MrTPlush

January 21st: Jerry Crasnick said the Brewers had a trade brewing. HighHeat came out and his source said it was with an AL team and I believe his source also said there were contract issues. January 23rd: Craig Mish reports the Brewers have made an offer for Christian Yelich and are showing strong interest in him. Not long after HighHeat's source says the Trade A has been nixed and they are changing directions. What ground breaking information has he really given? He has made pretty easy statements after rumors have already started. Anyone going to be that shocked if Darvish is a Cub or if we trade Santana? My point is the fact anyone could make the statements he has made and be fairly accurate. Most statements are pretty easy to just sweep under the carpet and move on without really batting an eye. Not saying he doesn't have someone to get inside info, but I don't think posters should start revolving their thoughts to fit the HighHeat source narrative. As it has already proven to misfire.

He's been right so far. Right on what? Making vague statements that almost allow him to not be wrong regardless? With all the information he claimed to know(outside of what he was telling us) he must know quite a darn bit over the past few days and in the coming days. Too bad he said he won’t post until Tuesday even though he has time to check the forum multiple times. Maybe he knows something or maybe he doesn’t...people can think what they want. Regardless I think some people are taking every single thing he says way too much to heart. You don’t have to involve every possibility in the future around a HH19 rumor claim. HH19 has actually not been right so far. Remember there was suppose to be a deal with contract issues...where is that? Just write it up as a botched trade that never was I guess. Not saying he isn’t getting legit information from sources, but even if right things fall through. It seems every time we conversate about something like Braun at 1st someone says, “But HH19 said __”.

I am so sick of people getting mad at voters for not voting for Bonds/Clemens/etc. Those writers are perfectly justified in their decision to leave those guys off their ballots. The baseball hall of fame is not solely based off of statistics: 5. Voting: Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played. The HOF decided it wanted to be more than about statistics and on the field performance. They wanted to put good ballplayers that are also good people into the HOF. It is their organization and they have the right to make the rules. If you don't like them don't get mad at the writers who are actually following the guidelines. Go the the board of directors and demand a rule change. If it is made to be all about on the field performance and these guys still get snubbed then you have a right to be angry at a writer.

The Brewers can know they are trading Santana and every MLB team can know. Regardless we are not going to come out to the press and say it. Stearns is not going to say they are trad By someone s till on the team, it just doesn’t work that way.

I mean if you believe everything Stearns says to a T. What else could he have said today? Honest question. That we are searching for somewhere to send Santana?

Makes you wonder if Stearns is targeting something! Stearns uses BR.com too!!!!

His problems in the OF are mostly instincts...so maybe he can handle grounders better etc? Who knows? Can’t get much worse than sticking him in RF again. Even a below average 1B Braun is the same as him in RF

Already reported by brewerfan’s own HighHeat! How could I forget.

I heard MLB radio said we were not in in Darvish any longer this morning. Just throwing that out there.

I believe they get at least one more starter. Probably by trading Santana. At this point wouldn't be shocked if they signed a FA as well. The last 24 hours have really confused my expectations. I would be shocked if we got two more starters. Getting one firmly puts Hader/Suter into the pen (which seems likely at this point). Getting a second puts Woodruff to AAA to start the season and then if/when Nelson comes back, puts Chacin/Davies to the pen. That seems like two many quality pitchers to manage. I know you can never have too much pitching but with the Nelson complications and solid AAA depth already (Burnes, Ortiz, Wilkerson), I don't think a second starting pitcher is a good use of resources. Odds are, next year we could be trading 1 or 2 of our starters because we don't have room for them. This sounds like a lovely problem!

How many ABs does a 4th OFer usually have? Isn’t Braun already a 4th OFer? Make him the 4th OFer and maybe he ends up healthier and more productive? Why burn him out playing s month straight to sit out a few weeks due to injury? Add that to the pile of crazy things that won’t happen, but maybe not the worst of ideas.

Ryan Braun in RF is an absolute tragedy. Ryan Braun, for whatever reason, is exponentially worse in RF vs. LF. In my opinion the worst I have ever seen man RF on a daily basis. Would never happen, but I’d rather see Yelich in CF and Cain in RF if that meant keeping Braun out of RF. Another solid example of how terrible the botched opportunity to trade Braun has been working out for us.

No, not in the NFL...especially for a good franchise like the Falcons. There are only 8 home games that are very easy to sell out. Not to mention this is a brand new stadium assured to be sold out every game. This article is icredibly misleading on many levels. To use this as an example for other teams to slash prices is just not accurate at all. For the NFL there is no bonus to selling more tickets...cause you are going to sell out regardless. Now when it comes to the MLB that does not sell out every single game it can get interesting. That being said slashing concession prices likely are not going to lead to better revenues. Prices are insane because...well...people only have one option. I don't think the Brewers would benefit from slashing their prices. Most people price sensitive are going to eat their own food in the parking lot or eat their own in the stadium(since the Brewers allow it). People who are buying food in the stadium do not care about prices...they buy food in the stadium because it is easy. The only time I ever go crazy buying food in the stadium is when they have $1 hotdogs etc. Sure they could make the price $2 for a brat. I would probably buy three of them at the price...but that will equal the price of one right now, but they will have the cost of making three brats. See the problem? I would love for prices to drop, but I understand the market they are in and that doesn't support slashing prices. The prices are stupid to a lot of us, but they are that way for a reason...they are the most profitable and make the most sense from a business standpoint. Once again it can be really complicated for a league like the MLB that doesn't regualarily sell out, but in general the ridiculous prices probably make the most sense. It is what it is.

I think that is a valid assumption any time it seems a GM is heavily shopping a proven MLB talent, but in this case maybe Stearns just doesn't like the heavy K rates a lot of our players provide right now. I think the addition of Yelich and especially Cain screams Stearns does not appreciate all the strikeouts this team provides. Maybe it is nothing personal against Santana. If the rest of the team for the most part didn't strike out at high rate maybe he would mind Santana fanning 25%+ of the time...I know I wouldn't. However when the rest of the team likes to strikeout too it is not that attractive. I think Stearns is just taking advantage of an opportunity to make the team less dependent on homers and reducing that K rate to make it more diverse. I don't think Stearns hates Santana that much to be honest. I just think on the current team he is better suited as a valuable trade chip vs. a buildin block on offense. His defense limitations certainly do not help.

No, the Brewers problem was more than a CF hole. The Brewers have a serious strikeout problem and they needed to fix that. Lewis Brinson was not going to help that and I think that was a big part of what transpired here. It is much much more than OBP. Cain and Yelich will massively decrease the amount of strikeouts as a team. If Brinson wasn't a big K guy I could see them committing to him at one of the spots, but the reality was he is also a high K guy. Stearn made a wise decision to improve on that by revamping the OF. This was not about filling the CF hole. This was about fixing an offense painfully dependent on HRs with high K rates. We didn't have a CF hole. We had two top prospects(arguably Top 100 in baseball) ready to man CF with great defense....except both featured really high K rates. We need a diversified offense and Stearns saw a huge problem in the outfield. He made moves to reduce the amount of strikeouts while overall improving the defense. Win-Win.

Why would Braun go to RF? He is staying in LF where he is better. I would think Yelich will go to RF and Cain in CF. Who do you think was going to LF?

Eh, I'd rather have Archer than Domingo and prospects. You're not going to find near 5 win pitchers for $6 Million a year very often. Same principle in going after Yelich. The contract is the biggest key. Chris Archer is a solid 3 WAR pitcher...the last two YEARS combined according to BR.com. His best year was a 4.3 WAR season and no other season has come anywhere close to 4 WAR let alone 5 WAR. I would rather go all or nothing on Salazar.

Stearns isn't an idiot. Even someone with the most basic knowledge of baseball transactions knows this. Stearns was very aware of what Santana would fetch before ever acquiring Yelich or Cain. I understand this and I went to a state college...people on this forum with high school diplomas understand what you are saying. I am pretty sure a guy with a Harvard education working in a baseball front office for years didn't screw up such a basic concept. HH19 said he would be traded soon...I don't think that is due to insider information, but the obvious notion that Stearns has already figured this out. Stearns isn't just going to find himself with a 4th OFer that put up 3-4 WAR last year with no idea where to send him. Stearns will get appropriate value for Santana. That is why he just got two big time OFers to replace him. If you thought about this don't you think he thought about this? If someone on a baseball forum can think of it I can bet the GM getting paid millions thought of it too.

On another note that isn't starting pitcher related I am very intrigued what the Brewers will do at 2B. I thought Castro would have been a phenominal option for the short term, but it seems they passed on the opportunity. I wonder if they plan on doing so much elsewhere they might just roll with Villar confident in a bounce back? Neil Walker? Kipnis? That might be the biggest offseason question mark getting, for the most part, ignored during the flury of more exciting rumors.

Well said. This is where I am. I’m surprised we lost Harrison on top of Brinson, but I still like where we are headed. I do hope we keep Phillips after the dust settles. Left handed bat, insane arm, etc. Now that Harrison is gone, my next great hope is Lutz. Agreed on Phillips. I think he can be a huge asset to the team and I also really hope Burnes doesn't go anywhere. Phillips as a 4th OFer would be amazing and Burnes can hopefully take over a rotation spot in the next few years allowing us to trade someone for prospects to keep payroll down(while restocking the farm). Obviously each can be had in the right trade, but both could be very helpful in the near future.

That would add about 50 hits if you give around a .340 BABIP I think 150 is pretty bullish, but yah we are talking 100 less strikeouts. That is amazing in just two moves. Props to Stearns for making such a massive difference to such a huge problem on this offense.

One must wonder if Stearns views this offseason as the perfect opportunity for the Brewers to splash into the FA market in ways they typically just cannot do. I am seriously wondering if Yu Darvish(or Arrieta) is still a real big target for the Brewers even after they signed Cain and once they trade Santana for a pitcher. Rarely are the Brewers positioned coming off a 85+ win season, have an incredibly low payroll, and a weak FA market. As mentioned inflation hints the Brewers could handle a $120mil payroll though one has to remember arbitration will greatly increase payroll in the future. Even then also mentioned is the $50mil payment we get this spring. One thing I don't see talked about very often is our TV deal. As we know teams have been signing some HUGE TV deals. Our deal expires after the 2019 season if memory serves me right. Yes we won't get Dodger money, but we should see a very healthy increase just like every other team in recent years renewing contracts. If Attanasio and Stearns are aware if these factors we could have an offseason for the history books with everything falling into place perfectly. With the signing of another big free agent and the trade of Santana for MLB ready products Stearns may man the most unbelievable offseason for a small market ever. One can dream big tonight.

for 2 years of Odorizzi? That would be a miserable deal for the Brewers. No way.

Well I can promise you that is not going to happen. Something else has to fall. Santana is not going to be some 4th OFer/1B. They will have to either trade Braun(lol), Santana(bet my life on it), or Thames. Don't forget Phillips as 5th OFer and Broxton...waived? Does he have options? Broxton is realistically the #4 OFer right now and I would highly prefer a quality 4th OFer...so I hope he stays. Keon Broxton has such low trade value he isn't much of a concern. He will go eventually before opening day.

I'm not even going to know what new jersey to buy! This is the move IMO, Archer's contract lines up with Cain and Yelich's deals. Arcainich? Yecainer?