Brewers NEW Core

[superfly]

 

1) Zimmermann

2) Lohse (if he comes back to normal and would sign a 1 year deal)

3) Peralta

4) Garza

5) Nelson

 

C - Lucroy

1B - Lind / Rogers

2B - Gennett / H Gomez etc

SS - Segura

3B - Freese (?)

LF - Joyce/Davis

CF - Gomez

RF - Braun/Joyce

 

 

This lineup would be a lot like the line ups of the past 3-4 - mediocre. If all things worked out really well, they might even have a playoff chance. It could also fail miserably, just like this year.

 

Then 2016 rolls around and you lose your all-star CF and your starting 1B. And age won't do any favors for Braun, Luc or Garza.

 

It is a recipe for mediocrity. The club knows it well. As you noted, based on our past history, we'll likely see this more than we would a total rebuild.

 

I think if we deleveraged ourselves from the home run ball a little (like Lind), it would help the team quite a bit. Also we have been way too right handed in a predominantly RHP loaded division too for years. The roster is poorly constructed for that reason & if it was repaired I think we'd see a much more competitive team.

 

Ideally Taylor, Harrison, etc would be able to take over in CF in 2017 if we went that route.

[tmwiese55]

Very good post Reilly, well said. And superfly's 'grass is greener' thing, that's pretty much what I'm getting at. good cliche to sum up my point.

 

For this proposed lineup, I think that's what most people here fear. putting out another team with a 80ish win projection, but hoping to get lucky and make the playoffs. Though I'm a little worried a route similar to this is likely based on MA's history, though I doubt they'll get someone as good as Zimmerman. More likely another Garza type. In this route, losing Gomez the year after for nothing will hurt the future, then the same with Lucroy after that.

[trwi7]

This lineup would be a lot like the line ups of the past 3-4 - mediocre. If all things worked out really well, they might even have a playoff chance. It could also fail miserably, just like this year.

 

Then 2016 rolls around and you lose your all-star CF and your starting 1B. And age won't do any favors for Braun, Luc or Garza.

 

It is a recipe for mediocrity. The club knows it well. As you noted, based on our past history, we'll likely see this more than we would a total rebuild.

 

Not to mention Zimmermann would really have to want to play for the Brewers because there's not a chance we're going to be offering him the biggest contract.

[reillymcshane]

For sake of argument, let's say the club dealt Peralta, Luc and Gomez. Let's say that Gomez and Luc can, each, fetch you a prospect in the 10-20 range and another in the 20-50 range. Let's say Peralta can get you a guy in the 20-50 range (perhaps I'm wrong about those trade estimates, but it's just a guess). Let's pick out some current prospects and add them to our future lineup. I'm not saying we can - or should - trade for these players - I'm just using them as examples of the type of prospect we could potentially land. I'm sure there are teams just like us who won't trade their prospects for established vets simply because they don't need them. I've avoided taking top 10 players, since those guys really are going to cost a bunch and it's not that realistic a club would deal them.

 

I'm using MLB.com's prospect rankings for no other reason than it's easy and they have nice summaries of the players - http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2015

 

For Lucroy: Black Swihart © - ranked #19 for Boston; Aaron Nola (SP) #37 for Philly

For Gomez: Daniel Norris (P) - ranked #18 for Toronto; D.J. Peterson (1B) #49 for Seattle

For Peralta: Alex Meyer (SP) ranked #29 for Minnesota

 

2017 Line-up

 

C - Swihart

1B - Braun (I don't know if this would work, but I've put him there to get Coulter in the line up)

2B - Segura or Scooter or Sardinas

SS - Arcia

3B - D.J. Peterson (he could be at 1B as well)

LF - Davis

CF - Taylor

RF - Coulter

 

SP - Nelson, Norris, Nola, Meyer, Thornburg, Jungmann, Wagner, Cravy

RP - Knebel, Jeffress, Smith

 

This is a starting point in 2017. You have other trade assets at this time: Parra, Garza, Lohse. While they probably won't net a top 100 guy, they might add some depth or lower level guys that are a bit further away.

 

And the Brewers have some interesting players at the AA/AAA levels. Brooks Hall, Michael Reed, Yadiel Rivera, David Goforth to name a few. And stripped of salaries, the club would have the flexibility to add salary if needed via a trade or free agent signing. After all, some of the shiny prospects will fail. We'll no doubt need lesser prospects to step up, or need to find solutions in other ways. I'd much rather add a Jordan Zimmerman type player in 2017-18 with this line up than next year with an aging, and not very deep, roster.

 

No matter, I'd be more excited about the above line up than if we kept together what we had and muddled forward. I know it's all a risk, but to me, it's worth it.

 

Again, the players listed are just abstracts - they are the type of players we could be adding (not necessarily the specific players). I like the idea of putting the names in there as opposed to just "Prospect Pitcher acquired in Lucroy deal".

 

Also, maybe I'm off regarding the value of the three players we are dealing. Perhaps we can get more - or less - for them. No matter, this puts more of a face on what a club could look like in 2017.

[monty57]

Not to mention Zimmermann would really have to want to play for the Brewers because there's not a chance we're going to be offering him the biggest contract.

 

...or the best chance at playing for a winning team

[brewcrewdue80]

Reilly only problem you have is you gave Gomez to Toronto who has Dalton Pompey for that position. I don't think Toronto would look to deal for Gomez.

Alex Meyer for Minnesota. That would happen in the offseason I guess? Because Minnesota isn't a playoff caliber team at this moment to add on a SP for this year. And I'm thinking Alex Meyer is ready for the club in 2016.

 

 

Here's part of the problem for Milw. Losing teams with the best prospects to ask to acquire like Minnesota or Philly or Houston. Top prospects within the division to ask for: Cubs/Pirates. Teams that made trades this offseason no longer have the prospects to ask for(like San Diego or Miami) And teams that received the good prospects are rebuilding like Tampa/Atlanta.

 

You browse around a top 100 prospect list and there are many that actually graduated to the big club and a big part of that team being playoff types that you're not going to get them in return:Joc Pederson, Kris Bryant, Archie Bradley, Carlos Rodon, Norris, Michael Taylor, Pompey, and Realmuto etc.

 

You get down to having to either hit the HRs like the Seager deal, or very well likely taking a team's #1/#2 prospect that barely sits in the top 100 and has more flameout potential than core piece potential. And that is why I suggest Peralta to LA for Seager. Do what it takes to get the HR prospect. Peralta isn't a HR SP but quality nonetheless. He's not Zack Greinke or Clayton Kershaw, or Matt Harvey type. Those clamoring that he needs to be kept need to remember that. He's essentially another Yovani Gallardo at best. Now if we can take that and get a Corey Seager who would be more like getting an Evan Longoria. Who would you rather have? Longoria to build around or Gallardo?

[monty57]

reilly, your line of thought is what I (and many on here) would like. I think it's well past time that ownership realizes we need to rebuild, and trading guys like Gomez, Lucroy and Lind is the quickest way we could get through a rebuild. The past few years I hoped the Brewers would make a few moves for the future so that a complete rebuild wouldn't be necessary, but I think that ship has sailed. We don't have the horses to win this race, so we're at a point that if we don't trade guys while we have them, we won't have guys to trade in the not-too-distant future. If we keep Gomez and Lucroy to free agency, who are our trade chip that will quickly turn the farm around? I don't really see anyone other than potentially Nelson. The longer this drags out, the uglier it gets.

 

However, if I had to bet, I think a lineup like superfly listed above is much more likely. We'll trade away the guys who will be free agents (Lohse, Parra, Ramirez) for anything we can get at the trade deadline, even salary relief. None of those guys will bring back any useful talent. We'll use the money saved from those contracts to sign a couple free agent vets next offseason - my guess is Uribe (3B) and Lackey (SP) - and try to sell the fanbase on our "revamped playoff team." This won't work, and I hope it doesn't happen, but I bet it will.

[And That]

For Lucroy: Black Swihart © - ranked #19 for Boston; Aaron Nola (SP) #37 for Philly

For Gomez: Daniel Norris (P) - ranked #18 for Toronto; D.J. Peterson (1B) #49 for Seattle

For Peralta: Alex Meyer (SP) ranked #29 for Minnesota

That's probably fair value, maybe a bit high for Peralta, probably a bit low for Lucroy.

 

However, and this is a big however, you obviously would never get that combination of people in real life. Looking at value is fine, but in reality, you not only have to find a team that has a need for a Lucroy, or a Gomez, or a Peralta, or a Lind, etc., but they have to have and be willing to give up commensurate value. So which team would trade for Lucroy and have and be prepared to part with two top 50 prospects? Same question for Gomez and Peralta and Lind and whomever (adjusting for return value, of course).

 

That narrows the field of potential trade matches by quite a bit. So while Lucroy may be worth Swihart and Nola and then some, Boston doesn't have Nola, and their other top 100 prospects are Yoan Moncada (9), Henry Owens (20), and Eduardo Rodriguez (87). Does Boston value Lucroy enough over Ryan Hanigan to include Moncada and Swihart, or Owens and Swihart? Is Swihart and Rodriguez plus some lower level guys enough? Would they even part with Swihart or Moncada in the first place (I've read no)?

 

The difficulty in getting the right kind of value back is one reason I am almost positive that Attanasio is not going to go through with a total rebuild, even if that's not a great reason.

[MrTPlush]

Here's part of the problem for Milw. Losing teams with the best prospects to ask to acquire like Minnesota or Philly or Houston. Top prospects within the division to ask for: Cubs/Pirates. Teams that made trades this offseason 1.no longer have the prospects to ask for(like San Diego or Miami) And teams that received the good prospects are rebuilding like Tampa/Atlanta.

 

You browse around a top 100 prospect list and there are many that actually graduated to the big club and a big part of that team being Playoff types that you're not going to get them in return:Joc Pederson, Kris Bryant, Archie Bradley, Carlos Rodon, Norris, Michael Taylor, Pompey, and Realmuto etc.

 

You get down to having to either hit the HRs like the Seager deal, or very well likely taking a team's #1/#2 prospect that barely sits in the top 100 and has more flameout potential than Core piece potential. And that is 2.why I suggest Peralta to LA for Seager. Do what it takes to get the HR prospect. Peralta isn't a HR SP but quality nonetheless. He's not Zack Greinke or Clayton Kershaw, or Matt Harvey type. Those clamoring that he needs to be kept need to remember that. He's essentially another Yovani Gallardo at best. Now if we can take that and get a Corey Seager who would be more like getting an Evan Longoria. Who would you rather have? Longoria to build around or Gallardo?

 

1. The Padres still have THREE Top 100 prospects...how is that nothing?

 

2. Thanks for the good laugh...Seager for Peralta? Are you serious?

[monty57]

Those clamoring that he needs to be kept need to remember that. He's essentially another Yovani Gallardo at best. Now if we can take that and get a Corey Seager who would be more like getting an Evan Longoria. Who would you rather have? Longoria to build around or Gallardo?

 

If Peralta will bring back a Longoria-type prospect, then that makes sense. However, if you can't get an elite prospect back for him, I have no problem offering him a Lucroy-type extension, buying out a year or two of his FA years for a low total cost. He'd have to agree to it, and if he didn't then the writing's on the wall that he will be traded in the next year or two, but if he accepts that style extension we would at least have two decent starters (along with Nelson) for the fans to cheer for during a few down seasons, and he should be able to be traded if necessary, as the obligation on the contract is pretty low.

[MrTPlush]

For Lucroy: Black Swihart © - ranked #19 for Boston; Aaron Nola (SP) #37 for Philly

For Gomez: Daniel Norris (P) - ranked #18 for Toronto; D.J. Peterson (1B) #49 for Seattle

For Peralta: Alex Meyer (SP) ranked #29 for Minnesota

That's probably fair value, maybe a bit high for Peralta, probably a bit low for Lucroy.

 

However, and this is a big however, you obviously would never get that combination of people in real life. Looking at value is fine, but in reality, you not only have to find a team that has a need for a Lucroy, or a Gomez, or a Peralta, or a Lind, etc., but they have to have and be willing to give up commensurate value. So which team would trade for Lucroy and have and be prepared to part with two top 50 prospects? Same question for Gomez and Peralta and Lind and whomever (adjusting for return value, of course).

 

That narrows the field of potential trade matches by quite a bit. So while Lucroy may be worth Swihart and Nola and then some, Boston doesn't have Nola, and their other top 100 prospects are Yoan Moncada (9), Henry Owens (20), and Eduardo Rodriguez (87). Does Boston value Lucroy enough over Ryan Hanigan to include Moncada and Swihart, or Owens and Swihart? Is Swihart and Rodriguez plus some lower level guys enough? Would they even part with Moncada in the first place (I've read no)?

 

The difficulty in getting the right kind of value back is one reason I am almost positive that Attanasio is not going to go through with a total rebuild, even if that's not a great reason.

 

No chance they even consider trading Moncada. They would have to eat that tax of $32mil themselves. While the actual bonus might be able to follow him in a trade the overage tax wouldn't. Probably wouldn't be the smartest financial move.

[brewcrewdue80]

Here's part of the problem for Milw. Losing teams with the best prospects to ask to acquire like Minnesota or Philly or Houston. Top prospects within the division to ask for: Cubs/Pirates. Teams that made trades this offseason 1.no longer have the prospects to ask for(like San Diego or Miami) And teams that received the good prospects are rebuilding like Tampa/Atlanta.

 

You browse around a top 100 prospect list and there are many that actually graduated to the big club and a big part of that team being Playoff types that you're not going to get them in return:Joc Pederson, Kris Bryant, Archie Bradley, Carlos Rodon, Norris, Michael Taylor, Pompey, and Realmuto etc.

 

You get down to having to either hit the HRs like the Seager deal, or very well likely taking a team's #1/#2 prospect that barely sits in the top 100 and has more flameout potential than Core piece potential. And that is 2.why I suggest Peralta to LA for Seager. Do what it takes to get the HR prospect. Peralta isn't a HR SP but quality nonetheless. He's not Zack Greinke or Clayton Kershaw, or Matt Harvey type. Those clamoring that he needs to be kept need to remember that. He's essentially another Yovani Gallardo at best. Now if we can take that and get a Corey Seager who would be more like getting an Evan Longoria. Who would you rather have? Longoria to build around or Gallardo?

 

1. The Padres still have THREE Top 100 prospects...how is that nothing?

 

2. Thanks for the good laugh...Seager for Peralta? Are you serious?

 

Padres only have 2...Turner is already the PTBNL headed to Atlanta I believe after the draft.

Renfroe or Hedges. I don't believe the team needs to build in trade for a Catcher that leaves Renfroe. An OF Something Milw has a bunch of prospects with a Braun contract holding down 1 of the spots. I just don't feel Renfroe who's batting .188 with 23k in 69ABs 33% is of the prospect mold to guarantee results. More like Flameout potential and I'm not taking that risk.

 

Seager for Peralta...am I serious? Well yeah if they'll listen to it. I mentioned how to sweeten the pot if need be to acquire him. The argument is being made to keep Peralta as a core piece. So why wouldn't the Dodgers consider acquiring that type of SP considering their fails they've had yearly? Seems like every #3-5 SP they have goes through DL stints some 60day+. If Peralta is the 30+ Start pitcher young rubber arm, that would solve a huge problem for them and it'd be a lot cheaper than their Brett Anderson/Bradon McCarthy of this year...Josh Beckett/Chad Billingsley of the past. Are the Dodgers trying to win the WS this year considering Rollins/Uribe/Kendrick/Anderson are FAs to be when the season is over? McCarthy is out maybe for the season. Theres a need for a SP in that rotation. You're failing to recall they are losing Seager for 6years of team control while gaining Peralta for 3.4+years of control. This isn't a rental trade idea.

[FVBrewerFan]

We all know there is a risk trading Peralta or Nelson, but there is a risk keeping them also. If they turn out to me mediocre, you look back and say we could have trade them for x. If they're great, can't afford to re-sign them and they walk. What did we get out of it? 3-4 years of great pitching wasted on a mediocre team.

 

I'll go back to page one, when someone said everyone should be tradeable. If someone offers the right deal, you take it. With the team they have now, the only other alternative is double the salary to make them a true contender.

 

Look, there are no guarantees with whatever approach you want to use. I just think the best chance you have is to flood the organization with talent where they're already strong- AA and below. Because yes, some of these guys will flame out. But if you increase the quantity and quality of players at that level, you are much more likely to have a wave of talent at the same time reach the MLB level.

[reillymcshane]

For Lucroy: Black Swihart © - ranked #19 for Boston; Aaron Nola (SP) #37 for Philly

For Gomez: Daniel Norris (P) - ranked #18 for Toronto; D.J. Peterson (1B) #49 for Seattle

For Peralta: Alex Meyer (SP) ranked #29 for Minnesota

That's probably fair value, maybe a bit high for Peralta, probably a bit low for Lucroy.

 

However, and this is a big however, you obviously would never get that combination of people in real life. Looking at value is fine, but in reality, you not only have to find a team that has a need for a Lucroy, or a Gomez, or a Peralta, or a Lind, etc., but they have to have and be willing to give up commensurate value. So which team would trade for Lucroy and have and be prepared to part with two top 50 prospects? Same question for Gomez and Peralta and Lind and whomever (adjusting for return value, of course).

 

That narrows the field of potential trade matches by quite a bit. So while Lucroy may be worth Swihart and Nola and then some, Boston doesn't have Nola, and their other top 100 prospects are Yoan Moncada (9), Henry Owens (20), and Eduardo Rodriguez (87). Does Boston value Lucroy enough over Ryan Hanigan to include Moncada and Swihart, or Owens and Swihart? Is Swihart and Rodriguez plus some lower level guys enough? Would they even part with Swihart or Moncada in the first place (I've read no)?

 

The difficulty in getting the right kind of value back is one reason I am almost positive that Attanasio is not going to go through with a total rebuild, even if that's not a great reason.

 

Yeah, it takes two to tango on trades. So much has to match up. The team has to want and need our specific player. They have to have the assets we value. Very hard.

[reillymcshane]

Reilly only problem you have is you gave Gomez to Toronto who has Dalton Pompey for that position. I don't think Toronto would look to deal for Gomez.

Alex Meyer for Minnesota. That would happen in the offseason I guess? Because Minnesota isn't a playoff caliber team at this moment to add on a SP for this year. And I'm thinking Alex Meyer is ready for the club in 2016.

I wasn't trying to suggest specific trades or trade targets -- more just trying to put value on what a player like Gomez was worth - and then showing how making the trades could manifest themselves in a line up a few years from now. Essentially I was acting as if the prospects were all one big pot, and who owned them didn't matter. And the same went for who we traded our guys to - it didn't matter. It's not realistic, but to try and craft specific trades is pretty big project. I think those are great conversations, but you'd really need to find the right fit. (I think some of those conversations are going on in the transactions forum. Maybe just start some new ones - one for each player.)

[logan82]

Man I'm sure glad some on here aren't running the team with the knee jerk reactions. Willy goes 17-11 with a 3.5 era at age 24. He has three bad starts in a row (when the whole teams is struggling) and ya'll say he sucks and either should be traded or sent to the minors. Come on people. It's this perpetual trade for the future attitude that I think gets overblown on here. Yea I wish he had more of an out pitch to get more strikeouts but you can pick apart a flaw in everyone. They'll still have control over him for what 4-5 more years, this is exactly the type of guy they should be holding onto and embracing. Instead you want to kick him while he's down and give up on him after 3 games. If he turns it around and finishes this year ok, prime candidate to buy out the arby years and one or two of FA for cheap just like they did with Gallardo and then trade him when he's 30 or 31.

 

Wily isn't just starting to struggle.

 

He's had a FIP of 4.3 (2013), 4.1 (2014), and 4.4 (2015) in the majors. Last year he had "luck" to get that 3.5 ERA and the run support for the wins. For most of the year I believe he had the highest run support in the league.

 

He can't get lefties out. I mean, like lefty hitters are a combined Mike Trout against him. He's had TJ surgery once and still throws hard with a bunch of sliders...TJ #2 might not be too far around the corner. His WHIP combined in the minors was 1.4 and his ERA was 4 combined in the minors. An ace or even higher-end rotation guy should have better minors numbers than that.

 

I would imagine other teams also see these issues and his trade value isn't incredibly high. He's an OK piece that never has been a frontline starter prospect.

 

It's not overreaction. I like him and he can probably be an up-and-down #3/#4 as his career progresses...but this isn't just reaction from the first 3-4 starts of the season.

Peralta should be expected to out produce his FIP because he is a ground ball pitcher. FIP is way to K/9 and BB/9 based. He hasn't been getting lucky unless you mean he is lucky not to have Braun, Yuni, Fielder or Weeks fielding behind him.

[reillymcshane]

 

2017 Line-up

 

C - Swihart

1B - Braun (I don't know if this would work, but I've put him there to get Coulter in the line up)

2B - Segura or Scooter or Sardinas

SS - Arcia

3B - D.J. Peterson (he could be at 1B as well)

LF - Davis

CF - Taylor

RF - Coulter

 

SP - Nelson, Norris, Nola, Meyer, Thornburg, Jungmann, Wagner, Cravy

RP - Knebel, Jeffress, Smith

 

 

All speculation and caveats aside, something like this would be a pretty fun looking line up for 2017.

[TheCrew07]

Corey Seager... the prospect I wanted as a PTBNL in a possible Ramirez dump to the Dodgers after that great first year in Milwaukee. He had to be a PTBNL because when we were discussing it weren't past his signing date yet. 2 years later the kid has become an absolute stud, is the #5 prospect in baseball now, and we're going to pull him with Wily Peralta? There's no way...

 

You have to target those players with great upside before they've established a name as a great prospect in AA. I've said for a long time that Peralta is a #3 because he doesn't have the command/control nor the 3rd pitch necessary to be a front line starter... people see him throw 97-98 and think that means he has the potential to be a #1, but there's more to pitching that pure velocity. I don't know if the Brewers have a player that could pull that kind of talent 1 for 1... maybe Gomez or Lucroy depending on a bidding war, but Wily Peralta certainly isn't going to get it done.

 

If we're talking about getting players with legitimate impact talent then we have to look at the lower levels of the minors because we don't have the horses to pull one of the best prospects in baseball. It takes the right team, with the need, a high level of demand, and perfect timing to pull off a deal like that and as sellers the Brewers have never been that aggressive. It doesn't it mean it can't be done, Tampa routinely pulled off model MLB for prospect deals under AF, but there is maybe 1 or 2 of those deals out there in a given year and if you aren't aggressive then you miss the opportunity.... and no, there's nothing aggressive about targeting pitchers who have won a CY award, there's no immediate risk in acquiring that kind of player and even years later people will dismiss any downside with the standard, "at least they went for it" mantra.

 

I want the Brewers to be unique, to be out in front of the curve but there simply isn't the management in place to do so. They do things they way they've always been done and only move to a strategy once it's been proven by another team, which means that we as fans literally have no chance of rooting for a dynasty because the team has neither the resources to buy impact assets or the vision to reposition those assets in a manner which will create a sustained culture of winning and a high level of success. I truly believe that 2011 is the best this franchise can do operating the way it has, I've been posting about these issues for a very long time, and I'm passionate about my opinions on organization building. I'm not a fatalist, I just saw this outcome coming a long time ago because we lacked young impact pitching and still do, that's the only sustainable currency in baseball... young pitching talent.

 

Pitching talent is the true power, and we don't have it, which is why we've always been destined to be nothing more than blips on the radar, that's why I was so negative about Marcum, Sabathia, and Greinke... I'm all for trading prospects, I believe the Brewers need to aggressively move their pieces around the board, however I'm not into the limited value we got from those moves. We've set the bar way too low as a fan base, the end goal shouldn't be the playoffs, the end goal should be a Championship, and everything literally has to go perfectly for a organization to win a title in a 2 year or smaller window. In truth, everything went about as perfect as we could have hoped in 2011 and it still didn't happen. Not to mention we got a little more than 1 full year of Greinke and gave away 24 years of team control to acquire him, and of course took on his salary on top of that talent cost. Was 4 months of Sabathia worth 6 years of Brantley? Leave the playoff appearances aside, I'm talking about the ultimate talent pool of an organization, unfortunately people get so caught up debating the merits of individual player vs player comparisons that they've missed the much larger picture.

 

The Brewers model never was and never will be sustainable, the euphoria of making the playoffs doesn't change that fact. Every positive has a negative and for too long the Brewers and many fans have ignored those costs, pretending that they didn't exist, yet here we are.

[superfly]

For Lucroy: Black Swihart © - ranked #19 for Boston; Aaron Nola (SP) #37 for Philly

For Gomez: Daniel Norris (P) - ranked #18 for Toronto; D.J. Peterson (1B) #49 for Seattle

For Peralta: Alex Meyer (SP) ranked #29 for Minnesota

That's probably fair value, maybe a bit high for Peralta, probably a bit low for Lucroy.

 

However, and this is a big however, you obviously would never get that combination of people in real life. Looking at value is fine, but in reality, you not only have to find a team that has a need for a Lucroy, or a Gomez, or a Peralta, or a Lind, etc., but they have to have and be willing to give up commensurate value. So which team would trade for Lucroy and have and be prepared to part with two top 50 prospects? Same question for Gomez and Peralta and Lind and whomever (adjusting for return value, of course).

 

That narrows the field of potential trade matches by quite a bit. So while Lucroy may be worth Swihart and Nola and then some, Boston doesn't have Nola, and their other top 100 prospects are Yoan Moncada (9), Henry Owens (20), and Eduardo Rodriguez (87). Does Boston value Lucroy enough over Ryan Hanigan to include Moncada and Swihart, or Owens and Swihart? Is Swihart and Rodriguez plus some lower level guys enough? Would they even part with Swihart or Moncada in the first place (I've read no)?

 

The difficulty in getting the right kind of value back is one reason I am almost positive that Attanasio is not going to go through with a total rebuild, even if that's not a great reason.

 

Heh, wouldn't that be funny if we ended up with Moncada after all.

[bill hAll Star]

Meyer is better than Peralta (granted, older) in the minors...plus the Twins have no motivation to do so. Don't see that one happening.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

They have traceable pieces. I'd trade everything they can. If the player potentially can be a sustained part of the team in 2019 and beyond, then keep him. Otherwise I'd get that AA and below as loaded up as possible. The value of their trade pieces will be like melting ice cubes...they will need to get going. The goal should be for fans to be excited about what they see at Biloxi and Brevard.

[reillymcshane]

Meyer is better than Peralta (granted, older) in the minors...plus the Twins have no motivation to do so. Don't see that one happening.

Again, it's was not a a specific trade suggestion. Meyer, at #29, represented the kind of value the club could get for Peralta. It could have been the #28 ranked player or the #30 ranked player or the #39 ranked player. The idea was just to pick a player so that I could insert them in a purely speculative 2017 lineup.