MNBrew

The thing is, this waivers thing has been going on since they moved the non-waiver trade deadline back to July 31. It used to be August 31 (like back in '82 when the Brewers landed Don Sutton, for instance). It's normal stuff that pretty much everyone gets put through waivers whether teams have thoughts of trading them or not. With how many things get leaked these days, and with all the sources who get stuff onto the internet, we just hear more about them -- this year more so than ever, esp. in terms of particulars (i.e., who claimed who). Historically, the point of the August trade waivers isn't to expect your guys to get claimed so you can work out a deal, but to see who makes it through waivers so they might be able to be traded freely (a la Larry Walker to St. Louis comes to mind as an example). I don't think the Cardinals ever would've traded Berkman to the Brewers, so thoughts of that strike me as just sheer fantasy -- doubtlessly fun, but sheer fantasy nonetheless. The apparent frustration that the Brewers wouldn't bother putting in a claim on Berkman just doesn't seem rational.

Tagging onto my point above re: how McGehee's playing much better (which supports my feeling that he's still considered the starting 3B next year regardless of Green or Gamel, tho' I very much want to see those two on the team): offense: - 7/26-8/24: .296 BA, 5 HR, 23 RBI - outside of his putrid May & June (.199 BA), McGehee's BA for the year is .275 -- not stellar, but still in the realm of acceptable for him defense: - through 6/20: 13 errors (slightly <3 months) - 6/21-8/24: 4 errors (slightly >2 months) What Casey really had was a nasty-ugly-killer two-month, two-way (offensive & defensive) slump. Otherwise, he's played rather respectably. And given that production, I'm not concerned about him being in the lineup at all . . . . but I'd still agree that having competition from Green & Gamel to push him & anyone else is still a good thing.

Reillymcshane & WTP are making tons of sense to me, by & large. I foresee relatively little change outside of a Prince departure. Frankly, Hart & McGehee are strong rebound candidates. Everyone's bashing of McGehee seems rather extreme given his recent (relative) surge & productivity again, improved defense (relatively) lately (in that his uber-ugly fielding slump coincided with his most putrid stretch of hitting and now is a bit further in the rear-view mirror), and the fact that I put plenty of stock in his VERY productive '09 & '10. I love what Taylor Green is doing in AAA, and I want him pushing for serious MLB playing time in 2012, but I don't see him being a given to start over McGehee at all -- and given that we usually just see stats whereas Melvin & the other organizational decision-makers know these guys inside & out, I'd be inclined to think their faith is more in Casey (and very justifiably so). I honestly believe with minimal changes, the Brewers should be just as strong contenders in 2012 as they initially projected to be this year. I also think, based on '11 vs. the previous few years, that the team can live with a hole or two in its lineup FAR MORE than any holes in its pitching staff, esp. its rotation. For that reason, I'd be hugely surprised if the rotation didn't remain the same next year w/ every effort made to extend Greinke & Marcum.

- I still think the odds are better that Fielder is gone, but it's not a given. Much depends on the other offers he gets. - I don't share many folks' dread at the idea of Casey McGehee as our starting 3B. (No, I'm not blind.) - Corey Hart's production & role (Gindl, Schaefer, etc.) should be far easier to replace than McGehee's, and trading Hart's $8M would come in very handy. Not saying it has to happen, but I see it as a logical move (esp. if he'd be the RH hitter w/ power Atlanta's been coveting for 2 years and such a move would net us one decent pitcher). - It's SO worth keeping Greinke & Marcum beyond 2012 if at all possible. Pitching is what's made the difference. Those two are both aces. Assuming Prince is gone.... OF: Braun, Morgan, Hart (or Gindl/Schaefer/etc.) IF: McGehee, ??? at SS, Weeks, Gamel at 1B C: Lucroy bench: Gomez (OF), Hairston (OF/IF), Green (corner IF), Kottaras, Wilson (or someone comparable, middle IF) SP: same as this year RP: Axford, Saito, Hawkins, Loe, Estrada, 2 of Dillard/McClendon/Kintzler/Braddock/Parra/Peralta/Fiers/Rivas/etc..... (I'd take K-Rod back, but I don't see that as likely since he wants to close)

Maybe I'm just overly simplistic about this in my thinking, but I couldn't care less if there are no lefties in the bullpen so long as whomever is in the bullpen can get LH batters out on a steady basis.

I was only talking about the active roster, not the playoff roster. Lopez wouldn't seem to be a given at all, either, once Weeks/Gomez return. The fact that Lopez has played himself onto the bench in MIL after playing himself to the minors in TB is a sure sign that his spot is hardly secure (even though we seem to want to think he should be better than he has been -- must be that good '09 that's stuck in our collective consciousness).

First, I'd love to have Thome. Total class & still with big power. Second, if this were to happen, I'd wonder if this doesn't put Dillard's spot in greater jeopardy than Wilson's.

I think Weeks' returning makes Hairston (who already is part of the time) and Lopez (who should be all the time) and Wilson (already in that role) the bench guys. In other words, the return to health & to the active roster of Weeks gets us the bench bat we're missing.

LINK to Kurkjian spot on Thome. Worth the quick view & the read. The term he uses in the video clip describing Thome is "honor," which sums him up SO well. Congrats, Mr. Thome!

September call-ups serve four main purposes: - rewarding for a good season those minor leaguers already close enough to the bigs; - more players available for the manager to use (more options in general & esp. in case of injuries, greater depth, etc.); - prospects get a chance to get their feet wet in the bigs, & teams get a look at some of their prospects against major league competition (as opposed to spring training, when so much of the early-spring or late-game competition is against players with little chance to be in the bigs); and, - finally, it serves to give those call-ups exposure to & education about, so to speak, life in the big leagues -- and all the more so when the team keeps some of those guys on their bench in uniform in the playoffs even when they're not on the 25-man playoff roster.

Rosiak tweeted that they've put Narveson on the DL and brought up Frankie de la Cruz. I haven't read/heard who's coming off the 40-man or going onto the 60-day DL.

Is Rosiak on Twitter? I can't find this on the JSOnline.

The point that's been perfectly clear ever since Thome came to the Twins is that with Thome, it's not just "he's clean now," but rather "he's always been clean." The guy's a class act.

I've said this before, but I think it's poorly selective when HOF members and the baseball media get haughty about steroid users potentially getting into the HOF, but I've never read anywhere besides my own writing about how Gaylord Perry did as much or more -- not to mention quite blatantly, and for years upon years -- to deceive opponents as any "juicer," but no one ever questions his rightful place in the HOF. Then there's the whole issue of the pervasive use of "greenies" and other little uppers players took for decades. . . . It's not that I think steroid or PED use is fine. It's just the latest in a long line of things players have used either with the hope of faster recovery, a little energy boost, or improved performance. That all of a sudden there's this line of piety drawn with steroids on one side and everything else previous to that tacitly excused on the other side of it seems to me to be a current-media-influenced phenomenon and a flat-out screwy basis for making any of these decisions. ....And on the topic of this thread, it's been documented many times in the local papers here in the Cities how Thome was clean while other guys weren't. There's really little way players could get away with steroids or PEDs these days, yet Thome hit a jaw-dropping 2nd-deck-in-right-center HR at Target Field in the past month (478 ft. I believe, and he turns 41 in 2.5 weeks), and last fall at age 40 hit one HR off almost the top of the flagpole in RF and nearly hit the same flagpole again within days of that mammoth shot. . . . . Look, the guy's clean and simply has amazing power.

The closest to news we have is Tom H saying two different times it is not Taylor Green and they are mid-tier prospects at best. That was in a chat last week. Some have wondered whether that was speculation or if he had knowledge of the list. He sounded very confident and direct for it just to be speculation Tom H's essentially "informed," which is quite enough for me to trust that the Mets likely are getting "filler," not the likes of any recent upper-round picks, legit prospects, or McClendon-types who've been up here and gotten decent results.

The only thing is, if they send Dillard down, they'd have to know they won't need him for 10 days (time required in minors before recall to MLB is possible). If the thinking is that he's mainly here for "insurance" purposes that have yet to come into play over the past 2 weeks, all I can figure is they don't want to run the risk of being without him. I'm not saying I agree with keeping him around in favor of a 14th bat (and we know now it can't be Carroll since he chose FA). I'm only trying to guess why he's still here

A couple more thoughts after getting caught up on this thread... 1. Brett Carroll was hardly a difference maker. I wanted him to come up & do well, too. But I'm also willing to accept that he (like Boggs) is likely a fringe major-leaguer at this point. To suggest that Melvin hamstrung Roenicke by DFA'ing Carroll strikes me as being way idealistic and optimistic about Carroll to the point of being, really, just patently absurd. 2. All the ragging on Melvin the first half of the thread seems beyond rational. We're ALL big Brewers fans & armchair GMs -- that's probably as much as anything why we're on here. But Melvin has his job and has earned the respect throughout MLB that he has for good reason, and he's forgotten more than we'll ever know about baseball. That doesn't put him above question or criticism. But I find myself generally tending to give him more of the benefit of the doubt. 3. Melvin has made lots of solid moves since the end of the '10 season, all of which have addressed major needs: 2 top-of-the-rotation SPs (Greinke & Marcum) 2 former closers with long track records of MLB success (Saito & Rodriguez) 1 speedy, good-hitting, defensively solid STARTING CF (Morgan) 2 highly versatile (multiple-position) bats to add depth to the bench & to expand Roenicke's options (Lopez & Hairston) Melvin's also added veteran OF depth of debatable value (Kotsay) and veteran IF depth favoring defense (Wilson). . . . I'm not saying every single move is great (though most are clear pluses), but they've all addressed legit-to-glaringly-MAJOR needs. 4. A team like the Brewers (compared to large-market perennial big-spenders, whether gratuitous like the NYY or BoSox or more savvy & strategic like SF or TX -- then again, there's also Philly, who's kind of both but who's gone out & landed the best available players the past 3-4 years in Lee x2, Halladay, Oswalt, & Pence) usually is going to have multiple weaknesses. Coming into spring training, in terms of positions, it seemed those weaknesses were: SS, quite possibly CF, & perhaps the bullpen Now, as the year has played out and is 2/3 through, the glaring weaknesses seem to be: SS, 3B, &, to a somewhat lesser extent, RF - Thanks to Morgan, CF's not been a weakness. With Saito's & Hawkins' returns to health and the addition of K-Rod, the bullpen's hardly a weakness. - We all know Hart's streaky and this year has been pretty under-productive compared to his norms as a big-league regular. I firmly believe McGehee's last 2 years were no aberration and that his failure to "get right" offensively much at all this year has clearly impacted his defense, too -- not that he's ever been a stud 3B at all, but he's generally been reasonably decent in making the plays (my personal view). - So 2 anticipated problem areas have generally been pretty decent, and 2 positions we had well-substantiated high expectations for have underproduced significantly. - The only "glaring" weakness, both anticipated and in reality, has been SS. So my point here is three-fold: I. For all McGehee's issues getting on-track offensively, and for those struggles carrying over more glaringly w/ his defense -- both of which are pretty much indisputable -- his 2-year MLB track record prior to this year remains a logical reason why Melvin didn't go out and turn the farm system upside down to get another starting 3B. And... II. I do believe that if a good SS upgrade were available at a cost Melvin felt was remotely reasonable, that move would've been made as soon as possible. The fact that it hasn't to me is a sure indication that mortgaging that much more of the farm system for a marginal upgrade at SS (meaning getting any non-stud SS in terms of his overall game) obviously was more of a risk than Melvin felt was merited based on the talent available and the cost being asked in return. Do I wish we had Reyes or Rollins or someone of that ilk? Sure. But those types of players just weren't available. III. At some point, the Brewers probably could've landed a Jose Reyes or some other stud player at a position of major need like SS (SP & OF now clearly not being among those needs). But they only had so many "bullets" with which to make strong deals. So had they gotten a stud SS or 3B, it would've meant not making one of the other essential moves. I'm simply guessing that Melvin & Co. figured/hoped the Brewers could eventually more out of 3B & SS than the combination of available 3B or SS replacements AND the significant holes being created subsequently elsewhere on the roster.

Exactly. And he hit .259 last year, but w/ 16 HRs & 78 RBIs. Betancourt would hardly be considered shabby offensively IF he could take walks at a half-decent rate (probably as well as if the crappy pop-up thing he's worn us out with hadn't been so extreme). I'm not saying he'd be anything great, just much more tolerable on offense. On defense, I'm at least glad I've witnessed some of his highlight-reel plays. Crucify me now, but while I'm not saying AT ALL that he's a good defensive SS (I believe he's not), I do believe two things: 1) defense, while hugely important, has also become quite overvalued the past 5 years (esp. in terms of stats being devised & consequently over which there's been greatly increased obsession about it); and 2) that for the most part, Betancourt's defense, while overall sub-standard, is hardly sinking the team.

It would be at least a bit surprising if he were a PTBNL since David Wright's not going anywhere. I'd also think that if Prince goes elsewhere as a FA AND if McGehee's bat stays crappy the whole rest of the year (though it seems it's thawing at least a bit right now), Gamel's the 1B-in-waiting and it sure would seem the Brewers would want Green kept in the mix at the very least to challenge McGehee for the 3B job or, should McGehee still win that battle, be a strong contender for a reserve role in '12.

That has to be the absolute best line of the month -- and by far the most true analogy of the typical Yankee mindset.

By and large, the way Wolf's pitched, we need him. He's been pretty darn solid. Say what you will, but a 3.50 ERA in spite of our shaky defense behind him is nothing to sneeze at. He's also been notably more steady than Narveson. . . . . So I don't see any realistic way trading Wolf would make the Brewers a better team. (...And b/c Prince is heading to FA regardless, I still don't have any faith that clearing Wolf off next year's payroll will have any real impact on our ability to re-sign Prince, esp. given all the other holes the Crew will likely have to fill.) I do like the idea of the Brewers getting Erik Bedard if they can possibly do so. But Bedard over Wolf isn't a massive upgrade compared to Bedard over Narveson.

Boggs is hitting .227 in AAA. I really rooted for Boggs in ST, and his big load of walks make for a very nice OBP. But I'm always rather hesitant when a guy's best (or even arguably only decent) trait when he has a bat in his hands is success by not swinging the bat. I wonder if, short of a trade, and providing they bring up an OF, we don't see Gindl (.285 BA, .361 OBP) or esp. Brett Carroll (.278 BA, .353 OBP) before Boggs since production off the bench is such a high need for this year's Brewers.

It seems the Brewers have been sharing the same concern b/c after tonight's game, Braddock was optioned & Dillard was recalled. Hopefully the decent Dillard shows up. Can't be any worse than Braddock lately. One asterisk, though: While Braddock was bad last night, he still only gave up one run while in the game. It was Loe who came in and promptly allowed all 3 guys on base to score. . . . So I do consider Loe a not-too-distant 2nd to Braddock in being lousy lately, and Estrada can't be that far behind. Asterisk, part 2: Granted, a couple of Estrada's losses were in starts, but between Loe & Estrada, it's a bad sign when two counted-on relievers combine for a 5-13 record. That means WAY too many games being blown by the bullpen.

It's easy to suggest dumping Wolf and his $10M salary next year, but I'm not sure we've got great #4 starter options busting their way onto the roster. Narveson up to #4 and ???? as #5 either means a crapshoot acquisition or Estrada at #5 and even less depth in the bullpen again. I'll take our current situation and not worry too much about next year. That said, though, with all the good young OFs in the system (Schafer, Komatsu, Gindl), plus Morgan & maybe Gomez still left on the 25-man, I don't think bringing someone else in to play CF is a long-term issue unless 4 of those 5 guys are down with injuries.

I absolutely hate this idea. I'd much rather see MLB - and I think they'd be far better off -- adding 2 more teams. This 10-playoff-team idea makes no sense, and all the more so if it involves any sort of bye because too many teams stand to lose their groove if they go that long without playing.