UPDATED BELOW!!!!!!

With all the hubbub surrounding Roy Halladay I thought I’d chime in (again) on trading for him.

As of right now the Crew is 2.5 games out of first place in the Central and 2.5 pitchers out of a halfway decent starting rotation. Getting Halladay would be pretty much exactly the same as C.C. Sabathia in the “pitching godsend” department. I would hope that Halladay would propel the Brewers to a second-straight playoff berth,

But are you ready for years of mediocrity afterward? Take a look at Brewers 2010 contracts if Halladay’s traded:

Halladay: $15.75m
Jeff Suppan: $12.5m
Prince Fielder: $9m
Bill Hall: $8.4m
David Riske: $4.5m
Total: $50.15m

Assuming the Brewers’ payroll sticks around $85-90 million, you have 60% of your payroll stuck in five players. None of this even takes into account the arbitration salaries of Corey Hart, J.J. Hardy, Dave Bush, etc. Of course this assumes Alcides Escobar is traded to the Blue Jays, as Hardy wouldn’t since Toronto wants the younger, cheaper talent.

With the money we wouldn’t save, we’d definitely wouldn’t be able to resign Mike Cameron or Jason Kendall when they hit free agency at the end of the year, meaning there would be a replacement-level CF and Mike Rivera behind the plate to begin 2010. In addition, next year’s rotation would be Halladay, Suppan, Parra (IF he’s not traded to the Jays), Bush, and Gallardo with no available depth in AAA and no prospects to speak of or depth in AAA in case someone gets injured. That rotation looks good on paper, but the only pitcher without an injury history is Halladay. I wouldn’t trust it to last an entire season.

The current core of young talent the Brewers probably won’t keep (Hart, Hardy, maybe even Weeks) begins to phase out at the beginning of 2011, so the Brewers could be entering a rebuilding mode if their current prospects take the Jeremy Jeffress route and don’t pan out the way they planned them to. They’ll be Blue Jays if the Brewers get Halladay, meaning that a prolonged slump in 2011 is inevitable. Are you prepared to sacrifice the well-being of the ballclub 2-3 years down the road if the Brewers try to add 1-2 wins to this year’s team? Is 1-2 wins going to be enough to win a mediocre division in 2009?

I couldn’t tell you that, but throwing away millions of dollars in worthwhile talent to satisfy this year’s needs aren’t worth it in the long run. It’s too much of a long shot at this point to justify trading for Halladay; if the Brewers didn’t have as many holes as they do now the trade would definitely make sense.

One thing that’s never been mentioned was how awful last year’s offseason went for Milwaukee. Remember how C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets were going to net the Brewers 4 first round draft picks in last year’s draft. After both Mark Teixiera and Sabathia both signed with the Yankees, an odd MLB rule only netted the Brew a supplemental first rounder. When nobody signed Sheets because of his injury, the Brewers didn’t get any compensation. Going 1/4 is never going to help bolster a weakening farm system.

Trading for Halladay would turn the 2011 Brewers into the 2001 Brewers, basically.

UPDATE: Reports are just confirming that Matt Holliday was just traded to St. Louis for a package of prospects including Brett Wallace. This trade makes the Cardinals without question a legitimate contender and sacrifices their future; Wallace is an up-and-coming phenom. More reason to hang on to prospects now, because in 2011, this division is going to be even more decidedly mediochre. Neither the Cubs nor the Astros have farm systems either, so in a couple years it may be a three-horse race between the Reds, Brewers, and Pirates.

Over the offseason I spoke briefly about Jorge Julio shortly after he signed with the Brewers for a one-year, $750k deal. I said that I approved of the deal, as the price was right and the Brewers were probably going to be smart enough to use him in non-leverage situations since he’s made an entire career out of blowing late-inning games in being generally really frustrating. Last night, Ken Macha made the mistake of putting him on the mound in the 6th inning of a 4-2 ballgame. Of course, after a single, HBP, walk, error, a should-have-been error, and another HBP later, Julio cost the Brewers the lead and ultimately the ballgame; Todd Coffey came into a bases-loaded, no out jam and only gave up two more runs to give Julio 4 earned runs (and 5 total) in no innings to bring his Brewers ERA to 7.79 on the year.

Due to tonight’s performance Julio now has more walks than strikeouts this year and seems more out-of-control than he normally is. Including his hit batsmen, he’s now allowed 19 men to reach base and has accompanied that with only 13 strikeouts. His strikeouts are down, his walks are up, and he’s had two months now to figure something out. Perhaps Macha’s erratic use of Julio prevented him from getting into a groove. Maybe he’s just pitched poorly to start out the year. Either way, he’s done terribly and has been a black hole in the Brewer bullpen. Here’s what some notable Twitter accounts had to say about Julio:

Fake Ken Macha:
“The truth is that I found out Jorge Julio is on Tony La Russa’s fantasy team”
“I figured if Suppan was doing alright, maybe the laws of goodness and badness had reversed themselves. Turned out I was wrong.”
“LOOK AT ME! IM TAKING OUT ALL THE GOOD PLAYERS AND PUTTING IN JORGE JULIO!! I’MMMM CAAARAAAAAYZAYYYYYYY”

Tom Haudricourt
“Jorge Julio faces six hitters and record no outs. Marlins fans might call that returning to the scene of the crime.”

WI Sports Page
“Why in god’s name did Macha put Julio into a 2 run game?”
“Big surprise, the 1st 2 batters Julio faced have now scored and the bases are still loaded.”
“Macha gave this game away by putting in Julio. I am so pissed. And julio hits a batter for another run.. 5-4 Marlins”
“I swear Macha called Yost before the game and asked who he would use in a tight ballgame. There is no other explanation for Julio going in”

P.S.: Since we’re on the subject of Twitter, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter. I’m cool and I don’t spam…much. I’m cool.

Anyways, it’s obvious that at this state, Julio has no business being on a major league roster. The problem with Julio is that he isn’t good, so Macha’s relegated him to mopup duty. Unfortunately, he’s not even good at that, since due to his high walk and strikeout totals he can only manage to throw two innings before he hits 40 pitches. He has little use on a Brewer roster that has a good enough bullpen to be able to hold the role of a one-inning guy, and with R.J. Swindle continuing to tear it up in the minor leagues, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that Julio might not deserve a roster spot anymore.

Swindle’s had a high ERA in the bigs himself so far this year but it’s pretty deceptive and a small sample size to boot. Hitters are batting over .500 on balls put into play, and he hasn’t even pitched three innings. In AAA, he’s dominated this year with a 2.54 FIP, a strikeout per inning, and only 7 walks in 22 2/3 and zero home runs. He could serve as a second useful LOOGY but even then his splits against righties aren’t too bad. A homegrown R.J. Swindle and Mark Difelice bullpen in the 8th would be unstoppable if they each got to face their respective hitters on their own sides of the plate. Wouldn’t calling up the better pitcher and jettisoning the poor one be the best move here?

In other news, Mike Cameron left the game with “left knee irritation.” Let’s hope he’s not out long, that would definitely be brutal…

Some thoughts after a totally acceptable 1-2 home series against the Cardinals…

The Brewers have been linked to trading for Jake Peavy to compliment the starting rotation and become this year’s C.C. Sabathia. Actually these articles don’t explicitly mention the Brewers having any interest in Peavy, but simply that people assume the Brewers are frontrunners for the pitcher since he prefers the NL Central out of all other divisions, the Brewers could use another elite pitcher, and the earlier trade the Padres made with the White Sox fell through due to Peavy’s no-trade clause. There’s been no word from anyone in the Brewer front office confirming or denying interest in trading for Peavy although it has been hinted at that Mark Attanasio has the payroll flexibility to add a few extra dollars mid-season to try and push Milwaukee to the playoffs for a second straight year.

Peavy is a soon-to-be 28 year old pitcher with outstanding stuff and fantastic statistics, boasting over his career more than a strikeout an inning and only 430 walks in over 1300 innings pitched. The only season where he had an FIP higher than 3.6 was his 2003 campaign — his first full year in the bigs. So far this year he’s continued his dominating ways as He would be a fantastic addition and result in an addition of approximately 2 wins if Suppan was the odd man out — two wins can mean a whole bunch in whether or not a team makes the playoffs, look at last year — but it would end up handicapping the entire team for years to come.

Peavy’s current contract is not like Sabathia’s was in which we can let him go to free agency at the end of the year. Peavy has a backloaded contract that would pay him on average $16 million/year for the next three years with an absurd $22 million club option in 2013. The Brewers would be on the hook for $15 million in Peavy next year as well as $12.5 million locked into Jeff Suppan. With players like Corey Hard, J.J. Hardy, and Rickie Weeks eligible for arbitration next year, one can assume their salaries are going up and with the only significant salary drop next year being Mike Cameron, spending $27.5 million on a terrible pitcher and a good one when there are better options available will wrap the boa around the franchise’s wallet.

Next year isn’t the only time he would set the franchise back. A $16 million salary in 11 and $17 million in 12 would only further cause too big of a dent in years to come when players’ arbitration cases get them more money and other non-arbitration players are able to increase their salaries. Not to mention free agents that will get more money in an ever-expanding market. Unless we could in turn trade Peavy to someone with the extra money to spend, it’s too big of a hit to our wallets. His contract is too fat.

It’s not even guaranteed Peavy would be pitching then, considering his awful pitching mechanics putting awful stress on his elbow. He’s a giant injury risk and for the costly price he’s paid right now the investment is nowhere near worth it.

I really hope management is able to resist temptation here, it’s really not worth it.

The St. Louis Cardinals have lost to the Milwaukee Brewers four out of four times so far this season, and going back to season the Brew Crew have beaten them up to the tune of a 9-1 record in their last ten meetings. Milwaukee’s kind of treated them recently as if they were the Pirates, and the Brewers’ second 1-0 victory over the Cardinals this season likely won’t put a good taste in the Cardinals’ mouths.

The one-run ballgame was highlighted by Bill Hall’s 10th inning single into the gap with Casey McGehee on third and two outs. Immediately after the game-winner, Hall and the rest of the Brewers decided to run into the dugout (watch the video) and celebrate there. This being a far cry from the Untuckem philosophy that has earned the ire of people in St. Louis. Take a look at what Ryan Franklin, the Cardinals’ closer, said awhile ago:

“Well, they’ve got a little flair about them that some people don’t care for,” said closer Ryan Franklin. “But that’s just the way they are. So yeah, I think it would be more fun to beat them than it would be the Padres or something, just because of what they do after they beat you.”

Today after an emotional victory the Brewers immediately decided to run into the clubhouse instead of untuck the shirts and high-five each other walking into the dugout. They also didn’t do the awful, shove-it-in-your-face celebration by mobbing the guy who hit the game winner at first base after the winning run scored. Instead, they ran directly to the clubhouse so as to not “offend” St. Louis.

The Cardinals’ TV announcer has referenced the way Milwaukee celebrates their wins as unclassy or unsportsmanlike as well. Of course it’s not actually unsportsmanlike, since they do it with every team and it’s a tribute to Mike Cameron’s dad and doesn’t do anything to show up the other team at all. There’s a false pretense in baseball that says any form of celebration in baseball is unheard of and unsportsmanlike — staring at a home run, for example, is objectionable and baseball old-timers think you must run the bases at full speed. Pumping your fist Joba Chaimberlain-style after a big strikeout is just as awful of a thing to do.

Be it America’s pasttime or not, it’s still professional sports and these players get paid millions of dollars to perform at a high intensity and doing things like gazing at your success or pumping your fist at a swing-and-miss is something I’d expect out of my team whether it was in a pennant race or not. Hell, Alfonso Soriano and the rest of the Cubs outfield untucked their shirt when they beat the Brewers at Miller Park earlier this year just to mock Milwaukee and there’s no way I would ever have any problem with that. It means he’s competitive. It means he wants to triumph just to troll them. Competition is good for the game, dormant 1920s polite attitudes are not anymore.

Now, whether or not the Brewers held off on untucking ‘em to not offend the Cardinals or not is unclear, but they shouldn’t care either way.

For me, personally, yesterday’s Memorial Day victory provided a much needed pick-me-up after an awful weekend in Minnesota. I live in Minneapolis, so naturally I used my internship at Fox Sports North to gain a free pair of four tickets to Friday’s game and buy cheap seats for Saturday’s. On the walk back to the bus from the Metrodome I took the liberty of crawling through a hole in a fence to get to a private wooded area to relieve myself since the nearest bathroom was still 30 minutes away. The next day, I woke up with a blotch of red on both of my elbows. The next day, it spread everywhere else.

After having to watch an embarrassing Brewer sweep I ended up covering 1/3 of my body in poison ivy and am going to have to spend the next week or two being a hermit and spreading myself with hydrocortisone lotions every hour to stop myself from itching my limbs. Thank goodness I have something to look forward to — another walkoff tomorrow would be perfect.

The Brewers signed Frank Catalanotto to a minor league deal on Tuesday, causing Tom H. to think that one of the Brewer bench outfielders like Brad Nelson or Chris Duffy will be replaced due to their ineptitude hitting so far. GM Doug Melvin and manager Ken Macha don’t seem to agree, basically saying the equivalent of, “well, he’s not guaranteed to make the major league club at all — he has to prove to us he can hit before he replaces somebody.”

Catalanotto, by the way, is a 35-year-old defensively washed up corner OF with continually declining statistics (probably due to age) who hasn’t played in the majors so far in 2009. His last time facing live pitching was back in 2008 where he put up a .741 OPS in 248 at-bats with 2 home runs, 20 walks, and 29 strikeouts. He’s an intense defensive liability (why he would be limited to pinch-hitting duties if he made the major leagues) and got his average OPS playing in a hitters’ ballpark. He passes the three checkmarks of a player who I don’t want: old, getting worse, and no defense. It’s like signing Sidney Ponson to pitch in the starting rotation. With all that in mind, he did have a bad-ass mustache.

I don’t think the Brewers are in actual need of this guy. Catalanotto can’t replace Chris Duffy because Duffy is more or less a defensive replacement and acceptable player to give Mike Cameron a day off. Brad Nelson in his career in the minors OPsed .801, which seems about on par for what Catalonotto is set to do when you take into account the major league dropoff. Nelson is also signed for much cheaper since this is his first year making the big league roster; he’s 27 years old and has plenty more time to improve on his hitting skills.

The best justification I can think of for this would be to get Nelson more at-bats in AAA to let him work through his current season-long funk so far. The problem is, Nelson’s amassed only 20 at-bats so far this season and I still think the problem with him is that he’s mired in a funk where he is stressing out too much about getting that first big-league hit. The only way to solve this is getting him some more at-bats. He’s due to get hot and I don’t agree with signing Catalonotto only to put more pressue on Big Brad. 20 at-bats is nothing.

To put this differently, Nelson has nowhere to go but up. Catalanotto would be an offensive downgrade, especially considering he hasn’t seen live pitching since last year. Doug Melvin is right when he says that Mustache Frank should be held down in case there’s an injury to an upcoming fielder — the outfield is pretty thin even when everyone is healthy. I’ll be sad to see Brad go down if Catalonotto does replace him.

No posts coming from me until next week. Until then, enjoy donking your own remixes.

The Brewers managed yet another 1-2 series loss this weekend in the new Pitchers’ Heaven Field, salvaging a two-run win yesterday after suffering a couple of bad 1-run losses on Friday and Saturday. The Crew’s luck remains a little bit slim to start this season, already going 1-4 in one-run games and a pythagorean record one game better than their actual record, but it of course is early in the season and with 150 games left to go I’m convinced along with everyone else that a 4-8 record isn’t indicative of the team’s early play. The win also came on the heels that Trevor Hoffman should be back by next weekend. Although that makes me optimistic considering the closing struggles of Carlos Villanueva, who really needs Hoffman when Todd Coffey can just pitch the last 8 outs of every game and preserve a tight game.

Jeff Suppan finally put forth a good effort, going 6 innings and giving up only 2 runs, hopefully causing the Brewer faithful to give him a little break and at least let him settle into the season before running to the wayside. Two starts is never enough to adequately judge a pitcher on and just because he had trouble locating his pitches to start the season doesn’t mean he’ll be able to adjust and come back down to normal levels. Now, I’m not saying he’ll be the #1 ace on the team, but it’s unfair to pin the entire blame of the pitching staff on one guy who had two poor starts. Let’s let the man earn his money for now and only throw him to the wayside if he gets demolished at the rate he had been in his first two starts. I’m really glad he was able to take two steps forward yesterday.

If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that Yovani Gallardo and Craig Counsell would lead the team in on-base percentage 12 games in, of course I would have been surprised. I would have then surmised that the majority of the Brewers have started off scuffling; with the exception of Corey Hart and Mike Cameron, every Brewer starter has been significantly below their career averages and are bound to bounce back. What’s especially pleasing to me about the offense so far is that these seem to be BABIP-driven and not necessarily due to a terrible plate approach, circa Corey Hart in September last year. Take a look at these numbers:

Ryan Braun: .222/.340/.356
Prince Fielder: .175/.327/.325
Corey Hart: .279/.385/.558
Bill Hall: .278/.333/.389
Jason Kendall: .129/.243/.161

My favorite part about this season has been the way the coaching staff has seemingly made this team able to take a walk every once in awhile. Most of these OBPs are more than .100 points higher than their averages, meaning that their patience at the plate hasn’t been sacrificed. Most of these OBPs are as high as their career averages, meaning that if their batting average starts regressing towards normal levels, then we may have an incredibly elite offense this year. Think about it. If Prince Fielder gets on base at a .400 clip with Braun and Hart surrounding him, this offense may be impossible to stop. Even Jason Kendall is putting in a good word despite being sickening when he’s standing at the dish.

Bring on the hits, I say. Be patient — the offense will come.

Sorry for no activity– daily life, prepping for school, running a bunch of errands, and generally being hectic contribute to my lack of posting. While there’s been no real posting lately, I can say that I’ve virtually finished my 2009 pitching preview and will post it first thing Monday morning. A few newsworthy things:

Apparently the Brewers were thinking about chasing Dunn. Even though the internet is in love with Adam Dunn, I like this move. Two reasons for this– it’d be taking on way too much in salary considering the arbitration cases of the five Brewers who are eligible (more on this later), and even though replacing Corey Hart with the Dunnotron would greatly improve the team, watching a lineup of Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Adam Dunn, Bill Hall, Mike Cameron, and Rickie Weeks would undoubtedly set the record for most strikeouts in a single season. We’re one step away from putting Jose Hernandez back at shortstop. It’d make me cringe.

One of the things the article mentioned was that the Brewers were considering sending Cameron to the Yankees instead of replacing Hart with Dunn tit-for-tat. The plan would’ve involved shipping Cameron off, moving Hart to center, and putting Dunn in right field. I’m not sure the increase in salary (Dunn SHOULD command $15 mil/year or so, considering his ability) would justify the incredible dropoff there would be in shipping an excellent defender in Cameron off and replacing him with an average one in Hart. Remember, one of the things that makes Mike Cameron a very valuable commodity is his sublime defense. Trotting out a daily outfield of Braun, Hart, and Dunn would sure let batters tee off towards the gaps and ultimately make our pitching staff worse.

In other stuff, J.J. Hardy signed for super cheap and Dave Bush signed for cheap enough. Considering Hardy is one of the best shortstops in the game, grabbing him at the price of a tiny bit more than Nick Punto is awesome. One of the knocks i’ve always had on Hardy is his range, but his positive UZR numbers so far in the major leagues are significantly awesome to the point where it’s almost set in stone about a major leaguer. If there’s any way that I need to eat my words, it’s one where a great player turns out to be better than he actually is. J.J. “Makes Me” Hardy.