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I guess that's why I like an "outside the box" method perhaps. Delmon Young was traded because of his personal issues. He's hardly a Ryan Braun. At what point then does DM get replaced? How long does his inability to attract free agents and build a competent pitching staff under the same budget go without excuses? Warm weather or not, it's a dome for crying out loud and you don't have to live here from Oct through April. My wife says I have to quit arguing now and take a break.

So you think the Brewers should draft better pitchers (since both of those players are on their original contracts). I don't think you'll get much argument thereCorrect...in addition to filling the ace's with free agency...it's a package deal. Be good at both and spend wisely.

As opposed to major money in Suppan types? I prefer this method. Even if Cain/Gwynn don't pan out, what did he cost 400,000? Zack, I'm done with the excuses, seriously. We can play what if all day, as there are 30,000+ combinations of ballplayers given all the teams and leagues. I don't have the short answer as to what he could have done, all I know is that he didn't do it. That's the only evidence I have, short of conversations overheard in the front offices. In addition, I said, Garza-type, not Garza himself.

Shields is signed 4 years/$11.25 million, with some pretty hefty option years after that. But I agree, that's a nice contract for the Rays with minimal risk. Sonnastine is making $430,000 this year, unless the Cott's website is wrong. It's not really fair to pick and choose contracts. Kazmir is signed to a 3 year/ $28.5 million deal with a 4th year option that pays an additional $13.5 million if they pick it up. He's a great pitcher, but he's not doing so well this year. Look at the contracts of Neimann and Price. What risk? 5 million over 5 years? Edited..was listening to the Rays postgame on the radio and mind over mattered the names

Cameron is a great deal at 10 Million Indeed he is, but wouldn't you rather have a Matt Garza type ($400,000), Lorenzo Cain/Gwynn Jr (400,000), and then the remaining 9.2M on say a great free agent... Matsuzaka, Haren...are between 8-9 million as an example. Give me those 3 players over 1 CF.

Look at the contracts of Neimann and Price. What risk? 5 million over 5 years? Edited..was listening to the Rays postgame on the radio and mind over mattered the names

TheCrew07...have you taken over my brain? Somebody give this guy an honorary degree in sports management.

Have yet to see the catch. Can anybody link when available?

Perfect Game Mark Buerhle. Feel free to edit the title now.

Hernandez..have a seat.

OOOOOOOOohhhh Kapler deep to the wall in center, but caught. 2 more.

3 outs to go. No local tv here today, so stuck with the radio broadcast and a horribly obvious Dwayne Starks

Had the radio (620 WDAE) on in the car on the way home and there is something cooking in Chicago today for the Rays game. Dwayne doing his best to jink it...almost as bad as our tv play by play guy. It's Buerhle by the way...a free agent prior to the 2008 season.

Bargain priced bullpen level talent over the course of 60-90 innings is going to be more effected by luck than foresight and scouting. So, having the foresight to spend cheaply on the bullpen and have it not work out is better than the foresight for spending oodles of money on the bullpen and have it not work out? (ie..Gagne)...but yet if it does work out...how lucky!

Somebody referred to the city has being named Tampa Bay, it's not. And I'd argue it's foresight and scouting...not luck. Just a bit of foresight.

I agree with most of what TheCrew said..as usual. Except to me, Halladay is about 2010, not 2009. Furthermore, resigning him beyond 2010 would be nice as well.

He's an excellent GM who juggles the fan base's need for a competitive team with a limited budget. ~~ Joe Pepsi I realize the budget is limited when compared to the Yankees...but seriously..calling the budget limited is ridiculous. Budget is not Melvin's problem..it's how he spends his money. The Tampa Rays spend 17 million dollars less than we do (37 million less in 2008 when both teams made the playoffs). They have a DH that gets expensive that we don't even have to buy one of those. They play in the toughest division in baseball in terms of competing payroll (Boston, New York) and yet they spend wisely on pitching outside the organization and let the homegrown talent on the hitting side work their way up....and gasp: 13 games over .500 in the toughest division. Their situation is similiar to the Brewers, except the stadium is crappier, the players facilities therefore crappier, they draw far less fans with no natural rivals to increase a particular series. They were horrible for a long time and started to rise about the same time as Milwaukee. What's the difference? The attention paid to the starting pitching and the deficiencies on the team and not trying to bandaid them. No new scoreboards, no new ribbon boards, no suite makeovers. Just attention paid to the team on the field and filling bad players with good players. It's just sad that the fan base hasn't fully appreciated what a great job their baseball ops people have done. I'm guessing Andrew Friedman would love the 37 million more dollars Doug Melvin got to use and probably would have used it more efficiently.

I don't understand WAR neccessarily. But you are telling me that money spent on Suppan, Cameron, Hall, Hoffman, Kendall, Looper, Riske is money better spent than their potential replacements (Halladay, Cain, Irribarren, Coffey, Rivera, Vazquez?, Smith)? Not only do we save money, the rotation looks awesome while giving up very little at the plate with longer term solutions.

Living in Tampa, that's the crap that bugs me. This Tampa team has a payroll of around 64 million, yet Friedman gets it done. They fill their holes nicely at starting pitching from outside the organization and have very few "poor contracts". Pat Burrel 7M, and Percival 4M come to mind.

Hardy's girlfriend was seen leaving Hardy's residence with a suitcase in tow...Hardy must be on the move. Oh wait...he just brought home a new flavor of the week from Pittsburg, it's just Hardy's girlfriend who's been traded.

think that the a lot of people get frustrated by the way Cubs spend $ every off-season and we don't. We can't do that. We are going to hit and miss by looking for second-tier hidden value. ~~AKA augie That's the problem. It's not about increasing the budget. It's about spending it wisely. Nobody is here whining about the payroll, just how stupidly it's been allocated. If you have needs and fail to purchase for your needs effectively and your family/business suffer as a result, that's poor management in my opinion. When you have the hitting depth you have at AAA, there isn't a need to spend..... Suppan 12.5 Million Cameron 10M (750,000 buyout) Hall 6.8M Hoffman 6M (50,000 for allstar 200,000 for games finished escalator) Kendall 5M Looper 4.75M Riske 4.25 M That's 49.55 million dollars. While the counterparts may have costed a total of 7M?, without figuring on two starting pitchers. One stud, one #3. You can't make free agents come here, but I highly doubt that is the problem. The Brewers have the facilities to recruit them, the money to recruit them (if budgeted correctly), but something else is going on besides..."It's Milwaukee". I believe that something else is management. There are plenty of great arguments as to what Doug Melvin has and has not done correctly. Again, he has done wonderful things for this franchise to getting it to the playoffs. However, it's because of what he fails to do year in and year out in the free agent market and what he does give away in ridiculous contracts to mediocre players is the reason I would like to see the Brewers go in a different direction in getting this team to even the next level.

According to the JS, Melvin hasn't even made a single offer yet. Tough telling who may or may not be potentially involved. Close your eyes and point.

The rotation must change. Somehow, some way, that job needs to get done. No more "free agents don't come here", "we're strapped for cash" or whatever other propaganda excuse management has us believing. Another season of Suppan, Gallardo, Bush, Parra, #5 FA/Looper will not get it done. As a couple of posted before me, I have zero faith in DM to get the rotation up to the ranks of the Cubs, Cardinals, Giants for the start of the 2010 season. God love him, he's done a lot for this franchise to get us this far in that we can be close to winning the division, but perhaps somebody with the actual ability to recruit premiere talent will push us over the top. My expectations are the same as they are for 2009. A .500 ballclub carried by the offense and the offensive depth at AAA. They'll spend money foolishly where it maybe isn't neccessary on offense (Cameron/Kendall/Hardy) when they have options below 1 million dollars at AAA (Cain,Lucroy,Escobar). Said money could go to overpay a great free agent pitcher, but they won't do that either (see the same ole excuses in the paragraph above). They'll still be stuck with the horrible contracts for the mediocre players they overpaid for instead (Hall, Suppan). They'll overpay for a great free agent closer, because those 50 innings of the hardest outs to get in baseball mean more to them then 200+ innings out of a real ace for innings. The mentality will be the same, the faces will be relatively the same. I think Counsell will retire. And another middle tier pitcher will be bought. That said, I'll still look forward to every game and hope against a proven track record that management will do otherwise.

How about a double steal. Maybe prince can stay in the rundown long enough for cam to score.