Brewers Clinging To Top Prospects

I wouldn't exactly call it a "refreshing" change. The vast majority of Brewers fans are very happy with the memories of last season.

@BeanoCook. That's surprising to me. You think most Brewers fans feel the same way? The few I know have major regrets.

Only those obsessed with "the deal" sweat the CC trade, from a Brewers perspective.

The trade was

CC and playoff appearance
for
M LaPorta
and
stuff

But shouldn't the Brewers be (and have been) concerned with building a strong team for the long-term? Not that they don't have a good nucleus in place right now, but LaPorta is going to be a nice player.

Wouldn't fans want multiple playoff appearances? Perhaps I'm just spoiled.

I wouldn't like to trade Escobar or Gamel, but I was in no way shape or form disappointed by the CC trade. I was at every home start he made, and there was nothing like it. The playoff games were amazing as well... No regrets, but no more. Especially because I think the plan is to ditch JJ and Prince next year. Put McGehee at 3rd, Gamel at 1st and Escobar as SS and you have a young good hitting solid defending infield. Assuming Gamel can handle 1st. It seems his only problem is throwing

@BrewTownBeat. It seems like a definite change in philosophy to me. I think it's pretty clear. That was a monstrous deal, throwing a top prospect out to land Sabathia. And now they're not willing to do such a thing.

I would imagine the Brewers fans have enjoyed all the hype and hoopla of "prospects" and were happy to see their team acquire CC and make a run at a ring. Unfortuantely they didn't go far but in a short 7 games series a combo of CC and Sheets and a couple of hitters in a hot streak might be all you need. Even if they trade 1 major prospect this year they still have a very young team and several other prospects to follow. The one thing they can't afford to trade would be pitching prospects because their staff is pretty thin as it is.

The CC trade led to a playoff appearance, show me another trade that clearly did that? It is rare. Nice return.

The trade and subsequent playoff appearance also boosted ticket sales to record levels, the Brewers sold more tickets than Boston in 2008. Ticket sales are up this year, the deal has paid off very well financially for the franchise, even if LaPorta is an All-Star.

The Brewers ability to expand payroll this year and compete can be traced to the CC trade. The fan loyalty and brand value of the Brewers has increased, just about every measure shows the CC trade to be a success, even if LaPorta is an All-Star.

A sports franchise has 2 missions.

#1: Provide Entertainment
#2: Win Championships

Yes they are intertwined, but don't think for a second #2 (Winning Championships) surpasses entertainment.

2008 was incredibly entertaining and the Brewers did win and have a strong chance at a championship.

Watching C.C. pitch with the Brewers last year was unreal. There shouldn't be many regrets. If you want to win you have to be willing to go all in and that's what the Brewers did. They should be happy that they did that.

Drew, there is no regret within the organization or ownership, I can assure you of that. The trade allowed the Brewers a real chance to win a World Series. Just about every playoff team has a similar chance to win the WS, it is a crap shoot.

Drew, I don't think you have followed this subject very closely. You are 180 degrees off on analysis of the sentiments of the Brewers fans and employees and ownership.

You can make a baseball argument the Brewers traded too much for CC, that's about it.

I think the Cubs, who haven't won in 100 years, should shut it down, I mean what is the point.........

I think their fans would agree. Not.

whats the deal with Mat Gamel?
the Brewers dont seem to want to allow him to play on a regular basis despite his offensive Braun like potential, but they wont trade him either?
its not really worth saying what his current major league numbers are because hes been used more as a pinch hitter than anything else compared to playing on a regular basis in the minors. if the Brewers could put this guy at 3B on a regular basis he could produce numbers like Braun did in 2007.
its not like Bill Hall has been doing much.
if the Brewers arnt going to allow him to play defensively at 3B whats his future? make him into an OF? trade Fielder and put Gamel at 1B? or trade Gamel, and if thats the plan might aswell do it now and get something useful to make a run this season.

I would rather watch Brett Favre lead a 4-12 Packers season over a AARON RODGERS 14-2 season, Super Bowl appearance loss,

I added AARON RODGERS

The playoffs are a crap shoot. Every team has a chance. Look, I get it. I'm a Cardinals fan -- 2006 came out of nowhere. But the fact remains the Brewers had only a short ride in the playoffs.

I have nothing against the Brewers or Milwaukee, and I promise you I'm not meaning to offend. I've just never heard of a fan complacent with "Wild Card memories."

" I've just never heard of a fan complacent with "Wild Card memories.""

Tell that to Boston (sorry, couldn't resist).

...But the fact remains the Brewers had only a short ride in the playoffs.

I have nothing against the Brewers or Milwaukee, and I promise you I'm not meaning to offend. I've just never heard of a fan complacent with "Wild Card memories."

Posted by: Drew Silva | June 23, 2009 at 09:13 PM

=====================================

The Brewers may have had a short lived playoff run but that doesn't change the fact that they were one of the best teams coming in. They had a legitimate shot to take it all last year and that, to me, justifies the Sabathia deal. They went for it at the right time.

Just because the cards didn't fall their way doesn't make it the wrong or a bad decision.

But Silva, I think half the point was to get the younger guys experience, with a ton of potential in the farm system left, trading LaPorta didn't hurt too much. Another bat won't help the team as much as the taste of the post season.

And I definitely think the point of bringing Gamel up was to acclimate him to the majors to replace Prince(maybe JJ too) and go for it all next year, anything we do this year is a plus.

Drew, you clearly don't get it. The Brewers fans enjoyed their Wild Card 2008 season more than your Cards fans enjoyed 2006 World Series, which was watered down and all by them winning just a handful of games over .500.

I'm being serious.

The Brewers playoff drought was the longest in pro sports. It was the right move on so many levels.

I;m surprised you are even trying to argue against this while LaPorta is sitting in the minors. Maybe if he was a 4 time All star I could understand this.

No glove, all bat 1st basemen are easy to find. Yawn.

Brewersfan 729.

The CC trade is impacting the Brewers ability to take on salary THIS YEAR. Because of the success of 2008, the Brewers ticket sales are way up and revenues are up, which is allowing the club to make a move, add salary to help the club get to the postseason in 2009. That trade may help create 2 playoff appearances.

There isn't much point in arguing, you guys are clearly evaluating the trade based on completely different criteria. You're all right. You're all wrong.

The typical fan attitude in most situations can be summed up as "ME WANT NOW NOW NOW!" There's not a lot of situations where a team has a chance to pick up a great player to help with a playoff push and fans go "oh holy hell, don't do it. That costs too much." (I'm not specifically saying anybody in this thread is that way, incidentally, so please don't come back saying "that's not me!") As a Cub fan I can say I hear that attitude from fellow fans all the time. "Trade everybody, we HAVE TO WIN NOW!!" In that sense, the only evaluation of a trade is "did it help us now?" In the CC situation, of COURSE it did. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a mid-season trade where a player performed better than CC did.

Organization leaders are supposed to be on the other end of the spectrum. They make moves when it's both important and prudent, they tell the fans no when it hurts the organization too much long-term. In other words, yes, it's their responsibility to build a good team--but also their responsibility to build a good franchise, and those two things often stand opposed. From THAT perspective, it's harder to say if the CC trade was wise. I don't know what LaPorta will turn out to be in his career, but I do know he was traded for a half-season rental. What could you have gotten for him elsewhere? Could you have filled a bigger hole? Could you have acquired some long-term pieces that could be helping, say, in your starting rotation this year and next year and for years to come? It's all hypothetical, so it's hard to evaluate. You can say definitively that you could have gotten long-term pieces but instead got a rental.

So which is more important? *shrugs* Depends who you ask. Depends what perspective they're coming from. I don't think what they gave up for CC was so grievous a wound to their organization that it shouldn't have been done, even with the hindsight of how it ultimately turned out. But that's just me. I honestly think them getting screwed on the compensation picks is what hurts the deal more than what they gave up directly.

i dont have any rumours or anything like that and this is probually something that wont go anywhere at all. the Brewers dont want to trade Gamel OR Escobar, but would they deal BOTH in a trade for Roy Halladay? IMO Halladay is better than Sabathia, and he is signed through the end of next season.
i dont know who all the Brewers have in the minors to be involved, but along with Halladay the Brewers could maybe get Scutaro to leadoff.