monty57

It was clear. Overpay by definition means "pay more than something is worth." I don't think it's ever a good idea to pay more than something is worth. Free agency sets the market. If you are overpaying in MONEY in a trade, then by definition you are paying more than the player would receive if you got them via free agency. I think this is a terminology thing. I agree that looking for a good player from a team that is looking to dump salary could be a good option, assuming the Brewers have the free cash to make the deal. I do not think the should overpay, either in MONEY or in PROSPECTS to get the player. If the opposing team is looking to dump salary, we should be able to underpay, as the opposing team will just be happy to rid themselves of a few million dollars on a contract they were otherwise obligated to pay. Let's use Weeks as an example. Many here would love for us to give up Weeks for nothing in return, while still eating much of his contract, just to free up some cash and a roster spot. I wouldn't expect another team to overpay to get Weeks. The Brewers would be overpaying by paying part of his salary to play for someone else.

Kind of depends on whether they're managing egos or not. It's early, but right now only Braun, Gomez, Lucroy, Reynolds and Maldonado (20 AB) are hitting well. No one else has an OPS over .700, which should be a minimum expectation for a MLB regular. -Ramirez is a notorious slow-starter, so I'm hoping that the problem, and not age catching up with him. -Segura is the prize of the Greinke trade, plays good defense and had a flash of brilliance at the plate to start last season -Davis and Gennett are the only position players the Brewers can hang their hat on to say "our farm isn't as bad as the scouts say." It's very early, with a sample of barely over 100 ABs, so I expect these guys to get hot and raise their offense to an acceptable level. However, if one or some of them don't heat up, will the Brewers be willing to shop for upgrades at these positions?

He's 25 in AA, so his clock is ticking. He's knocking the cover off the ball right now, but Maldonado hits arby next year and Lucroy's under contract (incl option) through 2017. We could sure use another catcher on the 40-man in case of injury or if Maldonado punches someone else, but barring injury it's going to be hard for Zarraga to find PT as a Brewer. Robinson Diaz is the main guy in AAA, and he's 31. If the Brewers do think Zarraga has a future, I would hope they would move him to Nashville soon, to see how he cuts it there, but they probably like the "vet" there to work with the pitching staff. I hope it doesn't happen, but if one of the MLB guys goes to the DL, it would be interesting to see if they'd go with Diaz or Zarraga. I guess if Maldonado keeps hitting the way he is, another GM could see him as a starter and make an offer Melvin can't refuse, opening a spot for a backup. Either way, it is good to see Brewer prospects putting up good numbers, and having some "injury insurance" is not a bad thing.

It would certainly be nice if both Wang and Suter turned into MLB starting pitchers. That would be a good thing. I applaud the Brewers for sticking with Wang this year and hope he makes it the full season. As to Suter, I always like to see our prospects put up good numbers, but if he has below-average "stuff," it will be a long, hard climb to the MLB level. I hope he can make it. Heck, if he "only" makes it to the level of "good lefty reliever," I'll take it. There's a lot of value in that.

Yet, let me play devil's advocate.... we will/can lose Frankie and Gonzales (and of course Wang) from the pen. Is that all? (Duke makes four?) So, you can indeed FIND three places to fill from AAA into the bullpen. I believe you mean Gorzellany. Yes, we lose K-Rod, Gorzellany and Duke, but to be fair of the four you mentioned, Gorzellany hasn't pitched all year and Wang is basically a waste of a roster spot, so the "gap" if we choose not to use Thornberg or Nelson in the pen next year will be finding someone to take the place of K-Rod, Duke and Thornberg (hopefully Gorzellany comes back strong, but we've shown that we can have a good pen without him). Not an easy task, but I would not be surprised to see Melvin extend K-Rod. I actually wouldn't mind this (assuming it's not crazy money & length) in large part because if he does leave, I could see the team moving Thornberg to closer. It makes sense to spend money to retain K-Rod if it allows us to save money by trading an expensive starter and inserting Thornberg into the rotation. For the other spots, thankfully we do seem to have a lot of minor league pitchers who project to be MLB relievers, so we should be able to fill most of the pen with league-minimum guys from the minors... it doesn't have to be our best SP prospect(s), we have plenty of other candidates. A big reason I think trading someone (Gallardo, Lohse or Estrada) next offseason is necessary is that all three of them are free agents after 2015. There's no way the Brewers are going to start a season with two "rookie" starting pitchers much less three. By trading one of the above three, that opens a spot for either Thornberg or Nelson to step into next season's rotation. I don't think that next year Thornberg or Nelson would be a huge step back from whoever is traded, plus we get to add the talent of whoever we receive in trade and save some money. Then, in 2016 a lot of things could happen. Hopefully one of those things is that we have a few pitchers knocking on the door making the loss of the other two SP less painful. If not, then we'd probably replace one of them with a FA, going with something like Garza, Peralta, Thornberg, Nelson, FA.

I don't like the thought of overpaying for anything. That's why they call it "over"paying... you're paying more than it's worth. However, in the scenario you set up I don't think you have to overpay. At trade deadline, teams that are out of it are often trying to find someone to take some salary off their hands, so teams with some financial flexibility can sometimes grab decent players for nothing, while getting the other team to still pick up a lot of the salary. This is how we originally landed K-Rod from the Mets. The questions become "how much do we have to give up in players?" and "How much do we have to pick up in salary?" This can turn a potential overpay into an underpay just because the other team is happy to save a few million dollars.

After the June draft then I think they 100% will go after Morales. In fact, if they hadn't already missed a first-round pick last season, I'm guessing Morales would already be a Brewer. Hard to lose a first-round pick two years in a row, but Melvin loves buy-low bargains and the current Overbay/Reynolds tandem is more of a rebuild-year stopgap than a 1B solution for a contending team. I agree that the Brewers could go after Morales, and that Reynolds could be a bust, but let's let him fail before we call him a failure. He could turn out to be a good find by Melvin. He's currently got a line of .233 avg / .309 OBP / .512 SLG / .821 OPS, with 7 HR in 86 AB. I know he had a couple down years in Baltimore (.763 & .699 OPS, but still 21 & 23 HR), but even with those, his career line is still .233 / .328 / .465 / .794. He could certainly post an .800+ OPS given a full season, which isn't bad, even for a 1B, and fits nicely in the 5-6 spot in a lineup. Reynolds has been a positive addition so far.

We are 21-9 and Braun has either been injured or mediocre for most of the season. I know his overall line is pretty good, but most of that came in literally just two games. Injured yes, but he's sporting a .952 OPS. Yes, he hit 3 HR in a game and 2 in another, but he's got a .318 avg and .361 OBP, which can't be done with two good games. You could look at it like this... he's only played in 22 games, so in about 10% of his games, he's hit multiple home runs. Braun, Lucroy, Gomez, Reynolds and Maldonado are the only guys hitting well this season, so the sooner Braun gets healthy the better.

Bullpen management is always going to be scrutinized by fans, and the manager really can't win. This season, we have four starters (Thornburg, Smith, Wang and Duke) in the pen. That should mean we could let some guys go multiple innings more often to rest the other guys in the pen. Smith and Duke also seem capable of getting lefties and righties out, so neither needs to be placed in the "situational lefty" role. We are short on RHP and Wang never gets used, so we're short-handed overall. All in all, while every manager will have a bone-headed move every now and then, I can't fault Roenicke much for his bullpen management. I will repeat my praise for his player management decisions in pulling Henderson from the closer role before he ever threw a pitch because he knew he didn't have his stuff. Most managers would let him fail a few times before making the move. He's also given more PAs to the better players in the platoon situation (Reynolds and Weeks). He did put Herrera and Reynolds in RF, but those were the cards he was dealt. Since Gindl's up, he's playing him over Schafer (the more known commodity) in RF which I think is the better call, and replacing him with double-switches to get Schafer's better defense in late in games. When only a few players are hitting, you've got to do what you can to help the pitcher. His "let them play" mentality seems to be liked by the players, and while it can lead to bad base-running and more strikeouts, it's part of the reason the Brewers got so many HR and SB last year. Every manager is going to draw fan frustration, but after years of Yost and Macha, I'll let the occasional bone-headed calls by Roenicke go and say that overall he's doing a fine job.

I pretty much mirror bcd80's comments... it'll depend on the injury situation and who heats up/cools off. Right now, our entire pitching staff is acting as if the ghost of Cy Young is haunting the clubhouse, but the only players hitting are Braun, Gomez, Lucroy, Reynolds, and Maldonado. Braun's hurt, so who knows when/if he'll be fully healthy. All in all, I guess I'll say that it's unlikely they go after a catcher. The unasked part of the equation is who would be on our "no trade" list from the farm. Would the Brewers trade guys like Nelson, Taylor, Roache or Coulter in order to upgrade this year?

It would be poor timing if the suspension is upheld, as the Brewers begin a three-game series with the Pirates on May 13. May 5 - 7:18 PM I would think that from MLB's standpoint that would be perfect timing, as Gomez would miss a series against the team with whom he fought. For the Brewers it stinks, but suspensions are supposed to hurt. Note that I don't agree with all the suspensions, as Cole was as much at fault as Gomez, and Snider was most at fault of anyone, but since the MLB made the suspensions they did, they're probably happy if Gomez misses the Pirates series.

Maybe it's more: "Thanks for doing something unselfish. In today's world of playing for yourself more than the team, swinging for the fences in every situation, striking out when contact is needed, etc., all done in hopes of landing that nine figure contract, it's nice of you to do something that doesn't give you glory, but was done to help the team win. Even though the box score won't show it, we'll recognize your sacrifice in a small way by giving you a quiet high five."

To actually have a relevant statistical study of this, one would need to directly study the situation of a guy on 2nd with 0 outs, then split the results by "attempted sac bunt" vs. "swing away" from that point on. That's always been my thoughts on the matter. How often a runner scores when a bunt is attempted vs how often a runner scores when a bunt is not attempted. Works for stolen bases as well.

I've said all along that Weeks should be a Brewer until a better option showed up. With no real good position players in AAA, Weeks got the spot by default, and letting Weeks play only against LHP gave the possibility that he could start out hot, help the team and potentially get another GM in need of a 2B to trade for him. The trade possibility is out the window, so he should no longer be held on to with that in mind, and right now we need another OF far more than we need a backup who can only play 2B and who hasn't hit the ball well for a couple of seasons. Segura's back, so Bianchi is freed up to spell Gennett when needed. Neither Bianchi nor Weeks is hitting well, but at least Bianchi plays good defense. If Gindl is retained and Weeks cut, we end up with this depth chart: C: Lucroy / Maldonado 1B: Reynolds / Overbay 2B: Gennett / Bianchi SS: Segura / Bianchi 3B: Ramirez / Reynolds / Bianchi LF: Davis / Gindl CF: Gomez / Schafer RF: Braun / Gindl With his thumb and yearly oblique strains, Braun needs time off, and Davis is looking like he could use a "soft platoon" mate. That makes Gindl more valuable to the team than Weeks. Bianchi is a perfectly capable backup utility IF, so this seems like a good move to me.

Khris Davis is a platoon player now? When did that happen? It should have been a "soft platoon" all year, but management insisted on keeping two 2B and two 1B so Gindl was relegated to AAA. Davis won a lot of hearts in limited play at the end of last season, which led to what were probably unrealistic expectations. He and Gindl are probably about equal value, with Davis providing more power and Gindl better plate discipline. Neither should be expected to be a star, but both have value. One's a lefty, one's a righty, and both can get time playing LF, with Gindl also getting starts in RF, as Braun seems to need a lot of time off.

Schafer is more comparable to Mat Gamel and Brad Nelson who had a ton of PA's in AAA but just couldn't hit in the pros (aka AAAA guys). But Schafer can play good defense, which Gamel and Nelson could not do. He's on this year's roster over Gindl because we have platoons at 1B and 2B, leaving room for only one backup OF. That means the player has to be able to play all three OF positions, which Schafer can do and Gindl cannot. I'd personally rather keep five OF (Braun, Gomez, Davis, Gindl, Schafer) and dump Weeks or Overbay. That way, Gindl and Davis could both play LF, and Braun could get some days off, which his old-before-it's-time body seems to need. I will agree with H&T that we need a utility IF who can play SS, and that after watching Herrera play defense, he shouldn't be on the MLB roster. I'd rather have a guy who struggles at the plate, but plays good defense at SS, 2B and 3B than a guy who also struggles at the plate, while playing bad defense at SS, 2B, 3B and OF.

However, when doing something a bit differently works, I'll admit that it worked and enjoy the wins I'm enjoying the wins as well, but I'll wait a few more games before I'll print the playoff tickets for this season. They've put a lot of faith in older players and unheralded youngsters, and we've just seen a glimpse of what the team looks like with a couple of injuries. The team has started about as hot as anyone could ever have imagined, so we'll have to see how they play as the season grinds on, some players get banged up and others come back down to earth. But to topic, your line of "not to mention 3-6 more combined years of Gallardo, Lohse, Garza, and Estrada which can be used or traded" will bear a lot of weight for the team's future. If they decide to hold on to Gallardo, Lohse and Estrada next season in a "go all in" move, they will probably give themselves the best chance of winning next year, but they will forego a chance of trading one for some talented youth. It seems one almost has to be traded (due to the plethora of MLB ready arms), so hopefully they will be able to find the best mix of value for the present vs value for the future and trade the right guy(s) for the right return. My choice would probably be Gallardo, as he would likely bring back the best return, but my guess is Estrada will be the one dealt, as that would seem to give them the best chance to "win now" while opening up a spot for one of the younger arms.

Me too, but barring injury, that only happens at the expense of either Weeks or Overbay, as we need Schafer on the roster as backup CF, Maldonado as backup catcher and Bianchi as utility IF. I think he should take Weeks' spot, but I doubt that happens.

It's not personal, it's business. Very few MLB players will voluntarily head to AAA if they have the option, just like most people wouldn't take it too well if told by their boss "you will help your co-workers by leaving so we can get someone else to do your job." There's no reason to go to AAA, where he would not only lose all the perks of being in the majors, but would also take the risk of playing poorly. Since he "should" play well in AAA, going down and playing well wouldn't really help his cause, while going down and not playing well would really hurt his chances of being a major leaguer next season. I'm sure Weeks still thinks he's a good player, and that he can help the team, even if he realizes he hasn't been "himself" for a while. I don't think Weeks is a bad guy - quite the opposite - and I don't think anyone's "conning" anyone. Other GM's will know what's happened the past couple seasons, so they will be making an informed decision by offering him a deal, much like Melvin made an informed decision offering Overbay and Reynolds similar deals this offseason.

Wednesday, Wang (who never plays) went 3 IP and Duke went 1 IP. Yesterday, Kintzler went 1 IP, Henderson (now on DL) went 0.2, and Wooten went 0.1 IP. The 'pen needed some rest, which they have received in the last couple of games. I think they should be okay now. I'm glad to have an actual OF up to play RF. Hopefully Braun is back sooner rather than later, and with Ramirez and Segura already back in the lineup, we can stop putting rag-tag groups on the field. Really, I hope Gindl does well in this small window he has, as he could really help the team as the backup corner OF, splitting time with Davis and giving Braun some time off. Schafer is necessary on the roster because he can play CF, but I like Gindl's bat more than Schafer's, so I like him better as a corner OF. In that light, he's competing with Weeks right now for a roster spot. It's up to management to decide who is more valuable to the team.

There is no way Weeks will voluntarily go to AAA. If he went to AAA and played poorly, his career would be over. As long as he sticks on the MLB roster, someone will at least offer him a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training next year.

And I'm sorry but Herrera is better than Weeks. They both bring not much to the table offensively (though Herrera is quite fast), but Herrera can play 5 different positions - that's valuable. Weeks can play 1, and he plays it poorly at that. Agree with you on Weeks, but after seeing Herrera in action, I think any pitcher other than Garza would have been a better option to start in RF than Herrera. If "able to play five positions" simply means being able to don a different glove and stand in a spot normally occupied by someone with a clue, then Herrera is able to play five positions. There's a reason players don't go all over the field. Anyone can play any position, but they can't play every position at the major league level. As to today's move, it takes away a position player, when they're already short-handed and are insistent about holding on to Weeks. Injuries have showcased how goofy it was to start the year with such an inflexible (position-wise) roster. What they're stuck with right now is ridiculous.

So they're basically willing to let the batboy play RF while Weeks sits the bench, but it would be embarrassing to Weeks and the team to just cut him and bring up someone who could actually help the team. Since Spring Training I've said that Weeks would be around until a better option showed itself. I hoped that would mean someone in AAA would hit well and force himself onto the roster, but instead it has been the injury bug, which makes bringing up an actual OF to play OF seem like a really good idea... far better than letting the $12 Million Dollar Man ride the pine.

Given all this, please give me $40 million today. Me too, but there will always be people who want to take the risk for the highest potential return. I think Segura fit into this category, and we'll just have to see if anything will change that. I am fairly comfortable that Melvin will not "back up the truck" for him, and any deal would be Brewer-friendly.

Thanks SoCal. I figured there had to be a reason, but was too tired as it was going on last night to reason it out :-)