SRB

Makes less than zero sense. The cost of one-year Machado (when we aren't fully ready to compete) could probably land us Chris Archer.

Swarzak is a 32-year-old relieve with one good season in his career. Why would anyone want to give him $14M when quality relievers are so fungible, other than he was on the Brewers for a few months?

Have we been linked to him by any reputable source? I don't see the point. Thames is a similar player and much cheaper. I think an intelligent platoon with Thames and Aguilar will substantially outperform Carlos Santana. 2017 Thames, vs. RHP: .390 wOBA 2017 Aguilar, vs. LHP: .372 wOBA 2017 C Santana: .350 wOBA Santana is a better defender, but he's not getting any younger.

Seems like a perfect trade in terms of value, though I wonder if Oakland has a deep enough stable of pitching that they would consider trading a young SP. Billy Beane generally waits to trade those guys until they start to cost money.

Neither I nor anybody else on this forum needs a lecture on how players cannot automatically transfer to 1B with ease. The entire premise of my trade scenario was if the Brewers think Santana to 1B makes any sense whatsoever. Some players can't make that switch, including Khris Davis. But anyone who follows major league baseball closely would also be aware that the OF to 1B transition is among the most common positional change in the majors. Among the many former outfielders who transitioned to 1B in the middle of their professional careers: Eric Thames!

Crazy for a team to consider moving an unusually tall, plus athlete who is a poor defender in the outfield to 1B when we have a logjam of too many outfielders, I know.

There's no way Stanton and Judge are going to see significant time at DH. Judge is viewed as a plus defender and has started 10 games at DH and 165 games in the OF during his Yankees career. I don't think very many people consider Stanton "terrible" in the outfield (he will presumably move to LF in favor of Judge's arm), and in any event he is absolutely not going to let them take him off the field when he is the reigning NL MVP and is potentially still playing for another huge pay day in a few years. You've got the 2017 NL MVP and the 2017 AL almost-MVP. They're going to be starting every single game in the outfield unless they get injured. They have decent enough options to fill DH with Gardner/Ellsbury/Hicks/Frazier all in the mix, but the question if whether they want an upgrade in the first of several win-now seasons.

It's possible that they are perfectly happy with Bird at 1B, but I'm not entirely sure about that. He's essentially a rookie and he's coming off a major injury. If the Brewers were in win-now mode would they have settled for Mat Gamel as their starting 1B? On the other hand, Thames does carry some risk as well. As for DH, it's unclear to me how that is "set" when you're looking at an aging Gardner or Ellsbury getting most of those AB. Those are pretty poor DH options once you take them off the field, and obviously Stanton and Judge are not going to DH very frequently (why would they?)

I do think we sold low on Khris Davis, but catching prospects are unusual and I don't think writers are very good at ranking them. Nottingham might need another 4 years to develop and not reach the majors until his late 20s, but then he could be an above average starter. Nobody knows at this point, and clearly the front office likes his potential.

Which kind of stinks since it takes them out of the Harper sweepstakes (presumably). One less team to bid against the Cubs. Brewers have been saving up payroll.....just saying! Harper opening 2019 season in a Brewer uniform! That's the other problem with the rich-get-richer dynamic of MLB. We would have to pay probably 25% more than any other team to convince Harper to sign here (on top of what is already going to be a massive contract)

This is not based on anything but my own imagination, but does anyone else think Stearns would consider dealing Thames to New York? Advantages for NYY: -They have a massive hole at 1B/DH right now and there aren't in a position to sign a big free agent this offseason given luxury tax considerations after the addition of Stanton. The free agent class for 2019 at 1B is incredibly weak. Do they really want to roll with Greg Bird? -Thames is cheap and thus presents a solid 1B/DH option without adding significantly to their creaking payroll. -Thames is another huge power threat in that stadium, and the ability to split time at DH would do nothing but help his offense. Advantages for MIL: -Trading Thames would allow us to experiment with Domingo Santana at 1B, opening up everyday outfield spots for both Phillips and Brinson (with Broxton in the mix as well and Braun solidly installed in LF). Ideally they would have done this with Khris Davis, but for whatever reason he wasn't capable of handling 1B. Santana is a much better athlete, despite his poor defensive marks so far in the outfield, and I think he could be a plus defender at 1B. This entire trade scenario would be dependent on Santana-to-1B being feasible. -The Yankees have a very deep far system that is stacked with pitching. We might not get a 2018-ready SP in return for Thames, but there are a lot of high-upside arms to choose from in a deal. I think Thames is worth a solid return given his cheap contract. -I love Thames, but he's already into his 30s and is not likely a long-term piece for us. The Yankees have to be in immediate win-now mode while they still have peak Stanton and are not burdened by the latter years of his massive contract. Thames is a win-now piece for them in 2018-2020.

Even if they don't go crazy and sign Harper to play CF, the Yankees could realistically sign both Manny Machado and Charlie Blackmon for 2019 if they want to. Insane lineup, with that outfield (especially if Hicks is the real deal) and by then Gregorious/Gleybar Torres up the middle. They have a massive hole at 1B/DH though. I wonder if they would be interested in Thames, since he's decent and cheap, which would allow us to experiment with Santana at 1B and Braun/Brinson/Phillips in the outfield.

Domingo is not really all that replaceable right now on the roster. Beyond Shaw Santana is the only player on the Brewers that you can expect to have an all star like season next year. Removing Santana and replacing him with Phillips or Brinson leaves a void in the offense. The replacement for Santana is far less than who Archer is replacing. Basically replacing Santana with Archer gets you an above average rotation but your offense now goes down to below average. I don't see the Brewers winning many games without Santana in the lineup. The Brewers offense without Santana is not all that great but without him it is just horrible. I like Domingo a lot and definitely don't think he should be given away (which I don't consider getting a very good, controllable starter like Archer giving him away in this scenario), but I think people are a little over confident in him repeating last year's production. Last offseason it was Villar and Guerra that we'd need a king's ransom to trade... Villar was coming off his 4th major league season: 2013 - 0.0 WAR in 241 PAs (age 22) 2014 - 0.5 WAR in 289 PAs (age 23) 2015 - 0.9 WAR in 128 PAs (age 24) 2016 - 3.9 WAR in 679 PAs (age 25) Santana's coming off his 4th major league season: 2014 - -0.4 WAR in 18 PAs (age 21) 2015 - 0.4 WAR in 187 PAs (age 22) 2016 - -0.2 WAR in 281 PAs (age 23) 2017 - 3.0 WAR in 607 PAs (age 24) Again, I really like Santana and am *fairly* confident in him producing at a quality rate, but MLB history is full of guys that show a flash one year and struggle to be consistent the rest of their career. And while replacing him in the outfield with some combination of Brinson/Phillips/Broxton is no guarantee to replicate his stats from last year, they're all talented players capable of putting up a year like that and becoming just as *proven* as Santana is at this point. Meanwhile, and this seems to be ignored for some reason, the poster was suggesting replacing him with Archer who would likely be our most reliable starter for the next four years that he's under contract for. He's basically been Nelson and Anderson from last year (those guys' best seasons to date) every year for 5 seasons now. That would be a huge return that can't be ignored. I just don't see how that swap adds 14 losses to this team. Of course there's a good chance Santana regresses a bit just like with any player, but I don't think that comparison is very fair. Santana has consistently hit at every stage of his career. Not only hit but shown marked improvement as he adjusts to the league. His WAR values have been dragged down because the stats hate his defense, but to the eye test he has never really looked that awful to me.

The scary thing is the Yankees have a huge amount of payroll coming off the books after 2018. They'd take a hit on defense for whoever they throw in CF, but I would love to watch a Stanton-Harper-Judge outfield.

You do realize that Panik is considered one of the best all around 2B in baseball? Not only has he been an All Star (2015), but he's won a Gold Glove, owns a career .282 BA, a career .345 OBP, and a .439 career slugging percentage away from spacious A T & T Park, but he's one of the toughest to strike out in all of baseball. He's also controllable through 2020. Heck a straight up deal Santana for Panik is not a horrible deal at all. If they include Samardzija, I'd say it's a win for the Brewers. Brewers can find a veteran corner OF bat in FA to fall back on if Brinson's not quite ready, but Brinson is the centerpiece of the rebuild and is being counted on to deliver sooner rather than later, and Phillips showed down the stretch he may well be ready now for everyday duty. Panik is mediocre and significantly worse than Dee Gordon, who we could have just gotten in a salary dump. He'd better not be a main piece in any non-Broxton trade. Santana for Panik is AWFUL.

I think the comparisons are based on a computerized analysis of their minor league statistics and age or whatever, not something to be taken too seriously. This was a great write up. I find grades and rankings largely meaningless, so it was nice to actually have an explanation for the author's views on each player and his strengths/weaknesses, rather than just throwing out a number and writing some empty platitudes.

I don't think any teams are going to gamble on Broxton as their starting CF. Certainly not San Francisco if their plan is to compete rather than to take a flier on a project while rebuilding. He's too inconsistent and the plate discipline is a problem unless he reverts to the BB% he showed in 2016. I would entertain offers if they exist, of course, but in my mind he's a perfect 4th OF for the Brewers (which isn't necessarily a role you want Phillips or Brinson playing when they should be getting regular at bats).

I personally think peak Santana is dropping a line of 300/385/950. His production in the minors shows he has crazy offensive upside, especially being insanely young for all levels too. No doubt, and let's not forget he's less than two years older than Phillips and Brinson and already has a season under his belt as the best offensive player on the team.

Santana has so much upside, but there's also a decent possibility that he was overperforming last season and his value is at a peak right now. Combined with the fact that our top-level positional prospects are outfielders, and I would at least listen to offers. I'm not sure San Francisco is a good match though. Their only impact prospect is an outfielder (Heliot Ramos), and that's about it. I certainly hope Joe Panik is not drawing the attention of Stearns. I really don't even know who I would ask for in a fantasy trade (south of a fantasy Bumgarner trade, of course).

The velocity thing is overblown. Look at the velocity graphs here: http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfxo.aspx?playerid=9490&position=P&pitch=SI&data=pi His velocity was really far down at the start of this season, for whatever reason (maybe he was hiding an injury), but more recently he's much closer to his career averages.

I'm not interested in Fulmer given the likely price. He will be valued like an ace but his K/9 and advanced metrics are less elite and thus somewhat worrisome.

Signed to a minor league deal. If there's a thread, it's probably in the minors forum. Also, he was really bad last year. Phillies had to have *somebody* close. I'm not saying he should take over for Knebel, but his advanced metrics have consistently been better than Torres, for one.

Gomez has a 7.25 ERA but 3.83 xFIP this season. He's gotten unlucky with home runs (something tells me a 41.2 HR/FB% is not sustainable). He should take over for Torres on the major league roster.

No thread for Jeanmar Gomez? Dude had 37 saves last season. He's not elite but I'm glad to have him at least.

Does a 110 OPS+ really qualify as a "very productive hitter" justifying that ridiculous contract? It was a horrible contract not only because of Sandoval's body type, but because he was clearly just a .325 wOBA, 2.0 WAR player by that point. He got the contract because he hit 4 HR in the playoffs or whatever.