Boomer5

Stearns passed up a 5 tool OFer and/or pitching so he could pick up a second catcher of the future? Yeah, ok..........

Hate to rain on your parade but Zimmer was never traded. Clint Frazier was. I already corrected that after it was pointed it. They both have a Z and are OF'ers, so they are interchangeable.

Here is an Indians perspective on the trade when it was still a trade. Pretty interesting... http://www.scout.com/mlb/rumors/story/1690940-breakdown-of-potential-lucroy-to-indians

I might be confused, but didn't the Yankees get Clint Frazier for Miller? Not Zimmer? Lol youre right.

No, it's not. I'm not going to get into a Nottingham debate here, but go read some scouting reports. He's far from a "never was" at the position, no matter how many times you say it. Which is a lot. Every day. Multiple times. Sometimes even going for a Gary Carter strawman. If the Brewers trade for a catcher, it is because Stearns likes up the middle guys, just like splitter said. It says nothing about Nottingham. Actually it is why Stearns traded for Nottingham in the first place. I dont buy for a second Stearns was trading for another catcher if he thought he had one and neither do you, IMHO. Catchers are not guys you easily move around and expect success. They are catchers because they are catchers. They have already taken away useful life in their bodies and general use at other positions. I do buy the SS or CF argument as those guys are typically the most athletic in HS and college. Not catcher.

I want this link to where Zimmer was available for Lucroy. Please show me. You keep acting like one was available for Lucroy. Where is the proof? I wasnt in the war room and neither were you. But Zimmer was traded, just not to the Brewers. Mejia was traded, to the Brewers. Both trades were multiple pieces so it wasnt just Zimmer or Mejia one for one. Seems either would have been available, but the Brewers just chose the Mejia lead package vs the Zimmer lead package (which may or may not have not included the same extra pieces). Zimmer was available, clearly since he was traded. I guess we can argue Miller vs Luc but it would be tough to say one is many leaps over the other.

Thats a fair comment. Go for SS then move them around as needed. I can buy that. I agree Gallo doesn't fit what he has gone for so far.

Catcher was not the priority target. The Brewers (reportedly) asked for one of Zimmer/Frazier/Mejia. Two of those three guys are not catchers. The two teams agreed on Mejia. And none of it probably had anything to do with Nottingham - not sure why you love bagging on him so much. You can call it "bagging", its just stating facts. Maybe facts you dont want to hear, but facts nonetheless. Zimmer was obviously available, so it appears the Brewers chose catcher over OFer. They wouldn't have done that had they had a future All Star Catcher at AA.

I do agree with this post. We need to pick up elite talent, as our organization is filling up nicely with good players but not great players. Why didn't I like the Cleveland trade? We boxed ourselves into making catcher the priority target. In large part due to the Nottingham regression/never was at the position. We all like Mejia but he is an A ball catcher and those are never strong bets. As hot as he was, he did have red flags in his receiving skills (not arm of course) and his alleged attitude issues. The other guys were nice pieces in a volume trade for sure but incredibly redundant players for the current profile of our system. Yes, you don't necessarily care about position at this stage of the rebuilding phase, which is in the 2nd or 3rd inning now. That's why you dont worry about trading Luc and spending some, or in the the case of the Cleveland deal, most, of the trade capital on a catcher. You do however need to develop impact pitching and when you trade your best chip for a C, OF, and SS, you arent doing yourself any favors in building a team that already has plenty of middle infielders and light hitting OFers. Maybe thats Stearns idea of market inefficiency? Pick up as many middle infielders as you can because the market doesn't value them? I dont know but it seems too "cute" for my tastes as the two things you cant teach are power bats and power arms. The league doesnt value middle infielders who dont hit for power, they don't value stolen bases, and they don't value corner OF's who don't hit for power. So you can corner the market all you want at those positions/skills and unless the market really changes, it wont matter. I dont mind going for A ball players at this point in the rebuild. In theory, the father away from being major league ready you go, the more the upside you can acquire.

No, he is worth more than salary relief and his contract isn't that bad. With the Brewer's payroll they can easily handle his contract since they arent trying to contend and don't need to make moves for some expensive players.

Im shocked the Dodgers havent made a push for Braun. He fits their needs and budget perfectly. They desperately need his RH bat.

Its not the end of the world if Luc isnt moved since we saw what Stearns was trying to get for him. It is very much the end of the world (overdramatic comment aside) if he doesnt capitalize on the reliever market though.

Im shocked the Dodgers havent made a big move on Braun. They can easily afford him and they desperately need a RH hitter. A Braun/Luc mega trade would be interesting.....

Their first priority has to be moving the relievers. I have never seen a reliever market this hot and Ive been a Brewer fan since George Scott. Stearns wont let us miss out on that market where every reliever with a pulse is going for a top 100. This is an opportunity we can't miss and we are uniquely suited to take advantage as we have 3 and we don't need them for this season anyhow. After seeing what he settled for in the Luc trade, Im less optimistic. I guess Id give the Mets a take it or leave it of TdA and Rosario. Gallo just doesnt interest me as a lead and Im a huge fan of building a team around HR hitters. Id be more interested in a one for one of Luc for one of the Boston "untouchables" than anything else I have seen.

I've heard that it's more stressful but I don't know if I've ever seen any science behind it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the splitter the fashionable pitch in the 70's and 80's and then someone said it leads to injuries and coaches didn't want guys throwing it anymore? I never really thrown it as a pitch but I've thrown it and you definitely can "feel" it more than other pitches. Like I said though, I've never actually seen any studies about it. Take a baseball and jam it between your fingers and look at your forearm. I pitched in high school and our pitching coach showed us that to explain why he didn't teach the splitter.

It's not about quantity, it's about quality. This system isn't lacking in Scooters, it's lacking in Brauns and Fielders.

We don't need one, but why can't we get one? It is like some sin if we do to some people like we are trying to replace Lucroy in a Lucroy trade. Well if we use the Cleveland debacle as a model, we went all in on a catcher as a lead while ignoring their more elite OF prospects and arms. I'd say we may have done the same with the Oakland deal. Go for the Luc replacement instead of better prospects. The moral of the story is to get them when they are available and not force it.

Are you responding to me? No. Someone last page mentioned one of the prospects from Texas had to be a catcher.

We don't need a catcher in this deal. Maldy and the two old guys in AAA are fine until we can find one. I'd rather we just went after the best talent possible and worried about catcher in the offseason.

Where would he play?

[sarcasm]Nottingham? The next Gary Carter?[/sarcasm]

Gallo will hit for big power but he looks like a guy who will struggle to hit 200. He is more sizzle than steak. I'd take him but not as a headliner.

It's about time. Thank you Lucroy, you were our only hope.

That's true and the failure to realize Nottingham can't catch has put us in a position where we need to find the next guy. However I'd much rather they pick up an elite OFer than a catcher just to have one. You can always trade for Norris for very little if they want one so badly.

Unless Luc backed away from his word after the deal was done it's hard to get mad at Luc. You'd think both FO's would have this handled before the deal went public. On to the next deal. Don't make this all about the replacement catcher. We just drafted two and we have two stop gaps at AAA.