Lee is now a Ranger.

that's a lot of major league talent for a guy who's going to walk. i'd take that for abreu in a hearbeat.

The folks at brewcrewball.com think the Rangers got a better deal, because the Brewers don't need 2 extra outfielders with Corey Hart waiting in the wings and no PT for Gabe Gross. The minor leaguer is a ways away from the bigs (2 years) but F. Cordero is a former all-star who should help the Brewers beleaguered pen.

Mench is younger than Lee and still decent but I agree that the Brewers have guys in the minors who can play OF who are obviously younger than Mench and project to be better pros (Corey Hart most obviously). Also, there's a chance that Rickie Weeks moves to CF (which still leaves the Brewers with a potential IF of Fielder-Hall-Hardy-Braun next year), so you have to consider him as part of their OF depth.

I guess I can't blame the Brewers for getting what they can, but I'd rather be Texas in this deal.

Mench has two homers since May 9, Nix is basically a notch below Brady Clark, and Francisco Cordero might still have some value as a closer. If you're in a seller's market and you've got one of the top prizes, you could do better than the Brewers just did.

The reason Cordero has good strikeout numbers is that he puts lots of fastballs in the fat part of the zone. Sometimes they sneak past the hitter, sometimes they get whacked. His ERA has steadily deteriorated since his career year in 2004 because he's wild in the strike zone. He didn't get that near-five ERA this year by accident.

Mench was hot and cold this year, but mostly cold. His .797 OPS just wasn't acceptable for a left fielder at Ameriquest. Lee may prove to be a rental, or Hicks might open up the wallet if he does well for the last two months of the season. But I'll take Milwaukee's best hitter (.896 this year) for two struggling players.

It's always easier to take a certain vs. an unknown. "Milwaukee's best hitter" had issues hitting in the clutch (hence only 81 RBI for 28 homers). But he did well in close and late situations and also had 15 solo homers and 13 with men on base. I'm guessing that that is close to league average. Maybe it is a bit below.

Hopefully Melvin will strike gold like he did with Overbay and Sexson respectively.

It's always easier to take a certain vs. an unknown. "Milwaukee's best hitter" had issues hitting in the clutch (hence only 81 RBI for 28 homers). But he did well in close and late situations and also had 15 solo homers and 13 with men on base. I'm guessing that that is close to league average. Maybe it is a bit below.

Hopefully Melvin will strike gold like he did with Overbay and Sexson respectively.

"Only" 81 ribbies? The top guy on the Rangers this year is Young with 69. Mench has 50.

RBI's are a team-dependent stat, so I don't care about them much. But Lee immediately becomes the Ranger's leading RBI man, by a good ways.

As for tiny sample sizes like clutch situations for a single season, I care even less about them. The Rangers just improved left field by a hundred OPS points, and they have guys - like Mahay and Bauer - ready to set up Otsuka in Cordero's absence. I like this trade for Texas.

I don't get this discussion at all, no one's even mentioning Nelson Cruz, who is the linchpin of this deal and the reason the Rangers win. He's major league ready, will be better than Mench (if he isn't already) or Nix (check out his stats this year in MLB and AAA, terrible). Cordero is an over 30, regressing, dime-a-dozen hard thrower at this point. He's Benitez with less composure. Half season of Carlos Lee is the cream on top, but this trade is a huge win for the Rangers.

Okay, I'll mention Cruz, whose .302/.378/.528 at Nashville this year is certainly eye-catching, after his .289/.385/.539 in 2005 at AA and AAA. Makes the deal a lot better for the Rangers, even if Lee walks at the end of the year.

Cruz is stupendously overrated as a prospect -- and I'm at a loss why fans on both sides of the deal are so fixated on him. Mark Whiten's the best comp that comes to mind. Some teasing tools, but a guy who strikes out 1 of three times in the minors. And throw in the fact that he's already 27 and what do you have? A guy who is at or very near his peak without any track record outside his past 1-1/2 years of performance in the minors.

Overall, I think it's an even deal. Cordero is desperately needed this year by the Brewers, and is reasonably priced for next, given the FA market for "closers."

Mench is the Yin to Geoff Jenkin's Yang - hitting lefties, striking out less, but otherwise playing a very similar game. If platooned with Jenkins and split with Hart in a 3-corner OF rotation, he could be a wonderful player in Milwaukee.

Nix has potential, was once regardly highly and flamed out - a prototypical Melvin reclaimation project.

Lee wasn't staying in Milwaukee anyway, and it's hard to say that any of the players Texas sent over figured into their plans. Given Lee's potential for rapid decline, I think the Brewers did well to get a public relations bump for "trying" to keep Lee, then a good player move in getting some pieces that fit their current needs for him after he rejected their offer.

Not a Sexson-to-Arizona deal, but a nice swap nonetheless for Melvin.

Sorry to confuse you with the facts, but Cruz is striking out less than one in four plate appearances at Nashville this year (as he did last year in AA and AAA). He's also putting up a .907 OPS, so who cares about the k-rate? Jim Thome k's a lot, too.

I agree that he looks ready for the majors real soon, and makes the deal even sweeter for the Rangers.

Casey - We're arguing PAs and ABs, Cruz has k/AB ratios of 27%/29.8%/27.5% in his last three stops/2 years. Not quite as hole-y as I had originally suggested, but something strikes me as odd about Cruz's numbers. A couple thoughts -- his Nashville numbers are padded by his drubbing of LHP's this year -- 7HR in 98AB's -- HR/AB is about half of his ratio vs. RHP and his walk rate is double as well. Nothing too ridiculous though, but look at his FB/GB splits on minorleaguesplits.com -- his line drives and GB ratios peg him as an extreme pull hitter, but his FB ratios are extreme in reverse. Almost everything goes opposite field. What's that about?

Hi,

I just thought I'd throw in a comment I haven't heard yet. Carlos Lee is a major truck in the OF. Milw GM Melvin politely said he sees Lee probably moving to DH in the future.
Past that, Cruz just turned 26. Matt Holliday is one of the 25 year olds who came up and hit great. But, I think he made a more obvious leap in production than Cruz shows. He's old for a prospect.
Nix and Mench are young enough that I'm not sure it's fair to rate them solely on this years production. They've done better.
And, for me, Cordero is the key. Recent trades show how high of a premium relief pitching is going for. This year, I've wondered if some of the stats out there like VORP need to be better adjusted for variances in depth through the years. The Brewers, and more so the Reds, have some hitting to spare and no relief pitching to be found.
Lastly, Melvin was just asked on local radio whether he expected to make another move before July 31st. He said yes with absolutely no hesitation and he kind of snickered. It sounded like something was just about done. The Brewers goal this year isn't to make the playoffs. It's important to them to finish .500 or above to convince the fans that the team is not repeating the patterns of the Selig years. That's a BIG deal out here. I can understand why the Brewers did not want to trade for minor leaguers. They can't afford to look like they are waving the white flag, at least, not this early.

Excellent point cbuster. These are fans who were abused for a long time by the Selig ownership and clueless management. It took a lot of work to cultivate goodwill between the Brewers and Milwaukee fans.