value, hopefully for players that give you a window of opportunity in the future. Yes we should blow-up the bullpen, however, most of the rest of the team isn't a major problem other than a horrific bench. letting Wolf walk isn't a blow-up. letting KRod walk isn't a blow-up. trading Greinke is maximizing value. Trading weeks, Gallardo, Hart, and ARam is pretty much a blow-up. i am not advocating that as a strategy, but if given an offer i couldn't refuse for all of them then yes i would "blow-up" the team. Gallardo and Aram for kershaw and guera done. Greinke and Weeks for kinzler, profar, and feliz. done. Hart for prado and delgado. done.

If I was Brewers GM, Braun is the only payer I wouldn't listen to offers. I don't think this team needs an entire teardown, but they need to shed some salary to address the following issues (in no particular order): SS - end the parade of absolute crap at SS. havinf a defense minded SS isn't a bad thing, but how about someone who was born after 1980 and preferably 1986. 2B - If Weeks suckitude continues much longer then at least get a bench replacement/platoon who is LH and has decent defense. Bench - invest in some decent IF and 1B backups that can actually play their positions at a level ABOVE replacement. Taylor Green could handle 2B and 3B backup is cheap and needs to be setup for success at the MLB level he could easily take AB away from Weeks. He should also get significant opportunities to spell Aram (if we can't unload that contract). I'd look for a high OBP LH 1B and a bench SS to counter the weeknesses of the regular SS. Rotation - one problem of the current rotation is that we have too few SP that can be relied on to go 7 innings (esp if Greinke is gone). Relying on 2-3 inning a game with a crappy bullpen is a recipe for the exact disaster we are seeing. Gallardo's biggest weekness is that he averages 17-18 pitches an inning and rarely has enough to go 7 and that is what keeps him from being an elite SP. If we unload Greinke we either need a young guy ready to step in or is a year away. Friers has shown he should be one of the 7-8 candidates and has the ability to pitch deep into games. my tentative rotation would be Gallardo, Marcum (on a 1 year extension), Friers, Grienke replacement, Estrada. Rogers should be given a chance to either stick as the 5th SP or convert to a RP. Thornburg would be a backup SP in AAA and Peralta would be plan C. depending on addressing the other weeknesses I'd be inclined to sign a vetern FA pitcher to bump Estrada and or Greinke's replacement to the pen. Bullpen - crappy and or old is the current state. Only RP I would keep is Axford. Dump KRod, Loe, Parra, and Veras for anything you can get. See what Henderson and Kintzler can do the next few months. Either spend some $ in FA to add 2 RP or focus on young guys available in trades for Greinke or whomever can be unloaded. The pirates have a bullpen full of young guys who throw heat (for strikes) so there's no reason we can't do the same. There's absolutely no reason to blow up this team other than shifting our target for competition to 2014 to see how the young SP shake out. With the right trade return for Greinke and changes to the BP and bench, this team could be competitive nextyear. If things don't go well in the rebuilding then trade ARam if possible and shop Weeks if he has a 2-3 month revival (to rescue some of his value). Look to be competitive in 2 to 3 years, with a rotation of young guys, but maybe with the loss of Hart and Weeks and a replacement at 3B.

A 5 run lead isn't safe with the brewers bullpen. over/under Frankie only reties 40% of his batters tonight?

Not in free agency there aren't. Your list sort of proves that. Everyone of those players on that list has a better WAR than Wolf does this year. That list PROVES there were better options last year and most likely there will be better options next year. Wolf is aging and is crappy. Randy Wolf moving forward = Jeff Suppan. The Brewers need to 1) get younger with 2) players that are decent or have decent upside.

let Marcum just have wolf's money My fear is that if they could extend Marcum for 1 year, then Dougie would be inclined to pick up Wolf's option so that he can roll the dice again. While I like the idea of another year of Marcum, I am terrified of another year of Wolf.

Chalk another one up to the stellar crew known as the Brewers bullpen. Only Axford looked good, go figure. I don't see all the games, but it seemed like Axford threw more sliders today than all season. He needs his secondary pitches to set up the straight rocket fastball..

Sweet, so in 1 paragraph you make fun of physically disabled and mentally challenged people. Which physically disabled person did I make fun of? And if having RR manage the special olympics team is your idea of making fun of mentally challenged people then i am guilty of making fun of Ron Roenicke. Mentally challenged? you bet.

Phillies haven't won a game all year when trailing after 8.....until tonight......

Arsonist of the Game = Frankie Rodriguez (aka KrapRod)

Seriously? He threw four pitches in game 1, 3 innings the next day and then 5 days later he pitched on normal rest. Other than an asterisk next to his name that he started three straight games. How did that mess with him? Playing 2 days in a row? If he's that mentally week, don't let the door hit you on the way out Zack. And if our manager doesn't know any better, send him packing to manage the olympics team (as in special).....

why is manny parra still employed? anyone? Shout it out if you know the answer.....

What was the point of this post? How ironic......

Well at least this year there won't be any distractions from Packers training camp opening and the preseason...... Maybe I'll catch some of the olympics since watching synchronized swimming or badmitton couldn't be any worse than the ineptitude of the Brewers ......

Well.....Where is everybody? It's easy being an optimist when things look possible, but where are the optimists when the team gets swept by the division leader? In the fetal position on their couches? I haven't seen a bunch of sissy optimists like this since I don't remember. Let's have some blind faith, ignoring facts optimism here......

so glad we squeezed that 7th inning out of estrada......

Ian Desmond (July 18) Ian Desmond of the nationals is not on the DL.

or he really likes that gomez had 2 hits against a rhp yesterday and wants to play the hot bat. just ignore the last 5 years of data and pick the one recent game that matches your hunch. "the Roenicke Way". Sorta like winning with honor or whatever the penn state moto was (except the whole raping children in the shower thing).

the entire bullpen stinks. axford is the crap du jour, but they all need to be gone.

lets just release the entire bullpen (except for thornburg) and go with 10 starters. when the sp gets into trouble bring in the 2nd starter and that's it. Can't be any worse than this ****.

according to baseballreference.com, entering todays game every member of the bullpen had a NEGATIVE WAR. That's no friggin hickup.....