paul253

K-Rod will be 30 by the time the next season starts. I think both he and Boras realize that he is running out of chances to get that last fat contract. And people tend to overpay for relievers. I'd be shocked if he accepted. It'd be good money, but there's no security. And honestly, I wouldn't mind at all if he accepted, especially if Wolf or Marcum is traded. K-Rod and Axford have been as good of a 1-2 punch in the bullpen as I can ever remember in Milwaukee. They really do shorten the games to 7 innings. I'd be fine with that being the case again next season. But also, if the Brewers are out of it at the deadline next year, they could always trade K-Rod to a contender looking for bullpen help. And unlike the Mets who were desperate to save money, Milwaukee could get some decent players in return. Mike Adams netted some pretty decent pitching prospect from Texas this year. And if you don't trade him, the offer him arby again after next season. I think it's a win-win either way.

Where would he have seen regular playing time the past three seasons? Not first base obviously with Prince playing every game. Not third base because up until this year McGehee was playing very well. Not outfield because on top of the fact that Gamel has never played outfield regularly, Braun was obviously a staple in left and Corey Hart was extended and playing well in right. So you say he wasn't "blocked", but every position he could have played was being played by someone who was having successful years. That's the very definition of blocked. We'll see next year though. With Prince leaving and Gamel hitting like .330 in AAA, there is no reason for Milwaukee to sign a first basemen. If they do, you'll know that it's because they have no faith in Gamel.

I like Gamel but it's been time for him to put up or shut up for a while and he hasn't done it, small opportunities or not. You say "small opportunities or not" like it's nothing. You can't put up if you haven't been given a chance to do so. He's never really had a position to play in Milwaukee but being DH for 5 games at a time doesn't amount to having an opportunity. Maybe he's been getting frustrated about having to spend parts of 4 seasons in Nashville, and when he finally does get called up he sits on the bench all the time. I don't know. I don't know anything about him, personality wise, but I think it's unfair for anyone to suggest he hasn't taken advantage of an opportunity when the opportunity has never really been there. In 2009 he had 128 at bats in Milwaukee. And while he only hit .242, a .338 OBP isn't that bad (by comparison Yuni's OBP is .269 right now and McGehee's is .292). If Prince walks and Gamel goes into spring training as the every day first baseman, and then he hits .157 in spring training forcing the Brewers to replace him, then I'd say he didn't take advantage of his chance. But as of now, I am not willing to say that.

I don't think it can get any lower than the previous 0% chance that he would have accepted arbitration. He's made it abundantly clear he is a closer, and is going to be a closer next year, something that won't be available for him in Milwaukee. I asked this question to, I believe it was Tom H., on a Brewers chat a few weeks ago. And this is why I take what he says with a grain of salt. He made it sound like there was no way the Brewers would offer arby to K-Rod. I agree with you RoCo. I don't think he'd ever accept it. But Tom H. apparently does.

I hope he is a little upset about not being able to close. It'll make it less likely he accepts arbitration http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

I know this won't happen but I'd love to see Fiers come in for the 6th and maybe the 7th if he pitches well.

St Louis is really making a move too. They are only 4.5 games back, though it looks like Atlanta's schedule gets a little easier. The last thing we need is a first round series with the red-hot Diamondbacks. Hopefully Atlanta can hold on and the Brewers can hold off the Diamondbacks.

Forgot about those two. Wasn't Neugebauer a second round pick?

So, I guess we can then conclude that the Brewers were not the second best team in the NL. But does it really matter? Home field advantage doesn't mean much in the playoffs. It does matter, especially for this team. 28 games over .500 at home (even after losing 6 in a row at home). 5 games under on the road. It's also a huge difference between going on the road to Philly for the first two of a best of five and staying at home to play Atlanta for the first two. If the Brewers do not have home field and go on the road to play Philly, having to face Halladay and Lee to start, I would be shocked if they even made it to game 5.

The Phillies are the best. Why shouldn't they take 3 outta 4 or sweep the Brewers? The Crew has the division wrapped up I think. Up until this series, the Brewers were the second best. The second best team in the league shouldn't be getting swept at home by anymore, especially when home field advantage is on the line.

Well as of tonight, they have lost home field advantage and now are in line to play Philly in the first round. Not good!

I can't imagine that's the case. I was only on it maybe 5 minutes.

I was jogging on my treadmill earlier tonight when the belt just all of a sudden stopped. The power to the treadmill itself stayed on and kept working like it normally does but nothing I tried would get the belt to go again. My biggest concern is that the motor blew but I was wondering if anyone can think of any other possibilities? I'd like to hope it was just a blown fuse by it doesn't seem like it would make to blow a fuse and have the display still working. The treadmill is a Nautilus (sp?) brand. Does anyone have any ideas?

I don't disagree with a lot of what you said but my reason for bringing this up is because the Brewers aren't one who can afford guys like Philly can. There is no way the Brewers could have afforded Lee, just like they couldn't afford Sabathia. That means they have to get this top end pitching either through trades or through the draft. We all know how bad the Brewers have been developing their own pitching, but just to put it in perspective, outside of Sheets and Gallardo they haven't developed any really good starting pitchers in like ten years. They've had a ton of prospects that we thought would be good (Hendrickson, Eveland, Parra, Luis Martinez, Neugebauer, Jones, Rogers), traded away some guys who were top Brewer prospects at the time (Inman, Odorizzi, Jeffress) and have some guys now who have promise (Peralta, Thornburg, Scarpetta, Jungmann, Bradley, Lopez) but the fact remains. So that leaves trading for established stars like they did with Sabathia, Greinke, and Marcum. The problem with that is that even if you are able to do that, it empties out your system and you usually only get the guy for a year or two. Then they can't always afford to resign the guy, like Sabathia. It's kind of up in the air as to whether they can afford to resign both Greinke and Marcum, which is why you need to consider trading one. Otherwise, you don't have sustained success. You have one good year, spend three building up your system in order to get enough prospects to trade, then have another good year or two. I really question Melvin's ability to judge young pitching. Putting aside draft failures, if you look at players he reportedly turned down trades for (yes its just a report and maybe it never happened, or maybe he did like them but didn't think the trade was good enough, I'm just saying). Apparently he was offered Daniel Hudson for Fielder. Hudson is 16-9 with a 3.41 ERA for Arizona. And he's under team control for awhile. Apparently he turned down a Brandon Beachy for Corey Hart trade because he insisted on getting Mike Minor in return. Beachy is 7-2 with a 3.29 ERA through 22 starts. And he's under control for awhile. As good as it is to get guys like Marcum and Greinke to help put you over the top, I really think guys like Beachy and Hudson (young, top prospects that get in return for trading a star) are the guys Milwaukee should be focusing on. So you have one more year of Marcum. One or possibly two of Wolf. They've both had very good years, but why not see if you can flip one of them for a high ceiling #1 or #2 type pitching prospect that you'd control for multiple years? Yeah, it's risky, but less risky than taking draft picks would be. They are in a position to do it now because of the successful years Fiers and Peralta had and they can always resign Marco Estrada for insurance. If Milwaukee thinks it can resign both Greinke and Marcum and not sacrifice it's future by having no money left, that's the best option if you ask me. But with the way Marcum is pitching it seems to be getting less and less likely they can afford both guys long term. Maybe Corey Hart is a guy they should dangle. He's got his value back up. He's under contract for two more years. Try to find a team looking for an outfielder and ask for a pitching prospect in return. I don't know if Atlanta still needs an outfielder, but they have a ton of pitching!

Adding a DH in the NL would really hurt the cheap teams as they won't/won't want to pay for another hitter. It would really help the Crew though. It would also affect draft strategy though. How many potential DHs have the Brewers passed on in the draft or traded away? We never would have traded Overbay if we had the DH. Gamel would be in Milwaukee now. They may have hung onto Lawrie who never really had a position to play in Milwaukee. It's not like all the NL teams are going to have to go out and give $10 million to someone to be the DH. I hate the fact that it would take some of the strategy away from the game, but at least there'd be a universal rule. I would rather there be no DH, but I can't imagine the players union ever accepting that.

I don't personally care if there is a DH or no DH, I just want there to be a decision. Either DH in both leagues or DH in neither. And with interleague play, either eliminate it or do it like every other league does. If it were up to me this is what I'd do. Make the DH universal. Then every team in the AL plays one 3 game series against every team in the NL. That leaves 45 games vs the opposing league and 117 games vs your own league.

A Tejada for Wolf deal is exactly the kind of deal Melvin should be looking at this offseason. Yeah you have to break up the rotation, but it appears as though there are some decent options. Peralta and Fiers obviously. Maybe even Marco Estrada. And who knows, if Mark Rogers comes back in spring at 100% maybe he impresses. It was carpal tunnel syndrom, not a major shoulder or elbow injury. But assuming the Mets pay all of Wolf's salary and Bentancourt's option is not picked up, that's a ton of money saved. They could even sign a pitcher in free agency if they wanted, though I'd rather go with Fiers or Peralta.

The Yankees might do Hughes for Marcum, straight-up. But definitely not with Montero in the picture. Haha I'm sure they would. No, but you only have him for one season, then you really have to pay him. I don't think the Yankees are all that concerned about who they have to pay, which is another reason why I think you can ask for more from them. Even if they don't resign him, he's going to be a Type A so they'll get picks. If the offered me Hughes for Marcum I'd hang up on them. Like I said, I'm not even sure I'd trade Gamel for Hughes. If they offered me Montero for Marcum I'd listen but I'm still hesitant to do a one for one swap when getting an unproven player in return, especially when you are the one giving up the pitcher.

This is a guy I'd love for Milwaukee to get. From what I saw when we played the Mets, he plays good defense at short. A .364 OBP as a 21 year old is pretty good, even if his slugging is way down. Doesn't strike out much. Ok walk rate. I think he'd be a great addition. He could probably hit 8th, moving Lucroy up to 7th and would solidify the position for a few years. He is someone I'd consider trading Randy Wolf for (probably with the understanding Milwaukee pays most of Wolf's salary).

That's like paying Brett Lawrie + two talented young arms. Shaun Marcum isn't exactly chopped liver. And again, Hughes may be a talented young arm, but that doesn't really mean much if you don't live up to it which he hasn't. Manny Parra was a talented young arm a few years ago. Maybe take Hughes out of the deal and offer Marcum and Gamel for Montero and Banuelos. I guess I don't know enough of Banuelos to know how good of a deal that'd be for Milwaukee. I'm just trying to gauge his value here. If you were the NYY Toolive, would you trade Montero and Banuelos for Marcum and Gamel?

This would be akin to the Brewers trading Thornburg, Peralta, & Gamel (& that doesn't even match the package you assembled from the Yankees) for someone like... well, Marcum. I don't think it's that bad. Hughes has not even come close to living up to his hype. He has an ERA over 6 right now and I imagine the Yankees would be looking for an upgrade, especially considering he's never had success as a starter. His one good year was as a reliever. I'm not sure I'd trade Gamel straight up for Hughes, let alone Thornburg or Peralta. So for me that leaves Marcum for Montero and Banuelos. Yes, a lot to ask for but again, the Brewers can afford to do that. Montero is major league ready but Banuelos is not. Peralta had much more success in AAA than Banuelos did, though to be fair Peralta is almost two years older. And honestly Thornburg would be a better prospect if Milwaukee pushed him like the Yankees pushed Banuelos. For me the idea of trading Marcum only comes from getting a strong return like the one above. I'd rather resign him honestly, but it'd be nice to see Melvin sell high for once.

What about Phil Hughes? I know he's been awful this year but he's still only 25 and was hyped to know end when he came up with NY. Maybe a change of scenery would be good for him. Obviously not the centerpiece of the deal, but maybe Marcum and Gamel for Hughes, Montero and Banuelous? Montero can take over 1st base next season. Hughes could be given a shot to win the 5th starter spot along with Peralta and Fiers and go to the pen if he doesn't get it.

I would think the chances of offering arby to K-Rod are 50/50, maybe a little higher. Hawkins and Saito are pretty big risks to accept. Yes, they are pitching well this year. But at their current age and salary (?30% raise), I'm not sure the Brewers would risk them accepting arby. I thought another poster posted a link that showed Hawkins not even being a type B. As for K-Rod and Saito, I'd take the chance. When healthy, Saito has had a very good career. And he's a reliever, so I don't think age would be as big of a factor for him as it would be for say a shortstop. As for K-Rod. Even if he does accept, we keep that dominant back end of the bullpen. Milwaukee really took off once he was acquired. But he's in that age range where he's due for one last big multiyear contract. I'm not sure Boras wants him wasting one of his prime years on a one year contract. If he gets hurt he'll lose a ton of money. I think its a win-win either way. Even if you have to pay him $13 million, you'll be paying Axford next to nothing so they kind of average each other out. But if he doesn't accept, we could really use the picks. Yeah, but history tells us they don't push their starters. I would not be surprised to see him start in Brevard again. The way Milwaukee treats their prospects, I'd be less surprised to see Thornburg starting in Wisconsin than I would be to see him in Huntsville.

For someone who knows more about him than I do....is there any chance Jorge Lopez starts in Wisconsin, or is he pretty much slated for Helena? Also, all of these guys who are having good years in the DSL....are they going to end up in Arizona or Helena next season? I'm not sure what the level of competition is in that Dominican League.

Furcal is just trying to audition for the Brewers to get a 2 year $14 million contract out of us I'll take that deal assuming some of that money is in incentives for playing time. I just don't think I can take another year of Bentancourt.