MNBrew

This will probably be viewed as blasphemy around here, but I'd strongly prefer to see Ramirez manning 3B for us next year. Sure, the salary is quite large (but not outrageous for his typical production). And he'll be coming off an injury-plagued year. But he's historically VERY productive, this year has shown the effects of the lack of big-time bats in the lineup, and I honestly see him as much closer to being a "sure thing" than any of the other "in house" options at 3B (though I'd love to see Taylor Green prove me wrong . . . . I also don't think we see Gamel at 3B on any prolonged basis). While it's theoretically good to have more payroll flexibility and some bigger $$ available for FAs or trades, I just don't see who we could either... - likely sign (assuming they'd also see MIL as their preferred option) or - take on from another team in something other than a salary dump that would be worth the $$ or - acquire as a highly productive player (position or pitcher) who'd fill an affordable hole without blowing another equally bad one in the roster ... that would amount to a net gain by trading Ramirez and his salary. To my thinking, the sum total of moving Ramirez just to be out from under his contract doesn't automatically ensure any other valid returns or possibilities to justify the move in the first place. The only player we currently have who I think could become a regular, multiple-year 3B is Taylor Green, whom I feel has the potential to be a LH version of Jeff Cirillo (in most respects). But since he's missed this whole year, I hardly see him convincing Roenicke & Melvin that he's ready to be the starting 3B before spring training's over. Other than another injury-replacement situation, the most realistic timing for Green to become the starter would be after a July-deadline trade of Ramirez.

1) Pick up Aoki's option and trade him. I really like him, his work ethic, his skill set, & his resume (1+ years of MLB performance plus a high-end Japanese career). He still has a solid upside and I think teams would trade something legit for the value of his production at his salary level. The Mariners come to mind, but I also wonder about SF, Texas, or the Yankees. 2) Re-sign Hart to a 1-year deal. (For me, anything that gets Francisco onto another team is a plus.) 3) Try to get something for Axford before non-tender deadline. He's regressed (yet again) after his superb hot streak. But he has been an extremely successful closer and maybe a change of scenery would be a plus for him & net the Brewers a decent return. The only way to lower his salary is to non-tender him and hope to sign him to a favorable deal since arby-eligible guys have to be offered, at minimum, at least 80% of the previous year's base salary. My 2014 starters (but not batting order) then would be... C Lucroy 1B Hart 2B Gennett (assuming that somehow Weeks isn't back, but I can't guess how DM will pull that rabbit out of his hat) SS Segura 3B Ramirez LF Braun CF Gomez RF Gindl/Davis Bench: C -- Maldonado Middle IF -- Bianchi Corner IF/Corner OF -- Gamel (out of options)/Green (2 options remaining) OF -- Schafer Depth: Halton + whomever doesn't make the team out of Davis, Gindl, & Schafer + Gennett if Weeks is still here Rotation (my pipe dream given present options): Lohse Gallardo Peralta Estrada Thornburg

Sorry to be redundant, but I just hope the Crew is trying to beef up Francisco's value for eventual trade purposes. TH's tweet today captures my feelings in a nutshell: "Juan Francisco on the home stand for #Brewers: 2 for 22 with 14 strikeouts, 1 HR, 2 RBI. Brewers say they want to see what they have in him." Francisco has more errors than anyone else on the team -- in nearly half the games played than the two guys with the next-most errors -- and he's been a 3B long enough that 1B, while an adjustment, isn't THAT MUCH of an adjustment..... - 4 games at 3B for MIL, 4 errors -- and came to MIL with a 3B reputation that the Brewers said they viewed him as a pretty-much-exclusive 1B - 54 games at 1B, 10 errors Even if errors aren't the ultimate measure of defensive play, they're at least a basic enough indicator that very high error numbers = bad defensive player. Francisco? The guy is horribly lousy defensively no matter where you put him. He pretty much makes Weeks look like Robbie Alomar by comparison (and I know how bad many of you think Weeks is because any time I assert that he's improved enough over the years to be generally solid in the field nowadays, I immediately get contradicted repeatedly). That's why he screams "DH" to me and I sure hope we can find an AL team to give us something half-decent for him. Two trades with Texas over the years typify the type of deal I'm hoping for (both amount to typical Melvin nugget-mining): - 2002: Jesus Pena (non-roster invitee) traded at the end of ST for Luis Vizcaino (who eventually wore out his welcome but was a very pleasantly surprising asset for a couple years) -- outstanding return for a guy who we got for nothing and who never really had a chance to make the team - 2006: Enrique Cruz actually netted us Brian Shouse, who was a very positive performer for a few years -- outstanding return for one of the worst Rule V pickups in team history (who was actually kept -- and yes, I remember Matt Ford) Francisco has performed too well to be a parallel to Jesus Pena or Enrique Cruz, but that's all the more reason to hope for a return that'd be on par with how Vizcaino & Shouse played for their first season or two in MIL -- reasonably productive & extremely serviceable, even if eventually quite replaceable.

Warning: Multiple-pronged rant forthcoming... I agree with whoever said it earlier in this thread: As unfortunate as much of this PED/Biogenesis/etc. stuff is, so much of the furor is media-driven as outlets like ESPN are obviously reporting everything in the spirit of sensationalism. Some or even most of it may well be true. However, this whole saga surely has shown that it's actually less about what happened and more about making news out of anything possible for the sake of feeding the fire. It's such a sad commentary that the media reports things with the clear intention of trying to shape people's thinking and to get them to react. And the masses largely drink it in and believe it. They've even convinced the population at large that we should care about something simply because it gets reported. What ever happened to critical thinking???? Not to mention, whatever happened to responsible journalism? . . . "The whole story has to be out there because people deserve to know!!!" NO, we don't have a right to know everything there is to know about Ryan Braun's or A-Rod's every action. Sure, there's curiosity -- an awful lot of it at this point. But the degree of the public's curiosity should NEVER be confused with or construed as anyone's RIGHT to know -- a right which is mostly a self-serving, media-generated fallacy. Now, whether or not Braun did what's being reported tonight . . . 1) WHO cares? Really, does this matter? Seriously, what's to be gained by putting this information out there even if it is true? If Braun said these things, does it fundamentally change people's perception that he's a liar and a cheat? What does this add? NOTHING! 2) Is it truly the media's aim to drag "targets" like Braun & A-Rod down as low as possible? It sure seems like it based on how all this stuff's been reported about these two guys over the past months. Where is INTEGRITY in any of this? 3) I'm sure sick of the media doing all the judging for me and for everyone else. The James Bond movie "Tomorrow Never Dies" in a way proves increasingly prophetic as newscasting stories like the Biogenesis/PED thing continues to become less about true journalism and more about the bottom line: That Bond movie's about a media mogul who engineers and manipulates world events in order to promote itself for & by reporting on them. Think about it! When the steroid hoopla first came about -- Congressional hearings and all that -- there was some hubbub, but the majority of folks didn't care too much -- except that the media kept covering like everyone did care, and finally succeeded at instilling a mindset that we should care about it. The self-righteousness pontificating re: Braun's or anyone else's HOF-worthiness is just too much. Yes, the verbiage says character is a consideration. But the HOF is so full of cheaters, liars, criminals, womanizers, druggies, etc., that invoking the "character clause" now is so short-sighted and ridiculous. Today I heard a former MLB player on ESPN radio and found his commentary refreshing because it broke from the media's "party line": He said he thought A-Rod & Pete Rose should be in the HOF as much as anyone because ultimately there is no "pure" HOF and HOF-worthiness should be based on accomplishments alone, leaving the character clause out of it. . . . That's not to say they weren't jerks or whatever. But Barry Bonds was one of the best players ever. Pete Rose is one of the most prolific hitters ever. McGwire & Sosa & A-Rod are among the absolute best HR hitters ever. I believe HOF induction should be based on accomplishments. Let time, history, and population at large's own thinking be the judge of players' character and choices. What Braun did was unfortunate, sad, and wrong. And it does seem that the longer he's silent, the less he's helping himself. . . . But as with so many stories these days, the longer this sensationalistic "coverage" (read: nonsense) continues, the more it really seems to be about stirring people up and insinuating if not downright dictating what they should think. It's certainly worked re: HOF candidacy. It's certainly worked on widespread perspectives re: steroids & PEDs.

But low power numbers (or low relative to the player's proven capabilities) AND a lousy BA w/RISP amounts to bad "production," a.k.a. "results," which has been Weeks in a nutshell this year. Historically bad production, as has been noted many times, at the 1B position before Francisco came out of his horrible stretch pointed out a similar deficiency at a 2nd position (don't jump -- I know the specifics vary, but the point is that overall power & RBI numbers have been ugly at 2 positions, not just one, which doesn't help a team with other glaring struggles). There's plenty to like in Francisco's bat, but he's still a streaky hitter and a very poor defender, so to me he's exactly the type of guy Melvin should "sell high" on this winter. I like what he's doing now. But I don't like him as the long-term solution at 1B. We have plenty of good hitters - enough that I think we can spare Francisco since 2013 1B Plans A, B, & C should all be healthy next year -- but we still need to keep the main focus for improvement on pitching & defense.

The point wasn't with a certain FA in mind. The point was, hypothetically, if they could get another Lohse-type player, it might just possibly be worth surrendering their 2nd round pick to sign him. The likelihood that the right guy is there, the asking price is do-able, and that the Brewers are actually the team he's negotiating with -- all the necessary precursors for this scenario to go from hypothetical to real -- seems slim. That said, I think it's still a question worth posing.

As was the case going into this year, Mat Gamel is still out of options, so he's either on the Brewers or I'm guessing he'll get claimed off the waivers it'd take to get him to AAA, injury or not. Taylor Green still has 2 options left (wasn't added to 40-man until late August of '11 and was on the team through the playoffs, used his 1st option at the beginning of '12, & has been on the big-league DL all of '13), so he's more likely to end up in AAA if his bat doesn't earn him a roster spot out of ST. Whether Francisco is in the picture or not, there are at least 4 viable 1B options next year not named Corey Hart: Gamel, Green, Halton, & Morris. My hope is that Francisco rakes the rest of the 2nd half and has Jack Cust-like appeal as an AL bat (esp. as DH with his horrid glove!) and nets us a little something in return, possibly paired w/ a non-tender candidate type (thinking Axford in particular). Except when he's in a horrid K-rate rut, Francisco's not a bad bat to have around . . . HOWEVER, to me, he's a decade-later version of Bill Hall, who I said at the time (when he was so badly raw when he entered the bigs) doesn't belong on a contending team and who's not the type of player who should be on the Brewers if our player development process is working as it should. . . . So with 4 other capable young guys around, plus possibly Hart, I'm sure hoping Francisco's play enables Melvin to sell high (enough) on him to net a B-level pitching prospect with a live arm (or better if you could sell an AL team on him & Axford). I know Hart has potentially good value in 2 or 3 good ways if he were to return (proven bat & glove, appealing/valuable trade commodity, and - in the unlikely event of '14 playoffs - a playoff-experienced veteran), which is intriguing. I wouldn't be unhappy if he returns on an affordable 1-year deal because letting him go as a FA means getting zero value in return for a solid & proven bat w/ good 1B defense to boot. But I'm almost tempted to think it's worth the risk of planting Gamel at 1B in '14 (then Green, Halton, & Morris as Plans B, C, & D) to give these young guys a chance to prove their mettle before the ship's fully sailed on some or even all of 'em.

I think there's excellent validity to TheCrew07's (and others') viewpoints (thanks, Monty, for elaborating, though trading 6 MLB starters is more of a tear-down than moving 1-3 tradeable commodities), but I'm also at least as inclined toward the lines of thinking that LouisEly & JohnBriggs12 are presenting. To wit: - Organization-building from the bottom up is undebatably essential. The Brewers definitely must improve on their drafting & developing. Their future is is rough shape if they don't have that to build on. - I also think that improvement there & keeping the MLB team competitive are not necessarily mutually exclusive. - The Marcum & Greinke acquisition trades didn't gut the farm system, let alone in a way from which they haven't recovered -- after all, Odorizzi is the only one of those 5 prospects who, this year, has been in the minors this year still on his ascent to the majors. So almost certainly none of those 5 guys would be in the minors for the Brewers by now, either. Rather, in those two deals, they skimmed the cream off the top, and that ended up revealing a rather flat mug (pun intended) in terms of the Brewers' farm system. That's not Melvin's fault, but Seid/Nichols & all those under them, as well as perhaps some elevated or at least painfully obvious degree of the "some prospects just don't develop" phenomenon. - To lead the charge in terms of player development, I wouldn't be opposed to getting the right national crosschecker or someone like that from the Cardinals or Tampa Bay, with other teams like Texas & Oakland & maybe Arizona next on my list. - If it were making a couple select moves that could net a good prospect influx (quality over quantity), brought about by moving just the right pieces off the MLB roster in trades, I think that's logical, especially if it's Aoki or Gomez, though my gut would say to try for Aoki first because his production is more easily replaceable. I sure like Aoki a lot, but he'd be a valuable piece for a contending piece. - I'd favor trading bats and avoid trading pitching unless it's the right piece at the right time for the right return. In the end, good pitching usually trumps good hitting. Reasonable FA bats are easier to acquire than valuable FA pitchers.

TheCrew07, you make many points with which I agree. I'm sure you've already given the answer at length, but I'd rather not go read through more pages of more threads than I have to ask this 4-part hypothetical question: Given the current state of the Brewers -- the MLB team and the entire organization -- if you were in Doug Melvin's shoes,... - which "1-3 somewhat expendable pieces" would you be looking to move (or would you have been looking to move prior to August 1st)? - what would constitute sufficient value to acquire in exchange for those 1-3 somewhat expendable pieces (in other words, who would you expect to get in return)? - which current MLB players AND current Brewers prospects would you view as the core around which you're building? - how would you propose to improve the deficiencies of their player development program as it currently exists? I've read many of your posts about organization building. It's a solid and well thought-out philosophy. I like a lot of what you're saying. In asking those questions, I'm not trying to challenge or patronize you, not at all. To help me visualize it how that philosophy might look if it were implemented, I'm simply curious about specific examples of how you'd carry out that plan -- what it might actually look like.

No, that's not surprising at all. Yuni swings at everything, and hits it weakly. Rickie works the count, which is why he walks and K's more. Yuni has had 22 full counts this season, Rickie has had 75. You're saying "Rickie is just as bad a hitter as Yuni, if we discount one of the best things that Rickie does" Here, let me take your simple argument and make my own, Yuni is just as good a hitter as Braun, he has more HR's and the same number of RBI's as him. Besides that your analogy isn't apples-to-apples with the point I'm trying to make, sarcasm or condescension don't make me any more open to your point of view. It's a normal thing to make a comparison about the basic results of Weeks' & Yuni's ABs. The details vary and thus can carry different other implications (such as pitch counts, as you point out), but an out's still an out, whether by foul pop to the 3B or by line drive grounder to an infielder. To that extent, Weeks' one big-obvious "plus" aside, their batting results are both extremely lousy. Two more things: 1. Boldfaced text added for clarity above. It's what I was thinking when I wrote the original post but realized after reading subsequent posts that I didn't type it. Sorry. 2. My overall point is that Rickie used to be good at a lot of things. This year he's not very good at many things at all and for the past month has again become mostly very unproductive in the lineup, especially in the clutch (meaning RISP and close/late situations). To that extent, in my eyes, he's decreased his productivity and value to the point where, in these seemingly eternal dry spells, he's not worth a lot more than Yuni B, who I wish weren't on the team at all (obviously Weeks has All-Star ability but he's having a badly "off" year, whereas much of Yuni's skill set doesn't belong on the same field as Weeks, which we mostly hope is accomplished by Yuni being sent packing). In the grand scheme of things, I think we'd all prefer the "old" Rickie Weeks back, although I'll probably catch another bunch of flack because I'd take the current Rickie's defense over the early Rickie's defense (regardless of metrics, he passes the eyeball test a whole lot better now than he used to, in part because he doesn't make as many blatantly bad plays and errors as he used to make so regularly).

I'm not arbitrarily taking out stats. It's simple analysis - emphasis on simple - albeit in ways that are probably too simplistic for many for many people's liking on this board - to explain how Yuni & Rickie are eerily & mostly similarly worthless at the plate. Yuni stinks this year & Rickie really stinks compared to his career norms, as Logan points out -- the main difference that sets Rickie slightly above being the frequency with which Rickie gets on base when he doesn't hit the ball, and the main thing setting Yuni above Rickie is that Yuni has actually driven in over 50% more runs that Rickie. A bit surprisingly, Yuni has K'd only about half as frequently as Rickie. (EDIT: boldfaced text added for clarity, as explained two posts hence)

I just have to say, this is not even close to true. Weeks has a 91 wRC+ this season. Yuni has a 60. The difference between Weeks and Yuni with the bat this season is about the same as the difference between Weeks and Segura. Not exactly when you boil it down. The difference is that Weeks still walks a lot more than Yuni and also is still good at getting hit by a lot of pitches. Weeks strikes out a ton and my point is that he's become just about as worthless with the bat as Yuni when he's not getting on base by not swinging the bat. Weeks has been a complete rally killer for the past month. It's not like he's walked an awful lot. He's getting paid big bucks and part of what earned him that salary were his power & RBI numbers in addition to getting on base, scoring lots, and having good speed. His BA is horrid and his OBP and slugging are just plain ugly, too. The Brewers have still had a reasonably good offense this year -- lots of guys getting on base ahead of him -- and he has 2 dozen RBIs. It's just depressing when a previous-proven, very good all-around player has sunk to these levels and his work ethic, quietly-improved/quite-passable defense (yes, I'm serious), and free passes to first base are the only three ways he's really helping the team. Those attributes make his $10M-ish salary seem beyond absurd.

Do you have a link? I am just curious - is that why he picked to go to the U of Miami? I had never heard that before. really? I dont know anyone who goes to U of Miami for anything but one type of education The U of Miami generally is known as a good school, but it keeps coming up short with regard to character issues beyond just its football. It's known for its jazz studies. One of my professional friends went to the U of Miami and told the story about a razor once falling out of one of his professor's briefcases. When I asked why that was significant, he explained that a razor in that situation is a giveaway for cocaine use. I have a sister-in-law who grew up her whole life in Florida and who believes that nothing good comes from Miami and Miami equates to seedy behaviors and mistrust. Now, she's pretty level-headed about most anything. So it does say a lot that her distaste for Miami is that strong. Sorry to wander a bit re: the topic, but these things have been going through my mind a lot as this whole thing has unfolded.

He's certainly not worth a raise, and even the max 20% pay cut offer for arby-eligible guys is beyond what he's worth as a set-up guy when he has these stretches of disaster on the mound. It's one thing to give up some hits. It's a much bigger problem when he can't even find the plate. It almost seems like he's becoming only truly reliable when it's "garbage time," which is hardly worthy of clutch-performer salary levels. I just wish they'd made a move with him before he started crapping the bed nearly every time out again, which has pretty much killed the small amount of tradability he once actually had.

After Weeks yet again hit into a DP with the bases loaded tonight, I thought I'd check on his RISP for the year.... - Now 9 for 75 (yes, a whopping .120 BA after tonight's PH'ing AB, with a .278 OBP and .542 OPS prior to tonight's failure)!!!!! Good heavens, I'd have let Gennett face the LHP Lopez even if it was a total mismatch! - Also now 4 for 40 (.100 BA!!!) in late/close situations. Completely putrid! Granted, the guy busts his tail regardless and conducts himself extremely professionally (no excuses at all). But he's absolutely killing the team with his bat. He's reaching Yuni B levels of stink at the plate.

I like Gonzalez & am torn re: whether it's better to trade him or to try to sign him now for next year, however illogical the latter will sound to many on this board. After all, if we don't have him, we'll probably still try to go get a guy like him anyway (at least some combination of successful, veteran, lefty, & rubber-arm). He won't cost lots and for the most part he's had a strong year. In the spirit of this thread, he'd be an easy guy to let go to FA if he's not traded, then make a push to re-sign as a FA, whether that's from MIL or the club he's (hypothetically) traded to. Francisco..... the occasional pop is nice, but that's about the only viable MLB skill he has. He's Yuni-level bad defensively and if he's not hitting with power, he's usually doing little if anything at the plate the relatively few times he manages to put the ball in play. It'll rile a few when I say this, but I'd much rather have a Mark Kotsay-type (though not Kotsay himself -- don't appear to need that kind of depth in the OF but I do mean a veteran, "professional hitter" type but with a bit more power & general upside, perhaps Matt Stairs is a better comparison since that's who the SportsCenter guys used to use that moniker on for years) than Juan Francisco filling that role on the roster.

Positional flexibility is one thing, but you don't need someone to handle every IF & OF position hardly ever, so the fact that Green can play 5 positions (he's logged a few corner OF innings in the bigs) makes him sufficiently versatile. Prince's bat is not MLB-worthy at this point, not even close. At this point, we already have a Josh Prince-type player on the roster who's much better: Jeff Bianchi. With Bianchi on the bench (solid middle IF reserve & passable for short stretches (in other words, not regular starter material) at 3B), you don't need Josh Prince. You need Green & Gamel types who can hit with some pop and can hold down starting corner IF jobs and capably sub in the corner OF spots, which they've shown in short stretches they can do -- and with the OF reserve options noted above, the Brewers are in 8 worlds of hurt like this year at 1B if they're down to needing Gamel or Green to be regular starters there out of injury-based necessity.

I would have no problem with Francisco on the Roster and Green not on it. In fact the first thing I would do as a GM in the off season would be to remove Green from the 40 man roster. Prince is a better utility player than Green as he can play all of the OF positions plus SS, 2B, 3B, and even 1B though he doesn't really have the offense to play 1B. Prince has more value than Green does and I have no problem with him not being on the 40 man. Francisco would be a nice bench bat as he has some pop in his bat which I would prefer over what Green brings. Green has had two Minor League POY seasons separated by a significant injury/recovery period that each are better than anything Josh Prince has done except in last year's AZ Fall League (the equivalent of an in-season hot streak like Rickie Weeks' month of June). If Green can come back healthy and productive, he has Jeff Cirillo-like capabilities at the plate and is solid defensively at two positions (3B & 3B) and decent athleticism. Josh Prince has decent athleticism/speed and Bill Hall-like ability to play anywhere, but not necessarily great at any position because he's not proven with any consistency to be a capable hitter (only one BA above .260 above rookie ball (it was in high-A, never above .300), and only last year in AAA finally made it to double-digit HRs with 10). Granted, Green -- like Gamel -- is going to have to earn everything he gets at the MLB level until/if he's proven enough. But he has far more going for him than the punch-and-judy hitter Josh Prince is. P.S. I hope Francisco is in another organization next year if not sooner.

Au contraire re: "opting." That sounds like quite a cynical opinion rooted in either mistrust or dislike of Melvin. Based on his track record and stated positions, I'd say it looks like we didn't get offered anything remotely worth considering. Personally, I was hoping for an Axford trade -- not so much for immediate salary relief, but to get an asset now rather than face the non-tender dilemma in November/December. But Axford's recent performance was obviously suspect enough to ensure sufficient disinterest on the part of other GMs. Hopefully August will yield a better opportunity to move him. In the spirit of this thread... Axford to Detroit on August 21st.

I keep thinking that no matter what Braun says, there will still be tons of people who will find it unsatisfactory. He's put himself in the unenviable position of now never pleasing everyone -- and he'll never even come close. So as BCF just stated above, the best thing Braun can do is says what he can -- respectfully, sincerely, and (most importantly) humbly -- and, starting next year, start another string of many years that hopefully mirror his 2012 production. Then, in retrospect, just maybe, his production will show that whatever PEDs he was involved with really didn't make any difference given the consistency of his performance both pre- and post-suspension. . . . It's worth hoping for, both for his sake and, more importantly, the Brewers' sake!

It's comforting to know that our GM does not recognize the name of the likely 1st overall pick in next year's draft. Particularly when he himself (Melvin) drafted him in the 16th round a few years ago. I just saw this on MLBtraderumors.com and thought it was relevant & timely given the above: Twins GM Terry Ryan discusses the role of general managers in the draft in an interview with 1500ESPN's Phil Mackey. GMs generally get credit or blame for their draft picks, but other front office personnel may be more responsible for those picks. "My role would be to take the blame when we don't do well, but I also get the praise when we do well. That's not fair," says Ryan. For example, Ryan discusses his role in the selection of Ben Revere, the No. 28 overall pick in the 2007 Draft. "That's a pick that I got praise for I think at the time. I didn't have anything to do with Ben Revere. (Our scouts) did. They all had seen him a lot. I get the praise. 'Good pick, there you go Terry.' Hell, I never even saw (Revere)."

Oh, hogwash. I could find minor league players to fill out the rotation. Now that's hogwash or else you're a professional scout. Narveson wasn't spectacular but was quite serviceable for a couple years prior to these last 2 major injuries & Estrada's developed into a very solid find. The key is finding players who 1) are available and then who 2) have enough upside that they're worth acquiring in spite of lousy enough performances that their current organization is willing to let 'em go, and who 3) turn out to be league-average or better major league SPs. Every GM has some successes, but I think Melvin's got a better track record than the majority of GMs.

I just took that remark to mean that in times like these, a team like the Brewers sometimes has to get creative, whether due to lack of valuable-and-tradeable assets, limited other options, lack of New England or other major market teams' payrolls, or whatever. It's quite late now & it was late when I listened to that interview last night, so I don't remember too many specifics. If I have time soon to re-listen to it, I'll gladly cite some things I thought were solid/valid. (That is to say, I'm not avoiding your other question.)

Not at all. I think you missed his point. He's saying that many accomplished MLB SPs have taken a few years in the bigs to develop -- because most pitchers' development isn't complete once they arrive in MLB -- and the key to that is patience. One way the Brewers can realistically/affordably help themselves at this point is to hunt for the sort of SP who was projected as very high-ceiling, but who hasn't done as well to start with and his team has lost patience with him. The point w/ citing Homer Bailey is that while Bailey's good now both this year & last, for all the hype & potential when he came up, he wasn't very good at all, let alone consistently, for his first 5 years. But the Reds showed enough patience & gave him that chance to finish his development into the good pitcher he is while in the Reds' rotation. Melvin also mentioned Jake Westbrook. He could've added Cliff Lee, Chris Carpenter, Greg Maddux (1st 2 years), Ben Sheets (1st 3 years), etc. Of course the Brewers need impact pitching. And of course they need to do a far better drafting & developing good pitching, especially SPs. But no one's just going to drop them into the Brewers' laps in trade discussions, let alone for a reasonable cost. So they have to explore every possible avenue because the young stud SPs who are instantly & also career-long successes are more the exception than the rule. If you thought he sounded bland and that was a revelation . . . well . . . to me that's what they all tend to sound like. A GM interview isn't typically going to wow you. However, I'd also posit that while Melvin isn't fancy, he's generally quite honest (at least as much as any GM can be) & isn't going to create big, misleading expectations. Melvin's not a fish oil salesman, but like any GM, he does have to maintain his poker face ("I'm not motivated to trade Lyle Overbay" - paraphrased Melvin quote from the off-season leading into the year Fielder became the everyday 1B on opening day). Anyone disenchanted with Melvin might be inclined to think the same thing you did, tending to be very cynical and prone to find fault with anything that remotely hints at something that supports their beefs. In other words, people often are going to hear what they want to hear regardless of their perspective. I listened with an open mind and I thought there were several solid & valid points to be taken from what he said.

On a sort-of related note, should we maybe be hoping that Detroit's starting 2B misses major PT and their utility guys stink? I mention it because wouldn't you think Fielder might advocate that the Tigers look to make a trade for Weeks? They could afford him & might give up something halfway reasonable in return. Heck, they traded for Delmon Young when he was having a pretty lousy year, and he had several clutch postseason hits for 'em. Rickie -- struggles and all -- has a far, far better combination of track record & character than Delmon Young.