Jopal78

I disagree. Sure no blue chip AAA talents are going to get traded, but with the expanded playoffs there will be more demand for upgrades before the deadline. This year in particular there’s a lack of quality rental hitters available, it will be a sellers market.

Ok, maybe I should have said “they’d say no almost immediately while stifling a chuckle”

Why would Baltimore want to deal Mullins? He’s already terrific and under team control for several more seasons. Meanwhile, Houser has a flexor tendon injury which doesn’t usually bode well for a pitcher making a quick and uncomplicated return to action. You can also wonder about Small, a former first round pick in AAA yet when 3/5 of the opening day rotation has gone down with injuries, but for being the extra man in a double header Small has been cooling his heels in AAA. Baltimore would laugh at this proposal

Interesting question, yes he’s a rental and yes rentals don’t bring the return they did 10+ years ago. BUT Bell’s OPS so far tops any one on the Dodgers, Brewers, Mets, Braves. He’s only behind Judge on the Yankees, Machado on the Padres and Goldschmidt. That is a major offensive player to be able to add, and I wrote earlier every contending team will have some degree of interest.

While you continue to denigrate Bell, he’s a 3.3 WAR player through 81 games. Or put another way, through the first half of the season he’s a legit MVP candidate; AND he will be traded in the next four weeks. If you truly believe there is a contes big team that can find at bats for MVP level offensive production, then you don’t follow the league all that closely. I have no idea what the return to Washington would be for a player like Bell, but it will be a seller’s market if he keeps up his level of production.

Jake Cave is the definition of “just a guy”. He has been unable to stay with the major league club despite the Twins getting poor production from their corner outfielders. Moreover with multiple years of control left, Plus with their own playoff aspirations, Minnesota isn’t likely to just dump him, so it’s probably not a good match.

I don’t know where your info comes from “ Bell is not going to cost all that much “ but Josh Bell is a Top 10 hitter in the NL and certainly will be dealt. Of course he won’t bring the return a rental hitter would have 20 years ago but do you really think it’s going to buyer’s market for that type of player? I disagree, every contender will have varying degrees of interest. As for Hiura who knows? However, it makes zero sense for a rebuilding club to actually give something up for a player when the same or similar production can be had on the free-agent market for less cost and/or a rock bottom price

The point is but for two massive contracts for Strasburg and Corbin the Nationals are a small market team with nearly 40% of their roster filled with the cheapest contracts around. It’s not likely they’re going to throw money around on Hiura, someone who hasn't even proven himself a major league regular, when they can get a veteran off the junk pile on a NRI to give the same production. He just doesn’t make any sense. If this was July 2020 I’d be with you, but all the seasons since 2019 count unfortunately.

In case you missed it, Soto is represented by Boras Corporation and reportedly already turned down 13yrs/350 million. Thus, if he stays in Washington it will be about the cash they are willing to pay him and nothing else. Keston Hiura isn't going to move that needle a millimeter either way. I mentioned the prices because, the Nationals literally have close to 40% of their roster made up of players making l.75 million or yes. So regardless of what Hiura gets in arbitration it will be more than the bargain basement rates the Nationals pay.

You may want to look at the Nationals roster. They're already tanking with a roster filled with cut-rate veteran free agents: Cesar Hernandez (1yr/4 mil), Alcides Escobar (1yr/1 mil.), Maikel Franco (1yr/1.25 mil), Steve Chisek (1yr/1.75 mil), Aaron Sanchez (1yr/2 mil.), Ehire Adrianza (1yr/1.5 mil), Erasmo Ramirez (1yr/700k), Carl Edwards Jr. (1yr/700k.) etc. Why would they want a player like Hiura who will be: out of options, arbitration eligible and a free agent before they're ready to contend again? Certainly, they could get the same or similar production from another cut rate free agent, at a fraction of Hiura's likely salary next year and without trading away one of their few premium assets in the process. This is all without getting into whether or not Keston Hiura can figure out how to consistently make contact with the ball. There's no reason for Washington to want Keston Hiura while they spin their wheels in mediocrity, when in a trade for Josh Bell they could likely several players who are all years away from the major leagues but who may possibly contribute to the next contending team and this is especially so when recent history suggests they'll fill their roster with cut rate players on one year deals in hopes of competing for the #1 overall pick. Same deal with Baltimore, they look terrible on paper, however they already have an everyday first basemen in Mountcastle with 8 or so of MLB's top 100 prospects on the way. What's their interest in a player who won't necessarily be cheap and will not have enough remaining service time to reasonably be expected to be part of the next good Baltimore team? My guess would be tepid at best, they are the Orioles after all.

I'd rather have Once Upon a Time in Shaolin

Maybe internally the Brewers have doubts about Small? After all, Jason Alexander, Trevor Kelley and Peter Strzelecki got longer looks as pitcher in Milwaukee this year. The prestige of being a first round pick, and a starting pitcher on the cusp of the major leagues makes him valuable, perhaps the high walk rate in AAA has them skeptical (He did walk 4 of the 15 batters he faced when he started earlier this year for Milwaukee) of his prospects as a starting pitcher in the major leagues.

Like I said, unless he’s reached his ceiling in AAA (which I hope isn’t the case), why call up a first round pick to be overmatched at the plate and not okay everyday?

I would hope the Brewers have higher aspirations for a former first round pick then promoting him to the majors to be a utility bench player.

A .277 average and OBP of .333 in AAA in your opinion is definitely hitting? How much of that was done against the caliber of pitchers of Buehler, Kershaw, Musgrove, Scherzer, etc? It’s one thing to single of Josh Lindblom it’s another game to get hits of good MLB pitching. Further, for some context, those numbers above are only marginally better than Pablo Reyes (.247/.324) who certainly isn’t regarded as a “hitter” and most Importantly Mark Mathias has far superior numbers (.336/.435). So again, besides having yourself some prospect love; there’s no logical reason to not make Turang play his way to major league roster.

With Emmanuel Clase as closer with years of team control remaining, the Indians are not likely to part with Top 100 prospects to get Josh Hader. They could improve the front end of their bullpen for less cost in talent.

.679 OPS in AAA. He won’t see the majors until he proves he can hit AAA pitching. As for Peterson, he’s probably gone as a free agent unless he’s willing to accept a bargain rate deal, because they could get 80% of Jace Petersen’s production from someone like Pablo Reyes for the league minimum.

I'm sure if they offered Burnes 6yrs/180 million dollars he'd sign tomorrow, but the Brewers will never do that. Likewise, absent an injury or suddenly forgetting how to pitch, Burnes doesn't have any reason to not become a free agent. A 30 year old perennial ERA and strike out king will do very well as a free agent. I guess my point is, if the Brewers had the another wave of minor league talent that projected to be impactful at the major league level it would be a different analysis. But at least according to the pundits the organization as a whole is lacking blue chip talent and none of it is close to major league ready. Therefore, when this group is broken up there is likely going to be a significant decline from winning 85-95 games a year, no matter what. Personally, I'd keep their players together until at least this time next year or even July of 2024

I don't know about that. To be sure, they haven't been good since the group that won the World Series broke up, but Moore has two pennants and a World Series ring which tops everyone currently working not named Friedman or Cashman, and Moore got his pennants and rings long after Cashman last got his. As to the Brewers, it's fiction to believe they can trade All-Star pitching away without taking a step back. For example, without Hader, every pitcher takes one step forward and they're forced to rely on pitchers of the caliber of Gustave, Miguel Sanchez and Trevor Kelley to pitch in higher leverage situations. There is no way to trade Hader and not have the bullpen take a hit. Moreover, the suggested return for any of the Brewers star players is all overblown. It's not the year 2000 any more, and teams don't trade elite minor league talent that is on the cusp of being major league ready. For example, when the Nationals traded both Max Scherzer and Trea Turner with team control remaining, they only brought back to Washington two players who are in AA, and two younger guys, Ruiz and Josiah Gray, who both have struggled significantly in their first tastes of the major leagues. Trading Woodruff or anyone else, isn't going to bring back a hitter/s who immediately go into the middle of the order and put up an .850 OPS for years to come. It means the team will have less talent in the short run, which probably ends their competitive window regardless.

With the going rate for “good not great” starting pitchers in MLB being 25+ million per season, Woodruff and Burnes are not signing extensions in Milwaukee. Besides, two pitchers of that caliber don’t come along at the same time very often, and trading either of them in the middle of a competitive window is what poorly run teams typically do. Similarly, I think the Brewers will hang on to Hader and figure out how to retool an offense around the pitching. It’s the easiest path forward. Look no further than the Royals, coming off a World Series loss, they had Holland heading into his final year of control and Wade Davis waiting in the wings. Rather they ran it back the next year and even added some rentals. Theres just not a history of playoff contenders trading elite relief pitching. There’s no reason to think the Brewers will deviate from what they have done every offseason in recent memory: find some hitters at bargain rates to fill out their line up: Renfroe, McCutchen, Wong, Garcia, Narvaez, Moustakas. Thames, Aguilar, Choi, etc.

Whatever juice he had earlier in the season apparently ran out a month or so ago. Lauer looks like a #5/swing man again.

If the Pirates are going to move him, the Brewers should just trade for Bryan Reynolds and be done with it. Helps them this year and gives them a plus offensive player who is cost controlled for 2023. By then, the Brewers will be retooling their roster as their pitchers get closer to free agency. Meanwhile, the Pirates have a strong collection of talent in the minor leagues who are still a couple seasons away from being ready. A rare situation where one division rival's window will not coincide with the window of the team they're trading with. The question is if the Brewers would be willing to deal some top minor league players like Valerio, Weimer, Frelick etc.

I guess it depends where they see themselves next year. There's no way a team eyeing a deep run in the post-season trades away the most dominant in baseball. Furthermore, even though he's been a good player for the Brewers, Renfroe is a sub .800 corner outfielder, there's a decent chance he gets non-tendered as opposed to paying him close to 10 million dollars for his final arbitration year. Same deal with Caratini, he's been good for Milwaukee this year, but he's a number 2 catcher with a career OPS of .680 and slightly above average defensive skills, the going rate for someone like Caratini will likely be too rich for the Brewers blood. My point is: if they plan on contending next year they most likely find a way to keep the pitching intact because it's their bread and butter. It's illogical to break up the strength of their team and believe that improvements to other areas will not only make up for the dip in pitching talent, but actually increase the overall talent level. In fact, if rumors are true and Stearns has one year left on his contract after this season, the most likely scenario is they find away to take one more shot at a deep playoff run keeping their dynamic pitchers together and figuring out what to do when the dust clears will be up to the person taking over for Stearns.

I always find these statements kind of interesting. Certainly the media portrays certain players as “good guys”. However, virtually zero fans really know anything about players besides what the media and PR departments want people to know. For example, Zach Davies was portrayed as a “good guy” involved with the local humane society, participates in Brewers social media antics, etc. Turns out he was a guy who ran around on his wife with other women and eventually abandoned her and their home via text.

The fact they called up Jonathan Davis before Dahl speaks volumes about what the Brass think of David Dahl.