adambr2

Bauer isn't really comparable because his team wasn't really fond of him. The D Backs didn't think of him so highly. Russell is a better comparison, but he was still only the #11 prospect in baseball and the #4 SS prospect. Giolito is is the #1 prospect and the best up and coming pitcher. Really the biggest roadblock in the deal is how meaningful he is to the Nationals next year with losing Strasburg. If they had Strasburg long term maybe trading Giolito would be somewhat feasible. Hard to say what a team would give up for a Lucroy/Braun combo though. That is quite the offensive upgrade for the next 1.5 years plus Braun for more. You could go from an average offense to an amazing one really quick. I'm just spitballing, but I wonder if something with more players involved that included Nelson on our end would tempt them, since it would solve that problem. At that point, I'm not sure it's even worth it for us. I realize the mere thought of dealing their top prospect might be something the Nationals wouldn't even entertain. I do think to a degree some GMs overvalue prospects. As good as Gioloto is, there is no guarantee of him coming up and becoming a Kershaw or an Arrieta. I believe Rickie Weeks was a top 5 prospect at one time. Sometimes it just doesn't translate at the MLB level the way GMs hope. That said, I know the cost-controlled element of a prospect adds a great deal to their perceived value.

In a video game this might be an interesting proposal, but realistically Giolito is the best prospect in the game. You just don't trade prospects on that level. You also propose them trade their #2 pitching prospect. Trading your top 2 pitching prospects is just not something a team wants to do. Lucroy/Braun are huge upgrades, but they are losing Strasburg after this year and Giolito will fill that void. It's rare, but not unprecedented, for a top prospect to be traded. Addison Russell and Trevor Bauer come to mind. It's true that Gioloto might be a pipe dream, but then again, most trades don't return you 2 proven MLB players elite at their respective positions. For a team like the Nationals who has never seen a WS, I can see the appeal. Turner is probably a more realistic target in that deal. Fedde alone isn't nearly enough.

Throwing out an idea : Braun + Lucroy to Nationals for Lucas Gioloto Erick Fedde Jayson Werth Wilson Ramos It is a massive ask to include Gioloto but this is a massive upgrade over Werth in the outfield and behind the plate for the Nationals, who would likely overtake the Cubs as WS favorites with this deal. I included Werth as an additional incentive for the Nationals to balance out Braun's salary through 2017. Then after 2017 Werth would come off the books for us which is a perfect time-frame for our rebuild. No money exchanged either way. Included Ramos as Lucroy's short-term replacement . EDIT: Forgot Werth has a full NTC. Doubt he would waive it to come here even if the Nats wanted to dump him.

It also keeps any calls for calling up Arcia at bay, which is a good thing right now.

Let's say we are set to contend again in 2018 which I think is a really optimistic outlook. I think we can all agree we're not there yet next year. Braun will turn 35 in 2018. To want to keep him for our next window assumes a few things : 1) He will age well enough to still be extremely productive at 35 2) We're going to be contenders again when he's 35 (again, this is best case scenario with pretty much all of our near MLB prospects being quickly productive ). 3) He will continue to stay healthy, which he's had trouble doing in recent years, and he's been much less effective when not healthy. I just think the odds of all those things happening are pretty slim. If Braun indeed becomes a huge trade chip once again, the much safer bet is to take the haul of prospects for him to reload for the next run, and use the extra money saved from Braun when we are indeed ready to contend again. Even great players can hit a wall quickly in their 30s, especially ones with an injury history, and it wouldn't take long for him to go from a huge trade chip to having negative value and a lot of dead money late in his 30s.

Any stat gurus out there know how many times in MLB history a starting pitcher has gone deep enough into a game to win and won without a single K? I can't imagine it is too many. I don't think that is all that rare. You're right, I thought I remembered seeing a couple years ago that Derek Lowe was the first one to do it since 2002, but after looking it up, that was actually shutouts without a strikeout, which is obviously much more rare.

Any stat gurus out there know how many times in MLB history a starting pitcher has gone deep enough into a game to win and won without a single K? I can't imagine it is too many.

So this is how we get Peralta 17 wins again. We just need to score 11 runs for him every time and he should have no problem hitting 17.

This team is not going to lose 106 games...or even close to that unless we trade Lucroy/Braun and trot out the worst offense in history. We have pitchers with 7+ERAs and that isn't going to last. We are not well over 100 losses bad. I'm not saying they'll lose 106, but I don't think its impossible. I'd put the over/under at 100 at this point. The pitching should improve, but the lineup hasn't really been much worse than expected overall. Braun isn't likely to continue to OPS over 1.000. Most of our wins have been very narrow ones, and Jeffress hasn't blown a save. We're actually fortunate to have 8 wins right now. We haven't been unlucky to this point, just bad.

This team is going to give the 2002 Brewers a run for their money. We are that bad.

Settle down Ramos. Only took you about 87 pitches to record one out.

I don't have a huge problem with that being ruled an error. It was a fairly routine comebacker and he booted it right off his glove. It was a play that should have been made.

Doesn't help that Nelson can't even get through the 6th inning. Counsell probably put Torres in to finish the 6th and then pitch the 7th. I hope he is not managing the pen by assigning 'X inning' guys.

Torres and Freeman are just total dumpster fires. It's hard to believe they would make any other roster.

Just don't Hill, that was plenty good.

That was about the worst possible approach with a runner on 3rd, 2 out, and the pitcher on deck. Or is Rivera the pitcher? He sure looked like one that AB.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/minor-league-club-cancels-promotion-insulting-player-s-defense-234803898.html Ouch... :Not surprisingly the promo was cancelled.

I like Nelson a lot, but he is our defacto ace because we have no one better. He's not an ace on most contenders and by the time we come out of this rebuild we're going to need a dominant true ace ahead of him in the rotation. We need to find/draft our Arrieta, Kershaw, or Bumgarner. I don't think Nelson is that guy.

I'd say they are the model team right now for the gut and rebuild strategy, which is the closest model to what we're doing right now.

The Cubs tried to trade Soriano to the Giants in 2012 but he wouldn't waive his no trade clause. They were thrilled to trade him. It took a long time because he had an albatross of a contract and was aging. It certainly wasn't because of a lack of desire or because they somehow felt it was important that they keep him around in the rebuild. I'm not sure at all what you were trying to say with your sentence about the Cubs turning out just fine, that was my point, it's almost like you're implying that the Cubs are great now because Soriano was a part of their rebuild, which we obviously both know isn't true.

Have you SEEN the Philadelphia 76ers? That is what kind of dumpster fire ensues if you burn the house down and there is no guidance from somebody(s) that have actually been there and done that before. Why do you think Michael Carter-Williams came to us the way he was? He even talked about it. This ain't a vacuum we live in watching this team, you can't just push every single guy making a buck out for another guy making fifty cents. The cycle never ends. I'd sure as heck rather watch Ryan Braun at $20 mil per swat .300 and 40 HR than watch Keon Broxton bat .180 and look like a clown out there. And i'm a pretty devoted Brewer fan, imagine those who are more casual in nature. I can see Lucroy getting shipped out, that makes sense. Braun however I don't think is going anywhere. He will still likely be a .280 ish hitter barring injury when these kids are ready to compete, ala Alfonso Soriano in his latter years. Lucroy on the other hand could be concussed and out of the league by then, or at the least a shell of himself like Joe Mauer. Or, you end up with the Cubs, who don't have a single player on their roster that was here before 2012.. I like that comparison much better since comparing to an NBA team is apples and oranges. Guys aren't spending 4 years in developmental leagues in the NBA before they're even pro-ready. The key to a rebuild is acquiring as much young talent as possible for your next future opportunity of contention. It's not about whether fans would rather see Braun or Broxton in a year that doesn't matter anyway. The odds of Braun's skills being good enough to still be a star player by our next window of contention are very unlikely. If he is indeed a .300 40 HR player again now that he's healthy he would be a tremendous trade chip for us this summer and we'd be foolish not to entertain offers

Does anyone really show up at the ballpark for Ryan Braun anymore? I am honestly wondering myself, I don't know. I'm over the PED scandal myself, but there's no way you can ever really recover from that to be a face of the franchise again. His best bet for people to move on is to keep quiet and just do his job, which he has been. I'm not sure how many families really show up at the ballpark just to see Ryan Braun anymore, and I'm not sure the Brewers even want to market him that way again. Aside from that, I think the fans already going to games now have a pretty good idea for the most part about the direction for this franchise right now, and I doubt more than 1% of them are going to cancel their game plans because of Braun being traded. If Braun has a star 1st half he'd be a pretty ideal unload candidate IMO for the right return.

Aaron Hill is like an expensive household item that turns out to be pretty useless but we still force ourselves to use every day, because darn it, we paid good money for it.

Torres and Freeman have got to be 2 of the most atrocious relievers in the majors.

I think we're already there, at least with Flores.