MNBrew

Does it matter that Penny, like Vargas, didn't quite average 6 full innings per start in '06? 33 starts + 1 relief appearance, 189 IP. I like the idea of the guy, but this little tidbit stands out.

Going back and checking the Rotoworld thing, it's so clear based on what was written and how it was written that that was a Toronto Sun baseball writer's mere speculation. I'm not suggesting we have an ideal situation at catcher, but we have at least a few other areas that would seem to be much more glaring needs and areas where Melvin & Co. would focus on spending available funds. The fact that several folks are taking that remark as a gauge of the likelihood of signing Zaun sounds more like wishing for movement and trying to rationalize a slightly better (mid-30s) journeyman catcher than the two we have. I just don't see Greg Zaun as someone who's going to make a real difference for the Brewers without a host of other issues getting sorted out and resolved.

I like Graffanino, but he's not the hitter Loretta is. Defense should be about a wash.

I third the Weathers motion. Weathers was released by the Reds and had had recent stays with mixed results (mixed especially badly in NY with the Yankees & Steinbrenner) with Cleveland, NY, & Florida before Cincy. Bill Castro pretty much single-handedly turned that guy's career around. It'd be great to have him back -- kinda the senior role a la Burba & Helling, but with a lot more left in the tank.

Gwynn did well in his first time in Milwaukee, but 7-for-15 or whatever is a pretty small sample. His 2nd time in Milwaukee was September-plus and I believe he hit something like .210 that go-round. Still a small sample, but much larger than the 1st. But it's amazing how many people seem to be figuring him as major-league ready based on how well that 1st time up went. It almost seems like the 2nd stretch gets conveniently or maybe just unintentionally forgotten. I see the 2nd, longer stretch as a prime indicator that unless he outright wins a roster spot in spring training, he's probably going back to AAA. So trade value? Well, I don't think he's a guy they're looking to move. Nix, Krynzel, Mench, and maybe Clark or Jenkins, and maybe even Drew Anderson would seem stronger candidates to be gone.

I believe the ONLY real reason Pudge signed with Detroit back then is that they were the ONLY team that would give him the $10M/yr., multi-year contract he wanted. The Brewers were reportedly pursuing him either that year or the year before, when he signed on with the Marlins, but wouldn't touch the price tag.

Fair enough. Never say never. . . .although Chris Barnwell does make it tempting to do so.

".... am I wrong?" Until next season's out, it's just an awful lot of conjecture. Opinions are just opinions and everyone can have 'em. Really, who cares! Forums like this one exist for expressing opinions & having healthy dialogue. We'll never all agree, even in hindsight. I still like Carlos Lee & would love to see him back. Many on this board would think me certifiably nuts. So what? If Clark is back & plays like '05, and Jenkins plays decently with consistency, plus a few of his patented hot stretches. . . . 1) there would probably be more Brewers wins on the board, 2) many of us would be quite happy, and 3) KC would be wrong, and also possibly quite happy about it. Clark & Jenkins may also decline further and the team doesn't improve, in which case KC's right, but so what? The team would be underachieving and we'd all be cranky about it -- and justifiably so. And Kevin Mench, the original topic of this thread? Is his a shorter-term slump or a total Chad Moeller-like career-ending offensive collapse? Guess we're just gonna have to tune in & find out. Time for me to quit ranting. Too much work still to be done tonight.

My limited familiarity with Eric Munson says the only reason the Brewers should look at him is as an experienced C at Nashville to help young pitchers -- if he has any positive defensive reputation at all. The guy is no LH-hitting Mike Rivera because he's a Moeller-caliber major league hitter. If that's a priority, Chad Moeller is also available and we know he already knows the pitching staff.

It'll probably seem silly to suggest, but I just wonder if there isn't some snowball's chance that the Yankees might be a team to offer Clark to. While Clark's overpaid for his production, he's generally health, which can't be said of many recent Yankees, including the outfielders. Cripes, weren't they paying Mike Stanton (or was it Steve Karsay?) or someone $5M/yr. to pitch middle relief? Clark might be the type of guy the Yankees would actually want and pay for to have on their bench. I think Clark will rebound some, and you can't argue his work ethic. But we do have an overcrowded outfield picture and seemingly more questions than answers. The Yankees have sought recent answers to their roster holes in the infield by signing AND PLAYING Miguel Cairo, Enrique Wilson, Luis Sojo, and Aaron Boone. They may actually be more likely to take on Clark's salary than Jenkins'. I don't know who they might offer in return, if anyone, and I freely admit I'm just thinking out loud. Rip away....

Also, this was on USA Today's transactions page today (10/9): INF Zach Sorenson and RHP Jared Fernandez have been declared free agents.

If the Yankees are viewing A-Rod as a player they're anxious to shed, then this is the sort of trade proposal we need to be seeing: Yankees get: Doug Davis Matt Wise mid-grade grade prospect (Krynzel) or Jenkins Brewers get: A-Rod some $$ toward A-Rod's contract + something else to thank them for relieving them of that burden and taking on that contract Regarding that original proposal, if one views the rest of the majors as their own farm system with prospects or stars for the taking, as the Yankees seem to do, wouldn't you expect such one-sided, ridiculous trade proposals? I hate the Yankees.

ESPN's transactions page today shows that the Brewers signed Corey Thurman and Joe Valentine to minor-league contracts.

Why Cordero in the 8th? To try to preserve the lead so they still have a fighting chance in the 9th. And for only the first or maybe second time, Cordero doesn't finish the job. Why Turnbow for a 2nd inning? At this point, why not? He let on a couple runners, but it was the once reliable Shouse having a stretch now that proves he's as prone to stink as everyone else in the bullpen has so far. No matter how you slice it, this late season dive really wasn't something anyone realistically could've foreseen in April. Then again, this is an entirely different team with no real offensive teeth and absolutely no margin for error.

Nice work, fleehaw. Without picking apart particulars, most of which are beyond what I'm thinking, my only real concern is that I think you're substantially over-valuing DeJesus & Saltalamacchia. Three decent-to-plus prospects for each? Maybe two-for-one at the most on Salty since he hasn't played a lick in the majors. Whatever -- my point is that if the Brewers HAD to get those two guys AND their current teams were willing to deal, three guys should get you the name you're after PLUS something else of value, not just that guy. The time you've spent on this and the thoroughness of your plan is impressive. My 2¢ worth.

Because I'm not overly into deep-level stats, I tend to see some things simplistically. Thus.... - I wonder if there would be quite so much discussion if Carlos Lee had put up the same HR & RBI numbers but matched his career BA (.288 coming into '05). But his BA was low, and consquently his OBP & OPS were lower, and he left open lots of room for hard-core fans to question his true worth. - I think the switching leagues thing factored into his lower BA more than we thought (though not his 2nd half dropoff). I'll cut him a little more slack as far as keeping him past next year (vs. trading him sooner for other needed assets) until he shows if in the 2nd NL year he can make the adjustment. - end, you suggest he's a $5-6M player. I don't quite see how. Someone Lee's age, with Lee's track record, on the free agent market, w/30+ HRs & 110+ RBIs in his contract year, will pull down $9-12M on the FA market. The guys with those numbers making $5-6M likely won't be making that little on their next contract unless they're pre-arby. Since Lee has the service time, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. - I love Hart & Cruz as potential big leaguers -- more corner OF promise than we've had to get excited about for many years. I hope they can duplicate their minor league success. But unlike Fielder, who hit pretty well in limited ML duty w/ lots of pinch-hitting, they seem to have a little more to grow before the Melvin & Co. are ready to just hand a spot over to one or both. I hope that time comes, but I have a feeling they'd be more likely to be taking the spot of someone more chronically inconsistent (Jenkins) than Lee. - One last question: Russ, I liked your team-by-team LF stats chart. In research, it takes being outside 2 St. Dev.'s to be "statistically significant," which would seem to constitute "very best in baseball" status. In most cases Lee was just over 1 St. Dev. above the mean. In simple terms, I take that to mean he's clearly above average, but not necessarily elite. Is that what you were trying to show? Geez, this is what it's like to have a decent number of respectable ML players AND reasonably good minor league prospects again! It's been since the late '80s and early '90s that we've had that in BrewTown!

I think what we found out this year is that for however good the big run producers look on other teams, very few don't have "warts" that frustrate us when they're in the position of being so closely examined by us. With Richie Sexson it was horrific strikeout totals and low BA, with Jenkins it's terrible chunks of seasons where a remote clue of what to do is a pipe dream, etc. With Carlos Lee it was inconsistency in the form of a 2nd half dropoff. If anyone had suggested a year ago the prospect of the Brewers getting Carlos Lee, most of us would've been stoked at the idea looking at his numbers from afar. What the Brewers got were career highs in homers and RBI along with his career low batting average. Now so many on this board seem willing to discard that SO drastically needed production after one season. I love the potential of Hart & Cruz. But until they are flat-out pushing hard for PT, I'm not sure why we have to think so hard about shipping our biggest bats out of town just 'cause they're paid what those type of bats are normally paid.