give Fielder 9 this season and 9 next if its for 18MM and if the deal is being done to increase the attractiveness in a trade scenario.

That won’t happen, of course.

Also, I’d think that if this trade scenario is in The Mustache’s head, and the FO is thinking of putting Gamel at 1B, then they’d move him now and keep him at AAA 1B all season. Otherwise, he’s missing valuable time to get the position down by bringing his bat up to the MLB club.

Something I’d thought about while posting on another message board is the potential of Eduardo Morlan. If he sticks with the club for the entire year, I’d think it means he’s pitching relatively well and is proving he can handle MLB pitching. His K/9 and K/BB numbers are nice in the minors, though it appears he’s had some control issues. I had read that he throws 92-94. Perhaps he could be a closer under club control for 5 seasons starting in 2010. A pipe dream, I know, but intriguing nonetheless.

… that Gamel ain’t gonna be a 3B. I know it’s just anecdotal, but I bailed on a tailgate at one of the games I went to late last season, went into the park early with a friend who got us in, and we saw Gamel taking grounders at 3B late in BP. It was atrocious — way way worse than Braun looked as a rookie. And this was just with a guy hitting Gamel fungoe hoppers. It just didn’t look like his natural position. I know Gamel got sent packing with an injury soon after that, but it corroborated everything we’d been hearing about his defensive struggles. I’ve gotta think his future is as a 1B or RF.

Is all PR… like the Hoffman deal… Hoffman helps the club, but not as much as the press suggests (may be another setup man from San Diego for us like Linebrink and have Carlos closing);

Not having to negotiate with Boras next year is nice, but he is under the Brewers control anyway… maybe we need a mad Prince to “make sure he gets his”, especially if the Brewers were to have won the arbritration hearing.

The PR is really trying to get people to the stadium, because chances are this year the last few series won’t be sold out, like they were last year, because the Brewers may be 6-10 games out of the playoff race. Trying to lock people in now to buy these 10 packs- I still think the Brewers have a chance this year… but with a payroll of approximately $80 million, they still need almost 3 million people to come to the games I am thinking, otherwise could be a “loss”.

Mark A said he lost money last year, and I think the payroll ended up at 91 million or so, if the attendance is down this year (due to both recession and lower quality of play), and the payroll is not as significantly down- could be some pain from ownership. The club’s payroll is still almost doube what it was just a few years ago… attendance may be up, but the tv contract and revenues is already set … may come to the point where they have to dump Prince next year , and not even able to get the “stud” pitcher we want… but instead a few AAA guys and a #4 low ceiling starter.