82brewcrew82

What are the odds the Brewers are one of the "mystery" teams in on Machado?

I wouldn't say that Miley doesn't have big velocity. He was regularly sitting at 93-94 with his fastball, and was getting up up to 96 at times. For a lefty, that's great. His velocity was actually the big thing that surprised me about him last year. I hadn't thought he had that good of an arm. I agree, too, that Miley looked much better than Gio. Gio, while effective for the most part, did appear to always be on the verge of giving up a big inning. I'd be happy to see a Miley reunion. 91.8 which is about where he's always been.

Maybe, but for 2019 specifically I think Stokes (already on the 40 man roster) has a lot better chance of logging major league innings (at the very least by September). I also tend to think Corey Ray is going to get traded at somepoint between now and July, but I guess we’ll see. I'm fine with trading him in the right deal. One year of MadBum is not that deal IMHO. I do agree that Stokes gets the call if they need "a body". I highly doubt that if they need extended, meaningful innings that Ray isn't the call provided he isn't traded.

I think the plan is Moose, Cabrera or upgrade somewhere else based on the available options. Hiura is the play at second and I have little doubt about that at this point.

Both Keith and Homer make the point. It's not a binary choice anymore, at least not for this team. My guess is that they have pretty indisputable data that says the picks they gave up amount to little. In my mind, looking back at 2011 for instance, you could see the window quite clearly. You knew that core was going to erode and you pretty much knew when. I don't get that feeling here. I think this leadership would have been willing to trade a Fielder to sustain rather than let him walk for nothing. Time will tell but I think that because they are data driven the hard decisions become easier.

Ray is a superior athlete to Stokes in just about every way. I'll put my money on the superior athlete to make the necessary adjustments every time. The spike in K rate for Stokes was most likely the result of selling out to maintain his power output which is fine. There are plenty of available scouting reports to confirm his power is basically only pull side and that his arm is almost unplayable. Stokes may have a slightly higher floor but Ray has a much higher ceiling. I'll go with Ray. When the inevitable happens and we need another OF, I Predict Ray will be the guy and show that potential.

Mark A. bought the team so he can do what he wants. I don't begrudge him one iota for making his money but I'm not going to buy into the fallacy that there isn't financial room to do more. We may not know the exact numbers but there is more than enough information publicly available to make some very well educated guesses. Profits are rising while player costs are going down (not to mention the rising cost of the fan experience). No doubt about that anymore and a big labor fight is brewing over it. Mark A. may not WANT to spend more, but he almost certainly CAN spend more. Choosing not to is deciding in favor of profit. I have no stake in whether that is right or wrong but I'm not going to pretend it isn't a choice much less a choice that doesn't exist. Now, deciding to spend that in the most value conscience way is what this organization does so the fact that they haven't acquired their guy(s) yet is not concerning to me. If we haven't learned that DS has his price for things and will not budge from that price then we aren't paying attention. If there is value to be had that considerably upgrades the team, he will make the move if Mark A will allow it under the teams "budget".

The evidence increasingly points to this being the correct answer. All MLB teams are profitable. Some MLB teams are immensely profitable. The Brewers have appreciated in value by $800 million since they were purchased by Attanasio. After they couldn't get public money for Maryvale they ate the $60 million cost like it was nothing. The post-2008 Brewers are small market in name only. Their attendance, TV viewership, merchandise sales, etc are all mid-tier or better in MLB. The payroll is starting to reflect that as well. We shouldn't pretend like we are some poor franchise that's struggling to get by. The Indians, Rockies, D-Backs, etc. can all spend $150 million and so can the Brewers. This is spot on. There was an article somewhere today that said the Reds payroll was going to be in the 130-135mil mark. No way should the fan base be trying to justify anything less. If they choose to spend less its an ownership decision to favor profit.

I missed the news that MLB.com was in charge of player placement. In either case, maybe we should reacquire Ryan Cordell to play short. That way both are blocked and we can end the debate.

This is the best post I've seen on this yet. There is just no reason to spend money on a temporary piece. Even if Hiura struggles, second just isn't that difficult to upgrade in season should they need to.

I don't think this is wacky at all. I don't know if it will be Phillips per say but the long play here, after super 2, is Hiura whether some like it or not.

That is a good point. Just looking at a players B-Ref page tells a very small part of the story for these guys.

I mean, speculating is fun and part of a message board of this type but this post is absolute truth. I'll believe it when I see it.

The facts say otherwise. I don't love this trade but I don't hate it and I'm not sure why you would unless you're some sort of Santana fanboy.

I hope you are right, I really do. But making that jump successfully is super rare. I think he has the talent to have a long, successful MLB career, but I'm tapping the brakes before I call him the next Brooks Robinson. It is certainly exciting to have a potentially elite bat in the system, though. You really don't need to condescend by saying I don't have a feel for prospects. The chances of him struggling in his first MLB action, whenever that occurs, are substantially higher than him coming up and immediately becoming the "3rd best bat on the team". It used to be rare but it's becoming more common by the season for players to ascend quickly through a given system. I think it's arbitrary to assume he will be a star based on his AFL performance but I think it's equally arbitrary to assume he will struggle upon promotion so he should stay down until 2020. Whether the right decision is to have a space for him in June or bring in help for the entire 2019 season, I trust DS and our evaluators to make that assessment correctly. Personally, I think it ends up being sooner rather than later. I just cant see spending the resources at that particular position.

I agree in that this philosophy was born out of necessity but also agree that they think they have found something revolutionary here and I don't see them going back. To me, starting pitchers are now the running backs of baseball. You may have a couple of workhorse studs but for the most part they are interchangeable/replaceable pieces that breakdown too often (or are too hard to find) to waste many resources on.

I think the concept of "pitching" is still evolving for this team. It evolved throughout the season and morphed into something different at the end of the season than it was at the beginning. Anyone who thinks they know how this will work next season is guessing. A couple things keep going through my head. How much did handedness matter late in the season? Seems like our LOOGYs were not very LOOGY-ish but guys like Hader, Burnes and Woodruff dominated no matter the handedness. The other is if an "initial out getter" is only going to pitch 3 to 4 innings, can they pitch more frequently? Maybe they just have a notion of "long arms" and "short arms" I think True Blue Brew Crew was almost there in his earlier post but could we be seeing the evolution to split starters? I haven't thought through but could you expect to get 6-8 innings a game from something like this: Anderson/Hader Chacin/Burnes Davies/Woodruff Nelson/Guerra Knebel, Jeffress, LOOGY, Albers (or whoever) If you are only going to user Hader every three or four days anyway, why not use him as a quazi-starter. You have the flexibility to choose who "starts" and who "relieves" based on match-ups and if a starter goes seven innings you can always re-calibrate the pairings. You don't spend a dime outside of arbitration raises and whatever AAAA depth you bring in so it keep the cost minimal. You retain a ton of depth to manipulate the 40 man the way they did all year this year to deal with injuries and/or usage issues. The idea isn't to have strict "pairings" but to have a pool of "long arms" with the goal of getting 6-9 innings from that group and a pool of "short arms" with the expectation of getting 0-3 innings from that group. This would also, hopefully, help limit innings. The key, in my mind, would be to have enough depth (with options) to manipulate the 40 man. I don't know but this sure seems to be where things are going. I don't know options but........ Long arm depth: Peralta, Z. Brown, Lyles, Houser and a couple of AAAA types (like Miley) Short arm depth: T. Williams, QTC, Barnes and whoever else they sign/retain

I was a little surprised at how easy I moved on after last night. I'm definitely more intense in the moment but the guys left it all out on the field. As others have said, they achieved every reasonable expectation. I trust CC and DS and fully expect they recognize the same flaws we do. No one saw the acquisitions coming last off season but the expectations will be raised this off season. It will be interesting but the thing I'm most interested in are the reports on Nelson. Easily the best season of my long tenured Brewer fandom.

An effective LOOGY would be nice. I agree with getting a catcher that can hit. I would also get a second basemen that can play anywhere on the infield so they have flexibility if Hiura proves to be ready. I don't spend money on a starter. Get Nelson ready to go and give Burnes and Woodruff a shot. I believe those additons will be a real shot in the arm to the pen. There are more arms coming through the system to help fill the bullpen gaps. Find some good bargains to manage the rest.

I disagree. That 2011 team was coming to and end. This is just starting. The postmortems will come in time after we get past this but there is, at minimum, a glimmer of a hopeful future. I want all of you to remember this post next time you want to call me a pessimist.

That and the Dodgers being the better, more experienced team......and I don't mean that as a slight to the Brewers in any way.

Yeah, so that happened.

WOW!

Good Grief.

It's too bad the offense couldn't have been good in just one more game. If they had managed that they would be in the series. Instead, we go out swinging at every thing thrown up there.