Tim_Unroe_Helped

Oh don't get me wrong, I agree, harder evidence is needed. But at least it's a first step.

One thing I noticed about the statement: It says that Braun and his lawyer are on the "money owed" list. I'm guessing the full list isn't available to everybody at this moment but if his lawyer is on the list, wouldn't that give credence to the story? And wouldn't it make it clear that the list was a "catch-all" money owed list as opposed to just a list of people who owe him for PEDs?

I would think this is something that could be reasonably proven through testimony. I guess only time will tell; still not a great story to hear tonight.

Wow, it doesn't say so I'm guessing it's a Major League contract. If so, he might be the pitching version of Yuniesky Betancourt in that he can find Major League work even when nothing he has done can back it up. I know he can strike some guys out, but a career ERA of 5.12 (and it's only gotten worse the last two years) and a walk rate of nearly 13% last year is ridiculously bad. There's always a chance he could turn it around, but I've always had the impression that he has a confidence issue and it's hard to throw in the strike zone with a confidence issue.

He had a few years that were decent and he was an all-star (one year), but I'd hope Segura could post a better line than .258/.312/.367, especially since Clayton was known as a plus defensive shortstop and Segura's defensive abilities at shortstop have been questioned.

I suppose he had a decent career... I just have a more vivid memory of his season with the Brewers. I suppose it wasn't that out of line for his career, but it was amongst his worst years in the majors.

I know it doesn't mean much, but I'm seeing who the number 1 comparison is for Jean Segura and for Tyler Thornburg on that website. That's kind of scary.

Sounds like a good signing. We have needed a guy like Brian Shouse since we had Brian Shouse in our bullpen.

I feel like the rebuilding began last year when we called up Mike Fiers and Martin Maldonado. With the injuries to Narveson, Marcum, and Lucroy, we were kind of forced into rebuild mode. Of course, we didn't officially wave the white flag until we traded Zack Greinke away and went with a rotation of Gallardo-Wolf-Estrada-Fiers-Rogers. But then we dropped Wolf and replaced a pitcher limited by innings, Mark Rogers, with Wily Peralta. We could have easily gone with a rotation of Gallardo-Marcum-Wolf-Estrada-Fiers, but we went young instead. It also continued when we dropped Cody Ransom and essentially dropped Cesar Izturis so we could start Jean Segura and give Jeff Bianchi some time. It may not have looked like a rebuilding job since we got really good after all of this stuff happened, but we got significantly younger in the process. Alex Gonzalez and Cesar Izturis have been replaced by Jean Segura and Jeff Bianchi. George Kottaras has been replaced by Martin Maldonado. Nyjer Morgan has been replaced by Logan Schafer. Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum, and Randy Wolf have been replaced with Mike Fiers, Mark Rogers, Marco Estrada, and Wily Peralta. Francisco Rodriguez has been replaced by Brandon Kintzler and Jim Henderson (I know Henderson is not young, but outside of a few die-hards here, just about nobody had heard of him before the All Star break last year). It's hard to go into full rebuild mode when the new guys from the team last year put together a spectacular last two months of baseball. If they can play almost as good for the entire year this year as they did in August and September last year, the Brewers will be contenders. But there's no doubt the team has already started a rebuilding process.

Isn't it true that Zack Greinke would not have waived his no trade clause if the Brewers didn't have Marcum? If that's the case, there is absolutely no way the Brewers make the playoffs in 2011.

I'd be ok with the Brewers signing Kyle Farnsworth or maybe Mike Gonzalez. Kyle Farnsworth consistently strikes out a fair number of batters and keeps the ball in the ballpark while keeping his walk numbers fairly low. Mike Gonzalez strikes out batters more, but it's more than offset by his worse home run and walk numbers. From my point of view, if we're going to go after Jason Frasor or Jon Rauch, we might as well re-sign Kameron Loe and Jose Veras. Jon Rauch and Jason Frasor can't keep the ball in the ballpark. Jason Frasor also struggles with keeping the ball in the strike zone and Jon Rauch has very low strikeout numbers, especially for a reliever.

I wouldn't be opposed to signing him. He has been somewhat inconsistent, but he has improved from 2010 to 2011 and then again from 2011 to 2012 (although with many fewer innings in 2012). I still wouldn't depend on him being much more than a number 4 or 5 pitcher, but a 1 year/$4 million or even a 2 year/$8 million (I may be off with these projections) deal would seem to be reasonable. Just looking at his past two years, he seems to give up home runs at an above average rate (HR% of 3.3% in 2011, 2.2% in 2012) and he doesn't strike out many at all (14.4% in 2011, 17.7% in 2012), but his walk percentage is exceptional (BB% in 4.9% in 2011, 4.0% in 2012). I know that using the "Three True Outcome" approach in judging pitchers isn't the end-all be-all way to judge a pitcher, but it does say a lot. His 2011 stats would indicate he's a mid-4 ERA pitcher who could still provide value as an inning-eating number 5 pitcher. His 2012 stats would indicate he's a low-3 or even high-2 ERA pitcher who would compare favorably with Brandon McCarthy. Even if he could maintain an ERA around 4 in future years, he could be a solid innings-eater at the bottom of the rotation for this team. I think it could also strengthen our bullpen by letting us start the season with Chris Narveson or Mark Rogers taking on the role Marco Estrada had in the bullpen to begin 2012. Agreed, though, that Ryan Braun may have an issue with his signing.

Brandon McCarthy was pretty much the one starting pitcher on the free agent market that I was hoping the Brewers would spend money on. He walks people at about half the rate that Gallardo does and while he doesn't strike many people out, he could have been somebody who could have gone deeper in games to relieve the bullpen a bit. I'm just hoping we don't spend a ton of money on Ryan Dempster. He has overperformed the last few years, he will be well overpriced, and there's very little upside there.

I'd like to see the Brewers go after Brandon McCarthy. I know there are concerns about him in that he doesn't strike out many batters, he has a little bit of an injury history, and he is coming off probably the most gruesome of his injuries coming up this year. However, his pros are intriguing. He only walked opponents at a 5.1% rate last year and it was an astonishingly low 3.6% in 2011. The only returning Brewers' starter who had meaningful time with the Brewers last year with anything close to that was Marco Estrada, at 5.2%. Yovani Gallardo walked opponents at a 9.4% rate in 2012 and even Mike Fiers, known as a control pitcher, ended the year walking opponents at a 6.7% rate. He also gave up home runs at a lower rate (2.1% in 2012, 1.6% in 2011) than any other returning Brewers starter last year. (Gallardo was at 3%, Estrada at 3.2%, Fiers at 2.2%). Finally, he could play the role of an innings eater because of these statistics. While Yovani Gallardo is a legitimate #1 pitcher in the staff, the one thing he does struggle with is pitching late into games. In the last two years, Gallardo averaged 6.18 Innings / Start (2012) and 6.28 Innings / Start (2011). In addition, we have a very young pitching rotation and pitch counts will likely be watched. In the last two years, McCarthy, averaged 6.31 Innings / Start (2012, without the last game included due to the freak injury) and 6.83 Innings / Start (2011). While I know he won't be that cheap (though might be able to get him for a discount due to his injury), he will (from what I've seen) almost certainly be much cheaper than Ryan Dempster. He is also younger than Dempster and while he doesn't strikeout batters at nearly the same rate as Dempster (McCarthy 15.6% in 2012 vs. 21.3% Dempster in 2012), his walk percentage (McCarthy 5.1% in 2012 vs. Dempster 7.3% in 2012) and home run percentage (McCarthy 2.1% in 2012 vs. Dempster 2.7% in 2012) are significantly better. I know head injuries are a risky proposition, but we actually have some depth at the starting pitcher position this year (enough that 2 of Estrada, Fiers, Peralta, Narveson, and Rogers will likely start the year in the bullpen or the minors this year). It's not like we'd have to bring Joe Winkelsas or Sergio Mitre back if McCarthy isn't ready at the beginning of the year.