Posted by Steve
I can only discuss one thing for so long before people probably get tired of hearing about it. Lately, it’s been Macha’s refusal to play the Brewers’ young players on an even semi-regular basis. This doesn’t look like it will be changing soon– Gamel has one (!) plate appearance since being called up, and Craig Freaking Counsell started at shortstop last night–so I might as well just move on to something else.
It’s clear that the Brewers have a lot of work ahead of them if they plan to acquire enough pitching to compete again next season. What’s not clear is where that pitching might come from. Free agency can be a band-aid, but the Brewers need to revamp their starting rotation. To do that, they’ll need to make trades. There are many trade candidates, but one that hasn’t been widely discussed is Prince Fielder. This is something I probably wouldn’t have gone over until the off-season, but in light of Keith Law’s blog entry the other day, we might as well do it now.
The blog is an ESPN Insider feature, so you won’t be able to read it without a subscription, but here’s a quick synopsis: Law claims the Brewers have reached a crossroad and need to decide whether to blow things up and rebuild or attempt to make another run at the playoffs. His choice is rebuilding. He believes the Brewers should trade Prince Fielder, whose value is at its peak. His reasoning, surprise, surprise, is the poor rotation. He doesn’t believe they’ll be able to put together a contending rotation by next season. He admits that trading Fielder would be a tough sell to the fans, and that admitting that one playoff appearance was all the Brewers were able to achieve with this core of players we’ve been hearing about for the last five-plus years. He still feels this is in the best interest of the team’s future, and he makes a pretty solid argument.
Thing is, while I agree it is a viable option, I’m not crazy about moving Prince Fielder this off-season. I’m not convinced the Brewers need to rebuild, and there’s no reason to move that process along while they still have two years of Fielder left. While it would be good to trade a player at peak value (they would get a ton for him), Fielder is the type of player you build around while you have him. They may not have another hitter of his caliber come through their system in the next five or ten years.
If they were looking to rebuild, trading Fielder would be the right move. I just don’t think the Brewers need to rebuild. They have the trio of Braun, Fielder and Gallardo for the next three years. That’s a trio that should be built around, not blown up.
Finally, blowing it up now will be a tough sell to fans who have packed Miller Park the last few seasons. The Brewers are ninth in MLB in attendance this year, and were ninth last year as well. That’s pretty incredible considering Milwaukee is one of the smallest MLB markets. That revenue has helped the Brewers increase payroll, which in turn helps the team compete.
Trading Fielder would be a good move in a different situation (i.e. Richie Sexson earlier in the decade). Getting pitching will be an extremely tough task, but it’s not impossible.
