Brewers have serious interest in Jose Reyes?

[TooLiveBrew]

Carl Crawford is elite defensively, not below average. His bat isn't anything special, but his speed is actually probably more valuable IRL than in fantasy baseball since his speed contributes so much to his defense.

 

 

Reyes just isn't as good as advertised.

 

What is your argument here? The guy is a legit hitter for his position, has great speed, & plays passable defense at SS (at the very worst). He might not be a good idea for a team like the Brewers to sign long-term, but he's definitely worth a ton.

[RockCoCougars]

What is your argument here? The guy is a legit hitter for his position, has great speed, & plays passable defense at SS (at the very worst). He might not be a good idea for a team like the Brewers to sign long-term, but he's definitely worth a ton.

 

I don't want the Brewers giving him crazy money on the rebound from Prince. He's going to get 6 years, $90-some million, minimum. He's coming off a career season, and has been injury prone. Is he a very good player with upside? Of course. Is he a nearly $100 million player? In my view, no way. I

 

I'd rather have something like

 

Barmes, JHJ, Jack Wilson, Saito, Hawkins than Reyes. The salaries would probably match and most could be had on a one year deal.

 

If you want to get real ambitious- though I'm not a big fan of him- I'm guessing that you could get Aramis Ramirez + Clint Barmes combined for about the same annual salary as Reyes on 2-3 year deals.

[RockCoCougars]

For what it's worth, I'm not bagging on fantasy baseball either. I'm an enthusiast myself. However, I believe the explosion of that genre has overrated some guys. I think Crawford is the prime example. In many Rotisserie type 5x5 leagues, Crawford has been rated as a top 5 or top 10 overall hitter for the past few years. No way has Carl Crawford ever been a top 10 position player in MLB. Mostly due to the weakness at shortstop overall (which I will grant warrants some argument), guys like Hanley Ramirez and Reyes have been overrated by fantasy as well.

[nate82]

For what it's worth, I'm not bagging on fantasy baseball either. I'm an enthusiast myself. However, I believe the explosion of that genre has overrated some guys. I think Crawford is the prime example. In many Rotisserie type 5x5 leagues, Crawford has been rated as a top 5 or top 10 overall hitter for the past few years. No way has Carl Crawford ever been a top 10 position player in MLB. Mostly due to the weakness at shortstop overall (which I will grant warrants some argument), guys like Hanley Ramirez and Reyes have been overrated by fantasy as well.

There is no way that Ramirez and Reyes are over rated at all. Ramirez is liked because of the power and speed he brings at the short stop position not because of some fantasy baseball stats. Hanley Ramirez is a 25+ HR threat at SS who should be hitting in the .300's average wise. Just look at his OPS from the past couple of years. From 2005-2011 Hanley Ramirez has put up a .886 OPS. and a .385 wOBA. That right there is another top 10 hitter in the league. I do not see how Hanley Ramirez is over rated he maybe under performing given his talent but he is not over rated at all by any means. Hanley is very comparable with Braun do you believe Braun is over rated how about Prince? Both Prince and Braun have had similar seasons to what Hanley Ramirez has had. The difference between these three hitters are very minimal.

Now for Jose Reyes from the same time line from 2005-2011 he has put up a wOBA of .349 and an OPS of .790. Not an elite hitter but he is better than your average player he is definitely an elite hitter at the SS position. Jose Reyes is the 2nd best hitting SS in the league and he is only behind Hanley Ramirez for that spot. I can not fathom how you can claim that either of these two are over rated especially Hanley Ramirez as he has had seasons that are very close to what Braun and Prince have put up. So I ask again are Braun and Fielder also over rated?

[logan82]

The difference between these three hitters are very minimal.

 

The difference between the hitters yes. Hanley is much rarer talent than either Braun or fielder though.

[RockCoCougars]

Hanley is much rarer talent than either Braun or fielder though.

 

I don't know. I'm not even sure if I would claim him for 'free' on waivers right now. He was terrible this year after getting paid- worse than Yuni. Now he has a shoulder problem.

[nate82]

Hanley is much rarer talent than either Braun or fielder though.

 

I don't know. I'm not even sure if I would claim him for 'free' on waivers right now. He was terrible this year after getting paid- worse than Yuni. Now he has a shoulder problem.

One year doesn't tell you much if anything at all. I would claim Hanley Ramirez 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 times over if he ever were put on waivers. Hanley Ramirez is an elite talent equal to or better than Braun or Fielder.

[paul253]

I haven't heard Jimmy Rollins' name mentioned much on here. I read he wants a 5 year deal which may be a bit too much to ask for considering his age, but maybe get him on a 4 year deal a bit cheaper than you'd get Reyes?

[Hate those Rodents]

The Phillies will give Rollins whatever offer we would make, and at that point he'd just stay with his team.

[paul253]

They might not give him 5 years.

[nate82]

No way does Rollins get 5-years. He is looking like he is declining rather fast. I would only offer Rollins a 3-year deal at most maybe with a team option for a 4th year that vests on games played.

[GAME05]

i don't have a problem with the article, either. a few Braun quotes mixed in with obvious speculation. nothing wrong with a sportswriter speculating out loud.

 

of course Reyes is going to get more than he's worth. i can't think of too many FAs that got any less. and Reyes has a lot longer history of awesomeness than someone like Werth or Soriano. even accepting that his speed would/could decline, he still has a lot of great skills to offer to make him worth a solid paycheck.

 

Fielder is off the books next year and it's entirely possible that Wolf is, as well. i don't think it's necessarily a pipe dream for MA to come up with the money to make a big splash and sign Reyes. the tremendous upgrade at SS would certainly overcompensate for the downgrade at 1B. we'd have a ton of team speed and i'd sure enjoy watching the OBP/SLG abilities of a Braun/Reyes/Weeks 3-4-5.

 

i'm not expecting Reyes here or anything, but i don't think it's downright impossible. i would have thought getting Greinke and Marcum was a pipedream last year, too.

[Hate those Rodents]

Does anyone want to place a bet that we DON'T sign one of these three to a contract in excess of 100 million over the offseason: Greinke, Fielder, Reyes???

[StearnsFTW]

Briggs, answer me this. How good do you think a team with eight Betancourts would be?

 

I have no idea how you could possible come back with an answer of "above .500". Therefore, Betancourt is pulling the team the wrong direction, wouldn't you say?

Hmmm. I didn't know Fielder could play SS. How good would a team of eight Lucroys? Or can he play SS too? That's apples to oranges my friend.

 

He'd be better or at least as good as a team of 8 Orlando Cabreras, Ronny Cedenos. Jack Wilsons, Edgar Renterias, Clint Barmeses, Paul Janishes, Craig Counsells, Josh Wilsons, and on and on.

 

How far down is a 96 win team pulled anyway? Every other Brewer team in history been pulled down farther.

If you think Betancourt is better than Barmes you're beyond help.

 

Anyway, just say no to Jose Reyes. Too much money. Too many injuries.

[Roderick]

I think whatever team signs him he will be out 4-6 weeks each year for the first couple of seasons and 6-8 weeks a year after that. So unless Reyes comes so cheap you can make sure you can afford a good backup it isn't worth it to me.

[brewmann04]

If Braun does help recruit Reyes i think the only major concern is his health. He would give us a Legit leadoff guy amd would stablize the SS spot.

[yoshii8]

If the Brewers did their research and decided that Jose Reyes was worth the risk medically and personality wise, I'd be thrilled to see the Brewers sign him.

 

I would probably bat him 3rd next season w/ a line up of Hart, Morgan, Reyes, Braun, Weeks, Gamel, Green, Lucroy, I think we would be could be close to the same offensively while being a lot better defensively.

[reillymcshane]

Briggs, answer me this. How good do you think a team with eight Betancourts would be?

 

I have no idea how you could possible come back with an answer of "above .500". Therefore, Betancourt is pulling the team the wrong direction, wouldn't you say?

Hmmm. I didn't know Fielder could play SS. How good would a team of eight Lucroys? Or can he play SS too? That's apples to oranges my friend.

 

He'd be better or at least as good as a team of 8 Orlando Cabreras, Ronny Cedenos. Jack Wilsons, Edgar Renterias, Clint Barmeses, Paul Janishes, Craig Counsells, Josh Wilsons, and on and on.

 

How far down is a 96 win team pulled anyway? Every other Brewer team in history been pulled down farther.

If you think Betancourt is better than Barmes you're beyond help.

Yuni and barmes have similar stats - but Barmes is a far better fielder (of course, most shortstops are far better than Yuni). In Yuni's defense, he was better than most of the guys on John Briggs' list - Janish, Wilson, Counsell, Cabrera. Throw in Tejada in SF as well. He was awful. Probably not Cedeno. And definately not barmes.

 

give Yuni credit for staying healthy. he rarely gets hurt. I attribute that to his amazing ability to just watch ground balls go past him on his right instead of going after them.

 

i'm all for Barmes. I think 2 years and $8 million would do it. I say strike quick and make the signing - let teams who need shortstops mess around to see who gets Reyes (who I love, but not at $20 million a year) or Rollins.

 

Then i say resign Hawkins, Saito to one year deals. Hairston to a two year deal. Give Gamel 1B. Let Green and McGehee fight out 3B. Here's salaries, with guesses. Of course, you could easily remove/swap out some guys (I put Gindl as a back up OF, but maybe is Schafer). Also, my arby numbers are guesses, so we could easily go up or down a bit here and there.

 

Lucroy - $.5 million

Kottaras - $.5

Gamel - .5

Weeks - 10.0

Barmes - 4.0

Green - .5

McGehee - 2.0

Hairston - 3.0

Braun - 6.0

Hart - 6.5

Morgan - 2.5

Gomez - 1.5

Gindle - .5

OFFENSE: $38 million

 

Greinke - $13.5

Marcum - $7

Wolf - 9.5

Narveson - .5

Gallardo - 5.5

Estrada - .5

Peralta - .5

Dillard - .5

Axford - .5

Loe - 2.5

Hawkins - 2.5

Saito - 1.5

Fiers - .5

PITCHING: $45 million

 

Total: $83 million

 

Plenty to spend on upgrades during the season, such as if there was an injury or if Gamel flops.

 

Just a rough plan.

[StearnsFTW]

^^^

 

I like your plan. I've been pimping Barmes since June. I don't necessarily need my ss to be a world-beater offensively, but the position is too important defensively to have a slug like Betancourt out there. Barmes is a great defender with occasional pop (actually similar to Yuni, but with + defense. Also a better (though still bad) OBP).

 

I'm not sold on Gamel, but I don't have any better alternatives. If we hadn't raided our farm system this offseason, I would try to make a run at Andre Ethier, because I believe he'll be available. Given our resources, that's a huge longshot though. Just stick Hart at first if you could get him (or any good left-handed hitting rightfielder).

[Roderick]

Then i say resign Hawkins, Saito to one year deals.

I'm thinking the Brewers need to identify which one they want to go with for one more year, as I think they will get a bit more $ than you listed. Prognosis of Stetter? Braddock back. McClendon. De Le Cruz. Defilice/Dillard.

[paul253]

prognosis of Stetter? Braddock back. McClendon. De Le Cruz. Defilice/Dillard.

And Manny Parra!

[Roderick]

prognosis of Stetter? Braddock back. McClendon. De Le Cruz. Defilice/Dillard.

And Manny Parra!

Wasn't sure if his health was going to impede the Brewers offering him arby.

 

But yes there are quite a few pitchers on the 40 man roster that could end up in the pen for 2012.

[jmeks23]

^^^

 

I like your plan. I've been pimping Barmes since June. I don't necessarily need my ss to be a world-beater offensively, but the position is too important defensively to have a slug like Betancourt out there.

Well hey, pimping ain't easy.

[reillymcshane]

Then i say resign Hawkins, Saito to one year deals.

I'm thinking the Brewers need to identify which one they want to go with for one more year, as I think they will get a bit more $ than you listed. Prognosis of Stetter? Braddock back. McClendon. De Le Cruz. Defilice/Dillard.

the relievers all kind of bunch together. you let a couple of them shake out - especially get a lefty in. Braddock or Stetter (maybe even Manny Parra).

 

I based Saito on the fact that he got $1.75 last year after coming off a better year in 2010. I figured after his injuries (only 30 games this year), he wouldn't be getting a raise.

 

For Hawk, I considered his injuries and age as well as performance (which was good). I saw him in a mid-tier group of reliever free agents - guys like Choate, Carrasco, Uehara last season, who after 2010 got $2-2.5 million. Above this group were guys like Farnesworth, Rausch, Rhodes, Dotal - guys who got $3-4 million. A lot of these guys closed (at least to some degree) or were awesome all year (like Rhodes was in 2010). I didn't see Hawkins as being viewed in the same vein as the latter group. He appeared in 52 games - and only 18 the year before. So, the injuries, and age, he'll be 39 in December, really keep him from getting too much.

 

I think a one year deal at $2-2.5 is pretty generous.

[StearnsFTW]

^^^

 

I like your plan. I've been pimping Barmes since June. I don't necessarily need my ss to be a world-beater offensively, but the position is too important defensively to have a slug like Betancourt out there.

Well hey, pimping ain't easy.

All aboard the ho-train!

 

Barmes is my guy. I've always liked him (don't know why, he's not that great), and he'd be a very good fit for this team. Clearly, something has to be done about the "defense".