Matt Breen

I like Weathers too. Solid, dependable guy. 2 years at $2 million a year would seem reasonable (but who's reasonable in FA!). At his age, I think it could be done. My only hesitation is that I believe he is a Type A free agent, so we'd have to cough up our 2nd round pick to get him. Still, if we offer arby to Graffy and Ohka we're getting some picks back, so it wouldn't hurt as much.

John Sickels has begun his annual Top 20 Prospect reviews of each organization. minorleagueball.com/ So far he's done Atlanta, Minnesota and KC. Interesting note on Jarrod Saltalamacchia - said "I am more worried about reports of excess weight gain and defensive problems in the Arizona Fall League." Twins have a lot of good looking arms. Braves, for a change, aren't that great.

The Baltimore Sun said the O's offered Speier 3 years/$12 million, but that he's looking for more like $15 million over three years. He's probably the one of the top 2-3 relievers out there, and someone may give him a chance to close. Farnsworth got nearly $6 million/year last season, so I imagine someone desperate for help will pony up his asking price.

Clement is expected to miss 2007. Sory He had a torn labrum and rotator cuff. Ouch. Even if he comes back, it won't be until late next year.

I saw Duffy play a couple of times on TV, and he looked okay, but nothing special. Didn't seem to have an pop in his bat. Sort of reminded me of Gwynn - perhaps a better runner, and even a better hitter - but with less discipline. I will say it was only seeing him a couple of time on TV, and I know he went through some weird stuff, so perhaps I'm misreading him. Just my observation from the times I saw him.

What's impressed me with Braun this year has been his steady improvement throughout the year - from A to AA to AFL. His walk rate has improved at each stop. His slugging percentage too. His extra base hits went from 21 in 62 hits at A, to 45 of 70 at AA, to 15 of 26 in the Arizona league. He's not been caught stealing at AA or the AFL. I don't expect lots of stolen bases, but smart base running is something the team needs. His K rate has been pretty consistent, though increasing a bit in the AFL from AA. Nothing huge, however. Now we just have to determine where he's going to play.

Ken Rosenthal is saying that the Sox might not intend to sign Matsuzka - forcing him back to Japan - and keeping him from the Yankees. Story A quote: One rival executive says flatly that the Red Sox could not come up with such a sum for Matsuzka's Japanese team, the Seibu Lions, within the prescribed 35-day limit. His other theory is that the Sox will try and lowball Matsuzka - say 3 years/$21 million. Or 6 years/$60 million. If the Sox don't intend to negotiate in 'good faith', he said the commish could intervene and re-award him to the next bidder. Let the mind games begin!

Okay, this one is strictly a crazy, fun idea. FA signing: Gil Meche or Greg Maddux - Both can probably get in the $7-8 million/year range. Maddux for two year or Meche for three. Either would go into the rotation. David Weathers - RRHP - 2 year/$1.5-2 million/year Scott Walker - LRRP - 3 year/$2.5/year Two veteran relievers who have been pretty consistent over the last few years. Adds needed depth. Jose Cruz - OF - 1 year/$1 million - still an above average righthanded bat who is a superior fielder - won a gold glove in 2003. He can provide play all three OF slots. Resignings: Davis - 3-year deal for $21 million ($6/$7/$8 payout) Graffanino - 2-years/$2.5 a year Cirillo - 1 year - $1 million. Not sold on this, since Rottino might do just the same thing. Still, he had a good year, so they'd probably want him back - if he doesn't retire. Trades: Jenkins ($7.0) and Clark ($3.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif -> SF for Benitez ($7 million) Why? Jenks will start for them at a corner. Money wise, Clark/Benitez is a straight swap, but SF needs to give us more. They do that by taking on Clark and his salary. Clark offers a solid 4 spot back up for them. They get rid of a guy they don't want in Benitez. A-Rod and $2 million/annually -> Brewers Capuano, Turnbow, Benitez and Zach Jackson -> Yankees Yes, you'd have to convince A-Rod to take the trade. Let's just go on the assumption you could get that to happen. Yankees get a quality, inexpensive, young lefty who they can really use. He's the kind of guy who can help shut down Big Papi. They get a reliever will probably be servicable for a season in Benitez. They get another reliever in Tbow who could be a bust or a gem. Never know. They get a good pitching prospect in Jackson. They take on about $12-13 million in salary in the players, but Tbow is only signed through 2008 and Benitez through next year. With their starting pitching needs filled - and a couple of arms in the pen - they use their funds to go after a guy like Aramis Ramirez. Brewers get a 40 HR potential at 3B at around $14/million annually (I believe the Yankees are paying him $16 million each year, with the Rangers picking up the rest). The Crew save themselves around $16 million in salary in 2007 by trading Capuano, Tbow, Clark, Jenks. The team immediately moves Braun to LF, where he can spend 2007 at AAA learning the position. Moves: Hall goes to CF full time. Hart goes to RF, Gross to LF against righthanders, Jose Cruz starts against lefties. Lineup C - Miller/Rivera - Platoon 1B - Prince 2B - Weeks SS - Hardy 3B - A-Rod RF - Hart CF - Hall LF - Gross (L)/Cruz ® - Platoon Bench Graffanino - SS/3B/2B/1B Rottino - 3B/1B/LF/RF/3rd Catcher or Cirillo if the club doesn't think Vinny is a big leaguer Gwynn or Krynzel - OF Cruz would also be availble to PH when not starting. Starting Pitchers Sheets Bush Davis Meche/Maddux Carlos V. Relievers Cordero Wise Capellan Walker Weathers Eveland Sarfate If there is an injury to starting pitching, you have Eveland or Yo move into the rotation. Or even Hendrickson if it happens in spring training. If there are injuries to the relievers, you have Zumwalt or Bray brought up. Salaries: Miller - 2.25 Rivera - 0.4 Prince - 0.4 Weeks - 0.5 Hardy - 0.4 A-Rod - 14 Graffanino - 2.5 Rottino - 0.38 Hart - 0.38 Hall - 3 Gross - 0.45 Cruz - 1 Gwynn/Kryzel - 0.38 Sheets - 10 Madduxm/Meche - 8 Bush - 0.5 Davis - 6 Carlos V. - 0.38 Cordero - 5.4 Wise - 1 Capellan - 0.4 Sarate - 0.38 Eveland - 0.38 Walker - 2.5 Weathers - 2 Total: 62.98 All in all, you're risking a lot by unloading Capuano, but you'd be getting a potential monster in A-Rod. You have Graffy for infield depth. Outfield depth is questionable. Pitching would have to rely on some youngsters, especially if there were injuries. Of course, you'd have to get a lot of people agreeing to sign here, make the deals, etc. It's so easy for one element to fall through to make the plans work. But look at the line and the home run potential: Weeks - 20 HR Hardy - 10 HR Fielder - 35 HR A-Rod - 40 HR Hall - 35 HR Hart - 20 HR Gross/Cruz - 20 HR Miller/Rivera - 15 HR That's 195 HR out of our starters alone - and there's potential for more. Again, just a crazy idea. Edit: forgot about Koskie. If healthy, he's a back up, or perhaps dealt. Might need to add $2 million to the salary number.

All about money. Boros said: "We let the Dodgers know we're interested in returning and discussing a new contract. Obviously, it was something we had to do in free agency." I think they see the money guys like Ramirez are tossing around - $15 million a year - and figured now was the time to cash in.

I bet Nomar ends up with the Yankees. They need a decent guy in the field as well as with the bat. Plus, it would tweak the Red Sox to have Nomar hitting against them. Don't think Steinbrenner wouldn't like that. I'd like him too. Just not sure at what price.

If they resign Ramirez and add Carlos, you're talking $40-45 million annually for three hitters. Doesn't leave them lots for upgrading their pitching.

I think Wells would fetch quite a bit more than this. Just my opinion. And we'd probably have to toss in some $$$ for Seattle to take Jenks. Again, my opin. I just don't think a team is going to freely take $7 million in salary for a player that struggled so much last year.

Bonds would be perfect for Texas. Let him DH. He'd rake in a pitcher's park, surrounded by other decent hitters. Some people think he won't go away from the west coast, but I bet he ends up here. It's just too natural of a fit.

With the Barfield trade, I would bet the deal to SD is pretty well set.

I see Eric Duncan dropped totally off their top 10, after being #1 last year. Guy really struggled last year.

Welcome to board, Hawk. It's a pretty fun place.

I don't know if Braun's value would be equal to Marte's a year ago. The main reason is that Marte is far more advanced defensively. There are still questions about Braun's future position. Also, Marte was viewed by many to be major league ready last season -- he had had a good year at AAA in 2005. Braun has only 1/2 a season at AA. Not to say that he isn't an excellent prospect - most folks believe he is. Just for note, baseball america had Marte at 14th top prospect last year, 9th in 2005, and 11th in 2004. Braun was 49th last year. Perhaps he'll crack the top 20. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in LF in 2007 in Milwaukee.

Word is that Heilman really wants to start. This is from Fox's Ken Rosenthal: The Mets seem poised to trade right-hander Aaron Heilman, and Heilman would welcome the chance to start for another club. Heilman, who made all 74 of his appearances last season in relief, plans to again ask the Mets about joining their rotation, according to sources close to the pitcher. A negative response from the club will be followed by a trade demand. Heilman simply is not happy pitching out of the bullpen ...

I Your point on Hall is understood, but that we reverted to Barnwell, we had Cirillo at SS for several games, and ultimately, had to trade for two infielders, exposed a weakness. A weakness that could have been predicted, since your 3B had a history of injuries, your second baseman was coming off surgery, your SS was less than two years coming off surgery, and your back up 3B had missed a couple of months the year before. As you pointed out, they were wise to have Hall ready. And, as we both pointed out, there were lots of injuries last year. It was not the only reason for the team's failure, however. But a big element. The point of my post was that we can do better next year - without tons of changes - simply because we probably won't have as many injuries, we have more talented players, etc. Also, Melvin has a limited budget. I may think he was unprepared last year with depth, but I also know his budget limits his options. It's something we will always have to face. Watching Eveland (which wasn't a ton, since he only got in 27 innings), he looked scared to make mistakes. It's that look players have of failing, instead of just trying to do what they do well, and letting the chips fall. The merry-go-round of relievers was frustrating to fans, but if you're one of those players, it's got to be maddening. Just my opinion. Again, I think we agreed on this. We had lots go wrong last year. Hopefully, we can correct those issues for 2007.

Reed had the rep of being able to hit lefties in the minors, but as someone pointed out, he hasn't been able to in the bigs. He hit .200 in 2005 and 0 for 23 last year. In his defense, I think he has had some injuries. Still, he has a .400+ OBP in the minors, and really controlled the strike zone well. Only 116 Ks in almost 1200 minor league ABs, to go with 140 BBs. Scouting report was that he's a solid CF - nothing great. Average range and arm, but good instincts. I don't know how he's played in Seattle - just going from his minor league reports. It would be interesting. I guess the team would have to look at the big league film and see if he's a lost cause against lefties. Still, he's intriguing.

Are we any better? We were injured. Don't blame injuries? Everyone has injuries. Etc. These are all legitimate points. Unfortunately, we tend to look at them one at a time, instead of as a whole. Yes, the team had injuries. Yes, everyone has them. Are we any better - look at the players, ages, past performances, skills, etc. That will, hopefully, give us hope. The team crapped out last year for a multitude of reasons. Injuries were one. Hardy, Ohka, Sheets, Koskie, Wise. However, all these guys have had injuries in the recent past, so that it happened, isn't overwhelming. The team wasn't as prepared as they could have been for the injuries when they arrived. Another reason is the Brewers have put their trust in 'surprise' guys -- guys who have never done well anywhere else, come here, done decent (or at times, really well). We then count on them to produce at the same level. Brady Clark, Turnbow are examples. Pods is another. Or even Wes Helms. Guys who haven't succeeded at other places, but suddenly blossom here. Sometimes that's legit, but we need to be wary. We sunk a lot money in many of these types, only to see them falter for a variety of reasons. Often, these aren't guys with the best skills in the world. We count on these guys to produce again like they managed to do that one time, and we lose. Tbow is not an example of this - he's obviously got some talent, but harnessing it is different. Pods, Clark and other like them have limited skills. We also tend to grasp for straws and throw a bunch of these types against the wall and hope for the best - Mabeus, Winkelasas, Fernandez, etc. Next, the team wasn't ready for the injuries/failures. We didn't have adequete infield depth. Our bullpen was suspect. I don't think we could have predicted the depth of Tbow's meltdown, but was anyone really expecting much out of a 30some year old knuckleballer? Or Winkelasas? Or the other revolving retread pitchers? Finally, the team exercised poor judgement on the handling of pitchers - at least in my opinion. Too many guys were jerked around. Eveland, Hendrickson, Jackson, etc. -- all these guys seemed to be on the short leash. I realize the team wanted to win, but some of them - especially Eveland - had little to prove in AAA. If that's the case, let them pitch. Let them learn. Take the lumps that come with it. But don't make them wonder if one bad outing is going to put you on the bus back to Nashville. If the team doesn't think the guy is a major league player, then that's a different story. But if Eveland had been given the ball and told not to worry, perhaps by mid season he'd have been a solid contributor. Perhaps I'm wrong on this last point. I just think patience with pitchers - especially ones that have done well in the minors, and have superior skills (such as Eveland, Carlos V, Yo, Zack Jackson). You give them a job, let them know what to expect, and give them time to mature. I think you're better off in the long run for it. I'm rambling and ranting. All in all, the team CAN do better. Why? Young, talented players usually improve. Weeks, Fielder, Hardy, Hall, Hart, Bush, Cappellan, et al can grow, can improve. You're not relying on the extra OF and surprises to start for you. No Clarks, no Pods, etc. Koskie goes down, you have a guy like Braun ready. Starting pitcher is needed, we have Eveland step in, or Yo, or whomever. Not Winksalas or other hasbeens. You prepare for the injuries. You have players ready to step in, unlike last year. You handle players better. Don't jerk around the pitchers. It's everything -- players maturing, not relying on lesser talented players, handling guys better, being prepared for the injuries, etc. That will make us better, even with smaller changes to the roster.

Address the bullpen in FA. I picked Weathers and Jamie Walker. Weathers is a righthander who had a 3.54 ERA in 73 innings. He's 37, so getting up there a bit, and has been a little more inconsistent. Still, he's a solid workhorse who pitched well in a pitcher's park last year. Walker is 35 and had 2.81 in 48 innings, and has had 5 straight years of 3.71 ERA or lower. And he's a lefty. Perhaps I underestimate their worth, in which case, you'd need to tack on a million or two. Otherwise, Miller and Rivera platoon at catcher. Koskie/Cirillo are 3B platoon. Rottino moves into the job if Cirillo retires. Resign Grafanino for $2.0, but I'm afraid he'll go somewhere else. Still, offer him arby if we can get a draft pick. I think he'll get more than this, but he's 35, so he isn't really that young, and despite his a good year in 2005, he didn't get many offers last off season. Just a little too old, etc. Most teams will likely see him as a utility guy. HOpefully, we can keep him. Jenkins is my LF, Hart RF, Hall is CF. Gross will get 20 starts in CF and RF each, and still get 200 ABs - or more if Jenks falters. Clark will play against lefties if Jenks continues to swoon against them. Go with Sheets, Cappy, Davis, Bush and Carlos V. in the rotation. Eveland, Jackson and Hendrickson get first crack if someone is hurt. Add Weathers and Walker to the pen, resign Shouse. Bring back Cordero, Wise, Cappellan and Turnbow. Have Eveland, Sarfate, Hendrickson, Zumwalt waiting if there are any injuries or implosions, or if someone falters. I've got 28 guys on the roster, assuming we have a couple of injuries, and the young guys have to play. Key thing - let people play. Don't jerk around player, especially pitchers. If you put Carlos V. in the rotation, let him stay there for a while. Let him work it out. Don't yank him after 4 starts. Patience can work wonders with players. Miller - 2.25 Rivera - 0.4 Prince - 0.4 Weeks - 0.5 Hardy - 0.4 Koskie - 2 Cirillo - 1 Graffanino - 2 Jenkins - 7 Hall - 2.8 Hart - .4 Clark - 3.8 Gross - 0.5 Gwynn - 0.38 Sheets - 10 Capuano - 2.5 Davis - 6 Bush - 0.5 Carlos V. - 0.38 Cordero - 5 Turnbow - 2.3 Wise - 1 Capellan - 0.4 Weathers - 1.5 Walker - 2.5 Shouse - 1 Eveland - 0.38 Sarfate - 0.38 Total - 57.67 Nothing sexy here. Just move Hall to CF. Add some experienced bullpen arms. Have some depth. If I underestimated prices, there's some wiggle room. Plus you have money to add something decent if the team is in the race. And let's not forget you may have guys like Yo or Braun ready to go in 07 - perhaps not right away, but they would be inexpensive, potential impact players.

Dellucci is looking for a place that he can play everyday. Whether he finds that is another question. Guy can pound righthanders. He'll help someone out.

I'd love Cameron too, but you're right, the Padres would be foolish to let him loose. Especially with a leadfoot like Giles in the corner, and who knows who else in the other. I think his option is reasonable - $7 million or so. A defensive player of Cameron's ability - and adequete offense, like Cameron, would be ideal for this club. I certainly think Hall has the ability to do the job, but he's not going to have Cameron's experience and instincts.

Suppan's earning himself a couple of extra million with his playoff performance.