Ball And Glove

With that rotation, I'm not even convinced they'll win the West. All the Giants or Diamondbacks really need is barely enough offense to fall into 86 wins and they're probably division champs. I'd probably put the Cubs, Phillies, and Mets ahead of the Dodgers for sure in the "team to beat" category. They'll probably be just as good as Atlanta or Milwaukee this year, which won't get them into the playoffs unless everyone in the West tanks in September again.

He left to become the radio voice of the Braves. He's a UGA grad and originally from the area, so when the job opened up he was rumored as the leading candidate from the start. Definitely stinks, because he was always great to listen to and you could always count on him to correct some of the things Uecker said. I still love Uecker, but he's getting to the point where he's constantly confusing one player for another, stays silent for long periods of time during big plays, and can't really judge flyballs anymore (he'll launch into his HR call when the ball is about to be caught on the warning track). No one's going to tell Ueck he needs to go, though, which is why Powell leaving is such a hit. The TV crew is bad enough (although surprisingly better than most of the other crews I've seen on MLB.TV over the years), we don't need to suffer through a lackluster radio team. Hopefully the new guy comes in and gels well with Uecker.

It might be overly simplistic to say that the Brewers are replacing Sheets and Sabathia with Looper. All Looper really does is make sure Seth McClung isn't the #5 starter, IMO. It does seem like the entire division took some huge steps backward this offseason. The Brewers lost the Sabathia/Sheets combo (although the Opening Day 2009 team will look similar to the pre-Sabathia Brewers, with Gallardo replacing Sheets), the Cubs lost some valuable role players and (at least to me) have some pretty serious depth issues if injuries start piling up, the Cards just sat on their hands all winter, the Pirates made a couple minor signings but should still stink, the Astros didn't improve and may have a tough situation on their hands with Tejada, and the Reds are banking on young talent. I'd be tempted to say that teams like the Brewers and Reds might end up being better than they look on paper due to young players continuing to improve, but you can't count on that happening because strange things happen with young players. J.J. Hardy was supposed to be a weak-hitting shortstop and Rickie Weeks was supposed to be an All-Star by now. Corey Hart, for whatever reason, went months without taking a walk to end the year on a horrible slump after showing decent discipline up to that point. Homer Bailey was supposed to be what Tim Lincecum is. It's still the Cubs' division to lose, but the entire division took about three steps back this winter.

Meh...at least this one's cheap. It should also keep Seth McClung out of the rotation, where he'd probably be even worse than Suppan. Pretty much just a depth move...if they get anything substantial out of him like the Cards did last year I'll be surprised.

They get 1/6th pay. You're right, my bad. In Sheets' case that would've been about $2.5MM, assuming he would've gotten around $15 million.

It wasn't a bad gamble. If he declined and a team signed him thinking the injury would be fine by the time Spring Training opened, they get a couple picks out of it. If he accepted and this news came out, they could have still waived Sheets in Spring Training at no cost. Arby amounts aren't guaranteed to players who were free agents. At Brewerfan the main discussion seems to be about the complete incompetency of the Brewers' medical staff if no one thought the injury was this serious. Apparently the Brewers' staff just thought it was something that would heal with time, which is why the front office was comfortable with making the arby offer. I guess they even flew down recently to check up on him and they didn't change their mind. Now, the Rangers staff takes one look at him and runs like he has the plague. Of course, this is still the same medical staff that took a look at Yo Gallardo at Wrigley last year and said "Oh, he's fine. Just rub some dirt on it" instead of "Hey Ned, he's got a torn freaking ACL." That's not even mentioning the tons of miscalculations on shelf time for guys like Sheets, Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, and Geoff Jenkins over the years.

Is their top 15 pick protected this year? Yeah, it's protected. IIRC, they're picking 5th in June. I really like the Grienke signing, considering they'll be paying him about as much as they're paying Gil Meche...that's a hell of a good deal.

I believe it happened to Graffy and Walker in the same offseason. Walker was cut and Graffanino tore his ACL later that year, pretty much ending his career. Varitek. Good call. I forgot that he was offered arby.

When it comes to guys like Cabrera and Hudson still being out there, I think it's more a result of their teams offering them arbitration because they're Type A free agents. For those marginal Type A guys, the offering of arby is enough to kill any interest in the free agent market. IIRC, something similar happens with these guys every year. I remember Tony Graffanino inexplicably being a Type A free agent when he played for the Brewers, and him having to accept the arby offer because there was no chance he was going to get a multiyear deal as a Type A. True, those guys are where they are now because they turned down their arby offers in the first place, but really the only one that probably should've taken the offer knowing what we know now is Sheets. Hell, Arizona didn't even offer arby to Adam Dunn for whatever reason. The system really sucks for those borderline guys...it's just one of those things that you see every year. I think there's more cases this year due to the bad economy and teams getting wiser about their picks.

I don't like their starting rotation either. Parra melted down as the #3 last year, is he really going to be expected to be the #2? He's certainly the second most talented pitcher in the rotation as it currently stands, but you could probably argue Bush as being the second best pitcher in that rotation if you factor in performance down the stretch last year. Bush finished the year hot (one of the few pitchers that shut down the Phils in the playoffs last year), while Parra struggled. I think it's fair to assume Parra's meltdown had more to do with fatigue than anything else -- he pitched many more innings than he was supposed to last year due to the playoff push, and as a result he made more mistake pitches and got rocked for it. He wasn't pitching poorly, though, by most measures...his walks were down and strikeouts were up. Unfortunately, the BABIP skyrocketed. I think he could be a very good pitcher once he starts attacking hitters a bit more (even when he was pitching well early in the year, he had the tendency to nibble). Suppan's probably the 6th or 7th best starter in the organization right now, but unfortunately his contract will keep him in the rotation. The rotation itself doesn't look horrible to me, but an injury could be crippling (given Parra's history of arm problems and Suppan's age, it doesn't look good). As far as the bullpen goes (I'll just quote both messages since I'm addressing both), I think it looks pretty average. Even though last year's bullpen got a lot of bad press, by the end of the year it wasn't all that bad. Riske pitched much of last year hurt, and was actually pretty decent pre-injury. If he can bounce back to pre-injury levels, he should be a solid middle reliever. Shouse is gone as the lefty, but I think Stetter's more valuable since he's not just a LOOGY and has better stuff (but he does need to cut down on the walks). Villanueva was very good out of the bullpen last year, but his failed stint as a starter at the beginning of the year didn't make his final numbers look great. Really, the only guys slated for the bullpen now that I could see having Turnbow/Gagne/Mota gas can levels are Julio and Coffey, and both guys are pretty easily replaceable. I'll agree that it's looking like a .500ish season next year, maybe creeping up to as high as 86 wins with some pixie dust. The lack of depth in the rotation and the fact that Ken Macha is the manager are my biggest concerns right now.

I like the deal...he should be a bit better than Torres was last year even though he's 41 and pitching outside of Petco. The bullpen should be improved just by not having to deal with Gagne and Turnbow. Another starter would be nice. I don't think Gallardo/Parra/Bush/Suppan/McClung would be a bad rotation (teams like the Cards and Phillies have certainly done more with less), but you're counting on two young guys who haven't pitched a full season in the majors yet to make The Leap and you don't have much injury insurance. It'd be nice if Capuano performed well enough in the minors to get a call up and take the 5th spot, but even someone like Looper to bump McClung into a bullpen role would make me feel better. Getting Sheets to realize he made a mistake by declining arbitration and getting him on a one year deal would be a dream scenario, but I'm still pessimistic about that happening.

And now the Brewers only get a second round pick for Sabathia. Fantastic. :banghead: Normally I don't care much about AL teams, but this is pretty ridiculous. The best part is that they're getting a break on revenue sharing because of their new stadium.

There isn't as much solid evidence as circumstantial evidence, but I'm not the only Brewer fan that thinks something went on behind the scenes that we don't know about. Despite the clear need for starting pitching, the only time we've heard of the possibility of Sheets coming back was when the Brewers offered him arbitration. Once he turned that down, it seemed like everyone close to the situation assumed his days in Milwaukee were done. This is just my opinion, but the constant criticism Sheets was getting in Milwaukee (the "Brittle Ben" moniker, accusations that he can't win big games, etc.) seemed to be getting to him at the end of the season. He didn't seem happy and looked like he wanted to leave. IIRC, he wanted to talk extension at the beginning of the season, but Melvin told him that he'd rather see him put together a healthy season before talking contract, which many seem to think gave Ben the impression that Melvin was done with him. There's an even crazier theory out there that Sheets was somehow jealous of the treatment Sabathia was getting, but I tend to dismiss those...in my mind, there's a difference between being mad at the organization for dragging their feet with your future and acting like a petty teenage girl because there's somebody hogging your spotlight. It just seems a little weird that both the Brewers and Sheets seem to agree that Milwaukee's not a possibility, even on a one or two year deal (which obviously wouldn't have been a problem, since they offered arby and Sheets would've gotten a decent raise out of it). The last I heard, Melvin hasn't even called Sheets' agent to talk about bringing him back. So I guess I just spent three or four paragraphs explaining it's just a theory with no real quotes to back it up. ;) Maybe if Sheets starts talking about fielding two-year offers the Brewers will come back up, but right now there's just something fishy about the whole thing.

Wouldn't be a bad signing for depth, assuming they don't go crazy with the contract. It gives them a bit more flexibility and insurance at the bottom of the rotation -- now they could just move McClung into that 5th spot or call up Capuano if there's an injury in the rotation. Still not as good as bringing Sheets back in would be, but it appears that bridges have been burned there.

I'm sure it's just an elaborate scheme by Boras to lead the national media off track. Tex will even fly in for a press conference, but when they hand him the Red Sox jersey he'll turn around and hit Epstein with a steel chair before ripping off his shirt and revealing an Orioles jersey. I think I read something like that on OH.

Apologies for bumping a week-old topic, but the trade was officially ruled dead by Melvin on Wednesday. The latest rumors had the Yankees offering Cabrera and Kei Igawa for Cameron. Even if the Brewers were willing to take that steaming pile of crap in return, they were supposedly asking the Yankees to pick up the tab for at least part of Igawa's contract. All I have to say is thank the Baby Jesus this didn't go through. You don't trade away a guy who you're getting good value from for Melky freaking Cabrera and Kei motherfreaking Igawa when said guy is a lock to at least be a Type B FA at the end of 2009. A lineup featuring Cabrera, Kendall, and Mike Lamb against RHP would have a black hole from the 6th spot on down. Cameron has his flaws, but at least you know what you're going to get from him offensively and you're getting great defense to cover up for Braun and Hart in the outfield. Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don't make.

I have a friend who's an Orioles fan, and he's convinced that the O's are getting him even though Tex's suitors are being widdled down to Boston, Anaheim, and Washington. He seems to think that the national media is intentionally being misled to set up for a WWE-style SWERVE~! at the last minute. I wish I could be that hopeful about my team. Then again, I nearly convinced myself that Sabathia would turn down eleventy billion dollars from the Yankees to stay in Milwaukee, so maybe I am. :D

Melvin probably sobered up and realized what he was about to do. Cameron may not be a great contact hitter, but you don't trade him just for the sake of making a move and getting your perceived leadoff hitter (switch hitter + fast + centerfielder = leadoff hitter, apparently) without getting something else back in return. Cabrera would be a bad return for Bill Hall. For Cameron it's lunacy. It's a pure salary dump in an effort to clear a starting pitcher, IMO, and I'm terrified that it means Ollie Perez is coming to Milwaukee for like $15 million a year.

The Brewers weren't going to beat the Cubs for the division title with him, anyway, so I don't think this is a catastrophic loss. Getting Sheets would be nice, but once he goes down with an injury again they'll be right back to square one. They're better off finding a solid pitcher to fit into the middle of the rotation, and maybe a spare guy to fill in if someone gets injured. A Gallardo/Parra/Bush/Suppan/McClung rotation wouldn't be horrible (it wouldn't be much above average, either), so my guess is that Melvin kicks the tires on a couple of guys but doesn't do anything irresponsible, like giving Jon Garland $60 million or something. Now that he knows where he stands with payroll flexibility, he can go out and maybe sign Fuentes and continue to fill other holes through free agency. Losing Sabathia stinks in the short term from the Brewers perspective, but in the long run it'll probably be worth it. And hey, Sabathia can opt out of New York after three years...I can always dream of getting him back someday. :lol:

For what it's worth, there are rumors going around that the Brewers may be willing to sweeten their offer by offering an opt-out clause after two years. Something like that could really benefit the Brewers and Sabathia at the same time -- Milwaukee could probably afford to take the hit of having Sabathia making $20-25 million a year without crippling the franchise, and Sabathia could make a quick $40-50 million while further improving his value and waiting for the economy to rebound. I'm against the Brewers signing Sabathia (but I'm generally against signing any pitcher long-term), but if something like that was a possibility, I could get behind it. It'd buy them a bit if time to find a replacement...by then some more guys might be ready to step in from the minors. Of course, this is all moot if the Yankees feel like bumping up their offer or if Sabathia can convince the Dodgers to get involved.

Just the Melvin bullpen philosophy at work -- sign as many cheap scrapheap guys as you can and hope you can get a few to stick during Spring Training. If the Brewers are lucky he'll be a cheap replacement for Guillermo Mota. If they're not, he's gone after ST.

Are the Brewers trying tot rade Cameron? If so, why? He had a pretty good year for you guys and from everything I've heard/read he's been great to the city. I don't think they're actively trying to trade him, but they're certainly open to offers. Honestly, I can't think of a good reason to trade him. Some of his main offenses, depending on who you ask: he's making $10 million next year, he hits right-handed, he's not a good contact hitter, he strikes out too much, he misplayed two or three balls this year that cost the Brewers a game (yes, that's actually a reason some people don't like him), he "choked" in the NLDS, etc. Really, you're right -- the Brewers have no good reason to trade him. He brings a lot of offensive value at CF, he's still one of the premier defensive outfielders in the game at age 36, and he would've made a run at 30 HR and 90 RBI last year had he not missed the first month of the season (I know the counting stats suck, but those numbers would've been among the team leaders). Honestly, I think he's worth the $10 million considering the offensive production he brings and how many plays he's able to make in the outfield that others couldn't. Ryan Braun would've looked a hell of a lot worse in left field if he didn't have Cameron ranging over to cover his butt so often. Right now, it looks like Cameron's just getting criticized for being too much like the rest of the Brewers offense -- lots of power, lots of strikeouts, not a lot of contact, hits right-handed.

Apparently Milwaukee is interested in DeJesus if they do end up trading Mike Cameron...since the Royals seem pretty content with the players they have everywhere but second base, Rickie Weeks' name is getting tossed around. Most of the Weeks speculation stems from even more speculation that the Brewers would get Robinson Cano from the Yankees for Cameron. Subtracting Cameron and Weeks for DeJesus and Cano just for the sake of getting more lefties into the lineup would be pretty dumb, IMO, but I guess that's Melvin's mission this season (not to mention Cano would be just as bad defensively as Weeks and can't take a walk, and DeJesus would be a huge defensive downgrade from Cameron).

I think his case is hurt a bit by the fact that he had 17 or 18 seasons to pile up those stats. He was a good pitcher for a long time, but that doesn't get you into the Hall, IMO. I wouldn't put him in the Top 5 pitchers of his era, and he might barely make the Top 10...I don't know if that's good enough.

I don't think it's a horrible decision, even if I do think he's overrated by the likes of ESPN and the rest of the mainstream media. You could definitely make an argument for Youkilis, but at least Morneau didn't win. I'm half surprised the writers didn't go Rays-crazy and vote Longoria the MVP in his rookie year or something. It was just a really average year for the AL...it stinks that we'll have to hear about how Pedroia's a future Hall of Famer now that he's won the ROY and MVP in back to back years.