sbrylski

What about Ford's .387 SLG to Gwynn's .326. And 14 SB for Gwynn to 69 for Ford. I would say Ford is a better prospect than Gwynn was at this point. If Ford can move up the ladder and get his SLG to settle in close to .400 and keep his OBP above .360, I'll be much more excited about him as a CF/leadoff guy than I am about Gwynn now. How's his defense and where will he start next year, AA?

Darren Ford wasn't mentioned at all. I know at this point he's behind guys like Cain, but how does he rank as a prospect? He of course has that great speed, but how's his defense overall? And he put up a solid OBP despite striking out so much. Could he potentially be a great leadoff hitter?

Brewers 1) Gwynn CF 2) Graffy 2B 3) Fielder 1B 4) Hall SS 5) Jenkins RF 6) Hart LF 7) Bell 3B 8 )Rivera C 9) Capuano P Cardinals 1) Eckstein SS 2) Taguchi CF 3) Pujols 1B 4) Encarnacion RF 5) Rolen 3B 6) Belliard 2B 7) Wilson LF 8 )Molina C 9) Weaver P

They have that cool vintage look... I have a few pair of jeans with holes in the knee, I could probably get $60 a piece.

I get my jeans for around $25-40 bucks at Kohl's. And whenever I can find a $5 T-shirt sale I load up.

I don't think its that bad of an idea at all. I just have an extremely high level of doubt that anything like this would happen to the Brewers.

I'm fine with them playing Gwynn, even though I don't think he's ready. What I don't like is how he automatically bats leadoff, just because he "is the leadoff type". He should be batting 8th, IMO, when he plays.

Good to see. I still can't imagine why he hasn't been playing. We have a need for lefty killers next year and Rottino is one. This September would have been a great time to break him in and find out if he can hack it.

My eyes bug me (thanks for the inspiration, bling). Wore contacts for years, then my eyes up and decided to not let me wear contacts anymore. I wear them for more than 5-6 hours and my eyes get bloodshot for a week and I'm blinking once a second. I've tried about 6 different kinds too, and nothing works. It especially sucks for sports.

Knock it off end, you are getting me excited and I know its not going to happen.

I think a package of Eveland and Gwynn may get it done. Doubt it, but sign me up!

Gallardo would be a steep price to pay for a guy with an OBP only about 40 points higher than his BA. The SB are nice, and he steals them with great effeciency. I don't think I'd part with Gallardo. Inman+, I'd be down with, but I wouldn't trade Gallardo or Braun, and therefore I likely wouldn't be trading for him.

Better yet, don't buy anything sold only on television, it will invariably be a scam. I bought this of the television once: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000006NX9.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg I really did. And I'm satisfied.

So Gallardo's a decent hitter too? Wow, I like him even more.

Okay, I missed it. Does anyone know when/if it will re-air?

Clancy, I'm with you. Except for batting Hart 2nd. I don't think he'll ever carry a real good OBP, especially in his first full year as a starter. Probably something like .340 or so. I'd rather have Gross with his .380 each year since 1976, well, three straight years in AAA and now this year in the bigs, and each year, not cumulative. But then we have lefty-lefty with Gross-Fielder. Either way, I like that lineup, though it might take them until 2008, hence my sig:

DHonks, just to clarify my position on Davis: I think he is an average pitcher. He could be a good number 3 some years. But this year, he hasn't been any better than a number 5, and his stats are trending downward. His ERA and WHIP this year are 4.87 and 1.50. (Where did you see 1.40?) I think he can bounce back. He could be a 3.80 ERA guy for us next year. He could also put up a 4.80+ again, or even worse. I just don't want to hand him a starting spot next year. I think we are financially cabable of adding depth to the rotation. Why not make him earn a spot in the rotation. Sure, we might be okay with Sheets-Cappy-Bush-Davis-Villanueva next year, but when I look at that I see two question marks. Also, nowhere did I say we should trade Doug Davis. That would be selling low, the wrong thing to do. I would project him to rebound a bit next year and be a solid #4 guy. But if we can, why not hedge our bets and create some competition and depth? EDIT: I'm not saying we absolutely have to sign a starter either. I'm just presenting it as an option.

brewers19 I don't get why that bear has to be killed. It makes no sense. Any other bear would have done the same thing, so might as well kill them all. I hated when they killed the bear that killed the Grizzly Man. The bear was acting exactly how any bear would. Normal food was scarse, so he ate the next best thing. I feel sorry for the guy (whose's name escapes me), but I don't understand killing bears because they are acting like bears.

Amen!

But with a rotation 1-4 of Sheets, Davis, Cappy, and Bush, I think I'd rather break in one of the youngsters. I think it depends on how much confidence you have in Davis, and how much you have in the youngsters. I figured I had some money left over, so why not really solidify and deepen the starting rotation, though we could be fine without signing a SP. But two injuries again and look out.

Just noticed a bit of an error with my post. I have Padilla's contract listed as an $18 million deal in one spot and a $16 million in another. I meant $18 million. Still, as others pointed out, a bit more might have to be added.

As I reported in another thread, reoprts here in Texas are that Padilla is a real locker room cancer, so we'd need to proceed with caution. Did not know this. Plenty of other similar otions, such as Suppan, Marquis, Gil Meche, and Ted Lilly. Maybe we could get a younger guy, like a Dave Bush, for Geoff Jenkins. I think you're insane to think than any starting pitcher will sign a 3 year 5.5 million dollar deal. Even Mediocre ones were getting 5 years 6-8 mil last year, and prices don't go down. I was thinking something along the lines of $5.5, $6, $6.5 each year respectively, as I said a 3 year / $18 million deal. If we have to bump the per year salary up $500k or even a mil to get one of the pitchers listed above, so be it, but I don't think I'm that far off, nor insane.

My Edited Plan Catchers Damian Miller is getting pretty old and we are already seeing a decline in his production. I think we pick up Damian's option, as I think he has at least one more solid year left in him. Pick up option on C Damian Miller (1 year / $3.75 million) To help keep Miller healthy and productive, I will go out and find him another catcher to share time with. This new catcher will also take over for Miller after 2007 and serve as a stop-gap until Salome or another option is available. Looking at FA-to-be, I select Javier Valentin. He is relatively young, and has shown some pretty good flashes at the plate. He also has a plus arm, gunning down over 40% of runners, IIRC. Other options would include Greg Zaun, Rod Barajas, and Bengie Molina. Sign FA C Javier Valentin (3 years / $7.5 million) Mike Rivera goes back to AAA and would be an excellent option to call up in case of injury. If Rivera continues to preform well at the plate, he could also be considered as an in-house option to take over after 2007, or continue his role as backup catcher and a new starter is aquired after the 2007 season. I'm not sure Rivera can continue to bat as well as he has been, and I also have a concern with his arm behind the plate (14 SB / 1 CS - 7%). EDIT: Rivera's production has tailed off a bit, though is still respectable. His SB/CS percentage also balanced out alittle bit, as it now stands at 19%. I still think it would be beneficial to sign a FA catcher. Miller could completely bomb at any minute, and Rivera isn't anything more than a decent backup. I still sign Javier Valentin, who has had a great August. Against RHP, he has a line of .291 / .325 / .494 for the season while Miller has bat better verse LHP throughout his career. He has a .868 OPS split this year. Infield Almost no moves have to be made in the infield, especially if Koskie is able to return from his injury. Hall and Koskie make great platoon partners at 3B, but Hall deserves to play everyday, so he will start against RHP at SS. Hardy gets starts at SS verse LHP, while Hall is at third and Koskie is on the bench, but he has to earn his way back into an everyday starting spot. Fielder and Weeks anchor the right side of the infield. For my last infield spot, I resign Cirillo. He can fill in at 3B, 2B, or 1B, and has excelled in his backup role. I think he has one more year in him. Resign IF Jeff Cirillo (1 year / $900 k) If for some reason Koskie cannot return or if Cirillo retires, then I would make Graffanino my top option as a backup infielder to resign. EDIT: First off, I am beginning to doubt that Koskie will be returning next year, though I'm still going to assume that he does come back. Also, if he's not, it might not be possible to resign Graffanino due to another team giving him a for sure starters role. In that case, Rottino stays on the big league team as the 5th infielder. As Hardy hopefully re-establishes himself as an everyday player, he can get more time at SS. Against RHP, Hall can shift out to CF and Gross to LF, pushing Mench out of the lineup. Also, we should buy out Hall's arby years. Sign UTIL Bill Hall (3 years / $15 million) Outfield We should shop Jenkins around. I have been a big supporter of Jenkins in the past, but now it appears he has begun to decline. He is also only a part time player, and we have plenty of left handed outfield bats. I don't have high hopes for the return, but I feel we can aquire a good young reliever without having to pay for any of Jenkins salary. I figured one team that would have an interest in a corner outfielder would be the Giants, with both Bonds and Alou possibly on their way out. A pitcher from their team that I targeted was Jack Taschner. He's a lefty who pitched great in 24 appearences for the Giants last year (1.59 ERA / 1.24 WHIP), but struggled pretty bad in just 4.1 innings to start this year. He was optioned back down and has pitched very well in AAA. He's also from Milwaukee, but not that young anymore. He will be 28 next season. The goal of this trade is to aquire the best relief pitcher that we can for Jenkins, and one who will hopefully be in the teams plans for the next couple of years. Hopefully we can get someone more established than Taschner, but I will set the bar low. Trade OF Geoff Jenkins to San Fransisco for RP Jack Taschner Next, I would call around to see what it would take to bring in a stud CFer. In particular: David DeJesus, Carl Crawford, and Andruw Jones. I fully expect to get shot down on all my offers, as I will be unwilling to part with Gallardo, and Braun in my talks with Atlanta. I won't offer as much for Jones because he is expensive and wouldn't be with the team after next year. So plan B in CF would be to platoon Gross and Clark. By batting Gross against RHP, and Clark against LHP, using this years stats we would be getting .887 OPS points out of the position, which is very good. That gives us the starting OF of Mench - Gross/Clark - Hart. In house options for the 5th OFer would be Tony Gwynn Jr. and Laynce Nix. Unfortunately, they are both left handed batters and would likely be very bad options against LHP. When we are facing a LHP, Clark is starting in CF, so our 4th OFer is Gabe Gross. Gross is 0-15 against lefties this year, so he is also a bad option. For this reason, I feel we should look outside the organization for a backup corner OFer. As I was scouring some FA-to-be lists, I came across a seemingly obvious choice: Gabe Kapler. He is a right handed batter who hits both lefties and righties equally well. He is a career .271 / .330 / .422 hitter, which profiles into a very good backup. He has above average range and an above average arm, and was with Melvin in Texas. Sign FA OF Gabe Kapler (2 years / $4 million) Tony Gwynn Jr. and Laynce Nix will remain in AAA. Gwynn could use some more time developing, and I need to see more out of Nix before I give him a big league spot. EDIT: I've changed my mind about signing a backup outfielder in free agency hence the gray font. I think an outfield of Mench, Gross, Hart, Clark and Gwynn/Nix would be fine, especially if Hall starts to get time in CF. If we did though, a better target might be Jose Cruz Jr., who has put up some great OPS numbers against LHP over the last 4 years - .924, .951, .829, .924. I also want to say that a trade for Andruw Jones should probably be explored. I still expect him to be priced a bit higher than I would like to pay, but if he can be had for a reasonable deal without giving up Gallardo, Inman or Braun, he would fit in very well with my long term plan. Plugging him into CF would push Gross over to RF, and keep Mench on the bench more often. He would be a great bat to plug into the middle of our lineup. I don't expect us to resign him, but in 2008 Braun would come up to play 3B and Hall could be shifted to CF full time. Jones would be the best "stop-gap" ever, but I still wouldn't give up very much to aquire a stop-gap no matter how good he is. It would be a great way to boost the offense and energize the team however. Even though I would like to aquire him, I do think his bat is overrated a bit. It is very good for a CF, but a career OBP of .343 and OPS of .846 is nothing stellar. Pat Burrell is another potential trade target, though I am very high on Gross and Hart. Burrell is ripped on by the media but management may still want to keep him around and he does have a no-trade clause that would have to be waived. Starting Pitchers Sheets in back, as is Bush. We might as well buy out Capuano now. Davis goes to arbitration, and next year is likely his last as a Brewer. Previously, I wanted to resign Ohka, but with concerns over his health and recent preformance, it might be better to let him walk. Sign SP Chris Capuano (3 years / $16 mill[/i] I am not comfortable with simply handing Doug Davis a job next year and relying on a youngster in the rotation. So in an effort to create more competition in the rotation and to add more depth, I would go after a free agent pitcher comparable to Ohka. Personally, I like Vincente Padilla. His 4.27 ERA and 1.34 WHIP this year are pretty respectable in a hitters park. He would be a good bet to give us an ERA anywhere from 4.00 to 4.50 next year, and he has potential to do even better. Sign FA SP Vincente Padilla (3 years / $18 million) Now we have a rotation of Sheets, Capuano, Bush, Padilla, and one of Davis, Villanueva, Eveland and Jackson. We are deep and well protected from injury. With what happened this year, we should all know that you can never have enough depth. Relief Pitchers Picking up Cordero's option is a must. Pick up option on RP Fransisco Cordero (1 year / $5 million) Wise, Capellan and Turnbow all return. We go to arbitration with Shouse. One more spot is taken up by the 6th starter, likely Davis or Villanueva. That leaves one spot. I think we need to go out and sign an arm. Someone to really solidify the bullpen. The lefty Jamie Walker has had an ERA in the threes or lower for the last five years, including a 1.93 ERA this year. He will be 35 next year. It might cost a bit to get him, but he would really solidify the pen into one of the best in the NL. Sign FA RP Jamie Walker (3 years / $8 million) If the market goes high for Walker, there are some other options. Signing Walker puts guys like Taschner, Sarfate and Spurling on the outside looking in, though they would have a chance to win a job in ST. Summary Trade Geoff Jenkins to San Fransisco for RP Jack Taschner Sign FA C Javier Valentin (3 years / $7.5 million) Sign FA SP Vincente Padilla (3 years / $18 mil) Sign FA RP Jamie Walker (3 years / $8 million) Resign Jeff Cirillo (1 year / $900 k) Pick up option on Fransisco Cordero ($5 million) Pick up option on Damian Miller ($3.75 million) Buyout Arbitration for Capuano (3 years / $16 million) Buyout Arbitration for Hall (3 years / $15 million) Arbitration for Davis (~$4,000,000) Arbitration for Shouse (~$1,000,000) Arbitration for Mench (~$3,000,000) ------ ROSTER ------ Starting Pitchers Catchers ----------------- -------- 1. Ben Sheets $10,000,000 Damian Miller $ 3,750,000 2. Chris Capuano $ 4,000,000* Javier Valentin $ 2,000,000* 3. Vincente Padilla $ 5,500,000* 4. Dave Bush $ 352,000 Infielders 5. Doug Davis $ 4,000,000* ---------- Prince Fielder $ 329,000 Relief Pitchers Rickie Weeks $ 500,000 --------------- Bill Hall $ 3,500,000* LR Carlos Villanueva $ 327,000 Corey Koskie $ 2,000,000 MR Jamie Walker $ 2,500,000* J.J. Hardy $ 355,000 MR Matt Wise $ 1,000,000 Jeff Cirillo $ 900,000* MR Jose Capellan $ 350,000 SU Derrick Turnbow $ 2,300,000 Outfielders SU Brian Shouse $ 1,000,000* ----------- CL Fransisco Cordero $ 5,000,000 Kevin Mench $ 3,000,000* Brady Clark $ 3,800,000 ----------- Gabe Gross $ 335,000 Pitching Payroll $36,329,000 Corey Hart $ 329,000 Tony Gwynn $ 327,000 ----------- Positional Payroll $21,125,000 ---------------------------------- Total Payroll $57,454,000 ---------------------------------- Depth Charts Lineups ------------ ------- POS 1 2 3 --- ------- ------- ------- C Miller Valentin 1. 2B Weeks - R 1B Fielder Valentin Cirillo 2. CF Gross - L 2B Weeks Hall Cirillo 3. 1B Fielder - L vs RHP 3B Koskie Hall Cirillo 4. SS Hall - R SS Hall Hardy 5. RF Hart - R LF Mench Gross 6. 3B Koskie - L CF Gross Clark Hall 7. LF Mench - R RF Hart Gross 8. C Miller - R POS 1 2 3 --- ------- ------- ------- C Miller Valentin 1. 2B Weeks - R 1B Fielder Valentin Cirillo 2. CF Clark - R 2B Weeks Hall Cirillo 3. 1B Fielder - L vs LHP 3B Hall Cirillo Koskie 4. 3B Hall - R SS Hardy Hall 5. LF Mench - R LF Mench Gross 6. RF Hart - R CF Clark Hall Gwynn 7. SS Hardy - R RF Hart Gross 8. C Miller - R

Once again, I want to express my dissatisfaction that Bell is started over Rottino.

The fact that Miller Park shows OBP on its main scoreboard, SLG pct. on the left field board, and OPS on the board behind home plate. YES