Eye Black

That is indeed an interesting move. Let the speculation begin!

From this article... Orioles busy fielding offers from Dodgers, six other teams on Manny Machado

From MLB Trade Rumors...

Per Adam McCalvy... Corbin Burnes and Jacob Nottingham have lockers in the Brewers clubhouse. Roster moves coming this morning. Burnes, who recently has been getting his feet wet in relief, is @MLBPipeline’s top Brewers pitching prospect.

[pre]Braves Lineup Brewers Lineup 1. Ender Inciarte (L) CF 1. Jonathan Villar (S) 2B 2. Ozzie Albies (S) 2B 2. Christian Yelich (L) LF 3. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B 3. Lorenzo Cain ® CF 4. Nick Markakis (L) RF 4. Jesús Aguilar ® 1B 5. Kurt Suzuki ® C 5. Travis Shaw (L) 3B 6. Johan Camargo (S) 3B 6. Hernán Pérez ® RF 7. Charlie Culberson ® LF 7. Tyler Saladino ® SS 8. Dansby Swanson ® SS 8. Erik Kratz ® C 9. Sean Newcomb (L) P 9. Junior Guerra ® P[/pre]

Trade Prediction: Brewers acquire Manny Machado from the Orioles in exchange for three players... 1) RHP Brandon Woodruff 2) Either RHP Luis Ortiz or RHP Marcos Diplan 3) Baltimore native Troy Stokes, Jr. (OF)

Before you roll your eyes (probably too late), just hear me out here. The Nationals have been hovering around .500. Lets say hypothetically they have a horrible next three weeks and fall several games below .500. In this hypothetical scenario they decide to take offers for both Bryce Harper as a rental as well as Max Scherzer. If your initial reaction is, “this is stupid and could never happen,” then fair enough, but this probably isn’t the thread for you. If you are willing, however, to entertain the hypothetical... My specific question: What is Max Scherzer’s realistic trade value if the Nationals made him available, but refused to take on any of his remaining salary? He is obviously a no doubt front of the rotation ace. Beyond the $10 million he will make for the remainder of this season, he is also owed an AAV of just over $42 million for each of the next three seasons. Those will be his age 34-36 seasons. I am having trouble balancing these competing positives and negatives. On one hand you are getting arguably the best current starting pitcher in MLB. On the other hand it is a $137 million payroll commitment over the next 3.5 years for an aging pitcher. I lean towards him still having plenty of value, but I am curious what type of return trade value others think Scherzer would bring back in this hypothetical scenario (whether in terms of a Brewers offer and just a general framework such as “two top 50 prospects”)? For those willing to humor me on this topic, thanks!

[pre]Braves Lineup Brewers Lineup 1. Ender Inciarte (L) CF 1. Eric Thames (L) RF 2. Ozzie Albies (S) 2B 2. Christian Yelich (L) CF 3. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B 3. Jesús Aguilar ® 1B 4. Nick Markakis (L) RF 4. Travis Shaw (L) 3B 5. Johan Camargo (S) 3B 5. Hernán Pérez ® LF 6. Charlie Culberson ® LF 6. Brad Miller (L) 2B 7. Tyler Flowers ® C 7. Tyler Saladino ® SS 8. Dansby Swanson ® SS 8. Erik Kratz ® C 9. Aníbal Sánchez ® P 9. Aaron Wilkerson ® P[/pre] Reminder: Today’s television broadcast is on FS1.

Today officially marks the Ten Year Anniversary of the 2008 CC Sabathia trade that ultimately led the Brewers to their first postseason appearance since 1982. Ten years later the Brewers are sitting on six straight years of missing the playoffs which is tied for the 5th longest current playoff drought across all of MLB. Things are obviously looking promising this year as the team currently sits at 53-35. The team appears to have a talented enough core to be considered a legitimate pennant contender. While nothing may be able to compare to the impact of that Sabathia trade in 2008, I thought it would offer some fun to take a shot at predicting the 2018 trade deadline moves the Brewers will make. Use this thread to post any trade predictions, as in moves you think the Brewers will make between now and July 31st. If you only want to predict the player(s) you think the Brewers will acquire prior to the deadline that is perfectly fine. If you want to take a stab at predicting what you think the Brewers will have to give up in prospect capital to acquire your predicted trade acquisition, that is encouraged as well. We will continue detailed discussion of the options in other threads, but use this thread to “place your bets”.

The Orioles are 28-82 over their past 110 games stretching back to the end of last season. That is a .254 winning percentage and would equal just 41 wins over a full season. They have managed to do that while Manny Machado is in the midst of the best offensive season of his career.

Don’t forget to fault them for annually punting on the International free agent market as well. I would have zero faith in the Orioles front office right now if I was a fan of the team. It’s actually kind of impressive that an organization with Manny Machado in the lineup has now gone 28-82 over their past 110 games.

It used to be a collaborative effort between MLB.com (Callis/Mayo) and the Baseball America staff. I don’t know if that’s still the case. They do need to receive the teams permission before the teams are announced, and I have heard Callis mention before that the teams use their veto power to mark some players off-limits. I know one of the issues they have faced with regularity is finding enough pitchers for the World team. I saw this year’s game includes 30 players that rank in the MLB.com top 100 prospects, but obviously some lesser known players sprinkled in there as well.

Here is the Twitter Link to the video. I assume most on this board have seen it, but if not it is definitely worth checking out. My favorite part of the video is David Stearns’ quote over the final 30 seconds... ”It’s pretty extraordinary right now to live in this city and have people come up to all of us and tell us how excited they are about this team. How they’ve been waiting since 1982 to get back to a World Series. How they want to bring their kids to a World Series game. That affects all of us and it motivates all of us. It’s our job to deliver that.”

Wow... just wow. None of the broadcast shots showed a clear view of it, obviously.

I think he was safe.

Kind of strange they were working Culberson on the inner half of the zone in that at-bat, but I’ll take the result.

I don’t believe so, I think once you make your MLB debut you are no longer under consideration. Could be wrong, but I do watch the event every year and can’t remember a case where a player had appeared in an MLB game. There is some speculation that Kyle Tucker wasn’t placed in the Futures Game this year because he is about to make his MLB debut with the Astros (again, speculation).

Exactly, the anti-Bartman result. Would likely be tied up if Braun had caught that ball.

Pitching is pitching. Why would it matter if it is at the MLB or AAA level? Doesn’t make sense to me to be honest. Regarding Burnes I don’t think he is a rotation option anymore. He was moved to the bullpen and I don’t see them changing that unless our starters start dropping to injuries like flies diving onto poop. I prefaced with it being an unlikely reason, but if there was a high likelihood a player was going to be traded in the very near future I could see a team in a division/playoff race preferring to leave that player at Triple-A instead of calling him up just to turn around and potentially trade him out of the MLB clubhouse in the coming days. Also, the stakes for scratching a pitcher from a Triple-A start are much lower than possibly having to do so leading up to a start at the MLB level. Again, a long shot, but also not an impossible scenario either. I guess the opposite approach is what the Angels did with Jean Segura before trading him to the Brewers, but that was also his MLB debut and he isn’t a pitcher, so also a different case.

Woodruff would actually line up perfectly as he pitched 4 innings on 7/2, would be normal rest for him. Wilkerson last pitched 6/26. Maybe they simply think Wilkerson is the better pitcher right now, but agreed it is surprising. Just pure speculation and probably a long shot, but maybe Woodruff is one of the players currently being discussed in on-going trade discussions.

Tough match-up for the Brewers tonight in RHP Mike Foltynewicz who has only given up more than two runs once all season (in 16 games started). Despite the stellar results he appears to be somewhat prone to short starts, so selective at-bats in an attempt to elevate his pitch count might not be the worst strategy. Looks like he has only pitched beyond the 5th inning in 6 of those 16 starts this year (although he did have a complete game versus the Nationals).

I think you meant a .912 OPS vs. LHP. The point is a good one though, Villar and Miller would matchup well as a platoon at 2B.

[pre]Braves Lineup Brewers Lineup 1. Ender Inciarte (L) CF 1. Eric Thames (L) RF 2. Ozzie Albies (S) 2B 2. Christian Yelich (L) CF 3. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B 3. Jesús Aguilar ® 1B 4. Nick Markakis (L) RF 4. Travis Shaw (L) 3B 5. Kurt Suzuki ® C 5. Ryan Braun ® LF 6. Johan Camargo (S) 3B 6. Brad Miller (L) 2B 7. Ronald Acuña Jr. ® LF 7. Manny Piña ® C 8. Dansby Swanson ® SS 8. Tyler Saladino ® SS 9. Mike Foltynewicz ® P 9. Freddy Peralta ® P[/pre]

A recent Ken Rosenthal article at The Athletic speculated that there are going to be more middle infielders on the market this month than teams with a need for middle infield help. He lists the below players as either known to be available or likely available. Second base: DJ LeMahieu, Brian Dozier, Scooter Gennett, Josh Harrison, Asdrúbal Cabrera, Starlin Castro. Shortstop: Manny Machado, Eduardo Escobar, Jordy Mercer, Freddy Galvis, Adeiny Hechavarria, José Iglesias. With Eric Sogard DFA’d and Orlando Arcia in the minors for the foreseeable future, is it possible that Tyler Saladino and Brad Miller are considered the answer at SS for the remainder of the season? I have long assumed that Jed Lowrie was a no-brainer middle infield target for the Brewers, but with the A’s currently 9 games above .500 I am not convinced they are destined to be deadline sellers. I was also a little surprised Rosenthal didn’t include Whit Merrifield, but the majority of players he listed are much closer to the end of their team control. If we assume Manny Machado is an unlikely option for the Brewers, what other middle infielders identified by Rosenthal as available would make sense as an upgrade for the Brewers? I assume the Brewers would prioritize a player that has the flexibility to play around the infield. It seems like someone that can play passable defense at shortstop would be valuable on this team, something I’m not convinced they can rely on Brad Miller to do with regularity. Do any of these available players make sense at this point for the Brewers given the current roster? The players that stood out to me were Asdrúbal Cabrera and Eduardo Escobar, but I don’t know if either offers a strong enough defensive profile to make sense. Curious which player(s) other prefer from Rosenthal’s list given where the middle infield situation currently stands?

From Jim Callis via Twitter... North of $3.4 million for Turang, still efforting on the exact number.