monty57

Just a guess, but that's probably why he had the mandatory call up date worked into his contract this season. Either way, great to see Cappy get the win last night. The pain he went through to come back was probably worth it just so he didn't forever have to live with the winless-streak.

If anyone is at fault, it's Melvin. But what should we be mad at him about? Packing the team with too much young talent? It simply is what it is. You could be mad at him for giving Heether away for nothing and unnecessarily adding Jeffress to the 40-man so that we don't have room to add Katin. Or for having a roster that's filled with vets who are out of options and minor leaguers who are not MLB-ready, limiting roster flexibility. If Cain is up for a few days, then it could be a good thing to get him "accustomed" to the majors. If he sits the bench for an extended period simply to give us a RH bat off the bench, then Heether or Katin would be much better choices. As far as Lucroy is concerned, I didn't expect him to be the starting catcher, but one start in two weeks for the #1 rated prospect in your system seems pretty slim. McGehee had about 3-4 PAs in the first month-and-a-half last season. Inglett's hitting far better than Counsell, but he gtes about 2-3 PAs/week, and Counsell regularly starts over him when Weeks/McGehee/Escobar need a day off. Once Edmonds was signed, there was no chance Gerut was getting any PAs. I'm sure there are players on every team that get little-to-no playing time. With the Brewers under Macha, it is usually (but not always) the guy with less MLB experience. At least he's giving Cain a little PT. Again, if this is just for a few days (until Gallardo's back), it's really no big deal, but I wouldn't just assume they're going to stick with a 13-man pitching staff. It's not out of the question that a pitcher gets sent back down, and Cain's kept around to the the RH bat off the bench, where he & Gomez will share the 20% of the starts Edmonds isn't getting.

Kameron Loe should be our designated "retaliator." He throws hard and I believe he's a kickboxer in his spare time, so it would be nice to see someone charge the mound on him. Statistically, it may be dumb to retaliate, but Prince has to be fuming that he gets hit on a regular basis, sometimes in very curious situations, and we never do anything about it. Finally, after a seemingly obvious intentional beaning, Macha cries to MLB to do something about it. Now things will boil over against the piddly Pirates and no one outside of Pittsburgh and Milwaukee will even know it happened. The Braves are in 1st place. If they want to start a beaning war with a team out of the playoff hunt simply because they're kicking their butt in a game, then they have to assume the risk of one of their stars getting hit in return. How does beaning a Pirate tell the Braves that they shouldn't hit Fielder again?

There really wasn't a reason to begin the year. Edmonds has been 1 of the best 4th OF s in baseball this year. He's been 1.3 WAR,which is better than Braun. With the dearth of quality OFs in baseball this year, Edmonds has been one of the few things that have gone right. Since Edmonds was the starting RF in the home opener, I'd say Corey Hart has been far & away the best 4th OF in baseball this year :-) Kidding aside, Edmonds hasn't been a 4th OF this year, he's been the LH platoon partner (which means starting about 80% of the games) the entire season. It just started in RF and moved to CF when Hart began starting everyday. I don't have anything agasint Edmonds, but now that playoff hopes are basically shot, I think one of the young guys should be starting. At this point, it probably makes more sense to send Gomez down and let Cain get regular starts, but having Edmonds start 80% of the games while two young "high upside" guys sit the bench doesn't make much sense. It may add a win or two to the final numbers this season, but to me the playing time for Cain/Gomez would be much more beneficial to the Brewers than an extra win this season.

If the recent injuries to the Yankees pitchers (Burnett & Pettite) are anything serious, they could potentially be in the bidding for Dave Bush. Of course they may just take on Oswalt's contract, but that may be extreme. If Burnett / Pettite will be out for a while, but will be back later in the season, Bush may be someone they'd like. He's pitching pretty well, and wouldn't cost too much (in prospects or dollars). I like Dave Bush, but the Brewers will get nothing for him when he walks at the end of the season. If we could get some mid-tier prospect(s) and save a couple million dollars, it would probably be worth it. It could also allow us to bring up someone like Rivas (if healthy) to get him some MLB experience until Davis returns. Or, it would open up a spot if Hart/Fielder gets traded for a MLB-ready arm.

Actions speak louder than words. I remember Melvin saying that about Gamel, but this year he brought up Lucroy to have him sit the bench this season (he only started getting PT when Kottaras played terribly for two weeks) and he's now brought Cain up to be a third string CF / pinch hitter.

Why did we give Heether away again? If the purpose is simply to have a RH bat off the bench, that would be the perfect role for an aging pseudo-prospect like Heether. Cain is going to be a starting OF for the Brewers for the next six years... he needs everyday playing time, not bench time. Why not put Katin on the 40-man and bring him up? Oh yeah, because they needed to "reward" Jeffress with their open 40-man spot. It just doesn't make sense to bring Cain up simply to have him sit on the bench behind two players he's better than. It wastes service time and keeps him from getting everyday playing time. This stinks of awful roster management by Melvin and enough has already been said about Macha's disdain for rookies. Good luck in the 3-4 PAs you'll get over the next few weeks Lorenzo. I look forward to seeing you as a starting OF as soon as Macha's gone.

Just a guess... Edmonds will continue to play nearly everyday while two young, high upside guys will sit on the bench. Gomez to AAA with Cain the regular starter in CF would be a great idea. Unless it's for a really short period of time, Cain better not be called up to sit the bench. He lost enough development time to injury in his career, or he'd already have been our starting CF this year, and Gomez never would have been traded for. He should definitely be a starter next season, so he needs everyday PT this season.

RockCo, I think it's a big jump to assume Hart keeps this up. As of today's date, he is 2 HR short of his career season high (24 in 2007). I just can't believe that he's suddenly turned into a Hall of Famer after looking pretty pedestrian for much of his career. A lot of players have good 1/2-seasons (look at Alex Gonzalez and his 17 HR this year), and it's my opinion that we should sell him when his value is high. It's very likely that if we don't trade him, we could end up paying him around $8MM (or extending him for something like 5/$50) and have him hit for a .750-.800 OPS with below average defense, which will get worse as his speed slips as he ages. As far as Fielder, Melvin and Mark A were very vocal that they were going to try to extend him... then Boras quickly came out with his $200MM comment. Now rumors are swirling that he is on the market. I think Melvin/Mark A now realize that there is 0% chance of extending him, or re-signing him as a free agent. I, too, would prefer to retain him if possible, but it is no longer possible. We now need to look at how to best maximize his value to the Milwaukee Brewer franchise. Our offense will take a hit without Fielder, and to a lesser extent Hart (although if he hits like last year, it would be easy to improve upon). We "went for it" in 2008, and traded away Fielder's (and possibly Hart's) in-house replacement to make the playoffs. Now we're out of the race, so we need to trade to get young players back so we'll be good into the future. I hope we get a good bat back in trade for one of them. If Prince were traded for the rumored White Sox package, there's nothing saying that Hart couldn't be traded for the rumored Rays package of Moore and the young 3B/1B prospect who apparently has an advanced bat, and could be our 1B by 2012. Or, Olney could have been picking a name out of the air with Beckham, and the actual Fielder trade ends up being for a good young pitcher and a good young OF. There are a lot of possiblities out there. I just hope we can get one SP who will be on our team to start next season. After that, I hope we get the most talent possible, whether they be pitchers or hitters. Shooting for established MLB players just doesn't seem like a good plan to me, as we'd only control those players for a couple of years. Then what do we do when they leave? We certianly shouldn't trade Fielder for someone we'll only have one season and then have to trade away. That would be a really bad cycle to be on. I hate the uneven financial playing field of MLB, but as a Brewers fan, I have to accept that the Brewers have their hands tied compared to some of the other teams. We need to get players "under control" for a number of years. It will be a good problem to have if we can get someone like Hudson/Minor/Davis now, and in 3-5 years be able to trade them off as our current A/A+ pitchers reach the majors. That will be how we'll maintain long-term success. This goes for hitting as well as pitching, so for all those saying that we just need to get as much pitching as possible, please realize that we already have a lot of young arms in the low minors, and we will need some impact bats in the future as well. We're close, and the return from Fielder and Hart could go a long ways to getting us there. We just can't look at the rest of this season as being important, and we probably shouldn't be looking at having a legitimate shot at a World Series next year (although I think we can still field a competitive team and could improve on this year). Use Fielder and Hart to add a lot of talent to the system and substantially improve our pitching while still maintaining an above-average offense.

Again, if Fielder's trade value is 'so low', who is going to give him a huge contract in a year and a half? If a team won't give up significant talent now for a younger/cheaper Fielder for two pennant drives, what makes anyone think that someone is going to jump into the fray and offer him a long term 9-figure deal that significantly trumps the Brewers' offer? Is pitching worth that much? I agree with you in sentiment. Many here are far too down on Prince Fielder and his trade value. Some make it seem like we should be happy if we get anything for him. The fact that he is likely to test free agency no matter who trades for him does drive his value down some, but look at a highly rated MLB ready starting pitcher, and a recent top-10 draft pick as a decent return for Fielder. The important thing is that Melvin tests the waters to find the best possible return. If this White Sox rumor is indeed a possibility, then it could be a baseline for negotiations with other teams. Maybe now other teams are saying "if the White Sox are willing to give up Hudson and Beckham for Fielder, we'd better up our ante." Even if the rumor isn't true, Olney put it out there, and that in itself could get other GM's acting.

I'd rather keep the proven homegrown commodity over a 'phenom' who is not phenominal enough for another team to hold onto. If Prince would sign a contract that would allow the Brewers to keep him without destroying the entire organization, I'm sure everyone here would like to keep him. Reality is that Prince will leave the Brewers after next season. If we trade him for another "proven commodity" (someone with 3 or 4 years of MLB experience) the Brewers will only have that player for a short period. The good thing about "major league ready" prospects is that a lot of the risk is gone... they've made it to the point that they are ready to take the step to the majors. Sure, there is still risk they won't perform to expectation, but much less risk than a draft pick. Prince is a great player, but is one year of Prince worth 12 years of very well regarded prospects? On the other hand, Hart isn't a great player. He is a very streaky player who had a great first half to the 2010 season. We really don't know what we're giving up when we trade him, and the team receiving him doesn't really know what they're going to get. Locking Hart up based on this half season would be a very risky proposition. If we could get a Minor or Wade Davis for Hart, I think it would almost be highway robbery. But then again, I've said all along that desperate teams will do desperate things. The thought of playoffs will cloud the judgement of GMs, owners and fans, and wins now mean more than potential wins in the future. It's good to see that Melvin / Mark A are at least talking about taking advantage of this. As far as the validity of this, as I mentioned in the original post, Buster Olney was doing a spotlight on Fielder, and he said much of it was speculation on his part. He did mention that he had spoken with Kenny Williams, but not necessarily about Prince Fielder, and he made it sound like Hudson was likely to be used in a trade for a LH bat (Dunn, Fielder). Olney threw Beckham's name in there at the end.

Buster Olney just did a piece on Baseball Tonight about Prince. He said he spoke with an NL GM who told him that he felt Prince would absolutely be traded before the deadline this year. Olney then said the Brewers would definitely be looking for young power pitching, and said he's spoke with Kenny Williams who has been interested in a LH bat and that the White Sox would be a good fit, with a package of Daniel Hudson and Gordan Beckham, and the he speculated (his term) that the Rays would be an excellent fit for a Prince Fielder trade due to their young pitching and how well Fielder would fit in their lineup.

You had to ask that :-) In one of these 17+ page threads discussing rumors, there was a link to a rumor that Melvin preferred Moore to Davis, as Moore would be on the same schedule as Odorizzi. It lead to debate on this site as to whether we should target MLB-ready talent or go for best available talent regardless of age/level. Of course, many of these Twitter post rumors are hot air, but it's all we've got to go on, and it's kind of fun to play "back seat GM."

Good list. You certainly do your homework :-) I'd also keep in mind that if we could land a MLB ready pitcher in a Corey Hart trade (Wade Davis, Minor, etc rumors going around), then we would have a lot more flexibility in dealing Fielder. For example, we could look for a MLB ready RF and younger "high upside" pitching. If we can't get the MLB-ready pitcher for Hart, then yes we are limited in trying to find a trading partner for Fielder. I would add Atlanta to the list. If Hart can come close to getting Minor, than I'd think Fielder should be able to net Minor.

It would also make sense if we had too much pitching now, and we wanted a younger player who would step in when the current group was gone. But we're kind of the opposite of that with a big need for MLB pitching now and a possible excess of pitching that's a few years out. I agree, take the best talent/value you can get in a deal. If the two players are equal in talent, then I'd take the guy who's ready to pitch for the Brewers now, as he'll fill a needed role now and have some experience when the other prospects arrive. Maybe his thinking is that if he can get 3-4 "aces" coming to the Brewers at the same time, we'd open a new window where we could vie for a World Series for a few years.

If that would happen (lets hope it doesnt), hopefully prince's contract becomes a bust just like Soriano, Zambrano and Ramirez's. Nothing would be more enjoyable then seeing the cubbies get buried even deeper with overpaid under producing contracts! 10yr 200mil!...and in five years, Prince and Soriano buy the Cubs and move them to the Dominican Republic :-) Thundercat, I agree the team should look to get the best possible return in trade, but it's very uncommon for teams in the same division to make major trades. Especially teams who are developing a rivalry. Wisconsin and Illinois teams have been rivals since the Packers and Bears first donned their jerseys. As I mentioned earlier, many Cubs fans don't think about the Brewers much, as they've been rivals of the Cardinals for about 100 years, but I highly doubt the Brewers would trade Prince to the Cubs unless the offer was much better than any other offer on the table. On top of that, I don't know that the Cubs are going to be in the market to add another huge contract, as they are being crushed by huge contracts to aging players right now. And even though Theriot isn't that good, the delusional Cub fans (I know many of them) think Theriot is the team's best player, and he's a kind of cult hero. I know people who have worked in the Cubs system, and the rumors that they purposely field a team that is just good enough / expensive enough to get fans to the game and maximize profit were all true up to a few years ago (when the team was going up for sale and the White Sox won the World Series). Now, there are new owners in town, so I don't know if they'll revert to the old profit-maximizing ways, but Theriot is the perfect player for them if they are indeed looking to get fans in the stands for a low price.

When Hardy, Hart, Weeks, Fielder, etc were in the minors, the Brewers publicly made a point of keeping them together "so they got used to playing and winning together." They all came up in the '03-'05 seasons. Braun was then kind of rushed up to join them in '07, although it's hard to say he was rushed with the way he's performed. Yo & Parra came up in '07 as well, trying for the playoff push. Then we started signing FAs to fill in while this group played, and kind of gave up on bringing in rookies/prospects. Again, this was probably due to an effort to make the playoffs, but kind of kept us from easing in any rookies. McGehee was a rookie last year, but he was esentially the 25th man out of ST, sitting the bench behind Hall and Counsell. For some reason, Gamel was brought up to sit the bench for a while, but never really given the reigns to sink or swim (I know there's a huge debate on this going on elsewhere, so I don't want to start another "was Gamel misused" thread) Now, Escobar became the first prospect to come up & start in three years, and due to injuries and underperformance, we have Lucroy, Axford and Braddock on the team. I hope we'll start to see 1-2 prospects a year going forward (Gamel & Rivas/Rogers next year, Lawrie & more pitching after that, etc). However, Melvin made a comment hinting that he'd rather get Moore than Davis so that he can come up at the same time as Odorizzi. Granted, you need to have the players ready to bring them up, but it kind of looks like Melvin likes to group top prospects together and bring big blocks of them up together every three years or so. I'm sure this will all play out, but the thought of trotting out a rotation with 3-4 rookies in it scares me, even if they all have good stuff. I'd much rather work them in one at a time, and trade away/let the older players walk as their contracts run out.

Macha believes young players have to prove themselves to him... not a good managerial approach for an organization that needs to develop its own talent, & often at the MLB level. I agree with this sentiment, and in today's game where service time is more valuable than ever due to the big contracts signed by top tier FAs, it's probably not the best idea to have top prospects sitting the bench to get accustomed to the majors. Melvin and Macha both deserve blame for the fact that the Brewers have already burned a full season of Gamel's service time with nothing to show for it. Lucroy is fortunate that Kottaras played so poorly that Macha essentially benched him and started playing Jon. Axford and Braddock can thank injuries and Hoffman's implosion for their PT. Fortunately, these players hit the ground running, which is very important for Ken "small sample" Macha. Parra and Narveson both lost a lot of starts this season but thankfully injuries and underperformance allowed Parra to finally get a shot, and he's pitched pretty well as a starter. He's only the single most important "turnaround candidate" this team has. If he can reach his potential, he'll do far more for this franchise than about any other player on the team. I went into the season promising myself I wasn't going to let Macha drive me crazy like he did last year. The poor play by the team has made anything the manager does pretty meaningless, but I do think that now that the team's virtually eliminated, Gomez should play more simply so we can see if he has any future on the team. If he is going to continue to sit 80% of the games, we might as well dump him after the season, as we'll have no idea if he'll be able to cut it as a full time CF and no one would offer anything in trade. Unfortunately, I think the only way this happens is if either Hart or Edmonds is traded. Other than that, unless Macha decides that Davis should take Parra's spot in the rotation, I don't currently have any problems with roster management.

While the Cubs on paper would make a good destination to trade Fielder for the reasons you stated, it's not going to happen. I read your post saying you're from Dallas. Think of the response if the Cowboys traded Romo to the Redskins. Even if you get a good return, the fans would turn on you for trading him to the enemy. For many here, the thought that Fielder may sign with the Cubs when he's a FA is enough to make us vomit, so I'd hate to trade him there and have him beat us up for the next 6-7 years. When / if he's traded, I'd prefer it to be to the American League, but at least it should be out of the NL Central and definitely should not be to the Cubs. Just as some insight to a newer Brewers fan. The Cubs fans may not all hate the Brewers (they hate the Cardinals much more), but nearly all Brewers fans hate the Cubs. I live in Illinois, so I'm constantly surrounded by Cubs fans, making it even worse :-)

Good point, MJ, and that's a reason why Melvin's way of having all of the prospects hit the majors at the same time seems to have faults. Ideally, I'd like to see 1-2 prospects hitting the big league every year. That way, they get to have growing pains without seriously hampering the team, and we only have 1-2 potential free agents leaving on any given year. He worked it so all of our hitting prospects came on board near the same time, leading to a few good seasons, and now they're leaving, and now he's talking like he wants all of our good pitching to arrive at the same time. I'd rather have Rivas/Rogers/Butler worked in with Yo, Parra, Wolf, {guy traded for Hart/Fielder}. Then gradually work in more of the prospects. By the time Odorizzi and others are ready, Wolf will be leaving, but Rivas/Rogers/Butler will have some MLB experience. If things work out well, maybe we can start trading guys when they get to the end of their contract / arby and have a nice stream of prospects continually funneling into the rotation.

Aid & Abet: To assist another in the commission of a crime by words or conduct. The person who aids and abets participates in the commission of a crime by performing some Overt Act or by giving advice or encouragement. He or she must share the criminal intent of the person who actually commits the crime, but it is not necessary for the aider and abettor to be physically present at the scene of the crime. An aider and abettor is a party to a crime and may be criminally liable as a principal, an Accessory before the fact, or an accessory after the fact. I think it could be argued that putting Jeffress on the 40-man to hide his drug use and prevent him from getting a lifetime ban, with the knowledge in mind that the Brewers stand to make a lot of money by having Jeffress on the team would indeed fall under the definition of aiding and abetting. Of course, this is purely hypothetical, and I don't think it's what happened, so please don't think I'm calling Melvin out for anything. Secondly, if everyone who witnessed someone doing drugs and didn't call the police were thrown in prison, there would be no one left outside the prisons, so of course it isn't going to happen. The key point (in my non-lawyer mind) is that the Brewers stand to profit significantly through an action that "overtly" hides a criminal act. If you have knowledge of an employee committing a criminal act, and you allow that action to continue, you are aiding and abetting. If you perform an action (such as placing him on the 40-man) that makes it easier to continue performing said illegal action, you are condoning the illegal action. Again, there is nothing to say this is what's happening. Also, it's not the type of illegal action our legal system acts on. If Jeffress were doing something more serious and the Brewers were hiding it, they'd have problems. However, by word of law, smoking pot is illegal. MJLiveRock, while there is no law for mandatory drug testing (which is good), I believe there are laws that state that if you have knowledge of a criminal act, you must report said criminal act (although we all know that most witnesses never come forward). I've never really understood how unions have been able to "negotiate" illegal actions, and I don't know why drugs have been put on a different platform from other crimes (i.e. if you perform the illegal act of doing drugs, you get one penalty, while if you do a different illegal act you get a different penalty). It's possible that it has to do something with the intrusive nature of "discovering" the drugs (i.e. taking a urine test as opposed to seeing witnessing someone stealing from the company). Again, I'm not a lawyer or in any way an expert on this matter, so I'm just speculating. I guess the bottom line is that nothing is ever going to come out of this. I was just responding to a post saying they wanted to know what "ethical law" exists. Since there isn't such a thing as an "ethical law," I responded as best I could. I don't think Melvin or the Brewers are criminals, and hope the best for Jeffress.

As far as Weeks goes, while I agree he is bad on defense, his most value is as a 2B, as his bat wouldn't be very good in the corner OF and we already have Cain & Gomez for CF. If we can sign him to a team-friendly extension, then we should. If not, then let him walk and take what will probably be Type A/B compensation for him. Or, you could even trade him next trade deadline. So, why do I propose trading Fielder and Hart and not Weeks? Unlike Fielder, Weeks is potentially signable. Weeks' injury history and early offensive struggles probably mean we wouldn't get equal value in trade. Unlike Hart, Weeks hasn't had a monstrous 1st half, allowing the Brewers to cash in... Weeks could increase his trade value by staying healthy and productive through next trade deadline. Finally, while I'd be upset if we settled for draft picks for Fielder, if Weeks is Type A, I'd be fine with getting draft picks for him. How about anything that would address our biggest weakness, our pathetic defense? I agree this is in big need of imporvement, and simply improving our defense will make our pitching staff look much better. Losing Hart and Fielder will help, as long as they don't play musical chairs and move players all over the field to fill the spots. If Gamel is our RF/1B of the future, they should move him there now, while he's in AAA. Our CF right now isn't Gomez, it's 80% Edmonds / 20% Gomez, so I would think Cain should be able to match that defensively. Also, Escobar and Lucroy should get better defensively... particularly Escobar, who is supposed to be good with the glove, but has been bad this season. I think people will be surprised at how much difference it will make to have a 1B that can actually catch bad throws and scoop balls in the dirt. I know 1B defense gets mocked, but infielders like throwing to someone who catches the ball, and like knowing they don't have to make perfect throws. I don't know how much it'll help, but getting a good target at 1B will certainly help. We could go with an OF of Braun/Gomez/Cain, which would actually be a pretty good defensive OF. I just doubt that we will commit to Gomez as our everyday CF next year unless he actually gets some PT this season and shows some improvement in plate discipline.

And this is what's frustrating to me. Just take the attendance hit and lower payroll for a year or two. This team is going nowhere with band-aid free agent signings to "compete now." I looked at the shots from around the stadium during the last homestand and there was no way there were as many people there as the announced attendance. I know they base attendance on tickets sold, but one of those games, can't remember which one there couldn't have been more than 25,000 at the game and the announced attendance was over 30,000. They're losing money in concessions and parking from the 5,000+ that didn't show up. I wish they would just take their lumps for a year or two and rebuild this thing. Band-aid free agent signings are hurting the team much more than they're helping it. I'd guess the waning attendance and lifeless crowds we've been seeing are a big reason all the trade rumors are circulating. It kind of shoots down the theory that we shouldn't do the trades because people would stop coming if Hart and Fielder were traded. People stop coming when the team on the field is playing bad, uninspired baseball. Trading Hart and Fielder may boost attendance, as people come in to see the new players.

So you want more talent than the trade proposals we're discussing. Well ya. If we can get Minor and Teheran instead of just Minor, I'll take that too. If the offer in Matt Moore and an A ball 3B, I'll pass, and wait for a better fit. I don't think you necessarily need to get more than what's being offered. Let's say Melvin does the Hart deal for Moore and the 3B, who it seems are both talented prospects. We then trade Fielder for someone like Minor (if Hart is close to landing a pitcher like this, then Fielder should be able to get the deal done). Then, we'd have the MLB ready pitcher we're looking for (Minor), and we've added another arm and bat that should be around A+/AA next season. Our rotation is improved next season, and if we add a FA 1B and plug Gamel in RF, Cain in CF, etc our offense should still be pretty good. Plus, with another "ace potential" arm to go along with the "ace potential" arms we already have in the low minors, we could potentially have a pretty good rotation for years to come. Not saying this is the perfect way to go, but it is certainly an option. With both Hart and Fielder on the table, Melvin has a lot of options. I just hope that whatever option he chooses, he is able to add a lot of talent to the system.

Yeah, his numbers are this year are terrible, but they're still only .078 OPS less than Gonzalez's career numbers. He's a career .696 OPS hitter, which is pretty terrible, even for a SS. He's now 33 and having the best year of his life, and the Braves are buying into it. The funny thing is, in Escobar's three year career, two of his full seasons have been better (higher OPS) than Gonzalez's 2010 first half. If Escobar is truly a team cancer, then the Braves may be trying to rid themselves of this cancer. Or, if they know of some injury which is causing the poor production, they may be getting rid of him (but I think that goes against league rules). Otherwise, it seems they're trading away the better player, who is also younger, much less expensive and under team control for three more seasons. Maybe they will be willing to trade Minor for Hart's hot first half :-)