Brewers acquire Jake Bauers from NYY

[LouisEly]

3 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Christian Walker would be significantly better than Hoskins and Bauers but that is about it.  Beyond Walker the next best available would be Alonso.

The problem is that both of them are RHH and thus redundant with Hoskins.

And that being said, Hoskins, for his career, isn't bad against RHP - lifetime .816 OPS.

[nate82]

9 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

The problem is that both of them are RHH and thus redundant with Hoskins.

Not really as Hoskins isn't really a 1B.  He is a DH and Walker would be a clear upgrade over both Bauers and Hoskins defensively at 1B.  Walker is only hitting .010 OPS higher against LHP than he is against RHP.  Walker is a career .799 vs LHP and a career .789 vs RHP.  So basically the same hitter against both.  Walker would be a good pickup for the Brewers to play at 1B and then have Hoskins at DH when Yelich or Contreras are not at DH. 

[Brian]

Christian Walker would be an upgrade. I thought Hoskins would be better but I think his knee is still ailing him more than everyone thought because he started out hot as heck. Bauers reminds me of Luke Voit and he was no good at all. 

[TURBO]

I can't see them picking up another 1B in a trade.  That would be admitting that Hoskins was a failure (so far) and after dropping the kind of cash they did on Hoskins, I don't see them going for that position,  He does have another month to turn things around, and I'm sure the Brewers are hoping he does just that.

I can see them going after an outfielder, but I won't be shocked when they grab a couple of no name bullpen guys for which they overpay in farm talent.  Hopefully they have a starter in mind, but again, nothing will surprise me.

[SeaBass]

Hoskins isn't a failure. He's been bad since coming back from his injury, so like 12 games. This is offensively of course, his defense is what it is.

March/April: 114 PA, 13 R, 6 HR, 18 RBI, .237/.342/.464/.806

May: 47 PA, 4 R, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .244/.340/.488/.828

June: 41 PA, 3 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, .158/.220/.263/.483

[StearnsFTW]

Why is Arizona trading Walker in this scenario?

 

It seems to me that no one is out of the playoffs in the NL, and Arizona, of all teams, should understand that just getting in is all you need.

 

If they get Rodriguez back and if Montgomery returns to form (both big 'ifs', I realize), they could make some noise.

 

[tmwiese55]

Problem with trading for a 1B/DH is that a portion of the days he is only replacing Contreras at DH.  Which is actually likely a downgrade.  And Sanchez has been competent.   However, come playoffs there's no need to DH Contreras so then it is your max value in the lineup.    Still I'd say most 'bang for your buck' in a trade would be outfield.  Unless RF continues to do better like it has lately and Perkins manages to keep it up then its not a drastic need either, but I wouldn't be banking on both of those things to hold the next 4 months.   And keep in mind that OF could also be part of the same DH rotation improvement the 1B/DH would be. 

[CheezWizHed]

Jake had a hot streak going for a little while.  But has been horrible for the last 28 days:

175/254/246/500 with a 44 OPS+ And his season stats are right in line with his career stats. 

The Brewers have been great at finding players that other teams want to be rid of and finding use in them (Perkins, Hudson), but when they don't work out, you can't make it worse by holding on to them.  Bauers looks like he is going the way of Owens - flashed in the pan, but ultimately sizzled out.  Know when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em. 

But I think the player to look to for improvement is already in the organization.  Time to give Black another shot a the MLB level.  When he came up last time, Bauers was hot and made it hard to justify him sitting.  Now, Black can be given an extended look. 

[tmwiese55]

33 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

Jake had a hot streak going for a little while.  But has been horrible for the last 28 days:

175/254/246/500 with a 44 OPS+ And his season stats are right in line with his career stats. 

The Brewers have been great at finding players that other teams want to be rid of and finding use in them (Perkins, Hudson), but when they don't work out, you can't make it worse by holding on to them.  Bauers looks like he is going the way of Owens - flashed in the pan, but ultimately sizzled out.  Know when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em. 

But I think the player to look to for improvement is already in the organization.  Time to give Black another shot a the MLB level.  When he came up last time, Bauers was hot and made it hard to justify him sitting.  Now, Black can be given an extended look. 

Yup, the obvious move is that.   I'd guess their issue on pulling the trigger right now is just depth.  They probably don't guess that Black will do drastically better right now this year but if you do this move you'll lose Bauers to waivers (assume, I didn't double check his options).   So if Black flops or gets hurt you then don't have someone.  Right now, you have both to handle the grind and injuries of a long season. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

25 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

Yup, the obvious move is that.   I'd guess their issue on pulling the trigger right now is just depth.  They probably don't guess that Black will do drastically better right now this year but if you do this move you'll lose Bauers to waivers (assume, I didn't double check his options).   So if Black flops or gets hurt you then don't have someone.  Right now, you have both to handle the grind and injuries of a long season. 

I don't know either but I assume you're right re Bauers & options. He's going to run cold w/stretches (we've already seen one) where he makes contact & hits doubles & HRs. Unless something really falls into their lap at trade time I believe they'll stand pat at 1B.

And their feeling re Black is probably that he'll do drastically WORSE defensively. After what we saw yesterday no one should be surprised anymore about the emphasis they put on that.

[rickh150]

Gotta believe Black’s defense is subpar everywhere or he would be up at the beginning of the season.

However, his bat is good enough that Murphy hits him third. He is fast too, and the Brewers could use yes another stolen base threat on the lineup or off the bench. And I think the DH position and spot start at 1B  might fit him well for us. Still cannot believe his bat is worse than Turang or Frelick…..there is a carved out spot for him on this team.

[CheezWizHed]

11 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

Gotta believe Black’s defense is subpar everywhere or he would be up at the beginning of the season.

However, his bat is good enough that Murphy hits him third. He is fast too, and the Brewers could use yes another stolen base threat on the lineup or off the bench. And I think the DH position and spot start at 1B  might fit him well for us. Still cannot believe his bat is worse than Turang or Frelick…..there is a carved out spot for him on this team.

I tend to disagree on both fronts. His defense might not be great, but I doubt that is what is holding him back from playing at the MLB level.

His bat is simply unproven at the MLB level and he didn't (except for that wonderful debut) hit well this year.  If he was hitting as well as Turang (who is certainly better than Frelick right now), Black would be starting at 1B over Bauers.

The Club spent resources on Bauers and he was clearly going to get a shot.  He caught lightning in a bottle when Black was up initially so you aren't going to dump him at that time for Black who was hitting worse. 

Now that Bauers has cooled off and unfortunately at the level of his previous poor production, there is clearly more upside in Black.  Yes, that means dumping Bauers, but if they need to find another 1B with his current level of production, that isn't terribly hard. 

[markedman5]

Maybe we should post a “ Bauers needs to go thread” more often? 😎

[owbc]

On 11/17/2023 at 1:51 PM, HarryDoyle said:

World Series, here we come!

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[SeaBass]

Excerpt from a Yahoo Sports article

That Bauers and Snell, former Rays farmhands who shared countless minor-league bus rides, ended up here, on this stage, is a testament to the long, winding, beautiful road that is professional baseball.

Wednesday's two main characters have taken very different paths in the decade since they last shared a clubhouse. Snell stuck with Tampa Bay, achieving stardom, two Cy Youngs and around $139 million in career earnings. Bauers, meanwhile, couldn't quite find a foothold in The Show. He bounced from organization to organization as filler, as depth, as a backup plan.

Twenty-six days before Snell penned his five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers in November 2024, Bauers was outrighted, effectively released, by the team he has since pushed within a game of the Fall Classic. But the Brewers, ahead of 2025, brought Bauers back on a minor-league deal. And through circumstance, faith, confidence, obstinance and determination, the 31-year-old SoCal kid finally turned himself into an impact major leaguer. This season, he was the best hitter on baseball's best team.

Over the past few days, he has taken things to a whole new level, looking as dialed in as a ballplayer can be.

"I've seen all the ups and downs he's been through, and it's been a lot of downs. So for him to go through this right now, he's earned it. Hats off to him," a conciliatory Snell shared after the game.

"This is the best I've ever seen him play."

That bolded quote from Snell, wow what a really gracious thing for him to say. Jake is such an easy guy to root for.

[torts]

I don't want him to leave but I also want Jake to get ******* paaaaiiiiddddd this winter.  Don't ever worry about health insurance ever again babe.  

[PlayerHader]

On 11/17/2023 at 3:51 PM, HarryDoyle said:

World Series, here we come!

prescient

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Pretty funny to see the same posters who hate pretty much every move the Brewers make hated this one too.

And water is still wet.

[Opening Day]

Im not going to go back and reread old posts.  Im just going to assume the board nailed it as everyone saw this coming.  

[LouisEly]

On 11/17/2023 at 2:51 PM, HarryDoyle said:

World Series, here we come!

Got any lottery numbers to share?

[kestrel79]

On 11/17/2023 at 3:51 PM, HarryDoyle said:

World Series, here we come!

Protect this man at all costs. You are The One. The Oracle.

[dlk9s]

Plenty of guys never do anything when they come to the Brewers. And with plenty of those guys, I can see it right away. Dude just doesn't have it. "Trash" is too harsh, but they just aren't good enough.

There have been two guys over the past few years who were pretty bad, but I kept thinking to myself, "I can see something there. It's in there somewhere, he just needs to find a way to bring it out."

Those two guys were Bauers and Joey O. Really happy for both of them, especially if this team goes all the way. Seem like good dudes.

[TURBO]

I'm guilty.  I was high on the guys we traded for him at the time.

Anyone here who claims they knew what Bauers would bring in 2026 is a flat out liar.  Hindsight is easy.

Happy as hell to be dead wrong!!!

JAKE CAN RAKE!

[RobertCrawley]

On 11/18/2023 at 10:21 AM, RobertCrawley said:

Maybe the organization wants our expert hitting coaches to draw the inner MVP out of Bauers, as they have with so many of our hitters.

My comment was more a slight to our hitting coaches in those days, Timmons and Dawson, but I'll stand by it.

Timmons went to the Rays and has done a great there. Dawson went to Kansas City as the hitting coach.

 

[Samurai Bucky]

Jake,

I want to apologize.  During and after 2024's season, I was frustrated with how you performed.  I doubted you and really couldn't understand why you were back -- even on a small contract.  You have proven me wrong.

Your story not only talks about perseverance, but also that, as you said, the attitude is better than the results.  That is something that will resonate with me and the people with whom I come in contact.

If I ever get a chance, I would like to shake your hand and say thank you for being a Milwaukee Brewer.

Signed -- a guy who calls himself Samurai Bucky 😉