Harold Hutchison

Hamels might make sense as a bridge to Ashby or Small. But we'd have to see Ashby make a huge jump - and the same with Small.

The Yelich and Thames deals are extensions after the current deals. Bumgarner is $12.5 million, not 15. That puts it around $152 million.

What are you figuring for the team's salary? About $155M? Probably closer to $140-$145 million. Some of the FA deals go up, but at the same time, deals like Shaw, Albers, and Nelson come off the books. That roughly covers the Bumgarner deal. The re-signings are about 1-2 million over option years or 2019 salaries each. The big jump are the Mogi and Kim deals - but if you look over their BR pages, they're well worth the money.

What about looking for pitchers from NPB or KBO? Might there be some nuggets who could be "bargains" along the lines of Eric Thames?

I'll put my cards on the table for an offseason plan in the wake of a 2019 season that was heartbreaking, yet inspiring. The Brewers need to retool, and in some cases, try to reload the farm system where they can. They also need to think outside the box, if possible. From 60-Day DL to 40-man: Corey Knebel Bobby Wahl 42 on 40-man (2 over) Re-signed: Yasmani Grandal (4 years, $70 million) Drew Pomeranz (3 years, $12 million) Jordan Lyles (3 years, $15 million) Gio Gonzalez (2 years, $9 million) Mike Moustakas (2 years, $20 million) EXTEND Yelich - (6 years, $150 million, with $30 million deferred paid at $3 million/year for ten years after contract. EXTEND Thames - (2 years, $20 million) 42 on 40-man (2 over) Grandal is to catch for the first three years, be primary 1B the next three. It effectively blocks Nottingham, and the Crew will need to do something on that front. Allowed to Walk/DFA/Non-Tendered: Matt Albers Tyler Saladino David Freitas Tyler Austin Taylor Williams Jake Faria Jimmy Nelson (minor-league deal with NRI) 35 on 40-man (5 under) Trades: OF Ben Gamel to TEX for C David Garcia, LHP Joshua Javier LHP Alex Claudio to PHI for RHP Jonas De La Cruz C Jacob Nottingham to TOR for IF Tanner Morris, OF Jhon Solarte 3B Travis Shaw to BAL for LHP Cesar Angomas, RHP Carlos Del Rosario, 1B Josue Cruz SS Orlando Arcia to ARI for LHP Rigoberto Borbolla, C/1B Ramses Malave 31 on 40-man (9 under) - The goal for these trades is to get lottery tickets. All are Rookie League or short-season A. But the goal is to reload to avoid a rebuild, or to make it as painless as the one we had under Stearns in 2015-2016 (essentially the first two years of the Craig Counsell/David Stearns era). Added to 40-man for Rule V: OF Corey Ray LHP Quintin Torres-Costa RHP Zack Brown LHP Cam Roegner UT Weston Wilson UT Cooper Hummel RHP Jon Olczak 37 on 40-man (3 under) Free agent signings: LHP Madison Bumgarner - 2 years, $25 million + team option for 2021 at $15 million with $5 million buyout. SS Eigoro Mogi - Japan Pacific League - https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=mogi--000eig - 4 years, $22 million + team options for 2024 ($6 million) and 2025 ($7.5 million) IF Ha-Seong Kim (KBO) - https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=kim---001ha- - 6 years, $27 million + team option for 2026 ($6 million) 40 on 40-man roster NRI to spring training/minor-league FA signings: RHP Jimmy Nelson RHP Jeremy Jeffress LHP Angel Perdomo UT Nate Orf C Payton Henry C Mario Feliciano Lineup: ss: Mogi/Kim 2b: Hiura/Kim rf: Yelich c: Grandal 3b: Moustakas/Kim lf: Braun 1b: Thames cf: Cain pitcher bench: Pina, Perez, Hummel, Grisham (20 starts in CF, 40 in LF), Kim (20 starts at 3B, 25 at SS, 20 at 2B) rotation: Woodruff, Bumgarner, Davies, Houser, Lyles bullpen: Hader, Knebel, Suter, Pomeranz, Peralta, Guerra, Gio, Anderson AAA pitching shuttle: Burnes, D. Williams, Jackson, QTC, Olczak, Supak, Brown Bumgarner is perhaps the best chance to make a short-term "go for it" option in the rotation for 2020-2021. I will admit to being undecided - Gio could be in the rotation with Houser in the bullpen. Anderson could be in the rotation as a possibility for an early-season/mid-season trade. I go with Eigoro Mogi from NPB as the primary shortstop as (worst case) a bridge to Turang, with Ha-Seong Kim as kind of a backup option there, who also could play third and second to rest Moustakas and Hiura. In addition, both are players who could form complements to Yelich (if extended) or who could, if they do well in MLB, be dealt to assist in a re-tool/rebuild if that is necessary. Both have good OBP skills, both hit for average, and some power. --- What are your offseason plans for the Brewers?

So far, they have. And to be honest, at this point, at 36, Hamels is as likely to fall off a cliff production-wise as to be a solid piece of the rotation. So, if it is a choice between signing Hamels or using the cash to sweeten the pot to keep Grandal, I keep Grandal. My concession is I bank on a Roegner or a Supak or rush up Bettinger or File. There might be pitchers I bank on with a one-year deal with a team option. Bumgarner might be one. Maybe I bring back Lyles and Gio - on cheaper deals. Or maybe, just maybe, I look overseas to NPB or KBO to find someone.

Hmmm... Bumgarner or Keuchel on a one-year "prove it" deal could be interesting.

You seriously want to make judgements based on 4 2/3 innings? No, just was wondering.

The big contract sans additional team control the Mariners have is Kyle Seager. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/seattle-mariners-salaries-and-contracts.shtml $19.5 million in 2020 $18.5 million in 2021 Had a decent rebound from an awful 2018, plays some SS and 2B. He's primarily a 3B. Mariners get: OF Corey Ray C Payton Henry RHP Alec Bettinger RHP Zach Brown Brewers get: 3B Kyle Seagar (assuming all salary) C Tom Murphy - https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/murphto04.shtml

Would I move Hader? Well, in some rare circumstances. But it would involve the Dodgers offering Bellinger, the Mets offering Alonzo, the Angels offering Trout, the Astros offering us the cream of their farm system (a half-dozen of their top 10 prospects) or some similar circumstance that means the GM calling Stearns would rightfully be asked to pee in a cup.

Villar was playing well enough, and Arcia poorly enough, that in 2016, Arcia should not have been called up. In fact, Arcia clearly had holes that AAA pitching was exposing. Put it this way, his OPS went from .800 in Hunstville to .723 in Colorado Springs. A 77-point drop. Playing half the time in what was arguably professional baseball's most hitter-friendly environment. That's kind of the opposite of Brent Suter posting sub-4.00 ERAs in similar circumstances in that same timeframe. Villar was doing well enough that the Crew could afford to be patient with Arcia. Instead, the Crew rushed Arcia, and we got the mess we got in 2017/2018.

Ouch - Clayton Andrews not doing so well... gassed?

Hamels made over $20M last year and I doubt Stearns wants any part of that type money. Yeah... hard pass. Rather have Gio for two years, $10 million TOTAL. Plus there's Suter, I'd be more inclined to go with Cam Roegner, coming off an injury-marred season than Cole Hamels.

Well, in a "defense doesn't matter" line-up that I'd like to see, but which I know we'd never see for Opening Day 2020 against the C*bs... lf: Grisham 2b: Hiura rf: Yelich c: Grandal ss: Moustakas 3b: Braun 1b: Thames cf: Cain p: Woodruff Find the hole in THAT lineup.

Someone looking to tank a season?

The fact is, assuming every free agent is retained and no signings take place, here is how the rotation looks: Definitely In Woodruff Davies Likely to be In Gio Houser Lyles On the Bubble Suter Anderson Peralta Outside Looking In Nelson Burnes Faria Supak Minor League Wild Cards Brown Roegner Bettinger File Francis Zavolas Ashby

This. A starter can deal with being ricked for 7 runs in 3 innings simply because they could later run off a string of quality starts. Relievers have 1-2 innings at any given time. A bad outing sticks around longer and causes a greater distortion. Hader was better overall, and most of the time did well. But when he was off, well, let's just say there are baby seals who met fishermen in the Canadian arctic who had better days.

Given that you're well known for placing less than zero value on defense, I'm going to take this with a grain of small. Playing hurt like he did also affected his offense. Cain was not Cain. When healthy, he is a high-contact, good-OBP guy with speed and some pop. Instead we saw an OPS that was awful. Yelich led the team in steals.

When Pina wears down, he becomes an offensive black hole. Grandal at least gives you a bunch of walks. Grandal as the #1 C and #2 1B still gets Pina about 40-50 starts a year. Plus, two other things: 1. The DH will come to the NL at some point, and sooner rather than later. 2. The Brewers do not have a long-term option for 1B after Thames leaves. Grandal can address one or both of those.

He had the same thumb issue that Braun has/had, which at it's worst, really dragged Ryan's numbers down for a stretch until he either got used to it or had enough nerve numbing injections to render it less of an issue. I imagine they've got a plan to address it for Cain in the offseason in addition to the knee. With hopefully better health next year, there's reason to anticipate a rebound for Lorenzo. With Grisham/Gamel/Taylor, there should be no excuse for sending Cain out in 2020 when he is as banged up as he was in 2019. None. And for $16 million a year, he can darn well tell CC when he is hurting beyond the normal soreness.

Cooper Hummel ... you mean the guy who didn't log one inning as a catcher in 2019, after getting a grand total of 64 innings in 2018? Yeah, he's not a catcher. Interesting prospect. But not a catcher. He's probably an emergency catcher at this point, don't get me wrong. I think it is a mistake to not have him behind the plate, that offensive profile is Grandal-light. Down to the switch-hitting.

For the bulk of this year, Hader was it for shutting the door with a late-inning lead. In 2017 and 2018, he had Knebel and Jeffress to back him up. He didn't have that backup in 2019. It was all on him.

Really, when you look at it, the Brewers will have the following catcher situation in the minors: AAA: Nottingham, Freitas, Hummel(?) AA: Felliciano, Henry(?), Fry(?),Hummel(?) A+: Henry(?), Fry(?) Hummel hasn't played much catcher, and with the OF time, I wonder if the Brewers aren't trying to make him a poor man's Eric Thames or Josh Bell. He still can play catcher, which opens some possibilities as a bench player. He has superb on-base skills, and he's flashing some very big power. Think Mickey Tettleton. Nottingham, I think, is being groomed to replace Pina as the #2 catcher. He has a lot of familiarity with the younger pitchers over the years. If I'm Stearns, I offer Grandal a longer deal, 5 years, $90 million. $10 million bonus 2020: $16 million, $5 million deferred 2021: $16 million, $5 million deferred 2022: $16 million, $5 million deferred 2023: $16 million, $5 million deferred 2024: $16 million, $5 million deferred Pay the deferred money over ten years. Use him at catcher through 2022, then he takes over at first base when some combo of some of Feliciano/Henry/Fry/Hummel works out. The NL will also get the DH, and Grandal would be a good fit for that in the latter part of the deal.

Outer space is a vacuum, our atmosphere protects us from that (for a little while longer anyway, maybe). On planet Earth, as the NL was constituted in the year 2019, it's hard to consider this season anything but a success, with the Cubs, Phillies & Mets spending a half billion combined (to say nothing of the other NL clubs with postseason aspirations) just to fall short of where we ended up. Everyone might have wanted to build on last year, but that would have necessitated going to the World Series (thee only way I'm aware of to building on losing in game 7 of the NLCS) & that was always a long shot considering the Dodgers juggernaut. With the injuries that happened... I'm cool with this year and what the team did. 1. Knebel out for the year 2. Jeffress hurt to start the year and never the same 3. Shaw hurt and not the same 4. Nelson rushed back to the majors too soon 5. Burnes with a sophomore slump that was ugly 6. Lorenzo Cain playing through injuries when he should have been on the DL 7. Yelich hurt and out for the stretch run 8. Aguilar slumping before being dealt 9. Peralta's struggles This team did very well for what it went through. In a way, they did build on last year. They filled the holes pretty well. They have depth among the position players if they keep Grandal and Moose. If they keep Gio, Pomeranz, and Lyles, the pitching staff will be in good shape. I'd rather deal with this than what the Cubs went through.

My answers: 1. All four of them. 2. Nelson is a reliever. Maybe. Part of me wants to work out a release, sign him to a minor-league deal/NRI. Too many questions about him. 3. MLB pen. 4. AAA rotation 5. rotation 6. 2 IP reliever 7. Thames, with Shaw/Braun/Grandal as backups 8. Moose 9. Shaw, almost none. Davies a bit. Anderson a bit less than Davies. 10. Perez. Can make the 26-man work, especially if they have him report with pitchers and catchers. 11. Maybe, but wouldn't it be better to have Grandal/Pina as the top two catchers? 12. That is something - the Brewers need guys who can get the runner in from third, or punch a single the other way. 13. A good question... that would change things a great deal.