What to do with the OF

[Lloyd330]

Who would you move?

[nate82]

I would move Wiemer.  I think he has more value than Mitchell and I think the Brewers prefer to keep Frelick. 

[CheezWizHed]

I think we'd sell low on Wiemer right now.  Mitchell has some upside to tantalize mixed with MLB success, but my gut says he is at his peak right now.  Hopefully injuries don't derail his career, but it is possible. 

[Thurston Fluff]

None. They all have options and depth is important. It isn't like all of them have accomplished everything they could in AAA.

[Ro Mueller]

Frelick would probably return the best haul, no?

[Brewcrew82]

10 minutes ago, damuelle said:

Frelick would probably return the best haul, no?

Yeah he would. I wonder if the Brewers prefer to keep him though due to him possessing probably the highest floor of any of our young guys. 

[titanrick]

Until Joey can learn to hit with his "hair on fire" load, or he can calm it down a bit to produce more contact, I don't think this should be a consideration.   I think others have said it in the Chourio thread, but start with Chourio, Mitchell and Frelick in the outfield, Yeli at 1B or DH, maybe platoon TT against lefties and see if Wiemer can make some progress in the minors.  No reason to sell low on a kid that is dirt cheap and has the chance to improve.

If he figures it out and we have 4 legit GG OFs, look to trade one at that point.  They'll be worth more anyway once they've proven more.

[MVP2110]

I still think they trade atleast 1 OF, my guess would be Tyrone. You could roll out DH Yelich LF Frelick CF Chourio RF Mitchell/Wiemer platoon with Perkins as Minor League depth & Yelich getting the occasional start in the OF. That's plenty of depth and ABs. 

[Frisbee Slider]

Would anyone trade anything of meaningful value for TT? Seems unlikely..

[brewcrewdue80]

Right now you sit and hold and use your options while it plays out. When it comes to ceiling to highest floor I think it's Wiemer,  Mitchell, and Frelick.  But the highest floor is Frelick-Mitchell-Wiemer.  Mitchell's injury history and longevity needs to be worked through. And let's be serious.  These 3 play defense that will suffer injuries on a monthly. The only reason I see Taylor being on this team opening day is 2 of them are hurt from spring training already.

 

But I do also think 1 could be packaged in a trade with Burnes or Adames to net someone you didn't think would be possible.

[monty57]

I know some people have issues with the site, but Baseball Trade Values assigns the following values:

Mitchell: 15.2

Frelick: 35.4

Weimer: 15.5

Who you'd prefer to trade should at least partially depend on who it could bring back. Trading Frelick could bring back a difference-making player (think someone like starting pitcher Ricky Tiedeman from the Blue Jays or Kyle Harrison of the Giants), while the other two would probably bring back more lower-end Top 100 guy (think Chase Hampton of the Yankees or Gavin Stone of the Dodgers). Note that I've only listed pitchers, as I think we should trade for pitching and sign a big bat like Hoskins. We can't afford a stud pitcher in free agency.

Either of these trades could bolster our rotation with a good, young SP, while dealing from a position of strength. Assuming I could magically make a trade happen, I'd move Burnes for the higher-end pitcher (Tiedeman/Harrison type), and then trade Weimer for one of the Hampton/Stone types. That could give us a potential future ace and mid-rotation guy, both with a lot of team control who should be ready to hit the MLB field right away.

If we didn't have Burnes to trade, I may go with the Frelick-for-a-potential-ace trade. I would probably only trade if we can find a young player at a position of need who could help the MLB team in the near-term. Not a Rookie-ball guy, and not a guy already in arby.

I know we don't need to trade anyone, but it might make sense to have a pitcher in the rotation for 2023 than extra OF insurance who may lose value if he either isn't needed or can't find himself in AAA.

[monty57]

FYI, Taylor has 1.4 value, so it's probably better just to hold him as the backup OF who can play every position and hits RH when a lot of the other guys are lefties. He wouldn't bring much back in trade, and would probably only be traded to open up space on the roster. Maybe we get a middle reliever if we're looking for more than a lottery ticket for him.

[folly412]

17 hours ago, Thurston Fluff said:

None. They all have options and depth is important. It isn't like all of them have accomplished everything they could in AAA.

Good answer.  This same "problem" came up last year.  Yet Blake Perkins logged 400 innings in the outfield, Wiemer couldn't be taken out of the lineup despite complete offensive futility, most have probably already forgotten the month of Raimel Tapia, and we had to make a trade for Canha at the deadline.  We can trade outfielders from a position of "strength" when the outfield is not among our greatest weaknesses.

[Fear The Chorizo]

If reports are correct that Chourio is slated to be their CF starter, then I really do think one of Mitchell or Wiemer is getting dealt this offseason as part of a trade to improve the roster elsewhere (or package with Burnes to land other impact prospect talent at positions that don't have multiple pre-arby big leaguers already in MLB like they do with OF).  It's not like either Mitchell or Wiemer couldn't play a corner OF position if Yelich is moved to the team's primary DH role - but they carry more value as CFs.  Both of them aren't going to stick around Milwaukee longterm if the Brewers plan to insert Chourio in centerfield and not have to worry about that position for the next 8-10 seasons.

They could easily wait another season or so to see how things shake out further, but every year they wait is one less year of team control and/or one less minor league options these guys would have to the team trading for them - that's why despite Wiemer struggling offensively and Mitchell struggling to stay healthy, I don't know if a trade now would be considered "selling low" for either of those players.  That extra year of pre-arbitration control carries alot of value with players talented enough to be everyday outfielders in the right situation if they're healthy, and both of them have enough warts (Wiemer - hitting approach, Mitchell - health) to question just how good they can be on a consistent basis as a MLB player.

Don't get me wrong - trading either of them before they have more of a chance to establish themselves in the majors risks sending off a guy who could become a stud outfielder...but they've already rolled the dice banking on Chourio as their longterm CF option across what will likely be the full careers of both these mid-20's guys.  I'd argue that standing pat too long also carries risk of not getting value for one of them before they could flame out due to their above-mentioned warts.

 

 

 

 

[monty57]

46 minutes ago, folly412 said:

Good answer.  This same "problem" came up last year.  Yet Blake Perkins logged 400 innings in the outfield, Wiemer couldn't be taken out of the lineup despite complete offensive futility, most have probably already forgotten the month of Raimel Tapia, and we had to make a trade for Canha at the deadline.  We can trade outfielders from a position of "strength" when the outfield is not among our greatest weaknesses.

Very valid point. However, last year with Burnes and Woodruff we had to dig deep into our starting pitching depth. We know we won't have Woodruff, and there's a good chance we won't have Burnes. I'd prefer to fill the hole we know exists rather than keeping extra insurance for a hole that may open.

Even if we trade Weimer/Mitchell, we'll still have Yelich, Chourio, Frelick, Mitchell/Weimer, Taylor and Perkins. That's still quite a bit of depth.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Didn't mention Frelick in my previous thread post, because I like his hit tool in the lineup and think the Brewers value him more than Wiemer at present....but IF the Brewers feel like Wiemer can sort himself out offensively he'd carry a much higher ceiling as a RF with that defense/power toolset than Frelick longterm and I'd be ok with dealing Frelick at a time when it very much wouldn't be selling low on him, either. 

[Ewitkows1]

Give Wiemer a 1B Glove and if he hits , he's the firstbasemen for the next 5 years.

[Fear The Chorizo]

5 minutes ago, Ewitkows1 said:

Give Wiemer a 1B Glove and if he hits , he's the firstbasemen for the next 5 years.

Those are the type of position moves to keep impact bats in the lineup who struggle at their primary defensive positions...Wiemer's best value at present is elite OF defense, so moving him to a corner IF position that requires no arm strength and can be played by the least athletic person on a roster isn't doing him any favors when his sole focus should be improving his hitting approach and not having to learn to play a new position.  From what I can tell, Wiemer has zero IF experience dating back to his college days at Cincy.

I think a guy like Wilken moving to 1B in the next season or two could make some sense if he doesn't stick at 3rd (or if Black actually does stick at 3rd).

With the volume of prospects working their way up through the Brewers' system that actually profile as MLB-caliber players, we are going to need to get used to seeing a good number of them traded away to improve the MLB roster at thinner positions - to me that's a better approach than trying to move prospects/young talent from a deep position group to a hole on the MLB roster.

[TURBO]

42 minutes ago, Ewitkows1 said:

Give Wiemer a 1B Glove and if he hits , he's the firstbasemen for the next 5 years.

You don't take a potential Gold Glove outfielder and move him to 1B, you just don't do that...

[Thurston Fluff]

41 minutes ago, monty57 said:

Very valid point. However, last year with Burnes and Woodruff we had to dig deep into our starting pitching depth. We know we won't have Woodruff, and there's a good chance we won't have Burnes. I'd prefer to fill the hole we know exists rather than keeping extra insurance for a hole that may open.

Even if we trade Weimer/Mitchell, we'll still have Yelich, Chourio, Frelick, Mitchell/Weimer, Taylor and Perkins. That's still quite a bit of depth.

If there was a way to know which area was going to need depth then it would make sense. But we don't know where the injury, or under performance bug is going to rear it's ugly head. If we were in a situation where there was a major shortage in one area and a major surplus in the other I'd get it. But that isn't the case. Our pitching depth is nearly as good as last season and there's more ways to shore it up than trading controllable young talent with options away. What we will be lacking next season is elite starting pitching but I don't think we can get that via trade. As a general rule, I don't think you get better overall depth by trading away depth.

[Outlander]

I kind of like Taylor as the 4th outfielder for his next three arbitration years as he plays all three OF positions well, shouldn't cost too much and the trade value just isn't there. 

Hope they are shopping Frelick to see if another team overvalues him. Based on the poll this is the minority opinion but if his trade value is really around 35 then this might be peak value.

 

[HarveysWBs]

Yeah, TT is a classic case of someone who seems to be far more valuable to his present organization than he would be to anyone else.  The market for 4th OF + bench bat isn’t exactly roaring hot, but for the Brewers, he provides a lot of benefits both tangible (adept defensive ability at all three positions, capable of getting hot and can slot in for intermediate terms in case of an injury or ineffectiveness by starters) and intangible (more veteran than a lot of the locker room, seemingly stable and well-liked presence).

If I had to guess, I think the brass finds a way to hang on to all the young guys, at least to start the year.  They seem highest on Frelick and Mitchell, while Wiems may need to rebuild some value.  I’ll be interested to see if this situation changes at all through the season.

[Playing Catch]

I want to keep all of our best OFers and not trade any of them due to any perceived "logjam," and that includes Perkins, who according to Fangraphs, has 2 options remaining.

Injuries, growing pains, platoon options, aging Yelich -- all of these are good reasons to keep all of them. Perhaps the idea of strengthening in other areas is a good thing to consider, but I think I'd prefer to fill those gaps (SP depth, Corner-IF) with short contract free agents and hope that Black, Clarke, Wilken, Brown Jr. can all contribute as MLB starters in a year or two.

[umphrey]

There has to be the Tyrone Taylor of pitching out there, some 30 year old that’s projected for 160 innings of 5.00 ERA or whatever and his team doesn’t really need him, give me that guy back in a trade for Tyrone Taylor. Not the most exciting path but the best one. 

[edfunderburk]

5 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

I think a guy like Wilken moving to 1B in the next season or two could make some sense if he doesn't stick at 3rd (or if Black actually does stick at 3rd).

I agree