Eye Black

The related video mentions the Angels had a scout at one of Greinke's recent starts. As the article points out, they seem likely to make a play for Greinke in free agency, but depending on the severity of Haren's back issues they could enter the Greinke rental pool this year. If so, they would have some very good trade pieces including shortstop Jean Segura, and other top prospects... Kaleb Cowart, CJ Cron, and Garrett Richards.

KRod was cheap because he could only be traded to a team that had a closer or he would have made his saves total on his contract and have his huge option kick in. I'm not saying we would get much for him either this year, but how we acquired or our cost for a player doesn't matter one bit now. What matters now is that player's current value and the needs of teams that may be buyers. K-Rod's trade value per MLB Trade Rumors: Mets Interested

IMO the Tigers would not be willing to include Castellanos in a deal for any rental pitcher outside of Hamels or Greinke.

The Orioles third option at SS would immediately be the Brewers best minor league IF prospect. Schoop is only 20 years old, so his struggles at AA aren't all that surprising. The biggest concern might be that he outgrows SS/2B and gets moved to 3B permanently. Any deal would have to include more than Schoop, but he shouldn't be written off just because the Orioles have one of the top two SS prospects in all of baseball ahead of him. The odds are against drafting an infielder in the late first round or supplemental round with Schoop's ceiling. Not to mention, drafting based on need in the first round of the MLB draft is not a very good practice.

As far as prospects go, they don't appear to have much else in the way of impact talent. They have a couple other prospects labeled as potential high ceiling guys (Jonathan Schoop 2B/SS/3B; Parker Bridwell RHP). Schoop is slightly intriguing, but Bridwell is having an awful season at low-A. You could probably get Bundy as a throw-in......unfortunately it would be older brother, Bobby Bundy.

The Dodgers are reportedly making a push to acquire Carlos Lee per MLB Trade Rumors. If they do indeed give up Zach Lee and Garrett Gould for him, then my expectation on the trade values of Corey Hart and Zack Greinke is rising.

Random stat I chuckled at today: The Royals are 34-39 as of today, which is their best record on this date (June 28) since 2003.

It surprises me that Keith Law and some others think Olt would be a stretch in a potential Greinke deal. Mike Olt is 16 months OLDER than Brett Lawrie. Olt has also struck out in 25% of his AA plate appearances this season. I would still be supportive of the Brewers acquiring Olt for Greinke, but I think it would be the Rangers who would be foolish to say Olt is untouchable when trading him would bring back a #1/#2 caliber pitcher for a WS run. Edits listed in Green. Changed K% per AB's to the K% per PA's.

i really doubt turner would be moved but castellanos could be very possible (fwiw- i think hes the best way to forget about lawrie). as far as texas goes, i dont think perez or olt would be the best we could do by themselves but adding someone like barret loux could make it a great deal. the angels gm has already said he wont be upgradeing the team by adding any payroll(take that for what you will) Castellanos stock has been skyrocketing this season. The Detroit fans and media are falling for him hard... http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120626/SPORTS0104/206260310/Hit-machine-Nick-Castellanos-is-Tigers’-can’t-miss-kid He is also the exact type of player I hope the Front Office is targeting.

It is a little difficult to rank the parks that no longer exist, but this is what I came up with regarding parks I have watched an MLB game at.... 1- Target Field 2 - PNC Park 3 - Miller Park 4 - SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) 5 - Comerica Park 6 - Fenway Park 7 - Wrigley Field 8 - Progressive Field 9 - Kauffman Stadium (Pre-Renovation) 10 - Great American Ballpark 11 - U.S. Cellular Field 12 - County Stadium 13 - (Old) Busch Stadium 14 - Metrodome

Yep, extensions to closers is never a good idea. Trade them to people who overvalue closers I don't think any AL teams will be calling.

Um, pretty Awesome, Eh?

Pitch #2 to Braun was dead center of the plate. Come on Brauny!

I wouldn't mind seeing him establish the plate early against Lawrie.

Just an FYI, this same topic is at the top of the 2nd page of the threads in the Transaction Rumors/Proposals section.

Aside from pure luck, this was dead-on.

Just want to make sure I have this right, so its..... Clayton Kershaw < Miguel Batista < Jeff Suppan

Ramirez eyes are moving way ahead of his bat. He has no prayer to hit Kershaw if he pulls his head on every pitch.

Obviously the 3rd piece would hopefully be Jamie Moyer.

If the Tigers made the call and offered that deal straight up, it would be worth trying to get a young pitcher added to the deal. Ultimately it would be tough to turn down if Greinke for Castellanos was their final offer. The three series immediately after the All-Star Break are against division rivals (Pirates/Cardinals/Reds). If the Brewers are double-digit games behind in both the division and the wild card race after that stretch ends (July 22), then I believe it will be time to seriously discuss with each contender what acquiring Grienke for 12-14 regular season starts and potential playoff starts is worth to them. Outside of dream scenarios where Greinke could be used to bring in a Profar/Machado, a player like Castellanos offers much of what I believe the Brewers should be looking for in a Greinke trade. It offers no guarantees, but if a prospect the caliber of Castellanos continues to develop as expected he has the potential to become an integral part of the teams future core group of players. I don't want to see Greinke go (and I am all for re-signing him if the price isn't astronomical). If the team doesn't believe they will have a good shot of re-signing him prior to Free Agency and they are out of contention at the end of July I would much prefer seeing them make a deal for Greinke if it is the RIGHT offer. I believe the right offer is receiving a prospect that projects to be an above average MLB talent with an upside that stretches as high as being an All-Star caliber player. I think there are very few position players currently in the Brewers system that we could honestly say, "that guy could be an MLB mainstay at his position for 8-10 years". If the Brewers can acquire that type of position player in a mid-season trade for Greinke then I would be all for it. I would also be rooting for them to still make a Free Agency pitch to Greinke, although I have no idea how well received that would be.

Ryan Braun lives vicariously through himself.

Nice to see Ransom get a hit in his first plate appearance for the Crew. He really smoked that ball at Josh Bell.

The Tigers 3B prospect Nick Castellanos seems to fit this description. Obviously not a sure thing, but has a potentially high upside. He is off to a great start in High A this year and could be ready for the MLB level by the tail end of the Ramirez contract.

It's strange to me how often threads asking about bringing back some mediocre-at-best former Brewer come up. It's fairly regular. Then how about a 4-time A.S. former Brewer.... where are you Ben Sheets?

I would be surprised if Texas would be willing to deal Profar. He is a top-5 MLB prospect and could move to 2B or 3B in order to fit into the same infield as Elvis Andrus in a couple of years. Texas would have to be convinced that Greinke was the missing piece to a W.S. championship. That being said, if Feliz prognosis isn't looking very promising in July and the Roy Oswalt thing doesn't pan out maybe they will be desperate.