Brewers Willing To Trade Lorenzo Cain; Braves Among the Interested

[GoudaBrew]

Woah. Who are we targeting here?

 

 

The Brewers are dangling center fielder Lorenzo Cain with the aim of adding another starting pitcher, reports Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse.

Cain, 25 in April, is expected to compete for the Brewers' starting center field job next year with Carlos Gomez and Chris Dickerson. He did a nice job in 158 big league plate appearances this year and had a .402 OBP in 380 minor league PAs.

The Brewers already sent one of their best prospects packing yesterday for pitching, shipping Brett Lawrie to Toronto for two years of Shaun Marcum.

Link 1

Link 2

[NievesNoNO]

Just saw that too. Things are certainly getting interesting!!

[Invader3K]

I'd hate to see him leave, as I really liked how he played last season. I guess if you can get a good SP for him, you have to go for it, though. Brewers have other CF prospects getting close.

[GoudaBrew]

A commenter on MLBTR brought up the Braves and someone else mentioned Brandon Beachy. His minor league numbers look fantastic and he spent time in AAA last year so he seems to be MLB ready.

[JohnBriggs12]

Any article that mentions Chris Dickerson and starting center fielder in the same breath should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

 

I don't doubt that Cain's name was floated out there before the Marcum deal, but I have a hard time thinking they are anxious to deal Cain too.

 

Beachy's numbers for 2010 look great, but we're talking about a guy who has had one great year and was an undrafted free agent in 2008. I'm very wary of Braves pitchers being dangled since Jose Capellan.

[GoudaBrew]

Any article that mentions Chris Dickerson and starting center fielder in the same breath should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

 

I don't doubt that Cain's name was floated out there before the Marcum deal, but I have a hard time thinking they are anxious to deal Cain too.

Huh? I thought Dickerson was supposed to be a great CFer and lacking a little when put in a corner spot.

[greeg35]

You could do worse than a Dickerson/Gomez platoon...

[strawbossisevil]

I wonder if Cain would be a good fit with Tampa Bay (having just lost Crawford). Maybe Cain + for Garza?

How about this rotation:

Gallardo

Marcum

Garza

Wolf

Capuano/Rogers

[TheCrew]

Trade Cain+ for Garza

 

Sign Crawford

 

Rotation:

Yo

Marcum

Wolf

Garza

Narv

 

Lineup:

Crawford

Weeks

Braun

Prince

Hart

McGehee

Lucroy

Escobar

[JohnBriggs12]

Any article that mentions Chris Dickerson and starting center fielder in the same breath should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

 

I don't doubt that Cain's name was floated out there before the Marcum deal, but I have a hard time thinking they are anxious to deal Cain too.

Huh? I thought Dickerson was supposed to be a great CFer and lacking a little when put in a corner spot.

Dickerson's value last July was 2 months of 40 year old Jim Edmonds. That doesn't scream staring CF to me.

[JohnBriggs12]

You could do worse than a Dickerson/Gomez platoon...

Dickerson is a career .254 hitter against RHP. Gomez is a career .234 hitter vs. LHP.

[BrandonBurns]

Trade Cain+ for Garza

 

Sign Crawford

 

Rotation:

Yo

Marcum

Wolf

Garza

Narv

 

Lineup:

Crawford

Weeks

Braun

Prince

Hart

McGehee

Lucroy

Escobar

I want nothing to do with Crawford. After Werth got 126 mill, the commitment it's going to take to get Crawford will be 7-10 years and upwards of 150 mill. I'll pass...

[greeg35]

Yep, it looks bad if you focus on batting averages. However, they are both very good defensively and have good/great speed. Dickerson (who would be getting the majority of the PA's) has a passable career .783 ops against RH. Gomez is terrible at .641. They are both probably ascending players as well. I'd prefer better; but you could do worse. I could live with it if we got a Floyd/Garza type.

[davemakovec]

Does anybody else remember Dickerson being so bad that the Brewers called up Lo Cain early?

 

Gomez and Dickerson are BAD. Sure, they can play some defense, but Cain can play defense and he also swings the bat better than I do, which is not saying something. Gomez and Dickerson are BAD hitters. If they can turn Cain into another SP like Marcum, or better, then I would be okay with this. I doubt that will happen.

[strawbossisevil]

Agreed on not wanting Crawford, he'll be too pricey. But Tampa seems to be interested in cutting costs and Garza would seem like a perfect candidate to be traded by them.

 

Add on top of the fact that they just lost Crawford, and Cain is a player with a similar skill set (steals, high average, defense etc). It seems like a good match. We might have to add another significant player to the deal (perhaps Gamel...1B option now that Tampa has lost Peña), but I think the needs line up for a Cain for Garza trade.

 

Our rotation would be exceptional with the addition of Garza. And if we can get extensions for both Garza and Marcum, extending them a year or two into their FA years, it would be even more awesome as it would allow us to add our top pitching prospects (Rogers, Odorrizi etc.) without a great deal of pressure being placed on them to carry the team.

[GoudaBrew]

JohnBriggs12 wrote:

 

 

Dickerson is a career .254 hitter against RHP. Gomez is a career .234 hitter vs. LHP.

Dickerson actually has a career .273 BA vs. RHP.

Link

 

This is Bill James we're talking about, but he did project Dickerson at .271/.363/.422 in a limited role for 2011. I'd agree that Gomez wouldn't be an ideal platoon mate as his offense is just well, offensive.

[endaround]

Crawford won't sign to play CF so there is no way he's coming here. All reports are that he wants to stay in left field.

[crewcrazy]

I don't know if Cain plus a pitching prospect would be enough to get Garza. I think James Shields is more likely to be moved if we're talking about Tampa pitchers being moved to make room for Hellickson. On the surface his numbers were ugly in 2010, but was unlucky with his BABIP (about 35 points higher than his career average) and HR rate. His career numbers have been very solid, though, and his Bill James projections have him at a 4.06 ERA/3.93 FIP in 203 IP next season. James projections tend to be a bit optimistic, but that'd be a pretty solid return for a guy like Cain. Contract-wise, he's under a long-term deal through 2014, with buyouts possible in each of the last three seasons.

[kramnoj]

Does anybody else remember Dickerson being so bad that the Brewers called up Lo Cain early?

 

Cain broke the bigs in July and was up for good Aug 6th. Dickerson's first appearance with the Brewers was Aug 10th.

 

I liked Cain and was looking forward to rooting for him for years, but if he can bring back a decent starter, it makes sense.

[chadomac]

Cain, Jeffress, and a lower level/high ceiling prospect for Garza? I could see that working.

[And That]

Dickerson is a career .254 hitter against RHP. Gomez is a career .234 hitter vs. LHP.

Dickerson has a career .363 OBP against RHP. Link.

 

A Dickerson/Gomez platoon would put up something in the neighborhood of a .330 OBP and play very good defense. I don't think platoons are ever ideal, but the Brewers could get by with it.

 

Also, the Brewers are deepest prospect-wise in CF. Gindl, Schafer and Komatsu are all going to start 2011 at AA or above.

 

I would hate to see the Brewers trade Cain, I like him a lot. They could stomach it and move on, though.

[PKBadger]

My initial reaction was: hmm interesting idea....plenty of wiggle room in the budget, we could make a trade like this and then sign a stopgap CF.

 

Then I looked at the current list of available FA centerfielders. It's not a pretty sight.

 

Rick Ankiel

Melky Cabrera

Jim Edmonds

Jody Gerut

Tony Gwynn

DeWayne Wise

 

I'd rather keep Cain, I think.

[strawbossisevil]

Cain, Jeffress, and a lower level/high ceiling prospect for Garza? I could see that working.

Exactly. And with Garza, Gallardo, and Marcum at the front end of the rotation, our pitching should easily be top 5 in the NL. Add that on top of a top ranked offense, and we are potentially looking at a great season.

[NievesNoNO]

chadomac[/b]]Cain, Jeffress, and a lower level/high ceiling prospect for Garza? I could see that working.

I could see that working as well. I really like Garza, but does anyone know his contract status? Does he have just one year of arbitration left? I think Cain and Jeffress is too much to give for just one year. Like someone else mentioned, Shields might be the better target and may cost less.

 

[strawbossisevil]

Garza has two years of arby left. So we'd have him through 2012.

Edit: Oops, didn't realize he was a Super 2. Would like this deal even more getting three years of Garza.