bklynbrewcrew

I never once said that Melvin should have known that Hardy and Hart would lose value. What I did say was that we had a huge need for pitching and we had decisions to make as to how to acquire said pitching. With JJ being close to free agency we needed to decide whether to sign Hardy long term and trade Escobar or trade JJ. Now JJ is that much closer to free agency so his value is automatically going to be lower whether or not he had a bad season. As for Hart he was easily replaceable within a deep free agency outfield market. I cant believe Matt Joyce had more value to Tampa Bay than Corey Hart would have. There is a better than good chance that Hart could have been traded for Edwin Jackson. Melvin knew we had enough offense to win but we desperately needed pitching. You cant go on forever filling your staffs full of the Suppans and Loopers of the world. Even now when Melvin speaks he talks about how losing Suppan and Bush to injury really hurt our chances. My response to that is losing Suppan is not exactly a loss when he is essentially a replacement level starter at this point and losing Bush should destroy the teams playoff chances either. Melvin has neglected pitching for far too long so it should really be no surprise that we are essentially a .500 team in a lousy league. This rotation was lousy to begin the season so why should anyone be surprised when guys like Suppan and Looper do not pitch well.

Listen JJ has obviously had a bad year but I for one am not gonna insult him as he was a big part of our playoff team last season. JJ has been a good Brewer and I wish him well when he is traded.

The offense is not the problem. Adam Dunn is not gonna make this a playoff team as long as we are running the likes of Suppan and Looper out there. Melvin needed to acquire young power arms last offseason and erred big time by waiting too long to trade JJ and or Hart. Now Doug will either sell low on JJ or be forced to trade Gamel which will be a huge mistake.

When you go into a season with a rotation consisting of Gallardo who threw 30 or so innings the year before as your number one starter, an inconsistent Parra as the number 2 and Bush, Suppan, and Looper as the other starters you are just setting yourself up for failure. Melvin needs to get over his plan to fill his rotations with soft toss fillers with no upside like Suppan and Looper. I for one said this team would not contend with this rotation. Counting on Suppan and Looper was foolish and Melvin should have seen the problems this rotation would cause. If Matt Joyce was enough to acquire Edwin Jackson then Hart definitely was a possibility for Jackson. Part of a GMs job is to know when to sell high on players and Melvin has rarely done that. A decision on Hardy/Escobar needed to be made and Hart was an obvious sell high candidate as well. It was obvious that this rotation would be mediocre at best and Melvin has to take the blame for that. Other than acquiring CC for half a year when has Melvin shown that he can put together a better than average rotation. His teams in Texas were very similar to his owns in Milwaukee; a very solid lineup but starting rotations featuring a bunch of soft tossers with little upside. Melvin really needs to do better next offseason or 2010 will be much like 2009. I really hope that Melvin aims higher than the likes of Doug Davis, Jarrod Washburn and Brian Bannisters of the world this upcoming offseason.

Adding Guthrie will not make us a contender.

I mentioned this in another thread but I am really starting to believe that Melvin has a fatal flaw in how he puts together a pitching staff. In his entire career as a GM Melvin has too often relied on soft tossers with little to no upside to anchor his staffs. In Texas he had the likes of Burkett, Helling and Sele and now with the Brewers he is relying on the likes of Suppan and Looper. Other than Gallardo has Melvin ever developed or traded for young power arms with the upside of a 1 or 2 starter? You can argue for Parra but he just hasnt shown me the consistency necessary to say he will ever become that 1 or 2. Melvin held onto Hart one year too long for sure and last offseason was the time to detemine the SS position for the future; that meant either signing Hardy long term and trading Escobar or trading JJ. Now I definitely didnt expect JJ to have a terrible year but last offseason was the time to say JJ you are the future and Escobar is the bait for the young power arm we desperately needed or trade JJ for that young arm. Now it is one year later and JJ has really hurt his value big time. I fear that Melvin will now have to trade Gamel to get that young arm when he could have had it for Hardy or Hart last offsason. We cannot go into next season with a rotation of Gallardo, Parra, Bush, Suppan and either Davis or Washburn. If that turns out to be the case 2010 will be just like this season.

I dont think that signing Sabathia would have helped much because we would probably have Melky Cabrera in CF instead of Cameron and no Hoffman. If you give us Sabathia and subtract Cameron and Hoffman we are probably a game or two better with no payroll flexibility going forward so I am happy Sabathia didnt resign. The bigger problem is that Melvin held onto Hardy and especially Hart one season too long. The decision with Hardy needed to be made last offseason; sign him long term and trade Escobar or trade him. Now we have Hardy one season away from free agency and coming off a horrible season. Now dont get me wrong I didnt see Hardy having a bad year but we had to make a decision last offseason on the long term future of JJ within the organization. As for Hart with our lineup being solid and with many good FA options in the outfield he definitely needed to be moved last year. If Tampa moved Edwin Jackson for Matt Joyce there is a good chance we could have traded Hart for Jackson. There have also been rumors that we could have traded Hart for Greinke last season which makes me cringe if true. I am convinced at this point that Melvin has a fatal flaw in how he puts together pitching staffs. He is too content filling his rotations with soft tossers that have little to no upside. We saw this in Texas when his staffs were lead by the likes of Burkett and Helling and now with the Brewers we are left relying on the likes of Suppan and Looper. Other than Gallardo has Melvin ever had a young power arm with ace stuff on his staffs. You can make that argument about Parra I suppose but the consistency has never been there with Manny. Even this year we have been linked to guys like Doug Davis, Jarod Washburn, and Brian Bannister who are all guys short on stuff. Melvin is really gonna have to go out and acquire young, power arms if we are gonna contend next year. If we go into 2010 with Gallardo, Parra, Bush, Suppan and a Davis or Washburn type we will be in this same position next year. I fear that Doug is going to have to trade Gamel to get this pitching because he held onto Hardy and Hart one year too long.

Gamel should be the one untouchable minor leaguer. We need his lefthanded bat especially when Prince is gone. If the Brewers were smart they would trade Escobar before teams realize he cant hit.

If Rivera goes 0-4 tonight we will not see him until Parra pitches again.

Unless we can get Dan ODowd from Colorado who is in the last year of his contract I believe I would keep Melvin. Melvin has done a good job for the most part and there isnt anyone out there who is a sure thing. I would hate to fire Melvin and hire the next Dean Taylor or Sal Bando. Yes Melvin has done a bad job with the pitching and in picking managers but I fear his replacement would be far worse.

Good for Rivera. Of course he wont play again till Parra's next start but the guy is a decent hitter.

That was one of the longest HRs I have ever seen. Wow was that a blast.

I think its time for Macha to be double switched for.

I agree that as long as Kendall is here and playing everyday there is only selected accountability. Hardy has had a bad year for sure but compared to Kendall he has looked like Pujols. Kendall is statistically the worst offensive player in baseball yet this dopey manager lets him play nearly every single day.

Parra has regressed a great deal from last year. Maddux has turned guys like Feldman into good pitchers while a guy like Parra forgets how to pitch.

There is not one pitcher on this staff that has gotten better and many have regressed dramatically like Parra and Looper. Meanwhile Maddux has guys like Hunter and Feldman doing real nice work. Its obvious to me that Castro was doing a terrible job.

I hear Jaime Cocanower is looking to make a comeback. Enough with the same old same old. Its time to turn the page and trade for good young power arms.

Only Attanassio thinks we are still in it and that is because he is lying or delusional.

I have to admit Macha is making me appreciate Yost if that is possible. Lets hire Bobby Valentine already and end the run of clueless managers.

With Hardy being sent down to AAA does this delay his free agency by a year? Wouldnt JJ have just under 6 years of service time after next season.

If Melvin could have gotten a good young starting pitcher for Hardy last offseason he should have done it. We could have used Counsell and other stop gap types for a year until Escobar was ready. Taking Hardy out of the lineup would have hurt but much less than the gain of adding a top young arm. Melvin was negligent going into the season with the rotation we had. This season was lost before it ever started due to awful starting pitching which was not hard to predict.

How does Hardy get sent down yet the worst offensive player in baseball who has shown nothing all season gets to stay. Kendall better be gone soon. I have never hated watching a guy bat as much as I hate watching Kendall. His time has clearly come and gone. This organization gains nothing by keeping him around.

The bottom line is that almost every pitcher on this staff has pitched below expectations and in the case of Parra well below. The pitching coach does have to take responsibility when his staff fails as badly as this staff has.

I still like JJ but Melvin really blew it big time not trading him last offseason. Now he is gonna wind up getting a lousy pitcher in return for Hardy.

This move makes no sense at all. If Hardy's trade value wasnt low enough we have just killed it. This is such a move of desperation and serves no purpose at all.