jackailius

There was a lot of crap pitching for us last year. Starting and pen. I can see the team being 500... cant see them being considered good though. I can for the following reasons: A full season of Josh Hader Fewer strikeouts by the lineup Better OF defense Chacin is not an insignificant addition to the rotation Junior Guerra is healthy and ready to be the Guerra of 2016 This is Arcia's year to fully blossom and be an All Star Plenty of arm options ready in AAA I agree with all of these but am a bit nervous on how defense in the OF will look if we have a OF from left to right in a given game of Braun Yelich Santana. Maybe the offensive contribution makes up for it but if you get that behind some of our pitching staff it could spell problems.

I like the idea but like others have said I think it will take a bit more. I have been an advocate for a long time on more utilization of performance based bonuses because it really ties to how a player performs. If you want to go a complex route: Arietta 5 yr $110M (25m, 25m,20m,20m,20) contract with $1M for each additional 20 innings he pitches starting at 180 for each year as well as $2m for winning a cy young in a given year with an opt out after year 2 and 3 Cobb 3yr 45m with a vesting 4th yr based on innings pitched. Escalators much like Arietta's as well as the same opt out after yr 2 Lynn would be much the same as Cobb. Walker 2 yr $20m with a 3rd yr vesting based on plate appearances with additional incentives based on pa. Holland 2yr $20M with a 3rd vesting year and incentives based around holds and closes. The all star appearance bonus would be a tough sell because the players are going to have a tough time on a small market team getting there. This isn't the cubs and the Yankees where their fans push through as many of their boys as they can regardless of what is earned. I would like to see more performance based incentives or bonuses based around WAR, WHIP, FIP etc but I don't think the union would allow it. it could also make it difficult from a team standpoint to manage budget if you have too many possible bonus possibilities out there. I think of my suggestions we may have a chance at the 3 starters. I don't think Holland is a possibility. he will end up with more guaranteed somewhere. Walker is definitely possible depending on who of the 3 SPs we end up with- if Arietta goes for us I think we are done if it is Cobb or Lynn I think we may look to add Walker too. Which poses an interesting option would you rather have Arietta and run with Villar/Sogard 2b or go with Cobb or Lynn with Walker as your primary 2b? I also am not keen on trying to add Lucroy. I was one of his biggest fans when he was here but adding him at this stage seems like it would be only for nostalgia. It sure seems like he has lost an awful lot of what made him so special when he was here with us.

To me it is difficult to come up with a simple trade that makes sense regarding Santana because what we are hoping for back from the trade is top flight pitching and no team has so much pitching they are going to give up a #1/#2 and we are already full of high floor, lower ceiling players. How about we try a fun 3 team trade idea: Dbacks get Santana (Brewers) Brewers get Fulmer (Tigers), flier prospect(Dbacks) Tigers get Dupolantier (dbacks), Clarke (dbacks), Ortiz (brewers), Ray (Brewers), Peralta(Brewers) The Dbacks get their low salary replacement for JD and while they give up 2 of their top 3 plus a flier, really it is only 1 top 100. The Brewers get their top flight SP who is controlled for 4 years, hasn't reached arbitration yet and keep Burnes, Huira, Philips but give up a lot of value as well both in a proven bat as well as prospect value. The Tigers give up their top flight starter but get back 3 projectable pitching prospects, a work in progress former blue chip of prospect as a work in progress and a pitcher who projects to be a back end rp/closer. Reasonable give for each? Too much? Too Little?

That is my thought with Ryu, an interesting arm, maybe not the front of the rotation guy but someone who, when on the field, gives you solid to above average performance. I can see that a bit but I think last year was a down year for Forsythe more than a projection to this year. I believe he went into the season hurt as well. He is similar to Perez and Sogard in that he is a versatile guy, though when in Tampa he was primarily used at 2nd where I would envision us utilizing him. Last year was a down year at just under 2 WAR but he was a 4 and 3 WAR player in the previous 2 seasons with good on base skills and plus defensive marks regardless of where he played on the field. I believe Forsythe will play much better this year and has a higher floor and ceiling than both Sogard and Perez. For the trade, I know that Drake has little to no value, especially to us at this point but for the Dodgers, their motivation is more to shed salary to be able to get Darvish and stay under the penalty line. I wouldn't doubt that we may have to do better than my suggested offer but I just don't know how much.

Let me preface by saying ultimately I am in the boat who wants to sign Darvish however it looks like we are not going to be getting him as his hope is to get back to LA. LA sounds interested to a certain extent but needs to clear salary space. No, I am not looking to get Kemp and prospects, however what about Ryu and Forsythe. Both are on one year contracts at approximately $8m each and both will likely give you at least above average production (2WAR). I think Forsythe specifically will do great things this year. I think this could strengthen both our rotation as well as 2b without costing all that much. I don't know exactly what it would take but something like Villar, Drake, Lopez? Not sure if that is enough but neither Forsythe or Ryu are cheap either. Thoughts?

I had drawn this up over on BCB and got some great feedback, especially on the trades which are now altered a bit to fit that feedback. •Jared Hughes - $2.2 mil non tender •Jeremy Jeffress - $2.6 mil tender (work out a 2yr pack for $3M) •Stephen Vogt - $3.9 mil non tender •Jonathan Villar - $3.0 mil tender and trade •Jimmy Nelson - $4.7 mil tender •Hernan Perez - $2.2 mil tender •Corey Knebel - $4.1 mil tender toughest calls if necessary: Vogt is the toughest call for me. I had written on here to tender him a contract only to remove his name at the end. Looking at his stats it’s just tough to find a fit for him here, especially at the price. Impending free agents (re-sign, let go or qualifying offer) •Neil Walker: made $17.2 mil in 2017 (ineligible for QO) let go •Anthony Swarzak: made $900K in 2017 (ineligible for QO) sign 2yr 12m •Matt Garza: made $12.5 mil in 2017 let go Elaborate if needed: Walker was tough for me. I really like what he brought to the table for us but ultimately we need a leadoff hitter with OBP that can run. Free agents #1: Yu Darvish (5 year, $125 mil). Time to go big or go home. I am sick of seeing these middling starters that we pick up. Either get an elite talent or stay in house. The dive in the series that he took may have cost him a year and that is my hope and I think this we may even be able to go less than $125m total. Trades #1: Trade Lewis Brinson, Luis Ortiz, Isan Diaz, Taylor Jungmann and Clint Coulter to Tampa Bay for Chris Archer. The Brewers have tons of prospect depth, and adding Archer gives them a legitimate top-of-the-rotation arm who is under control for the next several years. This gives the the Rays 3 top 100 prospects (one being a top 20). Jungmann can plug in as long relief/filler. Coulter has the bat and could be an OF or DH down the road if he puts it together but he is still a project. With Tampa’s low budget I think this may be an option that intrigues them. #2 Trade Corey Ray, Marcos Diplan and Jorge Lopez to Phillies for Cesar Henderson. I know this is selling low on Ray and Diplan to some extent and the Phillies might see those as signs to come but that is a highly regarded prospects pedigree plus two who were fairly well regarded not too long ago who, with a Phillies team that may not be contending may be given some chances to prove themselves and grow for the team. For the Brewers this shores up their leadoff/2b/obp shortcomings. #3 Villar to anywhere for as close to the Lind trade as you can get. I really liked the Lind trade and think this would be a great opportunity to get something similar for Villar. Villar has his warts and this would definitely be selling low but I just can’t find room for him on my 25 and picking up some low minor players who don’t need to be on the 40 man for a few years will definitely help as we come to next year with a lot of tough choices. Summary My 25: Starters C Pina (.6), 1b Thames (5), 2b Hernandez (4.7), ss Arcia (.6), 3b Shaw (.6), lf/1b Braun (19), OF Phillips (.6), Corner OF Santana (.6) Bench C Bandy (.6), Util Sogard (2.4), Util Perez (2.2), OF Broxton (.6), Aguilar SP Darvish (30), Archer (6.4), Anderson (4.75), Davies (.6), Woodruff (.6), Hader (.6) RP Cl Knebel (4.1), su Swarzak (6), su/7th Barnes (.7), Jeffress (1.5), either Guerra or Suter for lr (.6), loogy Webb or Wang (.6) My 25 comes in at just under $98M in commitments for 2018. The only thing that I am really taking pause about is the backup catcher position. I am a bit nervous with Bandy there so let’s cross our fingers for no dropoff or injury to Pina. If this really comes as a concern we can look at options in season as we do have some space in our payroll. I feel we have a really good chance to take the division with this cast of characters as long as there isn’t any major regression. The hope is that Shaw, Santana and Pina don’t take any steps backwards. Hopefully Arcia can continue to grow this year. For the pitching staff, I think we have a really really good rotation as it stands. I know I won’t be popular for giving a big contract to a 30+ starter but I am really sick of giving $10m+ to mid-tier starters who end up not helping us get over the hump. Go big or stick to your internal guys because I think we have enough mid-tier talent in our farm. You likely notice 6 starters. My thought process is that we piggyback Woodruff and Hader giving one the first 5 innings and the other the last 4 innings of the 5th game. This will help bring Haders innings up while limiting the times through the lineup for each as they build their major league experience. I would flip flop who starts from game to game with those two to give each a taste from either end of the game. The bullpen also is a nice balance I believe and the backend of games should be manageable with the combination of Jeffess, Barnes, Swarzak and Knebel. Guerra or Suter play nice long relief options, especially with Davies who tends to come out of the gates kind of slow. That last spot I could see going to whichever lefty seems to be doing best out of spring training or possibly keeping both Guerra and Suter if Webb and Wang don't look great/ready. I was really trying to find a way to keep Villar around to create a bounce back value but I wasn’t willing to gamble that he isn’t 2017 Villar instead of 2016 Villar and since we resigned Sogard already it would mean either Perez or Villar and given those options I would prefer Perez on this team since we are going for it. I understand Villar’s ceiling is higher that Perez but the floor is lower as well and I can’t see that on a contender. I would also start exploring extensions for Shaw, Santana, Arcia, Hader, Davies and Knebel if they make sense. I am not going to push hard for them but I think the Anderson example or Lucroy’s extension serve as a great starting point and with most of them pre-arbitration we should be able to have a good strategic investment opportunity to lock them up at a long term savings while offering the players a guarantee. From a depth standpoint I am really excited as we have some role players in the minors that should be able to step up when injuries happen. Granted they won’t likely be stars but the dropoff shouldn’t be terrible. Guys like Dubon, Orf and Wren should be able to help bridge the gap on the bench if/when injuries happen. Wilkerson, Ventura, Houser, Archer, Derby and Williams will be able to fill in to the back end of the rotation or bullpen without a huge dropoff. I’m very excited for this season. There is tremendous talent here. There likely will be some growing pains and 2018 may not be the year but I think it will be a fun year and will definitely give us a great opportunity to move forward and get closer to the that 1st World Series championship in Brewtown. I also like the fact that if things gel we have this entire 25 under control if we want at least through 2019. If it isn’t working out the only long term guaranteed contract we have is Darvish. Exciting times to be a Brewers!

Yeah, I hate Villar. HATE him. I wanted to trade him to the highest bidder no matter what, even if nobody offered a return close to "fair value" for the year he had in 2016. All that said, from an asset and payroll management standpoint, the prudent thing would be to give him a chance to get his OPS back in the .750-.800 range, even if his idiocy negates some of his production. Not looking forward to watching that b.s. again this year, but objectively he still has a fairly good chance to add a lot of runs to the team, even if he wastes chances to add more. Signing Walker would be going right back to the way they did things under Melvin. I like him a lot, but I don't want that $15m or so on the books when he's 34 or 35. Keeping Villar and Sogard (or bring up Dubon) is playing with house money. I can see that standpoint I just hate to give up runs or outs when we don't needn't to and I think moving forward the club needs to get into a mentality of we are competing and we need to be smart out there. Maybe we can give Villar another try and see what the 1st half season brings. I do agree some of the signings I proposed (walker and darvish) feel like Melvin moves but I would rather sign a no strings attached fa or 2 to fill a couple holes ( because I believe there is a lot of strength and if plugg d correctly could make the difference) than sp bring the prosp cts it takes to get a deform or archer because when we deplete the farm we will be right back to where we were

This makes sense on the surface, but I think it would constitute an overreaction to the season they just had. Look at the strategies that got them here in the first place. It's a testament to how under-the-radar guys in their prime are just as good as the questionable aging free agents they signed so often in the Melvin era, if not better. Why deviate from that now? For example, there's a legitimate chance that Villar's WAR exceeds Walker's over the next 3 years, at about 1/10th of the price. I'm by no means a Villar fan, but you should expect the real JV to be about halfway between this year and last year, and you should expect Walker to decline - perhaps precipitously - at his current age. He's already a negative defender. Besides, he only got 1/$17.2m after having season-ending back surgery last year; no way he ends up settling for the kind of contract you're suggesting here after the relatively healthy bounce-back year he had. Darvish should age well compared to other pitchers his age, which probably only means that his next deal will be awful as opposed to godawful. Hardly anyone ages well anymore in this post-steroid era. I can see the thought process of villar being able to put up a better war than walker but for me the lack of baseballl iq and foolish plays that Villarreal makes are too much. I like walkers consistency and play better. For darvish I just feel that yeah maybe one of our prospects might turn into that tor but that is a big maybe. I think we have a nice opportunity right now to build on 2017. Sure there will be some regression but I think having a full year of walker at 2b, hader in the pen and Phillips as an of threat that we will have a real chance to be better.

Resign Walker (2yr 28m 3rd yr option at $12m) resign Sogard to a split contract like Captain K this year guaranteed for $1.5m try to resign swarzak if possible for 2yr $10m Sign Yu Darvish to 5 yr $140M with a 6th year option at $25M with a $5M buyout

I've been advocating for quit a while to have 10 pitchers pair up to each throw 4 innings every 5 games and then have 2 in the pen to split the 9th/extra innings. I think it also helps mitigate our need for a true ace as well if you can pair them well ie someone like Davies to start the game and then a pitcher with a higher velocity or a Righty for the 1st 4 innings and a lefty for the next 4 innings.

The outfield could be interesting but I don't know if it would anyone we are hoping to be mainstays. Even if they are all playing well to go with a 4 man rotating outfield between Braun, Santana, Broxton and Brinson. All four have had injury issues over the past couple years and Braun will need days off even if he doesn't get injured. It would be nice if one of the 4 were a lefty bat but Braun can surely carry himself at the plate regardless of who he is facing and we will see about the other 3 with more experience. There will be 486 starts in a season. If Braun plays 130 that leaves 119 starts for each of the others and I would imagine it would give a great opportunity for double switches having strong OF bats. It very well could be an issue when we hope to evaluate those fringy types- Cordell, Reed and Wren and will likely be an issue if Phillips is the prospect we were hoping we got from Houston or if last year at the plate will be what we can expect. We have a whole season of seeing who is for real in the OF and who will fade from this group and the others could very well fizzle in the minors.

I have been saying it for a while and I think now is the time to go for it. You play 10 pitchers 4 innings each split between 5 games. You then have a 3 man bullpen. Having an ace is really tough. Keeping one will be even more difficult. You would limit the times a batter sees a pitcher and keep them more off balance if you match up the pitchers correctly- ie a righty to start and a lefty to take the 2nd 4 innings or a flame thrower matched with a soft tosser. 9th would be split between 2 "closers" working every other game for that inning. your last member of the pitching staff would be long relief for extra inning games or if someone gets hurt. By doing this it would hopefully lessen the need to have a staff like the Mets or hit on a year when 3 of your 5 staff are firing on all cylinders all year and don't get hurt. 2018 staff Davies/Hader Guerra/Woodruff Lopez/SUter Ortiz/Scahill Bickford/Ponce BP Knebel (CL) Barnes (CL) Cravy (LR) I think with the prospects we have moving forward are very well balanced, smart and versatile. I don't know if we will have another Braun/Fielder combo but the sum of the parts should be strong enough to keep the offense relevant. I think the greatest player on the team may not equal Braun or Fielder but I don't anticipate the floor to be as low as Yuni B in a couple year either. You look at Brinson, Broxton, Phillips/Ray, Villar, Dubon/Diaz, Arcia, Thames/Shaw/Erceg, Susac/Nottingham. Perez as Util. Not everyone has to be a star but not only do we have some that COULD be stars but a good bit of depth at each position so that we should hit on a few being above average and everyone position being very respectable and not having that glaring hole.

I would agree. I think we would need some serious quantity back from SF for a deal if we are taking back Cain. They have such a heavy drop in overall quality that you really have to take a lot of prospects back and hope to hit on a couple to be regular contributors. I would say you would definitely need Arroyo and Breede back and then you get into the quantity. Looking at the last few years drafts results from rounds 1-3 here is what they picked. Just looking for more upside than current ranking since the system overall is sluggish. I think taking a few pitchers and maybe Garcia along with Breede and Arroyo might make me feel better about taking Cain's Albatross back. Last few years picks Bryan reynolds of 2016 Heath quinn of 2016 Matt krook LHP 2016 Chris Shaw 1b 2015 Andrew Suarez LHP 2015 Jalen Miller 2B 2015 Tyler Breede RHP 2014 Aramis Garcia C 2014 Dylan Davis RF 2014 Logan Webb RHP 2014 Christian Arroyo SS 2013 Ryder Jones 3B 2013 Chase Johnson RHP 2013

I think this will be a really interesting offseason. I think it will be one of the last offseasons that we could see a huge number of deals because in the future so many players will be coming up with long controllability. It is also going to be interesting going into next year to see who they are going to protect from rule v, who they may trade/release to make room to protect more and if they start the season with a couple in the MLB who are maybe not quite ready but in order to maximize the number protected, they give them a spot rather than leave them available for picking. If I were GM I would like to see the following: Trade Gennett, Garza, Peralta, Maldinado, Carter, Braun, Blazek, Cravy and Torres 25 man looks like: C Susac 1B Bellinger (acquired in the Braun/Torres deal) 2b Villar SS Arcia 3B Perez LF Santana CF Brinson RF Broxton Bench: Pina, Liriano, Reed or Wren, Rivera, ? SP: Nelson, Davies, McCarthy, Anderson, Guerra RP Suter, Knebel, Marinez, Jungmann, Magnifico, Barnes, Thornberg rest of 40man Orf, Cooper, Hader, Wang, Coulter, Cordell, Phillips, Deleon (added in the Braun/Torres trade), Williams, Taylor, Lopez, Rowen, Scahill That leaves a couple spots for others that may come in trades or for any needs due to injury or buy low options that may bump others back in line as well as anyone that may be looked at as needing to be protected that I missed. I think Counsel will continue to work to move folks around the diamond- ie even though Perez is listed at 3b I would imagine he will get time in the OF, 1b, 2b. Villar likely will get time around the infield as well and the outfield will be rotating around too. I also would be listening on any pitchers. With how shallow the pool of pitching is on the open market, it may trigger some nice returns for our starters as well as our relievers to some of the teams that missed out on a starter and will look to shorten the game with relievers. in the right circumstance I might trade Thornberg this winter. I would package some of our players too. At this point I don't know if you get a great return for anyone but Braun and Thornburg by themselves (I'm going to assume no one will meet my asking price for Davies or Guerra) With Braun I think to get 2 premium level prospects (Deleon and Bellinger) you will need to send a reliever back too (Torres). So that trade would look like Braun and Torres for McCarthy Deleon, Bellinger and 2 lower level prospects further down the top 30 that have upside but also have question marks. For the others I wouldn't even want to speculate a return but if its me I would go for more lower level boom or bust candidates rather than low ceiling moderate floor- (we have enough of those I think and will be running into situations where it will be tough to protect them in the very near future anyways). I think there will be a lot of NRI again this coming spring and one or two could earn there way onto the 25 man and one or two others traded/demoted/DFAed but it is going to start getting really tough I think with the talent potential that we have to protect on the 40 man. The only ones I can really see falling off the list are guys like Liriano, Reed, Wren, Orf, Cooper, Magnifico. Mine is more of a hope than a reality but being as it is September that is what I am going off of.

I was actually contemplating the same thing last night Brewball. Trying to figure out a good return. I kind of have a hunch that the Dodgers will trade Puig to another team first and then come to the Brewers to make a trade for Braun/Thornburg. I get the feeling that at the time he was included it was a way to clear dead money but I think going into the winter Puig will have regained some of his value and will return the Dodgers at least a decent prospect from another team. From the Brewers standpoint I think they view Puig much lower than some other clubs will because we aren't at the point of contention and would only take him on as a reclamation project but some of the question marks have already been answered since being called back up by the dodgers. I do think DS will look to bring back a bad contract or larger contract to get better prospects from the Dodgers and look to build that players value back up to flip like he did with Hill. McCarthy is a good bet but I think the Dodgers may look to shed even more so they can fill there other holes while getting under the luxury tax threshold, or at least get a lot closer to it.

My Hopes for trades: Trades that should happen because current value is likely higher than ever and likely won't be here longterm: Carter Thornberg Trade or Cut Garza Trades to do if you get your price Braun- Be willing to eat money if you get one top shelf prospect & many lower level prospects Gennett Villar Maldonado Davies Torres Trade if you like the scenario but likely at low value right now Nelson Peralta Anderson 2017 is a year I really think they should go off the grid a bit with pitching. We don't have an ace and tend to see a lot of pitchers come through that are good but not great. I would like to see an approach where we give 4 innings every 4 days to pitchers so our "starters" would be paired up with another pitcher to take care of 8 of 9 innings combined. We would then have a 4 man bullpen for the 9th, injuries during game, a batting substitution in a big spot for the pitcher or extra innings. This is kinda what I would like to see for 2017: 4 Innings Every 4 Days Day 1 Nelson & Suter Day 2 Davies & Hader Day 3 Peralta & Woodruff Day 4 Guerra & Anderson Bullpen Knebel Barnes Cravy Torres Batting Order 3B Villar 2B Gennett LF Braun RF Broxton 1B Santana CF Brinson SS Arcia C Maldonado Bench Super Util Perez SS/2B/3B Rivera OF Wren OF Reed C Susac • To me 2017 is going to be aweful. Possibly worse than 2016. • I want to see more movement of TMs around, balancing days off to stay fresh and riding hot streaks as well as balanced time played for all TMs so they get honest looks. • I would like to see Perez moved around and playing 3 our of every 4 or 5 games. • The 4 innings every 4 days will be a tough change for the staff. It would likely be easier if we could trade Nelson and Peralta before season but based on 2016 stats I just can't see it. The 4 inning idea will flounder immensely in its 1st year because it will take time for the pitchers to buy into it. It will also degrade trade values for some but again I really think based on the fact that we may never have a Kershaw and never be able to retain those players even if we did draft/trade for one, maximizing our pitching staffs value/ability for shorter points in the games will be huge. Hopefully by the real waive of future pitching staff members (2019/2020) we will look something more like this: 2019/2020 Predictions/Hopes Pitching Staff 4 innings every 4 days: Day 1 Ortiz & Kirby Day 2 Lopez & Suter Day 3 Woodruff & Hader Day 4 Bickford & Wang Bullpen Knebel Magnifico Scahill Barrios You will notice a nice balance of Righties and lefties in the rotation. I have a lefty following a righty each day because we have a 3 righties in the pen to follow the lefty to finish the game. Our lineup looks a lot better and more balanced as well: SS Arcia 2B Diaz 3B Perez 1B Santana LF Phillips CF Brinson RF Ray C Susac BENCH C/1B Nottingham 1B/3B Erceb Util IF Rivera OF Liriano OF Clark I like our chances in 2020! Likely there will be some changes. I don't know what would come back in random trades and of course this doesn't take into consideration any free agent signings. The other thing that I like is that even though several of the above current prospects and players may fizzle, there is a nice group of role players behind them to fill in and not have too far of a drop- players like Harrison, Gatewood, Diplan, F Peralta, Ponce, Williams, Medeiros, Taylor, Lara, Fliciano and McClanahan.

I just can't see braun at 3rd. I don't know if i even care to have him at 1st to be honest. I am more on the side of getting rid of Braun at this point. I just don't know how much I care for his attitude and with the young guys who you really want a leader to get them fired up I don't think he is that guy. I also wouldn't put the pair of Lucroy and Braun together in a trade becuase I don't think that any team has the prospects to get that done unless the Dodgers give us Seager and Urius but I don't see that happening. IF that were possible I would be really excited for what we look like in a couple years. I do agree we should sell on Davis this offseason as well as KRod and Lind if we can get decent value back. I would also be happy to get a decent package back on Segura. I would like to get out from Garza's contract but that isn't going to happen and would be a tremendous sell low. For me, this is the ideal opening day 2016 lineup: cf: Michael Reed 2b: Scooter Gennett 3b: Perez/Rogers 1b: Clark/Rogers/Ramirez/YuniB c: Jon Lucroy rf: Domingo Santana lf: Victor Roache ss: Sardinez/Rivera pitcher The ideal rotation: Jungmann, Peralta, Nelson, , Davies, Suter/Thornburg/Cravy/Wagner It all depends of course on what they would get back in trade too. If they were to get back Seager and Urius for Braun Lucroy I would be happy having Maldinado try as the every day guy and move him down the order. If that were the case we honestly could make a splash with a big arm ace and be on the lookout for a 1st basemen if we don't find one in the trades from Krod, Segura, Davis, Lind. 2016 could be rough but 2017 could actually be really good with several on the team having a year in and as long as there is a good shift in leadership in the clubhouse. Speculating you could be looking at a 2017 that could look like this: CF Phillips RF Santana LF Roache 1b ? Hopefully an above average 1b 2b Gennett SS Arcia 3B Seager C Maldinado SP Price or Cuetto Nelson Urius Peralta Jungman/Davies Bench OF Reed IF Rogers/Sardinez/Rivera C Centeno or grizzled vet type BP Knebel, Thornberg, Smith, Goforth, Jeffress, Strong, Cravy I think it is a bit of a pipe dream to imagine the trade with the Dodgers, especially since they are flush with outfielders though but i can dream about it as I watch them bumble around this year.

I know there is a lot of great debate and reasoning about trading Lucroy. While I agree with many of them and I believe that Lucroy would bring back a huge bounty and being a catcher is the most grueling position on the diamond putting his injury risk and overall level of play likely to deteriorate at a faster rate, I am starting to lean towards a situation where we extend Lucroy and trade Braun instead. I think if we could have one player or the other for the next 6 years, I think Lucroy would be who I would want on the field to help lead our teams youth movement. Looking at it from age and injury history, I think I would rather take my chances on Lucroy having better value from ages 30-35 as apposed to Braun ages 32-37. My thought would be putting Braun and possibly another piece together for Sean Newcomb and Kyle Kubitza or Kaleb Kowart. We rewrite Lucroys deal for $12 to $15M a year for the next 5 or 6 years. I would love to see Lucroy be our primary receiver working Nelson, Newcomb, Davies, Jungmann, Hader, Lopez, Wagner, Williams etc. I just see him as being a much more valuable piece than Braun. I don't really even care if he never reaches the offense he had last year. If he can add defensive value at a rate of 3/4 of what he has over the past few years for the next 6 I would be happy. For Braun, I know there is no definites with prospects but I think over the next 6 years between Phillips, Reed, Santana, Taylor, Coulter, Harrison and possibly even Gatewood or Lara depending on how they progress in the infield we will have a fairly good chance of having a replacement level outfield all the way across that may produce as well if not better than what we have had for the past several years. I also am not really sold on throwing Santana or Braun to first either. I'd much prefer to not risk lowering the defense across the infield whatsoever with our groundball pitching philosophy. I also don't know if I trust Braun to produce at an elite level from ages 35-37 and I believe he will produce a lower overall value than Lucroy from ages 33-35. What do you think? Am I crazy?

if they could somehow pull newcomb and kubitza (possibly a lower level piece too) for parra, lind and ramirez (and possibly some cash) that would be huge.

My hopes for the next week Bluejays get: Gomez, Krod, Cotts, Fiers We Get: Norris, Pompey, Hoffman Angels get: Parra We get: Kubitza and 2 lower level guy with upside Pirates get: Ramirez + $3M We Get: Lottery comp pick and lower level high upside guy Astors get: Lind We Get: Singleton and a lower level guy with upside Padres get: Segura We get: comp round pick and 2lower level high upside guys

I would also suggest that unless completely blown away right now, they will more than likely look at Lucroy to be the last piece moved once they see what they are able to get back from all other pieces and take a realistic look at the competitive timeline as well as areas of need. I would expect it to be during the offseason at earliest if he is moved.

I was all in on getting Pap but at this point given that they are asking for a "top prospect" I hope the brewers walk away. I'd get on the phone and give boras a call about KRod. if he implodes, you have Knebel/Broxton/Henderson waiting in the wings.

To me the biggest questionmark is if RRR is going to learn from last year and realize that many of his players need to have a break and not over use them at the beginning of the season. The bullpen was obviously overworked early in the season but also knowing the position players you have should have led to more breaks for them. I think if he rested guys a little more often early they could have made a better push at the end or at least not nose dived quite so hard. he has to get ARAM time off, which will hopefully help us see a little of what we have in Jiminez and Rogers for next year. Braun needs time off- having Parra as a 4th all season should greatly help this and Lucroy has to have time off - playing more games at 1st will be a big help but he really needs a few more days off the feild completely or at least out of the game early/in as a late game addition in tight games. Really I think a big part of the Brewers success will come down to how RRR utilizes his team early. We really have a very solid team but if it isn't utilized corrrectly we could see another collapse next year even if we start off well.

I don't think he will give a discount either. do you think he will get more than $200M over 7 yrs? I would prefer they spend $25-$30M on Zimmerman and $.5 to Jiminez/Rogers to man 3rd than to allocate that as $20M for Shields and $5-$10M to someone like David Freese at 3rd. Sure you can keep rolling along with averagish but I think we will continue to see averagish seasons. Will they be competitive, sure, will they probably continue to fall short or get the wild card and then lose to an ace because Big Choke James is our "ace". I'd much rather make a big splash and surround that ace with more or less homegrown players and I think we have plenty of them contributing right now and a lot in the system. I don't know if we will ever have a shortage of good but not great pitchers. I think the bp for the next 5 years can be stocked with low cost homegrown talent that will be above average. I think the 4-8 pitchers will be above average for that timeframe too. If you look around the dimond our prospects don't get the credit they deserve, are they all all stars- no but take a look at how some of our players who have contributed well have faired without getting much love from propect analysts. Lucroy, Davis, Gennett, Segura(I understand he was part of a trade but he is young talent on the team), Fiers, Thornberg etc. Then take a look who is on the bench and could produce for us now and in the future- Jiminez, Rogers, Sardinas. And look to the very near future- Taylor, Arcia, Knebel, Coulter all could help next year or the year after as well as many other arms for the pen or to fill in for injuries in the rotation. We will never be able to buy every position but at some point you have to take advantage of opportunities and hope for the best. I think with how deep the starting pitching pool is next year we could land an ace- my personal preference is Zimmermann but others would work too. I'd just prefer someone from that next tier up from Shields myself. Yes I'm an optimist and realize that the stars will have to allign for us to make the playoffs/series but I would prefer to have the best pitching to do this because I personally believe we will continue to have an above average offense for the forseeable future.

I don't know about up there in age. He will turn 30 at the beginning of the 2016 season. He has gotten 32 starts each of the last 3 years and has a total of 892 innings (avg of 209/yr) since coming to the bigs compared to Sheilds who folks here are talking about doing a 4 yr/$78M on the low side. Sheilds is 33, pitched 1878 innings in the bigs and averaged 224 innings a year. To be honest I am much more concerned with a Sheilds deal going south that a Zimmerman 7 yr deal. For the record I beleive with any pitching contract that is longer than 2 years you might as well write one season off due to injury because I am a realist but I think we need to take a shot somewhere because having an ok staff won't get us to the WS which is what I would hope is what we are going for over the next 5 years. I think this years production of Jiminez and/or Rogers will really tell if we need to go after a 3rd baseman. I don't know how much of a dropoff Jiminez/Rogers would be from what we got from Ramirez last year. Maybe a lot but if we are solid elsewhere a 1 WAR player at half a million at 3rd that you could bat 7th in the lineup wouldn't be aweful if the tradeoff is having an ace. For me looking at next years group, maybe there are arguments that there are better options in Cueto, Price, Samardzija, Grienke (if he opts out) but I think that Zimmerman being a wisconsin boy could make him even more appealing to the front office as a most marketable/ a little less fan grumbling if/when he starts to look a lot less like an ace.