Eye Black

Not to turn this into a Hiura thread, but even with a great season in the minors I don’t think we will see him in the majors this year. Even if he continues to mash he still needs development defensively and needs to be in a lineup every day. Going into his age 21 season this year I think the earliest we could see Hiura if the stars aligned is mid-season in 2019. I don’t think they will want to start his service time clock any sooner then that and risk that if he does develop into an elite hitter they could lose him in the midst of his expected peak seasons.

I don’t know if I am more shocked with the one year for $4 million deal or with the fact that it was his only major league offer this offseason (and reportedly the Yankees didn’t even start talking contract terms until three days ago). I would be willing to bet Walker finishes this season in the top ten offensively among second baseman. He doesn’t have draft pick compensation attached to him. How does this guy, even at 32, only get four million dollars? I did smile when I read that Walker showed up to the Yankees clubhouse today with his Brewers equipment bag. Well I guess this is one more reason to hope Villar has a bounce back season, because I’m not sure I am ready for an entire season’s worth of in-game threads dwelling on how much better the offense would be with Neil Walker.

I don’t think Arrieta was the right fit for direction the Brewers are hopefully heading over the next few years. I do think they will add a starting pitcher via trade at some point (whether this year or next offseason). I also think there are some advantages to waiting to see how things workout internally and then exploring trade options among healthy starters in July.

Will leave it here for right now since it isn’t done yet, but from Jon Heyman...

When he called the Yelich thing it was already being widely reported that the teams were talking. He made an educated guess. The second thing about stinging, that should have been obvious. Just re-read the first three posts in this thread. Thank you. This is what I mean about history being rewritten to fit the narrative we want. If you go back and read the history, when the Yelich rumors became well known, the first thing he said on it was 'news to me.' So at that point he shifted and said "95% Yelich to Brewers," when he and everyone else already knew Yelich had a very good chance of going to the Brewers. Here were other things he said: - Santana to be traded to an AL team - Brewers prioritizing Kipnis, then Walker - Smaller trade in the works - Brewers talking to Arizona about a deal - Brewers still to make multiple moves (after acquiring Yelich/Cain) - Brewers pushing hard to get Darvish (was revealed after the Cubs signed Darvish that the Brewers never really made an aggressive offer) I don't know if it's human nature or what, but people seem to remember the ones he hit and forget the ones he missed. It's pretty easy to look like an insider when you make sure to let people know when you called something that had a very good chance of happening anyway, and then chalk up the misses you have on "things change." And he was claiming the Marlins were going to trade “Yelich and friends” together. As pointed out above, he was far from the first person to bring up that the Brewers and Marlins were to discussing a Yelich trade, that prize goes to a different member of Brewers Twitter followed by Craig Mish (MLB Radio).

For the Netflix crowd I highly recommend “Shot in the Dark”, it is the documentary TV series and is basically the real-life version of the movie Nightcrawler.

I agree, and there is a touch of irony in holding a grudge against Lucroy for comments he made when this offseason the Brewers acquired a player (Yelich) who was publically vocal about his displeasure in a somewhat similar set of circumstances.

I think this is spot on. Kizer has some important attributes such as a strong arm, but was thrust into an awful situation before he had any time to develop at the NFL level. He had no business being the starting QB for any team last year, let alone one with very little offensive talent around him. If you want a glimpse of his throwing arm watch the throws he makes in this video from last preseason (it is every throw of the game, but some impressive throws, especially near the end)... https://youtu.be/5EQJnJqYVE4

AUDIO via the Milwaukee Tailgate Podcast Mon. 3/5: "It's season preview time, so Steve, Ryan and J.P. go around the diamond a talk about the Milwaukee Brewers position battles currently happening in Spring Training, and try to figure out how the team will get at bats for packed outfield.”

Good question, I typically use Roster Resource for options remaining and they have him listed as having one option remaining.

For those that either use to listen to the Up and In podcast, Kevin Goldstein appeared on this podcast last month and I found it quite good: Infinite Inning #038: Kevin Goldstein, Astros Troubleshooter The reason I bring it up in this context is that Goldstein mentioned the Astros never view their starting pitching needs as just guys one through five in a rotation. He said they assume they are going to need a minimum of 9-10 major league starters each season. I think McHugh might be a good example of someone they assume will start for them again at some point during season.

Has Neil Walker’s market completely cratered to the point a team legitimately thought he might accept a minor league deal? From a Boston Globe article...

Ji-Man Choi can opt out of his agreement with the Brewers and become a Free Agent at the end of Spring Training as well as on June 15 (Link). He is basically showcasing himself for every team in MLB this spring.

Some additional Tweets on the renovated complex from Tom Haudricourt... Adam McCalvy also wrote this MLB.com Article which includes Video of owner Mark Attanasio speaking about the Spring Training complex.

The first renderings of the renovated Maryvale Baseball Park are available at this JS Online Link. From the article...

The Brewers signed soon to be 25 year old infielder Jake Hager to a minor league deal. The 2011 first round draft pick has spent his entire professional career thus far in the Rays organization, Kyle Lesniewski has a summary of the signing at Brew Crew Ball.

Obviously an alumni of the big league club as well, but also a long-time Brewers prospect, LHP Manny Parra has signed a minor league deal with the Giants. Parra hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2015. Following his 2016 Tommy John surgery he pitched in 20 games last season split between Independent ball with Bridgeport and AAA with the Iowa Cubs. His results in each were not very good.

I didn’t see this posted yet, so I am going to just leave this Adam McCalvy Tweet here...

I originally brought up Dave Cameron solely in an ironic sense because his public comments prior to being employed by the Padres were anti-Hosmer. Not debating where he falls on the totem pole, just obviously an awkward situation for someone when it’s well documented you don’t think particularly highly of a specific player and then the team you now work for goes out and gives the largest contract in franchise history to that player. I think it is pretty clear the Padres interest in Hosmer wasn’t going to be swayed or impacted whatsoever by Cameron in his new Padres role. In addition to naming Hosmer his #1 free agent landmine, this was Dave Cameron’s tweet after the Matt Adams signing:

If the Rays do actively shop Archer either now or before the trade deadline which teams, in addition to the Brewers, are most likely to be pursue trading for Archer? The Astros and Cubs have seemingly already filled out their rotations. The Twins, Yankees, Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers have all been connected with the idea of adding top end starting pitching, but have yet to do so. Similar to when Yelich was made available, I am sure there are plenty more teams that would be interested in multiple years of control of a good player. I am curious which teams others think the most likely competition for Archer boils down to? I did read some rumblings a couple weeks ago that the Dodgers had checked in with the Rays on Archer earlier this off-season. Among the teams listed earlier, the Yankees have the most top prospects to deal, but that is slightly complicated by the whole inter-division thing and the fact that the Rays and Yankees have never completed a trade with one another (aside from the purchasing of a contract in a couple of instances).

The Twins announced the trade as official as reported. I realize they are more desirable pitchers, but the value of the draft pick being forfeited for signing Arrieta, Lynn, or Cobb is likely higher than the value of the prospect the Rays acquired.

Yes, and the wheels were reportedly in motion well before Cameron took the position. Also, he did say during his farewell that one of the things he was most excited about was working with people that had different experiences, ideas and opinions from his own.

From Scott Miller:

Wil Myers is moving back to the OF for San Diego. I’m stealing this from the internet, but a recap of tonight... Eric Hosmer - age 28 - 111 career OPS+ Wil Myers - age 27 - 110 career OPS+ C.J. Cron - age 28 - 108 career OPS+ Corey Dickerson - age 28 - 119 career OPS+

That makes current San Diego Padres front office staff member Dave Cameron’s Free Agent Landmines article a cringeworthy juxtaposition since he listed Hosmer as the #1 free agent landmine this offseason.