Fear The Chorizo

He rested 1 month and then went through his whole offseason training program....which in this day and age includes throwing bullpens. this isn't Devin punching a wall before the playoffs.

I guess I don't really see the point of people saying he should have gotten checked out earlier. Williams doesn't need surgery, so there would have been nothing that could have "fixed" this issue last fall. He pitched through pain last September, then with rest he felt better. This isn't an elbow or shoulder where a timely 2nd opinion could get a necessary surgical repair done earlier than a rest and hope approach. What's concerning to me is that his current prognosis is to rest and then hope it's healed up again, and I don't see any reason why this couldn't flare up again a few months from now given the fact he took time off to rest before starting the offseason program. Back issues are tricky.

the unfortunate thing is, that has been the bar the Brewers have used to dedicate a roster spot for a DH ever since it became available for NL teams. I despise how the Brewers view the DH role with a 26 man roster on a team that puts too much emphasis on defensive versatility....last season Winker was a bounceback candidate in a salary exchange trade that sent Wong to Seattle, and it was a trainwreck. Now they Sign Sanchez to likely fill this role hoping he's healthy enough to produce average at best production for a DH, while other everyday DH options were (some still are) available via free agency. To me it kind of feels like deja vu all over again. Maybe one of these years they catch lightning in a bottle and the veteran bat they bring in to fill this role has a season where he logs 400+ productive plate appearances....I've stopped holding my breath until that happens, though. Yelich and Contreras can certainly snag some at bats at the DH position, sure....which then inserts weaker offensive position players at their primary positions during that particular game and still weakens the lineup compared to signing a legit everyday DH that would further improve lineups with Contreras at C and Yelich at LF, and maintain depth on days that either of those players may actually need a day off without playing at all.

The Vikings should shop Jefferson this offseason to max out their draft capital and wear this season as the gut rebuild it needs to be in order to reset talent at key positions after Captain Kirk left them. Instead, since they're already in year 3 of their GM/Coach combo, they're going to likely reshuffle the deck chairs they have left to try and scratch out a borderline 0.500 season, give Jefferson a salary-cap flexibility-crippling contract extension (seriously paying WRs huge money basically seals their fate that they won't have a stud veteran quarterback throwing them the ball), and hope to god whichever quarterback falls to them at #11 is good enough to win under their rookie contract. If that all doesn't work out, they'll be looking for a new front office really darn soon.

I agree with all of this - doesn't mean I'm glad to see Jones go, but entering his age 30 season he's coming off a year where he basically wasn't healthy and productive until the last month of the regular season + playoffs. He had a great game in Week 1, tweaked a hammy, and wasn't a difference maker until December last season. His resurgence coincided with the Packers turning things around offensively, sure, but replace him with a different established NFL RB and that field full of young receivers/TEs and a young quarterback figuring it out and I think the Packers still play pretty well. I think the lack of 100 yard games to Jones' resume has more to do with the Packers trying to limit wear and tear on a slight running back based on his injury history - Jones isn't a big guy, he can be a difference maker in the NFL when he's healthy...but if a team feeds him close to 20 carries a game he's gong to get hurt. When Jones 1st signed that contract, people viewed it as a 1-2 year deal where he'd become a cap casualty after the 2021 or 2022 seasons...the Packers found a way to play cap gymnastics and get one more season out of him before opting to let him walk into the sunset of his career this offseason based on the hard reality of the NFL as a business.

I think MN is a terrible spot for Jones, tbh....not just because I'll throw up a little in my mouth every time I see him in a purple helmet with horns on it - they were near the bottom of the league in rushing yards and rushing attempts last season, despite playing a bunch of their games with garbage QBs after Cousins went down. He'll give their run game a burst, but I think their line and scheme isn't a great fit for what Jones excels at - assuming their QB position is going to be a net negative in 2024 (Darnold plus a round 1 rookie QB who will be clipboard holding through most of the year). Initial take to this deal - if Jones is healthy, he'll be traded before the in-season deadline because I think the Vikings are on the verge of a trainwreck of a season.

A certain 1st round pick with a hitterish pedigree as a collegiate prospect hit 0.303 with a mid-900s OPS in his first 348 MLB plate appearances, after which the Brewers started trying to find ways to keep his bat in the lineup by shifting him to other defensive positions because they didn't yet have the DH to use. Now he's trying to find a way to hang onto his MLB career in the Detroit Tigers spring camp. I am hopeful Frelick does keep developing and proves to be a young player with some positional versatility and offensive upside to justify trying to turn him into a utility player. Personally, I think his best value to the Brewers for the longterm may be as trade bait between now and the start of next season while that upside and years of team control are still the first thing teams look at, particularly when the position Frelick is most likely to have the most player value (CF) is blocked for him by both a younger and more talented player the Brewers just committed to longterm (Chourio), and a better defender with more power potential (Mitchell). I'm excluding Wiemer, who is also a better defender but profiles as a corner OFer much more easily than Frelick.

Love the move to sign Jacobs provided Jones sticks around, too. This is the year to do this type of move!

The BREWERS approaching him in the offseason is the equivalent of Frelick realizing he needs to learn a new position - if he pushed back on that when approached, I'm pretty sure he knows what the outcome of that would have likely been. Frelick so far has proven to be a sub-0.700 OPS player at the mlb level - I'm rooting for this to be successful, and for Frelick to develop into a really good MLB player...but I'm firmly in the camp of wishing he'd be forcing his way onto the field at random defensive positions because his bat absolutely needs to be be in the lineup everyday first, rather than this current approach of "well, we don't really have an everyday 3B currently on the 40 man roster and we don't have room to add new prospects onto it at this point, let's see if one of our young OFers with the least amount of power in his swing can be passable over there against a righty starter and then may also prove to be a good enough hitter to warrant this type of experiment"

It strikes me as a bit odd the manager considers a guy realizing it's time to learn a new position if he wants to play everyday with the organization that just gave a longterm contract to a 20 yr old phenom to play CF as being one of the best stories in baseball. I think it's spring training speak that will die down after frelick or adames gets traded and the apparent positional logjam sorts itself out with all these young guys. Even if it doesn't, Frelick at 3rd at its best for him is being a placeholder until either Wilken or Black are in Milwaukee for good.

you may be right...I sincerely hope it isn't the Brewers signing him to it. Of the 92 players who hit at least 20HR in 2023, only 7 had a lower OPS than Adames. When his defense takes a step back, and it will soon, his value at SS falls off a cliff.

This past offseason, 1 player who hits got a free agent contract with the combination of at least 9 figures and $20+M per season....Ohtani.

I want no part of paying Adames $20+m a season, for any length of a contract. He was brutal at the plate for most of 2023, and absent a few couple week hot streaks wasn't worth anything close to what people assume he will get for 5-6 seasons in free agency. I'd prefer they trade him and let Ortiz be their opening day SS, and let a different team play QO roulette with Adames. If he gets off to a poor start, his value at the deadline plummets and the Brewers would have to think twice about extending the QO next offseason and instead just let him walk for nothing.

That was the case in November 2023, too. It's 4 months later and neither has been signed yet, so it's apparent their AAV demands plus length of contract aren't in line with what teams are willing to pay. Boras will do his darndest to save face and say they got the best deal they could by waiting out the market, but neither deal will resemble anything close to what their initial hopes were - both would've been signed months ago it that were the case.

Dansby Swanson got that contract after demonstrating he was consistently an upper 0.700s OPS player capable of hitting 25-30HR a year and playing great SS defense. Adames has shown the ability to be that player, but not consistently - and he needs to prove his declining production in 2022 and 2023 seasons aren't a trend if he wants to cash in a 9 figure deal next offseason. The discussion whether or not Adames is worth a QO is based on what his 2023 season looked like. If he repeats that in 2024, I wouldn't give him a QO either for fear of him accepting it and being stuck with paying him $20M+. If he is closer to the player he was 3 seasons ago in 2021, then yeah he's worth more than that QO....but it's a risk assuming that's what he'll be in 2024 based on last year's #'s.

Thank god...my guess is that came after the 2021 season, because there's no way in hades that he'd get that kind of contract right now

I know we are still multiple weeks from Opening Day....but I honestly think one of Snell or Montgomery are going to remain unsigned when the regular season starts. At this point it's not even for lack of big market teams with holes in their planned rotations due to injuries in spring training. Who is going to throw upwards of $35m+ for a season for a starter who won't be stretched out and game ready until late April, when they could just wait two more months and likely land an impact starter at the trade deadline at a much lower cost?

When blue chip prospects have "it", I don't think there is any longterm benefit to playing them in AAA a few months vs having them finish their development in the major leagues. Chourio has been playing winter ball against grown men the past few offseasons in Venezuela. He is ready for the show. None of the other young brewer OFs should prevent Chourio from everyday mlb playing time just because they are a few years older. They are also less talented ( and I think all three are good to really good everyday mlb OFs).

Until recently, premier RBs who get to free agency tend to be older guys who have worn out their welcome from their initial team, who likely gave them at least one bigtime extension through what is their prime. Basically, you're getting damaged/worn out goods. This has definitely been shifting along with RBs in general falling lower in the draft. I do agree with you that you can typically find a solid FA running back option without having to break the bank each year - I guess this offseason more than others it seems like there are quite a few FA RBs I wouldn't mind giving multi-year contracts to based on where they're at in their careers, many of which are only going to be available now because RB contract values have sort of cratered faster than the franchise tag for RBs has dropped. Teams see that and are reluctant to tag RBs and rather see them walk and then sign a different and comparable FA for half the cost of that RB tag.

I get that - but what's frustrating is for a thread that has alot of good discussion/points and is at the top of the forum scroll to get walked down a rabbit hole of nonsense after clicking on it. Instead of another fresh page or two or substantive posts about the topic that is interesting and worth me clicking on to read, it's a urinating contest that just leads to me forgetting about this site for a day or two when I'd otherwise be engaged with baseball-related topics this time of year.

Honestly if that projection would be for the next 3 seasons as a reliever, I'd be pretty pumped, too. Knowing it's based on him being in the rotation, even if I also don't see him logging that many innings in 2024, is insanely awesome as a Brewers fan. Hopefully there's also not 100 walks included with that projection, too!

The Bucks look like a team full of NBA veterans who know that the regular season is pretty meaningless besides staying healthy and gelling before the postseason starts. I think the coaching change is helping on the defensive end, but a big part of this is the NBA regular season is largely a joke when you've got 10 teams from each conference that earn at least some form of a playoff berth.

I was thinking about what other factors are at play with this endless quest for 2 of last season's best starting pitchers to still be looking for a new contract, besides the fact their agent is Boras. I still think that's most of it, but there has to be other reasons. Enter the COVID season, one where there wasn't a minor league season but minor leaguers still earned a year of minor league service time. While that hasn't directly led to free agency grinding to a halt, it has absolutely led to a glut of players having to be added to 40 man rosters before teams typically would make that move in order to keep the rights to guys who absolutely have mlb upside, but need more minor league seasoning (Quero is a prime example of this for the brewers). Even if that's limited to 1 or two 40 man roster spots per team, that's 45-55 fewer mlb jobs for veteran free agents the past few seasons. And those 40 man spots aren't as expendable as the typical AAAA depth fodder if a FA gets added, as teams are hesitant to start the mlb service clock of those prospects still needing development by just calling them up. That coupled with luxury tax issues for the typical big spenders(minus LAD) and obvious tv deal uncertainty for over half the league to just brush off and throw $35m plus for a guy like Snell are also big factors. All that, and then when 29 other teams look at what the Dodgers can do with throwing a quarter billion bucks a year in TV money at their roster annually, they all realize that adding Snell doesn't make them better on paper, so why not roll with a youngster to start the season making less than $1m instead and see where they are come July before using a stockpile of aged prospects they would likely risk losing the next offseason to try and get better for the stretch run at a fraction of the cost?

Question for the mods - instead of ignoring/blocking posters, is there a way to ignore entire threads? Thinking that may be more effective than having occasional bickering contests that stick at the top of the forum pages or shutting them down altogether if others are still interested in a topic or whatever back and forth is going on within it.

That last heater was in the mitt before the bat got to the contact area.