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Haudricourt On: Hall, Pitching, Cain

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Tom Haudricourt from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has some topics of discussion for your reading pleasure this Sunday afternoon:

  • Haudricourt says that there's a best case scenario for Bill Hall, and it's not returning to the Brewers' lineup. Haudricourt feels the best thing for both sides is for Hall to play strongly at the Triple-A level, draw interest from a team needing infield help, and get traded. This would require the Brewers eating a significant portion of the roughly $10MM Hall has left on his deal, but with Casey McGehee's emergence and Mat Gamel waiting in the wings, Hall is an odd man out.
  • It's not fair to blame the Brewers' lack of minor league pitching depth on injuries to first round picks such as Mike Jones and Mark Rogers. As Haudricourt says, at some point, you have to develop a mid- or late-round pick into a viable major leaguer. His example: Randy Wells – a 38th round pick – and his 2.84 ERA.
  • Matt Cain's dominance this season serves as a testimonial as to why the Brewers were unable to acquire him when they were rumored to be pursuing the San Francisco righty in the past. Haudricourt says the Giants never intended to deal Cain, and his 12-2 record and 2.12 ERA are the reasons for that.
  • Haudricourt wonders aloud how nice Zack Greinke would look in a Brewers uniform, and offers this quote from the Kansas City ace: "The way we've been playing, it's as bad as any team I've played for." Strong words from someone who's been with the Royals since 2004. Greinke is just 10-6 despite leading the Majors with a 2.08 ERA, and has a 2.97 ERA over his five no-decision this season. Ouch.
  • Haudricourt discusses the Indians as well, pointing out that no team had ever traded the AL Cy Young winner in back-to-back seasons. He quotes Cliff Lee:
"I'll miss the guys, but this is an opportunity to help a first-place team and the defending world champions. So I'm excited."

Failed Deadline Blockbusters

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Today was hectic, but imagine how much wilder it would have been if these two deals had gone through:

  • Via Twitter, Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that the Padres almost dealt Heath Bell and Adrian Gonzalez to the Dodgers for James Loney, Russell Martin, Blake DeWitt, James McDonald and Ivan Dejesus. Wow.
  • Danny Knobler of CBS Sports confirms that the division rivals considered a blockbuster deal involving those players.
  • Knobler also says the Rangers and Angels both pursued Heath Bell aggressively this afternoon. The Angels and Padres were discussing Jose Arredondo, Sean O'Sullivan and Sean Rodriguez. 
  • Brewers GM Doug Melvin says his team was involved in a "big one that didn't happen," according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  • The Crew also had interest in Jarrod Washburn and Brian Bannister.
  • Melvin says everyone asked the Brewers for Mat Gamel and Alcides Escobar. Since the Brewers didn't want to deal either prospect and don't have the young pitching to offer rival teams, they had limited options.

Deadline Roundup: Mets, Washburn, Nats, Rays

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Two Cy Young Award winners were traded this deadline and neither one of them was Roy Halladay. It's been a wild few days. Here's a recap of the action and here are some more details and reactions:

Heyman On Halladay, Holliday, Indians, Nats

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9:34am: Heyman says the Yankees inquired about Cliff Lee and were told they'd have to give up Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes, plus other players.

8:34am: Jon Heyman of SI.com has the latest on the biggest stars available:

  • The Phillies are the frontrunners to acquire Roy Halladay. Heyman says the Jays are expected to ask for one of J.A. Happ and Kyle Drabek, one of Dominic Brown and Michael Taylor, plus others.
  • The Brewers may be the Phillies' biggest threat, but they'd probably have to part with Alcides Escobar, and maybe Mat Gamel, too. 
  • The Mets bowed out of the Halladay talks once Fernando Martinez's name came up. 
  • There's a "good chance" the Cardinals trade for Matt Holliday, according to one of Heyman's sources.  
  • Indians GM Mark Shapiro wonders if teams are holding onto their prospects too tightly: "It's almost to the point where there's an over-evaluation of these guys. There's almost an over-correction."
  • Heyman says the Nats should trade Nick Johnson, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham. 

Roy Halladay Rumors: Wednesday

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6:49pm: ESPN's Peter Gammons says the Dodgers are still in the mix for Halladay. Pros for the Dodgers are a number of Single-A and Double-A prospects and the willingness to take on Halladay's contract. Cons are a lack of near-ready pitching prospects, and absence of Toronto scouts at Dodger games.

5:02pm: ESPN.com's Tim Kurkjian says he doesn't expect the Jays to deal Halladay because their asking price is "enormously high."

3:40pm: Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd told MLB.com that Halladay is not a fit for his team because the cost would be "devastating" financially and in terms of talent.

12:59pm: Wondering what kind of haul the Jays might bring in? ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick looks back at nine trades for top pitchers and shows that not all blockbusters are created equal.

11:08am: Jon Heyman of SI.com says the Brewers appear to be a threat to acquire Halladay. He's hearing Manny Parra's name and suspects Mat Gamel or Alcides Escobar would have to be involved, too.

11:06am: Ricciardi told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark that talks are expected to intensify early next week. The Blue Jays haven't exchanged names with interested teams yet, but Ricciardi expects to tell teams what he's looking for by Monday.

That wouldn't leave much time before Tuesday's self-imposed deadline, but Ricciardi said it's a soft deadline.

Ricciardi says four teams are "really, really serious" about Halladay. The Phillies are believed to be one of his top suitors and Ricciardi confirmed that the Jays will scout Kyle Drabek's upcoming start.

8:33am: Here's what we heard yesterday: the Yankees and Mets aren't major threats to acquire Roy Halladay; the Cards are still involved; the Phillies are considering other options and may have told the Jays Kyle Drabek is off-limits; the Jays have imposed a pre-deadline of July 28th on the negotiations and GM J.P. Ricciardi says a trade is becoming "unlikely." 

All that in one day? Sure, and there are more Roy Halladay rumors for you today:

Roy Halladay Rumors: Saturday

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3:11pm: FOXSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi reports the Tigers have had internal conversations about Halladay, but doesn't see a deal happening:

"Meantime, the Tigers have had some internal discussions about Toronto ace Roy Halladay," writes Morosi," but have yet to initiate a trade dialogue with the Blue Jays about him. It's unlikely that Detroit would be able to meet Toronto's price in prospects, and Halladay, who has a no-trade clause, would have to approve the deal."

12:39pm: SI.com's Jon Heyman tweets that the Phillies are still the favorites to land Halladay. He hears that the Angels want to keep their prospects while the Rangers don't have the money to bring Doc aboard.  

9:25am: Add the Brewers to the mix of teams who've talked to the Blue Jays about All Star Roy Halladay. Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel spoke to GM Doug Melvin, who confirmed that he did have a conversation with Toronto, but wouldn't go into details. It was previously reported that the Brewers weren't likely to part with top prospects Mat Gamel and Alcides Escobar, a point that was reiterated by Melvin.

Bill Shaikin of The LA Times reports that the Angels have pursued Halladay as well, but "club officials are not confident they can satisfy the Blue Jays in a trade." He says the Halos would consider parting with Brandon Wood, but would be hesitant to include one of their young Major League pitchers in a deal.

Discussion: Milwaukee Brewers

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SATURDAY, 7:44pm: Brewers GM Doug Melvin did not approve of Braun's comments, telling Haudricourt Monday that he was "ticked off" upon hearing them.

“It was inappropriate for him to say what he said, and I’m not happy about it,” Melvin said on Monday.  "To make the statements he made and also get on his teammates like that, it was irresponsible on his part. It just ticked me off.”

FRIDAY, 8:10pm: According to Tom Haudricourt at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, you can count Ryan Braun in as a proponent of the Brewers pursuing a pitcher: 

"To show everybody we’re for real, we can go out there and make a move and improve our ball club. We want to head in the right direction, not the wrong direction," Braun said after the team lost three of four to the Cubs. He said the Cubs "threw the ball a lot better than our starters did. They certainly swung the bats better than we did as well. Clearly, they were the better team."

11:31am: Yesterday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com suggested the Brewers have some questions to answer, including their rotation and whether or not to send Mat Gamel to Triple-A.

Tom Haudricourt thinks the Brewers need to act quickly to acquire a starting pitcher. "It's a tough market, depleted by injuries to Jake Peavy and Erik Bedard, but the Brewers need another arm to stay in the playoff race. That remains true even if [Dave] Bush and [Manny] Parra return to the rotation in the near future," says Haudricourt.

Anthony Witrado of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says "it's no secret" the Brewers are trying to add another player via trade before the end of July. However, the market is bare. Witrado says, "Based on what the Brewers are looking for (probably established pitching) and what potential sellers would want in return (probably younger pitching), [Doug] Melvin said there are fewer than 10 teams that could potentially 'match up' with the Brewers."

Witrado notes Gamel and Alcides Escobar are untouchable. "So to pull off a deal and keep the organization's two best prospects, a big-league player would probably have to be involved," says Witrado.

What would you do if you were running the Brewers? Who would you target and what would you give up? What would you do about Gamel?

Brewers, Braves Not Discussing Vazquez

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4:35pm: Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spoke with Brewers GM Doug Melvin and heard that the two teams are not discussing a trade for Vazquez.

3:40pm: The Brewers heard Ryan Braun's plea for help and they have responded. They called the Braves about Javier Vazquez, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. However, Atlanta likely won't part with Vazquez in a deal that doesn't bring back Mat Gamel or Alcides Escobar, a pair of youngsters Brewers GM Doug Melvin has repeatedly deemed untouchable. Buster Olney said this weekend that the Brewers wouldn't be able to acquire Vazquez for Corey Hart alone.

The Brewers need pitching and the Braves have rotation depth, as Tim Hudson's expected to return next month. However, Braves GM Frank Wren won't make a deal unless he's "overwhelmed," as Vazquez is a major trade chip in a pitching-thin market. Vazquez makes $11.5MM this year and next and he can't be traded to any Western division team without his permission.

Odds & Ends: Marlins, Brewers, Wang, Mitre, Matzek

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Here's some links to hold you over while waiting for the sky to start lighting up…

  • Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald says the Marlins have some important decisions to make in the coming weeks, whether they plan to make a trade before the deadline or not.
  • MLB.com's Adam McCalvy mentions that the Brewers have some questions of their own to answer, including what to do with the starting rotation and how to handle Mat Gamel, who hasn't played much of late.
  • Chien-Ming Wang is headed for the DL after leaving today's game with a shoulder strain and bursitis, and Peter Abraham of The Journal News mentions that Sergio Mitre could be an option to replace him in the rotation. After rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and serving a 50-game suspension, Mitre has a 3.26 ERA and a 2.71 GB/FB ratio in 30.1 Triple-A innings this year.
  • Wang's injury basically eliminates any chance he'll be traded by the 31st as well.
  • Rockies' top pick Tyler Matzek is the first rounder most likely not to sign according to Jim Callis of Baseball America.
  • Bart Hubbuch of The New York Post tweets that reliever Connor Robertson has been demoted all the way to High-A ball. Ouch. Robertson had been designated for assignment about two weeks ago.

Brewers Rumors: Backe, Trade Market

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Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he has no interest in Brandon Backe. Yesterday, Assistant GM Gord Ash said the Brewers would take a look, but the club decided to pass, partly because Backe has had health problems.

Melvin also repeated that Mat Gamel and Alcides Escobar aren't going anywhere. He'd rather hold onto his top young talent than make a move he later regrets.

MLB.com's Adam McCalvy hears from Melvin that there are fewer than ten teams that match up well with the Brewers. Melvin says it doesn't look like many impact players will be available, but says the market can change in no time.
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