Braun leaves game

[Ball And Glove]

I think there's a bit of a misconception regarding the Brewers that they're still the 40M team they've always been. They're drawing in great crowds and have a great owner. I think they're gonna have more money to spend than people around here think.

 

yeah, i believe their payroll expanded past $90M with the acquisition of sabathia. they've spent like a mid-market team, not far from the phillies, astros and blue jays.

 

That's why Mark Attanasio is a hero in Milwaukee...the guy could probably run for mayor. Unfortunately, the cap seems to be $80-85 million...much more than that, and the team loses money on the year, barring a deep playoff run (and even then, MLB gets most of that revenue). Attanasio is willing to take a loss on the bottom line this year to make a run, but I wouldn't expect the Brewers to consistently operate at $90 million.

 

There's a lot of money coming off the books this offseason (including Gagne's contract, which I still don't think is that bad when you consider it's only a one-year deal...better to give him 1 year at $10M than 2 years at $7.5M per year, IMO..it was low risk in that regard), but I know for sure that Weeks, Hardy, and Fielder are arby-eligible this offseason, and Hart is eligible next year, I think. If it wasn't 1:30 AM, I'd look up all the contracts expiring myself. ;)

 

There's been rumors swirling that Hart will sign a long-term extension in the offseason once he has a full season of stats to negotiate with, but he'll still get a significant pay raise. The Brewers can probably afford to hang onto Fielder for one more year (I'd expect his first arby decision to be around the $10M Ryan Howard got), but after that it's pretty clear they have to move him. Hardy would probably be more valuable to more teams in a trade, but trading Fielder would give them greater payroll flexibility, and they could hide Gamel's glove at 1B (ironically, it'd probably be a defensive upgrade from Fielder).

[SouthSideRyan]

One oft mentioned idea I've seen is dealing Hardy or Weeks in the offseason and giving Escobar the SS job(with Hardy sliding over if Weeks is the one dealt.)

 

Dealing Hardy seems like the better option as I can't see Weeks at this point bringing back a ton in a trade, but I'm not a big fan of Escobar in general. His fielding is supposed to be top notch, but I think it'd be a decent hit to the offense to have him playing everyday.

[Ball And Glove]

Here's a list of the Brewers' expiring deals, including deals with options not likely to be picked up:

 

Ben Sheets - $11M

CC Sabathia - $9M (Brewers paid roughly half that)

Eric Gagne - $10M

Ray Durham - $7.5M (Brewers paying a little less than half)

Mike Cameron - $7M ($10M club option for '09 that'll likely be declined)

Chris Capuano - $3.75M (may be non-tendered after elbow surgery)

Guillermo Mota - $3.2M

Craig Counsell - $2.8M ($3.4M club option for '09)

Gabe Kapler - $800K

Russell Branyan - veteran minimum; was signed on a minor league deal

Derrick Turnbow - $3.2M

 

That's roughly $50 million coming off the books, but Fielder will likely suck up nearly $10 million in arby because Boras will refuse to avoid the arby hearing, Weeks will get somewhere between $1.5 and $2 million, Hardy close to $5 million, and Dave Bush around $3 or $4 million. The Brewers will also have to fill the bullpen holes left by Gagne and Mota with free agents, since they really don't have many MLB-caliber relief prospects in the minors, and they'll have to either sign a free agent starter or throw Carlos Villanueva back into the rotation.

 

For that reason I could see them dealing Hardy while his value is high to create a little more payroll flexibility, but you'd be selling obscenely low on Weeks. A lot of people seem to think Weeks will eventually become a pretty good player in the Majors, but he's a late bloomer like Brandon Phillips and he needs a change of scenery (the problem being that Weeks is already as old as Phillips was when he turned it around in Cincy). Escobar's defense is supposed to be pretty good and would definitely be welcome on a team that needs it...the problem is that he's pretty much strictly a shortstop, so you'd have to displace one of the few guys on the team that can actually play decent defense at his current position. There's been some speculation that Hardy wouldn't be keen on moving to 3B or 2B, though..not to mention Hardy's offense would be pretty subpar for 3B. If you trade Hardy to put Escobar in the lineup, you're losing a lot of valuable offense from the SS position, and you have 3 automatic outs in Escobar, Kendall, and the pitcher (like the Brewers are throwing Counsell, Kendall, and the pitcher up there now). He's hitting .345 with an .834 OPS in AA this year as a 21 year old, so there's some hope that he'll develop into a good hitter, but his bat is still probably 2 or 3 years away from being MLB-ready.

 

It'll be interesting to see what Doug Melvin does...I wouldn't be surprised if he floated Fielder out on the trade market a bit, just to see if he could get someone to give him a "Cabrera to the Tigers" type of deal.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I completely forgot about Capuano. Damn, if he hadnt gotten hurt, and Gallrdo hadnt gotten hurt, the Brewers would be looking at one hell of a pitching staff.

 

CC

Sheets

Gallardo

Capuano

Parra/Bush/Suppan

 

I dont even want to think about that. Of course, such a pitching staff will never exist.

[17 Seconds]

I completely forgot about Capuano. Damn, if he hadnt gotten hurt, and Gallrdo hadnt gotten hurt, the Brewers would be looking at one hell of a pitching staff.

 

CC

Sheets

Gallardo

Capuano

Parra/Bush/Suppan

 

I dont even want to think about that. Of course, such a pitching staff will never exist.

 

Except Capuano sucks

[Derwood]

I completely forgot about Capuano. Damn, if he hadnt gotten hurt, and Gallrdo hadnt gotten hurt, the Brewers would be looking at one hell of a pitching staff.

 

CC

Sheets

Gallardo

Capuano

Parra/Bush/Suppan

 

I dont even want to think about that. Of course, such a pitching staff will never exist.

 

Except Capuano sucks

 

and if Capuano/Gallardo were healthy, they never would have traded for Sabathia

[Ball And Glove]

I completely forgot about Capuano. Damn, if he hadnt gotten hurt, and Gallrdo hadnt gotten hurt, the Brewers would be looking at one hell of a pitching staff.

 

CC

Sheets

Gallardo

Capuano

Parra/Bush/Suppan

 

I dont even want to think about that. Of course, such a pitching staff will never exist.

 

Except Capuano sucks

 

I wouldn't go as far to say he sucks...he's a lefty who'll strike out 170 guys a year despite not having great stuff, but he'll give up a lot of HR's and give you a 4.25-ish ERA. He's basically your average soft-tossing lefty, like Doug Davis or Ted Lilly. He's not great by any means, but he is a pretty solid guy to have on your staff. Personally, I'd rather have him over Suppan this year (and longterm), but it looks like he's pitched his last game as a Brewer. He'll catch on somewhere, though, since lefties like him stick around forever.

[Illini Iceman]

Looks like more trouble for Braun....

 

MILWAUKEE -- Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun left the game Monday night against the Houston Astros after apparently re-injuring his back following a swing.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3541810

[CubmanPi]

Looks like more trouble for Braun....

 

MILWAUKEE -- Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun left the game Monday night against the Houston Astros after apparently re-injuring his back following a swing.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3541810

As long as they've got CC on the hill, they don't need anyone else. Not Braun, and especially not the bullpen.

[CubFanBudMan68]

As long as they've got CC on the hill, they don't need anyone else. Not Braun, and especially not the bullpen.

 

I will say again what I said a few weeks ago on this subject: "If he werent such an arrogant pine needle, I would maybe feel sorry for him. I'm surprised he didnt untuck his jersey when he was rounding the bases in that HR yesterday.

 

As far as CC goes, looks like the Brewers main goal is to make the playoffs and then do nothing else. The way they are using Sabathia, he is going to be useless by October. The Mark Attanasio Marketing Machine must be trying to create buzz for the Cy Young Award for him or something.

[Ball And Glove]

Looks like more trouble for Braun....

 

MILWAUKEE -- Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun left the game Monday night against the Houston Astros after apparently re-injuring his back following a swing.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3541810

As long as they've got CC on the hill, they don't need anyone else. Not Braun, and especially not the bullpen.

 

The problem is the other 4 days, when they don't have Sabathia on the hill and they still have Gabe Kapler starting every day and inexplicably hitting third.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The only logical thing to do is shut him down for the rest of the season. Probably Sabathia too, just to be safe. Wouldnt want anything to happen to him before his big pay day.

[kujay]

The only logical thing to do is shut him down for the rest of the season. Probably Sabathia too, just to be safe. Wouldnt want anything to happen to him before his big pay day.

 

Wise.

 

Wise, indeed.