Dollarbill13

I normally don't favor moving people the wrong way on the defensive spectrum but this one might work and provide a substantial upgrade at SS while requiring much less of a commitment than Reyes or Rollins. Why Kelly Johnson might be an option at SS: - He was a shortstop in the minors and was moved (originally to outfield then 2B) due to his fielding - In his first two years with the Braves, he was a poor defensive 2B. In his last two seasons, he has become an above average defensive 2B. The primary driver behind his improvement is a substantial improvement in range - While 2B is an easier position than SS, it is right next to SS on the defensive spectrum. - He has a 10.7% career walk rate, which is about 12% higher than Yuni B's - Despite only hitting .222 in 2011, he managed a .717 OPS. The average MLB 2B had a .709 OPS. - Even if he's terrible at SS, it's hard to be much worse than Betancourt. - He had a down season in 2011 so he might be willing to sign a shorter contract hoping for a rebound. Why he's a risk: - The biggest risk is adapting to playing SS. If he can't handle it, we'd have to decide between playing him at 3B (which he has never played) and OF (which he hasn't played since 2005). Neither is appealing. Some have proposed moving Weeks to the OF, which would open up 2B but require moves elsewhere (what to do with Hart or Morgan) - He declined with the bat significantly in 2011. While much of his decline is due to an abnormally low BABIP (.277 in 2011 vs. .311 for his career), he also has dramatically increased his strikeouts over the last two seasons, which certainly won't help his average. If he continues to strikeout more and more, even a likely improvement in BABIP won't allow him to return to where he was in 2010. Why he might be willing to make the switch: MLB Trade Rumors suggested that he might be able to take a 1 year deal to try and improve his market value to get a big contract after the 2012 season, when he'll be 30. Even if he was a total butcher at SS, he has proven himself to be an above average defender at 2B so his market value as a 2B will depend almost entirely on his bat. However, if he can prove to be even mediocre at SS, his value will likely skyrocket due to the lack of decent shortstops in the league. Flame away! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Anyone find it strange how little talk there has been about Reyes in the last couple days?

Disagree with "total stud". 860 OPS in his 2nd year of AAA makes him solid but unspectacular. He's closer to Lyle Overbay.

Name an excellent pitching prospect who is rumored to be available. I'd be all over trying to sign Greinke and Marcum to extensions. I probably wouldn't go more than 3 years on Marcum but if you can get him for 3 for $9-10M per year, that's a fantastic deal. The last two years, Greinke has a FIP like a $20M pitcher. Either he's the exception to the rule that ERAs trend toward FIP in the long run or we have the opportunity to extend him for substantially less money than he's likely to be worth. I'd rather do that than sign Fielder into his twilight years for a contract that he's unlikely to out-produce.

I agree 100% with locking Greinke up, especially that he might come at a little bit of a bargain coming off a down season. If you'd go 5/85, might as well go 6/90, right?

It'd be nice if a guy like Jonny Gomes had experience at 1B. He could be had relatively cheaply and kills LHP. You'd get pretty solid production out of your 1B platoon for a very modest price. I don't see any free agent 1B available that can mash lefties like Gomes, though.

You should get him at somewhat of a discounted salary. Once you win the posting, you'd be his only option to sign with and you get the posting fee back if you can't agree to terms. That being said, there's been a lot of "can't-miss" Japanese players who have come over in recent years who have failed to live up to their hype.

If only it were that easy to have a high OBP.

$3.5M per season is not a lot of money in the majors anymore. It will probably end up being about 1/25th of our total payroll. Sounds like a bargain to me, given the lack of quality SS's on the market. Bring back Hairston and we've got two guys who can split the SS position and also be the backups at 2nd & 3rd (and CF for Hairston if needed) for a pretty reasonable price.

He was an everyday player for a good portion of the season when Furcal was hurt. Carroll has only been on the DL once in his career and it was after he got hit in the hand by a pitch. Not exactly what I'd call injury prone. You are citing a bunch of stats with Yuni that are irrelevant. Yes, he was the everyday SS on a 96 win team. Casey McGehee was the everyday 3B, what's your point? RBI are heavily dependent on the lineup you are in, namely hitting in a lineup with Prince Fielder. He wasn't a good hitter with RISP or with runners on base. He does have good power for a SS but that is heavily negated by his awful OBP. Even in the 2nd half when he hit better, his OBP didn't crack .300. Even if you completely ignore Yuni's 1st half .598 OPS and expect that he keep up with his 2nd half .718 OPS, you are essentially choosing between two identical OPS's. One that is OBP heavy and one that is SLG heavy. With each point of OBP worth roughly 1.4x each point of SLG, I can't see why you'd choose Yuni.

He showed that he could be an every day player last year... and with his deal, you are only risking 4% of your payroll in doing so. To be honest, I just don't see how Yuni is an everyday player at SS at this point in his career, either. And he's in the middle of his prime.

I wish more teams would do this. It makes sense considering it gives you a chance to see what kinds of decisions the manager would make in a game. Also, it reminds me of the stuff they asked Billy Heywood in Little Big League. But what you say in an interview really doesn't have much bearing on how you perform in real life. I mean Billy Heywood gave the ultimate statistical driven explanation of why not to do any bunts or hit & runs with his top hitters. Then he goes out and runs a play to pick off Ken Griffey Jr. that's about the clearest balk in the history of baseball and gets away with it due to the luck of having an umpiring staff that doesn't know the balk rule. He clearly only succeeded due to the small sample of the partial season that he managed.

Namely Braun or Gallardo

I heard Pujols said he could never play for another manager so he is retiring as well. (I'm typing this on my phone and don't know how to make things blue but this post should be blue)

Gordon has defensive value but he's coming off a season with a .358 BABIP. There's no way he sustains that. Gordon is a nice player and would possibly be an upgrade from Hart once you factor in defense. However, I wouldn't give up a ton to get him.

Agree whole heartedley regarding Cuddyer. In fact, a Kubel/Reed Johnson platoon in RF might be pretty effective. Reed Johnson? Why do that? .283 average is OK, but averaging 10 Hr 57 RBI and only 6 SB per year is no better than giving some of our OF prospects a shot. You really have to use stats that matter to make your point. He has an 832 career OPS against lefties. Depending on his cost, he'd be a decent option in right.

Pretty much every baseball player is streaky, aside from the ones who hit like .340. Well they are streaky too, except you don't care when they only hit .280 for a couple weeks. SS is our biggest weakness on offense and our only one that we don't have a capable replacement for. Every team can always use an ace starter but there just aren't that many available.

He maybe given away by the Mets but the Brewers shouldn't even entertain the idea. Jason Bay's remaining contract:12:$16M, 13:$16M, 14:$17M club option ($3M buyout) That is just brutal and you are only getting a .700 OPS out of the guy. I know the stadium that Bay is playing in probably has more to do with his numbers but he is obviously declining and I don't believe he will be worth what he is being paid. The Mets would have to pay at least half of his salary for it to make any sense for the Brewers.The Mets would have to eat a good chunk of his contract but I'd be willing to take him for, say, half of that contract. Calling it him a 700 OPS guy is questionable because his BABIP in 2011 was 30 points lower than his career numbers. His drop in ISO is concerning and can likely be chalked up to his increase in GB/FB. That doesn't seem like a trend so I think there's a decent chance of him bouncing back. He seems like an excellent buy-low candidate, especially if we can trade Hart for an upgrade at SS.

We have in house solutions at first and third with Gamel and Green. Gamel is obviously a big step down from Fielder but he shouldn't be bad. Green at third (or a Green/McGehee platoon) will make up for some of what we lose at first. SS is a big hole but there's just not a lot available right there.

If the Brewers decided that after losing Fielder, their opportunity to win the WS is gone, it might make sense to try and flip Axford for a top prospect who is close to the majors. He probably has more trade value now than he ever will. That being said, the Brewers should still be competitors next year so there's no reason to dump a guy like him.

So we'd be replacing Axford on our roster and Green/McGehee (<$3M combined) in our lineup for Markakis ($12M)... Axford is a very valuable trade chip. Keep him unless you can get a major upgrade at SS.

Have you tried working through a legal placement agency? I wonder if it might be easier to find entry level work through something like that where the company would have less risk in hiring someone with no experience

Counsell in the game... get ready for a series winning run!

I was about 2 rows in front of them. They said they had to go to the security room and call MLB to see if they could be allowed back in the game.

the strike zone is dependent on where the catcher sets his glove pre-pitch. just ask greg maddux