Boomer5

It would take one 2-4 day for the Cubs fans to like Braun. I doubt the Cubs avoid adding him for fear the fans wont like him. They are having a great season so there is very little bad vibes adding a 1000 ops player even one that was a rival. If they view Braun as the piece that gets them a WS, no one will be upset.

He was just a really cheap guy to bring in and see if his skill set would translate to a bench role at the majors. At 26 he isnt a guy to develop, either he is or he isnt. He isn't.

I don't think anyone can make an argument that Walsh is among the organizations best indielders and worthy of a MLB roster spot.

I think that was just setting the bar high and then go down from there. Jeffress has a lot of value. Not Giles last year value, which was high for ANY reliever, but big enough that he should bring back a high end package. I think there may be substance to the rumor of them having a good relationship etc. etc. and not wanting to trade him. The rumored asking price is ridiculously high. It is like the equivalent of asking for Lucas Giolito and Trea Turner in a Lucroy trade. I do think there is an unusually good relationship between Jeffress and the Brewers. They did save his career and arguably his life. In return, Jeffress has performed like a number one draft pick and kept himself clean. That will be fine until someone on his side realizes he is a closer and should be paid like one. That's where we will see how good the relationship really is because I doubt the Brewers want to give him $8M+ per year in a long term deal like his stats will suggest.

I think that was just setting the bar high and then go down from there. Jeffress has a lot of value. Not Giles last year value, which was high for ANY reliever, but big enough that he should bring back a high end package.

And that is the problem. If we want some elite prospects we have to pick up money to make it an under market value contract. We pick up $20mil or so suddenly he is very attractive and more teams can afford his contract. A $20M contract back, or $4M per year on Braun's deal should be nothing to the Brewers if they can stock their farm system, which is very much still in need of difference makers. Braun is playing so well right now, it would be a shame to not leverage that into a package of much needed prospects. Watching that game yesterday, Zimmerman made the Nats helpless. The Phillies started the walk Harper strategy last week and the Cubs took it to the next level. Their season is over unless they get a real clean up hitter.

That was Melvin's strategy to start re-stocking an empty system. It will be interesting to see if they continue that strategy going forward. They could just as easily sign an over-slot guy to try to get more "star power" into the system, and then pick some college seniors later to save money. Wasnt that Houston's strategy too?

I think they will take as close to a cant miss prospect as they can get under slot regardless of position.

I saw that game and I had the exact same thought. Of course had Dusty Baker switched Murphy and Zimmerman it might have been a different story. Zimmerman set a major league record by stranding 14 runners. Murphy is hitting like 400. But thats Dusty Baker for you. The window for the Nats is closing so a Braun trade makes a ton of sense for them. I dont think Werth would waive his no trade clause but Im sure they have another bad contract to include to make sure the Brewers get an excellent package thought I doubt Giolito will every be traded.

As the resident Tribe fan here let me respond to this trade idea... ONLY if you include $75 Million to cover the cost of the Braun contract. Seriously. Explain why Cleveland or any other club is going to trade roughly 24 years worth of major league time for about 6 seasons worth in this day of prospect value. Maybe 15 years ago but not now. Not going to happen. On top of that the Tribe payroll is under $90 million at this point and that is with them paying dead weight money for Bourne, Swisher and Chris Johnson this year. Looking for them to pay even half the Braun contract is a longer shot then the Clowns (err Browns) going undefeated and winning the Super Bowl this next season. Again, not going to happen. You aren't taking in Lucroys value? I'll give you 18years for the value on Cleveland's side, for the 8 of Lucroy/Braun. Lucroy I'd expect a QO so there's 6yrs back. Taking the contract of Gomes off their hands? Elite Pitchers cost elite money. Team as constructed now? Not winning anything for 2seasons. What happens when Kluber, Carrasco command 24+mil each? Your window is short if your the tribe. Aiken/Hillman are less than 50% chance of reaching the Majors. You'll replace Hillman with the QO pick. This deal isn't overwhelming for what Braun/Lucroy can do for Indians offense these 2seasons while that Pitching over there is cheap. And Braun is still tradeable if 2016/17 don't produce a Championship. He's also not considering the Indians attendance which is pathetic. They need to generate some buzz as the days of the sellout streak are long gone.

Trade Hill right now.

The tanking series, game 3.

I don't disagree with this idea in some circumstances, but remember that the Brewers somewhat did this a decade ago and ended up with Jeff Suppan, Randy Wolf, Shaun Marcum, Kyle Lohse, and Matt Garza. They did trade for Sabathia but couldn't afford to keep him. The Cubs can afford Jon Lester and to overpay Lackey...maybe can even afford the historic contract that Arrieta will get. The Brewers barely can do any of this. I didn't say it would be easy but if the plan is to home grow an elite group of hitters and pitchers get ready for a long dry spell

One month does not a season make but it's not zero data either. I posted often that the major league team would be a 100 loss season but I was counting on the links report to be my morning must read. While it still is, it's not the good news report I had hoped. The guys we had all counted on for the most part have been disappointing. This thread was focusing on the possibly moving up the timetable on the rebuild and nothing suggests that is even close at this point. I will say Biloxi rotation has been a bright spot amongst the teams but no one can possibly say the top 25 is performing as hoped.

The team ERA is 5.69 which is last in baseball and incomprehensibly a half run worse than always last place Colorado. The minor league pitcher have been flawed to a degree (Hader) to flat out horrible (Kodi, Lopez). The hitting in the minors has been worse so the hope that we could trade our prospects for more advanced pitching is not likely. The rebuild plan needs to keep the course and if anything trade Luc AND Braun for prospects. The next date to watch is June 9, 2016.

I know i am late to this thread, but my answer would be that i was BEGGING the brewers to pick up Matt Latos. everyone on here told me i was crazy because the brewers already had their rotation. My logic was that you could start jungmann at triple A or put Garza in the pen if latos was pitching well and then flip him and give the spot to whoever is performing the best in the minors. The brewers were one of the 6 teams that went and watched him workout and he signed with the white sox for 1 year 3 million, or, in other words, nothing. Currently he has a 1.84 era in five starts and has already been worth 1.1 WAR. for 3 million... at the deadline he could definitely be trade for a nice minor leaguer or 2. so for about 1.5 million worth of performance you would be able to 'buy' a contending teams top 5 prospect. I was against that signing personally. I think Stearns has put together the worst Brewer team since 2002 (you can argue why he did it but not the validity that he did do it) but even I thought the starting rotation had promise and was pretty deep. I didnt really see a place for Latos with 6 legitimate, or so I thought, starters. Id rather develop our young guys than hope that a retread finds it for a flip down the road.

I've been a huge fan of piggy backing or something like it in the majors for a while. I still can't believe no one has tried it yet. This is another reason I'm not really concerned about the Brewers developing pitching. The actual development is a crapshoot and then when you throw in injuries, it's totally unpredictable. Thats what the Cubs did. They invested in hitting galore then traded for or signed their pitching. Think about how valuable one quality knuckleballer would be to the team? Even if he doesnt have it, he can still go 9 anytime and save the pen.

Thinking outside the box, I wonder if it is time to look at the piggy back rotation at the major league level? I heard on NPR when Passan's book came out that 1/4th of all major league pitchers had undergone TJ surgery at some point???? What about a program to do nothing but develop knuckleball pitchers?

He is a 26 year old hitting .094 with below average D. His saving grace is that he isn't blocking anyone the Brewers want to develop here I guess?

If he keeps this up and say ends up at 900 OPS and 40 HRs, what would he command at Arby? On the other hand, if he has 20+HRs into July, I would have to think he could command a high end A ball pitching prospect and that would be gold to us.

The performance so far highlights why they need to move Luc and explore the Braun trade while he is healthy. The Farm system has a lot farther to go then we all had hoped.

I agree. At this point Id just offer Walsh back and see what happens.

Hill has actually been pretty good lately and has played a solid defensive 3B.

As someone mentioned, Carter is technically controllable but his salary may not be. The pitching other than Nelson and Jeffries is not contention ready anywhere in the system so the whole point of abandoning the tank...err I mean rebuilding plan is moot.

The guys who the new GM traded for are given a longer leash.