Playing Catch

It often comes from the position, and one can argue that losing Adames means they definitely should look for a power bat to put at third, but there is no "supposed to," anymore. Not with shortstops hitting dingers, and Aaron Judge playing centerfield.

You won't believe this, but DeJong has reverse splits for his career.

It kind of goes without saying that if they don't get an offer better than a comp pick, you roll with him next season. Unless the Brewers are so confident in their depth, that they just trade him this offseason to mitigate injury risk.

My tea leaves tell me that the Brewers convinced him that he was part of their plans. Probably starting out in Nashville, and being a phone-call away from games for the big club. perhaps a 40-man add deadline in May or something.

I, too, do not believe he will live up to whatever contract he gets. We're a year removed from his batting .217, for a wRC+ of 94. I really really like Adames, and would happily take him back, but I don't see him being worth more than about $12-$18M a year for any year of his next contract.

Hahaha, you are probably right! Initially, I was thinking the thread would be much more practical, like many of the suggestions here, but I got carried away, and my post became a bit ridiculous. I stand by my comments, but they were NOT in line with how baseball could practically "fix" the playoffs. My commentary was more fantasy than practical. I'm not sure what MLB's timetable is for expansion, but I strongly suspect that when they add two teams, they will also split into 8 divisions... 8 playoff teams per league. OR, they will do away with divisions altogether and reimagining the playoffs with seeds, with or without byes.

I decided to start a thread due to your thought, here. As you can see in my OP, I actually think that wouldn't be the worst idea.

Naturally, there have been a lot of posts about the [stupid] playoff format. I'll be the first to say that I think the current format is the best they can do at this point in time for the game of baseball. I think MLB knows that they have to give fans in all 30 cities hope every spring in order to remain consistently relevant on the sports landscape. There are thousands of iterations that could no doubt be posted in this thread, many of which would require massive changes to the entire baseball landscape --- which is fine! Hypothesize away! To prevent TOO much insanity, though, let's assume there will always be around 80-90 home games. My suggestion will be an anathema for many, but as a fan of soccer, I appreciate that the most important trophy for the English Premier League is their regular season championship. In a home-and-home round robin schedule, the cream rises to the top. There is little to dispute as to which team has performed the best in any given season. This "regular season" champion should be deemed WORLD CHAMPIONS, and should be bestowed the current World Championship trophy. It is sad to me that the 2001 Mariners are a mere footnote in baseball history with 116 wins. They should be considered one of the best teams of all-time. Maybe in order for ANY team to win the trophy in a season, they must win 100 games, making it possible that there is not a champion in a particular season. In soccer, they have other competitions as well. Competitions that are often a traditional tournament bracket style. Having a separate tournament or two that overlap parts of the baseball season can present new trophy opportunities to celebrate. These could merely mimic the current system of rewarding the best teams, or they could put payroll limitations, or market-size limitations on a tournament to reward the "Small-market Championship," or there could be divisional all-star teams that compete throughout the year in a six-team "league". I'm curious of your thoughts.

God is a Rays fan. Who knew?

Jacob MisiorowskiRobert GasserCooper PrattJeferson QueroMike BoeveBrock WilkenLogan HendersonLuis LaraCraig YohoTyler BlackJesus MadeCarlos F RodriguezYophery RodriguezLuke AdamsEric BitontiK.C. HuntBraylon PayneErnesto MartinezLuis PenaJose Anderson I feel like even though this continues to be an incredibly deep system, the different issues that the top prospects have are all big red flags for me. Misiorowski's command, Gasser and Quero's injuries, Wilken's developmental stall at AA, Black's lack of a position. All of those prospects took a big step back for me. I still have tremendous confidence that Miz and Gasser will be solid contributors in future years, and I feel like Quero will still have a long career as a backup if he never hits. But these concerns pushed Pratt and Boeve up the list further than I expected. After those question marks, however, this list is filled with UP arrows. I love the defense and athleticism of the guys in A-ball -- not just Lara and Rodriguez, but the other guys I left off, like Areinamo and Guilarte. Just like the current young Brewers, this gives them a high floor, which I am a sucker for. I am loathe to tier guys before A-ball --- We saw Di Turi ascendent in Arizona before cratering in Carolina (and shouldn't Adamczewski be an option to list?), but the scouting community has convinced me Made is gunna hit, and Pena and Anderson were too good to ignore. The pitching depth is stupid. There are 20 guys that "belong" on this list that won't make it. And the Brewers' magic ability to create pitchers out of thin air has me trying to instead highlight the bats. I'm sure everyone could have gone 30 or 40 deep, myself included. Star Tier - zero players Tier 1 - Misiorowski, Gasser Tier 2 - Pratt, Quero, Boeve, Wiken, Henderson Tier 3 - Lara, Yoho, Black, Made, Rodriguez, Rodriguez, Adams, Bitoni Tier 4 - The rest of the list, including an additional 20 guys or so. There will be several of these guys that could shoot up the list next season. They just need to prove themselves again, and at a higher level.

I respectfully disagree... In March Madness the team that plays better wins nearly every game. In baseball, the team that plays better STILL LOSES 4 out of 10 games.

I'm not necessarily putting you in this category, but I think many fans believe that free agents and spending significant money will inherently improve the product on the field, when that strategy has been demonstrably flawed. There's no doubt that signing the tippy-top players, like Ohtani, or for this upcoming season, Burnes, will, aside from long-term injury, improve the team. But the 2nd and 3rd tier free agents OFTEN become guys that are "too expensive," to just DFA when their performance is left wanting. In fact, I think most of those types of players are signed because teams have ZERO in-house options. But the Brewers have shown that they are often able to replicate or improve on that production with rookies, or 28-year-old castoffs, with something to prove. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I think the big money teams are beginning to wise-up to this reality, squeezing out many established veterans in their 30's from getting their 2nd or 3rd big-league contracts.

Do we really care about penciling in guys in the traditional 1-5 (or six!) way anymore, after the last few seasons of MLB baseball? Between injuries, flops (Jordan Montgomery anyone?), breakouts like Myers, semi-surprises like Flaherty, the SUPER-talented Misiorowskis, the UN-talented performers like Chad Patrick... The Brewers have proven that depth trumps all. At any point in the season, the Brewers count on different players to step up at different times, and they are also willing to move on pretty quickly from pitchers that aren't performing. They are creative about maximizing the out-getting ability of every pitcher on the roster, whether they're one-inning only guys, two-times through the order guys, openers, 6 inning starters, whatever. The Brewers don't use a 5, or 6-man rotation. They use a 15-man rotation. And I'm here for it.

Many of us felt the same way last offseason. "We relied on pitching! But it's gone!" "We HAVE to sign Hoskins!" "We can't rely on rookies!" "Hitting HRs is all that matters in the playoffs, and this team can't do that!" (The Brewers out-homered the Mets 5-1 in this recent series).

Thanks for sharing for those of us not in attendance.

I liked how the guy on the left mentioned that he typically is the one to "quash," DSL hype, before outlining all of the reasons why Made is "different". I, too, prefer to quash my own excitement about rookie-leaguers, but Made really does seem different. He really does seem to check ALL of the boxes, except that he may need to move to a corner from short, and that's mostly due to development risk rather than skillset. A question for our "scouts," but I imagine that the DSL hasn't been recording exit velocities until recently? Because it's the exit velocities that make Made stand out. I really enjoy imagining a Chourio-like ascent for Made... I just love this idea of him being incredible, playing shortstop, switch-hitting next to Chourio in the order... oh man, that would be amazing.

Bichette has been so poor his last season and a half. His bat was REALLY strong before then, and for an established amount of time. Certainly strong enough to have value at 3rd. Who knows what's going on in his head, but maybe he would relish the chance at a fresh opportunity, re-gaining his stick, and adding versatility? It always comes down to the cost, but I'm guessing his arby numbers would remain high, despite his issues lately. I definitely think he's the type of player the Brewers should be targeting.

Yes to all of this. It's also why teams are willing to play chicken with Boras in free agency. They are getting smarter about fielding a winning team. Why pay $35M for a player worth $10M? It doesn't make sense. And I agree, too, that the Rays/Brewers/Guardians success will not continue without more strident competitive balance mandates.

It's true that Freddy's value is probably at his career peak. I just don't see a team offloading enough talent to make it make sense. If the Brewers were doing a full rebuild, then that would be different, as the team would be kicking the value can down the road. But the Brewers want to win. They would need to net players that can help in 2025.

I'm struck by just how unathletic and poor a lot of the retro clips are. The defense is often horrible. I rewatched that '82 Angels-Brewers tilt, and could not believe how bad the defense was.

I'm not usually one for rumor-mongering, and I would assume that whatever was "going-on," was probably nothing earth-shattering. Probably just challenges of bringing outsiders into a pretty insular group of decision-makers. I'm new and naive to the thread, but I have an unrelated question for those that are bigger football guys than me... Isn't the difference between Tressel and Leonhard just a difference in defensive philosophy? I don't mean scheme or anything, which I realize plays a part, but isn't Tressel more of a "bend-don't-break," philosophy, whereas Leonhard's (and all of the previous 3-4 guys), ultra-aggressive defenses? If the above is accurate, it's insane to witness the pole-shifting changes in philosophies on both sides of the ball. Also, I would think that the two philosophies don't pair very well. If everything works well, wouldn't the other team dominate time of possession to such a degree as to wear down your defense?

I think this kind of advanced scouting is a real problem for all pitchers. Unless you have a singularly unhittable pitch (Mariano Rivera) where it doesn't matter if the batter knows it's coming or not, NOT tipping your pitches is hard. I can imagine a lot of pitchers experimenting with hiding their glove behind their hip, or doing the Ryan Dempster flap. I know that last night, I wanted Devin to throw more well-located fastballs.

My thread post-mortem thoughts/responses... In response to repeated pain and torment from Brewers and any other teams we love... success's strange bedfellow is tragic, painful, tortuous losses. Chicago White Sox fans were not disappointed by their last loss of the season. The reason we've collectively experienced these losses is because our team was in a GREAT position in the first place. In response to the playoff format... The playoff format giveth/taketh in equal measure. It certainly makes it easier to get into the playoffs, and a 3-game series is much easier to win for the lesser team than a longer series. The observation that the richest teams in the sport have an advantage is universally true both in the regular season and the playoffs. The frustration that the Brewers may "never win a world series in our lifetime," is a legitimate concern. The competitive balance in baseball between rich and poor has perhaps never been so tenuous, and I believe will actually be the crux of the next CBA (along with all of the Bally-related stuff). But the current playoff format does crack the window open just enough to give us hope each season. In response to all Devin comments specific to last night... I think we try to equate and compare the reasons and causes of regular world events to the events in competitive sports, but that is folly. In the regular world, when failures happen, we often can apply hindsight and logic to reflect and demonstrate the mistakes that were made. But in competitive sports, Devin may not have failed, perhaps he was merely beaten. This is WHY it is so hard to win championships --- especially in baseball with its inherent imbalances. But just MAYBE, then, as Brewers fans, we SHOULD celebrate division championships, and that ANY playoff win is gravy. In response to Devin's probable trade this offseason... I think great closers like Devin have a lot of value. However, I think we've seen in recent trade cycles that (non-A.J. Preller) teams are reluctant to part with top prospects for great players. Maybe that changes with Devin, but I don't think he'll net a top 75 prospect. I think the only way the Brewers get a good player for 2025 with multiple years of control is if they package him. They might be able to get good players that are not as advanced in their development.

Perhaps? But the playoffs are filled with distractions. If we wanted to break down to truly discover the "why," it may have contributed a little bit.

I agree with 82Brewcrew82. I just have this feeling that the era of small-market teams fleecing the big boys of their prospects for one-year rental closers is over. Most teams' scouting and development is improving rapidly. Why pay for a reliever (in cash, or in prospects), when you can promote some 28-year-old fireballer for pennies? If the Brewers can get one contributing regular with a few years of control, great! If they can get two or three prospects in a team's top 10-30 range, great! But I'd be really surprised to get a top 50 prospect in baseball. As LouisEly just stated, if the Brewers want to get back a GOOD player, packaging Williams is probably the play.