Fear The Chorizo

Gotta love the start quintana is off to in stl today...0.0 ip, 5er so far.

Ray's K rate needs work, but he's exploded from a slugging standpoint compared to last season - he's turning into a modified 3TO type of hitter but with more speed than your typical slugger would have. He's essentially either striking out or destroying baseballs right now, and I maintain that it would take a huge return via trade for Stearns to include his 1st draft pick in a deal sending Ray out of the organization - particularly when his development as a hitter appears to be catching up with his substantial physical gifts.

What this trade essentially does is replace the Brewers' season-to-date 2B OPS of 0.644 with Moustakas, a low K% hitter with 20 bombs and a 2018 0.778 OPS that is largely slugging-driven. That's a huge offensive boost. Shifting Shaw to 2B probably stings the defense a bit, but with Arcia at SS will Shaw really be that much worse than Villar/Miller/Perez at 2B defensively? Also, I don't see the concern about being too left-handed in the lineup. The Brewers only play the Cubs a few more times this year, so it doesn't make sense to base hitting moves off potential starting pitcher matchups - most of the arms they will face between now and end of year are RH starters. Plus, imagine getting Santana back up and rolling with solid platoon options between 1B, 3B, OF positions, and 2B using the combination of Shaw (3b/2b), Moose (3b), Braun (OF, 1B), Aguilar (1B/3B), Santana (OF), Villar (2B), and Thames (1B, OF). Tons of positional flexibility and a quality bench to keep guys fresh.

Considering Gatewood was one of the rule 5 eligible prospects, what options do the brewers have with him now that he's injured to protect him without having to add to the 40 man? Or does this type of injury effectively crush any interest for Gatewood over the next year? Feel for the guy, he was having a good year after a terrible start in April.

At least that offsets the 3ks a little. Kid just needs to make contact and let bat play. Ks need to reduce Agreed, but lately it seems like he either destroys a baseball or k's. I'd rather he sacrifice some contact to keep his slugging as long as the obp doesn't suffer, but the k rate needs to drop at least a little.

I am not saying they won't cost more it is just that it is not all that much more than what the Brewers offered for Machado. If you replace Phillips with Ray and I think you have the value of those extra years covered. To me that is not that much more than what Machado brought in. I dont want Ray as part of that trade...keep phillips in and add another piece like Stokes

It's almost like insurance to limit how many innings their position players need to pitch. Hamels will give them innings, but I doubt he's going to be a quality start machine. That will actually be valuable to them with the limited # of days off they have left, particularly in august/early september when teams are gearing up for the stretch run. It makes a ton of sense for them to get another starter based on what their current rotation makeup is - it also makes sense that they couldn't acquire a better option aside from a declining and expensive veteran because they have no prospect capital to work with anymore.

They probably said the same thing to start this year, and then they realized they weren't very good either...they are a team caught in between because Sano and Buxton haven't become anything close to what they were hoping for.

No team uses a 5 man rotation for the playoffs Based on this year's stats, only Lester is actually performing better than most of the 2018 Brewer starters Darvish may not be on the mound anytime soon due to a lingering triceps issue that is most likely UCL-related. And he stunk before getting hurt, too. They don't get Hamels if any other team actually wanted his combination of contract cost and performance - I think that's the main point. The Cubs shelled out two large contracts to starting pitching this past offseason, made a trade that sent arguably the best prospect in baseball to the White Sox to acquire Quintana last trade deadline, and paid a kings' ransom to bring in Lester a few years' earlier - they still have an average at best starting rotation, and it's forced them to keep bringing in more arms because minor league options don't exist for them to make starts.

Gibson is the starter I'd want unless the brewers shoot for the moon and bring in a unicorn somehow (degrom, madbum). He has been really good and they'd have him for 2019 as well.

Sure, Arlington is a very hitter friendly park, but so is Wrigley in the summer. And the reason nobody else was willing to offer anything for hamels is his last month, which has been awful no matter where he is pitching

0.525 and trending down...hope Thames reverses that And that includes a Ji-Man Choi grand slam. Woof, that has to bounce back up at some point, right? With that Thames K they probably dropped below the Dbacks as a team in that scenario, now ahead of only the Mariners, who sit around 0.480...blech!

0.525 and trending down...hope Thames reverses that and apparently I'm colorblind - completely missed the blue font RE: Kratz

Or he just saw the pitch well and got a hit - I agree with the assessment of his tenuous at best position on the Active roster, but it's silly to think the only reason guys get hits is because they are about to get cut.

Saladino has been godawful defensively by his standards...

I recall reading somewhere awhile back that an unnamed Brewer source indicated the FO was not happy with the shape Arcia showed up to Spring Training in. Judging by just how overmatched he looks at the plate I've got to wonder if it has to do with a lack of strength training. It looks like the bat is swinging him...

Keep an eye on the ptbnl...likely from a list of intl signees that TX will get to pick from who haven't played long enough to even be considered prospects. One thing the Rangers are good at is scouting and mining intl talent, and the cubs have played heavily in that talent pool in recent years.

MadBaum

How is this team 12 games over 500 without an offense seemingly 75 percent of the games they play?

Teams Arcia fared well against down in AAA are watching this and cutting entire pitching staffs...

What's the timing between needing to pick up that potential option and potentially trading Soria in the offseason/winter meetings if the Brewers feel like they are set in the pen for 2019 without needing a $10M late inning reliever? I would think that may be a possibility as well.

No I would not give up Diplan's spot, it was merely showing that you can wait for a couple players to develop. (Although I personally would rather have Medeiros). Do we really need to have Orf, Dubon, Hiura, Arcia, Villar, Miller, Saladino, and Perez on the 40 man? Seems like a lot of players for a few positions especially with a lot of these players have positional versatility. Remove: Miley, Perez, Orf, Wilkerson, Ascher Add: Ortiz, Supak, Gatewood, Medeiros, Devin Williams, (Keston after Super 2 status) So no Jimmy Nelson next year? Who do you drop after calling up Hiura? Frankly, none of the names you'd want to add would factor into 2019 MLB plans, meaning the Brewers would enter next season playing with what essentially is a 34-man roster for Milwaukee (assuming Diplan isn't ready, either). That's simply not realistic, or smart.

The Cubs would beat everyone to the punch on Hamels, because frankly I think other teams that have prospects of value available for starting pitching left the boxing ring before they even got their hands taped up. Likely that nobody else wants him and other big market teams who would typically have no issues taking on salary are tighter against this year's luxury tax limit. If that deal winds up happening it'll look more like a salary dump than a prospect haul for the Rangers. That being said, I totally get the interest from the Cubs - they need someone to eat innings even if they are giving up runs, and Hamels can do just that.

So please tell me, is Medeiros on our opening day roster next year, or who else are you willing to cut loose to give him a 40-man spot? We don't get to just develop these guys forever and wait for a miracle to happen, that's not how it works. **See Marcos Diplan I would've added him to the 40-man next year. Players currently on the 40 man that are expendable: Wade Miley, Suter (injury), Brad Miller/Villar/Orf, Wilkerson, Ascher. Suter's already off the 40 man due to injury So you'd give him Diplan's spot then next season and likely lose Diplan after already stowing him away for a full season? - teams maybe have room for 1-2 players to stash on the 40 man who need more time to develop before contributing at the MLB level. And you just can't give 25+ 40 man roster spots to pitchers by assuming all the MIF filler is gone next season and can be replaced by fewer bodies on the 40 man roster. Also, there are other players currently not on the 40 man that would need to be if you want them on the 2019 game day roster way ahead of Medeiros (Jimmy Nelson, Keston Hiura). What do you want to do with Ortiz? Supak/Ponce? Kirby? Bickford? Devin Williams? Can't keep 'em all...

Medeiros still needs 1+ years of development before he would have been an option for a MLB role - based on the bullpen shuttle and how DS appears to manage the 40 man roster, there are very limited spots on it for minor league arms that can't contribute in Milwaukee next season. Before this trade, the Brewers had 21 pitchers on the 40 man roster. Of that list, I came up with the following guys who would potentially (potentially = I wouldn't have a heart attack if Medeiros had replaced them and the Brewers saw them leave) be considered expendable to make room for new additions: Asher Barnes Diplan Houser Jennings Lopez Miley Wilkerson Jimmy Nelson will presumable be off the 60 day DL, so he automatically takes one of those guys' 40 man spots. Let's assume Miley or Wilkerson goes when Nelson comes back. Then you start sacrificing MLB contibutors or arms that still may profile as starters off the 40 man to make room for Medeiros - not to mention arms like Ortiz, Ponce, Supak, Uhen, Bickford, Kirby, and Devin Williams are in the same boat as Medeiros would have been in terms of potential pitchers at Rule 5 risk. I think most organizations like to split their 40-man roughly down the middle between pitchers and position players - Medeiros was probably among the 3-4 arms in the system that the Brewers would have needed to choose to give 1, at most 2 40 man roster spots to in order to protect them from getting picked up and stashed on a rebuilding team's bullpen. Using Kodi as an asset to get 1.5 seasons of an established quality MLB reliever is dealing from a position of depth while the organization still has control over that value.