JohnBriggs12

Could explain the Gyorko signing a few days after the injury.

The equality of revenues in the NFL goes all the way back to the names like Halas in Chicago and Mara in New York who understood that the league was only as strong as it's weakest franchise. Baseball has always been run by owners who don't see beyond their self interest. That goes back to guys like Walter O'Malley, P.K.Wrigley etc. For all you Cub fans that like to brag how lovable your team is and how you can fill Miller Park, note that the franchise in Milwaukee would still be the Braves if not for the greed of guys like Wrigley and O'Malley. Wrigley went so far as recruiting young Chicago businessmen who were his neighbors to buy the Braves and remove them from nearby Milwaukee (only after they first tried to wrest control of the White Sox and get them out of Chicago). I've long since given up hope for an equal playing field. I only celebrate baseball championships won by lower revenue teams. The others won by the big boys are simply lesser achievements. It's like a high school that has an enrollment of 3,000 dominating conferences with schools with enrollments of 1,500. It's just not impressive.

I'm stunned that Feliciano, Small and Ashby aren't even in the top 200. I get that Small's pro sample is virtually nothing, but he was the best pitcher in the best collegiate league. A full season where he moves successfully through multiple levels should get him in the top 100 and if Feliciano can post his high A numbers at AA at age 21, he should be close to top 50.

Lauer's age and relative health over recent seasons is a plus, and his numbers are reasonably good, but he's a 5 inning pitcher as is Anderson and Houser. Suter can't pitch every day. Somebody else needs to emerge to cover innings 6-8 or Counsll's going to have to stretch them into 6 inning guys. They need someone other than Woodruff who can log 180 innings. I'm sure if they hang in the race into July, a starter will be on their wish list but the long term answer is for guys like Small to move through the levels fast. I think given his collegiate background and maturity that Small might make his debut sometime late in the season and that may be a good thing.

Michael Lombardi was on The Score in Chicago this morning and just blasted Matt Lafluer. Paraphrasing what he said: Murphy hired Lafluer because he wanted a coach he could control more than he wanted to win. Lafluer lacks the ability to make the type of in game adjustments that top coaches make. In short he doesn't have counters to what top defensive coordinators do to him. He was also very hard on Lafluer for a game plan that might be fine against a team like the Lions but not against top teams.

Brett Anderson has been around since 2009, and after a very promising start to his career, since 2013, he's had two serviceable years, in 2015 and 2019. He hasn't logged more than 100 innings in back to back years since 2009-10. He's a huge question mark. Linblom dominated in a league where Eric Thames was Christian Yelich and one of the best hitters in the league the last 3 seasons was somebody named Jamie Romak. I'm sure we all remember Romak's illustrious 36 AB major league career. Lindblom's done nothing of note in the big leagues and it wasn't like he didn't get chances before. Lauer was 5th starter on a last place team. He has not missed starts, but he's been a 5 inning pitcher at best. I'd take Suter over him in my rotation but unfortunately they let most of the bullpen depth go. There's hope of additional upside for Lauer, but it remains hope. Houser will be 27 on opening day and has all of 18 major league starts and reached 5 innings once in his last 6 starts. Anyone else remember Taylor Jungmann who was great for half a season in 2015 and nothing after that. On paper beyond Woodruff, who's close to a true ace, this simply is not the rotation of a contender unless nearly everything falls right. If Woodruff goes down, look out.

Strop sure looked like he was done last year. Maddon kept giving him chances last year and he never settled in. Velocity has waned and his command isn't what it was.

I think Mike Pettine might be the fall guy for a defense that was helpless against the run at times. Heck Detroit ran all over them in the regular season finale. Eagles ran all over them too, and that game was only close because Eagles didn't stick with it as much as 49ers did. Though I have to question the talent level in the DL when you have two starters from average Northwestern teams and they rely on Martinez to be all over the field. One season doesn't make a head coach either. Lindy Infante for example. Infante was an offensive guru but his teams didn't play hard and it showed. This Packer team despite it's record played soft far too often.

Considering the train wreck-level results we saw from 3/5ths of the rotation (Burnes, Peralta and Chacin) for a large portion of the season, "dreadful" would likely be an improvement. I'd be extremely surprised if Lindblom, Lauer and Anderson aren't significantly better than those three. What might be tougher is picking up the slack from not having the solid work of Davies, Anderson, Lyles and Gonzalez. The Brewers definitely need to address the lack of solid depth in the starting pitching department for 2020. Burnes and Peralta made a grand total of 12 starts between them. In Peralta's first start he threw 8 shutout innings fanning 11. In two of his other 7 starts he allowed one earned run. The difference last year was that Peralta and Burnes were clearly on short leashes. Chacin wasn't that bad the first 6 weeks either. The guys they added this year, Brett Anderson, Lauer, and Lindblom are going to be given much longer leashes as is Houser who still has a rather limited track record. Last year they also had proven major league quality starters in their prime in Davies and Anderson, and their best starter down the stretch was Lyles. Now all 3 are gone and replaced by guys will lesser track records. Despite losing tons of lineup punch in Moustakas, Grandal and Thames, it's plausible this year's lineup can be just as productive, but the pitching staff and rotation in particular is a complete crap shoot, not unlike many many years of Brewer history where team ended up sub .500. Compared to the Reds, Cardinals and Cubs, it's clearly inferior. Being unwilling to pay Anderson and Lyles was simply dumbfounding to me.

Minneapolis metro is 3.6 million. Milwaukee Metro is 1.6 million. TV market is 1.697 million for MPLS vs 837,000 for MKE, so they got us beat there too. https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings/ Quick googling also looks like the Twins owner has a net worth that is a couple two tree billion higher than Mark A, for whatever that is or isn't worth. Yeah but the Green Bay and Madison television markets are both decent size and overlap the Milwaukee market.

I'm still hoping the Brewers will take on some salary and get that SP who can solidify their rotation. Samardzija, Happ or even Price fit that scenario. The Brewers could take on most of Shark's salary but will need Yanks to kick in quite a bit for Happ. Price would take some creativity.

I think it would take Urias, Peralta, Feliciano, and Small and that's only if the Rockies are truly looking to move him. Another somewhat viable proposal would be Hiura, Burnes, Turang and Small.

I'm surprised there's no discussion of the fact that David Stearns was Luhnow's right hand man for 4 seasons and part of the culture that apparently condoned electronic methods for stealing signs. I found it laughable the suggestion that Houston would hire Stearns or anyone else who's been part of the Luhnow regime. Not saying Stearns is guilty by association, but it certainly would be understandable if the Brewers came under more scrutiny.

There's some upside with Garcia, Narvaez, and Healy. Healy was a 3.5 WAR player over his first year and a half in the big leagues and still slugged 24 HR the next year in Seattle. If healthy playing in Miller Park, he has 30 HR potential. Narvaez is just coming into his own, and I take with a major grain of salt his framing issues catching for horrific staffs in Chicago and Seattle. Garcia was very highly regarded when he was younger, and while is progress hasn't been a straight line, the overall trend has been upward to solid major leaguer at this point. Now as far as Sogard and Smoak are concerned, you just hope they provide professional AB's consistent of veteran journeymen they both are.. I personally have no hope for Gyorko, who peaked briefly for the Cardinals but before and since wasn't much. He's got holes that pitchers figured out. My big concern is the pitching staff. I just don't see any bullpen depth or have any confidence there's a solid number 2 starter among the group they have. There's a few maybes like Hauser in the rotation or Peralta in the pen, but contending teams don't start out with a bunch of maybes. I'm still holding out hope they can get a salary dump veteran starter who's can stabilize things.

Going after Dyson for this coming year is spending money for nothing -- literally. You must've missed that Dyson's out for all of 2020: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/11/sam-dyson-elects-free-agency.html I did miss that

Yeah, he could actually factor in if there's an injury to Braun or Smoak. My guess is he's got an opt out around June 1st.

I might take a shot at Sam Dyson. Right after he got traded to the Twins he had 2 really bad outings. After that he was himself, a reliable late inning arm. He fits in the role Guerra had nicely. I'd also think about taking a flier on Swarzak. He had success for the Brewers and just might be a guy who can have a bounce back year.

I might take a shot at Sam Dyson. Right after he got traded to the Twins he had 2 really bad outings. After that he was himself, a reliable late inning arm. He fits in the role Guerra had nicely. I'd also think about taking a flier on Swarzak. He had success for the Brewers and just might be a guy who can have a bounce back year.

I'd have to say that Jake Faria goes down as a big swing and a miss as a return for a guy one year removed from being an All Star. He showed nothing.

I'd have to say that Jake Faria goes down as a big swing and a miss as a return for a guy one year removed from being an All Star. He showed nothing.

Gyorko's done. Was worse than Shaw last year. This has been a very discouraging off-season.

Gyorko's done. Was worse than Shaw last year. This has been a very discouraging off-season.

So is Stearns cornering the market on players rebounding from hip surgery? Signed Healy; now signed Morrison. Anyone else to take a flyer on? Can Tua pitch?

That's one the Brewers will regret big time.

I don't know how you can have Sunitsch and Ashby ahead of Small, who was the best pitcher in the SEC, and was dominant in his limited action in the minors.