The Brewers made a run at free agent outfielder Jermaine Dye within the last week, report Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, but the talks reached an impasse for unknown reasons.
The FOX writers say the Brewers are unhappy with Corey Hart, and might've tried trading him if they'd signed Dye. Brewers GM Doug Melvin indicated to WSSP 1250 a few days ago that Hart doesn't have right field locked up. Jim Edmonds is in the mix to start Opening Day. Rosenthal and Morosi say Melvin discussed Hart with the Nationals. Hart is under team control for two more years, but his salary climbed to $4.8MM when he won his arbitration hearing in February. The 28-year-old recovered some OBP last year but saw his SLG slip to a career-worst .418.
Hart's glovework has been below-average the last few years in right field, so maybe the Brewers felt that they wouldn't lose much defensively by going with Edmonds and/or Dye. MLBTR tried to help Dye find a job with this post a few days ago.
