JohnBriggs12

Brewers had a better team that year than Toronto. They had a significantly better run differential. The Jays landing Cone down the stretch took some starch out of the Brewers late too. Wasn't bad enough that Brewers let Molitor go in FA after that year, but it really bugged me that he poked the Brewers in the eye by signing with Toronto.

There's starting to be a pattern for Cuban players (Puig and Abreau are other examples) who aren't accustomed to having loads of money and living in a free society. They seem to start off hot but then tail off.

His "hit well in minors" is a stretch. He hasn't been bad but he's still fanned 143 times in just over 500 ABs in AAA. You can live with that for a 30 HR a year guy. While he's shown some power, he be better off shortening his swing and putting the ball in play.

There is no chance that the Brewers simply let Peralta go at season's end. He will be affordable and could easily bounce back. For what it's worth, he still throws hard, is in his prime years, and has decent control. He was the MVP in his last start, as well. I see him back with the team in August and September..... Then we'll have him for an additional year, as well. In my mind, he's STILL one of our best pitchers, even though his stats say otherwise. Garza on waivers? If a pitcher exactly like Peralta were a free agent at next offseason, would you want the Brewers to offer him a $4-5M deal? I really hope he can turn things around, but if he gets shelled at Colorado, and continues to get shelled when he inevitably gets called back to the majors later this year, then I don't see it being worth the risk of signing him to play next year. If they believe they can fix him, they have this whole year to try. If he's still pitching the way he's pitched for the last couple of years, they may be best served letting him be someone else's problem. I understand he's been with the Brewers since he was a young teenager, and he showed promise early, but he's been terrible for quite a while now and we're getting to the point that we have better options for a lot less money. It would suck to get nothing out of him, but it would suck more to pay him millions to post an ERA over 6.00 while taking up a rotation spot better utilized by a pre-arby prospect. As to Garza, I was responding to a poster who mentioned eventually putting Garza on revocable trade waivers so he can be dealt after the trade deadline. No one is likely to claim him after a few starts, as they would be on the hook for his contract, and that gives him another month's worth of starts to prove himself for potential trade. Every year there are pitchers like Peralta who were good for a season or two, lose it, and become available as FA as their teams focus on making room for the next guy. The market for them is always soft. Many end up with minor league deals as teams look to find lightning in a bottle. Sure he still throws hard, like 75% of all pitchers in professional baseball these days. It's the guys that command their stuff, come up with quality secondary pitches that succeed and Wily has regressed in that regard. No way the Brewers should lock themselves into paying $4-5 million for a guy who wouldn't be better than 50-50 of making the team, much less being in the rotation. That's throwing money away. Non-tender him, maybe if you want offer him an incentive laden deal with a base of something like $1.5 million, so if you have to cut him, no big deal. Wily's no kid. Next season will be his age 28 year. He is what he is, a hard thrower who doesn't command his stuff well enough to be more than a back end starter or average middle reliever.

I still say the best match out there is the Cubs. Yeah I know they have Wilson Contreras waiting in the wings, but 2 of their big 3 starters are not signed beyond 2017, and do they want to trust that staff with a raw rookie in 2017, one who has 7 passed balls aready in AAA this year? Besides that, Montero has a balky back and Ross is retiring after this year. Cubs certainly have the resources to extend Lucroy too and watching him win championships will be a tough pill to swallow, but if he brings back Contreras and Vogelbach, or perhaps Schwarber instead of Contreras that's a solid return of potential middle of the order bats. something the Brewers will be in dire need of. Cubs aren't deep in pitching in their system, so they might want an arm included in the deal if they are giving up those 2.

Arroyo is interesting, but nothing amazing. If he could show a little more selectivity, it would really enhance his stock. The guy just doesn't walk very often. I read where he might profile best as a 3B. But he doesn't hit for much power (at least at this time). I hear you - fair points. But Arroyo is hitting .300 at AA at age 21. He may still develop and has good pedigree as a former first rounder. I agree he seems destined for 3b and you'd like more power than a 15 HR type there. Between Bickford and Beede, it's interesting. Bickford is three years younger. So, he's more unknown. Beede is 23 already and not off to a great start at AA. I'd have to defer to the scouts on who has the higher upside. Shaw as a 3rd piece makes sense. Brewers would also likely get Parker or Williamson to fill in for Braun's corner OF spot. Neither has great upside but either might be better than whoever the Brewers would have left to stick in a corner OF spot. If Giants balk at including Arroyo, Duffy wouldn't be a bad alternative even though he's not having the kind of year he had in 2015.

Nothing short of Chris Shaw and either Bickford and Beede from Giants, plus they throw in Jarrett Parker to fill in open OF spot. If Brewers have to eat half his salary, I'd want Matt Duffy too and throw in Aaron Hill. Giants need to make room for Arroyo and they could move Crawford to 3B with Duffy gone.

Amen to that. My favorite Brewer team of all time was not the 82 team or the 08 team. It was the 79 team, with the 78 team a close second. Those teams won a lot but didn't make the postseason. That didn't make those seasons any less enjoyable or memorable.

Competitors care about winning every year. Guys play well, you win. Guys don't play well you lose, fans lose interest and all the sunny talk about what 2019, or 2022 or what is it now? 2025? is just that, sunny talk and an excuse for not putting a major league product on the field for fans paying major league prices. It's as simple as that. Every season has value. Every single one.

Scooter Gennett has a .982 OPS vs. LHP in 2016. Yeah, yeah, sample size, but he was criticized for not hitting them on ridiculously small sample sizes too. Brewers look to be set in the infield for next couple years. It's not that they can't upgrade of course, but it will take a bona fide potential All Star to dislodge guys like Arcia, Villar, and even Carter and Gennett, with Perez a top flight utility behind them.

Your definition of tremendous and mine are quite different. 14.4 WAR over 10 season! That's decent not tremendous. He wasn't just bad last year, he was awful to the tune of nearly a minus 2 WAR.

Villar's just as valuable at 3B as he is at 2B. So who do you like more in there everyday, Perez at 3B or Scooter at 2B? I'm sure Counsell can find time for all of them. Scooter is a good major league hitter, who for the past two seasons has got himself into a funk mechanically and taken some time to get out of it. The DL time no doubt had something to with it this year. Keith Hernandez noted when the Brewers were in NY that Scooter was struggling big time, and noted last night how his swing and approach looked much, much better.

All I know is Brewers have several players with very high K/PA rates: Broxton, Santana, Carter to name just a few.

I just don't see Ray as a top 5 type pick but that doesn't mean he'll not be a fine player. When commentators on MLB Network are bringing up a name like Oddibe McDowell as a comparison, geesh. You don't use the 5th pick in the draft for an Oddibe McDowell clone. McDowell had all of 10 wins above replacement his entire career and a career .672 OPS. Now if he becomes the second coming of Ray Lankford, another name that was mentioned, fine.

I'm betting on a college player that can get to the majors by 2018, be a middle of the order hitter with power, and that's Collins. Villar's success, their belief in Santana, along with readiness of Aricia, Hader, Nottingham, and some others, will make them see an opportunity with the first wave to be competitive the same year the Cubs will have to spend a ton to maintain their pitching staff at it's present level. They lack a quality 1B anywhere, and while you can find them on the market every year, growing one means resources can go elsewhere and who knows, if he can catch, Collins gives them an option should Nottingham fail to fulfill his promise.

Yeah they need room on the 40 man for Garza, but can't they just release Capuano? I liked how Barnes looked but somebody will be moved to make room on the 25 man roster, and Barnes has options. As for Jones, really? Don't they have enough guys ahead of him?

You meant second baseman. I think he meant 3rd baseman for now. Hill's likely to be moved before the deadline. Either they'll bring up Arcia to play SS and move Villar or leave Villar at SS and put Perez at 3B and bring Rivera back as utility guy. You may eventually see Villar at 2nd but they won't move Gennett any sooner than this winter. If that happens you could see Perez at 3B, Arcia at SS, and Villar at 2B. If you believe what Villar is showing is not simply a hot stretch, then his trade value will grow well beyond what it is now in a year or two.

The easy schedule stretch just ended. Now it gets tough. If they trade Braun and Lucroy in July, 100 losses is still very much on the table. In 2004, they were 47-43 on July 16, and still lost 94 games that year. I'm not predicting that will happen but I get the sense if management waves the white flag in a major way, the guys left will stumble in. I'm hoping they continue their good play and management makes the assessment that they can still build for the future while taking a stab at a wild card berth if it presents itself. Deal off the Aaron Hills and Blaine Boyers if you must, maybe even another bullpen arm, but dealing All Stars like Lucroy and Braun when the team is going well? I know that's what fans are fearing and perhaps resigned to and why the number of empty seats is growing even as the team is playing well. There's talent in this system now that can help this team be even better. Healthy, this isn't a bad 25 man roster now. Like Will Smith said on Friday's pregame show, "Everyone talks about us rebuilding, but there's me and 24 guys that believe we have a good team right now".

Peralta's better than 50-50 to be non-tendered this winter. See who's interested, cut your losses and make a minor deal to move him.

The two key guys in the Brewer OF picture are Santana and Liriano. Neither are surefire everyday major leaguers, much less future All Stars, but they'll need at least one and probably both (assuming Braun is traded at some point) to emerge as a quality dependable corner OF bat that can hit and produce in the middle of the order which will have gaping holes created when and if Lucroy or Braun is traded. I'd be very reluctant to deal Braun until we've seen more of Santana and at least some of Liriano. Though he shows flashes, we've yet to see it out of Santana but he'll get the AB's the rest of this year and should be better able to evaluate him. Flores has the look of a 4th OF. Wish he'd show at least some gap power, but I'm not seeing it. I'd also like to see the Brewers use Perez in the OF if they don't find a regular spot for him at 3B or 2B. He's certainly athletic enough to play out there and has the arm to play RF.

Lefties are 3 for 41 with 22 Ks off Hader. He's conquered AA. He's ready for big leagues. Keeping him at level he's not challenged at hurts his development.

Brewers are very thin in the OF. Phillips is the lone potential starting caliber OF who figures to be in lineup 2 years from now. Clark's ETA is 2 years after that. Sorry but the jury is still out on Santana. Dealing Braun leaves a huge hole in the lineup until 2019 at least. There are guys that could emerge but they aren't guys you can count on. They'll never get a fair return in talent for Braun. Without the PED cloud, he'd be better than 50-50 for the HOF.

"sending Davies down for a month to gain an extra year of service time". You start doing stuff like that and agents are going to notice and start filing grievances.

Lefthanded hitters vs. Hader: 3 for 41. all singles, 22 K's. That's a line of .073/.136/.073. Forget the level, that's astoundingly good. How would having Hader in the Brewer pen at the very least not be a big plus unless of course they aren't trying to be as good a team as possible this year? Now there's precedent for top prospects starting major league careers out of the pen. Chris Sale did it for a couple months in 2010 and all of 2011 and was able to make a smooth transition to starter the following year. Hader's delivery has most been compared to Sale. Will be very interesting to see what they do prior to the deadline, moving relievers and/or starters and if that's when Hader finally gets an opportunity.

Now that might be the understatement of the year. Put any current Brewer starter in Biloxi rotation and none would be any more dominating than Hader.