Brewers acquire Shaun Marcum for Brett Lawrie 1 for 1; 3/24/12 -- Jayson Stark article

[Ayt]

He's almost 29.

[Mr QL]

Didn't realize this guy was almost 30.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I like the trade of giving up Lawrie especially if Weeks signs an extension. What's funny is I just read the Blue Jays message board and most of the people there don't like giving up Marcum to get Lawrie.

[tomwopat]

Do I see an inverted W?

At least we know the real reason Peterson was canned.

[jjfanec]

I like the trade of giving up Lawrie especially if Weeks signs an extension. What's funny is I just read the Blue Jays message board and most of the people there don't like giving up Marcum to get Lawrie.

It seems to be a pretty safe rule of thumb that fanbases value their players and especially their prospects way more highly than other teams value those guys. If Marcum was on our team and we traded him for a Lawrie people here would be disappointed just the same

[Mr QL]

He's almost 29.

 

 

I consider 29 almost 30. Sorry to any 29 year olds out there.

[NievesNoNO]

I like the trade of giving up Lawrie especially if Weeks signs an extension. What's funny is I just read the Blue Jays message board and most of the people there don't like giving up Marcum to get Lawrie.

Of course they don't. They just gave up thier best pitcher. I think Marcum is being sold a bit short here. We just acquired a proven very good pitcher under contract for a couple more years for an unproven talent.

 

 

[brewmann04]

I guess that must be a good sign that the Crew could be close to doing a new dealwith Weeks.It now frees up Melvin to now ask for top minor league prospects instead of major league ready players.

[GB12]

But our prospects always pan out. We could have just traded the next Dave Krynzel or Matt LaPorta.

 

This. Aside from Nelson Cruz, we have yet to really be haunted by a prospect this organization has moved.

 

If we were going to give all that up, I would of rather got Greinke.

 

Lawrie straight up wouldn't have gotten Greinke.

 

There's lots of talk about 'only 2 years' of Marcum. Why is everyone convinced that he's going to bolt when he's a free agent? I think it's at least reasonable to assume that the team will make some effort to keep him if he continues to pitch well.

I think that we all fear that if he pitches well someone else is going to sign him away from us. If we can sign him to an extension, I like this trade a lot.

[logan82]

PeaveyFury wrote:

I think it's at least reasonable to assume that the team will make some effort to keep him if he continues to pitch well.

Of course it is. It is also reasonable to assume that if he is pitching well he will not want to sign an extension. He will be 31 to start the season in his first year of free agency so one chance at a big contract.

[RobDeer 45]

I really like the deal. I really hope that we are able to sign Weeks and then this makes the deal even better for us.

 

Couple things, there are too many people on here that have unrealistic ideas in their heads. Greinke will take Lawrie and probably two other guys. We can't afford to dish out our pitching prospects people!! That has been our biggest weak spot, young pitching from the system. We are finally bridging the gap between our your pitchers and the major leagues and if we trade some of them now it will put us in the hole for years to come.

 

We are a medium/small market team in a location that it is not ideal for many FA's. That means the only way to get good pitching is to develop it or acquire younger guys through trade. Pitching is at an extremely high price right now after the steroid era so to get you have to GIVE!! We aren't giving the house, we aren't killing our future. We have now upgraded our starters and that has to be our main priority. Our staff was terrible the last two years and we aren't going anywhere with them. Changes had to be made and changes aren't free.

 

Go Crew!

[logan82]

Also, consider the fact that it was his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. In 2009, he tossed just 15.2 innings. So, we should have expected Marcum to probably hit a bit of a wall in 2010 at some point, right? In his first 125 innings, he had a 3.24 ERA. And, sure enough, over the final two months of the season he had a 4.35 ERA, though even that's not bad considering his schedule. (Yankees, Boston x3, Tampa x2, Rangers)

 

That is concerning to me. How much damage if any was done by pitching him that many innings when he experienced a obvious decline in effectiveness?

[brewmann04]

it a good sign that we have kept Mark andJJ and Jake we need to keep our young pitchers..

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

What are the chances that a 4/40 contract gets it done (maybe an option for a 5th year)

 

$5M

$8M

$11M

$14M

Option for 5th Year at $16M with 2 million buyout

 

Given he's only earned $1.6M to this point, i'd think that would be pretty favorable...

 

4/40 is a significant number for the Crew, but probably way cheaper than we could acquire a #2/3 type on the FA market

[Principessa21]

I like the trade of giving up Lawrie especially if Weeks signs an extension. What's funny is I just read the Blue Jays message board and most of the people there don't like giving up Marcum to get Lawrie.

Of course they don't. They just gave up thier best pitcher. I think Marcum is being sold a bit short here. We just acquired a proven very good pitcher under contract for a couple more years for an unproven talent.

 

Explain this to me, because I only saw one very good season.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

two seasons of ERA below 3.65 ... four seasons of WHIP below 1.25 If we could acquire Matt Garza, i'd be thrilled about 2011

[sheetskout]

I think it's important to remember that this is pretty much risk-free time with a pitcher who could develop into a very solid option. If he pitches well we can approach an extension, but if he pitches terribly we have little invested. At the very least this puts the Brewers into a very controllable situation financially.

[AJAY]

I love this move for Milwaukee. After seeing Marcum's stats, I am pretty excited.

 

My only question is why Toronto was open to trading him considering his numbers were solid and his salary was low. I can't help but wonder if there is something the Blue Jays know that the Brewers don't.

[sbrylski]

What are the chances that a 4/40 contract gets it done (maybe an option for a 5th year)

 

$5M

$8M

$11M

$14M

Option for 5th Year at $16M with 2 million buyout

 

Given he's only earned $1.6M to this point, i'd think that would be pretty favorable...

 

4/40 is a significant number for the Crew, but probably way cheaper than we could acquire a #2/3 type on the FA market

To extend Marcum?

 

I think you're talking something more like $60 over four.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

Why so high? if he was under $1M last season.... probably looking at $5M this season and maybe $8-10M next season... You really think Years 3-4 are worth $45 million?

[BritInWI]

Couple things, there are too many people on here that have unrealistic ideas in their heads. Greinke will take Lawrie and probably two other guys.

Indeed. And those two other guys would probably be Odorizzi and one of Rogers or Jeffress.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

I think it's important to remember that this is pretty much risk-free time with a pitcher who could develop into a very solid option. If he pitches well we can approach an extension, but if he pitches terribly we have little invested. At the very least this puts the Brewers into a very controllable situation financially.

I disagree here... If he has a solid first half (say 10-3 with a 3.25 ERA).... his price tag just went WAY up, and he's only a few months from his walk year

If we want to sign him to an extension, the time is now (pre-spring training). It is a gamble, but signing a FA is a gamble as well

 

I tossed out a 4/40 number, others have mentioned 4/60... much like Braun's deal, he has made very little $$$ so far, and our chance to get him to sign at/below market value is before he can bank some dough in his #2 and #3 arby years. If we give him $5-6 mil this year, and he knows he's going to get (minimum $8-10M in 2012), our leverage goes way down next offseason

 

If he signs now... he is risking giving up 5/90 on the open market perhaps... but if he regresses or gets hurt, he is leaving 40-50M on the table with us. Given he has made very little (career wise)... passing up $40M for a chance at $90-100M would be stupid

[PeaveyFury]

Haudricourt confirms it's a straight-up deal:

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/111363479.html

[dlk9s]

I love this move for Milwaukee. After seeing Marcum's stats, I am pretty excited.

 

My only question is why Toronto was open to trading him considering his numbers were solid and his salary was low. I can't help but wonder if there is something the Blue Jays know that the Brewers don't.

I figure they traded him because they coveted Lawrie, plus the years they control him. They need bats, they had pitching. Plus, Marcum is their oldest starter.

[TooLiveBrew]

The Blue Jays were just rumored to be inquiring about Grienke.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Jays are on Greinke's no-trade list. Doesn't mean he couldn't waive the NTC, of course.

 

KR also notes that the Royals could land Greinke if they'd send "Kyle Drabek, outfielder Travis Snyder and another minor leaguer or two, according to the Toronto Sun." If that other minor leaguer is Lawrie, I'd have to think the Royals would agree.