Harold Hutchison

I agree, it's a no-brainer to extend Grandal. You just can't get the type of offensive production he provides at catcher with any predictability. Should Feliciano/Fry force the issue, he can move to first.

Yelich is owed: $12.5 million in 2020 $14 million in 2021 $15 million in 2022 (team option) I wonder how a deal that works like this would go? $15 million signing bonus $25 million in 2022 (replacing team option) $25 million in 2023 $25 million in 2024 $25 million in 2025 $25 million in 2026 $25 million in 2027 $5 million in each year is deferred, to be paid out over ten years starting in 2028. Gets Yelich through age 35. The deal is still team friendly, but Yelich has some real financial security down the road.

This is probably closer to what will happen than the other scenarios in this thread but I hope we keep Gamel. Who would start at SS? I like Arcia in the field but not his bat. Internally? Spangenberg, Moose, Perez, and Hinujosa could be options. Plus, there is the waiver wire, trades, or free agency.

Unless Yelich extends with the Crew... and he may well do that. That is a question for after 2020. After this year, the moves are obvious: Keep Moose, Grandal, Gio, Pomeranz, and Lyles. DFA Saladino, Freitas, Austin, Jay Jackson, and Taylor Williams. Trade Ben Gamel and Arcia for prospects. Shaw gets spring training to get it together, but he is on a short leash. He'll back up 3B, 2B, 1B, LF, RF.

Clancy also has Suter catching on days he isn't pitching. Don't think I went so far as to have him catching... But really, it was just looking at some stat lines... and figured something good was happening. Especially after his first run at Colorado Springs - where pitchers get clubbed like baby seals in the Canadian arctic - and he was posting a sub-4.00 ERA. The stats don't always work. I got burned by Ronnie Gideon, but I think that same approach worked well in pegging the (eventual) success of Garrett Cooper. I think Troy Stokes will be seen as one the Crew let get away, and we will wish he was still a Brewer pretty soon. I think David Fry may be a better catcher prospect than Feliciano and Henry - although Feliciano could make it very very very close. I think Roegner and Sunitsch will be just as good as Small and Ashby. Just look at my Top 25 ballots - you may find some interesting folks to keep an eye on.

The post above yours provides an example of someone who returned to action in just over 5 weeks. That would be a best case scenario. Most likely, Yelich won't see the field before Spring Training. But.....would it be impossible to see him if the Brewers made a run? Not necessarily....... You know... just when things seem bad... this Crew just gives hope again. Yelich to make a walk-off pinch-hit HR against the Yankees to end the World Series. Cue Stan Bush's "The Touch."

Well, five hits is a heck of a game for Trent, but I wanted him to get that cycle...

I'm just hopin' Trent can get a nice four-bagger in this inning...

This. If the plan had worked, no flameouts by Burnes/Peralta, no extended slumps for Shaw/Aguilar, then Stearns wouldhave credit for building a division winner. All I want is to get to the playoffs - once there, anything can happen. I want a World Series title. I don't care if the Crew starts their run as a wild card, I just want the title.

Sweep the Marlins and the Cardinals... that's my hope.

Sweep the Marlins, sweep the Cards... In fact, maybe it's time to see if this Crew can make George Webb give away free burgers again...

This is something we missed in all the excitement of 2017. It will have an effect going forward. That said, I look at later picks like Weston Wilson, Cam Roegner, Gabriel Garcia, Dylan File, Bowden Francis, Max Lazar, Clayton Andrews, Scott Sunitsch, and David Fry, and I feel they could be very good players. The real key will be whether Stearns can make a number of "Adam Lind" type trades that bring in good talent down the road.

I think the Brewers need to build up good will with players - that sort of thing matters to an extent. Why did Moose come back for a bargain deal this past spring? Why did Gio decide to come back after the Yankees let him go? Remember Wade Wiley sticking up for Stearns recently? Sometimes it's those little things. It takes two to agree to a contract to bring a free agent to Milwaukee OR to agree on a contract extension. This day for Hall cost the Crew very little, but there is a chance that it will secure gains down the road.

I'll go with a +1 here. Honestly, though, I would have optioned Nelson for the whole season. He needed much more time than he was given in the minors. He may never be the TOR guy the Crew thought they had finally developed in 2017 - but I think he could be a closer. Similarly, they needed to just roll with Hiura, and eat the option on Shaw. Can't fault them on Aguilar, but that, too, cost the Crew. I don't see the logic in getting Feritas, and still don't. Same goes for Tyler Austin. Keeping Saladino did not make sense. One or more of those moves pushed out Troy Stokes, who arguably had more upside, and could have enabled the Crew to flip Ben Gamel for something this offseason. Really, what caught the Crew in 2019 was injuries to key relievers (Knebel, Jeffress), and the depth got knocked out in the rotation (Burnes in particular). Nobody could have predicted that. Perhaps the only thing you can blame Stearns for is maybe not bringing back Gio in the offseason. I imagine that probably would have been worth a game or two in the scheme of things.

Agreed. Did it cost the Brewers anything to do this? No. Does it look good to fans? Yeah. Could it build good will with players to see this sort of thing? Possibly? Could that good will make the difference in, say, signing Hiura to an extension? Maybe. And for those last two answers, doing this thing that pretty much cost the Brewers nothing is a good move.

The only way I consider trading Hirua is for Bellinger or a similar talent. Or for an ace starting pitcher with plenty of control on an Acuna-type deal.

Signing Thames - A brilliant move - and hopefully a sign of things to come. The Brewers should look at KBO more for nuggets. Thornburg for Shaw/Wilkerson - Worked out well in 2017 and 2018 for the Crew. Signing Chacin - Worked in 2018, but 2019 was a hot mess. Signing Miley - If Stearns had the chance to do it all over again, I think he would give Miley the two-year deal and Chacin the one-year deal. Yelich trade and Cain signing - At the time, I questioned doing both, but it seemed to work out. Deal for Moose - Overall, it's worked out well. Getting the extra year, plus last year's run, made the price of Maverick Phillips and Lopez worthwhile. With his hand/wrist issue late in the year... maybe he comes back on the mutual option. Deal for Gio - Very good. Almost a mess when he went to the Yankees, but his return was good news for the Crew. Santana for Gamel/Zavalos - At the time was skeptical about the return. The way Zavalos pitched this year, though, I think will make this a long-term win for the Crew. Signing Grandal - Probably one move that really kept the team afloat after Shaw and Aguilar had the bottom drop out from under them. Now, signing him to an extension will probably be the hard part, but should happen. Aguilar for Faria - It was good since the Crew got a potentially serviceable bullpen arm for 2020, much more than one would expect after Aguilar's struggles. Dubon for Pomeranz/Black - This one will hurt for a bit. Dubon will be valuable depth as a contact-hitter/speed guy in the middle infield, and I think his offensive potential was underrated. If Pomeranz and Black become key parts of the 2020 bullpen, and take the Crew to the playoffs that year (and this year), then it's worth losing Dubon. DFAing Wilkerson and Stokes - Wilkerson is one of those who probably could have been a throw-in a while back, maybe for a lottery ticket. Stokes - well, everyone knows I was pretty high on him. The former is not a big deal. Stokes very well could be a big "what if" for Brewers fans. Would have been better to DFA Saladino.

Either way, I think it is a heck of a ride. With all the injuries and other problems, the Crew has done very well. If it's playoffs, awesome, if not, there is next year - especially if they bring back Moose and Yaz.

The Brewers have a chance... The perfect motto for this playoff push, just to get the goats of the Wrigley faithful - from the NFL's GOAT: "Never Die Easy." - #34, Walter Payton

I think Taylor ranks higher than Stokes simply because he has the ability to play all three OF positions well defensively. He's the best defender of the three. Probably the most upside as an all-around hitter as well. That said, none of those guys had very good seasons, other than Taylor for about the last 3 weeks or so. Taylor and Ray are very good, but the former had a LOT of health problems over the years and was apparently overmatched until 2018 (when he was at Colorado Springs) and the latter regressed after a superb 2018, which was preceded by some rough years prior to that (his highest OPS outside 2018 is .679). The LOWEST OPS Stokes posted over his career was a .694 in Arizona, but he posted a .363 OBP that year. In fact, Ray's highest OBP over the years in the Brewers system, .323, is 18 points LOWER than the lowest OBP Stokes posted during his tenure. Taylor does edge above Stokes' lowest mark in the OBP department in 2017 and 2019, but in both cases, he got assists due to rehab assignments in Maryvale. Detroit got the kind of prospect the Brewers can't afford to let go for free.

As a corner outfielder. Still, for him to be picked as one of the best defensive players in AA DESPITE being in left field (now, grantedm the other two OFs in the Biloxi outfield were Corey Ray and Trent Grisham) says a lot about his skills. The Shuckers that year had an immensely talented outfield.

I'll put a plus one here. Looking over the entirety of his numbers, this was a (very rare) bad roster move on the part of Stearns. Stokes had speed, OBP skills, and had developed power. If he'd been given that mulligan, I think by 2020 he develops as the kind of player who could give Gresham and Cain rest, or who could boost the team against tough lefties. This one's gonna sting bad a few years.

Cain is an elite defensive CF. Stokes is a left fielder due to his arm. A player like Stokes needs to hit *much* better than a player like Cain to be as valuable. I did say poor man's LoCain. He's good with OBP skills. Not so much on the hit for average, but he also has speed - and played some CF. I suppose I'd say he's more a Brady Clark who traded the hit-for-average tool for a better power bat.

Wilkerson I could go either way on. Stokes, OTOH, would be a huge loss if someone else claims him. Had some injury problems early, but is a poor man's LoCain with more power and less contact hitting.

David Fry, one of the prospects I rate highly (especially since he can play catcher) is also going. Ticketed for Biloxi next year?