paul253

If anything Cain and Greinke are going to cost more than what C.J. Wilson signed this year. At a minimum you are looking at a contract for Greinke at 5-years and $80m. If Greinke hits free agency that number is only going to climb in the end if Greinke goes to free agency he will get something around 7 years and $135m. I didn't mean Cain or Greinke specifically. But in general, when there is a lot of one thing on the market, the prices tend to go down. Anyway, I'd be fine giving Greinke 5 years. He will only be 28 when he hits free agency and 33 when the contract runs out. That's not a terrible age. Beside, he could always be traded after 3 years if the prospects start to turn out. 5 for $80 million, I think would be a good deal. Let Wolf go after the year. But this is also why I'd explore trading Marcum right now. See if you can't get a decent prospect for him right now.

Can we trade him before his arbitration hearing? Technically he is not under contract. If we can't trade him until February it may affect the offseason moves.

One other thing to consider is the number of quality starting pitchers that are potential free agents next season. On top of Greinke and Marcum, as of now you have Cain, Hudson, Haren, Danks, Gavin Floyd, Cole Hamels, Brandon McCarthy, Jonathan Sanchez, Ervin Santana possibly, James Shields possibly, Francisco Liriano, De La Roas possibly, etc. Obviously some of them are better than others but it may help drive down the price of pitching.

Depending on how the season plays out, if the Brewers are out of it by the trade deadline I wouldn't mind seeing them move Marcum. That's probably less likely now that Pujols is gone but St Louis has this way of playing well all the time. And Cincinnati may be a little better too.

I like the idea of Gamel batting second. That;s where Braun hit when he came up. Not saying Gamel will have the same result, but hitting in front of Braun means he'd see some good pitches. He had a decent eye in Nashville. If he can keep that eye he'll definitely get some pitches to hit. I'd go 1) Morgan 2) Gamel 3) Braun 4) Weeks 5) Hart 6) Lucroy 7) Green 8) Gonzalez

Putting Hart leadoff is such a waste. I've always disliked how he has to hit first or second to have any success.

The thing that makes me most mad about this is the losing of the draft picks. But I'm not disappointed KRod will be back. He is better than both Hawkins and Saito. And it may even mean Taylor Green actually gets a shot. There is a chance that at the end of the year we'll be thanking our lucky stars he accepted because not only do we have a dominant back end, but it allowed Green to play and succeed. Now we just need Green to succeed.

He is ranked as a higher FA than Reyes right?

If K-Rod were a free agent, you'd sign him on a 1 yr $11-$12 million deal if you're the Brewers? That's essentially what you'd be doing by not cutting him You'd also be paying about $2 million not to sign him though. So either way you'd be paying him. It's just a matter of how much and whether or not he pitches on the team. Then after you pay him his $2 million not to sign him, you also have to sign someone else to be the 8th inning guy. That's maybe another 2 or $3 million. So really it's more like this: Sign KRod to a one year $12 million deal OR sign (insert name here) to a one year deal and pay him $5 million. (Insert name here) is more than likely not going to be as good as KRod either.

Thinking out of the box = overpaying for a relief pitcher and staffing it with a bunch of unproven arms? I don't think Melvin has trouble staffing bullpens as ours was one of the best last year. Cutting Francisco Rodriguez is so absurd a thought to me I can't believe people are even bringing it up. I'm not saying that if KRod comes back the bullpen is set, but it certainly helps. Sign Takashi Saito and you pretty much have a bullpen. Braddock and Parra will be possibilities. Marco Estrada is likely. Loe is likely. De La Cruz and McClendon held their own last year. Kintzler wasn't bad. Fiers is a possibility, though with the success he had as a starter I'd like to see him get a shot starting. I think the bullpen will be fine if KRod is back assuming one more vet is signed. You non-tender Loe also, saving another $2.5 million and Parra for another $1.2 million and it's basically a wash. I'm not ready to give up on either of these guys. Loe was overworked early on last year. But his post all star break ERA was 1.93. And he had an excellent year in 2010. I'd be more than happy to have him back as well, especially now that Roenecke knows how to use him. As for Parra, he was just finding him comfort zone in the bullpen before he got hurt. He still has good stuff and he's still left handed. I'd like to see what he has left.

http://www.jsonline.com/s...-7v3bdpu-135140528.html# Looks like it's Ramirez or Rollins, but not both. Personally I can make argument for either but I'd probably prefer Rollins. If we sign Ramirez we still need a SS but have no money to get a good one. That probably means Betancourt. If my choices are Ramirez and Bentacourt or Green and Rollins, I'll take Green and Rollins. We have nobody to play shortstop this year and nobody in the minors even close. If you sign Rollins you are also going to have a much more balanced lineup, in terms of lefty-righty, then if you sign Ramirez. If you sign Ramirez, you have as few as two everyday lefties (by that I mean lefties who are also everyday players, not bench guys inserted into the lineup to face a righty) in the lineup against righties (Morgan and Gamel) If you sign Rollins, you have 4 (Morgan, Gamel, Rollins, and Green). I think the defense would also be better.

he Brewers could cut him prior to Spring Training and only pay him 1/6th of the contract if I am not mistaken. So if it comes to that and Melvin can't trade him we could cut him and only have to pay between $2 and $3 Million I don't understand this thinking. Pay him $3 million to not be on the team? This guy, in my opinion, was as important as anyone in the run to the playoffs. He was a shutdown bullpen guy and I'd be thrilled to have him back next season when the bullpen will be even more important that it was last season. Yeah the money sucks but it's only a year. You're going to pay him $3 million, cut him, then pay someone else $3 or $4 million? Why? If Melvin would actually allow his young guys (Gamel and Green) to play the money saved would help offset they money he has to pay KRod.

There is also an in house candidate in Eric Farris, who can play second and in a pinch, shortstop. I just don't know if he is good enough of a hitter to justify being the backup to shortstop, especially if we sign an older shortstop who needs off a day or two every week.

I'd probably prefer Rollins over Ramirez and would be willing to go 4 years on a deal. I'd like to see Green at third, Gamel at first, and McGehee backing them both up. My lineup would be something like this: 1) Morgan 2) Rollins 3) Braun 4) Weeks 5) Hart 6) Gamel 7) Lucroy 8) Green It's a shame we couldn't get Hairston back because he was just an ideal player. We need someone to fill that void, someone who can play shortstop once a week to keep Rollins fresh.

One article I read suggests Toronto is the leading candidate to sign Prince. That'd be good. Milwaukee would get the 17th pick, on top of their own 29th pick. They'd also get another first round pick if KRod signs elsewhere, which I believe is likely. So three picks in the top 30 and two more supplemental picks. I'll take it!

I'm hoping Washington. Unless I am remembering wrong, I think that they are the worst team that can sign him where we still get the signing team's first round pick.

If Green can get 323 at bats like Jay did his rookie year I'd be ok with that. But with Ramirez at third and Weeks at second, realistically you're talking about him playing once, maybe twice a week. You are probably looking at somewhere between 100 and 150 at bats over the course of the season. I don't think that is enough for a young guy, especially when they will be spaced out with about 4 at bats and then sit on the bench for 3 games. That's been the problem with Gamel when he's been up. He comes up but McGehee was always playing so well so they sat him on the bench. This year it was Fielder who was in front of him. Now it's finally Gamel's chance and he has no options left and his trade value is basically nothing. I'd rather give a guy like Hairston a few million to be the backup guy to all positions, then maybe add someone like Farris who can play second and in a pinch could handle shortstop. Plus Farris would be a good pinch runner and I believe a good defensive replacement for Weeks. I'd be satisfied with an infield of Green, Hairston, Weeks, Gamel, Farris and a shortstop next season.

I'd be ok with 6 years for $120 million. He is a first basemen after all. There'd have to be some corresponding moves though to try to free up some salary. I'd dangle Hart to look for some young pitching or possibly a young shortstop. I'd then see if Gamel could play right field. I'd be very ok with that lineup, assuming we find someone to play SS.

I think if you don't view the guy as ever having the ability to be an every day player than using him as a bench guy is fine. Farris I think is a good example, assuming he can play at least some shortstop. But if you think the guy may eventually be an everyday player then sticking him on the bench is going to hurt his development. If you don't have room for him, I'd just rather trade him for someone you do need. I think having Green and Schafer on the bench all year is a bad idea. But then again, I know some people don't think Green can be an major league regular. I think he can be which is why I don't want him to sit. As far as Ramirez goes, I just don't think he's a good investment. I feel like Melvin is trying too hard to replace Fielder's offense and is paying for a guy the Brewers don't really need. I think between Braun, Weeks, Hart, Gamel, and Green you'll hit enough home runs. The key is pitching. I'd rather take the money you would give to Ramirez and put it towards re-signing Greinke and maybe even towards signing another pitcher next offseason when quality pitching will be abundant.

So what do you do with Taylor Green? This would just kill his value.

Speaking of Velvet Sky, the whole split from Angelina Love made no sense either. One day everything is peachy, the next day Angelina is a zombie. Now it finally is starting to look like they are explaining why it happened by making Winter a vampire or something. But my lord some of these storylines are stupid.

Smoaks production for the next 4 years > Marcums for 1 year. But for Marcum I think you'd be able to get more, especially with the dearth of free agent starting pitching.

I cringed when I read "separated right shoulder" for a right hander that throws upper 90's. What ridiculously bad luck.

They can offer less but that doesn't mean they are going to get that player then. No, but the team that has the player is probably also now going to be less likely to receive compensation when the player leaves so they may have to be willing to accept less. The new rules will require them to offer a pretty big one year contract to the player and unless the player is really good it is unlikely the smaller market team will offer them that contract. Again, it favors large market teams who can better afford to take the chance on a contract offer. I also don't like the new rule because it doesn't seem to differentiate by players. If the rule applied this year, the Brewers would have to offer Takashi Saito the same one year contract they'd have to offer Prince Fielder in order to receive compensation for Saito. I do like that it will likely decrease the number of comp picks handed out though but definitely not the best system.

Ink, Inc. was on the last PPV against Mexican America in a 6-man mixed tag for the titles. I remember seeing them in some promos where they kind of did a bar fight with Mexican America, but since I don't get the pay-per-views I haven't seen them actually wrestle in forever. And that's one of my main issues with the organization. You put out pay per views with guys that don't even wrestle on your main show? The British Invasion is the same way. They lost to Mexican America in a pay per view awhile back and I haven't seen them since. Are they even in TNA anymore? I don't really like Crimson as world champ because he doesn't have mic skills and isn't really over. I actually don't have a problem with that. I don't need the world champ to come out and talk about nothing for 20 minutes like they always do. I want someone who has got some wrestling talent and can legitimately take on the top guys. I didn't mind seeing James Storm winning the title, but beating Angle, the best technical wrestler you have, in a minute or so like he did was an insult to Angle. There is an X Division belt that I believe Austin Aries currently holds. That guy is good, IMO. To be honest, I fast forward through some of the show and I never really stopped in for those matches. It seems to me like a "fling a bunch of wrestlers on the wall and see who sticks" method. I don't doubt the Aries is talented but if he's not beating legit X Division stars like Daniels, Styles, or RVD he's not going to get noticed. RVD, Daniels, Styles and Jerry Lynn were having all these matches about who dominated or started or was the best X Division guy (whatever it was, something like that) yet none of them are fighting for the X Division belt or any other the younger X Division wrestling. Why isn't Kazarian wrestling for the belt? Is he hurt, because he hasn't wrestled in forever either. Overall I think the best way to separate themselves from the WWE is to focus more on wrestling and not as much on "entertainment". There is an X Division belt that I believe Austin Aries currently holds. That guy is good, IMO. I'm not saying you shouldn't have interviews or promos or anything, but we don't need 10 or 15 minute interviews three times a night. And I don't need to see Karen Jarrett call all of the knockouts to the ring every single show. And rebuild the tag team ranks.