Brewers probably looking at Huston Street

[Ball And Glove]

If the Brewers were going to trade Gamel, I'd prefer if it was for a guy they'd have under control for a few years. Cain fits that bill, but I don't think even Brian Sabean is stupid enough to trade away his young pitchers. The Durham/Taschner deal seems much more likely to me. It wouldn't be a bad move, but it's not going to have a ton of impact, either. Taschner's a pretty average lefty relief arm, and Durham is actually worse defensively than Rickie Weeks these days. Durham does bring a nice .380 OBP that the Brewers desperately need, though, so there's the possibility of him platooning with Weeks down the stretch, with Durham facing righties. Even if he doesn't go into a platoon with Weeks, he'd be a nice bat off the bench.

 

I would be all over that deal if I was the Giants. They don't really have many good hitting prospects coming up through the minors and by making that deal they would get a good, young shortstop (Hardy has the third highest OPS by shortstops in the majors this year) as well as a highly touted hitting prospect for a guy who only plays once every five days and who can be very good but is very inconsistent.

 

True, I just think the Giants would hate to give up great young pitching to fix their offensive woes. It's harder to find young shutdown arms like Cain than it is to find guys that can hit, although the Giants' plethora of young arms may make Cain a bit more expendable. It would certainly be a great time to sell high on Hardy for the Brewers (I'm not inclined to take JJ's current OPS as for real, due to his recent hotstreak), but I think he's too valuable for them to give up right now.

 

He is a stellar defensive shortstop that puts up good numbers, but the majority of people in Milwaukee seem to think that once Escobar's bat is ready, he'll become the everyday SS. I think once Escobar is ready, the Hardy trade talk will heat up, but the Brewers will likely just keep him and move him over to 3B. Hardy's current OPS production would be okay from the 3B spot, but anything less and it doesn't make much sense to keep him there. Most scouts seem to think that Escobar has a plus arm and plus range at SS, even if he does have some pretty high error levels in the minors. The errors have gone down, which is encouraging, but a lot of scouts thought Ryan Braun could be a good defensive 3B once he got his footwork down, too. :lol:

 

Here's a short analysis of Escobar that used a few different sources: http://www.sportsbubbler.com/DisplayTopic.aspx?TopicID=697

Here's the Brewers' Baseball America farm report from last November:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/265240.html

[Guest]

If the Brewers were going to trade Gamel, I'd prefer if it was for a guy they'd have under control for a few years. Cain fits that bill, but I don't think even Brian Sabean is stupid enough to trade away his young pitchers. The Durham/Taschner deal seems much more likely to me. It wouldn't be a bad move, but it's not going to have a ton of impact, either. Taschner's a pretty average lefty relief arm, and Durham is actually worse defensively than Rickie Weeks these days. Durham does bring a nice .380 OBP that the Brewers desperately need, though, so there's the possibility of him platooning with Weeks down the stretch, with Durham facing righties. Even if he doesn't go into a platoon with Weeks, he'd be a nice bat off the bench.

 

I would be all over that deal if I was the Giants. They don't really have many good hitting prospects coming up through the minors and by making that deal they would get a good, young shortstop (Hardy has the third highest OPS by shortstops in the majors this year) as well as a highly touted hitting prospect for a guy who only plays once every five days and who can be very good but is very inconsistent.

 

True, I just think the Giants would hate to give up great young pitching to fix their offensive woes. It's harder to find young shutdown arms like Cain than it is to find guys that can hit, although the Giants' plethora of young arms may make Cain a bit more expendable. It would certainly be a great time to sell high on Hardy for the Brewers (I'm not inclined to take JJ's current OPS as for real, due to his recent hotstreak), but I think he's too valuable for them to give up right now.

 

He is a stellar defensive shortstop that puts up good numbers, but the majority of people in Milwaukee seem to think that once Escobar's bat is ready, he'll become the everyday SS. I think once Escobar is ready, the Hardy trade talk will heat up, but the Brewers will likely just keep him and move him over to 3B. Hardy's current OPS production would be okay from the 3B spot, but anything less and it doesn't make much sense to keep him there. Most scouts seem to think that Escobar has a plus arm and plus range at SS, even if he does have some pretty high error levels in the minors. The errors have gone down, which is encouraging, but a lot of scouts thought Ryan Braun could be a good defensive 3B once he got his footwork down, too. :lol:

 

Here's a short analysis of Escobar that used a few different sources: http://www.sportsbubbler.com/DisplayTopic.aspx?TopicID=697

Here's the Brewers' Baseball America farm report from last November:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/265240.html

 

I wouldn't call Cain a great young pitcher and if you can get two solid, young bats (one of which is a good defensive shortstop) for one pitcher, you have to do it. If you substituted Lincecum for Cain, then I'd have to think a lot harder. But if the Brewers offer that for Cain, you do it in a heartbeat.