SATURDAY, 7:44pm: Brewers GM Doug Melvin did not approve of Braun's comments, telling Haudricourt Monday that he was "ticked off" upon hearing them.
“It was inappropriate for him to say what he said, and I’m not happy about it,” Melvin said on Monday. "To make the statements he made and also get on his teammates like that, it was irresponsible on his part. It just ticked me off.”
FRIDAY, 8:10pm: According to Tom Haudricourt at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, you can count Ryan Braun in as a proponent of the Brewers pursuing a pitcher:
"To show everybody we’re for real, we can go out there and make a move and improve our ball club. We want to head in the right direction, not the wrong direction," Braun said after the team lost three of four to the Cubs. He said the Cubs "threw the ball a lot better than our starters did. They certainly swung the bats better than we did as well. Clearly, they were the better team."
11:31am: Yesterday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com suggested the Brewers have some questions to answer, including their rotation and whether or not to send Mat Gamel to Triple-A.
Tom Haudricourt thinks the Brewers need to act quickly to acquire a starting pitcher. "It's a tough market, depleted by injuries to Jake Peavy and Erik Bedard, but the Brewers need another arm to stay in the playoff race. That remains true even if [Dave] Bush and [Manny] Parra return to the rotation in the near future," says Haudricourt.
Anthony Witrado of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says "it's no secret" the Brewers are trying to add another player via trade before the end of July. However, the market is bare. Witrado says, "Based on what the Brewers are looking for (probably established pitching) and what potential sellers would want in return (probably younger pitching), [Doug] Melvin said there are fewer than 10 teams that could potentially 'match up' with the Brewers."
Witrado notes Gamel and Alcides Escobar are untouchable. "So to pull off a deal and keep the organization's two best prospects, a big-league player would probably have to be involved," says Witrado.
What would you do if you were running the Brewers? Who would you target and what would you give up? What would you do about Gamel?
