Trade Rumors Thread - Brewers Open for Business (30)

[mlloyd10]

If we are out of it and there is absolutely no way we can contend, I have a trade that would set the brewers up for the next 10 years at SS

O's get: Greinke
Brewers get: Manny Machado and try to get Dylan Bundy

[Kerb Hohl]

If we are out of it and there is absolutely no way we can contend, I have a trade that would set the brewers up for the next 10 years at SS

O's get: Greinke
Brewers get: Manny Machado and try to get Dylan Bundy

Unfortunately, the power cord was kicked off of MLB the Show 2012 as it was going through and you were not able to see it to completion.

I'm sure the O's would be ecstatic with that trade. They either spend $150 million on Zack Greinke or have their "starting pitching set up" for .75 years when he walks allowing the Brewers to have their SS and a rotation slot to be filled for 10 years.

[coolhandluke121]

LAWLZ @ the Mets being better. They're 5 games over .500 with a negative 20 run differential. Let's cool down on this 40 game stretch guys. I don't think we're World Series likely, but some of these things are a bit out of whack. Obviously I don't want to diminish every sample size, but if you think the Mets are better than the Brewers, over a season, pass me those drugs.

The Dodgers also have zero offense outside of Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier fell apart last year.

Let's take a step back and cool off here just for a second.

Again, I'm not suggesting we're ready to explode. Maybe this is the perfect storm of injuries and regressions. I'm not saying that I'm betting on us to get on fire and grab the division, but we've had our worst case scenario and we're still where we are.

Again, give me 20-30 more games and I'll be ready to sell. At that point, it is too late to turn back if everything is still going wrong.

Also, Arizona is probably not a "fluke." Justin Upton has done nothing this year, Montero has been hobbled, Goldschmidt hasn't panned out in his sophomore year, and Hudson was on the DL. Couple that with possibly the best Major League-ready prospects waiting in the wings such as Trevor Bauer to pitch, and that team is still definitely going to be a contender if not this year, the next 3.

I agree that sometimes it just isn't your season. I'd buy low on the Diamondbacks and to an extent, the Brewers right now. The Mets will be 10 games out of their division soon.

And CoolHandLuke, the Phillies are going to miss the playoffs IMO. Halladay is out 6-8 weeks. Pence and Victorino are alright, but their offense mostly sucks now and we have no idea about Howard and Utley. Rollins may bounce back but he's been brutal.

The Mets are like the Pirates last year. They were a feel good story with McCutchen playing great and some OK bats but then the baseball gods realized that Paul Maholm and the rest of that staff blow and suddenly they stopped winning every game 2-1.

It seems you're nit-picking minute details of my argument instead of seeing the big picture. Sure, maybe there are one or two teams I listed (like the Mets, for example) that are highly unlikely to finish ahead of the Brewers, but pretty much every other team should be taken seriously. Other teams may or may not continue to out-pace the Brewers from here on out, but considering that they all have at least a 5-game lead on the Brewers the smart money says that well more than half of them will finish ahead of the Brewers. Any outcome that has the Brewers with a better record than more than a small handful of those teams should be considered very unlikely at this point. They're not exactly a sleeping giant. And since they need to be better than most of those teams to make the playoffs, I'm saying sell. Sell as soon as you get a good offer for Zach, Marcum, and anyone else who's not under team control on a reasonable salary for the foreseeable future. I get the arguments against it, but I think it's a losing battle this year with all the injuries. And this is their only chance to get something of value for some of these guys. They would be compromising their future too much by going for it again this year IMO.

Of course I hope I'm wrong, and they go on a huge run starting this week.

[Kerb Hohl]

My point is that out of the entire division, I'm not worried about anyone running away. I think if Cincy hits on all cylinders, they may be tough to catch. But I'm not sure that they will keep their pitching at this level.

The East has a lot of good teams but many of them are loaded with injuries.

You're right, maybe this is the perfect storm and everyone is regressing. This isn't about time for A-Ram yet. He should have 1-2 more years at optimal level. LuCroy will be back and maybe we can hold strong. We can pick up a power 1B for some cash likely. We need to find a bullpen arm.

I'm also not suggesting we're poised for a run, but baseball is predictable. A lot of these "feel good stories" of teams and guys playing over their heads are starting to end. The Brewers have a lot of guys (except Weeks) slowly rounding into career norms. If we get that these next few weeks, we're back in it. If it just all is not going right, then we can sell at the deadline.

I think Gamel is replaceable. I was the most bearish Gamel around, but if Mark A opens his wallet, we can get a 1 year replacement. Gonzalez is not replaceable. Estrada will fill in for Narveson, but we may need more bullpen depth to cover that as well.

Again, no reason to rush right now. We can wait until July 1. You can't just play 50 games with a high payroll (for the Brewers) and punt. We only have so many precious years with Braun in his prime. I am normally driving the rebuild/trade for prospects train, but we can't overreact yet to guys like Ramirez and Weeks that almost HAVE to return to career norms. Weeks, I could see just falling off a cliff...but I think we can get back in the race.

[Jollay]

LAWLZ @ the Mets being better. They're 5 games over .500 with a negative 20 run differential. Let's cool down on this 40 game stretch guys. I don't think we're World Series likely, but some of these things are a bit out of whack. Obviously I don't want to diminish every sample size, but if you think the Mets are better than the Brewers, over a season, pass me those drugs.

The Dodgers also have zero offense outside of Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier fell apart last year.

Let's take a step back and cool off here just for a second.

Again, I'm not suggesting we're ready to explode. Maybe this is the perfect storm of injuries and regressions. I'm not saying that I'm betting on us to get on fire and grab the division, but we've had our worst case scenario and we're still where we are.

Again, give me 20-30 more games and I'll be ready to sell. At that point, it is too late to turn back if everything is still going wrong.

Also, Arizona is probably not a "fluke." Justin Upton has done nothing this year, Montero has been hobbled, Goldschmidt hasn't panned out in his sophomore year, and Hudson was on the DL. Couple that with possibly the best Major League-ready prospects waiting in the wings such as Trevor Bauer to pitch, and that team is still definitely going to be a contender if not this year, the next 3.

I agree that sometimes it just isn't your season. I'd buy low on the Diamondbacks and to an extent, the Brewers right now. The Mets will be 10 games out of their division soon.

And CoolHandLuke, the Phillies are going to miss the playoffs IMO. Halladay is out 6-8 weeks. Pence and Victorino are alright, but their offense mostly sucks now and we have no idea about Howard and Utley. Rollins may bounce back but he's been brutal.

The Mets are like the Pirates last year. They were a feel good story with McCutchen playing great and some OK bats but then the baseball gods realized that Paul Maholm and the rest of that staff blow and suddenly they stopped winning every game 2-1.

Excellent post and good debate, although I definitely see where CH Luke is coming from as well.

[Kerb Hohl]

Yeah, I see where they're coming from as well, but unless somebody knocks our socks off with an offer, I'm not making a trade until July 1. Otherwise, I'm totally fine with their opinions.

[El Duderino]

Yeah, I see where they're coming from as well, but unless somebody knocks our socks off with an offer, I'm not making a trade until July 1. Otherwise, I'm totally fine with their opinions.

Yea, barring a really ridiculously good offer before some point in July, there really is no reason to rush and make trades now. It's not like the trade deadline is only a week or two away.

In fact, i could easily see demand from sellers being at a higher level in July vs now. Teams often use that time around mid-July until the trade deadline to take stock of where they sit in regards to potentially contending for the playoffs and if they feel they have a good shot, what team need/needs should they try to fill via a trade.

Then they start calling around to likely sellers and competing against fellow buyers for available players. A reason many contenders and/or potential contenders generally wait for early July or later to try hard to make trades is that their team dynamics and biggest needs could change in a myriad of ways between early June and late July when the deadline is.

Give up say a prime prospect or two in a trade now for a veteran free agent to be like a Greinke and then maybe a bad injury or two hits in June/early July which helps cause that team to fall back in the standings. Suddenly that team really regrets making the trade so early for a guy that won't even get them comp picks. Or maybe what seems like the biggest need on June 1st can end up being wrong in retrospect come mid-July.

So i really see no logical argument for Attanasio and Melvin to start holding an auction right now vs waiting for around mid-July when competition for trades is generally at it's highest level. Plus, it gives the Brewers another 30 games or so see if the team can get on a roll, along with not waving the white flag so soon that it could potentially cost the team some cash in ticket sales. With the extra wild card, plenty of buyers will be looking for help come next month.

[humanrefutation]

I'm with the stand-pat crew. My drop dead deadline for this season was always going to be the deadline, and I'm sticking with it. It's too early to start making panic trades.

[trwi7]

I don't think it's panic trades, I consider it more realistic trades.

Let's look at this realistically.

Our infield for the rest of the year is Ramirez/Izturis-Ransom/Weeks/Ishikawa-Hart

Our outfield is Braun/Morgan-Gomez-Aoki/Hart-Aoki

We have two free agent pitchers at the end of the year. Realistically what are the chances we can afford Greinke when he hits the open market. What are the chances they even want to sign Marcum?

[El Duderino]

I don't think it's panic trades, I consider it more realistic trades.

Let's look at this realistically.

Who is saying that the Brewers shouldn't be sellers at all this year?

All some are saying is that there is little to no harm in waiting until next month. There will be plenty of teams looking for help come July if the Brewers seem pretty clearly out of competing for a playoff berth.

[coolhandluke121]

You guys are right that they should wait for a good offer, but buried somewhere in my long posts I acknowledged that. And while conventional wisdom says that offers will get better closer to the trade deadline, let's not forget that contenders will (or at least should) value a player like Greinke more the sooner they get him. Just like when the Brewers traded for Sabathia, 3 or 4 extra starts can make a big difference.

I'm just saying that if someone makes a good offer for a guy who's probably not part of the Crew's long-term plans, the Brewers should strongly consider it even if they're tempted to try to stay in it.

[Kerb Hohl]

Twirly, I think if Aramis and Weeks return to their usual form and we pick up a bat 1B, what's so bad about the infield? Even if some of those guys only moderately return...

To me, selling off Greinke, unless somebody is offering some Lawrie-esque package, isn't doing much justice. We "went for it" by adding Greinke/Marcum and whether we can afford them or not isn't going to do much difference. We're going to get comp picks anyways and if we honestly can afford none of the free agents next year then we've got a long ways to go anyways.

I guess my optimism comes from the fact that if you look at last year's team, the only net losses were Fielder (huge) and 2 big bullpen depth guys. However, if things go right, we gain a much-improved 3B situation. We can also try to grab something at 1B and bullpen at the deadline. You guys are overestimating some of the other teams in the NL as well.

Obviously the reality is that Weeks is playing like trash, Aramis is still only slowly rounding into form, and the pitching/bullpen depth has hurt. But we are seeing a lot of those things slowly evening out as the season goes by. I don't think it will repeat last season, but I think we can get a spark, and then you might as well go for it if you're close and you have Ryan Braun at what, age 28?

[El Duderino]

You guys are right that they should wait for a good offer, but buried somewhere in my long posts I acknowledged that. And while conventional wisdom says that offers will get better closer to the trade deadline, let's not forget that contenders will (or at least should) value a player like Greinke more the sooner they get him. Just like when the Brewers traded for Sabathia, 3 or 4 extra starts can make a big difference.

Keep in mind though the change in comp picks. Teams trading for a guy like Greinke who is a free agent to be will no longer get comp picks for him if he signs elsewhere. So for a team to give up prospects in a trade for a guy who will be a free agent after the season, that team needs to be sure they are a serious playoff contender. Given all the things that can happen between now and the deadline, i think most teams would rather wait before making an early trade.

[Nemesis21]

Hi guys, I'm over here from the Braves board. If the Brewers were to trade Greinke, what kind of return are they looking for? What kind of prospects, position and or pitching, combo of both ?

[trwi7]

Do you have a Kevin Mench type outfielder a Francisco Cordero type reliever and a failed outfield prospect we could take a chance on?

[Nemesis21]

Do you have a Kevin Mench type outfielder a Francisco Cordero type reliever and a failed outfield prospect we could take a chance on?

Not sure, was thinking of starting with Christian Bethancourt( C, Braves # 4 prospect) and Zeke Spruhill(P, Braves # 7 prospect). The Braves are high on OF prospect Matt Lipka( Braves # 11 prospect), there is also OF prospect Todd Cunningham( Braves # 14 prospect). Braves have tons of pitching prospects, however Teheran,Delgado and Vizcaino are off limits. J.R. Graham(P, Braves # 8 prospect) and Carlos Perez( P, Braves # 13 prospect) are nice possible bullpen guys.

[nmeurett]

Dont really need a catcher as we have Lucroy and Kataris who are both very young. We need a 1b,SS and Pitching

[mlloyd10]

Anybody have any interest in Kevin Youkilis?

[skones]

Do you have a Kevin Mench type outfielder a Francisco Cordero type reliever and a failed outfield prospect we could take a chance on?

Not sure, was thinking of starting with Christian Bethancourt( C, Braves # 4 prospect) and Zeke Spruhill(P, Braves # 7 prospect). The Braves are high on OF prospect Matt Lipka( Braves # 11 prospect), there is also OF prospect Todd Cunningham( Braves # 14 prospect). Braves have tons of pitching prospects, however Teheran,Delgado and Vizcaino are off limits. J.R. Graham(P, Braves # 8 prospect) and Carlos Perez( P, Braves # 13 prospect) are nice possible bullpen guys.

You're not offering a whole lot.

[gbmb34]

Anybody have any interest in Kevin Youkilis?

For a non top 10 ish prospect and to play 1B, for sure