2024-25 Offseason Ideas

[brewfanmn]

35 minutes ago, Madhawk23 said:

Here’s a question for folks here: would you trade Mitchell (take advantage of his value being high) for Robert? You’d still have Sal and Perk to cover CF.

I think the better question is if swapping Mitchell for Robert even makes the Brewers any better in 2025? And that’s before considering Mitchell’s extra team control and the money owed to Robert.

I feel like people are overlooking the fact that Robert was pretty awful this year in these trade scenarios. He was a worse hitter than Sal Frelick, struck out in a third of his plate appearances, and is one of the only guys with a recent injury history that rivals Mitchell’s.

I don’t think I’d give up anything of real value to acquire him, let alone a legitimate piece like Mitchell or Black as are being suggested. The way Robert is trending there is a real chance he isn’t even worth the money for his option years

[nate82]

1 hour ago, Madhawk23 said:

Here’s a question for folks here: would you trade Mitchell (take advantage of his value being high) for Robert? You’d still have Sal and Perk to cover CF.

Mitchell’s value is not that high.  Ask again at the end of next year if he stays healthy.

Look the White Sox are not trading Robert for someone who has MLB experience maybe a throw in but not as the main return.  The White Sox need to rebuild their farm system and trading Robert for Mitchell doesn’t do that.  If the trade doesn’t start with someone like Pratt then I don’t think you have a deal.  

[wallus]

I'm not trading Pratt unless it's for someone with less question marks.

Robert is a risk but it's a gamble worth taking if the price is reasonable.

[wallus]

2 hours ago, Madhawk23 said:

I’m with everyone on the Black value. I mean….if we’ve all become more concerned about his future as a big league player, you can bet that front offices across baseball see that as well. 
 

Here’s a question for folks here: would you trade Mitchell (take advantage of his value being high) for Robert? You’d still have Sal and Perk to cover CF.

If the Sox insisted on Frelick, I would think about it. I believe Perkins is a very valuable 4th outfielder, especially with a couple of injury prone guys. I would not trade a cheap Mitchell in this trade.

[jay87shot]

No need to go after a outfielder unless there is no doubt top notch young middle of the order hitter. Brent Rooker is the only guy that comes to mind and he is really just a DH at this point.

[Scooterfletcher]

Makes more sense to just straight up sign Monada and/or Polanco than try get all creative when we have Boeve/Wilken/Adams looming soon and one if not more likely pans out.

[Madhawk23]

10 hours ago, Scooterfletcher said:

Makes more sense to just straight up sign Monada and/or Polanco than try get all creative when we have Boeve/Wilken/Adams looming soon and one if not more likely pans out.

I don't think I'd want the risk of Moncada, but Polanco is a bit intriguing to me if you can get him on a 1-year deal.  He's coming off of one of his worst years this past year, but he feels like he'd be a great "bounce back" candidate for '25.  Guessing we'd have to play him at 2B though, and move Brice then to SS....so, I'm not sure if that is something the FO is looking to do?  

[jay87shot]

Moncada or Polanco are fine but if that is the best we can get I would almost want to give Sal or Black a shot at 3B/2B. I think Sal could be a good 2B if given enough time but the problem is how much time. Luis Rengifo and Brandon Lowe would be better options, I think they would be a safer choices than Moncada or Polanco and the prospect price wouldn't be crazy high. I still prefer a prospect option in a Devin Williams trade, most of the potential trade partners have a young IF who would be a good match.

[wallus]

I would be shocked if Black was ever given the job at 2nd or 3rd.

[TURBO]

Black at 3B isn't happening.  They have moved on from that.

I want nothing to do with Frelick's bat playing 3B either.  Offense and power are supposed to come from the 3B position, and Frelick doesn't provide that.  Look at most rosters, and you'll see that the 3B position provides a lot more offense than Sal gives us.

Stop with the insanity of him playing 3B.  It just isn't realistic.  Seems like a novelty idea rather than a realistic idea to me.

[Playing Catch]

10 hours ago, TURBO said:

Offense and power are supposed to come from the 3B position

It often comes from the position, and one can argue that losing Adames means they definitely should look for a power bat to put at third, but there is no "supposed to," anymore. Not with shortstops hitting dingers, and Aaron Judge playing centerfield.

[TURBO]

1 hour ago, Playing Catch said:

It often comes from the position, and one can argue that losing Adames means they definitely should look for a power bat to put at third, but there is no "supposed to," anymore. Not with shortstops hitting dingers, and Aaron Judge playing centerfield.

Ok, however, we no longer have that dinger hitting shortstop, and since that position will be filled by either Turang or Ortiz, we have to get power from someplace.  3B is the obvious choice for power for us, if we add another light hitting guy to play 3B, or if God forbid we put Frelick over there, where is the power going to come from? Not 2B, not SS, not 3B, and we have a pretty crappy situation to deal with at 1B too.  DH?  I would expect Yelich to play there a lot the first part of the year.  That is decent power, assuming he is 100%.  That leaves Catcher (Contreras is a plus there) and the 3 OF spots.  Chourio will take care of one of those spots.  Perkins/Frelick = no power.  Mitchell is yet to be determined.

So after breaking it down, 3B 100% has to be a position of power for us.  I am completely against sticking Frelick over there.  It seems asinine to even consider it when we have guys like Wilkins and Boeve on the cusp.

[Team Canada]

1 hour ago, TURBO said:

So after breaking it down, 3B 100% has to be a position of power for us.  I am completely against sticking Frelick over there.  It seems asinine to even consider it when we have guys like Wilkins and Boeve on the cusp.

Agree that in a vacuum you wouldn't go with Frelick at 3B, but isn't a hopeful imminent arrival of Wilken or Boeve exactly why you might go with Frelick as a temporary stopgap, especially if there isn't a one-year deal out there for someone better?

[Ignitor 4ever]

1 hour ago, Team Canada said:

Agree that in a vacuum you wouldn't go with Frelick at 3B, but isn't a hopeful imminent arrival of Wilken or Boeve exactly why you might go with Frelick as a temporary stopgap, especially if there isn't a one-year deal out there for someone better?

I think you just have to see how the market develops on two fronts.  1) What might the offers be for Devin Williams, i.e. is there a 3B or SS who is young and controllable that we might be able to get in return, kind of like we did with Adames? or 2) How does the 3B/SS free agent market play out?

I like the position the Brewers are in because I think they have flexibility.  We have 1B and 2B covered and we have a guy in Ortiz who can play either 3B or SS at a very high level defensively.  It opens up the options of acquiring a player through trade  or free agency and Arnold has the option of getting the best available SS or 3B.  He is not pigeon-holed into looking at just one position.

[jay87shot]

Murphy hinted at Ashby to the rotation today. That would be fine by me if he can show the stuff and control he had at the end of the year. Maybe we could go Peralta, Myers, Woody, Ashby, trade Civale and Rea and use the savings to go after someone like Shane Bieber on a 1 year deal. That could be a pretty insane rotation if they could stay healthy. With AAA depth that sounds really intrueging.

[BrewerFan]

On 10/5/2024 at 8:17 AM, jay87shot said:

Do we think the Diamondbacks would trade Jordan Lawler or Geraldo Perdomo. For my trade money we match up well with them. We could trade Devin for Perdomo and maybe a second piece. I would love Lawler but I doubt he would be on the table.

I don't know about we, but me does not think AZ would want to make such a trade.

Lawler, I'd assume would cost much more than Black. Probably something like Black AND Pratt. So...I wouldn't be interested.

I doubt they're trading a good defender at all 3 IF positions who's...performed similar to Turang(less SBs) for one year of a close. MAYBE Suarez given their lack of elite BP arms, but I don't think you'll get back an established young core player. 

[BrewerFan]

On 10/7/2024 at 8:55 PM, nate82 said:

Mitchell’s value is not that high.  Ask again at the end of next year if he stays healthy.

Look the White Sox are not trading Robert for someone who has MLB experience maybe a throw in but not as the main return.  The White Sox need to rebuild their farm system and trading Robert for Mitchell doesn’t do that.  If the trade doesn’t start with someone like Pratt then I don’t think you have a deal.  

They can ask that, but do you think anyone is giving a top ~40 prospect and...probably one of our top 2 prospects at this point? This is a guy who just had his second season in which he played a full 100 games, he's getting 12.5M next year and then 2 options at 20M per. 

But you don't need to make a deal for Robert Jr. He doesn't really address your IF issue...so I don't see the White Sox getting anywhere close to what you're suggesting. 

Black might be a reasonable deal, or Boeve...but he has very litlte value at this point.  You're hoping he can get back to a couple years ago and have the 2nd season of his career where he plays over 100 games. 

[BrewerFan]

9 hours ago, jay87shot said:

Murphy hinted at Ashby to the rotation today. That would be fine by me if he can show the stuff and control he had at the end of the year. Maybe we could go Peralta, Myers, Woody, Ashby, trade Civale and Rea and use the savings to go after someone like Shane Bieber on a 1 year deal. That could be a pretty insane rotation if they could stay healthy. With AAA depth that sounds really intrueging.

Why Bieber? He's returning from TJ and will be ready roughly when Gasser is, maybe a month or two earlier, but there's room for error either way. 

Civale was outstanding for us. Rea is a decent arm for...what, 5.5M. I wouldn't go after a guy who is going to miss a big chunk of next year when we're already got Woodruff and Gasser as question marks, plus Ashby/Hall or both if they're in the rotation. 

[Scooterfletcher]

How about Patrick Wisdom on a one year deal after he gets non-tendered to be our 3B stop gap.   Gotta believe one of Wilken or Boeve will make the necessary steps needed to be penciled in for 2026 so really we just need a one year guy imo.  Wisdom sucked this past year but was pretty good the three previous years and he does have power.  

[nate82]

8 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

They can ask that, but do you think anyone is giving a top ~40 prospect and...probably one of our top 2 prospects at this point? This is a guy who just had his second season in which he played a full 100 games, he's getting 12.5M next year and then 2 options at 20M per. 

I said like Pratt not Pratt for Robert.  Basically the White Sox are going to look for guys who are at a maximum in AA for the main piece coming back so someone like Pratt.

Pratt on his own should get you Robert but I don't see the Brewers even entertaining this.  Something like Boeve and two other pieces is something the Brewers would be more comfortable in trading for someone with Robert's injury history.  If I were to trade for Robert I would probably just put him as the main DH and having him play LF when Yelich needs a day off or in RF/CF when Contreras needs a day off. 

I think the Yankees, Giants, Mariners or the Cubs will pay more to get Robert than what the Brewers will.

[BrewerFan]

3 hours ago, Scooterfletcher said:

How about Patrick Wisdom on a one year deal after he gets non-tendered to be our 3B stop gap.   Gotta believe one of Wilken or Boeve will make the necessary steps needed to be penciled in for 2026 so really we just need a one year guy imo.  Wisdom sucked this past year but was pretty good the three previous years and he does have power.  

Eh, he's not a good defender and in his good years he's in the low .200 and a sub .300 OBP. 

If he could put up the numbers for the Brewers that he puts up against the Brewers...yeah, I'd be on board. But he doesn't. 

[jay87shot]

OK this isn't realistic but I call this the 2025 draft offseason. I don't know which teams are Comp a or b so some trade either take off a little or add a little.

1)Devin to Detriot for P Jaden Hamm and a Comp pick

2)Black to Tampa for Austin Shenton and Comp pick.

3)Peguero to Miami for Comp pick 

4)Rea to Colorado for Comp pick P Luis Peralta (Freddie's brother)

5)Civale, Bauers to KC for Comp pick 

6)Payamps to Minny for Comp pick and P Adrian Boroquez

7)Hoby, Wilson to CWS for Comp. pick

8) Sign the best 1/2 year pitcher we can get Scherzer, Verlander, Eovaldi, Buehler, Beiber,  (team options for some)

9) Sign Joe Ross 1/4 and Yoan Moncada 1/5, Patrick Corbin 1/2 (minor league bullpen)

Shenton takes over for Bauers and provides depth at 3rd. Moncada and Sal rotate at 3rd with depth behind (allow pt in of for yeli and Perk)

Rotation= Peralta, 1/2 year, Myers, Woody, Ashby/Ross

Megill, Koenig, Huddy, Mears, Yoho, Hall, Ashby/Ross, Corbin/Uribe/Bauk/Herget/others

That would leave us with like 12 picks in the 1st 3 rounds.

 

[SF70]

9 hours ago, jay87shot said:

OK this isn't realistic but I call this the 2025 draft offseason. I don't know which teams are Comp a or b so some trade either take off a little or add a little.

1)Devin to Detriot for P Jaden Hamm and a Comp pick

2)Black to Tampa for Austin Shenton and Comp pick.

3)Peguero to Miami for Comp pick 

4)Rea to Colorado for Comp pick P Luis Peralta (Freddie's brother)

5)Civale, Bauers to KC for Comp pick 

6)Payamps to Minny for Comp pick and P Adrian Boroquez

7)Hoby, Wilson to CWS for Comp. pick

8) Sign the best 1/2 year pitcher we can get Scherzer, Verlander, Eovaldi, Buehler, Beiber,  (team options for some)

9) Sign Joe Ross 1/4 and Yoan Moncada 1/5, Patrick Corbin 1/2 (minor league bullpen)

Shenton takes over for Bauers and provides depth at 3rd. Moncada and Sal rotate at 3rd with depth behind (allow pt in of for yeli and Perk)

Rotation= Peralta, 1/2 year, Myers, Woody, Ashby/Ross

Megill, Koenig, Huddy, Mears, Yoho, Hall, Ashby/Ross, Corbin/Uribe/Bauk/Herget/others

That would leave us with like 12 picks in the 1st 3 rounds.

 

Love the thought of adding draft-picks for this team’s domestic draft department, but the non-Williams relievers just don’t have much if any trade value.

And the one that does, very likely isn’t desired by a comp A team. Detroit’s strength is their bullpen and besides they aren’t likely in go for it mode anyhow.

Rea to Colorado makes no sense since Colorado also isn’t in go for it mode with 1 year of Rea.

Of the 9 proposals, 2 are possibles, although Tampa is like MKE, likely trusting their draft -skill, and not wanting to part with the pick.

So maybe the Civale/Bauer to KC?, KC traded away their comp to the Nats last trade-deadline for Hunter Harvey who promptly got injured so they might be a little gun shy of repeating.

[jay87shot]

On 10/12/2024 at 8:22 AM, BrewerFan said:

Why Bieber? He's returning from TJ and will be ready roughly when Gasser is, maybe a month or two earlier, but there's room for error either way. 

Civale was outstanding for us. Rea is a decent arm for...what, 5.5M. I wouldn't go after a guy who is going to miss a big chunk of next year when we're already got Woodruff and Gasser as question marks, plus Ashby/Hall or both if they're in the rotation. 

I am just looking for a cheap top of the rotation arm on a 1/2 year deal. I like Beiber because we have some depth as insurance and he was exceptional the couple starts he did make this year. You could probably swap in half a dozen other 1 year type starters instead. I am fine with keeping Civale just thinking we could use that money (with Rea and Williams trade) to get a higher potential arm. I feel like we should have a couple starters for the playoffs we are confident enough in to give us more than 4 innings.

[BrewerFan]

On 10/12/2024 at 8:30 PM, jay87shot said:

OK this isn't realistic but I call this the 2025 draft offseason. I don't know which teams are Comp a or b so some trade either take off a little or add a little.

1)Devin to Detriot for P Jaden Hamm and a Comp pick

2)Black to Tampa for Austin Shenton and Comp pick.

3)Peguero to Miami for Comp pick 

4)Rea to Colorado for Comp pick P Luis Peralta (Freddie's brother)

5)Civale, Bauers to KC for Comp pick 

6)Payamps to Minny for Comp pick and P Adrian Boroquez

7)Hoby, Wilson to CWS for Comp. pick

8) Sign the best 1/2 year pitcher we can get Scherzer, Verlander, Eovaldi, Buehler, Beiber,  (team options for some)

9) Sign Joe Ross 1/4 and Yoan Moncada 1/5, Patrick Corbin 1/2 (minor league bullpen)

Shenton takes over for Bauers and provides depth at 3rd. Moncada and Sal rotate at 3rd with depth behind (allow pt in of for yeli and Perk)

Rotation= Peralta, 1/2 year, Myers, Woody, Ashby/Ross

Megill, Koenig, Huddy, Mears, Yoho, Hall, Ashby/Ross, Corbin/Uribe/Bauk/Herget/others

That would leave us with like 1JH

 

Dude...some of these trades need to make sense for the other team. Why are the White Sox trading a draft pick for two players who will likely be DFA'ed by the Brewers and cost money? Do the Sox and their worst record in the modern era need a middle reliever and an expensive left-handed specialist who is coming off his worst season or do they need their picks(particularly since they're picking 10th at best?

Peguero going to the 100-loss Marlins for a pick

The Rockies a Comp pick and a rookie reliever for a 35-year-old depth guy making 5.5M

KC gets Bauers when they have Pasquantino, a lefty who's younger and cheaper, a better 1B while having Perez who needs to DH. Not sure why they need a negative WAR replacement in Bauers. Civale does make sense as another arm for them, but...that's only if Wacha decides to leave. 

 

I like the Tigers trade...idea. Williams to Detroit, I think they will go for it. But I'd be looking for someone like Matt Vierling back. He can fill in at 3B.

Devin Williams+Joel Payamps for Matt Vierling and Owen Hall. Something like that. 

Finally, we're doing a LOT of work to get rid of Black just to replace him with a bigger question mark and little versatility. Just keep him. If you can package players we don't want for a pick, cool, but again, just upgrading 3B and maybe adding a talented young arm who's a loong way away. But even that's a bit of a stretch. 

 

I would go after a guy like Buehler, but I wouldn't target a half-a-season starter, just a guy I think could bounce back. He was dominant and he should be healthy. Because of those reasons, If I had to, I'd guess he'd cost 1/16 given how good he's been, and he back with the Dodgers...but he's also been awful and you really need that guy like Civale and or Rea if you're going sign a pitcher like him, the high risk, high reward, while  also moving Ashby to the rotation(which is still an experiment and his innings would likely be limited, as would Hall, Woodruff is a big question mark, Gasser could be back, but it won't be for many innings if at all. You're looking at MAYBE a short stint in Sept. 

I also like Moncada. I think he'll get ~10M a year, possibly with a 10M Mutual Option and a 2M buyout. He's a talented player and still young. Teams will roll the dice there. 

 

I just think you're reinventing the wheel. Patrick Corbin?  Look at the MOUNTAIN of arms we've not only got, but we develop each year? Why are we making him a reliever with all the BP arms we've got? I'd rather give the ball to Manfredi late next year and let him figure it out. Perhaps IF the Brewers think he can become a Miley and resurrect his career as a STARTER, a non-GTD deal where he could earn 4-5M if he makes the team could make some sense, but that'd be if the team thought they could get 140 effective innings out of him because they figured something out or change his pitch mix, IDK, he's been pretty bad, but...maybe they think they can work with him. It's been known to happen.

 

We really just need a 2B./3B. I'd LOVE to see the Brewers get a massive bonus pool of...35M, get 12 picks in the top 3 rounds, come out of the draft with 16 top 200 players, but...teams that are rebuilding don't want 30-year-old decent 7th inning relievers for 1st or 2nd rd CBA picks. 

We're also spending quite a bit more. If Moncada signs for 5 million, he'll have chosen us over the line of teams that'd gladly take him at that price. 

 

Again, we don't need a roster overhaul, just some fine-tuning, getting the RIGHT fit in at 3rd, maybe a reclamation project(Buehler is aiming really high and...actually the one arm worth the risk IMO). 

But hey, a lot of...interesting ideas.