Talkin' Baseball: All-Star Brewers summit
Two sports fans argue about the team's chances from here on out
Will our stars have something to celebrate in '09? We're about to find out.
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This week, Talkin' Baseball writers Steven Hyden and Jason Albert come together to mock each other and argue about who's the best Brewer and what the team needs to do to thrive in the second half the season. Readers, feel free to mock and argue along at home.
Steven: Hey Jason, how are things going in Madison? Will you be watching the home-run derby today, or will you be too busy smoking pot and burning the American flag? (Unless Milwaukee conservative talk radio has lied to me, that’s all you people do over there at the state capital.) Anyway, I wanted to commend you on coming clean on being horribly wrong about your pre-season predictions in last week’s TB column—smart guys like me know not to put their horribly wrong pre-season predictions on the record, which enables us to make fun of poor saps like you. Yovani Gallardo not a workhorse? Ha!
Anyway, Brewers nation will be watching our two biggest stars, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, play in the All-Star game tomorrow, and since we’re on the Internet, and it’s the goal of all Internet writers to needlessly stir up shit, I’m wondering: Who’s the man? Put another way, if you were in a burning building and could only save one Brewers superstar, which one would it be?
I think I’ve already made my feelings on this topic clear. My admiration for Braun’s game tends to be overshadowed by my suspicion that he’s an enormous douche in real life. I know, it’s not fair and possibly inaccurate, but that’s how I feel. I look at Braun and think of every smarmy jock asshole I grew up despising (less from my own personal experiences than from repeat viewings of The Karate Kid and Revenge Of The Nerds). This only reiterates my opinion.
I’ll give Braun this: Along with being a natural-born hitter, he’s shown a real flair for showing up in the media, and it has almost always been completely justified. You don’t need to be Peter Gammons to know that the Brewers pitching rotation—which looked awful going into the season, and then played explicably well for a while until reality caught up with us—has been soaking in weak sauce for at least a month now. The fact that Brewers GM Doug Melvin got his Cosby sweater tangled in a bunch over Braun voicing his displeasure publicly doesn’t change the truth of his words. (Beside, the perpetually laidback Melvin needs to have gasoline poured on that white mustache of his every now and then.)
What say you, Jason? I think I know what you’re going to say, since you’re in love with Braun and got a little too excited when he broke up with his girlfriend. Then again, you’re also a big Craig Counsell fan, so maybe you’ll go with a dark-horse pick. What ya got?
Jason: Hey there, Steve. I think I’m going to have time to squeeze in the game. Around these parts, we get our protesting done early so we can pedal over to the co-op and pick up some seitan and fair-trade coffee. And for this one day only, I’m going to leave my bowl unpacked, as it just wouldn’t be American to defile the mid-season classic by partaking in any illegal substances. What would Bud Selig think?
Anyway, that’s a good question. You’re right—prior to this year, it would have been no contest: Braun. I’ll admit I have a man-crush that’s trending towards the unhealthy end of the spectrum. But I also have some serious doubts about a 25-year-old with recurring back pain. I hope I’m wrong, but I have a feeling he might be limping under the left-field Friday's sign by the time his contract’s up.
I could make a solid case for Gallardo, but if I have to pick only one, it’s gotta be an everyday player. That leaves only one name: your man, Fielder. I have fewer problems with how a player may or may not act off the field, because I’m completely jaded after the one athlete who I was positive—positive—I’d always admire is now a guy I’d love to bury in a mountain of game-worn jocks. (Yes, Brett Favre, I’m talking about you.) But I can’t overlook how good of an overall player Fielder’s turned into. I was down on him last year until September, when he alone carried us to three or four wins. He’s a man, period.
There are obviously the home runs, but I kind of like everything about this dude. I like how he wears his uniform all baggy and dirty. I like that he gets his tub cranked up and always runs the bases without half-assing it. I like that he’s improved his defense. I like how he looks like a beer leaguer with his back leg flying out when swings. And I love that he bitch-slapped Manny Parra. Speaking of which, why don’t we post that video again?
I fear that this will be Fielder’s last full season with the Crew. Think about it: Next year, if we take a step back and we’re not contending, who’s the one tradable player that would allow us to completely restock for the future? It makes me ill to consider the breakup of Fielder and Braun, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s gone by the end of July next year. Speaking of which, would you rather lock down Fielder for the long term with $20 million a year—potential payroll suicide for a team like the Brewers if he gets hurt or goes in the tank—or trade him when his value is in the stars and hope that Melvin can work his prospect magic one more time?
Steven: Oh, Fielder is definitely long gone, probably to the American League where he belongs. I can’t see how the Brewers could possibly offer him the kind of money Fielder would want over the long term. And it's clear we’ll have to trade him before he jumps ship and leaves the Brewers with nothing. It’s sad, yes, but also kind of exciting when you consider what we could get for him.
In the meantime, can we please ship Mat Gamel to Atlanta in exchange for Javier Vazquez? The thinking seems to be that the Brewers have to be committed to re-signing Fielder in order to justify trading Gamel, who's believed to be the team’s future first baseman. But given how fluid baseball lineups tend to be, I say we go for having a stronger pitching staff while we still have the mighty Fielder and Braun combination.
I know it might sound crazy to trade a potential star for a pitcher with a losing record, but that speaks to how desperate the Brewers are right now. Not to be that guy—you know, the panicky baseball fan who makes sports-talk radio unlistenable—but staking the future of the Brewers’ pitching staff on Dave Bush’s elbow getting better and Parra conquering his hang-ups doesn’t exactly make me flush with confidence. I guess we could just leave it all up to Mark DiFelice—that guy can do anything, right? Or maybe Casey McGehee could pitch every five days. But right now, our pitching staff looks far from being post-season caliber.
I’m frankly a little scared looking ahead to the second half of the season. The Cardinals are as infuriatingly consistent as always, and the Cubs are just waiting to go one of those fucking annoying late-season tears. And here we sit treading water. We don’t even have a mid-season lead to blow like the past couple of seasons.
I don’t know, Jason. Am I panicking? Are the Brewers fine as they are, or do we need to make a deal? Fix our team, man!
Jason: I went into this year with realistic expectations. I had my post-season thirst slaked, so I figured I could live contentedly with seeing the Crew in a playoff game at an age when I didn't think earthworms were a healthy snack. What else could a Brewers fan want? Then the April and May hot streak completely fucked with my head. I started thinking we were really good, and with the rest of the NL Central struggling, I said, "Why not us?"
Sometime in late June, I came back to my senses and started accepting that whatever magic our starting rotation had been dealing up was indeed the mirage it appeared to be. But dammit, that doesn't change the fact that the division's still there for the taking. And when you're a team like the Brewers, shouldn't you reach for it when you have the chance?
That said, I have no idea what to do. The dearth of trade-deadline pitching is well-documented. But let's just say another big name like Roy Halladay—sorry Brewers' fans, I don't see how we have a chance to get him—comes on the market. Even then, what do we do? Gut the farm system and practically ensure crappy seasons for the next four or five years? I don't like that idea, especially with how we'll need fill-ins when many of our current starters' contracts are up. Part of me is fine to package J.J. Hardy and Corey Hart today if anyone wants them, but that's a potential stink bomb, too.
From what I hear on the always-reliable Internet message boards, Alcides Escobar is on the cusp of being inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Great! Call me crazy, but I don't think there's any guarantee he'll hit better than Hardy has this year. Does anyone remember can't-miss phenom Rickie Weeks' five-year learning curve? In fact, it's probably reasonable to assume Escobar would be a low .200s hitter—only without Hardy’s pop. If you get rid of Hart, then the outfield has gaping holes. I wouldn't feel good about The Catman or Jody freaking Gerut taking over in right—but more than that, who's going to play center field next year when Mike Cameron's likely gone? Hart's the logical choice to slide over, right? Unless we nuke the farm, it's not clear if we can improve through a trade this year, and that's where I get stuck.
Last year was easy. Trade our top prospect, keep the starting nine intact, and ride the half-year rental until his arm falls off. The greedy fan in me thinks if we could get a mid-level arm like Vazquez or Doug Davis, we should do it—even if it costs us Gamel. But that's the same guy who was pumped when the Brewers upped their offer to C.C. Sabathia, which, in retrospect, would have been disastrous if we'd gotten him. The pragmatic fan in me looks ahead to the coming years and thinks about how much he enjoys watching a contending team—and really, really doesn't want to return to the dark ages. So if you put a gun to my head, I'd vote for loading the jalopy up with Parra and Bush, slapping on a little duct tape, and hoping Macha can coax our rattletrap across the finish line in this train wreck of a division.
