When addressing the press earlier today, Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin said that his "gut feeling" is that he won't be pursuing high-priced free agents this winter, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel. More from the NL Central..
- Melvin also said the current plan is to keep Corey Hart at first base and Norichika Aoki in right field with Mat Gamel coming off the bench, Haudricourt tweets.
- The Cubs are willing to explore an offseason trade involving Alfonso Soriano, writes Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com. Last night, Soriano made it known that he would be open to a trade this winter as he hopes to return to the World Series before his career is through.
- Speaking of the Cubs, they promoted Shiraz Rehman to the position of Assistant GM, joining Randy Bush, Padilla tweets.
- Kyle Lohse could be making his final start for the Cardinals as they face the Braves in a one-game playoff in Atlanta, writes Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
I don’t get it Melvin. $45M coming off the books from 4 pitchers leaving among money elsewhere, and you don’t plan on signing any big names?
Looks like this late run we made in September is actually a disaster in disguise because now Melvin thinks that we can actually win the NL Central with this team…
Not that I don’t like all these young guys, they just aren’t going to win the NL Central with them.
Just like there was no way all of Oakland’s young guys weren’t going to win the AL West this year, right?
Billy Beane practices all that black magic sabermetrics stuff though, so he’s experienced in the dark arts which explains Oakland’s performance this year.
My god! So, he was using his sith powers to aid his pitchers every night? Explains a lot…
They can win this team by just signing some good relievers. That is the only thing that kept them from losing the central this year.
I didn’t think anything kept them from losing the central this year…
Their bullpen didn’t???
“Kept them from losing” Try reading that again.
You mean “kept them from WINNING,” which the bullpen certainly did for most of the season. I don’t know that they were going to overtake the Reds, even with the bullpen pitching to last season’s standards, but they certainly would have blown past the Cards. I really don’t see the Reds consistently playing 90-plus win baseball year in and year out, so I do believe the division will be wide-open again next year… wide-open to anyone but the Cubs, obviously. Probably the Pirates too, as their rotation was pitching far beyond their talent level when they were inexplicably winning a ton.
That bullpen was horrendous all the way up until August or so. Melvin needs to upgrade there and he needs at least one veteran pitcher. Keeping Marcum wouldn’t be terrible either. This is a team that can afford to be involved in free agency. Also Melvin is always known for telling the media misleading things because he keeps his cards close to the vest.
I agree bullpen needs help i can see another over haul except for a few like ax and youngster henderson will be there for sure i think also one maybe two starters and Marcum would have to be at good price he has a major injury risk every year when health is on his side he is very very good pitcher. Dan Haren would be a guy i could see making a run at and Ervin Santana if the Angels dont pick up his option like expected cause they are making room to keep Greinke Santana has been pretty good and moving from AL to NL would make his numbers even better
Don’t forget Kintzler. He looked superb in his time in the bullpen. Ax, Henderson, and Kintzler is a good group of 95+ fastball guys to build around.
Henderson is Axford’s age – pretty old to be labeled a “youngster.” I’d bring Henderson, Axford, and Veras back – I’d certainly allow Kintzler to battle for a spot too, but what they need is a couple of left-handers for balance. Parra should be sent packing, and I really don’t know where you would obtain quality LHP outside of a trade, or just hitting on a free agent with a minor league contract.
Umm, they had the most blown saves in baseball, so no idea where that comment came from.
The original comment said ‘kept them from losing.’ Considering the fact that the Brewers did not make the playoffs, I would say that nothing prevented them from losing. The bullpen keeping them from winning however I wouldn’t argue with
Middle relievers are the most volatile players in the game. good one year and rotten the next. look at most of the teams in the PO and see how much they spent on their middle relievers.. It’s not much and many are blue light special, minor league deal with an invite to ST who found a job that way and will be back to rotten next year.
Best way to fill out a pen is the way Duquette did an bring in a pile of the Luis Ayala and Darren O’Day types other teams were not wanting, or would sign dirt cheap.
i disagree we cant go thinking our starters from this year aka the young kids will come in to this season and play the same as they did we can hope i think we need two vets to go with our group and that will make sure we have depth for when an injury happens also
Except Melvin said a long time ago that they would never be able to hold a $100 million payroll from year to year. So really, they probably only have 15-20 million to spend on free agency, if that.
They only need to shore up the bullpen and maybe pick up a solid arm for the rotation to be right back in the playoff hunt. The offense is top 5 in the NL in virtually every offensive category, and the pitching is looking pretty good.
if only greinke were available
He didnt say we would not he just pretty much said we are not going to way over pay anyone the Brewers cant do it as im sure you know he has done a lot of good for us ill just watch it play out and see where we stand
lol we wont sign Greinke but will will go after Ryan Dempster or Kyle Loshe
i say the Cubs pay off most his salary and Redsox take a flier on Soriano. Have Ross, Ellsbury, Soriano in outfield also give us some pop in lineup
Probably best we didn’t. His bat isn’t good enough anymore to make up for his bonehead plays in the outfield. He can’t run anymore, the list goes on. More money the Cubbies pay, the more we give up in terms of talent. The less talent, the more money we eat. Why?
30 hr, .275 BA – bat isn’t good enough? and the “boneheaded plays” are a figment of mythology – he has played AT LEAST average defense this year. No, he can’t run any more, but how many LF’s are known for their baserunning?
soriano had his chance…the giants….too late now, the heck with him
If Option A is 3 years and $35 million to Dan Harren and Option B is a rotation of Gallardo, Estrada, Fiers, Rogers, Peralta with Thornburg and Narveson as replacements… then count me in with giving the kids a chance. We don’t need another Suppan-Wolf guy on the decline eating up 15% of the budget.
send Soriano to the Rays, we’ll gladly take him and put him in at DH with the occasional outfield start if needed. 30 HR and 100 RBI could have come in handy this year when we only had Luke Scott either injured or stinking up the joint at DH . send about 30 mil with him and we could easily part with an extra starter like Neiman or Cobb.