Ones that got away?

[Thurston Fluff]

Since we have a Cruz and 3TO thread I though maybe a thread following former Brewers would be fun. If not oh well let it die a quick death.

 

I remember plenty of debate on Jorge De La Rosa's potential. Seems like he's finally putting it together. WHIP of 1.17, 3.16 ERA, .217 BAA for the seaosn and his last couple starts have been very impressive. 15 IP, 22K's, 1 BB. All that while playing for the Rockies. I was one who felt his time was pst wiht the Brewers and still feel it was something that had to be done since he was hurting the team at a point in time where waiting for promise to turn in to production was not an option. But I am happy for him that he seems to have turned the corner.

 

Joe Thatcher so far this year looks pretty decent though he was far from special last year. So far though 21IP, 0.90 WHIP .167 BAA and 16:6 K:BB. Seems liek an effective lefty.

 

looking atthe center piece of the Linbrinck trade Will Inman so far is repeating AA but lloks like a call to AAA is a matter of time. 3.05 ERA, 36:8 K:BB rate in 44 innings.

 

If anyone had any other names to add it would be nice to see.

[thelastbrewfan]

Grant Balfour had a nifty season last year, though McClung has proven valuable.

 

Craig Breslow seems quite servicable...

[paul253]

I don't know why, but I have a feeling we are going to miss Brad Nelson in a year or two.

[Jopal78]

I certainly don't think Jorge de la Rosa is one that got away. Since Milwaukee traded him to KC in the '06 season he went 21-24 with a whip each season above 1.46 and an era of over 4.90. He provided only 19 quality starts out of 56. The fact that he has started off the '09 season well is more a testament to the weak lineups he has faced the last five times out than it is him figuring out how to finally pitch at 29 years old.

 

As for ones that got away...the Brewers have been spot on in evaluating talent the last handful of years and there is really nobody they let go (besides the prospects in the Sabathia deal) who is likely to come back to haunt the team. Although Doug Davis has been every bit as good as Suppan and is paid much less by the Diamondbacks.

[endaround]

Marco(s) Scutaro

[Postseason2006]

Gary Sheffield still kills me...for Bones, Mieske, and Valentin....

[MJLiverock]

I don't think we will miss Brad Nelson one bit now or in three years. The Brewers have improved as a team and they don't have to keep marginal guys around for years and years hoping one pans out. That is the old Brewer strategy when rebuilding, pick up discarded guys and give them regular playing time to see if they figure it out, teams competing for playoff spots can do this with maybe one spot but can't keep a roster full of tweeners and give them playing time. That is for the Mariners, Nationals, Padres of the world now and soon to be Astros when they have to try and rebuild with a weak farm system.

 

If a guy leaves and has 2 years of continually weak performances and then "puts it together" for a year I am not going to complain because they wouldn't have had the PT with the Brewers to get there and even then getting there maybe just being serviceable or average.

 

Given how many prospects and guys just don't work out a line has to be drawn somewhere to let the next guy get his shot. We've all seen the posts of how Nelson Cruz is going to be a star or Dana Evelend or Will Inman or JDLR or Ben Hendrickson or Joe Dillon and now its Brad Nelson.

[dlk9s]

Gary Sheffield still kills me...for Bones, Mieske, and Valentin....

I don't miss for one second someone who wanted out of Milwaukee so badly that he sabotaged the team in order to get traded.

[Invader3K]

I certainly don't miss him. I won't rehash my old story, but Sheffield was a hero to me when I first started watching baseball as a little kid, and I hated how he ended up wanting to leave. But for a future Hall of Famer (or borderline at least) like that, they should have gotten more talent than those three.

[TooLiveBrew]

I don't think we will miss Brad Nelson one bit now or in three years. The Brewers have improved as a team and they don't have to keep marginal guys around for years and years hoping one pans out.

 

To be fair, Brad Nelson is a pretty solid hitter who would have helped fill out the Brewers' bench & depth nicely for the next 4+ seasons. He had a bad stretch of 20+ AB (poorly-timed since it was right out of the gates) that got him released... I just don't think his scenario matches up with what you describe here. The Brewers certainly weren't handing him the 1B job to lose; just a bench role.

 

In case it wasn't clear, I agree with Paul. However, fortunately for the Brewers guys like Catalanotto should be available & relatively cheap going from season to season. It just would have been nice imo if the Brewers knew they didn't have to worry for the next few seasons about where to find a bench LHB that projects to post an .800-ish OPS against RHP.

[Thurston Fluff]

Given how many prospects and guys just don't work out a line has to be drawn somewhere to let the next guy get his shot. We've all seen the posts of how Nelson Cruz is going to be a star or Dana Evelend or Will Inman or JDLR or Ben Hendrickson or Joe Dillon and now its Brad Nelson.

 

That's kind of why I started this thread. The ? on the end was so we could debate if it was a mistake to let them go. That and it is kind of fun to follow these guys and see how/if they develop. I think JDLR can develop though I thought he has to be moved when he was for the very reasons you mentioned. This team is not in a position to have guys develop on the job anymore. But De La Rosa could be the Doug Davis type who may be a late bloomer. As a lefty with good stuff he will be given every chance in the world to do so.

[logan82]

Gabe Gross. Worst trade Melvin has made in my opinion. Ever since the trade(and before) all we have talked about is getting a decent LH bat off the bench and a guy that can play all 3 OF positions without embarrassing himself with the glove or bat.

[TooLiveBrew]

We've all seen the posts of how Nelson Cruz is going to be a star or Dana Evelend or Will Inman or JDLR or Ben Hendrickson or Joe Dillon and now its Brad Nelson.

 

Where are the posts that Nelson is going to be a star?

[Invader3K]

I don't think anyone was claiming Nelson was going to be a "star." He doesn't have that potential at this point, realistically. I think many felt he could have turned things around at the plate and been a solid bench/backup. That might be, but my opinion was that he will be relatively easy to replace. He was never going to get all that much playing time this year with the Brewers, anyway. With the Mariners, he could be up in Seattle yet this season and maybe get a chance to start every so often. That wouldn't have happened in Milwaukee.

 

The Brewers are almost in the position where they have too many good players. Every so often someone will get traded or release. Fortunately it's not the stars or regulars being let go, it's guys who are blocked or just aren't that useful to the team at the moment.

[SeriesFinale]

Laynce Nix has looked pretty good in spot-starts and PH for the Reds so far this year, but hardly to the point where I regret the Brewers giving up on him.

 

I'd second the Gross deal, but even if Cruzis never more than a decent OF with occasional power, that El Caballo deal kinda sticks in my craw the further away we get from it. Yeah, Coco had a good 1.5 year run with us, but to what end? It seems we're pretty empty handed from it at this point.

[JJHardy7]

I'd put Sarfate on the list, but I'm probably alone on that one. I'd rather have him in the bullpen than Julio.

[DocLuna7]

Dante Bichette for Kevin Reimer. I know that Bichette played in Colorado, but to trade a young outfielder with power for one washed up season of a fairly worthless Kevin Reimer can only be viewed with some regret IMO. I know that we are years removed from that trade, but still.

 

Also, they were known quantities, but it would have been nice to have Eldred/Valentin in virtually any capacity instead of John Snyder/Jamie Navarro. Eh.

[Thurston Fluff]

Scutaro is a good one Endaround. Almost forgot about him. Just looked him up and was kind of surprised how many gave up on him at one point or another. I guess that will probably be a common theme. A lot of these guys are pretty run of the mill which is why they aren't here anymore. But still run of the mill is useful enough to carve out a nice career.

 

July 26, 1994: Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent.

 

August 30, 2000: Sent by the Cleveland Indians to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete an earlier deal made on July 28, 2000. The Cleveland Indians sent a player to be named later, Kane Davis, Paul Rigdon and Richie Sexson to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named later, Jason Bere, Bob Wickman and Steve Woodard. The Cleveland Indians sent Marco Scutaro (August 30, 2000) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade.

 

April 5, 2002: Selected off waivers by the New York Mets from the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

October 9, 2003: Selected off waivers by the Oakland Athletics from the New York Mets.

 

November 18, 2007: Traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays for Graham Godfrey (minors) and Kristian Bell (minors).

[MJLiverock]

I

To be fair, Brad Nelson is a pretty solid hitter who would have helped fill out the Brewers' bench & depth nicely for the next 4+ seasons. He had a bad stretch of 20+ AB (poorly-timed since it was right out of the gates) that got him released... I just don't think his scenario matches up with what you describe here. The Brewers certainly weren't handing him the 1B job to lose; just a bench role.

Nelson was a guy who after 4 or so years of time in AAA put up decent not spectacular numbers. As a 1b his numbers are pretty pedestrian, as a below average defensive corner outfielder his numbers aren't that special either. My prediction is the guy is going to be a career bench or platoon player if he can stick in the majors at all for more than a year or two. If he was going to have any shot he needed to play a lot more than he was going to in Milwaukee and the Brewers, the Brewers need to keep the line moving (to steal a Sveumism). There just wasn't a spot for him and he isn't special enough talent wise to make one for him.

 

It reminds me of the Joe Dillon infatuation, Homer still whines about letting Joe Dillon go, but Joe Dillon is still out of the league and not playing for anyone so its not like the Brewers made some fatal error because the rest of the league didn't want him either. I see Nelson going the same route, a fringe ML'er, who may catch on for a year or two and then disappear as younger players with more upside push their way into the league a la Matt Gamel coming up.

[joepepsi]

I admit it, I didn't like trading Gross one bit. Essentially Doug gave him away when he didn't really need to. On the other hand, he really hasn't done much with Tampa Bay; a useful 4th OF'er, not all that hard to replace. Josh Butler, who they got in return, may still develop into an average innings eater.

 

I think the only one we're really going to regret getting away is Matt LaPorta. No doubt you do that trade every time, but La Porta could be a monster bat for the next 8-10 years. Long after Prince is gone he could still be playing 1B for Cleveland, hitting 35-40 homers a year.

[Thurston Fluff]

SO far LaPorta is struggling. It is way to small a sample to tell but, from most of the things I heard about him, he did have holes in his swing that he has to work out before he could be called can't miss. He is not, and likely never will be, Prince IMHO.

[logan82]

On the other hand, he really hasn't done much with Tampa Bay; a useful 4th OF'er, not all that hard to replace.

 

How come we still haven't replaced him then? I know I am not taking Josh Butler and his future with us into account, but I think not having Gross hurt us most of last year especially when Hart struggled down the stretch and Duffy is a poor replacement compared to Gross.

[GormanHarvey]

How come we still haven't replaced him then? I know I am not taking Josh Butler and his future with us into account, but I think not hiving Gross hurt us most of last year especially when Hart struggled down the stretch and Duffy is a poor replacement compared to Gross.

I think what really hurt us was Kapler being hurt and unavailable to spell Hart when he was beyond struggling. And Duffy is better defensively.

[JJHardy7]

I think the only one we're really going to regret getting away is Matt LaPorta. No doubt you do that trade every time, but La Porta could be a monster bat for the next 8-10 years. Long after Prince is gone he could still be playing 1B for Cleveland, hitting 35-40 homers a year.

 

I don't know if I agree that he'll be that good, but that's my opinion. I think it will turn out to be a pretty good move by the Brewers (selling high). Regardless of my opinion I think the real interesting thing to watch will be LaPorta vs. Gamel. IIRC the Brewers chose to give up LaPorta and not Gamel. I think that was the right move, but I guess we'll find out the next few years.

[GormanHarvey]

I agree JJHardy7 - when that trade went down I was relieved that if we were giving up one of our young studs that it was LaPorta and not Gamel