SoupTown

I was thinking about Bradley as well. In all our minors (aside from the new D Willis) WHO is the lefty who could help us most. Even if the most is least. Who is our best loogie right now in all the minors - who could pitch in Milwaukee in 2015.

I agree with you Balls (can I call you that?). We really need that 2nd leftie in the pen to protect Smith. That is our big need. Then Bob's Your Uncle!

It will be so interesting to see his 'stuff'. Has he lost 10 mph? Is his arm wrecked so he cannot throw a breaking pitch? If he actually has any pure stuff left, if he gets on any sort of a roll (I mean makes the team, pitches a few innings and gives up nothing) it could be that any mojo snowballs. I mean if you are a young guy and is facing OMG... Dontrelle Willis... is there a mental thing that will be in Dontrelle's favour? The only downside is this: if the 1 in a 100 happens, and he makes the team, and is milked a bit at the start, and looks OK, then RR will do a Smith and Thornburg to him. He will in every game until he is ruined for the year... and in his case... his life. Smith was freaky good last year until he wore down. So, giving Smith a day off here and there early would have allowed him to be wonderful an extra 10 outings down the stretch. So the idea that you push a reliever one or two times, can actually cost you 10 or 12 outings later on. RR is really, really, really bad at using his relievers. That is the downside of a Willis comeback. RR will UNcomeback it really quick. So Dontrelle will simply be able to say in future years 'well, I came back great in 2015, with the Crew, and pitched 20 times in April, and I was great... then I had to retire.'

RobDeer. Would you be shopping Lohse right now as well (last year - no extension likely)... and ARam??

My feeling is we need to get the best lefty we can get, for a two year contract. Next year, I think Smith should be in the rotation after Lohse leaves. For righties the new guy from Texas is a back end power reliever. So we really only need ONE of Henderson and Thornburg to come back OK and re 'power righties' we should be ok.

Can we find a third baseman in this mix. I mean somebody who plays good D and plays good O? Suddenly I read about 'sliding Scooter over to third base'. Huh? Where did that come from? I have seen Segura mentioned at third base in the future. That kind of makes sense. Jimenez DM and RR love his D at 3rd. But the poor guy cannot hit winter ball pitching. Is Rogers a true third baseman? I am just wondering what this trade does for 3rd base in 2016. But we surely filled a late inning reliever role, so that is good. I likely can answer my own question: just wait and see. I would put Sardinas for sure in AAA to start.

Schafer or Wooten, I guess

I did not realise how highly Gomez was regarded 'way back then'. And I understand he was hurt, then hurt, then hurt again. I never really read or heard what the hurts were. But Gomez is certainly worth keeping in case he heals and lives up to earlier promise. I would hate to lose him for nothing. There is nothing wrong with getting a couple of prospects who start the year in AA or AAA. I would hate to get a prospect to play him on the bench.

Let me respectfully disagree that losing Lohse, Gallardo, ARam and replacing with NOTHING, is not 'all in'. It certainly is. I should say 'was', as it seems DM will do a good thing and trade Yo for a couple of prospects. For the guys who continually talk up our minors... there was a thread on the top 20 central prospects... every team had 3 to 4 prospect IN FRONT OF our first. And every time we pick up a scrub from somewhere (say that outfielder from Atlanta) the scrub immediately is in our top 15 ranked prospects. Our minors have a problem in that they are full of average or role play guys. No impact (at the high level). Even T Taylor is talked about as an 'average' MLB outfielder if you take off your Brewer glasses. So that addresses my view of our minors. Re the poster that says I am negative toward 2015. Not at all. 2015 looks a LOT like 2014. And 2014 was positive, bar the last gasp choke. (of which, obviously, Reynolds and Overbay were the problem as they were the ones jettisoned). I just want 2016 to have the same hope as 2014 and 2015. With Yo traded we take a slight hit in 2015 for hopefully a bigger step forward in 2016+. Now if Boras' rumor of a team who is going to sign Scherzer first needs to trade a starter (he called it a two-step process) that could be interesting. Scherzer to the Brewers and the salary to pay it is Yo this year and Lohse the next. It is possible, hey. Now that makes us better this year and years going forward. And Boras does dump all his old shelf life stuff on the Crew. In any case, this thread can die now. As it seems a moot point now. Thank goodness.

I think if we 'do nothing' to address 2016 onward, then it will be as I guessed. If we lost Lohse, Gallardo, ARam for nothing, how do we get back to the 2014/5 level in 2016. Then we have another bundle of players leave post 2016 - Gomez, Lind, Broxton. Those six players mentioned are A grade MLB players. We have no one in our minors projected to come close to any of them. I see (still) Texas wants to trade for a starter. Of course Gallardo or Lohse should be traded for the best controlled players or prospects that can be obtained. That is still my hope. Then we still have hope for 2015 and some hope for 2016+. I read a nice article re TB today. Their GM stated they made all their trades to keep hope for 2015 AND obtain some continual hope for 2016+ AND save $10 mill this year and $25 mill of future contracts. IF Doug would pick up, say, a quality 3rd base prospect and reliever for Lohse or Gallardo, 2016 becomes a Brewer 'home grown' team with lowish payroll. The fans would embrace that. Well, I would.

I cannot see how Matt Clark has all options left. I thought he would have one, but with a year in Japan, I think he has two. And if the first short season minors league counts, he would have zero. He played short season in 2008. I guess this does not count as one of his four years prior to 40 man. 2009 2010 2011 2012 must have exhausted his pre 40 man days. I guess his year in Japan is just a blank year. 2013 But surely he used an option in 2014. So he, at most, would have two left All that said, my thinking somehow had him as NO OPTIONS. With a couple, I am happy he will be in AAA and is some type of hopeful 1st baseman after Lind. And the list Mass gave of nil option guys on the 40 man... Luis Jimenez, Elian Herrera, and Hector Gomez, could indeed be 'the bench' (along with Parra and Maldonado). So I guess we ARE set, bar relievers, and even then, maybe our bullpen guys all come back strong. It seems it is more fun to speculate about the AAA and AA lineups at this stage.

I am getting sadly conditioned to the fact that 2015 is an 'all in' year - with no looking to the future. Which means NOTHING will be done to address the needs post-DM-retirement. Therefore, we will need to trade 'a' player at the end of 2015 for three not so good MLB players. This will usher in three to five years of complete crapitude. So who will be the sacrificial lamb.... Gomez? Lucroy? Braun? Garza?

Pete, great wordscultping!; you need to bring that sign to Miller Park: the Bettlestar Gallactica of rotations But I think you spelled Gallactica wrong. It should have an 'e' somewhere.

Re the coaching style of concentrating on 4 seam down in the zone - for our pitchers... it means we need to wait until aa and aaa to see what our guys might be. I would thnk this year will be a watershed year. Did this stategy work and yield MLB ready performers I don't agree with it. Would let pitchers with great curves and sliders use them to get giddy A ball numbers and show great potential. Now we have a bunch of guys that our coaches say they kept them in wraps. 2015 is the year of unwrapping. Maybe it heralds a great new Brewer dynasty

I was scratching around at the players to be 24th and 25th man. I find Matt Clark was listed by the Mets as an IF/OF. He has played a few games in left field in the not distant past. And I really think he should be given a go - should not be lost. And the Jimenez article above explains the sparkle in the eyes of RR and Doug. So, I am putting Rogers in AAA. Jimenez makes the team (3rd base, 1st base). Clark makes the team (left hand bat and Lind insurance and once in a while LF). So for my thinking it is only middle infielder backup we talk about... Gomez or Herrera, I guess. I am sad we did not offer Parra two years. Next year we will have the same issue... who is outfielder number 4. Mind you, we will have $6 mill to solve that! But I do not see anyone in the minors. Would you T Taylor it in 2016? Now.... onto the relief pitchers... any news on our two hurt guys... Henderson and... who was the other guy?

Are the last three bench guys currently (I guess Rogers, Jimenez, Hector Gomez) simply the best we can do right now - barring a trade. And I guess one would never trade for a backup infielder. I worry to lose Clark without ever giving him a chance. Would you think to AAA Rogers and go with Clark as a left hand pinch hitter and sometimes play first? But it does seem more and more we should be having Lucroy have more games at first. And I did read here Lucroy had like ONE homerun the last couple of months. So maybe by keeping him fresh (playing first) we actually end up better over the course of the year. My point is... I guess on the waiver wire or the free agent guys... we are simply NOT going to update our 25 man side - aside from relievers. I really do like Parra for insurance. And it seems we are 'all in' on Jimenez (who is having an awful winter league, whereas Hector is Ruthian)

We seem to have some strange front office / on field thinking. If you are a youngster, it is darn hard to get a start. Davis was forced onto the field. Scooter was forced onto the field. If you are a quality bench player, you are ignored for the aging vet(s). So we end up with the worst of both worlds - and little future... or I should say little known of the future. Last year surely (in hindsight) the first base platoon should have been a couple of our 'not so good Davis-like and Scooter-like' AAA guys. Maybe we would have discovered that Rogers or Clark are really MLB players. Remember we thought Scooter would have 'value' because he is 'league min'. Well, Scooter was under rated. And Davis was under rated. If Weeks does not get hurt, we are having him back or looking for a 2nd baseman, because Scooter would be considered a 'not much good' AAA guy. It really does seem our front office is not good at evaluating players even within their own organisation. And if a youngster makes the 25 man... well, if there is the grizzled, 40 year old also on the 25 man, then our on field guy think the youngster will learn by WATCHING the grizzled one battle through with this tweak and that tweak whilst posting a .250 / .300 / .350 slash. How much do the youngsters learn watching that? How much was learned watching Overbay and Reynolds last year? Did Doug and Ron and Mark learn? Maybe they should listen (and learn) a bit to the music they are composing.

Really, the last two or three roster spots are worth minus 2 to 4 ...or... plus 2 to 4 wins. To say the Brewers do not have 4 mill to compete is nonsense. I do not know if Bonifacio is a 'half win' guy... a step toward the 2 to 4 PLUS wins side. But we did manage to sign a catcher for spring training!

Remember that Doug always over reacts and over compensates to a past shortfall.

I am kind of sad we did not fetch this Middlebrooks. I say that because Boston said 'we sold low, but the guys talent is still there'. I really want us to find someones who we can buy low and they have big upsides. Now I only know this guy is some 3rd base, ex top, prospect. It is like I wanted Ike Davis last year. Ike did not rebound to hall of fameness, but you get the idea of what we should be after (overbay / reynolds was much worse than a year of Ike, IIRC) So, help me out you experts.... where are the buy low candidates. Actually WHO are they. Excite me. (I dont mean Gagnes for $10 mill). And would you ever think Doug would do a sell high, buy low trade.

new general manager Farhan Zaidi said on a Tuesday conference call. "We don't want to be sort of tied down by financial obligations — we're just trying to build the best team we can for 2015

I was sitting and thinking about the roster and there really are only a couple things that can / could happen. 1) the backup middle infielder... who will it be 2) the backup / platoon first / third baseman... who will it be 3) a left hand reliever on the scrap heap... who will it be 4) the fifth outfielder... who will it be 5) trade one of Gallardo / Lohse for prospects... and find a right hand reliever for the pen... to replace Nelson who moves into the rotation 6) maybe, trade Parra for one of 1 to 5 (but then who is fourth outfielder) These are all so, so NOT SEXY. But that is all we can hope for. Because that is all we need. If you do it right you will add four games to the plus side... do it wrong and minus four games. So if our 'basic' squad is an 84 win team, then the moves above make us 80 or 88. I dont even know if the moves can be made skillfully, or if it is just blind luck. My preference is we 'go for lightning'. That is, do not get AAAA safety guys. Get some guy that can be super good or super bad. I guess an injury reclaim. Or maybe an overseas guy. I like the young guy who they claimed who may be the backup corner infield guy. He is really young still and good on D. So there is a chance he is a late bloom. And it is reported Scooter will be handed the full time - non platoon - job. And it is reported some teams DID contact Doug re Gallardo and/or Lohse. And it is reported some teams asked re Parra. The zips was right. We are a decent team all things being equal. And we are decent average+ everywhere. (maybe the PEN is a bit under). But with our team and based on projections as intelligently as we can... we are 84 win. So, we will be between 80 and 88. I wonder if we even have any control over that. re the 2016+ black hole... I have written re that... the Brewers should try to present a young and upcoming 'home grown' team. Us fans will accept a down 2016 if 2017+ has hope. But if the Doug retirement plan (all in for 2015 with no thought for the future) happens, that will be very, very sad. It can ruin the franchise. We always need hope.

It always amazes me how the guys, when leaving St Louis, seem to lose weight (muscle) and power and get injured a whole lot more. Yet when they GO to St Louis they gain muscle and power and injuries are gone. Funny coincidence.

I liked the MLBTRADERUMOURS comment today... Boston are looking to trade for one of the 7 or 8 one year contract left guys on the market. They are shying away from the long term big bucks FA pitchers. You guys know better than me, but you all have been talking about Boston's players maybe available for a Gallardo/Lohse swap. I really hope we shed one and get some 2016+ hope back. I am actually quite keen on Garza and Peralta being one/two in 2016. My gut says Garza is the best, by far, of what we have. And with Fiers, Nelson, Smith... that is a rotation. If we get a couple prospects who may be good in 2016+ we will avoid some dark years. I dont think we will make the playoffs sadly for a while, unless somebody really develops, but we will be an enjoyable team.

Kintzler, I think, is a classic example of 'maybe he is worth 4 mill and maybe he is worth nothing'. And that can change year by year. Let us hope his 2015 matches is bravado ('why dont you use me') of 2014.