A Swing and A Drive

This seems the most likely to happen. These guys will need MLB inning sometime this year. I hope the Brewers will be smart and limit Hader's inning by using him out of the bullpen, however. If we are still contending, using him as a multiple inning LHP reliever like Andrew Miller would be the best way for him to get his intial MLB experience, IMO. The Brewers can stretch him back out to be a starter next spring. Woodruff threw 158 minor league innings last season vs only 126 for Hader, so I'd be more inclined to give him a shot at the rotation late in the year. The Brewers really need at least one of Wily Peralta, Jimmy Nelson, or Chase Anderson to take their game to the next level over the course of this season. If so, I could envision "decent" rotation that consists of the following: 1. RHP Junior Guerra 2. RHP Zach Davies 3. RHP Matt Garza 4. RHP Peralta, Nelson or Anderson 5. RHP Brandon Woodruff (combinded maybe with some spot starts from Lopez/Hader/etc) If two of those guys I mentioned prove worthy of keeping their starting spot, then I'd still like for the Brewers to trade away Garza. Guerra and Davies aren't exactly Top of Rotation pitchers by any stretch, so it really is hard for me to see the Brewers staying in contention with this bunch. I really think Woodruff is at least ready for some MLB starting experience before the year is out. I think Hader has a higher ceiling and should likely recieve the "kid gloves" treatment when it comes to limiting his innings, regardless of the Brewers spot in the standings.

I think Broxton has the lowest floor of the group. I'm not sold on him being able to achieve sustained success at the MLB level due to some tremendous holes in his swing. That being said, his defensive value could keep him in a MLB starting lineup on it's own. I think the Brewers will do well by trying to sell high on Keon when and if the time is right.

I think the idea of trading Broxton, Santana and even Villar in a pursuit of future TOR (Top Of Rotation) starters is one the Brewers brass needs to be open to. These are players all at positions of depth and strength for the organization and I think it's a great idea to use them to address the organizations areas of weakness. Namely pitching, but also higher ceiling offensive talent than we currently have in the system. Instead of being part of the next contending Brewers club, I almost consider those 3 to be part of the next "wave" of trading chips that Stearns will have to work with.

As mentioned that is pretty easy to say when we don't even know if any pitchers were available. Heck we have a top prospect pitcher and I would take Brinson over said pitcher every chance. Because no offense to the Haderwagon, but the guy seems dangerously destined to be a reliever and not even a starter...and even if he makes it as a startermore like a mid-rotation guy. TOR pitchers are almost impossible to find and intentionally trying to find one sounds like the perfect recipe for disaster. When you end up with a couple late inning relievers and a Nelson/Peralta tell me how you feel. I would love pitching too, but intentionally trying to get it seems like a bad game to play. I get where you are coming from. Teams trying to find the next ACE are more likely to get the next Eric Arnett. However, I don't think it would be wise to NOT intentionally try to find an ACE. lol Let's look at how teams with ACEs found them: Clayton Kershaw- Top 10 1st Round pick Madison Bumgarner- Top 10 1st Round pick Max Scherzer- 1st round Pick (since traded) Chris Sale- 1st round pick (since traded) Noah Syndergard- supplemental 1st round pick (since traded) Justin Verlander- #2 overall pick Stephen Stasburg- #1 overall pick Cole Hamels- 1st round pick (since traded) Jon Lester- 2nd round pick of course there are a handful of hidden gems... Corey Kluber- 4th round pick Jake Arrieta- 5th round pick Jacob deGrom- 9th round pick but trying to land one via draft or trade is a "bad" game that the Brewers very much need to play.

All this frustration really stems from the fact that Braun currently has no surplus trade value. Add to that his health, 10/5 rights/no trade clause, and a terrible trade market. Fans think Brewers deserve "top prospects" in return for Braun. It's just not happening this season.

I'm really not an advocate of the National League adopting the DL just so Ryan Braun can stay with the Brewers. lol Brewers only hope is that Ryan Braun stays healthy and productive from now until July 31st of next year. If so, I have a feeling the Brewers will find a taker either this offseason or before the deadline next year. It's clear it's unlikely to happen during this season given all the factors against it. Personally, I feel that by this time next year, Ryan Braun will be sick of the constant trade rumors and be pushing for the Brewers to trade him to a contender, regardless of the return.

So I guess by your logic, Stearns would not have acquired OF Lewis Brinson via trade last July, since the Brewers already had Braun, Santana, Broxton, BPhillips, CRay, TClark, MHarrison, DOrimoloye, MReed, TTaylor, KWren... Actually there is a consensus among scouts that Willie Calhoun will have to be moved to a corner OF spot before reaching the majors. [sarcasm]So by your theory, if they acquire Willie, the Brewers don't really need as many 2B to die. Just a bunch of outfielders.[/sarcasm] A rebuilding team like the Brewers are simply looking to add as much young, controllable talent as possible, regardless of position. The rest tends to work itself out by the time these guys reach the majors. With that being said, I agree that the Brewers can't keep trading for and drafting 1st round outfielders EVERY freaking season. 2015 1st round draft pick: OF Trent Clark Trade Deadline Acquisitions: OF Domingo Santana, OF Brett Phillips 2016 1st round draft pick: OF Corey Ray Trade Deadline Acquisitions: OF Lewis Brinson, OF Ryan Cordell And I know that Josh Hader was also acquired in 2015, but this franchise desperately needs to find and develop a future ACE. Hopefully a couple of them. Because signing mid-rotation type veterans (Garza, Suppan) to add to a bunch of mid-rotation type prospects (Nelson, Peralta, etc) is not a recipe for becoming a future playoff contender, IMHO.

Well, since Puig has restored alot of his value since the middle of last season, I'm not even sure the Dodgers would do a Puig/Braun even swap. Puig bats right-handed as well, except is younger, cheaper and still hasn't reached his prime yet. Puig makes only $6.5M this season, $7.5M in 2018 and is still ARB eligible for 2019. I'm actually curious if Brewer fans would even want them to.... BF.netters...please chime in with a vote of Yes or No to this question: Would you trade Ryan Braun for Yasiel Puig straight up if the Dodgers offered it today, with no other players involved or money changing hands? Why or why not?

The Dodgers are still on the hook for 1B Adrian Gonzalez at $21,500,000 for this season and next. That means they will need to play Bellinger in OF to get him regular abs. They have Yasiel Puig, RF and Joc Pederson, CF to man the other two OF spots, with Andrew Toles, Franklin Guitierez, Kike Hernandez for MLB depth. You add in Willie Calhoun, Alex Verdugo, Trace Thompson and Brett Eibner at AAA and the Dodgers really aren't in the market to add OF. I think they stand pat in the OF and focus on other areas come July. I think the only way they trade for Braun is if Puig is injured, completely terrible or his stupidity flairs up again.

One problem with your argument is that Braun won't be the ONLY right handed OF bat on the trade market this July. The Dodgers could simply trade for someone like J.D. Martinez, as a one-year rental and decide NOT to invest in a long term risk-type situation like Braun and his contract. Even someone like Andrew McCutchen is younger and on a shorter, cheaper contract than Braun. ($14M this year and $14.5M club option for next). So once again, this further limits the Brewers leverage in any trade talks. Sidenote: Does anybody still use a phone that they can empatically hang up? I'm sure Stearns could just text reply the Dodgers GM offer with a simple Poo Emoji and call it a day. http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2714370/images/o-POOP-EMOJI-ICE-CREAM-facebook.jpg

Nice proposal. However, the Dodgers will have all the leverage because it's pretty clear that they are the ONLY team realistically in play to make a trade for Braun before the deadline this year. With Bumgarner out, the Giants are fading fast and won't be making a move for Braun this year. I think Walker Buehler is off the table as an option. When talks with the Twins for Dozier came up, Dodgers came out and said they valued Buehler more than Jose De Leon and Brock Stewart. Since then, Buehler has been pumping fastballs in the upper 90s and has looked unhittable in the minors. A more realistic proposal may be something like this: LA gets: OF Ryan Braun, ??? million Mil gets: RHP Mitchell White (or RHP Brock Stewart) AND 2B/OF Willie Calhoun (or 3B Edwin Rios) The amount of money the Brewers kick in would probably be determined by their "choice" of offered prospects. Although most Brewer fans would be disappointed with the return, I think it's because they feel that Braun is still a franchise player in their minds and expect a equal "FANTASY TRADE" type return. So this still begs the question: SHOULD a rebuilding team like the Brewers pull the trigger on a deal like this? PROS: - Brings in more depth of controllable, young talent. - Frees up LF for Brewers to develop young OF prospects at MLB level. - Invest money from contract savings back into future of the organization. CONS: - Trade away a Hall-of-Fame level talent that is still being productive when healthy. - Lose long-time "Face of the Franchise" - PR hit and Ticket sales hit It's a interesting dilemma for the Franchise, but ultimately the ball is still in the Dodgers court or else Braun remains a Brewer and we keep hearing Braun trade rumors for years to come. If he had the character of a Robin Yount, I'd say the Brewers should allow him to be a lifetime Brewer and mentor the youngsters coming up. The way Braun was involved in AND handled the whole PED thing showed his true colors and makes me lean toward moving on from him if/when the opportunity even arises.

I predict this thread will keep going for at least a couple more years. If Braun remains healthy and productive, maybe we can get something of value for him then. Until then, he has virtually no surplus value and virtually no market.

Is that you Matt? Throwing your rotation mates under the bus, perhaps? lol

Two things that are NOT happening this season unfortunately: 1. The Brewers are NOT competing for the NL Wild Card. 2. The Brewers are NOT receiving a substantial trade return on Matt Garza. Hard to fathom that people that follow baseball think otherwise. But the optimism is refreshing! The Brewers are not at the point of their rebuild where they are ready to contend. GM Stearns would be the first to admit this. Matt Garza is a replacement level SP, especially with the remainder of his contract factored in. If he had ANY trade value, Mets or Rangers would already be on the phone.

They could make a play for Quintana as well, but I think Sonny is more likely. I've heard that the organization is high on him. The Cubs even drafted him in the 27th round of 2008 draft out of high school but he didn't sign.

Wouldn't it behove the Brewers to eat all the salary even for a marginal prospect in return? It seems to me that Garza is and will be just blocking innings of younger starters within the organization. Heck, as bad as he is, I'd rather give Taylor Jungmann some more MLB innings to see if he can provide ANY value for us going forward. And Hader, Woodruff and Lopez will need MLB innings soon as well.

With the news that Thor will miss 3 months, I wonder if we can dump Garza on the Mets somehow?

I have a feeling the Cubs are gonna make a play to trade for a Starting Pitcher before the deadline. They have some expendable guys at the top of their farm who are performing very well (2B Ian Happ and 3B Jeimer Candelario for starters) this season. I think they could be the front runners to land Sonny Gray this summer. Little doubt that they are still the best team in the NL Central.

What makes you say that? We have reports from both Jon Morosi of MLB.com and the Boston Globe's Cafardo, plus the interview with Braun himself, to strongly suggest that talks are still ongoing. Curious as to why you say otherwise. Bill Shaikin of the LA Times reports that the two sides are not currently discussing a trade. http://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/la-sp-dodgers-report-20170416-story.html

Unfortunately I'm afraid this was a fabricated new rumor.

San Diego is rostering three Rule 5 draft guys. They are doing the most obvious "tanking" job in the history of Major League Baseball. I'm sure trading for an aging, overpaid OF with a long contract is at the top of their to-do list now that they broke out of the gates with 4 wins in 8 games. Gotta do something to get the Chargers to come back...

Nick Franklin is a nice bench guy for a number of reasons, especially for an NL team. - Can play anywhere except CF and C. (his ability to play SS gives him a huge advantage over Scooter IMO) - Switch hitter - Entering his prime (26 years old) - Team controlled for 3 more ARB years - Has power - Was solid as MLB bench player last year and had great spring I think this give the Brewers the option of using Jonathan Villar as a trade chip if the right deal comes along, as they now have Franklin/Perez option to fill in as starting 2B until Isan Diaz is ready for the big leagues. Love the move by Steans.

1. JOSH HADER LHP 2. LEWIS BRINSON OF 3. LUCAS ERCEG 3B 4. COREY RAY OF 5. ISAN DIAZ 2B 6. LUIS ORTIZ RHP 7. NATHAN KIRBY LHP 8. CORBIN BURNES RHP 9. JAKE GATEWOOD 3B 10. MARCOS DIPLAN RHP 11. MAURICIO DUBON SS 12. BRETT PHILLIPS OF 13. TRENT CLARK OF 14. DEMI ORIMOLOYE OF 15. JACOB NOTTINGHAM 1B 16. KODI MEDEIROS LHP 17. GILBERT LARA 3B 18. PHIL BICKFORD RHP 19. FREDDY PERALTA RHP 20. CODY PONCE RHP 21. MONTE HARRISON OF 22. BRANDON WOODRUFF RHP 23. CHAD MCCLANAHAN 3B 24. CLINT COULTER OF 25. TAYLOR WILLIAMS RHP 26. JOSH PENNINGTON RHP 27. MARIO FELICIANO C 28. JORGE LOPEZ RHP 29. RYAN CORDELL OF 30. TIM DILLARD RHP/BROADCASTER

Getting a 9 to 5 job isn't as easy as Cravy thinks, either. lol Tyler just punched his ticket out of any possible MLB-career with his mouth.

Because most people don't know much about any other prospects. He's easy to target and write in a trade proposal and call it good. Please come up with a Wily Peralta to the Rangers trade proposal that the rest of us can debate. Since you seem to be one of the only ones on the World Wide Wide with knowledge of "other" prospects, I'm sure you can come up with a plausable trade proposal in short order.