JohnBriggs12

That roster is going to beat the 2019 Cubs who'll have Rizzo, Bryant, Schwarber, Heyward, Russell all still in their primes and no doubt some major arms they'll simply buy on the open market? Dream on!

Okay, he'll be 35 in May and coming off a season where he posted a 5.05 ERA. But look a little deeper and there's some real value there. In roughly a third of his starts (10 of 31), he put up ace-like performances allowing 1 or no ER. His bad starts were bad admittedly but he still had lock down ability from time to time. Given his age and overall performance in 2015, and lack of interest so far, he might be a real bargain. If the Brewers are looking for a starter other than Garza that can allow further development of young arms and delay arby clocks, plus have some trade potential later in the year, Simon might be a good bet.

Colorado needs a shortstop do they not? Segura would thrive in Coors.

In Miller Park any ball that gets down into the right field corner should be a triple by anyone with decent speed regardless of how well it's fielded. The caveat is the player has to think triple out of the box and some don't.

Nieuwenhuis never had to adjust from altitude to sea level every time he took a road trip and he almost never faces LHP. Take a hitter out of Coors and there's not the constant adjusting. I think Nieuwenhuis is the best option on the Brewer roster, but even if he puts up decent numbers, his trade value won't approach Blackmon's. Maybe you'd be okay with Segura for Blackmon? Seems Rockies are in need of a SS.

Broxton will soon be 26 and he's done nothing yet in the major leagues and his minor league numbers show a guy who strikes out a ton without the premium power that you need from a contact challenged hitter. I think we as Brewer fans overvalue him because they gave up Rogers who we liked for him. Reality is they likely had already been negotiating with Carter and felt confident they'd sign him and that meant no role for Rogers so they took the best offer they had for Rogers who's market value wasn't very high. Broxton is the Brewer equivalent of Junior Lake. Might get a few people excited for a while but he'll be discarded for no return when actual prospects arrive because he's not a major league quality regular. I'd rather have a guy in CF who'll bring something back when it's time to make room for Phillips. Blackmon's value in the trade market is depressed because of his road splits, but Colorado guys get used to playing there and that makes it even tougher for them closer to sea level. Get them out of Coors and they probably do better than their past road splits because they become more accustomed to hitting away from altitude. Dexter Fowler was about a .700 OPS guy out of Coors as a Rockie. Since he left Colorado, he's been about a .765 OPS guy. If Brewers got a hot 4 months out of him, his value would be high.

Are you seriously suggesting that the Brewers could move to San Antonio if the they build an NFL stadium and the rebuild takes too long? There are so many things wrong with that but I'll just start by saying MLB wouldn't allow a franchise to move into a football stadium, no matter how new it is. That's not what I said. But if they land an NFL team, they'll have an NBA team and an NFL team and would only lack a MLB team. Given that the Astros and Rangers both reside now in the AL, it would make sense for MLB to desire an NL presence and for San Antonio to build a baseball stadium to attract a team to complete their ascension to big league. As for television market, they'd have not just San Antonio market, but nearby Austin/Round Rock as well with a metro population of 2 million and growing rapidly as well. A history lesson. The Boston Braves put their AAA team in Milwaukee, and when Milwaukee decided to build County Stadium to attract a big league team, Lou Perini, the Braves owner who was from Boston, got $ in his eyes as his floundering team was losing money in Boston. Had Perini not seen first hand what was going on in Milwaukee, then it's more likely the St. Louis Browns would have ended up here.

You asked and I'll answer. I became a huge fan of the A's first in KC and on to Oakland. I even got Rick Monday's autograph when the A's came to Milwaukee to play the White Sox in 1968. Why the A's? Two reasons. The Sporting News ran an article about Charlie Finley looking into moving the A's from KC to Milwaukee. Unfortunately that went nowhere because Milwaukee (and Selig) wanted no part of a franchise owned by another Chicagoan. To this day, I believe city fathers were extremely short sighted. Imaging the baseball excitement if those Oakland A teams of the early 70's made Milwaukee home instead of Oakland? The other reason is I wanted a team nobody else I knew cared about. They were my team. I could get Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis radio after dark and I would stay up and listen to the games through the static. I even heard Catfish Hunter's perfect game on the radio. Even after the Brewers arrived in 1970, I stayed loyal to the A's. Brewers were my #2 and no real threat. I started coming around to the Brewers in 71 after they acquired Briggs who I became a fan of and was solid Brewers from 72 on though I did root for A's in the playoffs.

Cubs ownership would like nothing more than to recapture the Milwaukee market. In fact if the Brewers did move (and talk of San Antonio as a AAA affiliate scares the heck out of me), it no doubt will have Cub fingerprints all over it just as when the Braves moved out after having been sold to neighbors of Cub owner Phil Wrigley. That's why any Milwaukee fan embracing the Cubs turns my stomach. South side Chicagoans have much more in common with Milwaukee as people and that's where I'd go. Go go White Sox!

You don't make your mark as a GM by advancing players your predecessor acquired. I believe Pina in particular is seen as a guy who could push Maldanado who might find himself elsewhere. I remember when Carlos Corporan was similarly viewed as simply an organizational soldier. He eventually found fairly steady work for a few years as a major league backup but it took him leaving the Brewer organization where he was pretty much pigeon-holed.

Brewers are deep in some areas and light in other so prospect for prospect deals should absolutely be explored. I'm of the opinion that not all veterans need to be traded for prospects either. Trades where one veteran player is traded for another should not be ruled out in all instances either. Brewers have a handful of young starting pitchers on the verge. Maybe they wish to create a spot for Jorge Lopez. Say the Brewers get a call for Peralta from the Rockies who are offering Charlie Blackmon who is also entering his first arbitration year. The relative abilities of each player aside, isn't it likely that Peralta would be moved a year from now regardless for prospects and couldn't you do the same with Blackmon who'd need to be moved to make room for Phillips? In fact Blackmon would be less of an injury risk than Peralta as a position player. I won't even get into whether getting a young, with the emphasis on young, major leaguer back for Lucroy should not be ruled out either.

I wish I could say the same, but his numbers just aren't very impressive. He's gotten on base at a nice clip but that may have more to do with his inability to put the ball in play and thus resulting in deep counts. He stolen a few bases in the minors but his success rate isn't great. He's got some power but with the strikeout rate he's put up, he needs to be a 30+ HR guy to justify being an everyday player and I don't see that. If he were 22 or 23 I could buy the potential angle, but he'll be 26 in early May. Take a look at the numbers Nieuwenhuis put up in the minors through his age 25 season and tell me Broxton's were better. Nieuwenhuis has a positive WAR in the big leagues. Not much of one but among a group of replacement level types, that says something.

He better be. Surrendering Lucroy for a couple low level prospects would be insane. That nobody's met his asking price probably has a lot to do with the concussion concerns and his off year in 2015 and Stearns is right to gamble that those will be answered in 2016.

Be careful of what you wish for. San Antonio is "big league". It's now the 25th largest market in the nation, and the city is the fastest growing of any of the top 10 in population. They are most prominently mentioned as alternative now for Raiders. If they land an NFL team, you can bet they'll be after a MLB team next. If they build a new stadium, I'm fairly certain if it isn't large enough for a major league team (and I'm guessing it will be), it will be structured in such a way that it can be expanded into one. Brewers attendance sure to drop considerably the next several years and with a thriving, growing market like San Antonio housing their AAA team we could start seeing rumors. Just sayin. Atlanta was home to Braves AA team for years and look how that turned out. Selig is no longer commish either and Attanasio has no real ties to Milwaukee despite his fan "letters". Then there's the Cubs who would love to swallow up the Milwaukee market again and might even put some games in an abandoned Miller Park if that happens to secure that and with no NL presence now in Texas, MLB owners might see the plusses to having one there too. If you don't think there is a danger "front running" type fans in Milwaukee that will see a booming Cub team the next decade while the Brewers become perennial losers and decide to switch sides, then you are naïve too. I realize I'm the dinosaur on here always arguing that tanking to rebuild is a mistake. But the danger of a small market team like the Brewers tanking to rebuild always carries the risk alienating so many fans that the market no longer is viable. There's no expansion on the horizon. For a place like San Antonio that craves a franchise, the Brewers are one of the obvious targets and having them as the "parent" of a AAA franchise makes them even more likely to be in crosshairs.

He's soon to be 28, likely out of options, and hasn't made it as a major leaguer and was under 20% in caught stealing in AAA the last 2 seasons. Worth a minor league deal as perhaps a change of scenery candidate but a potential replacement for Lucroy? No thanks.

I think that ship (Santana regularly in CF) sailed and the most likely of the remaining group to make the most starts in my opinion is Nieuwenhuis. Beyond that, it's all up for grabs. Heck I could see Reed and Peterson as backups to a regular OF of Davis, Nieuwenhuis and Braun with neither Broxton or Santana making the team too. Anybody could still be traded too and they might still add another name to the mix via trade or FA. One things for sure. There is likely to be shuffling during the season.

The number of floating parts all over this roster is amazing. The rotation and catching positions seem predictable but even then things could well change. The OF, IF and bullpen are completely up for grabs. There's probably 5 guys contesting for 3B job and backup corner IF. There's probably a dozen guys with fighting chances to be one of 7 in the bullpen. It's a pretty safe bet that either Broxton or Santana makes the roster but not both with the one surviving likely being used primarily vs. LHP. I would have give Broxton a better shot at mostly full time CF job before the Carter signing but how many seriously contact challenged RH hitters can they have in the lineup day to day? Stearns is shaking things up, but Counsell and his coaches are going to really be challenged in spring trying to sort out all the bodies.

Broxton's advantage over guys like Nieuwenhuis, Presley and Young is that he's hasn't got a checkered major league record. But he also has severe contact issues though showed some improvement in that area last year while sacrificing a bit of power. I'd be wary of a guy who's almost 26 and has only made the briefest of major league appearances. Yeah he was blocked by some good players in Pittsburgh but his numbers didn't force his way on to a roster either. If I had to guess, barring another acquisition, I believe Nieuwenhuis gets the bulk of CF time. He's lefthanded with a career OPS close to .700, and a AAA OPS of .839, That stands out among this group.

You didn't even list non-roster invites Alex Presley and Eric Young Jr who probably are as accomplished as most of the rostered guys which isn't saying much. I still say Brewers don't have a starting major league CF in the bunch. I see a lot of guys on the level of Logan Schafer. I'd have been fine with trying Santana there, if only to give him a chance to prove he can hit major league pitching and assuming no further acquisitions, I don't see why not still do that. If you're going to deal Davis you better know that Santana is capable. The jury is still out on that. I suspect Stearns who was still with Houston when they traded Santana might not be all that high on him either. I'm know I'm alone but I'd still be looking for a bona fide major league CF and I wouldn't be afraid to use arm or an excess young OF in a deal to get one, maybe even Santana if you aren't sure he's an everyday major leaguer. I brought up Charlie Blackmon in another thread who's granted a Coors field hitter but better than any of these mopes in the running for CF. Blackmon's the type of guy who if he proved he could hit out of Coors would bring back more than it takes to get him.

Really? Davis is a proven big time power guy in the major leagues coming off a two month stretch where he blasted 20 HR. Santana is not and went 83 AB's in winter ball without a single HR. There are huge questions whether Santana can handle major league pitching. He's had some big numbers in the minors but after starting with a flourish right after the trade, he struggled.

While they've signed or traded for some bodies that can play CF: Broxton, Niewenhuis, Eric Young Jr., Alex Presley. I don't see one that you look at and go, yeah he's a guy that can be plugged in CF as a stopgap and may even have some trade value down the line. Now I don't expect the Brewers to surrender a draft pick and go after Fowler for instance. But the Rockies are reportedly eyeing Parra and that might make Charlie Blackmon available. Now Blackmon's splits are typical for Rockies' players. Great at home. Very mediocre on the road. That limits what the Rockies can get for him in a deal certainly and you wouldn't want to overpay. I'm of the opinion once he's out of Coors his numbers away from Coors should get better. Not to the point where he's an .800 OPS guy but better than what Counsell has to work with now, and a guy who if he proves he can hit away from Coors could become valuable as trade piece when it's time to make room for Phillips.

Pina will be pushing Maldonado for the backup catcher job.

Have to wonder whether Perez' fine play over the winter has helped his chances at making opening day roster or not. I hope so. The knock on him was not enough power and low OBP, but he showed plenty of power in the winter and he's even been taking some walks. The competition at 3B isn't all that strong and I hope he gets a fair look in Arizona. It helps that not only can he play anywhere, he can play pretty well anywhere. It's not like he's old. He won't turn 25 for a couple months.

Misch put up respectable AAA numbers last year. He's from just down the road a bit in Northbrook, IL. You never know. He's a lefty and Brewer's aren't exactly overloaded with them.

I saw Davies handcuff a hot hitting Cub team in September. He used primarily his 89 mph fastball down in the zone which he's fearless with. A good off speed pitch is the best pitch in baseball because it keeps hitters off balance. Couple that with command of the fastball and you've got something.