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I'm not going to pick out individual posts but I disagree with a number of the thoughts supporting this trade.

1. JJ Hardy wasn't going to bring a #2 pitcher --- no kidding, but there is no rule that the Brewers can only trade 1 for 1, Hardy could have been packaged with other prospects to get a better ML pitcher or AA+ pitcher with upside. The team is still trying to figure out what to do with McGhee and Gamel, and one of the minor league catchers on top of it not even being winter meetiings yet, it is only the 2nd day of the offseason. I can't believe there were so many teams after Gomez that Melvin couldn't have waited a few weeks to try and work out something better that included some pitching.

2. The step down from Cam to Gomez isn't much - - Gomez has over 1100 PA in the majors and a career OBP of .292 with his most recent season being .287, not showing improvement yet. Cameron has put up an OBP of .342 in his most recent year and can pretty much be penciled in for .340 while slugging at a much higher level than Gomez. For all the strikeout haters that like to rip on Cameron; Gomez strikes out nearly as much but without any power whatsoever or ability to actually get on base.

3. Gomez and Escobar bring speed - - Gomez is 74% succesfull on SB's so right around the break even level but as in #2 you can't steal first base. The team also doesn't run very much anyway and unless Macha is going to change his philosophy speed won't matter all that much.

4. Had to save money by letting Cam walk and needed to fill CF -- Who is Melving going to spend the money on? The free agent crop isn't that great for pitchers and the trade chips are dwindling for taking on a good MLer with a higher salary. Signing guys like Washburn, Davis, Pinerio might very well be Suppan v2.0. Gerut can play CF with a platoon mate and if Gomez is that platoon mate than Melvin really got fleeced trading Hardy for a platoon player. After 2010 Cain may just as ready to match Gomez's output anyway without trading Hardy.

5. Gomez was a top prospect and part of the Santana deal - - the key word is was. Baseball is littered with guys who were top prospects who didn't pan out. Many thought the Twins got fleeced in the Santana deal to begin with. Gomez has done nothing in 1100 ML PA's so that toolsy upside is starting to wear thin and comparisons to a cetain Lastings Milledge may start to appear.

I just don't see anyway this is an improvement for the Brewers by downgrading their offense this much and not improving the pitching one bit. They have some money to spend but after seeing this deal on top of Melvin's track record with pitching I have next to zero confidence he will improve the team with it.