Who is the first player on the 40 man roster to be traded this offseason?

[Weirdos19]

Who is the first player on the 40 man roster to be traded this offseason?

 

I say Bill Hall.

 

Edit: Subject clarity

[sheetswannabe]

Chris Capuano.

Theres no reason to deal Hall, it would be selling low, and Melvin hates doing it. Plus who would play center, and if you move Hart, then who plays right?

[trwi7]

Chris Capuano.

Theres no reason to deal Hall, it would be selling low, and Melvin hates doing it.

 

So we should trade Capuano after his season with an injury and 5.10 ERA? If Melvin hates selling low he wouldn't trade Capuano.

 

My guess is Vargas for the best offer he can get.

[dadofandrew]

Mench.

 

Vargas and Turnbow would be my other choices.

[colbyjack]

I think the first two guys mentioned, Capuano and Hall, are pretty good candidates to be dealt. Mench, Vargas and Turnbow are in the mix, but aren't going to fetch as much.

[TooLiveBrew]

Why would we trade Mench straight up? The one proven component of a LF platoon. What would we get for him? A reliever? He's much more valuable to us in his LHP-killer role - or as a part of a larger package.

[endaround]

Vargas. I have no reason to expect Mench to be offered arby. No one would give up a draft pick for Graffanino but someone will give up something for a less useful and more expensive Mench?

[TooLiveBrew]

Is Mench really that 'disappointing,' (obv. not your word) though? His line v. LHP last year was slick, just as expected. What's so bad about keeping him on-board for '08? I have serious concerns about Dillon's ability to continue to produce as well as he has at the MLB level. I want JD around as a reserve, but not as a platoon-partner-starter.

[danzig6767]

I'm not in the trade Hall camp.Obviously if the offer was so good it had to be accepted,then ok,but not for say a relief pitcher and some mediocre outfielder.

 

What's the value of Mench?With what he'll get in arbitration,i'm trying to picture another team also giving up a quality player in return.

 

Vargas is nothing special at all,but he's at least a starting pitcher that can eat innings without being a trainwreck.I can see a few teams being interested in him given the demand for starting pitching in baseball.I'd love to be able to turn him into a solid relief pitcher.

 

If i had to put money on the biggest name the Brewers trade this offseason,it would be Capuano.He's going to start getting pricey,plus i could see quite a few teams being interested in Chris.Put him in front of a defense that isn't terrible like the Brewers and in a decent sized park,i could easily see Capuano bounce back and have a nice season next year.I'd rather not trade Cappy,but if we don't go the free agency route,gotta give up something decent to get decent back.

[danzig6767]

Is Mench really that 'disappointing,' (obv. not your word) though? His line v. LHP last year was slick, just as expected. What's so bad about keeping him on-board for '08? I have serious concerns about Dillon's ability to continue to produce as well as he has at the MLB level. I want JD around as a reserve, but not as a platoon-partner-starter.

 

What's Mench looking at in arbitration,4-5 million?If so,i'd rather pass and look for a cheaper option to put in 160-200 at bats and use the money on a more important need.This of course is only in the case if the team does have a platoon in LF.If say a Kearns type was acquired,there is no question at all that Mench is a goner.

 

[JJHardy7]

If Mench could possibly get 5 million, I'd trade him. I think it has to be one of the starters and my hope is that it will be Vargas, but I have a feeling it will be Capuano. I don't think we make the move if we can't get anything for him. There are some on this board that think he will turn it around and has value...maybe other GMs or scouts feel the same way and we can get good value for him.

[endaround]

Vargas will be gone regardless of whether they also trade Bush, Capuano or Parra. You just don't pay your #8 starter $5 million. Mench won't get $5 million likely closer to $3.7 but that still is a large amount of money. For perspective Wes Helms is making $2.5 million for doing the same job but at 3B. The Brewers could offer him arby as sort of a fallback in case they need a platoon since arby would only guarantee him 20% (I believe) of his yearly salary if cut by the end of spring training.

[dadofandrew]

Rumors all last season had teams interested in Mench, but the Crew had no reason to move him. He kills lefties, but is pretty much a league average corner OF as well. $4M for that is not bad at all, to most teams.

[splitterpfj]

It depends on how big the Brewers try to go. If they would sign a guy like Lofton for a year, and then focus on bullpen arms in trades, maybe they could get where they want to go by dealing guys like Vargas and Gwynn. That's a possibility, with LaPorta grooming to take over LF.

 

My guess is, between a new starting outfielder, bullpen help, and possibly even another catcher on Doug's shopping list, somebody you don't want to lose is already gone. My guess is Manny Parra.

[endaround]

Rumors all last season had teams interested in Mench, but the Crew had no reason to move him. He kills lefties, but is pretty much a league average corner OF as well. $4M for that is not bad at all, to most teams.

Of course teams called to see if the Brewers would pick up salary in a deal. If not, he's overpaid. Not sure in what league .267/.305/.441 with a sizable platoon advantage is average for a corner outfielder who is poor defensively.

 

[dadofandrew]

Choosing to use the smallest sample rather than the largest doesn't do it for me. Mench did not hit RHP well in part because he rarely saw it. Playing more regularly, he'll very likely revert back to his career norms, or very close to it.

[RyDogg66]

Trading Hall and Capuano would be foolish. Both had good years in 2005 and 2006 and had down years in 2007. Unless you get the value you would have gotten after 2006 AND Melvin believes that they will not be as good as they were in 05 and 06, then you keep them both.

 

Vargas, Turnbow, Mench, Gwynn would be the most likely.

[don1481]

Trading Hall and Capuano would be foolish. Both had good years in 2005 and 2006 and had down years in 2007.

 

With regards to Capuano, I wouldn't exactly consider his 2005 and 2006 seasons "good." In both seasons, he had significantly differing first half and second half splits. For example, take his 1-8, 5.17 post-All Star splits from 2006 and even his post-All star splits from 2005 to see that he, for whatever reason, was significantly less effective in the second half than the first half. Granted, Capuano did win 18 in 2005 but that was on the strength of an exceptionally strong first half rather than a "consistently good" season on the whole.

 

While I'm not disagreeing that trading Capuano would be foolish as he's still early into his arbitration years (versus Vargas, who will most likely get $5 million for his inability to consistently pitch more than 5 innings), I am saying that his performances in the second halves of both 2005 and 2006 would have teams looking to upgrade their rotation asking the same hard questions that Melvin should be regarding whether or not Capuano can indeed put together a consistently-good whole season. IMO Melvin wouldn't get nearly enough in return to justify a potential Capuano trade.

[TooLiveBrew]

Some good discussion in this thread. To avoid reverting to just discussing Mench, I'll put in my vote for Vargas as the first one traded. Though I'll admit that's also who I hope is traded first, so perhaps that's not the most objective vote!

[JohnBriggs12]

Turnbow will go first.

 

Hall's not going anywhere.

[sbrylski]

I agree with Briggs, for once. Hall is not going anywhere.

 

Vargas has the highest probability of being traded, so I'll play the odds and say him.

[JJHardy7]

I don't see Turnbow being traded first. He's one of the best options the Brewers have out of the bullpen. I guess we could get some bullpen help back for him. I really wouldn't mind trading Gwynn -- I think he is overvalued in some other organizations. From what I saw in Nashville, Nix looks like a better starting OF someday although he's not quite as young as Gwynn anymore.

 

I don't see the Brewers trading Manny Parra unless they get offered something amazing. He's too young, is a lefty, and has more velocity we've had out of a lefty (who had control -- sorry JDLR) than Milwaukee's had in a long-time.

 

If we're trading for a starting OF my guess is that it will involve multiple pieces -- Gwynn, Turnbow, Vargas, etc.

[ILuvDaBush]

How does Parra's velocity compare to Fatty Eveland's? Or what about "George of the Color Pink" and his 97 mph fastball? I value Parra as much for his head as I do for his arm. And I agree that T-bow is almost assured of donning the Brew Crew Blue to begin the season, as Coco is almost assuredly off to the highest bidder and T-Bow, despite all his hardships last year, was still one of the most dominating set-up men in the NL last year. But I could definitely see Jr. Gwynny and Cappy being packaged with a minor leaguer for a LF who has some OBP and defense...a Lyle Overbay-clone, or the Grench.

[sheetswannabe]

a Lyle Overbay-clone

Despite his horrid year this year, I sure miss that guy. The one year he had the .301 ba, and .385 obp..I would cry for that

[foamboy1]

In the "for what it's worth" category, I was in San Fran two weeks ago and there was some speculation that the Giants could pursue Bill Hall in a trade since he "might be the odd man out" in Milwaukee and could fit holes at either CF and SS for the Giants.