MKE81

How is his trade value low? He's one of the best catchers in baseball. 2015 doesn't negate his body of work and he hit well in the 2nd half. He's healthy and looks like his 2014 self.

LCL injuries rarely require surgery unless there are other issues surrounding it. If surgery isn't required he's probably out at least couple months I'd guess. Regarding Lind, not every trade of a MLB player has to fill a need at that level or upper minors. He's a good trade chip to use for what Stearns did - adding 3 young arms that pound the zone to develop them. You're not getting several 18/19yr old projectable arms for someone like Scooter and given Lind's age, salary, recent injury bites, etc you're not getting the Nottingham/Diaz types of the world. That's why KRod only returned 1 halfway decent prospect in A+ ball - his age, salary. Segura sucked but is 25 and Davis, Parra, Gomez, Fiers return established impact prospects and so will Lucroy, Smith, Jeffress and such

Supposedly he was attempting to remove his shoe in the locker room and tried yanking it off, while standing, and lost his balance twisting his knee in the process resulting in a torn LCL. Apparently they don't have chairs to sit on to aid in easily removing your shoes. It isn't known yet if surgery is the best route. Simply amazing

Personally, I can't see any reason, as of right now, for Kirk to make this team let alone being a present day lock. I hope you leaving Flores out of the picture was a brain fart and accidentally forgot about him!! Given his age, upside, ability to cover all OF spots and 1b combined with being a lefty and having the plate discipline/approach he does he should be a lock. Kirk has been extremely inconsistent, has an insane K rate this spring and examining his body of work at this point he's the worst performer - after the first 14 of his 18 games played he was sub-300 OBP and after his 17th game was just a tick above 300. His 250/333/758 slash look likes solid for him but that's misleading when looking at his body of work this spring. He will play good defense though. I'm not focusing on OPS as an indicator because if you replace 1 Flores single with a HR his OPS is 800 - huge difference and reality is these guys are getting a relatively small sample size anyway so one HR or one awesome game in general can shift everything significantly stats wise. Flores, Presley, EY have all been consistent and that's exactly what you want off the bench. As of right now, I don't think Kirk should make the team. See how he performs the next 8 games as if he keeps trending up and turns out to have a solid 2nd half of spring then it's a different story. EY brings speed to the table in late game pinch running situations and that can have a strong impact on the game (ie Dyson from KC - obviously he's not as impactful as Dyson but it's a frame of reference). That's a tool none of the other guys have in this group. Given our 5th OF won't play much it's a great tool to have sitting at the end of the bench as it gives Counsell his best pinch hitters every night while still being able to shift the outcome late without burning those guys. Flores/Presley will have much better ABs than Kirk will - they'll get on base at a higher clip.

Issue on the Hayes play is Badgers are up 1 and can run clock out for W so ND will be playing overly aggressive on defense and when there's contact it's called a foul. That didn't happen. Regarding Koenig's play. Him being called for the foul was atrocious. Game speed ND hit the ball the same time he hit Koenig while cutting in front of him. That's a foul all day every day based on the contact. You can slow motion plays like that all day but it doesn't change the fact that it's a foul. Badgers gave this away regardless. Their turnovers were that of a grade school team. ND didn't make any great defensive plays where you tip your cap for their hustle. They were literally unforced by the Badgers on horrendous decisions and/or execution. Sweet 16 is a great run this year considering how the first couple months went

Wasn't your entire post projections? Difference is, yours is subjective opinion. Analytical projections are far from perfect, but at least there's an attempt to use objective data. For example, you say Santana is a HUGE upgrade over Davis- a guy who had an OPS of .828 last year. Let's see how Santana does over the course of an entire MLB season before we say that. What would he need to do to be huge upgrade? OPS over .900? I hope you're right though! You also say Garza/Peralta will be much better than last year. We don't know that either. Not do we know if Anderson will be way better than Lohse. Krod had 2 blown saves all year. To say Smith can do that, and Morales can take his role, bingo it basically evens out... that's another stretch. Most of what you said is putting the best spin on things, which is fine, but there's also a chance none of those things will be true. My objective opinion (not subjective) is based on common sense and understanding one's skill set not an analytical model for a published projection. I also didn't state a specific number of wins like the publications do. Barring injury, what makes one believe that Garza will have an ERA 2 runs higher than his career average matching last year? Peralta had a great season in 2014 at a young age and last year had the worst of his short career by far while also being injured. Now that he's healthy, what makes one believe he'll perform similarly to last year? If they both have 4 ERAs that's a significant improvement from last year. Chase had back to back relatively solid seasons for a back end starter so what would make one question whether or not he'll outperform the worst SP in MLB last year? If he repeats last year his ERA is a full 1.5 runs lower than Lohse was. None of these guys are 36 and on their way out of the league either. Davies has grown as pitcher as well. Regarding Santana, deep down you know he's a huge improvement over Davis. And OPS doesn't define a player's overall value and skill set. Santana WILL have a higher BA, definitely higher OBP than Davis has had over the past 2yrs while also driving in more runs and stealing more bases. He has to hit 246/305 to match Davis. That's not difficult when you're talented. He most likely won't hit HRs at the same clip as Davis but he'll drop 20+. Since you mentioned OPS, Davis had a 756 OPS 2yrs ago and 747 OPS last year heading into Aug. Lets discuss his body of work the past 2yrs instead of 2 powerful months to end the 2015 season boosting the hell out of his OPS (boosted solely due to HR and not OBP - a power stretch he'll never repeat in his career which is why his 828 OPS is insanely misleading and not indicative of the player you will get the very large majority of the time). Santana had a 768 OPS as a 22yr old getting first extended taste of MLB. So yes, as he continues to develop and grow he will be a massive upgrade over Davis and that starts this year when he's at a 800+ OPS and it's not unrealstic for him to be in the 830-850 area either. I haven't even touched on defense yet and the massive upgrade he'll be there too both tracking and throwing. Regarding the pen, I never stated Morales will repeat Smith's performance because he won't. He's not as good. But outside of Coors he's been good therefore he's a good backfill. I stated with KRod gone this bullpen doesn't automatically collapse given how good they were with 5 guys coming back. I said they're still a strong unit because they are. KRod might have blown 2 saves but he also rarely pitched back to back. Resting helps tremendously. Smith is excellent when he has a bit of rest in between - when he's out in multi-inning spots and pitches a few nights in a row that's when he get lit up raising his ERA. He will be just fine in a closer role. I want the Brewers to perform and have fun because it's more enjoyable to watch. I'm not trying to put the best spin on this team I'm trying to provide common sense realistic take on production. For example, Hill sucks!!

Right now there is certainly a good deal on the table now for Luc. Stearns is holding out for a great deal I would assume and he has 11 days to do it. Past that he is just being wreck less with his number 1 trade chip. Of course there's a good deal on the table. Probably several. Which is why I stated that Stearns will not be getting a lousy return in this trade. Calling Stearns reckless for not trading Lucroy prior to opening day is absolutely absurd. Lucroy is healthy and will perform at a high level because that's what people with his talent do when they're healthy. When a team is backed into a corner needing that talent level behind the plate they will increase that good offer to a great offer. It's called having the upper hand - being patient and not making an emotional, irrational decision because you know what the outcome WILL be. I hope he's traded before opening day but if he's not then so be it as its only a matter of time

Since I had Nolin in mine I'll update. Smith, Jeffress, Knebel, Thornburg, Blazek, Morales, Jones. I still think Jones is worth the gamble but if they don't go with him I think it'll be Boyer then they'll work out a deal with Twins to keep Jones to let him develop. Add him to the power arm list of guys coming up in the next year or two Update: since Jones is on the DL I'll formally go with Boyer in final spot. He has 2yrs running of strong performance out of the pen whereas Pena has limited MLB experience and hasn't had a solid year in the minors since 2013. Cappy has pitched very well this spring but can't see him making it over Boyer

I laugh every time I see someone include Khris Davis with Lind/Krod. Santana is a HUGE upgrade over Davis as an overall player - he's an upgrade on both sides of the ball and a better base runner. When will people stop believing that losing Davis will hurt this team. Now that we've cleared that up lets move on to Lind and Krod. Lind is being replaced by a guy that will hit 13-17HR more and have similar run production. He's a downgrade in getting on base and defensively but lets not pretend Lind was good in the field either. Krod will be replaced by Smith most likely and he'll be a great closer. Obviously Smith stepping into that role means his previous role needs to be filled. Enter Morales. He's been very solid away from Coors and takes that spot. Another new face will be added as well. The pen will be good. According to Fangraphs they were 10th best in MLB last year (9th best ERA) and KRod only pitched 10.7% of those innings. The bullpen doesn't die because he's gone. The rotation will absolutely be an upgrade from last year. It should be a significant upgrade as well. Garza/Lohse were 2 of the worst starters in all of baseball and Peralta wasn't even close to performing to his 2014 year or his potential. Garza/Peralta will be much better than last year and Chase is a huge upgrade over Lohse from last year. That's 60% of the rotation. If someone is traded you have Davies waiting in the wings, who will be solid. And I could care less about Peralta's spring numbers. April 4 and beyond is all that matters for people like him. Fangraphs had the rotation 24th best in MLB last year and 28th in ERA. There's no way the rotation finishes with a 4.79 ERA again. Almost 80% of innings thrown last year were by this year's rotation (including Lohse, not Chase). Add Fiers and those 6 starters accounted for 91% of those innings. The rotation accounts for almost 2/3 of a team's innings pitched - this is why this year's team will be better than last year's. Aramis, Segura were terrible last year. Hill will replicate Aramis minus the HR total. Rivera/Villar will outproduce Segura (especially if Rivera makes team and gets plenty of PT). Scooter, from start to finish, will be better than last year. Broxton/Flores combined will outproduce what Gomez did last year. Braun is Braun. With Rivera, a bench consisting of Flores, Walsh, Rivera, Presley (?) collectively are upgrades over Rogers, Herrera, Peterson, Gomez, Sardinas - and rather large upgrades given they will get on base at a much higher rate. Perez is a better player than he was last year if he happens to make the team. Lucroy is the wild card as he'll be a massive blow if gone by opening day. He was very average overall last year and that's what we're comparing. Maldy is a defensive upgrade but obviously nowhere near as good offensively. That said, this team isn't winning 82 games, especially not in this division. It's not losing 100 either. But it's more likely they lose 100 than win 82 because Lucroy will be traded and there's potential for others like Smith, Jeffress, Garza, Peralta, Chase, Scooter to be traded. That alone can significantly alter a lot depending on who and how many players are traded. And projections are worthless. No idea why people pay attention to them and factor them into their line of thinking.

100 loss season is more realistic than 82 wins but neither will happen unless a lot goes very wrong or very right. Broxton/Flores can absolutely match, if not outproduce, Gomez from last year. Santana will be a HUGE improvement over Davis. But these are slightly countered with the loss of Lind (even though run production from Carter will be similar with more HRs), Ramirez, Krod, Parra half the year. Lucroy being dealt will hurt offensively but Maldy is better defensively. Rotation will absolutely be better and this will dictate the number of wins. I think 68-72 wins range and should be more fun to watch than last year for sure. I think this team surprises people in terms of how competitive they will be vs the actual number of wins.

A lousy trade for Lucroy won't happen to begin with. Maybe Stearns settles for one less prospect in the deal but it certainly won't be lousy. Keeping him for 2 years would be a lousy decision. Stearns will absolutely get much more in value than a comp draft pick. I would absolutely package another valuable player with Lucroy to sweeten the return.

If I'm making the lineup tomorrow I'd have Broxton, Scooter, Braun, Lucroy, Santana, Carter, Hill, Villar. If it needs to be tweaked Lucroy can always go 2 with Santana up to 4 and Scooter dropping in at 6-7

How can Perez not fill in at SS when he's played more career games at SS than any other position including full AAA season in 2014? If Rivera isn't going to start and get a ton of ABs then he needs to be in AAA playing every day. Perez and Walsh cover every IF spot. Because Hill sucks so much and Scooter is historically bad vs lefties having Rivera on the team means he'll still get a lot of PT floating between 3 IF spots. He needs 400ABs otherwise put him in AAA. And it's impossible to have Broxton, Flores, Reed on team getting them all plenty of ABs. Unless there's an injury to Braun or Santana they're both playing 150 games. Those guys splitting CF getting 200ABs each does nothing for their development nor showcases their ability to other teams when they'll be traded. And at this point, Broxton is getting the majority of time in CF. there's a reason Reed is in AAA already

While I agree he's a better player than the 3 OFs we're discussing taking the 5th spot I don't think it makes sense to add him as that could take time away from guys like Broxton, Flores who need to be able to showcase their skills at this level. If everything works out moving forward with Braun, Phillips, Santana then Broxton or Flores become trade bait for a prospect while the other stays as our 4th OF. Or both become trade bait and Reed is the 4th OF (most likely to happen). He would also take pinch hit opportunities away from Walsh as well and he also needs to play to showcase his abilities at this level. He can stick as good career backup no doubt. Murphy is also 34 and not sure he'd be fine rarely playing holding a spot as a 5th OF. I'm sure some other team can use him as a 4th OF

I tend to agree. If you keep Walsh, he has OF experience (86 games in the minors). I have no idea how good he is out there, but he gives you that 5th OF if needed during a game. Then your lineup/bench could be: C Lucroy 1B Carter 2B Gennett 3B Hill SS Villar LF Braun CF Broxton RF Santana C Maldonaldo 1B/3B Middlebrooks UTIL Rivera 2B/OF Walsh OF Flores Let's flip it and replace EY with Middlebrooks. EY is a 5th OF and can also fill in at 2b so he covers an IF spot (no need for Walsh to hit the OF). Middlebrooks is the worst performing IF of everyone in camp and isn't even hitting better than any of the OFs either. He's not getting on base, which is consistent with his last 3 MLB seasons. Not that EY is an on base machine but he gets on base more and serves a multi-defensive purpose role if needed and will swipe bags late in games to get us in scoring position. That alone fills a great need and keeps the best pinch hitters still in their role late. Middlebrooks will be the last person off the bench to hit so I don't see what purpose he serves making the team and us keeping 3 IF when how often will he actually contribute as a #3-4 pinch hitter in a single game. He won't play 3b over Walsh, who makes contact and gets on base. Or Rivera is he's on the team. If EY doesn't make it then I'd hope it's Presley as he at least makes contact vs Kirk/Middlebrooks.

I'm a fan of Rivera and was hoping he'd continue trending up and be a legitimate candidate for 2b of the future so wanted him starting in AAA to play every day but the way he's performing in combination with how Villar is performing I'd seriously be considering Rivera starting SS with Villar and Walsh on bench. The defense is a massive upgrade over Villar and Rivera seems to have a good approach and developing nicely. I'm also a huge fan of power in the leadoff spot as long as the OBP is there and it makes sense with the talent on the team. It's a huge benefit having someone with 25-30HR potential as leadoff to cleanup the bottom of the order getting the most ABs instead of having to wait for traditional 3-4 spots. This year I don't think it makes sense to have Santana leadoff as Braun has zero protection then. I can see Santana getting time in leadoff this year though for sure. Arcia, Phillips, Braun, Santana is also a very appealing lineup. Will depend on future acquisitions too

At this point the deadline is probably the best place for him to be traded. I never bought the "GMs are waiting to see if he takes a ball of his mask and gets a concussion or not" thought process. He plays catcher. He's 100% going to take tips off his mask the rest of his catching career. As long as he performs to his potential the market will be there for him. Just have to be patient to get a deal worthy of pulling the trigger. I can just as easily see him being traded within the next 10 days as I can by the deadline. I could actually see him being here all season and a team trading for him and giving an extension (especially if a playoff team) but I don't think that will happen. JohnBriggs, why you would have no issue with Lucroy being here for this year and next then offered a QO to get a pick is beyond me. He's an All Star catcher with 2yrs remaining on an extremely cost effective contract and we won't be competing this year or next and we won't be giving him an extension. You 100% trade him as you'll get several great prospects vs one comp draft pick. That's a massive difference in what we get in return. For example, the Brewers had to throw in Fiers to get Phillips in that trade. Meaning it was sitting at Santana, Hader, Houser for Gomez. You'd rather us keep an All Star CF in Gomez through his contract and get a comp draft pick vs having Santana, Hader, Houser?

There is absolutely no way Broxton starts in AAA. He's starting in CF opening day for the Brewers. He's outproduced all other OFs competing for a spot - by a lot. More BBs than Ks, leads cactus league in SBs, only legit defensive CF of the group (I don't count Kirk because he sucks overall and shouldn't make the team). Braun, Broxton, Santana will start. Flores is the top backup and will see a bit of time at 1b too. Liriano is on the DL so the 5th OF spot should be between EY and Presley; both have outplayed Kirk by a mile. Reality is the 5th OF isn't going to be playing much. Limited starts as Flores will be first off bench and limited pinch hits as you'll have Walsh and Flores first up. If I'm making the decision I choose EY because he provides speed on the bases late in games - there's no legit speed off the bench at this point. He can contribute mightily running - or even pinch hitting but solely bunting a guy into position. There's lack of power off the bench but it's not as if Kirk or Presley would be great options for a pinch hit HR therefore I would go the speed route given this team will be more aggressive on the bases in general. If not EY then Presley for sure. Kirk should be cut. OR a better external option will exist, which we can't speak of at the moment.

I expect Carter to hit .220-ish, with power. And walks. Which will be fine for this year. Right. It would be great if he stayed at 241/333/954 but it'll most likely be lower than that. Hopefully he stays in that 230/315 range with 30HR+. I wish Walsh was hitting closer to 250 as his 375 OBP is great (even more so given his actual BA is 208).

If Carter keeps steady where he's at right now then Wilkins won't be up unless an injury occurs. and Carter will also exceed his past few years of production

Miller Park tours are good on non-game days as you hit up the press box, visitors locker room, visitors dugout then walk the track to the Brewers bullpen. Not sure how much you'll get on an actual game day - definitely not the clubhouse and most likely none of these features unless it's well in advance of game time. Lakefront Brewery tour is a lot of fun - tour guides are good. I've never done MKE Brewing tour but know people who have and they rate Lakefront the best. I've done the Escape Chamber (believe it's the same thing as Escape Milwaukee). It's fun with a good group of people who don't take it ultra serious. We'll go back and try one of the other options. If Escape Mikwaukee is in the afternoon and the Brewers game is at night and golf is an option for early morning tee time PM me as I'll provide basic details on great pricing at Whistling Straits/Blackwolf Run - but given the commute and time of a round this would make for a very long day!!

I hope they don't keep Santana leadoff. Present day it's hard not to have a lineup of Broxton, Lucroy, Braun, Santana, Carter, Hill, Villar, Scooter And people are correct in that Perez doesn't bring much to the table and his OBP is awful, especially compared to his BA. But if they keep Rivera in AAA playing every day then he's the only one that makes sense after Walsh. Wilkins can only play 1b and Lucroy/Flores can cover that. Middlebrooks is awful as expected. Cecchini is 3b in AAA. There's nobody else to keep unless he drops Perez and acquires another MI, which I've said a couple weeks ago I believe that is going to happen (assuming Rivera is in AAA)

I was at Spring Training last week excited to watch Liriano, Broxton, Flores run around and hit. Liriano in my mind is a corner OF but he's capable of filling in at CF. Broxton is the best defensive CF of the 3 as that's his natural position and he has the speed that Flores doesn't (I'm actually surprised that Liriano has stolen that many bases in the minors - watching him move in person he just doesn't look like he can run as well as his numbers indicate - it's weird to me). I put Broxton/Flores in the same boat - they're both the 3rd/4th OF and will both get majority of time in CF with Broxton as first option. Flores will double as a backup 1b and should be a very good lefty bat off the bench. The 5th OF, for me, has to be Liriano. EY, Presley, Kirk you know what you're getting and none will be trade chips and would be a waste of a spot for a 5th OF. Liriano has a better bat than them all and this would be a good use of that 5th OF spot taking a chance on him to pan out as he has upside. Walsh and Perez will be in the IF if they decide to have Rivera play every day in AAA, which they should.

What's the purpose of adding Tejada? He's controlled for 2yrs vs 5yrs for Villar. He would only be here for this season and won't be a trade chip by the break. He won't be an option at 2b or 3b long-term either. Villar is more versatile in the field, is a switch hitter, has more/better tools (power and speed) and is younger; if he performs reasonably he can either be traded or he becomes a very good utility player off the bench when the youngsters are up. As it stands this moment, you're looking at Arcia/Rivera up the middle moving forward and Villar would be a good guy to back them up.

Lucroy looks 100% healthy; is swinging the bat very well. You'd think someone would pull the trigger and offer what Stearns wants All it takes is one harmless looking foul tip and he's done. He needs to be moved sooner rather later. Absolutely. Ken Rosenthal said during game today that he'll be traded by the break. But he needs to be traded ASAP simply because it only takes one foul ball off his head to put his stock on the burner. Problem is if Stearns doesn't budge at all and neither does the other team then you're in a pickle vs the time crunch