NL Central Off-Season Moves

[TallTitan34]

It appears that the Brewers and Cubs are pretty much done making moves this off-season.  I just wondered what you guys thought of each teams transactions this winter.  (If I missed any moves below let me know.)

CUBS (+)
Marlon Byrd
Xavier Nady
Chad Tracy
Carlos Silva
Jeff Gray

CUBS (-)
Milton Bradley
Neal Cotts
Kevin Gregg
Jake Fox
Rich Harden
Aaron Heilman
Aaron Miles
Reed Johnson

BREWERS (+)
Doug Davis
Randy Wolf
Jim Edmonds
Carlos Gomez
Gregg Zaun
LaTroy Hawkins

BREWERS (-)
J.J. Hardy
Mike Cameron
Jason Kendall
Mike Rivera
Chris Duffy
Corey Patterson
Braden Looper
Frank Catalanotto
Felipe Lopez
Seth McClung
David Weathers

[GOMU1104]

The Brewers are likely to add Mark Mulder as well.

I threw up in my mouth when I heard they signed Edmonds. Ugh.

[LON]

I threw up in my mouth when I heard they signed Edmonds. Ugh.

+1

[TallTitan34]

Damn it!  I typed a lengthy commentary and my session timed out and I lost it.  I'll type it again later.

I threw up in my mouth when I heard they signed Edmonds. Ugh.

Jim Edmonds was my most hated player in baseball before he joined the Cubs.  I grew to somewhat like him after a decent run down the stretch.

[wadesworld]

I like the addition of Edmunds.  It's very low risk, somewhat high reward.  It's pretty much win-win for the Brewers.  And it adds another veteran to the locker room.  I am cautiously optimistic about the moves the Brewers have made this offseason.  I still don't think the starting pitching will be GREAT, but it will be MUCH improved.  I'm still not sure there's a legitimate number 1 starter (Yo's got the stuff and potential to be that but not sure if he's quite there yet), but with him and Wolf we have 2 legitimate top 2 starters.  With Doug Davis that's a solid number 3, and Parra is a good number 4, with the potential to be even better than that.  Bush should not be a starter.  But like I said, it's looking much improved.  The offense should still be solid and hopefully we'll see some more producing runs rather than just relying on the long ball with Escobar and Gomez in the lineup.  The defense will be about the same as it was.  The bullpen won't be terrible but won't be great, it will be roughly the same as last year.

I'm looking at the Cardinals as the NL Central winners, they seem to be head and shoulders above both the Brewers and Cubs at this point.  The Cubs and Brewers should battle for the Wild Card.  I think the Brewers can do it.

[pillardean]

I too don't mind the Edmunds signing.

He's washed up, was on two teams that I hated but now he's just looking to stay in the league. 
It's only a minor league contract with a spring training invite.  So he'll be battling for a spot on the roster. 

The Crew needs left-handed power other than Fielder.  And his half a season with the Cubs back a bit showed he still has some left--he hit what, 19 homers and slugged .538 (but then again we could be getting Padres Edmunds as well.)

Pitching staff appears improved--anything will be better than forcing Villa and McClung to pitch starter innings.  It was nice to get Sheets off of the mind as well.

[JWags85]

I am not thrilled with the Cubs moves, but at the least, its addition by subtraction.  Bradley was a mistake and just killed team morale.  Silva may be a bum and an underperformer, but he seems to be a decent clubhouse guy.  If the Cubs can get nice production out of Marlon Byrd or Xavier Nady, I would be pleased.  I am wary of Nady and his surgeries, but he was hitting the piss out of the ball two years ago.  I wouldn't mind some of that.  Getting rid of my two least favorite pitchers, Heilman and Gregg, makes me supremely happy.  At least now Pinella will not be tempted to use Hanging Breaking Ball Gregg in closing situations.

Oh, and Aaron Miles?  Suck it, thanks for nothing (though that is more on Hendry).

[Cooby Snacks]

Silva may be a bum and an underperformer, but he seems to be a decent clubhouse guy. 

Nope!  He was very much disliked in the Mariners' dugout.

[damuts222]

I'm looking at the Cardinals as the NL Central winners, they seem to be head and shoulders above both the Brewers and Cubs at this point.  The Cubs and Brewers should battle for the Wild Card.  I think the Brewers can do it.

  I agree that the Cardinals will win the Central since they always have one player every year that surprises everyone. As a Cubs fan I don't think the Cubs or Brewers have a shot at the Wild Card to be honest but looking at the National League rosters the National League overall doesn't look very good outside of the Phillies to be honest. Baseball is in some need of good young talent.

[SaintPaulWarrior]

  Baseball The National League is in some need of good young talent.

Fixed.

[damuts222]

Fixed.

Ah thanku

[MUBurrow]

Unfortunately I don't think the Brewers are that much better a team.  Carlos Gomez for Mike Cameron in center is a clear loss.  While its nice pick up Wolf and I've always liked Dougie, the we forget how much Braden Looper overachieved last year.  Dougie as a fellow innings eater probably won't live up to that, so it takes away from the net gain Wolf brings at least a little.  I would have liked to see some of that LaTroy Hawkins money go toward another SP arm that could be converted into the pen if need be, something like a Chad Gaudin. 

I don't know a whole lot about Greg Zaun, but he can't be much worse than Kendall with the bat.  I liked Kendall though too, and it will be interesting to see what happens to the pitching staff with the changeover.  Who will improve? Who will regress?

Finally just an observation about being a small market team and why I hate cubs fans.  I think the crew signing Edmonds and the cubs signing Nady are emblematic of the differences in payroll potential.  Each will serve a relatively similar role on their respective teams, but one started for the yankees last year and is clearly a better player.  Good comparable value in terms of risk reduction, etc for the brewers, just unfortunate.

[Chili]

Unfortunately I don't think the Brewers are that much better a team.  Carlos Gomez for Mike Cameron in center is a clear loss.  While its nice pick up Wolf and I've always liked Dougie, the we forget how much Braden Looper overachieved last year.  Dougie as a fellow innings eater probably won't live up to that, so it takes away from the net gain Wolf brings at least a little.  I would have liked to see some of that LaTroy Hawkins money go toward another SP arm that could be converted into the pen if need be, something like a Chad Gaudin. 

I don't know a whole lot about Greg Zaun, but he can't be much worse than Kendall with the bat.  I liked Kendall though too, and it will be interesting to see what happens to the pitching staff with the changeover.  Who will improve? Who will regress?

Finally just an observation about being a small market team and why I hate cubs fans.  I think the crew signing Edmonds and the cubs signing Nady are emblematic of the differences in payroll potential.  Each will serve a relatively similar role on their respective teams, but one started for the yankees last year and is clearly a better player.  Good comparable value in terms of risk reduction, etc for the brewers, just unfortunate.

Disagree with the bolded. Cam was overrated defensively and struck out a ton. I think it is a push plus a huge cash savings. The Brewers defense should be much improved this coming year. Enough to overtake the Cardinals? Still don't think so.

[jmayer1]

While its nice pick up Wolf and I've always liked Dougie, the we forget how much Braden Looper overachieved last year.  Dougie as a fellow innings eater probably won't live up to that, so it takes away from the net gain Wolf brings at least a little. 

????  Looper was awful last year.  He had 14 wins but that is pretty much a useless stat when talking about pitcher.  There was a reason the Crew did not opt to pick up his mutual option.

Last Year

Davis
203.1 IP
4.12 ERA

Looper
194.2 IP
5.22

Davis is a clear upgrade there and along with Wolf and Yoga, the Brewers should have a decent 1-2-3.  If Gallardo could cut down on his walks (Davis also had this problem, led the NL in walks last year, YO was #2), he has the potential to be a #1 as he was in the top 5 last in the majors in opponent's batting average. 

However, where I think the Brewers will struggle will be the back end of the rotation (Parra, Suppan, Bush--yuck, although Parra is still young) and manufacturing runs.  Even though Cameron is aging he still played a good CF last year (Gomez will prolly be about the same) and was still a plus offensive player overall where Gomez is way below average.  The Brewers also don't have a true leadoff guy (I think Weeks is best suited for 5 or 6 where he can be aggressive) and nobody that gets on base a lot besides Braun and Fielder.

I think the Cards will win the division by about 6 or 7 games again ahead of the Cubs, who will be in the WC mix, with the Crew and Houston another 3-4 games behind them.  The Cards should have a pretty solid lineup next year (expecting a breakout year from Rasmus along with normal years from Pujols, Holliday, and Ludwick) and a very good rotation especially at the top with Carp and Wainwright.  Hopefully Lohse returns to his from from 2 years ago and Duncan will work his typical magic with Penney.  I would expect a rotating door at the 5 spot again unless McClellan grabs that spot by the horns in spring training.

Getting Bradley out of town was a good move by the Cubs, even if Silva is just as bad of a palyer, he can't be as big of a di#k as Milton. Not a ton of room for them to make moves this offseason with some of the horrible deals they have on the books right now (Soriano, Zambrano, Fukudome, Silva, Aram if not healthy but last year was an exception not the norm).

Looking forward to pitcher and catchers reporting in only 3 weeks or so.

[MUBurrow]

i didnt realize that looper's numbers got so bad after his quick start.  i suppose that is ironically encouraging.  there will be typical brewers frustration watching the league leaders in walks operate next year though.  That, combined with the penchant for power hitters at the expense of high obp guys.
hopefully bush or parra has a nice comeback year and we can get something solid out of the 3 spot from one of them.  i know i brought it up earlier, but i still cant help but think that latroy hawkins money wouldve been better off on a low quality starter.

[TallTitan34]

Finally just an observation about being a small market team and why I hate cubs fans.  I think the crew signing Edmonds and the cubs signing Nady are emblematic of the differences in payroll potential.  Each will serve a relatively similar role on their respective teams, but one started for the yankees last year and is clearly a better player.  Good comparable value in terms of risk reduction, etc for the brewers, just unfortunate.

True, but the Cubs did the exact same thing the Brewers did two years ago and signed Jim Edmonds to a league minimum deal.

[reinko]

A better qyestion:  Which contender will Prince be traded to this summer?  Yanks, Sox, Dodgers??

[GOMU1104]

A better qyestion:  Which contender will Prince be traded to this summer?  Yanks, Sox, Dodgers??

Well...hes not a FA until after the 2011 season...

[MUBurrow]

yeah, i think he leaves next summer, not this summer.  past lame duck free agents have shown that the haul you get for half season rentals is relatively similar to what you get if you trade with a year left on the deal.  teams get desperate and are willing to overpay for 2 months of a guy when they know exactly what theyre getting.  you just don't get the value guys should command for a year and half as opposed to a half season.