My guess is if Linebrink reports tomorrow or before the game on Saturday then Balfour might be DFA’d (he would have to clear waivers to go back to the minors, and I don’t think he would despite his major league numbers this year). If it’s after the game on Saturday, he might just replace Parra, which would probably be an unpopular move but Parra wouldn’t be available for four days anyway.
I don’t think Melvin is going to move Turnbow or Wise. Turnbow just might be the closer again next year, since the other viable candidates (CoCo and Linebrink) are free agents. I’d like Balfour to keep getting his work in as another possibility for next year, but it’s tough now that the pennant race is tight. Wise—I just don’t see him going anywhere. He’s a very effective reliever and losing him means weakening what is now a strength. With that in mind, if you were the Padres and you were in a pennant chase, would you trade an effective reliever? Just food for thought…
When I first read about the trade I was extremely upset. I like Inman a great deal, both as a potential #3 or #4 starter and as a person. Not only that, but giving up on Thatcher, to me, was astonishing. Yes, the guy is 25, but he’s a lefty reliever in AAA doing outstanding work and last year in the Hawaiian Winter League I believe went the entire season giving up something like one run. Strike three was Garrison, who at the age of 20 is young for High A and yet is still dominating the league. All for a guy who won’t accept arby and will be gone after 25-35 innings with us. I’ve calmed down a little (no, really, I have), knowing that if the Brewers lose Linebrink and CoCo then we will essentially have five of the top, oh, 40 picks in the draft next year. Perhaps a couple of those picks can be used on college arms that are as close to ready as these guys are.
I’m not used to the “win now” mentality. Since I started following minor league ball, my focus has always been on accumulating prospects “so we’ll be good soon”. This trade cleaned out the cupboard quite a bit, but maybe Linebrink is just what we needed for the “now”.
