welcome back callix crabbe, now get thee to cleveland...

[flosses like fossas]

mlbtraderumors.com is reporting that ken rosenthal is reporting that the indians have a glut of starting pitching (sound heartbreakingly familiar?) and will likely look to make a move to improve at second or third as the season progresses. the brewers, having just gotten callix crabbe back from san diego now have a major league-ready and a waiting-in-the-wings option at both of these positions - see: hall, weeks, gamel, crabbe. at what point do the brewers' woes become such that they start to have this conversation? soon, i hope. if we (realistically) play for sowers or laffey we wouldn't have to give up gamel and we could add young, major-league-ready arms going forward.

 

weeks would be my favorite to move. i think it could be argued that a change of scenery could be good for weeks, though it's my personal contention that it's not going to happen for rickie either way. this would leave the brewers a hole that could potentially be filled by crabbe (yes, i know how he struggled in san diego) or the much poo-pooed hernan iribarren position re-swap. OR hall could be shifted over to second, making room for gamel or even branyan (as a patch) on the hot corner.

 

thoughts?

[DrWood]

trading weeks to cleveland would be like cleveland trading brandon phillips to the reds. With the lack of anything other than a stopgap at 2b, I'd prefer weeks stays in MKE. Also trading when a guy's value has plummeted is not a great idea.

[uwisfan]

yeah trading Weeks makes no sense. If you look at his OBP, he's actually doing respectable for leadoff and his fielding has been okay this year. No reason to unload him unless a great offer comes, and that's not likely. It could be the weakest position in our system right now after pitching and you don't want to sell rock bottom regardless. Rickie is serviceable, but below expectations is all. He tends to hit balls right at people all year...

[twobrewers]

his fielding has been okay this year.

I strongly disagree. His fielding has been the worst I have seen in the majors this year.

 

Most people point to Weeks poor batting average as a reason he is replaceable. I think his OBP, HBP, and threat to steal have made him an adequate lead-off hitter. However, his defense is so bad it negates any value he might at as a 2B.

 

His WARP is 1.0 right now. However, trading him when his value is this low (and the Brewers are pushing themselves out of the playoff picture) doesn't make too much sense either.

[tigerbrew]

I'd prefer to trade Hall than Weeks. Hall's gonna be expensive the next 2 years and may not be worth that money.

 

Crabbe is currently not in the Brewers 40 men roster and I'd prefer leave him out of it for the rest of the season at least.

[dadofandrew]

Crabbe is not going to garner any major league SP...CLE could have had him for nothing.

 

Crabbe may be the most discussed AAA player here since Brian Lesher. He simply is not very good.

 

To even compare Rickie to Callix is odd...he doesn't even compare to Counsell very well.

[jjfanec]

The only guys we could get Cleveland's starting pitching for in my mind are Hall or Weeks. I would trade Hall in a second if Cleveland was up for it. He has the home runs that someone might desire but he really isn't doing anything else right now. I just we had another option at 3B outside of Counsell, Branyan, or Dillion. If only Gamel's glove was ready

[bjkrautk]

"The Indians currently have 7 capable starters in Sabathia, Carmona, Lee, Byrd, Westbrook, Sowers, and Laffey."

 

Westbrook has been on the DL since late April, and I can't see the Indians trading Lee or Carmona for a player hovering around the mendoza line (be it Weeks or Hall).

 

Paul Byrd would be a decent innings-eater, but he makes $7.5 million this year at age 37. I believe that both he and Sabathia will be free agents next year, so both are probably available. (Ironically, despite being the worse pitcher this year, I think C.C. would get more in a trade, but only because he has more upside from a free-agent compensation standpoint.)

 

Laffey is the guy I'm most interested in, as he's gone 7 innings in 3 of his 4 starts....at age 23....but is he actually available? Ditto for Sowers at age 25 (minus the pitching into the 7th, as Jeremy hasn't shown himself to be any better at pitching late into games than Manny Parra at this point in their careers). Unless the Brewers are willing to let Byrd eat innings for them, or they want to take a gamble on C.C., I don't know there's a good fit here.