RHP Kameron Loe called up; Stern DFA'd; Estrada placed on 15-day DL

[craigharmann]

Can the Brewers really afford to be that cold with any player regardless of talent? I don't think it's a stretch to think that Stern was jerked around here, I really think the Brewers need to be more of a players organization, not that the rats should be captaining the ship, but I'd rather see them go out of their way to treat players with as much dignity as possible. I would hope that the organization handled the situation with as much class as possible, but this does appear on the surface to be a potential situation of don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 

I honestly believe for the Brewers to compete they need to buy wins at a discounted rate with Braun type deals, but the player has to be willing to sign the deal, and how you're treated on the way in and on the way out makes a difference, word gets around. From the conversations I've had with a former player he's made it pretty clear that Milwaukee doesn't exactly have a glowing reputation... and I'm talking about the way the organization treats it's players, not the city. This is all stuff that we as fans generally don't care about , but it's made pretty clear to me that all these little things do matter to the players.

 

As far as the move itself goes, the only other OF on the 40 man roster is Lo Cain, and I'd rather he not be called up to sit the bench like Gamel and Lucroy before him. I just don't like where this going.

Thank you! That's what I was trying to say, and I guess I just couldn't phrase it as well as this. Part of it is business, but part of it is how you treat people. It seems a little surprising that they think enough of Stern to call him up to fill a need, but yet, when they need space, he's not good enough. I don't know Adam Stern, but if it was me in his shoes, I wouldn't have a whole lot of positives to say about Milwaukee because of this situation!

[TooLiveBrew]

As far as the move itself goes, the only other OF on the 40 man roster is Lo Cain, and I'd rather he not be called up to sit the bench like Gamel and Lucroy before him. I just don't like where this going.

 

Yeah, I have a sinking feeling about this as well. However, the optimist in me sees something else brewing, like a trade involving Corey Hart/Jody Gerut ... or maybe even Edmonds. If there's a spot to be had in RF, I'd love to see Cain called up -- and played regularly, Mr. Ken Macha

[naivin]

Can the Brewers really afford to be that cold with any player regardless of talent? I don't think it's a stretch to think that Stern was jerked around here, I really think the Brewers need to be more of a players organization, not that the rats should be captaining the ship, but I'd rather see them go out of their way to treat players with as much dignity as possible. I would hope that the organization handled the situation with as much class as possible, but this does appear on the surface to be a potential situation of don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Maybe they should ask guys like Jeff Suppan, Chris Capuano, Trevor Hoffman, Bill Hall, Eric Gagne...If we are going to use a guy who in all likelihood has played his final MLB game as the standard on player treatement, then there are going to be an awful lot of teams out there who are going to be viewed treating players without much class.

[JohnBriggs12]

I can understand being frustrated that Suppan's still around but are people really upset about a 30 year old who's 5 for 43 in the majors being taken off the roster?

 

Cain's days in Huntsville are numbered and they'll need a spot in Nashville for him to play anyway. He's already on the 40 man and if they need a guy for a week here or there, he's probably a better option than Stern is at this point in part because he's right handed. Having Cain up for a week or 10 days isn't going to slow his development.

[BrewCrewForever]

I can understand being frustrated that Suppan's still around but are people really upset about a 30 year old who's 5 for 43 in the majors being taken off the roster?

 

Cain's days in Huntsville are numbered and they'll need a spot in Nashville for him to play anyway. He's already on the 40 man and if they need a guy for a week here or there, he's probably a better option than Stern is at this point in part because he's right handed. Having Cain up for a week or 10 days isn't going to slow his development.

Amen to that. While I wanted Suppan gone as much as anyone, I could care less about Stern being let go. He reminds me of a non-siwtch hitting Chris Magruder. I would be fine with Lo Cain getting the call here or there if they need an OF. He might be starting on the 2011 Brewers anyway, get hime some big league AB's.

 

 

[brewmann04]

Don't think anyone will pick up Stern but Suppan Big Salary keeps him here for another Month.

[monty57]

Stern had a 1.094 OPS this spring and nearly made the 25-man out of ST. He then OPS'd .806 in Nashville. He's not a world-beater, but he's not a complete no-talent bum, and he did provide something as OF insurance. I said when he got called up that he was probably a guy the Brewers wouldn't mind losing if they had to DFA him, but as TheCrew07 mentioned, this now leaves us one Edmonds muscle pull away from seeing Cain get called up to ride the pine. We cannot continue to waste our top prospects like that.

 

The worst thing abouth this is that it is all done to save Suppan, who is one of the biggest sources of fan frustration. Fans get angry every time he is called upon to pitch. If Melvin wants to do something to make it at least appear that he's trying to help the team and that this isn't "the same old Brewers," he'd cut Suppan. The cheer from Milwaukee when/if that day finally comes will be deafening. It may not do much to help the team this season (nothing will), but we need to do something to enliven the fans, or we're going to see a mutiny.

[Bucky370]

I'm not upset about Stern being cut, he was a nothing, but I'm still terribly upset that Suppan is on this roster. It's a waste of a roster spot especially when they have no righty on the bench. Give him his walking papers or very soon I'm going to consider boycotting the brewers period. I thought he should have been cut last year!!!

[joepepsi]

Who is going to claim Stern and put him on the 40 man roster? Isn't it likely has passes through waivers and accepts an assignment in Nashville?

 

I doubt Stern is that upset with the way he's been treated. The Brewers gave him a legitimate shot in Spring Training-it's unlikely he had other options this good. As noted above, he came close to making the team. He went to Nashvilled, played well, and when they needed an OF'er in Milwaukee was the first one called up. Roster management is a cruel business but I'd say the Brewers treated him fine.

[Baldkin]

Really, you guys who are against the move are making it sound like Stern wouldn't have been told about this ahead of time, and wouldn't have had a clue it was coming.

 

I'm sure he's bright enough to realize he was going back down to AAA once Edmonds came off the DL, and that his presence on the 40 man was tentative at best (considering he was the 7th OF'er on the 40 man, if you include Inglett).

 

And, by DFAing him and giving him the chance to latch on with another team who might need him more than the Brewers, isn't the 'Crew doing what's best for him?

[CheezWizHed]

...are people really upset about a 30 year old who's 5 for 43 in the majors being taken off the roster?

 

Only because there were a few other obvious choices that should have happened first. Maybe our AAA OF roster has come off the DL, but we were pretty thin in the first place when we called Stern up. So it seemed rather odd that he was the choice to DFA at this point...

 

Not a big head-scratcher, but add that to the other head-scratcher moves and you just wonder who is black-mailing Melvin anyway...

[hawing]

The worst thing about this is that it is all done to save Suppan, who is one of the biggest sources of fan frustration. Fans get angry every time he is called upon to pitch. If Melvin wants to do something to make it at least appear that he's trying to help the team and that this isn't "the same old Brewers," he'd cut Suppan.

Aye, that's the rub. Not that fans and/or popular opinion should be driving roster management decisions, but the organization (whoever's behind this) seems resolute about having Jeff on the roster. I don't see what that achieves besides increasing ill will. Yet another day when I'd like to be a fly on the wall in Doug's office.

 

But heading back toward the original topic...I hope that Marco returns to something approximating a normal pitching schedule in Nashville. I'm not a fan of how he was used here this go-round.

[monty57]

I'm just worried that Gomez, Inglett, Gerut and Edmonds have already been injured or are currently injured and Braun is always a risk with his ribs/back. I just don't want to see the Brewers bring Cain up to have him sit the bench. If he's brought up to start full time, I'm fine with it, but not to waste away on the bench. I'm sick of that happening to our top positional prospects.

 

As far as Stern goes, I'm more upset that Suppan wasn't the one cut. Even though he could be a MLB 5th OF, when Stern was called up I figured he'd be DFA'd at some point to clear space. Personally, I would rather have made sure Inglett, Gerut and Edmonds were healthy before cutting Stern and that could easily have been done by cutting Suppan now and waiting until Riske is ready to DFA Stern.

 

As it stands right now (with Inglett and Gerut injured), if one of our OFs gets banged up, Cain will have to be called up.

[naivin]

The worst thing about this is that it is all done to save Suppan, who is one of the biggest sources of fan frustration. Fans get angry every time he is called upon to pitch. If Melvin wants to do something to make it at least appear that he's trying to help the team and that this isn't "the same old Brewers," he'd cut Suppan.

Aye, that's the rub. Not that fans and/or popular opinion should be driving roster management decisions, but the organization (whoever's behind this) seems resolute about having Jeff on the roster.

That's pure speculation though. Appearances seem to indicate they are hell bent on keeping him around, because they want to keep him around. If he is being kept around as a part of future player movement, however minor or significant it may be, doing so may be logical. If they are serious about Willis for instance, I assume Suppan would have to be part of any such deal for the Brewers to even consider it. It doesn't necessarily have to make sense today, if it becomes clear why they did it later (for the record, if it doesn't, and they are keeping him for the sake of keeping him, then I agree, its just stupid).

[RockCoCougars]

I highly doubt that the Tigers would have any interest whatsoever in Suppan- even if the salaries match exactly. The only way I could possibly see the Brewers could make this work is if they threw in a fairly decent prospect and/or ate a little bit of salary. The only point of even doing such a thing would be to acquire Willis without having to court him on the free agent market, and I'm not sure if that's even worth the trouble considering the fact that the Brewers seem to have a backload of mediocre to bad starters already. If the Mets would like to eat salary, I'd prefer the Brewers to go after Perez with Suppan, but Perez is under contract for next year, so they would have to eat a lot. Suppan + another player or prospect(s) for Perez + money would make some sense for both teams, as an 'unknown Met' is calling for Perez to be released.

[naivin]

I highly doubt that the Tigers would have any interest whatsoever in Suppan- even if the salaries match exactly. The only way I could possibly see the Brewers could make this work is if they threw in a fairly decent prospect and/or ate a little bit of salary. The only point of even doing such a thing would be to acquire Willis without having to court him on the free agent market,

That would be the idea, and I suspect it wouldn't take too much to do so. I'm not condoning the idea necessarily, I'm just saying it is entirely possible that there's more to Suppan's continued presence on the roster than someone simply not wanting to let him go.

[TheCrew07]

The salaries are close, but we're on the hook for Suppan's buyout as well.

[danzig6767]

Who is going to claim Stern and put him on the 40 man roster? Isn't it likely has passes through waivers and accepts an assignment in Nashville?

 

I doubt Stern is that upset with the way he's been treated. The Brewers gave him a legitimate shot in Spring Training-it's unlikely he had other options this good. As noted above, he came close to making the team. He went to Nashvilled, played well, and when they needed an OF'er in Milwaukee was the first one called up. Roster management is a cruel business but I'd say the Brewers treated him fine.

Yep, this is professional baseball, not high school or college. Stern doesn't have a scholarship that the Brewers should have to honor. He's the same fringe player that he's always been and for guys like him that want to continue having a shot to play in the big leagues, they have to be willing to accept that professional sports can be a very cutthroat business for guys on the fringes. Sure it has to suck for Stern to be going up and down like a yo-yo, but at least the Brewers offered him that opportunity to play games again in the majors. Odds are high that few if any other teams offered that opportunity.

[Diskono]

I doubt Stern is that upset with the way he's been treated. The Brewers gave him a legitimate shot in Spring Training-it's unlikely he had other options this good. As noted above, he came close to making the team. He went to Nashvilled, played well, and when they needed an OF'er in Milwaukee was the first one called up. Roster management is a cruel business but I'd say the Brewers treated him fine.

Yeah, I don't see why he would be upset. What else was he going to do, stay in Nashville the whole time? Would that have been preferable?

[TooLiveBrew]

Color me unexcited.

I might wind up having to eat these words. Loe's sinker was a fantastic pitch last night -- just tons of break on it. His slider looked pretty solid too. Not sure I think he could have as much success as a starter, since he'd lose velocity, but he could be a nice fit in the bullpen.

[kramnoj]

Can the Brewers really afford to be that cold with any player regardless of talent?

 

It is interesting to see you take this position. When I said that LaPorta was treated like property because he was traded, you seemed to scoff at the idea. Has your opinion changed?

 

I do wonder how much players personal feelings affect their FA decisions. Most players will sign for whichever team gives them the most money. At least one poster hear fervently said that the Brewers treatment of Hardy would have repercussions. I'm not aware of such obstacles the Brewers had to face this offseason. The Brewers paid more money to get Wolf and Hawkins, but again, that is true of most FA, so I don't see any particular Milwaukee Tax there.

[TheCrew07]

It is interesting to see you take this position. When I said that LaPorta was treated like property because he was traded, you seemed to scoff at the idea. Has your opinion changed?

 

Boy how do I explain this without a dropping a name, and I'd rather not given that he'd like to get back into baseball as a coach at some point.

 

I guess I'll address LaPorta first. I do believe that all of the players are assets for the organization, I've never been shy about that opinion. I do however believe LaPorta is a first class douche... it's not just one thing, it's first hand reports of fan interactions with him, it's Buck Rogers making his refusal to sign jerseys for a charity auction public, it's how hard he pushed religion in his blog when his actions paint him to be the opposite of what he's preaching... he strikes me as a hypocrite. I've repeatedly said I didn't have a problem with him being traded, I just had a problem moving him for a rental player with larger rotation issues looming on the horizon.

 

As far as how the organization is viewed, I guess I'll just tell the story being as vague as possible.

 

I never really thought of how the Brewer organization was viewed by players until the end of last summer. A bunch of us were sitting around a table with a former major league pitcher consuming beverages after a golf outing, we were the last 6-8 people still hanging around, it was very late in the evening and the outing had started at 11 AM. He was telling some stories and the question came I think from my father if he was looking to get back into the game. The player was traded quite a bit in his career, signed some FA contracts with some teams, he saw quite a few organizations. He named 2 organizations that he wouldn't hesitate to join and the Brewers weren't one of the teams. He has been getting calls, some organizations are very interested in him even just coming down to Spring Training to talk to the young pitchers, but he just didn't feel like he was ready to jump back in at that time.

 

Well naturally another person at the table asks about Milwaukee and it was very obvious he didn't want to say anything bad about the Brewers but he clearly didn't want anything to do with the organization either based on his expression and body language. After a pause he looked up and just simply shook his head no. I then asked, "even with new ownership?", the player's expression didn't change and he said "word gets around". I thought about that part of the conversation quite a bit over the next couple of weeks because I found it so surprising as I felt Milwaukee was on the right track moving in the proper direction.

 

Then I really started thinking about it from a player's perspective... comments made by Bryson about the night day and difference in medical treatment between Cleveland and Milwaukee, and the Hardy situation from last season was fresh at that time. Then I started thinking about Hart turning down his contract extension and it occurred to me that he might have an axe to grind in that he had to repeat AAA and sit on the bench behind an inferior player. Gamel's situation came to mind, if he ends up being the .850+ OPS hitter I think he is what incentive does he have to sign with the organization early given what happened last year and how his character has been dragged through the mud by certain quotes in the JS? I'm all for calling a spade a spade as fans, but coaches and management have to be more tactful than that. All in all I've had to come to terms with the idea that Milwaukee may not have the best reputation with the players, and unfortunately when we're trying to buy wins at a discounted rate, the player holds all of the cards. So in a way, I've become hypersensitive to the issue.

 

I didn't mean to imply that the Brewers necessarily did anything wrong with Stern, just that there was the potential there he was jerked around. I'd really like the players to view Milwaukee as a 1st class organization, and unfortunately I don't think the organization has progressed as far as I had originally hoped. I realize this is just one former player, and I have no idea where he was getting his current information from, but it did give me a moment of pause and the conversation did challenge me to view the organization from a different perspective.

[JohnBriggs12]

Color me unexcited.

I might wind up having to eat these words. Loe's sinker was a fantastic pitch last night -- just tons of break on it. His slider looked pretty solid too. Not sure I think he could have as much success as a starter, since he'd lose velocity, but he could be a nice fit in the bullpen.

There's some sinker/slider types that have had success starting. Say what you want about Jon Garland, but he's having a great year and he hasn't missed a start since early in W's first term.

[kramnoj]

I do believe that all of the players are assets for the organization, I've never been shy about that opinion. I do however believe LaPorta is a first class douche

 

That's fine and all, but why then did you reject the idea that he was treated like property because he was traded?

 

Let's say it is true that Milwaukee has a bad reputation for the way it treats its players. Couldn't that partially explain why LaPorta reacted the way he did when asked to sign something for free? Why hold that fully against him, if the organization treated him badly? Of course, signing the stuff would have been the right thing to do, it wouldn't have cost him anything. But Rogers bringing that up wasn't classy either, which of course goes back to how the Brewers organization treats players.

[brewmann04]

Fa decisions are BASED ON MONEY and the team ability to win