LouisEly

Brewers added another RH bat in Cain, so they need more LH balance in addition to pitching. Cleveland needs RH bats. Santana to Cleveland for Salazar, Kipnis, and a prospect.

If you dislike giving up prospects, the Brewers were going to face a 40-man roster crunch next offseason. They either had to trade some prospects before the Rule 5 draft, or risk losing some for no return in the Rule 5 draft. Trades had to happen.

Give HighHeat some credit... here comes the cascade. I've got Santana to Cleveland for Salazar/Kipnis/prospect(s)

Three of the four players the Brewers gave up have not proven anything above high-A. The fourth put up big numbers in Colorado Springs the last two years with an extremely high BABIP (.377 in 2017, .455 in 2016). "High risk prospects" is a very accurate label. The real evaluation is what additional deals are made as a result of this (specifically Santana to Cleveland for Salazar/Kipnis/prospect).

Martinez is in the "Hall of the Very, Very Good" for me. Same with Jones, McGriff. You can tell the history of baseball in the 90's/2000's without mentioning them. I think the voters were spot-on this year (on the fence about Clemens). (That, and Martinez hit a career high in HRs at age 37, the only time he hit more than 30 in a year. Hit more HRs at age 37 than Thome with only ~50 more PAs, and didn't start falling off until age 39. Somewhat suspicious to me.) The next four years are pretty lean though as far as sure HOFs (pretty much just Rivera). Some of these guys will get in.

He said earlier today that it could be a week. Could be blowing smoke. Who really knows? When he said the Brewers upped their offer, the first thing I thought was that DS doesn't just up an offer (as with most GMs)... if they increase the offer, they ask for more back. Could be more pieces involved if the Brewers ask for Barraclagh or Straily. Might take a while to straighten out. Also could be a third team involved. Brewers could be taking on Castro, but with the intent of moving him to another team. That goes back to the team A scenario that fell apart because of how much salary to take on. Brewers could be coming back and saying, "We'll take on more of that contract, but you take Castro back." Castro was a 2 bWAR player last year... better to get that back than just send MIL cash. Had Jungmann still been here, I don't think he would have minded being traded to Miami at all. I don't think Broxton would mind either - knowing he has a MLB roster spot as opposed to possibly being sent to the minors or shuttled back and forth. No state income tax, Miami Beach... not a terrible place to be, especially when you're *only* making $500K/year.

How much sleep I'd lose would be based on the other pieces in the deal. The Marlins lost all three of their OFs - cheap major league OFs will have value to them, thus I think Broxton would have value. If Brinson and Broxton are in the deal, and then the trade of Santana to the Indians goes through with Kipnis being one of the pieces coming back, then I could see the Brewers targeting Cain. Kipnis and Yelich add LH bats, and unless the Brewers add multiple LH bats I don't see them pursuing Cain.

This is my take too. Spring training is rapidly approaching and his camp leaking this is telling the big markets it's time to put up their best offer as he has to sign soon. One of them will trump ours and that'll be it. I'd trust Stearns doesn't have a ridiculous offer on the table and that if somehow he did sign with us that we'd be ok with the deal. However, that also means the offer is very beatable and that's what I think will happen. This. Using media leaks as leverage. Didn't that happen a long time ago with A-Rod too? I thought there were media leaks of Boston being in on him, which caused the Yankees to to offer the ridiculous contract they did.

I just never understood why it warranted calling him a bum. The decision to use or not use him was entirely on Counsell and Stearns. If those guys had been called bums I wouldn't have had an issue with it because they are the decision-makers. Wang was doing his best, and like 90% of minor-leaguers their best isn't good enough. If it had been a Sheffield situation (publicly stating he was throwing balls in the stands to get traded, whether that's true or not) then I would embrace calling him a bum. But when the odds are that you will make ~$85K/year for most of the year as a minor-leaguer, or get a guaranteed $700K/year playing closer to home... I have no issue with taking the $700K/year.

Memphis? There are three smaller than Memphis.

It's not so much sharing as it is that a NHL rink is much bigger than a NBA floor. Yes, you can collapse sections/move seats, but those are the premium seats - if you are going to charge premiums for premium seats, they need to be premium seats and not benches or folding chairs. Either the hockey seats will be elevated up off the ice (no longer premium seats) or the basketball seats will be far from the court (no longer premium seats). Then there's the issues of condensation on the basketball floor that crop up every now and then. It's a good idea in theory, but does not maximize revenue or fan experience.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't look at the list. But yes, it is Riverside/San Bernadino. As someone who lived in the LA area for seven years, LA is not Riverside/San Bernadino. It's faster to drive from Milwaukee to Chicago than from LA to Riverside. Particularly in afternoon/evening rush hour for a sporting event. Austin is not much farther from San Antonio than Riverside is from LA (and can drive that faster too; Riverside to the Staples Center is about 60 miles, Austin to San Antonio is about 80 miles). Pop quiz #2 - excluding Green Bay, what is the next smallest MSA with a pro sports team? (No peeking at a MSA list!)

Not only that, but partially have a NFL team as the Gold ticket package (the season ticket holders from when three games were played at County Stadium) has a lot of Milwaukee owners as well as some for the Green ticket package too. Add in the many UW alumni in the Milwaukee area who have Badgers football/basketball/hockey season tickets and you are competing for $$ with a lot more than just the Brewers and Bucks. In terms of MSA rankings, Milwaukee is 39th (for reference, 30-38 are Kansas City, Austin, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, San Jose, Nashville, Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, and Providence). KC couldn't support basketball, Cleveland lost the NFL once (and may do so again if they don't turn around). Nobody else has three, much less three plus a fourth nearby plus a major college program with three very successful sports nearby. (Pop quiz - what's the largest MSA that does not have any NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL franchise?)

Klassy.

No, it had nothing to do with "high floor/quick to the majors/etc." If it was about that, then how do you explain Jorge Lopez in the 2nd round, Dylan Covey as their first round draft pick the year before, and Clint Coulter as their first pick the year after? Those guys are as far from "high floor/quick to the majors" as you can get. It's a nice story, but the facts don't support it. The Brewers drafted Jungmann and Bradley because: 1) There was no bonus pool in 2011 and the Brewers were pushing for it. They had to draft guys who would sign for close to the suggested "slot value" or risk looking hypocritical. Jungmann and Bradley signed for slightly over slot, but if you rank 2011 draft picks by signing bonus I believe Jungmann was #20 and Bradley was tied for #23 (I could be off by one or two, but I did the research a few years ago). 2) Melvin knew that Miller Park was a HR-friendly park, and he made statements about targeting ground ball pitchers. Bradley was the ultimate ground ball/non-HR pitcher. In his junior year at Georgia Tech his HR/9 rate was 0.09. Jungmann's HR/9 was 0.26 in 2011. They were targeted because they were ground ball pitchers and they though that ground ball pitchers were much more likely to succeed at Miller Park. 3) They had to draft a college player with the #15 pick because it was unprotected. It was a comp pick for not signing Covey the year before, but comp picks aren't protected. No way could they draft a HS player with that pick; they had to draft someone with as much to risk by going back to school. I also think they did some type of analysis that showed that taller/bigger bodied pitchers were less susceptible to major arm injuries, and Jungmann and Bradley fit that mold too.

I can't believe the number of first round failures the Brewers had during that stretch. It's really stunning how little value they have been able to get out of those players. Was it a draft failure or a development failure? In nearly every year, there were players taken after the Brewers pick who went on to stardom, or at least valuable performance. Remember, the bonus pool didn't exist in 2011; 2012 was the first year. (2010 was the first year for compensation for unsigned draft picks.) The Brewers were pushing for change, and so as not to be hypocritical they had to draft guys who would sign for close to the implied "slot value". If you rank 2011 picks by signing bonus, Jungmann and Bradley were drafted in the 20s. Prior to 2010 they had to pick guys who would sign. Budget was an issue - they were legitimately competing for a World Series and had to choose between investing in the draft and "going for it" by investing in the major league team before they would no longer be able to afford Fielder, etc. They chose to go for it, and I can't fault them for doing it. In order to push for change, the Brewers had to abide by their desired changes. In essence, they kind of had to "fall on the sword" to make the changes happen. Certainly development is an issue, but I find it hard to criticize drafting when you don't have a bonus pool, unsigned pick compensation, etc., to level the playing field.

I disagree with this because almost everyone you mentioned was picked before the Brewers first pick (and Fernandez would have been if he hadn't told teams it was a Florida team or The U). The point was that as of the Brewers first pick and thereafter, there was not much talent out there. Gray was picked later, but the reason he lasted as long as he did was because of his height. Other teams had the same concerns as the Brewers about Gray, and if he was 6'2" or taller he would have been at least a top-7 pick.

Weren't there some rumors floating around that Jungmann kind of "did his own thing" and reverted back to his old form/mechanics, against what he was being told to do by the organization? I think that would very well make the org not reward him for that by calling him up.

For chrissakes, they were in the NFC Championship Game last year!

I'm wondering, since they are more of a corporation than a privately owned team with an owner, if they go to more of a corporate structure with a "C-Suite". Ball as CFO, Eliot as CPO (Chief Personnel Officer, head of scouting), Gutekunst as COO, etc., instead of the traditional GM. Would allow them to play to their strengths instead of trying to be the jack-of-all-trades GM.

The Packers have the 2nd best record in the NFL since 2011. The status quo has been pretty good.

This is another very important point. Will you really get the best teams if the best players sit out? The chance to play for a national championship will mitigate this - it's not just three random games - but it will happen.

DVRd the Providence game and just watched it. Markus Howard... oh my goodness. And he was ice cold most of the first half.

Probably why there is no attention to the running game. Oh what a friend that could be. There was in 2013 and 2014 when they had a healthy Eddie Lacy. 2015 and 2016, when they didn't have healthy RBs, there wasn't.

Yep. The answer is staring at them but they won’t do a damn thing. This is exactly what should happen. The solution is simple. The problem is when do you schedule the first round? College BB can have a tourney because it isn't anywhere near finals. Not so much with football.