monty57

To any question of "Should he be replaced," the answer should always be "when there is a better option available." Hopefully Henderson will be ready soon, but until then I don't know that we have a better option. Beyond that, we need to be mindful of small samples. Relievers are usually a "crapshoot" because of the relatively small number of innings they throw. Players are going to have ups and downs, and we can't discard someone because they're in a "down." Having some options is nice, but with Henderson and Thornburg getting injured, the "options" had to get moved into the MLB pen. Thankfully, most of them have pitched far better than expected.

Turner also was a top 10 SP prospect if I recall. But before we get our hopes up...Cubs/SD/Col/Arz/Phil all would be foolish to pass on acquiring him before allowing Milw get their chance. Yeah, unless there is some undisclosed reason he was let go, you'd have to think someone will pick him up. It will probably be a non-contender who can give him a rotation slot to see if he can put things together.

"Rocking the boat" wasn't about Davis "having a problem" with something. I'm not sure where you got that idea. The team has been in first place basically from day one this season, and Davis has done nothing to deserve being benched half to two-thirds of the remaining games. Why make semi-drastic changes (platooning LF or bouncing Braun from LF to RF) because of the addition of a guy like Parra. I like the acquisition of Parra, but let him be the 4th OF. He'll see action nearly everyday in that role

I wouldn't rock the boat too much this year. Parra should get plenty of PAs getting some starts at every OF position, coming in late in games as a defensive replacement in LF and being the primary LH pinch hitter. He makes the team better this year, and he gives Melvin more to think about this offseason when he's putting together next year's roster.

We have probably put a lot of players on revocable waivers just to see who makes it through. Those who are claimed will be pulled back and not be eligible for trade. Most other teams are probably doing the same. Gorzelanny is the type player a team would put a claim in on, as he's cheap, effective and short-term. However, if he sneaks through, the Brewers could definitely dangle him out there once they know what other players made it through the waiver period. But, I don't see it as a bad thing to have three lefties, because all of them have shown the ability to get both lefties and righties out. None of them are a LOOGY.

Obviously Bos wasn't going to claim Carp but, if Texas waives Carp after an 0-21 week, you better believe Bos will claim him again. I believe this was a "revocable waiver," so if Boston really wanted to hold onto him, they could have just pulled him off of waivers. Apparently they were fine with giving him away for nothing just to get rid of his salary. If they were just going to dfa him, you would think his price tag was pretty low prior to the trade deadline. Wish we'd have offered the proverbial "bag of balls" and picked him up.

You like Overbay because of what he's done in 15 pinch hit ABs, but discount Francisco's error-free play because of small sample size? Francisco is not a good defensive 1B, but his overall game is far better than Overbay's at this stage of both of their careers. I'm sure Melvin's kicking himself for keeping Overbay over Francisco, but not much you can do about it now.

I'm with you on that but I fear they'll just let Estrada fill in. Hopefully he'll just miss one or two starts. Cravy's been out more than a month with an oblique strain so that's not encouraging. Yeah, the article on the Brewer site says that Estrada is the likely replacement (if needed). The article also states that he had an oblique strain at the start of last season and was out until May 21, but he feels that this one isn't as bad as that one was. Obliques are tricky injuries, so all we can do is hope for the best.

No. That wouldn't get just Price. If we were going to land Price, it seems something like Nelson, Davis or Gennett, and a decent prospect like Coulter/Arcia/Taylor would be the minimum bid. If we wanted to add Zobrist, probably something like Nelson, Gennett, Thornburg, and probably two of Coulter/Arcia/Taylor That said, if the Rays have decided to trade Price, it's probably because other teams' offers have increased, which would probably put the Brewers out of the running for him.

I was worried that basically any significant injury would sink our ship. Now at least we are somewhat covered for an injury to an OF. I like Haniger, but I think Taylor has surpassed him on the depth chart, so with Braun, Gomez and Davis here for years, and Taylor and others in the low minors, I figured Haniger could be one of the guys Melvin would use as trade bait. All in all, we needed a bench upgrade and we got one. Hopefully we'll upgrade 1B as well.

A lot of people (at least around here) talked about Davis, Gennett and Lucroy. The Lucroy vs Salome "catcher of the future" threads were pretty long. Thornburg was a top 100 prospect, and Peralta and Nelson were around the top 50 prospect level. Most everyone expected all of these guys to have MLB careers of varying degrees. After Nelson's call-up, we still have talent in the system, but it's a few years out, hence my comment that we won't see any meaningful talent coming from the farm for a year or two. Going down the MLB.com list of our top 20 prospects: Taylor is 20 in Brevard County, Arcia is 19 in Brevard County, Medeiros, Gatewood and Harrison were just drafted out of high school, Devin Williams is 19 in rookie league, Haniger is probably the best bet for talent from the farm as he's 23 in Huntsville, Coulter just turned 21 in low-A, Lopez is 21 in Brevard County, Roache is 22 in Brevard County, Jungmann (another possibility for help within the next year) is 24 in Nashville, Hellweg is out for the season, Reed is 21 in Brevard County, Taylor Williams is 23 in low-A, Tyler Wagner is 23 in Brevard County. Recently signed Lara is only 16 and can't even play in the U.S. for another year due to dumb laws in the U.S. that don't allow American teenagers to cash in and become millionaires when teams are willing to pay them. The Brewers seem high on Haniger, and if he were having a better season (.255/.316/.416/.732 as a 23 year old in AA) he would probably be up now as our backup OF. He could potentially fill that role next year, but will probably be in the minors until he starts to hit like many predict he will. Jungmann isn't pitching very well in Nashville, and hopefully he turns things around and can be injury insurance this year and next. I had high hopes for Gindl and Schafer, but they haven't played up to them. We have some guys who will fill in to help out due to injuries, and some guys who will fit into the bullpen, but probably not any guys who should be starting anywhere at the MLB level. I would like Rogers to be "the next Khris Davis"... the guy who flew under the radar while hitting at every level. I'm not sold on Ramirez aging well into next season, so having a home-grown guy step in would be nice. I don't know which way the Brewers will go there, but I'd say the odds favor Rogers being back in the minors next year with Ramirez manning 3B for the Brewers. Eventually, I think at least one (hopefully all) of Taylor, Coulter and Arcia will become good MLB players. I really like the guys we got in this year's draft. I'm not trying to rip on anything, just noting that we brought up Nelson and probably shouldn't expect much more help for a while.

They'll get an extra pick back for Lester when he leaves via free agency You have to hold the player the entire season in order to be able to make a qualifying offer and potentially get a draft pick. The bullpen is overworked because we possess a bunch of "middle of the road" starting pitchers, who other than on occasion don't go deep into a game. We need a guy that can go 8 innings most every start so the pen doesn't NEED to be worked. I get what you're saying, but no one goes eight innings "most every start." Lester has gone eight innings five times in 21 starts. No games over 8.0 IP. Lohse has gone 8+ five times in 22 starts, including one complete game and one 8.2 inning performance. Most of our starters (like most decent MLB starters these days) go 6-7 innings per outing, leaving 2-3 innings for the bullpen. Not a whole lot of 2-3 inning "bullpen busters." I wouldn't necessarily say our bullpen is overworked as much as I'd say the few guys Roenicke trots out there every day are overworked.

Through 2015. Baseball reference says: 2014 Contract Status: Signed, 4 yrs/$36M (12-15) (details) [*] Service Time (01/2014): 2.000, Arb Eligible: 2016, Free Agent: 2018 [*], Agents: Wasserman Media Group [*] MLB Network reports he has wording in his contract that says the team has to release him after 2015, so instead of the normal six year "team control," his contract only gives the team four years of "control." Shows that Boston is still planning on being a contender next year. They lose two guys they were going to lose anyhow (and rumors are they'll re-sign Lester), they get a middle-of-the-order bat they need for next year, and they get a comp pick to help their farm. Pretty good trade for them.

Agreed TLB. Since Nelson is up, we're probably a year or two away from seeing meaningful talent come from the farm to the MLB level. We have plenty of so-so guys in the minors, so I think Melvin will do some kind of "Jerry Hairston" type trade. I'd like to see a 1B upgrade, but I at least think he'll bolster the bench/give us some depth.

Is Beane planning on retiring after this season? Looks like he wants to win this year and leave the team a total mess. Good day for Boston fans... especially if they just turn around and re-sign Lester in a couple of months.

Hmmm... we're beating David Price today. I thought that if we faced another team's ace we were automatically defeated. Seems like it might be possible to win game one of a playoff series after all.

Best case for the Brewers' playoff hopes (other than the Brewers to start winning) would be for one of SF/LAD and one of Wash/Atl to go on crazy winning streaks, blowing out all the other playoff teams (except the Brewers). That would hurt the Brewers' chances of getting the #1 overall seed, but it would help them make the playoffs. St Louis really controls things. If the Brewers and Pirates can't beat them, they have a hard time making the playoffs.

You can certainly tell not only by the way the teams have played over the last month or so, but by comparing the teams head-to-head in this series why the Rays should feel they have no chance while the Brewers should trade away the future for this season.

His walk rate for the minors has fallen: 4.00 in 2011, 4.38 in 2012, 3.84 in 2013, 2.59 this year, while his K/BB has gotten better: 1.84 in 2011, 1.92 in 2012, 2.51 in 2012, 3.57 this year. It may not stick, but it appears he's getting better control. At this point, it certainly seems that the odds are better than a coin flip that he'll at least be a middle of the rotation starter under team control for a low-to-reasonable rate for years to come. Maybe he falters, but at this point I don't think we'd be maximizing our return by trading him for a two month rental. As I mentioned earlier, I think the expected return for Boston should be someone like Nelson plus a couple guys like Coulter/Taylor/Arcia, so it's not that I think the Brewers would be giving up too much from a macro point of view. However, the Brewers need good, young, cost-controlled players and we don't have many of those in the upper minors who will help for a while. I don't want to see them give up the one they have for the small marginal upgrade we'd receive this year that would be lost when Lester leaves at the end of the season. Our biggest short-term problems are 1B and depth. Even if we get an "ace" starter, we still will be hard pressed to make the playoffs if any of Gomez, Braun, Ramirez or Lucroy have a significant injury. You could probably add Gennett, Davis and any starting pitcher to that list as well. I'd rather we do smaller moves to shore up our bench and maybe get a league-average 1B than mortgage the future to strengthen the position that has been our biggest strength this season. It's probably just as likely that Nelson goes "Cal Eldred" for us as it is that Lester goes "CC Sabathia." More likely is that Lester makes us slightly better this season, but significantly worse next year and beyond. Unfortunately, Boston is in the driver's seat. As the Olney tweet states, the Brewers will try to make the move not really to help make themselves better but rather to keep the Cardinals and Pirates from getting better. The Cards and Pirates will do the same. The Cards and Pirates' rosters would be bolstered much more than the Brewers by acquiring Lester, so the price tag is going to be high... much higher than I want to spend.

The problem to me is comparing Grienke's trade value vs. Lester's is that the Angels really had poor pitching and absolutely needed an upgrade. The Brewers aren't in that shape they were. Yeah Segura is/was about Nelson's value and then Pena/Hellweg were throwins. But Segura is/was a huge acquisition to fill a major need. And meanwhile the Angels had 2 other SS/2b locked in longterm that even today, Segura likely is having a hard time to find ABs. Nelson is ML ready. He's not a Prospect imo anymore. Segura was a AA player at the time. Hellweg/Pena were as well. Nelson also isn't blocked to be the team's #5 SP. You're just looking at it from the Brewer standpoint, as there are other teams that feel they "absolutely need" a pitching upgrade. Melvin was able to get the return he got because both Texas and the Angels were interested and he played them against each other. The Red Sox can deal with any team that may want Lester, so the Brewers will have to beat everyone else's offer. If the Brewers don't include Nelson, the Red Sox just pick up the next call from the next team. It's pretty unlikely they'd settle for an offer based around Taylor... he's not that highly rated, and even though people like to rip prospect ratings, they're pretty important when making deadline deals for prospects. Also, Segura had just been called up to the Angels when he was traded. The Brewers sent him back to AA after the trade and promptly called him back up to stay a few days later. Yes, the Angels had other middle infield options, which is a nice "problem" to have. We unfortunately don't have a list of good prospects, so we can't just drop down to trade who we want. If we're looking to trade for a star player, the other team will basically demand Nelson and/or someone from our MLB roster. After Nelson, we have guys who probably have similar value to Hellweg and Pena.

The guy has had a very good career, but he's getting old. His "hot streaks" have come when he's had time to rest: The start of the season, and when he came off the DL in early June. I think he'd be best served getting a couple of days a week off, but without any valid backup options, Roenicke will not do that. He's now posting a .271 avg / .319 OBP / .431 SLG / .749 OPS line this year. He probably has another good streak in him, and I'd guess he'll end up somewhere in the mid-to-upper .700's to end the season, but there is not a cure for age. I don't think people will be happy with his play next year if his option is exercised.

Even still though, him + 3 other prospects is steep. For us, losing guys like Taylor, Arcia, Coulter, etc would really hurt. For Tampa, they could get much better back from another team. In order for us to land someone like Price in trade, we need to "up the ante" by trading away guys from the MLB roster. I don't think that's a good idea, but for those who think we need to find an ace, that's the way we're going to find one. I honestly hope the Rays decide not to sell, because I don't think Melvin wants Weeks playing everyday, so I think he would eventually settle on a deal of Gennett, Nelson, Thornberg, Coulter and another decent prospect for Price & Zobrist. Tampa would get 5-6 years of a #2/3 starter (Nelson), closer (Thornburg), 2B (Gennett) and a high-upside catcher/3B prospect. We'd probably slightly increase our playoff chances this year, but would still be one bad injury away from falling out of contention.

Gallardo for Lester is not going to happen, but I'd rather trade him for Lester then Nelson. If the Brewers trade Nelson for a couple months of Lester I might stop watching them. I could somewhat understand it for Price, who is under control for another season, but not for a few month rental. I don't know how we match up if we were looking to trade for Lester. For comparison purposes, when we traded away a few month of Greinke, we received Segura (around Nelson's level as a prospect), Pena and Hellweg. Without Nelson in the deal, I don't know if Boston would do it, but if so you're probably looking at something like Thornburg, Taylor, Coulter/Arcia. Heck, after the Cubs got Russell for Jeff S., the Red Sox are probably looking for the equivalent of a top 10 guy for Lester, which means that even if we included Nelson, we'd probably have to include a couple other good prospects. I guess the fact of the matter is that if you want to make a big splash, what you have to give up to make that splash could be painful. I'd personally rather hunt for a decent 1B than an ace starter... our SP has been fine, but our first basemen stink.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I think the Cubs may be getting ready to pounce. The fans are getting antsy about the length of the rebuild, so a quick trade headlined by one of their highly desirable SS prospects for Price (along with a probable extension), and an offseason signing of Lester could make for a quick turnaround as their position prospects continue to hit the big leagues. I certainly don't count them out of the list of potential suitors for Price at this point.

So I was pretty much right on in Post #93: brewer1 said: Also written in the past few days was an article on a rays fan site that the Brewers could by the mystery team that could swoop in and get Price. According to the author of the article the package the Brewers would have to send would be along the lines of Nelson, Coulter and Thornburg. Not sure how many would be willing to give that up for 1 1/2 years of Price. I replied: That wouldn't do it. The Mariners will float Walker, and the Cardinals will float Tavares. If we want Price, Nelson would be part of the deal, but we'd have to add someone from the MLB team, as we don't have enough in the minors to keep up with the other suitors. Gennett's season makes him desirable, so potentially Nelson and Gennett? I still don't think this is a better offer than Walker or Tavares plus some other prospects. If it's not, then we'd really have to do something like Lucroy or Gomez for Price, which is (or at least should be) an obvious no-go. So, in that light, would you give up Gennett, Nelson and maybe Taylor or Coulter for Price? That's probably our best realistic offer, I wouldn't want to do it, and I still think it wouldn't be the accepted offer. My guess is that if traded, Price will end up in Seattle (Walker), St Louis (Tavares) or LA (Pederson). In any of these cases, Tampa would be receiving a potential superstar, which trumps our offer of potentially good players.