If, by some combination, we can upgrade pitching and get a stronger bat in LF (Gomez can probably make an adequate defensive player look a little better, similar to what Cam did to Braun). Gomez can be our new Kendall as long as the old Kendall is coaching in the minors somewhere next year.

Can 14 mil + Hart (- Kendall) = LF with a stick, catcher who isn't a complete debacle at the plate + Top of the rotation pitcher + a middle of the rotation pitcher?

It will be hard to upgrade the bat of Braun in LF, RF would be easier.

antagonizer

I know my role.

Trying to sift thru this recent confusion about LF/RF occupants.

My take is, if Hart is gone, it is Gamel's spot (if not traded) otherwise I would like to see Gerut get a shot there. Glad management did not want Gerut in CF

I still think playing this situation like a two-year window to win with Fielder is a mistake. Looking at the pitching staff and the wasted money on Suppan, Hall and Riske I don't think the Brewers have very good chance in 2010.

I don't think they have a shot at Lackey. Even if they non-tender Bush, McClung and Gerut, and buyout Looper's deal, I have them at still having over 62 million committed, meaning they have in the ballpark of 18 to 20 million yet to spend. Lackey will take an absolute minimum of 15 million, and I suspect he'll get even more based on the fact that he is the only front-line starter out there this year that doesn't have some type of injury concern. And adding him while non-tendering Bush would leave the rotation at Lackey, Gallardo, Suppan, Parra and ?. So even with Lackey the rotation still looks horrible after the front two and you are probably down to 4 million dollars with which to acquire a catcher, another starting pitcher, two reserve outfielders and a reserve infielder that can play shortstop along with some bullpen help.

The above reasons are why I think Melvin would be nuts to trade Gamel. The chances of winning in 2010 are slim and if you deal a couple good young bats now then in two years you don't have Fielder's bat and then you've traded away the bats that help replace his bat.

If Boston were willing to part with more than just Bowden for Hardy, and if Buchholz could have been had as part of a package for Fielder, I think the best move for the Brewers to have made this off-season would have been to make a blockbuster deal of Fielder and Hardy for Buchholz, Bard, Bowden, Tazawa and Anderson. If the Red Sox would have been willing to part with Buchholz for Fielder then this deal would have been really do-able and would have really set up the Brewers well for 2011 and beyond. You would have Buchholz, Gallardo and Bowden all of which should be solid pitchers in the rotation. Bard is a potential closer. In the lineup you'd have Braun, Escobar, Gamel and Anderson as the core to build around. Looking at the current situation I think this approach would have made more sense than trying to win in 2010 with the state of the payroll and the pitching staff.

With Hardy's season the ONLY thing he had going for him (besides the hope he can get back on track) was the extra year. You can have the opinion that they got next to nothing for him. I don't agree. I also think it is a big stretch that the Hardy wasn't going to be with the Brewers after sending him down. Anybody that follows this team knew Hardy would be the first out the door. It's the one spot where they had uber-prospect ready to go.

The thing I was most worried about losing Cam over was defense. They will now be better there. They will also be better at SS defensively as well. I will be a little scared offensively if they roll with Rivera behind the plate and Gerut in right but I would hope the staff would be greatly improved.

Gomez was a highly rated prospect for a reason. Let's hope he can reach that potential.

quote:

Originally posted by PackerJoe:

Unfortunately, I'm not even as worried about his bat as I am his head. A colleague of mine was reading me some quotes from Gardenhire today and it sounds like the Twins gave up on him because of stupid little dumb things he would do on the diamond. The example was something like, "when your pitcher just threw 30 pitches the previous inning, you don't want Gomez screwing himself into the ground swinging at the first pitch of the next inning."

Good point PJ. Gomez is a bit of a screwball. He had a pretty big blunder in the playoffs on the bases. He's going to need some "coachin' up" that's for sure. Maybe Randolph can put him under his wing like he did with Rickie.

Couple other thoughts about this before I tackle the leaves:

1. I saw this on another blog. Been a lot of talk about adding Adam Dunn on this forum, this statement kinda puts it in perspective about the value if defense.

It seems to me I touched on OF defense last offseason, when I compared an OF of Braun/Cameron/Hart to a Dunn/Hart/Braun OF, the latter was brutal in the field, but sure would have scored a lot of runs...but would have had to score 40 more runs just to make up for the lack of run prevention.

2. This may seem obvious with the amount of money they are saving, but I wonder if Melvin did have an offer for more but saw more value in just taking Gomez and saving the dough to target who he wanted specifically in free agency or also giving him some more flexibility with trades by not adding, say a mediocre number three or four? Wow, that's a run on sentence. I guess my point is why take someone else's Looper and a low level prospect instead of filling a position and saving money?

One more thing. Here is a blog post from a Twins fan who also writes nationally on MLB reviewing the trade. I enjoy his blog:

http://www.aarongleeman.com/20...#2370811068416493477

He predictably struggled, batting .248/.293/.352 over the next two years, and started just 10 of the final 37 games this season as Ron Gardenhire sat him in favor of Delmon Young.

I'm really starting to think trading for Michael Bowden might have been a better move. To think that Gomez had actually moved below Delmon Young on Gardenhire's "favorite list" is pretty incredible.

Here is the exact quote from Gardenhire that I was talking about earlier:

"He irritates people," Gardenhire said. "Sometimes me."

The skipper was asked to expound.

"We've been trying to get him to calm down and get him to control the situations, and sometimes the situation controls him," Gardenhire said. "There are times when, yes, you're like, 'Go-Go, you have to see what we're trying to do here.' We just had a 25-pitch inning from our pitcher, and he goes up and falls down swinging on the first pitch.

"Those things get you irritated as a manager, because we want him to recognize what we're doing in a game. But he can play, and he's fun to watch. He's very, very talented and has a lot to learn, yes, but like I said, when you see him out there in center field covering all that ground and then some of the offensive things that he can do that other people can't do, that's why the guy is in the big leagues."


http://brewersbeat.mlblogs.com...enhire_on_gomez.html

Young started to hit in July and his power numbers really increased dramatically in August and September. Neither player knows how to draw a walk so Gardenhire went with the hot bat which happened to be Young. The late season struggles and eventual loss of Morneau may have given even more incentive to go with the bat of Young.

On a different subject the Twins picked up Cuddyer's option at $10.5MM this year.

He's a pretty decent hitter but that is uncharacteristic for a team like Minnesota that usually doesn't overpay for hitters.

I think it's a great move. The more you get to see about Gomez, the more perfect he is for the Brewers' situation.

I know it's early, but it sure wouldn't be a bad thing if the Brewers made a play for Jermaine Dye. I don't know if it more likely to see him with a larger market team (depends what he wants for $$$ I guess), but I think he would be a perfect guy to follow Fielder in this lineup. His age will keep the years down on the contract, so it might be manageable. They just dumped $15M in salary with Cam and Hardy gone, so maybe they can handle Dye for a bit of a discount from ther $12M he was going to make if he didn't get bought out.

I think he would also be a solid veteran presence and has a Championship, so he could also help out the younger players like Fielder and Braun.

I still think we see plenty of Gerut in CF

quote:

Originally posted by hoophead:
Then, I guess you better get your Twins @ Brewer tickets (6/22-24) quickly, Warren

I have no interest in that game at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty Larue:
The other aspect to consider is would the Brewers have been better off dealing Escobar in order to get pitching because I believe that's who they would have had to give up. Then they would have Hardy for the next two years and could have hoped for him to bounce back.

I think they traded the right player. I am just disappointed in what we got for him. I honestly believe that Hardy is a premier player who had a down year offensively. To get a maybe project player in return for a player of Hardy's caliber is disappointing. If I were Melvin I would have held out because I think he could have done better. Granted this opens up room for money for pitching, but he better get some quality then.

Not really sure what to think about this. Yes Hardy had a down year but you guys had no problem with giving a gurantted corner infield spot to Hall after abysmal seasons.

But the down year combined with seeming to beagainst a move from SS sealed his fate.

Relying on the oft injured Weeks is probably not all that smart. And Mcghee might prove to be a flash in the pan.

There seemed to be an attitude of that had quality cf's in the minors in the last couple years but when it came down to it they had to go outside of the organization for one, the farm system not coming through again.

At least good defense is part of the equation but it seems to be adding another undiciplined low obp guy which has been the hallmark of Melvin.

Next years team won't have Hall or Cameron so that will give me more motivation to get into the team.

quote:

Originally posted by chickenboy:
With Hardy's season the ONLY thing he had going for him (besides the hope he can get back on track) was the extra year.

Even with the bad season he's a .260 career hitter that's good for 15-20 HRs and 70 RBIs a year. Those are serious numbers for a SS that made only 8 errors last season. The guy had an off year and the Twins have to be elated to get him for a guy that had fallen out of favor.

I like the idea of bringing in a defensive CFer but if Melvin hadn't screwed up we could have gotten more. At one time there was talk of trading either Escobar or Hardy. Once Melvin blew it there was no way Hardy could play in MILW next season which really killed his trade value.

The extra year of control? Hardy made $4.5 million this year so that extra year he'll get paid like a FA anyway. Does anybody think we couldn't have gotten Gomez straight up for Hardy even if JJ was a FA in 2011?

quote:

Originally posted by El-Ka-Bong:
I still think we see plenty of Gerut in CF

That all depends on Gomez. Gerut won't play much CF unless Gomez plays himself out of position. I think the defense of Gomez keeps him out there almost everyday even if he hits .229.

Gomez is perfect for the Brewers because he can compensate for somebody like Dunn in RF. He'll make everybody forget about Cameron's defense the first week of the season.

How did Melvin screw up? Everyone on this planet knew we were trading Hardy and not Escobar. That was evident when JJ played himself out of the MLB in August. If anything Melvin saved value on JJ by sending him to the minors and keeping another year of arby on him. You make NO sense.

quote:

Originally posted by El-Ka-Bong:
If, by some combination, we can upgrade pitching and get a stronger bat in LF

What did I miss? Is there any doubt Braun plays LF next season? I can't see Braun moving to RF if that's what the implication is.

quote:

Originally posted by Diggr14:
How did Melvin screw up? Everyone on this planet knew we were trading Hardy and not Escobar. That was evident when JJ played himself out of the MLB in August. If anything Melvin saved value on JJ by sending him to the minors and keeping another year of arby on him. You make NO sense.

Melvin screwed up by sending Hardy down in the first place. Once Hardy went down the Brewers lost all leverage. They had to trade Hardy. They had no choice and everybody knew it. Had they been smart about it(not demoting Hardy) they could have entertained the idea of trading Escobar or Hardy and had better offers on the table.


BTW, Hardy did not play his way out of MLB. He was sent down strictly as a business move, not performance. He hit .156 in April and didn't get sent down.