paul253

But knee-jerk reactions can be more damaging than the issues causing the averse reaction in the first place. I think they absolutely have to wait this out. The season's almost 4 weeks old -- ONLY 4 weeks old. I'm not suggesting they make these trades now. Notice I said at the all star break if they are down 8 or 9 games and behind two teams. But it's not JUST about the record. With each passing day it seems less and less likely the Brewers can resign Greinke. I don't want to let him walk for two compensation picks. Trading him for two impact bats may help ease the transition from expensive vets to cheaper, talented younger players. Like I said, Greinke may very well be our best shot at getting a decent shortstop.

I'm really concerned with how the season has started out, not only with season ending injuries to two regulars (Narveson and Gamel) but also with seemingly everyone struggling at the same time. Weeks, Morgan, and Ramirez are all struggling and two of them are signed long term. KRod is pitching terribly as well. I realize it's a ways away, but if the Brewers are still hovering around .500 at the all star break and 8 or 9 games behind St Louis and Cincinnati they should really considering trading away a number of guys. The Brewers may have to suck it up with a down year in 2013 but I really believe 2014 can begin a new era. Here's my thinking. As much as I hate to say it, trade Greinke. I have been insistent on getting him resigned, but I think the likelihood of that happening with a bad year in 2012 goes down. I also think deals to other pitchers have driven his price way up. He's gotten the most trade value and should bring back at least 2 high ceiling prospects, especially if they don't require pitching in return. This might be our best shot at getting a legitimate shortstop prospect. Trade Marcum. Hopefully he is pitching well enough to bring a decent return. But it's possible he may walk away without us getting any compensation in return. As with Greinke, they'd probably get more if they don't require pitching in return. Trade KRod. Might not get a lot in return but one mid level prospect is better than nothing Trade Morgan. I wanted to trade him before the season and caught a lot of slack for suggesting it. It's not that we'll get much in return for him. It's more that we have nowhere to play him. Consider trading Weeks. Depending on what you get offered in return. With Gennett coming up, Taylor Green can probably hold down second base for a season. Or you can always sign a vet like Freddy Sanchez or Mike Fontenot. Consider trading Axford. I like him but teams may very well overpay for a cheap, dominant closer. As much as I like him if you can get a prospect with #2 upside or a position player with all-star potential you have to take the deal. Like I said 2013 might be another down year, but you'll still have a nice core with Braun, Ramirez, Hart, Gallardo and Lucroy. Gamel will be back. Aoki will still be here. Schafer will probably be up. Gonzalez could still be around. They could always exercise Wolf's option. Peralta will probably be up. Fiers as well. Still have Estrada. It's not a full blown rebuild that will take 5 years to show signs of life. I just look at what you might get in return for Greinke, Marcum, K-Rod and possibly Weeks or Axford and think it may be too much to pass up.

I'd actually like to see Aoki get the majority of playing time in centerfield and bat leadoff. Roenecke's reasoning for batting Weeks first and Gomez/Morgan/Aoki is screwy and with Morgan struggling makes it look even worse. Who cares if Weeks gets on base if Morgan proceeds to pop up or strike out right after? What difference does it make if Weeks gets on and Morgan pops up or Morgan pops up then Weeks gets on? The result is the same. It makes even less sense with both of them struggling. Bat Aoki leadoff. Hopefully he can get on base at a higher clip than Rickie. With a guy on base and Braun behind him Weeks would probably see better pitches to hit. But just in general with nobody even remotely capable of replacing him we just have to hope Weeks gets out of this funk.

What's the deal with Robert Wooten? Do the Brewers not see him as a legitimate prospect? His ERA in AA is under 1. He is old for AA as well. Is there no room for him in Nashville or do they just not care to move him? I know he doesn't throw too hard but he's always had some some pretty good success.

Regarding Scooter it's a shame he couldn't stick at shortstop. If he was an average fielding shortstop he might just be our top prospect.

A few hiccups lately but still very nice overall numbers for most of the top guys. The thing that impresses me the most about Bradley, Nelson and Thornburg are the lack of walks. Jungmann has too many walks and I'm actually a little surprised his ERA is as low as it is. Hopefully the walks go down and the K's go up. Drew Gagnon is another guy to keep an eye on. A sub 1 ERA after 4 starts. I can see Thornburg, Bradley and Gagnon all moving up at the all star break. Hopefully a strong draft and the debut of Jorge Lopez keeps the system looking positive.

I don't know how much the Aloft hotel costs, but if you go there you can walk to any number of bars no more than 3 blocks away that will have a shuttle to the game for free, although you may need to buy a drink at the bar to get onto the shuttle..

This is a good year to have the extra picks. Last year was a great year to have that extra high first round pick and it turned into Jed Bradley. Hopefully the 27th and 38th picks can turn into some impact bats!

I am fine with either Estrada or Peralta taking Narvy's spot but I would not be fine with Peralta being recalled and thrown in the pen. This would a good chance for Peralta to get some experience while the Brewers have other guys like YO, Greinke and Marcum to help take the pressure off of him.

I'd be more ok with a higher ceiling HS pitcher with one of the top three picks (think Lopez or Odorizzi) than a mid ceiling college pitcher (Arnett, Heckathorn). So if we do go pitcher I hope we look more at ceiling than how fast they can move through the system. That being said, I do hope we take three position players first. My absolute dream would be a shortstop, a third basemen and a catcher, though a toolsy centerfielder would be good too.

I believe Nelson pitched in Wisconsin the year he was drafted and didn't do particularly well so he pitched there again last year. He probably stayed there a little longer than you'd like a 2nd round college pitcher to have but it's not like he's 28 years old. He's actually only about 6 months older than Taylor Jungmann.

So I see all 5 of Kentucky's starters (three freshmen and two sophomores) decided to turn pro. I predict at least two of them will be busts. I'm actually getting a little tired of this one and dones. I'd like to see the NBA turn their draft rule into something like baseball's. High schoolers can enter the draft if they want to but if they do elect to go to college they can't enter the draft until three years after the date of their high school graduation. The thing I would change about it that either a) they can't go to college after they've been drafted or b) they can go to college after being drafted but the team that drafts them retains their rights for 4 years.

I am beginning to think it is necessary for the Brewers to use all three of their first round picks on position players. I realize there is the whole best player available philosophy, but with the early success of guys like Thornburg, Peralta, Bradley, Gagnon, Nelson, Ross, and Jungmann the Brewers can afford to pass on pitching early on. The lack of legitimate hitting prospects at the lower levels of the system is borderline scary.

I'm really starting to get excited about Thornburg. Junggmann has been ok. Bradley and Nelson have been good but considering Bradley has only had two starts in the minors and Nelson wasn't exactly dominant in Wisconsin I'd like to see them keep it up awhile before I get too excited about them. But Thornburg....wow. If he and Peralta can step into the rotation next season and replace Marcum and Wolf, not only would we save a ton of money but (especially if we re-sign Greinke) this could be a very good rotation for quite awhile.

I have to admit I didn't read your entire post because it was REALLY long, but my thoughts on the topic. First of all, give Greinke whatever he wants. If he wants a Matt Cain type deal, give it to him. Pitching is the absolute key to long term success and having Gallardo and Greinke anchoring the rotation for a few more year would be bigger than I can put into words. That being said, IF he does walk I don't see a reason to blow up the team. This is what I'd like to see done: -Save money by letting K-Rod and Wolf go. - Offer Marcum that one year deal where you get picks if he turns it down. Depending on how he does this season, I don't think paying Marcum $15 million or whatever you'd need to pay him would be the end of the world. We'd have three open spots in the rotation and I don't think we can replace them all in-house quite yet. I think it'd be a K-Rod type/win-win type situation if you offer Marcum the contract. If he accepts, you have a decent pitcher on a one year deal. If he declines you get some draft picks -Trade Weeks or Hart. I'd prefer Hart because of his contract situation and because we still have Aoki and Gindl -Trade Morgan and let the Schafer era begin -Find a shortstop. I have no idea how, or where, but find one. Maybe Hart could get you a decent one in return. A lineup of Schafer, Weeks, Braun, Ramirez, Gamel, Gindl/Aoki, Lucroy, SS. Rotation being Gallardo/Marcum/FA, Narveson, Peralta, Fiers/Thornburg/Rogers. Another key is the draft. The Brewers really need to hit on their top 3 picks this year.

The Packers were worse than that over a 20 year span if you can imagine that. Same with the Brewers. I think turning around an NBA franchise is much easier than turning around an NFL or MLB franchise. First of all, in basketball, having one superstar can be the difference between the playoffs and no playoffs. That's not the case in baseball and football. Second of all, in baseball at least, it takes years after you draft a guy for him to even make the pro team, let alone contribute. A good NBA draftee will be starting his rookie year. Two or three good drafts in a row and you can have good team. The problem the Bucks are having now is the same problem the Packers had in the 80's and the Brewers had in the 90's. Incompetent management. The Bucks have been making puzzling moves for the past 4 or 5 years and their sole goal is playoffs. It reminds me of the Brewers goal of .500. Maybe it's an improvement and an accomplishment, but ultimately it gets you nothing if you can't sustain it. The playoffs should be a stepping stone, not a goal. The turnover on the Bucks roster every year has been so great that the casual fan isn't going to recognize more than the Brandon Jennings/Andrew Bogut type player. Yes, the Bucks need a new arena and probably won't be able to compete consistently until they get one. But they also need to realize where they are as a franchise and start over. And they need a GM who knows what he's doing. The Packers had Ron Wolf. The Brewers have Doug Melvin. The Bucks need someone who knows what he is doing.

Josh Prince is an outfielder now? Seems strange that with a lack of shortstops and an abundance of outfielders that they'd move him to outfield.

Yeah scoring runs looks like it may be a problem here.

He was a guy I didn't want to see go but getting Hairston was necessary. I, like the others, always liked him and wish him the best. I just wish it wasn't with St. Louis.

This draft is definitely deeper than most. Look at the guys the Bucks have picked in the past few years. Larry Sanders at 15. Joel Alexander at 8. Yi at 6. I think this is the best draft since 2003. Not close to the talent level at the top of the draft (Lebron, Carmelo, Wade) but maybe even a little deeper than 2003. On another note, I saw a Forbes list of NBA team values and the Bucks were valued dead last. The Bucks situation seems awfully similar to the Brewers situation from awhile ago. A sputtering franchise in desperate need of new life. I don't particularly care about the Bucks all that much, but I don't want to see them leave town. Without a new arena, it's only a matter of time. The Bucks would be a great investment for someone who can afford it. Kohl is getting up there in age and I imagine is going to look at selling the team soon. If a new owner can buy the team for say, $300 million then invest another $100 million in a new downtown arena while getting the city to kick in some money, the value of the team could increase significantly. They also need to hire a competent GM who realize that consistently falling somewhere between 7 and 11 doesn't cut it.

The more guys I see declaring for the NBA draft the more I wish the Bucks would have used Bogut and/or Jennings to try to acquire an additional lottery pick. Even though we may not like certain players (Perry Jones for instance) the fact that he is there and will be a lottery pick pushes other players back that Milwaukee may like better. These are all guys I would like to see playing in Milwaukee. Some are unrealistic and some I like a lot more than others, but I wouldn't complain about having any of these guys: Anthony Davis, Kidd-Gilchrist, Sullinger, Barnes, Drummond, Rivers, Perry Jones, Thomas Robinson, Kendall Marshall, Beal, Wrotten, Jeremy Lamb, Cody Zeller (though he may go back to school) Terrence Jones, and John Henson. A few foreign guys always pop up too somewhere but getting a second lottery pick (assuming they don't make the playoffs) assures that you get two of these guys. Of course it's a moot point now but I think that's the direction they needed to go to help turn the franchise around. We have established that most people would rather have the Bucks "tank" this year, myself included. Their chances of the playoffs and kind of low and if they make it, we are hoping they will win a game or two before bowing out in the first round. If they do make the playoffs they will most likely play Chicago. Not only will Chicago win pretty easily, but Chicago fans will fill up the BC. I'm not sure that is necessarily a good thing for this franchise.

Does George Kottarras have any trade value whatsoever? If so, with the catching depth we have might it be a good idea to move him?

But I think most people are saying that Rogers has a 1% chance of staying healthy as an SP and a 50% chance as an RP it makes more sense to put him as an RP. No I get that, and I agree. But his shoulder has been fine for two years now. He just had some freak carpel tunnel injury last year. I've never even heard of a player missing time for that. And whose to say he's going to automatically stay healthy as a reliever? Pitching two or three days in a row may not be good for him. If people actually think he only has a 1% chance of staying healthy as a starter then I guess that's where our major disagreement is. I'm certainly not saying he isn't an injury risk, but I definitely think his odds of staying healthy are higher than 1%. I also don't agree with the idea that having him pitch in the majors as a reliever is automatically better than seeing if he can succeed as a starter. For an organization that has such a terrible track record of developing pitchers, I think it's a chance they can afford to take, especially with Peralta and Fiers as fall back options. If he hurts his arm this year, or if he is pitching terribly through the all star break, then sure, move him to the bullpen to see if he does any better. But what happens if you move him to the pen right now and the throws up an ERA of 4.6? That's not all that useful to the organization either. We have plenty of guys who can do that. So I guess to sum up, my disagreement is that I don't agree with the assessment that he's automatically going to get hurt if he continues starting and he's automatically going to stay healthy and succeed if he is moved to the bullpen. I still think he has at least a decent chance at succeeding as a starter and a decent chance is good enough for me to hope they keep him as a starter.

I don't see Mark Rogers having any actual value right now to begin with, so losing "value," is a pretty relative term. If you get anything out of him this year, that's more value than he's previously had. If he has no value to begin with then why not just release him now and be done with it? Of course he has value. The guy obviously has talent and was drafted with the ceiling of a #1 pitcher. Injuries have set him back but it's not like the Mike Jones situation where he has lost 10 mph on his fastball and just doesn't have the talent to succeed anymore. Last year he had some freakish injury that you hardly ever see. The year before that he was healthy all year and even started a few games in the majors. While he is still a health risk, his shoulder has held up for two years now. If it holds up for a third year in a row, he's a viable candidate for the starting rotation next season when we could lose 3 guys, assuming he can fix his control issues a bit. And saying he's "at best," a 7th inning guy...I don't understand where that possibly fits into the argument. It fits in because you have to compare the value of a starting pitcher vs a middle reliever. If he succeeds as a starter this year and can hold down the #5 spot in 2013, he's much more valuable to the team than if he is a 6th or 7th inning reliever. Relievers are a lot easier to find that starters and a lot cheaper too. So why move Rogers to middle relief when he still has a viable shot at being a somewhat successful starting pitcher? Beside, it's not like if he fails at starting this season he can't move to the bullpen next season. And next year we should have several more minor league pitches ready to contribute. Peralta, Thornburg and an array of relievers should be kicking down the big league door. And if they pan out they can compete for the rotation as well. Thornburg may possibly be ready but realistically, especially the way this organization carries itself, 2014 is a much more realistic option. He's only started 12 games above A ball so far. 2014 at the earliest, more likely 2015, is what I expect for Jungmann and Bradley. Scarpetta has really struggled with his control and hasn't even moved past AA yet so 2013 seems like a stretch for him as well. That leaves Peralta and Fiers for 2013. I like those two as much as anyone and of course they should be given the chance to win a starting job. But I'm not ready to just hand them the job in 2013 and not even let Rogers compete.

there is no shame in just leaving him in the pen and even pampering him in there I can certainly understand why people want to move him, but I think his value would diminish greatly if he does. Let's assume for a minute that he stays healthy all of 2013 (a big assumption I know) but with likely 2 rotation spots open in 2013 he is probably a good choice to fill one of them. Jungmann and Bradley are just too far away to be considered I think. If Rogers is moved into the bullpen, he's at best a 7th inning guy. And considering he's been starting his entire life, he may not just automatically pick up relief pitching and having to pitch 2 or 3 days in a row. We've kept him as a starter through all of his shoulder injuries. I say give him one more shot this season and if he doesn't cut it, then give him a chance to make the bullpen next season. The guy still has #2 type stuff. He just needs to learn that he doesn't have to strike every batter out.