I like Gerut and the signing should boost their bench.

I was at Wrigley when Gerut hit the Slam...

Roster/payroll update:

In millions

Current contracts:
Jeff Suppan = 12.5
Prince Fielder = 10.5
Randy Wolf = 5.25 (4.0 million deferred)
Trevor Hoffman = 7.5
David Riske = 4.5
LaTroy Hawkins = 3.5
Rickie Weeks = 2.75
Craig Counsell = 2.1
Jody Gerut = 2.0
Gregg Zaun = 1.9
Carlos Gomez = 1.1
Ryan Braun = 1.05
Claudio Vargas = 0.9
---------------------------------
Bill Hall = 7.15 (dead money)
Braden Looper = 1.0 (buyout)
David Weathers = 0.4 (buyout)

Arbitration (all estimates):

Corey Hart = 4.5
Dave Bush = 4.25
Todd Coffey = 2.0
Carlos Villanueva = 1.0

Pre-arbitration (all estimates):
Yovani Gallardo = 0.7
Manny Parra = 0.6
Mitch Stetter = 0.5
Casey McGehee = 0.5
Alcides Escobar = 0.5

Total of above = 78.65 million

Roster as it shapes up:
Catcher = Gregg Zaun
Infielders = Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Alcides Escobar, Casey McGehee, Craig Counsell
Outfielders = Ryan Braun, Carlos Gomez, Corey Hart, Jody Gerut
Starting pitchers = Yovani Gallardo, Randy Wolf, Dave Bush, Manny Parra, Jeff Suppan
Relief pitchers = Trevor Hoffman, LaTroy Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Mitch Stetter, Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva, David Riske

I think the roster is rounding out fairly nicely. I think we'd all like to see another arm or two brought in and I'm kind of excited about Maulder potentially coming to camp as I believe he will make the roster if he does. I think any of the other potential arms will be out of reach (Sheets, Bedard, Washburn). If Maulder makes the roster and he can give us 12-15 wins and keep his ERA under 4.00 I think it might just get us into a position to challenge for a wild card again this year. 85-90 wins is not impossible. I do believe though that we will have to get some decent hitting behind Prince though to ensure that happens. Not sure who on the roster at this point will be that guy though.

If Rickie leads off, you almost have to bat Gomez second followed by Braun and Prince. I guess you go McGehee after that, followed by Hart or Zaun, then Alcides and the Pitcher. The only part of that line up that strikes fear into anyone will be Braun and Fielder.......

Maybe 85-90 isn't as realistic as I thought....but Im hoping so.

quote:

If Rickie leads off, you almost have to bat Gomez second followed by Braun and Prince. I guess you go McGehee after that, followed by Hart or Zaun, then Alcides and the Pitcher. The only part of that line up that strikes fear into anyone will be Braun and Fielder.......

The other part of the lineup doesn't need to "strike fear", they just need to do the things they should do ... put the bat on the ball and hit around .270-.290 with decent OBP and play good defense behind the pitching.

BTW, if Alcides, Rickie and Gomez do what they do at the 8,1 and 2 positions there will be plenty of fear creeping into the opposing pitchers head.

I hope your right.....Im just saying that some other guys other than Prince and Braun need to step up!

I missed on the Gomez estimate by a mile. I've updated the above payroll numbers with the agreements by Weeks and Gomez. I've also calculated the approximate midpoints (rounded to the nearest 0.25 million increment) of the 4 arbitration eligible players that have not yet agreed to terms. The Brewers might have about 2 million more dollars to spend than I had previously estimated. The Brewers are currently up to ~78.65 million for the payroll, but remember at least 3 more players need to be added and even if those are minimum salary guys it will be another 1.2 million tacked on. So I have them at just a shade under 80 million.

Getting the bat on the ball and cutting down on strike outs will hopefully be a big part of our offense this year. I know Macha doesn't like to use the bunt, but it also looks like we've got some wheels this year too and laying down a few bunts just gives that defense one more thing to think about. I'm hoping with better starting pitching we aren't going to sit back and play for the home run. Those home runs are nice but we have to create some runs too.