Doug Davis is gone

[645]

To the DBacks with Dana Eveland and Dave Krynzel for catcher Johnny Estrada, right-handed starter Claudio Vargas and right-handed reliever Greg Aquino

From Brewerfan

[bedir than average]

The Diamondbacks just got better. Like they needed another quality pitcher...

[Hellwig]

I like the trade for us. Davis gets a fresh start with another team and we get rid of two prospects that didn't really pan out the way we thought they would. Eveland and Krynzel.

Estrada is a nice bat to get. What does this say about Damian Miller's status with the team? Aquino has closing experience and Vargas is a nice starting pitcher to get. I am happy about this trade.

[Kodiak]

Wow. I'm surprised to see Davis get traded. He's got a lot of talent. As a Cardinals fan, I always dislliked seeing him in the starting lineup!

On a sidenote. Its good to see you 645. I remember you well from the old fanhome days.

[645]

Thanks, Kodiak I did get around a few times back in the day entell it got too much for me and them scout boards they did become an island into themselfs where everyone pritty much stayed in there little corner of it.

But hopefully now alot of the old folks will return and we'll see alot more folks that we remember or So I hope.

Alright now on Topic. Got to look good on my first full day as moderator and not drewing the discussion off on a topic I posted.

I do like this Trade.

Doug Davis: I liked Davis but you have sometimes give up something you rather not give up to get something you need and I'm alright with that for it will give a guy like Carlos Villanueva a chance start and Carlos from what I seen from him last season makes me think he could be something great.

Dana Eveland: I happen to also like Dana although he strougled when he played in the Majors. And though he is going to be a good Major League Pitcher but I'm fine with that for I know all along that he was going to be a victom of the numbers sooner or later.

Dave Krynzel: Then finaly he don't mather for the Brewers give him his chance and he just totally blow it and he was done with the Brewers.

Johnny Estrada: The Brewers where worried about the catching and he is an upgrade and you can't argue there.

Claudio Vargas: He is a guy that I have heard about playing Fantasy Baseball and in fact I've had him on my Fantasy teams a few time and I know he can have some great games when he is on. He is the kind of pitcher that Brewers pitching coach Mike Maddux can work and solve some of them issues that is holding him back and I can't wait to see what Maddux can do with him.

Greg Aquino: well, any Brewers fan has to be happy that they are adding another bullpen pitcher that has closer stuff. Maddux should work out his issues too and the Brewers will be all that stronger having another power arm in the pen.

So both team are better for this and Kodiak thanks for stoping by and feel free to come back any time.

[Kodiak]

Thanks 645. And thanks for the breakdown on the trade. I agree completely that Estrada was a solid pickup. I was looking at your roster on espn.com and I noticed that the club has 5 catchers on the 40 man roster. This seems like a pretty large number of catchers to be holding onto in the roster. Don't most clubs usually have around 3?

Also, is Davis due to become a free agent soon? My guess is that he'll be due for some pretty big bucks.

[trwi7]

I was looking at your roster on espn.com and I noticed that the club has 5 catchers on the 40 man roster.

It looks like a lot but it could be thinned out. Rottino can play catcher but he can also play LF, 3B etc. I believe Closser can be claimed off waivers if we send him down to the minors (which is almost certain now) so he may not be here. So we could be down to Estrada/Miller at the majors and Rivera/Rottino in AAA.

Also, is Davis due to become a free agent soon?

He will be a free agent after 2007.

[Kodiak]

Thanks trw! You are all of course welcome to the Cardinals board for any discussion :-)

[645]

Yeah Kodiak, That is alot of catchers but it is inportent to have enough depth there and you can't pass on getting a better guy and yes it might be more then they need but the off season is long and there is always the chance there will be a Trade of one of them Catchers for something they could use more.

For Davis he is up for Arbitration this year so he will be a free agent after next season.

And yeah hopefully that board jumping willl start again and sure stop by the Cardinals board sometime. Cardinals fans where one of them that where nice to me with the Giants fans and the A's and oddly enough the Cubs fans.

[645]

Estrada surprised to be a Brewer

MILWAUKEE -- Johnny Estrada expected the Diamondbacks to trade him this winter. He didn't expect the destination to be Miller Park.
"I was surprised it was Milwaukee because the Brewers didn't come up in any of the talks I had with my agent," Estrada said Monday on a conference call with local reporters.

The Phillies, one of his former teams, seemed the most likely fit to the switch-hitting, 30-year-old catcher. Estrada heard other rumors about the Giants showing interest. Instead, he was traded Saturday to the Brewers along with starter Claudio Vargas and reliever Greg Aquino for left-handed starters Doug Davis and Dana Eveland and Minor League outfielder David Krynzel.

"It's always good to be wanted somewhere else," Estrada said. "That's how I look at it. ... I could see the writing on the wall in Arizona. They brought me in there to do a job and I did my job. I played well. We had a chance to win that thing all the way until September and I kind of fell out of favor with the organization for whatever reason."

Brewers.com

[645]

Mailbag: Making sense of the swap
Reporter Adam McCalvy answers Brewers fans' questions

When the Brewers are supposed to be looking for more pitching this offseason, why in the world did they trade Doug Davis? I know Johnny Estrada is a good player, but they could give Vinny Rottino a shot at catching, and they have Damian Miller. I'm really baffled by this trade. Any explanation?
-- Susie W., Avondale, Ariz.

For those just catching up, the Brewers traded away Davis and a pair of Minor Leaguers, left-hander Dana Eveland and outfielder David Krynzel, for Arizona catcher Estrada, starting pitcher Claudio Vargas and reliever Greg Aquino.

A number of factors went into the deal:

• The Brewers can't outspend the Astros, Cubs and Cardinals in this market. General manager Doug Melvin felt pretty good about his four-year, $48 million offer to Carlos Lee last July, and the guy ended up getting six years and a whopping $100 million from the Astros over the holiday weekend. Melvin and owner Mark Attanasio are not willing to go there at the risk of financial ruin two or three years from now. That means Melvin must improve the team primarily via trades and promotions from within the organization.

• The Brewers needed offense. For all of the pitching problems they had early in the season, the issue in August and September was that they couldn't score. Given Miller's mounting injuries, catching was one area in which Melvin was looking to upgrade, but even the modestly intriguing names on the market were netting surprisingly big contracts. Estrada reportedly had fallen out of favor in Arizona with manager Bob Melvin (we'll have to continue asking the reasons why), so Melvin made a move for him.

• Davis' future was in flux. Now 31, eligible for one last year of salary arbitration and coming off a contract that proved extremely favorable to the team, Davis was looking to get paid. He said he wanted a three-year extension and would take his case to an arbitration panel if he didn't get it. In the latter scenario, Davis would have been a free agent following the 2007 season. In Vargas, the Brewers get a similar pitcher (at least when you compare 2006 numbers) for at least the next two years. But Davis' 34 starts and 200 innings per year were extremely valuable in protecting the rest of the staff, and it will be difficult for Vargas to match that year-to-year consistency.

• Melvin loves to hedge his bets by acquiring multiple players in trades. He got multiple players from the Diamondbacks in the December 2002 Richie Sexson trade, then from the A's for Keith Ginter, from the Blue Jays for Lyle Overbay and from the Rangers for Lee, and in most cases has flipped some of the pieces in later deals. The lone major exception was the 2004 Winter Meetings deal that netted Lee from the White Sox for Scott Podsednik and Luis Vizcaino.

In this case, Estrada is the centerpiece from the Brewers' perspective, and I've heard that Melvin and Arizona GM Josh Byrnes were close to a Davis-for-Estrada swap several weeks ago. But Melvin instead held out for more and got Vargas, who is young enough to be serviceable for several years, and Aquino, a hard thrower who gives the Brewers even more options as they try to rebuild the bullpen. Melvin's main worry is that Eveland, still just 23 and a coveted left-hander, could come back to bite them in a few years. That's the price of trying to improve.

Full Article on Brewers.com

[645]

Catcher happy with trade to Brewers

Johnny Estrada readily admits that he is outspoken, to the point of sometimes riling his teammates. But he's not about to apologize for it.

"I know how to win; I'm passionate about winning," said the 30-year-old catcher, one of three players acquired by the Milwaukee Brewers from Arizona over the weekend. "Maybe sometimes I voiced that too much, when things were not going well."

Whether that feistiness led to Estrada's exit from Arizona after one season or not, the Brewers considered him the key to the deal that also netted starting pitcher Claudio Vargas and reliever Greg Aquino. The Brewers completed that trade by sending left-hander Doug Davis and minor-leaguers Dana Eveland and David Krynzel to the Diamondbacks.

Estrada, who batted .302 with 11 homers and 71 RBI in 115 games in 2006, had not heard the Brewers were interested in him. But he did expect to be traded.

JSONLINE

[645]

Desert Dealings

In a deal that allowed both teams to surrender potential headaches while filling specific needs, Milwaukee and Arizona completed a six-player trade Saturday that sends lefty Doug Davis to the desert and makes catcher Johnny Estrada a Brewer.

This deal can't come as any shock to Estrada, who's been predicting since September that he would be dealt this offseason after griping about his PT. Well, he got his wish, heading to Beer City with righties Claudio Vargas and Greg Aquino.

The Brewers, meanwhile, have been talking long-term contract with the arbitration-eligible Davis, but things must have hit a snag. And given Davis' threat to test the free agent waters after the 2007 season should he not get at least a three-year deal, Milwaukee probably thought it prudent to send him elsewhere, packing him up with another southpaw, Dana Eveland, and outfielder Dave Krynzel.

Let's take a closer look at the fantasy ramifications of the biggest trade to date of the 2006 offseason.

Rotoworld