Matt Breen

My biggest concern is the Yankees. They are reportedly going to spend upwards of $20 million on international spending this year as a way to replenish their farm system. They're going to take the big salary cap hit and the penalties in one chunk, partially for fear that 2015 will see an international draft. This way, they snagged as much talent as possible before international talent is more regulated. If the team struggles early in 2014, I wouldn't be surprised to see them double down on the strategy, investing even more in the top players. I could easily see them jumping back in on Lara or any other prospects.

I don't get why everyone think Weeks' 2012 was terrible. He hit .230/.328/.400 with a wRC + of 99, ie basically dead average. It was disappointing after his 2011 but to pretend the it was the start of what happened last year is a stretch. It is also the likely ceiling of Gennett. Fangraphs pegged Rickie at a 1.0 WAR in 2012. Baseball Reference had him at -0.4 WAR that year. His offense was, as you note, average. But his defense was not. Perhaps 'terrible' was an incorrect term. But I'd say 'bad' or 'not very good' wasn't that far off.

Anyone know what the Crew will do with Jungmann? Will he be at AAA or AA this year? Right now I see (as noted earlier) Nelson, Hellweg, Burgos, Jungmann, Pena, and Fiers. That's six guys. Would they go with six starters? Are any of these guys being considered for the bullpen? Just wondering if anything had been announced.

I'm fine with Thornburg in the pen for 2014. I'd rather have him giving us 75 innings of quality relief than sitting in AAA. I realize that if someone is injured, he might not transition to the starting rotation as easily as if he's starting at Nashville. But I'll take that. The guy played well last year - he deserves a regular shot in the big leagues. Plus, if there is an injury and we need someone long term, he can be worked into the spot. It will take some time, but it's not like it's never been done. And if it's for a start or two, you can always call up Nelson (or Burgos or Fiers or whomever). If Thornburg does well as a reliever in 2014, the team can consider him for the rotation in 2015 - potentially moving someone in a trade (Estrada, Gallardo, Lohse) if necessary. The Brewers have typically not done this with pitchers - but one of the main reason is that they haven't had quality guys waiting to step up. Peralta is the first starter we've produced since Gallardo. Over the last five years or so we've patched together our rotation through free agency (Suppan, Wolf, Garza, Lohse, Looper), waiver finds (Narveson, Estrada), and trades (Greinke, Marcum, Bush, Capuano). Even our relievers are like that - lots of waiver and low cost FA types (Axford, Henderson, Figaro, Kintzler, Coffey, Shouse, DeFelice, Loe). Outside of Gallardo and Peralta, we've produced very few pitchers - starter or reliever - who have helped the team. Or even been highly touted. I can only think of a couple of guys - Manny Parra and Mark Rogers - neither of which turned out great. I just hope we can start producing more low cost, home grown pitchers. Guys like Nelson, Thornburg, Wooten, Hellweg, Pena, Jungmann and others should start helping us more and more. We shouldn't have to rely on the Livan Hernandez's of the world. I always thought Thornburg would end up as a reliever. I just didn't think he had three good pitches to survive long term. However, he showed me (and others) last year that we have to consider him for the rotation. I don't think he's a lock, but a good 2014 should put him into consideration for starting next year.

We won't get much of anything for Weeks other than salary relief. That he's 'looked good' this spring is going to go only so far. He is hitting .294 and a .467 OBP this spring. But last spring he hit .288 with a .356 OBP. And in 2012 he hit .260 with a .488 OBP. He looked pretty good those years and ended up playing terrible both seasons. He's still coming off a major injury and two bad straight years. That Rickie's played decent and appears healthy this spring can only help his value. But let's say he was a free agent - how much would a team pay him? Maybe a $1 million and some incentives? The Crew would be lucky if they can get a team to take on $2-3 million of his salary and a no name A baller for Rickie. If we want a player, such as Moreland, we'll need to take on most of Rickie's salary and give them something else as well.

I looked at the comments after I made the post. They are priceless. Like you say, no one is buying the crap. People complain about beat writers being stooges for the team, but this is so obviously a hack job. It's like the team went to the writer and said, 'People are complaining about us being cheap and making bad moves. Write an article that trashes Fowler relentlessly so that it looks like we did the right thing." I felt sorry for Fowler after seeing the piece.

The cliches runneth over. Denver Post writer Mark Kiszla apparently has a man-crush on Walt Weiss, and feels compelled to justify the Rockies trade of Dexter Fowler - and at the same time bow to the alter of 'toughness' and grittiness'. At times, it's like it was written by someone from the Onion. Apparently Fowler was traded because he didn't have the ability to "compete and grind and play with grit" (Walt Weiss' quote). http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_25412691/mark-kiszla-dexter-fowler-was-wrong-fit-walt Here are some of the other lines from the article: - "Fowler was not the kind of player Weiss needs on a team that must grind out victories in the National League West" - "Compete hard. Take ownership of wins and losses. Grind with pride." - "Fowler is gone. The Rockies are tougher." - "The Rockies, however, are better off without Fowler." - "He (Fowler) simply isn't tough enough." - "You want the Rockies to bring a dirt-bag attitude that can wrestle with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the gutter, then Dickerson is your center fielder." The best line: "Colorado, however, was 100 percent correct in dumping Fowler and re-investing the money in new first baseman Justin Morneau." Yes, adding an aging 1B who needs to be platooned is the best way to spend your money. And Colorado is struggling to find a suitable replacement for Fowler - both in the field and in the leadoff spot. I won't criticize Colorado for dealing Fowler. He's struggled to stay healthy over his career. If that bothers them, it's their choice to move on from him. But to do so without a plan is pretty foolish. And their decision making in free agency (Morneau for $12.5 milliion and a lefty relief specialist for $16.5) has a lot of be desired.

Arizona had no need for Reynolds because they have Prado and Goldschmidt at the corners. However if they really wanted a Brewer starter bad enough, I'd ask them for Prado and offer them Reynolds as part of the deal to fill their new hole at 3B. Let's not forget that Arizona unloaded Reynolds a few years ago because they were tired of his bad defense, strikeouts and low BA.

Three left handed relievers is interesting. RRR said the club views Duke as a lefty specialist - but Wang is not.

I feel bad for Wooten. The guy does nothing but pitch solid ball - minors, majors, spring training.

I think you're right. Reynolds over the last three years has hit lefties (.742 OPS) and righties (.766 OPS) pretty much the same. Like you said, give Reynolds 80% of the starts, letting Lyle get in once in a while against righties, as a pinch hitter, and as a defensive replacement late in games.

We don't have a 'like' button here, but I'd click it if we did.

Going forward we have to make sure Overbay never plays against lefties. He had a .516 OPS against them last year - that's worse than Yuni.

This is a good point. The pressure is on Duke - not on Wang. Regarding trading for Wang - I think it's a possibility. The reason is that if we elect to let Wang go, he goes on waivers. He's not just sent back to Pittsburgh. With his success this spring, I believe some other team would likely claim him and stash him on their major league roster for 2014. I don't think a team like Houston or the Cubs would have any problem taking the guy. They aren't going to win in 2014, so why not give up a roster spot in 2014 for the guy. Thus, Pittsburgh knows Wang is not likely to clear waivers. So they might be willing to work a trade with Milwaukee so they end up with something. Of course, Pittsburgh could just say no to a trade to deny a division rival a nice prospect, but if they can get something of value, why not. And they can't control who claims him. In their minds, letting him go to the Cubs would likely be worse than Milwaukee getting him. So, a trade may happen in that scenario. What he would be worth is another debate. No, we have to offer him back to Pittsburgh for $50000. No other team will get a shot. They would only accept a trade that is better for them than keeping Wang. I'm not sure if he would have to be on Pittsburgh's 40 man roster if they take him back. baseball america says: Any eligible player can be selected for the Rule 5 fee of $50,000 (payable to the original team) and then must be kept on a major league roster for the following season. If the player doesn’t stick, then he’s placed on waivers and—if he clears—is offered back to his original team for $25,000. This was from oct. 2013, so perhaps things have changed. http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/ask-ba-2/

This is a good point. The pressure is on Duke - not on Wang. Regarding trading for Wang - I think it's a possibility. The reason is that if we elect to let Wang go, he goes on waivers. He's not just sent back to Pittsburgh. With his success this spring, I believe some other team would likely claim him and stash him on their major league roster for 2014. I don't think a team like Houston or the Cubs would have any problem taking the guy. They aren't going to win in 2014, so why not give up a roster spot in 2014 for the guy. Thus, Pittsburgh knows Wang is not likely to clear waivers. So they might be willing to work a trade with Milwaukee so they end up with something. Of course, Pittsburgh could just say no to a trade to deny a division rival a nice prospect, but if they can get something of value, why not. And they can't control who claims him. In their minds, letting him go to the Cubs would likely be worse than Milwaukee getting him. So, a trade may happen in that scenario. What he would be worth is another debate.

Tigers reliever Bruce Rondon will have TJ surgery and miss 2014. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/03/bruce-rondon-to-undergo-tommy-john-surgery.html Rondon is 23 and looked pretty good last year as a rookie. He had a a 3.45 ERA with 9.4 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 46.8 percent ground-ball rate in 28 2/3 innings. Not a bad way to start your career. I didn't realize that his 99.3 mph average fastball was the best in baseball last year - even better than Aroldis Chapman's.

Has anyone see or heard how Francisco is doing at 1B this spring? I know he was horrible last year, but I didn't know if an off season of prep work - plus spring training - had helped him at all.

I this point, I think this is mostly correct. Even a couple of days ago, I would have thought Overbay would make the team, but looking at his numbers, they are brutally bad. Francisco has hit well - even taking a lot of walks. The strikeouts are still a concern. Also, I wouldn't be surprised to see Wooten make it over Figaro.

Assuming we keep two lefties in the pen, the key comes down to is Wang as good or better than Zach Duke (or at least come close). If the answer is 'yes', than it's a no brainer - we keep him. He has upside, which the club lacks. Duke's numbers in camp have been okay, but nothing amazing. I'd love him to stick around at AAA and continue transitioning to being a full time reliever. He would be nice insurance. But I'm not going to cry if he leaves.

[sarcasm]can one of them play first base?[/sarcasm] No, but as last year proves, that doesn't mean we won't put them there.

Eye Black, if you need someone to give up a pick, I'm good doing that. I have #4 and #15. I'd rather keep the 4th pick (not that I like the Cubs, I hate them, but there's less stuff to figure out), but whatever works.

Hart was a bit disappointed that other Brewer players didn't attempt to get him to come back. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mil/seattle-mariners-corey-hart-doesnt-regret-leaving-milwaukee-brewers-has-no-hard-feelings?ymd=20140319&content_id=69643984&vkey=news_mil "I think I was expecting more players to reach out and try to keep me. A lot of the coaches reached out. But these guys [the Mariners] were overwhelming. We had a few other teams that were right there, too. I thought Milwaukee would have made it harder, but at the end of it, it wasn't a tough decision." "If someone like Braunie [Ryan Braun] or Rickie [Weeks] or Luc [Jonathan Lucroy] would have reached out, it would have made it a lot harder." Not that it would have mattered that much. Hart would have taken a discount - but the potential total - $13 million from Seattle vs $6.5 million from Milwaukee was just to large.

I agree. Braun at 1B would have been the best move. His problems at 3B were throwing - not fielding. I think he could easily be an above average fielder. Of course, that's just my opinion. I also think it could have helped keep Braun healthy and in the lineup. He's 30. He's going to get dinged up more and more.

It's going to get worse. The 1B in the minor leagues are not exactly inspiring. I think Singleton in Houston is the top guy - and he's a good, but not great, prospect.

It just depresses me that Reynolds is our best option at 1B. The guy has hit .220, .221 and .221 over the last three years. And his slugging % has dropped each of the last three years, plus his walk rate was his worst since 2007 - his rookie year. The HRs will be great - but the lack of anything else - as well as bad defense - could make this pretty bad (not Yuni bad - but still bad). Perhaps the move to Miller Park will help Reynolds rebound. I hope so. And if he stays at 1B, let's hope that mitigates some of the pain he causes with his glove. Frighteningly, the options are worse. Francisco needs to move the AL to DH. I don't think anyone believes the guy is a long or short term option. He'll hit worse than Reynolds and play even worse defense. Overbay had a .748 OPS last year - against right handers. That's not awful - but it's not good. And for all the talk of Lyle's superior defensive skills - I don't buy it. He's average at best. And at 37, it's not like he's getting better. And Overbay can't hit lefties anymore - he had a .516 OPS against them in 2013. Last year (and this spring), Hunter Morris showed he wasn't ready for the bigs. He needs to step up in the minors now. And Halton is nothing more than filler. Perhaps he could stick as the 25th man on the team, backing up a legitimate left handed hitting 1B, pinch hitting, etc. But that's it. The team is likely going to go with Reynolds and Overbay. The good part of that plan is that it gives Morris more time to see if he can re-establish himself as the potential starter. If Reynolds flops, we can use Overbay (and probably Halton) in a strict platoon. Not ideal, but it's a plan. Or the team can make a trade if needed if they are in the playoff race. My preference would have been to skip this whole drama from the start. I would have gotten a guy like Daric Barton from the A's. 28 years old, some success (and failure). Accept he's just a 10-12 HR guy - but one who plays great defense and takes a boatload of walks. Sure he's a risk. But no more so than giving the job to Reynolds, Overbay and Francisco.