The problem for the Brewers is that they didn't have any top pitching prospects who have pitched past A ball. In fact you could make the arguement that they really don't have any top pitching prospects period. If they had one pitcher in the minors that was as attractive as Aumont they might have been right in on this. But they don't.

Braddock has huge upside but until he stays on the mound he's not a great prospect. He is the Brewers best pitching prospect that has advanced past A ball and I wouldn't even rank him in the organizational top 10...although Baseball America does have him as the Brewer's seventh best prospect.

I will tell you right now that I think the Phillies were stupid. They gave up Lee who was pretty damn solid last year to add Doc but gave up Drabek.

Dumb is you look at the whole deal when you throw in Halliday's age.

quote:

Originally posted by PackerJoe:
The problem for the Brewers is that they didn't have any top pitching prospects who have pitched past A ball. In fact you could make the arguement that they really don't have any top pitching prospects period. If they had one pitcher in the minors that was as attractive as Aumont they might have been right in on this. But they don't.

Braddock has huge upside but until he stays on the mound he's not a great prospect. He is the Brewers best pitching prospect that has advanced past A ball and I wouldn't even rank him in the organizational top 10...although Baseball America does have him as the Brewer's seventh best prospect.

Very true. Was it BA that ranked the Brewers pitching staff in the minors #6 overall? I thought i saw that somewhere rather recently. But as you alluded alot of that talent is below AA - which looks promising, but means little until it hits that mark for the MLB club.

quote:

Originally posted by The Artist fka TD:
I will tell you right now that I think the Phillies were stupid. They gave up Lee who was pretty damn solid last year to add Doc but gave up Drabek.

Dumb is you look at the whole deal when you throw in Halliday's age.

Yeah, i agree with you artist. I think their line of thinking is that they didnt want to lose Lee for draft picks and be stuck in 2011 with no ace. I havent looked at the Free Agent Market for 2011.. but if the Phillies felt like they wouldnt come out of it with an Ace, they could cripple their franchise (in their opinion). This is the only thing I can think of. Do I think it's too risky.... yes. They were probably better off keeping Lee/and the 3 top 100 prospects they shelled out and seeing what happens as opposed to getting Halladay and Aumont(possible maturity issues)+change.

Just looking at the trade overall, I really think the Phillies kind of screwed the pooch in this deal. Granted, they got some youth in return, but Drabek is only 22 years old and if he turns out anything like his dad Doug, it makes this trade bad.

Lee was NOT their problem in the postseason and was one of the best pitchers ever in 2009.

Haven't seen this posted anywhere but Cam gets 7.5 mil plus for two tears with the Bosox.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/...lks-with-boston.html

Although Cam was a lightning rod for Brewer fans, I really enjoyed his two years with the Crew and I think he was a factor in the development and maturity of Prince and Braun. I hope his leadership isn't missed. One thing I think most will miss however is "UNTUCKIN 'EM." Maybe Cam will allow the Crew to continue the tradition in the National League.

Well,

Considering that the amount we paid him could of been "A" or "The" pitcher we needed that last couple of years when you look at what Suppan gave you ... it was too high of price to pay for a phantom thing called "Leadership from a position player" for a franchise like Milwaukee.

To say it another way: Just get the god-damn #2 pitcher we needed! Prince and Braun will still hit what they did ... Cam or no Cam.

I see the Cubs traded Milton Bradley.

Hard to believe, but I actually think they got screwed in this deal.

Another outstanding trade for Jack Z. Bradley comes with baggage, but for all practical purposes the Mariners just bought him for 2 years at a price of 5 million dollars. I think the potential reward far outweighs the risk associated with this move. Meanwhile the Cubs get stuck with what is probably the worst starting pitcher in the major leagues (yes, even worse than Suppan).

maybe a cub fan can rationalize this, but this is easily a steal for the Mariners

quote:

Meanwhile the Cubs get stuck with what is probably the worst starting pitcher in the major leagues (yes, even worse than Suppan).

Impossible. Silva actually has a pulse with an arm attached.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/s...1409-Latest-MLB-buzz

Not liking this at all. Gamel for Morrow would be a complete mistake. Yuck!

Well, Branyan is available. Melvin must not have been that foolish for letting him go.

Gamel won't be swapped for Morrow:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/M's-deal-Morrow-to-Blue-Jays-Rosenthal-122209

Spankees trading for Vasquez might be complicating things for Sheets.

Yanks stole Vasquez.

I wonder how Kelvim Escobar's workout went?

Brewer fan man crush gone...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c...2/30/heyman.johnson/

Seemed like everybody was pining for this guy...

For Prince Fielder fans it should concern you that Jason freaking Bay got $66M over 4yrs, and an option for 5yrs at $80MM. He's a solid player but he's no Prince.

Thanks Mets

I thought the same thing when I heard the signing....Gulp!

This guy says that he (Bay) accepted 14 mil + less in this deal than he was offered by the Red Sox and the Rockies:

http://albethke.blogspot.com/2...1#604838482094949111

Note he has no links to support this but personally, I feel this is a pretty good Brewer blog.

Bay hit 36 HRs this year but his average was only .267. That's about 15 points off his career BA (.280) but I also don't think you can count on him hitting 35+ HRs every year either. He's probably more of a 25-30HR guy. Still, pretty good overall hitter, but he's not Prince Fielder.

Fielder had a career type year in 2009, but it's not unreasonable to expect him to average 40HRs and 120 RBIs each year while hitting around .285-.290. Those are elite hitting numbers and as a result I fully expect he will command (and receive) a top dollar type contract offer. By that I mean it's not out of the realm of possibility he could get something in the $20MM-25MM per year range and that's not good for the Brewers.

If I was Attanasio, I would pre-emptive and take 1 last shot at Fielder right now, right now as in today ...

I would offer to increase the last 2 years of his deal and offer a 3 yr deal after that at 25-30 million/yr whatever it would take.

I believe it would match Braun's signed tenure here, it would be short enough not to ham-string the Crew, it would sell tickets into a nice future, it would allow your scouting dept to really focus on pitching/defense/speed in the draft, it would up the ante on teams like the Cubs-Yankees-BoSox, etc.

I look at it this way, Attanasio and the Brewers franchise are not suppose to be doing this so they can get away with this every so often AND IMO the stars are aligning for them to do it. The Crew can always go back to a bargain bin mentality in regards to overall payroll, the likes of the Cubs, Yankees and others can not ... for them once a new ceiling has been hit on ANY 1 player in baseball as far as salary, they have to keep ante-ing up their entire payroll in order to keep up with the Jones's ...

I say NOW is the time to offer Prince out of the stratosphere short-period money and it could get done because he'd have a chance to do it again in his career from the Yankees etc. coffers ... we own the bargaining rights with him now and the stars are aligning for the Crew to make a run for a title!

JMHO. Go Crew.

$25MM to $30MM per year. Seriously.

If they weren't ready to give a guy like CC Sabathia $20MM per season- a stud #1 pitcher in this league- why would you give a hitter like Prince 25% to 50% more?

I like Prince as much as anyone, but you cannot throw that type of money at a guy who is basically a glorified DH. He's a damn good hitter IMO, but as good as he played this year unless they can upgrade their pitching there is no sense in tying up that kind of jack. By upgrading their pitching I am not talking about adding Randy Wolf. I mean adding a bonafide stud to this staff. If they could do that without having to pay big money then I would consider resigning Prince but I just don't see it.

yea, im with trump. I personally believe you can't invest 1/4 of your payroll in one player. It doesnt make fiscal sense. If he wants more than 20M per year, then.. well.. we all know we will get crap load of players from another team for him. It might be time ala Richie Sexson to make this move if Prince is demanding more than the Brewers can pay. We will get much more than we got for Sexson. Probably 3 high quality arms+ for him. I think we should make a decision on this before the season begins.. one way or the other.

quote:

Originally posted by Tschmack:
If they weren't ready to give a guy like CC Sabathia $20MM per season- a stud #1 pitcher in this league- why would you give a hitter like Prince 25% to 50% more?

I would never want the Crew to drastically overpay for a (stud) starting pitcher. A guy that only goes every 5th day and is more susceptible to injury. I can see giving that kind of dough to a position player however.

I think the Crew can have that stud pitcher (CC-like) guy from time-to-time. BUt it will be on a rental basis. Just like CC. That is why you have to develop young arms and sprinkle in the Wolfs and Loops and hope it works out.