Wish the Roy Oswalt talk at 8 million per and our budget already over 100 million dollars(with all the callup's and what not, that's just sorta ridiculous. Even if it was next year I just don't see the Brewers signing a guy like Oswalt(unless it was the exact same scenario and we lost Greinke and Marcum, in which case, I think a full rebuild would be more wise, trade Hart, Weeks, Axford, Aram(if he has a good year and we pitch in some money), Narveson if he and just rebuild.

Hart was on the table for Madison Bumgardner, one we should have pulled the trigger on , even if it meant starting outisde or just a filler.
Weeks would bring back a kings ransom. Not a HUGE deal, but at top 20 prospect and another top 100.
Greinke/Marcum-Both would bring back similar deals to Weeks, but they'd also include two more prospects the brewers couldpick,ttthey could who could be high ceiling type guys, but haven't gotten there yet. Think last years Tyler Thornburg.
Aram-With the depth or lack of depth at 3rd base, if he hits, he'll be moved EASILY.
K-Rod-Without the big clause, they could move him to a team i need of a starter.
Agon-isn't going to get you anything more than MAYBE an older lower level guy with some talent and lots of questions, Axford a few years ago.



I'm torn, because I believe IF we re-sign Greinke, and get roughly what we expect out of our players in the future, and then use the money that'll be freed up to again fill in the pieces with cost effective players, we could compete for a few years.

I also know with 2 first rounders last year,
with several first rounders this year, 27, 28, supplemental pick, and two second round picks, that'd be a big boost.

Our salary could God dowon to the 70's again and we could stockpile cash and have one HELLUVA farm system.



On the flip side, even if we get off to a rough start and are out of it,we could make a couple moves to save money, save it for next year when the 20 million in tV revenue come in, and hope that a few of the guys we've got in our system develop and we get another frontline guy our of the current crop, and then a #3/4 to go with Greinke/Yo/and whoever develops, we'll be in position to contend for years.



So..our entire future depends on
A-Starting out strong this year;
B-More importantly, being able to re-sign Greinke. I'm hoping with Wolf, Marcum and some others, including Greinke's 14 million coming off the books, we just re-sign him, hope that we've got somethign with all the arms we're developing, and then continue to try and put a team capable of winning 90 or so games on the field and get lucky one of these years.


Either way could be interesting. Hart, Weeks, K-Rod, Greinke, Marcum, Wolf, Morgan, Ramirez, combined with all the picks we'll be getting and possibly even Axford, our farm system would rate among the best in the game easily, if not the best, we'd still have good arms on their way up, Braun and Yo to build around and our payroll would be in the 60's to 70's when we know they're capable of spending 100+ million.

Imagine the team we could put together in the next 4-5 years?

And if we keep winning, imagine if we could get lucky and Bradley could become an ace, Thornburg a #3, Jungman a #3, keep the core together, add in the 40-50 million in cap room(if not more).


Just late night scenario's, and I'm sure BD will give the standard response, as will others, but I think it's worth speculating about.

I am amazed that the Brewers haven't gone after Casey Kotchman this offseason. I know it might be 'left handed overload', but when you have a question mark with Gamel/Green it makes sense to at least look at a guy with a .380 OBP last season as an option. He is an FA out there who I would love to see added on a one year deal. I mean he is the 2012 version of Lyle Overbay and he is just sitting out there.

If we don't win this year you need to sell off. We have, like it or not, a below average farm system. Mark A has proven he is willing to spend when necessary so this should help most of the non-bandwagon fans remain loyal through a mini rebuild.

I think you try to resign Zach and outside of that you let things roll. Have a smaller core group for the next 3-4 years after this and hope to get a diamond in the rough prospect for the right price (not that this will happen but like the Nationals did with Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps). Weeks has a ton of trade value, so does Hart. Sell them if we aren't competitive this year at midseason (and obviously at the right price)

Yeah, my post cut off a couple of the guys I was talking about.

Kotchman would be another 4 million or so. That's just not likely.

I'm talking more like signing guys like
1-Juan Cruz, a guy who throws in the mid 90's and has some pretty nasty movement. He's struggled, so I wouldn't give him a big league contract.
2-JR Towels
Was a top prospect with the Astro's. Like...actually in the top 100 and fairly well respected. Be nice to see Kottaras traded and see if we could develop him in AAA.
3-Brad Penny
Again, minor league deal. One of those opt out type of clauses where he can become a FA by June 10th or whatever. With all the Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon types, maybe Penny has another year left.
4-Tony Pena RP
He's another guy with a big arm who is at least interesting.
5-Pat Neshek

This is one of the guys I'd REALLY look into if he's not signed to a 40 man by Spring Training. This is a guy who looked like a future closer and had some NASTY stuff before he got hurt. He's a couple years back. I think he'd be a great guy to go after.

5-Damaso Marte
.194/.289/.286 with a .575 OPS vs left handers. Those are his career numbers vs lefties. We need a loogy as we found out last year. He could turn into one.

6-Jason Isringhausen
Had a big bounce back year. Will probably get a big league deal, but again, another option for a minor league contract to see if he can earn a spot. Was pretty good last year.

7-Carlos Guillen
Sign him as protection for 1B. See if he can come back this year and have a bounce back year.




No room for major league contracts, and certainly no room for 2 million dollar contracts, which is why Kotchman would be unrealistic IMO, but these guys are all guys with talent, and among them, I'm sure there are going to be a couple of guys in that group that end up finding success.

Russell Branyan could be an option. Power off the bench is always a good thing.

dusters wrote:Russell Branyan could be an option. Power off the bench is always a good thing.

Ahhhhh!!! The BF.Net crowd LOVES Russell the Muscle, and I WAS at the Twins game a few years ago when he came in and hit a game tying HR.

But I don't think there has ever been such a fan base so in love with a player.

Ideally, any player who we bring in MAKES the squad.

The best ways to do that are a

A-Releiver(hence the power armed relievers who are coming off down years.
B-Former top prospects we can stash in AAA for a little while, maybe they'll benefit from a change of scenery(though to be honest, Towles really looked awful to me every time I saw him...I'll give way to those who know more about tools and scouting, something is obviously there.
C-A starting pitcher with experiance to stash in AAA with the old, "if I'm not up by this date," routine.
D-A RIGHT HANDED hitter off the bench.

Right now, our ideal lineup is going to have

Green, Conrad, Aoki, Catcher, Izturis as your bench options most likely. Gindl and Schafer are two other options. Gomez will be there for a while, but doesn't fit the bill you're talking about.

Point is, he doesn't seem to be a good fit here.



I still wish we'd trade Corey Hart, bite the bullet and hope that Aoki is as good as he'd been prior to last year(translated into MLB numbers of course) and we can hopefully get a GOOD starting pitcher for him.


Who is worth more right now to a team that is close, lets say in the AL...Wily Peralta or Corey Hart?

I'm good with Braun/CF platoon with whoever emerges of the 3/Aoki(though Aoki should play LF.