Carlos Lee...What If?

[davego]

Just for fun, lets play 'What if."

 

What if Carlos and DM would have worked out a deal to keep him as our LF? Would Hart have gotten his chance to play? Where would Billy have ended up? I assume that Suppon would not have been signed, so would CV have gotten that spot in the rotation? Would the 'Crew have waited longre to bring up Ryan?

 

Any other what if's? Thoughts? This might be a fun game to play while we wait for the 2nd 1/2.

 

I do know our line-up would have been impressive.

[joepepsi]

Hart would be playing CF and Hall would be at 3rd.

 

I'm not convinced the team would be better.

[patrickgpe]

here is my guess. Suppan definately would not be signed and Villy would be in the rotation. Hall would still be moved to center. Therefore the question is who would be in right. Its very hard to project since there are 3 options. The easy guess is that its a platoon between Jenkins and Mench or Hart, with the other being off the team. Braun would of still found a way to play everyday at 3rd by now.

[craigharmann]

Biggest what if? No Coco. Turnbow (or whatever cast of characters) as our closer. That, right there, makes losing Lee worthwhile in my eyes.

[davego]

Do you see some type of unfolding of events that would have made the 'Crew better if Lee would have been able to be re-signed?

[jimmyjeromehardy7]

The easy guess is that its a platoon between Jenkins and Mench or Hart, with the other being off the team.

 

How did we end up with Mench? And I agree that it was worth losing Lee to have Coco be our closer.

[patrickgpe]

stupid me, freaking mondays i tell you, the brain's not working

[jwill535]

I think if Lee had been resigned then Melvin would have traded Jenkins in the offseason for some kind of bullpen help or salary relief. Suppan wouldnt have been here and villy would have been in the rotation and with 20/20 hindsight couldnt have done any worse. I agree the bullpen would have been really iffy and may have cost us more wins.

[JohnBriggs12]

jwill535 is absolutely correct. Jenkins would have been traded perhaps even for straight up last year (after Lee signed) for Cordero as Texas wanted to unload him. Hall would still be in CF. Suppan would be elsewhere. Villanueva would be a starter.

 

Hart would have started the year in RF, with occasional relief from Gross. Gwynn would still have been 5th OF.

 

That lineup would have been awesome. Imagine a lefty seeing Hart, Hardy, Braun, Lee and Hall around Fielder?

[davego]

Was there a FA option for the pen this past winter? Maybe that would have been part of the deal w/o Suppan and moving Geoff. Lee would have soaked up most of the $, but that might have been an option. I wonder if Billy might have ended up on the block for pitching too?

[Thurston Fluff]

we'd probably be about the same this year. Lee would certainly have helped offensivly but hurt on defense and the pitching would probably have less depth. Villy would be in the rotation so we would be short argueably our two best relievers. What would have been most detrimental to the Brewers isn't with regard to this year. It's what the outfield would have looked like in a couple years when Lee's already weak defense became worse and his salary would have been hard to dump.

[monty57]

As hard as he tried, Melvin was unable to trade Jenkins this offseason, so had we re-signed Lee, I would guess our OF would have consisted of Lee in LF, Hall in CF and a Jenkins/Hart platoon in RF. Jenkins' option would definitely not be picked up after the season, so Hart would've waited one more season to be an everyday starter. The next few years would then be set with Lee, Hall and Hart.

 

This, of course assumes that Melvin still would have offered Hall his contract extension. With Lee signed, and Braun coming up, he may have decided to let Hall play out his last year of arby (which may or may not have been a good thing, depending on how this season goes). If Hall was not signed to a long-term deal, he could have been manning 3rd this season, with Hart playing full-time in CF. That would mean that Braun would not yet be with the Brewers.

 

As has been mentioned, the money probably wouldn't have been there to sign Suppan. I would guess that it would not have had any bearing on the Davis trade, as that wasn't budget driven. Therefore, our starters would have Villy replacing Suppan, and our bullpen would include several of the current AAA guys, with Capellan still be playing a prominant role.

 

We may be a touch better this year if he were signed, but we may also be a touch worse. Had Hart not gotten injured earlier this season, I'd guess the differences in his numbers vs. those of Carlos would be pretty slim. Our OF would look better next year with Carlos there (figuring Jenkins to be gone). However, I'd be pretty upset when we started losing Fielder, Weeks, Hardy and the rest because we're paying a 37-year-old $20MM to hit 20 home runs.

[davego]

My guess is that Hall would have stayed @ 3b and we would have waited another year with Ryan (good for the arby).

 

The O would have been about the same, unless Billy would have moved to 2b and then Braun came up to play 3rd.

 

We would have needed CV in the rotation but with Capplen and Spurling (maybe Yo or Oxpring) the pen would be Ok, just not as good as right now.

 

DD would have still been traded and maybe Jenkins.

 

We would be looking for someone to share time with Geoff as Hart would be (and should be today) in CF.

[gregmag]

Jenkins would have been traded perhaps even for straight up last year (after Lee signed) for Cordero as Texas wanted to unload him.

 

This strikes me as unrealistic. I don't see any reason to believe the Brewers could have gotten anything as valuable as Cordero for Jenkins, even though the Rangers had soured on Cordero. DM might well have had to salary dump Jenkins for little or nothing, given what Lee's salary would have been.

 

Greg.

[brettac1]

I'm not sure there's really a "what if?" here, because I don't think that the Brewers were seriously interested in re-signing Lee. They did the P.R. song and dance and made an offer they knew wasn't going to be accepted because they knew that Lee was going to hit FA unless he just got a massive contract. I think a what if could be if they would have just held onto him for the entire season rather than trade him, in which case obviously they wouldn't have Cordero. I was actually in favor of trading him during the off-season prior to the start of last year.