CheezWizHed

Giving up Hunt isn't a big deal since that long relief role that Woodford or McGee will hold down is probably Hunt's destination too. But I don't see the gain of getting Woodford over McGee. They seem like the same player, IMO. As well as a dozen other AAAA guys that will be soon available. Kind of seems like we threw TB a bone for some of our past trades with them. Keep the trade fires warm so to speak.

I live in MN, so the only games I don't see are Twins games. If you are WI, I think you can see the away games. Certainly not an option for everyone, but some people benefit from it. And since it is free...

Just think what he could do if he would "hit" on his 1st round picks... Well, I guess we don't have to worry about that for a couple of years.

One small note: Perkins is a switch hitter.

I'm higher in the need for a C, but I'd guess they will get one of the "College Ts that should be a C/G at the NFL". I think the tell on Monk is that they signed Lecitus Smith off the street and got more snaps than Monk. I'm interested to see what we get in Williams. Since he was injured at the time of the draft, he is probably better than the traditional 7th rounder... potentially a 4th/5th rounder, which is a great spot to find development guards. I'm lower on the TE side... I think they'll draft one, but not high unless someone falls in our laps. DT/CB are my top two priorities and C comes second.

Fixed it for you. And that applies to the moment he retired as a player. His sole quality as an announcer is to be a loudmouth that says dumb things to spark communication. I suppose for that reason, he could work for ESPN. I personally have hated every time I've had to listen to him.

yes, along with what @Fear The Chorizo said, none of those guys were actually top MLB level prospects. The Top 100 didn't exist back then, but I found a few top 50 lists that included zero of these players. So their performance at AA really doesn't track with "MLB prospect status". Gamel flaming out was a huge surprise to most people. Salome' had some cult following, but was a boom/bust prospect if people are honest. Still, that team had Jeffress(8.8 bWAR), Cain (38.2), Escobar (10.2), Brantley (34.1), and Maldonado (6.2) who all were good or very good MLB players. And that came from a group of players not highly thought of as MLB prospects.

We all know that the Brewers are not going to spend money like LAD, NYY, or even the sCrubs. With a limited budget, they need to be judicious about who they extend, for how much, and for how long so they can remain competitive for the long term. But that doesn't mean we can't do the right extensions... and often it has worked out very well for the Brewers. Looking at historic extensions since 2009 (Note that I'm including extensions only and not FA contracts): Ryan Braun 2009 - Buyout of Arbitration and a few years of FA. 7 years, $55.5M 2016 - Second Extension: 5 years, $89.3M Corey Hart 2010: Final year of arbitration plus 2 years of FA: 3 years, $26.5M Yovani Gallardo 2010 – Arbitration plus 1 (or two) years of FA: 5 years, $30.1M with 1 club option ($42.5M total) Rickie Weeks 2011: Final year of arbitration plus 4 years of FA: 5 years, $50M Jonathan Lucroy 2012: Arbitration plus a club option for 1 year FA: 5 years, $11M with 1 club option ($16.25M total) Carlos Gomez 2013 – All arbitration years: 4 years, $28.3M Christian Yelich 2015: All arbitration and 3 years of FA: 7 years $49.6M (with the Marlins) 2020: Second Extension – 9 years $215M Freddie Peralta 2020: All arbitration (plus club option for 2 years of FA) - 5 years, $15.5M plus 2 club option years ($30M total) Aaron Ashby 2022: All arbitration (plus club option for 2 years FA) - 5 years, 20.5M with 2 club option years ($42.5M total) Jackson Chourio 2024: All arbitration plus 2 (or 4) years of FA – 8 years $82M with 2 club option years ($142.5M total) *Note: Contract details come from internet searches and might not be perfect on exact dollar amounts given conflicting articles. But the timing and number of arbitration and free agent years covered (which is the point I'm making) is accurate. So the question comes to… who is next? It would seem that our best extensions were ones that bought out arbitration and a year or two of FA. The only two players we extended past that were Braun and Yelich. In both cases, we knew it would be fine initially and a bit painful at the end of the contract. Outside of steroid-gate (and the subsequent suspension), Braun earned his money up to the thumb injury. Yelich unfortunately hurt his back immediately after signing the extension and went from a 7+bWAR player to the current 2-3 bWAR player he is today. At 33 years old with 3 years more on the contract, he probably won’t be any more than a 3 bWAR player. Ashby’s extension might be the only first contract that didn’t work out great for the Brewers – though I’d be hard pressed to call it a “bust” either. On the other sides, the initial Braun and Yelich extensions along with Freddy’s extension were rousing wins for the Brewers. Chourio’s extension is also well on its way to joining them, but too early to know for sure right now. My favorite targets for extension (in age order): William Contreras – This one might be a bit too late as we just finalized his last year of arbitration. With a 4.9 bWAR season in 2024 (and gathered MVP votes), he managed 3.9 bWAR last year with a broken finger. Now 28 years old and healthy, I think he is going to have a great season. I wouldn’t pay him like an MVP, but he is clearly a top 3-4 catcher in the majors. A 4-year extension would be a great way to pair Contreras with the coming wave of talent without putting an anchor around the Brewer’s payroll with a player long past his prime. He also has an intangible leadership quality that was emphasized even more after losing Adames. Brice Turang – Brice’s ascension the last couple of years has been fun to watch. Hard to believe that a couple of years ago, there were questions on whether he was a MLB caliber player. His OPS+ (61, 85, 121) and bWAR (1.5, 4.7, 5.6) growth shows his growing value to the team; not only defensively but offensively as well. Plus, he just showcased that to the world with a strong WBC performance. Brice is pre-arbitration right now, so he fits right into the Brewer’s MO for an extension. Jacob Misiorowski – Despite Jacob’s All-Star Appearance and good playoff performance, his rookie season was only average on the whole. But his ceiling is undeniable and the Brewers don’t have another pitcher with top of the rotation potential like him. But as with all pitchers, there is the risk of injury sapping his ceiling and this is an area that seems to bite the Brewers more often than not. Jesus Made – Three years ago, suggesting this type of extension would’ve been widely ridiculed… but along came Jackson Chourio and his 8 (or 10) year extension before he was even on the 40-man roster. But did we just get a once-in-a-generation type player twice in 2 years? Jackson played most of the year at AA and just touched AAA before signing his contract that precipitated his 20 year-old rookie season. Now the highly touted Made is set to play at AA this year with AAA easily in his reach, will the Brewers take the same approach and sign him to a long term deal that will pair our future to these two young and exciting players? Who is your choice?

The Marlins also did an extension for Yelich that bought out Arby and a few years of FA. Yelich's $22M wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't gotten hurt. I suppose you could say the same about Braun. And we all know we won't be buying out every single player past arbitration, but certain ones are worth the risk.

Do you think it is a "lock" because of the cost or the way they handled him in arbitration? I just have a feeling he is going to break out big time this year with a healed hand. Would be nice to extend him out a few years.

Contreras. He is the main one up for an extension prior to Yelich's contract being up.

fixed. The first extension for both was wonderful. Second, not so much.

I was thinking about this before Matt did his piece, so it seems like more than just I were thinking about it. ST numbers are funny money, so the fact that he is outhitting Perkins now doesn't mean much. But I was being more pragmatic.... Both players are 29 yo. Both play strong defense with limited offense (maybe the edge to Perk on D and Lock on O). But Perkins will be arbitration eligible next year and Lockridge won't for a couple of years. So it if it comes down to a bit of a roster crunch, it wouldn't surprise me... I hadn't thought about sending Perkins to AAA, so maybe that is an option too. Keep the depth. Lara would be available for depth, but not much else down there.

I have begun to wonder what we would need to include to trade Yelich away... 😞At some point we need to be able to extend some of the younger players.

I was debating if Lockridge might overtake Perkins if they can find someone interested in a trade. Perk is Arb eligible next year. Otherwise, the two are pretty close to twins.

Ok, let's do this! I think this might be the first BF.net Bracket ever!

Anyone interested in doing a BF.net NCAA BB bracket?

Yeah, I almost wrote my lineup assuming we'd need a Contreras and Turang extension, but looked up Turang's contract status and was surprised (pleasantely) also.

Of course... but I don't recall a time in Brewer history where we had so many good prospects lumped together (and I go back 4 BF.net forums platforms!). The Fielder-Braun-Hardy-Weeks group turned out wonderfully, but they weren't even quite this clustered together. Here we have 4 position players on the top 100 ranked list with Quero a previous candidate all at AA and AAA. And I don't doubt Fischer will join the list this year.

I'll tweak it a bit to include Arb/Pre-Arb players and predict all position players: LF: Chourio CF: Jett RF: Frelick C: Quero 1B: Fischer - I'm a big fan here. Starting to give me Braun vibes. 2B: Turang - the star is rising here. People now seeing it on Team USA too. SS: Cooper/Made 3B: Made/Pena Personally, I'd like to see us extend Contreras. I was thinking we'd be out of the Yelich contract, but 2028 is his final guaranteed contract - woof! Between Jett, Cooper, and Pena, you'd think one or two won't pan out at the MLB level. Made just looks too good to doubt!. Quero is probably the most likely (of those I listed) to not make it, so extending Contreras would really help there. If both Fischer and Burke make it, you could really change the power (and height) profile of the club. Keep Fischer at 3B in that case with a Fischer-Made-Turang-Burke infield. Dream scenario: LF: Fischer - Might as well turn him into Braun! CF: Frelick RF: Chourio C: Contreras 1B: Burke 2B: Turang SS: Cooper 3B: Made Getting chills on the potential!

Seeing interest in trading for Josh Sweat. I was trying to figure out what the cap hit would look like to acquire him (most the tools focus on the sending team's cap hit). The cashflow looks like a flat $18.1M/year for 3 years. I wouldn't want to trade any picks from this year though... I wonder if the Cowboy's 4th round pick we got for Gary would work? Then focus depth at NT, CB, and OL in this year's draft. Things are getting interesting...

I'm really liking our offseason so far (which is funny to say considering we lost 5 FAs, cut two high $$ vets, and traded another). I'm a big proponent of using FA to establish a floor and the draft to define your ceiling. And it seems like we are filling that out. CB is still an area in need of a major update, but just as we stand, it is averagish. Depth still needs work. Zero upside right now, which is where the draft comes in. DT - Hargrave, Ford, and Stackhouse give us a nice floor at NT. Still needs another body in case Ford or Stackhouse don't develop. If you get better production from a backup NT, it wouldn't surprise me to see Hargrave at the 3 tech more too. C - Rhyan was a poor starter last year, but he did look like he was improving. And he wasn't horrible. Again... floor established. Losing Gary and Enagbare, but LVN was producing about as much as Gary at the end of the year. Barryn was taking some snaps in there too, so him taking Enagbare's role isn't too big a leap. Cox looks better in a 3-4 defense...and I think Oliver will be a big wild card this year. The OL floor feels a lot the same as last year, but could easily improve. Morgan has a higher ceiling and lower floor than Walker, but I'd guess he will produce about the same. Banks was improving as the season went on (health). Rhyan won't be worse than last year, but might be better. Belton could improve significantly. Tom will make the line better just be being healthy. And Kinnard was a decent backup. Depth is seriously lacking. WR - Golden has a higher ceiling than Doubs. Doub's experience might be the only loss. LB - I'm in wait and see to figure out the Franklin to Walker swap... but it was creative to say the least. Wooden was very good last year.. but not sure where he would've fit in this scheme anyway. There were a bunch of backup level signings too for some depth, which is needed and didn't cost much. I'm a fan of bringing back Whyle. Seems like a Musgrave replacement for next year. CB, DT, OL all still need some work, but I like it that we have NFL quality starters (better to be a bottom level starter than a backup quality) at all spots. Now go get a nice draft!

Well, that makes the failed physical a bit suspicious.... Oh wait, we will keep our 1st round draft picks and sign Trey instead. You lost me at "Bleacher Report". Has that place ever had anything worth reading? And I'm sure the podcasts are worse.

What is driving the MiLB contraction? Just the player cost (i.e. the cost of signing that many players) or are the teams operating at a loss? If you eliminate the HS draft and A league ball, I'd assume that independent leagues would suddenly pop up in the places that were eliminated?