paul253

Greinke might not accept that but I think there's a good chance Marcum would. One year deals for starting pitchers, especially for ones who are exiting their prime years, is very risky. Depending on how Marcum performs this year, I'd be willing to take that chance.

After tonight I think I'm done with TNA. When it first started it was a nice, exciting alternative to the stale product WWE was putting out. Now it's just the same thing. Whoever is running it is making the same dumb mistakes that WCW made. After another disqualification in a PPV main event I think I am done with it. Why would anyone pay to watch that crap?

Not sure what more you expected out of Morris and Ramirez (both 4th). Both have the same major flaw in not taking walks, but both also have good (not great) power. Gagnon was just drafted. Nelson and Walla have taken a while, but are starting to show some promise from their 2nd round draft positions. Miler will probably end up as a RP but still throws in the mid-90s. Arnett is really the only real bust you've listed. Sorry it took me a bit to respond. What did I expect from Morris and Ramirez? I expected them not to be drafted so high. Walla hasn't even reached A ball yet so whatever promise he's shown has to be taken with a grain of salt. I personally don't think it should take a 2nd round pick, even a high schooler, two and a half years to reach low A ball. Nelson was a college pitcher who struggled pretty bad in low A ball (4.38era 1.45 whip 60 walks in 146 innings) Matt Miller wasn't a whole lot better. I could include Cam Garfield in there as well as he was a second round pick I believe. Of course there is time to turn things around and it is too early to call them busts, but it just concerns me that so many high round picks are taking this long to show signs of life, if they even are showing signs of life.

There's also Jungmann and Bradley as options, not to mention Thornburg, Scarpetta, Bucci, Gagnon, and Heckathorn. Others have brought this up already, but Jungmann and Bradley haven't even pitched yet. Scarpetta hasn't really progressed much with his control the past few years. Heckathorn struggled once he hit AA. There's promise in some of the pitchers we have, but we've always had some prospects with promise. In the last decade though none of them have panned out other than Sheets and Gallardo. So to just rely on these guys like there are sure things is a mistake. You can't just throw three rookies into the rotation with Gallardo and Narveson in 2013 and expect to be a contender.

While it's nice to see those 4 names at top, I can't help but look at that list and come away very disappointed in the last three drafts. Seeing high draft pick rank so low, in a weak system no less, is very disheartening. Nelson (2nd round), Gagnon (3rd) Morris (3rd) Ramirez (4th) Arnett (1st) Walla (2nd) and Miller (5th) all seem like, for a lack of better terms, wasted picks. Milwaukee can't afford to be wasting so many high round picks.

And a World Series title, and a higher profile from playoff runs could pay for itself as well. The Brewers have a chance for a real run.Keeping Prince could guarantee it. But what happens after next season when the Brewers can't afford to resign Greinke and Marcum or keep Wolf? Are we going to be just as good with Peralta and Fiers in the rotation? I doubt it. We are all painfully aware that you can't be a winning team without good pitching. The Brewers deferred money for Braun. They deferred money for Ramirez. Under your idea they'll defer money for Fielder. Eventually these bills are going to come due and we won't be able to afford to pay them all. I'm already concerned that Milwaukee over extended themselves to pay for Ramirez. I really question whether or not they can keep going down the path they are currently going. I much as I enjoyed the 2011 NLCS run I am skeptical that they can keep this up without having any young cheap impact prospects to replace expensive vets.

I'd like to see them as the "road" alternative with the blue "Brewers" jersey as the home alternative.

Sonny Gray ahead of Trevor Bauer?

This is something I'm surprised we don't see more of. Prospect for prospect trades. A few years ago I was calling for a Lawrie-Pineda trade with Seattle. No idea if it would have happened but with Milwaukee in desperate need of pitching then and Seattle in need of offense it would have made sense for both teams. I think this is a good move for Chicago, especially if Cashner was a bullpen guy. I think they'll eventually end up trading Garza for a pitching prospect or two. Reports were that Toronto was offering Kyle Drabek.

There's been plenty of studies done on this subject and yes, the vast majority of major league pitchers will have a serious injury at some point. I guess I was focusing more on the "major" part. Simply going on the DL doesn't equate to a major injury. When I think of "major injury", I think of something that causes someone to miss at least half of a season.

Why is the fact that Jack Z couldnt draft a starting pitcher to save his life Melvin's fault? It wasn't just Jack Z. though. He left in 2008 and someone else (Reid Nichols right?) is now "in charge" of the draft. His first pick was Eric Arnett and he seems to have some unhealthy obsession with big bodied type pitchers (Heckathorn, Miller, Pierce, Nelson, Ross, Gagnon, Jungmann, Bradley, etc.) Looking over his three drafts I am not impressed in the least bit. And he may be saved by the two first round picks in one of the deepest drafts ever last season. I guess my point is that even if Melvin isn't the one making the final decision, he is the one who hires the guy who makes the final decisions. It seems like the drafts have been getting progressively worse. So even though he may not be scouting and picking these guys, I still blame him because he needs to realize that the drafts aren't as strong as they should be and it's responsibility to fix that.

Attendance is up, team is consistently competitive, players actually are excited to come and play in Milwaukee. Melvin has done a good (not great) job as GM While they may be more competitive as of late, I'm not sure how consistent it's been. They finished 14 games out in 2010 and 11 games out in 2009, both years under .500. That may be better than how they did in the late 90's and early 2000's, but I think shows more about how bad they were back then. To me, the glaring flaw about Melvin that stands out and prevents him from being a "great" GM is his complete lack of ability to develop his own pitching, either through the draft or through trades. How many successful, home grown pitchers have been drafted or signed under Melvin? I count one. Maybe things will change with successful debuts of Peralta, Thornburg, Bradley and Jungmann, but until that happens we can't give him credit for any of them. As good as the trades for Greinke and Marcum were, they wouldn't have been necessary if Melvin could develop a successful #2 or #3 type pitchers. Brett Lawrie looks like he may turn out to be a very, very good player and we had to trade him because we had absolutely zero in the pitching department. Hopefully the little pitching pow wow they had a year or two again is going to bring a change in our fortunes because we can't keep trading away all of our top prospects for pitchers.

I know he hasn't suffered a major injury yet but all pitchers do at some point. What? Every pitcher suffers a major injury at some point? That's news to me. I still think the Ramirez contract is horrible, I don't want the potential for another clunker contract on top that one. I agree with this. I viewed this signing as a short-sighted panic signing by the Brewers who felt as though they had to replace Fielder. Ramirez is a good player and will help the team, but with money as tight as it is and with a viable home grown option ready to at least be given a shot, I think it was a huge mistake. I think Milwaukee should have made a better play for Hairston and gone with Hairston and Green at third base, saving yourself about $25-30 million over 3 years. Regarding Greinke though, I think any near future success depends almost entirely on resigning him. I'm high on Peralta. I think Thornburg can be a solid back end of the rotation guy. And I still have (unrealisitc I'm sure) hopes for Mark Rogers. But they are all unproven. Greinke and Gallardo are both guys you can throw out there against most any team on most any night and feel good about your chances. Having two guys like that is huge and helps takes pressure off of guys like Peralta. I think after the year you offer Marcum that one year deal to get picks and hope he doesn't accept it because the Brewers still have a very long way to go to get their system where it needs to be. I've read that Braun's suspension is unlikely to be overturned so if the Brewers are, I'd say 8+ games out of it by the deadline (depending on how they are playing), I'd consider trading all of the following players: Hart, Marcum, Wolf, Morgan, and KRod plus any other bullpen player there may be a market for.

Didn't know where to add this, but I've read that NYY, Boston, Detroit, and Toronto are all looking at Matt Garza. I know he's under contract 2 years and is a different type pitcher, but any chance any of those teams offers us a decent return for Marcum or Wolf?

Busch Light Field at Miller Park? If this happens I will never go to Miller Park until they change it back. Budweiser and everything they make is awful. It's gotta be the sausages though.

I'm not sure I agree with your second point. That's largely why they didn't trade any prospects in deals this winter. I actually think one of the reasons they didn't trade any prospects this offseason is because short of Peralta and maybe Thornburg, we don't have a whole lot of prospects worth anything. We're talking about guys like Green, Gamel, and Schafer, all of whom are very old for your typical "prospect". We talk a lot about Gindl, but really in your top 10 system Gindl is probably no better than an organization's 10-15 rated prospect. Same thing with Gennett. We just don't have anyone to trade, which I think is more of the reason. Regarding the Sabathia, Greinke and Marcum trades. Just to be clear, I wasn't knocking the trades. And you're right, so far they all seem to look very good. It hurt losing Lawrie but without Marcum we probably aren't a playoff team. What I was getting that is that even though the system is weak, we do have younger, cheaper guys that can contribute. But in almost every case (so far at least) Melvin has elected to go with the more expensive veteran. We had Green for third base but he signed Ramirez. We have Peralta who could easily be in the rotation, but we're keeping Wolf and Marcum. Rather than trading someone like Hart, Marcum, or Wolf for a young shortstop we signed one to a multimillion dollar deal. I have a feeling we are only going with Gamel at first not because Melvin wants to, but because he doesn't have any more money to find a replacement. In order for the Brewers to succeed, they need to supplement your veterans with cheaper home grown guys. Since Ryan Braun came up in 2007, only Jonathan Lucroy fits the mold of young, cheap every day player. There was Escobar, but he was traded away for the expensive vet (though I do agree with the deal). The Brewers have a good team, but they also have some valuable trading chips. It wouldn't be the worst idea to explore the idea of trading one of your expensive trading chips that you have a replacement for a young guy with some upside that can insert into your lineup or rotation for the next 4 years before you have to worry about paying him any sort of substantial amount of money. I think Marcum and Hart fit the bill best. You have Peralta and Gindl and could likely get a very nice player in return. And it would save you millions of dollars.

Are they allowed to sign him and then trade him right away?

I think I'd go all in for Greinke and then let Marcum walk. I'd offer him that deal to get extra draft picks though because I don't think he'd sign for one year. The Brewers are entering dangerous territory as far as relying too heavily on expensive free agents and not enough on cheap home grown guys. They can't survive like this. It's getting to the point where they have to have guys like Gamel and Peralta succeed because they can't afford to replace them with a free agent. They also need to quit trading away quality prospects. In an absolute perfect world, by 2013 I would like to see Greinke extended, Marcum leaving with Milwaukee getting picks for him, Wolf leaving and the two of them replaced in the rotation by Peralta and either Rogers, Fiers, or Scarpetta, Gamel at first and Schafer in center. Thornburg would be in AAA, Jungmann and Bradley would be in AA and Lopez would be in A ball.

Ok so I couldn't figure out how to sum it up in the title but what I was trying to get at is this. What sports events between two specific teams are your absolute favorite to watch either live or on tv? For instance, Packers vs Bears or Brewers vs Cardinals. It can be any sport where two teams play against each other or any event where two individuals compete against each other (tennis for instance). It can be professional, college, high school, Olympics, World Baseball Classic, World Cup, etc. I hope I am explaining this well enough but to make it clearer I'll list mine 1) Michigan vs Ohio St football- I am a huge Michigan fan. Rest of my family are huge OSU fans. Big rivalry and both teams are usually pretty good. 2) USA vs Canada Olympic Men's Hockey- I can't really explain this one. I don't watch the NHL on TV. I do enjoy Wisconsin games. But whether it is the Olympics, The Juniors, or whatever, I just love watching the USA hockey team play. The best is against Canada in the Olympics with NHLers on the rosters. The World Juniors are on as we speak and even though I don't recognize one name on the USA roster I am glued to the tv for the games. They play Canada on New Years Eve 3) Marquette vs Wisconsin men's basketball - I am a huge MU fan and it's always fun to see them play their in-state rival, especially since they have both been pretty good lately. 4) Brewers-Cubs. I hate the Cubs. Just hate them. 5) Wisconsin -Minnesota men's hockey. Again, don't watch a lot of hockey on tv but Wisconsin hockey games are a blast to go to, especially when they play Minnesota.

I actually wouldn't mind seeing Morgan traded for a prospect. I think Logan Schafer could be used in Morgan's role as a platoon mate to Gomez. Morgan was a great pickup by Melvin but there is a reason he's bounced around so much. I have to admit, the multiple personality thing was funny at first but after awhile it got a little annoying. I think if you can get a decent prospect for him, particularly a shortstop, third baseman or catcher, you pull the trigger. If this doesn't happen, I say you use them exactly the same as you used them this past season. Morgan vs righties. Gomez vs lefties and as a late inning defensive replacement or pinch runner.

"I see the Brewers winning 92 games next season with a Ryan Braun suspension. The Brewers in my opinion did a good job trying to replace Fielder by shoring up the infield defense and by adding ARam's bat who I think will have a career year next season, because of playing at Miller Park. The Brewers bullpen is just sick with Varus, KRod and Axford in the 7-9 innings. That doesn't even include pitchers like Manzanilo, Braddock, Parra etc.. The Brewers have a great starting 5 in the rotation in Gallardo, Greinke, Marcum, Wolf, Narveson and good depth in Peralta, Fiers, Rivas. The Brewers won 96 games last season and could have won even more if Weeks wasn't injured, and if the Brewers got more production out of 3B. The Brewers are going to be very good this coming season." I don't mean this in a mean way, but are you serious? They lose their best power hitting and highest OBP guy in Fielder and may lose their best overall hitter in Braun for almost a third of the season and you only see a 4 game drop off? Manzanillo has had one good year in the minors. He'll start in AA. And who knows what he'll do with this injury. Braddock was a huge disappointment last season. Parra didn't even pitch. And Rivas....he was terrible in AAA last year. I wouldn't count on him to do much of anything in the majors. I'll be happy with 85-88 wins.

If the Brewers do anything in 2012, it will because with K-Rod and Axford, they can play 7 inning games. The Ax man is the premier closer in the NL. Period. Having KRod and Axford means nothing unless you have starters that can get them the lead. I won't go as far as to say closers are never worth what they are paid, but more often than not they are overvalued because of the "save" statistic. They are paid ridiculous salaries because they are good one inning pitchers. I'll take a good starter over a good closer any day of the week. And like TheCrew said, if you get offered a good enough pitching prospect for Axford I'd trade him in a heartbeat. Now is probably not the time to trade him (I'd wait til next offseason) but if the right offer comes along you take it. I'm not ready to rely on Bradley Jungmann and Thornburg quite yet. I'd go for as many high ceiling starters as I can get because starting pitching is a lot harder to find than relievers.

Prince to Washington is the ideal result in my opinion. That's about as high a pick you're going to get for him. With KRod accepting arby, getting a second round pick for Fielder would be a terrible outcome.

This surprises me. Losing Fielder didn't have much of an effect as I thought it would. I hope Scott Boras is watching. The division seems very up for grabs though. St. Louis took a big step back. Cincinnati made some moves but it remains to be seen if Latos can go from SD to Cincinnati with the same numbers. Milwaukee didn't take that big of a hit replacing Fielder with Ramierz. If Gamel can put up some decent numbers and everyone stays healthy, I would not be surprised at all if they win the division again. 2013 is where things are going to get really interesting.

Melvin complaints are based around unrealistic expectations. I think Melvin does better when he goes for quality vs quantity. Even though he misses on some of the guys (Capellan) I'd rather take the chance that a high ceiling players reaches that ceiling than a bunch of low to mid ceiling players perform better than expected.