Another day, another set of rumors from Ken Rosenthal. We’re lucky today, though — it’s not all about Prince Fielder!
No, the Brewers aren’t going to trade left fielder Ryan Braun — “with that contract,” one executive says, referring to Braun’s eight-year, $45 million deal that runs through 2015, “you’d have to get six players for him.”
Listening, Gammons?
(Click through for more)
Both Weeks and Fielder are free agents after next season — and Weeks, represented by Greg Genske, might not be any more willing to entertain an extension than Fielder, who’s represented by Boras. At the very least, Weeks might want to wait on the outcome of the Marlins’ negotiations with Dan Uggla, who’s eligible for free agency at the same time.
I’d hate to see it, but trading Weeks has to be an option if there’s a deal for pitching out there. I’d still love to see a long-term extension for Weeks, but like Rosenthal says, that might not happen until the Uggla situation gets hammered out, even if I’m not entirely sure trying to get Uggla money would work out well for Weeks.
Look for the Padres to continue trying to infuse athleticism into their organization — they’ve also spoken multiple times to the Brewers about Double-A second baseman Brett Lawrie.
This is the most interesting thing Rosenthal says about the Brewers. He’s probably the first “in-the-know” guy to mention the Brewers possibly trading Lawrie, and he’s reporting that there have been actual conversations — not his usual “The Brewers COULD trade…” line.
The challenge, of course, is finding major-league ready arms the Brewers would want that the Padres would also be willing to deal. Let’s just rule Mat Latos untouchable right now.
Cory Luebke might be interesting — he’s a 6’4″ lefty that’s major league-ready, even making some big starts for the Padres down the stretch in 2010. He’ll be 26 in 2011, but his minor league numbers show good control, and according to scouting reports, he sits in the low 90s, topping out at 94. His slider is apparently a plus pitch, and his changeup has improved, too. I admittedly didn’t catch his September starts for San Diego, but if the scouting reports are accurate, it appears he fits the Brewers’ new “model” of what a pitcher should be.
Simon Castro is probably the highest rated of all the Padres’ pitching prospects, and once you read the scouting reports, it’s easy to see why. He sits at 92-94 with his fastball, with some run and some sink. His slider could also become a plus pitch, his changeup sounds like it could be good with some work, and he even throws a two-seamer (be sure to click the link for tons of GIFs). A Lawrie-for-Castro swap would be great, but I’m not sure how realistic it’d be. Anytime a scout describes a pitching prospect as a #3 as a worst-case scenario (like Adam Foster does in the report linked), it would probably take more than just one top prospect in return.
If there’s one team in the league that can afford to give up young pitching, it’s probably the Padres, even if they’ll likely have to fill a rotation spot or two this offseason. The prospects they would lose by dealing for Lawrie could likely be gained back once they trade Adrian Gonzalez. I can see why Rosenthal felt comfortable throwing this out there, because unlike most of his rumors, this actually makes a lot of sense for both sides.
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