[bigboydan]

i guess the braves found out the hard way. that this guy is not all he was cracked up to be.

Brewers bring back Kolb, bring in Bush, prospects in deals

By COLIN FLY, AP Sports Writer
December 8, 2005
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- By the time former All-Star Dan Kolb realized he couldn't be John Smoltz, Atlanta had given up on him.

So the Braves shipped him back to the Brewers in a trade Wednesday and decided to let Milwaukee deal with agent Scott Boras on a new contract for the former closer.

"I tried to be somebody I wasn't," Kolb said in a conference call Thursday from Las Vegas, where he was celebrating his anniversary with his wife, Joy Ann. "I tried to take over for Smoltz and do the things that he did. That's just a situation where by the time I realized and caught onto it, it was a little late."



Kolb was swapped in last year's winter meetings for pitching prospect Jose Capellan and Alex Zumwalt. He was an All-Star for the Brewers in 2004 when he had a franchise-record 39 saves. The Braves made the deal last year so they could move Smoltz back into the rotation.

But by mid-May, Kolb had lost four games and blown three saves. He finished 3-8 with a 5.93 ERA and converted just 11 of 18 save opportunities.

"We were somewhat stunned that Danny did not have the year he wanted in Atlanta," Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin said.

Now the Brewers must work out a contract for the 30-year-old, who received $3.4 million from Atlanta last season. While there was a chance the Braves would not offer a contract to Kolb by Dec. 20, which would have made him a free agent, Melvin sent 28-year-old Wes Obermueller (1-4 with a 5.26 ERA in 2005) to Atlanta for Kolb. Melvin thought Obermueller would have been squeezed out and needed a change of scenery.

"We just felt this was a low-risk situation," Melvin said. "We have 10 days now to sit down with Danny and recruit him back to the Brewers. We weren't going to be able to do that with the Braves while he was on their roster. ... We just felt, `Why not take the chance and bring Danny over?"'

Kolb will be part of a bullpen that includes Derrick Turnbow, who saved 39 games in 43 opportunities last season and had a 1.74 ERA.

"I won't have a problem with it at all," Kolb said of a setup role. "The eighth inning is just an inning before the ninth. You've still got to hold the lead or hold the team where they're at, so it's not that much of a mental adjustment at all."

The Brewers also swapped incumbent first baseman Lyle Overbay and pitcher Ty Taubenheim to the Toronto Blue Jays late Wednesday for pitcher Dave Bush, outfield prospect Gabe Gross and pitching prospect Zach Jackson.

The move paves the way for the Brewers to start 21-year-old Prince Fielder at first base to complement a young infield that includes 23-year-old second baseman Rickie Weeks, 23-year-old shortstop J.J. Hardy and 25-year-old third baseman Bill Hall.

"Prince is someone I don't believe has fear of the big leagues," Melvin said. "No doubt we had to have confidence in Prince or we don't make this deal."

Melvin said the acquisition of Bush (5-11 with a 4.49 ERA in 24 starts) gives the Brewers flexibility. Bush has been a starter as a professional but was a reliever and closer in college. The team talked to Boston and Minnesota about potential deals before settling with the Blue Jays' offer.

"We're young with our pitchers -- (Ben) Sheets, (Chris) Capuano, Doug Davis and Tomo Ohka," Melvin said. "David Bush and Zach Jackson fit into the plans here for what we're doing over the next few years, as opposed to some of the other options we had of people who might have fit in for the short term but for the long term it didn't look like it would be a good fit for us."

And any young pitcher will get to work with pitching coach Mike Maddux and bullpen coach Bill Castro, something Kolb said he realized was important in his career.

"Two and a half years ago I started something with Mike that turned my whole career around and I plan on doing it again," Kolb said. "Being back, having a chance to work with Mike again, by the time spring training ends I'll be the exact same guy I was when I left."



Updated on Thursday, Dec 8, 2005

[BuddyBear]

I really like this move....bring back Kolb to where he had success and he recognizes that he won't be the closer too since Turnbow did an awesome job with that last year. And if he gets hurt then you have Kolb there. You are just giving up Obermueller who wasn't very good anyway and never really impressed me.

The Brewers are poised to be sharp this year. They should be very competitive and wouldnt' be suprised to see them in the playoffs.