- Billy Beane has finally pulled the trigger on the Dan Haren deal. The winning suitor? The Arizona Diamondbacks. The D-Backs sent over Carlos Gonzalez, ex-Brewer Dana Eveland, Brett Anderson, Chris Carter, Aaron Cunningham, and Greg Smith. The A's also sent pitcher Connor Robinson to the D-Backs in the deal.
Honestly, I'm surprised that Beane didn't wait for a larger market team to get in this conversation. The only "sure-thing" prospect would be Carlos Gonzalez from the D-Backs, and maybe Dana Eveland. Eveland has struggled in the MLB whenever he's been called up. None of the other prospects are sure-things for the A's. Either way, Beane is spreading out his talent over 6 prospects, so it would be very naive to call this a bad deal. I just thought Beane would get more out of Haren. I like the pick-up for the D-Backs here. Haren is flat nasty. - More relevant to Milwaukee, the Diamondbacks also sent Jose Valverde to the Astros for Chad Qualls, Chris Burke, and minor league prospect Juan Gutierrez.
This is a great deal for the Astros. Ed Wade has redeemed himself here from the bad Kaz Matsui signing. Valverde is a shut-down closer who can help the team win for the next 2 years. The Astros are not giving up that much in return either. Chad Qualls has quietly been very solid in his career posting a career 3.39 ERA. The D-Backs are hoping that he can fill Valverde's shoes without the rising paycheck. Chris Burke has relatively no trade value, but perhaps Arizona is hoping he will platoon with Orlando Hudson? Gutierrez is solid, but nothing special. Houston was able to pick up a very good closer for relatively nothing. Kudos to Ed Wade for this move. - The St. Louis Cardinals sent Jim Edmonds to San Diego for a low-level prospect, David Freese. Freese is a 25-year old 3B prospect who has not left the single-A level yet. He reportedly has the ability to catch a little bit too, but Freese is not very exciting, as far as prospects go. St. Louis also sent almost $2MM over to San Diego to offset part of Edmond's salary.
Talk about giving somebody away for nothing! Freese may be a fine prospect, but there was a time Edmonds would have required a boat-load to trade for him. My how times change... - Hiroki Kuroda has signed with the L.A. Dodgers for three-years at $36-40MM. He has been regarded as the top free agent pitcher on the market, so this is obviously a good signing for the Dodgers. How does this affect the Brewers? Looks like any Ben Sheets rumors will go by the wayside.
Nothing is cooking on the Brewers' Hot Stove right now, but I will keep an eye out, of course. The only thing I have heard is that Morgan Ensberg's agent could receive a courtesy call from Doug Melvin. I doubt anything will come of that since Ensberg has struggled in the last couple years, but you never know. He could be a stop-gap option that will keep the Brewers from losing anything in a trade. Doubtful though.
5 comments:
Acquiring Ensberg to play third base is a bad move, Braun should only move to the outfield if we pick up someone worthwhile at the hot corner
I agree...Ensberg is terrible. Sure, his talent still has to be there somewhere, but its not worth any kind of risk. I'm not totally convinced that we should move Braun at all, but if we can find a stop-gap player there...perhaps its worth letting Gamel figure his defense out?
There are many options that we have, and I trust that Melvin will do what's best for the team. Even someone like Lofton for a year wouldn't be terrible. He'd be cheap and his OBP would be very high, exactly what we need. Still, I'm not sure that's what Melvin is looking for.
I think Lofton would be excellent, guaranteed playoff birth, only because when is the last time you have not seen a Kenny Lofton team make the playoffs?
If Lofton would make that much of a difference, wouldn't we be better off inserting Gwynn as an everyday? Save some money and offer Fielder a long contract?
Lofton is probably still quite a bit better than Gwynn in terms of OBP, though Gwynn might be edging toward an advantage with the glove. Either way, I think Gwynn is a 4th OF, nothing more.
Ensberg is one of the best bets at 3B the Crew can make. Rolen is a salary burden and health risk, and is getting old. I'm not saying I want Ensberg for sure, but the team could do worse. Frankly, if we're going to make any big moves, I want them to be for young elite talent ala Jeff Clement, Adam Jones, Matt Kemp, or Andy LaRoche. To me, if a deal for someone like that is not imminent, the best thing to do would be to acquire a platoon partner for Gabe Gross and go into the season with confidence that Gross can post a .850 OPS vs. RHP.
Post a Comment