Your Roster--No one acquired.

[DrWood]

These guys seem like locks for the opening day roster, barring an injury: Prince, Weeks, Hardy, Hall, Braun, Kendall, Hart, Counsell, Gross, Dillon, Catcher (Munson makes sense as a LH batter). that's 11 guys. Need at least 1, probably 2, more position players. These seem the most likely candidates: Gwynn, Rottino, Kapler, Nix, Brad Nelson? Irribarren? who do you want?

[dadofandrew]

As of today, I'd guess Kapler and Rottino, but given they have 15-16 pitchers, it's very unlikely a move or two will not be made.

[Ennder]

If no one is acquired my guess is Rottino and nobody else simply because we'll be forced to go with that extra pitcher and we'll want to cover the most defensive positions with the fewest bench players. Obviously that wouldn't last all season but it would buy time to move a pitcher.

[MNBrew]

I'd say Gwynn and Rottino. I like the Kapler idea, but for him to make the team, I think he has to show he's better and not just equal to whomever else we have. He's always been a good skill set sort of guy, but he was always seen as having great potential which over time he never really lived up to. I think I like what Kapler could do, but the Brewers need to bank on what he likely actually will do.

 

 

 

With Kapler I think the Brewers pretty well know what he can do, while with Gwynn there's still very much of an element of just how good he might be. Gwynn's probably also the best defensive outfielder on the roster. That's why I think Gwynn may have a better shot at the roster.

[JohnBriggs12]

I don't think you can assume because Munson bats lefthanded that he has an edge over Rivera. Rivera has the advantage of knowing the pitching staff. It's no better than a tossup between those two.

 

 

 

With no other deals, Gwynn is a lock. Then it's between Kapler and Rottino with the edge to the experienced guy.

 

 

 

They won't start the season with more than 12 pitchers. I don't care how many they have now, they will get down to 12.

[jaybird2001wi]

As of right now, I am not at all optimistic at the looks of our bench. We won't have Graffy anymore and we don't really have any veteran leaders to pinch hit off the infield with exception of Craig Counsell (if you really want to count him as a "hitter" at this point. I am not at all convinced the battle for left field with our current personnel will yield any good at this point. Kapler will be nothing more than a .270 hitter with 12 homers (and I am being optimistic on his numbers) and Gabe Gross is streaky while Tony Gwynn Jr. has not proven anything in the Majors at this point of his career.

 

 

 

Here is how I would view our team given no moves in the future:

 

 

 

Catchers:

 

18 Jason Kendall

 

13 Eric Munson

 

 

 

Infielders:

 

28 Prince Fielder

 

23 Rickie Weeks

 

7 JJ Hardy

 

8 Ryan Braun

 

30 Craig Counsell

 

27 Joe Dillon or 10 Vinny Rottino

 

 

 

Outfielders:

 

1 Corey Hart

 

2 Bill Hall

 

14 Gabe Gross

 

45 Gabe Kapler

 

22 Tony Gwynn Jr.

 

 

 

Pitchers:

 

15 Ben Sheets

 

49 Yo Gallardo

 

37 Jeff Suppan

 

31 Dave Bush

 

39 Chris Capuano

 

12 Carlos Villanueva

 

51 Brian Shouse

 

58 Guillermo Mota

 

54 David Riske

 

16 Saloman Torres

 

59 Derrick Turnbow

 

38 Eric Gagne

 

 

 

Odd men out: LHP Randy Choate, LHP Manny Parra (anyone think the Crew will sacrifice his last Minor League option?), Rottino or Joe Dillon (depending on how well they do in ST), Claudio Vargas (Could the Brewers just send him along in a minor trade for a PTBNL or a throw-in low-level minor leaguer?)

[clancyphile]

2b: Weeks

 

ss: Hardy

 

3b: Braun

 

1b: Fielder

 

rf: Hart

 

cf: Hall

 

lf: Gross

 

c: Kendall

 

Pitcher

 

bench: Munson, Rottino, Counsell, Dillon, Gwynn

 

rotation: Sheets, Gallardo, Suppan, Villanueva, Capuano

 

bullpen: Gagne, Turnbow, Riske, Shouse, Torres, Bush, Parra

[bullox]

RE: Parra - He has proven that he can pitch on the major league level. Due to his injury history, if he is going to pitch at all I would rather take advantage of it on the big squad rather than risk him getting hurt in worthless minor league innings.

[Gopher74]

RE: Parra - He has proven that he can pitch on the major league level. Due to his injury history, if he is going to pitch at all I would rather take advantage of it on the big squad rather than risk him getting hurt in worthless minor league innings.

See, I'd rather see him pitch in low pressure situations, and have him spend another half season down in AAA stretching out his arm before coming up. I think that'd lessen the chances of injury on the big league level. I see what you're saying as well, but I think that's more applicable to an injury like the one Weeks had last year where you know that it'll be an issue again. I certainly hope that we can avoid that altogether with Parra.

 

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm with Gopher. Parra can start down in Nashville, even if we trade one or two of the SPs. Bring him up when needed/he plays his way to it. If the bullpen doesn't work out, he can always find a spot there. Gone are the days of the Chris Spurlings!

[logan82]

I think Parra is going to have an inning limit around 165-175 innings this year. At least that would be my guess going on how they handled Gallardo. I really think Parra would end up in AAA all year if there are no injuries to any of the pitching staff, but there will be an injury. I think they are going to want to hold onto as many starters as possible for next year when Sheets is no longer with us. Sending him to AAA would get him ready for 2009. He is the only one we can send to AAA without exposing him to waivers.

[DrWood]

parra should be the 5th starter, and there should be no discussion. that's how strongly I feel.

[logan82]

parra should be the 5th starter, and there should be no discussion. that's how strongly I feel.

Probably, but DM and Yost have shown in the past they will take experience over talent. Otherwise why does Vargas get the 5th spot over Villanueva last year.

[SmartBall]

I think Parra has a lot of talent, but I also don't think that half of a season at AAA is going to hurt him. Start him down on the farm and keep his innings down, about 5 a start, so that way when he comes up he will have plenty of innings left to help the Crew out in the second half.

 

I really think the Brewers will also keep both Dillon and Rottino on the squad. Both can play corner infield and outfield and Rottino has value as a third catcher making the bench that much more versatile. I think that Kapler is the odd man out unless he has a monster spring.

[Ennder]

There is almost no way Parra starts the year in the rotation, not considering how few IP's he's thrown over the past few seasons. Smartest play with him is to start him in AAA if we dont' have any trades and then put him in the major league bullpen. He is going to have problems going out and throwing 200 IP after seasons of 85 and 126.

[logan82]

I think as a 5th starter he could keep his innings under 180 pretty easy if his turn in the rotation was skipped. I don't see him getting a spot ahead of either Bush or Capuano though. If both get traded I think he would have an excelent chance to make the rotation. Of course I am no fan of Vargas.

[bcf5575]

reading thru this thread has made me pretty nervous about the teams depth. any injuries to our regulars and we have a huge dropoff. at least last year we had vets like Graffanino/Mench/Jenkins and a guy waiting in the wings in AAA (Braun) to cover injuries. We are an injury away from having a Starting OF of Gross/Hall/Gywnn? or Gross/Hart/Dillion?

 

Same on the IF. If we lose Hardy or Weeks we have Counsel. Who is after that??

 

I realize that most teams have a big dropoff from the starters to the reserves, but we have no proven backups right now...

 

I think we need to sign a guy and maybe trade one of these excess pitchers for a backup/reserve guy...

[DrWood]

let me support the "parra should be 5th starter, end of discussion" thing which was a tad presumptuous.

 

 

 

Parra is one of the 3 best starters the brewers could parade to the mound, thus he should be in MKE, not nashville. He could be really special; he really has great stuff, great makeup, and he's a lefty. Sheets and Gallardo are the only ones that should really be given preference at this time. Suppan clearly is going to be in the rotation, too, to justify his contract.

 

 

 

As fifth starter, he'll start out slow, maybe getting a few relief spots early in the season. He'd end up with maybe 28-29 starts if he doesn't miss any time. His innings would probably be under 170, and there would be no problem with that.

 

 

 

The only reason you wouldn't put parra as the 5th is if you think that if Capuano or Bush throw some innings in relief they lose all value. In which case, one or both should be traded prior to the season. If Villanueva has to start the season in the bullpen again, sobeit. If so, hopefully they can use him more like a long reliever rather than a middle reliever (less frequent, though longer outings).

[logan82]

I wouldn't dispute that Parra has better stuff than either Capuano or Bush, but both of those guys have a MLB track record. Parra also has an option which allows us to keep more players by sending him down. I have a suspicion that Villy might end up in the pen again. I am looking at next year when I think Sheets will be gone and we will need a quality arm for a spot in the rotation.

[BrewCityUnit]

Position players (once Cameron is activated) Fielder, Weeks, Hardy, Hall, Kendall, Braun, Cameron, Hart, Munson, Dillon, Counsell, Gross, Gwynn.....subsitute Kapler for Cameron Pitchers Sheets, Suppan, Gallardo, Bush, Villaneuva, Capuano,Shouse, Mota, Riske, Torres, Turnbow, Gagne. That leaves Vargas and Parra out of my equation. Ideally I would like to have both of them on the roster. I know Ned wants to have two lefties in the pen this year so if Parra makes the squad than Mota is probably the odd man out. I think with our pitching situation the chances of Vargas being a Brewer come March 31st is less than 5%

 

 

Why can't we just let Counsell go and use 13 pitchers? With no platoons this year on offense, a 4 man bench might make more sense.

[logan82]

BrewCityUnit wrote:

Why can't we just let Counsell go and use 13 pitchers? With no platoons this year on offense, a 4 man bench might make more sense.

You need that deeper bench so when you give a player a day off he doesn't have to come in and pinch hit or play on that day. I generally agree that using your backup catcher to pinch hit is a bad idea also. So if you have a 4 man bench you give a couple guys off and you don't use your catcher, you are down to one pinch hitter.

[JohnBriggs12]

I personally don't see how starting Parra in AAA (which I do agree is likely) saves him any innings. You want to save innings for Parra? Make him the 5th starter and skip his turn when there are off days in between. Of course that would require trading two pitchers making between $2-4 million. Keep in mind, that they don't necessarily have to trade just starters. They could trade relievers too that would open up roster spots and allow room for former starters to occupy roles in the pen. By just doing that you could limit him to around 150-160 innings for the year. Making every start at a level he's already conquered makes little sense to me especially if he's capable of better numbers than guys ahead of him. If he's as good as advertised, his ceiling is higher than the back enders of this rotation.

 

Another thing to consider about Parra. He's 25, not 22. He's nearly 4 years removed from his surgery. I don't think he's quite the risk he's sometimes made out to be.

 

To suggest Villanueva should go to the pen is another bad idea. He's been more effective as a starter, and his 2007 role of 7th inning guy is now filled by Mota and Torres.

[BrewCityUnit]

I really believe that Melvin and Yost want to keep Villanueva in the pen. I don't necessarily agree with that, but every time I hear them talk I think they really like his versatility and think he is more valuable in that role.

[logan82]

I personally don't see how starting Parra in AAA (which I do agree is likely) saves him any innings.

In AAA they can make all his starts 5 innings or get creative in other ways. He doesn't have to go out and try to pitch as many innings as he can every night like he would in the big leagues. The season is also pretty much over by September(or very nearly) which cuts down on the number of actual games played.

 

I agree that Villanueva should start, but he is probably down the list because of Bush and Capuano. Melvin and Yost have shown a preference for veterans in the rotation. Right now I would say that our list of probable starters going from most probable to least is

 

Sheets

Suppan

Gallardo

Capuano

Bush

Villanueva

Vargas

Parra

 

Of those I think only Sheets, Suppan and probably Gallardo are guaranteed spots.

[Gopher74]

I think Parra is going to have an inning limit around 165-175 innings this year. At least that would be my guess going on how they handled Gallardo. I really think Parra would end up in AAA all year if there are no injuries to any of the pitching staff, but there will be an injury. I think they are going to want to hold onto as many starters as possible for next year when Sheets is no longer with us. Sending him to AAA would get him ready for 2009. He is the only one we can send to AAA without exposing him to waivers.

Well, he's not the only one we can sent to AAA without exposing him to Waivers. We can send Bush and Cappy to AAA as well, though I think that's a long shot at best.

 

Anyway, my guess would be that the Brewers want to keep him right around the number of innings you stated. They(Yost) has said that they want to increase a pitchers work load by 40 innings each year and since Parra threw about 132 innings last year, that'd equate to about 172 obviously, a number that is only a general guideline. If he's having the type of season that DrWood believes he will, they're not going to shut him down in late Sept to keep his innings down.

 

And finally, I believe that you're a little premature on the Sheets thing. Is it likely that he's back next year? No, probably not, but it's not a given that he's not. Especially if the Brewers end up shipping Suppan out next year, the chances we re-sign Sheets go up dramatically. Also helping us out is the fact that he'd be the 3rd most sought after pitcher on the FA market as opposed to a normal year when he'd be the best, and the fact that he apparently loves Milwaukee and has substantial roots here.

 

Plus, maybe he just wants to be part of a great young team that's on it's way to becoming a viable WS contender.