monty57

I'd start him at Huntsville or Nashville as a starter to get him stretched out. It seems like his stuff is good enough to get MLB batters out, so he just needs to get stretched out and ready to take on the innings load of an MLB starter. I'd hate to waste a season or two of him in relief, followed by a season or two of him not able to throw a full season's worth of innings as a starter. If he can show the control he had last night, he's a potential ace.

I don't see anyone saying they want Morgan on the Brewers. I said I'd like to see Listach as the next manager. He's been recognized as having been very good at all the positions he's held, and seeing him tackle & subdue the pitcher to protect his player makes me think the current Brewers roster would love to play for the guy. As far as bowling over the catcher, there have been several times this year where Weeks has drilled the catcher when the ball was nowhere near home plate. Prince is another who always tries to take out the catcher. If there isn't going to be a play at the plate, the catcher shouldn't be on the plate or in the baseline. If he's on the plate or in the baseline, the runner should assume there is going to be a play. I'd bet money that Prince and Rickie would've drilled the catcher in that situation... maybe that's why they get beaned so much. For the other issues (throwing glove, etc), I haven't seen them, and he was probably in the wrong. For stealing bases after getting hit with a pitch, I applaud him. For not wanting to get back in the box when the pitcher is obviously trying to hit him, I don't really have a problem with him charging the mound. I can't get behind the thought that players should just laugh and walk to first when pitchers are obviously trying to drill them (which really hurts, and can lead to injury). Morgan did shake it off when he was hit the first time. But how many times is he supposed to allow himself to be a sitting duck before he does something? Not every team lives by Macha's "whine to the MLB execs and let them give a short suspension which is then quickly overturned" mantra. Everyone knows there is no repercussion to drilling Brewers batters at will, so they will continue to do it. Luckily Rickie's tough as nails and has a hard head, and Gomez is useless and wasn't missed, but we've already had two hitters drilled in the head. Would people be such pacifists if Weeks or Fielder were knocked out for the season or had their careers ended because we refuse to defend ourselves?

If Hart goes down for a month and you have a guy unable to get on base 30% of the time as his backup, he ain't much of a backup. Corey Hart isn't really an OBP machine at a .327 career clip. Katin's 24 HR in 88 games this year are as many as Corey Hart has ever had in a full 162 game season at the MLB level (in 2007, he may break it this year). I know it's AAA vs. MLB, but 24 HR in 88 games is darn good power regardless of the level. His MLE is .272/.434, which again, is passable if he's a C or 2B, but not in LF/RF. It's just too many outs. I don't follow MLE closely, but I've heard it's pretty much as accurate as an 18th century meteorologist. How does .280 avg / .376 OBP / .563 SLG at AAA translate to a .272 OBP / .434 SLG in the majors? If a .939 AAA OPS translate to a .706 MLB OPS then a .900 OPS MLB player must have hit for around a 2.000 OPS at AAA. What you need though is a guy like Dickerson, or even Inglett...guys who can PH when needed, but who can also step in and play a couple weeks in case of injury and not be a negative. Inglett is very similar to Frank C, who had a long career in the bigs. Dickerson, especially as a CF, has nearly average major league numbers. From all I've ever hears, Katin would give you a lot better defense than either Hart or Braun. Inglett threw a 54-MPH fastball off the mound. Not really the type of arm I like to see out of a RF. Plus, he was a utility infielder to start the season, until the team decided to put "OF" by his name. He isn't a natural OF and doesn't get a good jump on balls because of this. I'd say Katin's a much better defensive OF than Inglett. Dickerson is probably a better fielder than Katin, and I'd like to see the two of them in the 4/5 roles next year. One LH with a decent contact bat with limited power and good defense, one a RH bat with good power and good defense with a great arm. I've liked Katin as a reserve OF for a couple of years simply due to his defense and power. Now that he's apparently developed the ability to take walks, it really seems like he could benefit the team.

Thanks for the list Mass. It sure doesn't seem like Salome's been with the organization for seven years. It will be interesting to see what his future holds. I'd like to see Drew Anderson back in AAA next season. He's had a good year, and would be good insurance to have in the minors. Chris Smith will be another interesting one, possibly signing to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite. I don't follow the minors nearly as closely as many here, but it seems to me that many of these pitchers will be allowed to walk, clearing room for our wave of good young pitchers to move up to the next levels.

Thanks for the list Mass. It sure doesn't seem like Salome's been with the organization for seven years. It will be interesting to see what his future holds. I'd like to see Drew Anderson back in AAA next season. He's had a good year, and would be good insurance to have in the minors. Chris Smith will be another interesting one, possibly signing to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite. I don't follow the minors nearly as closely as many here, but it seems to me that many of these pitchers will be allowed to walk, clearing room for our wave of good young pitchers to move up to the next levels.

I agree on the Weeks front. If he is unwilling to sign an extension, then we definitely have to start looking at what we could get for him in trade. His value would have to be very high after the season he's had, so I'd think he would at least return as much as we could've received for Hart and probably a lot more. If Prince and Weeks could bring back two young arms for our rotation, it wouldn't be too difficult to find a stopgap 2B for a year until Lawrie takes over. You mentioned Lopez, who should come pretty cheaply after a so-so year. Counsell will probably be back, and could get a good number of starts at 2B. We also have Cruz at AAA, who I believe is a pretty good defender. That's not to mention that Lawrie could be up mid-season 2011. We would definitely take an offensive hit without Weeks, but if he's going to be gone at the end of the year anyway, it may be the route we take. That said, if he will sign an extension, I think that's the better route, and if we trade someone (other than Prince), we trade whichever of McGehee/Gamel we get the best deal for. The article from milwaukeebrewers.com in which Gamel said he didn't feel comfortable at 1B makes it seem even more likely that it would be one of those two who would be dealt if a second trade is made.

You guys realize that he doesn't get awarded first base when a pitch is thrown behind him, right? He would've had to go back into the box to have the pitcher throw at him again. Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder bowl over the cathcer any chance they get. That's part of baseball, and if the catcher doesn't like it, get off the base. Beaning him once for it is probably overkill, but he took that, because he thought it would be coming. Stealing the bases is the perfect way to get back at someone for beaning you, so I applaud him for that. The Marlins seem to be making an attempt to be the Cardinals of the South. "We know the unwritten rules, so whatever we do is right, and don't dare doubt anything we say." The biggest thing I get out of this is that we should make a big effort to get Pat Listach as our manager next season.

Jeffress looked great last night. I was impressed with his off-speed stuff. Article on milwaukeebrewers.com about Gamel. Seems he's having trouble getting used to 1B. Mostly with "picking" throws in the dirt, which is the toughest part of 1B. Says he's more comfortable in the outfield than at first, but will play anywhere the Brewers want him.

Boras could be a good thing, as it means he'll look for the high dollar offer, without things like hometown discount, wanting to play on the West Coast, etc. If we're still in the process of teams shedding payroll and waiting to get out of bad contracts signed during better economic times, there could be a limited market for him. Both NY teams are out of the running (Wright & A-Rod) and pitching seems to be most teams' priority right now. We'll see... first we'd need to get a good return for McGehee/Gamel, then we'll see if we can compete financially for his services. Maybe having to wait until a trade clears McGehee/Gamel will be a good thing, so that Melvin doesn't jump and show his hand too early.

I really think the "trade for SP, pick up FA bat" is the right way to go. Fielder is 99% certain to be gone for a SP. McGehee and Gamel both play the same position, and neither is overly good at it, and it appears that the corner OF spots are locked up for the near future. Add in that Attansio mentioned we may trade another position player for a pitcher, and it seems that one of McGehee/Gamel is likely to go. This year, we've scored a lot of runs, but that's hinged around Fielder (likely gone) hitting for an .894 OPS, McGehee (potentially traded) hitting for an .816 OPS, Hart hitting over his head for most of the season (now at .853 OPS after pushing .900 for much of the season), Edmonds (already gone) hitting for an .843 OPS, Weeks hitting for a career year (.845 OPS) and really only Braun underperforming expectations at a steadily rising .845 OPS. To go with that, we have three likely 2011 starters in Escobar, Lucroy and Cain who could all post below-.700 OPS next year, and a "rookie" in Gamel who's performance in 2011 is hard to guess. His bat will probably be fine, but it's certainly not a given that he'll even match McGehee. To sum that up, we have five players who are performing decently at the plate (six if you include Edmonds). One of those five is 99% likely to be gone, and lots of people are calling for another (McGehee) to be traded. Losing 40% of your good offensive players is not a recipe for continued offensive success. I'm hesitant to believe that Lucroy, Escobar, Cain and Gamel will produce enough to offset the loss of Fielder and McGehee to go along with the probable regression of Hart and the pitching staff (at the plate). I would be much more comfortable with the addition of another bat who would complement our young players and stabilize our lineup. I have been calling for Dunn or Konerko, but that wouldn't really address the defense. Beltre could be a good addition in that he should be an upgrade offensively and defensively. If we can trade Fielder for a good young SP, and some combination of McGehee or Gamel and prospects for another good, young SP. Add Beltre or Dunn/Konerko to bolster the offense, and all fo a sudden we look like a playoff contender in 2011. It really hinges on what we could get in return for McGehee/Gamel. If the right deal's there, definitely pull the trigger.

Technically, Canada's not overseas :-)

I hope this helps Jeffress see what he'd be giving up if he "slips." I look forward to seeing him pitch, but really hope he's back to starting in Huntsville or Nashville next season. I also hope that Villy can show that he can still get MLB hitters out on a regular basis. He'll start to get a little more expensive next year, so he is probably in danger of getting cut, but he could be a decent, not-too-expensive middle reliever for the 2011 squad to go along with the young guys coming up.

I'm on board with Baldkin. The Brewers competing with the Yankees is like me going to an auction with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Even if I want to mortgage my entire future on something... if they want it, there's nothing I can do. I expect the Yankees to do with Lee what they did with CC, which is to offer well above what anyone else is likely to offer, and if the player doesn't immediately jump at that offer, they outbid themselves to make sure no one else even gets in the game. This will be even more assured if the All Star team currently assembled/bought in New York doesn't win the World Series. That said, if we were ever to make an offer like this, this offseason would be the time to do it. We'll have a lot of excess cash, and would be able to offer a big "signing bonus" to front-load any offer. For instance, we could offer 5 years at $20MM/year, with a $10MM upfront signing bonus. It would be awfully enticing to get $10MM the minute you sign totalling $30MM in the first year rather than waiting six years to get a little more money.

I had thought the same thing about shutting Yo down until I looked at innings pitched. As long as he is not injured, he needs to keep starting. First, it will probably help him more to work through his "slump" than to be shut down and have to think about it all offseason. Second, building up his innings this season should help him get through more innings next year, when hopefully the September games will be more meaningful. That said, if he is injured, then there is no question he should be shut down. This is no time to be a hero, and if there is any warnings of injury, he needs to be shelved.

Barring injury, I doubt Gamel gets more than 4-5 starts in Milwaukee. I like Gamel, and was upset at how he was handled last year, but it McGehee has earned the right to remain the starting 3B. Whether you're looking at trading him or playing him next year, sitting McGehee now doesn't do anything other than tear up the clubhouse. In addition to being our best offensive player, Prince has a pretty long games-started streak going, and they probably arent' going to break it. I know it's frustrating that Prince isn't going to extend, but Melvin often seems to go out of his way to make sure players will talk nice about the Brewers. JJ Hardy is the obvious exception, but doing things like asking Edmonds if he is okay with a trade shows that the Brewers do care how they are perceived by players around the league. Prince will leave, but I'd rather have him telling everyone about how good his time was with Milwaukee rather than focusing on how they screwed up his streak. And, he seems like the type of person who would really focus his anger on something like that. Plus, it may help his trade value in a small way if we can say he's started every day for 2+ years. That's the type of PR thing the receiving team would like to sell to the fans. As far as playing the OF, we already have Braun, Hart, Cain, Gomez, Dickerson and Inglett, so I doubt Macha will play Gamel much in the OF, since he has virtually no experience there. Unfortunately, we are also still very LH-dominant off the bench, with Inglett, Counsell and Dickerson. I just hope that Macha puts Gamel at the front of the line for backup 3B, to get the few starts McGehee doesn't get, and for the top LH bat off the bench. I could very easily see a situation where Macha starts Counsell at 3B and slots Gamel as the third or fourth LH option off the bench.

But that's not necessarily a good thing. Hart could be .750 OPS with Dickerson/platoon-mate at .760, in which case 2b-Weeks CF-Cain LF-Braun 3B-Gamel 1B-Hart RF-Dickerson/Katin SS-Escobar C-Lucroy Looks like a pretty poor offense.

Great post X, I've been frustrated with the 13 man staff all year. We started the year feeling we needed to stash extra starters in the bullpen since we couldn't send them to the minors. Our bullpen got worn out when the starters were not good out of the pen, so the rest of the pen had to log a lot of games. Since we couldn't send anyone down, we didn't get relief until we started to see some injuries and Suppan was finally let go. The 13-man staff meant that we always had a limited bench, made worse when we had "minor injuries" where players weren't on the DL but couldn't play. We have the opportunity to have a young, cheap and effective pen for the next few seasons, with options to send players down to bring up a fresh arm when necessary. How nice would that be?

I guess I just worry that our offense would take a significant hit if we lose both Prince & Casey. We'll have offensive question marks with Lucroy, Escobar and Cain and Gamel will essentially be a rookie. Even if Gamel matches what Casey's doing (which is far from a given), the dropoff from Prince to Dickerson/Platoon partner would be pretty steep. I expect the increase from Braun to offset the regression from Hart, so I look at them as a wash. One good thing is that money is not a big worry next year, so a more proven MLB bat at 1B would make me more comfortable, although I do get your point about defense. Weeks is the wildcard. I hope they're able to extend him, but do you trade him if he won't extend? I'd have to think that barring injury he will be a Type A free agent after the year. I guess it depends on the potential return and if you think Lawrie would be MLB ready at some point in 2011. If Rickie would return a young SP, we could alway sign a vet 2B (or re-up Counsell) who could be replaced by Lawrie after a couple months if necessary.

Tom Hardricourt recently wrote an interesting article "Attanasio's priority: Fix Brewers' Pitching." From the article: In other words, the Brewers probably will look to trade first baseman Prince Fielder, who can be a free agent after the 2011 season. Another regular player might have to go, too, because one starting pitcher isn't going to solve the problem. I know there are a number of ways to address the pitching problem, but if someone other than Fielder is traded, who would it be? I don't see Hart getting traded after just signing a new deal. Cain, Escobar and Lucroy should be safe. I doubt Braun's going anywhere. Gomez won't bring anything back. That pretty much leaves Weeks and McGehee from the MLB roster. I guess my preference (if this is indeed true) would be to make an early offer to try to extend Weeks. If he won't extend, then he should definitely be shopped. If he does extend, then I would shop McGehee, replace him with Gamel at third and make a big push for Dunn in the offseason, with Konerko the consolation prize if we can't get Dunn. Then the question becomes whether Weeks or McGehee alone would bring MLB pitching help. Weeks has finally started to show the talent that got him selected #2 overall, but he only has one year of control left. Casey's now put up back-to-back solid seasons, and is still in his pre-arby years, but still has his skeptics. If there are questions about whether Prince could bring back a good, young starter, what would Weeks or Casey bring?

From Adam McCalvy article: "Melvin said an Internet rumor that Hoffman was claimed earlier this week by the White Sox was untrue."

This'll be my final post on this: The MLB is making more money than ever in its history. No other owners want to see teams go away... look at what happened when Selig mentioned contraction several years back. That would financially hurt all of baseball, and every owner would make less money. I'm sure the Marlins didn't open their books to the local government, but they got the money anyway. That was my point. Municipalities can't really cry about the financials when they lend the money without demanding to see the financials. Municipalities cave whenever the team threatens to move because fans scream at the government officials, and the government officials vote to spend the money. This shows that to the municipalities and the majority of the people living in the municipalities, having a team is more important than the money. Those fans will continue to spend money on the team, knowing full well that the team owners are making money. Heck, if I saw Attanasio out, I'd buy him dinner, and I know he's got more money than I. That said, I think we agree on most things on this site, so we'll just have to agree to disagree on this. Go Brewers!!

From a fan's perspective, I think it's totally o.k. for the owner to collect a profit in a year when he put a product on the field that he honestly thought had a chance at winning. But, when you field a perennial last place team AND take money out of the organization, you are pretty much breaking a covenant with the fans, taxpayers, and owners that agreed to share revenue with you. It's not like the Pirates went and signed all the prospects in Latin America that they could have. Nobody's arguing they should plow the money into crummy free agents that don't help them win. But, there's certainly an argument that the Pirates aren't doing everything they could to turn the organization around. Robert Robert, As an owner, there are two goals. Winning on the field and maintaining profitability. Let's move away from baseball for an example: Assume there are two restaurants. One wins all kinds of culinary awards and draws crowds of people, but goes out of business because they pay their award-winning staff way too much money. The other restaurant never wins an award, but has a loyal following and stays in business for generations. Which would you rather own? In baseball, not all teams are created equally. Some get a decided advantage over others, which is why revenue sharing started. I agree the Pirates have been managed poorly on-the-field, maybe they're starting to change that, but maybe not. However, other owners know that they need other teams to survive in order to hold the MLB together, so they voted in revenue sharing. The other teams realize that if they don't pay this money (and if other owners can't make any money), too many teams will go bankrupt, which isn't good for anyone. Municipalities and fans desired so strongly to have a major league team in their backyard that they were willing to put taxpayer money into a new stadium without need to look at the team's financials. Agreements were made over the financials in revenue sharing and in funding the stadium. None of those agreements (to the best of my limited knowledge) said anything about owner profitability. It sucks as a fan of a smaller market team to continually watch a miserable team take the field. However, we vote with our dollars. If someone is upset that an owner is making money, that person should stop attending games or buying merchandise. If enough people do this, the owner will certainly stop making money. However, most fans love the game and their team too much to do that, and fans in Pittsburgh will continue to go into that taxpayer-funded stadium and willfully spend their money rooting on their team, all the while knowing that they are putting money into the owners' pockets.

After all, this revenue sharing money came from other teams. Who all need teams like the Pirates to survive in order to be able to play baseball games. I think that teams should be honest with municipalities about how much money they can afford for the building in which they work. I already addressed this. Municipalities have every right to demand the financials prior to giving the team anything. If the team doesn't show their financial records, then they don't get any money. However, it never gets to this, because fans lobby their elected officials to pay whatever it takes, and the municipalities cave in as soon as the team threatens to move elsewhere. If you don't like taxpayer-funded stadiums, don't be mad at the team, be mad at the "pro-team" fans who were vocal about their opinions and the government who paid the money without demanding to look at the financials. Please tell me where I have said that owners shouldn't be able to make money on their investments. When I asked "If a team accepts revenue sharing, can the owners ever take any money out of the team (other than selling the team)" and you responded "I would think it is questionable." The system is set up with revenue sharing so that smaller market teams/owners can exist. You don't believe they should ever be able to draw from their investments, even to pay off a liability that occured solely due to the investment.

So if it is, in your own words, questionable for a team owner who accepts revenue to ever take money out of the team, where should that money go? If you will permit me to answer that for you, your posts state that you believe the money should go "to improve the team," which for the most part means to players on the major league team or the minor league affiliates. If I am incorrect in this, then please tell me where you think the money should go. To recap, I asked the question: "Is your arguement that owners are greedy if they take a penny out of the organization, because every last dime should go to the players?" To which you responded: "That's a silly question. Do I ever make that argument? No." If you believe that it is questionable for an owner to ever take a penny out of the team, as all of the revenues should go "to improve the team," then I believe I was correct in my initial assessment of your position. As for the difference between "doing all they can" and "paying millions of dollars out of their own pocket while leaving profits in the team's bank accounts is doing quite a bit for the team" I don't think that's too big a stretch and certainly doesn't change my stance. And when I said "I don't think my statement was overly silly," you're getting pretty picky if you think that changed my opinion on anything. In fact, as I illustrated above, I stand by my initial assumption... not that that matters. You are fully entitled to your opinion. It just differs from mine. I think owners should be able to make money on their investments.

I know you like playing on words, but simply answer this. If a team accepts revenue sharing, can the owners ever take any money out of the team (other than selling the team)? If so, when?