tmwiese55

They should have been able to get a massive haul for Lucroy before this season. Now, not so much. If he shows next year that this season was an injury anomaly and hits close to what he did the few seasons prior. His value will still be solid with 1.5 years of team control at the deadline next year. If he's hurt and hitting 250 then yea you won't get much.

You have to let guys pitch through it and see how they do. Some will improve and become good. Some won't. This is the process. I mean did anyone really think he was going to be a low 2 era guy for his career? They've figured him out a bit, now he has to keep getting better. This is what sports competition is all about. We're in a wasted year next year, you coach him as best you can let him go. It's that simple.

While you're not wrong. Why wouldn't we wait for them to rebound while playing for us and then sell higher a few months into the season? There is no contract situation that rushes us to trade them. Unless Lucroy demands a trade behind the scenes or something. I would definitely shop Lucroy to see where his value sits. I think he has enough of a track record that this year probably didn't do too much to hurt his trade value. If I'm wrong and people aren't willing to give up value, then I'd hold on to him hoping for a good season in 2016 to bring that value back. The reason I would look to trade him is risk vs. reward. Unless his trade value is really low right now, the only thing we gain by holding onto him is having a good player on a bad team. The risk is that he get injured or have another bad season, in which case his trade value would be diminished and potentially zero if it's a bad (career ending) injury. He just had a serious concussion, and that worries me. One more hit, and he could be forced to stop catching, and possibly retire. As to the argument that has been made that he will help the young pitching staff, I agree. However, our backup is Maldonado, who should be just as good at helping the young staff. If we didn't have Maldonado, that argument would hold more weight. I agree they have to look into it and see what's out there, but there is no rush. But if your logic is that he's for sure going to rebound, you might as well let him do that before trading. If he's hitting 285/355 with 12 HRs at the break while playing catcher, you should be able to clean someone out. Right now, everyone is probably a little skeptical and would like to see him play again so you likely won't get as much. If internally they have some worries about the concussion and his ability to catch and would rather move on now rather than risk it, so be it.

Maybe you don't have the re-build in you then, haha. Get used to living through some tough spells from young players. It's part of the process. Can't just give up on everyone if they have a rough couple of weeks, even the best go through it.

While you're not wrong, why wouldn't we wait for them to rebound while playing for us and then sell higher a few months into the season? There is no contract situation that rushes us to trade them. Unless Lucroy demands a trade behind the scenes or something.

I initially hated the idea of having the whole season come down to one game, kind of the opposite of the way baseball is supposed to be. But it has grown on me due to keeping more teams in the race longer and putting the emphasis on winning the division. Think of it the other way, without it the Cubs with the 3rd best record in baseball would not even be in the playoffs. I think the good outweighs the bad. Maybe there is a way the can find to make it a 3 game playoff or something down the line.

Yes the East has great improved in the last two seasons. Cle, Chi, Was, Tor, Miami, Atl are 6 solid playoff teams now. Then throw in MKE, Boston, Indiana (with George back). Even the bottom teams should all be much better other than Philly.

I think still a year away. Maybe things will happen that gets them around 50 wins but I still wouldn't view them as title contenders. Goal should be to win a round in the playoffs this year.

And the Royals traded for Shields and Cueto in order to get an "ace". Rangers did the same with Hamels. You can argue if they should've or if it worked but they still went for it.

RoCo, I thought the same thing. we're not worried about winning anyway so who cares. You could factor it into what prospects to target in trades but for next season's roster who cares.

Just scrolling Yahoo and they had an article on this, http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-much-does-bryce-harper-actually-hustle--quite-a-lot-195153539.html I haven't read it all yet but this is near the top and about this topic: Perception: Harper did not run out his pop fly to left field in Sunday's game. Fact: Harper, angry with himself, took less than one second to express frustration at the ball he lofted before starting to jog to first base. He reached the base before the ball was caught. From the time it hit the bat to when it was caught, the ball hung in the air for 6.08 seconds, meaning even if Harper busted it out of the batter's box like a banshee, the chances of him taking second base on a Jeff Francoeur error were minuscule. The effort put forth by Harper, as Adam Kilgore so astutely noted, was far from offensive, not worthy of a snide remark, let alone an assault. A great hitter got angry with himself and exerted the proper amount of energy rather than doing something because it's supposed to be done a certain way. In baseball, it's called eyewash. It's false hustle, doing something so others can see you do it. For some, it's a sin. For those like Harper, the victim of excessive hype and, occasionally, his own youthful hubris, it's a necessity, lest he be accused of not playing the game right. Every time Harper huffs it down to first base, he averages 18.18 mph, which ranks 95th in Statcast's query. Is Brian McCann, an unwritten-rules connoisseur, not playing the game right because he runs just 16.07 mph, the slowest in baseball by nearly a quarter mph? Are James Loney and Adrian Gonzalez insulting the game because their average speed to first is slower than Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, both professional lopers?

It's because of Braun's history in the IF that they moved him to the OF. It was an absolute no-brainer at the time and there's a huge reason they've never looked back on the decision in spite of major problems filling both 1B (2013-14) and 3B (much of 2015, injuries or post-Ramirez) at crucial times with competent big leaguers: his defense was comprehensively awful -- not just bad, but awful. That's not untrue. But 1B is different than 3B, drastically different. To me the worry would be more about the injury things, all the bending/stretching might actually be worse than playing OF for him. I have no doubt he could play a passable 1B, at the very least the same level as Prince and I would wager he'd be better than Prince.

Agree 100% with Danzig. And that is what this is about, not him jogging out a ball. Harper was 100% correct on the HBP thing and more people should start saying this so it stops. Just like Maddon said something a few weeks ago about the Cardinals. Papelbon being the jerk he is made a fuss over nothing in retaliation and now people are acting like Harper is in the wrong. Harper didn't do anything that isn't common throughout baseball, especially in the last week when your team is out of it, but since he's young and outspoken everyone wants to bring him down a notch. It's people just being haters. No one here would accuse Carlos Gomez of not playing hard would they? When he hits a fly ball he'll angrily toss his bat and slowly jog to first with his head down. One time this year the ball carried and hit the wall and I think he only got a single or at least made it a very close play at 2nd on a ball that would've been a triple if he ran. Fans can say all they want to run it out every time but the reality is it just doesn't happen.

The fact that he's being called out at all for not running out a fly ball is holding him to a higher standard. This happens on almost every routine fly ball. It is the rule, not the exception. Sure it's fair to say they should do it, but no one does. I don't mean you specifically, but by Papelbon or by anyone in the media. When Jayson Werth or whoever else flew out two innings earlier why wasn't it a story?

It is completely common for players to not run out routine fly balls and even routine grounders. They jog it all the time, Harper shouldn't be held to a different standard than everyone else.

Agree with Geezy, no way that should be in play. I also disagree with an extension on Lucroy unless it's very team friendly. I don't want anything resembling Molina's deal. However, I wouldn't say you have to trade him this offseason. I think his value can greatly be increased if he comes back healthy and hitting next year. He had a horrible season, if he's hitting like he did the previous couple seasons around the ASB they could get a big return. I also disagree to keep Lind because his value will increase by ASB? By then the potential suitors will be limited and the team won't be able to give a QO when he's a FA. Moreover, it risks injury for an injury prone player. Not worth the risk, trade him now.

I see no way Harper is in the wrong here. People are going to say he should have ran it out blah blah. That is simply nitpicking and hating on him since he has always had an arrogant reputation. Watch any MLB game and jogging out a routine fly ball is completely commonplace, especially in the last week of the season and your team is out of it. The kid can't win, he runs himself into a wall over and over and he gets ripped for being stupid and playing too hard. He jogs out a routine fly ball and he gets ripped for not playing hard enough. This all comes from Papelbon being bitter about Harper not liking when he intentionally hit Machado, which Harper was 100% correct about.

Agree with the last few posters. there's no rush to trade him but if you get something you really like you probably take it just to be safe.

100% right. I think Lind is a must trade in the offseason. We should have no delusions of competing in our division next year so there is no reason to keep him. In a different division you could argue that keeping him, healthy Braun/Lucroy, bounce back from Garza and signing someone like Zimmerman could make you a possible playoff team. We could add Kershaw and not finish in the top 3.

I'd be fine with just rolling Rogers in a rebuild year rather than bringing in some old guy who is washed up. If only Lind is traded (not Davis) though I'd just get Braun moved now since it's likely coming eventually. If both lind and davis are traded then you can put Braun back in left and see how Rogers does.

I pretty much agree with Reilly. We were all a little worried going into this year so this was a Win. If he hits comparable to this year and plays in above 140 games for the 3-4 years before a noticeable drop that's all we can really expect at this point.

In our situation I like Doug Fister as a buy low bounce back candidate who can be flipped if he does well. Shouldn't be very expensive so not much risk. I don't see any position players making sense as of now. If Lind and/or Lucroy is traded then maybe you grab someone in those positions and hope for a good year to flip them as well. Since we don't really have a lot of options behind those guys. If you're a contending team with money then Price is just simply #1. I like Jaime Garcia too as a lower tier guy at a fraction of the cost of the top guys like Price/Cueto but I'm sure STL will exercise the option. And if he hit FA he wouldn't make sense for MKE being too expensive and he'll want to play for a winner.

Houston is a big market and really don't have any big contracts I can think of on the team. If he does well next year they might try to keep Gomez, or maybe they think they can get him cheaper this offseason after the down year. It could easily work for both teams. What reilly said about using your assets when you're contenders. I fully agree. However, isn't this what lots of people on here complain about when the Brewers did it and act like our management was idiotic for doing it. Just reminding those folks this is how it's done by everyone and our management weren't bumbling incompetents for doing it. Two of the current examples of smart rebuilds done right (Royals, Houston) just did it.

I'm really worried the Cubs than the Cardinals. They have developed faster than I anticipated (I figured they would be around .500 this year). If they added Price, they would have a heck of a rotation. Lester, Price and Arieta are all far better than anyone Milwaukee has (or probably any team). And in Bryant and Rizzo, the team has two all-star type players - maybe even MVP quality guys - who are only 24 and 26, respectively. Milwaukee's best hitters are in their 30s. Schwarber could be an elite bat as well. That gives them a great rotation and a great middle of the order. And then they have the financial flexibility to fill other areas as needed. It all makes for a pretty nice outlook for them. The big issue will come with injuries and aging. They've been pretty healthy this year, but they don't have a lot of depth in starting pitching. But again, money can help with that. Lester and Price (assuming they sign him) would be in their 30s - and that's always a risk sinking huge money in those types of guys. The Cardinals probably lack the star power the Cubs have (and can buy). They keep producing decent players, but I don't see anyone like Bryant coming along. I don't doubt they'll be good, but I don't know how long they can keep winning 90+ games. I think the Cubs are the big favorites because of Madden. Everything you said is accurate on the other potentials, but have to think that relationship with Maddon will be the deciding factor. And Cubs are a contending team in the NL. Only thing against is that Wrigley is more of a hitters park. They could get in trouble 4 years from now once Lester/Price are aging and getting paid a ton but they should be a powerhouse for the next few years. What's scary with the Cubs is most of the A+ prospects haven't really done much yet, other than Bryant and Schwarber (and Schwarber has tailed off since the hot start). If say just two more of those guys live up to their potentials then look out. And 4-5 years from now as those pitchers are expensive and not as good they'll have to start paying the position players. STL hasn't made any sense for a while as to how they keep doing this but I will expect them to be 85+ wins every year just because they're the cardinals. Somehow they just keep producing.

Have to think Cubs are the heavy favorite for David Price this offseason, heck I'd almost call it a lock. Man the division is going to be tough, hopefully Pitt falls a bit because CHC and STL aren't going anywhere.