JohnBriggs12

Because if a guy can hit, he can hit anywhere and it's more valuable to have better hitters have more plate appearances than lesser hitters. When you hit ahead of the pitcher and behind guys that don't get on all the much, your hitting doesn't produce as many runs. Arcia has 81 hits and walked 16 times but has scored just 33 runs. Villar, who's led off most of the year, has scored 31 times on just 52 hits and 24 walks. So Arcia has reached base via hits and walks 21 more times than Villar but only has scored two more runs in large part because behind him has been the pitcher and Villar. The idea that Arcia somehow has to be protected doesn't make sense. He might be the most confident and talented player they have. I say confident, not cocky because the special players know their good. Braun knew he was good when he arrived in 2007. He didn't need to be protected. He was put in the 8th spot to begin the year because it was thought he was the weakest bat in the lineup and he needed time for his offense to reach it's potential. I don't think the idea was that Arcia was going to be a number 8 hitter his entire career. We don't know if he's yet reached his potential, but he's no longer the weakest bat in the lineup. Not by a long shot.

So you'd leave your hottest hitter in the 8th spot? Even if you take his entire season's work as the baseline, he belongs near the top, not the bottom.

For the past month and a half, Arcia's been the best hitter in the lineup yet he's still batting 8th? That's more a trend than a hot streak. Wouldn't they want their best hitter getting extra AB's batting higher up?

I agree with you on Jungmann over Blazek. Not that Blazek hasn't pitched well. But keep the spot for a deal later on or adding someone else not on the 40 man now.

Braun would not approve a deal that sends him from a first place team to a last place team now that he has full no-trade rights. Interesting idea though that would make some sense. Lackey got $16 million per year from Cubs for his age 37 and 38 seasons. If Brewers did get him, and didn't contend in 2018, they still should be able to dump much of his salary if he pitched well enough for teams to be interested next July.

Not a primary need at this point. Focus needs to be on pitching. Period.

Forget the numbers completely. Watch them play. Arcia is elite. Villar is not. That's not a knock on Villar. Elite players come along oh once a decade or so. Arcia's "hot streak" has lasted a month and a half. Sure over a season, he'll have periods where his production tails off some. That's the nature of the game. But he's showing that not only is his defense spectacular, albeit with a hiccup now and then, but he's also becoming an offensive force. His overall numbers are now very, very good. He should have received All Star consideration. Mark 2017 down. It's likely the last year for a while that Arcia won't be an All Star. That he's still batting 8th is mind boggling to me. What is Counsell watching anyway?

Samardzjia's expensive but the Brewers are 2-3 years away from seeing a lot of big arbitration raises and he is a workhorse to be sure. Point about not having to give up good prospects is valid but not sure the Giants won't see this year as an aberration and not sell off.

Arcia should have made it. Shaw has nearly twice as many RBI as Bryant yet isn't in the final vote either. Well at least the Brewers can rest.

Have to think it's Jungmann though why you don't start him if that's who's coming up is beyond me. He's at least had a couple months of success in the big leagues as a starter. If he could replicate that, they can survive Anderson's loss.

You make it sound like we'd be lucky to just dump Thames for...well...like you said, whatever we can get. There's no real reason to think Cooper is going to do anything and Thames has a OPS of .900 and is signed to an extremely team friendly deal. You want a #2 hitter, Thames is your guy. Even during his struggles he gets on base. And yeah, June was a real bad month for him, but his .169 BABIP sure didn't help much. I'd be all for trading Thames, but only if it brought back enough in return..and I really doubt it's going to given his up and down return to the states. Until we see Cooper at the major league level, you're right we don't know what we have though his relatively low strikeout rate indicates he might be able to make the jump. But we do know Aguilar has been a lot better than Thames since May 1st. As for number 2 hitter, Thames OBP in June was .267. Besides, isn't it time for Arcia to be moved up to number 2? His OBP in June was .370. Arcia is a budding star, not a number 8 hitter even on a good team. It's great that Thames is a left handed presence in the lineup, but when he's not hitting it really doesn't matter does it?

Brewers would never agree to Brinson and Ray both being in the deal. Without Brinson you might have to swallow hard and include Ortiz along with Phillips. So Ortiz, Ray, and Phillips for Quintana or if that's not enough, expand it to Ortiz, Ray, Phillips, and Santana for Quintana and Melky Cabrera. Cabrera could help down the stretch, then open up a spot for Brinson in next year's OF.

One thing in Brewers favor is all things being equal, the Sox would love dealing Quintana to a team that can take down the Cubs. Sox are very concerned about losing a generation of fans to the north side. They have been holding out for a third prime piece and so far nobody has budged. Brewers have the quantity and the quality to make a deal. Maybe Cooper could interest them as a MLB ready third piece with Ray and Woodruff or another arm.

Villar is not comparable at all. Totally different contract proposal, Villar we were just basically buying out arbitration years. Also Arcia has an incredible glove, much more of a sure bet to have positive value going forward than Villar . Also kind of hard to 'learn' anything from the Villar situation half a year in -- it's still no certainty that the $20M offer would look like a bad deal for us in 4 years . Remmeber when people were relieved that Jean Segura didn't sign his extension offer? Either way, it's kind of silly to dismiss an extension for Arcia on the grounds that Villar hasn't been good this year. If there's any ideal long-term extension candidate on this team to build around, it's Arcia. He could be locked up for 8 years and still only be 30 by the time his contract ends . Villar was never a highly rated prospect. He was a guy the Astros brought to the majors at a time they were tanking big time until their actual prospects were ready. Brewers caught lightening in a bottle when he had his career year his first season here. He was brought in to be filler just as he was in Houston. Arcia was a top 10 prospect in all of baseball and a core player in the Brewers long term plans. Other than Arcia, the other long term candidate is Shaw, if only for some cost certainty through his arby years that could become very, very expensive. Shaw at 5 years, $45 million might make a lot of sense.

"Iffy-hit" ?? He's got all the tools to be an offensive force, uses all the field, doesn't strike out a ton, has power to all fields, this without his body totally filled out. He's an emerging star. Right now. No way his arby years will be $4 million, $6 million, $8 million. More like double that. If they could get him for 7 years $72 million it would be a bargain.

A lefty that throws 95 is equivalent to a righty that throws 100. Look how dominating Hader is a 94. Quintana had a 1.78 ERA in June. He got off to a slow start this year which was in part attributed to all the trade talk surrounding him. He's been remarkably consistent his entire career and is one of the best LH pitchers in the game over the past 5 seasons. Guaranteed Rate Park is a launching pad. Compares to Miller Park as a hitter's park. Quintana's got excellent stuff by the way. His career K rate is a solid 7.5 per 9 and this year it's 8.9 per 9. Over his career, Quintana has been the victim of poor run support. But he's touched 200 innings for 4 straight years and he's on pace to get close to that this year. I'd do Ray and Derby in a heartbeat. Not sure that would get it done but Ray and Woodruff might and I'd do that too. Brewers have a boatload of OF. Coulter and Cordell offer would get laughed at. Only guys I'd consider untouchable are Brinson, Ortiz and Burnes. Quintana would make this team a threat not just to get to playoffs in 2017 and 2018 but he'd give them a shot at advancing teaming with Nelson and hopefully a healthy Anderson in the playoffs. As Mark Sweeney said during yesterday's game. Rebuild is one thing but they need to "honor the guys on this roster that put them in this position." Adding a quality arm like Quintana, says to this team, "We believe in you guys". Surrendering 2 of your better prospects and possibly a 3rd marginal one is a cheap price for a guy who's a 21.5 WAR player over his first 6 seasons. Worst case is they don't contend in 2018 and you deal Quintana a year from and likely get 50% of what you paid to get him back. Either way the syetem is still a strong one, and the major league roster is full of young controllable talent.

A lefty that throws 95 is equivalent to a righty that throws 100. Look how dominating Hader is a 94. Quintana had a 1.78 ERA in June. He got off to a slow start this year which was in part attributed to all the trade talk surrounding him. He's been remarkably consistent his entire career and is one of the best LH pitchers in the game over the past 5 seasons. Guaranteed Rate Park is a launching pad. Compares to Miller Park as a hitter's park. Quintana's got excellent stuff by the way. His career K rate is a solid 7.5 per 9 and this year it's 8.9 per 9. Over his career, Quintana has been the victim of poor run support. But he's touched 200 innings for 4 straight years and he's on pace to get close to that this year. I'd do Ray and Derby in a heartbeat. Not sure that would get it done but Ray and Woodruff might and I'd do that too. Brewers have a boatload of OF. Coulter and Cordell offer would get laughed at. Only guys I'd consider untouchable are Brinson, Ortiz and Burnes. Quintana would make this team a threat not just to get to playoffs in 2017 and 2018 but he'd give them a shot at advancing teaming with Nelson and hopefully a healthy Anderson in the playoffs. As Mark Sweeney said during yesterday's game. Rebuild is one thing but they need to "honor the guys on this roster that put them in this position." Adding a quality arm like Quintana, says to this team, "We believe in you guys". Surrendering 2 of your better prospects and possibly a 3rd marginal one is a cheap price for a guy who's a 21.5 WAR player over his first 6 seasons. Worst case is they don't contend in 2018 and you deal Quintana a year from and likely get 50% of what you paid to get him back.

Mark Sweeney on Brewers strategy as deadline approaches: "They have to decide if they are going to honor the guys that got them this far" meaning regardless of the so-called master plan, this roster put them in position to win the division and they deserve to have every shot at finishing the job. Amen to that!

The Brewers would stand a decent chance in the playoffs if the Jimmy Nelson we've seen over the last 6 weeks is real, Anderson returns to his recent form when he comes back and they shock everyone and make a deal for a Gray or Quintana.

Anyone think a Bubba Derby, Brett Phillips package could land Gray? Or would Brewers have to include one of their controllable depth pieces Aguilar or Perez? A's know Derby.

If every pitcher or player had to have a 95% chance of success before being brought up, then every player in your system would end up never coming up and you'd eventually lose them as minor league FA. The Brewers are without starter a who arguably is All Star worthy and they are in the midst of a playoff race, expected or not. He's likely out until at least early August. You roll the dice with the most talented guys with upside to be top of the rotation starters and hope over 6 or 7 starts they replicate Anderson's performance regardless of the time they've had in the minors. We know guys like Espino and Suter aren't that guy and probably not Jungmann either. While I think Hader could well do the job and go out tomorrow and throw 75-80 pitches, Burnes is the other likely guy. Since when would Burnes have no options? Using up first option at age 23 for a guy already in AA is no big deal. He'll have options through age 26. If he struggles, and it doesn't work, fine, at least they tried. He goes back to AA. If he is so mentally weak at 23 to let that affect the rest of his career, maybe he's not a guy you want anyway. Burnes is said to have a bull dog mentality and he's jumped levels with no problem. He's 23 not 19 which is why perhaps he's a better option than say Ortiz. Of any guys in the Brewer system, Burnes is probably the best equipped mentally.

I'm not opposed to in-house option but given the standings, they need to roll the dice on a high ceiling guy like Hader, Ortiz, Derby or Burnes to replace Anderson who's their number one or two starter. They might well fail, or they might just be Cal Eldred, 2017 version. Guys like Jungmann, Espino, Cravy, Blazek, and Suter might be adequate to fill in as a 5th starter but they can't replace a sub 3 ERA rotation piece. At worst, maybe give one of those guys a couple starts before the All Star break and hopefully Woodruff will be ok after that. My pick would be Hader if they can find another decent relief arm to take his bullpen spot. Sitting by, throwing up your hands and just saying, well it's over and we can't do anything about it doesn't sit well. An under the radar trade target for me would be Jhoulys Chacin. He's 5 for 5 in quality starts in June, is cheap and would be a rental. He's capable of replicating Anderson's production for a month or 6 weeks. He might cost one prospect, but that's a risk they need to take. If July is a disaster, trade him and get a similar type prospect back. If they're still in it they can drop their most ineffective starer, likely Garza in favor of a rotation of Anderson, Nelson, Davies, Guerra and Chacin once Anderson returns. If Davies can step up and Guerra gets his act together, they can keep their head above water, but the next month is critical. The Cubs aren't getting any healthier either but they won't hesitate to find fixes for their rotation.

He should flip flop with Thames in the batting order. He's an emerging star. Thames is striking out at an alarming rate in June. It's great that he walks a lot and hits home runs, but his batting average in May was only .221 and in June it's down to .170 with a ton of K's. I don't think he should be benched, but i would like to see Aguliar get a few more starts sprinkled in. Since April, Thames had one stretch where he homered in 4 straight games from June 14 to June 17. He did little for 6 weeks leading up to that and since he's 3 for 37 since with 17 K's and just 3 walks. He's killing them batting 2nd.

Kris Bryant needed help getting off the field after stepping awkwardly on third base while fielding a popup. If it turns out to be a "high ankle" sprain, that could be significant time on DL.

Pretty steep price I would think. I imagine they'd ask for Brinson and a pitcher in the Brewers top 10. Don't see the Brewers giving up Brinson. Maybe a Woodruff/Phillps combo as the centerpieces might do it.