what about Mulder?

[lugar6]

I'd like to see him and Madux sign and take our chances.

[splitterpfj]

Mulder's got 6-8 teams after him, I think that'll make the price too high for a guy coming off shoulder surgery.

[RyDogg66]

If we didnt want anything to do with Tomo Ohka I cannot imagine taking a flyer on Mulder. Last I heard Arizona was interested, but that was before the Davis trade.

[DHonks]

I've been saying all along that he'll end up in AZ. They have money to spend, and he's a Valley resident (may have been raised here). I would think a 2 year $12 million deal is likely

[Beast Light]

I know he is coming off some injuries and all but due to our lack of activity so far, maybe this is a topic we should revisit.

 

The possibility of moving Mench and/or Jenkins for quality starting pitching seems to get slimmer every day. I don't know if we are going to be able to bring in a solid pitcher to replace Davis via trade. I have heard rumors about Jon Leiber but I do not think he would even be an upgrade over the other pitchers we have in the mix. We need to bring someone in who is clearly a step above what we have.

 

As of right now, it looks like there are only 3 good FA pitchers left out there:

 

Jeff Suppan

Barry Zito

Mark Mulder

 

With Mulder coming off of a terrible season and an injury (which I do not know a whole lot about) maybe we could get him for a good rate. Could he be a Jermaine Dye type signing like the White Sox experienced?

[Weirdos19]

Mulder gets way more cash than 6mil/per.

 

He's light years ahead of Lilly. And Lilly got 10 per.

 

 

2yr/22 mil is my prediction

[PeaveyFury]

I'd actually consider that deal, Weirdos (provided our medical staff deems him healthy and good to go). I'd most certainly consider the 3/21-3/24 we were talking about with Doug Davis.

 

I'm convinced that his crappy ERA last year was due to his injury, and the guy is only one season removed from a very nice year.

 

The market for Mulder has been extremely quiet and actually quite non-existent since the D-Backs acquired Davis and seemed to cool on Mulder, as they were the only team that had openly been interested in him.

[Beast Light]

I would consider that deal as well if, as you stated, Mulder was deemed to be healthy. Our pitching rotation is very weak, in my opinion. This is what it looks like:

 

1. Sheets - Great pitcher, will he even stay healthy though?

 

2. Capuano - Good pitcher, ERA should be around 4.00

 

3. Bush - Mediocre, could easily have a 5+ ERA this year. I woudn't want to rely on him to be anything higher than a number 4-5 pitcher.

 

4. Vargas - Sorry, but I have not seen anything from this guy to cause me to believe he is a quality SP. He pitched well against us last year, to snap our 5 game winning streak to start the season and people were complaining about how we made such a bad pitcher look so good. Now he plays for us and people seem to think he is a good SP. I just don't get it.

 

5. Villanueva - Looked great last year but seemed to pitch better in the majors than he did in his minor league history. Was it a fluke? I hope not. Don't forget though, many young pitchers come up and look great in their rookie years (Zack Duke) only to look terrible in the years after. I am pulling for him and comfortable with him in the 5 spot.

 

You have to admit, if this was the rotation for the Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Tigers, Cardinals, or any other team expected to compete for playoff spots ......Everyone would be knocking their Starting Pitching and calling it a weakness. If the Brewers ever want to get better, they are going to need to replace their Claudio Vargas' and Dave Bush's. I am sorry, but that it just how I feel.

 

Imagine if Sheets goes down again, we will likely be looking at a rotation of:

 

Capuano

Bush

Vargas

Villanueva

Jackson

 

That scares me....and I don't think there is any way we could play .500 ball with a rotation like that. To be quite honest, I am worried about playing .500 ball with Sheets in the rotation. By adding a healthy Mulder, our rotation would look so much better:

 

Sheets

Capuano

Mulder

Bush

Villanueva

 

Thoughts?

[aracko]

Is it possible to give a front loaded deal in baseball?

 

something like 3 years 30 million with 15 of that up front. I know Mark A said we have 10 million for a pitcher, but if we moved Jenkins, maybe we could get that figure up to 15 million for this first year. Yes - he would be vastly overpaid this year, but this year and next he would probably be underpaid.

 

(again - i dont know baseball rules in regards to frontloading a contract)

[bretsky07]

5. Villanueva - Looked great last year but seemed to pitch better in the majors than he did in his minor league history. Was it a fluke? I hope not.

 

CV's numbers

 

Not amazing numbers, but consistenly good ERA, WHIP, and strikeout numbers every year.

 

3. Bush - Mediocre, could easily have a 5+ ERA this year. I woudn't want to rely on him to be anything higher than a number 4-5 pitcher.

 

I really think you are underrating Bush here. The stat guys can (and probably will) back me up, but I believe a lot of numbers show that he was the victim of a lot of bad luck last year, and he should keep improving for a few more years.

 

And also, my guess is, after spring training, the first pitcher to be called up in an emergency will be YO!

[endaround]

Doubt it would be Yo. If fully healthy Parra would certainly be #1, Jackson is for some reason talked about as a possible #5 next season (ick).

[aracko]

I also think you are underestimating Bush. When Acquired - in his chat last season during spring training on MLB.com, Doug Melvin said they thought Bush could be a top of the rotation starter. His stuff is for real he has just had some rough breaks.

[Nader Raider Tim]

About Dave Bush, Melvin was also raving about him at the end of the season, in an article on milwaukeebrewers.com.

 

I seem to remeber him, somewhat, comparing Bush's secondary stats, to that of Carpenters and saying something to the effect of Bush having a very solid career in front of him.

 

I personally have no problem with Bush in the 3 spot, and Villenueva in the 5 spot.

 

I do think that Sheets has the capabilities of being an elite #1 Starter and should have the title, but with the last few injury plagued seasons (Albeit flukish injuries, not your typical major injuries), I would feel a lot more compfortable to have another solid front line starter.

 

Capuano as a #2 scares me a little his second half collapse really made his numbers come back to earth and I would classify him as a true #3 starter (with upside).

 

Vargas in the #4 spot is a giant question for me. Don't know much about him but I think looking at his numbers, moving to more of a pitchers park, and having Mike Maddox he should be able to give us solid ERA out of the #4 spot. (4.45-4.8) The problem is the difference in innings pitched from him to Davis.

 

A Mulder addition would be nice fit. He could provide us with pitching depth, potentially give us a great 1-2-3-4 combo, come ?playoff? time.