Angels acquire C.J.Cron and Randal Grichuk

[JefferyLeonard]

So Angels have been active, going out and getting TWO bats. My concern is Arnold is done because he'll think getting Anderson and Rowdy back will be enough for the offense. If that's his "strategy", then it's a terrible one. What you should do is still add at least two more bats and then getting Anderson and rowdy back is even better. 

[wiguy94]

Should probably just start a trade deadline thread so we don’t have the front page filled with a bunch of threads for small trades like this. 

[Brewcrew82]

7 minutes ago, JefferyLeonard said:

So Angels have been active, going out and getting TWO bats. My concern is Arnold is done because he'll think getting Anderson and Rowdy back will be enough for the offense. If that's his "strategy", then it's a terrible one. What you should do is still add at least two more bats and then getting Anderson and rowdy back is even better. 

I think it's clear at this point he's talking to the White Sox about Eloy Jimenez, as there's just too much smoke there for him not to be. That would be more impactful than Cron and/or Grichuk. We chose Santana over Cron anyways. 

[JefferyLeonard]

1 minute ago, Brewcrew82 said:

I think it's clear at this point he's talking to the White Sox about Eloy Jimenez, as there's just too much smoke there for him not to be. That would be more impactful than Cron and/or Grichuk. We chose Santana over Cron anyways. 

I'd bet almost anything they won't get Eloy. Bet it's nothing more than they "checked in". I'd be happy to be very wrong however

[Jopal78]

I think Santana is probably it for name players at the deadline; they’ll probably add another Daniel Norris, John Curtiss, Matt Bush type of deliver but I’m not expecting much, given a seller’s market and the “buying responsibly” mantra.

[JefferyLeonard]

Just now, Jopal78 said:

I think Santana is probably it for name players at the deadline; they’ll probably add another Daniel Norris, John Curtiss, Matt Bush type of deliver but I’m not expecting much, given a seller’s market and the “buying responsibly” mantra.

Yep, it's pathetic really. Watch them fall further back in the division over the next week and a half and it will pretty much be curtains. "Add responsibly", is just their "out" so they can say "we didn't think anything else made sense for us", when they don't do anything else. Same old Brewers. Nothing like "half assing" it at the deadline every year. 

[StearnsFTW]

Dodged those bullets.

 

Both extremely meh players.

[Jopal78]

13 minutes ago, JefferyLeonard said:

Yep, it's pathetic really. Watch them fall further back in the division over the next week and a half and it will pretty much be curtains. "Add responsibly", is just their "out" so they can say "we didn't think anything else made sense for us", when they don't do anything else. Same old Brewers. Nothing like "half assing" it at the deadline every year. 

I get being reluctant to deal top prospects but the Brewers are not the Dodgers or Rays when it comes to drafting, who was the last hitter they drafted that turned out to be somebody? 
 

At some point they have to decide they’re “all in” while they have thr great starting pitchers, or they should start the sell off and build for 2025

[JefferyLeonard]

12 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

I get being reluctant to deal top prospects but the Brewers are not the Dodgers or Rays when it comes to drafting, who was the last hitter they drafted that turned out to be somebody? 
 

At some point they have to decide they’re “all in” while they have thr great starting pitchers, or they should start the sell off and build for 2025

Bingo! No more of this "half assing" it like they have been. I get no dealing Chuorio and maybe a couple others in the system, but they CANNOT be afraid to deal other prospects they may truly value to go all in at some point.  When you're a team like the Brewers the "window" is only there for so long, and with likely being the last year of Burnes and Woody, if not now of "going for it", then when? It reminds me so much of the Packers with Arodg, they never truly "went for it" either. They "half assed it". What a waste of a Hall of career, 1 Super Bowl. The Brewers are going to do the same with Burnes and Woody now too. 

There philosophy is "keep getting to the playoffs and maybe things will break right one of these years". Hope is NOT a strategy. 

[sveumrules]

30 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

I get being reluctant to deal top prospects but the Brewers are not the Dodgers or Rays when it comes to drafting, who was the last hitter they drafted that turned out to be somebody? 

Lucroy, Brantley and Cain all turned out pretty decent.

Mitchell, Wiemer, Frelick have all just cracked MLB in the last year. Turang too, though he’s more of a fielder than a hitter.

Chourio, Black and Quero are lined up to have a shot at MLB in the next year.

There was a lull there no doubt between the end of the Melvin era and the beginning of Stearns tenure, but we’re in the middle of the best wave of positional prospects the org has produced in like fifteen years.

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

Lucroy, Brantley and Cain all turned out pretty decent.

Mitchell, Wiemer, Frelick have all just cracked MLB in the last year. Turang too, though he’s more of a fielder than a hitter.

Chourio, Black and Quero are lined up to have a shot at MLB in the next year.

There was a lull there no doubt between the end of the Melvin era and the beginning of Stearns tenure, but we’re in the middle of the best wave of positional prospects the org has produced in like fifteen years.

Yup, a bunch of guys (Lucroy, Brantley and Cain) from over a decade ago; two of whom are already retired.

Nobody can say what they have in this year’s crop (Turang, Mitchell, Wiemer, Frelick), they could be great, or just as equally they could be the next Brad Nelson, Taylor Green. All we can say right now is the next Ryan Braun they are not.
 

We do know that in 14 months, once you in a generation starters Burnes and Woodruff will be gone. So the question is what they do while they still have them? Right now it seems to me, not much besides having the starting pitchers will them into the post season. 

[MVP2110]

9 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Yup, a bunch of guys (Lucroy, Brantley and Cain) from over a decade ago; two of whom are already retired.

Nobody can say what they have in this year’s crop (Turang, Mitchell, Wiemer, Frelick), they could be great, or just as equally they could be the next Brad Nelson, Taylor Green. All we can say right now is the next Ryan Braun they are not.
 

We do know that in 14 months, once you in a generation starters Burnes and Woodruff will be gone. So the question is what they do while they still have them? Right now it seems to me, not much besides having the starting pitchers will them into the post season. 

Brad Nelson & Taylor Green were never top 100 guys 

[homer]

11 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

I get being reluctant to deal top prospects but the Brewers are not the Dodgers or Rays when it comes to drafting, who was the last hitter they drafted that turned out to be somebody? 

I guess I'd like to know what "be somebody" means. HOF numbers? Hardly any do that. Make it to the bigs? Have a multi-year career? Above replacement level?

And I don't think the draft picks of Doug Melvin should have any bearing on how we judge the current state of the farm system or the Brewers ability to judge hitters.

[KeithStone53151]

12 hours ago, JefferyLeonard said:

Yep, it's pathetic really. Watch them fall further back in the division over the next week and a half and it will pretty much be curtains. "Add responsibly", is just their "out" so they can say "we didn't think anything else made sense for us", when they don't do anything else. Same old Brewers. Nothing like "half assing" it at the deadline every year. 

This comment will be more fair in 2 days IF we don't make a big move. Making an assumption as to what will happen and then crying on the fan forums about it is weird.

[KeithStone53151]

11 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

I get being reluctant to deal top prospects but the Brewers are not the Dodgers or Rays when it comes to drafting, who was the last hitter they drafted that turned out to be somebody? 
 

At some point they have to decide they’re “all in” while they have thr great starting pitchers, or they should start the sell off and build for 2025

I don't think it's fair to just punt top draft picks because we aren't as good at player development. It's certainly one thing to know your strengths, and it wouldn't be a bad strategy to heavily draft pitching and plan to develop and trade it for value to acquire hitters.

I've been reluctant in prior years to make bold moves and create a "window", but it's tough to imagine replacing guys like Woodruff/Burnes...and we'll never realistically keep either for a price we can afford. I could get on board with aggressive moves this deadline to take a shot at a 2 year type window, though Chourio is still off limits 1000%.

[jerichoholicninja]

This Braves series proved this team isn't anywhere near a legit competitor. If it wasn't for the ineptitude of the rest of the division we'd be looking at selling this year. No reason to pillage the farm to take this team from mediocre to slightly less mediocre.

[sveumrules]

29 minutes ago, homer said:

And I don't think the draft picks of Doug Melvin should have any bearing on how we judge the current state of the farm system or the Brewers ability to judge hitters.

Here is what Stearns and company inherited when they took over. Quick recap is…

Hits: Arcia (#1), Hader (#5), Grisham (#7), Williams (#10), Davies (#14), Houser (#15), Taylor (#19)

Woodruff was still just a recent 11th round pick who had posted 109 IP with a 5.8 K9 for Brevard County in his first full pro season.

Anything worthwhile in the cupboard upon arrival, Stearns and company recognized. 

The other high ranked hitters they inherited (Phillips, Diaz, Harrison) or later acquired (Brinson) never amounted to much, but they were able to turn them into Moose and Yelich.

Developing players while installing whole new systems and overhauling personnel takes time. It takes a long time even once that stuff is all in place.

Stearns & company literally flipped the script on almost a half century of organizational pitching ineptitude in like two years.

It was an anomaly, unfathomable for decades until it actually finally happened.

Things on the hitting side might seem slow developing by comparison, but they’ve really been unfolding on more of a standard timeline with the first wave just starting to crest.

[Thurston Fluff]

21 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

This Braves series proved this team isn't anywhere near a legit competitor. If it wasn't for the ineptitude of the rest of the division we'd be looking at selling this year. No reason to pillage the farm to take this team from mediocre to slightly less mediocre.

How they do in a mid season series against the Braves proves nothing. I seriously doubt the Brewers would send out Teheran, Rea and Hauser as their starters in a playoff series. They just got done playing six series against winning teams and won four of them. The fact they have a winning record, and have had one all season long, is because they've been good enough to be the playoff contender they have been so far.

I also don't get the "If it wasn't for the division they play in they'd be sellers" comment. I'm not directing it at you personally since it's been a standard comment all over. If the division is so inept why do they have the same number of teams who'd make the playoffs if the season ended today as the other two divisions? Why do they have the same number of teams with a winning record as the other two if it's so much worse than the others? Obviously that can't be blamed on an unbalanced schedule. While it may not be the best division, it's not so far behind that it's a lock only one team will advance. Given the fact the Brewers are the number two wild card team today kind of shows maybe there's more than one route to the playoffs for the NL Central division teams. Or perhaps it shows there aren't a whole lot of great teams in any division. Either way the Brewers position as a playoff contender is far from simply being in a weak division.

All that said, I agree we shouldn't trade the farm for a one season run. Not because they don't stand a chance in the playoffs but because there's enough in the system and what trades would give us in return to think this team can be a contender for the foreseeable future. I'm not a fan of the all in mantra.

[Jopal78]

29 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Here is what Stearns and company inherited when they took over. Quick recap is…

Hits: Arcia (#1), Hader (#5), Grisham (#7), Williams (#10), Davies (#14), Houser (#15), Taylor (#19)

Woodruff was still just a recent 11th round pick who had posted 109 IP with a 5.8 K9 for Brevard County in his first full pro season.

Anything worthwhile in the cupboard upon arrival, Stearns and company recognized. 

The other high ranked hitters they inherited (Phillips, Diaz, Harrison) or later acquired (Brinson) never amounted to much, but they were able to turn them into Moose and Yelich.

Developing players while installing whole new systems and overhauling personnel takes time. It takes a long time even once that stuff is all in place.

Stearns & company literally flipped the script on almost a half century of organizational pitching ineptitude in like two years.

It was an anomaly, unfathomable for decades until it actually finally happened.

Things on the hitting side might seem slow developing by comparison, but they’ve really been unfolding on more of a standard timeline with the first wave just starting to crest.

It’s kind of getting off topic, but have they flipped the switch on pitching? All the credit in the world is deserved for Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta, but a pipeline of pitchers hasn’t really developed since 2016 more of a single spurt.
Pitchers Stearns drafted ‘16-‘20 that made the majors: Burnes, Alec Bettinger, Ashby, Rasmussen, Clayton Andrews and Ethan Small. 
 

Bettinger is already out of baseball. Andrews and Small haven’t demonstrated the necessary command to stick in the majors. Ashby had one good year, one not so good year and suffered a major shoulder injury so who knows what they have there. 

 

[CheeseheadInQC]

36 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

It’s kind of getting off topic, but have they flipped the switch on pitching? All the credit in the world is deserved for Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta, but a pipeline of pitchers hasn’t really developed since 2016 more of a single spurt.
Pitchers Stearns drafted ‘16-‘20 that made the majors: Burnes, Alec Bettinger, Ashby, Rasmussen, Clayton Andrews and Ethan Small. 
 

Bettinger is already out of baseball. Andrews and Small haven’t demonstrated the necessary command to stick in the majors. Ashby had one good year, one not so good year and suffered a major shoulder injury so who knows what they have there. 

 

Not that it changes the point at all, but the completist in me feels compelled to point out Bowden Francis has pitched parts of two seasons for the Blue Jays after being dealt there.

[Jopal78]

4 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

Not that it changes the point at all, but the completist in me feels compelled to point out Bowden Francis has pitched parts of two seasons for the Blue Jays after being dealt there.

You’re right, the name was familiar, Tellez trade, but I didn’t remember he made the majors.

[brooks_quichenick]

42 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

Not that it changes the point at all, but the completist in me feels compelled to point out Bowden Francis has pitched parts of two seasons for the Blue Jays after being dealt there.

Also, Reese Olson in Detroit.

[Team Canada]

2 hours ago, jerichoholicninja said:

This Braves series proved this team isn't anywhere near a legit competitor. If it wasn't for the ineptitude of the rest of the division we'd be looking at selling this year. No reason to pillage the farm to take this team from mediocre to slightly less mediocre.

It proved that we can score runs against them, and would do poorly if our starters for the playoffs were Houser, Teheran, and Rea. And Rea could easily have gotten the win.

That doesn't seem that predictive of what would happen in the playoffs?

To be fair, that lineup is a monster and we weren't facing their good pitchers either, so this series means basically nothing.