The Brewers' number one goal this winter will be upgrading their pitching staff, Mark Attanasio told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Specifically, the team hopes to improve their starting rotation, according to the Brewers' owner.
"We know we've got a problem, which is starting pitching," said Attanasio. "We, as an organization, need to face that reality and address it, as opposed to shrink from it or excuse it."
Attanasio goes on to say the free agent market isn't "the perfect answer," and that the team may have to look into trading a position player for pitching. Haudricourt interprets Attanasio's comments to mean the Brewers will explore the possibility of moving Prince Fielder for an impact arm. 2011 is the slugger's final arbitration-eligible season, and GM Doug Melvin has said in the past that he prefers to trade position players in the offseason, when there are more potential suitors.
If the Brewers don't receive any offers they like for Fielder, turning to the free agent market should still be an option. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe estimates that Milwaukee may clear as much as $47MM off the books this winter, which could make them "huge players" in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. Cafardo adds that the club also "should be in on Bronson Arroyo," who has an $11MM club option for 2011.
Earlier this month, MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith examined the Brewers' 2011 rotation, touching upon potential trade and free agent options.
i dont see cliff lee in Milwaukee but arroyo would be a good fit
In my opinion, any free agent in the right mind isn’t going to milwaukee. It’s all about trades. In my opinion, maybe they could make a play for Greinke. Also, maybe something like Brett Lawrie for Shawn Marcum could be a nice trade.
Will the Reds be picking up Arroyo’s option? I would. $ 11 mil option vs $ 2 mil buyout, I’d pick it up even if they didn’t want to keep him, some team would. By the time the free agent market for starting pitchers sorts itself out, Arroyo will be very valuable, IMO. I think the Reds pick up Arroyo’s option and let Harang go.
I say decline both arroyo and Harang, save the twenty mil, collect the two picks for arroyos type A statis. With the quality of young players the reds have, a addition of a high caliber player (Lee, Werth, Crawford) would put them over the top. Any one else see the Reds being one big player away from being the new Phillies?
i dont
I mean in Ability to contend at a high level. Votto, Bruce and Phillips are compairable to Rollins, Howard and Utley in terms of offensive prowess, the phils won in years past with hamels, moyer and Blanton being their top pitchers, The reds will have Cueto, leake, wood, baily, Chapmen and volquez under contract for the next few years. What set the Phillies apart is emergence of Werth and Victorino, Sure the reds have Scott rolen but they’re thin beyond that. Crawford or Werth is a major upgrade Stubbs, Gomes and Nix, And Lee is the top of the line veteran pitcher they need with a young talented rotation. a addition of any of those guys would make them a more complete team an make them a odds on favorite in their division
The Josh Hamilton Trade is the one thing that really makes you wonder just how good the reds could of been.
Even if they don’t want to spend the 11 mil on Arroyo, I think that he’d bring them something in a trade. Maybe even something really nice. After Cliff Lee, there’s not a whole lot on the free agent market for starting pitchers to get excited about. If they don’t pick up the option, they’re not likely to offer arbitration, so they get nothing if he walks. Maybe they’re not in Philly territory, but the Central is winnable, as they’ve shown this year, and a good trio in the rotation can go a long way in October.
Thats assuming there are alot of teams willing trade something usefull for 1yr/11 Mil for a pitcher who profiles as a “NL guy” with out the reds picking up some of the salary. I agree they’re not likely to offer arbitration, But is 11mil worth it when you consider you Save 9 mil, and could recieve league average of possibily above average performences from Volquez or chapmen for around Half a million and use the remaing 8.5 million along with the $12 Mil or so from declineing harangs option to sign Top teir free agent given their short comeings in SS, LF and CF and in inexperece in the rotation wouldnt the benifit more by signing Lee, Crawford or Werth? not to mention low risk high reward pitchers like Webb,Bedard, Duchscherer, Francis, Harden,Sheets,Westbrook, Young, Bonderman,Millwood flood the market and should come cheep.
If the Brewers somehow snagged Lee, they would instantly become one of the best teams in the NL. With Braun, Prince, Weeks, Hart, and MgHee powering that offense and Gallardo and Lee heading a good rotation, they’d definitely compete with the Reds and the Cards.
Didn’t mean to like this. Meant to reply.
As evidenced in Seattle and Detriot this year, two pitchers do not make a rotation.
Huh? Seattle is evidence that you need an *offense*. Lee/Gallardo plus what has been the best offense in the NL this season (wOBA, OPS+) = NL Central favorites, at the least.
Cy Young himself couldn’t help that staff.
What?
Lee/Gallardo/pitcher for Prince/Wolf/#5 is better than nearly every rotation in the majors, and all the Brewers offense really needs is a league average rotation to compete.
Signing Lee is the same thing as saying “goodbye prince and hart”.
Steven you don’t know much about the Brewers do you? Hart signed a contract extension about a month ago so he’s not going anywhere.
Simon Castro, Will Venable, Aaron Poreda, Blake Tekkote for Ryan Braun, LeBlanc, Corriea, Sawer Carroll, PTBNL (Nate Frieman) for Zach Greinke, Sign Lee 5 yrs 180 million. It would make the Padres the best team in baseball.
LOL.
Bronson Arroyo? Is Cafardo serious? Just what the Brewers need, another pitch to contact soft tosser that would have to rely on our crappy defense to get outs for him.
Braves will let you have Lowe. Although he’s been pitching pretty well lately, so you might have to throw in somebody, especially with Medlen out. Maybe an A or AA guy.Oh right, I just remembered some rumors about the Braves having some Japanese pitcher down in the minors who we might let go as well. Can’t think of his name and I’m not sure if the rumors have even been substantiated, just something I heard.
Edit: Of course, after I post this, Lowe proceeds to go out and suck it up. Thanks Lowe, you good for nothing albatross. If only you were a real albatross, maybe the Braves could pluck you and barbecue you to serve during Spring Training next year, you hack.
How about bringing Soup back in free agency this offseason..How about Christmas Day???
The Brewers could also help their pitching staff by getting some better fielders. They should try to trade for the best they can get, pick up any pitcher at all that might be blocked at AAA-for depth, any injury recovering pitcher that’s not terribly expensive, that may have a chance to help them, even if it’s just for depth. Gather up the arms and hope some of them stick. Then gather up some more to replace the injured and failures.
I suggest they start by dangling an infielder to the A’s; an outfielder to Atlanta, a first baseman to the Cubs and also make a play for Wandy Rodriguez. Yovani/Wandy would be a nice 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation, no? They have to be careful because their park isn’t easy to pitch in; their defense isn’t easy to pitch in front of.
i still think Fielder to the A’s for Cahill, or one of the others in the rotation, plus a young position player. Sign Harang who will be a free agent , a change of scenery in the NL Central should give him a boost. Take a chance on a Webb, Bonderman, Sheets
etc. Fielder is leaving after 2011 anyway he has dollars signs in his eyes and an agent that cares only about money so the Brewers really have no chance to sign him.
It annoys me to see the word sweepstakes applied to free agency bidding.
Sheets will be very lucky if he’s able to pitch in 2012. He had what NBC Sports called the most “massive surgery in the history of pitching” — he had the Tommy John surgery and _both_ tendons replaced. The sportswriter who covers the A’s out in San Francisco, Susan someone-or-other (sorry, can’t remember her last name right now), said that it was a miracle Sheets was adequate and wasn’t getting shelled every single night, because nothing was working in his elbow.
IOW, Sheets is looking at a minimum 18 month rehab if everything goes well, and more likely a two-year rehab. He won’t be ready until 2012, and he’ll be nearly 34 years old then, _and_ he won’t have his famous fastball (though likely his curve will return) at the same velocity as before. _And_ he won’t be an ace any longer; ask Chris Capuano how it feels to be a highly-regarded All-Star pitcher, then have to pitch whenever there are scrub innings for you, even on a team like this year’s Brewers. (Cappy was only inserted into the starting rotation last weekend. His ERA right now is just over 5, but was in the 3’s before giving up 6 ER in 3 IP. He’s mostly pitched well in limited appearances since being brought up in late May.)
If any of the other pitchers are ready to go and want to pitch, I’m for bringing them back — and I really like Sheets and wanted him with the Brewers this year (my favorite team), but he just won’t be ready, bare minimum, until Spring Training ’12.
I am sad when you mention Chris Capuano, he of two TJ surgeries. I know he worked incredibly hard to make it back, so from that stand point it’s a success that he even stands on a major league mound.
I check for him in my box scores and have noticed that he’s had more good outings than bad outings lately. I have soft spot for injury-recovering players and always root for them.
I am sad when you mention Chris Capuano, he of two TJ surgeries. I know he worked incredibly hard to make it back, so from that stand point it’s a success that he even stands on a major league mound.
I check for him in my box scores and have noticed that he’s had more good outings than bad outings lately. I have soft spot for injury-recovering players and always root for them.
I am sad when you mention Chris Capuano, he of two TJ surgeries. I know he worked incredibly hard to make it back, so from that stand point it’s a success that he even stands on a major league mound.
I check for him in my box scores and have noticed that he’s had more good outings than bad outings lately. I have soft spot for injury-recovering players and always root for them.