Zack Greinke close to hiring an agent.....

[markedman5]

Blue chip stocks and high grade municipal bonds are all these guys need now and for some reason they all try to hit home runs when they have already "hit a home run" when they signed the huge contract.

 

Singles and doubles now boys.....just don't strike out or get caught stealing......

[adambr2]

$100M in the hands of someone who has no clue how to manage money will result in bankruptcy.

 

Exactly. What I've never understood is why these guys feel the need to make 'business investments' anyway even though they should be already set for life. Isn't signing an eight figure contract enough? Why would you want the hassle of running a business or managing property after you retire when you could diversify with low risk investments and then just sit back and count your money while you are on your 365-day vacation?

 

Right. To put things in perspective, even in these days of razor thin interest rates, you can pretty much get a 1.5% or so annual return with no interest.

 

For someone who has $20M dollars, that's $300,000 a year to sit back and do nothing without spending a dime of your own money. That is more than 10 times the annual median wage for 2011 in the United States. There is no excuse. $300,000 dollars a year is enough to making a living, enjoy your life, and be charitable.

[Madtown343]

Anyone with insider have any idea what ESPN is reporting with the "big dough" line today?

[longball04]

States they only have about $59mil tied up next year and Attanasio is willing to talk big contracts with his two free agent pitchers. Nothing exciting. No new news. Nothing to get excited about.

[PrinceEatMeat]

They claim that we can afford to re-sign BOTH Greinke and Marcum, because we only have $59 million committed for next season. Pretty pointless article.

[Madtown343]

Clueless national pundits?

 

If we ran the team only looking at one season at a time that thinking is logical. Oh yea the brewers have to field a team n 2014, 15, and after that too...

 

I still think our on field performance is the last shot we have at Zach. Money could done, environment he likes, guys and coaches he likes... Show him a winning future and he might stay and let Hamels be LAD first huge signing.

[monty57]

Using Brewerfan's salary page, I see $49MM committed to seven players (Weeks, Ramirez, Lucroy, Hart, Aoki, Braun, Gallardo). That doesn't include the $10MM option for Wolf or any players in arbitration or pre-arby, which aren't committed. It also doesn't include Gonzalez's $4MM, because I believe that was a vesting option based on his playing time this year, which now looks almost certain not to vest. They're committed to $51MM for five players (Weeks, Ramirez, Lucroy, Gallardo, Braun) in 2014.

 

Assuming the Brewerfan page is correct, I'm not sure where they're getting that the Brewers are committed to $59MM in 2013.

[brwrsfan]

I'm starting to lose hope that he stays past this year. I felt really good about it in spring and now for whatever reason, I feel the exact opposite.

[Ennder]

I don't think it is worth extending Hart or Weeks. Obviously we aren't going longer term with Gonzalez or Ramirez. Morgan, Gomez and Aoki are just sort of guys. That leaves Lucroy and the pitchers as the only legit long term signings. Marcum's nagging injuries are a concern to me and I don't like spending a lot of money on RP.

 

That leaves Braun, Lucroy, Gallardo, Greinke as the only players I expect the Brewers to keep for a significant period of time at this point. I'm all for extending one of the only 4 players really worth extending on the roster at this point.

[logan82]

I don't think it is worth extending Hart or Weeks.

I agree. We already have Weeks until 2014 or 2015.

[Invader3K]

We can definitely "afford" Zack Greinke, it's just a matter how much of a contract he is demanding and if its responsible to give him such an offer.

[logan82]

I would have said that we can afford Greinke but if we pay him, who else can we afford.

[KCBrewerfan34]

I don't think it is worth extending Hart or Weeks. Obviously we aren't going longer term with Gonzalez or Ramirez. Morgan, Gomez and Aoki are just sort of guys. That leaves Lucroy and the pitchers as the only legit long term signings. Marcum's nagging injuries are a concern to me and I don't like spending a lot of money on RP.

 

That leaves Braun, Lucroy, Gallardo, Greinke as the only players I expect the Brewers to keep for a significant period of time at this point. I'm all for extending one of the only 4 players really worth extending on the roster at this point.

 

LuCroy just signed a 5 year deal and Weeks signed a 4 year deal, might have an option included. The Brew needs a SS and I would take a HUGE run at Hamilton and dump Hart.

[markedman5]

Hamilton? lol.....He will be looking for Pujols money next year.

 

Not going to happen.

[ninja33]

Hamilton's turns 32 next may and is going to be commanding an 8 or 9 year deal. not going to happen and no thank you.

[DHonks]

At this point I hope the Brewers can get something out of Gindl or Kentrail Davis for RF. That would allow us to move Hart. Heck, Hart should be playing 1b right now

[KCBrewerfan34]

Hamilton's turns 32 next may and is going to be commanding an 8 or 9 year deal. not going to happen and no thank you.

 

Commanding is one thing and with 2 strikes against you in the drug game not sure a team will be willing to go that far. Hamilton maybe willing to do a 5 or 6 year deal, maybe just maybe teams are learning not give 30 somethings 8-10 year deals, see the Angels

[HiAndTight]

I don't think it is worth extending Hart or Weeks. Obviously we aren't going longer term with Gonzalez or Ramirez. Morgan, Gomez and Aoki are just sort of guys. That leaves Lucroy and the pitchers as the only legit long term signings. Marcum's nagging injuries are a concern to me and I don't like spending a lot of money on RP.

 

That leaves Braun, Lucroy, Gallardo, Greinke as the only players I expect the Brewers to keep for a significant period of time at this point. I'm all for extending one of the only 4 players really worth extending on the roster at this point.

 

 

I don't think I could agree with you any more. You take that core of players and obviously you'll keep others around, but you keep that core and I believe you can absolutely develop around them with the farm system. In particular on the mound. I've said this until I was blue in the face, but Greinke and Gallardo as a #1 and #2 takes so much pressure off the young cache of pitchers we've got in the stable, many of whom are capable of being #2/#3 type pitchers and with a guy like Thornburg I truly believe could even develop into a legit ace for a 3-4 year stretch.

 

And you've got Scooter Gennett who's quelling the questions about his big league potential every day. And I really like our OF possibilities. I think Caleb Gindl is a guy who's underrated, Logan Schafer is a guy who I honestly see being a 3 WAR player, Gamel I see being the same STILL and I'm absolutely convinced in that. I think what we saw this year, not the end of the year numbers as a 10 day mini slump dropped them to make them look bad, but we saw a good, hard nosed, dedicated player who I think will peak as a 4-4.5 WAR player.....

 

 

So bottom line, with all the money this team made last year and much-much more importantly the money this team has coming in moving forward, Greinke absolutely has to be signed. If we can run a rotation out there in the near future of Greinke/Yo/Bradley/Thornburg/Fiers with Peralta, Wooten, Jungman, Rogers, Manzanillo, Nelson, Burgos as other options in either the pen or the rotation, we could easily build a rotations that's as good as anyone in the game with two proven vets atop it, and several power arms chomping at the bit to join them soon to follow, not to mention guys like Axford who we control for a while.

 

 

 

That's the only way I see this team keeping that window propped open for another 3-4-5 years. We've got some positions players, we can draft position players and find great bargains when it comes to position players.

 

But keeping that type of rotation around for another 5 years is huge....I'm 100 pct fine with 5 years and 115 right now for him. I just see him making a Cy Young run this year which would fall in line with how he pitched the last several months of and to start this year, and if he hits the FA market, there will be probably 12_ teams willing to go 6 or 7 years.

[longball04]

We have no organizational depth in the position players though. We have no SS option, it is very apparent that we have no viable option for 1st base or they would be playing right now instead of cycling 3 guys through there. Our back up to Ramirez is Green at 3rd. I like Taylor, like him a lot, but is he going to be that 20-30 homerun guy that usually resides at 3rd? Probably not. And we have to assume that Ramirez is going to regress or get injured at some point.

 

My point is that we have to show Greinke that we are committed to winning. Right now we aren't bringing in guys in the pen that scream confidence. I like Tim Dillard as a person, but Tim, Chulk and Parra (if he was more consistent) can easily be replaced with some power young arms. We have some of those in the minors, yet we aren't bringing them up. It seems that everyone else has guys who can throw 93-95 with movement. Where are our guys like that? You have to show Greinke that you are committed to winning. As of right now, I am not seeing that. If the Brewers can't score, can't win, and are this far out at the break, I don't see Greinke doing anything til the offseason.

[HiAndTight]

I want to add just one more thing. I think that Gomez STILL has the potential to be more than "just a guy." And I was the last one last year who would have been saying this, but quite simply, his approach this year has simply changed. And it's not just about him drawing walks, he's not walked significantly more, and I'm not going to even bother to look at how many pitches he's taking this year as opposed to last year. I just know that from the eye test in a very short period of time, he's improved a great deal this year at laying off that off-speed stuff early in counts that got him in a 0-1, 1-2 count consistently last year and has gotten himself into a position this year to be able to get his pitch more often and get the barrel out on the ball so many more times than he has in the past.

 

And I think if he can continue to do that, I think he's going to be a .275/.280 hitter with a .325-.330 OBP and I think that could result in 15 HR's and 40+ SB's at a very high rate of success.

 

Of course I realize the mountain of evidence arguing against me and the tiny stack arguing for me, but this is more about evaluating what I've seen thus far. And if Gomez DOES become that offensive type of player, he's a 5 WAR type player very possibly. And most importantly providing great defense.

[Funketown]

H&T - using the pitchFX numbers, his O-Swing% is only 22.6 this season (35.7 career) and his z-swing% is 76.3% this season compared to 67.7% career. So, it seems that so far he has been swinging at better pitches.

[longball04]

H&T - using the pitchFX numbers, his O-Swing% is only 22.6 this season (35.7 career) and his z-swing% is 76.3% this season compared to 67.7% career. So, it seems that so far he has been swinging at better pitches.

As long as he changed his 2 strike approach, he was going to be a better player. Last year and the year prior, he was consistently swinging out of his shoes with 2 strikes. Taking a more relaxed approach at the plate would increase his numbers on the spot. I think he has made great strides since last year and I can't wait til he's back on the 20th. I would assume Conrad goes down when that happens.

[Ennder]

Yeah I am not completely against re-signing Gomez but I don't think you can build around him and I would imagine he would want a guaranteed starting job and I'm not sure we will give him what he wants.

[Invader3K]

With our depth at CF, I don't see the point in spending money to re-sign Gomez (or Nyjer Morgan, for that matter).

[The stache]

We need to resign Greinke. He's our #1, and if we want to compete, we need a #1. He's pitching much better on the road.