TheCrew07

I don't see how this deal makes the team appreciably better in 09? It's basically a deal for 3 "names", while Halladay is a stud, the other 2 have little value to the crew. Rolen wouldn't be any better than what we got from 3rd base this year, and I'm comfortable saying he'd be worse, Overbay is obviously a step down from Fielder, and Halladay would essentially replace Sabathia. Like Al said I wouldn't mind O as a stop gap, the problem is that there's no 1B close to Milwaukee to replace him, which makes him a long term solution. If the Brewers are going to spend 17 million on Halladay, I'd rather they make a run at Sabathia and see if he'd take 20 over 5, but I highly doubt that's realistic. Aquiring players on the decline in O and Rolen with an expensive pitcher in Halladay is exactly the opposite deal that I'd be in favor of. I'd want a young pitcher and players that have some upside, but that's just my opinion. I'm not against dealing Fielder, I just don't like this particular deal. Someone posted it earlier this summer, but I really like the idea of signing Teixeira and trading Fielder... Fielder for Shields in 2009~! (no I'm not giving up on Fielder for Shields yet) I'd much rather have money tied up in bats than in the BP and aging SP...

A team like Milwaukee would trade a position player because they get more value signing FA bats than they do pitching. FA pitching is a weak market as typically most FA pitchers are declining, some teams can afford to overpay for the stability a FA pitcher offers, I personally do not believe it's in the Brewer's best interest to do so.

If you're talking walks I'd agree he's more patient, otherwise there is no way he goes the other way as much as the other 2. I'll concede if a spray chart proves me wrong, but my gut feeling is that there's no way he's using more the field.

Sabathia was the correct type of deal, just the wrong player in my opinion.

It's waaay too early to be down on kids that have only played Short Season ball... heck, I'm even interested to see if Dykstra moves to 2B and can stick there...

I would guess Low A regardless. I'm not sure what he has to gain playing short season ball, and I'm sure he'll be working on hard on his catching during instructionals. I hope if he plays 3B they find a place for Trejo... I know he didn't get to play this year because he blew out his knee, but my selfish enthusiasm for the young man drives my opinion in this case.

Nope, which is why I repeatedly beat on that point, the system did not produce enough pitching for the 2007/2008 window. Which is again one of the many reasons I'm excited about 2010, the 2nd wave should be experienced enough to give the club a significant boost. This is also why I'm in favor of flipping bats, because the scouting department has done very well in that regard giving us a surplus. Deal from a position of strength to plug weaknesses...

Maybe I'm off base, but it sort of upsets me that 3,300+ of us haven't ponied up enough cash yet for 1 more year of Bf.net.

I wonder how the lateral stability is in the knee if he's not taking BP? Call me crazy but if he's still not moving well enough to hit, why not just bunt off of him?

Someday when you cut your grass more than 4 times a summer you'll know... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

To this point in his career this would have been his single biggest game pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers. I'm sure he didn't want to sit down, or least I hope he didn't, but this is exactly the reason why I want no part of resigning him. Take the 2 picks and let him go someplace else...

It's all about the window to compete, the organizations have to match up of course. In the Rays case they already have plenty of pitching with Price on the way but need a big bat, Toronto is rebuilding, and LAA made a move to aquire Teixeira (Fielder anyone?)... It is something you can do every day? Certainly not, but the Brewers could have aquired Cain this offseason if they had the talent developed enough to have the assets in place to make a deal. Would I trade Gallardo now? No, because this is our window and the Brewers don't have enough pitching the way it is... again it comes to down to organizations motivated enough to deal with one another. Another deal I often bring up is Volquez for Hamilton, because that happened in the division, Young for Garza (and change both ways) is another deal that happened this offseason... it is certainly possible to aquire good, young, starting pitching, and I think that's a much better route than signing declining FA pitchers to market value contracts.

It's not arguing against CC, I think sometimes people get caught up in how good CC has been and the wildcard chase... it's arguing against the notion that this team was one player away... it's arguing against dumping prospects for short term solutions (rentals) when there's no garuntee, not that there ever is but I'd rather mitigate my risk over several years than take a one and done. The simple truth is that while the system produced bats, it produced mostly the same type of bats, and very little pitching. Again I never thought 2008 was the year, I've always had my eye on 2010 for various reasons. I've posted on this subject so many times going back to last summer that it's hardly revisionist history, I just don't like rental player deals. I'm all about trading assets for starting pitching, I just want a young pitcher on the rise, like a Volquez, or a legit #2 who's the 3rd best pitcher on their staff like an Ervin Santana or James Shields. Usually those deals happen in the off season, which again tempers my enthusiasm for rental player deals, I want a limited amount security when I'm trading top prospects, and I'd rather not have to worry about filling the same hole again next year. This team may miss the playoffs with CC and next year he'll be gone, I would have rather tried to aquire a Marcum (if an season deal "had" to be made) who would have contributed this year and not left a gaping hole in the rotation next year. I'm not someone that gets caught up in these "name" conversations... Halladay, Sabathia, etc... I'm a value guy, and I don't think the Brewers got the best possible value when they aquired Sabathia, and how well Sabathia has pitched since the trade isn't a factor. When all is said and done we traded 2 top prospects for 15 starts, when for the same package we could have potentially picked up 90 starts. Would the difference between Marcum and Sabathia matter this season? It's too early to tell, but if the Brewers do in fact miss the playoffs even with CC I think scale starts to lean a little bit more towards my point of view. I honestly believe that many fans are just happy the Brewers "went for it" which is fine, I just never felt that way. Also, LaPorta was not drafted in the middle of the first round, he was number 7 overall and while the comp picks may very well turn out better than the players that were traded, they might also be the next David Krynzel. I have a very hard time accepting the logic that because the pick is higher in the draft it will turn out better, that's a statement of opinion that gets tossed around like it's a fact... who would have thought Hart, a tenth round pick would turn out how he has...you just never really know with draft picks. I prefer a known quantity to the promise of an unknown quantity. I agree with Big Cat Dad, the point I kept trying to make over and over in the transaction forum was that this team was a good 2 or 3 players away, not 1 pitcher away. Like I said, I've come to accept the CC deal because he was such a boost, but that being said, it doesn't mean that the trade was in the best longterm interests of the franchise.

Kremblas never had a loaded team in Nashville, not even close, his teams were always lacking talent wise... I don't have the time today to go team by team for you, but I don't feel that characterization is fair or valid. The team this year was absolutely horrid outside of Nelson and Branyan, and Branyan was with the big club full time since June. He pushed and challenged his players and got the most he could out of them, he taught them other positions to increase their value, and his teams have always done very well record wise despite few prospects. He may have had some character issues (the womanizing article from last year), but he was about as unconventional as they come and knew how to press buttons with his players.

Simply because he's not a baseball guy and this isn't a logical move for this point in time. I like Ned, I thought he did a tremendous job changing the culture in the clubhouse in his first 2 seasons, he just didn't have anything to work with. I hated his bullpen strategy, because i absolutely despise defined roles in the bullpen and always have. The unavoidable truth is that he was at the helm for 3 tank jobs in 4 years, and for better or worse (fair/unfair whatever), that's a reflection on him. The only way this move makes sense if you look at it in the context of "things can't possibly get any worse". There's no time to institute any meaningful change, this has to be about trying to jump start the players into producing. I have hard time believing Ned's demeanor made his players uptight, but maybe Sveum will be a calming influence in the dugout. I've posted on a couple of different occasions that I worry about Mark A's influence in personnel decisions. I'm unsure if he's pushing so hard for a winner because he truly wants to win, or he wants to flip the franchise for a profit. Either way, it doesn't matter, he's no more qualified to make baseball operations related decisions than I am, I'm a life long baseball fan as well. I want sustained success, and the surest way to mess up your franchise is to get involved in personnel decisions when you don't have the money to buy your way out with more FA aquisitions. Melvin made some absolutely genius moves, getting scrap heap guys and flipping them for greater value... he's also had some stinkers. The good thing is that he always seems to limit the damage, which is all I'll really ever ask. I don't really have a problem with the Brewers drafting philosphy at all, I do have a problem with their player development, especially on the defensive side. It seems to me that the players to this point haven't been making significant strides defensively in the minors (I know we heard good things about Huntsville this year), either they've been a natural or they've stunk... to this point they've been showing up in Milwaukee pretty much the same guy as when they were drafted. Is a minus defender going to become a plus defender? Probably not, but I'd settle for guys who approach average, instead of guys who are bottom feeders defensively at their positions. I like Mark A, he's been good for Milwaukee, I just want him to leave the on the field stuff to the people that have the experience and knowledge to make good longterm decisions for the franchise. I'd rather he work his financial magic and keep finding new revenue streams, keep growing the fanbase, and maintain a high level of interest in the franchise.

Hawing my post was mocking my tendancy to think faster than I type and skip words, leave incomplete thoughts, and so on. I was cracking more on myself, but I can see where you thought I was taking a shot at Casey, that was not my intent.

Accepting the CC trade and being of the opinion that the trade wasn't in the best interests of the franchise are not mutually exclusive, as I'm in that boat. I've long stated I wanted no part of a name like Sabathia or Halladay... I wanted a younger starter like a Volquez that could help this year and beyond if an in season move was going to made. I have no problem with CC, he's pitched awesome, just that he doesn't help us in the future, and I'm not into all our nothing playoff runs, I'd rather build a competitive team and the rest will take care of itself in time.

casey you're a real grammar nazi, you must dislike most of my posts intensely.

Casey, I remember the Community Chest thing in EZBoard from my Everquest days and early on with this board, did that option go away with Yuku? Using that feature could donate directly to the board via credit card IIRC...

I don't remember Kremblas singling out any particular player in the press, more the entire or a group.... comments like "our pitching hasn't been good" and "our offense isn't scoring runs"... it's a fine line I suppose but to me that's telling it like it is, when you single out someone by name that's ripping a player in my opinion.

In sort of an ironic twist it looks like Galveston is going to get smacked by Ike, I was just watching the footage on CNN, all I can say is "Wow". I jinxed them by bringing up the 1900 Hurricane...

WV down to their last AB... Gindl is one of the few Power hitters to have a good series. Wilson triples off the wall to lead off the bottom of the 9th. Gindl grounds out to score Wilson and nothing happens after that, Power swept. Mass, I'd like to thank you especially but all of the staffers as well who contributed to the Link Reports all year. Thank you very much for all your efforts.

I was just coming back here to tell you not to buy the DVD kind, we had to buy one for scouting (our main Camera we film games with had to go in for reprair, so the DV scouting camcorder is the camera for the time being) and the DVDs won't play in a regular DVD player because they are created using a different streaming format. I was totally unaware, I have to convert them to AVIs before I can use them. I'm glad you didn't take my advice, I would have felt pretty bad after what I found out last night.

My least favorite commercial was the Ballesario's (I'm sure I butchered the spelling), just the man's voice in that commercial drove me nuts. I'm weird like that, there's usually one commercial for each affliliate I listen to that makes want to turn the channel, but at least they are paying to advertise during the broadcasts, so they aren't all bad.

Everyone reacts differently to putting on weight, especially as they approach "obese". There's literally a ton of information on web about the negative effectrs of being overweight, it's been very well documented. On the flip side there have been plenty of fat guys that had good/great MLB careers. In Prince's case I'm not sure how we'd quantify a loss of offensive production due to putting on weight in the course of one off season, though I think that's a feasible notion. It could also just be a 1 year statistical anomoly, I'm not willing to commit to any one particular reason for his slide at this time, there are simply too many factors involved yet at this point. I still lean towards his approach at the plate, especially his tendancy to overswing and fall over home plate, that's just not something I remember him doing so frequently last year. I do think the one area where I've noticed a slide in perormance that I'd attribute to his weight gain is his defensive issue, like how he seems to turn force outs into tags way too often at 1B, at least in my opinion, aside from digging balls which he was never good at. I think if he has a similar season next year without noticably losing weight we can start to draw some conclusions on this subject, but again there are just too many other factors to consider at this point.