Offseason Priorities

[wallus]

Rank the offseason priorities for the team. Here's mine...

1. #2/#3 starter. I think the team was hoping Woodruff would be that guy last season but he got injured. That made them overpay for May. Ultimately it worked out but I am hoping the team will focus on spending any payroll money they have before the season starts. With the wildcard and so many teams not selling, the trade deadline is a mess as a buyer. 

2. Relief pitching. A number of guys will likely not be back from the WS team (sounds good to say that phrase). Senzatella, Romero, and I guess Woodruff counts on that. It would be nice to get another guy for the pen.

3. Catcher. I would be fine with an El Gary reunion or maybe pickup Tyler Stephenson. Stephenson screams Brewer as a guy that struggles with framing, can hit a little bit and actually has better away stats.

What say you?

[long ball]

1) Resolve first base. Maybe it’s as simple at Bauers accepting the QO. If he declines, the situation gets more interesting. I’m personally fine with transitioning to Vaughn and a lefty complement, but Bauers was our best hitter last year. Losing him would be a big loss. I don’t think I’d advocate for a multi year deal with Bauers though. 
 

2) I think we need to add a starter or 2. I kinda think there’s a non-zero chance Sproat gets Tobias Myers’d. If he does, we definitely need 2 starters. I wouldn’t go so far as to say we need to add a guy who can start playoff games though. Maybe it’s a veteran starter in the Brett Anderson or Jose Quintana mold. Or maybe it’s an undervalued minor leaguer like Drohan. Or maybe a former prospect whose star has faded like Harrison. I know we have 9 SP on the 40 man already, but who knows what you’ll get from Priester and Gordon/Crow are more depth guys to me. And if they want to try Ashby, hall, or Patrick back in the rotation then it’s shifting the hole to the pen. This might involve trading guys off the big league roster like Ortiz or Mitchell, 
3) extend Made. It won’t be cheap, but I’d just love to have him locked it. I know he will basically be on the same time frame for team control as Chourio, but it would be nice to have him stretched out a little longer (assuming no change in the 6 full years of service time to reach free agency)

 

I’ll just mention it, I’m not interested in extending Contreras, but I also don’t want them to trade him. Let 2027 play out and be ok with losing him in free agency  

 

[cragi]

1 extending Contreras. Not the $100M+ deals being thrown around, but see if something is available below that

2 solving the future at catcher. either a blockbuster prospect deal or a high draft pick.

3 extending prospects and young pitchers. Made, Burke, Payne, Adamczewski. Harrison, Gasser, Priester, etc. Find younger guys who bring value and extend them before they hit the market.

[Mr Southpaw]

1. Sign Sir William   3 years/$75 mill with an additional 4th year with a team option at $25 mill with a team with a $5 mill buyout.  Either 3/75+5 or 4/100.

2. Extend Made. Switch hitting middle infielder that can run and built like a linebacker don't come around very often.

3. Listen to offers on our other talents.  Andrew Vaughn (assuming Jake Bauer stays), Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, Joey Ortiz can all go, but only for an great deal. 

I think our pitching will work itself out with Priester and Zerpa coming back and Sproats and Drohan improving with age.  We also know that Harrison can pitch well, we just need to get him over the line. Mis,Henderson and Gasser are a good 1,2,3 Priester at 4 and Harrison at 5.  Maybe Woody on a cheap contract and limit his pitch count until September.

[TURBO]

1 hour ago, cragi said:

1 extending Contreras. Not the $100M+ deals being thrown around, but see if something is available below that

2 solving the future at catcher. either a blockbuster prospect deal or a high draft pick.

3 extending prospects and young pitchers. Made, Burke, Payne, Adamczewski. Harrison, Gasser, Priester, etc. Find younger guys who bring value and extend them before they hit the market.

1.  There will be nothing available below that 100 million mark you mention.  To offer him any less will be disrespectful.  My guess is he will want a 5-6 year deal, probably around 125-150 million.

2. Extending Contreras would solve our future at catcher, at least our near future, say 3 years until he has to DH the last two years of his extension. 

3. You simply can't extend all those guys, and extending a guy like Priester would be a major gamble.  We have to see how he bounces back after a lost injured season.  Hopefully we learned a lesson form the Yelich extension when he had that severe knee injury that we ignored.  I doubt we extend multiple outfielders (Adamczewski and Payne) due to the fact we have already extended Chourio and Lara.

[Team Canada]

52 minutes ago, TURBO said:

1.  There will be nothing available below that 100 million mark you mention.  To offer him any less will be disrespectful.  My guess is he will want a 5-6 year deal, probably around 125-150 million.

Yeah, there is no way Contreras is signing a 3 year deal. Think about it from his perspective, why in the world would he? Other teams will offer him more for sure.

[KCBrewerfan34]

If Bauers declines his QO what about taking a swing at Sato ?? Maybe he wants to win :) 

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

2 hours ago, Team Canada said:

Yeah, there is no way Contreras is signing a 3 year deal. Think about it from his perspective, why in the world would he? Other teams will offer him more for sure.

Add 4/100 extension to his current deal, with an option for a fifth year, and a $10 million buyout.  That would make the deal either 5/124.5 in total or 6/139.5

I think j that would be fair to both sides.

at 5/124.5, William sets a new AAV record for catchers.

that final year (year 6) would most likely not be exercised…  this would give us 3 years with Bill at catcher, and allows him to continue to be the leader of our young pitching stuff during this next 3-5 year window

 

[cragi]

3 hours ago, TURBO said:

You simply can't extend all those guys, and extending a guy like Priester would be a major gamble. 

Right. I was just saying we need to hunt for young, controllable value. Maybe Henderson. These were a list of targets

[sdbrewfan]

I don't think the Brewers are interested in signing Made or any one still in the minors until the lockout is over.  That would force them to be placed on the 40 man roster.

[long ball]

44 minutes ago, sdbrewfan said:

I don't think the Brewers are interested in signing Made or any one still in the minors until the lockout is over.  That would force them to be placed on the 40 man roster.

I’m one of those who mentioned a made extension. 
 

I don’t think the brewers will do anything notable before the lock out either way. Just the stuff they have to do like resolve the Bauers QO, tender/non tender decisions, and rule 5 protection. 
 

id clarify for my own list specifically though, that I don’t care whether a made extension happens before opening day or not. If it happens along the same time line as Pratt/Lara that’s fine with me too, but a pre-debut extension is what I’m asking for (or a Konnor griffin style deal where he’s extended shortly after his debut)

[KCBrewerfan34]

Giving pitchers long term deals is just not great business, especially for small market teams. 

[Lucas O.]

Biggest offseason priority in my mind is to not let sentimentality get in the way of continuing to operate the team in the best/most efficient manner even if it means making move/moves that aren't super popular with the fanbase in the moment.

[sdbrewfan]

I agree 100%.

[Outlander]

16 hours ago, KCBrewerfan34 said:

Giving pitchers long term deals is just not great business, especially for small market teams. 

The one time they did it recently things didn't look good for a while and then they won the World Series. The Brewers don't sign longer term extensions with young pitchers often but pick their spots and has worked out in the most recent past with Gallardo, Peralta and Ashby.

[wntrtxn21]

Getting a #2/3 pitcher should be the top priority. Probably has to be in a major trade, but certainly doable given the Brewers' farm system. Miz/Henderson/trade/Gasser with plenty of options for the #5 spot. The pen looks good and no need to add to what's already there.  Megil/Ashby/Uribe/Hall/Patrick/Drohan/re-sign Romero/#6 starter.

Extend Contrares: 4/$100M with a 5th year on mutual option. 

I just hope the League and players' union can come to terms and there is baseball in 2027!

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

1 hour ago, wntrtxn21 said:

Getting a #2/3 pitcher should be the top priority. Probably has to be in a major trade, but certainly doable given the Brewers' farm system. Miz/Henderson/trade/Gasser with plenty of options for the #5 spot. The pen looks good and no need to add to what's already there.  Megil/Ashby/Uribe/Hall/Patrick/Drohan/re-sign Romero/#6 starter.

Extend Contrares: 4/$100M with a 5th year on mutual option. 

I just hope the League and players' union can come to terms and there is baseball in 2027!

What about Priester, Harrison, and Sproat?

all had struggles at different times, but Priester looked great last year and Harrison looked awesome in the first half, while Sproat has the measurables and just needs to put it together.