Any more moves before end of August?

[adambr2]

Should find out today about Niasco. Marlins or Cardinals have first crack among the fringe contenders, they have the same record so not sure which one gets first dibs.

[brewmann04]

Verlander left yesterday game with some type of issue in the back of his neck

[pacopete4]

Should find out today about Niasco. Marlins or Cardinals have first crack among the fringe contenders, they have the same record so not sure which one gets first dibs.

 

It feels almost impossible that those two teams, amongst others, would allow him to move up the chain to a team like us, or the Cubs. One can hope but it just doesn't feel realistic.

[adambr2]

Should find out today about Niasco. Marlins or Cardinals have first crack among the fringe contenders, they have the same record so not sure which one gets first dibs.

 

It feels almost impossible that those two teams, amongst others, would allow him to move up the chain to a team like us, or the Cubs. One can hope but it just doesn't feel realistic.

 

I saw an article for the Rockies yesterday claiming they think Niasco will fall to Colorado. I thought, no way, because he'd have to get past us for that to happen, and no way are we not putting in a claim.

 

I would be furious if he did, not only because it would mean we missed an obvious and free bullpen upgrade, but also let him go to one of the main, if not the main team that we're vying for a playoff spot against.

[jerichoholicninja]

I really have no idea what to think of Nicasio. The other thread about him everyone said there's no way the Pirates would trade him in fact they should resign him. Days later the Pirates are giving him away for free.

[adambr2]

I really have no idea what to think of Nicasio. The other thread about him everyone said there's no way the Pirates would trade him in fact they should resign him. Days later the Pirates are giving him away for free.

 

All I really need to think about him is that he's easily better than Carlos Torres. That's plenty good enough for me.

[shanedog19]

Very active day so far today. My hunch is we make a move before the end of the day, hopefully to acquire more bullpen help.

[pacopete4]

Nicasio didnt get past the Phillies?

 

At least the Cards/Marlins didn't get a sniff of him either.

 

 

 

I see that the Tigers are open to trading Verlander now... Giddy up!

[wibadgers23]

What time is the deadline?

[OnaBadger58]

What time is the deadline?

Midnight EST

[adambr2]

Nicasio didnt get past the Phillies?

 

At least the Cards/Marlins didn't get a sniff of him either.

 

 

 

I see that the Tigers are open to trading Verlander now... Giddy up!

 

Sort of a weird move for the Phillies. 600K for a month when they're not going anywhere this year anyway

 

But yeah, at least he's not going to a different contender.

[AKCheesehead]

That move by the Phillies reminds me of some people in fantasy football. Oh well.

[Brewcrewin07]

Thought this was interesting...

 

[JosephC]

Latest on MLBTradeRumors is that the Astros and Cubs have talked to Detroit and the Tigers have not moved at all on their demands for Verlander. Hard to believe that Stearns wouldn't have been willing to meet the asking price in July but would be willing to meet it tonight (especially with another month off the calender).

[brewmann04]

stros look like they are getting Justin

[Point Beer Is Best]

Nicasio didnt get past the Phillies?

 

At least the Cards/Marlins didn't get a sniff of him either.

 

 

 

I see that the Tigers are open to trading Verlander now... Giddy up!

 

Sort of a weird move for the Phillies. 600K for a month when they're not going anywhere this year anyway

 

But yeah, at least he's not going to a different contender.

 

Not sure if it was brought up elsewhere, but the Cards acquired Nicasio from the Phillies for a prospect.

 

So the Pirates dumped him for $600k in salary relief BEFORE the waiver trade deadline for playoff eligibility, and the Phillies pay him for a week and parlay him into a prospect. He won't be eligible for the Cardinals' playoff roster, but he will certainly assist in getting them there.

[pacopete4]

Nicasio didnt get past the Phillies?

 

At least the Cards/Marlins didn't get a sniff of him either.

 

 

 

I see that the Tigers are open to trading Verlander now... Giddy up!

 

Sort of a weird move for the Phillies. 600K for a month when they're not going anywhere this year anyway

 

But yeah, at least he's not going to a different contender.

 

Not sure if it was brought up elsewhere, but the Cards acquired Nicasio from the Phillies for a prospect.

 

So the Pirates dumped him for $600k in salary relief BEFORE the waiver trade deadline for playoff eligibility, and the Phillies pay him for a week and parlay him into a prospect. He won't be eligible for the Cardinals' playoff roster, but he will certainly assist in getting them there.

 

It shouldn't shock anyone anymore that a franchise as successful as the Cardinals continue to make playoff moves while a franchise as horrific as the Brewers continue to use the phrase "rebuild."

[adambr2]

I don't think this really has anything to do with the Brewers. The Cardinals gave up a top 20 organizational prospect in this deal. I'd be pretty irritated if we did that for less than a month of a guy who wouldn't even be playoff eligible. Its a highly similar trade to Swarzak for Cordell, only we got an extra 5 weeks plus and playoff eligibility. The Cardinals also just traded Mike Leake at the end of August so I'd actually argue that their recent sequence of moves is pretty odd.

 

The real winners were the Phillies who get a prospect just for paying for a guy for a week and the real losers were obviously the Pirates. They essentially said Niasco was claimed by a division rival when they put him on revocable waivers. So they literally chose to get nothing for him rather than trade him within the division, which is obviously completely idiotic and another example of why the whole taboo about trading within the division is just dumb. All this even though Niasco is a free agent in a month anyway and would be no help to a division rival in the future.

[JosephC]

I think Eliezer Alvarez is a better prospect than what is indicated in the MLB.com bio/ranking after having read through past bios in Baseball America Prospect Handbooks. Has the ability to play anywhere in the infield and is still improving as a defensive player. The Cardinals had him in rookie league ball for four seasons but when he got his first chance at A ball in 2016 he posted a .404 OBP and had 36 doubles. Offensive numbers regressed this season but he still ended with a respectable .247/.321/.382/.702 slash line which isn't bad when considering he had an ankle injury. He really struggled when first coming off the DL (was down to a .653 OPS at one point) but looked good over the last couple of weeks to bring those numbers up a bit by season's end. No way would I predict super-stardom for this player but he's a top 15 prospect in several different organizations and IMO a solid "role-player" type prospect. Obviously a completely different player than Jake Gatewood, but in terms of "prospect quality" I'd say Alvarez/Gatewood are about the same. Definitely not just a inconsequential piece thrown in a trade. I'm guessing the Cardinals probably have a 40-man roster crunch coming up which would explain the reason why they would give up Alvarez for just a few weeks of a reliever. Obviously I love what the Phillies accomplished here.

[OnTheBlack]

 

It shouldn't shock anyone anymore that a franchise as successful as the Cardinals continue to make playoff moves while a franchise as horrific as the Brewers continue to use the phrase "rebuild."

 

Is that what they're continuing to do? Seems to me they just got done with a decade of competing, including twice trading for Cy Young winners in their prime and haven't(at times even to their detriment) used or acting like a team that was rebuilding at all.

 

Not to mention, during THIS current rebuild, they're actually outplaying the "contending" Cards.

 

I'm not really seeing this franchise as "horrific" at this point. In fact, I'm not sure what the Brewers could have done the past two years that they could have done better.

[pacopete4]

 

It shouldn't shock anyone anymore that a franchise as successful as the Cardinals continue to make playoff moves while a franchise as horrific as the Brewers continue to use the phrase "rebuild."

 

Is that what they're continuing to do? Seems to me they just got done with a decade of competing, including twice trading for Cy Young winners in their prime and haven't(at times even to their detriment) used or acting like a team that was rebuilding at all.

 

Not to mention, during THIS current rebuild, they're actually outplaying the "contending" Cards.

 

I'm not really seeing this franchise as "horrific" at this point. In fact, I'm not sure what the Brewers could have done the past two years that they could have done better.

 

If taken out of context, you can make anything seem the way you want it. I do agree with you that the last two seasons have gone about as well as anyone could ask for. That's not anywhere near what I said above. Could the Brewers have done more this season? Yep. They could've. If they wouldn't have just said oh we are rebuilding and stuck a bunch of bums in the pen, maybe we are a couple games up right now, who knows? If you want to have the Brewer goggles on and tell me that the Cardinals are somehow beneath us in any way, I don't know where to even begin. There's a good chance that they even win the flipping division this season. It is okay to recognize how lousy our franchise has been over the course of their history as well as recognize that they seem to be on a path to hopefully a long and prosperous stretch. Either way, I'm not sure how someone can't tip their cap to a franchise like the Cardinals that just seem to figure out how to win and win a lot.

[gregmag]

Cardinals fans are mightily annoyed about all manner of dumb moves they believe their team has made this year. They're a great organization, but 2017 provides about the worst imaginable evidence for condemning the Brewers by comparison. Nobody thought we were a contender coming into the season. As soon as we started looking legit -- largely due to MLB talent the FO had picked up over the last couple of seasons -- the FO moved to plug holes. An in-season pivot from rebuild to contention is really hard to pull off, and the Brewers have managed it.

 

Maybe over the final two weeks the Cardinals will soar and the Brewers will crash. Right now, though, I see one team that swept the Cubs in Wrigley at crunch time and got back into the pennant race, while the other team got swept and essentially killed its chances. I don't think there's much of an argument, right now, about which organization has made the more winning moves over the past year.

[tmwiese55]

Yea we can complain about not getting a SP like some do here. As just said they flipped from rebuild to contender and did fill holes without giving much up. Bandy was sucking, snagged Vogt for nothing who's done well overall. Swarzak for a guy they were likely going to lose in the offseason anyway, filled a huge hole. Walker for almost nothing to fill in one hole in the offense. We can't say they haven't made positive moves to give this run an extra boost. And they did it without giving anything major up. Generally it has worked too, just the Cubs and Rox haven't been losing. And frankly the only reason we in the race to be begin with was the Cubs playing so poorly in the first half, so it is what it is, it's not like we ever more than a few games over .500.