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Matt Breen

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Everything posted by Matt Breen

  1. Matt Breen
    Russell has had so many health issues compared to Ibanez - even with the age difference,. If I wanted a lefthanded hitter to get 400 ABs, I'd probably go with Ibanez due to the Muscle's constant trips to the DL. But honestly, I wouldn't want either of them at this stage of their career. I love Russell, but I wouldn't trust his health.
  2. Matt Breen
    This isn't really important, but I thought it fun to report on the favorite all time Brewer, Jeff Suppan. http://www.mlbtraderumors...to-sign-jeff-suppan.html Suppan, who just turned 37, had a 4.78 ERA and a 1.431 WHIP at AAA last year. Granted, it was the Pacific Coast League, but you gotta wonder what anyone sees in him at this point.
  3. Matt Breen
    The Reds fans probably feel like Brewer fans did last off season. New ace pitcher. Revamped bullpen. Some nice looking rookies. Plus Pujols and Fielder gone from the division. I think they have a nice team and will be in the race for the division title. I'd be excited too.
  4. Matt Breen
    ESPN's Mark Schoenfield has the Brewers graded out on top for the NL Central - just ahead of the Reds and then the Cards. I'm sure we can quibble with his ratings (and his methods), but I think it's a pretty fair assessment. http://espn.go.com/blog/s...owdown-position-rankings He grades the three teams out pretty close race, however. He really liked our rotation. Also cited Miller park as a great place to play. He also liked RRR as well (and took a shot at Dusty Baker's managing skills). I think that it'll be a dogfight between the Crew, Cards and Reds. The key will be who stays healthy. Interesting note he pulls out - what OF has hit the 6th most HR in the majors the past two season? The answer: Corey Hart, with 57.
  5. Matt Breen
    This nails it for me. If you add a guy like Lee, he becomes the safe - but mediocre - option at 1B. If Gamel has a bad day or week or whatever, everyone is suddenly tempted to bench him for Lee. If we had Lee, he would probably hit 15-20 HR, hit .260-.280, play good defense. But that's the upside of Lee. With Gamel there's a solid chance he can duplicate that production (not the defense, however). And there's a chance he can do better - something you probably won't get with Lee. Also, Gamel comes at a fraction of the cost. We also need the left handed bat in the lineup. We lack power from the left side, and Mat is our best option to hit 20 HR. I haven't seen Gamel play lately, but I suspect he's a better baserunner at this stage of his career (this is just a guess). Also, with Lee, you can't ignore the fact that he's 36. He looks in good shape, but it's a dangerous age for big hitter. His OPS over the past few years has trended downward: .972 to .775 to .771. And finally, like RockCoCougers points out - guys like Lee will be around in June/July. If Gamel is truly failing, you can make a move at that time. But we are better off rolling the dice with Mat to start the season.
  6. Matt Breen
    Post season has nothing to do with abitration. You may not like it, but that's how it works. Beyond that fact, if we had a Doug Davis type pitching all year, we probably don't make the playoffs. As a glass half full kind of guy, I say appreciate what Marcum did last year. I hope better in 2012, but he was a vital part of our success last year.
  7. Matt Breen
    i was surprised last year how heavy mcgehee looked when camp started. like anyone in the situation, you just shake your head and wonder why he didn't have that attitude before last year. as you wrote, i guess the threat of not having a job does wonders for some guys.
  8. Matt Breen
    Not a bad buy for the Indians. 1 year / $3 million http://www.mlbtraderumors...sign-casey-kotchman.html I like Kotchman, but I'm not totally convinced last year's performance was going to be repeated. He was mediocre to bad from 2008-10. I love his glove, but there's just not much upside as a hitter. Still, if the Brewers had not felt Gamel could do the job, this would have been a nice, reasonably cheap option.
  9. Matt Breen
    I'm not the biggest fan of Wolf, but he's been a solid addition to the team. Was it an overpay? Yes. Not a Suppan overpay, but still $2-3 million over market. But that's what we had to do to get his attention. He's filled in nicely into the back part of the rotation. He's taken the ball regularly - more than 210 innings each year. No one else has done that. His declining strikeout rate is a potential red flag, but he seems like he's adapting pretty well to his skillset.
  10. Matt Breen
    I think he'll be fine. Great? No. But if we give him a solid chance - two months would be good - I think he'll do okay. My biggest concern will be if he struggles the first couple of weeks, and then presses.
  11. Matt Breen
    It probably all comes down to staying healthy. The team that stays healthy will win it. I worry more about the Reds than the Cardinals. The Cards have too many key players who are dangerously old or have significant injury history. Wainwright (coming of Tommy John), Carpenter (age), Berkman (age), Furcal (injuries), Beltran (age). Even Holiday is showing signs of age. The Crew have Braun's suspension issue, plus the typical Weeks injury worries. Ramirez is getting old. The Reds have some injury concerns, plus age with Rolen. As I said to start, the team that stays healthy will win it. Should be an exciting year.
  12. Matt Breen
    Yo gets the start. Been with the team longer. However, wouldn't be shocked at all if Greinke had a better season.
  13. Matt Breen
    If anyone has any other links to share for some of these, that would be great. I remember most of them, but it would be great to relive them.
  14. Matt Breen
    A's just designated Adrian Cardenas: http://www.mlbtraderumors...enas-for-assignment.html He hit .314 at AAA last year (.374 OBP). Played OF, 3B, 2B, SS - not sure if he's good at any of them. He's a former #1 pick by philadelphia, and was twice in Baseball America's top 100 prospects (2008 and 09). Not a lot of pop, but good average - a .303 lifetime in the minors. Takes walks. Doesn't strikeout a lot. He bats lefthanded - which is probably a negative for us at this point. Seems like a nice guy to have in your system. I'm curiious about his defense.
  15. Matt Breen
    I think they can do it. I'm going to use Fangraphs. In 2011, here's what the five regulars involved produced: Fielder: 5.5 WAR Yuni: 0.5 WAR McGehee: 0.3 WAR TOTAL: 6.3 Ramirez: 3.6 Gonzalez: 1.1 TOTAL: 4.7 That means if Ramirez and Gonzalez and reproduce 2011, then Gamel needs to produce a 1.6 WAR in order to equal the output of Fielder/Yuni/McGehee. I don't think that's an outrageous goal for Mat. Again, this is using Fangraphs' WAR ratings. Just one way to look at it.
  16. Matt Breen
    I read that no one wanted to pay all of Scutaro's $6 million contract. Everyone wanted some money kicked in. Rockies were the first to take on the whole contract.
  17. Matt Breen
    AOKI!!!! I have nothing to say about him. Just wanted to mention his name so it appears in his thread.
  18. Matt Breen
    Well, Prince got his big payday. Good for him. I don't begrudge him. He played hard for us and produced. I can only thank him and wish him well. Lots of great memories. I will say that, in some ways, I'm happy the price was so high - both on dollars and years. That way no one can really complain about him going. I'm excited for 2012. We'll miss prince, but I'm excited about the team. We'll be better at SS and 3B. I'm excited to see how Gamel, Aoki and Green can do. We get K-Rod for a full season. And Greinke. With a few breaks, we can be in the pennett race.
  19. Matt Breen
    I'd go with Zach in a heartbeat. I actually like Marcum a lot. But if I had to pick, I'd go Greinke.
  20. Matt Breen
    Why would a team trade anything of value for Wolf when they could just sign Oswalt? It's not like Wolf is a bargain. He's nearly $10 million.
  21. Matt Breen
    I think this is the big hangup. The Rangers are interested in Prince, but value the impact pitcher more, so they are looking at that option first. Pretty simple. I think Darvish goes back to Japan. If he waits one more year, he's an unrestricted FA. Right now, he's getting Dice-K money - maybe $10 million a year for five or six years. If he waits for next year, he's talking $15 million a year. Obviously, there's the risk of injury, but the payoff for waiting is huge. Man, Prince would put up crazy numbers at Arlington.
  22. Matt Breen
    I think it's a great idea to give Parra another try as a reliever. As was pointed out, he's had success as a reliever (although only 60 innings, so small sample size alert should be on). And we could use a lefty or two in the pen. Parra is still young. He's got a good arm. If he looks like crap in spring training, you can let him go. The risk is that you end up eating the 1/6th of his salary he's due if cut - which is $200,000. Of course, he could get hurt and get put on the IR, and we'd be forced to pay him his $1.2 million. That's another risk. Like Braddock, I wouldn't look at him strictly as a loogy. I could see a really strong bullpen if Parra and Zach can rebound. A bullpen of Axford, K-Rod, Loe, Parra, Braddock, Veras and Estrada wouldn't be shabby. Add in McClendon, Dillard, Kintzler and Fiers to the mix - you have good competition and depth. At the risk of losing 200K, I say Manny's a good risk.
  23. Matt Breen
    brewers get to keep the cash.
  24. Matt Breen
    Gomes really does maul left handers - but he is a pretty bad fielder. His stats last year look bad - a .209 BA - but he hit .311 with an .863 OPS vs lefties. Over the last three years he's hit them for an .875 OPS. Of course, that means he's terrible against righthanders. Still, a Gindl/Gomes platoon wouldn't be the worst option - for 50 games. At that point (assuming Braun comes back, Hart is in RF and Gomez/Morgan in CF), you have decide upon keeping Gindl or Gomes as your 5th OF. I guess the tough thing would be getting Gomes to agree to the job - knowing he'll mostly play against lefthanders for the first 50 games, and when Braun returns, there's a significant chance he could get released. And if we keep him past the 50 games, he's not going to get a lot of playing time. Perhaps he'd be good with that, but you have to think he could find a little better situation. The one thing I'd be really interested in Gomes for is if he could play 1B. He would then be a great option to play LF against lefties while Braun is out, and then play 1B against lefties, giving Gamel a rest. I'd just keep him away from righthanders.
  25. Matt Breen
    Did Madson turn down the Phils? Initially the reports were that he had agreed to a 4 year/$44 million, but higher ups in the phils org said no. Anyone know what really happened? No matter, it's a big come down for Madson. He really needed to land a closer's job if he expects to try for a big payday next year.
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