Jenkins5

Mark Murphy has zero spine to move on from TT & not give him new contract. He has never had to make a big decision since taking over. Bob Harlan left him the franchise as is. He is just content with the way things are on the field. He wouldn’t even have to fire Ted. Contract is up, if anything Ted could retain VP job or one of his other positions to help Wolf a mentor. I’ve always been big TT guy but it has come to point we need a new direction. The Wolf/Thompson tree has been outstanding & has gone to show that those understudies have not followed the build through draft only route. Think Elliot will be far more aggressive. More his dad than Ted. I think MM has proven he is a good coach but think a fresh start would help. You could go Defensive route with either Kris Richards or Matt Patricia (fits more if we want to stay 3-4). Or offensive route with a Josh McDaniels (much more ready now) or Jim Bob Cooter (great young offensive mind). Overall, it’s not like we have been a bad team, we are in contention every year but the talent on this team has decreased each year. We miss more & more on draft day. We let our hits like Hayward & Hyde go. Our depth year after year is undrafted FAs. Teds work has been on a decline. MM would be up to new GM & if they want own guy. We are going to lose all our top candidates like Wolf soon if Mark doesn’t pull trigger

Fangraphs had a great article with about him today. I admit I haven't followed him closely but was shocked when seeing all his splits lefty/righty for him. He just owns righties and lefties t-off on him. They mentioned maybe the Brewers should make same change with him like they did with Anderson to help with that by moving over on the mound against lefties. His slider is nasty vs righties! Sadly doesn't really have a reliable pitch away for lefties to counter. I have no complaints. His April was close to Davies. Got blown up twice. Rest of the season he only had 1 more game of 7 runs, 2 of 5, 3 of 4, and had 24 games of 3 or less runs (6 of 3, 6 of 2, 7 of 1, 5 of 0). A starter in the middle of the rotation who gives up 3 or less runs 75% of the time and 1 or less 38% of the time is fine by me. Not flashy or makes us a contender but solid pick up.

The Seid era really was full of a lot of misses. No wonder we had the struggles we did before the rebuild. Hopefully with our new staff we can end up on other side of the spectrum

Regarding the velocity, on Baseball America’s Brewers prospect podcast released earlier today they mentioned that they had Ponce working 90-93 MPH with his fastball in Carolina this year, and they didn’t record any pitches above 93 MPH. Wonder if he’s using more of a two seam fastball to help ground balls. I remember two years ago in instructs he was hitting 97-98 working 94 according to reports. Can’t remember his name but he is always scouting down in Arizona & tweeting the reports. He was raving on Ponce before injuries.

Ponce is a guy that worries me with his lack of Ks a bit. I get groundball pitcher but he’s a big strong velocity guy. He pitches to contact & is hittable as well. If he can learn start to miss bats more this year he could shoot up. If not, I think he stays with next Tier back end guy.

Walters needs to learn strike zone this year or he’s a goner. Very prospectable coming out & he has filled out and added velocity you’d hope for but man oh man the kid couldn’t find a strike zone if it hit him in the head. Walks 23% of hitters over 3 year career

I think it depends on his spring. He is an option for both. I find it funny so many people are complaining or upset about it. On here, Twitter, and so on. It’s not a big name. It’s not a guy who has pitched like he’d help us too much but at same time....he is low risk, see what he does guy. If he falls face first, who cares.... we lose nothing.Just because it is our first move doesn’t mean on Dec. 17 we are done making moves. Still over two months away from pitchers reporting! Gallardo is pretty much a little more expensive waiver claim. Give him a shot & see if he bounces back. Again, turning 32, up tick in velocity, back home.... see if he can find it again. If he does, that’s awesome for us. If he sucks as starter & in pen....dfa & move on! Wasting 1.5 million or what ever he gets is not going to wreck us.... Welcome home Gallardo!

You know, Hardy would be cheaper after a bad season and with age but every team needs some quality older vets! He'd be a fan favorite! A Gallardo and Hardy 2018 would make my season! Bring us back to glory! Gallardo is willing to pitch in the pen to so gives some options there as well

Michigan trying to steal our prized 2019 QB Graham Mertz.... just offered him today.... hope he doesn’t bail. Good news, they landed 2nd 4star OL for that class!

What is the risk? You hope he bounces back or you DFA him. Doubt much money is in it for Yo. Let him compete & see what happens

Got our Lone developed All-Star Ace back!! Lol I like the move. Like Jeffress maybe Milwaukee is just his place. Still not old at 31 & doubt all his talent has escaped him. He may not be what he was before he left but could be solid filler until Nelson. Just have to hope he finds it again

Also, no deals Brewers make in 2018 will make them Dodgers, Nationals, Cubs etc. We will not be an elite team this year. I could care less if we only get a wildcard. This still not our year. Trust the process and hopefully by 2020 we have a team that is right there with the rest of them. 2019 I still believe will be even we take the next step and get more aggressive.

Is is just me or is Neil Walker maybe the most overrated and valued 2B. I really just don't think he is as good as his contracts make him out to be. He should be an All-Star for prices he gets paid. He has been steady for 9 years but has never hit .300 (close first year) .280 twice but usually a .260/.270 hitter. Has hit HRs but outside of the two 23 HR seasons, he is usually around 15. Is a solid .775 OPS career guy but that is not elite at 2b. He doesn't run at all and never has. He has WAR's over 2.0 7x over career but only in 2013/2014 did he post in the 3's. Defensively he is solid and average. I just can not justify giving him 10 million a year def over his 32-34 year old seasons. He is past his prime so hard to expect massive seasons coming from him. Again not taking anything away from him but not sure we need to pay him that kind of money. I'd rather deal for Merrefield or see Dubon for 9.5 million cheaper. Even Villar over putting quality money we could use more effectively down the road into Walker

Harrison/Diaz I think would be the starting point for the deal. They get their hometown CF prospect of the future plus a possible All-Star 2B. These guys will be ready by mid 2019, start of 2020. Then you build on from their. They will also require pitching which may cost Burnes,Ortiz, or Peralta. Not overally sure I want to go that much into a non Ace and and none obp 2B. Losing those prospects won't cripple us since Huira and Brinson are the better prospects at those positions but it does hurt our ability to go out and get a legit Ace in the future more.

I personally enjoy fangraph, however I’d never pretend that any of those guys know more that the analyst that teams have.... if they did, they’d have jobs in front office making a higher salary. Brewers have actual former rocket scientist & Ivy League guys using advanced & innovative metrics that we have zero access to. Last year Brewers were not suppose to win 68 games.... they won 86 games. Explain to me how every site like fangraphs is so great that they were completely wrong about Brewers last year? Articles are interesting to read & gauge the league but I’m not betting on any predictions they make.

Outside of him not being able to walk much, I think everything else you'd want is there with him. I personally would help Royals rebuild their team again and send good package over to get Duffy and Merrifield. They make us better on two fronts.

I'm sure if he doesn't get any of the FA RPs he wants at or around his value, he will go make a trade to bring in one with control. That is his approach. People get freaked out that we haven't made a splash and our bullpen may be doomed this season and we still have 2 months before anyone even reports and another month and a half after that. There are good guys out there to be had in trades who are younger, more talented, cheaper, and better options than over paying for older, non closer types in FA. Issue with that is it comes with a prospect price tag but to this point, we have not seen DS make a move that did not seem like a good trade for us. I feel they do an outstanding job evaluation and placing value on players.

Absolutely what I was about to write. RPs are all over the place. Very few string together consistently good season after season. They have spikes up, and they drop back down. Just look at our closer history. A bunch of guys who were brilliant for a season, maybe two, then they just lose it and are replaced. Not is not uncommon for a guy to come from the minors or be a waiver pick up and be lights out. Then a year later the are just a guy who is okay. I'm still on the horse that says we have two guys in our system who are back from injury that could be great power arms for us in the pen this year. Who is to say Williams or Houser can't give us the quality of these guys (who im not overly impressed with for the price.) will for 6.5+ million less a year with 6 years of control? I think Wade Davis has done enough in his career to earn big money but most of these other guys have been mostly just guys who have had their moments or seasons. Wanted Swarzak but not at the price. 32 with one good season in his career does not justify the spending.

Exactly. Now I think an exciting trade of some sort will happen because DS has done that. He said (inferred at least) multiple times in interviews to kind of expect the track record of the way they have operated. I don’t see him ever being a guy who is just going to over spend to say he did & make fans happy. Example, Arrieta is asking 200 million.... get out of here! 5 for 100 would be the absolute max & that is still over paying on a guy who is older & coming off down year. Many fans should love if we signed him to a large contract simple because he is a big name & because empty our pockets on a FA. Good for those fans (not talking ones on here because we tend no be more objective, realistic, and knowledgeable than your ole jsonline commenters) but not good for this team when he is pitching like Garza the last few years of deal.... can’t trade his contract, and are now handcuffed. DS I think knows this team isn’t to the point yet to make those moves because we still don’t know what we even have in the guys on this roster & high minors. Santana & Shaw breaking out is awesome but we are only hoping that they will repeat with consistency. Pitching up FA pitcher doesn’t make a Anderson & Davies led rotation a contender. We are only hoping Brinson, Phillips, or Broxton take off & produce at high level. Arcia is still a ? mark of what he will be offensively. Thames we will see on. To me there is more questions on this team than sure answers. Hard to believe signing a big RP or SP & trading for Pitcher & 2B make us on contender level. Again I think 2019 we will have more answers & less questions & can really move forward with needed moves to make us legit. Still a development year for a lot of guys.

[sarcasm]You're right. I'll just patiently wait for a Feliz-type signing to bolster our bullpen up a bit.[/sarcasm] Not worried. Just because you have money doesn’t mean you need to be careless with it or handcuff yourself in short or long term. They have values put on guys & stick to it. I like that. Still plenty of arms out there to sign or trade for. Maybe tomorrow we wake up to a Givens trade & we are estactic or at least me. Point is gauge market & get the guys you want at or close to value. I think we have some good options in house who deserve strong looks as well. We aren’t winning WS this year. Still developing & finding out what we have in our guys. Our top pitcher is out a good chunk of season. Brinson & such need time to adjust. Guys need to prove they are not 1 year flukes. Overall find guys that fit our plan to contend & will also not hamper us moving forward. 2/14 seems high for a non closer who has had one good season.

[sarcasm]You're right. I'll just patiently wait for a Feliz-type signing to bolster our bullpen up a bit.[/sarcasm] Not worried. Just because you have money doesn’t mean you need to be careless with it or handcuff yourself in short or long term. They have values put on guys & stick to it. I like that. Still plenty of arms out there to sign or trade for. Maybe tomorrow we wake up to a Givens trade & we are estactic or at least me. Point is gauge market & get the guys you want at or close to value. I think we have some good options in house who deserve strong looks as well. We aren’t winning WS this year. Still developing & finding out what we have in our guys. Our top pitcher is out a good chunk of season. Brinson & such need time to adjust. Guys need to prove they are not 1 year flukes. Overall find guys that fit our plan to contend & will also not hamper us moving forward. 2/14 seems high for a non closer who has had one good season.

Realistically, if we had not overachieved we’d still be focused on developing our talent & giving them opportunities to see what they are. Instead of talking about bringing Ace, we’d be pushing to see what Woodruff, Hader, Burnes, Ortiz can do. We’d be more focused on letting Williams, Houser, and etc earn those spots & see what they can do. Know we are more in contention mindset where it makes it harder to get looks at young talent over getting experienced & proven talent. We can buy now & undercut development & make team stronger now on short term or we can still focus on getting all these guys experience, get these guys threw growing pains, and attack next years loaded FA group loaded with money. I’ve always said 2019 is start of our developmental window to compete. I don’t care what way we go.... I just love winter meetings & off-season guessing what way we are going!

I just find it annoying, I’ve spent every spare second in school between classes, during my prep, & lunch checking to see if something exciting had happened.... it’s a let down each time but that’s just the excited fan in me. DS knows what he is doing & I trust it. Worse case T. Williams & Houser get longer looks in ST. Go into season with Knebel closing & prob Hader/Jeffress/ Barnes 7th & 8th as of now. Unless pull in someone good, hard to see Hader moving to rotation. They need depth in order to do that.

I debated back and forth over Garcia or Herrera for my sleeper pick. Herrera started to open some eyes last year and we all know him from the Lind trade but not much has been said or discussed about him. I do feel he is a kid who will take a big leap this year repeating in Wisconsin. His numbers are a little strange since everything looks outstanding in Helena until you see a mid 6 FIP. Then you notice why. FIP is driven up by HRs. It is a stat made to take defensive factors away from the pitcher and what they control. The one spot that killed Herrera in Helena was an awful 18.5% Home run/FB% and giving up 2.14 HR/9. Overall, he could not get groundballs (25% only). The rest of the numbers looked promising! 30% K to 6% BB, .213 BA against, 1.00 Whip. 11 k/9 to 2 bb/9 ratio. Wisconsin was a mix bag but that is expected out of a 19 year old during a mid summer promotion. Think he will come in as their "Ace" this season along with Jaylen Rose. I'm a Ray supporter and think he will right the ship this season. Getting out of Carolina/BC will make that easier. I hope Kirby can stay healthy and show something. He is already 24 and has yet to really be able to pitch much. I remember watching him in the College World Series Tourney and he was electric. Hope he is able to come back!