brewcrewdue80

Hasn't been posted anywhere here. MLBTR posted the Indians have a desire to move Nick Swisher and chimed Milwaukee being a team(of many) whom the Indians could pawn him off to. Honestly, wonder if this is a guy to be a Veteran pickup move that may pay off? High OB. Thing is, when you look at his Splits for his career, he's really turned out as being consistent. He doesn't Excel but he's also not below average pretty much everywhere. RISP OPS-.812 Men on OPS-.839 2 outs OPS-.796 2 outs RISP OPS-.783 Late and Close OPS-.824 High Leverage OPS-.834 LHB vs RHP OPS-.795 RHB vs LHP OPS-.829 Now for whatever reason he was awful last season. He appeared in 97 games, so injuries? How about a bounceback with moving to a hitters' ballpark? 20+HRs hitter for his career prior to last season. Batting from both side with experience at 1b and the OF? Could see him getting time for Davis in a platoon situation or Braun if injured. Plus obvious 1b platoon partner for Lind? He's owed 30mil for 2years. Can the team get 10mil maybe 14mil paid for by Cleveland and take a chance on him? I don't know his injury list of last season so maybe like my non-belief in Craig, Swisher has an ability concern due because of it?

Just sucked down my Around Christmas eggnog bottle. Gone in 60 seconds maybe LOL. and of course now the tummy ache begins. Publix Brand this year, not the greatest but it's over with.

I saw The Raid 2 at MKE Film Fest. The action and violence was so over the top I had to laugh at times. It was awesome. Saw both. Loved both. the amount of time to choreograph all that action is impressive. Mainstream movies don't care to put that time in. Fantastic brutal scenes. And just for kicks, Raid 2 had a Martial Artist whose skill was use of a metal baseball bat and baseball. So it applies to Baseball right?

Okay approaching a month's time since last post. So with that said and since there's a scouting report/video via Fangraphs. Here's mymlbdraft.com's current projected pick for Milw: 6'7" Prep/HS Lefty Justin Hooper from Fangraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/67-prep-lefty-hooper-flashes-kolek-like-potential/ If you read the link's wording says Hooper flashes Kolek-like-potential. I'm not sold based off this video. Kolek to me looked like he had it w/o pushing to have it like Hooper does. And the control in the motion isn't there. Don't like reading the report that he's just a FB/Curveball with a poor feel for a Changeup at the moment. Nothing Wowed me. Maybe a curveball for the final pitch looked good but still the overall look of that outing didn't leave me with a great feeling of a surefire prospect, but one rather of lots of growing pains and time to be put in. If his FB touches 94-96 but has no higher ceiling projecting, with his delivery, I don't like the risk involved of him growing up to reach Majors w/o injury and maintaining a 94+FB. I feel like in Hooper's case it's the 6'7" LH frame that increases his draft stock to be this high currently. If he were 6'3" or shorter RH probably wouldn't even crack the first round mock. Amateur eye again of course. My SP picks last draft were Aiken,Kolek and Ortiz via video(what I'd seen) and before reaching #1/2 rankings by Aiken/Kolek. just for reference. I believe I did vote against Finnegan who made the Royals Playoff team. Care to chime in on the video/link?

From the Rumor mill on Aoki, it seems the belief is he's asking for a 3year deal and it's maybe in the 3/21 range. That would be more expensive than Parra and more years committed. That's why he isn't signed at this point. I think at some point a team will wear down Aoki for a 2yr deal maybe 15mil total. I think the Reds were connected to him as a possible signee? Would be like a weaker Choo at a less cost because of it. I mean, if Aoki hit 15HRs with the BA and OB and whatever that'd bring his Slg to? Wouldn't he be a lock signing worth 10+mil a season unquestioned? With the amount of money being asked and years, there's no way Aoki is coming here w/o a Starter being moved from the team. Some team will be able to use him as a Starter. A team like the Reds make sense. Kinda an upper 70s winning team with 90win potential on bounceback seasons. I'm surprised the Mariners haven't picked up Aoki. Or as a armchair GM, how would Aoki fare if in Coors? I'd think he'd post up some .345 BA just lifting balls in to the shallow OF for hits? And maybe in the thin air also lift 7-10HRs like playing for Milw adding value. I get he's a tough signing under the circumstance the Rox just had Blackmon make the AS team. But, Blackmon overall finishing the season wasn't all that special. He's a Lefty with under .700OPS vs LHP last season. Happened to play CF a few times in place of I assume Drew Stubbs a RHB. So a Psuedo Platoon? Aoki and Stubbs vs LHP and Blackmon and Aoki vs RHP? Blackmon batted Leadoff for the Rox last season to the tune of .335OB. Aoki's .350ish OB would be a little bit better atop the order. And in that platoon idea seeing as Stubbs lead the Rox at the #2 batting order, that platoon idea could have those two batting #2 Cargo/Tulo mixxed at #3/4 in the lineup. Just seems to me Aoki would work well overall for Colorado as he could be the emergency 4th OF covering spots when Stubbs or Cargo are injured. Or just replacing Blackmon overall should he turn out to be an early season wonder like Segura who just needed to be figured out, and becomes more a .700OPS batter

Craig never even played a season in which he was truly an everyday player. He's not some well-established bat with a long record of consistency. He had about the same track record of production that David Freese did after 2012. He wouldn't be an everyday player for the Brewers either. He's only one season removed from back to back years where he posted back to back years of a BA over .300 and over 90 RBI in over 500 plate appearances. I think at 30, he's worth the gamble in a buy low situation. Look at Morse for the Giants last year. He was coming off a very similar year to the one Craig had last year. It was injury plagued and he hit .215 for Seattle and Baltimore. But he turned back into the feared hitter he was in Washington. The situations are very similar. Only his Contract for a (non everyday player) isn't a Buy Low contract. I don't consider 9 and 11mil owed after this season of trying to see if Craig can be an answer a buy low situation. 9 and 11mil is the price for him to perform at full expectations...meaning at or better than his career numbers of .282/.337/.445/.783(which how is that good at 1b w/o elite defense?) If he doesn't reach those numbers with 450+PAs(how will he reach that with Lind on the team?) he's nowhere worth 9 and 11mil dollars in a small market. Tell Boston to throw 20mil the Brewers way and now it's a buy low situation since the 25.5mil owed would leave him at 5.5mil over 3 years. That's a buy low situation. Anything above the ML avg in pay isn't buying low. KRod's deal last season was buying low. I can't get on board with trading for Craig unless his contract is almost paid for. The risk involved of him potentially being closer to forced retirement due to that foot I feel is more than the Reward involved on him returning to a .300 20+HR 90ish RBI hitter. At the cost or a prospect and Money the team desperately needs to buy more established players. It's one thing if he's on a 1 or 2year deal like Cespedes being traded around. It's another that he's owed 9 and 11mil after 2015. That's around 10% of the Brewers Payroll rolled in to a lottery ticket. With players like Braun aboard who's going to be earning more? The team can't take on that risk. IF Craig sucks, Braun sucks. It's 29mil and 31mil tied in to 2 players for 2016/2017 that aren't worth 10mil combined. So 20% of a teams payroll is exposed to injury riddled numbers in value. Leaves the team 70mil roughly to tackle the other 38 men on the teams roster or less than 2mil per player. Which would be half I'm guess the ML's player's salary avg come 2016/2017. How can you tie you entire franchise in to those two potential complete busts?

Ah the Giants. Team that owned Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence. Very well known to swing at junk, they make contact on it though quite often. It's fine if you're posting solid numbers. But Jean Segura's numbers were terrible. Braun was below those two. Aram about equal. Gomez was the only one that actually beat those two. It's just post a stat like this, and suddenly it's like hey WS champs did what we all complain the Brewers doing and it didn't stop them from winning it all. So it must be acceptable right? The team needs more patient approach brought to the plate. Again, Khris Davis was awful to begin the year, and once he began taking a few walks his bat got hott within 2weeks. Don't swing so much at Junk and you'll see better pitches to swing at. Because Balls=Walks. They'll have to throw pitches in the zone to get strikes=better chance of solid contact.

Don't get it. PCL numbers. 12HRs career high in a year for him. Isn't this essentially the argument against bringing back Nori Aoki? No Power? Bunch of Walks. Doubt his range in the OF is anything Stellar. Just gotta be a temporary move to look at to fill AAA and be a backup. Maybe he's a Bench bat? I wonder if he'll make it all the way to Spring Training before being Traded...Maybe just a move to make all of us think Melvin is working on making a move this offseason and not asleep with Phone on Silent.

Joe Ross & Trea Turner were traded to the Nationals for Steven Souza and Travis Ott Except Joe Ross and Trea Turner are on the Padres and the Padres didn't get Steven Souza and Travis Ott...The Rays did so the Padres dealt the Rays Joe Ross and Trea Turner in order for the Rays to deal them and receive Steven Souza and Travis Ott.

Can he play 3b? If so, could imagine him being a Super utility in the inf maybe spelling games for Gennett/Segura and of Course ARam when needed? I guess it reads some 8 years ago he did play 3b and played all 9 positions in High School. But that's 10years ago then. He's a Righty hitter so the Gennett platoon would be viable only at 2b vs. Shortstop. Segura is under team control for what? 4more years? That would essentially tie him to SS the 4 years you'd be looking at signing Kang. So I go back to can he play 3b? That would make the most sense for Milw to sign him. Bridge the Gap from ARam injuries to who plays 3b for the next 2 or 3 seasons. At the same time the team may have competition for SS for Segura if he continues to be a .600-ish OPS hitter there. In the perfect world Kang would be 3b for 2016-2018. 2b Platoon with Gennett. And backup ARam/Segura in case of injuries. As been said, ARam seemed to do better when given days off vs being run out there every game. What was it? 4.5mil a year for 4years? 5mil per for 3? He's the kind of Golden Nugget small market teams like Milw could afford to attempt to hit Paydirt. At the worst you have a 4.5/5mil season Backup. At best you make a 5mil everyday payday of a FA in to a 3-4WAR player which would be valued around 15mil? give or take per season?

Maybe we watched different games last season but I wouldn't call the entire staff "average." Collectively IMO they performed very well last season, and were not the cause of why we watched the playoffs from home. Roenicke needs to let his starters go deeper into the game, i'm tired of 6IP day in and day out...it seems like we rarely get 7-8IP from a guy. Kintzler on the other hand...he is below average and i'm a little angry we're trying him again. If we beat Will Smith into the ground again like last year we might as well just cut him right now too, he cost us several games. I am referring to I believe the Stat someone somewhere posted Milw's SPs had like a 3.7ERA? Or 3.68 or 3.72 and ML avg for Starters was approximately 3.68/3.7 something like that. Maybe they ranked 17th in SP ERA? I don't know, pulling this off the top of my head w/o looking up for the exact answer. The intended mean is that a team filled with #3s SPs is essentially, Average. If one were to go about guessing the range of ERAs for the Brewers starting 5. Not one I'd imagine would crack ie below a 3ERA. I'm not sure one would crack a 3.25ERA at that. And fwiw, all but Garza had a lower ERA than Fip. Fiers did beat 3 in Fip, but in 14Games/10Starts of stats. This is a team filled with 3.4ERA good years-4.2ERA bad year SPs. StL has 3 SPs with a Fip that is 3.35 or lower and I'll believe that Carlos Martinez has the makes to be at least Brewers avg quality or 3.5. Pitts has a Blossoming Ace in Gerrit Cole who has below 3.35 if not below 3ERA ability. The rest not any more special than Milw. The Brewers haven't acquired or developed these types of SPs. Numbers-wise Milw's staff looks very solid only this is a Pitcher's Era and what Milw's staff put up is just avg. Washington's entire staff is essentially #2s or better far better than average. LADodgers also have 3 SPs with better pitching ability(the best in baseball too) That's 3SPs or more by last year's division winners who's staff is easily better than Milw's Average staff. And I get it some team has to be best in Pitching, some has to be around avg. and others like Minnesota or Colorado's will continue being the worst. It's just that w/o Fiers' 10 games of #1 Ace production as a SP, the Brewers staff doesn't flash anything better than average. They also don't flash anything of ugly on the positive side for them. You sorta make my point for me with the 6IP starts. Avg stuff. Where's the 7IP SP? And that is my point in that previous post. The Starters aren't the types you know are going 7IP with 8IP ability leaving your Bullpen with 3-6outs to have to get to complete games. They are going to be asked for 5-9outs quite often. That means more opportunities for guys like Kinztler to pitch and blow those better than avg starts that are 6innings only in length from the staff.

Considering all the Catchers they've been acquiring, the move makes sense. The Padres acquire at least a defensive Backup at 3b. But yeah not someone I'd be excited to have at the plate. Glad he's with SD so now the Middlebrooks trade suggestions to Milw can stop. With all that that lineup card is filling out to be, Does it really matter if that 3b in front of the Pitcher barely beats their Batting numbers? Middlebrooks isn't going to be residing anywhere in the top 6 of a batting order. 7th or 8th when he's playing. At least makes stomaching a .200/.280/.365 batting line a little easier.

Yep, They must have changed the wording correcting what I read. They have had a number of poor editing errors with all this influx of trade news

I don't know what to think about the Padres moves. They gave up Max Fried which I thought wouldn't happen. But look at these pitchers they've given up, how many of them had TJ last year? Or recovered from one the previous year? Considering where the prospects were 3 in A ball I believe this is a sound deal for San Diego. Upton will net them a 1st rd comp pick next season if not extended. So 3 becomes 2. at 1.5years delay. Now, try to sort out their lineup? Kemp/Upton/Myers? 2/3/4? Gyorko 5? Alonso 6? The rest, Im not even sure who's playing SS? Can't sleep on Gyorko and Alonso/ former top 100...maybe top 50 prospects hailed for their bats, maybe they'll take steps forward no longer being Thee Guys to produce. Anyway Quite a bunch of powerhouse teams being built by LA/SD/Miami at least in ML talent, going to cost them in Minors talent down the road. How about Atlanta in this? Max Fried/Joe Ross/Trea Turner and others? They've been drafting power Arms lately to begin with, one can just look down the road and see a team with an Ace and 3-5#2/3 types on that staff. JUst gotta avoid the ol TJs that robbed them of Beachey/Medlen this season. With this group.

That is true but we should not compare how well he hits with other catchers. If we are talking about more than a normal amount of starts for a backup catcher, we should be comparing how well he hits with other 1B options. I am looking at how well he has hit for his entire career including the minors. I don't think we can dismiss how pathetic he was in 2013. For his entire MLB career he has a .291/.360/.651(OBP/SLG/OPS) line. Outside of one year he was a less than .700 OPS and frequently less than .600 OPS guy. His overall batting line in the minors was .236/.313/.333/.646. That stinks. He is fine for a backup catcher but you don't move a guy to put him in the lineup. Lucroy's health 5 years from now should not be a concern when you want to win today. He is likely to be paid big money by someone else to play for them. Lucroy is roughly a top 10 1b with the bat when he's at 1b. Brewers can't find anyone better on the market like that. Maldonado, never mentioned, for his poor 2013, how does having to learn how to play 1b on the run potentially have affected his bat? Rather than spend an extra 20min to an hour working on his batting, he's instead learning how to field balls at 1b? I would just rather use Maldonado's 25man roster spot that's guaranteed regardless of how we play 1b vs LH pitchers at C more often and Lucroy at 1b more often. And then field that 25th man on the roster be it a Bullpen guy to keep the other arms fresh or a Super Utility player that can play all over...ala Emilio Bonifacio as been mentioned, Who's Bat is just as poor as Maldonado's. Only he can go play OF/2b/ even 3b when in a pinch. Someone like that. Vs a Stuck in the mud 1b or even worse pathetic fielding OF as a versatility. Who you hope on a good year bats over .700OPS for you. I'd love to hear the 1b options out there that even remotely possess a chance of batting over .700OPS. We tried Reynolds last season it went awful after the early going. Craig is a 3year commitment getting only more expensive. He's coming off a Lisfranc fracture on his foot, so already I question his mobility skills even if 100% healthy. That pretty much takes away his OF ability leaving him as an expensive RH bat for a 1b platoon. You put the two of Lind and Craig together in a platoon at 1b theyre making what combined as a player? Tied for 2nd most with Braun on the team! More than Gomez/Lucroy/Garza and Lohse. Less than ARam. 13mil in 2015-17mil(2nd most behind Braun) for both in 2016? Meanwhile, we'll sit here watch the Bullpen blow games in the 6th/7th/8th innings due to the Avg Pitching staff we possess, and wonder why we didn't address putting money to purchase this guy or this guy? Or trade for this guy? We gave up so and so for Allen Craig? One of the biggest reasons the team got off to a torrid start in 2014 was the Bullpen was lights out when called upon in tight games. Problem was there was only so many guys RRR felt comfortable handing over in tight games, or keeping their arms fresh if given 2 games off pitching, and wore them out. From the 85th game on the Bullpen had a w/l record of: 6-10. This with them being 15-11 prior to that. So overall 21-21 record by the bullpen. An no doubt losing Thornburg/Henderson meant a lot for them, but the problem is they didn't have that extra piece to call upon when needed either in their minors or just on the staff who was pitching in a whenever needed situation. I've said it earlier, I am not a fan of Kinztler, his stuff looked awful, his velocity was low. Here we are going to use him again, and as it stands, I'd be it's a 7th inning role in close games or a 9th/10th inning role in tie games. The team doesnt have KRod at this time either. We're going to rely on Broxton who in 2013 was a negative value RP. So if he falls to that again, who will we turn to? Jeffress? Henderson/Thornburg if they ever get healthy? Smith? Who had a terrible RH split? That's where I'd rather save a 25man roster spot for vs. plugging in a Veteran RH platoon bat at 1b. Lucroy at 1b/Maldonado at C is still a +Positive duo at their positions overall in batting, nevermind the Defensive+ Maldonado brings to C.

From what I read the deal is essentially 3/17.5mil. Because the option is automatically picked up if either side agrees to? Seems odd unless they worded it wrong? But that to me means either Medlen asks for his option because he's not worth 10mil in FA for 2017. Or the Royals pick it up because he's worth over 12mil. Anyway, good job by the Royals to pick up potentially a powerhouse talent. It's moves like that that'll keep them in the hunt when they hit on it.

Exactly my point on Maldonado. He did well in 2012, poor in 2013, and well again in 2014. It's not just the belief in his ability to bat vs LHP, but also that it comes with his +defense/pitch framing skills. How does Lucroy at 1b defensively rate over the other options? Lucroy played in 153games-149starts in the field last season. That's 9games off. I'm proposing him spending 40 games at 1b to save on wear and tear, this vs. the 16 games started last season at 1b. So you're removing 25 games more roughly of him behind the plate. I don't know if 13games on the bench with 9nights off overall is saving him as much on his body as removing an extra 25games from Catching? I'd think he'd be doing better with the time at 1b vs just random off days combined away from Catcher. The other point in this is that you're going to want to keep Lucroy's bat in the lineup(see 9games off all of last season) so, If it's oh say 44 games Started in a 162game season vs Leftys, the whole idea pushing to have a RH Platoon bat at 1b seems best suited for Lucroy+ a Rogers if need be. Not a roster taking guy like Morse or Craig where you're not using them enough. Also, 1b production last season Look at the OPS across MLB- with 150+PAs last season 19 players beat .750 OPS. 11 beat .800OPS. Lind would project to beat that. The production from Lucroy is around .800OPS vs LH SPs. I just see the need for a RH Platoon bat at 1b being exaggerated especially giving Lucroy more than 10Starts at 1b if not 20. One could easily assume a LH Starter on a Sunday lineup=Maldonado+ the utility player to throw in at 1b. I don't see a big enough gain to pay anyone more than 1mil to be this guy. He'd have to have super value as a backup OF in case of injury to Braun/Gomez/Davis for it to be worthwhile. Morse obviously doesn't qualify, and Craig coming off a Foot injury that plagued him in 2014? Yeah, I really want to trust his fielding skills in the OF under that circumstance? Never mind the enormous expense or complete failure at the plate last season. Forgot to mention. Just for the sake more of arguing vs Maldonado. Catchers with a .750+OPS last season min. 125PAs-12. And Michael McKenry led the league at .910 playing for Colorado, a guy who hadn't exceeded .762OPS in any other year. Also a guy who is below avg defensively. Move the bar to .800+OPS and its 7 including McKenry. Catchers generally aren't good hitters. I don't get the necessary need to remove Maldonado's bat from Catcher if you're putting Lucroy's+bat at 1b. To much focus on offense from Maldonado from a position where offense doesn't exist.

trwi, I agree. Tampa's deal would appear to be Myers, Geraldo Reyes, Jose Castillo, and Ryan Hanigan for Joe Ross, Gene Rivera, Burch Smith, Jake Bauers and PTBNL in Trea Turner. Who they then flipped Joe Ross(the headliner in the Myers trade) and Trea Turner, for Steve Souza and Travis Ott? I wouldn't be big deal on the trade if TB sent Smith instead of Joe Ross for Souza and Trea Turner. Smith by all acounts I believe is a #4/5 SP in a rotation or Bullpen piece, where Ross would at least be a #3 SP. It appears to me the team is making moves for the future while saving payroll. And must be really high on Jake Bauers and Travis Ott down the line. You figure in keeping payroll low Smith a non-factor projection, Rivera a 31year old Catcher are cheap cost controlled players for the next 4seasons likely not costing 1.5mil+ in any of them. Souza replaces Myers and you can assume being the prize in the trade now for TB gets to begin his career either replacing him, or Desmond Jennings in the not to distant future. I know nothing on Bauers/Ott but, again, if Souza is the best you can do for Ross/Turner/Myers all three combined then they must spark some super growing potential to Tampa. Love Wash's side of the deal. Joe Ross and Trea Turner for an OF that essentially would have been Joc Pederson on LA the next 2 seasons? Everyone clamoring for him to be given more Starts? Joe Ross reads like Wily Peralta-Mid 90s FB with a Slider to compliment it with. If Ross lives up to that hype alone they win this trade hands down. For SD, They get Myers, which seems like a great move to improve their offense. But the guy will have such lofty expectations now, I don't see a way for them to win this trade. He's moving to a Pitcher's ballpark/pitchers Division. I'll assume his expectations would be something like .285/.355/.475 just to live up to the hype. Anything less and he's going to be looked upon as a failure for a prospect. I just don't see with Petco-LA Dodgers Pitching-Giants pitching, Coors being able to boost his stats enough. Somehow SD gets 2 more very young raw Pitchers in Castillo and Reyes as throwins? As players for maybe Trea Turner?

Wow the real deal is quite perplexing. To list all the players moved. San Diego sure sent a lot of Players to Wash/Tampa. And Tampa would appear to have valued Souza a LOT. Because they sent Joe Ross and PTBNL Trea Turner to Washington for him. The deal of course is tied to Myers' wrist checking out healthy so lets watch him fail the test and open up the truth to why Tampa was trying to move him so quickly.

Well, wait, Justin Ruggiano was just sent to the M's so there goes the Werth idea. Such a let down on that M's Rumor. Parra is a far better OF option than Ruggiano but he bats Lefty.

Sorry Jericho you missed the trade idea. Someone Mentioned the Mariners looking for a Bat-Gomez for Walker. I'm suggesting it could be Werth to the M's since they have multiple OFs ready to move in to the 25man roster. It's a separate trade. Nats make a move with Padres/Rays(idea I'm reading is Souza is involved one of the Nats OFs which would make sense on a Platoon situation of Taylor with Goodwin with Werth's removal afterward to Seattle.) Rendon to me is the 3b in Washington. Longoria would be a massive trade piece. I think the Padres are just after Myers to pair with Kemp long-term. If Souza is part of the deal, I guess thinking Rymer Liriano going to the Rays wouldn't be happening along with a Pitching prospect. Going to be interesting how Tampa makes this work. Says 3team-4teams they are talking to in making one happen

MLB Traderumors says Mariners are close to acquiring a mystery RH bat. They have other young arms besides Walker too. Gomez isn't going anywhere but Davis?? The issue for me on the idea of being Davis, is that I don't see him as being a Team building bat to get behind at this point. The moves Seattle has done, I feel like it'll be Jayson Werth. And maybe with the whole SD/Tampa Wil Myers trade going down, says this morning Wash is in the mix as a 3rd team. So maybe the deal is all depending on what Washington gets/parts with in that trade. The idea behind Werth is money. Washington sheds his contract to free up money to go after extending the likes of Desmond/Harper/Zimmerman/ or Strasburg. Looking at Wash's MLB top prospect ranks they have 3 OFs 2 of which played a little ML ball last season in Michael Taylor and Steve Souza for them along with Brian Goodwin, that removing Werth to create space could make sense. But just my speculation.

Neither does making room for Maldonado's bat. I posted this elsewhere...the allen Craig rumor. But Maldonado OPS's over .800 vs LH SPs last season. You do understand that the idea is to sit Lind vs. LHP? I just don't get why we ignore Maldonado's splits vs LH SPs? And then say we have to remove as many ABs from him as possible! He did great vs LHP last season. As well as any of these options-Morse/Craig are being suggested for the RH side of Platoon. I literally can sit here and beg for the Brewers to start Lucroy at 1b vs LHBats and Maldonado at Catcher(figuring 40-48games) which provide Lucroy with added Leg rest throughout the season+an additional roster space not to be taken up by a 1b only RH Platoon bat.

Edwin Jackson's deal will expire after 2016. That'll be 13mil back come 2017 and beyond. The biggest thing in this deal is how does it really affect the Cubs long term? They have Lester, Castro, Rizzo and Soler locked up beyond 2017. That's it. 4players. Rizzo and Castro won't cost more than 15mil in anyseason until 2020 and that's only if they pick up the option. And Castro's Cubs days could be numbered with Russell waiting to take over SS. Soler's contract is less than 5mil in a season. I think a team that can afford 165mil+ payroll is certainly not going to regret the Lester contract considering this rebuild has them with so many young team controlled/low paid talent through pretty much all of it. Honestly, the Cubs needed this signing because having Lester will amount to attracting other FAs to sign with the team maybe this offseason, or really next offseason after seeing what Soler/Bryant can do with the bats. +Baez/Russell likely getting their chance to showcase. Is Arrieta or Hendricks for real? 2015 will show so. Come 2016, things can really fall in to place for the Cubs to attract other top notch FAs who want to win a WS. How much is that worth?

Found this just now: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/14/marlins-brewers-doing-their-homework-on-allen-craig/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs homework on using Allen Craig as Platoon mate with Adam Lind. Mind you this is an expensive 3 yr commitment if this move is made. 5.5 this year/9 next then 11mil. The man's numbers have been trending worse every season and was worth -1.1BWAR last season in 116games. K Rate worse. BB Rate Worse. obviously triple slashes far worse. Can this be the Dreaded Cardinals player scrapheap pickup Milw gets who's washed up/expensive that the Cardinals were smart enough to let go having used up his talent at a cheap cost? Oh boy. How about the thought of platooning 1b for what one would assume is two years now if this move was made? You're talking about 13mil in 2015 and 17mil combined in 2016 if this move is made for a Platoon? A platoon at 1b mind you where these two don't have the ability to play elsewhere? This reads like Corey Hart only less with the bat, just as much potential to be derailed due to injury and being a bat that needs to be used as a platoon vs Hart's full time ability? Does anyone else think this is a terrible idea? Unless Boston of course threw oh say 18mil Milw's way for that contract? 4 this year, 6 next, 8 the final? That'd be the only way I'd consider the deal is with Craig making under 4mil a season. His best season when healthy was only 2.6 WAR. Maybe I should rephrase the comparison from Hart to Weeks. Whereas both teams extended a player who had success b2b years. Only Milw held on to Weeks contract getting sub-avg results and StL removed theirs immediately when realizing the contract due to injury is more than likely going to be terrible? Yeesh, I really don't get how these people(DM)are put in a position to make these decisions when they are so blatantly bad just to a fan's perspective. I stare at the Division and it's what? 1SP maybe in each Rotation that's Left Handed? 1/5=20% I don't get how we need someone else after Lind at this moment. Lucroy can and has played 1b 16GS last season=10% Maldonado had 13GS vs LH SP and had an OPS of .878 vs them. I think the answer at 1b is pretty clear.