Linebrink acquired for Inman/Garrison/Thatcher

[Dollarbill13]

The picks will also cost money to sign while Inman, Thatcher & Garrison are basically playing for free right now...

[TooLiveBrew]

Yea, but the picks will be cheap, too. There's simply nothing wrong with drafting talent. It's inexpensive for many years before ca$hing in. Should we have not drafted Braun because he's 'expensive'? I understand he wasn't a compensatory pick (expect that it compensated for the fact that we had the 5th worst record the year before), but man. You have to pay to get talent, to be sure, but it's far less expensive than I think you're making it out to be.

[sveumrules]

read the whole thread and this is where i come down...

 

pro | linebrink helps now. sure he's trended downward recently, but i'll go with his body of work over the last few years as an indicator instead of a few rough outings on the verge of his child being born. coco, tbow, wise, villy, shouse, linebrink and parra is a bullpen i feel awesome about.

 

cons | losing inman. garrison is a longshot, thatcher is a loogy so their losses don't really concern me.

 

beefs | people who think they know already who "won" or "lost" this trade. let's give it some time, perhaps. you know, see what transpires. plus we didn't trade inamn for 25 innings or whatever. that's flawed logic. we traded him for those innings plus what will most likely turn out to be 2 picks in the top 100 of this year's draft.

 

go crew.

[splitterpfj]

Whatever you think, I hope Linebrink gets a big ovation when he first appears in a home game.

[patrickgpe]

i'm going on tuesday and i am giving him one if he gets into the game. While I think we may of given up too much to get him, I think he makes the 07 bullpen better.

[hauser42]

No he decided that it was time to take a chance and win a title this year instead of waiting around for a couple of guys that might have had an impact on a team in 3 years.

 

No one has an issue with that course of action, just the cost for the relative return.

 

I forgot that I was at Brewerfan.net and all Brewer prospects are considered cant miss players.

 

This is a typical trade for a team in the race. We gave up a couple of prospects for a guy that hopefully get us to the promise land.

 

Sorry but the last month in the trade forums there have been some far out posts about what the Brewers should trade away to get talented players. It would be nice to give up nothing and get all stars but this is reality.

[Nader Raider Tim]

Does anyone else kind of think that the Brewers going after Linebrink, and the two probable compensatory picks might be related to Baseball strongly recommending that teams not go over slot value when drafting players?

 

In the past it seems that the Brewers were willing to draft players in rounds 4-10 and later that were first round talents but falling due to signability concerns, albeit not to the extent of the Yankees or Red Sox. Now with the rule change is it possible the Brewers are just trying to do what is neccessary to draft multiple first round talents?

[clancyphile]

Don't know. I think this was more about bolstering the pen.

 

The trade means the Brewers have Cordero closing, and a choice of Tunbow/Linebrick/Wise/Villanueva/Shouse for the 7th and 8th. That makes Spurling the mop-up pitcher (and note that Spurling's actually done well - yesterday he went 2 IP with only one hit).

 

That means the Crew won't have to keep Balfour around after this trip - they can send him back to AAA.

[logan82]

As far as worrying about the rotation in 2009 and 2010, Melvin has shown that he is good at getting starting pitchers back in trades. Of our starting current rotation 3/5ths of it was aquired from trades as well as our top bulpen guys(Villanueva and Cordero). I am sure that either this offseason or next we will see Capuano and Sheets offered extentions, maybe not accepted, but offered. If both are turned down I wouldn't be surprised to see Vargas or Cappy traded along with Gwynn for AAA pitching.

[Nader Raider Tim]

I've gotta admit I can't leave the computer, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop to make this a much more likable deal.

 

The more I think about it I just really hate that the Brewers didn't give Thatcher a chance this year. I really was optomisticly excited about his potential in the pen. I really think that he will be a great addition to the Padres.

[mls4]

Can anyone recall any similar trades made in the past few years? Here are some trades I could find involving 3 players being traded for a relief pitcher.

 

7/16/03 Armando Benitez traded by the Mets to the Yankees for Jason Anderson, Anderson Garcia, and Ryan Bicondoa.

 

Benitez was a proven closer, an all-star averaging 30+ saves per year for the past few years. Anderson was a pitcher with good minor-league numbers and was in his rookie year with the Yankees, but never was able to stick in the major leagues. Bicondoa and Garcia were fairly non-descript single-A pitchers, Bicondoa never made it to AA, while Garcia finally made it to the major leagues this year.

 

7/11/03 Ugueth Urbina traded by the Rangers to the Marlins for Adrian Gonzalez, Ryan Snare, and Will Smith.

 

Urbina was coming off a 40-save all-star season, had 26 saves when traded but had regressed some, then pitched very well for Florida down the stretch. Gonzalez was a former #1 overall pick in AAA that didn't have that impressive minor-league numbers, but subsequently has turned into a good player. AA pitcher Snare and single-A OF Smith had decent minor-league numbers but are no longer anywhere to be found.

 

7/28/02 Paul Shuey traded by the Indians to the Dodgers for Ricardo Rodriguez, Terry Mulholland, and Francisco Cruceta.

 

This seems like the most similar, although Mulholland was not a prospect. Shuey was a top set-up reliever, acquired to bolster LA's bullpen down the stretch, although they weren't able to chase down Arizona. Mulholland was on the downside of his career and had pitched horribly for LA, but was servicable for Cleveland. Cruceta was a single-A pitcher with good numbers but wasn't able to stick with Cleveland, and Rodriguez was a AAA pitcher with fair numbers that pitched a couple years for the Indians with ERAs over 5.

 

11/18/97 Robb Nen traded by the Marlins to the Giants for Joe Fontenot, Mike Pageler, and Mike Villano.

 

Not a deadline deal, Nen was coming off a couple of 35-save seasons with Florida, and was probably one of the top-10 closers in the game. Can't remember any of the 3 pitching prospects? Fontenot was a former 1st round pick in AA who ended up pitching in 8 major-league games. Pageler (single A) and Villano (AAA) were fairly non-descript minor-leaguers that never made the bigs.

 

12/9/80 Bruce Sutter traded by the Cubs to the Cardinals for Ty Waller, Leon Durham, and Ken Reitz.

 

Again not very comparable, Sutter already had a Cy Young Award by this time. Still, the Cubs didn't get much back. Durham had a decent few years, but Reitz was at the end of his non-descript career and Waller was a never more than a fringe major-leaguer.

[LouisEly]

As usual, when I go away for a couple of days I miss everything. My reaction:

 

I think the people that don't like this deal are being really shortsighted. Making the playoffs is a financial windfall for teams. It could mean the difference of $10 to 15 million in next year?s budget. Throw in 2 comp picks that will be higher than where Inman was drafted, and it?s a win-win deal.

 

There you go. In three lines, X summed it up, particularly the last sentence. If those two picks turn out to be another Sheets/Hardy, Braun/Gallardo, or Fielder/Gwynn, or will you be disappointed?

 

he's going to help us in a few days, when his wife gives birth

 

Maybe that?s why he has been a little distracted lately and not pitched well?

 

Last 3 years his road numbers were better than home numbers

 

Well, there you go.

 

Tell me exactly how many pitchers in the Brewers organization over the past 10 years have come up and had solid careers?

 

(This will be fun.) Nick Neugebauer? oh wait, JM Gold? oh wait, Dana Eveland? oh wait, Jose Capellan? oh wait, Jorge De La Rosa? oh wait, Ben Hendrickson? oh wait, Chris Saenz? oh wait, Mike Jones? oh wait, Ruben Quevedo? oh wait, Luis Martinez? oh wait, Valerio De Los Santos? oh wait, Ben Diggins? oh wait, Kyle Peterson? oh wait, Jeff D?Amico? oh wait, Allen Levrault? oh wait, Steve Woodard? oh wait, Angel Miranda?

 

There you go - the last 10 years. How many ?studs? has the Brewer farm system produced in the last 10 years? Ben Sheets, and perhaps Yo Gallardo, but it?s too early to tell. Whomever said 10% is right on; for every Sheets and Gallardo? there?s 10 of the above.

 

He has yet to lead us wrong.

 

Jeff Suppan

Johnny Estrada

 

Very, very wrong.

 

And so far the deal with Arizona has been Doug Davis for Johnny Estrada and Claudio Vargas. I think the difference between Davis and Vargas has been minimal, and much less than the difference between Estrada and Miller/Moeller being the primary catcher, and I think everyone will agree that Miller is too old to handle the everyday catching duties. As for Suppan, he may have overpaid for him, but he hasn?t missed a start.

 

Sheets won't be back until September.... August & the remainder of July are crucial as well.

 

A slight understatement. The lead is down to two games folks. They need to stop the bleeding now.

[brewers255]

Padres players reaction to the trade

 

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"It's devastating ... losing a guy who has been a huge part of your team for the last five years, and the reason we've had any kind of success around here is because of what he and [closer Trevor Hoffman] Hoffy have been able to do at the end of ballgames," Padres pitcher Jake Peavy said. "To be in a playoff run and not have No. 38 to lean on. That's tough to swallow.

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"But you've just got to trust the front office. When you're in the middle of a playoff run and you trade your setup man away? I don't know what kind of message that's sending."

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David Wells: "I know Scott has had some rough times recently. But he's one of the premier guys in the league. Scott Linebrink is a pitcher of magnitude. He's also one of the best people you'd ever want to know ... a great friend and a teammate. To take a hit like this ... they must have different reasons we can't see."

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Said Hoffman: "Incomprehensible. Four other teams in the National League West are awfully excited. I probably need to take a day before I say something about this, because I'm going to say something stupid."

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http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070725&content_id=2109091&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd

[don1481]

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Throw in 2 comp picks that will be higher than where Inman was drafted, and it?s a win-win deal.

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However, as expressed by myself, BSCR, and a few others, the caveat to this is that Linebrink does *not* accept arby from the Brewers. Again, see also: Graffanino, Tony as to what happens when the player accepts arby (for whatever reason) and the team does not get those comp picks.

 

Given Linebrink's 2006 and 2007 seasons, I'm just concerned that the Brewers acquired a reliever that's regressing rather than one that is "hot." I hope the trade helps him get back towards his awesome years, which would also improve the odds he gets a nice offer elsewhere http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Brian the Automator]

Wow... something about trades makes players say "devastating" a lot.

 

Well, I'm glad to hear the Padres players are so downbeat about the trade that they would go on record against their organization. I'm still not high on the trade, but I'll take any more positive spins I can get to make the deal more palatable to me.

 

In Doug, I still trust... but I'm having a hard time with this one.

[patrickgpe]

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Throw in 2 comp picks that will be higher than where Inman was drafted, and it?s a win-win deal.

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you are assuming he will be a type A free agent. If, and hopefully not, his numbers dwindle this season he may no longer be one since stats from last and this season are taken into account.

[don1481]

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Wow... something about trades makes players say "devastating" a lot.

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Yeah, you'd almost think Junior Spivey was in on the deal.

 

Quote:

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In Doug, I still trust... but I'm having a hard time with this one.

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Agreed, Brian... I guess we'll see after this season when Linebrink hits the FA market.

[Mr QL]

I heard something on the radio about Linebrink not liking the trade or being less than happy with it. Didn't read the thread but what's the story with that?

[brewers255]

Some brewers take on the trade

 

Quote:

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"[Yost] is usually pretty good about that stuff," said Turnbow, who entered Thursday with a 3.71 ERA in 49 appearances. "They did the same thing after we got Frankie [Francisco Cordero] last year, telling me I was still the closer. The problem was I kept pitching bad."

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"It's another guy that's going to pitch the seventh or eighth inning, so maybe instead of pitching five games in a row, I will be in three games in a row," said Turnbow, who did not expect his role to chance much. "I'll still get plenty of work."

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"It's great," fellow reliever Wise said. "I think he's one of the best relievers in the last few years, so it's definitely a welcome addition. I know he's a great dude. As long as he helps us win games, you have to throw your ego out of the window. We're trying to get to the playoffs."

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http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070726&content_id=2110524&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

[shelmark]

I'm sure Linebrink is disappointed. He leaves many friends, a great city, and is in the middle of adding a child to his family; who wouldn't be disappointed? That doesn't mean he hates Milwaukee, it simply means he was a good teammate who enjoyed his city and team.

[jackalope02ca]

I will say this. If we make the playoffs we will generate more fans worldwide because of the TV exposure. That leads to more merchandise sales, general revenue, fans in the seats, payroll, exposure for the city of Milwaukee, etc.

 

If it happens and Linebrink wins even one game for us this makes this the greatest trade in Brewer history over the past 25 years.

 

That's what a lot of people are missing here. It's not about what we traded away. They were all great prospects but were also expendable because of our great drafting in the recent past and overall depth. They all can be replaced. That's not taking anything away from Inman, Garrison or Thatcher but speaks to the overall quality in the minor leagues in this organization.

[SeriesFinale]

If it happens and Linebrink wins even one game for us this makes this the greatest trade in Brewer history over the past 25 years.

 

The Sexson and Overbay trades certainly hold as much weight

[logan82]

Quote:

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If it happens and Linebrink wins even one game for us this makes this the greatest trade in Brewer history over the past 25 years.

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The Sexon trade was way bigger and still payin dividends. The Overbay trade was made possible by the Sexson trade.

[Never Outhustled]

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The Sexon trade was way bigger and still payin dividends. The Overbay trade was made possible by the Sexson trade.

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I think what Jackalope is saying is this trade brings us money, not players. With the team we presently have, we don't need a new roster, we need to keep our roster together. The financial windfall of making the playoffs helps that happen. The backlash of doing nothing and missing the playoffs in also enormous.

[logan82]

I won't argue with that. I am just not sure if Linebrink was needed to make the playoffs. On the other hand I am sure he will not hurt our chances.