MNBrew

And even before considering that he never played in the bigs, Choate was signed to a split contract and was a pretty insignificant transaction -- hardly one worth more than a footnote even at the time. The funny thing, of course, is that by the time Spring Training started, many folks on this board were convinced Choate should make the Opening Day roster. The guy couldn't ever make it out of AAA to the '07 Twins bullpen which was so shoddy they almost should've been running classifieds for relief help in the daily papers. Thankfully, the Brewers never needed Choate either, decent human being that he apparently is (sorry, too, 'bout that ST injury that sealed his travel plans to Nashville).

Going a different direction with the rest of last night's impulsive ideas... 1. Still sign Punto to be 1st reserve middle IF & 3B as needed. 2. I still also like the idea of suckering Texas out of one of their young catchers (Saltalamacchia? That'd be a coup!) in exchange for Suppan and someone else (or some cash to offset the salary) to make this have some appeal to them. That would seem to help, too. 3. On the other hand, I heard someone say something about Hardy to MN for Denard Span & one of the Twins' young starters (Slowey?). That'd take care of CF & the rotation, esp. if we were lucky enough to have CC re-sign with the Brewers. 4. Still sucker the Yankees into giving up some decent equity for Cameron. Cameron out & Span in saves $9M+. Considering Suppan's also gone, that's another good savings, maybe $6M after offsetting some of Suppan's salary with cash or a cruddy contract in return (maybe even Blalock?). So.... Starters: OF: Braun/Span/Hart IF: (3B)/Escobar/Weeks/Fielder C: Kendall Reserves: OF: Kapler, plus Gwynn (or whomever) IF: Punto, Saltalamacchia, & Nelson or another younger corner IF (McGehee?) C: Rivera (+ Salty as needed) IF, IF, IF the Crew could convince CC to resign, then we also end up with... Starters: Sabathia, Gallardo, Parra, Bush, McClung (or some FA we have money for, OR something gained in return for Cameron) Relievers: Riske, Shouse (hopefully), Stetter, possibly McClung, Villanueva, Dillard, someone for the late innings (I'd actually fork out some dough for Kerry Wood) Maybe this doesn't pass all respective litmus tests, but some of the main offensive issues have been addressed and some cash has still been saved. To me this looks like an improved roster and not so RH-weighted at the plate.

I'm not worried about their lack of action because, for the most part, most nobody's done anything yet, not even the usual biggest spenders. I'm sure the Brewers are laying plenty of groundwork, just as are all 29 other teams.

Impulsive response du jour on this topic: 1. The Yankees want Cameron. Take advantage of them. Get the most you can in return, adding a B prospect if it sweetens the return. If they nibble, consider including Suppan and take a partly crappy salary in return if the years or total dollars aren't worse than Suppan's. Then... 2. (Realizing I'm not a big "move player X to another position" advocate...) Move Hart to CF and sign Abreu to a substantive yet careful deal. Hart's a solid/respectable RF and a good enough athlete with some decent instincts not to be lost in CF, as he's proven in short stints before. Abreu's skill set addresses part of the Brewers' big offensive issues and L/R balance. You'd also not be moving a younger player for someone lots older, but end up closer to a wash in the Cameron/Abreu net result. The sentiment to move Hart reeks of a "throw out the baby with the bathwater" mentality due to his Aug/Sept swoon -- a justified emotion but a shortsighted plan IMO. Thus far Cameron out, Abreu in, other players gained in exchange for Cameron. Nothing extravagant lost and no significant salary added, but certain glaring Brewers roster/makeup/production issues addressed. Other than being LH batters, I'm not sure how much of an upgrade Kelly Johnson or Robinson Cano would be offensively over Weeks. They have their plusses over Weeks but also some distinct minuses. Then there's the defensive factor. Cano also comes with a NY-goggles contract, which is horrible unless he becomes the next Joe Morgan & Ryne Sandberg & Davey Lopes & Bobby Grich & Robbie Alomar (with a dose of Gantner humility) rolled into one -- a perennial MVP candidate and sure-fire future Hall of Famer. 3. I'd still take Nick Punto as our #5 IF at his price. He's a switch hitter with a good amount of starting experience at 2B, SS, & 3B. Huge upgrade over Counsell and easily enough to justify at Counsell's '08 salary. I'm not sure what to do at 3B yet. Hall/Branyan platoon seems a popular opinion but I'm not convinced that helps us get better. Hall was horrible last year. All in all I wouldn't mind him being gone. Per these ramblings..... Starters: OF: Braun/Hart/Abreu IF: (3B)/Hardy/Weeks/Fielder C: Kendall Reserves: OF: Kapler (ideally), Gwynn IF: Punto, (someone younger), Nelson C: Rivera

I don't want a single "bad" player back regardless of his salary. This team MUST get better. It's all about putting together the strongest roster/team with the ideal combination of high levels of talent, the regular productivity, and a strong team-first concept. Counsell and some of these other FAs weren't good enough last year. Why would anyone want them back again? I've said before, the Brewers need to have capable role players who in essence should realistically challenge for starting roles and be able to produce well as starting IFs #5 & #6 if called upon to start -- like Tony Graffanino turned out to be in '06, for instance. Mota didn't totally stink at all. Most of his year was solid to strong. His real horrid stretch was due to flawed mechanics that took awhile to finally correct. Once corrected, he was even better and an asset to the bullpen. I'd take him back. The '09 Brewers need to improve on their '08 weaknesses, sustain their '08 strengths, and improve their overall talent levels and capabilities. I just can't see how Craig Counsell, Mike Lamb, and Eric Gagne could remotely fit into that plan unless it's mid-March, roster holes are still gaping, and no other viable option has panned out.

No one claimed Lamb when the Twins had him on waivers, so they released him. The Brewers signed him when he had become a FA. The only way the Brewers would've inherited Lamb's contract is if they'd claimed him. However, the Twins are stuck with that contract and its remaining terms of time & money. The Brewers only signed him for the balance of the year. That's why he's a FA even though he's still getting paid by the Twins.

Maybe I've missed it, but I don't recall this question being discussed here involving all Brewers free agents. Here's the list: Pitchers: CC Sabathia Ben Sheets Eric Gagne Guillermo Mota Brian Shouse Infielders: Russell Branyan Craig Counsell Ray Durham Mike Lamb Outfielders: Gabe Kapler I'd love to have CC Sabathia & Gabe Kapler back for sure, and Guillermo Mota & Brian Shouse if the terms are remotely within reason. I'd consider Sheets on a one-year deal heavy on the incentives (possible vesting 2nd year). Gagne & Durham & Branyan -- reasons to consider all 3 but none seem terribly likely (and even then, Gagne only if he'd take Mota-type money or less; Branyan maybe an AAA/NRI deal) Lamb & Counsell -- no thanks!

Last year the Brewers made the very first free agent signing once the 15-day window expired after the WS. It was... Randy Choate. Nothing special about that. Here's hoping this year's first signing has exponentially more value to the Crew than Randy Choate did. Personally, I hope it'll be Gabe Kapler re-signing ASAP -- and right after CC signs, wherever he signs. Kapler proved he's a very valuable role player. Wouldn't be the highest impact signing, but it would be an extremely smart one. First non-'08 Brewer to sign on with the '09 Brewers? I wouldn't complain if it were either Kerry Wood or Trevor Hoffman, however unlikely many may think that seems.

My biggest offseason fears: 1. Losing both CC and Sheets without replacing them with someone substantial 1a. Overpaying for a replacement for CC or Sheets 2. Bill Hall, 2009 starting 3B or being counted on for anything significant 3. OBP & situational hitting/RISP issues not meaningfully addressed -- we're past the point of time (i.e., continued development of younger players) alone being able to cure this ill 4. Trading the wrong guys to fill needs (see: Fernando Vina, Jeff Cirillo, etc.) 5. Mota & Shouse also signing elsewhere. 6. Overpaying for not-so-great relievers The Torres retirement does change the bullpen picture considerably regardless of what role he would've filled in '09. Stetter, Villanueva, McClung if he's not starting, maybe Dillard or DiFelice..... Somewhere in there needs to be someone a little more proven and who could close games with some degree of reliability.

Castro's not so experienced being in the dugout with the starters. He's been around them plenty, though. He's a ton more experienced than most everyone in the bigs with relievers. Castro, as the bullpen coach, has been the pitching coach for the relievers. If it's a matter of which half of the staff he spends more game time with, you can argue lack of experience. But he's been working as a pitching coach in the Brewers' bullpen for 17 years.

I don't think anyone would question Sheets' heart, fondybrewfan, or his desire. He's been quite forthright about his love for playing for the Brewers, too. But I think it's also a fair point to state that, for whatever the reason -- injuries or whatever -- Sheets has never come close to coming through in the clutch like Sabathia did this year. Any team offering Sheets multiple years should be looked at kinda funny given the late-season torn elbow deal. A one-year deal makes the most sense, or possibly a Kendall-like contract that vests each future year based on reaching playing and performance benchmarks.

To piggyback on JB12's point, I think fans have a right to be disenchanted when the guy who heretofore has been the Ace all of a sudden forgets how to pitch like an Ace, which happened coincidentally right when CC was acquired. Sheets didn't pitch horribly the whole time and had a handful of really good starts. But most of his starts all of a sudden became mediocre to poor. When the stud new acquisition (the reigning AL Cy Young winner) comes in and has a devastatingly great 2nd half, then your Ace-'til-now hardly shows any signs of living up to his own Ace billing for the whole 2nd half before finally getting hurt right before season's end, it's good cause for said disenchantment. Ben Sheets is a good guy and sometimes killer-good pitcher. But any skepticism about his long-term value and salary are quite sufficiently justified.

I wait with about as much anticipation as anyone for these coaching hires whenever there are openings from year to year. And goodness knows everything gets analyzed on this great site to the point of exhaustion. But I think I've come to a new point in my thinking: Only in rare cases does the coach himself (excluding the manager) really make that much of a difference. Most of it always falls back on the players to be able to avoid bad habits and to make adjustments. - Every coach we've had, we hear about how hard they work. - We've had respected hitting coaches, a Hall of Fame hitter as hitting coach, hitting coaches with good and also no major league playing experience....and one hasn't made any better difference than another, really. And actually, many of these recent/current players' failures make Lamar Johnson & Mike Easler & Jim Lefebvre look like they were relative geniuses. - Almost the same ditto for pitching coaches. Everyone went nuts about Maddux's early results. But why couldn't Ben Sheets get better at making adjustments 7-8 years into his career in those long stretches he pitched very ordinarily? Why couldn't Suppan produce results similar to his St. Louis years (avg. 14-9 record, decent ERA) under Maddux? For every success there have been ample failures. - You shouldn't be hearing much about or from the bench or 1B coach, and everyone gripes at the 3B coach when a couple guys get thrown out at the plate in game changing situations -- that happens everywhere. - By the way, for 10+ years we've been hearing how Billy Castro has been like a 2nd pitching coach. I don't understand how someone can now suggest he doesn't have experience or qualifications. How can he be considered anything other than a highly proven and respectable coaching hire? So the way I look at it is this: Get good, solid, respected individuals in there whose track record and/or attributes give reason to think their hiring is a good move. Then let's not overanalyze them until they give us something more to go on, instead saving said scrutiny for every player move yet to happen or not happen these next 3 months.

Fair points. Young's attitude, I wouldn't say it's outright bad at all, but more that it's just intense and certainly different enough that some could easily construe it as bad. Probably sounds like either making excuses or putting lipstick on a pig, so to speak. I don't think anyone would mistake Young as a clubhouse leader at this point. But he's a younger player, and with many guys like him, realistically it may well be too early to label him outright as an attitude case and malcontent. All that said, that doesn't change and also still does support your basic point that Hardy's a much stronger and more positive clubhouse presence than Young, which would also be in line with everything there's been to hear about it up here in "Twins Territory," as their marketing has called it for the last couple years.

Just because the Twins traded Garza last off-season doesn't mean they will or should trade another starter this offseason. When Hunter left. they had only Cuddyer & Kubel as known entities and needed a CF and a LF (Kubel being OK in the OF but as logical a DH candidate as the Twins had). The Twins had SO many young pitchers and desperately needed more offense, esp. from the right side. Young, who had only turned 22 in September of '07, had a .288 BA, 38 2Bs, 13 HRs and 93 RBIs the year before -- just the sort of productive bat the Twins needed -- and only 1+ years in the majors. Garza was full of potential like the other starters but was deemed the one they felt they could most afford to deal to get someone good in return. Hardy has more value than Young now given the year Young had last year. But to draw parallels to each as trade targets on consecutive years, you really need to compare Hardy after this year vs. Young after 2007. J.J. is also 3 years older than Delmon. Even with '08 being a bit of a drop for Delmon, he's done more at his age (just turned 23) than Hardy did at the same point. The Twins also had the rotation as one of their larger question marks coming into '08. Now it's one of the team's strengths, but their bullpen has big holes and proved very unreliable in August & September. I could see the Twins considering moving one of their starters, but it's likely not Liriano and it's hardly foregone conclusion that they would. However, SS & 3B are two positions that loom large in their offseason sights. Is a deal for Hardy possible? Yeah. My response was more based on how the logic came across. And they'd still have another hole to fill in their rotation because they don't have the stockpile of (relatively proven/experienced) McClungs, Villanuevas, Dillards, DiFelices, & possibly Capuanos quite lined up to fill a void.

Trade Fielder and the return needs to be the equivalent of gold. Sure, he's not perfect. Even Miss America can have a pimple (loose equivalent = Fielder's defense). Proven, high end, young stud, 50 HR/100+ RBI hitter ought to net a much better return than an above-average-ish major leaguer and serviceable trade filler. Trading a stud like Fielder, warts and all, needs to net studs in return. The only reasons the Brewers should entertain trading Fielder is if they're bowled over by an offer they can't refuse -- and even then, they need to think hard about it. Fielder + Suppan/Hall for Beltre, Felix Hernandez, + solid players or strong prospect(s) is the caliber of deal we should expect. As Melvin would typically say, I doubt he's "motivated to move" Fielder.

Those of you who ruled him out, re-read what PaulRigdon wrote. It darn well could be Art Howe. I doubt it'd be Randolph. He's likely still in the running in Seattle.

Look on it however you want. The award is intended to recognize the best defensive players at every position in each league.

Cirillo at 3B and Jenkins in either corner OF spot have been a couple serious robs over the past decade or so, both losing out to guys with lesser defensive credentials but bigger bats (Cirillo to Rolen, I think, and Jenkins to any CF who hit well). The fact that bats even enter into it at all is beyond stupid, and also undermines some of the credibility of the award.

Dodgers declining Penny's option noted on USA Today

Prince has worn #28 since the ST of the season in which he debuted in the bigs.

When a jersey number is retired, they don't issue it. I've never heard of a retired number being used by someone other than the retiree, even in Spring Training, except for the Jackie Robinson #42 honoring deal. Rollie Fingers' #34 hasn't been issued since it was retired. Heck, the Brewers never allow anyone to wear Gantner's #17 even though it only gets worn for a week in ST when he shows up as a guest instructor -- and it's not like he's a future HOFer or that there's any legit reason his number ought to be retired.

Maybe I'm off, but isn't the issue with Weeks turning DPs not him starting them but rather being the guy at 2nd receiving the first throw and then being the one who makes the throw to 1st for the 2nd out of the DP? That's what I remember standing out in the 2nd half of the season. Sorry if there's a more concise way to have said that. I couldn't think of it.

By the way, I'm not suggesting Durham is the most logical guy for the Crew to sign. It just peeves me that people make it sound like Durham's a marble sculpture in the field. Folks used to say the same thing about Mark Loretta and Loretta was always a player who usually helped and never hurt his team offensively OR defensively. Shoot, you'd think it'd've made only a slight difference if the manager's just planted a tree where the second baseman stands.

LINK Boras has now proven beyond a doubt that he's just plain delusional. I'm often an anti-stats guy around here but these numbers would seem to show rather clearly Varitek's nowhere near the same caliber of player as Posada. Posada: 8 straight yrs averaging 20+ HRs & 90+ RBIs, career .277 BA, .380 OBP, .477 SLG Varitek: only 3 years at/over 20 HRs, only 3 yrs. over 70 RBIs (only once in the 80s -- 85 RBIs in '03; career .263 BA, .346 OBP, .439 SLG I'm no Einstein, but if Varitek had been playing most anywhere besides Boston, no one would think he's so stellar. There's really not that much of a comparison. Boras is cracked.