A Swing and A Drive

I think the Brewers would have to add a decent piece to Peralta to land Gallo. Probably something like this could get a trade done: Brewers get: 1B/3B Joey Gallo Rangers get: RHP Wily Peralta plus one (1) of these guys perhaps... RHP Brandon Woodruff. RHP Jorge Lopez or RHP Taylor Jungmann I don't feel any of those arms will be more than back-end starters so I wouldn't hesitate to move one personally.

Pretty sure Ryan Braun isn't going anywhere this week.

I actually think that the Rangers value Peralta more than Guerra, as crazy as that might sound. Peralta still has upside, whereas Guerra is feared to be a "one-year" wonder due to his minor league track record. Gallo has lost his shine for sure but that's why I feel the Crew could buy low on him. The Brewers future at both Corner Infielder spots is murky at best. Also, I have a gut feeling that both Thames and Shaw will disappoint (Think Middlebrooks/Cecchini last spring).

What would Brewers have to add to Peralta to land Joey Gallo?

I think the Twin's Byung Ho Park experience should give the Brewers some pause when it comes to big expectations out of Thames as our cleanup hitter. I'm seeing that the internet is giving Thames some pretty nice projected numbers that I personally feel he may struggle to achieve. Those Korean League numbers don't always compute to the MLB level. I hope I'm wrong.

Lol my 11 year old step-daughter thought that Prince's "When Dove's Cry" was actually "When Adults Cry". Her version also makes more sense. Lol

2011 MLB Draft: I'll go with Pick #18 RHP Sonny Gray over Pick #15 Jed Bradley. Honorable Mention... 2012 MLB Draft: I desperately wanted the Brewers to pick 1B Joey Gallo. They have 3 high picks (27,28,38) They pick... 27. C Clint Coulter 28. OF Victor Roache 38. OF Mitch Haniger Gallo goes pick 39. F my life!

If his previous extension went through his age 31 season, wouldn't that have meant he would have been a free agent after 2015? Meaning he would have had to have been traded by the 2015 season/trading deadline when he was coming off the 2013 PED suspension/lying debacle and a declining, post-PED .777 OPS 2014 season? I'm not sure he was very tradeable at that point. On the flipside, the extension occurred pre-PED scandal when he was on pace to be a HOF player, which if you take out all the mess that occurred after the extension, it seems pretty reasonable. I don't really fault the Brewers management for Braun's 2nd extension. It seemed surprising that BRAUN and his agent would be interested in one at the time. There is no doubt that Braun's camp thought that the PED "issue" could arise at some point and effect his value. Ryan Braun basically CON-ed the organization into locking him up before he was exposed, IMO. A model "franchise" player, he is. Each time he breaks one of Robin Younts team records, it makes me a little sick, to be honest.

Seems like the Dodgers may have preferred Forsythe to Dozier. They were looking for a 2B who could be a leadoff hitter. Forsythe fits the bill and cost them less in the way of prospects. I also think the Dodgers current president of baseball ops Andrew Friedman's past with the Rays had something to do with it.

Because...? Because they didn't trade for Braun! In reality, they would have been smarter to pony up one more prospect to land Brian Dozier over Logan Forsythe IMO, if that was really an option on the table.

Apparently Logan Forsythe has more trade value than Ryan Braun.

WAR What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again ya'll! What's wrong with the good old-fashioned eye test?

Sonny Gray has a higher talent ceiling than ANY pitcher currently in the Brewers system The Brewers should definitely consider moving a package of prospects to offer for him. I still think the A's will wait a year to trade him. Hopefully we are able to make a play for him then.

http://www.gammonsdaily.com/peter-gammons-ten-thoughts-when-not-slipping-on-black-ice/ First of all, Trumbo and Bautista were both offered qualifying offers, so teams WOULD have to give up talent (a high draft pick) to sign either of those guys. However, neither of those guys are getting a 4 year deal. That's what Braun still has left on his current deal. Teams can't see taking the risk of that length of contract AND give up minor league talent. But I have long thought that Brewer fans have given Braun a free pass on the handling of his PED testing, but I highly doubted the rest of the league had.

Braun "trade idea" article http://www.the3rdmanin.com/brewers-dodgers-trade-idea-featuring-ryan-braun/ Los Angeles Dodgers receive: OF Ryan Braun, 2B Scooter Gennett Milwaukee Brewers receive: OF Yasiel Puig, RHP Brandon McCarthy, RHP Imani Abdullah, 1B Edwin Rios Don't see the point of doing this deal. Seems like the Brewers should get those two prospects just for taking on McCarthy's contract.

Shaw is a slow, unathletic, defensively challenged 1B who will likely get eaten up by higher level pitching. Yes, he could hit 30 HR - but he'll likley hit .220 and strike out a lot and play bad defense. I've had enough of those kinds of players. Of course, now that I've said that, it means that Shaw will be an all star a few years from now. I agree. Chris Shaw will be an all-star. lol

Here's an interesting read for fans of a rebuilding team... http://prospects1500.com/top-50-lists/milwaukee-brewers-top-50-prospects-2017/ I think Steans is building a nice deep farm system, but it still lacks future star power IMHO. We need to have a couple of nice drafts in the next few years. Interestingly, it ranks the prospects in Tiers: Tier 1: Players with high expectations of both making the majors and playing at an All-Star level for a number of years Tier 2: Players with an above average expectation of making the majors and being a solid contributor Tier 3: Players with an average expectation of making the majors and being a solid contributor Tier 4: Players who have the potential of making the majors, or have high likelihood of making the majors but providing minimal impact (e.g. middle reliever, low-ceiling UT guys) Tier 5: Players who are worth keeping an eye on, but likely to never make a team’s 40-man roster Tier 1 Brewers=1 (Brinson) Tier 2 Brewers=4 (Hader, Ray, IDiaz, Ortiz) Tier 3 Brewers=6 (Clark, Bickford, Dubon, Erceg, Woodruff, Lopez) Diplan and Phillips lead off the Tier 4 players. Man, Phillips was considered a Tier 1 player by many at this time last year. He still has a Tier 1 laugh however. edit: I merged this post in from its own topic. - CheezWizHed

Maybe something like this is a possibility with the Giants: OF Ryan Braun for RHP Matt Cain (big salary dump) RHP Tyler Beede #2 prospect 1B Chris Shaw #3 prospect I'm a big believer in Shaw becoming a slightly above average 1B with 30 homerun upside. Beede doesn't excite me as much, but I could see him developing into a #3 type starter. I'd be surprised if the Giants would part with both those prospects for Braun, even included Cain in the deal. I think it's quite obvious that the Brewers don't have a ton of leverage in trade negotiations right now, given his minimal surplus value and the limited number of trading partners.

Dodgers also close to signing Cuban 2B Jose Miguel Fernandez, who could be MLB ready by mid-season if not sooner. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/01/dodgers-close-to-minors-deal-with-jose-miguel-fernandez.html If they are truly moving on from Dozier, I still find it hard to believe that they would turn toward a Braun deal at this point. I hope I'm wrong.

1000 posts and Braun is still a Brewer. Very telling on how the rest of the league values him.

MLB TRADE RUMORS has posted this article, speculating that Phillies could have interest in trading for Braun. http://www.phillyvoice.com/three-potential-trading-partners-for-the-phillies/ 1. Can't see Braun approving a trade to Philly, as they are on his no-trade list. 2. Can't see the Phillies making a move like this at this junction of their re-build I also found it interesting that in the MLB Trade Rumors comments section, a poster speculates that Toronto could have interest in Braun. Again, I'm not so sure and am even less sure Braun would want to go there. This is a quote from another poster, speculating on a Phillies trade for Joey Gallo, J.D. Martinez or Ryan Braun that I found interesting.... Houseoflords44 says: "There was a reason the Rangers & Phillies didn’t make a trade involving Velasquez. The Phillies wanted a return like they got for Ken Giles. The Rangers weren’t willing to do that. I don’t see the asking price or the Rangers willingness to give that up changing now. As for Braun & Martinez, neither one makes a ton of sense for the Phillies. Why would they want to bring in Braun & all his baggage? They don’t need that." I don't think it's a secret that other teams fans and front offices view Braun as someone that has "baggage" on top of his current market-value contract. Anyone expecting a big return for Braun should not continue holding their breath, IMHO. I don't get the feeling he's going anywhere this offseason. While it's not the worst thing in the world to continue rooting for the former MVP to stay productive as a Brewer, it's hard to envision his numbers getting better than last season as he ages.

I agree that the window to legitimate contention for the Crew will start around 2020. With that said, I believe the Brewers will really increase their odds of landing a franchise player by picking in the Top 3 of the draft in 2018 and 2019. This will be the silver lining of fielding one of the worst teams in MLB the next two seasons.

And Pirates have to give up McCutchen, Meadows and Keller just to land Quintana and 3 mediocre prospects?

Nice post Ennder. However, out of the top 10 WAR "Franchise" hitters you posted... 20% were top 5 draft picks (Bryant, Machado) 30% were top 10 draft picks (Bryant, Machado, Lindor) 60% were first round draft picks (Bryant, Machado, Lindor, Seager, Trout, Donaldson) 20% were international free agents (Altuve, Beltre- note:This is an area where the organization needs even better scouting/investment especially with international draft tabled in new CBA) 20% were diamonds in the rough/lottery ticket hits (Betts, Freeman) It still illistrates that organizations are MUCH MORE LIKELY to land a franchise hitter with a high (top end of first round) draft pick. The Brewers pick #9 overall in 2017 draft and should pick in the Top 5 of the 2018 draft. Those two picks will be HUGE for this re-build and it's of my opinion that the Brewers DESPERATELY need to land a future Top of the Rotation Starter or All-Star caliber hitter with at least one of those two picks. I'm excited to find out that the 2018 draft class is gonna be a good one.

Lol. As a Brewer fan, there's nothing more I'd want for Xmas this year than to land Cody Bellinger and Walker Buehler for Braun!!! Let's go Stearns... Please let it be that Tommy Milone was just the stocking stuffer!!!