Melvin wants 2 starters

[Invader3K]

Narveson probably won't be able to hold out as a starter for an entire season.

[princeginterhallhelms04]

Narveson to me pans out as a long man at best and spot starter. He will not be a starter. I think that we still need to look at making a trade for John Maine!

[MNBrew]

Barring a miraculous breakthrough, Narveson is an injury-replacement starter at best.

 

If we're looking at him as anything more than that, then all the more reason we need to be going after at least one more proven starter even though the best options are injury questions (Sheets, Bedard) or league-average types (Davis, Washburn, Garland).

[PrinceFielderx1]

Does anybody still think the second starter could come via trade?

[yoshii8]

I think thats a possibility. I still hope that they are looking into a Suppan for Meche trade, we would probably have to throw in a prospect and/or some money.

 

I also think that if we do acquire another starter, a Suppan for Kerry Wood deal would make sense. I think he still has another year remaining on his contract, and they are looking to rebuild.

[JohnBriggs12]

Does anybody still think the second starter could come via trade?

Not unless it's late in spring training. The closer it gets to ST, the more teams opt to want to see what they have before dealing.

[endaround]

Barring a miraculous breakthrough, Narveson is an injury-replacement starter at best.

 

If we're looking at him as anything more than that, then all the more reason we need to be going after at least one more proven starter even though the best options are injury questions (Sheets, Bedard) or league-average types (Davis, Washburn, Garland).

 

Based on what? He's a LH with a 90 mph fastball who strikes people out. There are real skills there.

[Invader3K]

I think Narveson proved he has ability, but I think what MNBrew is saying is that it's unreasonable to count on him as a full time starter at this point.

[Klements Bratwurst]

Barring a miraculous breakthrough, Narveson is an injury-replacement starter at best.

 

If we're looking at him as anything more than that, then all the more reason we need to be going after at least one more proven starter even though the best options are injury questions (Sheets, Bedard) or league-average types (Davis, Washburn, Garland).

 

Based on what? He's a LH with a 90 mph fastball who strikes people out. There are real skills there.

I agree with End. Narveson looked real good down the stretch, and impressed me with the gas on his fastball. He is a former 2nd Round pick from the 2000 draft. He just had his share of injury problems before getting his career going. He may well be a late bloomer, and he did strike out 46 batters in just 47 Innings pitched last year for the Crew. Barring no other moves, If I were Macha, I would have to think good and hard about Narveson making the rotation over Suppan. He may well buy time in the rotation better than Suppan could until the Brewers go out and make a mid season move.

[MNBrew]

I'd totally love it if Narveson proved to be a late bloomer. I'd be more convinced of his potential viability as a starter if he hadn't pitched totally horribly in the bigs prior to September.

 

"They" say that spring training & September stats are the two to put the least stock in. Assuming there to be enough truth in that "ism" for it to have become a time-tested comment, I'd feel a lot more ready to believe in if he'd had reasonable success in Milwaukee at any point prior to September.

[Hate those Rodents]

I'd feel a lot more ready to believe in if he'd had reasonable success in Milwaukee at any point prior to September.

Or if he'd shown enough to be the choice of our front office brass to be called up over guys like Burns, Smith, etc.

[trwi7]

I'd totally love it if Narveson proved to be a late bloomer. I'd be more convinced of his potential viability as a starter if he hadn't pitched totally horribly in the bigs prior to September.

He didn't pitch horribly prior to September. He was awful in his first two appearances (hardly shocking for a guy with only 9 innings of previous experience in the big leagues). He was the #86 prospect in baseball back in 2002 and was a top three prospect for the Cardinals for three straight years before injuries, so it's pretty obvious he has talent.

[Hate those Rodents]

http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/tom_ziemer/article_c814fff6-04b5-11df-bd55-001cc4c03286.html

 

Some interesting quotes, but the one that jumped out to me is Melvin's hinting that Washburn or Davis will be a Brewer by the end of January.

[TooLiveBrew]

Melvin doesn't hint that exactly. Here's the excerpt:

 

Melvin is likely not done making moves, either. He and Peterson met with free agent left-hander Mark Mulder last week. Melvin plans to speak again with Mulder, who has missed most of the past three seasons with shoulder problems, once he's able to throw off a mound. Melvin also said the Brewers will be among the teams attending Ben Sheets' workout in Louisiana on Tuesday, though he added a deal wasn't likely.

 

Still, with names such as Doug Davis, Jarrod Washburn and Vicente Padilla still available as free agents, Melvin said, "We're looking at it and we think we have a chance to add someone here in the next week or 10 days."

 

 

Oh, and Melvin doesn't let us "freaking geeks" down... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

"We think Corey's going to bounce back," said Melvin, who added that he thought the Brewers took away Hart's aggressiveness at the plate by asking him to walk more. "His name came up in a couple opportunities with pitching and that, but in the end, you've still got to replace him."

[BREWERPRIDE]

I do not think that we will get another starter by the time the season starts because then we will have 4 pitchers for 2 spots.

 

Suppan, Parra, Narveson and New pitcher. That would be 4 people competing for the 4 and 5 spots instead of 3 and one in the bullpen.

[Invader3K]

I think we're going to see either Davis or Washburn signed very soon. Just a hunch I have at this point.

[JohnBriggs12]

I do not think that we will get another starter by the time the season starts because then we will have 4 pitchers for 2 spots.

 

Suppan, Parra, Narveson and New pitcher. That would be 4 people competing for the 4 and 5 spots instead of 3 and one in the bullpen.

No actually they'd have 5 pitchers for 3 spots and in reality it would be 4 pitchers for 3 spots as Narveson would likely get pushed to the pen. Bush is by no means secure if they add a FA especially if you figure that he's the only one they could save money on by cutting.

[SoCalBrewfan]

I think the lesson of several recent Brewer seasons is that your sixth and seventh starters will see action, sometimes extensive action. I don't know that anyone besides Gallardo and Wolf are guaranteed to be in the rotation. I'm not surprised that we've sat tight for a while...we're now reaching the point where teams and players want to get things settled, so prices should be coming down and pieces should fall into place. Seems like Melvin is playing it coy, believing (rightly IMO) that there's not that much difference between the available starters, so you take who you can get for one year at a modest salary.

 

I would be almost stunned to see a multiyear deal for a pitcher at this point...my guess would be one year plus some sort of option, either a cheap team buyout, a vesting option, or a mutual player/team option. See the Looper deal, for example.

[BREWERPRIDE]

I do not think that we will get another starter by the time the season starts because then we will have 4 pitchers for 2 spots.

 

Suppan, Parra, Narveson and New pitcher. That would be 4 people competing for the 4 and 5 spots instead of 3 and one in the bullpen.

No actually they'd have 5 pitchers for 3 spots and in reality it would be 4 pitchers for 3 spots as Narveson would likely get pushed to the pen. Bush is by no means secure if they add a FA especially if you figure that he's the only one they could save money on by cutting.

Either way, its to many pitchers for to many spots. And these guys are out of options, so are they willing to loose these guys in waivers? I dont think so.

[RyDogg66]

I dont think the Brewers would lose Suppan to waivers. besides, Narveson will likely pitch out of the bullpen anyway. The way I see it playing out is Gallardo, Wolf, FA, Bush, Parra with Suppan and Narveson in the bullpen. We need depth and quality and adding a Davis type gives us both. I dont think the Brewers can come into the season with only 6 realistic starting pitching possibilities.

[BREWERPRIDE]

I dont think the Brewers would lose Suppan to waivers. besides, Narveson will likely pitch out of the bullpen anyway. The way I see it playing out is Gallardo, Wolf, FA, Bush, Parra with Suppan and Narveson in the bullpen. We need depth and quality and adding a Davis type gives us both. I dont think the Brewers can come into the season with only 6 realistic starting pitching possibilities.

That still wont work, because we have to many people in the bullpen I believe, if Narveson is in the BP then someone else cant be.

[yount19.u]

If the Brewers sign another FA pitcher (and I hope they do), I think Narveson and Parra start the year in AAA unless one of them clearly outperforms either Bush or Suppan in the spring. With another signed starter, if Bush and Suppan show they can hold their own during spring training Narveson and Parra will be great depth to have when someone either implodes or gets injured. The bullpen is looking like it will be pretty decent this year and Narveson and Parra would be more useful getting starts in AAA instead of limited bullpen appearances in the majors. This is the best case scenario of course and I'm sure we'll see some surprises.

[endaround]

Narveson is out of options. There are 6 relievers right now-Hoffman, Hawkings, Stetter, Vargas, Villaneuva, and Coffey. That leaves one spot on a 12 man staff, though given that Gerut can play all OF positions and Counsell all infield they might go with a 4 man bench and a 13 man staff though I really hope not.

 

One other thing, while Narveson is out of options I'm pretty sure Villanueva has one more remaining.

[trwi7]

Narveson is out of options.

So is Parra.

[Weirdos19]

There is no reason to think we have too much pitching. We may have too many pitchers, but that's a different story. If we have to deal a reliever before Spring Training, fine. If we have to cut the weakest link, great! Melvin is just guaranteeing that there will be no reliving the Mike Burns experiment.