JohnBriggs12

Price or Chris Davis alone does not make the 2016 Brewers a contender. There's no guaranty that any strategy will result in them contending in any given season, but the biggest difference between the 5 NL playoff teams and the Brewers is that they all have studs at the tops of the their rotations and the Brewers don't. It's pretty simple actually and unless the Brewers draft one who'll be up within 2 years, they won't have one when most of their prospects get to Milwaukee either. They have many major league projectable arms but none that stand out as future contenders for Cy Youngs and I don't hold out much hope that even trading their most marketable player Lucroy is going to get that guy back either. I'm having a little fun here particularly with the Davis thing. Only half serious though they'll never be serious contenders until they have a stud or two at top of the rotation.

1. Deal Segura and whatever deal sweetener is needed to San Diego and attempt to get Solarte in return. This solves several issues. Opens up SS initially for Sardinas, but for Arcia around June 1st. Adds solid major league left-handed bat to lineup sorely needing balance at greatest position of need. Opens up the possibility of dealing Lind if you are so inclined (I'm not), who without the addition of another lefty bat I'd hold on to until next year's deadline. 2. Don't deal Lind this offseason. His value isn't as great as some believe and it might be higher at the deadline. Besides the roster is unbalanced with RH bats and it's unlikely Lind will bring back an A list prospect especially if you narrow it down to one position. 3. Explore landing a true top of the rotation starter in FA, either Price or Zimmermann. No matter how good the everyday prospects are, they won't be able to compete without a top of the rotation stud and nobody is going to trade a prospect that projects as one. Signing the C level guys doesn't work. Step up with the big boys. This move is not so much for 2016 but for 2017-2020. 4. Extend Lucroy. There's no heir apparent anywhere in the system and having a veteran backstop is invaluable when you are likely to see an influx of young pitchers. Besides getting offense from that position gives them an edge and they'll need edges anywhere they can get them. 5. Short leash for Garza. I'd give him 8 starts. If he struggles like he did in 2015, adios. Cubs dumped Jackson and ate his salary. This is similar. 6. Keep Davis for now. Getting that kind of production at pre-arby prices is just too valuable. Once Phillips is ready to take over CF, then decide who can you deal, Braun or Davis. 7. Explore the market for K-Rod. Deal him if you get your price. Unlike all the other trade possibilities, K-Rod's value will never be higher and until they get to the point where they take more leads into the 9th, they can do without a high priced closer. This team is not bad as it is or it's record indicates and it will get better the moment Arcia and later Phillips step on the field. But the difference between the Brewers and the playoff teams in the NL lies at the top of the rotation. I don't see that stud ace in the Brewer system unless Nelson takes another big step. I sense a lot of fans on here actually are afraid of this team looking decent out of the gate next year and that somehow would derail long term building and that's why they want Lind and Lucroy dealt. Fear not. Winning is good anytime but I don't think you'd see the new GM sacrificing key prospects to add talent if they happen to be close in July. Maybe from a position of some depth sure. They could use Sardinas as a chip, or Roache perhaps, but losing them wouldn't cripple the organization. The minor league system is strong and will get stronger after next season's draft. Reflexively dealing players just because they can get even more prospects should be done only with a specific plan in mind.

Break the bank and sign David Price for 7 years and $190 million and become immediate contenders. Look the Brewers could surround him in the rotation with pre-Arby guys for the next 5 years and would still only need to budget $30 million for the entire rotation which is less than they had in 2014 when they had Gallardo, Lohse, and Garza taking up more than that. Of course they'd still be on the hook for Garza for 2 more years, but technically he'd be home collecting it rather than stinking up Miller Park and not part of the current rotation. OR Corner the Khris or Chris Davis market by signing Chris to replace Lind and seeing if the two can combine for 80 HR a year for a few seasons.

Exactly. When teams try to fine tune their rosters to win short series it backfires more often than not because of the randomness of such a limited amount of games. I take that statement to mean he doesn't want to become a franchise that goes all in for one or two seasons only to completely dismantle for a 5-6 year building period. Having competitive teams year in and year out is good for business and Attanasio is a business man. But I do wish he'd learn to stay away from multiyear deals with average starters on the wrong side of 30 or who have a lot of mileage on them coming off big years. Better to hunt for a bargain like the Pirates did with Liriano a few years ago. That was astute.

His trade value won't be any lower next July than it will be in December when teams who are realistic contenders that need a 1B/DH (not a long list), will look to add someone they can get without giving up much if anything. The non-contending teams won't give up anything for him. Injuries and that desire to add one more bat at the deadline will make Lind attractive just as Parra was this year. As for "choosing pitching and defense", I'd be with you if the pitching they had were good enough or had signaled that it would be soon, but it's not. The only reason they can't contend next year is their rotation just doesn't match up. Offensively, their lineup stands up to most in the NL when healthy. Oh they have plenty to choose from for mid to late rotation pieces, but other than Nelson, they are all 3-5 starters at best on good teams and the jury is still out on if Jimmy can become consistent enough to be a solid 1 or 2. Offensively, their lineup when healthy is good enough to contend. Look at a team like the White Sox this year. On paper, they had a rotation good enough to contend but their offense was horrible and eventually that lack of run support took it's toll on their staff too including Sale. And it's not like they wouldn't have decent to plus defense at SS, 2B, C which are all key defensive positions.

If you are a "one trick pony" and that trick is that you are one of the top half dozen HR hitters in the game, you have plenty of value. Ben Oglivie was not close to being the best all around hitter on those great Brewer teams but his ability to turn a game around with one swing made him a key piece.

If you're not planning on contending anyway why not just stick your 8 best offensive players out there for 7 innings? Rogers was fairly adequate at 3B when he played there regularly at AAA in 2nd half of 2014. Don't judge him off a handful of games played there this year. He's too new to the position to play there once a month and have any expectation. A lineup that looks like this would be fun to watch: Arcia Lucroy Braun Lind Davis Rogers Santana Gennett Of course it'll be June before we see Arcia, but use Perez, Sardinas, and Schafer as your late inning defense. If as expected they aren't contending in July, then deal Lind, move Braun to 1B, Santana to RF, and bring up Phillips as a left handed bat to play CF and replace Lind in the lineup.

Lind is 32 with back problems. You could maybe make the argument that we should keep him if we're good, but we're not and won't be for a few years, so add some prospects by trading him. Other than Lind, there's no LH power in the lineup and none close to the major leagues. Lind's worth more to the Brewers than he is to most teams who are already set at 1B. Developing young RH hitters when the opposing pitchers settle in by not seeing any threat from the left side? You are doing them a disservice. For $8 million, he's worth having around another year. His approach at the plate is something young hitters can learn from too.

Audition time for sure. Davies made a statement last night. I'll give him this. He's fearless on the mound. Shutting down that Cub offense was impressive. I still think most of these guys probably need a bit more seasoning. But it's a nice group. Just wish they had that leader and a lefty in the group, though Hader's not far away. They really need Nelson to be the ace. Looked promising there until he tailed off. But the ability is there. As for guys struggling, it can just be that mentally they're worn down. Losing will do that. Which is why I keep saying that they need to put a competitive team on the field even if contending seems out of reach.

He certainly fits the profile if Doug Melvin was still in charge Alfonso Soriano had a .289 OBP in 2011, but combined for 66 HR and 209 RBI the next two seasons at age 36 and 37. Just sayin, not advocating unless Boston ate most of his salary.

Since San Diego has been mentioned as a team with potential interest in Segura, why not ask for Solarte as part of the deal? He's put up decent numbers, would give them a much needed LH bat, and is controllable a year beyond what Segura would be. Pads could move Gyorko to 3rd and insert Spangenberg at 2B. Otherwise, the platoon of Perez and Herrera has been cheap but pretty productive since Ramirez was dealt. They've had worse caretaker guys and Perez should still have upside at just 24.

He had hit the wall anyway and hasn't been the same pitcher the last month. The entire staff looks mentally drained at this point. That's what being out of it since tax day will do.

Good. They need all the fresh arms they can get. Everybody Counsell throws out there looks completely gassed at this point. Would have preferred Hader over Houser only because they haven't had a lefty start a game since Gorzelanny did on August 28, 2013. That's 337 straight games started by RHP, which has to be some sort of major league record.

If they have to keep resting Braun's back, I suspect Reed will get a couple starts though they're pretty meaningless at this point. Schafer's actually been pretty good since he was recalled so vs. RHP, I think he's still in there.

A little surprised they didn't bring back Wagner too. He pitched Saturday and would be available sooner than Lopez and he has a 0.88 ERA in his last 7 starts. Plus he's already on the 40 man.

"Analytical thinking" or "Moneyball" isn't about putting a pathetic team on the field and building with high draft picks" No, but people are crediting Stearns with finding some of the talent in the Astros organization and this was a team that lost a whopping 324 games in a 3 year period from 2011 to 2013. Granted the losing had started even before they unloaded Pence in his prime for a bunch of prospects but that's hard to do even if you're trying and resulted in them being at the top of the draft where it doesn't take special powers to find talent. Asking fans to endure that kind of futility is brutal especially elderly fans who are "season to season" and amongst the most loyal in the sport of baseball. I'm hoping that's not in young Mr. Stearns plans but something tells me he couldn't care less about an 80 year old grandmother who tunes in Brewer broadcasts religiously to help pass the time. Just sayin.

Only difference between now and "back in the day" is the teams that lost 90 games back then actually tried to win while now the teams that lose 90 every year are being run by geniuses who are coyly building a dynasty through subjecting their loyal fans with a pathetic product. What happens when every team has such a genius running them and they all do the same thing? Are they all going to be contenders in 4-5 years? No they aren't. That approach works as long as there's other teams following different paths. Once the copycats all are doing the same thing, the old school wisdom will be back in vogue. Trends come and go in the game. Back in the late 90's the Braves were the model franchise. so the Brewers wanted to replicate that by hiring 48 year old Dean Taylor who was supposed to be an integral part of this successful Braves way of doing things. He turned out to be arguably the worst ever GM in Brewer history. Turns out the Braves success had more to do with Hall of Famers Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine heading their rotation for a decade than anything their front office was doing. I'm willing to give this guy a chance, but his age and Harvard education is not a predictor of success nor is the fact that the Astros rebuilt their team by being God-awful for 5 years. It still comes down to money in this game and the haves have it all over the have-nots in the long run.

Agreed. Arcia figures to follow the time line next season similar to what Braun did in 07 with a Memorial Day weekend debut. There has not been the kind of anticipation for a debut since then. His late season surge is screaming that he's ready. Segura will undoubtedly be shopped this winter with Sardinas around to fill in the gap. Rebuilding in warp speed. Your Milwaukee Brewers!

A two pitch pitcher with mediocre control isn't a starter. But if allowed to continue starting and with development maybe he adds a change and then yes he is a starter, when he got put in the pen there was no need to develop a 3rd pitch. he was 22 and he felt they could've tried that path instead, that's all the poster was getting at. They got Smith for one year of Aoki. While Aoki's a very nice piece, 4 years of Davis in his absolute prime seasons are work a heck of a lot more than a serviceable to better than average reliever with some potential to turn into a starter.

His HR per AB is one for every 17.9 AB for his career. That's better than Braun's one for every 18.5. This year it's one for every 15.7 which is better than all but two of Braun's seasons. Had he not missed 6 weeks or been in a soft platoon with Parra before and after that until the Parra trade, he'd likely be at 30 HR this season. Point is that despite a relatively low BA, he's an elite power bat but he could use a full healthy season in his prime to generate impressive totals that will up his value even more. I personally think he's capable of a 35 HR year with 600 AB but he's going to need some big bats around him in the order which is why I'm not all that keen on dealing Lind just yet. Davis is perfect in that 5-6 spot in the order. Think Encarnacion as a Red. They gave up on him a bit prematurely to get Rolen for a couple decent years in part because his defense was subpar and they had Votto at 1B. Now Encarnacion has hit 144 HR in his last 4 seasons.

You don't trade a 30 HR guy in his prime for "a Wil Smith" type. Those guys don't grow on trees especially in today's game. The don't need a guy at 1B if they keep Lind another season (or at least another 4 months). Leave Santana in CF for 2016 until at least the time Lind is dealt at the deadline and Braun can be moved to 1B and Phillips brought up to play CF. Let Davis hit 30-35 HR next year and then see what his value is.

Why the anxiousness to trade Lind? Is the system still that devoid of talent? Look, they are scheduled to play in 2016, and it would help the RH bats they have including Santana to have a LH power bat in the mix. Considering the return for Parra at this year's deadline, I pretty certain they can turn Lind into a nice player next year. Besides until the new GM is named, I don't foresee any major moves.

Arcia will be a Brewer by Memorial Day 2016 and will never look back. Book it. Will be flashback of Braun in 07.

But Perez had put up good (not great) numbers in the high minors more than once and had debuted in the majors at 21 so he was pretty highly regarded. Fields had one solid year at AA in 2013, but nothing before or since to say he was a future major league player.

Phillips is scheduled to arrive in 2017, maybe late 2016. Arcia likely will be up sometime in 2016. Santana is here now. Those appear to be the cornerstone everyday players of the next 5-7 years. Why not have some fun in 2016 with a lineup of mashers including Davis, Braun, Lind, Santana, and Lucroy? Look what a team of big time bashers is doing in Toronto? Not saying that group of Brewers is in Toronto's class but for pure entertainment value, they can keep things interesting and give some support to the young pitching staff. They can always deal Lind at the deadline and then move Braun to first then either keep Davis (possibly extend him) or deal him after the 2016 season