RobertR

Yeah, great job by Segura and a little league play by Pierzynski.

Because you risk poisoning the well with your paying customers. The Brewers are going to have an early draft pick anyways. Show you care about your customers' experience by putting your best players on the field.

Seriously, Yuni B is still on the team? He has more staying power that Jason Voorhees.

Gamel looks the part of a 6'0" guy, and clearly has the wingspan to not be too small a target at 1B. I'm a bit skeptical of Davis actually being 5'11", but he doesn't have long arms & I think that limits his ability to play 1B to very occasional spot-appearances. Morris, Halton, & Francisco are all guys that are ahead of Davis at 1B on my 2014 depth chart; there'd be no reason outside of injuries/emergencies where -- for me -- Davis should be at 1B. I'm not convinced that Morris or Halton can hit at the MLB level. Or that Francisco is much of a first baseman offensively or defensively. Which is why I'm open to other guys on the roster getting an opportunity. Heck, I've seen Prince Fielder at the position, my bar is low defensively. And anything that potentially gets Davis more MLB PAs is good for the Brewers long term. Yeah, maybe he can't play the position well enough. But, I'm willing to spend an offseason and spring training finding that out.

Davis is listed at 5'-11" which seems pretty comparable to Gamel's listed 6'-0", which nobody seems to have a problem with. Yeah, I'd rather have a taller first baseman as well, but as a Plan B or for an occasional spot start, you can do a lot worse. Like Yuni B, for instance. If anything, I think this year shows why having depth at a position matters.

Easily the biggest issue with the offense with a .202/.254/.364 line to date. Awful. Historically awful. So, what's the solution? Hart on a one year deal? Hunter Morris? Halton? Free agent? Trade? One thing I'd suggest for sure. Brewers management should give first base gloves to Gindl and Davis and tell them that if they want regular playing time in 2014, they better work on their position flexibility in the off season.

I think it's a question of whether Melvin was offered anything of value. It's very likely that teams weren't willing to give up any sort of prospect or take on Axford's salary, leaving Melvin without much motivation to make a deal. I'm sure it's good for Peralta's development to have a solid bullpen behind him and allows the other young pitchers on the team to develop without undo pressure either.

Because Bonds and A-Rod got to the top by cheating, and then they behaved in very unlikable ways. Add Clemens to the list, too. We don't know if they were all-time greats or not, and what impact the PEDs had on their greatness. To be fair to Bonds, he was a multiple time MVP for years before anyone thinks he took anything, and then was arguably cheated out of MVPs by Sosa and McGuire before he reportedly turned to PEDs. Bonds arguably restored himself to the top, which is probably the ultimate tragedy for Bonds, a great player sullied his reputation to keep up with lesser players.

And these young guys need guys in the clubhouse to show them how to handle a long season like this, or any 162 game season. Lots of ups and downs in every season, and the young guys need to be shown how to deal with it. And do you really think that Josh Prince, with a career minor league OPS of .670, is going to be better than Yuni? Perhaps not, but I'd think getting rid of the veteran security blanket might be good for teaching Roenicke how to work with and use young players who might struggle some initially. It's easy to be patient with a Jean Segura. The fact that Davis and Halton rotted on the bench so that Yuni B could play is all on Ron. If Ron treated Yuni B like the last man on the bench, then perhaps his clubhouse presence would be a plus. As it is, he's taking playing time away from guys that might be part of the future. That has to stop.

Yeah, I don't think anyone will say that Yuni B will never have a good game or a key hit. Only that they're few and far between and Yuni B is not part of the future of the team. Not in any significant capacity. If he was the last man on the bench, getting very little playing time, fine. But as a regular? That's part of the reason for the Brewers lost season. A significant part.

Contracts were insane that offseason. Soriano's wasn't even the worst. At least he had some value which is more than you can say for Gary Matthews Jr. Heck, I'd probably rather have Soriano than Carlos Lee, even with hindsight.

Can we just call up Josh Prince already? Seriously, why is Yuni B still on the team? Because he can stink at multiple positions? It's flat out ridiculous that Yuni B is on pace for more than 400 PAs. With the majority of them coming at first base and third base, no less. It's probably delusion that he has any trade value, but if he's on the roster on August 1st, that's a firable offense, IMO.

Yeah, how are the Brewers going to be respectable unless they give playing time to proven veterans like Yuni instead of unproven rookies like Halton?

I'm remarkably sanguine about the whole thing, but the way the suspension shakes out having Braun suspended in a season that's already lost doesn't really effect me. That's perhaps the selfish way of looking at it, but there it is. Otherwise, I'm disappointed in Braun. I'm also disappointed in MLB for foisting the fiction that "chain of custody" doesn't matter. If there's one thing I have to make abundantly clear to people collecting samples, it's that "chain of custody" matters a lot.

For KRod? That we got anything of value was a pleasant surprise, but a guy with legitimate upside? If you had told me that the Brewers would trade KRod for a legit prospect in January I would have thought you were high. We live in strange times.

I was parroting what was in print, not providing as my own opinion. My opinion part of that sentence was that apathy is a clubhouse killer. That said, neither you or me are in the clubhouse every day. I wasn't taking issue with you, as it was clear you were quoting. But, unnamed scout in the stands isn't in the clubhouse everyday either as far as I know.

Yeah, the Brewers are bad this year, but the idea that they've packed it in seems like armchair psychoanalysis at its worst.

Since Lohse is performing well and theoretically flippable for prospects, I just don't see the issue with the signing at this point. It's not like he's blocking anyone and the Brewers need someone to pickup a bunch of innings. Given that it's a fairly typical contract it's not crippling financially. And if the Brewers decide to flip him, they may end up with more talent than they would have gotten out of the draft pick. It's hardly ever a bad thing to sign a guy that performs at or above expectations. Lohse has done that. Just like Gonzalez, Gorzelanny, and KRod. Yeah, the Brewers didn't have to give up a draft pick, but Lohse has more trade value than your average reliever too. From my perspective, it's a wash to a plus long term at this point as Lohse appears to have good trade value.

Nice of Gallardo to start the second half with a strong outing as well.

Sure. I'd like to do better than Francisco too, but I also think that there are higher priorities to deal with as well. The starting rotation is obviously at the top of everyone's list, especially if Gallardo and/or Lohse are dealt. The bullpen can't be far behind that. Aoki is a free agent at the end of 2014 and I don't know if we have a corner outfielder that I'm comfortable replacing him with in the system. Weeks might be dealt and I have questions about the viability of Scooter Gennett. First base isn't settled long term yet. If the Brewers deal with most of the above successfully, I can certainly live with Francisco at 3B. Few teams are completely satisfied at every position. Think the Cardinals wouldn't want to upgrade from Pete Kozma? Jon Jay isn't exactly lighting it up for them either. Yeah, I don't think we really differe. I think the Brewers can do better and he's a better fit as an all around backup, but I'm not also going to lose any sleep over him if he's a starter. It's not like starting Yuni B.

Fair enough, Monty. I do think that the Cubs are doing what they need to do. But, I also think it may take longer than is commonly thought. A lot of their talent is in A ball and probably isn't going to debut before 2015 at the earliest, assuming that they move through the minors on a straight trajectory with no setbacks, and it may take a few years before they fully hit their stride at the MLB level. I expect that the Cubs will be opening the check book for some big name free agents and moving some of their prospects in trades, so I'm not expecting this team solely built around young talent when they finally turn it around.

If Yuni B can start on a playoff team as a regular at SS, Francisco can be a low level third baseman on a competitive team. Or, at least, a platoon option. He's not part of your core, but I think people are overrating what you can expect out of third base. NL third basemen in 2013 are hitting a combined .257/.327/.399 for a .726 OPS. AL third basemen are hitting around .759 OPS, so a .740-ish OPS is probably average. Francisco is obviously going to be a low OBP / high SLG guy, but it's not unreasonable to expect a .770 OPS or so out of him in the next few years, maybe peaking in the low .800s for a year or two. Heck, David Freese (.727 OPS), Todd Frazier (.731 OPS), and Luis Valbuena (.739 OPS) aren't exactly hitting the cover off the ball in the division. And Pedro Alvarez is precisely the kind of low OBP / high SLG / bad defense 3B that Francisco projects to be. Obviously defense is an issue with him. Reportedly attitude is too. But, a stopgap corner guy who's in the neighborhood of average, isn't necessarily a bad thing to have around for a few years.

I'm curious on the statement that the Cubs have a lot of young talent on their MLB roster. Rizzo is young, but does he project as any kind of star or just kind of average-ish? Castro has talent, but he's extremely undisciplined as a hitter and very bad defensively, and he's not really improving. Barney is excellent defensively and can't hit. Samardzija, who's 28 btw, has his moments, but he's older than Gallardo and isn't really dominating. With the exception of Travis Wood, I look at their roster and wonder if anyone on it is going to be around when they theoretically start reaping the benefits of their farm system. A farm system that still is fairly weak on pitching talent.

Honestly, I'm content to see which way the market plays out. If it's a buyer's market, buy. If it's a seller's market, sell. The Brewers wanted to trade Prince Fielder and when nobody met their price, they went the other way and lo and behold, a Division Championship and trip to the NLCS followed. The Brewers don't need non-prospects. There's real talent on the team so you aren't held hostage by some plan that might not be optimal. Obviously KRod, Axford, Ramirez, Weeks, and Lohse should be on the trading blocks up to the deadline, but there's no point to giving away Ramirez, Lohse, Gallardo, and Weeks as they could start in 2014 for the team. Same with Aoki in the offseason. If someone makes an offer worth your time, accept it, but nobody is holding a gun saying that the team needs to take garbage in return.

It's not old but it's not young either which is what logan said. Fair enough, but what's your point Logan? Is having a star player in his prime age a bad thing which dooms the Brewers to not being able to compete in 2014? Don't get me wrong, I'm frustrated with this franchise this year as well. I think Melvin has done a good job overall, certainly the best since Harry Dalton, but hasn't risen to the level of elite GM. But, I also think that some of the arguments aren't necessarily reflective of the actual situation. I think the evidence that Melvin's trades being the reason they can't compete now is not at all clearcut based on the careers of the guys traded. It's certainly been the young pitchers that have failed the Brewers this year more than the old pitchers. And injuries to key players have struck the older (Ramirez, Hart), in their prime (Braun, Estrada), and younger (Gamel) players in such a way that I don't think you can draw firm conclusions about the construction of the roster. If the Brewers can't compete in 2014, I don't think we have to look any further than their drafts. It's not that they're old or won't give young guys a chance, if anything the opposite is true of their pitching staff giving young pitchers every chance to fail this year, as much as it's a combination of things and failed drafts being the underlying cause. The drafting may be enough reason for regime change, but I think we're overanalyzing beyond that with some issues that were beyond planning contributing to a season that's worse that it should be.