There’s a belief in the industry that the 4-16 Brewers could begin selling off pieces in the near future if they don’t turn their season around, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Heyman hears that veteran right-handers Kyle Lohse and Matt Garza could both be in play. Lohse, 36, is a free agent at the end of the year and is owed $11MM in 2015. The 31-year-old Garza has quite a bit more remaining on his deal, as he’s in just the second year of a four-year contract. Garza is owed $12.5MM in 2015 and will earn that same sum in both 2016 and 2017 as well. His contract also contains a $13MM vesting option that becomes a $5MM club option if it does not vest.
Here’s more from the NL Central…
- Cardinals GM John Mozeliak spoke with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about how the club will handle the loss of Adam Wainwright. While the short-term fix will be to rely on internal options, Mozeliak acknowledged that the bulk of innings the team expects from Wainwright might eventually lead him to look outside the organization. As Goold notes, a desire to limit the innings of young pitchers Carlos Martinez and Michael Wacha only further adds uncertainty to how the team will replace those innings. Goold notes that the team has spoken to the Phillies about Cole Hamels in the past but found the asking price unreasonable. Whatever route the team winds up taking to overcome this roadblock, Mozeliak has stated that he has the flexibility to add significant payroll this season if necessary, Goold reminds.
- Reds skipper Bryan Price explained to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com why Tony Cingrani isn’t viewed as an option to step into the rotation even after a potentially season-ending injury to Homer Bailey. “I made the decision – I was involved, a big supporter of putting him in the bullpen – not because that’s what we needed for this club at the time,” said Price. “What I felt was it was where he was best suited coming off a year of a lot of injury and shoulder concerns and the limited development of his off-speed pitches.” Price added that he certainly isn’t ruling out the possibility of Cingrani proving him wrong and one day being an excellent starting pitcher, but for the time being, he appears locked into the Cincinnati bullpen.
I can see the Cards making a move to bring back Lohse. His value isn’t high, hasn’t pitched well so far this season but I bet that will turn around.
You may be right, but I don’t see them making another deal in division…The deal for axford honestly shocked me, because teams regularly don’t want to deal with each other (Possible prospects playing/not playing out)…..So yeah, I see Cards going big or stay in house until Gonzalez or someone else is totally healthy.
Perhaps so. But if Brewers go all-fire-sale and offer him cheap enough, and his game picks up, a 36+ year old pitcher trade between division rivals might not be that big a deal.
It was Axford for Michael Blazik another RP who’s going to have what? 55-65IP of impact to be worried about. He’s not a Rosenthal/Chapman/Kimbrel Closer skilled RP that would make one hesitant to deal away within the division.
But I do agree, I doubt the Cardinals trade for Lohse. I don’t think they have the right prospects to make a solid trade for Milw. Their top are too good impact worry types. And that 2nd tier is filled with types Milw already possesses.
Blazik was I believe #7 in the team’s ranking when he was traded for a RP with problems. Lohse is a SP with less problems and should be valued more but Alex Reyes/Rob Kaminsky are in the too much to give up for a rental of Lohse’s pedigree imo.
Not a bad point, but like Bill mentioned the chances of a fire sale are pretty good. I doubt it would take much to get Lohse at this point. I don’t think it will happen right away, I agree that the Cards are going to see what happens internally first. Cooney seems like a good option to me, Gonzalez and maybe Garcia as well. Only problem I see is that none of those options are going to be able to eat the innings, Lohse has proven he can.
To me, If the Cards make a trade, it;s not for a short term fix…Cards have alot of big name prospects, such as Marco and Carlos and even Alex Reyes who as in the process of getting their feet wet, but guys like Hamels, and Price, need a specific team to help them…Cards could really win with anyone they put out, they have the potential for a great lineup and I think the best rotation still in baseball…..So if you add a Hamels/Price I hope they don’t give up a young one in return lol…
The now 4-17 Brewers SHOULD begin selling off pieces in the near future. It’s time, seriously. Any hope for this season and this current roster competing is just flat-out denial. I’m sure Lohse and Garza are available, but they are obviously not the most valuable assets we have. Perhaps the first to go, sure, but certainly not the best we can offer. If we go all-out fire sale (which we should), Gomez and Lucroy could bring a King’s ransom each.
What are the Brewers going to get for a 36 yr old over priced number four starter ?
Salary relief
Bryan Price has no idea what he is doing.
I like it. Challenging his pitcher to improve on the things he needs to improve on.
Better than flip-flopping at least.