Buster Olney's Team to watch for the 2nd half: Your Milwaukee Brewers

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I think it's time we become Detroit Tigers fans so they pull way ahead of Cleveland and they start selling off their pieces AKA Sabathia. I wonder if the Indians would be interested in Salome.

[Greg Vaughn]

bobskube[/b]]C'mon guys, this is our chance. We cannot bank on the coming years for necessarily anything. We are there at the midway point and I believe LaPorta for a 3 month rental (Sabathia) would be OK. I also believe we should keep Gamel instead strictly because he is left_handed. We would clearly be as good or better than the Cubs if we make that happen.

 

I say to go for it...it has been 26 years, for gods sake.

Would you still be saying that if traded for Sabathia and DIDN"T make the playoffs. Can you imagine how livid our fanbase (I'd be leading the charge) would be if we didn't make the playoffs this year and traded away Laporta or Gamel and they ended up being perenial all-stars?

 

The brewers can't afford to "rent" players. We aren't the Sox or Yankees.....we have to contiunually look to the future or we won't have one. It has been 26 years.....you're right, however, I don't want it to be another 26 years after this year.

 

I will puke on myself if Laporta or Gamel is traded for Sabathia.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I will puke on myself if Laporta or Gamel is traded for Sabathia.

I wouldn't worry about it. Melvin is one of the best GM's in baseball and has gone on the record saying some of his prospects are untouchable so it won't happen. If we get Sabathia, it will be at the right price.

[Glennron]

Even if it is unlikely that the Brewers would trade LaPorta or Gamel for C.C., I'm still rooting for the Indians to get into/stay in the race so the possibility of losing one of the two isn't there.

[wisportswriter]

I'm still rooting for the Indians to get into/stay in the race so the possibility of losing one of the two isn't there.

Or even better, that no other team gets C.C., either.

Keep him in the AL.

 

[Invader3K]

Even if it is unlikely that the Brewers would trade LaPorta or Gamel for C.C., I'm still rooting for the Indians to get into/stay in the race so the possibility of losing one of the two isn't there.

So you have no interest in seeing this guy pitch for the Brewers at all?

 

[Fear The Chorizo]

Can LaPorta or Gamel become a solid #1A caliber starter and help to anchor a possible playoff rotation for a team that gets ridiculed for celebrating a World Series loss 26 years ago, the last time they were even in the playoffs?

 

I understand the value of prospects to small/mid market teams, but the Brewers' minor league cupboard isn't exactly bare anymore, and the potential to have compensatory picks up the wazoo again next year if both Sheets and Sabathia leave via free agency can help to replace whatever player(s) are currently dominating AA that much faster.

 

There comes a point when a small market team has to roll the dice in order to get over the hump. If Gallardo were still in the rotation I'd probably be even more insistent on making a splash via trade. Odds are Sheets is walking after this season, so why not try to maximize the success the team has in his last season pitching here by bringing in another stud pitcher?

[Postseason2006]

I will puke on myself if Laporta or Gamel is traded for Sabathia.

I wouldn't worry about it. Melvin is one of the best GM's in baseball and has gone on the record saying some of his prospects are untouchable so it won't happen. If we get Sabathia, it will be at the right price.

 

How is Melvin one of the best GM's?

[DonMoney4Mgr]

---

Brewers have a $3.4 mil team option on Craig for next season if they wish to keep him.

Please No! Do you remember last year's 220. w/no power at all, and slightly above average D. Last 5 years went something like this, Counsels' salaries;

MIL 3M, MIL 3M, ARZ 1.7 M, ARZ 1.7 M, MIL 3M. We're the only team in the majors willing to pay this guy that much. What happened to a hometown discount, especially when you're not that good. I don't buy in to locker room presence and all that other intangable crap for role players (unless your Gabe Kapler). Save the money and use Calix Crabbe or someone like that.

 

[DonMoney4Mgr]

Postseason2006 wrote:

How is Melvin one of the best GM's?

Amen.

 

[zzzmanwitz]

Melvin has created a great young core of players and still has a lot of talent coming up in the minors. He had a great offseason, 4 great signings, 2 OK, 1 bad (to this point). He has made some very good trades in the past and I expect him to make another one this season. This should not turn into a Melvin thread, I believe there is one of those somewhere, but I've never understood how anyone can say Melvin is not one of the better GMs in the league.

[PeaveyFury]

I've never understood how anyone can say Melvin is not one of the better GMs in the league.

 

Amen.

[RSteadman19]

What if tehy built a deal around Hammond or Jeffers? There are both pretty good prospects, one much further away but has higher potential than the other. Then you can add on players like Gwynn, Salome, Brantley or any others that have a pretty good chance at making an impact on the big league level. Maybe even see if they are interested in Hall or Hardy? Just try and keep the big two of LaPorta and Gamel.

[Postseason2006]

Melvin has created a great young core of players and still has a lot of talent coming up in the minors.

If we are giving Melvin the credit for this statement, we might as well credit the parents, his teachers, and high school coaches. Again, Jack Z put these guys together. Melvin pissed away 20 million this year on washed up talent.

[MoneyballMan]

Melvin has created a great young core of players and still has a lot of talent coming up in the minors.

If we are giving Melvin the credit for this statement, we might as well credit the parents, his teachers, and high school coaches. Again, Jack Z put these guys together. Melvin pissed away 20 million this year on washed up talent.

Amen.

[zzzmanwitz]

If we are giving Melvin the credit for this statement, we might as well credit the parents, his teachers, and high school coaches. Again, Jack Z put these guys together. Melvin pissed away 20 million this year on washed up talent.

 

I will respond in the other thread.

[Glennron]

Even if it is unlikely that the Brewers would trade LaPorta or Gamel for C.C., I'm still rooting for the Indians to get into/stay in the race so the possibility of losing one of the two isn't there.

So you have no interest in seeing this guy pitch for the Brewers at all?

 

 

Not if it's for Gamel or LaPorta. Unless the Indians lose like 5 games in the standings in the next week, the trade likely wouldn't happen til the end of July. I don't think two months of Sabathia would be worth giving up a huge prospect, but that's just me obviously.

[homer]

I could see the Brewers part with Salome, Brantley, Braddock, and maybe someone else. I don't know if LaPorta or Gamel would need to be part of the equation.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

If the Cubs wound up making the trade for Sabathia, who would they give up? They may have us on the money front, but I would think from the Indians perspective it's more about prospects. That has to give us the leg up if we decide we want to do it.

 

Someone earlier cited my post as saying LaPorta is untouchable and Gamel is not. Great point about Gamel being a left handed bat and may be more valuable. My basis was purely on LaPorta being viewed as the second coming of Braun by many since he was drafted. He was also drafted high while Gamel was a 4th rounder(?). My view was more on how my guess of the value the organization places on the two versus the reality of what they are worth. Frankly, I'm not sure who will wind up being better or who is better right now...they are both lights out at AA, but I do feel the organization places (rightly or wrongly) more value in LaPorta.

[wisportswriter]

Amen.

 

Sorry. I wasn't referencing any specific post; just wanted to fit in.

[naivin]

Melvin is one of the best GM's in baseball and has gone on the record saying some of his prospects are untouchable so it won't happen. If we get Sabathia, it will be at the right price.

If he makes any player untouchable, I would consider that a major strike against him as a GM (or any GM). Would he prefer not to trade those guys? Of course, but nobody should ever be off limits if the right deal presents itself. The Cubs once referred to both Corey Patterson and Felix Pie as untouchable. How'd that turn out? They could have cleaned up with those guys, but didn't and both basically ended up untradeable. Until your prospects get to the bigs, you don't actually know what you have. Bottom line...they have a real chance at the post-season, and with the right acquisition, they actually have a chance to win in the post-season, and you've gotta do what you gotta do. Doesn't have to be Sabathia, but it should be someone.

[davego]

I agree witl Glenron. I know we have to give something of value, but really if the Indians are out of the race and CC is bent on FA, the asking price has to come down...unless the Indians want the picks. In effect this could be a trade of a prospect or two for CC+picks. How much value the sandwich picks are to the 'tribe seems to be a wildcard.

[TauPentaRei]

just to keep this relevant to the Major League Forum topic that got opened (i see a lot of Melvin, Jack Z, Sabathia, prospect tangents), I want to say that I completely agree with Buster Olney. I am so totally going to be watching the Brewers in the 2nd half.

 

with that out of the way, I've resisted chirping in on the topic because I simply can't wrap my hands around this monumental paradigm shift. I have absolutely no frame of reference from which to draw. Hunt lazily wrote a so-so column exploring the topic, and maybe last year's tryst with San Diego was just a mindset appetizer. I know I cringed every time I saw Thatcher lay a bagel on someone during my daily box score review. Yankee fans have practice with this. Yankee fans (less so in the Cashman era) eagerly wonder what minor leaguers to trade away for what veteran. We are standing on top of the high dive looking down all googly eyed ready to poop our pants.

 

there are can't miss prospects like Braun, Bruce, Longoria

then there are can't miss prospects like Marte, Kershaw, R Hill... (clayton just needs more seasoning, i get it. i'm just trying to make a point)

 

a prospect is just that. lots and lots of 49ers went to California as prospectors but way, WAY more people walked away without gold than struck it rich.

 

You know what sucks? Having to take a hit on 15 when the dealer is showing a 6. Well, man up, because that is EXACTLY where we are right now.

 

Lastly, I see 3 options: blockbuster, minor upgrade and doing nothing. Scratch the last option because that is suicide. Before the statties pre-emptively scorn me I will say that the unprovable psychological boost of bolstering the squad with an all-star at mid-season is a major factor in winning a penant. You know that the Cubs will do something small a la Meche or large say B Roberts / Burnett, so are we going to hold serve neutralizing the booster rocket factor?

 

Good thing Olney chimed in, I don't know if I would have watched the Brewers otherwise.

[TooLiveBrew]

a prospect is just that. lots and lots of 49ers went to California as prospectors but way, WAY more people walked away without gold than struck it rich.

 

The gold miners had it far more random, but I get what you're saying. I think we're one of the best 5 or 6 teams in the NL this season, and with the current playoff alignment, that's about all I can ask as a fan. I believe we will pass the Cards & even get close to the Cubs (to catch them they'll have to slow their pace). The good thing this season is that keeping close to the Cubs is probably going to get you to October.

 

If someone like Sabathia could be added, wow. Not sure what I think about that kind of deal

[logan82]

We have 6 games head to head with the Cards and 10 against the Cubs. Lots of chances to make up even a 5 game lead.