Brewers Reportedly Concerned about Payroll

[BrewerFan]

4 hours ago, SF70 said:

Losing Mears won’t matter at all, and Megill can be replaced by Uribe.

Losing BP depth definitely hurts and you're just... casually throwing our closer.. who threw pretty damn well in the playoffs and now has all off-season to recover and a very good SU man away for... minimal savings. 

You don't trade your closer on a whim because you have Uribe. Urbie is a SU man. ON top of that, you're just trading away the 7th inning reliever to save 1.5-1.6(his projected arbitration numbers by spotract and MLB.com). 

I think that will matter a lot. A reliever with a Whip under 1.00 is... pretty good. 

4 hours ago, SF70 said:

I want Megill traded because of injury concerns. Saving 4.4 million is an ancillary benefit.

7 1/3 IP 3H 1BB 12Ks in the playoffs, came back last year and was his usual self.

We're going to trade away that 4.4M for what? 

I don't think Mears makes sense, but... fine. We're going to do this just in case? In case maybe he has elbow problems? They said it was a grade 1 strain. He came back. If the Brewers are dumping their closer because he MIGHT get hurt and they want to save 4.4M, that'd be ridiculous. They just had a playoff run that should result in them ADDING payroll, not trading their most important pitchers(or at least their Ace and their Closer). 

Quote

The team is as good as there is in this game at finding good bullpen arms and they have starter arm options internally that they can use throughout the season there plus Yoho and Bukauskas, who was a nice leverage arm before his lat injury. 

Bukauskas? The guy who pitched 6 innings for the Brewers... in LOW leverage situations for us in 2024 and then has missed most of the last two years? That's a guy we're seriously citing as we talk about BP depth and dumping Megill? 

Yoho was terrible. He should get better. I don't want him taking over for Megill. 

Just because the Brewers can find solid pitchers doesn't mean you just toss away a guy who throws 100 wtih a plus knuckle curve and can get the last 3 outs of the game.

 

5 hours ago, SF70 said:

That’s $6.4M that can be used at the trade-deadline. If the team needs to shed more, then Peralta can get traded for the best return, that saves another $8M, provided the return is pre-arby or prospects.

Potentially $14.4M saved less $2.4M for 3 pre-arby replacements.

And who do you suppose we'll trade for at the deadline... and what would the propsect capital be... just to get right back to where we are right now?

Megill-4.2M Elite closer
Peralta-8M top 5 Cy Young Voting
Mears-One of our highest leverage relievers last year(behind just Uribe and Megill)-1.5

I have 13.5M So a savings of ~11.2 so we can... come back at the deadline and add players and keep the payroll where it was last year. 

 

If we're trading these guys for money... then I'd have to change my opinion and say the Brewers really are not trying to win a WS. That would be the definition of just trying to hang around each year and be good enough to be in the mix, NOT good enough to win.

The added revenue from the playoffs and we can't even maintain our payroll?

And we add a Shelby Miller or a.. whoever, Mark Canha. But we mostly replace them with hope. Hope that we can find another couple pitchers who can produce like these guys. If something happens to one of our existing pitchers in the pen, we are REALLY in trouble. You're also kinda making the decision for the coaches that Ashby will not be a starter. There's really no way you could take another arm out of the pen. 

You need more than one dominant reliever. We rode our Pen too hard as it was last year.  Mears was outstanding until you got late in the year and he wore down. But he was the guy coming in and putting out fires in the 5th, 6th...whenever needed. 

I thought we should be looking to ADD to the pen. Not subtract 2 of our top 3 HL relievers. 

 

This would be EXTREMELY disheartening. The layoff run should have added at LEAST 20M to the Brewers revenue(conservatively). 

If the argument is that we can get exactly who we want for Peralta, I could live with that, but this team doing this to dump salary would be a gut punch. And you really can't just replace pitchers like them with no drop off. WE're pretty good... I don't see who is going to step in with with respect to J.B. Bukauskas

[SF70]

19 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

Losing BP depth definitely hurts and you're just... casually throwing our closer.. who threw pretty damn well in the playoffs and now has all off-season to recover and a very good SU man away for... minimal savings. 

You don't trade your closer on a whim because you have Uribe. Urbie is a SU man. ON top of that, you're just trading away the 7th inning reliever to save 1.5-1.6(his projected arbitration numbers by spotract and MLB.com). 

I think that will matter a lot. A reliever with a Whip under 1.00 is... pretty good. 

7 1/3 IP 3H 1BB 12Ks in the playoffs, came back last year and was his usual self.

We're going to trade away that 4.4M for what? 

I don't think Mears makes sense, but... fine. We're going to do this just in case? In case maybe he has elbow problems? They said it was a grade 1 strain. He came back. If the Brewers are dumping their closer because he MIGHT get hurt and they want to save 4.4M, that'd be ridiculous. They just had a playoff run that should result in them ADDING payroll, not trading their most important pitchers(or at least their Ace and their Closer). 

Bukauskas? The guy who pitched 6 innings for the Brewers... in LOW leverage situations for us in 2024 and then has missed most of the last two years? That's a guy we're seriously citing as we talk about BP depth and dumping Megill? 

Yoho was terrible. He should get better. I don't want him taking over for Megill. 

Just because the Brewers can find solid pitchers doesn't mean you just toss away a guy who throws 100 wtih a plus knuckle curve and can get the last 3 outs of the game.

 

And who do you suppose we'll trade for at the deadline... and what would the propsect capital be... just to get right back to where we are right now?

Megill-4.2M Elite closer
Peralta-8M top 5 Cy Young Voting
Mears-One of our highest leverage relievers last year(behind just Uribe and Megill)-1.5

I have 13.5M So a savings of ~11.2 so we can... come back at the deadline and add players and keep the payroll where it was last year. 

 

If we're trading these guys for money... then I'd have to change my opinion and say the Brewers really are not trying to win a WS. That would be the definition of just trying to hang around each year and be good enough to be in the mix, NOT good enough to win.

The added revenue from the playoffs and we can't even maintain our payroll?

And we add a Shelby Miller or a.. whoever, Mark Canha. But we mostly replace them with hope. Hope that we can find another couple pitchers who can produce like these guys. If something happens to one of our existing pitchers in the pen, we are REALLY in trouble. You're also kinda making the decision for the coaches that Ashby will not be a starter. There's really no way you could take another arm out of the pen. 

You need more than one dominant reliever. We rode our Pen too hard as it was last year.  Mears was outstanding until you got late in the year and he wore down. But he was the guy coming in and putting out fires in the 5th, 6th...whenever needed. 

I thought we should be looking to ADD to the pen. Not subtract 2 of our top 3 HL relievers. 

 

This would be EXTREMELY disheartening. The layoff run should have added at LEAST 20M to the Brewers revenue(conservatively). 

If the argument is that we can get exactly who we want for Peralta, I could live with that, but this team doing this to dump salary would be a gut punch. And you really can't just replace pitchers like them with no drop off. WE're pretty good... I don't see who is going to step in with with respect to J.B. Bukauskas

Mears is EASILY replaced.

And yes I do want to sell Megill and yes it’s 100% because of injury concerns. That’s his second flexor Strain and I don’t want to see another elbow problem while he’s with the Brewers. 

IF Bukauskas gets his stuff back, he’s a great bullpen option and Yoho improved his command after he was optioned in August and should be another great pen option. They also has myriad starter options they can move to the pen.

 

[BrewerFan]

8 hours ago, Outlander said:

Ken Rosenthal reportedly knows something about finance. As discussed when Woodruff accepted the qualifying offer the Brewers have quite a bit of payroll flexibility even after he accepted. It's hard to find short term deals for quality players but if they are out there the Brewers can afford it. One year deals like Woodruff and Peralta is not a payroll concern for the Brewers. If the Brewers get blown away with an offer for Peralta they should certainly consider it but there isn't financial pressure to trade him.

Yeah, I'm giving the Brewers the benefit of the doubt here... 

They can trade Peralta(that's me giving permission🙃) and I'd be fine with it. IF the trade made sense and you just... have to make it. 

But I agree, I can't imagine they would be forced to do this. 

I'm just kinda stunned people are acting like some of these guys are so replaceable. They're pretty damn important arms. Like... keys to the Brewers success and we're going to trade them so we can upgrade probably the same position at the deadline? 

It makes no sense. 

 

I saw a trade proposal that just said 7 ridiculous trades we'd like to see and then they ask, "who'd say no," and... it's everyone, but personally... I'd be on board for this trade;

 

Quote

 

Brewers get: 2B Brandon Lowe, 1B/DH Yandy Díaz, LHP Cam Caminiti (Braves’ No. 1 prospect), OF Diego Tornes (Braves’ No. 14 prospect)

Braves get: RHP Freddy Peralta

Rays get: SS Joey Ortiz, SS Tate Southisene (Braves’ No. 3 prospect), RHP Blake Burkhalter (Braves’ No. 11 prospect)

 

Don't love adding Ortiz as I still think he's better than he was, but... Lowe, Diaz, you add to the offense and you get that pitching prospect who'll be there in a couple years as a potential ace. I liked Caminiti. 

 

Anyway, as a fan, show me a trade like this, the prized prospect(and I think highly of Caminiti). 

But I don't see how you sell just flat out dumping payroll and I don't think they will. 

[BrewerFan]

39 minutes ago, SF70 said:

Mears is EASILY replaced.

And yes I do want to sell Megill and yes it’s 100% because of injury concerns. That’s his second flexor Strain and I don’t want to see another elbow problem while he’s with the Brewers. 

IF Bukauskas gets his stuff back, he’s a great bullpen option and Yoho improved his command after he was optioned in August and should be another great pen option. They also has myriad starter options they can move to the pen.

 

Ok. Well... you presented it as saving money and that's foolish IMO... and I can't imagine the Brewers doing that. 

Mears is NOT easily replaceable. You can just say he is, but... he's not. He was our #3 BP option and they used him A LOT. He wore down a little. 

But... I don't care. 

This was a discussion about the Brewers dumping payroll so they could add it and a convoluted approach at team building. Literally ANY pitcher is at risk for a flexor strain at any time. Megill was fine. We need him. 

This whole 'we'll just figure it out,' approach, we have MOST of the team coming back. We were in the NLCS. 

I'll take a 4M dollar risk that our closer will stay healthy so that we don't have to take Uribe and pigeon hole him in the 9th inning. 

Yoho was terrible and I honestly don't know what to say about talking about Megills injury but then looking to count on Bukauskas... who you said was pitching well as "leverage" reliever before he got hurt. That'll be 2 full years when next year opens up. He's more likely to be off the 40 man than to be on it, but we're going to trust him in the back of the pen!?!

[Ewitkows1]

If we do need to trim $8m from they payroll, I'd rather they trade Vaughn instead. I think he's getting like 7.5 . We have 3 or 4 draft picks that could fill in or move Collins there for 2026. I don't trust Vaughn to repeat what he did the 2nd half.

[Frisbee Slider]

36 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

Megill was fine. We need him. 

Megill will be 32 years old next week. He has been very good and seems like a leader in the clubhouse, too. 
At the same time, 6’8” max effort relievers should be expected to regress in their thirties.

I am all for keeping Megill. At most we are talking about 47 effective innings, though. If another team wants to overpay for someone with the ‘proven closer’ label, I’d be open to listening.

I expect Uribe to get the most saves for Milwaukee in 2026. I also do not think Milwaukee is proactively seeking to trim payroll.

[SF70]

1 hour ago, BrewerFan said:

Ok. Well... you presented it as saving money and that's foolish IMO... and I can't imagine the Brewers doing that. 

Mears is NOT easily replaceable. You can just say he is, but... he's not. He was our #3 BP option and they used him A LOT. He wore down a little. 

But... I don't care. 

This was a discussion about the Brewers dumping payroll so they could add it and a convoluted approach at team building. Literally ANY pitcher is at risk for a flexor strain at any time. Megill was fine. We need him. 

This whole 'we'll just figure it out,' approach, we have MOST of the team coming back. We were in the NLCS. 

I'll take a 4M dollar risk that our closer will stay healthy so that we don't have to take Uribe and pigeon hole him in the 9th inning. 

Yoho was terrible and I honestly don't know what to say about talking about Megills injury but then looking to count on Bukauskas... who you said was pitching well as "leverage" reliever before he got hurt. That'll be 2 full years when next year opens up. He's more likely to be off the 40 man than to be on it, but we're going to trust him in the back of the pen!?!

Mears didn’t even make our NLCS roster. He regressed badly late-season especially with his command. If the choice is between Mears and Yoho in 2026 I’m taking Yoho.

I loved Bukauskas’s stuff prior to his lat injury, and IF (IF) his stuff is all the way back he will be a valuable pen arm for this team.

[TURBO]

...and water is wet.

[rickh150]

I don’t expect Megill back. They’ll get a premium for his arm and avoid the question of who is closing at season’s start. I also can see Mears traded since he was left off the NLCS. Super simple thinking, but rarely do we have even 5 of he same bullpen guys back from the last year.  We like to have cheap arms there, and I don’t think that changes. 

[BrewerFan]

5 hours ago, SF70 said:

Mears didn’t even make our NLCS roster. He regressed badly late-season especially with his command. If the choice is between Mears and Yoho in 2026 I’m taking Yoho.

I loved Bukauskas’s stuff prior to his lat injury, and IF (IF) his stuff is all the way back he will be a valuable pen arm for this team.

Mearns "didn't even make our NLCS roster."  We faced a LHed heavy team and he did wear down. But he DID have an ERA under 3 most of the year and a WHIP under 1.00.

 

But... fine. There's zero indication Yoho or Bukauskas are to be relied on, but SO easy to replace a guy who went through about 80% of the year with an ERA in the mid 2s and a Whip under 1. If you JUST want to go off of the end of the year, lets use Yoho's MLB performance... or again, Bukaskas's lack of one. 

Megill? How easy it is to replace him?

 

[Thurston Fluff]

20 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

I'll take a 4M dollar risk that our closer will stay healthy so that we don't have to take Uribe and pigeon hole him in the 9th inning. 

 

I saw another post saying something similar about him being a setup man and now we'd somehow be pigeon holing Uribe in the 9th. Where did that come from? Uribe has shown he's more than ready, willing, and able to close. He was being groomed to be one since the minors. It's been obvious for a while that he's the heir apparent closer. There's an argument to be made he'd be our best option now even with Megill on the roster.

That doesn't mean I'm for trading Megill. With him we have one of the top back ends of the pen in the game. The ability to shorten the game for a team like the Brewers for less than $5 million is hard to pass up. It just means claiming Uribe is somehow not ready or capable of being a top end closer seems way off to me.

If the Brewers want to trade from the bullpen to save money Ashby would be the one IMHO. He's on a team friendly deal if he's a starter but not so friendly as a reliever. If, and it's a big if, the brewers think his days as a starter here are over he could be traded to a team that views him as a starter. A cost controlled starter on a team friendly contract would probably bring back more than Megill would as well. With Hall and a decent number of young starters who could be used as multi inning relievers Ashby is a luxury we can replace. It would also give Ashby a chance to be a starter somewhere. He seems like a guy who could net us a high ceiling prospect who doesn't need 40 man roster protection plus some more immediate help all while saving us money. 

[Brian]

Yet BF has an article titled, "No, The Brewers' Payroll Is Not A Problem" 

[Frisbee Slider]

1 hour ago, BrewerFan said:

Megill? How easy it is to replace him?

 

Megill’s intangible leadership is likely more difficult to replace than his on-field performance as measured by ERA+.

The Brewers have had 61 single season performances of 153 ERA+ from relief pitchers with 40+ IP since 1970. Two from Megill, the # 43 and #60 best seasons.

47 relievers produced a 153 ERA+ last season (over 40+ IP) across MLB.

Megill is very good but not that rare. 

 

 

 

[trwi7]

20 hours ago, SF70 said:

Mears didn’t even make our NLCS roster.

And Brandon Lockridge did.  Yet if neither of them was on our team and you had a chance to trade for one of them at the same cost, which one would you take?

[SF70]

13 minutes ago, trwi7 said:

And Brandon Lockridge did.  Yet if neither of them was on our team and you had a chance to trade for one of them at the same cost, which one would you take?

Lockridge. 

He has options and can get stashed in AAA for depth. Mears isn’t good enough to overcome the fact he has zero (0) options left.

[trwi7]

24 minutes ago, SF70 said:

Lockridge. 

He has options and can get stashed in AAA for depth. Mears isn’t good enough to overcome the fact he has zero (0) options left.

lol you can literally find Lockridge on minor league deals all the time for depth.  Some on this board are so obsessed with players with options it's like they don't even care if the player with options is even decent at baseball.

[SF70]

4 minutes ago, trwi7 said:

lol you can literally find Lockridge on minor league deals all the time for depth.  Some on this board are so obsessed with players with options it's like they don't even care if the player with options is even decent at baseball.

Lockridge is great OF depth for teams like MKE that value speed, defense & baserunning. He was also needed in a big-way late last season when Chourio (IL), Collins (Paternity), and Perkins (Bereavement) were all down at the same time. 

 

[trwi7]

5 minutes ago, SF70 said:

Lockridge is great OF depth for teams like MKE that value speed, defense & baserunning. He was also needed in a big-way late last season when Chourio (IL), Collins (Paternity), and Perkins (Bereavement) were all down at the same time. 

 

So is Daz Cameron and we got him for nothing..  And despite how much we "needed" him, he managed a whopping 53 plate appearances in 20 regular season games, with well below average offense in those games and got one start in the playoffs, went 0-2 and was a defensive replacement otherwise.  Something that any defensive replacement outfielder could do, whether they have options or not.

[markedman5]

2 hours ago, SF70 said:

Lockridge. 

He has options and can get stashed in AAA for depth. Mears isn’t good enough to overcome the fact he has zero (0) options left.

I doubt Matt Arnold or any competent GM would agree with you.

lockridge needs options to have value………closers who throw 100 mph and have a plus knuckle curve don’t…….

[SF70]

Just now, markedman5 said:

I doubt Matt Arnold or any competent GM would agree with you.

lockridge needs options to have value………closers who throw 100 mph and have a plus knuckle curve don’t…….

I was talking about Mears, not Megill. And Mears regressed after the all-star break. It could have been he got overworked and wore down, but his command was poor late-season. Maybe the team thinks an offseason of rest and Mears will be good to go next season, we’ll see.

[SF70]

1 hour ago, trwi7 said:

So is Daz Cameron and we got him for nothing..  And despite how much we "needed" him, he managed a whopping 53 plate appearances in 20 regular season games, with well below average offense in those games and got one start in the playoffs, went 0-2 and was a defensive replacement otherwise.  Something that any defensive replacement outfielder could do, whether they have options or not.

Lockridge is one of the fastest players in baseball, and can play CF defense. to MKE’s standards. The Brewers felt that important enough to give up a real prospect. I’m guessing Chourio’s hamstring injury made acquiring Lockridge necessary with also the team knowing of Collins upcoming paternity and possibly of Perkins mother being sick helping that decision along.

 

[trwi7]

36 minutes ago, SF70 said:

The Brewers felt that important enough to give up a real prospect.

Yeah, I'm guessing clearing Cortes's salary was more of the reason for giving up an actual prospect than anything Lockridge can do on a baseball field.

[SF70]

27 minutes ago, trwi7 said:

Yeah, I'm guessing clearing Cortes's salary was more of the reason for giving up an actual prospect than anything Lockridge can do on a baseball field.

I’m guessing it was more Lockridge than salary relief, but whatever. 

[trwi7]

"You have a pitcher that wasn't good for you, costs quite a bit of money and you don't really have a use for anymore.  We'll take him, since we need some depth but we're going to need you to include a prospect to offset some of the risk/salary we're taking."

"We really, really, really like Brandon Lockridge and are willing to give up our top signing from the international signing period a year ago to get him."

Which one of those sounds more likely?

Honestly, just look at the Shelby Miller trade.  We took Montgomery so we didn't have to give anything up for Miller and honestly, we probably don't do the Miller trade if we didn't clear Cortes's salary as well.

[SF70]

18 minutes ago, trwi7 said:

"You have a pitcher that wasn't good for you, costs quite a bit of money and you don't really have a use for anymore.  We'll take him, since we need some depth but we're going to need you to include a prospect to offset some of the risk/salary we're taking."

"We really, really, really like Brandon Lockridge and are willing to give up our top signing from the international signing period a year ago to get him."

Which one of those sounds more likely?

Honestly, just look at the Shelby Miller trade.  We took Montgomery so we didn't have to give anything up for Miller and honestly, we probably don't do the Miller trade if we didn't clear Cortes's salary as well.

More likely?

The team liking Lockridge. Do you remember how excited Murphy was getting Lockridge?