SRB

If they're not going to be good I kind of want them to tank. There's something much more relaxing about a season with zero expectations, when the only race of interest is for the #1 pick. (And we're on that path so far!)

What did Sardinas do to diminish his top-100 prospect status other than be just-ok at the MLB level in a small sample size? He's only 21. I wouldn't trade Sardinas for a non-top-100 prospect, no way.

Lind's OPS is only 1.900 this season.

It's funny how Fangraphs started out as a sabermetric reaction to the dummies at ESPN, and yet it now consistently churns out the most ill-informed content on the internet. The Brewers are not trading Segura for a reliever and an elderly 5/6 SP...

This anti-Braun conspiracy is really interesting to me, because it clearly never happened yet is endlessly repeated. Braun Braun's representatives used a procedural violation of the test handling rules to raise open-ended doubts about the veracity of the test, yet each year that goes by we get more and more closer to a revisionist history where Braun had the sample-handler guy guillotined on the pitcher's mound before a cheering mob.

If Quentin gets released, I wouldn't mind him as a bench OF to replace Schafer.

Good defensive bench, but having zero players available to come off the bench as a real offensive threat is a problem, surely?

Fingers crossed for McCutchen as the PTBNL.

If Segura starts hitting well enough to be a desirable everyday 3B, then he will be an All-Star-caliber player at SS and we shouldn't be moving him for Arcia or Sardinas.

Being a LOOGY doesn't get you the endorsement deals, but if he can translate those splits vs. LHB to the majors, he could be a valuable part of our bullpen for 6+ years (and have a long career after that). Nothing wrong with that at all.

None of those players have enough offense to be good everyday 3B. Scooter, maybe, but I'm not sure he has the arm for 3B. 2015 will be an important season because it is arguably a make-or-break year for Scooter (whether he can hit LHP and be an everyday player) and Segura (whether he can hit any pitching...). If both of them flounder or look like platoon players, we could have Sardinas at 2B and Arcia at SS as early as 2016. I think Braun will finally move to 1B at some point in his career, though Lind could be back in 2016, so maybe not until 2017. Still need to bring in an external 3B though. (I'm on the Alex Guerrero bandwagon at the moment, as posted elsewhere.)

Where did you find this? The only clause in his contract I have ever seen is that he can't be sent to the minors after 2014. Per Cots (and has been reported/discussed elsewhere): "if traded, may become a free agent at season’s end" Considering the lack of playing time in Los Angeles, I doubt he would be exceedingly opposed to a trade though. We'd just need to give him incentive with another guaranteed $5M option year or something to restructure the contract to remove the free agency clause.

I would just take on his whole salary, and maybe try to guarantee him another 2-3 years or something (i.e. in 2018-19) to give up his vesting option to void the contract. Fiers would be too much for a guy the Dodgers (allegedly) just want to get rid of.

That assertion is a little silly to me, but ok. The only players in the PCL who were younger than Guerrero and put up better batting lines in 200+ PA were Kris Bryant and Joc Pederson. True, a guy like Matt Clark put up a similar line, but Matt Clark wasn't signed for tens of millions of dollars as an amateur free agent and Matt Clark doesn't play 2B/3B. This is not a 20th-round-pick journeyman minor leaguer who had a big season in his fifth AAA go-around, this is a major prospect who has crushed pitching in his only sample size of professional American baseball. Guerrero is light years more attractive than any current Brewers bench option (with the possible exception of Sardinas), and light years more attractive than any current 3B options for 2016. $5M/season is not much more than we are currently paying Neal Cotts...

I mentioned Guerrero in the thread about the Hector Olivera signing, but I figured he's worth his own thread. Yesterday, ESPN Los Angeles reported that the Brewers are one of the teams who have expressed interesting in trading for Guerrero, though they are reportedly wary of his remaining salary: http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/dodger-report/post/_/id/13337/alex-guerrero-has-forged-a-role Even before the Olivera signing, Pundits were suggesting that Guerrero had no role with the Dodgers (further complicated by the fact that they cannot option him to the minors due to his contract), e.g.: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/trying-to-solve-the-alex-guerrero-problem/ That doesn't necessarily make sense to me, since the Dodgers will have openings at 2B and 3B next season and they could play Guerrero at 2B and Olivera at 3B (presuming they think Guerrero is a better everyday player than Justin Turner). Frankly, I don't understand why Guerrero is considered a "failed" signing considering he put up an extremely impressive .977 OPS in AAA last season (as a middle infielder) - with 15 HR in only 65 games - and was never given a chance to play in the majors. I would love for the Brewers to trade for Guerrero, but the problem is that his contract allows him to opt out of his contract for 2016 and 2017 if he is traded. Clearly, we don't need a 2B/3B in 2015 badly enough to take on a substantial commitment (although we do starting in 2016). However, if they can renegotiate the contract or come to some agreement keeping Guerrero under team control for three more seasons, it's a great deal. He is a RHB who can platoon with Scooter at 2B this season (and backup any A-Ram injuries), and then be the everyday 3B for 2016 and 2017.

Alexander Guerrero would be an interesting trade target for the Brewers now, except he apparently has a provision where he can opt out of his deal after 2015 if he's traded, so not really. I've already seen the Brewers linked to Guerrero in trade rumors, and he makes sense if they can somehow ensure team control for the next few seasons because he can spell Scooter in 2015 and hopefully take over 3B in 2016. I don't understand what the Dodgers' issue with him is. He crushed AAA pitching for a .329/.364/.613 line last season despite getting derailed by that incident where Miguel Olivo bit his ear off. It sounds like there are substantial concerns about he defense (but he was a SS in Cuba), but he has hit very well and is in his prime physically.

Will be interesting to see if he falls to Milwaukee if he gets TJ (and if Milwaukee will be aggressive enough to pick him)

I don't think is 100% accurate. I tried to make a Cooper 15 jersey, a Thomas 20 jersey, a Jenkins 5 jersey and even a Sexson 11 jersey and none of them were approved. Just for grins I tried Favre 4 and they said Favre was a profane word. Absolutely weird system. It makes sense more or less. The Brewers shouldn't be making money off of Cecil Cooper's name/popularity without giving Cooper some of the proceeds. That means the Brewers would have to reach out to all these individual players and individually negotiate licensing rights, which would be a huge pain and not worth their time.

Lara #2? http://i.imgur.com/dIdOh68.gif Pretty good list, Brandon Woodruff and Nathan Orf are new names to me (at least, new since I saw their names drift by on draft day or in a signing blurb). He's embarrassingly low on Sardinas though, oh well. I think a lot of these lists are undervaluing Wang too - not that I know him any better, but I just don't see the Brewers front office stashing him all last season if they didn't think he was substantially more special than a #20 prospect in a bottom-third system.

I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing it has to do with licensing and agreements with the MLBPA/individual players, and either there is an agreement preventing MLB from profiting from older players' names, or the MLB has to pay more of the proceeds to those older players so it wants to incentivize fans to buy different jerseys by not offering the less-profitable ones. (Alternatively, it may just be how the MLBPA licensing agreement is structured. Molitor and Yount are no longer in the union since they are retired, so whatever group license exists doesn't cover them, and MLBPA is probably just too lazy to negotiate licenses with retired players. If you sell a Yount 19 jersey, you have to negotiate an agreement with Robin Yount to be able to profit from that. When talking about MLBPA licensing I always remember how Barry Bonds opted out of the group licensing somehow, so he was never in baseball video games and there was always a pseudonymous stand-in )

I'm personally a fan of the novelty/obscure player jersey. If another diehard sees you in a Hiram Burgos or Hernan Iribarren jersey, they know what's up.

Great work, thank you!!

At first I was angered by this, but then I realized that having the Cubs win their first World Series ever in Milwaukee rather than Chicago would be the ultimate revenge.

I'd say that qualifies as a "Bold Prediction"

End of season regular starting line-up C Lucroy 1B Lind 2B Gennett SS Luis Sardinas 3B Ramirez LF Davis CF Parra (but Taylor has Sept. call-up) RF Braun SP Taijuan Walker SP Garza SP Peralta SP Nelson SP Fiers CL Knebel After Tyrone Taylor has a huge first half and the Brewers tank due to a so-so rotation, Gomez traded to Seattle mid-season for a package that includes SP Taijuan Walker, 1B/3B D.J. Peterson, and 3B Patrick Kivlehan. Lohse traded to Boston mid-season for SP Eduardo Rodriguez and 2B Wendell Rijo