Madhawk23

Man, that's a ton of young MLB talent that we are giving up on. I just can't see Stearns shipping away those three guys in one deal - for a guy in Thor who's a major injury risk. I think Peralta/Burnes would have to be an either/or situation, but not both. And if we are giving up on Arcia - we better be damn certain that Dubon is ready to contribute from day 1. Again - I just can't see a scenario where we are going to give up three guys currently on our MLB roster - especially three young guys who all might have their best years in front of them.

As much as I would love to trade Grisham this summer as a "headliner" in a deal, are we certain that he's actually bumped back up his trade value that much in just a few months? I mean, we are talking about a kid that was on the verge of losing all "prospect status" that he had left remaining this year if he didn't start to put things together this season. Credit to him for stepping up and doing that so far this year, but I still have to wonder if other teams would shy away from him in a trade - not knowing completely yet what type of player they might be getting? I could definitely see guys like Burnes, Freddy and Arcia having much more value to teams that are looking for those MLB ready guys that are still young enough to blossom in the coming years.

I'd be on board with this idea as well, but I still question if a package of Arcia, Freddy, Ray + lottery ticket is enough to get a deal like this done? Do we have any idea what type of value Arcia and Freddy still have - now that both have been up 2-3 years with varied success at the MLB level? Also, does Corey Ray have much value anymore? Seems like somewhat of a lopsided trade package in our favor here - at least on paper.

Yeah, Boyd would cost us way too much - without much of a guarantee that the guy he was in the 1st half this year is the guy you would get moving forward. I would take a "hard pass" on Boyd right now because of those reasons.

Yeah, there's just no way that Stearns is going to give up too much for a rental player. Let's look at the guys we've traded for rental players the past two years: Medeiros for Soria Lopez and Phillips for Moose Carmona, Ortiz and Villar for Schoop Cordell for Swarzak Taylor Scott for Jeffress Medeiros, Ortiz, Lopez and Phillips were all once big prospects in our system, but I think we can all agree that at the time of each of these trades - all four had seen their prospect status fall significantly. I'd actually make the argument that Carmona and Cordell were the two guys that I hated to see us trade the most out of this group. Anyway - I just would find it hard to believe that Stearns is going to give up anyone of significance for a rental player. And because of that, I just don't see us landing any of the big name SP rentals - Wheeler, MadBum, etc. I think he'll continue to have discussions like he always does, but we'll probably end up settling on a couple of relief arms that hopefully shouldn't cost us as much in prospect capital.

Man, I'd be pissed if I were a Mets fan and this is all that my GM got back in a trade for Thor. Who's the headliner in this deal going back to NYM? A light hitting SS that's already been up in the big leagues for 2+ years, or a SP in Burnes who's shown no signs of any consistency yet at the MLB level?

This is a good point. The break-out guys are typically the ones who are traded at this time of year. Guys who are injured or are underperforming are sometimes added as PBNL types, but are rarely headliners. Of course the Top 100 lists are for the fans but they're not comprised based on opinions of whoever the writer is. It's based on market intel gathered from scouts/teams and what they're hearing out there. They're updated every 6 months I think so of course they're not fluid like internal rankings by each org. That doesn't negate the point that Ray being on it heading into the season means he actually is valued out there regardless of teams internal boards having him ranked 2nd or lower for our org. There's no way teams currently have Grisham ranked 30th for our system. Yep - great point. I severely doubt that teams rank Joe Gray and Lucas Erceg higher than Trent Grisham and Drew Rasmussen right now. In fact, I've got to believe that those two guys alone are probably highly thought of right now among MLB scouts. And, Devin Williams is another example of a guy that I'm sure teams would be very interested in, but he's currently not even in the Top 30 prospect list anymore.

Jimenez was in A ball at the time of the trade. He was highly regarded, but not a top 5 prospect in baseball at the time. Cease had a good year coming back from injury but again...just was coming back from TJ and had serious command issues. The rest of the return was meh. I like both prospects and as a Brewer fan, loved the trade...but those prospects look better now than they did when traded for. That said, I do generally agree that we don't have a prospects of the caliber Jimenez was even at the time of trade. Turang is close, maybe the speed/defense is enough to cancel out Jimenez tremendous power...hard to say. We do have pitchers of roughly similar value as Cease, but nobody with his combination of draft pedigree and upside. My guess for Syndergaard, they want one of our two young pitchers and a couple more good prospects. Something like Peralta + Lutz + stuff. Maybe we get lucky and they value Ray highly instead of Lutz? I beg to differ on your recollection of that Quintana trade. Eloy was absolutely one of the top 5-7 prospects in baseball at that time. And, I remember Cease being a Top 100 prospect as well. I specifically recall being shocked at how much the Cubs gave up for a guy in Quintana that was a solid SP with team control, but not anything even remotely close to a true ace. There was a small part of me that was ticked off that the Cubs outbid us for him, but that anger was quickly squashed when I saw that the Cubs had to give up a budding superstar in Eloy and a really good looking pitching prospect in return. No way did I want the Brewers to do that.

Why not REALLY sweeten the pot and go all in with Cam Roegner? It doesn't even make sense to call if that's all you're going to offer. You would probably lose credibility as a GM if that was your starting point. It'd be one thing if Arcia and Peralta were off to big starts, but they're not and Diplan and Lemons are nothing. They're throw-in's. Diplan is hardly that. Lemons is a guy you keep around because JUUUST maybe one day. That's a lot closer to what you'd offer for Jason Vargas than it is for what you'd offer for Syndergaard. And frankly, I don't even want Syndergaard unless you could get him for such a laughably cheap package. I kinda feel like he derailed his career when he forced the Mets to let him start when they knew he was injured and then ended up missing a big chunk of the season a couple years ago. Yeah, there is simply no way that a package of Arcia, Peralta, Diplan and Lemons is going to land you a guy like Thor - even if he is having a down year. I'd have to think the Mets would demand Hiura in the package, and then you'd probably also have to go with either Peralta/Burnes and then probably either Ashby/Rasmussen. And, honestly - that might not even be the best offer on the table?

I know hindsight is always 20/20, but you have to wonder if Stearns wishes he could go back in time a few months and make a harder push to bring Miley back? It just pains me to see him putting up solid numbers again this year (in the AL no less), and realizing how great he would look in this rotation right now. I know we thought we had things covered with Burnes, Freddy, Woodruff and perhaps even Jimmy coming back - but obviously only one of those guys has really panned out for us. And, to think Miley signed for just 1 year at 4.5M. I have no idea if we even tried to make a run at Miley, but it sure would be nice to have a time-travel machine to go back and fix that mistake.

How is 2 months of a 4.7 ERA starter worth those prospects? I know you have your ways of coming up with these calcs, that just seems like a crazy price to me. I'll also at baseball reference has him at 1 WAR this season so far, not sure how you project he'll post 1.7 WAR in less starts unless you're assuming he'll be way better in the 2nd half. According to Joel Sherman - it sounds like the Mets have engaged the Red Sox on talks regarding Wheeler already. So, it's probably not worth even going down this road, as we'll just have to overpay at this point to get him. And, as I mentioned above - I'm just not on board with doing that, and I hope Stearns isn't either.

I would not give up any of Lutz, Ashby or Henry for a 2 month rental in Wheeler. We're talking about three guys who I would put in our Top 10 prospect list right now. Are you telling me that it's really going to take that much to get a 2-month SP rental at the deadline this year? If so, count me in as a "strong pass" on a guy like Wheeler. The only way I might consider it is if you could assure me that we'd be able to re-sign him in the offseason for a team friendly type deal.

I would have to agree with this. Even if we find ourselves down 5-6 games at the deadline in a few weeks, it's almost impossible to see a scenario in which a team would be willing to cough up the prospect capital that would be needed for Stearns to even consider moving a guy like Hader that has that much team control and is arguably the most dynamic pen arm in baseball right now. I think it would take a package in the range of: Braves: Pache, Anderson and Allard Astros: Whitley and either Tucker/Alvarez Dodgers: Verdugo, Ruiz and May (maybe we send Braun back in the deal) Twins: Kirilloff, Graterol and Balazovic And, I doubt any of those teams would give up anything remotely close to those prospect packages - even for someone as dominant and with that amount of team control as Hader. Fun to think about though.

Home games before break: 3 vs SF, 3 vs ATL, 3 vs CIN and 3 vs CHC Road games before break: 4 vs AZ and 1 vs OAK Wow - so that's 12 games at home and only 5 on the road before the break. The way this team is trending going into the AS break, I guess anything is possible the remainder of this month - but with all of those home games, it's hard to fathom anything worse than an 8-9 record in those 17 games. And, let's face it - even that record would be a major disappointment. Cubs have home series vs PIT, CIN and SD and then road series against SF, MIL and one game vs STL. It's certainly possible that this Cubs team could catch fire out of the gates and put together a 12-4 stretch in those games. If both of those scenarios were to play out, then we'd find ourselves 5 games back heading into the trade deadline. Considering that we are in a "win now" window, and also the fact that the Brewers made up 5 games just last September, I've got to agree that it seem awfully unlikely that we'll be in any position to be a seller at the deadline this year.

Home games before break: 3 vs SF, 3 vs ATL, 3 vs CIN and 3 vs CHC Road games before break: 4 vs AZ and 1 vs OAK Wow - so that's 12 games at home and only 5 on the road before the break. The way this team is trending going into the AS break, I guess anything is possible the remainder of this month - but with all of those home games, it's hard to fathom anything worse than an 8-9 record in those 17 games. And, let's face it - even that record would be a major disappointment. Cubs have home series vs PIT, CIN and SD and then road series against SF, MIL and one game vs STL. It's certainly possible that this Cubs team could catch fire out of the gates and put together a 12-4 stretch in those games. If both of those scenarios were to play out, then we'd find ourselves 5 games back heading into the trade deadline. Considering that we are in a "win now" window, and also the fact that the Brewers made up 5 games just last September, I've got to agree that it seem awfully unlikely that we'll be in any position to be a seller at the deadline this year.

After proving his health, just before the deadline, I Trade Hader to the Twins: Hader > Trevor Larnach Jordan Balazovic Jhoan Duran Luis Arraez Ben Rortvedt I believe the twins have the depth of prospects to absorb this loss, and the desire to make this deal, with the tribe coming on. But if not there’s other teams: Padres Dodgers Astros Rays Braves are 5 more at the top of my head that could look at hader as THE difference maker not just this year but over the next 4-5. Probably get just as much if we sell next year, but I’m not taking the chance on regression or injury. And with these 5 prospects, I can keep some or trade some to better my team. I can stash these, and trade prospects already in my system for rentals to still compete THIS year. Then I have 5-7 top 100 type prospects to develop or trade this offseason or next trade deadline to improve my team. I realize that Hader has some of the highest value on our team, but why would we trade away a guy that is one of the biggest bullpen weapons in baseball - and someone that I think we still have under team control for another 4 years? On a team with a window to compete now? There's just no way I'm trading a Josh Hader right now, unless if a team like the Braves wants to offer up some ridiculous package that includes Pache, Anderson, Allard, etc. Then, maybe I'd consider it if I were Stearns. Otherwise, it just isn't happening.

I know very little about the International Signing date. Can anyone with more knowledge share: is getting 4 guys in the Top 100 good for a team like the Brewers? I see that we had one of the highest bonus pools this year, so I'm assuming that we should have gotten a decent haul of players, but how does this compare to other teams? Nice to see that we got the Medina kid who is pretty highly thought of, but I guess I was hoping we'd have 1-2 more guys in the MLB Pipeline Top 30 list.

I think you have to trade Grandal or Moose for whatever you get, unless you are signing them to an extension (which is a different thread). Regardless of prospects, you are saving that money, which they will need for Grandal 2020 and/or a starting pitcher. Exactly! If the Brewers were to end up in sell mode, then you absolutely need to try to trade as many of the valuable assets you have on the roster that will be F/A's at the end of this season. Get whatever prospect value you can for them, and then you could even make a run at signing 1-2 of them again in the offseason, to make another run in 2020. With that said - I don't think any of us want to think about this scenario, so hopefully the Crew will get hot here over the next month and make this a moot discussion.

I think you have to trade Grandal or Moose for whatever you get, unless you are signing them to an extension (which is a different thread). Regardless of prospects, you are saving that money, which they will need for Grandal 2020 and/or a starting pitcher. Exactly! If the Brewers were to end up in sell mode, then you absolutely need to try to trade as many of the valuable assets you have on the roster that will be F/A's at the end of this season. Get whatever prospect value you can for them, and then you could even make a run at signing 1-2 of them again in the offseason, to make another run in 2020. With that said - I don't think any of us want to think about this scenario, so hopefully the Crew will get hot here over the next month and make this a moot discussion.

Obviously, none of us even want to think this way at this point, but let's say that this team does continue this tail spin over the next month. If that happens, we'd actually be in a pretty good spot here to trade a couple of these guys and still have potentially a decent roster that could still win some games in the 2nd half of the season. If you trade Grandal - you'd probably get a couple of decent prospects, and you'd still have Pina on the roster to take over the #1 catching spot. This would also allow you to give Nottingham some PT and see what you have in him for the future. If you trade Moose - you should get a couple of decent prospects, and you'd simply bring Keston up to fill the 2B position. If Shaw finds himself in the second half, then you might not even have that much drop off with the Shaw/Hiura 3B/2B combo than what you've had with Moose/Shaw combo in the 1st half? If you do trade Arcia - I would have to think you'd want to get a couple of really good prospects (not sure if another team would give you that for Arcia?), and you could bring Dubon up in the 2nd half to see what you have with him. Maybe Dubon flourishes with the opportunity and gives you just as much production as Arcia did? Trade Thames for a lottery ticket type young prospect and just turn things over to Aggy in hopes that he figures things out again in the 2nd half. Could also give Nottingham some work there. If Chacin would come around in the next month, I'd have to think that he'd get you a decent prospect or two in return. Not sure if I'd want to trade Davies and his controllable years, but I guess if a team knocked our socks off with a prospect offer - it would be worth considering. Doubt too many teams would do that though for a soft tossing righty like Davies. Again - I hope we don't have to go down this road next month, but at least we'd be able to restock our farm system just a bit and hopefully we could still set ourselves up to compete again next year.

What.....no mention on Bello's 3-4, 2 HR game on here yet? Someone needs to slow my hype train for this kid, because I feel like I'm getting way too excited about this kid's potential - and will probably just be let down when he doesn't end up anything near as good as I currently think he'll eventually be!

I came into this year hoping that Mad Bum would put up good numbers and that we'd make a run at trading for him at the deadline, but I just don't know now if I could get on board with this guy being a Brewer? He's got to be one of the biggest d-bags in the game today, and I just would really worry that he'd be the type of guy that would kill the great chemistry that this group seems to have again this year. There has to be better options out there, for guys that can help us - both on the field and in the clubhouse. Not sure if Mad Bum is that guy anymore?

Parra had a really nice write up in the Baseball America International Review here https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2018-19-mlb-international-reviews-milwaukee-brewers/: So he seems to have some real legs in the report, to add to the hot start. Another one is Branlyn Jaraba who is showing some nice power and also had a nice write-up in that BA article, and then Erys Bautista who was written up as well but appears to have gotten off to a rough start. Carlos Roa is with that split Brewers/Indians team but is another write-up who seems interesting. Pitching wise I can't be of a ton of help right now tho to be honest haha. Awesome - thanks for sharing this. Parra is certainly intriguing, especially with his very impressive hot start to his season down there.

I would imagine when the mid-season rankings come out, that we'll have a good shot at having three guys on the list: Hiura (assuming he doesn't come back up and graduate off the lists), Rasmussen and Turang. I think Feliciano deserves some love as well, but he may have to prove himself through an entire season at Carolina before he gets added to any top 100 list.