Keith Law: It's time to trade Prince

keep dreaming

Offer to Fielder sounds great. But I also think he wouldn’t accept it.

Somehow I’d like Cameron to stay. Looper also offered better pitching than Parra and Suppan this year.

I also think Iribarren could play a role at big league level. He never got the chance …

Totally agree on Gamel and McGehee.

Trading Hardy, Hart and a reliever could land two middle of the rotation guys. RF could be filled by Gerut/Bourgeois/appear out of the nothing guy like Kapler).
Or Weeks could be moved if Cameron goes, and Lopez (Iribarren!) stays.

If the Brewers want to compete next season, creative solutions are needed. But what if you deal Fielder and the “ace” gets injured in spring is out for the season?
I don’t think fans would fill Miller Park the same way as now without Fielder …

“5. Gamel to outfield. Most people like to think that would be disastrous. Most people also thought the same about Braun. No reason to think he couldn’t make an average outfielder.”

Again, just because it worked for Braun doesn’t mean that it will work for everyone. Some people are inept in the field or really ARE playing their best defensive position (even if they are below average). Should they try to have him shag flies: sure. But if he looks inept, keep him in the infield.

I would argue that “no reason to think he could make an average outfielder”. Honestly. Average professional outfielder is actually pretty good. Why would he make it up to that level? He might be above replacement level if you’re lucky.

And, this isn’t going to happen.

I’m with Jay. Again.

I stopped watching the Brewers for over a decade because of exactly that. Nothing in the system worth developing, nobody to trade for, nobody who wants to come, a decade-plus commitment to losing and collecting revenue sharing money. It’s hard to support that sort of team; it’s the ultimate form of rooting for laundry, and the laundry is dingy and has holes in it.

Pitching is the Brewers’ problem and if they can’t get pitching in a trade it’s not worth making.

But what about the surrounding metropolitan areas?

I’ve always thought that the market size descriptors, which are informal, were tied more to the size of the media markets than the actual population of the city. Boston basically has the run of the entirety of New England and its various TV/Radio markets, and Massachusettes alone, which is indisputedly Red Sox territory, has nearly a million more people than Wisconsin does. Throw in VT, NH and ME, and they’ve got almost sole access to TV/Radio markets for another 5 million people.

Georgia has about 4 million more people than Wisconsin does and the Braves have little competition for MLB baseball fans in the southeastern United States unless you count Tampa and the Marlins, or perhaps the Nationals or Orioles.

St. Louis is a little harder to explain. If I’m not mistaken, this is a relatively high payroll for the Cardinals this year, and they certainly don’t spend with the Red Sox, Yankees, and more recently, the Cubs. Regionally, their competition for TV/Radio markets are the Cubs and Royals, but I don’t doubt that they generate more revenue from their media deals than Milwaukee does. I do think they have behaved similarly to most mid-market teams over the last 20 years or so.

Seattle and Washington are similarly populated to Milwaukee and Wisconsin, but again the Mariners have access to markets outside the immediate area, as there is no team in Oregon and the Portland area, which is roughly the same size as both Seattle and Milwaukee.

It’s an interesting question, but I have to say that I’m inclined to believe Attanasio when he says that roughly 90 million is about the amount of payroll the market can support if you tie expenses to revenue. I do think that Milwaukee is hemmed in a bit by Chicago to the south and the Twin Cities to the northwest in that it prevents the Brewers from being able to draw cash from TV markets outside of the state of Wisconsin, and it seems obvious to me that the secondary markets of Green Bay and Madison, while helpful, don’t provide the kind of income that the other teams have access to.

Keep in mind the above is virtually all speculation.

Local big business plays a part.

All these new stadiums are built in part for the increased luxury box revenue. Seattle has the tech industry, Atlanta has a lot of big communications companies.

It’s clear to me that rj was referring to trading Josh Prince since nowhere in his original post does it say “Fielder” and everyone knows you only refer to players by their last name because otherwise it can get rather confusing.

as mentioned above by many posters, its not about seeing guys have great years, its about winning. He is having a great year, in the conversation for MVP, but the team isnt winning.

A trade involving Prince Fielder can bring in pieces (theorhetically) to build a winner. He could possibly bring in 3 young pitchers, who in 3 years out put forth major contributions to the teams winning percentage.

Not only that, but his contract demands are going to be bigger than the Brewers will ever be able to afford.

If you dont trade him before his FA years, you miss out on the boatload of talent that could come, for maybe 2 draft picks. The risk/reward favors trading him.