Playing Catch

All the usual caveats to this comment apply, but this team is looking like they could be special. I think they continue to get better, and are starting to develop that confidence and trust in themselves and their teammates. I'm not sure what their biggest weakness is. Don't get me wrong, there are teams that are better than the Badgers in one facet or another, but this is perhaps as well-rounded a team as I can remember. Crowl has really taken a step, in my eyes. He's beginning to look like a guy that can be a reserve big in the NBA. Storr has looked like an NBA player. All the other guys are playing their roles perfectly. One can imagine all of the starting 5 as candidates for All-B1G, save for maybe Klesmit, who may make All-D team. This is gunna be a fun season.

Who's taking the over on the O/U of 0.5 Frantrums tonight?

I think a lot of the issues we witnessed this season come down to the change in schemes/philosophies, and not having personnel that fit said schemes. The Mordecai/Allen injuries were really problematic, too, as there just was a lack of star power on both sides of the ball. I mean, how many pros were on the roster this season? They simply were not very talented, and many of the players were recruited and developed in order to play in totally opposite styles, the holdover OL and LBs in particular. I think that fact, too, is why many of us have reservations about Fickell/Longo/Tressel. There is a collective unease, particluarly with the 40+ crowd, going away from the Wisconsin identity. I still support the decisions that were made, but they also make me really nervous. I terms of short yardage failures, I'm baffled by any playcall that features a lot of horizontal movement, like yesterday's first-and-goal-from-the-one playcall. Very frustruating. If you are going shotgun, you simply must either pass or run up the gut. You just CAN'T lose yardage in that spot. With that complaint in mind, I think the game management/playcalling stuff is basically what fans talk about when they are disappointed in the result. Winning cures a lot of mismanagement issues. (I realize that those two things are connected, I'm just saying that teams that win also do stupid things).

I'd love to sign Paxton. I like the idea of short-term guys that have had star-power in the past. I just mentioned in the other thread that I'd like Tim Anderson for the same reason.

There's a lot of ways they could go. Two players that intrigue me because they are most likely short-term, low-risk investments are Tim Anderson and Sean Manaea. Anderson is especially interesting due to his potential reward.

Yep. It's the same reason why teams, like the Brewers, tend to prefer college players.

I'm of the belief that catchers need as much seasoning as possible before promotion. I'm in no hurry to get Quero up to the big squad. Even if he's raking in AAA, I would prefer the Brewers wait until '25 to debut him. There are just so many quality catching prospects that fizzle when they hit MLB.

Admittedly, I was never a big Avina guy due to the swing and miss, and I really disliked the Bauers trade, but I have to believe that in a pool of 100 professional scouts, perhaps 3 or 4 would agree with this.

I'm probably forgetting some obvious example, but I can't remember the Brewers having any success with DSL pitchers since who? Wily Peralta? edit to add: Or teenage pitchers from anywhere, I suppose.

I think the thing most people are having a hard time with, myself included, is determining the quality of prospect that Crow represents. Superficially, it looks bad -- TJ, short, soft-tosser, Rule 5 candidate, #28 prospect for Mets (now #25 for Brewers), two-for-one, etc. But after peeling back the layers, it seems like Crow was a target. A guy the Brewers truly believe in as a future mainstay of the Brewers rotation -- and a guy with some helium that w/o the Tommy John, would have been 40-manned by the Mets or traded for more than what the Brewers just gave up. A prospect with a pretty similar "look" as Gasser. Trading Houser and Taylor for a Gasser clone, I think, would make everyone feel pretty comfortable with the trade.

I wonder if the logic is that another team's prospect is more of a known quantity (quality?) than a comp pick.

I'm surprised people wouldn't like Festa and Prielipp. I think that would be a sound baseline for a Burnes trade. I agree though, that unless they will be getting back 2024 pitching, there's no point of taking back Polanco. Although one could just turn around and trade Polanco for something else, I suppose.

It's been a couple of hours, and this thread is already outstanding. I was initially pretty disappointed, and of course, after some background on Crow, I feel better about the return... While not a contributor this season, he profiles as a pretty sure bet (presuming health -- a big presumption), as a big league starter, as he was demonstrating both high-floor, and high-ceiling stuff before the injury (which certainly needs to be considered). If he's already throwing 3 MLB-quality pitches for strikes, his floor is probably close to an Adrian Houser, or like league-average backend starter, and with some ceiling too, considering these "double-plus" scouting reports on his pitchers. A pretty similar scouting report as Gasser, albeit from the right side, and with TJ. We all know the value of "controllable" starting pitching, based on our collective belief in Peralta's value. This looks like the Brewers are taking a risk that Crow turns into a legit MLB starter... those don't come cheap unless you trade for them BEFORE they are legit MLB starters. I find it hilarious that the posters that think the FO is terrible and simply looking out for "Montgomery Burns" Attansio's interests, also believe that rostering their beloved mid-rotation starter and 4th OFer represent is the path toward what? Free spenders? World Series contenders? Does their collective loss "move the needle" in the opposite direction? I ALSO think it's funny when those of us that defend the organization most of the time are unconcerned about the loss of consistent, league-average production with nothing to show for it on the big league team. In a vacuum, this move ABSOLUTELY makes the Brewers a lesser team in '24, and it certainly smacks of cutting salary corners. Good thing this move didn't happen in a vacuum. IMHO, this has more to do with 40-man space than dollars. Or, rather, it has to do with dollars-per-40-man spot, future value versus present value, and looking for the best possible return for these guys. I think it signals that Taylor wasn't going to play, and that they had their heart set on trading Houser. I'm worried about losing Houser. I thought TTaylor had more value. I'm nervous about prospects recovering from TJ (especially soft-tossers). I'm thrilled that Crow's scouting report has some exciting aspects.

If he compares to Jeferson Quero at that age, wouldn't that suggest he's only getting $10,000-$50,000? IIRC, Quero was highly regarded soon after signing, but not necessarily before.

Kind of off-topic, but are we past the point of needing to worry about other teams raiding our scouting department?

Is anyone else tired of the Dodgers? I feel like the rest of the league should just boycott dealing with them. Let their top prospects rot, pick them off one-by-one in the rule 5 draft. I'm at the point where if it's the Dodgers or no one, I'm keeping Burnes out of spite.

My first thought was also skepticism of the source. But since I'm here... Boston has been laying in the weeds a couple of seasons now. They are EXACTLY the type of team that needs to get involved to create a feeding frenzy. And while I can't speak to the current regime's status/reputation, the club has a history of doing big things.

Yeah. I was eyeballing Hoskins back in August, and it just seems, that with each passing day, more and more teams are interested in him. I suspect he's gunna get a much bigger deal than his on-field worth.

Do any of them look to be top-half of MLB defenders at short? If not, I worry none of them will have the stick necessary to make up for it, save for perhaps EBJ, and opinions on him are so disparate.

I think this deal draws posters' ire because it represents the issue of competitive balance in baseball. For many years, this has existed, but there IS a theoretical limit as to how much more disparity baseball fans will accept before we stop wasting our time. I'm not sure we've hit that limit yet, as the Brewers have continued to remain competitive in spite of the wealth disparity. Yesterday on MLBTV someone was musing on where Yamamoto would sign, asking, "Does he want to join a "super-team,"?" in reference to the Dodgers. I don't believe it will be good for the league in the long term to have "super-teams".

It's probably too early in his development for this, but I'd like to see him and Ashby piggyback. Planned, shorter stints for both of them could be really effective from a team-standpoint, and from the player standpoint.

I love this Heyman tweet... A "decent" chance. So what? 20% chance? Is that "decent,"? 50/50? Does "decent" mean "good" chance, like 75%? I think I saw this linked in some other message board, but I just love it, considering how often we posters fight about a possible outcome because one of us used the phrase, "real possibility." As in, "The Cardinals have a real possibility of fighting back into contention." Harvard Business Review Article

Well... let's do it ourselves... Let's start a league-wide fan boycott of the Dodgers. I'm unsure of how to do this sort of thing, but I feel really confident that fanbases from the other 28 teams would be willing to sign a petition, or a boycott, in order to enforce (in spirit!) a boycott of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are operating outside of the bounds of the spirit of fair competition (according to the CBA). Heck, even of there was a meme of fans across MLB wearing paperbag-heads due to their embarrassment of going to a game featuring the "Dodge-the-Luxury-Tax"ers. Perhaps that could create some traction. FOR US! the FANS!

Like many of the proposals to trade from depth, it always depends on what they'd be receiving in return. I just looked at MLB Pipeline Top 100 from 2022. Frelick was listed at 70th. I see two corner infielders that are ranked below Frelick: Jose Miranda, and Miguel Vargas. In a hypothetical trade where they traded Frelick straight up for one of these guys, how would I feel? I think I'd feel pretty good about it, actually. Which surprises me as I really really like Frelick.

I came to the site, saw the picture, glanced at the headline and my heart sunk. I thought the headline was, "Brewers trade for Eloy Jimenez." I guess that's how I feel about it. Also MT's suggested return made me blanch. I just have zero faith in Eloy.