A Swing and A Drive

Yeah it doesn't make much sense that he hasn't accepted an offer by now. Waiting this long is jeopardizing being able to open the season in a team's rotation. It's a good guess that a red flag is showing up on his medicals and he doesn't actually have an offer on the table at this point.

I would prefer Alex Cobb to The Shark AND he will cost much less.

This SP plan sounds like trying to fix-up an old jalopy car inside of upgrading to a mid-grade one, even though you can afford it. Miley and Gallardo can only be "fixed-up" so much at their age. Not a fan of this plan.

[sarcasm]I heard that Cobb's agent had a missed call from Stearns but when he texted him back, there was no reply.[/sarcasm]

I also don't think the Yelich and Cain signings had ANYTHING to do with one another. Besides something like this... My guess is that as a courtesy Streans called Cain and his agent, who were already expecting to sign with Milwaukee, and told them not to freak out about the forthcoming Yelich trade news and be confident that the Brewers are still interested in signing him as their CF and leadoff hitter. My guess is that Cain and his agent did freak out and basically told the Brewers that they needed to sign him now or else Cain would turn and sign with another team (Rangers?) because he was sick of waiting around and didn't want to jeopardize losing other offers on his table. Stearns and Attanasio then pulled the trigger and signed Cain and figured they would deal with their OF surplus as the offseason progressed. Or that could be entirely wrong. Perhaps they did both moves just to make sure Brewers On Deck was a successful event.

I think the reason that this thread is approaching 100 pages long is because a "not-to-be-named" rumor troll had many Brewer fans around here excited about Cobb to the point that, in their minds, he was already penciled into the 2018 rotation. I think many believed this would make our entire 2018 rotation better and had already rationalized that Cobb was a #2 starter since he was going to be a Brewer (as opposed to a #3-#4 starter that he likely is), which added to their anticipation of his signing. I don't think there is a MLB Baseball Expert alive that did NOT think Cobb would be one of our top 5 starting pitching options for 2018 and beyond so I think the Brewerfan Nation has set ourselves up for possible let down if Cobb signs elsewhere. Time for some optimism... Brent Suter for NL CY YOUNG 2018!

THIS

I don't think Alex Cobb is receiving any 3 year/$45 M offers.

I agree that Cain at leadoff and RLRL makes the most sense. I prefer Yelich in the 2 hole.

I think Monty nailed what most Brewer fans are thinking of Stearns offseason plan having a domino effect by not being able to trade Santana. I think Jesus Aguilar is also as good of a hitter as Santana and a perfect platoon partner with Thames. I hate to have to lose him because of a poor offseason plan by our young GM. Hopefully there are lessons learned from this experience.

If Stearns cobbled together rotation somehow is good enough to get the Brewers one of the two NL Wild Card playoff spots... The Brewers would almost certainly be the underdogs for the one game playoff this year due to not having an ACE to give the them an advantage in a one-game show down. And even if Brewers got lucky in the one game, same can be said for a full playoff series as well. This is our concern, dude.

lol. I did add that injury is obviously a worse case. However, it would be hard for anyone to argue IMO, that Arrieta doesn't have the ability to pitch at the very least like a #3 MLB starter for the next 3 seasons.

Great idea! I'm 100% on board with this. I don't want to give up anything of value however.

I'm thinking Patrick Corbin or Hyun-Jin Ryu could be sneaky good value signings. The difference between next year and this, however, is with THAT many rotation openings, there will be more competition for alot of these guys, driving their price up. My guess is that Lance Lynn will land a better contract next offseason, for example. (side note: Lynn just tossed 3 no-hit innings with 1 bb and 5 k in his spring debut for the Twinkies. )

Clayton Kershaw and David Price both have opt-out options but my guess is that Kershaw signs an extension and that Price doesn't opt out. So what does that leave for the so-called vaunted 2018-19 Free Agent class as far as Starting Pitchers go? I sorted them by handedness. Name/Age next offseason RHP Garret Richards (30) RHP Matt Harvey (29) RHP Lance Lynn (32) RHP Charlie Morton (35) RHP Brandon McCarthy (35) RHP Adam Wainwright (37) LHP Dallas Keuchel (31) LHP Drew Pomeranz (30) LHP Patrick Corbin (29) LHP Drew Smyly (29) LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (32) LHP Gio Gonzalez (33) LHP JA Happ (36) LHP CC Sabathia (38) There were a few other players who are not listed because I feel their clubs/players will exercise options. The one I was on the fence about was weather the Rangers would pick up a $20M option on a 35 year old Cole Hamels, but their staff is so terrible they likely will. I also left off crap, Franciso Liriano/Anibal Sanchez type Free Agents. I was surprised at the sheer amount of LHP their were, albeit with a ton of red flags. So do you fellas feel that Streans is waiting a year to sign a FA stater and if so, which guys would you guess are at the top of his list?

I think Alex Cobb will have to settle for a 1 or 2 year deal at this point. If a team offers him 3 years, I think it's a slam dunk. I'm more than comfortable with the Brewers doing this as I will guess his Average Annual Salary will not exceed $14M at this junction.

I agree with MrTPlush that this deal is a great one for the Phillies Best Case Jake pitches like a near-ACE for 2 seasons at $55M total. If this happens the Phillies have the ball in their court and can either... A. Choose to extend him for a 4th and 5th year at $20M per B. Let him opt out and still be happy you got what you paid for. Worst Case He pitches more like a #3 stater in both years #1 and #2 and you are on the hook for the third year at $20M. This isn't even that terrible of a deal worst case, because even as such he's still probably the 2nd best SP on the Phillies behind Nola and will eat innings. I suppose him being injured for all 3 years would be absolute worst case but that's a risk with any pitcher. All this could have been said the same for the Brewers and if he pitches like a #3 starter for 3 years, he's still better than anyone in our rotation beyond maybe Nelson and Anderson. I think the Brewers will regret passing on this type of deal for Jake Arrieta after one Wade Miley MLB start.

Lol are you implying that trading Keon Broxton by himself WILL NOT re-stock the entire farm system? Shucks.

I think Cobb would be worth giving up the draft pick for, especially on an affordable multi-year deal. I'd be surprised if the Brewers FO disagreed. However, maybe losing the pool money is more of a deterrent than I believe it is.

This is what I think the Brewers need to do: 1. Sign Alex Cobb for 3 years (probably less than $40M) 2. Have Jimmy Nelson back pitching to his peak 2017 level by end of 2018 3. If 1-2 happen, the Brewers could go after a young controllable SP at the trading deadline, if not might as well "wait til next year" on a playoff push 4. Trade Domingo Santana before his value takes a Villar-esque dive. 5. Trade Keon Broxton to re-stock the farm with a couple of nice prospects. 6. Be open to trading Brandon Woodruff or Luis Ortiz to improve MLB team. In fact, be open to trading any current Brewers minor leaguer not named Hiura, Lutz or Burnes.

If the Brewers were smart they would build their roster for 2018 with the notion that Jimmy Nelson won't throw a pitch for the team. That way, anything he contributes in the 2nd half will be a shot in the arm for the rotation. I think it's foolish to assume he returns from that injury pitching like he did at his peak last season. Let's see what we have to work with: Chase Anderson- good #3 starter on a playoff team Zach Davies- good #4 starter on a playoff team Jhoulys Chacin- decent #5 starter on a playoff team Brent Suter- passable #5 starter/good swingman on a playoff team Junior Guerra- complete wildcard who could be a passable #4-5 starter on a playoff team Yovani Gallardo- love him,but close to having fork stuck in his career that maybe passable #5 starter on a non-playoff team Wade Miley- Tommy Milone 2.0 (aka "train wreck") Youngsters: Brandon Woodruff- needs MLB innings but will go through growing pains that a playoff team shouldn't endure, TRADE CANDIDATE Corbin Burnes- Would only count on for a September call-up, shot-in-the-arm for this season or TRADE CANDIDATE for a Chris Archer type Luis Ortiz- not ready for MLB innings until 2019 Adam Wilkerson- If he's getting starts before September then the Brewers obviously aren't contending Stearns possible plans at this point: A. Sign Cobb to be #3 starter, hoping Anderson is a legit #2 and hoping Nelson is back pitching like an ACE by trading deadline. B. Half-arsche cobble together the first half Starting Pitching and if the Brewers are within 3-5 games of WC by mid-July go after a Chris Archer type. Not a fan of plan A or B. Hopefully it becomes a combination of Plan A and B at this point and Brewers get extremely lucky and contend for a Wild Card this year.

Jered Eickhoff is now the Phillies #3 starter and is arguably a better pitcher than every member of the Brewers 2018 starting 5 outside of Chase Anderson. VERY concerned for the Brewers starting rotation at this point and I don't think we are the front runners for Cobb either.

With the Lynn signing news, I don't see any way that Alex Cobb should receive more than 3 years/$36-$40 Million at this point. MLBTRADERUMORS Free Agent rankings initially had Lynn ranked 9th and predicted 4/56 and Cobb ranked 11th and predicted 4/48 for him. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/11/2017-18-top-50-mlb-free-agents-with-predictions.html It would not surprise me if Cobb doesn't even have more than an actual 2-year offer to this point.

The Padres gave $140 million to Eric Hosmer. Just a really dumb move. I don't even feel that Hosmer is a substantially better player than his former teammate Moose. One could even argue that good 3B are harder to find than 1B. 1B Eric Hosmer (28 years old) Career Majors OPS=.781 Career Minors OPS=.887 3B Mike Moustakas (29 years old) Career Majors OPS=.730 Career Minors OPS=.841 Hosmer gets $18 a year for 8 years. Moustakas gets $6.5 one year deal. This has got to be a joke.

To me a "lotto ticket" prospect in a trade is someone outside an organization's top 15-20 prospects that is currently at or below AA. I also feel that "lotto tickets" DO have a low floor but a decently high ceiling to take a chance on.