Thurston Fluff

If I was to guess the players would have been for keeping Hader, trading for Soto and adding two or three other franchise players as well. They don't have to worry about the health of the franchise. What does it matter to them if the team isn't viable after they're gone? Which is why you don't ask the players to manage the team.

I'm sure it had quite a bit to do with it but it's totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand. I was saying I don't buy into the team tanking for two months because they couldn't get over Hader being traded. I specifically said I get things like family problems could cause long term performance issues but I don't think trading one player is the same. Or at least shouldn't.

How long do you think we'll remain competitive if Stearns doesn't do whats best for the team because a few players can't figure out how to play unless certain players are on the team? This isn't a situation where players struggle because someone died or they're going through a divorce or some other hardship. I understand that sort of thing can seriously mess with a person for a long time. If you can't figure out how to do your job two months after a co-worker leaves that not your boss's fault it's yours. I gave them a pass for the first couple weeks to adjust but at some point it becomes an excuse for failing not the reason behind it.

Far enough. I tend to think something turning out to be a mistake isn't bad as long as there was valid reasoning behind the decision. Looking back it was a mistake to think we could win this season while adding for the future. Had they just traded Hader for prospects then I'd say it was wrong. The more bites at the apple thing also means taking the bites when they are there. Taking away this season to help next is no better than giving away future seasons to add to this one. But we didn't do that. We tried to make up for losing Hader by getting more relievers. It made sense at the time but failed over time. That doesn't excuse trading for a guy who was injured forever or trading the DFAing one of the returns but I can at least understand the thought process at the moment. As far as how badly it hurt the team moral, players needed to get over it faster than they did. While I understand team dynamics and these are human beings I also expect professionalism. After the initial shock went away the whole change of team chemistry should have been overtaken by the need to figure out how to win with what they had not what they wanted to have or what they lost. I can excuse a couple weeks due to the changes but not two months. After a certain point it was on the players to move on. It didn't appear they did that.

Question for those who think we should have kept Hader based on what he's doing now: Should we have also traded for Soto and made several high end free agent signings over the past several years? It's the combination of all those things that got the Padres where they are now. You can't just cherry pick the one thing and say that put them over the top. He's helping now for sure but he also made it harder to get to this point. They were capable of riding out his rough stretch because of everything else they did prior to that trade. We didn't have that luxury.

When you take away two legitimate responses you shouldn't expect many answers.

You hit the nail on the head. I'm ok with something not working out as long as there was some logic behind it. In a way I'd have been more angry has they went all in this season because it would have betrayed their more bites at the apple philosophy. The one thing I don't want to see is the team bounce from one way of running things to another. Of all the bad outcomes, chaos in the worst. The deadline move didn't work the way we hoped for this season. It sucks, but it'd have sucked worse had they traded half their future starting outfield, best infielder and a couple pitching prospects going all in only to get beat by a red hot Phillies team in the first round. That scenario would have left us without a future and no foundational stability in how the team operates. For myself I like the more bites at the apple approach but if the team went with a build then go all in every few years I'd be ok with that. Miami won two world series doing that. The main thing for me is stick to what you decided is the best way to win it all. Even if it fails sometimes. There is no perfect way but there is a wrong way. That way is chaos.

If anything the Phillies and Padres shows us the value in turning over soon to be free agents for prospects. You don't need the best team. You just need a good enough team to get in then anything can happen. Both Hader and Grisham both failed in the playoffs for us but were good for the Padres this year. The key is both had more than one opportunity to succeed. The best way to give players more opportunities in the playoffs is to get to the playoffs more often. I don't know how well the players we got will do but I'd put my money on them giving us more opportunities to succeed than one more year of Hader would have.

Couldn't give a crap less about fishing and chess but this? It's one step too far.

I think his success as a reliever combined with what will probably be a small raise gets him tendered. If it's up to me that's where I'd use him next season as his stuff seemed to play up there.

I'm not trying to single you out as I've seen several talk of trading him but it's not going to happen. Yelich has a full no trade clause so it's not a matter of insisting anyone take him in a deal. It's a matter of Yelich agreeing to it. Why on Earth would he? At least here he's in a small market with fans he's built up some good will from the good he's done for our team. He's in a situation he likes. What would be the reason he uproots his entire life?

I always thought sunk cost meant money that was already spent and cannot be recovered so I looked it up and that is indeed what it means. It appears to me most people here are taking it to mean money wasted. The real question is what to do with it now that it is a sunk cost. The obvious answer is to get as much return on investment as possible. I think the best way to do that is to expand his versatility. If Yelich can play some first, some corner outfield and DH it's far more useful than if he can only play left and DH. Obviously he isn't going to be a good right fielder but I don't think he'd be worse than McCutchen. if we can get 10-15 starts in right, another 30 or so in left, 30 or so at first that would be a pretty decent way to give guys a day off with little to no drop off. That would also leave about 80 games at DH so he could still play most games while remaining relatively fresh. The Brewers typically have a guy who doesn't have a set position but still gets as many starts as those who do. He'd essentially take over the role as supersub/starter hybrid they'd employed for a while now.

It's really hard to determine how good a Gm is at the deadline without weighing what they have to offer other teams. Deadline trade results are going to be directly affected by who you have to trade. Having a relatively weak farm meant less of chance of getting a sure fire upgrade.

To say one in season trade deadline wipes out most if not all the good Stearns has done is overly hyperbolic. Yes, it turned out to be a bad deadline but it didn't lose us a playoff birth on it's own. Injuries had the most to do with that. You can't go a majority of the season missing two to three starters, and not have a drop off. Especially on a team that was built on pitching. I think some of the problem was we were winning with smoke and mirrors early and it caught up with us. The decline started before the trades. I won't deny the trades at best didn't help and may have made it worse but that doesn't wipe out everything Stearns has done.

I tried to like them but just don't. I like that style of music but the guys voice just grates on me.

Neither is the fact that the Brewers got more than just Taylor for Hader.

A lion, Hawk and skunk walk into a bar. Before they sat down a shark came in and swallowed them whole. Hawk, lion and stinker.

Silly question but how does the 20 second rule work with baserunners? If I was a base runner I'd know for sure the pitcher had to throw to the plate and I could get a running lead every time the clock was winding down.

Because we didn't read or hear a single thing about him being in the best shape of his life in spring training.?

In 2018 we also trotted Arcia out at short every day. Now we have a top ten player there. When someone like Shaw and Aguilar can be the 8th and 6th best at their position I don't think it unrealistic to think we can find layers like that again. As I said 2024 sounds more realistic but 23 isn't impossible. It'll just take the same amount of luck as with players like Shaw and Aguilar having career years in 2018. But luck helps those who help themselves. The Brewers are in a position to add a lot of depth to an already ascending farm system. They just need to get their feet wet and let things shake out. How soon that happens will determine how soon this team rebounds. I think 2024 more likely but am not counting out 2023.

We have four starting pitchers with two years of control left. I doubt Hauser brings much back but he's also the biggest injury risk. I wouldn't mind them trading him for a reliever. Perhaps package him and Small for a better return. I'm not sold Small is capable of being anything but a back of the rotation starter but I think he could bring back an interesting player in a package. Lauer to me is the one trade candidate that will bring back a decent amount compared to what he's likely to contribute. I could see him being traded for another starter with more team control and a low minors prospect with upside to boot. Perhaps we trade him in the same type of move we made to get him. One of Burnes or Woodruff should be traded and leave one true ace to stabilize the rotation in 2023. Personally I'd rather keep Woodruff than Burnes because he's been the most consistent of the two since he's been here. On the position player side we have a lot of speed, defense and contact hitters coming up. In the world of finding undervalued assets I think we're on the right side of a trend as I think that type of profile is going to become more useful in the near future given the way pitchers pitch these days. Decent defense also allows ground ball pitchers to be effective. That type of pitcher is out of vogue now which makes them cost effective if you have the defense to back them up. If our position players are of the right type to allow for less expensive pitchers to be effective it's almost like getting two for one value wise. So I'd just let the young position players play and add a catcher and third baseman to the group via trade. WE could very well have a team like the 2017-18 years as early as next year. More reasonably in 24 but 23 is possible if the right moves are made.

I feel that way about spring. You get two nice days and then go back to snow and crap weather. Everything is dingy and dirty. The nice days makes you want to go outside but there's nothing to do but get wet and dirty. If you're in direct sun it's nice but a little cloud cover or shade and it's just plain cold and miserable. March in particular. It's the single worst month for weather there is. Spring just sucks until mid May or later.

That's what every team has to hope for. The Dodgers have one World Series for all their spending this past decade. That's the same numbers as the Royals. Why didn't they win more? Because they weren't hot at the right time and another team did.

They've been doing some road work in front of our shop. They decided to take out two chunks of sidewalk. One just to the left of the only door to our shop and one just to the right of the only door to our shop. I get they have to do infrastructure work like that but can't they leave one way open so people can get into our shop?

I did not know about the draft pick compensation for ROY types but I like it. Not sure Frelick is that type of prospect with his lack of power but I like the incentives to allow major league ready prospects into the majors so they can hit free agency before age 30.