Baseball's winter meetings are wrapping up today and the only thing the Milwaukee Brewers did is pluck a player off the Cubs Triple “A” roster in the Rule 5 draft. The Brewers selected left handed pitcher Edward Campusano. He'll remain a Brewers for a small transaction fee if they keep him on their Major League roster for the entire season.
How can one possibly get excited about being a Brewers fan? General Managers are throwing money around like they're printing it themselves. The Brewers have the permission of owner Mark Attanasio to increase payroll, but within reason. So far, nothing's happening.
Doug Melvin will likely find a way to sign someone, or make a trade to acquire some more pitching. But so far, they've signed reserve infielder Craig Counsell, they have a 1-year offer on the table to Jeff Cirillo and had Tony Graffanino accept salary arbitration. That's it.
Two teams in their division, the Cubs and Astros are spending like crazy. How can the Brewers compete? Do you think the Yankees and Red Sox are busy scouring rosters for Rule 5 players? I don't think so.
It's tough to get excited when the biggest thing your team does at the Winter Meetings is sign a Rule 5 player.