Brett Myers agrees to terms w/ the Astros

[nate82]

Wha?? Sheets and Bedard are yet to be seen, but this statement is already untrue for Harden and Duchs. (Duchs was probably a bit of hometown discount, but his true market value would've easily been less than the $10 million per that Wolf is getting ... probably less than the $7.5 million Harden got.) We can talk about the "injury guys" being more expensive than Wolf when it actually happens. And even then, it would probably come with the attractiveness of a 1-year deal. *bangs head*

I'm sorry but without Duchsherer's home town discount it does get up to Wolf's signing numbers. Lets say the Brewers get in a bidding war with the Rangers over Harden now instead of Harden signing that $7.5m he gets $9m. Now the Brewers also go out and get either Duchscherer, Myers, Bedard, or Sheets (as for Sheets he wants to be paid as though he pitched last year healthy). Now that is going to cost at least $5-8m for 1 year. Now we are at a total of $14m for two pitchers who may not even pitch a full season or may not even be effective.

 

Harden you can expect him to give you about 160IP a little bit less for Duchscherer, Bedard, and Sheets probably somewhere around 140IP. With Myers you are probably looking at 160IP all of these pitchers are going to be taxing the bullpen. You better hope that the bullpen can stay fresh for the whole year because those pitchers are going to need the bullpen a lot. Out of all of those options none of them can be counted on to provide as many innings pitched as Wolf will be counted on to pitch. You can expect about 200IP from Wolf in 2010 while none of the injury prone guys will get you anywhere close to 200IP.

 

The best thing for the Brewers to do in the off season was not to get 2 injury prone pitchers that is just a recipe for disaster. The Brewers needed to add a sure bet (Wolf) to give you a lot of innings and a player coming off an injury. I believe the Astros overpaid for Myers $5m is a little bit too much for a guy who didn't pitch much at all last year. Harden got about what he deserved while Duchscherer took a home town discount. Now for Sheets I don't think Sheets will be signing any time soon until his demands are lowered right now Sheets wants Wolf type of money maybe even more and probably for a longer term. I think the Brewers will be able to get Bedard for around $3-5m a year and that they will be able to fit it into their budget though it will be tight. I don't think Sheets will sign much before spring training starts and that will be at a even more reduced price than what Myers and Bedard will get or got.

[Roderick]

The fact of the matter is the team outbid itself on Wolf, giving a three year deal a guy coming off a career year pitching in Dodger Stadium in a weak offensive division.

For 2009, Wolf's ERA at Dodger Stadium was 3.63 and on the road it was 2.78. Obviously being in the division helped, but his numbers weren't driven by playing at home.

 

Was the deferred payment terms ever disclosed for Wolf? Obviously that makes his contract less than the face value of just the numbers. But if a substantial amount is deferred (for how long?), people might be arguing about signings that are not apples to apples. Time value of money and what is the true cost is to the Brewers.....

[Thurston Fluff]

That said, there are other ways to acquire pitching besides the draft or free agency and Melvin hasn't been able to make shrewd moves in the trade market to acquire pitching even if it isn't an easy task given how valued pitching is.

 

Bush, Cappy, Sabathia, Cordero, Lincicum are all guys off the top of my head he traded for.

[Ennder]

Ohka, Villanueva, Shouse, Vargas, Linebrink, McClung, King, Mota, Torres

 

Capellan, Obermueller, Jackson, Aquino

 

Melvin has traded for a lot of pitching in his career for the Brewers. A lot of it was bullpen guys and starters who didnt' pan out.

[Invader3K]

"Bush, Cappy, Sabathia, Cordero, Lincicum are all guys off the top of my head he traded for."

 

Huh?

 

Anyway, like others have illustrated, Melvin hasn't just sat on his hands. For the folks pining for "hard throwing youngsters," you can point to names like Capellan. The problem is young pitching is incredibly difficult to project. For every Tim Lincecum or Matt Cain there are probably dozens of hyped young fire ballers that never pan out.

[Thurston Fluff]

Linebrink, Lincicum same difference. The both start with an L.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[MJLiverock]

For every Tim Lincecum or Matt Cain there are probably dozens of hyped young fire ballers that never pan out.

The frustrating part of this is J.M. Gold, Nick Neugebauer, Jeremy Jeffress, Mark Rogers, etc. Jeffress and Rogers have time left but the Brewers have had their share of young guys flaming out.