Brewers Willing To Trade Lorenzo Cain; Braves Among the Interested

[Hate those Rodents]

Elsburry is a Boras client and only has like one/two years of expensive arby left I believe. I think I'd pass at this point.

[Invader3K]

Ever notice how on other message boards, BoSox fans are practically begging for other teams to trade for Ellsbury? Ellsbury missed most of last season due to injury. Not sure how much you can depend on him for this season.

[pingman]

IMHO Ellsbury is yet another east coast media creation.....he's a LF with zero power; in other words he's Juan Pierre without a history of success

 

There's a reason the Sox acquired Cameron: Ellsbury can't play CF

[Invader3K]

He can steal a ton of bases (70 in 2009), but I'm not sure that's enough to make up for his .749 career average OPS.

[BrewCrewForever]

I like Lorenzo Cain a lot, but if the Braves cave and give up Mike Minor for him, I am totally down with that.

[Invader3K]

I like Lorenzo Cain a lot, but if the Braves cave and give up Mike Minor for him, I am totally down with that.

Yeah, if you can get a young high upside arm like that, it's worth Lo Cain.

[paul253]

Apparently Atlanta offered Brandon Beachy. I know nothing about him, but a quick look at his stats and it looks like he dominated the minors last season. Between AA and AAA: 5-1 1.73 ERA 119.1 IP 148 K's and only 28 walks. A WHIP of a shade over 1. He pitched mostly out of relief but started 13 out of 35 games. Then he started 3 games for the Braves going 0-2 with an ERA of 3.00 15 IP with 15 K's and 7 walks. According to CNNSI Milwaukee shot down this offer rather quickly. What do people know about Brandon Beachy? With numbers like that it seems like if he can stick to starting you'd have to consider trading Cain for him, but numbers I know can be deceiving. I can't find the article I read but it said something like this....."Atlanta asks Milwaukee about Cain. Milwaukee asks for Minor. Atlanta responds with Beachy. Talks over".

[dlk9s]

I'm guessing the Brewers see him as a reliever and therefore wouldn't want to give up Cain for him. Just a guess, though.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Obviously if we trade Cain, Gomez and Dickerson will man CF this year. But what would be the plan beyond that? I would have to think it would be another few years before anyone in the minors could replace him. At this point I'd much rather keep Cain, unless he's part of a package for Greinke.

[paul253]

Well if Logan Schaefer can come back from his injury last season he'd certainly be a possibility. Probably not until the 2013 season. Kentrail Davis I think would be a possibility as well. Maybe even Caleb Gindl? I know none of them would be ready until at least 2012 but you can always find a one or two year replacement.

[TooLiveBrew]

Erik Komatsu is a centerfield candidate, but like you say PrinceEatMeat, he's a few years away still. Kentrail Davis is probably a corner guy, fwiw.

[paul253]

I keep forgetting about Eric Komatsu. In my mind he is the most under the radar prospect in the system.

[TooLiveBrew]

'11 is going to be a huge season for him. If he can prove himself at AA, I doubt he'd fly under too many peoples' radars anymore.

[shelmark]

So Melvin turned down Beachy for Cain? Unbelievable and a sign that Melvin does not get it. Melvin would prefer you fail at the major league level before trading for you. Cain is just a guy, and Beachy will be a solid starter for years to come. This man has no vision.

[Invader3K]

Maybe they aren't convinced he can stick as a starter. They don't really need more bullpen arms at this point.

[paul253]

So Melvin turned down Beachy for Cain? Unbelievable and a sign that Melvin does not get it.

 

I was thinking the same thing. His control is much better than Rogers and Jeffress, and his strikeout numbers seem to be just as high. He only started three games in Atlanta, but he held is own there too. I like Cain a lot, but he is a lot more replaceable then a good young starter. Beachy could have competed for the number 5 spot right away, or he could have gone to Nashville and led a heckuva rotation with Rogers, Rivas, and maybe Butler. We could have survived with Gomez and Dickerson in center for a year, then by 2012 we'd have all sorts of options in the rotation.

[amt2138]

Maybe they are seeing if they can use Cain to get somebody more established like Garza or Shields. The offer will stil probably be on the table later as well, I'm sure it's not a take it or leave it sort of deal.

[greeg35]

exactly what I've been thinking amt2138. I've gotten to the point where I'm assuming one of these things happen (least likely first):

1. We trade for Greinke

2. We trade Cain/Cain package for Garza or Shields

3. We trade Cain for Beachy (or up the ante for Minor)

4. We sign Pavano.

Things won't start moving until Greinke situation settles. Then something will happen fast IMO.

[Hate those Rodents]

That Beachy offer could well come and go. Atlanta obviously wants something better in center field. I am sure they'll do a stop gap move at some point, which will probably be enough to have them take the offer off the table even if it's not a long term solution.

[paul253]

I think if Melvin made the Cain for Beachy trade he could pretty much be done with pitching moves for the year. You could start the year with a rotation of Gallardo, Marcum, Wolf and Narveson 1-4. Then let Parra, Beachy, Rogers, hopefully Capuano and whoever else compete for the number 5. If necessary, you could then trade either Fielder or McGehee for a center field prospect. Or, if you are desperate, you could move Hart to center for a year and play Mat Gamel in right. The defense would be atrocious, but the pitching would probably be a little better than last year. And the offense would be pretty darn good. You'd really have to hope you hit on your high draft picks in the next two drafts though.

 

1) Weeks

2) Hart

3) Braun

4) Fielder

5) McGehee

6) Gamel

7) Lucroy

8) Escobar

 

1) Gallardo

2) Marcum

3) Wolf

4) Narveson

5) Capuano

[paul253]

Baseball America listed the Braves top 10 prospects today. 8 of them are pitchers. It's hard to imagine that we couldn't work something out with them if they really wanted Cain.

[pingman]

FWIW.....Baseball America has released the Braves Top 10 prospect list....

 

Here’s the complete list of the Braves Top prospects:

1. RHP Julio Teheran

2. 1B Freddie Freeman

3. RHP Randall Delgado

4. LHP Mike Minor

5. RHP Craig Kimbrel

6. SS Matt Lipka

7. RHP Arodys Vizcaino

8. RHP Brandon Beachy

9. LHP Brett Oberholtzer

10. RHP J.J. Hoover

BA's best tools in the Braves organization includes:

 

"Best Change Up" ... Minor

"Best Control" ... Beachy

 

btw...BA says Teheran should be around #6 in BA's OVERALL prospect list & compares him to Pedro Martinez

 

IMHO Beachy would be a a fair return for Cain.... the Braves #5 starter position will come down to Minor vs Beachy this spring but the Braves prefer Minor because they don't have a southpaw starter

[Invader3K]

I guess I don't get why the Brewers wouldn't want Beachy then? Maybe they're not convinced he'll stick as a starter?

[sbrylski]

I guess I don't get why the Brewers wouldn't want Beachy then? Maybe they're not convinced he'll stick as a starter?

I think it's more of a why would we move Cain? I don't think we are making Cain available just to get pitching. Its just that he's not untouchable in a really good offer.

 

We have other avenues yet available to add pitching. Why take the one right now that creates a glaring hole in CF?

[pingman]

I'm not convinced that Melvin ever offered Cain for Beachy...I think it went something like this:

 

MELVIN: offers Cain for Minor

 

BRAVES: no.... counter-offers Cain for Beachy

 

MELVIN: no.... counter-offers Gomez for Beachy

 

BRAVES: no

 

(Braves are still skiddish about trading their top prospects after losing Netali Feliz & Elvis Andrus in the Texeira deal)