SoupTown

The 'good thing' with the Crew is what our needs are. They are much more easily fillable than our past holes. The correct choice of that lefty reliever, middle infielder, corner infield/outfielder could be worth 2 to 4 games, easy. The choice last year at first, surely cost us at least 4 games. So, it is now up to our management to shop well from the reject bin. (or should I say the unloved bin) As a comparison, here in Sydney two years ago a new football (soccer) team expanded into our National Comp, the A-League. It is Western Sydney Wanderers. In their second year of existence they won the league and just recently won the Asian Champions League. And the team was constructed almost exclusively from the outcasts of the other clubs. They guys that maybe have one year or two years left in their legs. Or those who just did not crack the other teams. So, if a sporting club can choose wisely from the unloved of other clubs, they can construct something good. In the case of this soccer team there were so many 'last chance' guys they formed an aura about this. In the past it seems to me the Crew picked up retirement home guys. They should pick up the 'desperate for one last chance' guys.

When you mean 'stuffed' do you mean 'stuffed' or 'full'. I have see a few proposals floating around that make 2015 not plus or minus, but enhance us for 2016 onward. If we are going in with the status quo for 2015, then we lose what we are scheduled to lose for 2016... then the 'stuffed' word applies. I really, really see that we can eject one of Lohse and Yovani, get something or two for 2016+, and backfill with a 90% Lohse/Gallardo, with a possibility that backfill spreds to 2016+. Who is that leftie the Mets are trying to unload... Niese? With four years at about 9 mill year. In any case there certainly must be things Doug can do. I mean things that improve the Brewers. There are 29 other team out there. We can find a win-win trade, I think. If we go into 2015 'now' we are the same team. We 'just miss' the playoffs. Then in 2016/7/8... stuffed.

Would Mark fire himself? Could we get rid of Braun, DM, MA in one go?

Dark Blue goes to Pale Blue. White goes to Pale Blue. Pale Blue goes to Dark Blue. White saves $$$. and I must be wrong... because insider content give two words before it stops for subscribers..... it say Dodgers Aquire:... I guess it does not say Dodgers Aquire.... CASH After a bit of research, I see the Dodgers currently have FOUR shortstops on their roster. I guess they do not want a fifth. So I am going for: from the lead to the pic "Could there be a trade involving James Paxton, Jean Segura and Matt Kemp?" Segura to Mariners Paxton to the Dodgers Kemp to the Brewers.... but why would we do that. So, the other alternative is Segura to the Dodgers Kemp to the Mariners... sorry, not following all teams, would they have interest Paxton to the Brewers... well, I like that How many more combos are there of ABC... let me think A can go 2 ways, therefore B can then go two way, and C is left... so there are four combos... what is it... 3 factorial divided by 2 factorial Ok, this is too hard. Let all players stay where they are.

I would love the Brewers to be creative in having guys in the minors that 'one more year' to see if they pan out. If that involves deals that overpay for being off the 40 man, then so be it. I mean if you pay 200k to 10 guys (flyers, hanger on'ers, injury coming back'ers, etc) you have only spent $2 mill to keep under control these guys. To be honest, there would likely only be a few guys a year that would 'qualify'. So you simply budget $1 mill a year to keep old hopefuls. This is similar to I hope the Brewers overpay for minor league deals for AAA guys to have a few MLB roster backups that are the highest quality possible. And this is similar for my desire to 'overpay' (get the best quality) for the fourth outfielder and first backup infielder.

Amazingly intelligent chat. One thing I liked "...We try to let the players – in their first year – go as far as they can go, doing what they’ve been doing. They’ve obviously done something to get drafted and we don’t want to interfere with that unless we need to. When they get to instructional league – or if they’re struggling during the season and come to us asking for help – we’ll try to make a change. We work more on the mental side when we first get them.” I think that is a change over the recent years. I was angry when they drafted that Maine hockey player and they immediately sat him down and said his delivery will hurt his arm. So they changed his delivery... and destroyed his arm (shoulder, I think). I am livid about that.

If that list is true, it speaks volumes (in a negative way) re our drafting and development.... Cubs have FIVE before our first entry Cinnci has THREE before our first entry STL has THREE before our first entry Pitts has THREE before our first entry Outrageous. Heads must roll. The retirement village or coaches and development staff need to be replaced with somebody else. I would suggest brewerfan.net do all the drafting and player placement and recruitment. We have our own agent, in Josh. And we should do all the coach and manager hires. Finally, we should let the coaches know when they are falling down. We fixed Corey Hart's elbow, you recall. Shame about the knees.

At the risk of double posting a thought: I hope the Crew give Parra a couple year deal - with, say, a year three team option. It is expensive insurance, but I think necessary

My opinion is that Lucroy's deal is so cheap, too cheap, that some small extension with a signing bonus should happen. Even if you just, say, do a club option for, say $10 mill, tacked on, but you give a $2 mill signing bonus NOW for the extension, it is good. I hate seeing the guy get so underpaid. Get some money in his pocket now, for the chance we have him another year or two.

Doug gave an interview a couple of days ago. He said 'we are ready for spring training, the season, to start tomorrow'. So, I guess we are done. He talked about having six starters... not like one too many, but like 'we are set'. So, we may indeed be done. I am still hopeful for a starter for something trade. But it looks slim chance.

I would be happy with Lohse or Gallardo sent along for six years of a likely decent 3rd baseman and a now reliever. Kubitza has a great OBP (100 points over batting average each year). A great hypothesis started by Mass. Good fun to just think about it.

Jimenez seems to be a great pickup, since his D is rated so highly. I would assume he will be our third baseman in 2016 at league min. Which means he will be the 25th man on the roster this year. And the backup IF for SS and Scooter is the highest need. And another top bullpen guy.

Was it the Reggie White signing, if I recall, that made the Packers a SERIOUS team. We tried with CC then with Zach G. But they were 'gentle', 'not really' tries. Would we even do something like signing a guy for 7 and $175. Imagine if such pitcher really was a number one starter for 7 years. It is good value. Imagine if he CC'ed. Then the Crew is crippled. But funny, we seem to $10 mill dollar cripple ourselves every year somewhere. It would be wild to have a true number one guy for so long. I liked the post which noted that we really dont have any number 1 starter prospect on any horizon in the minors.

I was interested in the Giants 150 mill payroll. I did not realise it was that. So, if we have a $150 mill payroll in 2015 who are we adding in free agency. Does that make us better than the Giants? If so, it means playoffs are salary based to a large extent.

The wildcard.... 162 games played then you throw that away and play ONE GAME. What a joke. The season should be shortened and the playoffs changed so 1) all series are best of 5, until the seven game WS 2) there is some clear benefit to winning a division as opposed to dumping in the last wild card spot Actually, why dont we just have 12 World Series each year. You split up the season into 12 half month seasons. Make all the playoffs one game, leading into each world series. Heck, dont even PLAY to get into the playoffs. Just do a lottery. Then you could likely have 24 World Series. So the lottery is to get in. And to make things fair, if a team does not make an early World Series you just give them extra marbles in the lottery bag. So most likely every team would make the playoffs at least once. So, if there are 24 World Series - with say 8 teams lotteried into the playoffs, you will have 24x8 = 192 teams make the playoffs each year. Now I have not quite got the exact plan laid out. In my early simulation I had Houston playing Houston in one of the World Series. And I dont think that is right. Actually, maybe it is OK. Where can I submit my plan?

I really think our 2015 will depend on our bullpen. Since money is an issue, I am trading one of our starters (Lohse or Gallardo) for a good, good bullpen guy with 2+ years control and some prospect or the backup infielder we need. I dont know the names as good as you all. But for sure we learn that bullpens are a key AND we need to have more than two good guys (aside from the closer). Else you end up with (like 2014) with the good guys burned out by July.

2015 all in 2016 blow up and young,cheap homegrown; fans come for the local boys even if it there growing year; coulter, arcia, Taylor,smith and nelson in the rotation

^^^ Yeah, what he said. I know it is against form protocol, but ^^^ Yeah, what he said about what he said.

I think you have to have Parra as insurance and giving Braun the odd time off. And what a good bench bat. I think you need to offer him a two year deal (with club option for year 3). I really do not know what is fair, would he take something like 2 years at $6 mill, with 3rd year $6 mill club option. We honestly, sorry, dont have anyone near his ability in the minors, do we. He is an MLB player. I hate having NON MLB player having to play. The alternative is to pick up his arby and then trade him for a prospect. The other alternative is to see who Doug can sign / trade for now that is Parra-like for a couple of years at a lower cost. He is pricey for a fourth outfielder, but I think we should not be cheap on the fourth outfielder or the backup middle infielder.

Well, but the thinking is good, re getting Van Slyke. I am excited Doug did something before having to pick through the after New Year's overstock.

I think we can call it half a platoon or even a 1/4 platoon - if you consider Lucroy and Rogers as the backup first baseman and Rogers as the backup third baseman (mind you, I think I like this Jimenez guy better given he is claimed to be really good at D at 3rd). One can see for sure a battle in spring training between Rogers and Jimenez.

What an interesting, in depth, discussion - maybe a little too in depth. We replaced Overbay with Lind. Is that good or bad? I am in the moderate overjoyed camp.

I would like to trade Maldonado. As I also think he is a valid starting catcher. And I would expect we could get something back - obviously we would target a 3rd and/or 1st base prospect. Picking up this centano seems to replace Martin's role... a high quality defensive backstop.

I love this thread. My thinking is 2014 should be a carbon copy of 2014 (except for the collapse). Then in 2015 the team is blown up as much as possible and gone young. So, if you dont mind, I will do 2015 and 2016 (my 2016 jettisons 14 (Aram), 11 (Lohse), 13 (Gallardo) and 8 (Gomez) = 46 mill of salary, so you can watch Taylor, Arcia, Coulter, and a new third baseman in the field and Nelson and Smith in the rotation and in the bullpen a couple of new arms who excel in the minors in 2015) 2015 salary for me then is very similar to 2014... 2015 you are going for it the same as 2014 2016 salary may be only 70 mill (but you really hype the team as home grown and see if Milwaukee will embrace as the spring board to 2017 (I am trying to extend Garza in 2017 and desperately trying to end up with a great bullpen in 2017... 2017 will be year one of the new three year window... you have bit of money for a splash signing in 2017) ROSTER - Fill in player and salary C - Lucroy (3.0).... stay for 2016 C - Maldy, obviously.... stay for 2016 1B - Clark / Rogers platoonish... stay for 2016 or Braun to 1st in 2016 2B - Scooter (0.5)... stay for 2016 SS - Segura (0.5)... stay for 2016, but Arcia takes over half way 3B - ARAM... gone for 2016... trade Gomez for a young 3rd baseman LF - Davis (0.5)... stay for 2016 CF - Gomez (8.0)... gone in 2016 for 3rd baseman... Parra starts CF, Taylor half way RF - Braun (14.5 includes prorated $2.5 million bonus he's due in April)... stay for 2016... maybe 1st base... then Coulter in right field INF - the other half of Rogers/Clark INF - whoever Doug signs go quality and do a two year - with club option OF - Parra (I sign to a two year deal - with club option) OF - No Eye Deer SP - Garza (12.5), Lohse (11.0), Gallardo (13 mill), Fiers (0.5), Peralta (0.5) RP - Broxton (9.0), Jeffress (0.5), Smith (0.5), Thornburg (0.5), Henderson (0.5), Nelson 0.5 mill, Kintzler SP For 2016, Lohse and Gallardo gone... Nelson and Smith into the rotation RP (I think there is a Broxton option, so I think you excersise)... you get two Crew minor leaguers to fill Nelson and Smith

I think RRR will be back. Amazing to me that NOW the management is saying 'hey, maybe some guys don't really care about winning... just collecting a pay check'. For over a decade I have railed over Milwaukee being a retirement village for some guys just picking up their last paycheck and relaxing in the sun (or the roof) for the last year or two. I do not think there needs to be many changes at all. I don't know (and I sure you all don't know) if there were doggers in the team - and who they are. But interesting about turning over the roster a little. That is just strange, as we are SET pretty much from top to bottom in 2015. I have posted the 2015 team will be the same as 2014 with the exception of closer and first base. But if you are going to turn over, I will guess this. 1st base... obvious; the choice is go with a YOUNG platoon or make a splash 2nd... I think Weeks maybe was an I don't Care guy... but he is gone anyway... Scooter seems to have some ticker... he stays 3rd... this is the most important 'do you care' position... if ARAM cares... he stays... if he don't care... he goes... we need to wait to see what happens SS... given the anger shown by Mark and Doug and RRR, I think this is a place where Doug will try to get an upgrade... somebody who can bat... Jean has an AAA year LF... obviously you keep Davis CF... I do have the feeling GoGo is all about HimHim; here is where I predict a big trade; and that leaves Parra as the CF; Parra looks like a baseball player, actually RF... Braun will have this nerve deadening surgery so he will obviously stay C... Lucroy is quite a team guy, I think... he stays Our rotation is fine... (Nelson is in the pen, and you have the other five... all proven now... Fiers at number five is the unproven) There is no way you bring back KRod unless he gives quite the discount... Broxton will close in 2015; the pen, when healthy is OK If Parra is the CF you are desperate for a good 4th outfielder. I don't think the team was far off. They were just a little heart weak. (it may be RRR pays his job for that, but I kind of am ok with RRR - he is so boring he does not bother me and he is likely not the problem)