Brewers still active; Lohse/Backup MI/backup 1b

[RockCoCougars]

With the possible exception of Gomez, the Brewers should not deal with Boras clients, period. Nor should they sign former Cardinal pitchers off a career year. Nor should they sign a middling pitcher and give up a first round pick for the 'privilege'. They dodged a bullet with Dempster, let's hope someone saves them from the temptation here and soon.

[brwrsfan]

Dempster I would have been fine with - he's been pretty consistent the last few years and he wouldn't have cost us a draft pick. Lohse just screams of a guy that pitched way over his head and is due to bomb at some point. Not to mention giving up a pick.

[Ennder]

Lohse is fine as long as it is 1 or 2 year deal that is undervalued since you lose a draft pick. I don't see them really going for that type of deal but if they are desperate enough and sign at like 2 years, $18M or something I'm honestly ok with it. Lohse is a better pitcher than Suppan or Looper were but it is the same type of bad fit. You don't' want guys like that on a mediocre to bad defensive team in a HR hitters park.

[brewmann04]

Lose being a Boras guy and losing a pick is just not a match

[brewcrewdue80]

Lohse is fine as long as it is 1 or 2 year deal that is undervalued since you lose a draft pick. I don't see them really going for that type of deal but if they are desperate enough and sign at like 2 years, $18M or something I'm honestly ok with it. Lohse is a better pitcher than Suppan or Looper were but it is the same type of bad fit. You don't' want guys like that on a mediocre to bad defensive team in a HR hitters park.

You're okay with losing a draft pick meaning not only do Brewers give Stl their compensated pick but move them up 1 in the draft? For 1/2years of Lohse? As we know this team doesn't have the best outlook defensively, so let's sign a low k/9 starter that will rely on his defense to a high paying contract and forfeit a 1st rd draft pick for 2years service?

All the other QO guys have been signed. Lohse is the last one standing and the rumor is teams aren't picking up the phone. Boras is the one hard selling to any idiot left to listen. Teams that already gave away a pick make sense. Brewers haven't and its absurd to consider losing a 1st rd pick for two years even 3 for an aging pitcher coming off his Best season out of 11! Ask Philly how the signing of aging Cy Young winners are working for them? Lohse has never been within a level below the class of Lee and Halladay.

[jerichoholicninja]

Kyle Lohse is the definition of suck. He sucked his whole career and was slightly less sucky these last two seasons and won a bunch of games. If the Brewers sign him, he will still suck. The contract will suck. Losing the draft pick to anyone, especially St. Louis, will suck.

 

If he didn't have a draft pick attached to him he would have signed a contract for a couple million somewhere or even a minor league deal.

[Ennder]

Well the Halladay and Lee comment aside which makes no real sense since they both have put up elite stats overall for PHI, yeah I'm fine with it. I'm not giddy about it, I'm not begging them to sign him, I'm just fine with it. It fits a very obvious need we have which is short term rotational depth, it does it with a guy who should put up 2-2.5 WAR most likely. In 8 full seasons as a starter he has put up over 2 WAR every year but one which was 1.8 and gone over 3 WAR three different times. That makes him roughly a league average to slightly above average SP. That is why the money being low is very key, the draft pick really has to drive down his price.

[brewcrewdue80]

Philly hasn't won a World Series with the addition of 2 CY winners. A Lohse signing isn't going to make Brewers WS contenders. The 1st rd pick we have just may down the road. And that's what is important. Acquiring players that ultimately can bring you to the World Series.

[Ennder]

If you are going to look at it like that then 99% of all FA signings will be failures. It isn't easy to win a world series even if you have the best team which Phi did at least one of those years.

 

The goal is getting to the playoffs, once you do that you can win it all even if you aren't the best team. That should be painfully obvious if you look at who has won it the past 5 years now, since it hasn't been the best team very often. A stable rotation could very well put this Brewer team in the playoffs. It wouldn't be a bad move, it wouldn't be an amazing move, it would be an ok move.

[trwi7]

We need to stop giving up draft picks for old, mediocre free agents.

[Roderick]

We need to stop giving up draft picks for old, mediocre free agents.

 

Old timers disease, which signing have we given up a draft pick for? Suppan?

 

Draft picks are far from sure deals, but we have had a pretty good run until Arnett. But the biggest thing to me is that the draft picks goes to St. Louis. If it wasn't going to them, I would be willing to pay more to Lohse.

 

Edit: If Gamel is out for the season, that just sucks away at the ability to cover for any injury or performance issues for Aoki and Hart. So I would not be for signing Lohse this year, as I think we are one more step removed from being a playoff team anyways.

[JohnBriggs12]

There are times when it would make some sense to go after a guy like Lohse even with the cost of a draft pick, assuming the price wasn't way out of line, but this is not it.

 

The Brewers have a plethora of young or at least inexpensive starting pitching, either with some major league track record or very close to the majors. Now the national media seems to ignore solid seasons by Estrada and Fiers in 2012, and brief but very promising trials by Rogers and Peralta, and the return of a guy who won double digit games in 2010 and 2011. Throw in a handful of guys at AAA and AA that could figure in later in the year, and the situation just doesn't call for having to hold back or suspend these guy's progress so an overpriced mid 30's guy can take innings away from them. Getting rid of Wolf last year helped the team and should have been done sooner. Why risk adding another guy like that?

 

It's a long season and other guys not named Lohse will be able to be had later if need becomes obvious. But it makes zero sense now.

[DHonks]

Lohse scares me because he was never very good till the last year or so. Of course, Carpenter was pretty awful in Toronto. Still, I get nervous with these St. Louis guys

[gregmag]

There are times when it would make some sense to go after a guy like Lohse even with the cost of a draft pick, assuming the price wasn't way out of line, but this is not it.

 

The Brewers have a plethora of young or at least inexpensive starting pitching, either with some major league track record or very close to the majors. Now the national media seems to ignore solid seasons by Estrada and Fiers in 2012, and brief but very promising trials by Rogers and Peralta, and the return of a guy who won double digit games in 2010 and 2011. Throw in a handful of guys at AAA and AA that could figure in later in the year, and the situation just doesn't call for having to hold back or suspend these guy's progress so an overpriced mid 30's guy can take innings away from them. Getting rid of Wolf last year helped the team and should have been done sooner. Why risk adding another guy like that?

 

It's a long season and other guys not named Lohse will be able to be had later if need becomes obvious. But it makes zero sense now.

I could not agree more with this. Very sound analysis. I would just add that the Brewers don't appear to be an innings-eater away from the playoffs at this point. Either they're going to catch lightning in a bottle, or they're going to miss by a lot.

[Roderick]

It's a long season and other guys not named Lohse will be able to be had later if need becomes obvious. But it makes zero sense now.

 

Is there some point that there is no draft pick compensation if he is signed late enough? June 1?

 

I assume he has compiled enough money up till now that if I were him I would contemplate waiting for that deadline and signing with a team that is definitely in the playoff hunt. Some team will pay him a prorated share of good money instead of trading prospects for a starter.

[brwrsfan]

Have the Cardinals even made an attempt to resign him after putting the comp pick on him? He made a mistake not accepting, but if the Cardinals don't want him back, he's in a very bad spot. I know it was designed to help teams keep star players bases on how much you have to offer them, but it can be a huge disadvantage to the player. Loshe was in a tough spot. Wanted one last long term pay day, but he's not quite good enough for teams to pay him that much AND give up their draft pick. If the team that put the pick on him doesn't want him back, he's going to wind up taking a substantial paycut I think, as nobody has beaten down the door to get him and Boras is basically begging teams like the Brewers to sign him.

[jerichoholicninja]

Everything I've read has said that the Cardinals have no interest in him. If they did I imagine they would have signed him by now.

[reillymcshane]

Everything I've read has said that the Cardinals have no interest in him. If they did I imagine they would have signed him by now.

Shelby Miller - one of the guys the Cardinals feel could take Lohse's place - was injured. He reported having 'shoulder tightness' - no further details.

 

This could be nothing, but if it is cause for major concern, the Cards might want to revisit bringing back Lohse - even on a one year deal. Even if it's something serious, the Cardinals have some nice depth (even with Carpenter's injury). But they might be more comfortable bringing Lohse back for another year. I would think most of Carpenter's salary would be covered by insurance, so a one year deal at around $10-12 million would be good for them. Perhaps they can agree not to tag Lohse next year, thus making him a 'free' free agent.

 

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2013/2/20/4009192/cardinals-prospect-shelby-miller-sidelined-shoulder-tightness-injured

[brewcrewdue80]

This is/would be a huge blow to STL. Though, while Lohse makes a perfect sense sign with Carp out and Miller's potential to be out. They do have Rosenthal/Taveras where I could see STL. trading for a SP to open a spot for Taveras. Or just running with Rosenthal.

I said from the beginning Lohse will end up with Stl for 2013. It just makes this all the more likely of it coming true than when I said it.

[JohnBriggs12]

It's a long season and other guys not named Lohse will be able to be had later if need becomes obvious. But it makes zero sense now.

 

Is there some point that there is no draft pick compensation if he is signed late enough? June 1?

 

I assume he has compiled enough money up till now that if I were him I would contemplate waiting for that deadline and signing with a team that is definitely in the playoff hunt. Some team will pay him a prorated share of good money instead of trading prospects for a starter.

 

After the draft, there would be no compensation for Lohse. Boras doesn't want to have to wait that long. He's banking now on a catastrophic injury in someone's rotation in camp.

 

But whether or not Lohse is still out there, teams that have fallen out of it will be willing to deal. The key for the Brewers is to hang close enough. I disagree with gregmag. I don't think it will take lightening in a bottle for the Brewers to stay in contention for 3 months then be in position to add a solid vet to help the rotation in the 2nd half. The last 6 weeks of 2012, the Brewer bullpen finally stabilized, and they became a much better team. The only starting pitcher gone from that period is Marcum and he was far from the best they had down the stretch.

[splitterpfj]

As this drags on, it becomes more likely Lohse will sign a team-friendly deal somewhere, most likely trading some dollars for an assurance that the team he signs with will not make him a qualifying offer at season's end. In that scenario, Lohse goes back in the pool, and likely gets a "Dempsterish" contract.

 

Lohse would be an ok add, but I'd only do it if I thought the Brewers would become real playoff contenders by doing so. That's not out of the question, but at this point, there are too many "ifs" on the team -I'd probably just keep the draft pick.

[pogokat]

please no: http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/3293/kyle-lohse

[logan82]

Brewers owner Mark Attanasio "has been involved" in talks with free agent starter Kyle Lohse, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.

The Brewers have been a logical landing spot for Lohse since he hit the open market, so it's no surprise that they're being linked to the righty once again. But, even with Attanasio's reported involvement, nothing seems imminent. "Things change. You never know. But at this point, we want to look at our [young] guys first," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said Saturday. "I'm not opposed to giving up a first-round pick if it's a 30-year-old guy you give a three- or four-year deal to."

Giving up a 1st round pick for a 34 year old pitcher seems well, dumb.

[pogokat]

Can't we just trade for capuano? I've always been able to justify in some way Doug's moves, but this would be his Jeffrey hammonds.

[trwi7]

The fact that they haven't completely dismissed the idea of signing Lohse when asked terrifies me. Don't do it, just walk away.