2008 Offseason, Possible Ideas

[Samurai Bucky]

I know there has been talk about Carl Crawford before. Could you bring him in with a trade and then sign him at maybe 5 years / $50 million?

[brettac1]

I think Fukodome will be pretty much a carbon copy of Hideki Matsui, but like Patrick said, with a great arm. I've somewhat followed Japanese baseball for the past few years (like when Matsuzaka was first being tossed around as coming over to the U.S.) and he's definitely among the cream of the crop as far as position players over there go.

[colbyjack]

Most people don't seem to think that Fukudome will have the power of either Abreu (prior to the last couple of years) or Matsui. Again, most do seem to agree that he'll carry a good SLG with plenty of doubles, a handful of triples, and HRs in the 15-18 range to go along with his on-base skills.

 

I know the Giants have been tossed around quite a bit as a destination for him, but I guess I don't see it, unless the Giants don't re-sign Bonds. Winn is signed to a pretty insane contract for what he offers, and they also handed out a fair chunk of change for Roberts last offseason.

 

I'd love to see Crawford in Milwaukee, but it's going to take a lot to get him, and the asking price isn't going to get any lower, quite the opposite it seems, the closer he gets to free agency. When he reaches that point, he's going to land a monster deal, probably a lot more than 5 years $50 million.

[Postseason2006]

Until Melvin is fired I have no hope of any decent trades happening. He does not have much to shiw after dealing Sexson away.

[Invader3K]

What realistic chance do the Brewers have of signing Fukudome, though? I'd say "slim to none."

[endaround]

Crawford is signed for three more seasons at $5.25 m, $8.25 m, and $10 m. Without Inman its hard seeing the Brewers putting together a package that could land him that the Brewers would be willing to do. In addition Crawford until this point has been more potential than production. His best year was an .830 OPS. Nice for a CFer, but for a corner guy just slightly above average. So you'll pay a premium for a guy you hope will grow to match what a Jenkins (Gross) platoon would do.

[YoGo24]

Until Melvin is fired I have no hope of any decent trades happening. He does not have much to shiw after dealing Sexson away.

 

Please, please tell me your kidding about this. What more could we have got for C.Lee. A dominant closer who has put us in this situation where we are right now and guy who smashes left handed pitching. We got Bush and Gross for Overbay so theres another one for us. Melvin has done plenty of good things after the Sexson deal

[T B0NE 10]

i dont see us having any chance at getting posada...he is gonna want big money and im guessing he is gonna want to stay in new york or at least east coast

 

i really think we need to resign sheets

[strawbossisevil]

What do you guys think about trading for Jason Bay? The guy has really fallen off the face of the earth this season, with a sub 800 OPS. But, his previous 4 seasons, he has not had an OPS below 900. Not to mention he is signed through 2009.

What do you think he would cost us? Would a Villenueva/Bay swap work? Would we need to add more? Bay is a decent guy that we could plug into the #5 spot in our lineup, especially if he reverts to his career norms. (Plus Bay is from Canada, so you know Melvin and Ash want him).

 

For a lineup of:

 

Weeks (capable of .800 OPS+)

Hart (capable of .900 OPS)

Braun (capable of .900-1.000 OPS)

Fielder (capable of .900-1.000 OPS)

Bay (capable of .900 OPS)

Hall (capable of .850+ OpS)

Hardy (capable of .775 OPS)

Estrada (capable of .700 OPS)

 

 

That is a pretty capable lineup. Especially 1-7. Having four guys who could hit .900 OPS or higher would be huge for our offense. The only question that remains, is Bay just having a bad year, or is he on the downside of his career already. I guess that remains to be seen.

[paul253]

I would absolutely love Jason Bay, but I don't think we have the ammo to get him. I think Pittsburgh would be looking for young hitters to replace him because they already have a ton of young pitching, and we just don't have really any developed hitters yet. Maybe after next season guys like Cain, Escobar and Gillespie could fetch us something, but not quite yet. In all honesty though, I wouldn't at all be opposed to trading Rickie Weeks and say Gillespie for Jason Bay, although we'd have to find a lead-off hitter then (I'd suggest moving Hall to second and using Gwynn at lead-off, but I don't want to be called every insult in the book for even suggesting Gwynn could be a decent MLB hitter again).

 

I'd modify that lineup a bit though

Gwynn (CF)

Hardy (SS)

Braun (3B)

Fielder (1B)

Bay (LF)

Hart (RF)

Hall (2B)

Estrada ©

[brettac1]

I'm not in favor of any trade that results in Tony Gwynn leading off or playing everyday. That just fills one hole while creating another larger one.

 

I think Bay could possibly be had for less, since he's had a rough year, you'd be trading a guy (Weeks) at the low point of his value for another player in the same situation. Jason Bay was a top 10 player in the NL for the past few years, so it would be awesome to get him. I'd be more in favor of dealing pitching for him, honestly, and position players not at the major league level.

[sbrylski]

How about this?

 

Jack Z. for Jason Bay

 

I'd almost say no. Actually, yeah, I'd probably say no.

[paul253]

The only problem with trading pitching is that Pittsburgh already has a lot of young pitching. Plus. who are we going to trade? I would think we have to keep Gallardo and Villanueva. Jeffress is suspended, Rogers is hurt, Zach Jackson is losing value start by start...Parra maybe, but he seems to have the most upside of all the young pitchers we have, minus Gallardo. How about a deal of Bay for Gwynn, Jackson, Irrabarren and another semi-prospect pitcher? Do you think thats enough?

[RyDogg66]

Chris Capuano and Tony Gwynn for Jason Bay. Yes, yes, I like that.

[Chio151]

Until Melvin is fired I have no hope of any decent trades happening. He does not have much to shiw after dealing Sexson away.

When you are posting, there is an uppercase 'A' in the upper lefthand corner of the textbox. When you highlight some text and then select that button, you can make that text any color you want. It has become an accepted practice on this board to use blue for sarcastic statements.

[Braunisfuture]

i would love for the brewers to go out and get aaron rowand and get rid of geoff jenkins. maybe move hall to a corner spot in the OF or have rowand move to a corner OF. We would be able to add a guy who hits for average instead of always hitting a home run, good speed, awesome defender. He's just a dream though but i thought i'd throw it out there

[Zycho32]

I took a look at Gabe Gross' stats, and I noticed even this year he rarely goes to bat versus Lefty Pitchers.

Therefore, if he wins the LF job for next year, we may still need to find a reasonable platoon option; someone who could bat #2 in the lineup and provide acceptable if not good defense at LF while taking on the Lefty starters.

So do we keep Mench or go to somebody else? And if we don't keep Mench, who would fit the criteria?

[MNBrew]

LF really is the biggest conundrum on the roster as we look ahead to '08 . . . while enjoying this contending thing in September.

 

I like the Aaron Rowand suggestion, and I'm intrigued by the Bobby Abreu idea. Not quite sure what it'd take to bring either about, though.

[Katuluu]

Rumors are floating that Carlos Quentin is available.

[colbyjack]

The D-Backs have two OFs named Carlos that I would like to see the Brewers pursue, as both Quentin and Carlos Gonzalez couldn't be any more blocked by Eric Byrnes, Chris Young and Justin Upton.

 

Quentin bats right-handed and is the more disciplined of the two hitters and really has nothing left to prove at AAA, while Gonzalez bats left-handed, is a better overall athlete and has the higher ceiling for being a potential star. I'm guessing either one would like take some kind of quality and proven big-league arm, as the teams are in such an incredibly similar situation that I don't see them matching up very well, although they have obviously made a few big deals in the past few years.

[endaround]

Maybe the DBacks want Vargas back!

 

Vargas and Jackson for Quentin seems fair to me, but just like Vargas for Murton unlikely to happen due more to the teams involved than the actually needs.

[colbyjack]

Zach Jackson? I'm not so sure he sweetens any deal unfortunately.

 

Murton is another good option.

[Katuluu]

I can't imagine the D-Backs wouldn't start with Gallardo, Villenueva, or Parra as the key player in the trade. It seems pretty unlikely they would want Vargas back, but they might be interested in Capuano, though doubtful.

 

If I had to guess, I'd say a potential trade would shape up something like Parra for Quentin, with possibly a middling prospect exchanged by both sides.

[kgbaseball]

Carlos Gonzalez is as untouchable as it gets, I would have to imagine. Quentin, that's a different story. I don't think Justin Upton is quite ready for the big leagues yet, so maybe they want to keep Quentin until next year's trading deadline, when Upton should be 100% ready. I'd love to add Quentin, though, and because he's been injured this year, perhaps his trade value is as low as it gets.

[Katuluu]

Gonzalez isn't untouchable. Patrick is right that the D-Backs are pretty vocal that Byrnes, Young, and Upton are their starting outfielders for now and the future. Quentin is the name being floated around the most, but Gonzalez is available for the right price.