WM’s Day Two: The Saga of Nothing

Today the Brewers spent the day watching. I imagine that free-agent watching is a lot like bird watching. Every time a free-agent walks by, you write down who it was in your little journal and wait for the next one to walk by. Some free-agents are more rare than others, so they are weighted in the journal. I suspect that Doug Melvin’s FA watching journal is getting pretty full, but there is probably a Barnes and Noble somewhere nearby where he can get another one.

Today was mostly a day of speculation. Very few signings and a few minor trades, but other than that it was all Pujols, all the time. I suspect that we will know big Albert’s 2012 destination some time tomorrow. The Marlins are hot on his trail and even took time to meet with a representative from the Players Union to make sure that their contract offer to Pujols was totally legitimate. It’s hard for me to picture #5 wearing…whatever color the Marlins new uni’s are, but it might be happening.

According to complete and total hearsay, the Brewers are the front runners for Aramis Ramirez. At this point you all know my stance on this particular acqusition, I am for it. The Brewers are tight on cash, I get it, but there is no reason to waste any more time on this. Ramirez wants to be on the team, we need a big bat and better 3rd baseman. Hopefully this deal will get done by the time the Winter Meetings come to a close.

On the Prince Fielder carousel, no one knows what the hell is going on. According to our main man Tom Haudricort, the Brewers are out on Prince Fielder. They do not have any plans to even meet with Boras this week. That signals the end to me.  Former Brewers head of scouting and current Seattle Mariners GM, Jack Zduriencik, seems to be the focus of all things Fielder at the moment. Some reports early in the day signaled that Prince was well on his way to the Emerald City, but Jacky Z quickly extinguished those rumors. So, once again we have no real idea what is going on with our fluffy friend.

The Brewers are still believed to be in the hunt for Jimmy Rollins, but the team can not afford both Rollins and Ramirez. In my estimation, the team will eventually make offers to both and the man who makes his decision first will be the man the Brewers take. As nice as it would be to have both, the team still needs major help in the bullpen. That is, unless we are cool with rolling out Parra, Braddock, and possibly Michael Fiers. In which case, maybe the Brewers try to get both guys. If Rollins is the guy ahead of Ramirez, I project the lineup to look something like this:

Rollins, Morgan, Braun, Weeks, Hart, McGehee/Gamel, McGehee/Gamel, Lucroy, Pitcher

It is certainly interesting to look at, but I suspect this will be more likely:

Hart, Morgan, Braun, Ramirez, Weeks, McGehee/Gamel, Betancourt, Lucroy, Pitcher

Truth be told, I like the looks of that much better…accept for Betancourt.

There was no word on talks with Octavio Dotel today. I know that last night the Brewers met with his agent, but obviously did not make an offer. Word on the street also says that the Brewers have no interest in bringing back LaTroy Hawkins. That is puzzling to me, but I assume it is a money/health issue with LaTroy. The Brewers signed him to a 2-year deal before 2010, and Hawkins did not take the mound until the 2011 season. Teams generally do not like those sorts of returns on bullpen arms. However, I like LaTroy and felt like he was a great guy to have in the pen. I wish him the best of luck wherever he ends up.

I guess that is it for today. If you want, I can bore you with more Albert Pujols non-sense, but quite frankly I don’t give a damn any more. Good night everybody.  See you tomorrow.