monty57

Not a fan of mark a overstepping Doug's turf....... Give Boras Doug's number and stay out of it....definitely not the packer way; more like the cowboy or redskin way Re-reading what was wrote it seems more like Boras knows that Doug doesn't have interest but he can play Mark into giving him what he wants so he goes directly to the top instead of dealing with the GM. Agree with both of these. Something's screwy with management when agents completely ignore the person who is supposed to be contacted (the GM) and go over his head to the owner. That's not the sign of an effective manager, but rather shows that Attanasio is either "the kid in the candy store" who likes playing with the team, or he has an element of distrust in the way Melvin is doing things. I personally think Melvin would do a much better job without the interference. However, Melvin's tenure is nearly up and Attanasio will be the owner for a long time, so I hope this gets fixed with the next GM.

Another factor is that the mistake on a veteran could cost you millions and millions of dollars, potentially sinking the franchise for years, while a mistake on a prospect isn't nearly as pricey. If you said "I'll give you a 50% success rate for $1000, or a 30% success rate for $1," which is the better choice? Personally, I'd buy as many of those $1 tickets as I could.

More players means more specialization. More ROOGYs, more LOOGYs, more platoons, more pinch hitters... meaning longer games Yeah, I think that would be the net result, and since baseball is trying to find ways to shorten games, I don't think this idea is likely to happen. It's more likely they force pitchers to throw to more than one batter than it is they will do something that increases mound visits/pitcher changes/pinch hitters. More likely is some over-reach due to a small sample of "pitcher dominance," that will lead to something like shrinking the strike zone, lowering the mound or bringing fences in. Expansion could also be a possibility if they thought it would be profitable.

The guy who refused to steal Khris Davis' job By that logic, he stole Junior Spivy's job and Scooter Gennett stole his job. This is the majors, the best player plays, and if you're not performing, someone will "steal" your job. I think Weeks didn't want to risk looking foolish in the OF, because he thought he'd find a job as a 2B this offseason. When no one offered him a 2B-only gig, and knowing he can't play SS or 3B, he was forced to either retire or accept that he has to play some OF if he wants to play at all.

I agree that he should be fine, and there is no need to over-react, but there are no absolutes with these injuries. It's easy to feel better and then try running and re-strain the hammy, setting you back to day one. Thankfully, it appears the Brewers are being very careful, and won't let him go until they're sure it's healed... of course, he hurt this last year, and it was healed until he recently did a drill and re-injured it. Best think going is that ST hasn't even started. If he hurt this during the season, they would probably keep him going and it would never fully heal. At least now they can rest him and it should be fine by opening day.

...unless your name is Jason Rogers, in which case this is great news. Even if Lucroy is the primary option to play 1b when Lind sits, there's added impetus to keep a RH option on the bench to play the corner infield spots in order to give Lucroy an occasional day off in April. Not to derail the thread too much, but my guess is that Jimenez, who is out of options, is first in line to be the primary backup corner IF. Rogers, who has options, will probably be starting in AAA. But you may be right, they may like Jimenez's defense at 3B, but if they're looking for a bat-first guy to be the RH part of a 1B platoon, they may like Rogers for that role. I'd guess Rogers only makes the 25-man if they are comfortable with only four OF, as they need someone like Hector Gomez on the roster to back up SS

http://m.brewers.mlb.com/news/article/108952454/brewers-jonathan-lucroy-injures-hamstring That's the link to the article on the Brewers' site, which covers it pretty well. The good news: "Even at the more conservative end of his prognosis, Lucroy should be able to play by the time the Brewers open the regular season April 6 against the Rockies." Then there's this: "But it will limit his participation in Spring Training games, which is notable since Lucroy was to see additional time at first base to prepare as a potential platoon partner for new first baseman Adam Lind. Lucroy started 16 games at the position in 2013, a figure that could double if the plan goes through." Call me crazy, but I kind of think this could turn into a good thing. Lucroy, like any catcher, needs days off. I dislike the idea of him spending all of his "off days" playing first base, so hopefully this injury forces the Brewers to look at other options for RH side of the 1B platoon, which could lead to some days off for Lucroy. Gord Ash summed it up nicely: "This is not great news. We can't pretend that this is good news," Ash said of Lucroy. "But given that this is Feb. 11, we do have time." It could easily lead to a slow start until he gets "caught up" to the pitchers, and it could be something that bugs him through the season, but I'd bet he'll get most of the starts throughout the season, and I don't think this is a reason to do anything drastic personnel-wise. In the unlikely scenario that a few weeks go by and there's no progress, then Melvin may want to do something.

Gyorko (and all Padres) also play in a black hole that destroys offensive stats. Shields, on the other hand could look like Cy Young pitching in San Diego.

The Padres have added a lot of talent but aren't they still just the 3rd best team in that division? Probably, but are they now better than other teams vying for the Wild Card? In other words, does this make them better than the Brewers, thereby making it tougher for the Brewers to get a Wild Card berth? A more competitive Padre team should make it more difficult for wild card to come out of West. It's early, and all speculation at this point, but on paper the Dodgers and Giants should battle for the West and a Wild Card spot. Meanwhile, the Cards and Pirates look to be the teams to beat in the Central, with the other eyeing a Wild Card. In the East the Nationals should be clear-cut favorites, and it's not likely a Wild Card team will come from the East. So, the Brewers have an outside shot at the playoffs, but any team like the Padres that gets significantly better makes it a little tougher for the Brewers to make the playoffs. But again, it's early and once the season starts anything can happen.

I have no idea if there is any validity to this deal, but I figured Parra's name was in the mix because of his salary. Sending him means Philly pays his salary, so Milwaukee pays more of Papelbon's salary. Plus, I don't think Philly is willing to take nothing in return for any team taking on Papelbon's contract. That may be the case, but it seems that Philly may be willing to go into the season with Papelbon if they don't get something back in trade.

We need to stockpile young talent, but we don't have many (any?) untradeable prospects. Therefore, I don't mind trading people, but I don't want to trade prospects with upside, or a guy who looks to be a key contributor, for a "name" player (Papelbon) who is probably overpaid, and who at best will win the team one or two games more than the likely alternative (K-Rod), and may not even do that. Melvin/Attanasio seem to have a fetish for older, more expensive guys with limited team control. I've liked this offseason so far, and simply signing someone like K-Rod to a one-year deal (assuming the $11 million-dollar-man Broxton isn't up to the task) would seem to be an easy solution to help solidify the roster. No need to trade value and/or add a lot of salary for Papelbon. One thing this whole drama is showing is that Melvin apparently made a big, expensive mistake last year when he traded for Broxton. It could be argued that the Brewers shouldn't pay their closer $11MM, but it is pretty obvious that they shouldn't pay a middle reliever/setup guy $11MM.

Bleacher report proposed tyler Wagner and Gerardo parra for papelbon. If he's not traded, I think Parra's going to play a big role on the 2015 team. Trading him would seem to be to free up salary to fit Papelbon's contract into the budget. Unfortunately, even though we'd be more expensive, I don't think that we would be as good with that trade as we would without it when we see someone like Logan Schafer getting a whole bunch of PAs as a starting OF when one of our starters goes down. Put it this way, which will cost us more games: K-Rod/Broxton as closer instead of Papelbon, or Schafer (rather than Parra) starting for a month or two as injury replacement for Braun/Gomez in addition to getting a lot of starts vs RHP as the primary backup OF at all three positions.

This is the kind of move "win now at any cost" move the Brewers routinely do that always frustrates me. They'll trade someone in order to get Philly to pay some of this year's salary in order to fit him in under the budget. The prospect probably won't be great, but we'll still be spending something like 15-20% of our payroll on the closer/setup guy (Papelbon/Broxton), and people will complain next year about why can't afford {insert random player name here} while we're paying Papelbon $13MM and potentially still paying Broxton unless we buy out his option. If Melvin doesn't feel Broxton is good enough to close, then why in the heck did acquire him? But, since apparently no one in our bullpen is up to the task, I would prefer the much lower cost associated with K-Rod, who would be gone after the year (re-signed for the umpteenth time again next offseason if necessary) as opposed to trading prospects and picking up a big contract for two years of a guy who may or may not outperform K-Rod in 2015. Bottom line... the idea of the Brewers paying $24,000,000 for the back of their bullpen is crazy.

Brewers fans really undervaluing Sardinas I do like Sardinas, and maybe I was undervaluing him in my previous post. I don't think he'll net us Wisler, but I agree that if the Padres are calling asking for him specifically, we should aim high and target their top prospect (especially if it's a pitcher in the high minors). I think our best option will probably be to start Sardinas in AAA for "seasoning" and as insurance in case Segura continues to falter. But, if someone is willing to give us a highly regarded young pitcher who will be our "#6/7" guy this year, and who can step into the rotation when Lohse leaves next year, then that would be nice. I just hope they don't use him as their MLB "utility guy/RH 2B," because at his age I think he'd be better off playing every day at AAA. Let someone like Gomez get the 200 PA's with sporadic MLB play.

If the Padres are interested in Sardinas you would have to ask for Wisler. As mentioned earlier, Wisler is MLB.com's #69 prospect. Our best prospect (Arcia) is our only guy to rank in the Top 100 at #88. I like the addition of Sardinas in the Gallardo trade, but why would San Diego trade a guy who would immediately be our best prospect in return for Sardinas? Maybe for Segura if they thought he was better than he's shown for the past 1.5 years, but not for Sardinas. But, if Melvin could somehow swing Sardinas for Wisler, then I would be really happy.

for US born players there is some restriction as to when they are eligible (I believe it's something like their high school class has to have graduated) but for everyone else you just have to be at least 16. Everyone needs to be under the same rules which doesn't seem like it should be too hard to figure out. I agree. I don't understand why US born players have to graduate HS before being drafted. If I had a 16-year-old who was good enough that an MLB team was willing to give him a multi-million dollar signing bonus, I'd be all for it. Most high school and college graduates don't make $4-5 million in their lifetime (40 years at $50,000 is only $2,000,000), so why is the HS diploma so important? But on topic, I agree with those who say the Brewers have no shot at Moncada, and that's probably a good thing. Maybe he's the best 19-year-old in the world, but I wouldn't give a $40MM bonus (or $80MM if that's what the tax takes it to) for any player who has never played in the majors.

Regarding the bolded portion: I think things are changing. The frustration I've had with Attanasio the past few seasons is that I know he's a smart guy, and it was pretty easy to see that the team was getting less talented, but he still pushed to keep the window open. Well, he is a smart guy, and he realized it, but he wanted to try to be good as long as possible, and he now seems to be realizing that we need to get better prospects into the system and see what we have with the young guys. That's why we traded Gallardo for three promising guys who may not be on the MLB roster this season. It's also why we are going with Nelson and Fiers in the rotation... we need to see what we have with the promising arms that are under Brewer control for several more years. I expect we'll sign a reliever, as we have a hole there, and signing a "name" could help fans think we're still "all in." Of course we'll still try to win this year, but I don't think expectations of a World Series are very high, even in the front office, and I'd guess the team probably expects to be sellers at the trade deadline, so we can get a bunch of prospects back for Lohse, Broxton, Parra, Ramirez and the yet-to-be-signed reliever. This year seems to be one last push before we see some major roster turnover, and I hope management can do this successfully, so that we don't have a big collapse when all of our "final year" guys are gone after this year. So while the media will put the Brewers in rumors based on what they've done in their "window" years, I would be shocked to see them sign a high-priced free agent starter like Shields.

Personal issues aside, this isn't a bad idea as long as it's a one-year deal. He upgrades the bullpen and could help the team win an extra game or two, so if they do catch fire he could help them on a playoff run. If not, then he should be easily flipped at the deadline for a prospect and salary relief. Don't forget about Knebel. Sure the guy got taken to the woodshed in 8 innings last season with Detroit (although he did strikeout 11 batters), he's been lights out in the minors. A 1.65 ERA, 104K in 76 innings. He supposed works in the mid-90s and can get things up to 98mph. That's the kind of player that could very quickly become part of the back of your rotation. I like him too, but one important thing with him could be that he has options. It's nice to think that we could store someone with his potential as "insurance" at AAA and bring him up when either the bullpen tires, or someone is injured. While he could be a Brewer closer down the road, right now he needs to work on control, so some time at AAA wouldn't be a terrible thing. I'd much prefer that to seeing him slotted as the "long man" who goes weeks without pitching and then gets trotted out for multiple innings several times in a week. I'd much rather have Papelbon than K-Rod All things being equal, I would as well, but Papelbon would cost us prospects and money, while K-Rod just costs money. My guess is that Papelbon got too expensive (in terms of prospects), and the Brewers (who seem to finally be looking a bit towards the future) felt the marginal benefit of Papelbon over K-Rod wasn't worth the extra cost. Of course, I may be jumping the gun, as no deal has yet been made.

I'm a little late to the party here, but I like this move. I hated the thought of wasting Nelson in the 'pen for a year only to watch Lohse and Gallardo walk when the season was over. Then, when the Gallardo to Texas rumor emerged, I figured we'd shoot for a stopgap MLB guy, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Melvin go for prospects. I don't know much about these guys except what I've read here, but I hope Sardinas starts the year at AAA, giving Segura another shot with a guy like Gomez getting the nod as the backup middle infielder. This will give Sardinas everyday playing time to continue his development. Ideally, both he and Segura would play well, as having multiple good MLB-ready shortstops would create a lot of options. If Segura continues to play like he has the last year-and-a-half, then Sardinas gives the Brewers a solid option for a starter at least until Arcia is ready. If Knebel's arm holds out, he should step right into at least a middle-reliever spot, and hopefully he pitches well enough to earn a setup role. Broxton is our closer this year, but he's expensive, and it's nice to have another arm that has the potential to take over that role in the not-too-distant future. Barring the need for TJ surgery, his floor should be as a decent bullpen arm with options playing for league minimum, while his ceiling should be a closer. It's way too early to know what the future holds for Diplan, but we need to continue to stockpile high upside youngsters. Some of them will flame out, but if you stockpile enough of them, a good number will become productive Major Leaguers down the road. I've loved having Yo as a Brewer, but trades like this are exactly what the team needs to do if they hope to remain competitive into the future. We aren't going to trade any more short-timers this offseason, but if the team is lagging as July comes around, we could really restock the farm by doing trades like this with Lohse, Ramirez, Parra and Broxton. Unlike the last few years, where the team was very hesitant to ever be "sellers," I think this year they will pull the trigger unless they have a very good shot at the playoffs.

I think you're right, and I think Jimenez is going to play a big role this year. In addition to being the RH side of the 1B platoon, I don't believe we should count on Ramirez for more than 120 games or so, so I could see Jimenez getting around 400 PAs. Hopefully Melvin found a gem in Jimenez, as we don't have any answers at 3B when Ramirez leaves and it won't be an easy position to fill via free agency... there just aren't that many good third basemen around these days.

Bonifacio has played SS for a total of 5 games over the last three years. I think that goes to show what teams think of his ability at the position. Well, the Cubs do have something like 22 shortstops on their 25-man roster :-) 3million for a utility player of potential like Bonifacio(if not on the field can steal bases in late game situations) should not be concerned in an overall team payroll status. Is someone else paying him? If not, then he would have to have been counted in the Brewers' payroll. Especially considering that if Milw tanks in 2015 he among others can be jettisoned off around the trade deadline to save a lot on payroll. If Bonifacio's utility skills results in the team making the playoffs, I'm sure the 3mil is more than made up in playoff revenues(as evidence by picking up Broxton for the stretch run) I'm sure the Brewer financial staff and Mark Attanasio take these things into consideration when determining the team payroll. To say the Brewers do not have 4 mill to compete is nonsense. Everyone has a payroll limit. To think that teams can just spend without regard to the payroll is nonsense. Looking at the projected payroll, I'd say the Brewers are spending over $100MM "to compete." And isn't 3mil below the ML avg for a player? Irrelevant. $3MM is $3MM, and if you don't have that room in your budget, you find a cheaper option, even if that player is not as good. But Emilio would have been a fairly ideal fit for the team to cover 2b/SS and even rare OF or 3b situations if needed that it's hard to say they possess currently with H. Gomez, Luiz Jimenez, Ellian Herrera or in a 1b/3b situation Jason Rogers. I agree, but it appears that the Brewer brass prefers Parra, Ramirez, and Lind to Bonifacio, and don't want to trade a starting pitcher to free up salary. Monty you're the money payroll man with opinions on running it. How well will the team finish in attendance if they trudge along as .500 only team w/o the 12+games above .500 record to work with as last season? In 2012 they started off so bad they ended up trading away Greinke, but they were coming off a playoff run which helped pre-season ticket sales. They ended with 2.8MM fans. In 2013, after the bad taste of 2012 and with another bad start, they had 2.5MM fans. That's just history, no telling what will happen going forward. I think the fans have a worse feeling this year than they did after 2012, but that's funny because both years had a collapse, it's just that in 2012 and 2013 the collapse was at the start of the year, while in 2014 it was at the end of the year. But that's how people think, so it is possible that the Brewers' attendance is somewhere in the low 2MM's, possibly even dipping further in the coming years as other teams in the division pass them by. That (attendance) is probably the only number that can cause Attanasio to address the notion of a rebuild, and by that time it will be a full-scale tear down.

The Brewers are probably about maxed out on payroll, so for them to make a move like this, they'd need to jettison payroll elsewhere. Off the top of my head, if they were looking to save money this offseason (not going into past moves) they could have: 1) Not done the Lind deal 2) Not re-upped Ramirez 3) Not re-upped Parra (or traded him after signing him) 4) Traded an expensive veteran for either prospects or pre-arby guys to save money. The most widely discussed names have been Gallardo, Lohse, Garza and Gomez. I like the thought of having someone with Bonafacio's flexibility on the roster, but unless you make one of the aforementioned moves, there just doesn't appear to be any payroll room.

The other point in this is that you're going to want to keep Lucroy's bat in the lineup(see 9games off all of last season) They were trying to get him a meaningless "most doubles in team history" title. I personally think that not resting players more (notably Braun and Ramirez, but probably also Lucroy) probably had something to do with the team floundering as the season went on. Lucroy's health 5 years from now should not be a concern when you want to win today. He is likely to be paid big money by someone else to play for them. There's definitely some truth to that, but a business needs to take care of its assets, and an MLB team's greatest assets are its players. Overuse could effect the short-term as well as the long-term, be that injury or simply lessened performance due to fatigue. But we're really looking at a small issue. Lucroy will get some starts at 1B, so we're looking at whether it makes sense to either: (A) give Lucroy all the starts vs LHP at 1B, letting Maldonado get more playing time (B) give Lucroy some starts vs LHP at 1B, letting Rogers/Jimenez get the remainder of the starts at 1B © sign someone else who hits RH and can play 1B. Since it's a relatively small number of games, I don't see the team spending money or prospects to make © a possibility. Therefore, the question is whether you'd like to give the extra PAs to Maldonado or to Rogers/Jimenez.

But I think he's a good solid catcher who has shown a propensity to draw walks and get on-base a little I'd say a good, solid backup catcher. He's a nice guy to have, but the goal should not be to find ways to get him extra at bats. Plus Lucroy needs some days off, so I don't think that having Lucroy catch every day vs RHP and playing 1B against LHP is the way to go. That's a lot of wear-and-tear on the body of one of your best players. I think the likely scenario is that we'll start the season with Lind as the primary 1B, and either Rogers or Jimenez (most likely Jimenez) will be the RH-hitting 1B/backup 3B.

For a guy who is already in his 30s, and given the track record of $100M+ contracts, I think it is a horrible blunder by the Cubs, and I expect time will prove me correct. I think that's a valid point. There is a decent chance that the second half of this deal looks bad. Really depends on the context of things. This deal could kill a team like the Brewers, while the Cubs will probably add a few more of these contracts over the next few years, and Lester could be the #3/4 starter in a few seasons. I worry about the Brewer contracts because we've been up against the payroll limit for quite a while. The Cubs may not reach their payroll limit until Lester's deal is done. I don't like overpaying for anything, but if Lester's deal doesn't hamper their ability to make other moves, then it really doesn't matter much if he doesn't live up to the deal unless he really tanks.