Matt Breen

I for one thinks it's quite insane to spend $2 million Just to talk to someone. What a horrible system and if I were Mark and DM, there's no way I would ever entertain an idea that would make me spend that much money just to be able to speak to someone about a deal. Horrible x Infinity! The posting fee is usually refundable if you don't sign the playerThat's correct. You could even use the system to prevent a player from coming to the big leagues. For Yu Darvish - you could put up $70 million to win the rights to him, then simply offer him a five year contract at $1 million/year. No way he takes it. He then goes back to Japan.

Alexi would be perfect. We have no SS in the minors. He's under contract for a while. He's a quality fielder and a good hitter. Too bad we have to give up stuff for him!

Bartlett is probably more of a giveaway player at this point. Narvy is way too much. The Padres just want to be rid of the $5.5 million salary. You could probably get him for nothing if you take on the salary. He has a $1.5 million buyout on a $5.5 million salary in 2013 - so you're talking $7 million in 2012 if you don't want him beyond. That's not cheap.

This is my preference. but the team seems locked in on Ramirez. I think they'll wait until after they hear from K-Rod, then make an offer once they know K-Rod isn't accepting arby.

http://www.mlbtraderumors...quire-huston-street.html For a PTBNL. A salary dump.

Melvin said they would not be trading for a SS. http://www.jsonline.com/s...s-8r3as3k-135073938.html He essentially said we don't have enough quality assets to make any trades. Of course, that could just be posturing. You never know what happens if you sign someone. And some of those guys - like Bartlett - require taking on a pretty big salary. If the team is comfortable doing that, it makes it a lot easier.

My co-worker's sister was in a car crash in Mexico just two weeks ago. Lost an arm, but lucky to be alive. She was robbed before anyone called emergency services. And the things of any value that weren't taken at the scene were stolen by workers at the hospital.

As a note, Ramirez had the worst Zone Rating and Range Factor in baseball last year at 3B. It's important to know that only 12 players qualified. But he was the worst in each category. Fangraphs rates Ramirez as the 2nd worst 3B last year with an UZR of -9.4. Again, only 12 qualifiers. He was tied for 8th with regard to fielding %. Most observers feel Ramirez is a bad fielder. The stats back that up. He's going to only get worse as he ages. The shift to 1B might be a good idea.

I'd take gonzalez exactly for that fact - he's a decent defender (at least in past years). Don't know about Bartlett.

Rawbecht, i think you nailed it. With Rollins likely going back the Phils, we'll sign Ramirez. And with Furcal not in the picture, that sticks us with one of the leftover shortstops. That means Yuni, Alex Gonzalez or Ronnie Cedeno. We'll stick with Yuni, I bet. And like you point out, wouldn't be shocked if McGehee is non-tendered. They'll use Green as back up 3B/1B/PH/DH type, and pick up a middle IF for cheap.

Looking more and more like Yuni. http://twitter.com/#!/Haudricourt/status/144468766464548866 Rollins is heading to the Phils. Furcal not to Crew. That leaves the Brewers with a choice of Alex Gonzalez, Ronnie Cedeno and Yuni. I bet the team will take the devil that they know.

$2 million for the rights. Gotta wonder if he'll just stay in Japan for another year and be an unfettered FA next off season. He reportedly wants to play on the west coast. And could target a team that needs him as a starter.

I would be happy to have Ramirez's bat, but I'm skeptical a three year deal worth $12 million or more a year works out well for the team in the long run. Just a lot of red flags. The injuries. The age. The defense. It is just worrisome. I should note many of these same things apply to Rollins as well. However, if you add Ramirez, you still need a SS. That means someone like Yuni, Cedeno or Gonzalez would be brought in to handle the job. A Yuni/Ramirez left side of the infield would be pretty bad in the fielding department.

Do you really want Bartlett? He's been pretty bad the last two years (after a great 2009). I really haven't seen him play, so I can't say much about his defense (he's had negative fielding values in UZR the last three years). I think he's due $5.5 million - and a $1.5 million buyout for the following year (or $5.5 million in 2013). At 32, we've probably seen his peak performance. Not against him - I just don't really know much about him.

Boston writer says the Sox never bid on nakajima.

I don't care for Yuni, but there are some worse options out there. Miguel Tejada, for instance. I just hope we don't end up with him because there are no other 'veteran starters' available. The Brewers seem to have this affection for veterans, irregardless of their value. I'd rather take a chance with a younger player (who that is another question). So many of the players available are aging, fading veterans - Tejada, Cabrera, Gonzalaz, Wilson, Renteria. There's no upside on these guys.

Jim Breen at Bernie's Crew talked about McGehee and said that he swung at more pitches out of the zone last year, and took more called strikes than ever as well. It's a strong sign that he's guessing at pitches more than before. Perhaps he's got some vision issues. Even a little deterioration in vision can affect a person. No matter, it likely means he's having problems picking up pitches than the first couple of years. I suspect it's a combination of a many things that have caused Casey's struggles. This includes the fact he's a tad slower (the guy looked heavier than ever last year). He's older and lost a little quickness. And pitchers have learned how to pitch him better. Casey doesn't have a lot of room for error as a batter. He's not that athletic. A lot of little issues have combined to make him struggle. It no doubt affected him mentally. I think that caused him to start guessing more, since other things weren't working. For his sake - and ours - I hope he trims down and gets into better shape. I hope he checks his eyes. He needs to come in to camp in optimum shape. If the guy can come in and hit .280 and get 15 HRs he's an asset. I don't expect .300.

I posted this in another thread, but thebrewersbar.com did a look at other players in Casey's situation to look at probabilities of him rebounding. It's just looking at similar circumstances - player with certain amount of at bats, hits at certain level, falls off dramatically - and then how did they rebound. http://www.thebrewersbar....hee-bounceback-2012.html The answer is that, based upon similar batters, Casey is unlikely to rebound to his previous performance level.

The winner of the bid for Nakajima will be announced on Thursday. http://www.mlbtraderumors...t-expected-tomorrow.html I thought it would be SF, but they say no. The Orioles were supposedly interested, with the idea of using him as a utility guy. Or perhaps move to 3B, playing Reynolds at 1B. The other option might be Seattle - and then they'd move Brendan Ryan.

You said it. I got a bad feeling about what's coming.

No, I'm looking at Yuni's offensive production, defensive production, his skill set, his age, his past performance, starting positions available, and contracts given out to other players of his type. Let's start with SS positions available: Red Sox - Scutero, Lowrie Yankees - Jeter Rays - Sean Rodriguez O's - Hardy Toronto - Escobar White Sox - Ramirez Indians - Cabrera Detroit - Peralta Minnesota - Carroll KC - Escobar Rangers - Andrus Angels - Aybar Mariners - Ryan A's - Pennington Mets - Tejada Marlins - Reyes Braves - OPEN Phillies - OPEN Nats - Desmond Reds - Zack Cozart (rookie) Brewers - OPEN Cubs - Castro Cards - OPEN Astros - OPEN Rockies - Tulo Dodgers - Hairston, Gordon, Uribe Giants - OPEN Padres - Bartlett Dbacks - Drew That makes 6 open SS spots in the majors. Five of those teams have definite playoff aspirations (not Houston). You can figure Furcal and Rollins will get two of them, leaving four open spots. Who's left after that? Yuni, Ronny Cedeno, Alex Gonzalez, Orlando Cabrera. Miguel Tejada. Maybe Nakijima - from Japan. And we are not including any younger players that might end up with jobs (other than the Reds guy). Or a player that might get traded (like Alexi Casilla). It's like a bad game of musical chairs where the last team standing gets the junk. But it's a buyer's market at this point. None of these guys offer any appreciable upgrade over the other. All of these players have massive warts. Some can't field. Some can't hit. Some can't do either. None of them do anything really good (which is why Barmes got a good deal even though he hits like Yuni - he's a very good fielder). Why pay Yuni or any of these guys $3-4 million when you get an equally bad guy for far less? Now, Yuni has some selling points. He's durable (which is a nice attribute that people often dismiss), he's still relatively young (age 30 - which is young compared to a lot of the other players), and he has some power relative to the position. But he's a terrible fielder with bad range. He can't hit for average or take walks, meaning he has a terrible OBP. At 30, he's not going to change. He is what he is - a .250ish average a .270-280ish OBP, and a bad fielder. A good half of hitting in 2011 can't negate a career of mediocrity, no matter how much you want to hope. Also, he's not shown the ability to be versatile. This doesn't mean he can't do it, but he isn't like Hairston or Carroll. He doesn't play 3B, 2B, SS, OF. People pay for that ability (as shown this year) - something Yuni hasn't ever shown the ability to do (again, not his fault). Yuni is a starting shortstop. That's it. He has four job options (after Rollins and Furcal). So you look at the teams - Brewers, Cardinals, Giants, Atlanta, Houston and Phils. I doubt Houston will spend anything big. They are going to stink and should, logically, go cheap. So even if they want Yuni, it makes no sense to spend much on him. They can just wait out everyone and get the scraps for cheap. The Cardinals aren't going to want Yuni. They learned their lesson with Theriot. His defense was so bad they went out and got Furcal. The Braves are looking to upgrade from Gonzalaz - who's a better fielding version of Yuni (but older). So it's unlikely they'll want him. The Phils - probably will get Rollins back - but you never know. The teams I see as possibilities are the Brewers and Giants. The others are probably not going to be interested. I just don't see anyone thinking they need to shell out any decent cash for Yuni with the limited market. The teams hold the cards at this phase. They can just pick a different SS who plays for cheaper rather than pay too much for Yuni. This happens every year. The market dries up as the teams fill their needs with the available players. Then it's interchangeable guys. This happened to Orlando Cabrera last year. He settled for a one year, $1 million deal when no spots were left. This doesn't mean some GM won't go and offer Yuni $3 million. They can be idiots and look at one stat - such as RBI and assume he did good - and ignore all the other metrics and scouting reports. It only takes one person, but I think Yuni will be left out of any big bucks. I think he has a good chance to get a starting job. I just don't think anyone will be forced to pay him much for it. If he doesn't get a starting gig, I wouldn't be surprised if a team signs him to play caddie to a younger guy - and be ready to step in if the guy fails. Just my opinion.

Nice deal for JHJ. Two years at his age is great - and solid money. He did well for us - best of luck to him. So, do the dodgers have about a dozen utility players on their roster or what? kennedy, Ellis, now JHR.

It's mind-blowing that they seem to be ready to just count on it. It's not like he was a special player prior to last season.http://www.thebrewersbar....hee-bounceback-2012.html Brewer Bar did a look at McGehee as they wondered if he could come back. The looked at players who had experienced similar collapses of similar age, experience, and wondered if those players were able to rebound. The results are not very encouraging.

I'm betting Yuni gets a one year deal between $1-2 million, John. Just my guess.

Very well said. We don't need to sink $10 million into a guy like this. He's a decent player - but not at the price, years and age he'll be during the course of the contract.