Posted by Steve
Boy, was he terrible. I was just thinking about that. What awful memories.
Posted by Steve
Boy, was he terrible. I was just thinking about that. What awful memories.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Ned Yost... Sha-wuuhhh??
Tagged: Horrid bullpen management, Ned Yost
Posted by Steve
In a nauseating move, the Brewers have apparently signed Jim Edmonds to a minor league deal with a chance to make the team in Spring Training. In terms of a baseball move, it’s low-risk and can’t really hurt. The Brewers do need left-handed bats, though it’s hard to guess how effective Edmonds will be–he sat out all of last season, remember
In terms of my annoyance, it’s not nearly as good of a move. I can’t stand Jim Edmonds. His body language has always oozed of arrogance. He WAS a good defensive outfielder back in the day, but he’s the king of slowing up on a ball so he can dive or slide to catch it. I loved hating this guy when he was with the Cardinals, and I was entirely amused when the Cubs signed him after he played for their hated rivals for so long. That is, until I went to that game in 2008 when Edmonds hit the grand slam off Dave Bush to complete the sweep of Milwaukee. So there’s another reason I can’t stand Edmonds.
Eh, whatever. It can’t be worse than the few week period in which they had Julian Tavarez.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: 2010 Hot Stove
Tagged: Jim Edmonds
Posted by Steve
Just thought I’d pass this along. It’s a pretty cool gallery of Ben Sheets’ career with the Brewers. Good stuff from the Wausau Daily Herald. Interesting that there was nothing like this from the Journal Sentinel.
→ 3 CommentsCategories: Links
Tagged: Ben Sheets
Posted by Steve
Well, looks like Ben got his money after all. Ten million for one year. Good for him. I like it for the A’s also, mainly because of my belief that there’s no such thing as a horrible contract if it’s a one-year deal. If Sheets regains his form, he’ll easily be worth 10 mil. If he doesn’t, well he’ll come off the books next season.
I don’t need to recite my many odes to Ben Sheets once again. It became apparent that Sheets was not going to come back to Milwaukee, so I was prepared for him to go somewhere else. At that point, I was just hoping he wouldn’t go to the Cubs, who were rumored to have interest. I actually expected the Mets to sign him, so when he signed with Oakland today I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve always liked the A’s, but more importantly, I’m glad he’s out of the NL.
The biggest dilemma for me now is who to root for in the AL West. I had adopted the Mariners since Jack Z took over in Seattle last year, and I absolutely love what he’s done there. I guess as long as the Angels don’t win yet again, I’ll be happy.
It’s too bad the A’s are the only AL West team the Brewers don’t play this year, but it might not be all bad. I don’t have enough faith in a lot of Brewer fans not to boo Sheets in his Miller Park return, and such a scene might be enough to turn me against the Brewers altogether. Sheets seemingly grew tired of the moaning of some shortsighted fans who felt he didn’t earn his last contract (when in reality he outperformed it). In his presser today, he seemed to make reference to that fact.
[Sitting out] renewed me. I realize I love the game. You want to be somewhere where people want you.
Even today, I’ve been hearing reactions along the lines of, ‘What are the A’s thinking?’ or ‘Sheets wouldn’t have helped the Brewers,’ and all I can do is shake my head. Defending Ben Sheets has become my pastime, but I have honestly grown tired of it. I wonder if people will ever realize how good he was.
→ 3 CommentsCategories: 2010 Hot Stove
Tagged: Ben Sheets
Posted by Steve
This is pretty much what I was afraid of. The Brewers have rounded out their pitching staff by signing Doug Davis. The deal is for one year, $4.25 mil with a one million dollar buyout on a six million dollar option for next season.
This simply is not enough of an improvement. Doug Davis is not a good starting pitcher. His FIP last year was 4.84. His k/bb ratio has been below 2 each of the last four seasons. He walks way too many hitters. It boggles my mind that with Manny Parra and Yovani Gallardo already in the rotation, the Brewers would even entertain signing another pitcher who walks the ballpark. They’ll likely lead the league in walks issued next season. Saying “well, he’s better than Jeff Suppan” isn’t enough. A ton of guys are better than Jeff Suppan. The Brewers needed big moves to improve on the worst starting rotation in the National League. Instead, they added Randy Wolf (a slightly above average starter) and Doug Davis (a slightly below average starter). That’s not going to get it done.
Here’s what I don’t get at all. This is a quote from Doug Melvin from the JS Blog on Jan. 15.
“Our new thing is that we’re not just looking for innings. We’re looking for quality innings. We like our offense and our bullpen. We just need quality innings from our starters.”
So what did they do? They go out and sign a guy who does exactly what he said they don’t want–a non-quality innings eater! Maddening.
And this $4.25 mil could have been better spent. Is Ben Sheets really going to get more than 7? Who would you rather have: Ben Sheets, or Doug Davis and LaTroy Hawkins? I’d have also rather signed John Smoltz or Erik Bedard over Davis. And that’s just guys in free agency alone. Who knows who was available on the trade market.
Another thing; why give him the option for the second year? Has Doug Davis done anything to require a second year? Now when they buy out his option, they’ll just be throwing away a million bucks.
The real root of the problem is the Brewers’ inability to develop impact pitching in their own system. It’s finally caught up with them, and it will be the reason their window will close with one measly playoff appearance.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: 2010 Hot Stove · What in tarnation?!@
Tagged: Doug Davis
Posted by Steve
At the end of 2009, I made a post about what I’d like to see from the Brewers this off-season. To summarize, the four main things I wanted to see off the bat were: Seth McClung non-tendered, Braden Looper’s option declined, Jason Kendall not re-signed, and David Weathers’ option declined. Lo and behold, here we sit on December 18, and all of these things have occurred. H-yeah!
Really the only thing that happened that I wasn’t hoping for was the Hardy-Gomez swap, and losing Cameron in the process. But that deal also saved quite a bit of money which has been/will be used to upgrade the pitching staff.
Craig Counsell was signed for $2 million, an absolute bargain for a great utility infielder. You can’t expect his offense to be quite as good as 2009, but then again, it was the first time he ditched that crazy batting stance, so expecting something close isn’t unreasonable. Counsell has been a great value for the Brewers. He’s outperformed his contract each of the last three years. Fangraphs had him worth $12.7 million last season! With Weeks coming back from serious injury and Escobar being thrown to the wolves, Counsell will provide much needed depth.
I still fully expect the Brewers to add at least one more starter to bump Jeff Suppan out of the rotation, but that probably won’t happen until at least mid-January. Doug Melvin will probably let the market play out and see what value is there as Spring Training approaches, whether that’s through a trade or free agency.
Changing course here. Making things even better is today’s trade by our lovable losers to the south, the Cubs. They traded Milton Bradley to Seattle for Carlos Silva. Carlos Silva! It sounds like the Cubs are getting some cash back in the deal, but that really is beside the point. They were so desperate to get rid of Bradley that they were willing to take on a player with basically no value.
Bradley’s WAR
2009: 1.0
2008: 4.5
2007: 2.4
Silva’s WAR
2009: -0.1
2008: 1.5
2007: 3.3
They traded Bradley for one of the worst contracts in the game, who also happened to have negative value last season. How great is that? They backed themselves into a corner so badly that they would have rather taken on a near worthless pitcher than give Bradley a chance to rebound! Better yet, one of the guys rumored to be a candidate to replace Bradley is none other than Scott Podsednik. If the Cubs replace Rich Harden with Carlos Silva and Milton Bradley with Scott Podsednik in the same off-season, I may not be able to contain myself.
Of course, I did what I always do when something bad happens to the Cubs: go read North Side Baseball. Here are some of my favorites:
(From this morning, when the trade was still a rumor)We know it won’t be Silva unless Hendry is truly feeling career suicidal.
That’d be awesome if we traded Bradley and then basically replaced him with Scotty Pods. That’ll make our team better.
Silva carries himself like an ace; the rest will figure itself out.
Is it pretty safe to say that Hendry hate is at an all time high?
It’s okay guys, Rich Harden gets hurt a lot. This is a lateral move in the rotation at worst. And since Silva is probably nice (since he’s fat) we’re going to have great chemistry
The meatball cub fans will love this move simply because Bradley is out of town. Silva is a terrible return for Milton.
Enjoy your weekend everyone! The holidays just got a little happier!
→ Leave a CommentCategories: 2010 Hot Stove · Transactions
Tagged: Carlos Silva, Craig Counsell, Milton Bradley
Posted by Steve
Greetings from Indianapolis! I’ve wanted to comment on the news of the last few days, but things have been fairly hectic. Since nothing was official until today, I guess I haven’t missed too much.
The Brewers certainly have been one of the busier teams. In fact, they’ve been the biggest spenders at the Winter Meetings to this point. Let’s start with what will be the biggest signing of their off-season: Randy Wolf.
The Brewers identified Wolf as their number one target once they realized they had no shot to afford John Lackey. On a much smaller scale, Doug Melvin pulled a Yankees-C.C. Sabathia move: Make a top offer very early on in attempt to avoid a bidding war. I don’t think anyone figured Wolf would get $30 million, but then again, I don’t think people figured the Yankees would immediately outbid the only CC Sabathia offer by $50 million. Both instances worked; Wolf’s agent briefly shopped the offer around but quickly realized nobody was going to top $30 million over three years.
To be honest, nobody really should have topped it. There’s probably no team as desperate as the Brewers for pitching, and this move has a deperation-y feel to it. Wolf is a solid pitcher–a 4.00 to 4.25 ERA type guy when healthy. He’s got solid k, bb and home run rates–nothing special, but all are average to slightly above. He’s 33 years old, and I feel confident he’ll be worth his contract for at least next season. The third year is the part that concerns me, and obviously everyone else, as the Brewers were really the only ones willing to offer a third year. Two years/$16 million seems more right for Wolf, not three years/$30 mil.
I can’t say I’m overly excited about it–I definitely groaned when I first heard the amount–but I don’t hate it or anything. They needed a dependable starter to slot behind Yovani Gallardo, and Wolf fits that bill. It’s definitely not a repeat of the Suppan signing, as some are trying to claim. Suppan was clearly worse than Wolf at the time of his contract, as numbers show. Wolf is a better pitcher for less years and less money.
Only an hour or two after news of the Wolf signing broke, the Brewers finalized a deal with reliever LaTroy Hawkins for $7.5 million over two years. My reaction to this is pretty similar to the Wolf signing. He’s a solid player, but he got one more year than I’d have liked.
Hawkins’ ERA of 2.1 with Houston last year is pretty eye-popping, but a closer look reveals he’s not really a “2.1 ERA pitcher.” In fact, he wasn’t really much different than most of his other years. He was aided by a crazy high strand rate of 90.9% (career rate of 70.9%) and a BABIP of .284 (career rate of .314). He’ll still be one of their better relievers and in the setup mix with Todd Coffey, but he’s probably more of a “4.00 ERA, 1.2 WHIP” type pitcher. I would have rather given him a one year/$4 million deal than a two year/7.5 mil deal, but I suppose that’s nitpicking. The Brewers needed another dependable reliever with the horrible news of Mark DiFelice’s torn labrum (must every mancrush I have suffer crippling, career-threatening injuries?), so they wanted to make sure they got him. That’s understandable.
This is likely the last of the activity we’ll see from the Brewers for awhile, possibly more than a month. Doug Melvin’s strategy was to quickly sign a big free agent (Wolf) and a reliever (Hawkins) and then wait and see what kind of bargain deals might be available come January or February. They’re likely hoping for a one-year deal with some other free agents, and they’ll likely explore trade options as well.
My preference would be to sign one more boom or bust type to a one-year deal. Someone like Rich Harden, Ben Sheets, John Smoltz or possibly Erik Bedard, though Bedard’s chances of pitching at all in 2010 are coming into question. It sounds like they’re going to make a small, incentive-laden offer to Mark Mulder, but Mulder can’t be penciled into the rotation at this point until they see what they’ve got. They’ll need to add one more pitcher even if they sign Mulder.
Since my first choice, Carl Pavano, surprised and disappointed me by accepting the Twins’ offer of arbitration, my top choice is now John Smoltz for a one year deal. You may be surprised I’m not pushing for Sheets, but the more you hear, the more it sounds like there isn’t much interest in a reunion from either side. Plus, Sheets is a huge question mark for 2010 while Smoltz is more dependable at this point. Much was made of Smoltz’s failure in Boston, but that was a fluke. First of all, it was 40 innings, which is really too small of a sample size to declare a Hall of Fame pitcher washed up. Second, the only thing that hurt him was a huge home run rate. His k/bb ratio was still a great 3.67 mark in Boston, and once he went to St. Louis, his home run rate fell way down. His overall 2009 numbers were still close to ace-like: 4.06 k/bb, 3.87 FIP. I’m not sure how much the Brewers have left to spend, but I’d be willing to go as high as the one-year, $7.5 million deal the Cardinals just gave to Brad Penny.
For now, I’m just glad the Brewers brought back the pitching version of Geoff Jenkins.

→ 2 CommentsCategories: 2010 Hot Stove · Milwaukee Brewers 2010 · Transactions
Tagged: Geoff Jenkins, John Smoltz, LaTroy Hawkins, Randy Wolf
Posted by Steve
The Brewers moved quickly to sign their first free agent, catcher Gregg Zaun. He was signed for $2.15 million with a club option for 2011. Zaun’s signing means the end of Jason Kendall’s run in Milwaukee. Zaun should be more than a minor offensive upgrade from Kendall. Over the last three years, Zaun has had an OPS above .750 in part time work. Nothing Earth-shattering, but he’s got a pretty nice eye at the plate and has more pop than Kendall. Reports on his defense are that he’s well short of elite, but then again, Kendall was last year as well. No word on exactly how much grit the Brewers lose in going from Kendall to Zaun.
This is somewhat of a strange signing, though for $2 million it’s not anything too risky. He’ll be better than Kendall, but so would a couple other players they already had. I just figured the Brewers had enough catching depth between Jonathan Lucroy, George Kottaras, Mike Rivera and even Angel Salome. I imagine this is a good indication that the Brewers will not start the season with Lucroy on the MLB team, as Doug Melvin was recently considering. I’m also guessing this means the end of Mike Rivera. Rivera did a nice job in a very small role in 2008, but the shine wore off his bat in 2009. He’s arbitration eligible for the first time, and I’m guessing with this signing the Brewers won’t want to pay it. My guess is that they start the year with Zaun and Kottaras as the backup, with Lucroy getting called up a few months into the season.
And in case any of you fans wanted to get to know the Brewers’ new starting catcher, here’s the link to Gregg Zaun’s official web site. I’m begging you, please do not skip the intro. Maybe you even want to join Zaunbie Nation. If his walk-up is Z-tunes Track Number One, I’m on board with this signing.
→ 3 CommentsCategories: 2010 Hot Stove · Milwaukee Brewers 2010
Tagged: Gregg Zaun
Posted by Steve

Yesterday was the deadline to offer arbitration to free agents, and the Brewers decided not to offer arbitration to any of theirs. Not offering to Jason Kendall, Braden Looper and David Weathers makes perfect sense. Mike Cameron is a different story; he has value and probably could have been traded if he accepted. I can still understand it though, because that would have probably been around $10 or 12 million, so it’s somewhat risky. The one I can’t understand at all though is why they didn’t offer arbitration to Felipe Lopez.
There was no reason not to offer Lopez arbitration. There was almost no chance he’d accept it; he’ll turn his best season of his career into a multi-year deal somewhere. Offering him arby wouldn’t have even deterred a team from signing him anyway because he’s only a Type B free agent, meaning the signing team wouldn’t have to forfeit their own draft pick. The Brewers would have just received an extra second round pick.
Even if Lopez had somehow accepted arbitration, it’s not like his contract would have been dead money. Lopez made $3.5 million in 2009, so through arbitration he’d be around 4.5 or 5. That’s not all that much for a productive second baseman. Lopez could have been kept for insurance at second base and served as a utility player playing 3-5 times a week at various positions. Or if they ended up not needing him, he could have just been traded. Rickie Weeks is returning from a serious wrist injury, which incidentally is the second of his career. The Brewers must feel good about him coming back at 100%. They’d have to to make this move.
Lopez will almost certainly sign a multi-year deal, which means he’d have declined arbitration. Really, this is just throwing away a free draft pick. What really doesn’t make sense is why the Brewers traded for Lopez in the first place if they weren’t going to offer him arbitration after the season. Knowing this, I’d have just as soon not made the trade had Casey McGehee play second. At least that would have opened up third for Mat Gamel.
Moving on to the rest of baseball. Lopez was surprising, but some of the other players who were not offered arbitration were even more surprising. Rich Harden, Randy Wolf, Jon Garland and Doug Davis were all not offered arbitration. Harden is surprising, but I suppose with his injury history there’s a chance he might not get a multi-year deal. I still expect him to sign for at least two years, though. Wolf is the really shocking one. He’s durable and effective. There’s no way he does not garner a multi-year deal. Wolf is a Type A and would have netted the Dodgers two high draft picks. Total blunder by the Dodgers.
Of course, the bright side of this is if the Brewers want to sign one of these starters, it won’t cost them a draft pick.
→ 4 CommentsCategories: 2010 Hot Stove · Transactions
Tagged: Felipe Lopez, Randy Wolf