Matt Breen

What about Oakland as a destination for A-Ram. Their 3rd basemen this year have an OPS of .563. Don't know the Oakland farm system at all, so I don't know who we could target.

I am happy for Henderson, and hope he does well, but I must temper my enthusiasm due to the fact the guy is 29 years old, and his career stats are all over the board. Career minor league guys getting a shot at the bigs are great stories, but they usually don't end up being very good. There's usually a reason no one has brought them up to the show. Again, that doesn't mean Henderson can't be the exception to the rule. I hope he does awesome. If anything, his addition should be the start of some needed changes. Let's see how Henderson does over the next couple of months, and understand if he might have a future with the Crew.

You play for 2014 and beyond. Understand 2012 and 2013 are development years. With that in mind, you deal anyone who won't be with the team beyond 2013. Keep Weeks and Axford. They are better players, and get re-establish their value by season's end, or even into next year. Trade Loe, Parra, K-Rod, Wolf, Veras, Gomez, Kottaras, Morgan - get whatever you can - even salary relief. Trade Greinke, Hart and A-Ram for the best prospects you can get. I don't think A-Ram gets that much, even if we send along $6 million (we are balance his large 2014 salary). Cut Izturis. Let Bianchi (SS), Taylor Green (3B), Schafer (CF) finish out the season. The team will be bad the rest of the year, but hopefully, you'll find out if a couple of guys have a future in the big leagues. 2013 will be bad too, but we can let the younger players develop (Peralta, Thornburg, Fiers, Jungmann, Nelson, Morris, Scooter, Rogers), plus any guys we get in trades. They join the team in 2013-14 (or even later). I just don't think a 'tweak' helps this team. You need to to blow it up.

Guy on third (who has average speed), no outs, infield in, and you lay down the squeeze? That's awesome. This obsession with bunting is very strange.

I think in the long run, this is probably the long and short of it. $100 million contracts to pitchers are extremely risky. For every Sabathia there's a couple of Mike Hamptons. I think a one-two punch of Yo and Greinke for the next few years would be awesome - a key to contending. But it's a razor's edge we'd be walking on. We'd have to cut so many corners to field the team.

I totally agree with you 3&2Fastball. Greinke wants to win. Losing saps the life out of him, and he doesn't want to go through a 'rebuilding' campaign. Even for a year or two. If that's the case, so be it. I appreciated Zack's time here, and really would like to have kept him. But it's time to move on.

Is that supposed to be a list of pitchers who are a better bet for the money? Take away hindsight and tell me which guy was a better risk than Wolf going into the season. Bedard's high water mark for innings pitched the prior three season's was 101.1 innings. Chen 155 with about the same ERA as Wolf. We know Cappy's history. Colon was 164.1. Harang 170.2. Kuroda 202 but coming off an injury last season. Maholm 185.1 and declined three years running. Sanders 202 but surrounded by years under 100 innings pitched. Jackson 121.2. All of them had problems staying healthy and only three of them would cost less than $8.5 million. You may notice that list doesn't include anyone who hasn't had an injury issue in the past several season's. There is value to durability and that according to that list is above $10 million. I've probably missed some guys. But the point is, there are FAR better options at $8.5 million available than Randy Wolf. Not in free agency there aren't. Your list sort of proves that. Pitching a lot of innings is valuable if you throw well. Having a bad pitcher throw 200 innings is worse than having a bad pitcher throw 100 innings. Wolf had a fine 2011. But the problem is that it's 2012, and he's having a terrible year. Of 100 pitchers qualified this year, Wolf's ERA is the 94th worst. (he does beat out Bruce Chen) His WHIP is 97th out of 100. We won't even go into WAR. He will be 36 next month. I honestly think Wolf will be better in 2013. He has a very high BABIP - often a sign of bad luck. And our defense hasn't helped him. Perhaps you think 2011 Wolf is the 'real' Wolf - but 2012 shows he's been very bad. Picking up his option would be a colossal waste of money. Even if he rebounds and pitches well, he won't get anywhere near that on the open market.

$8.5 million actually. We are on the hook for $1.5 million either way. I'm not sure how much better a starter you get for that price. If Marcum wants to come back at that price I'd be all for it. If not Wolf isn't as bad as he gets labeled IMHO. He isn't Suppan nor was his contract nearly as bad. Last off season, the following players signed contracts: Erik Bedard - 1 year/$4.5 million Bruce Chen - 2 years/$9 million Capuano - 2 years / $10 million Colon - 1 year/ $900,000 Aaron Harang - 2/$12 million Kuroda - 1 year / $10 million Malhom - 1 year / $4.75 million Joe Saunders - 1 year / $6 million Edwin Jackson - 1 year / $11 million And you could work a trade like the Pirates did for Burnett. They now have him for about $8-9 million of his salary for 2012-13. I've probably missed some guys. But the point is, there are FAR better options at $8.5 million available than Randy Wolf. The guy will be 36 next month. It's extraordinarily unwise to invest $8.5 million in a player that age who is coming off a poor season. Unless he improves his numbers, he might not even get much more than a minor league deal at this point. I realize that many of the above players, if given the chance, might not have wanted to sign with Milwaukee. But again, the point is that there are far better options than picking up Wolf's option. If you really want Randy Wolf back, you should be able to let him go, then offer him a contract at a much lower rate. Picking up the option should not be considered.

Nice try, Randy. yeah, i think we can do better at $8.5 million.

I'd be all for that. Not much risk involved for the Brewers, and would greatly help the rotation next season with no long-term commitment. This would be perfect for the Brewers. Especially if it can be incentive-laden.

I think the Brewers would have to put in $6 million or so for A-Ram's salary in 2014. They are only paying him $6 million this year, and 2013 could be a year to save money if we go on a selling binge.

Rendon or Olt for Greinke would be fine. Both teams have 3B covered for a while. It's a good match.

This is good for Seattle since they would have felt pressure to re-sign him in the off season. Now they can move forward with guys who are in the long term plan. They can say, 'He asked for the trade, and we complied.' It allows the team to save face and not look like they are dumping him. But it's pretty obvious he's not an elite player anymore, and he's not going to be around when Seattle has a chance to be decent. So there's not point in running him out there just because he's a local icon. And not to mention it's good for Ichiro. At his age, he wants a light at the end of the tunnel. Seattle just wasn't a fit.

Would Tigers be interested?

Cubs are reportedly talking with Dodgers on a Garza for Zach Lee deal: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/07/cubs-dodgers-discussing-garza-for-zach-lee-swap.html

It doesn't matter what you think of Delgado. His prospect ranking was #32 by Fangraphs, #41 by John Sickels and #46 by Baseball America. That sets a value for a good pitcher. If we trade Greinke, we can be expecting someone as good if not better in the rankings (that's assuming we get a prospect). Those rankings were pre-season, so perhaps his performance with the Braves has dimmed his value a lot. I have not seen the guy. His numbers are okay considering he just turned 22 last month. I think we can get a very good prospect for Greinke.

Good deal for us if we want to trade Greinke. It puts a value on a premium pitcher like Dempster - and thus Greinke. The Braves gave up a top 50 prospect. That makes a guy like Mike Olt a perfect trade target for Zack.

If you decide to bag the season, sell them for whatever you can get. I think both guys are arby eligible next season, so you can say to any team that the guy is more than a rental. But both of these guys are going to make more than $2 million next year - then be free agents. If you're rebuilding, they are exactly the kinds of players you don't want to sink money into. Get whatever you can for them, save the money, and start rebuilding the farm system by adding a few prospects.

I would get a shirsey for that guy just for the surname. it is a great name. would it even fit on the back of a uniform?

The team can save quite a bit by non-tendering several players or trading them. This includes: Morgan Kottaras Loe Parra Ishikawa Gomez Some of these guys will, undoubtedly, stay on the team. But many of them are questionable, and you could potentially replace with other, cheaper players (such as Schafer for Nyjer Morgan).

I love this trade. Your poop smells better than my poop. Let's swap. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/07/rockies-royals-swap-guthrie-sanchez.html

I thought his deal gave him FA when it was done. Other Japanese players have done this - Matsui for instance.

I like how Houston got Asher Wojciechowski in the deal - a supplemental 1st round pick in 2010. He's pitching pretty good at High A ball this year (after struggling last season). He was 10th on the Blue Jays Top 20 list, and 11th on John Sickels Top 20 list. Is he a great prospect? No. But he's a guy who can potentially help in 2 or 3 years - maybe even be in the rotation. That's the kind of move you have to make when you're rebuilding. They gave up a mediocre starting pitching who makes over $2 million (and will likely get more in 2013). Would Happ be part of your core in 2-3 years - almost no way. Lyons is a FA after 2012, so he's not going to help you. Good move for Houston.

I'm liking what Jeff Luhnow is doing in Houston. He had a bad situation and is going for the hard rebuild. Best thing for that franchise.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120720&content_id=35239442&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb Let the dealing begin! Will this start the frenzy? Jays get a couple of decent pitchers.