Impending Roster Crunch?

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Outlander said:

Regarding Frelick, I missed it but he had a horrendous strikeout call against him on Wednesday. I don't know if there is any way to get information like this for the season but if umps are calling the high strike against Frelick it could be a contributing factor to some of his struggles this season. 

 

I saw it. It was horrendous.

Someone said he was hitting poorly recently. He really hasn't been IMO. He's been finding base hits & is actually starting to barrel up some balls, something he wasn't doing earlier. Power? No. Able to play vs either hand pitcher? No. But a bit of a bum rap I think.

[Jim French Stepstool]

As to the subject of this thread, It's a head-scratcher. More variables than you usually see when moving toward the trade deadline. Some random thoughts:

Someone mentioned Black possibly becoming a versatile piece---2B, 3B, OF. This could solve a lot of issues, but IMO the chances of that are zero. He looked OK yesterday, but there isn't even sufficient evidence he can reasonably handle 1B.

I think they're committed to Hoskins at 1B. Even if he heated up enough that someone would be interested there's no way they're finishing up the season w/two LHH 1B. And a team wanting him is contending & therefore not parting with a starter.

I look at Frelick, Mitchell, Black & Perkins and think the team would LOVE for someone to have a particular interest in one of them, if it would help assemble a package for a starter w/more than rental status. As always (it seems) the key is Mitchell. His health issues probably hamstring his trade value, and if a trade leaves him w/a prominent role in the OF, can he stay on the field?

I hate the idea of adding to the bullpen. I'd much rather rely on a Clarke, Herget, or Yoho, one of the current IL guys, or Williams coming back effectively then spending prospect capital on someone not all that better.

And if an OF DOES get traded & you need to have someone move up in the pecking order to provide shuttle depth, get Isaac Collins on the 40-man. Switch-hitter, even splits, can play a little INF in a pinch. Might come in handy.

[tmwiese55]

If it was me on Black playing other spots, I meant emergency so there's another body there to throw out if an injury or weird pinch hit sub situations occur.  Based on more knowledgeable people's reviews on his D it sure doesn't seem he can start in those spots or play significantly at them.  But some weird stuff happens like last night and if he has to eat an inning in the OF or at 2B type thing, that helps more than having a Rowdy type who literally cannot be put out there anywhere

[Jim French Stepstool]

40 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

If it was me on Black playing other spots, I meant emergency so there's another body there to throw out if an injury or weird pinch hit sub situations occur.  Based on more knowledgeable people's reviews on his D it sure doesn't seem he can start in those spots or play significantly at them.  But some weird stuff happens like last night and if he has to eat an inning in the OF or at 2B type thing, that helps more than having a Rowdy type who literally cannot be put out there anywhere

May have been you. Too lazy to scroll back😛.

Yes, in a pinch I agree Black at one of those spots would be preferable to prying a Rowdy or a Vogelbach away from their potato chips.

[Brian]

15 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

If it was me on Black playing other spots, I meant emergency so there's another body there to throw out if an injury or weird pinch hit sub situations occur.  Based on more knowledgeable people's reviews on his D it sure doesn't seem he can start in those spots or play significantly at them.  But some weird stuff happens like last night and if he has to eat an inning in the OF or at 2B type thing, that helps more than having a Rowdy type who literally cannot be put out there anywhere

I think right now, Black and Monasterio are definitely the 2 worst hitters on the team. But I don't know all the exact rules pertaining to being sent down and coming back up again. But Black does seem to be improving a little bit as of late. 

[Soupbone]

I think, as mentioned earlier, some combination of these players is the trade bait the Brewers will use, Performance, injuries, 40 man roster spot, overabundance in the OF spots. These are the decisions that MA2 will make in the next month or so. What do we need/want? Maybe not totally decided yet.

[Oxy]

Elieser Hernandez is first on the chopping block, getting DFA'd after Junis was removed from the 60 day IL and activated.

He won't be the last, either.  Mitchell, Hall, Bukauskas and DWill will all be coming off the 60 day IL at some point in the next month or so.  Every one of those guys will need a 40 man roster spot to open up.

Gasser will be moved to the 60 day, so that's one spot.  Also, I'm not seeing what Jeferson Quero's deal is...it just says "minors" on the brewers.com roster page...but I'd imagine he could be put on the 60 day as well.  Although there is something goofy about being injured long term while being on the 40 man but NOT the 26 man roster.

 

[wiguy94]

2 minutes ago, Oxy said:

Elieser Hernandez is first on the chopping block, getting DFA'd after Junis was removed from the 60 day IL and activated.

He won't be the last, either.  Mitchell, Hall, Bukauskas and DWill will all be coming off the 60 man at some point in the next month or so.  Every one of those guys will need a 40 man roster spot to open up.

Gasser will be moved to the 60 day, so that's one spot.  Also, I'm not seeing what Jeferson Quero's deal is...it just says "minors" on the brewers.com roster page...but I'd imagine he could be put on the 60 day as well.  Although there is something goofy about being injured long term while being on the 40 man but NOT the 26 man roster.

For Quero to be put on the 60-day IL he would needed to be added to the MLB then placed on the 60-day IL which would have him start accumulating service time.

Gasser can go to the 60-day. Ross can be moved to the 60-day. Then you also have guys like Roller, Capra, Junk who could be DFA'd relatively easily. 

They could recall Uribe and throw him on the 60-day IL with him having meniscus surgery as well but same story as Quero that he would be accumulating service time in that scenario.

[Oxy]

I'm not too concerned about the abundance of OF.  Everybody has options (except Bauers, which is annoying), so just play the guys most deserving and rotate the rest on the bench and through Nashville.  Re-evaluate in the offseason.  If somebody comes calling for a trade try to figure something out, but nobody needs to be actively shopped.

[Playing Catch]

15 hours ago, Oxy said:

I'm not too concerned about the abundance of OF.  Everybody has options (except Bauers, which is annoying), so just play the guys most deserving and rotate the rest on the bench and through Nashville.  Re-evaluate in the offseason.  If somebody comes calling for a trade try to figure something out, but nobody needs to be actively shopped.

This is a good point. It just seems strange that the Brewers are in a position, talent-wise, to stash deserving guys in the minors.

[patrickgpe]

I do hope Junis can take Rodriguez’s spot in the rotation and he is sent down. Maybe Hall will be ready to come out of the pen or a guy like Chad Patrick gets a chance to be up. 

[Team Canada]

On 6/21/2024 at 1:17 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

Someone said he was hitting poorly recently. He really hasn't been IMO. He's been finding base hits & is actually starting to barrel up some balls, something he wasn't doing earlier. Power? No. Able to play vs either hand pitcher? No. But a bit of a bum rap I think.

This doesn't completely refute the point, as these are season stats, but I heard this the other day and was unpleasantly surprised how bad Frelick has been this year.

- He's dead last in barrel % of all eligible MLB hitters
- He's dead last in hard hit % of all eligible MLB hitters
- He's dead last in exit velocity.

He's quite literally been the worst starter in Major League Baseball at hitting the ball.

[True Blue Brew Crew]

4 hours ago, Team Canada said:

This doesn't completely refute the point, as these are season stats, but I heard this the other day and was unpleasantly surprised how bad Frelick has been this year.

- He's dead last in barrel % of all eligible MLB hitters
- He's dead last in hard hit % of all eligible MLB hitters
- He's dead last in exit velocity.

He's quite literally been the worst starter in Major League Baseball at hitting the ball.

Sounds a lot like 2023 Brice Turang

[sveumrules]

7 hours ago, Team Canada said:

This doesn't completely refute the point, as these are season stats, but I heard this the other day and was unpleasantly surprised how bad Frelick has been this year.

- He's dead last in barrel % of all eligible MLB hitters
- He's dead last in hard hit % of all eligible MLB hitters
- He's dead last in exit velocity.

He's quite literally been the worst starter in Major League Baseball at hitting the ball.

Frelick may be the worst at hitting the ball hard, but he has actually been above average at getting hits (104 AVG+) and walking (110 BB%+).

Obviously the lack of power (47 ISO+) drags the whole batting line down to below average (91 wRC+), but I’d say Sal has pretty much delivered right to where my expectation levels were entering the season.

That said, I’d probably still have him as the odd man out when Mitchell is ready to return.

[BruisedCrew]

So, in other words, if you had low expectations for Frelick in the first place, he’s doing OK. 

I never worry about roster crunch because something always happens, whether it be injuries, trade opportunities, or whatever. 

Piecing together all of the pieces like salary, service time, etc. is a complicated process that I am more than happy to leave to the highly paid professional general managers and their staffs. But, if Frelick being a regular 3B is in their plans, I reserve the right to complain about that. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Frelick may be the worst at hitting the ball hard, but he has actually been above average at getting hits (104 AVG+) and walking (110 BB%+).

Obviously the lack of power (47 ISO+) drags the whole batting line down to below average (91 wRC+), but I’d say Sal has pretty much delivered right to where my expectation levels were entering the season.

That said, I’d probably still have him as the odd man out when Mitchell is ready to return.

Yeah. If baseball were a game where we had no fielders or baserunners & the score was simply kept by technology measuring how hard balls were hit, I don't think I'd want Frelick on my team. Of course I wouldn't care because the thought of that is so boring I wouldn't be a fan. Just exaggerating the point that this is a funny game that many times transcends how hard a ball is hit. I mentioned a while back how he isn't barreling up a lot of balls. For whatever reason, I suspect there are a lot of guys who are better at that bit of math that don't have as many hits, or don't draw as many walks. 

I think a large part of this is him hitting 5th, which I don't like. I mentioned elsewhere what the solution there could be. He COULD be aced out by Mitchell, if Mitchell can scale back the swing-and-miss.

[BruisedCrew]

9 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yeah. If baseball were a game where we had no fielders or baserunners & the score was simply kept by technology measuring how hard balls were hit, I don't think I'd want Frelick on my team. Of course I wouldn't care because the thought of that is so boring I wouldn't be a fan. Just exaggerating the point that this is a funny game that many times transcends how hard a ball is hit. I mentioned a while back how he isn't barreling up a lot of balls. For whatever reason, I suspect there are a lot of guys who are better at that bit of math that don't have as many hits, or don't draw as many walks. 

I think a large part of this is him hitting 5th, which I don't like. I mentioned elsewhere what the solution there could be. He COULD be aced out by Mitchell, if Mitchell can scale back the swing-and-miss.

It sounds like you would disagree with the poster who took offense to my comment that exit velocity isn’t everything. 

I think what bothers me most about Frelick is that for a hitter without power he seems too often to swing hard and pop up when just getting his bat on the ball and spraying it (more in line with his abilities and strengths) would be more useful.

I also think he is at best an average fielder with a below average arm. I am looking for more from a RF, especially a RF batting 5th. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

6 hours ago, True Blue Brew Crew said:

Sounds a lot like 2023 Brice Turang

Fair point. But the differences are that Turang is a GG-caliber defender & plays a position where power isn't a premium. And Turang was never put in a position where driving in runs was part of the job description. Sal, unfortunately, is.

I understand the dissatisfaction w/Frelick, especially when comped with a more "central casting" type of corner OF. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 minute ago, BruisedCrew said:

It sounds like you would disagree with the poster who took offense to my comment that exit velocity isn’t everything. 

I think what bothers me most about Frelick is that for a hitter without power he seems too often to swing hard and pop up when just getting his bat on the ball and spraying it (more in line with his abilities and strengths) would be more useful.

I also think he is at best an average fielder with a below average arm. I am looking for more from a RF, especially a RF batting 5th. 

I see him trying to spray at times, then he seems to "go away" from that, which is curious.

I agree with everything in your post, except if you want to put the defense into subsets I'd say his fielding is average at worst & probably a bit above, with a sub-par arm.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Frelick's bat is probably the last one I'd want moving over to 3b, thus the reason why I wondered aloud what they were trying to prove by throwing him over there at times in spring training.

I hope he gets hot enough to warrant being trade bait, because he shouldn't take away at bats from Chourio or a healthy Mitchell, and he shouldn't be playing everyday as a corner OF, either.

[Team Canada]

15 hours ago, True Blue Brew Crew said:

Sounds a lot like 2023 Brice Turang

Except Turang was terrible because he sold out for launch angle and wrecked his swing. Sal just hasn't been very good at hitting the baseball.

Obviously the broader analogy could still be apt - players can grow and adjust and get better, and hopefully Sal does that too.

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

Frelick's bat is probably the last one I'd want moving over to 3b, thus the reason why I wondered aloud what they were trying to prove by throwing him over there at times in spring training.

I hope he gets hot enough to warrant being trade bait, because he shouldn't take away at bats from Chourio or a healthy Mitchell, and he shouldn't be playing everyday as a corner OF, either.

AFA Frelick & 3B are concerned I see him as someone, in an extra-inning game with multiple managerial moves involved, where you might stick him there b/c Dunn is no longer on the roster. If anyone is concerned about Ortiz moving to SS next year & Frelick being in line to replace him, I doubt that's even on their radar.

With a four-man bench standard these days versatility is important & they're interested in seeing how much he has. I think (hope) it's nothing more than that.

[Frisbee Slider]

Would Milner or Payamps ever be at risk of losing a roster spot in 2024?

I appreciate what they’ve done for us but I wonder if they are ever not a top 26 active roster candidate for this year.

[B.F.-rakes]

We r all looking forward to Mitchell's return and once again the "outfield log jam issue" has worked its self out for the last 2years as Mitchell can't stay healthy(4months missed in 23)(3months so far in 24).Chourio has twice as many ab then Mitchell,and Mitchell was called up in august 2022,and with Mitchell's health,and Frelicks unproven bat,there trade value isn't that great imo,might want to move Megill,as every contender is looking for bullpen help,or Rea as there value is at it's max.As great as the crew is playing, can we really beat the Dodgers,Phillies powerhouse line ups?

[Brock Beauchamp]

3 hours ago, B.F.-rakes said:

We r all looking forward to Mitchell's return and once again the "outfield log jam issue" has worked its self out for the last 2years as Mitchell can't stay healthy(4months missed in 23)(3months so far in 24).Chourio has twice as many ab then Mitchell,and Mitchell was called up in august 2022,and with Mitchell's health,and Frelicks unproven bat,there trade value isn't that great imo,might want to move Megill,as every contender is looking for bullpen help,or Rea as there value is at it's max.As great as the crew is playing, can we really beat the Dodgers,Phillies powerhouse line ups?

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