jmeks23

I wouldn't be in love with a 5+ year contract for Jake but honestly I share sentiments with others on the board that I've come around to wanting him the most as a signing. He's got ace pedigree, and I agree that he will pitch with a chip on his shoulder against the Cubs, which is our primary competition in the division. It doesn't hurt that he has experience against the other NL Central teams as well.

I mean look we all appreciate what you do around here HH, it gives us something to be excited about in these cold winter months. However, it's getting kind of old to have to stroke your ego every couple days because someone was mean to you. Or let alone doubted you. I mean you have to understand people would have reasonable doubt about the information you're giving right? Now people on twitter (who probably aren't even site members) make a parody account and you're going to leave again. We'd love for you to stay and continue to give some of us die hards something to hope for, but not at the risk of dividing the forum completely. Sorry if this seems rude, because I do actually enjoy the content you've provided.

I enjoy the fact that the Brewers and centrally in on all of these top guys, but I tend to agree on Archer. I'm just not as sold on him as I have been on some of the other big name SP that have exchanged teams in the last few years. Also, while everyone loves his K/9 they don't seem to concerned with his H/9 or BB/9. These are concerning numbers for me. Plus, we can all reason away his ERA with the advanced metrics but the fact is he's been a 4 ERA pitcher with 30+ starts the last two seasons. That's as an "ace"

Anything said by DS in the public is to be taken with a very large grain of salt. Think Ryan Braun interview style. Vanilla, cliche, etc. You won't get him saying "we want one of the top FA pitchers out there" or "Domingo will be fetching us a lot of offers" He especially won't be giving anything juicy to Chris Russo

The thing about those projections is; if they end up being accurate, I'm not sure the Brewers compete regardless of adding a TOR pitcher. If your 2 (Nelson) is still almost a 4ERA and all the others are over 4, I can't see this team competing for much more than the second wild card.

After seeing Stearns comments on this, it's clear he's keeping any future moves very close to the vest. It will be interesting to see what the next chip to fall may be. I mean this has to be the "trade A" HH19 was telling us about earlier this week right? So this must cause a domino effect at some level. Can't go into this year with Yelich/Braun/Santana/Phillips/Broxton right?

My guess (at least for @BrewerFarm) is they're just reading HH19's posts. BrewerFarm had several tweets the other day specifically mentioning HH19's posts.

I see this talk a lot when it comes to Lucroy's comments, even from last year. I appreciate his honesty, and of course I wish more athletes were like him instead of being cryptic and cliche, and in some cases just plain brainwashed. HOWEVER, what I don't agree with is the content itself. He put his opinion out there, and I appreciate that, but his opinion is what I disagree with. I reckon there's some in baseball who agree with him, but I don't think most players feel the same. If so, why does this sport even exist. It's too hard, I'm away from my family (by choice mind you, they make enough to have their families stay wherever), etc. His whole premise for the last year plus has been the team that has given every chance in the world to succeed and flourish, isn't worth it because they're currently not very good. I have a distinct problem with that.

Someone else mentioned, but has there been any news or articles for why Philips is sitting? No offense to Fellhauer, but I'd rather see our star prospect getting those AB's if he's healthy

Better not be Prince. What a waste of money. Prince was already on a steep decline defensively before he left (though he has never been great to begin with) and now he's had a major injury on top of a offensive decline. Seriously guys? I loved Prince when he was here too...but that ship has sailed. Also if BrewerNation is even remotely right about Nick Tepesch being the guy, this deal is just puzzling.

Man, are some of you guys serious? You would not only send some of our top prospects away, but current major leaguers? I just don't understand how you can justify getting rid of Segura, Gennett, or even Davis really. He's certainly not good defensively but he's one of the team's best producer as only a 2nd year guy. Nelson is probably the only one I could maybe see, because you're getting an even better SP back. Even still though, him + 3 other prospects is steep.

Harold Reynolds isn't so bad when he's on MLB Tonight. That MLB Now show is essentially a joke in my book. The "old school" mentality vs. facts! Wowza great idea

I clearly just have a differing opinion on expectations of people and particularly athletes. Everyone's who's saying he's a bad person for being deceitful, that they expected better out of him, or would expect themselves to react better, etc. I just don't buy it. What Braun did is no different than anyone else. It doesn't excuse the action, but I also don't think chastising him for doing what everyone else does is appropriate. This guy has HOF talent, already had received an MVP (at the time not even a month earlier) and was on track for even more success (see last season's statistics). Why in the world would he come forward saying he took PED's, especially after he spent exorbitant amounts of money to win the case. In his defense, this should never have been public in the first place, at least not until now that the Bosch scandal has happened. Even more reason not to come forward about it. It shouldn't have been public knowledge in the first place. That's a positive PR angle for Braun. You can say all you want that he should have come forward instead of saying "I swear I never intentionally put anything in my body" and all the other things he said, but that's BS to me. There was no other option for him, or for any other athlete that's gone through this. You cheat, you cover it up and deny deny deny until you get caught. Then you admit it after the fact. See Andy Pettitte, Giambi, etc. It's ridiculous that people don't see this as common place. Whether you agree with it or not, that's another ball game but don't be surprised by it. Don't have vitriol for him alone because he followed in the footsteps of others. He HAD a reputation to uphold. Now he has nothing.

I just don't buy why he's being vilified. He beat the rap and then has basically said nothing since then. Would you admit to cheating if it meant your integrity, after you've already successfully appealed the suspension in question? Of course not. Do people screw up at work once in a while, and not say anything in hopes of not being caught? If they don't get caught, do they fess up anyways to be "right"? Smaller scale I know, but that's just not how most of society operates which is why a writer like Jeff Passan pisses me off. He was on the radio yet again today berating what Braun did and whatever. I just don't get it, he claims there was no witch hunt, but he's leading the charge. Look, Braun cheated by the letter of the rule. However, I find synthetic testerone to be a pretty weak case against him. He didn't take steroids, or HGH, or anything to make him bigger, faster, or stronger. He took something to help him recover faster. That's what natural testerone boosters give you, like ZMA. I'm sure the synthetic counter part is just that, times 10 maybe. Yet a player like Big Papi who was caught for actual hardcore PED's who covered it up and denied denied denied, is now a hero in Boston. It's kind of ridiculous in that sense that Braun is the poster child for cheaters all of a sudden. Did he really do something THAT wrong? That egregious? I just don't see it. He cheated, lied to save his integrity (successfully at first), and then was caught, or so we presume. There's been no real statement yet. Players saying they want him out of the game, writers berating him, etc. I don't get that either. All of them would lie to cover themselves I bet.

I'd do it if you could get anything of value for him. Probably couldn't without more pieces involved though.

I agree the brunette "Sage" is very attractive (that's like...my opinion, man) but they are indeed pointless to the point of hitting my head against the wall. All FS does is tells these girls to try their hardest to say the promo without moving their face (don't stop smiling girls!). My main issue is that they hire these girls and Sophia, and yet still have Davey Nelson, Jerry Augustine, and Telly Hughes employed. These guys are the absolute worst of the worst. Davey Nelson has been doing this job for at least 5 seasons now and still can't complete a coherent thought on air. Augustine regurgitates the most inane cliche babble constantly. And when he's doing play by play it's even worse (watch a T-Rats game and find out). Then there's Telly, my goodness what can I even say about this guy. He literally gets tossed a segment in which sometimes he's not even on the screen so he's clearly reading off of a card/teleprompter and he cannot even complete the sentence without stumbling. I'm not looking for perfection out of these guys (it is FSWisconsin) but some improvement would be nice. Coshun is good (not on play by play), Concannon is good, and they've had others who weren't bad. TL;DR Me ranting about the mediocrity from everyone not named Anderson or Coshun on FSW

Wild Card. I'm in for that one.

How soon does the draft pick compensation go away? Once the 2013 season starts? Or after it ends? If you don't lose a pick if you sign him after the start of the season, I could see that happening in the Brewers case. Giving up on that pick is too big of a pill to swallow though.

I think Brewers fans get swayed because he tends to dominate the Brewers. Other teams not so much.

In regards to impact talent, look at a team like the Mets. They struck gold by trading a few guys that they didn't even draft in the first place, and are now one of the top systems in baseball after mediocre drafting. Yes, you should rely on your drafting, but it's not all that matters regarding impact talent. The Brewers have several guys they could hit big on. Maybe you couldn't get a Beltran for Wheeler type of deal but you could get something good for Hart, Weeks, Ramirez, and probably even Maldonado. Gallardo would definitely get a nice haul as well.

Funny the type of coulda-woulda-shouldas with the Milwaukee system at this point. Probably should've taken Guerreri with that protected pick in 2011. Probably should've taken Gallo in the comp round this year. Chose not to overspend on Rodon in the last year that they could have overspent. Not to mention think if they kept Odorizzi. The positive thing is they still do have a lot of guys that look high upside, albeit in the lower minor leagues at this point. Could be a very influential year for the system in 2013.

Sorry, yes I mean sign anyone else. I understand they've signed some BP help and traded for Badenhop. My concern is Gorzelanny and Gonzalez aren't exactly great fixes to a BP that struggled. One could definitely serve as the LOOGY Parra was intended to be, but the other has to pitch important innings. I'm not sure either of those two can. I also personally feel they need 1 more SP as Narveson and Estrada are billed as the "veterans" and they are sketchy at best. As it's been the last few years, they could use some infield depth and some pop off the bench. It just seems like there is still a lot out there, and for (seemingly) not that much.

I know the Brewers shouldn't overpay for anyone, and there's no stars left on the FA market, but there is still good players out there. Some of them are players that were on this team last season. Alex Gonzalez? Marcum? Even K-Rod for a bargain price (I'm thinking that's all he's worth at this point). Plus talented guys like JP Howell, and even risky guys like Jair Jurrjens. Just seems like there's suspiciously low activity from the Brewers this off-season. Do you guys think we'll sign anyone else?

Talk about a fall from grace. Well, all the best for him and his family. 1.3 million is actually a pretty great deal for him all things considered, and he should excel over there.

There's some pretty decent names still on the list, including Jurrjens (who probably has some outstanding health issues) that makes me wonder why it was Dempster or bust for Melvin this winter. Hopefully he can make a trade for somebody, plus we still need at least one more new BP arm.