sbrylski

Bonderman for Carl Crawford could be a match.

He may have peaked, but he is still a valuable pitcher. Even with his control problems he did have a lowish FIP last year at 4.43, just a little unlucky with BABIP and LOB%. And control is fixable. I just still feel that Davis is better than the Padilla's and Lilly's out there this year. Don't give them money if we won't give it to Davis.

I'd rather resign Davis. I don't understand why most people want Davis to be traded or gone after next year, but then want to sign a guy with a consistent ERA in the mid 4's to a deal worth more money that Davis wants. I vote we just give it to Davis. (Comments about Davis are generalized, not specific to first few posts)

Trade Jenkins and Mench for prospects/reliever. Sign 3B Aramis Ramirez - 5 years / $75 million Sign a very good RP, I'll pick out LHRP Jamie Walker - 3 years / $10 million (3, 3.5, 3.5) Resign Cirillo - 1 year / $1 mil Resign Shouse - 1 year / $1.25 mil Negotiate with Hall and Capuano to buyout their arby years. Hall - 3 years / ~$16 mil (4, 5.5, 7) Capuano - 3 years / ~16 mil (4, 5.5, 7) Negotiate with Davis for a three year deal. Davis - 3 years / ~$18 mil (5, 6.5, 6.5) Move Hall to CF and leave him there, barring any IF injury, for the rest of him time in Milwaukee, hopefully his career. 1. 2B Weeks $ .500 2. LF Gross $ .335 3. 3B Ramirez ~$15.000 4. 1B Fielder $ .330 5. CF Hall ~$ 4.000 6. RF Hart $ .330 7. SS Hardy $ .355 8. C Miller $ 2.250 OF Clark $ 3.800 OF Nix/Gwynn $ .330 IF Koskie $ 2.000 IF Cirillo ~$ .800 C Rivera $ .330 1. Sheets $10.000 2. Capuano ~$ 4.000 3. Bush $ .352 4. Davis ~$ 5.000 5. Villanueva $ .327 LR Sarfate $ .380 (else Spurling, other FA, Mench or Jenkins trade) MR Turnbow $ 2.300 MR Walker ~$ 3.000 MR Wise $ 1.000 SU Shouse ~$ 1.250 SU Capellan $ .330 CL Cordero $ 5.000 ------- TOTAL $63.299 Braun gets shifted to a corner OF spot and starts out in AAA, though would likely be up very soon and split time with Gross until he gets adjusted. In the meantime, Clark starts in LF against LHP. Koskie is trade bait throughout the offseason and until the deadline if he comes back. He would likely need to prove he's healthy before he's traded. AAA Depth: OF Braun OF Gwynn/Nix UTIL Rottino IF Perez C Closser (if we can get him through waivers)

That's a tough one. I'd also say Gallardo, though I agree that it could be the Brewer goggles speaking. He should have been starting but they stuck with Garcia and Vazquez for a long time to justify their contracts. As an aside, Vazquez had the lowest FIP of all the White Sox starters last year. Some people have thrown out trading for one of these, and I'd much rather have Vazquez. FIP Vazquez - 3.89 Contreras - 4.15 Garland - 4.41 Garcia - 4.64 Buehrle - 5.33 McCarthy - 5.45

I liked the "Weeks with less power" comparison better than the Yuniesky Betancourt one. Hopefully Perez can take walks.

Isn't Crawford up for arbitration soon (this year?) and free-agency in a year or two? No, he signed a contract. 2007 - $4 million 2008 - $5.25 million 2009 - $8.25 million (club option) 2010 - $10 million (club option) So we would have him for four years at a very reasonable price.

As Mass Haas noted, I think Perez is a darkhorse to be the Brewers' utility IF to open the '07 season, but I think he has a lot of questions to answer offensively for him to be considered much more than a utility infielder on a team that needs to get average to above average production at every position on the field to be successful. I would say he's kind of the new Enrique Cruz, would you? Maybe a little more upside. (Upon review of Cruz's stats, he really struggled this year.)

Either of the Florida teams. I'm kidding, by the way.

He definatley has the potential to outpreform Gallardo. Those two are very exciting and I wish they were in the bigs now. Inman appears to be the better strikeout pitcher. Both are very poised on the mound. This is what I love about Gallardo. His "weaker" point is that he doesn't have great stuff. Yet he somehow led the entire minors in K's. Mmmm....nice.

Though the signing is exciting, I'm going to temper my expectations of him. The article said he wasn't in a leauge for two years. He's still behind the likes of Hardy, Weeks, Hall. He just supplies some great depth with upside, from what I gather. I hope we can hear more about this guy in the near future.

One last point, as far as trading Davis to get Burrell (vs. trading Jenkins) That would be a overpayment on our part, I think. Davis still has a lot of value, while Burrell does not have to much with his contract.

"Whatever becomes of Kevin Mench with the Brewers, there's a few teams out there that would love to have him." I officially retract all my comments in this thread. I was kidding. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif I am actually getting very excited for this offseason. With the interview today, I am expecting at least one big acquisition.

I like how your posts are always "the truth". He has a working relationship with Steven Colbert.

I do want to clarify that if I were manager, I would start Gross everyday verse RHP. I am a huge Gross supporter and I think he is better than Mench. However, it seems that Melvin still likes Mench. While I'd like to see Gross start over Mench, I think they will give Mench another shot first. Then, like I said, I feel it is likely that Gross will continue to outplay Mench and begin to take more and more time away from him. But I just don't want to automatically assume Mench is going to stink up the joint after just 130 AB's. He does have some potential to bounce back, though it is probably more likely for him to continue to preform at a very mediocre level. A player that many would welcome in Milwaukee (myself included) is Vernon Wells. The numbers are not from the same years, but thy are consecutive: Mench Wells (OPS) '04 .874 | .909 '03 '05 .797 | .809 '04 '06* .797 | .783 '05 '07 .??? | .899 '06 *In Texas Mench is one year older than Wells, so age wise in that comparison Mench is two years behind. I'm not saying Mench is as good as Wells (especially when defense is considered), or that he will bounce back like Wells did. But it is possible, and I could understand giving him a month or two in a starting role and see how he does, especially because the people making this decision know a lot more about him than we do. (Though, again, I'd also prefer to just hand the job to Gross now)

If he struggles in the first two months, he will probably start to lose playing time to Gross.

To compare Ordonez with Mench is a joke. Yes, Mench doing what Ordonez did this year would be a more optimistic view. Mench Career - .271 / .330 / .469 / .799 Ordonez 2006 - .298 / .350 / .477 / .827 But it is not all that farfetched that Mench could hit 28 OPS points above his career average next year. I doubt his average gets up in the upper .290's though. Mench did have a .874 OPS in 2004, though in Texas. Then .797 in '05 and .797 in '06 before completely falling off after being traded. putting up numbers like Monroe Monroe's 2006 line of .255 / .301 / .482 / .783 is defintely not out of the question for Mench, as he carried a high OPS than that his entire time in the bigs except his rookie year of '02 and '06 after coming to Milwaukee. His average and OBP actually was .269 and .313 total last year, both better than Monroe.

Hold on everyone, hold on. He said, "A bunch of losers." Does that automatically imply that everyone here is a loser, or just a "bunch". How many is a "bunch" anyway? That could mean just a few, or even a majority. I can say with a great amount of confidence that he means at least three, as two would only be a "pair" of losers. I've done a little research in an attempt to find out just how many of us are included in the "bunch": According to the Wine Lover's Companion, a bunch is defined as: The portion of the vine to which individual grapes are joined. Also called a cluster. Though WordNet defines it as: Any collection in its entirety. Synonyms: lot, caboodle Conflicting definitions, hmm. Using WordNet's definition would seem to imply that we are all losers, but look at the synonyms. We all know a caboodle is the last car off a train. The caboodle usually only makes up a small portion of the entire train. It is also often painted red. The caboodle could also be referred to as the "butt end" of the train, which increases the level of insult. Props to the Prince on his excellent word choice. The word "caboodle" can also be found in the phase "kit and caboodle," which also means the "whole shebang" according to TheFreeDictionary.com. Let's assume all of the posters on BrewerFan.net constitute the "whole shebang." The Prince only referrences the "caboodle" part as being losers. That leaves the entire "kit" part unidentified. Now we are getting somewhere. So of the "whole shebang," how much is the "kit" and how much is the "caboodle?" Well, "caboodle" has eight letters while "kit" only has three. Therefore it can be assumed that "caboodle" represents 8/11ths of the "whole shebang." It is fact that 8 out of every 11 members on this board are indeed losers. That's 72.7 percent and 1,728.7 people. Quite a bold statement there, Prince. I wonder what the other 648.3 people would be classified as, myself included. (I know I'm not one of the losers, as evidenced by a post of this nature being submitted at about 4 AM.)

Like I said in the Clark thread, I also think he will be back provided we don't aquire a new OF bat. I think he's more likely to be in our opening day lineup than Jenkins. I'd rather see Gross everyday, but he should still get plenty of playing time by sharing some starts with Mench. He could quickly beat him out for the job. I do agree that people were a little quick to throw Mench right into the fire. He could potentially put up the same numbers as Magglio Ordonez this year, and will most likely exceed what Craig Monroe did this year.

I'll throw in the obligatory "37 ab's is completely meaningless" comment. Yeah, but I'd rather have him do really well in those 37 AB's than do poorly.

Clark will be back, and I'd like him back. He's a gamer. I think he will bounce back a bit. Pinch Hitting last three years: 37 AB's - .324 / .457 / .459 / .916 We also need a bench OF bat who can hit lefties. Trading him would create a hole. I expect Jenkins to be gone, though I would also welcome him back. I think, much to the dissapointment of the majority of the board, that Mench will begin next season getting more time in LF than Gross, though they will both get starts out there. Gross will act as the 4th OFer and top PH option, though could gradually become the everyday starter in LF if he outplays Mench. Clark as the 5th OFer. vRHP LF - Mench/Gross CF - Hall RF - Hart vLHP LF - Mench CF - Hall RF - Hart Bench OF - Gross OF - Clark IF - Cirillo C - Rivera Rottino/Gwynn/Nix/Graffy

Shouldn't this have been put in the "Issues" section?

I wouldn't mind Lofton, as long as its a 1 year deal. He's getting old, so he wouldn't be a long term solution. I'd rather have him out there than Gwynn. (Though I'd rather have Hall out there if he don't need him in the infield.)

Isn't he already kind of "unliked" by Mets management. They always stick him in the bullpen. If he came here, I would think he would start.

sbrylski06, I started off by saying IN THEORY these things should help a batter, but they don't, which I have recognized more than a few times already in this thread. My bad for the confusion. I was misinterpreting your post.