Trading Corbin Burnes Isn't the End of the World

I think most fans would concede we knew this was going to happen if not in the offseason probably at the deadline. I think the slight disappointment is that we didn't get 1 shiny stud prospect. If this was Basallo, Hall, and a lesser prospect everyone could dream on the 40 HR potential and upside. Ortiz is going to be are really solid player but realistically a guy who hits .260-.300 doesn't walk or strikeout a ton, hits 10-15 HR's and doesn't steal a ton of bases. My mind is picturing JJ Hardy with less pop (modern day Nico Hoerner). That is a lot of value, he just isn't a sparkle as everyone hoped.

It had to happen, you could not wait until July, Burnes was not happy with the team ever since the Hader trade, and the haggling over 250k last arbitration didn't sit well at all, could have been a mental issue for a down year last year. A Boris client meant there was no way in hell Brewers could afford this guy and he was headed to free agency. Was a good trade because Baltimore may have just acquired a rental.

Sure it was inevitable that they wouldn't pay Burnes and would trade him.  It's part of the discouraging spiral of being a Brewer fan.  The owner has money to invest in other sporting ventures, just not the baseball team.  The team under current ownership and baseball revenue rules isn't' going to be a serious contender and hearing Arnold's comments about spending and the actions of the team the past few years solidifies it.  They built a great pitching staff and paired it with a mediocre offense with massive holes and were exposed by playoff teams after shooting for their bites at the apple as a bottom rung playoff team.   Even this article touting Frelic and Tourang as bright spots (more sub 700 and maybe sub 600 OPS for Turang)?

Now hoping to tread water and not really improving they will move forward.  They gave up a pitcher who will likely be a 3-4 WAR guy going forward and acquired to players who will likely be 1-2 WAR guys, a slick fielding, sub 700 OPS SS and a reliever with possible command issues they can fix in the lab.  They'll get rid of Adames now and removes his 3-4 WAR stats and Williams from the pen and get some prospects for down the road, the sum will be treading water in the next couple years, then the prospects from the Adames and Williams trade will arrive in time for Yelich to be gone, catching getting expensive and traded off, Peralta traded off and in the end the same overall mid level talent as a team with a few bright spots but too many holes to really be a serious WS contender.  The team will say they are competing and the local media will tell us how great it is the strive for 84 wins and a wildcard shot in the expanded playoff format.  In the end it is all just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.  The next year or 2 will look like they'll sub in the 3-4 WAR from the 2 new guys give up 4-6 WAR in Williams and Adames and hope to get 2-3 WAR from Gasser and in the end stay Meh.

Yep they had the best pitching of their entire history, managed to do well in a garbage division and bow out of the expanded playoffs with a whimper each time with well known offensive issues.  This was the ceiling, they are trying to maybe strive to get close but my guess is they are a mid 80 win team for now, trending down but certainly not improving on where they were which is the whole point - -they just hope to be average or slightly above if all goes well and they hit on reclamation projects and young guys perform better earlier before they trade of established guys and rinse and repeat.

Did Attansio not just spend money elsewhere vs. resigning his ace pitcher?  Or did they trade the ace for what they hope can provide equal WAR at a lower cost. - - i.e. not improving.  Arnold basically just said they aren't going to spend more and the new guys just made it so they can jettison Adames and Williams without paying them. Peralta is next.  None of these moves raise the ceiling of the team, it is just hope of getting equal replacement value in the future so no forward upward progress occurs.  They aren't going to get better without keeping some established guys and letting the young guys improve around them.  The Cubs won't be terrible forever, STL won't either.

No panic. I think they went from an 80+/- win team to a 76+/- win team. Does it really matter? The future looks better. 

In what way does the future look better?  How have they raised their ceiling from what was a top level pitching staff and mediocre offense leading to a fringe playoff team?

If all goes well with the replacements I see nothing that makes the team any better than what they had and likely will get worse as they let more established vets go and roll the dice with prospects, eventually they will miss badly on the return and then the truly bad years kick in.

My belief is we've seen the high water mark and nothing has raised the level.

I have been a fan for a long time, remember watching the Brewers clinch the AL in Baltimore in '82 and running home from school to see how the afternoon WS games played out.  Is that long enough for you?  

I also remember the countless times the next batch of prospects is going to get them over the hump, it is always next year.  I choose reality - -I ask in what way does always giving up proven talent vs. paying them and getting back lottery tickets that if they hit just equal the talent you gave up provide evidence the team will be better?  This is the genesis of the rearranging deck chairs, just like the Bucks of the Herb Kohl era.    Nothing has raised the ceiling here and when Adames and Williams are let go they will again point to some down the road improvement only to have those players come of age as another set of Vets are let go- -how many times do we have to see this play out?

I been a fan since the Ken Sanders and Jim Lonborg days so yes their been many disappointment's  but 82 stings because if Fingers does not go down we have our one WS

When the Crew had their 3 headed monster at the Rotation the Beweres FO failed to address the Need to get Hitting to make a Serious WS threat.

I won't get into the Hader Move at the Time which destroyed the Pysch of that team.

so yes i know it was only a Matter of time we were going to get rid of our 3 Big FA Woody sooner because of an Injury  but after they signed Hoskins it got me thinking they are serious  getting a big bat to only be crushed again seeing our Ace being Shipped out.

Very Disappointed fan at this point heading into Spring Training

4 hours ago, MJLiverock said:

I have been a fan for a long time, remember watching the Brewers clinch the AL in Baltimore in '82 and running home from school to see how the afternoon WS games played out.  Is that long enough for you?  

I also remember the countless times the next batch of prospects is going to get them over the hump, it is always next year.  I choose reality - -I ask in what way does always giving up proven talent vs. paying them and getting back lottery tickets that if they hit just equal the talent you gave up provide evidence the team will be better?  This is the genesis of the rearranging deck chairs, just like the Bucks of the Herb Kohl era.    Nothing has raised the ceiling here and when Adames and Williams are let go they will again point to some down the road improvement only to have those players come of age as another set of Vets are let go- -how many times do we have to see this play out?

Dude, first off, welcome to the board.

I've read some of your posts. I really think your grievance is with the financial structure of the game, not the Brewers. They're pretty much doing what they have to do.