He's Baaaack! Vargas to MIL for Vinny Rottino

[polwonks]

Don't forget Justin Lehr

 

Kinda reminds me of the Red Sox fans who couldn't believe we took Gagne

[thablingster]

Welcome back to the Human Rain Delay. Most likely he will slide into Chris Smith's role of soaking up useless innings, and Chris Smith will slide into McClung's role of soaking up semi-useless innings. It isn't an ideal deal, but at this point he is a warm body and we didn't give up much to get him.

 

I am still hopeful if we play well over the next few weeks when more teams realize they are out of the race maybe we can swing a waiver wire deal.

[jazzytrav]

And you will wonder why they completely go in the tank from this point forward. I would. If I had a GM that didn't care enough to improve our ball club, why should I be motivated to continue to play as hard as I can when it's probably not going to matter anyway??

That's why they're called professionals. And that's why you're not one.

 

I could really care less about this trade as long as they don't let Vargas pitch night games on the west coast. I'm not gonna stay up until 3am watching him nibble.

[ELCABALLO45]

Well im glad we didnt trade any of our prospects.

 

I guess all we can do now is hold on for dear life to this season and go down fighting. I know im holding on.

[Mike]

Tony Gwynn Jr. for Jody Gerut?

 

Nothing.

 

The Brewers were being nice to a legends son when they had no plans for him. Similarily, Rottino was not going to break through the C spot with all the depth in the organization and thought they would help him go to a place he might make it. What did we get, Claudio Vargas? Ho Hum. Who better could they have gotten?

 

It doesn't mean Melvin gave up on this season, what it means is we could not swing a deal without mortgaging the farm (no pun intended) and a critic might say we are too soft. You need some killer instinct in this business.

[mothershipconnection]

As much as I hate this out of pure principle born out of my undying dislike for Vargas, you have to view this as this is a nearly-pointless no-risk garbage move that wouldn't get much attention if it didn't happen at the deadline and didn't involve Vargas. We gave up someone of very minimal value for someone of very minimal value. I'd be a lot more upset if we unloaded Gamel for a mediocre starter.

[twobrewers]

I can't believe how much everyone is upset by this trade.

 

Vinny Rottino had almost zero value.

 

We basically swapped out Burns for Vargas. I'd call that a very minor upgrade. No harm done. You only "buy" when you are already an elite team with realistic World Series chances. (The Brewers were last year when they acquired CC) You only "sell" when you are completely out of it. Sometime, you just play out the rest of the season and hope for the best.

 

I think Melvin is hoping we can tread water until we get Yovanni, Bush, Parra, Suppan and Looper back in the rotation in 2 weeks.

[trwi7]

You only "sell" when you are completely out of it.

Baseball Prospectus has us at about a 5% chance at the playoffs. Is that completely out of it? No. Is it pretty close to it? Yes.

[brewmann04]

i agree we added an arm for nothing and since we have nothing in the minors what do you want to do.

[superbraun]

Okay, maybe I am the only one that is optimistic, but......there are 60 games to go and we are only 4 games out. I know that the Crew hasn't been playing that wonderful lately, but why is everyone ready to throw in the towel? Yeah, the Cardinals and the Cubs are probably better on paper, but we are only 4 games out! It's not like we are 7+ games out of first.

[pebadger]

I don't see a problem. The team needed bodies, they were familiar with this guy and knew they could get him directly instead of having to buy somebody off the street as a FA. Also does Rottino a favor. Myabe not a win/win but not a loss, either.

[SeriesFinale]

Okay, maybe I am the only one that is optimistic, but......there are 60 games to go and we are only 4 games out. I know that the Crew hasn't been playing that wonderful lately, but why is everyone ready to throw in the towel? Yeah, the Cardinals and the Cubs are probably better on paper, but we are only 4 games out! It's not like we are 7+ games out of first.

Well, no offense, but it's a moot point now. They didn't really "throw in the towel" in my opinion since they didn't sell at the deadline (although depending on where they're at during the waiver period they might sell and I wouldn't be against it depending on the situation.

 

The lack of a big deal because the pieces the seller wanted the Brewers just didn't have also doesn't count as throwing in the towel to me.

 

I certainly don't think the Brewers everyday players are going to let their effort down at this point although I'm sure they're disappointed we couldn't land that big fish for the rotation just like we are.

 

Edit: I basically totally misread your post...mea culpa.

[brewdude15]

Rottino was not going to break through the C spot with all the depth in the organization and thought they would help him go to a place he might make it.

So you think Vinny Rottino might break through and take Russell Martin's job? Or maybe Casey Blake's? I hear James Loney isn't that good anymore, either. Rottino's just as blocked, if not more blocked in LA than Milwaukee. I wouldn't be surprised to see him traded again.

[crossface21]

I worked with Rottino in HS and went to college with him. As much as I would to have loved to see him play more often in a Brewer uniform, I'm glad he was traded and I wished it had happened even before the 2008 season. He wasn't going to get much of a chance with Brewers so I'm glad he's getting a chance to go somewhere else and possibly get a better shot.

[Oldcity]

Trwi, what exactly do you want to sell? They will probably try to re-sign Hoffman, Cameron and Counsell for next year. Lopez maybe as well. What was there to sell?

[trwi7]

Trwi, what exactly do you want to sell? They will probably try to re-sign Hoffman, Cameron and Counsell for next year. Lopez maybe as well. What was there to sell?

I think all of the players that you named. Pretty much everyone except for Gallardo and Braun. You don't have to trade them, but at least put them on the market. If you didn't like the offer, don't trade them, but I have a hard time believing they even considered that option due to this "win now" trade.

[Oldcity]

How do you know they didn't put feelers out there? I question how much of a return most of them could have gotten anyway. It's tough to sell when you're trying to contend the very next season.

[ELCABALLO45]

Its pretty depressing seeing how many people on this board is already saying we are out of it.

 

Its not like we are 10 games out. Its 4 freakin games. Does it look bad right now? Heck yeah it does, but im not ready to give up.

[Brewcrewin07]

Why not give up at this point?? Doug apparently has with his lack of activity today.

[trwi7]

How do you know they didn't put feelers out there?

Melvin himself said "we're buyers" and were the Brewers ever rumored to be trading anyone? No, we were rumored to be adding someone. Hell, even an obscure name like Kevin Correia we were reportedly looking at. Certainly doesn't seem like they had any intention of selling.

[ELCABALLO45]

Why not give up at this point?? Doug apparently has with his lack of activity today.

What exactly did you want him to do?

[Oldcity]

Heck, the Mets said they were buyers. Who cares what a GM says publicly? And even if they didn't have intentions to sell, I don't blame them. They'll probably attempt to bring most of their impending free agents back.

[Brewcrewin07]

Why not give up at this point?? Doug apparently has with his lack of activity today.

What exactly did you want him to do?

Give up Gamel or Escobar if that is what it was going to take to get a LEGITIMATE 1 or 2 starter. Offer better prospects for a DECENT arm if you have to. But most of all I didn't want to have to see the Brewers trot out Mike Burns or Carlos Villanueva any more. That's just embarrassing and gives you almost NO chance to win 2 out of every 5 starts.

[ELCABALLO45]

Why not give up at this point?? Doug apparently has with his lack of activity today.

What exactly did you want him to do?

Give up Gamel or Escobar if that is what it was going to take to get a LEGITIMATE 1 or 2 starter. Offer better prospects for a DECENT arm if you have to. But most of all I didn't want to have to see the Brewers trot out Mike Burns or Carlos Villanueva any more. That's just embarrassing and gives you almost NO chance to win 2 out of every 5 starts.

Okay what LEGITIMATE 1 or 2 starter was out there for us to get?

[trwi7]

Okay what LEGITIMATE 1 or 2 starter was out there for us to get?

Halladay, Peavy and Lee. You can argue the merits of trading the farm for them, but they were out there.