Rickie Weeks trade challenge

[reillymcshane]

If the Brewers trade Weeks in the off season, we won't get much for him (if anything). And we'll probably have to assume 90% of his salary. I wouldn't be surprised if he was simply released and we eat his salary.

 

But one avenue that might work is swapping Weeks for someone else's bad contract.

 

So the challenge is to find a player(s) on another team in the last year of his deal, with similar contract numbers, that we could realistically swap Rickie for. Obviously, the other team would have to have some use for Rickie.

 

An example would be Ryan Dempster, who's due $13 million next year (although Boston doesn't need Rickie).

[Roderick]

I have no idea what Toronto has for a budget. Would they be looking to get rid of M. Buehrle and his $18M and $19M the next two years? Would we want him? Looks like he was healthy this year, but his ERA and WHIP creeped up. I can't see the Brewers wanting to pick up a guy with two years on his contract, so there would have to be some plan in place for 2015.

[RockCoCougars]

I bet that the Braves would be all over a Weeks/Uggla swap. The only issue is that Uggla has an extra year on his deal... and has actually been worse than Rickie at the plate.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm not sure how that helps anyone to trade a poor fielding, washed up hitting, overpaid second basemen for another one. Weeks is at least athletic and could probably learn third or the outfield.

[nate82]

I still like the idea of trading Weeks to the Royals for someone like John Lamb. With Lamb you are getting a huge question mark and depending on how much money needs to be moved from in the deal I believe it would be a fair trade for both the Brewers and the Royals.

[bensheeps]

I thought of the Jays as well. Along with Buehrle (who would give us that "veteran presence" some want) they also have:

Morrow at 8mil & 10mil

Romero at 7.5 , 7.5, & 13.1 option.

 

Actually wouldn't mind Gallardo, Loshe, Peralta, Buehrle, Thornburg. It's not my money.

[RockCoCougars]

I'm not sure how that helps anyone to trade a poor fielding, washed up hitting, overpaid second basemen for another one. Weeks is at least athletic and could probably learn third or the outfield.

 

I didn't say it would be a good deal, but it's probably one of the only possible trade scenarios for Weeks without eating cash or taking a ton of salary back.

 

On the Blue Jays note, I was thinking about Adam Lind but he has a buyout. He's actually been showing signs of being a MLB hitter again. Unless there is someone I'm forgetting about, the Jays are definitely in need of a second baseman. I bet that they'd do Weeks/Romero in a heartbeat if the Brewers wanted to dump a few million in salary.

 

Horrible alternatives aside, I think that the best way to go is to hold on to Rickie and hope that he plays for another contract.

[DHonks]

I'd take two years of Buehrle for Weeks and some cash. He's a veteran lefty and would benefit from a return to a) the midwest and b) the NL

[brewcrewdue80]

Looking at the list of 2014 salaries, the 1 player that stands out to me is Chad Billingsley. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that idea before for trade deadline moves a month before it. Dodgers do have an Option on Mark Ellis to pick up at half of Rickie's cost. But maybe Weeks upside offensively while removing Billingsley from their Roster is all that matters to them. For Milwaukee, you get a complete question mark but maybe you use CB from the bullpen and slowly work him back up to the occasional starts? I think Milw loses on the deal but for me they win in that they at least get a Pitcher for a player that has lost value to remain on the team. The Dodgers are looking good for Pitching for quite awhile and shedding Billingsley just frees up their future decisions.

[JohnBriggs12]

I'd take two years of Buehrle for Weeks and some cash. He's a veteran lefty and would benefit from a return to a) the midwest and b) the NL

 

I'd make that deal too but the Brewers would probably need to include Estrada. Buehrle is overpaid but he's still valuable as an innings eater and they'd need to replace those somehow.

[HiAndTight]

Looking at the list of 2014 salaries, the 1 player that stands out to me is Chad Billingsley. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that idea before for trade deadline moves a month before it. Dodgers do have an Option on Mark Ellis to pick up at half of Rickie's cost. But maybe Weeks upside offensively while removing Billingsley from their Roster is all that matters to them. For Milwaukee, you get a complete question mark but maybe you use CB from the bullpen and slowly work him back up to the occasional starts? I think Milw loses on the deal but for me they win in that they at least get a Pitcher for a player that has lost value to remain on the team. The Dodgers are looking good for Pitching for quite awhile and shedding Billingsley just frees up their future decisions.

 

 

I think if the Dodgers put Billingsley for Weeks on the table, the Brewers would jump at that one in a heartbeat.

 

If he comes back to the type of pitcher he has been, you have a good solid pitcher(one who's slightly better than Gallardo IMO when healthy) and you have a team option for 2015 if, like many others, he comes back from Tommy John strong.

 

And again, if he had a hot first half, then you could turn him into a nice prospect at the trade deadline if we were out of it....that trade is almost all upside IMO. Which is why I can't imagine the Dodgers would do it.

[Roderick]

I'd take two years of Buehrle for Weeks and some cash. He's a veteran lefty and would benefit from a return to a) the midwest and b) the NL

 

I'd make that deal too but the Brewers would probably need to include Estrada. Buehrle is overpaid but he's still valuable as an innings eater and they'd need to replace those somehow.

 

If the Brewers are tossing in Estrada then the Blue Jays better be picking up quite a bit of the tab for 2015. Otherwise, I would think the fair trade would be closer to straight up (but this comes back to how much money they have to spend). Buehrle had some value in 2013, where Weeks didn't, but Buehrle is signed for big money the next two years and he isn't a spring chicken. If the Blue Jays have money in their budget and no pitcher waiting to join the roster then they are not going to give much on the deal. If they are tight on the budget, have a AAA pitcher ready for the majors and their 2B options suck then they may give quite a bit on the deal and still be better off as a team.

[LouisEly]

You were close on the Dodgers, but had the wrong pitcher - Josh Beckett.

 

Beckett is owed more than Weeks so the Dodgers will have to throw in salary or prospects. He had neck/shoulder surgery in May so he will have plenty of time to rehab. The Brewers get their veteran starter on a one-year deal.

 

Weeks + Ramirez to the Dodgers for Beckett + Chris Reed + lower level pitching prospect

[DHonks]

I haven't looked it up, but has Beckett had a good season in the last 8 or so years?

[endaround]

Chris Reed? At this point he is a lower level pitching prospect.

[LouisEly]

2011 - 2.89 ERA, 193 IP, 146 H, 175 K, 1.026 WHIP

 

2.93 ERA for LA after the trade to the Dodgers in 2012

[endaround]

Beckett was really good in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011. He was OK in 2012 and injured in 2010 and 2013.

[brewmann04]

if they can trade weeks i will be shocked.

[reillymcshane]

if they can trade weeks i will be shocked.

I think the only way it happens is if you swap him for another team's baggage. Or take on 90% of his salary.

[brewmann04]

well at this point take someone who might at lkeast have a turnaround season than eating all of his contract.

[CheezWizHed]

I think the only way it happens is if you swap him for another team's baggage.

 

Most of the thread is focused on exactly that. I think people are trying to find other people's baggage that might be more useful to us than Weeks.

[nate82]

I think the only way it happens is if you swap him for another team's baggage.

 

Most of the thread is focused on exactly that. I think people are trying to find other people's baggage that might be more useful to us than Weeks.

 

I think you can get something good it is just how much are you willing to pay of Weeks salary. I would pay a majority of the contract if it meant getting a decent prospect in return as the money is already budgeted for Weeks next year so paying for a part of his contract doesn't really have much of an impact on the teams budget.

[TooLiveBrew]

I think the only way it happens is if you swap him for another team's baggage.

 

Most of the thread is focused on exactly that. I think people are trying to find other people's baggage that might be more useful to us than Weeks.

 

I think you can get something good it is just how much are you willing to pay of Weeks salary. I would pay a majority of the contract if it meant getting a decent prospect in return as the money is already budgeted for Weeks next year so paying for a part of his contract doesn't really have much of an impact on the teams budget.

If another team offered Weeks to the Brewers & volunteered to pick up the vast majority of his salary, what Brewers prospect would you be willing to part with? I wouldn't want to see anyone of even moderate value given up for him at this point with his price tag. He's not very likely to get any kind of good return even if the Brewers are offering him up basically for free. You can find .700-ish OPS subpar defenders at 2B for pretty cheap in the FA market any offseason, and whether it proves to hold true going forward or not, that's his baseline value at this point.

[SoupTown]

You gotta hang onto Weeks. He platoons with Scooter for a month or two and you see what you have. It is painful having two 2nd baseman... but for the Crew's sake, it likely works. Bianchi is so flexible that it lets you get away with it. I consider Weeks 24 man on the roster (he is the right hand pinch hitter and sometimes 2nd baseman). Bianchi is a great, great 25th man. Oddly with our two infielders being righty. I guess it is nice our 4 and 5 outfielders will be lefty.

[HiAndTight]

You were close on the Dodgers, but had the wrong pitcher - Josh Beckett.

 

Beckett is owed more than Weeks so the Dodgers will have to throw in salary or prospects. He had neck/shoulder surgery in May so he will have plenty of time to rehab. The Brewers get their veteran starter on a one-year deal.

 

Weeks + Ramirez to the Dodgers for Beckett + Chris Reed + lower level pitching prospect

 

 

I have to imagine the Dodgers are going to slow down in the spending. I don't see them taking on ARam's 20 million and giving up a good pitching prospect. They had an opening day payroll of 240 million dollars this year which as of next year would cost them almost 300 million dollars. I realize they got this enormous TV deal worth over 7 billion, but over 3 billion of that goes back into the revenue sharing.

 

Edit-At least when it comes to taking on bad contracts. I could still see them making a run at a guy like Cano, but not taking on Weeks and Aram...