jdw42434

A lot depends on who if anyone is traded. With 2 positions available between Braun, Thames, Broxton, & Santana, it is likely at least 1 will be traded. Braun may be too difficult to trade. The other 3 all have value relative to their contract. If we are really going for it, I can't see playing Broxton everyday. If none of Braun, Santana & Thames are traded, I could see the 3 platoon the 2 positions, getting them each about 400-450 ABs (if no one gets hurt). Then if there is an injury to any of those or Cain or Yelich, we have a good fill in. I would go: 1 - Cain CF 2 - Arcia SS 3 - Yelich LF 4 - Shaw 3B 5 & 6 - two of Braun RF/1B, Santana RF/1B, Thames 1B/RF 7 - Pina/Vogt C (60/40 split) 8 - Villar (if he returns closer to 2016 form you could move him to 1, Cain to 2, and Arcia to 8) Perez will get ABs at about every position, and could get 1-2 starts per week. Phillips and Broxton are good OF depth, we could put one of them in RF in late innings for defense, make the bullpen that much better. Sogard & Aguilar are nice INF depth. Although that makes 15 guys. Aguilar would probably be the odd man out in that situation.

K/PA is a better measure. But in life, and especially baseball, people tend to stick to "the way things have been done before". So K/9 will remain the preferred statistic. I'm not so sure, as others have claimed, that K/9 is easier to interpret. Sure people can have difficulty with proportions (decimals), but if you make K/PA a percentage then I think it is at least as easily understood as K/9. - 10 strikeouts per 9 innings - vs 30% strikeout percentage. Another overly used statistic are innings limits. Not all innings are equal! You can have a 3 pitch inning (+ warmups), or a 30+ pitch inning. Pitch counts are a better measure, but even then, I would rather have my pitcher (for his arm's sake) give me six 10 pitch innings than two 30 pitch innings or three 20 pitch innings.

I think it has already been stated, but I'll pile-on. A single is better than a walk, as a single can and often does advance other runners more than 1 base, AND a hit normally will advance runners on 2nd and/or 3rd when 1B is open whereas a walk will not. Not to mention not all hits are the same HR>3B>2B>1B. OPS is a better measure than OBP, but even OPS has it's flaws.

Villar is not the long term answer at 3B. He is the short term (2 months) answer. I don't think it hurts his trade value, unless he stops hitting. He could still be traded as a SS.

If Braun cleared waivers, then I would hope the Brewers would be willing to eat a good chunk (up to 1/2) of his contract in order to get the best prospects possible. It's not like they will be spending it on anyone else the next 2-3 years. Same for Garza, although even if we ate most of his, unless he pitches well the next couple weeks, I doubt we get much for him. A move I would like the Brewers to consider, would be if Puig did well in AAA the next few weeks, would be to trade for him. I wouldn't want to give up any good prospects for him, but would take on his contract & maybe send them a reliever who cleared waivers or a medium prospect.