It's probably about time for a Nelson Cruz thread

[RyDogg66]

Hit his 5th HR tonight. Could Melvin have missed the boat with this guy? He was a throw in for the Carlos Lee deal.

[Ennder]

Kind of hard to say he missed the boat on him when it took him 4 years after the trade and age 28 to play a major role in the majors(he did nice in a sept callup last year too but that isn't major role). I don't think anyone ever doubted the power, it was whether he could hit for a high enough average in the majors.

[UndraftedFA]

Maybe Doug missed, but I don't think it was going to happen for him in Milwaukee. He would be on the bench here. He probably be better than the bench guys we have, but I just don't think we had the room for him. Wasn't it the Cordero deal though, or did we get him from the White Sox?

[kramnoj]

It's possible Melvin will regret this, but I don't fault him for it. As great as Cruz has looked over the last year, his major league numbers are in 40 games. Its true that he has had phenomenal numbers in the minors over the last couple of years, but he had done well in the minors before without seeing that translate into major league success.

[Invader3K]

He wasn't doing anything for the Brewers at the time and wasn't going to be on the MLB roster anytime soon...so I doubt Melvin is really looking back regretfully at it. Where would we play him at this point anyway?

[DougJones43]

I regret trading Cruz, but mainly because the return was 1.5 years of Kevin Mench.

[JoeHova]

I hope he continues doing well, I like him a lot. Glad to see that the Rangers appear to have committed to him.

[valpocrewsader]

Kind of hard to say he missed the boat on him when it took him 4 years after the trade....

Hasn't it been two and a half years?

[1992casey]

It's been four years since the Brewers acquired him from Oakland (December 16, 2004).

[Ennder]

Kind of hard to say he missed the boat on him when it took him 4 years after the trade....

Hasn't it been two and a half years?

Oops I was looking at major leagues when I said that. He last played for the major league brewers in 2005 or 4 years ago, He last played for the minor league Brewers in 2006 or 3 years ago.

[TheCrew07]

I always liked Nelson, but I wasn't sorry to see him go... with the benefit of hindsight that deal still is decent in my opinion, even though I never wanted freaking Mench at all. I always felt Hart should have gotten the playing time from the get go.

 

I'm happy he's doing well, if he can limit his free swinging ways he'll stick. That's been the knock on him forever, his tools were always impressive though.

[cwolf2012]

If Cruz was just a throw in, then yeah, it sucks. The guy tore the cover off the ball in the minors. I would have rather kept him and not gotten either Nix or Mench.

[mls4]

Wasn't it the Cordero deal though, or did we get him from the White Sox?

The Cordero deal is the Carlos Lee deal; Cruz was thrown in along with Lee for Cordero, Mench, and Nix. We got him from the A's for Keith Ginter.

[TooLiveBrew]

I regret trading Cruz, but mainly because the return was 1.5 years of Kevin Mench.

 

Classic, DougJones... classic. What kind of HdV/9 (Head value per 9 innings) did we get from Mench, though? Has to be a big number.

[RyDogg66]

I see why he was traded, he was blocked and developing plate discipline a bit slowly, but as others have said, it was the tossing him in for Nix and Mench that makes the deal sting. A Carlos Lee for Cordero deal would have been a push or slight win for us, then when we had to endure Mench and Nix while giving up on Cruz makes it sting a bit more.

[Ennder]

I don't think there was a way to know that Mench would completely lose his power when we signed him and he was a player that could help us that year.

[Thurston Fluff]

At the time Nix was a decent prospect with some potential. He was a good fielding center fielder with some offense whose biggest problem was health related. He never panned out but that doesn't mean it was a bad gamble at the time. As far as Cruz goes lets see how well he does in extended playing time. He may just be late bloomer or he might just be hitting the balls that he will miss later. If he can make the adjustments he will have to make after the league sees him for a while and continue to hit like he is then it might be time to wonder what if.

[Ennder]

How long do the Rangers have him, not really sure where to find that kind of info. I mean he has been up and down in the majors for quite a few years now I'd have to think he is running out of time with them unless he signed an extension or something.

 

Cots says 1 year 408k for his contract but not seeing anything about arbitration years etc, I guess I don't know how that all works with these guys who only play in sept each year.

[Invader3K]

According to Rotoworld, the Rangers have him under control through 2012. He's making near the league minimum this year. So seems like a good value for them.

[GoudaBrew]

Here's a timely blog post from FanGraphs:

 

Nelson's Sweet Swing

[BrewCrewRising]

Does anybody remember when Kevin Mench as a Ranger hit 7 or 8 HR's in April? I think it was 2006 or so.

 

Does anybody think we should have stuck with him to see what he could do?

 

I don't think Melvin made a mistake with Cruz. What were the options? Hold on, and hold on just in case he worked out? Maybe he was worth more than as a throw in but then again he was worth Keith Ginter to begin with. The Carlos Lee trade will not go down as a great trade for the Crew, but there have been worse. At least we got 1.5 seasons of Cordero.

[DonMoney4Mgr]

I can't believe all the Melvin apoligists out there. Melvin has made more bad trades than good ones. And we are left with an overpaid mediocre major league team with no pitching to speak of in our entire system.

 

Inman, Garrison, Thatcher for Linebrink - bad trade (will get worse as time goes on)

LaPorta and Brantley for CC. - He struck this deal pre-maturely because so many loser brewer fans would do anything to make the post season. Hope you enjoyed those two games because that's all you're going to see for a while. If Melvin knew what he was doing, he would trade a lot of these position players while their value is high before their big pay day. And build up pitching depth in the system. (see Florida Marlins.)

Lee and Cruz for Cordero. That is a joke. What does this organization have left today from that trade?

Balfour for McClung - Balfour has put up better numbers and was never given the opportunity here.

Doug Davis for Vargas - Nice

Eveland for I don't remember - All I know is he that he is better than at least two of our starters, and makes less money. (this years slow start not withstanding)

 

On the plus side, this will be Melvins last year. Too bad Jack Z won't be available.

[1992casey]

Does anybody think we should have stuck with (Mench) to see what he could do?

 

Given that at age 30, Kevin could only warrant 131 PA and produced a .677 OPS with the Jays last year, then signed to play in Japan, I think not. The cards were stacked against him when the Brewers let him go, and there's nothing that would indicate that the situation would change.

 

At least we got 1.5 seasons of Cordero.

 

That's big. The Brewers were contenders in 2007, and Cordero was a significant part of that team.

[Invader3K]

I can't believe all the Melvin apoligists out there. Melvin has made more bad trades than good ones. And we are left with an overpaid mediocre major league team with no pitching to speak of in our entire system.

 

Inman, Garrison, Thatcher for Linebrink - bad trade (will get worse as time goes on)

LaPorta and Brantley for CC. - He struck this deal pre-maturely because so many loser brewer fans would do anything to make the post season. Hope you enjoyed those two games because that's all you're going to see for a while. If Melvin knew what he was doing, he would trade a lot of these position players while their value is high before their big pay day. And build up pitching depth in the system. (see Florida Marlins.)

Lee and Cruz for Cordero. That is a joke. What does this organization have left today from that trade?

Balfour for McClung - Balfour has put up better numbers and was never given the opportunity here.

Doug Davis for Vargas - Nice

Eveland for I don't remember - All I know is he that he is better than at least two of our starters, and makes less money. (this years slow start not withstanding)

 

On the plus side, this will be Melvins last year. Too bad Jack Z won't be available.

Wow, what an overly negative and worthless post. There's so many things wrong with what you said, I'm not even going to bother.

[fondybrewfan]

We are loser Brewer fans now? Is that ban hammer worthy?

 

Jeesh. None of the guys we have traded to SD have done squat yet. And no Eveland is just not very good at all, and it is probably telling that you have no idea who he was traded for.