monty57

I don't think today's game is a good one to give Macha credit for.

Good teams allow players to walk. Teams do have to allow some players to walk. Even big money teams like the Angels found that out this season, when they lost K-Rod and Tex. The Yankees even let all of their free agents walk without offering them arbitration. However, I'd say the statement should be "good teams lock up their cornerstone players and the rest are either traded or allowed to walk." One of the biggest decisions for the Brewers is in deciding who their "cornerstone" players are. They need to lock these players up, like they did with Braun, and either trade or accept draft picks for the rest. I expect that Yo is a no-brainer, and Parra should be locked up as well. The current trend is making this decision early, while the player is still early in pre-arby, making the decision risky, but less expensive. It would now be very expensive to lock up players like Prince, Rickie, JJ and Hart, so we'll probably see our next big deals going to guys like Gamel, Escobar, Salome/Lucroy and Jeffress. I'd expect these long term deals to do two things. First, there will be some blow ups when you lock someone up for 7-8 years and they don't pan out, and second, it will create more continuity in baseball, as teams will have their star players for more years. I am saying Milwaukee isn't New York or a big market. They can't let them all walk and then go and spend a ton of cash on guys to replace everyone. It's fine to let some walk, but I'd prefer to at least get some proven prospects or something depending on the situation the team is in. I'd add that letting everyone walk comes with a price tag, as it would cost a lot of signing bonus money to sign 4 or 5 first round draft picks in a year. I think a reason it took Melvin so long to sign Looper this year is that he didn't know how many first rounders he'd have to sign. When we ended up with a second rounder for CC and nothing for Sheets, Melvin knew he had money to play with. When you make a trade or sign a free agent, there is more certainty to what you're getting for your money. Millions of dollars worth of signing bonuses each year go for naught, as the players never make it to the bigs.

I guess if you feel that Braun, Fielder and Hardy are really .200 hitters with no power, then I can see why you'd think the Brewers' season was over. The only Brewers that have been decent at the plate this season are Cameron, Hall and Counsell. We've been in some close games that we've lost. Our big bats waking up will turn some of those losses into wins. Our pitching has been giving up way too many walks, but Bush, Parra and Looper just threw up three straight quality starts and we only won one of them. Putting Riske on the DL should help, so we won't be one short in the 'pen. Getting Hoffman back will be huge, as the other players will be able to fall into place, and Villy will be able to be used in non-pressure situations to get his head screwed back on right. Plus, the walk bug has hit everyone, even Yo. Hopefully it won't be a long-term trend. As we find ourselves saying every year, every team goes through rough stretches, and it's a long season. It does look better when you start out hot and then cool off than the other way around. The Marlins could lose their next six and people would still say they're good, while the Brewers could win their next six, and people would still complain due to this ugly start. We have had this same discussion each of the past few seasons. Two years ago, the cold stretch in the second half was enough for the Cubs to take the division (and that was a very long, cold stretch). Last year, I thought half this board was ready to jump from the highest building at different parts of the season, but we were still able to scrape our way into the playoffs. One thing I've learned is that every team has their ups and downs. It's nerve-wracking going through the downs, but it's much less stressful to sit back and enjoy the season. We have a lot of talent and we will win games. Who knows if we'll make the playoffs, but I plan on having fun watching.

Mark A. says 2.8M in attendance is our break even point. What if we are 10 games below 500 at the all star break? Even with 2M tickets sold we may have trouble reaching that number. What options will Melvin have? He won't be able to dump most of the high salaries we have. Soup, Riske, Hall, Cameron, Kendall. Those 5 alone account for more than the entire Marlin roster. I may be getting ahead of myself a tad, but there is some cause for concern. There's always a risk of a bad season, even for teams with talent. Soup is untradeable at this point, unless he really turns it around. Riske is injured, so he'll really have to show something to be tradeable, but I still think that if he can get healthy, he'll have value this year & next. I think Cameron & Kendall would be pretty easy to deal at the deadline, as half of their salaries will be eaten up, Cameron's off to a very hot start, and some team would like a veteran catcher. Hall will depend on if he can keep playing like he is. I'm not betting on it, but I sure hope he keeps it up. We could also trade Hardy and let Escobar play if we're out of the race. That would save money and bring us some really good talent from a team in the hunt looking for a SS Now, our payroll is nearly maxed out and we lack pitching. What arms do you see coming up from our system this year or next? (I like Dillard) Signing free agent pitching doesn't fit the small market model. The risk is way too high and you end up overpaying for 500 pitchers. I ranted all offseason about our lack of pitching for this season, and Melvin finally pulled the trigger on Looper to round out our MLB staff, and Wright and Green for minor league depth. I'm still worried, especially with Suppan looking the way he has, but Melvin did address the problem. If/when someont goes down, it's likely that McClung and DiFelice will be a long term solutions, while Wright, Green or someone else from Nashville would likely get a spot start. It's unlikely, but possible that Jeffress could be called up from AA if he's having a good season and we lose a starter. I think everyone knows this, but it's good to remember that most teams aren't very willing to trade away young pitchers, because, as you alluded to, free agent pitching is expensive and risky. There are people on this board that know a lot more about our minor leaguers than I, but I'd say next year's staff will be Yo & Parra (both probably signed to Braun-type deals), Looper, Bush and either Suppan or Jeffress. There is also the possibility that they trade JJ or even Hart or Fielder for a top of the rotation starter. We've spent a lot of our recent surplus of draft picks on pitching. They're still young, but some of them should start to blossom in the next couple of years. We can always hold out hope that our #1 picks from long ago (Rogers and Jones) will somehow have injury-free seasons and compete for spots in future rotations as well. Speaking of them, if they hadn't been injured, we'd have a pretty good rotation right now. Some blame can probably go to management for drafting players that are likely to get injured, but I don't think Melvin & Co. can be faulted too much for the bad luck they've had with top picks getting injured. If that bad luck stops, we sign Yo & Parra to long term deals, and some of Odorizzi, Jeffress, Scarpetta, Braddock, Peralta, etc. pan out, we could have a good, relatively inexpensive starting rotation for a long time. On top of that, we have a minor league players at C (Salome, Lucroy), 3B (Gamel, Green), SS (Escobar, Brewer), 2B (Green, Lawrie), CF (Cain, Dykstra) and RF (Gillespie, Gindl) that should allow us to a lot of flexibility in building the roster in the future. Whether this is trading them or allowing them to play so we can trade other players or let them go for draft picks, Melvin seems to have a pretty good long-term plan. We're not in the perfect situation, but we're much better off than we've been in a long time. At least I have hopes that I'll be able to enjoy the possibility of watching the Brewers play winning baseball for the foreseeable future. Now I just hope that Jack Z's replacement does as good a job replenishing the farm system through the draft as Jack did.

I was in the vast minority of posters here that didn't want to target Sabathia because I knew what it meant down the road. Now fans are overreacting about the rotation and why Melvin didn't do more to address the front of the rotation... there is no such thing as having it both ways as a Brewer fan. He burned up depth to acquire Sabathia, the system didn't produce enough pitching under Z, how is he realistically going to acquire meaningful talent for the rotation? Even if Hardy or Fielder get moved for pitching now it will likely be for prospects as most of the pitchers that we could have targeted recently signed long term deals with their clubs or got hurt. It appears that the window of opportunity to acquire MLB ready pitching has passed us bye. I was torn last season on whether we should go after CC, and after seeing what the Cubs gave up for two years of Harden, I think we probably gave up too much for CC. However, it's pretty obvious that without him, we wouldn't have been in the playoffs, and probably wouldn't have even come close, so I'm not going to complain about making the trade. I'd say that while we shot a lot of our bullets, and may not be able to make a huge move this year, we still have enough talent to pick up a good role player if the need arises. As far as the rotation, Melvin picked up the one starter he needed this year in Looper, and added depth at AAA. All of this year's rotation is still under contract for next season. We'll likely lock Yo and possibly Parra up long term, and will possibly pick up a young starting pitcher this offseason with a trade of someone like JJ or Hart. After that, we seem to have some good young arms in the low minors who should fill up our rotation for years to come, starting with Jeffress, who could be in the rotation next season. All in all, I think management (Melvin can't get all the credit) has set us up to be a good team now and for the foreseeable future, as most of our position players have ready-made replacements in the minors, and we hopefully have some decent pitchers coming up. We should also be able to trade some of our vets to fill in holes in the MLB roster and replenish the minors. Occasionally, we'll see someone we traded away play well... that's part of the game and I actually like seeing players like Cruz, Davis, Eveland and hopefully LaPorta play well. The bottom line is that I'm happy we finally have a good major league team, and likely will for a long time.

I believe that if a player or coach makes any contact with an umpire, it's automatically a suspension. If he didn't make contact, then you are correct, he should not get suspended for his actions.

Good to see they'll have two lefty relievers against Philly's ridiculously LH lineup, plus I think it will be fun watching the sloooow curve. That said, I really hope Riske can get fully healthy. He had good numbers before coming to the Brewers, and our pen could use the help. I have to agree that Julio looks like the odd man out when Hoffman comes off the DL... barring any other injuries.

Pitchers don't want to walk batters in front of Braun and Fielder, so they're more likely to throw fastballs. Hardy is one of the better fastball hitters in the league, so he should be put in the position where he will see the most fastballs. IIRC, Ned tried several times to move Hardy down in the order. His reasoning was that Hardy wasn't fast enough, and that he's a pull hitter, and your #2 hitter should be able to hit behind runners. On both occasions I remember him trying this, he later moved Hardy back to #2. I know Macha wanted to come into Spring Training with a "clean slate," so he'd be able to make his own decisions, but I think it would be nice if he'd look at what's happened in the past a little bit. This experiment has already been tried and it didn't work.

When Angelos was able to buy a baseball team and essentially retire off of his proceeds from one lawsuit, I will never feel any pity for him when it comes to finances. Tbadder, I can't agree that Tex (or any player) "represents the worst in us." Working hard to become the best at something and then getting rewarded for it is not a bad thing. Actually, it's the economic principle this country is based on. If you truly feel that baseball players are horrible people simply because they make a lot of money, then I'd suggest you stop paying money to see them play. If enough people stopped doing this, then baseball players' salaries would go down and apparently they could once again be decent, hardworking folk. I guess the other option would be to watch the countless kids who play for nothing from an early age up through high school or college. The select few who are good enough to play beyond that have to toil through the minor leagues making about as much money as a pizza deliver boy. If they happen to be in the 0.000025% of the people in the world (750 people out of roughly 3,000,000,000 people in the world) who are good enough to play major league baseball, they have to start at a $400,000 salary for three years. That's not chump change, but it's certainly less than most other people in the world who are in the 0.000025 percentile of what they do. Then, if they are good enough to have more than a three year career, they usually get modest payraises for the next three years (unless they're the absolute best of the best, who get bigger raises). Finally, for the very small number who make it to free agency, they are able to claim their payday... only to have pundits call them ugly, greed and the worst of humanity. Personally, I'll continue to spend my money to help make sure that baseball, my solace from the suffering we all face in the everyday world, continues to be there for everyone to enjoy. I also choose not to boo often, but I respect the decision of those that do, even if I can't understand what some players have done to deserve it.

So what's Thorman worth in a trade?

There were only eight CFs in baseball last year with an .800+ OPS, and Mike Cameron was one of them. I know there's more to it than OPS, but it's a decent judge of offensive ability. Last year, he was roughly the equivalent of Torii Hunter... Hunter got on base a little more (.344 OBP vs. .331), but Cameron had more power (.477 SLG vs. Hunter's .466). I like that they kept Duffy over Gwynn, and I know that Duffy had a good spring, but he's 29 and has only had 681 career ABs. In those ABs, he has a line of .328 OBP /.361 SLG /.689 OPS, so he trails Cameron in every category. I hope Duffy has a great season as a 4th/5th OF, but I really don't want to see him taking any significant playing time away from a better player (Cameron). I'd think his more likely chance at PT (barring injury) is if Hart falls into a funk like the end of last season. If anyone deserved a platoon partner last year, it was Hart.

Makes me wonder if they are either looking to trade TGJ for another prospect with a minor league option left to burn. While I'd love to see them get something in return for TGJ, the article on milwaukeebrewers.com makes it sound more like they're scouring all of the other teams' waiver wires to see if there's anyone out there the Brewers want to pick up. The article also mentions that the Nashville roster will be pretty full in the OF, so the Crew may just want to get rid of him. I'd think that some team would pick him up as a 4th or 5th OF. At the very least, he could be a defensive replacement for a team that has a bad fielding OF. Plus, his name alone could bring in some fans to a team that's rebuilding. With this upcoming season being the "make-or-break" year in which we will know with 100 percent certainty if Lorenzo Cain is someone to be relied upon, there just does not seem much promise left for TGJ within the organization. I agree that TGJ's time is likely done, but Cain seems destined for AA this season, so it's hard to say it's his "make or break" year. The only reason I'd think the Brewers may want TGJ back is as insurance against Cain not being ready in 2010. What is Duffy's contract status? Will he be around next season if needed?

I think Kendall's patience, willingness to take a walk and ability to put the bat on the ball makes him an ideal #8 hitter. That's what frustrated me last year when Yost batted the pitcher 8th. If Kendall bats leadoff, does that mean Hall will bat 8th, where his unwillingness to walk will make the pithcer lead off more innings? Plus, Hardy has flourished when batting #2, likely due to seeing more fastballs in front of Braun and Fielder. I don't want him moved from that spot, so where does that leave Weeks? Swapping Weeks and Kendall wouldn't seem smart, as Weeks does everything that Kendall does and then some. Batting Kendall leadoff seems to create more problems than it solves... if it indeed solves anything.

Crew07, I think you made some very good points in your post, and I agree it's about what is best for the present and the future of the Brewers' franchise. I think Escobar spending a year at AAA isn't for him to prove anything, it's that we have Hardy for a reasonable price this year, and he is (at least in my mind) a much better player at this time. After this season, Melvin will have to determine whether another year of Hardy + the draft picks is more valueable than Escobar + what you receive in trade for Hardy. Another variable in all of this is Brent Brewer. If it looks like he'll be our SS of the future, then Melvin could trade Escobar to the highest bidder, play Hardy for the next two seasons, lose him for draft picks, and plug Brewer in. Like any team on a budget (which appears to be everyone except the yankees), management has to decide which players are the cornerstones they'll build around. Braun has already been selected. Gallardo would seem like the next most logical pick. I'd guess Melvin will select 1 or 2 players out of our current crew to extend, and then try to lock up players like Gamel, Jeffress, Escobar as they arrive, keeping their price tags lower. The trend of offering long-term contracts to pre-arby players came around a little late for this crop of Brewers, as they were entering arby, and their long-term contracts would be too expensive for the Brewers to lock up many of them. If Hardy or Hart gets an extension that eats up some FA years, it will be at a high price, making them less likely targets. I think it could happen, but it would be at the expense of signing someone at another position. In other words, signing Hardy to a 5-year / $60MM deal might mean not only do you trade Escobar, but you may have to trade players like Gamel and Jeffress when they hit arby in order to stay under budget. If I had to guess: -Hardy will be traded next offseason, hopefully netting us a young pitcher. Escobar will fill in nicely and will likely get a long-term offer, making him our SS for a long time. -Fielder will play at least through his 2-year deal, possibly being traded after 2010 for young players at positions of need. As noted, we don't have anyone that can take over for him, so the opportunity cost of trading him is way too high. We'll see who's there in the offseason before 2011 to see if he gets traded or if we ride him out and take the draft picks. -Weeks will be around until a decent replacement is ready. This may be Taylor Green, in which case Weeks may be gone next offseason, or it may be Brett Lawrie, in which case he'll be here through 2010 or maybe even 2011. Weeks is relatively inexpensive, and for as much flak as he receives, he is a serviceable MLB 2B. -If Gamel shows he can play a serviceable 3B, he will be up mid-season, when the Crew will release Lamb (if he makes it out of ST) and situating Hall as super-sub through the rest of his contract (if we aren't able to somehow pawn him off on another team). Gamel should be offered a Braun-type contract (maybe lower numbers) sometime next season. -Hart will play until someone like Gillespie shows he's ready to take over, at which point Hart will be traded for younger players at positions of need -Cameron will play out this season and leave, unless the Brewers falter, making him the prime trading chip (along possibly with Hardy) during this season. Cain is waiting in the wings to be our CF of the future. -Braun will be the face of the franchise for years to come -Salome will take over as Catcher next season. With Lucroy a couple years behind him, Salome won't probably be offered a long-term deal, and we'll have a discussion in a few years much like this Hardy vs. Escobar debate as to which of these two should be traded. -Gallardo should be extended right now, before his price tag goes up -Parra should also be extended soon, although right now may be too soon. Wait to make sure his body can hold up, but start talking to his agent no later than next offseason. -Looper, Suppan and Bush are here through their contracts (arby for Bush) and we move on -Barring injuries, Jeffress will be the next star pitcher to come from our system and will likely be here a long time -We should net a couple of starting pitchers in the ensuing Hardy, Fielder, Hart deals that will fill out our rotation for the foreseeable future -Players like Dillard, Stetter and Aguilar are beginning to make me feel that we won't always have to pick our bullpen off the scrap heap every offseason -Counsell will keep getting contracts from the Brewers until he can no longer walk, at which point he'll be made team mascot. Sorry to take this somewhat off-topic, but I thought Crew07 was spot on in that the debate isn't necessarily Hardy vs. Escobar, but rather what is best for the future of the team. If I'm more optimistic than some about the future of the Brewers, I've tried to outline why above. Throw in that if we can do do a marginally decent job drafting, I think we can even afford to make a mistake or two, and should still be set for the next decade at most positions on the field, including pitching.

This morning's paper quotes Macha saying Counsell is ahead of Lamb. That sounds like an either/or situation to me. I believe Counsell signed a major league deal, so I doubt there's any chance that he gets cut, as the Brewers would still have to pay him. If he is the LH part of a 3B platoon (even a "soft platoon"), and Lamb is not on the team, we will likely need another middle infielder on the 25-man. Would we be better with Hernan on the team instead of Lamb?

Most playoff caliber teams tend to have pretty shortstops though. But my wife would argue that Hardy would be prettier. Sorry, had to do it.

The important factors are: -Whether to move a player to a different position, which doesn't seem to be a long-term option for either player. When Hardy made his "don't trade me, I've always wanted to be a Brewer" comment, I thought he might sing long-term and eventually move to 3B. It's looking less likely that this will happen. The probable scenario is that either he goes, or Escobar goes. -How good the players are and will be. Hardy is probably a better overall player now, although the gap may close as Escobar develops -How old they are and how many years the Brewers "control" them. Escobar wins on these counts -How much they'll cost. Again, Escobar wins -How much they'll net in a trade. This probably depends on who you are dealing with. A big money team in need of a SS or someone chasing a pennant this year would give their right foot to have Hardy. A more cost-conscious or rebuilding team would probably rather deal for Escobar. -Finally, you have to look at where you see the Brewers this year. If they are expecting to compete, Hardy is their guy, and at this point that is obviously the plan. If they fall off early, he could be dealt if the deal is right I think Melvin has a little more time to make a decision, as Escobar is fine sitting in AAA this year, and Hardy is not too expensive. By this time next year, Melvin will have had to decide whether he should trade one of the players or simply wait for the draft picks for Hardy. Before the Sabathia trade last year, I thought this offseason was going to be the one where a major shake-up occurred. Now it's looking more like that will be next year. Green/Lawrie should be nipping at Weeks' heels, and Escobar, Gamel, Salome, Cain and Gillespie will be ready to play. That's not to mention that we should finally be able to bring up some relievers from our system rather than over-paying for mediocre veterans. With all the above mentioned players coming up from the minors, I don't think it's out of the question for us to sign Hardy, Yo and Parra long term (to go along with Braun), if that is the decision Melvin makes. Ir would simply free up money to re-allocate elsewhere if he decides to trade Hardy and play Escobar. If Melvin plays his cards right, we could have a good team for years to come. The current trend of signing elite players to long-term deals looks like it will continue, as both the players and the teams see the benefits involved. This should allow the Brewers to pick their "cornerstone" players and continue to build around them.

I'm hoping they can pawn Hall off on the Yankees now that A-Rod is out for a while. He's been about the worst offensive player in baseball for two years now. A platoon of McGehee/Lamb can't be much worse than Hall/Lamb, especially considering Gamel is likely up in a few months. I'd almost give Hall to the Yankees if they would take his entire contract off our books. Judging by Macha's comments that Hall would be our primary 3B, I doubt this will happen, but at least I can dream. My scenario then would be 1B Fielder 2B Weeks SS Hardy 3B McGehee/Lamb LF Braun CF Cameron RF Hart C Kendall C Rivera OF Duffy - primary backup defensive OF at all three positions OF/1B Nelson IF Counsell IF McGehee/Lamb IIRC, McGehee's splits are pretty even vs. RH/LH, so if Lamb is as bad as some have been hinting, we could get by with McGehee at 3B, occasionally being spelled by Counsell. This would save room for another bat off the bench. It would be best if this were a RH infielder, and I don't know who in our system would fit that bill. With that said, we're probably better off keeping Lamb and running a platoon. As far as pitching goes, the rotation is pretty much set (except for how long Looper will be out), and the 'pen is somewhat of a crapshoot after the top few, so I won't make a guess at that other than to say that DiFilice deserves the "long man" role and now that we've got Green and Chase Wright in the AAA rotation as insurance until Cappy's ready, I hope he gets a shot. At his age, there's not much financial risk to having him on the roster. If he and Green would both play equally, I'd say play DiFilice this year, keeping Green in the minors, giving us one more year of his services, hopefully as a low-priced starter in the future.

That really depends upon his liabilities. Many athletes have much of their money spent before they get it, through mortgage payments, credit cards, etc. It's likely that he's now is a situation with a lot of liabilities and no assets. Even with a high expected income stream, he may not be able to get a loan. Regardless, he tried to be prudent with his money, hiring what he thought was a reputable firm to handle his finances, and through no fault of his own, is now in a tough situation. Whether he makes a lot of money or not, it's hard to rip on someone who's lost everything he worked hard for. Also, athletes are in a unique situation, in that they receive most of their money early in life, and then have relatively no marketable abilities after their physical talents fade, so they cannot earn much after their career is over. Eyre tried to do right and then lose everything to fraud. His liabilities could well be more than he'll make over the remainder of his career, so he could well have to go to work at a "normal job" when his playing days are done. Normally, I wouldn't care if someone lost everything due to their own bad habits, but I feel for Eyre because he didn't do anything wrong, and will suffer nonetheless. I'm puzzled by one question- How does he not have at least SOMETHING at a bank? He doesn't have a debit card or write checks? I don't know if this is the case or not, but many wealthy people use trust services to handle their finances. In other words, they don't pay any of their own bills, they have an account, and a trustee who pays all of their bills from this account. As I posted earlier, he should have set some money aside, but most likely felt he was doing the right thing.

Can Nelson play corner OF? I know he's listed there and played some in the minors, but would he be able to man a corner OF spot if someone were to be injured? An injury to one of our starters will leave us with a huge hole. Either the lead footed Nelson or the past-his-prime Nixon will be playing corner OF or the feather-bat Gwynn will be playing CF. I agree with CWH that we should trade from the position we have excess players (bullpen) to shore up our weakest position (OF). As brosto pointed out, the Nats seem like a good trading partner, as Pena, Willingham or Kearns would all be superior to our current backups. Plus, although I'm not a big fan of Hart in center, we do know he is able to play there, and Braun-Hart-Pena/Kearns makes me feel a lot better than Braun-Gwynn-Hart or Braun-Cameron-Nelson/Nixon. Edmonds would be ideal, but as others have said, he may not sign with us because (A) we have three full-time OFs and (B) we don't have a lot of salary flexibilty and may not be able to afford him. If he did sign, however, he would be great insurance against injury or Hart falling back into his late-season doldrums. A platoon of Edmonds/Hart in RF would have looked pretty good at the end of last season.

It's a shame, and I hope all of the principals in these fraudulent "financial firms" spend a lot of years behind bars. That said, as a bit of unsolicited brotherly advice, everyone (whether you're a millionaire or someone working minimum wage) should keep 3-6 months worth of bills in a "safe" account (savings, CD, etc). That can be a big help if you lose your job, have a health concern, or in cases like this, get caught up in a scam.

I like it. During the last games, my now 3-year-old son was an infant, and the games gave me something decent to watch in the middle of the night when I was up with him. Of course, I get so baseball starved in the middle of winter that I've actually considered subscribing to ESPN Desportes simply to get Mexican League games, even though I don't speak Spanish. Are all of the games on MLB Network, or are some going to be on ESPN? I have Dish Network, and they haven't picked up MLB Network yet.

There are currently only 4 OFs on the Brewers' 40-man roster. Unless that changes, Gwynn isn't going anywhere. In fact, he will probably start the season on the Brewers' 25-man roster as their 4th OF and see a lot more at bats than most of us would like him to get. I hoped the Brewers would use some of their excess of RP to land a decent 4th OF, but unless and until that happens, Gwynn is most likely a Brewer in 2009. I know Nelson could play corner OF if necessary, but I don't know if his bat is good enough to make up for his defensive deficiancies. Iribarren played OF last year as well, but is his bat better than Gwynn's? Nixon's past his prime, but is really the only other realistic option to open the Brewers' season as an OF. If so, we'd have to DFA someone else. Our backup OF situation really isn't too good at the moment, so I'm not surprised at all that it was a RP that was DFA'd. I just knew how high some were on Pena's raw ability, so I was somewhat surprised to see him let go. As someone else mentioned, I hope they're able to put together a minor trade and pick up something for him.

I think Mr. Carter needs to mention Tifton a couple more times in the article.

Hall will likely not miss much of the season. 4-6 weeks from now will mean he'll either be back mid-ST or right around opening day. If the injury persists for six weeks, he'll probably need some extended ST. I'd hate to rush Gamel and start his clock early simply because Hall will miss 1-2 weeks of the season. As the RH hitter in a platoon, McGahee would probably only start three games or so, and that would be worst case scenario for Hall's injury