jackailius

If we could get Scaggs and Davidson for Yo and Rodriguez I would be thrilled. Scaggs is a lefty with three plus pitches and could be our ace in the near future. And did i meantion he is a lefty? Davidson could be our 3rd baseman of the future allowing us to trade Aram as a salary dump or add some $ and get a decent return for him. I think with these two in place you could hypothetically see a really good "core" come 2015.

Actually, not bad. it does take a few of our possible trade partners off the table in Baltimore, boston and possibly toronto but overall it still give us San Diego, Arizona, Texas and the Dodgers.

I guess the real question becomes, hypothetically, if Hart is out for the rest or most of the rest of the season, and does in fact want to be a Brewer next year, what would you offer him or what type of contract would you give? Would you go 1 year $5M + up to $3M for insentives based on playing time etc. or would it be a 1 yr deal for $6M with a vesting option? What would you realistically say or are you just done with Hart at this point?

I just went to Mayo's top 10 at each position and perhaps I should add Hunter Morris to the list. He is listed as #2 on his 1st baseman prospect watch list. Scooter is #8 for secondbasemen.

sorry, i guess i misunderstood the question. if i were going to look into a crystal ball i would say the following would be on our team in 3 to 5 years: Braun, Segura, Peralta, Gomez, Lucroy, Schaefer (4th spot), Gennett, Bianchi (backup IF). For Pitchers I would say whoever doesn't flame out from the group of Hellweg, Pena, Nelson, Thornberg, Burgos, Jungerman and Bradley will be either starting or BP guys. I think there is an outside shot that Aoki and Maldanado are still here but I'm doubtful on both as I think they will be traded either this year or by this time next year.

To be honest for me the only ones that are in my future plans (as in just about untouchable) are Braun and Segura. I would say that Lucroy and Gomez are in that next tier down that I would have to be blown away with an offer for. Then comes guys like Peralta, Burgos, Hellweg, Jungerman, Thornberg, Bradley, Nelson, Maldanado, Aoki and Schaefer as the next teir down that while it would be nice to keep them around, watch them develop and play for us, I could also ultimately trade just as well if they find pieces of need for the club. Pretty much everyone else I would trade for what would make sense, some for payroll flexability with little to no return (Weeks) and some to help build for the future (Gallardo) and some for both (Ramirez+$ for a prospect or 3). Ultimately we can talk about "core group" but realistically if the Nationals came to me and said "Hey I'll trade you Harper and Rendon for Braun I'd pull the trigger.

To be honest for me the only ones that are in my future plans (as in just about untouchable) are Braun and Segura. I would say that Lucroy and Gomez are in that next tier down that I would have to be blown away with an offer for. Then comes guys like Peralta, Burgos, Hellweg, Jungerman, Thornberg, Bradley, Nelson, Maldanado, Aoki and Schaefer as the next teir down that while it would be nice to keep them around, watch them develop and play for us, I could also ultimately trade just as well if they find pieces of need for the club. Pretty much everyone else I would trade for what would make sense, some for payroll flexability with little to no return (Weeks) and some to help build for the future (Gallardo) and some for both (Ramirez+$ for a prospect or 3). Ultimately we can talk about "core group" but realistically if the Nationals came to me and said "Hey I'll trade you Harper and Rendon for Braun I'd pull the trigger.

the number of years between the two of them are still the same as how long we have braun signed based on the 3 yrs for stras and 5 yrs for harper. Stras already had tommy once so the possiblity of something over the next 3 yrs happening is fair and while harper is good i don't think he is as good as braun and i just kinda cant stand his cockiness. it also takes our leader away and replaces it with a 21 yr old. personally, my preference is braun to those 2. i guess it is also based on the fact that i don't know even with them if we are real players in the next 3 yrs and if we aren't what would the point of that particular deal be?

Hello all, I have 4 extra corey hart bobbleheads from this year. I'm looking for others that are already out or will be coming out. I already have Aoki and Braun so I need Scott and then the ones that will be coming out. Please let me know if you will be getting any of these and need/want hart so we can swap. Thanks, Josh

I don't know if i would make that trade... they would have to throw in another top guy like Rendon. I just don't think we would be a top contender in the 3 years of strausburg unless you were looking at him to flip him for 2 top level pitching prospects, then i would for harper, strasberg and Rendon. I just can't see it happening though. I think trading Braun away itself would have most of the state up in arms as much as the Marlins blowup of last year.

I think if he is still productive and healthy I would definately consider picking it up... just depends on what we have and what else we have outstanding at the time. I know it is a mutual option, does that mean if we take it and he declines we don't pay the $4M?

does your mind on keeping Yuni and trading Gonzalez change at all if Segura gets hurt for a significant amount of time and you have to go with Yuni at short? I think Yuni looks like a better option than Gonzalez right now becuase Segura is doing a great job at short right now and Yuni is looking decent at 3rd/1st but you put Yuni back at short and all of sudden your infield range looks much much different. Just my .02

I agree with MVP 100%

can i buy a lefty starter please?

very true it would push the budget above the $80M range but would be under $90. I would feel comfortable putting the Segura/Bianchi tandem out there at SS. I would also hope to get a low cost lefty reliever out of the Gomez trade. I would also be comfortable putting out the young pitching rotation that we more or less ended the season with. I think by mid season we will have Naverson back in there as well as some of the boys that were in AA start to show what they can do and could help eat some of the late season innings/provide some insurance for injury and fatigue. I also believe you could look at a reclemation on a minor league contract that could start the season in the bigs to give the young guns some more time in the minors. I'm just thinking for the money i would rather do hamilton on a $20/$20/$25/$25 than say Dempster/Loshe/Jackson $10/10/10 to 15/15/15/15. It would be great to say lets get a "good" starter for $2-$8m on a one year contract that you can rely on to pitch all year long, is a good clubhouse presence to steer the young guns in the right direction who is preferably left handed, wants to play in Milwaukee and could be a solid rock for the one year we need them. Call me crazy but outside of liriano i just don't see anyone that is going to fill that role and i think it will be suprising what Liriano ends up getting once the chips start falling. He may be had for that price range and if so i think the crew will be in the mix but i believe we aren't the only team in that boat.

On MLBtraderumor it sounds like the Mariners are looking at a 3 yr deal at 20 to 25 mil a yr... If you are someone who said no before when it was $25mil per over 6 or 7 year what do you think about doing a 4 yr deal at 85 to 90 mil? Does it change your thoughts? Think of some of the possibilities. I know it puts us tight on the budget for a couple years but if we could flip Aoki or Gomez (who we will more than likely lose after 2013) for either a cf prospect or say a pitcher would you then think about it? This could also put us in a spot to offer Hart an extension (albiet a team friendly extension (add 3yrs at $10m/yr) and trade Gamel either before the season starts or after he shows he is somewhat healthy in spring training. It will be tight and some of the other positions we will be relying on youth but I think with the additional run support a lot of the pithcing staff would be better off as we at somepoint want to be able to rely on them. Just curious if the possible drop in Hamiltons price and the rediculous prices asked/realized by starting pitching is making anyone else start thinking on this?

First of all Monty, paying down debt? Really? That just isn't the American way. j/k Do you have a veteran SP in mind? I just don't see one out there that fits the bill as a upgrade to our rotation and only take a one year deal? yes, 2014 will be a bit of an issue if you are going to look to get anyone else but I am not seeing any holes at that point so out budget would still be approximately the same. I will agree that 2015 will start getting interesting with needs at several spots with Weeks 11.5M, Braun 12M, Gallardo 13M and Hamilton $20M. The hope is that with having two years without having to make too many trades (hopefully) you will start fielding a team that has a younger (prearb and arb) guys around your few key veterans. I guess I'm more of an all or nothing kind of guy. Why get a 1yr guy who is going to be a back of the rotation guy and have a mediocre season. At that point I would rather either go all in on either a top of the order guy or Hamilton or start building for a couple years from now. Either way I would entertain offers for folks like Gomez, Hart, and if we are going to consider it a rebuilding season or two I would add Weeks (although I think if he were traded it would be a mid season as his value is low right now), ARAM etc.

paul253- I completely agree with paying Greinke over Hamilton. I would much rather have the Grienke/Gallardo combo at the front of our rotation to really take the stress off our young arms but going off the premise that we aren't going to be able to land Greinke, my post was saying that I would rather spend the extra money on Hamilton to bring back the big R/L combo at the 3/4 and actually it would be R/L/R combo for a couple of years that to put up $12 to $15M a year for multiple years on a middle of the rotation kind of guy when we are pretty chalk full of those type of arms in our minors- albiet not very experienced.

First let me say that ideally I think it would be best if we could pick up Grienke again if we can get him for a 5yr 110M contract but if that doesn't happen I am starting to get onboard with Hamilton. The more I think about it the more I think that if we can get Hamilton on a reasonable contract it might make sense based on some of the arguments about the mediocre crop of starters and our surplus of middle rotation guys that are prearb that may do just as well. When I say reasonable contract I would think a 4yr 90M with 1 or 2 yr vesting options based on games played etc for an additional 20M a year or a 5 yr 110M w/1 yr vesting would work into the Brewers budget. If that would happen we would be trading Gomez for sure and possibly Hart depending on what Mark A sets the budget at and even if we don't trade Hart I don't see it reasonable to resign him after this year. If we could package the two for relief and possibly a 3B prospect that is projectable to the majors in a couple years (when ARAM is gone) I wouldn't hesitate. The other option would be some higher side prospects with a starting pitcher with one year left on the contract back for them. The possibility of lineups would be one of the two as follows depending if Hart goes or not. The salary level is about $86Mish without or $95Mish with Hart. Of course who we get back and OF L Aoki 1.25M 2B R Weeks 10 OF R Braun 8.5 OF L Hamilton 20 3B R ARAM 10 1B R Hart 11 C R Lucroy 1.9 SS R Segura .5 Bench OF L Schafer .5 1B L Gamel .5 Util L Green .5 SS/Util R Bianchi .5 C R Maldanado .5 Pitching Gallardo 7.75 Narveson .8 Rogers .5 Estrada 1.6 Axford 5.1 Kintzler .5 Random Lefty speclst 2 Broxton type rel 4 Comp P for Gomez 4 Those Pitchers with options- some starting in minors Peralta .5 Fiers .5 Stinson .5 Henderson .5 Thornberg .5 Nelson .5 Hellwig .5 Burgos .5 95milish Without Hart OF L Aoki 1.25M 2B R Weeks 10 OF R Braun 8.5 OF L Hamilton 20 3B R ARAM 10 1B L Gamel .5 C R Lucroy 1.9 SS R Segura .5 Bench OF L Schafer .5 Util R ishikawa Type 2 Util L Green .5 SS/Util R Bianchi .5 C R Maldanado .5 Pitching Gallardo 7.75 Narveson .8 Rogers .5 Estrada 1.6 Axford 5.1 Kintzler .5 Random Lefty speclst 2 Broxton type rel 4 Comp P for Gomez 8 Those Pitchers with options- some starting in minors Peralta .5 Fiers .5 Stinson .5 Henderson .5 Thornberg .5 Nelson .5 Hellwig .5 Burgos .5 88Milish My thought is there are a lot of younger pitchers that maybe can flow to where you need them either starter or relief and becasue they are young we may have to look at a 6 man rotation that flows around Gallardo and maybe estrada or rogers goign every 5th and the others develop more time inbetween innings if we don't get a short term tenured starter out of trading Gomez/Hart. I think either way there is a lot of potential and if you get a Broxton type who is a good steady veteran out of the bullpen to help the younger guys along I think we would have a decent shot. Of course there are a ton of variables and if you slot one person into another and trade someone there is no way of knowing exactly what you would get back but as guess I could really see this working. The potency of our offense would also take some of the pressure off the younger pitchers who are bound to stumble and have some games where they blowup. Also having a nice group of longer guys can really help with the skippers ability to pull the plug early when soemone is faltering. Thoughts?

I'm new here and haven't completely read all pages of this thread but wanted throw my .02 in. While I like Corey Hart as a player and someone who wants to stay, I think it would be in the Brewers best interest to trade him. For folks who are saying keep him, what if you could package Hart with Maldanado and maybe a minor leaguer for someone like Jon Lester? Lester is signed through 2013 with a semi reasonable option (and very cheap buyout)for 2014. With Boston seeming to be doing some housekeeping this may be a mutually beneficial trade based on the brewers complete lack of anyone who can pitch and is left handed. My thought is that we have an overabundance of both 1st basemen and outfielders and one should stick (hopefully Gamel comes back strong and if he isn't working out by mid-season Morris will hopefully be ready). Maldanado has shown that he is going to be a starter somewhere and with Lucroy blocking him for the next several years it might be best for him and the brewers to find another destination. I'm not positive what it would take Lester but he is having a rough year and we may be able to capitalize on that becuase his career numbers indicate better than what he is throwing out right now. Thoughts?