MNBrew

I don't get some folks' assertions that Edmonds in CF is basically the equivalent of putting Ryan Braun back at 3B or putting Izzy Alcantara anywhere. An 8x Gold Glove CF who's lost a step or two still should be a league-average CF defensively. The guy has more big-league OF experience (1805 games) than Braun, Hart, Gomez, & Gerut combined (1572). Intelligent approaches & play can overcome at least a bit of age-induced physical regression. I don't get the resentment. If he sucks, he's gone. If he's playing everyday, then either 1) everyone else is playing totally terribly or is terribly hurt, which in the worst case of the former it truly wouldn't matter who you put out there anyway if Edmonds stunk, too, or 2) he's flat out out-playing whomever he's bumped to the bench. He's also only costing us $850K before incentives. That's less than Gomez and less than half of Gerut. Assuming he makes the team, he's the cheapest bat in the OF. I'd far prefer Edmonds PH-ing for the pitcher in the 9th inning of a close game than, for instance, Gerut, Catalanotto (terrible last year as a PH, so gone), or an Adam Heether-type (and don't get me wrong, I like Heether as a future Brewer). His age doesn't guarantee he'll be bad. He well may be. Most of you could find the stats to back up such a prediction 25x before I'd find 'em once. But the game's not played on paper, and for every "rule" or trend there are exceptions (I'll take the performance of a purple-clad 40-year-old #4 QB from this past year over whatever Tarvaris Jackson might've done regardless of Jackson's youthful age, raw skills, and potential upside because Jackson NEVER could approach what Favre actually did). I believe Edmonds was a brilliant signing. He's got a body of work that more than justifies at least giving him the chance to prove if he can still perform or not. If he can't cut it anymore, then he won't last anyway, all the naysayers around here will be vindicated, and the Brewers will only be out an inconsequential slice of their payroll.

Starting CF. Gerut is bench for sure. Edmonds is experienced depth if he's good enough to make the team. I don't get why people think this is a stupid signing. It's a no-lose deal, as several others have said. If his skills truly are gone, he's not around. Best of all, he's reasonably cheap and much more likely to succeed than the Duffys & Bourgeoises of our recent past. Gabe Gross is a class act. But he hit (BA) the same in '09 as Edmonds in '08 but with tons less pop. Last year we had little competency on the bench 'til we started signing some vets and traded for Lopez. I'd rather just have better depth to start the year & then not have to sweat it. . . . .And I really don't think in the fairly limited PT a 5th OF should get, that the defensive "productivity" from Edmonds up to Gross really could make much difference at all.

Mulder coming off as much injury time as he's had likely wouldn't demand an opt-out clause. If he's doing well enough to be appealing to other teams, the Brewers should want him in their rotation. Besides, he worked w/ Rick Peterson last year & had his greatest success w/ Peterson as his pitching coach.

Randy Johnson (not likely, but even at his age he's still better than Suppan if healthy) announced his retirement & began his Cooperstown clock John Smoltz (see Randy Johnson comment) Yes, I meant the parenthetical comment, not the bold-faced update. Smoltz's routinely still comes up as a FA other teams are considering on mlbtraderumors.com.

Absolutely. 40-man spot = major league contract. Minor league contract = not on 40-man.

I believe that Washburn could be had for maybe 1-2 million more then Bush, which is a bargain. He is healthy and he would be moving from the AL to the NL which would give him an advantage. I'd choose a healthy dependable Washburn whom you know what you will get over a Dave Bush who is coming off of a 2009 season where he pitched poorly and was injured. The thing is, at this point at least the Brewers have some assets & options. Some team desperate enough for pitching might think Dave Bush is better than half their rotations. Trade him for prospects and they could then sign Washburn. The other thing is, though, that Washburn is older and was also injured part of last season. So he's not quite a sure thing, either.

I'd love to have Rocco Baldelli in the mix. I want to be optimistic about Gerut & Gomez, but there's enough mitigating info on both to make anyone's hesitation at least somewhat justified. . . . Then again, you could use the same logic to promote positive projections, too.

Time to update the list again, 3.5 weeks after first posting it. Clearance prices are on their way. Plenty of decent guys still available. I'm rooting hard for... P: Bedard & Mulder OF: Baldelli or Winn IF: Nomar or Lopez ... to end up Brewers -- most especially Bedard & Baldelli! -- though a move or two may need to happen to clear enough payroll space. With tons of teams still with big needs & at least some $$ to spend, there are only 12 changes to this list over the past 25 days (6 in the first 9 days, only 6 more in the last 16): Infield (Brewers still need depth): Nomar Garciaparra (more likely on the corners) Eric Hinske (corners + corner OF) signed w/ Braves Orlando Hudson (only if Weeks gets hurt between now & ST) Aubrey Huff (corners + corner OF) signed w/ Giants Felipe Lopez Mark Loretta (sunset of his career, but still wish we'd never let him go) announced his retirement Melvin Mora Miguel Tejada signed w/ Orioles Outfielders (potentially as 3rd/4th starter or more-solid-than-Gerut reserve): Garrett Anderson (LH bat) Rick Ankiel (more name than actual value I think, but some solid skills) signed w/ Royals Rocco Baldelli (low risk, potentially very solid reward, proven history in CF) -- on my original paper version, forgot him on this list Endy Chavez (solid production, experienced part-timer, could be CF or 4th OF) Johnny Damon (not likely, but still a solid player, would start) Jermaine Dye (if Hart were moved to CF or in trade) Vlad Guerrero (not likely -- more realistically a DH from here on out) signed w/ Rangers Matt Holliday (highly unlikely -- would also weaken St.L.!) re-signed w/ Cardinals Scott Podsednik (LH, CF or corners, still hits well & has good speed) signed w/ Royals Randy Winn (see Dye comment) Pitchers, non-injured: Doug Davis signed w/ Brewers -- YEA! Jon Garland Braden Looper Pedro Martinez Brett Myers (?) signed w/ Astros Joel Piniero (big $$ expected after contract-year wonder-production) signed w/ Angels Jarrod Washburn Pitchers, injury recoveries: Erik Bedard (if this guy were healthy, he'd be worth the risk) Randy Johnson (not likely, but even at his age he's still better than Suppan if healthy) announced his retirement & began his Cooperstown clock Ben Sheets (not at the dollar figures he's talkin' 'bout) John Smoltz (see Randy Johnson comment) Chien-Ming Wang (see Bedard comment) Pitchers, other: Brenden Donnelly (pitched decently when healthy last year) signed w/ Pirates

I agree that a fully healthy Dave Bush should be at least as good and definitely more cost-effective than Jarrod Washburn. But there's no guarantee Bush is fully healthy. If he proves in ST that he's just not the same pitcher anymore, at least they can release him with "minimal" damage (at most $1.05 million). Another possible scenario is another bargain-aisle signing and the Brewers have more productive, healthy arms than rotation spots. At that point, some other team is bound to have lost an integral guy to injury, so all of a sudden we could have some depth from which to make a move.

Parra's out of options. There's no way he clears waivers to make it to AAA. I sure would've liked to see this deal happen sooner and a Suppan-for-Pierre deal w/ the Dodgers that would've addressed the OF depth, too. Someone out there may still have a poor enough contract to make such a deal possible, though.

I'd totally love it if Narveson proved to be a late bloomer. I'd be more convinced of his potential viability as a starter if he hadn't pitched totally horribly in the bigs prior to September. "They" say that spring training & September stats are the two to put the least stock in. Assuming there to be enough truth in that "ism" for it to have become a time-tested comment, I'd feel a lot more ready to believe in if he'd had reasonable success in Milwaukee at any point prior to September.

Barring a miraculous breakthrough, Narveson is an injury-replacement starter at best. If we're looking at him as anything more than that, then all the more reason we need to be going after at least one more proven starter even though the best options are injury questions (Sheets, Bedard) or league-average types (Davis, Washburn, Garland).

The thing is, I have this sneaky feeling that Bedard would have to come pretty cheap and incentive-laden. If they could sign Davis or Garland, then the burden of Bedard's contract should be offset easily enough to find someone desperate enough to take Bush. Better yet, if they got even luckier, Suppan might even be pitching well enough to entice someone to pay even $4M (1/3) to $6M (1/2) of his contract (pro-rated, of course, for whenever the sucker, er, team would be desperate or fooled enough to make this happen). Okay, this part's a pipe dream. But the first scenario wouldn't seem as unlikely -- if of course you could get Bedard + one of Davis/Garland/Washburn signed in the first place.

I'm all for getting as many decent to good starters as possible but getting Davis and Bedard would leave us with four lefties and Gallardo in the rotation. That seems a little southpaw heavy in our right hand heavy division.Yeah, but, on the slight chance it would happen in the first place, there's no guarantee they'd all be in the rotation at the same time. For one, there's no way Mulder's ML-ready by Opening Day. If Parra continues to undermine his ability through his total lack of confidence and subsequent crappy pitching, he's in the bullpen. Heck, there'd be no guarantee Bedard would go the whole season without injury. So swap Garland for Davis in my previous quote. It doesn't matter. The main deal is finding any way possible to upgrade the talent in this rotation.

I'd think Bedard has a solid chance to make an impact in the bigs -- he just needs to be healthy. Mulder would be much more of a crapshoot. And I firmly believe they should work hard to get both as well as Davis. At worst, some team would take Bush or the like in a trade when the alternative is AAA flotsam/jetsam.

Monte, I think you're right & you're wrong... - I agree that that the collective talent of Cameron, Hoffman, Lopez, Counsell, & Kendall is worth something solid in return. That said, Melvin would've had to feel what the Brewers would've been getting was worth what they were giving up. Clearly that wasn't the case or deals probably would've happened. - (p.s. to the above: Remember many here thought Hardy or Hardy-plus was worth Buchholz or a solid young starter, but all the Brewers could get for him was Carlos Gomez.) - I disagree, in that trading 2 of those guys (since you say "a mix of...") for an AAA starter who might be a Dave Bush type would've met a huge outcry of disgust on this board, that the Brewers should've gotten a whole lot more in return for, say, a still-elite closer & either an upper-half CF or a .300-hitting versatile everyday infielder or .320 hitting starting 2B. You want more than ST roster fodder for your starters.

Last year we started with a very thin bench, with both Duffy & Nelson playing their way off the team. Depth was shallow at best. We ended last year w/ Gerut, Catalanotto, Patterson (a dud), etc., in addition to Counsell. Much better depth. I like Hernan I. & Mat G., and I could easily see one of them making the team. But I still strongly believe Gomez could completely fail -- or someone else could get injured -- and we really need an OF we'd be very comfortable with if he started 100 games. Personally, I don't think that guy's presently on our roster. If that proves true, I don't see how Heether & Iribarren could both make the team out of ST.

I'm still pretty convinced bargain-basement prices are coming eventually. With tons of teams still with big needs & at least some $$ to spend, there are only 6 changes to this list over the past 9 days: Infield (Brewers may need depth): Nomar Garciaparra (more likely on the corners) Eric Hinske (corners + corner OF) signed w/ Braves Orlando Hudson (only if Weeks gets hurt between now & ST) Aubrey Huff (corners + corner OF) Felipe Lopez Mark Loretta (sunset of his career, but still wish we'd never let him go) Melvin Mora Miguel Tejada Outfielders (potentially as 3rd/4th starter or more-solid-than-Gerut reserve): Garrett Anderson (LH bat) Rick Ankiel (more name than actual value I think, but some solid skills) Rocco Baldelli (low risk, potentially very solid reward, proven history in CF) -- on my original paper version, forgot him on this list Endy Chavez (solid production, experienced part-timer, could be CF or 4th OF) Johnny Damon (not likely, but still a solid player, would start) Jermaine Dye (if Hart were moved to CF or in trade) Vlad Guerrero (not likely -- more realistically a DH from here on out) deal apparently in place w/ Rangers Matt Holliday (highly unlikely -- would also weaken St.L.!) re-signed w/ Cardinals Scott Podsednik (LH, CF or corners, still hits well & has good speed) signed w/ Royals Randy Winn (see Dye comment) Pitchers, non-injured: Doug Davis Jon Garland Braden Looper Pedro Martinez Brett Myers (?) signed w/ Astros Joel Piniero (big $$ expected after contract-year wonder-production) Jarrod Washburn Pitchers, injury recoveries: Erik Bedard (if this guy were healthy, he'd be worth the risk) Randy Johnson (not likely, but even at his age he's still better than Suppan if healthy) announced his retirement & began his Cooperstown clock Ben Sheets (not at the dollar figures he's talkin' 'bout) John Smoltz (see Randy Johnson comment) Chien-Ming Wang (see Bedard comment) Pitchers, other: Brenden Donnelly (pitched decently when healthy last year; don't really need him; if he's unemployed going into ST, worth signing for AAA & injury insurance)

As long as it's not from the Brewers, I'm fine with that -- even better if it's from another NL Central team. I know what you meant. I just can't stand that thought. There are better arms to be had via trade without giving up as much. I'd much rather see Bush or Parra toeing the rubber. Might be a push vs. Suppan.

....because even if what some of them have proven isn't much above average, even that degree of achievement would still amount to a major upgrade over what last year's rotation outside of Gallardo accomplished.

alphabetically: Alomar Blyleven Dawson Martinez McGwire Raines Smith I like Larkin, Mattingly, McGriff, Morris, & Murphy, but I don't think they deserve election.

Nope. I'm right with you, albeit with a slight inkling of concern lurking. I believe he can be that guy again or even better. It seems to come down to making the right adjustments.

Right. But he hasn't signed on the dotted line in St. Louis just yet, so I'm still having fun dreaming.

The steady talk up here in MN as the season progressed was that Liriano lost confidence in his fastball, and as a result he didn't use it as often. They wanted him throwing it more. But he didn't. And because of that difference in confidence, sure, he worked hard to throw it harder, which result he did get, but it was also far straighter and far more hittable. Also, because he'd lost his confidence in his fastball, he also lost his command of it. The inevitable result was a terrible season -- kinda like the MN version of Manny Parra. Sorry, no link or documentation. Just months of watching/listening to Twins games and lots of listening to KFAN.

Good points, Ennder... - I don't think anyone expects Escobar v.2010 to be on par w/ Hardy v.2007-08. - Hardy v.2009 didn't hold a candle to Hardy v.2007-08, which has much to do w/ why Hardy will be wearing those new Twins threads in 2010. The two most indisputable givens about Escobar are summarized in your 1st & last sentences: - It is just a big IF all around because... - It is always hard to tell with young players. Because those things are SO true, until Escobar starts playing the 2010, I'll fervently disagree with everyone who thinks Escobar v.2010 will automatically be a downgrade from Hardy v.2009. Hardy v.2007-08 was top-notch, no doubt. But the Hardy who stunk in 2009 wasn't the same player. Escobar will be a different player, that's for sure. But different and worse are not inherently synonymous.