2024-25 Misc Offseason News

[markedman5]

38 minutes ago, wallus said:

Plenty of abs at DH. I prefer to give Contreras actual days off so he doesn't fall apart at the end of the season/playoffs again. Hoskins is slated to play first base as we have no other one on the roster. Yelich has mentioned he prefers to play the field. 

You may prefer it but what I said is almost certainly the way it will go…….they will divide it up between those players.

[markedman5]

 

[wallus]

11 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

You may prefer it but what I said is almost certainly the way it will go…….they will divide it up between those players.

Yeah, when it comes to pitching, I trust the FO. When it comes to offense..... not so much.

[brewmann04]

Their the protection for Soto 

[markedman5]

48 minutes ago, wallus said:

Yeah, when it comes to pitching, I trust the FO. When it comes to offense..... not so much.

Certainly entitled to that opinion …….and we had a pretty poor run of it for a few years.

last season we were 6th in baseball in runs scored though so they did ok. 23 wasn’t good but not too bad in 21 or 22. 

[nate82]

11 hours ago, markedman5 said:

 

Alonso basically had to resign with the Mets as other teams were not interested in signing him to a long term contract and losing their pick or so I have been told.  Alonso also preferred to come back to the Mets on a short term deal as he was only looking for a long term deal with a team not named the Mets.  I was told the Angels were interested in Alonso but nothing ever came of the interest.  Brewers had some internal conversations but that is as far as it went.

I wouldn't be surprised if the next CBA removes the losing of a pick for signing QO'd players.  I think the team losing the player will still get a pick and the QO will still be there but the losing of a pick will be removed.  Both the players and teams are not fully happy with the QO system. 

I asked my contacts what they think the Brewers will do at 3B and they said they believe the Brewers will just stick with Ortiz at 3B and move Turang to SS.  They don't expect the Brewers to add anyone in FA for 3B. 

[DR28]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

Alonso basically had to resign with the Mets as other teams were not interested in signing him to a long term contract and losing their pick or so I have been told.  Alonso also preferred to come back to the Mets on a short term deal as he was only looking for a long term deal with a team not named the Mets.  I was told the Angels were interested in Alonso but nothing ever came of the interest.  Brewers had some internal conversations but that is as far as it went.

I wouldn't be surprised if the next CBA removes the losing of a pick for signing QO'd players.  I think the team losing the player will still get a pick and the QO will still be there but the losing of a pick will be removed.  Both the players and teams are not fully happy with the QO system. 

I asked my contacts what they think the Brewers will do at 3B and they said they believe the Brewers will just stick with Ortiz at 3B and move Turang to SS.  They don't expect the Brewers to add anyone in FA for 3B. 

Lovely..... And really don't understand why we would move Platinum award winner off 2B.

[brewers888]

1 hour ago, nate82 said:

Alonso basically had to resign with the Mets as other teams were not interested in signing him to a long term contract and losing their pick or so I have been told.  Alonso also preferred to come back to the Mets on a short term deal as he was only looking for a long term deal with a team not named the Mets.  I was told the Angels were interested in Alonso but nothing ever came of the interest.  Brewers had some internal conversations but that is as far as it went.

I wouldn't be surprised if the next CBA removes the losing of a pick for signing QO'd players.  I think the team losing the player will still get a pick and the QO will still be there but the losing of a pick will be removed.  Both the players and teams are not fully happy with the QO system. 

I asked my contacts what they think the Brewers will do at 3B and they said they believe the Brewers will just stick with Ortiz at 3B and move Turang to SS.  They don't expect the Brewers to add anyone in FA for 3B. 

Of course we aren't adding anyone we are essentially broke especially with the local tv debacle. Until there is a salary cap and I am more than willing to give up a season to get one we will always be at best the little engine that could but that more than likely will never lead to winning a championship.

We are so fortunate to have added a 5'6" infielder with no exit velocity in the Devin deal and are left with completely punchless middle infield after losing Willy. I totally understand those that are just happy having a team to root for but being at this much of a disadvantage has totally ruined the sport for me.

[tmwiese55]

16 minutes ago, DR28 said:

Lovely..... And really don't understand why we would move Platinum award winner off 2B.

Its probably as simple as he's the best defensive SS on the roster and will also likely be a better defensive SS than anyone else they sign now.   Add in that SS is the most important defensive position.  No need to overthink it.   If we didn't have Willy already he likely would've been up and playing SS the last two years and been gold glove caliber there too.  

I still doubt its as locked in as that post says and might depend on if/who they sign for another vet infielder.   But based on that nugget it means the team likely views Turang as better at SS than Ortiz. Which I would also have said too.  But I don't think you could go wrong with either one at SS, depending on who else is possibly signed. 

[JosephC]

No doubt Scott Boras played a large role in the contract that Pete Alonso got.  He likely just ignored Alonso's drop from 4.4 bWAR to 3.2 bWAR to 2.6 bWAR and just thought teams would see Alonso as a 3.5 WAR player then times 9 million per WAR (although the market now seems closer to 8 million per WAR) = 31.5 million per season and next year being age 30 season that he should get a 4 year deal....and then begins with a price even above that so he can negotiate down to a 4 year, 126 million dollar deal which would be the target.

And Boras would obviously be taking the higher bWAR numbers.  fWAR for Alonso over the last three years has gone from 3.8, 2.8, 2.1.

It's a nice deal for the Mets as the average of the projection services have Alonso as being roughly a 3 WAR player next year.  10 million per WAR is certainly not a outrageous price for a big market team like the Mets who also have an owner that likes to throw money around.

But if you are the rest of the league, Alonso was a 2.35 bWAR/fWAR player in 2024 and next year is his age 30 season...so as a rule of thumb one should start subtracting WAR for years following 2025.   It's not at all crazy to think the rest of the league sees Alonso as something like a 3 year, 60 million dollar player.  I was anticipating a lot more than that when I started looking at the numbers, but the data is what it is.  Alonso is on a unmistakable downward trend and last year he was only a 2.35 bWAR/fWAR player.  Projection services have him bouncing back up to about 3 WAR next year.  We'll have to wait to see what happens.

 

 

[nate82]

1 hour ago, tmwiese55 said:

I still doubt its as locked in as that post says and might depend on if/who they sign for another vet infielder.   But based on that nugget it means the team likely views Turang as better at SS than Ortiz. Which I would also have said too.  But I don't think you could go wrong with either one at SS, depending on who else is possibly signed. 

The people I talked to are non Brewers people.  I only asked their opinion on what they thought the Brewers would do.  These are just some people that I know who work in front offices in MLB.

[markedman5]

1 hour ago, tmwiese55 said:

Its probably as simple as he's the best defensive SS on the roster and will also likely be a better defensive SS than anyone else they sign now.   Add in that SS is the most important defensive position.  No need to overthink it.   If we didn't have Willy already he likely would've been up and playing SS the last two years and been gold glove caliber there too.  

I still doubt its as locked in as that post says and might depend on if/who they sign for another vet infielder.   But based on that nugget it means the team likely views Turang as better at SS than Ortiz. Which I would also have said too.  But I don't think you could go wrong with either one at SS, depending on who else is possibly signed. 

I actually think Ortiz is the best defensive SS……but if Durbins best spot is 2nd they certainly could go that way.

[nate82]

1 hour ago, JosephC said:

But if you are the rest of the league, Alonso was a 2.35 bWAR/fWAR player in 2024 and next year is his age 30 season...so as a rule of thumb one should start subtracting WAR for years following 2025.   It's not at all crazy to think the rest of the league sees Alonso as something like a 3 year, 60 million dollar player.  I was anticipating a lot more than that when I started looking at the numbers, but the data is what it is.  Alonso is on an unmistakable downward trend and last year he was only a 2.35 bWAR/fWAR player.  Projection services have him bouncing back up to about 3 WAR next year.  We'll have to wait to see what happens.

My friends called him a Mo Vaughn signing to whoever signs him long term.

[markedman5]

3 minutes ago, nate82 said:

My friends called him a Mo Vaughn signing to whoever signs him long term.

Ouch

[markedman5]

 

[brewers888]

6 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

 

Its pitiful that we won't even make a move like this and seem content with Durbin as an everyday option.

[Jopal78]

5 hours ago, nate82 said:

My friends called him a Mo Vaughn signing to whoever signs him long term.

Hmmm, I’d like to know what your friends do for these other clubs. They certainly don’t know their baseball history with comments like that.
Mo Vaughn was pretty damn good for the Angels, likely on a Hall of Fame track, until he suffered what ostensibly was a career ending biceps tendon injury after the 2000 season. Vaughn was so good in fact that despite missing the entire 2001 season recovering from surgery the Angels were still able to trade him to the Mets for Kevin Appier. 

[umphrey]

Moncada was kinda the last interesting guy out there I was keeping an eye on. His signing elsewhere is the end of the offseason for me. 

[wibadgers23]

We really aren't going to spend any money this winter, are we?

[markedman5]

1 hour ago, Jopal78 said:

Hmmm, I’d like to know what your friends do for these other clubs. They certainly don’t know their baseball history with comments like that.
Mo Vaughn was pretty damn good for the Angels, likely on a Hall of Fame track, until he suffered what ostensibly was a career ending biceps tendon injury after the 2000 season. Vaughn was so good in fact that despite missing the entire 2001 season recovering from surgery the Angels were still able to trade him to the Mets for Kevin Appier. 

His WAR wasn’t impressive in the years after he signed that last contract though …….really fell off from the Boston years.

[sveumrules]

Moncada 2019
559 PA | 139 wRC+ | 5.2 WAR
84 BB+ | 120 K+
124 AVG+ | 125 ISO+

[Even adjusting for heightened leaguewide offense in 2019, Yoan was clearly a big beneficiary of the juiced ball posting career best hit and power numbers.]

Moncada 2021
616 PA | 120 wRC+ | 3.7 WAR
161 BB+ | 111 K+
107 AVG+ | 87 ISO+

[2021 was fine on the surface but was almost entirely propped up by a crazy high outlier walk rate as Yoan’s hit fell off and his power cratered to below league average levels.]

Moncada 2022-24
835 PA | 88 wRC+ | 2.2 WAR
84 BB+ | 123 K+
97 AVG+ | 96 ISO+

[Last three have been injury marred blah. I’m not sure there’s much left to really bounce back to at this point.]

Maybe they get 350-400 PAs of league average-ish production?

[Playing Catch]

21 hours ago, DR28 said:

Lovely..... And really don't understand why we would move Platinum award winner off 2B.

I like Turang at 2nd, too, but it probably doesn't make much of a difference, team-wise. If it ends up that Turang gets most of the starts at short, it probably means that the gap between Durbin's defense at 3rd and 2nd is big enough that the Brewers prefer him to play at 2nd, where he's supposed to be a 55-60 defender.

I would imagine, too, that if Turang doesn't improve his hitting versus lefties, he can find himself falling into platoon-player territory.

[nate82]

14 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Hmmm, I’d like to know what your friends do for these other clubs. They certainly don’t know their baseball history with comments like that.
Mo Vaughn was pretty damn good for the Angels, likely on a Hall of Fame track, until he suffered what ostensibly was a career ending biceps tendon injury after the 2000 season. Vaughn was so good in fact that despite missing the entire 2001 season recovering from surgery the Angels were still able to trade him to the Mets for Kevin Appier. 

What do you mean they don't know their history?  They called it a Mo Vaughn signing which implies neither a good or bad signing just a player that they thought he would emulate if a team signed him to a long term contract.  I was thinking more Ryan Howard but they didn't think Alonso would drop as fast as Howard did so they said Mo Vaughn. 

You read way too much into what was actually said.

[TURBO]

Kind of looks like the Cubs are no longer in on Bregman?

 

Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 in Houston reports that the Astros have increased their initial offer to free agent third baseman Alex Bregman.

 

The longstanding offer that the Astros had on the table was believed to be for six years and $156 million, so it stands to reason that whatever they’re offering now is at least a step above that. Alexander cautions that the improved offer is still unlikely to get a deal done with Bregman. The Tigers still seem to be their main competition here, and the only team that’s seemingly willing to give Bregman a six-year contract while the Red Sox may have pivoted and have been discussing a trade for Nolan Arenado with the Cardinals.

 

Source: Ari Alexander

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

15 hours ago, brewers888 said:

Its pitiful that we won't even make a move like this and seem content with Durbin as an everyday option.

Ah yes, we've reached the "pissed because my team didn't sign a guy who has been bad since 2019" part of the offseason. That's like #5 on the 7 stages of grief.