SRB

You realize HH19's update is going to be something like "Contrary to TH report, the Brewers are still considering numerous options"

Perhaps if the rumors are true that Dodgers ownership intervened to force the Dodgers front office to act irrationally. Sort of strange for the narrative to be that the free agent market is slow because teams are finally learning how to intelligently evaluate players, and at the same time they are discounting Darvish because of two bad IP. And before anyone argues that Darvish's performance some lack of clutch mentality: 2008 CC Sabathia is the most dominant and clutch pitcher I have ever seen and probably ever well see, and he had a bad postseason game against the Phillies. I don't know what's wrong with Dodgers fans that they are angry at Darvish.

Bundy's peripherals are a huge red flag. Bringing him to pitch in Miller Park would be a disaster. You're basically paying entirely for the chance that he figures out how to be a good pitcher. I'm not sure I would even give up Ortiz for him. Are teams marketing departments really so good that they can extract value for mediocre pitchers simply because they were top prospects 5 years ago?

Can someone explain to me how Jaime Garcia is chopped liver while Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb are seeking huge deals? I would much rather have Jaime Garcia even on equal contract terms. He was fantastic before his injuries, and since he's been back he's been fine.

Nice to see Lutz in a top 100 list. If you want to lessen the impact of the Brinson trade, note that the projected ceiling for Ronald Acuna is a "4 WAR player" (aka Christian Yelich, who we now have 5 years of in his prime).

I guess I'm still hoping everyone will come around as to why trading a prospect haul for him is such a bad idea. I understand the temptation but it would be an awful trade, like being on the wrong side of the Gomez deal. Maybe it's less likely to happen if the most hardcore fans don't like the idea? I don't know. You're right; as I said, the fact that I think pitchers decline even faster than hitters is tangential at best, but a lot of people seem to think Archer won't decline enough to make you regret giving up a king's ransom for him. I think that's generous at best. We don't have a king's ransom to give up. It's not like we have the #1 prospect in baseball. I don't think Archer is a top 10 pitcher in baseball, but he's certainly a top 10 pitcher in value. People on here are too in love with prospects as lottery tickets.

I'm against it. The beauty of baseball as a sport is the strategy involved, and having to manage the pitcher's spot in the lineup is part of the game. The only argument in favor that I can appreciate is that it is very weird to have the two leagues be different.

Josh, why is it that the logjam at the top has seemingly trickled all the way down to MiLB deals and less expensive free agents? I'm of two minds about this offseason, because on the one hand I always support the players over the owners, but on the other hand I think the freeze at the top is not surprising given that players like Eric Hosmer and J.D. Martinez who are trying to get $150,000,000 deals are simply not, ahem, all that good. Can't figure out why so many other free agents haven't signed though. It's not like most teams are waiting to see what happens with Hosmer to figure out whether to commit money.

I don't think he cares that much about Los Angeles. He wants more money is probably the issue. And so far nobody is giving him (or all of the other free agents) what they think is fair.

Have you actually read the thread???

Because @BrewerWorld went skating last weekend.

We're all in withdrawal from the high of Yelich/Cain week

He's seemingly deleted all of his controversial tweets. It was more about the replies anyways, he was just really nasty to people in a way not befitting an adult millionaire professional athlete. Again, has nothing to do with his actual political views.

"We are happy with our current rotation, and also Ryan Braun will be playing 2B now because we really don't want to trade Domingo Santana."

This is just me, but I feel like if the Dodgers really wanted to sign Darvish and if Darvish to the Dodgers was a real possibility, it would have happened months ago. Los Angeles is not waiting on any parallel signings, at most they just have to clear payroll space and that shouldn't be a real obstacle if they were waiting to sign a huge free agent. Darvish's agent is probably upset that the market is so far down this year, with Chicago lowballing and the Brewers and Twins not being huge markets, and so he is holding out until the very last minute to hope that someone blinks. I could see Darvish ending up in Milwaukee on a slightly lower contract than expected, with the compromise being that Darvish can opt out after 3 years or something like that. (Slightly lower meaning something like 5/$130M)

If the front office thinks Suter can hold up for an entire season in the rotation with stats similar to the ones he put up last year, we would be in great shape. I just don't think anyone expects that. (I say this as someone who absolutely loves Suter and watching him pitch, by the way!)

Hence my original post that they are roughly equivalent. Stuff you can't translate into games is not talent. Some of the most talented pitchers of all time had mediocre stuff. Bauer is fine, he's a good pitcher, I just don't see how it's worth trading for him.

The problem with Bauer is not his politics, it's that he's a huge jerk about it on Twitter. There are lots of MLB players with similar political views (Lucroy) who are not unlikeable jerks.

Is that "talent" like how Mark Appel is the best pitcher in baseball right now? Bauer (27) has 728 IP at this point and in part because of his lack of control he has pitched to a decent 4.15 FIP/4.11 xFIP Due to better pitching intelligence and an ability to make use of his more limited raw stuff, Davies (24) has pitched 388 IP to a 4.05 FIP/4.18 xFIP. Bauer: 8.8 fWAR over 123 GS (and a few relief appearances) Davies: 6.0 fWAR over 67 GS

Just a side note on the Arizona situation - I believe the catcher that was really sounding off on Bauer was Miguel Montero. Wasn't he the same guy that spouted off to the media last season in the Cubs locker room about trying to catch certain Cubs pitchers and holding opposing base runners in check?? Sometimes you have to consider all aspects. Something the follies of youth will cause people to mature and realize they have to approach the situation differently moving forward. Does Bauer do things that could infuriate you as a fan? Yes. Case in point the drone incident during the 2016 playoffs. Does Bauer do things that could impress you as a fan? Yes. Does Bauer want the ball on every chance he can get? Yes. He would prefer being part of a 4 man rotation & not coming out of a game until @ 150 pitches. I tried locating a video clip on youtube for you (no luck), but Bauer was interviewed on the field after the Tribe won a then franchise record 14 games in a row in Toronto on 7/1/16. The interview won over many fans for Bauer. Bauer, the scheduled starter for the next game, came out of the pen & tossed 5+ IP in a 19 inning game to earn the victory in the 2-1 decision. To paraphrase off my memory: He was asked about how he felt and what might happen with the scheduled start the next day. Bauer having thrown 80+ pitches said he would do whatever was asked of him by Tito. If he could weigh in on the situation for who starts the next game, he would want the ball. He wants to pitch but would follow whatever was asked of him by the team. I recall some Tribe chat boards changing their tune on Bauer after that. Went from "who does this guy think he is" to "he's our guy, will back him to the end". We have all heard the mantra of 'Next Man Up' and appreciate the mindset of teamwork & togetherness. But every so often you need that person who voices the belief 'This is it. The opposition advances no further. I will stem this advance.' It wasn't just Montero. The entire organization bailed on him, so there's something there whether we know what it is or not. He's not a guy I'm interested in rooting for, which would be more of a dilemma if his pitching talent weren't roughly equivalent to Zach Davies..

Milwaukee could easily support an NHL team if it was managed properly. From things I've read in the past, while there is a direct correlation between market size and a professional sports team's revenue, the impact of market size is actually surprisingly small. Add to that the fact that the NHL has revenue sharing to increase competitive balance. The #1 factor in getting an NHL franchise would be an aggressive ownership group who wanted to make it happen.

[sarcasm]Conspiracy theory: the Commissioner is forcing Stearns to enter the season with Suter in the rotation in order to speed up the league-wide pace of play average[/sarcasm]

It's not just his Twitter personality. This is a guy who was a #3 overall pick and a top-10 overall prospect who the Diamondbacks couldn't wait to get rid of and finally did in a lopsided trade (Didi Gregorious was a good but not top-10-caliber prospect at the time) because of his off-field issues.

I would be shocked if Cobb outperformed Archer going forward. Post-injury Cobb has been pretty mediocre. I don't get this "Big 4" marketing thing. Cobb and Lynn have no business getting huge contracts.

I think BrewerFan.net is too thirsty for trade rumors