Melvin wants 2 starters

[Weirdos19]

The Cubs and Cards are stacked with right handed power hitters. 36 games with more than one lefty in our rotation isn't wise. 4/64 for Lackey might get him here. Then I'd go after Matt Cain. Gamel, Hardy, and Bush may get that done. Lackey, Yo, Cain, Parra, Suppan/Narveson

[yoshii8]

I doubt Matt Cain will be available, and I think it would take significantly more than Hardy, Gamel and Bush if he was. They already are paying Renteria a bunch to play SS, and also have Sandoval as there 3b of the future. I don't think that Dave Bush has a whole lot of value right now either.

[dadofandrew]

No way Cain is available unless Prince, Ryan, or Yo's names are part of the deal. Maybe a year or two ao, but not now that he's proven.

 

As for Washburn, he has road ERA's of 3.34, 4.21, and 3.80 the last three years. Needless to say, on a 1-2 year deal, almost any team in baseball would be thrilled to have him at market.

[Polish Falcons]

Nothing would be more exciting to me than a complete shakeup of the Brewers rotation next year. I like some of the names being thrown around on this thread, particularly the guys who seem like they could realistically be aquired via trade. How about this rotation?:

 

Gallardo, Nolasco, Kawakami, Sheets, Parra

 

If Sheets or Parra can't hack it you still have Narveson or Suppan there to be competitive. Obviously I dont know how Sheets is holding up, but they should look at him.

 

Do you guys realistically think the Marlins would trade Nolasco? I know he had a rocky season but he has great stuff, and going into the season he was their ace, so they obviously think (or thought) highly of him.

 

Gotta love complete speculation

[dadofandrew]

I always find it funny everyone wants to get a top SP coming off a great year, but have no interest in a top pitcher who has any warts at all...even a guy like Washburn and/or Davis, who have been well above average for several years now. Yo is not available, and for the same reasons, the Crew is not going to get those top fellas.

 

Doug is looking for those classic dependable guys, or guys who have upside, who may break out like Piniero did.

 

One thing no one is discussing is Doug's discussion of how they hoped to have 3 200 inning guys, and did not have any. That's why I see innings eaters like Davis and Washburn being brought in, as obviously, a guy like Nolasco is all but impossible to get.

 

The more I think about it I can see SEA getting JJ for a pair of pitchers, one being the enigma whose name escapes me now (Brandon Morrow), the other being a young fella with upside.

[trwi7]

I always find it funny everyone wants to get a top SP coming off a great year, but have no interest in a top pitcher who has any warts at all...even a guy like Washburn and/or Davis, who have been well above average for several years now.

Maybe if Washburn and Davis were top starting pitchers people wouldn't have a problem with them. Problem is, they're not and I personally have no desire to see soft tossers with below average strikeout rates (and in Davis' case a below average walk rate as well) in our starting rotation.

[Invader3K]

I wouldn't mind Davis, but he'll probably be looking for a bigger contract than the Brewers should offer at this point in his career.

[nate82]

Washburn was someone we were willing to trade quite a bit for just two months ago. To think there suddenly won't be interest in him at a hometown discount rate while giving up nothing in terms of talent is pretty ludicrous to me. Sure, it'd be nice to have a power arm. Sure it'd be nice to have a pitcher that gives up hardly any homeruns. The bottom line though is improving the rotation. If Doug and his scouts loved him in Seattle, his poor performance in a handful of starts for Detroit can not and should not prevent us from going after him at the right price. There is a good chance we can't get any of the "risk" pitchers (Sheets, Harden, Escobar, etc.). This might be the way to go. So many people on this board get so high and so low on pitchers, from Piniero to Wolf to Washburn to Sheets that it really is quite astounding to me. Sit back and let's see what happens.

Washburn was a name that was thrown around and will always be linked to Milwaukee b/c of his Wisconsin ties which is rather stupid. If this is the way to go don't expect a playoff team expect a team similar to this.

 

Washburn hasn't come close to 200 IP since 2007 and hasn't had 200 IP since 2003 expecting Washburn at his age to pitch 200 IP is ludicrous. Davis pitched 200+ IP this year and has been around 200 IP the last couple of years except in 2008 an injury year. I don't believe you can rely on Davis pitching 200 IP either at his age. Davis will be 34 for the majority of the 2010 season turning 35 near the end of the year. That is not a good idea to be expecting Davis to pitch 200 IP. Washburn will be 36 years old during the 2010 season again not a good idea to be looking at him to give you 200 IP.

 

Davis would be OK at least he has an above average K/9 rate but his walks are concerning and he can give you 200 IP. If the Brewers can get Davis on a 1-3 year deal fine but anything longer than that is very risky even 3 years will be risky. Both Washburn and Davis are on the wrong side of 30 years old they are in their decline years and it wouldn't be a smart move by the Brewers to sign them for longer than a 2 year contract.

 

If the Brewers sign both Washburn and Davis do not expect this team to compete for a playoff spot next year.

[trwi7]

Washburn was a name that was thrown around and will always be linked to Milwaukee b/c of his Wisconsin ties which is rather stupid. If this is the way to go don't expect a playoff team expect a team similar to this.

Melvin did say he went hard after Washburn at the deadline. Why I don't know, but he did.

[TheCrew]

I think it'll be Davis who gets signed, then I'm hoping they make a trade with Florida for Johnson or Nolasco.

[sheetskout]

I would be very excited to land a player like Josh Johnson. I think Gallardo and Johnson could be a great power-duo for the next ten years!

[Hate those Rodents]

I think I'd prefer Guthrie/Liz to Morrow/pitching prospect for Hardy. I'd certainly take both though. If JackZ happens to like Weeks and would take a chance on him, he might be able to net us that Morrow deal. We then offer arby to Lopez and have Lawrie ready probably in 2011.

[Polish Falcons]

No way the Marlins are dealing Josh Johnson. That organization is looking to turn the corner in a couple years when the move to Miami and become the Miami Marlins. Josh Johnson has potential to be a cy young pitcher and the Marlins aren't going to move a cornerstone of their team.

[BREWCREW5]

I am suprised to see Sheets name coming up so much. That guy was basically hated her a year ago.

 

There is no way Sheets will be back with the crew. There will be teams willing to pay him more than Milwaukee and I doubt he has any interest in coming back here.

[TheCrew]

No way the Marlins are dealing Josh Johnson. That organization is looking to turn the corner in a couple years when the move to Miami and become the Miami Marlins. Josh Johnson has potential to be a cy young pitcher and the Marlins aren't going to move a cornerstone of their team.

The Marlins always trade players when they start to get expensive for young talent - the only real exception has been Hanley Ramirez. Johnson is going to get a nice bump in pay this year, as will Nolasco - Johnson is the likely trade candidate of the 2 because he has had tommy john surgery and he becomes a FA sooner. His agent is already on record saying that he wants a market deal (i.e. no discount to stay in Florida) - signing him to a lucrative deal doesn't fit with that fish have done in the past.

 

You have to keep in mind the Marlins like to keep their payroll low, was $35 million this past season, around $20 million the season before that and around $30 million the season prior that one. Ramirez's contract also increases a bit again, so it wouldn't surprise me at all to see them try and shed some payroll this offseason. If Johnson was signed to a market deal, you'd have to figure it would be around $10 mil per season, as of 2011 that would have the Marlins tying up $20+ million in Ramirez and Johnson....... maybe they will do it, but if recent history suggests anything, they won't.

 

I think the problem we will run into with them is the lack of starting pitching to send back their way - Perhaps a package of Gamel, Parra and a midlevel prospect or two would have them interested, they could shift Gamel to 1b since they will have a need there with Nick Johnson departing.

[trwi7]

I don't see either being available without an insane amount of talent going to the Marlins, but I think Nolasco would be much, much, much more "gettable" than Johnson.

[endaround]

I don't see either being available without an insane amount of talent going to the Marlins, but I think Nolasco would be much, much, much more "gettable" than Johnson.

 

Its hard to say. Nolasco had a bad ERA this year but that was mainly due to luck and he's under control for one more year. Johnson is likely to get a big boost in salary this year and only has 2 year remaining. It depends if the Marlins are in another cost dumping mode or not. That said either will require a decent amount of talent going back and they're set at shortstop so that leaves Gamel.

[Invader3K]

Nolasco was bad at the start of the year, went down to the minors to get straightened out, and came back pretty much on fire. I would love to get him, but have my doubts that the Marlins would part with him at this point.

[nate82]

Nolasco was bad at the start of the year, went down to the minors to get straightened out, and came back pretty much on fire. I would love to get him, but have my doubts that the Marlins would part with him at this point.

Nolasco is the cheaper option so he has that going for him with the Marlins. Johnson is definitely going to be more expensive next more so than Nolasco will be. Gamel, Gindl, and Scarpetta/Odorizzi. Not the greatest pitching talent in return but with some promise it is more positional player deep than it is pitcher deep in this trade. That should be close to what it would take to get Johnson. Probably would have to add in another pitcher.

[twobrewers]

I am suprised to see Sheets name coming up so much. That guy was basically hated her a year ago.

I think a lot of people took for granted how amazing Sheets was. This year's pitching performance has certainly led to a greater appreciation of Ben Sheets. It was a harsh fate for a guy who tried to pitch through a major injury to get his team into the playoffs.

[TooLiveBrew]

I think Sheets was "basically hated" by the same group that hated him when he was still under contract. If he'd have been healthy, I'd really hope the Brewers would have re-signed him.

[Hate those Rodents]

"Nolasco had a bad ERA this year but that was mainly due to luck".

 

How is this calculated? I have some pitchers I like that had somewhat of a down year that I'd love to post the same thing about with regard to why their numbers are what they are.

[Invader3K]

Nolasco's WHIP in the 1st half was 1.39 versus 1.12 in the second half.

[endaround]

"Nolasco had a bad ERA this year but that was mainly due to luck".

 

How is this calculated? I have some pitchers I like that had somewhat of a down year that I'd love to post the same thing about with regard to why their numbers are what they are.

 

Look at FIP or something similar. For Nolasco his FIP is 3.35, meaning given his K/9. BB/9, and HR/9 and an average BABIP he'd have an ERA of 3.35. Why a 5 ERA then? A high BABIP of .336 explains part of it. Another part is a strand rate of 61.0% which is really low. You'd expect a pitcher to be around 70% in general and Nolasco for his career has a rate of 67.9%

[RockCoCougars]

I am suprised to see Sheets name coming up so much. That guy was basically hated her a year ago.

I think that Ben was 'hated' by the 'fair weather fan' crowd. These people would have hated on Paul Molitor in the 1980's as well. I would guess most people who have been fans for the long term realize that he's arguably the best pitcher this franchise has ever had. For god's sake he started the all-star game last year. I can kind of understand why he is bent out of shape at the Brewers. Instead of wasting $50 million on Jeff Suppan, they could have extended Sheets 3 years or so. I would guess that even after missing the entire season, some of Sheets' sabermetric stats were better than Suppan's last year.