Comments on: Report: Brewers to acquire Shaun Marcum from Jays

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:58:00 +0000

The Reds.

By: basedrum777

basedrum777 — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:44:30 +0000

I agree with brewcrew…

Who exactly in the central is that dominant? I mean the Cards always look like world beaters and La Russa blows it. They have had two great starters for 3 years now and have done zilch.

I’m an AL guy and can tell you Marcum will be good seeing only 8 batters a trip.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:27:26 +0000

Marcum doesn’t have the greatest “stuff” but is a “bulldog” on the mound. The only negative I can think about regarding him is that there is a little bit of concern about his mechanics. Some observers think that he is a candidate for more arm trouble in the future.

Lawrie was drafted in the 16th spot in the 2008 draft. The Jays were very disappointed as they wanted him with the 17th pick. He played for Canada in the WBC and last season was the youngest player in his Double A league. Expect that he will remain in the minors for a year or two.

Next season Toronto’s rotation will probably be composed of Romero, Morrow, Cecil, Drabek and Rzepczynski. Scrabble went to the AFL to work on his mechanics and dominated the hitters he faced.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 07:43:07 +0000

Lawrie makes a lot of sense. He is a Canadian and would have been drafted by the Jays if the Brewers had not taken him before the Jays had their pick.

By: brewcrewchamps

brewcrewchamps — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 06:48:54 +0000

I think the Brewers farm has enough position players to trade away for arms and the whole team is pretty young with Braun, Fielder, Hart, Cain, Weeks, Escobar, McGehee, and Escobar. Can’t keep that much promise in your farm waiting for these guys to get old or bad.

Good move I think. Sucks that it’s Lawrie but we need starting pitching. Maybe one more move like this or am I getting my hopes up?

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 04:29:10 +0000

While Marcum is exactly the kind of player the Brewers need to improve, I still don’t think they’re legitimate contenders next year. They should be acquiring prospects, not trading them.

By: Jeremiah Graves

Jeremiah Graves — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 04:06:37 +0000

Yeah, now that the news is in about Lawrie, it’s a little less awesome. Especially if Prince is going to get moved, Lawrie could have been a great addition to the club, he’s got legit 30-homer power.

I guess the club figured that they’ve had much better luck producing big bats out of their minor league system and they’re better off going out of the system for pitching improvements.

I think the NL Central is still wide-open enough that they could give the Cards/Reds a real run for their money with that kind of one-two punch at the top of the rotation. Especially if Wolf has a bounce-back season as the number three.

If they keep Prince around (at least until the deadline) and Braun, Weeks, Hart, etc. can all stay healthy and productive, they might be able to make some real noise next season.

The fact that it’s Lawrie makes it a little less of a straight-up win, but adding a guy with the track record of Marcum is never a bad thing. It’s just a little iffy as to whether the Brewers have a realistic mindset of where they sit compared to the rest of the division.

If they think Marcum is “the missing piece” this is a great move, but to me he seems like a great first move to setup a really tough ball club. I guess we’ll have to see where they go from here this offseason.

Granted, locking Marcum up beyond the two years of arbitration he has left would immediately put a nice shine on this trade.

By: alexpoterack

alexpoterack — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 03:41:59 +0000

Yeah, though it sounds like they traded Brett Lawrie to do it…which could be bad.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 03:10:58 +0000

Marcum does not throw very hard, but he has great location on his pitches. He is a competitor and fields his position extremely well.

By: Jeremiah Graves

Jeremiah Graves — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 03:01:35 +0000

What a GREAT move for the Brewers.

Gallardo and Marcum make a very solid front-two for a rotation that definitely needed to add another big-arm this offseason. Wolf slots out better as a number three anyway.

It’ll be interesting to see what (if anything) else they do to improve the rotation this offseason. I could see them taking a gamble on a reclamation project type guy or–if they move Prince–in another big trade.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 02:14:54 +0000

Very interesting and nobody saw it coming. That idiot Elliott at the Toronto Sun was wrong on his speculation about Greinke. With this trade it is highly likely that Drabek will not be going anywhere.