In case you didn't hear, the Brewers traded for relief pitcher Scott Linebrink from the San Diego Padres in exchange for three minor league arms: Will Inman, Steve Garrison and Joe Thatcher. At first glance this is a great trade for Milwaukee. In the past, they have been the team getting prospects instead of receiving the proven commodity. Not this time. That can only be a positive and a reflection of how far the franchise has come. Linebrink has been a stalwart in the Pads bully for years. He can only help a situation that’s close to getting ugly…the Brewers bullpen. They’ve been going through relievers like tube socks for a couple months now and a quality arm (any arm?) is a refreshing site.
Unfortunately, the last month has not been kind to ‘Brink. He got yanked from his 8th inning set up role and his K’s per 9 innings has been taking a bigger dump than the housing market. Reading BrewerFan.net, it seems as if Melvin gave up too much. With Yo and Parra in the show, Inman was the best pitching prospect in the Brewers system. Only a bout with mono has slowed him down recently. Garrison and Thatcher are also quality arms.
I thought Linebrink might be an insurance plan in case the Crew cannot/will not sign free-agent-to-be Francisco Cordero (my opinion: No chance Melvin throws crazy money at a closer). Linebrink could slide into that roll next year, because…lets face it, do you really want Turnbow as your closer going into next spring? Me neither. Anyway, this theory goes out the window as ‘Brink is also a free agent after 07. Uh oh. Did Melvin just mortgage good pieces of the future for a 9 week rental? A possibly deteriorating 9 week rental? Only time will tell.
Unfortunately, the last month has not been kind to ‘Brink. He got yanked from his 8th inning set up role and his K’s per 9 innings has been taking a bigger dump than the housing market. Reading BrewerFan.net, it seems as if Melvin gave up too much. With Yo and Parra in the show, Inman was the best pitching prospect in the Brewers system. Only a bout with mono has slowed him down recently. Garrison and Thatcher are also quality arms.
I thought Linebrink might be an insurance plan in case the Crew cannot/will not sign free-agent-to-be Francisco Cordero (my opinion: No chance Melvin throws crazy money at a closer). Linebrink could slide into that roll next year, because…lets face it, do you really want Turnbow as your closer going into next spring? Me neither. Anyway, this theory goes out the window as ‘Brink is also a free agent after 07. Uh oh. Did Melvin just mortgage good pieces of the future for a 9 week rental? A possibly deteriorating 9 week rental? Only time will tell.
I say thumbs up to Melvin. He had some gonads and made the trade anyway. If Inman turns into the next Santana, then me and Melvin both look like donkeys. The good thing about this equation is that nobody gives a crap about my opinion. In Doug We Trust! Hey, who know so much could be written about Scott Friggin Linebrink?
3 comments:
Great trade!!!!
Brewers will need another arm. This trade might also be a pre cursor to a D. Turnbow trade. Jermaine Dye would look nice in the middle of the lineup. An everyday left fielder?
Rummor was dbow was off limits to the sox. I aggreed with that before the Linebrink trade. This guy is better than dbow. They say u can never have to many arms. I say, true unless u don't have a left fielder.
I don't think it is out of the relm of possibility that the Brewers trade for a bat. Basically, since the Saturday game against the Cubs on June 30, the offense has not looked that great. They have the lowest BA in the NL since the break. You can deal with a lack of production for 2 weeks or so and chalk it up to one of the valleys a team goes through during the season. However, once you hit the 1 month mark it becomes alarming.
The offense for the Crew went through a similar slump when they went on their "losing 20 of 30" skid. That was well over a month of slumpitude(?) and they broke out of that....
What happened to "Jenkins is a 2nd half player" & "....when he gets hot he can carry your team for weeks." Is everyone pretty much changing their tune on that now? I mean, it's fine if you did b/c I gave up on Jenkins long ago. It would just seem that every previous year when the Crew sucked Jenkins would always mop up the 2nd half and people treated him like the "Jesus Christ" of baseball, fast-forward to the one year in his career (...& it's essentially a contract year!) when we actually need him to be strong in the 2nd half and we are almost forced to make a trade. WTF???
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