CheezWizHed

Clark played quite a bit of DE with Slaton in on early downs and then moved in for pass rush downs. Given TJ's improvements, I wouldn't be surprised if that continues. I'm not banking on Ford or Slayton for much except maybe one of them stepping up enough to be a backup. If you go into TC with Ford, Slayton, a vet minimum, a mid-round draft pick, and a couple UDFAs, you will likely find two decent backups to the starting 3.

QB - Rodgers, Love, Etling - I'm guessing only one of Rodgers/Love will survive this offseason. I could see a mid-round selection happening in that case. RB - Jones, Dillon, Goodson, Taylor. Jones is the playmaker. Dillon is a starting caliber RB, but not overly dangerous. Group is solid as a whole. There is a short term risk that Jones is cut for salary cap reasons and longer term risk in his health. If cut, a higher playmaker pick could be necessary. If not, a lower level development RB would be good. WR - Doubs, Watson, Toure, *Others. Cobb and Lazard are FAs. I can see Lazard coming back as he is more valuable to us than to other teams. I'm guessing Cobb is gone. There is good upside in what we have but also risk. We also have zero depth (*not even worth mentioning the various players we churned through on the PS). Using our 1st round pick wouldn't be surprising based on need...except we normally don't. TE - Deguara, *Others. Tonyan, Lewis, and Davis are all FAs. I think Tonyan is going to be a hot commodity as an upside TE (got better the further into his recovery). If Rodgers is here, I see Mercedes coming back otherwise retired. Davis could probably return, but is that good? Pretty bad situation as high draft capitol often doesn't produce year 1. But still need to invest here. OL - Bakh, Jenkins, Myers, Runyan, Tom, Newman, Jones, Tenuta, Walker, Rhyan, Nijman* - Pretty solid starting 5. Myers plateaued, but still ok. Runyan showed some limitations and could be a target for upgrade. Might need more G depth, but honestly we are pretty solid at T depth. Assuming Bakh stays, I'd be ok standing pat here (but 4th round T/Gs are so good to us...). Nijman is an RFA, but after losing his spot to Tom, will we offer? DL - Clark, TJ Slaton, Wyatt, Chris Slayton, Ford - Decent starting 3. Development depth. Could use a vet backup in case our development players flat-line. Or maybe a mid-round DL. OLB - Gary*, Smith, Enagbare, Garvin - Gary will be out for a while and possibly not overly impactful on early returns. Smith and Enagbare brought pressure, but few sacks in his absence. Hollins was decent as a backup and could return. Using our top pick (#15 ) wouldn't shock me here. ILB - Campbell, Walker, McDuffie. - Actually the best ILB depth we have had in a long time. Barnes was almost a luxury (and as a FA will most likely leave). Grab another mid-late pick with a UDFA or two and we are probably set here. CB - Alexander, Douglas, Stokes, SJC - I wouldn't be opposed to moving Douglas to safety, but he was much better at outside CB than in the slot. Will be interesting to see what they do next year with the first 3. Hopefully Nixon returns. Was surprisingly good as a slot CB and returner. Seems to be more vision on returns than pure speed. If Douglas goes to safety, I see a higher pick at CB necessary. S - Savage, Carpenter, Gaines. In the first half of the season, the thought of these three being our only safeties was terrifying. Gaines proved to have some value in play and Savage did make improvements in the second half. But still this is a glaring hole. Bringing back Ford shouldn't be too hard. But a high draft pick here is probable unless Douglas moves over. ST - Coco, O'Donnell - Will this be the year Crosby hangs it up? I think we could bring him back cheaply. Accuracy is still good, distance is ok, but waning. Coco was a forgotten man, which is ideal for the LS. O'Donnell had a good year. I could see a 6th/7th round draft pick at K if Crosby retires. 1st-3rd round pick priorities: OLB, WR, TE, S/CB 4th-7th round pick priorities: DL, RB, QB, CB/S, K

With Clark, Wyatt, and TJ Slaton, I'd say our starting DL is pretty solid. We also have Ford and Chris Slayton as development players. A vet FA like Reed or a lower (4th/5th) round draft pick with an UDFA or two is probably all we need.

RB is a sneaky need. Even if Jones stays, he has been beat up a lot. If this is an RB that is a major pass catch as well as runner, I don't see an issue with using a 1st round pick. There are general rules of thumb that RBs, S, TE, and MLB aren't good 1st round picks. Generally this is true... but it is also typical that special players at those positions are HUGE difference makers for teams. So if you grab one of them in the first round, you better be sure they are one of the special ones. But boy oh boy if you get one of the special ones. Their rarity makes it hard for other teams to match up with. (e.g. Kelce is the most important weapon Mahome has had). But we also have a LOT of needs: Safety - Amos is probably gone as a FA and starting falling off. Ford and Savage (though improved) don't make a great starting duo. TE - We have Deguara under contract next year. Big Bob could (and should) come back - maybe a one year prove it deal. Marcedes might come back if Rodgers does. But really need some young, talented blood here. WR - Still need to grab another one in the top 3 picks, IMO. OLB - Engebare has been a great pickup. But with Gary out most of the year and P-Smith getting older the more expensive... we could use more here (always need more pass rush). RB - If Jones stays, great time to invest in the next 4th/5th round RB. Or if Jones is cut, then that escalates. OL - 4th rounders are very, very good to us.

Two other ways it could impact the Brewers would be on pitching and defense. Houser has been on the cusp of holding his SP spot and I think this will push him a little bit further down the list. Given how many SPs we have right now, I can't see him starting unless there are injuries. Miley might be negatively impacted by this also, but he starts with a bit more margin than Houser. For defense, I think this helps good range defenders like Turang. Huira keeps getting mentioned at 2B occasionally, but this really amplifies his weaknesses there. Tellez is a zero range defensive player, but that might not matter as much at 1B given his expected bump offensively. These are lesser impacts than offensively (for specific players), but still non-zero impacts.

Well, he didn't change his birthday after being traded... ??

The site at least seems to be pretty accurate for the "typical" trades. While not "scientific", I'd imagine there is a learning algorithm behind the scenes to reflect some reality based on past trades. As for my thought with Yelich, I was thinking salary swaps instead of plan cash as someone above mentioned. But per the site, Yelich and Tatis have almost inverted trade values: Y: -112.2 T: 112.5 I was expecting a more neutral (zero) trade level for Yelich and not such a negative. So even if SD wanted to dump Tatis for some reason and needed an OF, Yelich probably doesn't work there. Even if the site trade values are off a bit, I doubt they are off that much.

Not that I think this is true... but what if this was a Yelich+ swap to balance salaries? We unjam our OF, save some short term money for flexibility (or Adames/SP extensions), solve SS/3B (Adames/Tatis or Tatis/Adames) and balance out our LH/RH mix. Edit: nvm... I didn't realize how much negative trade value Yelich has (per baseball trade values anyway).

I'm reading brewmann's post as sarcasm...both players being old and washed up as typical "Brewer moves" and not necessarily advocating for it... Escobar seems like the type of player we need (hits lefties, plays 3B), but also seems like the end result might be McCutchen 2.0...

Yes, we struggle at developing catchers, but we also don't invest capitol for drafting Catchers either. Of that long list of 16 catchers, it includes these high round draft picks: 1st Round (1) - Coulter* 2nd Round (3) - Garfield, Johnson, and Feliciano 3rd Round (2) - Lucroy and Sweet Lou *even though drafted as a catcher, it was widely assumed Coulter couldn't stick there. The fact that he did for a while is either a credit to Brewer development or a failure for not getting him to focus long term on his bat at an easier defensive position. So, there really hasn't been much of a focus on bringing in the talent to succeed either. Can't blame the coaches if a 20th rounder fails - that is the norm. But I guess if we rank pretty high at MLB catcher WAR yet fail to develop our own... we are doing something right. Also, you should fix that spelling error in the article. It should be "Woah SOLVDD"

There have been many players that have talked about how hard it is to be traded for the first time. Its a bit like a break-up - they don't want me anymore. But he has all ST to get to know his new team, coaches, and environment. Not everyone is a good fit for every team, but I doubt that will be the case here.

In our uber-specialized metric based baseball world, any time to take one stat (especially a unique one like RF) to be your hill to die on, you often will. Likewise with scouting reports alone. Statistics say a lot of things, but very few give the entire picture. Take several metrics and combine them with scouting analysis to get a better big picture. He certainly has the tools to be in CF, but not the experience. That seems to be the sum total. Oakland is banking on his tools and going to give him the experience. He certainly has far more potential value in CF than he would in LF, so I wouldn't blame Oakland for doing that. And FYI, "prospect" simply indicates the persons ability to impact the MLB level. Age doesn't eliminate someone from being a prospect...it just reduces their prospects of impacting the MLB level. Sometimes I think we use certain words so long, we forget the intent of why they are used that way.

Toro certainly wasn't the centerpiece of the Wong trade... and I doubt he starts at the MLB (or even appears for more than a cup of coffee) this year. I'm surprised you didn't look at more options like Justin Turner, who the Brewers have pursued in the past and just might be in our $$ range now. I'd say 3B and infield in general is our biggest need at the moment.

For me, Yeager is basically replacing Antoine Kelly on the team. High end arm with control issues. High ceiling, low floor player - a lottery ticket. I don't buy lottery tickets, but I can't complain when someone basically gives us one.

This was also Brad Boxberger's history before he was signed by the Brewers. And Box had worse results on the mound (pre-Brewers) than Payamps. He is clearly an MLB BP arm. Maybe he just hasn't found his spot. Maybe he is a locker room cancer. Or maybe relievers bounce around a lot. Whatever the cause, he is merely a toss-in on the trade. Anything he brings is gravy.

Meh... Brewers dumpster diving again...

When the trade happened, I saw a few comments about his attitude and wondered how deep it went. I know nothing of him (except his killing us when he was with the Reds), but I have a tendency to think if all the reports are from his time with Seattle, I'd expect it to be a mis-match and less so a Winker problem. Different teammates, different culture, different city, different fans, different expectations. Sometimes the new guy doesn't come in and hit it off right away and problems start to fester. Did he replace a fan/team favorite then underproduce? I can't say I'm too concerned based on what those reports out of Seattle are saying because there was 0% (that I've seen) out of Cincinnati.

Toro has some interesting scouting reports: Baseball prospectus: Yet, for his wide set of skills and versatility, he's an odd player to watch. On the spectrum of athletic grace, Toro falls closer to Hunter Pence than Ken Griffey, Jr. His above-average speed comes in the form of a waddle, and his defensive chops are strictly functional, never flashy. For all the contact he makes, you'd be generous to label either of his swings as particularly beautiful. Of course, none of these unusual aesthetics matter if Toro can finally deliver on the promising projections rooted in his excellent track record in the Minors. As Jeff Passan relayed on Twitter via a front-office source: "Abraham Toro has been on every nerd team’s breakout list for the last three years." We'll see if the Marinerds were right on this one after all. Fangraphs: The enigmatic Toro has the tools and statistical track record befitting an everyday player but his swing and throwing can look odd, leading to some doubt as to their true efficacy.

You realize that quote only explains the only way we'd get compensation if Frelick wins the ROY and isn't jumping down someone's throat about him not winning it... Odd "evidence"

Glenn Bragg was my first and still is my only autograph. I forget what year exactly, but it was my first game and I was 13 or 14 years old. I was looking for autographs and asked a couple players (got rude rejections from them). I saw Braggs in the dugout, sitting alone and asked him for an autograph. He said he needed to warm up first and ran out on the field. When he came back, a swarm of younger kids came flying in and mobbed the front row. Glenn saw me (now pushed back behind 6-7 kids) and reached over them to take his rookie card from me and signed it. So @GAME05, I don't think he is a jerk.

Glenn Bragg was my first and still is my only autograph. I forget what year exactly, but it was my first game and I was 13 or 14 years old. I was looking for autographs and asked a couple players (got rude rejections from them). I saw Braggs in the dugout, sitting alone and asked him for an autograph. He said he needed to warm up first and ran out on the field. When he came back, a swarm of younger kids came flying in and mobbed the front row. Glenn saw me (now pushed back behind 6-7 kids) and reached over them to take his rookie card from me and signed it. So @GAME05, I don't think he is a jerk.

Yes, congrats GAME05! Maybe just push the cart everywhere to get your workout in. ?

For a non-restaurant alternative, my family loves the Costco Detroit-style frozen pizza. Very well done for a frozen pizza. The pan it comes in gives it the crispy edges and it has very good pepperoni. But it only comes in pepperoni (hoping for a supreme myself). Probably the one frozen pizza my entire family (8 in total) likes.

I think there is a higher variability in people's taste... ?. While I haven't eaten at PH for over 5 years (its ok, but we have better options IMO), one thing about these 18 pages of pizza discussion is that everyone has very different tastes. Including this crazy @Hopper person that doesn't like mushrooms! ? @AKCheesehead, that sounded great to me. Almost good enough to fly up for a visit.

Clearly, DS's legacy is twice trading Josh Hader prior to leaving an organization...