Ryan Braun Rumors

Brewers Hope To Add Two Starters

Brewers GM Doug Melvin spoke to reporters today, and Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has quotes. A few highlights: Melvin feels that re-signing closer Trevor Hoffman early will aid the Brewers in attracting free agent starting pitchers. Melvin hopes to add two starters. When asked about trading Prince Fielder or Ryan Braun, Melvin responded, "I don't see that happening." Might as well close the book on those rumors. The Brewers view Rickie Weeks as their starting second baseman, which implies they'll let free agent Felipe Lopez leave. Melvin told Haudricourt it would "be very difficult" for the Brewers to...   Continue Reading

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Odds & Ends: Brewers, Sizemore, Gomes

Curious about how untouchable Grady Sizemore is? I had to create a category for him just for this post. In the entire history of MLBTR, no one ever bothered to write any rumors about him... ESPN's Keith Law writes that the Brewers "are closer to noncontention than contention, and trying to prop the playoff window open for another year or two could lead to a miserable bottoming-out not far down the road." He suggests they trade megastar Prince Fielder to help fill other holes, and build the team around Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo. Jim Ingraham of The News Herald...   Continue Reading

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Odds And Ends: O's, Phillies, Braun, DeRosa

More links for the afternoon... Today's chat will take place in a little over an hour, at 2pm CST. It's worth checking out this Jerry Crasnick article at ESPN.com just for the photo of Nick Markakis balancing a folding chair on his chin. As Crasnick says, Markakis, Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold and Luke Scott will be an impressive group of outfielders on improved O's teams in the near future. In the midst of his mid-season awards, SI.com's Tom Verducci says the Tigers and Dodgers deserve credit for well-thought-out offseason moves. David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News lays out five...   Continue Reading

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Rosenthal's Latest: Kotsay, Fuentes, Glavine, Smoltz

On August 18th, Rosenthal mentioned Mark Kotsay had cleared waivers, and that Brian Fuentes had not yet been placed. Here's an update, from today's Inside Pitch video: The Brewers and Red Sox are both showing interest in Kotsay. The Brewers would only pursue a trade if Ryan Braun's ribcage injury worsens, and so far he looks more than fine. The Sox made a play for lefty-hitting Brian Giles before Giles vetoed the deal, so it makes sense that they'd exert similar effort toward Kotsay. Even more so now that J.D. Drew has a herniated disc. Fuentes is expected to be...   Continue Reading

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Ryan Braun Contract Details

Tom Haudricourt has the details on Ryan Braun's new extension. It's a tricky one, because it's not yet known whether Braun will be arbitration-eligible after the 2009 season. It won't be known for sure until November of '09. If he is arb-eligible at that time he'll make an extra $6MM. It's looking like Braun will earn $4.5MM (including a signing bonus) for his three pre-arb years. Then he'll get $18.5MM for his three arb years (less than 80% of what Hanley Ramirez will get for the same slice of his career). After that Braun gave up his first two free...   Continue Reading

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Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Braun, Holliday, Kouzmanoff, Greene, Sabean

Let's take a look at what is being said about some recent rumors, trades and signings in the Blogosphere... Right Field Bleachers sees the signing of Ryan Braun and Corey Hart to long-term deals as a "must" for the Brewers. Brewers Nation sees the Braun deal as evidence that Prince Fielder will not sign an extension even if the two situations are very different. Oleanders and Morning Glories thinks that if Nats' management was hoping to sign Ryan Zimmerman to a Troy Tulowitzki-type deal, Braun's deal may have raised the bar. Squawking Baseball sees the recent trend in giving long-term...   Continue Reading

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Ryan Braun Signs Extension With Brewers

10:50am: More details from Haudricourt. The deal includes a $2.3MM signing bonus that will be paid this year and added to the $455K Braun was already set to make. In addition, there is an escalator clause that would up the value of the deal to $51MM if Braun's service time were to fall under "Super-2" status following the '09 season. That is not likely to happen as Braun acumulated only 129 days of service time in '07 and "Super-2" status usually requires 130-140 days. Also, the first 4 years of the deal include a complete no-trade clause. 10:06am: Haudricourt is...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Braun, Cueto, Pelfrey

An assortment of links... Ryan Braun's agent is in town to talk about extension scenarios with the Brewers. Perhaps the Brewers could get him for slightly more than the $30MM Troy Tulowitzki received. As Tom Haudricourt writes, a Prince Fielder extension seems less likely. The Blue Jays once offered Frank Catalanotto for Johnny Cueto, when Wayne Krivsky was new on the job. Nice try, J.P. Buster Olney believes tonight's start by Mike Pelfrey might determine the likelihood of the Mets pursuing outside pitching help. Claudio Vargas remains unsigned.   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Rauch, Fielder, Braun, Garcia

Some links for you to peruse... We suggested on Wednesday that Jon Rauch makes sense for Detroit. That same day, the Washington Post's Barry Svrluga wrote that the Tigers "will watch Rauch very closely." You have to appreciate Matt Morris' candor regarding his salary. We learned on Saturday that the Brewers made offers to sluggers Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. Today the team's owner said talks with both are ongoing. Other multiyear offers have been made, though the players are not known. Tom Haudricourt speculates on Corey Hart, Yovani Gallardo, J.J. Hardy, and Rickie Weeks. Ken Rosenthal sees Freddy Garcia...   Continue Reading

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Brewers Make Offers To Braun And Fielder

When the Brewers renewed Prince Fielder's contract at the beginning of the month, he wasn't happy about it. He told the press, "My time is going to come. It's going to come quick, too." He may have been more right than he knew. The Brewers have submitted multiyear contract proposals to Fielder and Ryan Braun. Each deal would buy out at least one year of free agency and include an option for an additional year past that. No word yet on how much money is involved. Bet on Braun getting at least as much as Troy Tulowitzki -- six years,...   Continue Reading

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