GrendonJennings wrote:Yeah I wasn't completely bashing the trade (though I was much less a fan of this one) I was just responding to livestrong saying that Lawrie was a prospect and had chance to bust. So did Marcum (he pitched pretty well, but I'm not expecting anything this year and beyond).
I didn't expect Lawrie to explode the way he did last year, but he did and if he does develop into an elite or near elite bat, i'll see no other way to view the trade as bad to some degree in retrospect given i want no part of extending Marcum unless it's two years at most. He won't take only two years though.
Maybe Marcum can do better vs good offenses this year, including the playoffs if the Brewers do make it, but like you i'm skeptical until i see it. That said, his ability to generally shut down weaker offenses still does have value, each game counts in the standings. It's just nerve racking watching him pitch in important late season games/the playoffs when he gets behind in the count and Macum has to come in with that 86mph "fastball."
One other thing to remember about the Marcum trade is Greinke brought it up when agreeing to drop his no-trade clause to Milwaukee. Now maybe he'd still have agreed to come here without the Marcum trade happening first, but that we'll never know.