Austin Tatious

I think Mitchell could be traded, but it would be for somebody controllable. Otherwise, I don’t think it would fit in Stearns’ stated strategy. Trading him as part of a deal for Reynolds would make sense because he can cover center and is a young controllable talent. Between Houser, Lauer, Ashby, and Small, you could probably deal one and be ok, but presumably it would be part of something significant. Trading pitching is always risky, because the next thing you know, you could be short a legit arm. People seem fine with trading Turang. Maybe so, but I hope we hang on to him. We actually have a surplus of outfield prospects, and depending on the return, you could deal a top OF prospect. Meanwhile, our infield prospects are lighter. Turang is an athletic kid with a good hit tool and he’s been playing up in terms of age. After all, he could just now be coming out of the draft. He might be a natural addition to the big league club when Wong’s deal expires. And I would submit that Stearns is not only ok with an extra IF, he would seek it out. I just don’t think we are that deep in the middle infield and he would want to keep Turang, but we are at least five deep with top OF prospects (Mitchell, Perez, Frelick, Wiemer, and Gray). So, I could see a deal with 1-2 OF and a pitcher.

Keep in mind the Brewers recently signed a new TV package with a “significant” increase (although I’m not aware of the precise numbers). The club lost revenue due to the pandemic but with attendance hopefully normalizing (fingers crossed) next year and the tv deal, the club should have better cash flow. The prior payroll budget numbers that have been bandied about should be able to get a bump, particularly if Attanasio knows it won’t be for every year. He will spend the appropriate amount of money. He’s signed guys like Cain which this forum would have dismissed as an unrealistic option. I greatly respect Stearns and I suspect we end up with an off-season of more unexpected moves, but they will be good ones. Maybe it’s like the off-season where we traded for Yelich and signed Cain. Perhaps we trade for a young controllable guy (we know they like Reynolds) and sign somebody. But Stearns is like the stock market. He’s liable to do something unpredictable and outside of expected patterns.

For those on here who relentlessly insisted there wasn’t an issue with Haines, there you go. It had to be done. I don’t wish anyone ill will with a job, but it’s the nature of sports, and there will always be another gig for him.

I hope we make a deal for somebody like Reynolds, Ramirez, or somebody we aren’t thinking about AND sign somebody significant. It would be comparable to how we landed Yelich and Cain. As for the infield, I know we have Urias, but Stearns has shown he has no problem having five starting infielders with one sitting every day. Hypothetically, let’s say we trade for Jose Ramirez. You could start Ramirez at 3rd, Adames at SS, Wong at 2b, and Tellez at 1b. But, with Stearns’ approach, you keep Urias and let him jump in enough that all five guys would get significant at bats.

If those are accurate values, it’s simply not a credible system and would have no value as a system. Maybe 100M is pushing it but he's a 6 WAR switch hitting outfielder with 4 years of reasonably priced club control. He's absolutely worth a haul. I like the player, but no one is going to give up all five of those prospects for him. I bet we still try to get him this off-season. You’d have to include Mitchell and a pitcher to headline the deal. But, no, you are not going to give up all those guys. That’s fiction.

If those are accurate values, it’s simply not a credible system and would have no value as a system.

Wiemer is electric. Man, it’s hard not to dream about his athleticism and pop in our lineup. Bonus. He is a former pitcher who has a phenomenal throwing arm for right. Include Wiemer in our riches in the outfield. We could trade from a position of strength. Combine one of those outfielders with one of our pitchers (e.g., Houser, Lauer), and maybe a lower prospect, and we’d be in the running for a very significant trade.

Well, when the Bucks were sitting there with Monta Ellis and Brandon jennings under long term contracts, if you would have told me the Bucks would be my next team to win a title, and by that I mean a league title, not a division title, and that the title would be within ten years, I couldn't have computed a way to get there. Yet, here we are. I think the fact that the Brewers have been competitive tells you that we may break on through to the other side. Keep the faith.

I loved that 78 team too. That was my first full year after finishing grad school. So, armed with a full time job and no real obligations I think I went to about 35 games. The first one was the second game of the season sitting in the bleachers with the temperature about 35 degrees. After the lopsided 11-3 win on Opening Day we had high hopes, but the Orioles scored 3 in the top of the first. Then the Brewers answered with 3 singles and a 3 run HR from Hisle to go ahead 4-3. Before we could settle down they loaded the bases and Thomas hit a grand slam. 8 runs and nobody out in the first inning on the way to a 16-3 win. Molitor hit his first career HR that day too. So, 11-3, 16-3, and 13-5 wins to start the season. Those were the days. Love the discussion. I turned 11 that year and I remember that start. I was not in Wisconsin but we got the Sporting News and I remember a writeup talking about our tough starting schedule and how we flipped the script. It's so funny that we all remember it so vividly. Loved that team from the late 70's to early 80's. The last part of Bud's regime was frustrating. He got involved in league issues and the plight of the small market. He basically brainwashed the fan base into believing the deck was stacked against us and we couldn't compete. He seemed more interested in proving that point than actually winning. Our moves were just like going through the motions to have a product. There was no real hope. We had a huge run of draft picks that bombed or were hurt. There was zero proactive problem solving. After we lost Molitor and then the strike...my fandom was at minimal levels. I'd pay attention mostly at draft time and to see if our prospects were doing anything. Enter Attanasio, and it all changed. Now with Stearns, we seem to have a coherent program in place in many respects. We are competitive.

I don't think it's realistic to trade Yelich unless it's some bizarre circumstance. We are going to have to hope that he finds a solution out of the long term funk he is in. We don't know if it's his back, a mental issue, being confused in approach, or something else. If I had to guess, he is pressing. As has been said many times, we don't need MVP Yelich. We just need him to be good again. There was a period after the ASG (I think in August) where he was hitting the ball hard and we hoped he was coming out of it. Hiura is frankly in the same boat, sans the obscene amount of money. If both of those guys became plus hitters again, this an entirely different team.

Who is pitching for them tomorrow and is he hittable? Fried was straight up nasty, although our game plan didn’t do us any favors. (Haines is worthy of another discussion.). But there was no excuse to not get to Andersen. He was hittable. This was more us than him.

I’m probably the last one to bail on Yelich, but it’s sad what’s happened to him. Heck, Braun at his age would have been more likely to come through if he were playing left instead. Braun comes up with two on and two out, and he will hit a two run double. He doesn’t give a crap about pressure.

How many extra base hits do we have this series? One?

No question, Wiemer will soar up the rankings. If he keeps it up next year, who knows, we might have a Corey Hart or Hunter Pence type of corner OF, or maybe he moves to 1b.

I agree. And longer term, we have Mitchell, Frelick, Perez, Gray, and Wiemer (and others, such as Howell) coming. Minor leaguers can give you the head fake on being legit, just because there are so many thresholds to cross, and you never know when one of them turns insurmountable for a kid such that he gets stymied. But, out of those five guys, I feel good that you get at least three starting MLB OF'ers. So, Yelich switching to first seems like a solution given his long term contract.

Great win - happy and relieved! Two to go... It would be nice to get some more offense, but man Morton was legitimately tough. Nothing he threw was straight or the same as the pitch before and he had great command until late. I had some sense that Hader got tight in the playoffs, shades of the Nationals loss where a young Soto zapped him, lefty on lefty no less. PS I have no idea what is going on with the rotation. Maybe Freddy getting throws in was a ruse and he just needed some tosses due to the layoff anyway.

With all of our young outfielders coming, I suspect that Yelich ends up our full time 1B in a couple of years.

Honestly, I like our roster. Re-sign Escobar and move on from Brett Anderson. Six starters with Woody, Corby, Freddie, Houser, Ashby, and Lauer. Small comes up mid-season. So, no, I wouldn’t trade him. Let’s run it back and we will have fresh juice injected from the minors over time as it is.

Not a guy I was impressed with on the acquisitions list, but you have to give him respect. He's been a gamer.

To be clear, there is a very good chance that Hedbert Perez is the best of the bunch. Mitchell is the safest best but Perez is a phenom.

There were a ton of rationalizations that Hader had minimal value that just would not fly in the Brewer front office.

Thanks, as always, Reilly. And thanks to all who voted. I always find the cumulative rankings very interesting. I have said it before, but I think we tend to get rational results worth paying attention to.

That's so cool that Braunie came for the Bucks game. Love the loyalty and allegiance to Milwaukee. I would love to see him come back but it is seemingly late now.

Let's go Ashby! Put that first one behind you (normal growing pains). Trust your (formidable) stuff!

There’s an ex Phillies pitcher who will pay a minor leaguer an up front amount of money in exchange for something like 10% of the player’s career earnings. So, say he gives a kid a $1 M, then the kid becomes Tatis, do the math. Of course, he will only “invest” in a player where he likes the probabilities. This kind of setup is another red flag for the baseball establishment.