SRB

The 26-man roster is currently at around $90.3 million, using projected arb salaries for Narvaez, Suter, and Hader, projecting $3.1 million for Lindblom until we get the details of his contract (and minus his likely incentives), and minus whatever Healy got. If you want to also count the deferred money the organization is paying for former players, that brings the current payroll to around $98.7 million I think a lot of estimates elsewhere are going of players "luxury tax" prorated salaries, rather than what they are actually making in 2020

I think the trend with these moves is that Stearns is scooping up assets who are undervalued due to fluky 2019 seasons. He's trusting the scouting and analytic info he's getting. For example, based on whatever underlying metrics, Steamer is optimistic about Smoak (proj .342 wOBA) and Healy (proj .321 wOBA), and he's acquired both for very little cost.

Smoak is projected for a .342 wOBA. He had a .371 wOBA in 637 PA two years ago. His numbers will go up because we have the luxury of soft platooning him with Braun. Not sure what you consider an above average bat? I think Stearns's roster construction is brilliant. All we need now is to trade Arcia and find a quality 3B (in a dream would Donaldson) for in all honest the deepest positional roster in recent memory.

Love Thames, but Smoak is a much more useful player. Better defense and he's not a strict platoon guy. 2017-2019 vs RHP Thames: .367 wOBA, 126 wRC+ Smoak: .356 wOBA, 124 wRC+ 2017-2019 vs LHP Thames: .289 wOBA, 74 wRC+ Smoak: .334 wOBA, 110 wRC+

It really would just be perfect if we could sign Donaldson and then bring back Thames. I would also try to trade Arcia for some relief pitching now that we have Sogard to split time with Urias. An extremely deep and balanced roster. 2017-2019 vs RHP 2B Hiura - .418 wOBA LF Yelich - .413 wOBA 3B Donaldson - .376 wOBA 1B Thames - .367 wOBA C Narvaez - .347 wOBA RF Garcia - .332 wOBA CF Cain - .327 wOBA SS Sogard - .319 wOBA 2017-2019 vs LHP SS Urias - .404 wOBA 3B Donaldson - .388 wOBA LF Yelich - .373 wOBA 1B Braun - .369 wOBA RF Garcia - .368 wOBA CF Cain - .362 wOBA 2B Sogard - .338 wOBA C Pina - .320 wOBA

I feel like a lot of people complaining about the offseason are not putting things into perspective, including the number of free agent or trade options still available and the composition of the 26-man roster as a whole. For example, lots of complaints about Ryon Healy and Eric Sogard in a vacuum, with people ignoring that those moves at best are replacing Ronny Rodriguez and Mark Mathias (or Tyrone Taylor) on the roster. If Stearns manages to trade Arcia and bring in a quality 3B I think it will be one of the best offseasons in recent memory.

I'd love to have him, but you have to pretty confident that he's a lock for NL RoY to justify giving up Hader and blowing up our bullpen. What if Knebel struggles? It makes the team dramatically worse to trade Hader unless we're getting a proven return.

But I don't like revisionist adds. His 2019 doesn't mean much to me. He has a long track record of not being 2019 and he only has 3 years over 90 OPS+. 250/320/660 blah and a career OPS+ 82. He's good at 2b 3b and the rest of his utility summed up as not being bad at other spots. It's not like I've been a Perez advocate either. Useful and 4.5 mil is a different level in MKE. I'm so sick of this SS turnstile we have going on. Trade Escobar before his prime. Trade Segura before his prime. Now we trade Arcia before his prime. Cue up Urias. Yes, but if he had a long track record of being 2019 how much would his deal be worth? Moose's would be the starting point. I'm just saying $4.5 million is basically no money for an MLB player, which if anything is low given the season he just had.

Drew Pomeranz got like $32 million for a good month, so I thought $4 million was actually quite cheap for a guy who had an excellent 2019 and at worst is a glove-first utility guy. I think every list I've seen had Sogard as a top 50 free agent.

Neither one of them has pronounced platoon splits, so it probably would help either one much. (Though that arguably makes them excellent bench pieces)

This is not true. He's due in the majors this season and looks to be an absolute immediate impact. Obviously that's speculation, but its the consensus. One out of five (maybe) elite prospects actually has an immediate impact at that age. Stearns would not be relying on Lux to be a major part of a contending team. Where does Lux even play? He's barely an upgrade over Urias if you want to dream on a prospect.

Pretty sure this rumor came from a post in the "3B Options" thread in this very forum. It makes little sense for either team. The Dodgers don't need relief help that badly, and the Brewers would be making themselves worse during the window of having Yelich (Lux is not helping anybody for a while yet) I highly doubt they trade Hader but if they do it will be for MLB assets, probably starting pitching.

I think the opposite seems to be true around here. Everyone seems to say "let's see... how can I find a way to convince myself that this is a really, brilliant move?" There is some merit to this... There are just as many here praising every move as there are ripping every move... God forbid fans of a team (with an empirically successful GM) would be optimistic about moves that team makes! Personally I see little to no reason to criticize any move if you are a fan of the team. This is not the Rays or the Marlins where they are making moves for bad faith reasons like slashing payroll...

Continuing my running series of Mike Moustakas comparisons. 2019 Eric Sogard: 442 PA, .290/.353/.457/.810, .342 wOBA, 115 wRC+, 2.6 fWAR 2019 Mike Moustakas: 584 PA, .254/.329/.516/.845, .348 wOBA, 113 wRC+, 2.8 fWAR

[sarcasm]I've been a staunch defender of Stearns so far, but giving a major-league contract to a 44-year-old who retired nine years ago is a bridge too far.[/sarcasm]

He's was not too shabby in Oakland, maybe he just hates Seattle? (He was also injured last year, not sure about 2018) 2016-2017 with OAK: 888 PA, 38 HR, .282/.313/.475/.788, .334 wOBA, 111 wRC+, 1.8 fWAR

Agreed. Healy is not a great option as a regular starter at 1B/3B, but he brings power off the bench and our current 40-man infield bench options (since Arcia/Urias are both slotted into starting roles until we sign another 3B) are Rony Rodriguez and Mark Mathias... I thought everybody on here loved low-OBP, high-SLG guys like Mike Moustakas? Mike Moustakas career: .252/.310/.441/.751 Ryon Healy career: .261/.298/.452/.750 (No, I'm not comparing the two, for the record. Healy appears to be a terrible defender at 3B. Just kidding around.)

Galaxy Brain maneuver: SFG gets -OF Corey Ray [from MIL] -RHP Zack Brown [from MIL] SEA gets -RHP Reyes Moronta (injured) [from SFG] -OF Mike Yazstemski [from SFG] -LHP Aaron Ashby [from MIL] MIL gets -1B Brandon Belt [from SFG] ($16M salary in 2020) -3B Kyle Seager [from SEA] ($19M salary in 2020) -LHP Marco Gonzales [from SEA] ($1M salary in 2020) -$5M salary relief [from SEA] -Waiver of Seager's 2022 vesting option MIL signs -UTIL Asdrubal Cabrera for 2 years/$10M Can maximize defense when our soft-tossers (Gonzales, Anderson) are starting. 2017-19 UZR/150: C - Pina (n/a) 1B - Belt (+6.9) 2B - Urias (+8.0) SS - Arcia (-1.1) 3B - Seager (+6.5) LF - Yelich (+4.7 career) CF - Cain (+7.6) RF - Garcia (+0.5) Can maximize offense when necessary. 2017-19 vs RHP: C - Narvaez (.347 wOBA) 1B - Belt (.346 wOBA) 2B - Hiura (.418 wOBA) SS - Urias (censored!)* 3B - Cabrera (.333 wOBA) LF - Yelich (.413 wOBA) CF - Cain (.327 wOBA) RF - Garcia (.332 wOBA) 2017-19 vs LHP C - Pina (.320 wOBA) 1B - Braun (.369 wOBA) 2B - Cabrera (.335 wOBA) SS - Urias (.404 wOBA) 3B - Seager (.335 wOBA) LF - Yelich (.373 wOBA) CF - Cain (.362 wOBA) RF - Garcia (.368 wOBA) * - Urias and Hiura both have weird platoon splits in small career sample sizes, they are both everyday players in reality. These numbers to not suggest actual platoons just best available stats. 2019 performance of rotation: RHP Woodruff (3.3 fWAR, 21 GS) LHP Gonzales (3.7 fWAR, 34 GS) RHP Lindblom (n/a) LHP Anderson (2.0 fWAR, 31 GS) LHP Lauer (2.3 fWAR, 29 GS) RHP Houser (1.1 fWAR, 18 GS) If we assume 2.0 fWAR for Lindblom in 29 GS, that would have given our starters 14.4 fWAR, good for 10th in MLB.

Somewhat weird but there's no reason to think Garcia can't adapt to LF and since he will be splitting time there with Braun this avoids having to force Yelich to shuttle back and forth between RF/LF all season.

I think he's supposed to be ready by Spring Training, unless I'm mistaken.

This would be a perfect fit if the medicals check out and he wants to come here. I'm surprised Stearns hasn't added another RP yet other than bringing Claudio back. We're unlikely to get an ace SP, but the next best strategy is a deep rotation of average guys who can give you 5.0 IP, and a shutdown bullpen. Worked the last couple years but Hader needs some more help I think, even with Knebel returning.

But only 81 games are held at Miller Park. That is his full season spray chart. So maybe up to 25-28. If he hits 39 or more in a season I will streak one of the last Home games in the next 2 seasons. I'm not expecting him to, but it's interesting how similar his career batting line is to Moose's, and Moustakas only started hitting 25+, 30+ HR when he turned the age Garcia is going to be next season (and, in part, when he moved to Milwaukee)

Anderson is of a dying breed of contact pitchers. He lets you hit the ball (sometimes hard), but more often than not it's on the ground and does no damage. Is he an ace? Certainly not, but his bottom-line results were very similar to Miley's and it had nothing to do with luck given that Anderson has been putting up similar results basically his entire career when healthy. I like Miley but let's not forget he was almost forced out of baseball leading up to the 2018 season. They're both risky.

You could be right, but it's logical to at least pencil Braun in as the primary 1B until Stearns brings in someone else. As it stands I have Braun starting most games at 1B if everybody is healthy, with Narvaez spelling him sometimes vs RHP.

2019 Miley: 167.1 IP, 3.98 ERA, 4.51 FIP, 4.52 xFIP, 1.34 WHIP, 89 ERA-, 100 FIP-, 2.0 fWAR, 2.0 rWAR 2019 Anderson: 176.0 IP, 3.89 ERA, 4.57 FIP, 4.79 xFIP, 1.31 WHIP, 87 ERA-, 102 FIP-, 2.0 fWAR, 2.5 rWAR