Braun, Fielder, Hart, Hardy, Weeks: Will they stay in Milwaukee?

[davego]

I guess the way I see this (and you could apply it to Braun as well) is that you can have a 'face of the franchise' guy and sort of build and if need be, re-build around him. To me the guy with the most 'splash' is Prince. Sometime we might want him to be a draw in a down time (say a year or two, please not 15 again).

[TooLiveBrew]

I always feel that Hardy gets waaaaaay undervalued anytime a discussion such as this pops up. Let's not forget just how important fielding position is in determining contract value. There aren't many SS in baseball that legitimately project 25-30 HR/yr., let alone ones that do it while playing stellar defense. Imho, Hardy is going to be a lot harder (money-wise, nothing about his character) to retain than many believe. Reading end's $10/yr. projection made me wonder if even that is a tad low, but he's right on in pegging $10/yr as a target number, I think.

[Ennder]

Five years ago.

 

Paul Bako

Richie Sexson

Eric Young

Tyler Houston

Jose Hernandez

Geoff Jenkins

Alex Sanchez

Jeffrey Hammonds

Ron Belliard

Matt Stairs

Mark Loretta

Alex Ochoa

Lenny Harris

Robert Machado

Ryan Thomson

Raul Casanova

Jim Rushford

Keith Ginter

Bill Hall

 

Ben Sheets

Glendon Rusch

Ruben Quevedo

Jamey Wright

Ben Diggins

Nick Neugebauer

 

Mike DeJean

Ray King

Luis Vizcaino

Valerio de los Santos

Jose Cabrera

Nelson Figueroa

Jayson Curocher

Mike Buddie

Wayne Franklin

Takahito Nomura

 

Five years can really make a difference. Pretty funny how many guys on that list are not in the majors anymore, heh.

[BrewCrewForever]

The only names on that list that I care about are Bill Hall, Ben Sheets, Geoff Jenkins and now once again Ray King.

 

Edit: The rest of those names are brutal, except for Sexson.

[TheBrewer]

You know this has been brought up over and over again, and for god sakes, it's 4 years away or more in brauns case six years, alot can happen between now and then first and foremost, and secondly its just that 4-6 years away seriously. and if Melvin plays his cards right, if he thinks for sure he'll lose a Fielder he could deal him with one year left on his contract or something and get top players back in return for him.

[iluvlamp]

Ennder, never under any circumstance type up that crap again:) Frankly I will have nightmares tonight.

[wisportswriter]

TooLive: Great post. I could not agree more.

 

Here are the position kids:

Fielder, Braun, Hardy, Weeks and Hart

 

If we kept Hardy, Weeks and Hart I'd be thrilled.

[brewcrewkid14]

Braun over Fielder for me too. I personally would like them to take more of an approach like this:

 

Choose between either Fielder and Braun and try to lock them up for as long as possible. I think Braun is more likely to stay in Milwaukee than we think. Just my two cents.

 

Then I would love to see them try to lock up both Hardy and Hart together to keep them in Milwaukee. Hart especially is a guy I could see them doing that.

 

As for Gallardo and Laporta it's too early to tell what kind of contracts they're going to get.

[logan82]

I always look at it as Fielder and Braun playing less premium defensive positions and being easier to replace. Of the 2 I would try to keep Braun because of his body type. He looks like he will age better. Hardy, Weeks Hart, Braun, Fielder, in that order for me. Middle infielders are harder to get than corner outfielders and corner infielders.

[billyhallfan]

let's wait until we get there, who knows, there maybe a great player that comes out of the 2009 draft that we won't need Hardy anymore, or Fielder, it is too early to try and decide who we need to keep and who we need to get rid of.

[davego]

This is sad, but I started looking @ the '02 roster and my mind started to think "Well, if we hit Loretta #2 and get a good year out of Ronnie..."

 

Shudder...

[Fear The Chorizo]

In all honesty, probably 1/2 of the players listed in this thread will get the Carl Crawford-type deal that buys out a couple years of free agency, and the other 1/2 will be difficult to hang onto. But, small market teams need to have people in the front office who can identify the best times to get their younger players signed long term, and the best times to trade players for maximum value who they won't be able to keep.

 

The great thing about the Brewers' situation with these players is that all of them are under Milwaukee's control for at least 3 more years, some a few years longer. The issue of who to keep and who to let go will more than likely work itself out as their careers take shape over the next few seasons. For example, the decision on whether to keep Hart or Fielder (just an example) may be determined by who the Brewers have in the farm system at those positions a few years from now, or who the Brewers could acquire by trading either of them.

 

IMO, the Brewers have enough young talent to make a team with even a big-market payroll have difficulty in signing ALL of them before they hit free agency...it's a good problem to have instead of being in the Cardinal or Cub situations, with rosters comprised of a superstar or two, plus some middling young players and aging, over the hill veterans with bloated contracts.