The Return of Vargas... in hindsight this post became so much more...

So, I actually forgot that I made that post yesterday, I was up way too late and was kinda crazy, funny. But anyway, the Brewers acquired Claudio Vargas from the Dodgers for minor league infielder/catcher Vinny Rottino. Rottino was a bit of a fan favorite, being the last cut in Spring Training in '07, and being a home town boy. He actually set a record with 124 RBIs for A ball a few years back, but slipped down the depth chart steadily. He actually cleared through waivers not too long ago. This seems like the kind of deal that was done that actually had very little to do with the players involved. The Dodgers needed a spot on the 25/4o man rosters so basically just let Vargas go. Vargas is making the league minimum, and has pitched well, allowing 2 runs in 11 innings so far this season. The Brewers gave up Rottino as a way to let him get to the big leagues again, it just really wasn't going to happen here... the Dodgers took him because he can play 5 positions with some degree of success... Word is that due to Vargas' sore elbow he will only be pitching out of the 'pen.

The Deals That Weren't.
So apparently some things really did fall through at the last second. Discussions for for Halliday were never really going to go down, and talks for Washburn went south a couple of days ago, but GM Doug Melvin says that 2 separate deals fell through within the last 30 minutes prior to the deadline. One was a three team swap for a fine pitcher, and the last one was a 2 teamer that didn't happen 10 minutes before the end of trade season. People speculate, and maybe some more info will come out in coming days, but Melvin is usually fairly tight lipped on such issues. Word was the the Crew was looking at Brian Bannister from the Royals, but I kinda think that that was old news too. One hint that was let out is that it was somebody who wouldn't be available to pitch Saturday, so you just kinda have to weasel your nose through who threw recently to come up with a list, one name being Javier Vasquez from the Braves. I'm curious to find out, but it doesn't really matter because it never actually happen.

At least we got Felipe Lopez. Sometimes deals that took place a week early get lost in the Trade Deadline hooplah, but really getting a good 2B has really stabilized the infield.

Coupled with that Suppan is on the DL, so Burns with return to the rotation. Bush is still about 2 weeks away, supposedly... Of course, on a note more related to the infield, is the sending of Bill Hall to AAA Nashville. Hall went 2-4 in his first true minor league game in about seven years. If anything, I hope this just gives him some sort of trade value. If Hall is sent away, which I kinda see as inevitable (even if it's just a release) it would be nice to at least get some B level prospect, and maybe not have to eat his entire salary (which is 8.4 million next year).

Some kinda good news musings related to that is the fact that following the 2010 season, Hall's 8.4, Suppan's 10+, and Prince's 10+ (although he is still under team control for one more season, I see him being traded after '10 though) that is a crazy lot of money to be made available (note: Hardy will be a FA too). Hell, even after this year Kendall's 4+, Looper's 4.75, Cameron's 10, Hoffman's 6.5 (although I would like him back) all come off. We are actually getting to the point where our players coming of age isn't really that scary. Most of our "young" guys are into arbitration, and the salary jumps are no longer that intimidating. Next year I wouldn't be suprised to see the crew go with some young talent again. Doing this will mix in the two large crops of home grown talent we have. I think fairly realistically we could see Lorenzo Cain in center field, Angel Salome behind the plate, and pending some sort of moves you could have people like Escobar at short, Gamel at third, and McGehee and second. Now, not all of those are going to happen at once. I could be a bit of a gamble, and a bit of a building move for the '11 season, but you could move people like Weeks (maybe) and Hardy and Hall and still have a rocking team. Also, this would give all of them a season t0 get acclimated to the big leagues. Then realistically for the '12 season we have guys like Lucroy, Dykstra, and Lawrie waiting in the wings.

All in all I see some good things in the future. Except for pitching, as we really can't expect any of the good A ball guys to get to the Show before '12 or so, our farm system is still really deep. And now we can see that the money is available to sign the pieces that we don't have. My prediction now: depending on how things are done, but I can see next season being a rough one. But if we trade some of our older young players for a pitcher or two, and then sign some rotation help, with the core we will still have and the new young talent waiting for there chance, I see '11 as being a real successful year.