Brewcrew82’s 2027 Payroll Blueprint:

[Brewcrew82]

-Jake Bauers, accepts QO at $23.15M

-Jesus Made, signed to 9 year $135M extension. 

-Joey Ortiz, traded to the Seattle Mariners for Emerson Hancock 

-Andrew Vaughn, traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a lottery ticket

-Antonio Senzatela, resigned at 1 year $3.5M

This is how I could realistically see them "running it back". Jake Bauers accepts the QO, which leads to them trading Vaughn and going with the younger replacement in Adams. Made signed to a pre-debut extension, which leads to them trading Ortiz for an established controllable starter in Hancock to supplement a still youthful rotation. Senzatela re-upped to bolster the right handed relief depth. 

And plenty of flexibility left for further additions....

• C: William Contreras ($14.50M)
• 1B: Jake Bauers ($23.15M)
• 2B: Brice Turang ($9.90M)
• 3B: Jesus Made ($2.30M)
• SS: Cooper Pratt ($3.50M)
• LF: Jackson Chourio ($8.00M)
• CF: Garrett Mitchell ($3.40M)
• RF: Sal Frelick ($1.50M)
• DH: Christian Yelich ($22.00M)
• 4th OF: Luis Lara ($2.00M)
• Utility: David Hamilton ($2.30M)
• Utility: Luke Adams ($1.00M)
• Backup C: Bo Naylor ($1.25M)
• POS: Add Dead Money Here ($0.00M)
• SP1: Jacob Misiorowski ($1.00M)
• SP2: Logan Henderson ($1.00M)
• SP3: Kyle Harrison ($1.00M)
• SP4: Emerson Hancock ($1.00M)
• SP5: Robert Gasser ($1.00M)
• RP: Trevor Megill ($7.50M)
• RP: Abner Uribe ($1.00M)
• RP: Aaron Ashby ($7.50M)
• RP: DL Hall ($.95M)
• RP: Chad Patrick ($1.00M)
• RP: Shane Drohan ($1.00M)
• RP: Antonio Senzatela ($3.50M)
• RP: Grant Anderson ($1.00M)
• POS: Add Dead Money Here ($0.00M)

Payroll is 11.96% under budget

[long ball]

I like this. This is basically how I hope it plays out too.
 

Who they get back for Ortiz and Vaughn aren’t that important, but the roles they’re getting back is what I agree with. 
 

I could do with or without a veteran reliever like Senzatela. Just hard to roster a guy like that all year  

curious what you want to do with Zerpa? I’m 50/50 on whether they should tender him a contract. I’m not confident  they’d want to spend over a million on him for a partial season. 
 

What’s your back up plan if Bauers declines the QO?

[wallus]

They gave up a lot to get Zerpa and a million isn't much. No idea why we wouldn't tender him unless they think he is done

[long ball]

16 minutes ago, wallus said:

They gave up a lot to get Zerpa and a million isn't much. No idea why we wouldn't tender him unless they think he is done

I’d disagree that we gave up a lot for Zerpa. Mears and Isaac Collins were two spare parts who weren’t in their future plans. 
 

but the case to non-tender Zerpa is he’s projected for $1.3m, we might get half a season from him at best, even before the injury his track record is pretty meh. 
 

I can understand the argument either way, that’s why I said I thought it was 50/50 

[BrewerFan]

Well... this would be a damn near perfect off-season. Made for a straight 9/135 may be a good compromise. I suspect we'll want a TO and Made will NOT want that and they'll argue over 150M, but... that's a fair compromise. 

-I would assume Hancock is a filler for whoever is willing to give up a SPer with more... certainty. I think that's a good trade. That would give you a guy with a Fastball that grades very well, very questionable secondary pitchers... but that's what the Brewers are for. 
I don't like trading Ortiz, but if you can get value like that, you have to. Jett Williams starts the year on the 26 man I would assume. I don't think we're signing Made before the lockout, but I'd sign him whenever, add him to the 40 and live with him not getting a couple months in AAA this year. Signing him is too valuable. 


-I've also really wanted to bring Senzatela back. I think Cameron Wagoner should be in the Brewers pen, but he COULD be a huge piece. He's a sinker ball pitcher, he can run it up there in the upper 90s, he's got time as a starter. He's finally out of Colorado and I think he could really be a breakout pitcher in Milwaukee. 

But I think he'll be more than 3.5M. 

I don't like trading Vaughn, but I think that's just the reality. It'd be REALLY nice to just keep him. You're putting a TON of pressure on Bauers, assuming he accepts(I think he will). 


So... no real notes. I thought Contreras had a 15.5M option. 

I guess one more thing, this leaves you with SO much Starting pitching, it's kinda crazy. I think Sproat could be really good. Priester, if he had a success TOR surgery, he's a #3 starter, Drohan, I don't even know who else I'm missing.  Crow. 



 

52 minutes ago, wallus said:

They gave up a lot to get Zerpa and a million isn't much. No idea why we wouldn't tender him unless they think he is done

Yeah, I didn't see that in there, but I don't see any reason to drop Zerpa now. I think you just saw a guy who was never really healthy, but a  ~97 MPH FB, ~60% Ground Ball rate. Not hard to see why they liked the idea of moving him back to the rotation(if that was serious or not). 

I agree, no reason to move him. 

[BrewerFan]

31 minutes ago, long ball said:

I’d disagree that we gave up a lot for Zerpa. Mears and Isaac Collins were two spare parts who weren’t in their future plans. 
 

but the case to non-tender Zerpa is he’s projected for $1.3m, we might get half a season from him at best, even before the injury his track record is pretty meh. 
 

I can understand the argument either way, that’s why I said I thought it was 50/50 

You gave up a rookie who put up a ~.370 OBP as a rookie and Mears was a solid middle reliever.

And 1.3M? It's a couple hundred K over the minimum. He's got a pretty nice upside as a long reliever and a couple years of team control yet. I would not DFA him for 300K. 

I'd be more inclined to do it to keep guys like Wood, Wagoner, Adams and other Rule 5 eligible players, but if we're trading Ortiz and Vaughn, we should have plenty of roster spots. 

We never got to see a healthy Zerpa, but for the Brewers to be that high on him, I think it's pretty telling. 

[TURBO]

I can live with all of that, and frankly, it's the best plan I've seen so far, however, I don't want Naylor as our backup catcher.

You are almost 12% under budget, I'd rather pay Sanchez again than see Naylor as our #2.  How much are we expecting Sanchez to want?

[Devinep]

I actually agree that Ortiz is a possibility to get traded to make room at 3B for the upcoming prospects as well as maybe selling high after his resurgent 2nd half. There’d be quite a few teams that could use him as a controllable upgrade for infield. Look at how the Rays punted on middle infield hitting and how that hurt them