tmwiese55

That's probably true. However, I'd then say the Cain signing shouldn't have happened with his age if you're kinda throwing away one of the good years knowing the last year or two will likely be not up to par with his pay

Could also be a way to keep his innings down a bit too by starting the other guys at the beginning. Then someone will get hurt or flame out and steps in but his innings are reduced by a few weeks worth of starts.

And hopefully it's mitigated as long Vogt isn't out long. Whatever on his D, but at least you should be able to trust him as a competent MLB bat.

Touche on that, yea just move up the other guys and put him 8th. Man I hope someone comes available due to a late camp cut that's better than Bandy, doubt it though

IDK, seems to make sense still doesn't it? Just putting two hear and not digging deep enough into days when Cain or yelich go out. You could get creative though and have Yelich leadoff with Cain second and subsequent flip flops, but not sure if that's needed. When Thames is playing maybe: Cain Yelich Santana/Braun Shaw Thames C (If Pina is doing well can put him ahead of Thames and do it even more) SS 2B When Thames is not playing Cain Yelich Braun Shaw Santana C SS 2B

If they go Cain at leadoff I think it just makes sense to go every other, RLRL. If Villar rebounds and is back at leadoff (usually hitting LH) and everyone moves down a spot so be it.

Reavers had to do it this year because they had no one else, I don't see how he wouldn't next year as well. too bad they couldn't have kept the RS on him this year, too late now.

Well said monty. Pretty much my take on it as well.

It's because two years ago Braun hit great in all traditional stat category ways, and last year Braun did this when healthy. As of now, there's no reason to think Braun won't still hit very well when he plays. Missing the games and playing hurt are the problems with him, not that anyone doesn't think he's still a great hitter (DH can't get here soon enough). This year with all this depth they can toss him on the DL so much easier whenever he has another minor issue rather than trying to force it, I think it will all sort itself out throughout the year. With a couple weeks to go he'll be fine at D at first, it's not like Thames/Jesus are good at D either. https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2017/08/16/notes-hard-hit-balls-dropping-ryan-braun/570475001/

If we're focused on opening day. I'd guess San Diego starts Richard who's a lefty. So they'd prefer Braun at 1B and Santana in RF. I think Braun will end up adequate at 1B, so combined with injuries this will sort itself out and they'll all get plenty of ABs. Jesus will be the odd one out and Thames will lose a lot of ABs from last year.

Good post. for your last question. My theory would be that it's been said on here by some (I don't know the source) that Houston tried him at 1st in the minors and it went horribly. He never even played minor league games at it because it was such a failure. How true that is I don't know. But they at least probably view Braun as a higher chance of success and higher level of play at 1B, combine that with Yelich being a better LF than RF and you end up with what they're doing.

You only use one option per year, regardless of how many times you're shuffled back and forth. http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/minor-league-options For this reason, I really wish "option year" was the go-to phrase for baseball journalists, not just "option" Surprising I never picked up on that, I guess I never really thought about it

Their starting pitching is still very weak though. I know bullpen is amazing but that's a huge flaw when compared to Houston/Nats/LAD, who all have great offenses as well. Also, I'm in the camp that Judge is a big regression candidate based on his second half and we all know Stanton's injuries. Don't get me wrong, I'd be jacked if I was a fan of theirs with what should be a really fun team to watch. But I think I'd also see the SP as an issue and realize it's not like they should necessarily be the favorites or in a 'GSW Warriors type mode of we clearly have the best team and it's a disappointment if we lose' attitude.

I'd even guess they really liked Phillips as the 4th OF due to his great D so would have been happy with him getting a bunch of PT when Braun is hurt. We're unlikely to know anything anytime soon but I'd really think they fully expected to trade Santana and it didn't work out so they're going to make the best of it now. One thing that pops into my head is Phillips options, say Braun gets tossed on the DL a couple times whenever he has a small injury and Phillips is brought up. He used some options already last year, so he might run out fairly quickly and force their hands somehow. Or I guess they'd just have to bring up a worse guy who has options.

Because Yelich is a way better OF than Braun and already has been playing CF the last few years so it's easier for him to switch to RF than it is for Braun. I'd assume him, Cain, Phillips can all plug and play in any spot on any day. Braun/Santana not so much.

Having played in NY already he could own a place already, kids in school, stuff like that. Plus throw in the baseball stuff ya'll just mentioned. I know I'd rather have him at 5 than Sogard at 2, but who could have predicted the market going like this. I don't blame anyone.

Remember a few years ago when Baltimore had some kind of ridiculous record in 1 run games? Like it was almost statistically impossible.

Just seems like a 3 year deal to Cobb is better than the previous deals we gave out to Suppan, Wolf, and Garza. We'll see, still hope they find a way. I'm fine passing on Darvish/Arrieta at what they got, but Cobb seems like it could be a middle ground and for a team trying to win this year he makes sense.

Yea my guess is Stearns got boned by a team or two on deals he had lined up for Santana before the Cain/Yelich moves. Still, a couple weeks left for Braun to get better at 1B.

this pretty much sums it up. Specific it down a bit: Thames being blah after April, 2B and CF poor all year, Braun hurt at the beginning and end along with really unlucky the middle part of the year, Shaw tailing off at the end. Put those all together and you have what happened the second half of the year

And the year before Villar only had 191 PAs and did well that inflates his stats. The fact the coaches treat him this way as a platoon is a sign that they view him better as a lefty, that's a pretty clear conclusion to draw in itself despite whatever numbers we choose to pick to support our argument.

But that's exactly what we're talking about here. He is going to play when he's healthy, it's really that simple. And that's a different argument than whether and how they should plan around him being healthy. And like I said, they know he's not reliable to be healthy and that's likely part how they think they can make this work to get enough ABs for everyone. CHLs point is that they think he's not good and that's why they did all this so that's what we're discussing. Oh and keep in mind just in 2016 he was basically healthy most of the year.

Ummm, HH was a fraud, that is common knowledge now, not sure you want to list what he was doing as a leak... Well I said other legit writers which were basically saying the same thing as him.

There could be a disclaimer at the end of every post that says this is just a forum and everything is an opinion or a "take", and could be wrong. However, it must take some serious mental gymnastics to think that they value Braun very highly but would go out and make the moves they made. Not sure how you can reconcile the contradiction there. As for thinking they had a deal lined up for Santana, I think the fact that they've already said Braun won't play RF even when Santana sits kind of obliterates that theory. I mean I don't think they got Cain or Yelich to play RF often. And I don't think they would have taken this risk if they weren't damn sure they could trade an outfielder. Stearns strikes me as a little more shrewd than that. The thing that makes the most sense and is also the simplest explanation is that they don't think Braun is a star anymore. It also happens to be perfectly consistent with their treatment of most other aging personnel options this offseason, notwithstanding Cain. Two very big assumptions in there. First, simply that it wasn't Santana they planned on trading. That just seems obvious to me yet you're acting like it's not a thing. And second, that they just wouldn't play Yelich in RF. I don't know why they wouldn't have figured on that for whenever Braun is playing and then Yelich in LF when he's out. Of course their and all of our assessments is that he's not a star due to not being able to rely on him to stay healthy. They planned on that accordingly and I don't see how that somehow proves they don't think he's a good hitter when healthy. He was great two years ago and he hit the ball as well as he ever had before the late season injury last year. But of course he missed a ton of games early and he should have been on the DL at the end Moreover, with the leaks from HH and other legit writers revealing talks about Archer and Cle it's basically a certainty Santana was trying to be traded. Which contradicts them just saying Braun sucks and is a bench guy now

If they shared your view of Braun's value to the team, there is no way they'd be in the situation they're in now. None. No, they know he's often hurt. I didn't say he's not often hurt and they they shouldn't plan on it. Also, the reason they're in this predicament is they fully intended to trade Santana and it didn't happen as the market was so low on him. My stating he's the best hitter when healthy doesn't contradict anything. Come back to me when he's fully healthy and sitting the bench for days at a time, not his normal one day here and there maintenance. Also, I do totally grant that it's debatable between him, Yelich, Cain. I can see an argument for all, I don't want to participate in any argument of that nature. I said it way back when HH and all the other leaks layed out this elaborate plan of consecutive moves relying on the others. Way too many plates in the air and one fell with Santana. Hindsight they probably shouldn't have signed Cain and just played Yelich in CF. But they fully expected Santana to be get them a good package.