Brewers Acquire Corey Koskie
The Miami Herald and WTMJ in Milwaukee are reporting that Brewers GM Doug Melvin has swooped in and acquired third baseman Corey Koskie. To get him, they sent righthanded reliever Brian Wolfe to Toronto. Wolfe is a 25 year-old career minor leaguer with little chance of ever seeing the big leagues. This was a salary dump, as Koskie is owed $5.25MM in 2006 and $5.75MM in 2007. His $6.5MM 2008 option can be bought out for $500,000. However, the option becomes guaranteed if Koskie gets at least 796 plate appearances over the next two seasons.
Koskie will be entering his age 33 season with a career line of .277/.369/.455. He's averaged just 115 games over the last three seasons. His latest injury was a broken thumb with ligament damage. If the Jays are throwing in some cash, it's another smart acquisition by Doug Melvin. Koskie's not terribly expensive, and if the Brewers can keep him on the field they'll get decent on-base skills and 20-25 HR. The move rightly puts Bill Hall back into more of a utility role, although he'll start at third with southpaws on the mound. The platoon could easily result in Milwaukee getting 30 HR out of the third base spot in '06.
RotoWorld speculates that righty masher 3B/1B/OF Russell Branyan could be traded. Which club would benefit from his services? The Twins, Phillies, and Indians would be good fits.
Why not the Padres? Branyan can't be that expensive, and considering they have Castilla slated as their starting thirdbasemen, Branyan would be an upgrade.
Posted by: Mike | January 07, 2006 at 12:18 AM
Would he really be a good fit for Philly? They already have Bell and Nunez set to platoon at 3B, and the talks are that Tejada would play 3rd if that trade goes down.
btw, any info on that?
Posted by: James | January 07, 2006 at 12:24 AM
I'd love to have Branyan on the Mets. Why not?
Posted by: Ben | January 07, 2006 at 12:38 AM
I've long prayed for Branyan on the Giants, and with Linden hitting under .200 in winterball, plsu the Giants already having six guys o nthe team that can play OF and only one bench INF, I could see Branyan fitting SF.
Whether or not Sabean would have any interest is another story
Posted by: NeifiChicken | January 07, 2006 at 02:31 AM
Like Ben said, I've love to have Branyan on the Mets.
Posted by: | January 07, 2006 at 10:40 AM
Another strong move by Doug Melvin. Melvin is quickly becoming one of the better GM's in the NL Central.
Posted by: CCD | January 07, 2006 at 10:48 AM
Doug Melvin is the man. Total haul from the Jay's:
2 solid pitching prospects
4th OF
Starting 3B
$7 million
Cost:
Lyle Overbay
2 AAAA arms
$4 million
Plus opening up the spot for Prince Fielder at 1B. I'll take those deals every time.
Posted by: Slooz | January 07, 2006 at 11:06 AM
Agreed, all those suggestions make sense to me. I wasn't thinking about Nunez, so yeah, maybe not Philly. Though he could also spell Ryan Howard.
Posted by: RumorMonger | January 07, 2006 at 11:28 AM
At the rate Howard K's, the Phils should probably get another first baseman. Ryan has many holes in his swing. That's a concern for me, as a Phillies fan.
Posted by: MikitaKoloff | January 07, 2006 at 11:48 AM
I don't care how much Howard strikes out, it's not as much as Thome did. Howard is the arguably the least concering player on Philly's roster and is a legitimate 35 HR threat for 2006.
Phillies '06 lineup
(assuming Abreu is trade for Tejada)
Rollins
Utley
Tejada
Howard
Burrell
Rowand
Michaels
Lieberthal
That's a potent lineup.
Posted by: Nick C | January 07, 2006 at 03:12 PM
Indians are looking for a right-handed bat (lefty-masher) and moved on from Branyon years ago - plus he would be a step down at any of those positions. So I would be very surprised if they are interested.
Posted by: rob | January 07, 2006 at 03:24 PM
But Aaron Boone sucks against righties.
Posted by: RumorMonger | January 07, 2006 at 05:58 PM
And the Phillies pitching sucks. The NL East is full of potent lineups. My Braves are due to repeat again. Francoeur can kick all the're asses.
Posted by: Spooner | January 07, 2006 at 07:28 PM
True, Spooner. Good point.
Posted by: Nick C | January 07, 2006 at 09:51 PM
Maybe I'm crazy, but does Howard have power when you pitch him at the hands?
It seems like I never see pitchers exploit that area and his homers are constantly the other way and to dead center on pitches he can get extended on.
I'd like to see pitchers pitch him on the hands more
Posted by: NeifiChicken | January 08, 2006 at 02:29 AM
No. He doesn't.
He'll never hit higher than .260 consistently.
Posted by: Spooner | January 08, 2006 at 02:30 AM
We'll wait and see on that one.
Posted by: Nick C | January 08, 2006 at 09:32 AM