A Swing and A Drive

I couldn't tell if you were talking about Braun or Thames here. At least they are both nice platoon options/bench bats I guess.

Re: Matt Harvey Stearns is finding out that you don't find something every time you dive into a dumpster.

Cole Hamels is better than these bums.

This is on Stearns.

With the exception of Stearns

2019 Brewers Lineup OF Christian Yelich OF Lorenzo Cain 3B Travis Shaw 1B Jesus Aguilar OF Ryan Braun/Eric Thames 2B Jonathan Schoop SS Orlando Arcia C Manny Pina/Nottingham? Starting Rotation RHP Jimmy Nelson RHP Chase Anderson RHP Jhoulys Chacin RHP Freddy Peralta RHP Corbin Burnes SP Depth RHP Junior Guerra RHP Brandon Woodruff RHP Zach Davies LHP Brent Suter RHP Jordan Lyles RHP Jake Thompson Bullpen RHP Corey Knebel RHP Jeremy Jeffress LHP Josh Hader RHP Joakim Soria LHP Dan Jennings RHP Taylor Williams RHP Jacob Barnes I like this team on paper (or computer screen) quite a bit. The area of weakness that stands out to me is Starting Pitching. Tons of question marks IMO. - Can Jimmy Nelson come back and become the 2017 version of himself? (not sure if we can count on it) - Can youngsters Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta take the next steps in reaching their #2 SP potential? (think this may take a few years/risk) - Can youngsters Taylor Williams and Jacob Barnes take another step in their development to solidify the bullpen? - Can Orlando Arcia hit MLB pitching enough to start at SS for a playoff caliber team? - Can Jonathan Schoop return to his 2017 form? - Can our Catchers hit enough to not make the bottom of our lineup a black hole again? - Can we expect Chacin to regress but Anderson to bounce bit a bit? Excepting either to pitch better than a #3 SP would be risky, IMO. My take: To be a strong Playoff contender next year the Brewers need to... 1. Sign a Free Agent Pitcher that could be a border-line ACE like 2017 Jimmy Nelson (Patrick Corbin for example) 2. Hope that the Mets fall out of contention before trading deadline and trade for either Syndergaard or deGrom and be willing to pay the high cost it will take even if it depletes the farm system of top talent (Huira, Ray, Woodruff, Lutz, etc) 3. Consider upgrading Catcher via free agency somehow 4. Stick with Arcia at SS and believe that his bat will come around 5. Give Travis Shaw everyday ABs at 3B and don't mess with him again with platoons/playing out of position 6. Be flexible with which RP closes out games 7. Finish the part of the rebuild where we "dumpster dive" for SP like Wade Miley, Jordan Lyles, Jake Thompson, etc.

This is the stuff that’s interesting to me? When in your opinion long suffering fan is the time to strike? This is the stuff that's interesting to me? How would you "strike" realistically? Well I believe it's by acquiring a frontline, "ACE" level starting pitcher to not only help us make the playoffs but to win multiple playoff series and get to the World Series. Obviously, I would say the Melvin acquiring CC Sabathia in 2008 and Zack Greinke in 2011 would qualify for this type of move. The Astros acquiring Verlander last year to win it all for the first time ever is another good example of a perfect "time to strike" that obviously paid off. While we didn't reach the World Series with either of Melvin's moves, I think those moves definitely gave us a fighting chance to do so at the time.

I think the underlying theme of this thread is one word... FRUSTRATION Now, an open letter to our diety (on official Brewerfan.net letterhead mind you): http://forum.brewerfan.net/styles/bf_default/theme/images/titlebar-top.jpg DEAR GOD (aka GM Mr. David Stearns) I'm sure I'm not the only Brewer fan that has waited 36 years (thirty-six freaking years man) for the Brewers to "appear" in a World Series. You may not remember. You were not born yet. It's understandably difficult to ask these fine folks to continue to practice patience. I think they feel they have been patient quite long enough. These fans have weathered not just years, but DECADES of the Brewers not even sniffing the playoffs. Having two consecutive years in a row where they just miss the prize would sure be a difficult pill to swallow. It's even more difficult to swallow if these fans believe the teams GM did not quite do enough to seize the opportunity. I'm sure you have a "long term-plan", and we can certainly get on board with the thought that the time to strike is not upon the organization yet. Let me just remind you, that Cubs fans were asked to "WAIT TIL NEXT YEAR!" for over a hundred years. Many of their die-hard fans and icons like Harry Carey where long dead before they finally won their first World Series. Not only would I like it if we were all still alive when the Brewers win it all, but I'd also like Bob Uecker to still be alive. Is this really too much to ask? At some point please just remember what veteran Catcher Jake Taylor once said....there’s only one thing left to do... Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Long Suffering Brewer Fans

And let's not kid ourselves... we all know for a fact that a 40 year old Kevin Mench would easily OPS well over 1.000 for his local bar league softball team!

Fair enough. I'm confident that a 40 year old Kevin Mench can best a .346 OPS. lol

It is literally a billion times crazier. Jonathan Schoop 2400 Career ABs .740 OPS In season after traded to Brewers....41 abs .346 OPS Kevin Mench 2362 Career ABs .780 OPS In season after traded to Brewers....133 abs .566 OPS A billion times......literally??????

Not any crazier of an idea than a Shaw/Schoop platoon at 2B.

How much cash we talkin’?