what could the Brewers get for Weeks and Prince if they are traded.

[brewmann04]

i figure we can get a top pitcher and maybe a pure leadoff guy.

[lodiness]

I don't know if I'd give up on Weeks quite yet. Yes he is injury prone, but I think that he has a huge upside. They just need to find a way to move him out of the leadoff spot. Prince will be gone. Probably get a number 2 or 3 starter for him. Possibly along the lines of a Phil Hughes type young talent. Maybe ship Prince and HOF Jr. (Gwynn) to San Diego for Peavy. I know this won't happen just a thought.

[fondybrewfan]

I don't know if I'd give up on Weeks quite yet. Yes he is injury prone, but I think that he has a huge upside. They just need to find a way to move him out of the leadoff spot. Prince will be gone. Probably get a number 2 or 3 starter for him. Possibly along the lines of a Phil Hughes type young talent. Maybe ship Prince and HOF Jr. (Gwynn) to San Diego for Peavy. I know this won't happen just a thought.

At what point does Weeks "upside" be replaced with "unfulfilled potential". I think if he makes it through the rest of this year healthy and still sucks 80% of the time that we trade him in the offseason. Some time will probably still think he has Uber-Potential at that point. If we don't trade him and he comes back next year and still sucks we will get much much less in any potential trade. I know we don't exactly have a 2b capable of replacing him but this is now his 4th year in Milwaukee and has only shown very short moments of brilliance in an otherwise crappy to below average career. If 2007 is going to be his best year I say move on.

 

As far as what we could get for Weeks in the offseason.... I don't think he could be the centerpiece of any deal because of his performance but if put in a package I am sure we could get an excellent return maybe #2-3 starter. If we could put Prince and Rickie in the same deal we could get a kings ransom I do believe. Perhaps including a Lincecum type pitcher (not necessarily Lincecum)

[Bnowell4evr]

What could we get for Ryan Braun and Corey Hart? How about JJ Hardy and Yovani Gallardo? Whats Manny Parra's value do you think we could trade our entire team that got us winning so we can bring in a bunch of untested prospects? I don't wanna win anymore so lets completely tear down this team!

 

Sorry I couldnt resist... All these Prince trade talks when were in a POSTSEASON HUNT ANNOY ME TO DEATH.

[GAME05]

i don't think that's really fair. nobody's talking about completely overhauling the team and nobody's hoping that Prince gets traded in the middle of this season. no team is static, plus we're looking at Sabathia and Sheets both leaving to other teams next year, so if we just sat on our laurels, what we'd get is a 4th place team next year. or if we just brought back everyone on the team from this year, we'd be looking at a payroll of $120 million, which isn't going to happen.

 

My dream is that we can trade Prince for David Price of TB plus another prospect. It'd give us a ton of young talent at the top of the rotation, though i'm not sure what you'd do at 1st base if it isn't Mat Gamel there.

[Crewin06]

The Prince Trade talks I think should take a back seat for at least another 1.5 years. We have no 100% stud replacements waiting in the wings and Prince's value will be down this off-season. Now in 1.5 years everybody will be up in arms about how we can't trade Prince because he is coming off a 40+ homerun season, but that is the time to deal a guy when his value is rediculously high and we have Errecart or Gamel ready to replace him at 1B.

 

And when the Brewers do trade him, IMO they should trade him for high end prospects that the Brewers control for 6 years.

[ILuvDaBush]

That's why I was also pretty excited about the CC trade. I figured it would put to rest all the talk of trading #28 for at least a year, hopefully two.

[Invader3K]

I think the Brewers should keep Prince for at least one more year, with LaPorta now gone, and Gamel seeming like he's projecting more as a corner outfielder (maybe they can move Hart to CF). As for Rickie, I'd be fine with trading him, but I think a lot of people are viewing him through rose colored Brewers glasses at this point. People were complaining about Braun's OBP, but it's now actually higher than Rickie's (granted, he has more at bats than Weeks). I think most will admit that he's a terrible fit for the lead off spot, but I don't see how moving him down the order is going to make him suddenly change his approach and start hitting for more contact.

[BrewersNation]

Prince Fielder is the best chance Milwaukee has at landing a top-flight pitcher this off-season. With the current payroll at $90m, the team is already going to finish in the red. Mark A has already said that multiple times. This winter, the Crew will look to shed some salary room (Mota, Gagne, Sheets, Sabathia, Cameron).

 

Prince will probably get $8m or so in arb, so it would allow the team to get someone like Matt Cain or Zack Greinke. Brad Nelson is a perfect candidate for first. His .300+ average and .400+ OBP will translate nicely to the bigs. Will he be a star? No. Will he be serviceable around other players that can pick up the slack? Yes.

 

Teams are built on pitching, and a Gallardo, Parra, Soup, Bush, McClung/Villanueva rotation is not going to be a post-season caliber rotation. The team doesn't have that much money to spend this off-season either. Nelson is a fine stopgap until Gamel can learn first base, or Melvin can get a decent first base option on either the trade market or from free agency.

[endaround]

So the Brewers can't afford Fielder but somehow the Royals can?

[JohnBriggs12]

Fielder is a lefthanded bat on a roster and a system woefully short of them especially now that Branyan's career month has come and gone. Unless they think Brad Nelson is an everyday major league player (and I don't think they'd take that risk), you really can't trade Fielder for another year and a half at the earliest.

[endaround]

You're confusing Branyan with JJ Hardy again

[Oldcity]

So the Brewers can't afford Fielder but somehow the Royals can?

Who's saying the Brewers can't afford him? They're just arguing he'd be better utilized to bring back a pitcher.

 

Also I imagine Greinke and Fielder will have comparable salaries next season, so I don't even see how salary would be an issue.

Finally, Hardy has only had one great month if you don't count April of '07, May of '07 and September of '05.

 

[kramnoj]

This winter, the Crew will look to shed some salary room (Mota, Gagne, Sheets, Sabathia, Cameron).

 

The team doesn't have that much money to spend this off-season either

 

I'm not sure how these statements reconcile. I think the Brewers will have plenty to spend this offseason. Gagne, Mota and Turnbow represents $16 million or so that will be available. That might be enough to cover the arbitration increases that will occur. Then there are the questions of Counsell and Cameron and whatever happens to the two aces and their salaries. I figure they sign some FA pitcher like Penny or Wolf for $12 mil/year and then overpay a reliever or two.

 

Regarding the thread topic. If I was the GM of this team in a sim, I agree that the best possible way to build a team for next year is to trade Prince for a good young pitcher and promote Gamel and put him at 1B. I don't know if that's the best option for the future of the team, but it could put together a nice roster for a run next year.

[BrewersNation]

This winter, the Crew will look to shed some salary room (Mota, Gagne, Sheets, Sabathia, Cameron).

 

The team doesn't have that much money to spend this off-season either

 

I'm not sure how these statements reconcile. I think the Brewers will have plenty to spend this offseason. Gagne, Mota and Turnbow represents $16 million or so that will be available. That might be enough to cover the arbitration increases that will occur. Then there are the questions of Counsell and Cameron and whatever happens to the two aces and their salaries. I figure they sign some FA pitcher like Penny or Wolf for $12 mil/year and then overpay a reliever or two.

 

Regarding the thread topic. If I was the GM of this team in a sim, I agree that the best possible way to build a team for next year is to trade Prince for a good young pitcher and promote Gamel and put him at 1B. I don't know if that's the best option for the future of the team, but it could put together a nice roster for a run next year.

Mark Attanasio has repeatedly said that the team is going to finish in the red this season. They are going all out in 2008 because they can only afford this financial hit for one season. I don't think Milwaukee will approach a $90m payroll again next season. That is, unless the team will take a financial loss again. In that case, you are right.

 

[kramnoj]

They are going all out in 2008 because they can only afford this financial hit for one season.

 

I don't think that's exactly right. I think they are going all out in 2008 because it is the last year that Sheets will be on this team and the team is extremely close in the playoff race. The Indians falling out of it surprising quickly and CC being made available gave Melvin the ability to acquire a true ace, which doesn't happen every year.

 

BrewersNation, I'm not sure I follow your thinking. You seem to be saying that because the team may lose money this year that they won't spend much money next year. I think it could be the case that past year's profits have allowed this year's team to go overbudget.

 

Now, it's certainly possible that next year's payroll may go down. If that happens, I imagine it would be because the team doesn't see enough value in the FA market and/or gets outbid by richer teams on the few quality FA that will be available.