The Baseball Beat: July 5

The Milwaukee Brewers had one of those weeks (since I last posted) that makes you believe they can get it together in some fashion and make a run toward an NL wild card spot.

The Brewers were able to rattle off four straight wins this past week before losing a ninth inning lead again yesterday and eventually losing the game in ten innings.

As much as it seems the Crew should be sellers come July 31, I'm not so sure I buy that. The offense is coming around it seems (knock on wood). Rickie Weeks is heating up a bit and is hitting over .300 in his last 17 games (knock on wood). Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez are doing what they get paid to do and the starting pitching has been great (again, knock on wood).

If anything, the last two games have shown that the Brewers might need to add a bullpen arm (or probably two) and they might find themselves in good shape.

Also, the rumor mill has been turning big time about what the Brewers will/should/can do with Zack Greinke. I can't really make up my mind with Greinke.

I'd love to see them trade him as his value is very high right now and we could probably get two top prospects for him and they could be great two or three years from now.

On the other hand, I'd love to see them keep a potential Cy Young winner in Greinke and show a little more competitive spirit and show teams they are serious about being contenders for the next several years.

I'd rather not get into it too deep with this post but I see myself being happy either way, I suppose.

Other news and notes from the week:

• Carlos Lee has finally been traded. Not to the Dodgers but to the Miami Marlins for top 3B prospect Matt Dominguez and minor league P Rob Rasmussen. Whoop-dee-doo. Lee is a has been and is one of the worst contracts in baseball. Way overpaid.



#swag

• Gaby Sanchez, yesterday's hero for the Fish against John Axford, has been demoted to Triple-A to make room for Lee. Sanchez has really struggled this year but is obviously good enough to hit a two out, two strike, ninth-inning home run to the opposite field against the Brewers when it's 100 degrees. Go figure.
• Ben Sheets is making a comeback. Good for Ben. He signed a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves. He began his stint by pitching five innings last night in Double-A and gave up four runs. He had a rough start to the game but did retire 10 straight before he exited the game.
• How 'bout a little Twins news? Nick Blackburn has been demoted to Triple-A Rochester. Blackburn has a 8.10 ERA this year. He also makes $8 million. Zoiks.
• My boi, Tim Lincecum, is really struggling this year. It's time to come to terms with it. After having a solid start against the Dodgers, he got rocked in his start against the Washington Nationals (who are on fire at the dish, by the way) allowing seven earned runs (eight overall) in 3.1 innings.  
• Elijah Dukes got arrested. Shocking.
• Oakland A's pitcher Brian Fuentes got designated for assignment. The A's former closer has struggled this year but could be picked up by a team. Hey, the Brewers need bullpen help and could get this lefty for next to nothing. Just a thought.
• The Pirates have demoted Jose Tabata to Triple-A. He hasn't done much this year but he's still getting paid like a king. They recalled Gorkys Hernandez to take his place. Hopefully, the Buccos have enough offense going right now that they won't miss him and he can figure some things out in Indianapolis.

That's enough for days but I could go for days and days and days.

-Big Money