endaround

There was a stadium deal, Sternberg couldn't(wouldn't?) get his financing in order for the $700 million he agreed to cover. MLB might be trying to avoid another A's situation with a MLB team barnstorming different AAA venues.

Pickens and Metcalf together was going to be interesting but adding Rodgers? Ohh Boy.

Right but the point is that giving a guy $1 million is hardly some deep commitment. Luke Voit got $2 million and was gone in a month. I still expect they see something in Alexander but $1 million would be close to the minimum if the guy had other 26 man offers.

We are having a Doctor Evil moment here. One million dollars is not a big deal. The minimum MLB salary is $740,000. Now the Brewers signed him for a reason, and I could see him beating out Peguero just for depth reasons but its not like we are dealing with a consequential contract.

The Yankees were last in the league in baserunning last year at -16.9 runs. Hard to think the Yankees as an organization really care that much. They believe in hitting the ball hard. The Brewers, they care a lot about baserunning because it makes up 41% of their runs above average at 19.7 runs. Of course the Yankees even after their bad base running dwarfed the Brewer offense at 102 runs above average to 47.3. As for Durbin you can squint and see enough base running to get his ZiP 1.3 WAR as a middle infielder to above 1.5 but its hard to see him above average.

If the Brewers "blew it" it was by the organization not moving Black away from the infield earlier. He was never that great of a hitting prospect. His 2021 season in A as a 20 year old was not that great. His 2022 as a 21 year old in A+ was better but he was really a man among boys so his wRC+ of 137 with only an ISO of .143 was more of "still a prospect" than we have a new top guy. it wasn't until 2023 when he hit AAA that he looked like he might have something. He was at an age that lined up with his level and had an iso above .200 in both AA and AAA. His walk rates and K rates were also very good. But he fell off and his lack of a defensive home is a serious problem. Fangrpahs full scouting reprot from last year goes into it: Black is entertaining as hell to watch play baseball, but I am skeptical that he's going to be the foundational young player that some folks across baseball think he'll be. He’s fast, he has a keen eye, he plays with lots of effort, and he swings hard for a small-ish guy. He slashed .284/.417/.513 across Double- and Triple-A in 2023 and raised his career minor league line ton excellent .279/.415/.465. For the last couple of years, Black (and my forecast for him) has been fumbling around for a defensive home. He has largely played second base during the last half decade and gave center field a try in 2022, but moved to third base in 2023 and even began to get some reps at first. He actually looked pretty good at third base aside from his throwing stroke, which sometimes looks odd and lacks accuracy. It's a big enough issue that I have him projected to first base and will speculate he'll eventually play the outfield corner, as well. Black's 2023 power output was likely a caricature of his true ability. His game is grounded in his contact and (more significantly) on-base skills. He lacks the power typical of a corner infielder and I also have some reservations about his ability to carry above-average contact rates to the big leagues. Black needs a ton of effort to swing hard and his head often flies all over the place. His swing also has a hole in it (up and away) that will be probed by big league fastballs until he proves he can close it. So no, I don't have Black evaluated as an everyday player. Because he's backed into a fair bit of defensive versatility, runs well, and has a plus-plus skill in his plate discipline, he'll still have roster utility as corner role player of modest impact He was given a 40+ grade which is what he appears as right now. I still think he should be tried as a 1B/OF platoon bat until he shows he can or can not handle it. It's not like he would be blocking other superior options. As said above, give him the Bauers role until he takes off or loses it.

The Brewers have Canha for the outfield. Dunn can play there in an emergency as can Black. Really no reason to add Hicklen or Collins to the team for a month. You could add them but they really shouldn't play. That month would better spent seeing if Black is a feasible platoon partner at 1B and investigating if Durbin and Dunn are actually MLB players. The bench then of Haase, Frelick, Black/Canha, Durbin/Dunn, and Monasterio. When Perkins is ready you re-evaluate.

That is basically Alec Bohm. I really don't see Dunn doing that. Dunn is more likely to be a .220/.300/.340 type guy.

Right there is a limit for projecting future performance but if we are comparing the impact of past performance strikeouts are just not that important compared to other stats. Now let's say you have a center fielder who has a career 34.2% K rate and a career BABIP of .389, you might have concerns if he can maintain that level going forward. So you can easily see why projections systems all project a season below his career numbers.

Yep, Metcalf looks like he could be done. No way a 1st should even be in discussion at this point.

Are we here again? The type of out by major league hitters does not really matter. A .350 OBP player who makes all their outs via strikeouts is more productive than a .330 OBP player who always put the ball in play. Strike out rates matter for minor league players because it may signal that they can't handle major league pitching.

The issue becomes that there needs to be a definition of "big market" that means "big market" and not just "we do a bad job of getting revenue from our market". The Rays play in a huge market and are right next to the huge Orlando market. Why should they get treated as a small market because they are bad at selling themselves?

But if that's the case you need to send a real prospects back. Getting it down to $30 million creates $12-14 million in surplus value. That is approximately 2 FV 45 prospects. On the other hand Colorado operates differently from any other organization. Which means they may just give McMahon away or demand a top prospect.

If you think McMahon has -20M in value, you have no reason to trade for him because that basically says he's already a liability at his salary. And its not like he's making a huge amount. I can see how you get there if you think he's a 1.5 win player this year and loses 0.5 win for age 31 and 32. So he'll provide 3 wins over the next three years at the cost of $48 million. But then why are you even asking about him? If you think he'll be like a 2, 2, 1.5 win player over the next three seasons, then he is worth basically exactly his contract so there is no real cost unless Colorado picks up some salary in order to buy a prospect from the Brewers.

Canha himself makes a lot of sense as a right handed bat for 1B/OF. It's just the bench is getting crowded. Haase, Frelick, and Perkins (when healthy) look to be locks. They need a utility infielder so 1 place for Dunn/Monasterio. And then Canha who being able to handle 3B in a pinch would make this work. But that leaves just the left handed side for 1B open. Now hopefully Black can beat out Bauers (though he couldn't last year though not sure if that was a full talent call) but also means the Brewers look at Black as a part tiem palyer at this point.

Is this a sign that the Brewers are really down on Black? Maybe squint and see a Black/Canha or EMJ/Canha 1B platoon?

"We need more revenue sharing in MLB!" Dodgers add $150 million in taxes to share "Not like that!"

The Brewers are notorious for lying in their player listings. I think they had the most players shrink when MLB came by to do checks on player heights before robot ump test.

Really would like to now the story of Urias. Is he not coachable? A pain to deal with? For Milwaukee he had two seasons with a wRC+ of around 110 which would qualify as a big bopper for Milwaukee and more than enough to fill in at 3B where he seems OK defensively. He was decent in his time with Seattle last year. Obviously this isn't just a Milwaukee thing with Boston basically just letting him go.

Can we stop calling them "young guys" and "kids"? Durbin is 25, Dunn is 27. Ortiz is 26 (barely making the cutoff of not being 27). Turang is 25. Monasterio is 28. They are all in the mid career age point for MLB players. We are not dealing with 20-22 year old recent college draftees or finally ready to play high school draftees.

1. Trade Frelick who is being wasted as a 4th OFer instead of a starting CFer somewhere else and get a starting 3B back. Might be too late for that. 2. Dunn and Durbin both have options.

Well it has finally happened. Garrett is requesting a trade. Not sure how you don't try to put together a package for him.

The Brewers have clearly shown they believe that the they believe the defensive spectrum of the OF players are: 1. Mitchell 1a. Perkins 2. Frelick 3. Chourio There is little reason to believe that is going to change, especially if Chourio fills out more.

Nutting could pay for this from his huge profit he makes each year from the Pirates revenue sharing and not even notice it. The whole ticket thing just shows how bad Pirates attendance is (you have available season tickets behind home plate? embarrassing).

This sounds exactly like a Vikings fan talking about the Packers.