Jopal78

...and even then a team's success in the amateur draft can look very different in the long run than the short run. Look no further than Doug Melvin. After he and his cohorts drafted the core that made the the playoffs in 2008 and again in 2011 he whiffed big time on almost all of his first round picks after 2008 with most not even seeing time in the major leagues (Eric Arnett, Kentrail Davis, Kyle Heckathorn, Dylan Covey, Taylor Jungmann, Jed Bradley, Clint Coulter, Victor Roache, Kodi Medeiros, and Jake Gatewood). Yet a half decade since he was in charge of the Brewers his post 2008 draft record doesn't look as bad having found major league regulars: Khris Davis, Mike Fiers, Mitch Haniger, Brent Suter, Devin Williams, Trent Grisham and a top of the rotation starter in Woodruff plus a smattering of role players: Garrett Cooper, Taylor Williams, Jorge Lopez, Nick Ramirez and Jacob Barnes amongst others. It's hard making a call on the current front office's amateur drafting. For example, even if they missed on Corey Ray at #5 overall, they got Corbin Burnes in the same draft and anytime you get a #1 starter in the draft, I think you have to call that a successful draft.

Garrett Cooper the one that got away? 30 years old and batting .187/.260/.286. He's just a guy. Like a lot of these moves you have to view them in context as well. Cooper was a 2nd tier minor league player and older. When he was traded the Brewers already had Thames signed to a multi-year deal, and Aguilar had emerged as an option at 1B. Additionally, he was dropped by the Yankees after 13 games. As for Jesus, sometimes teams make a move that doesn't look good in hindsight. They got 8.2 innings out of Jake Faria before releasing him. Then again the Rays (arguably the best team an talent evaluation) non-tendered Aguilar after 37 games so there were at least two teams that thought he was a flash in the pan. The Grisham trade hasn't worked out for the Brewers, but obviously they thought the combination of 6 yrs of Lauer and Urias would be of greater value than 6 years of Grisham and 2 years of Davies. Now that Lauer is pitching effectively and Davies has already been jettisoned to the Cubs with an ERA over 6, I wouldn't write off this trade just yet. Most of the other trades the GM has made have been to add pieces down the stretch. To be critical of those deals means you'd rather have them miss the post-season to have a brighter future. A valid point of view for sure, but not grounds to criticize those particular deals after the fact. As for the free agents, the last two off seasons the price of free agents has sky-rocketed where good but not great free agents are now pulling down 14-18 million dollars a year. The Brewers are just not going to be players in that market very often. To wit, both Avi Garcia and Bradley Jr. are on bargain rate contracts. They haven't played up to their career norms, but then again neither are not tied long term to the Brewers. Just look at the deals that players like Marcell Ozuna received this last off season. A player who is marginally better than Garcia and Bradley but is under contract for 16 million per year across 4 years. Unless someone would prefer Eddie Rosario .234/.284/.378 to Bradley Jr. or other bargain bins like Joc Pederson or Kyle Schwarber there isn't much to complain about. Same deal with Moustakas and Grandal. Is anyone really busted up that they didn't fork over 4 years/52 million for Moustakas (.225/.321/.450 with the Reds), or 3 yrs/54 million for Grandal (.201/.362/.379)? Sure, there is an inordinate amount of love by the GM for the former first round picks who can't hit a lick but can play all over the diamond: Brad Miller, Nick Franklin, Corey Spangenberg, Jace Peterson, and Daniel Robertson. But even there, it's not a terrible idea to see if a former high draft pick can put it all together as a bench player. In fact, with Brad Miller it looks like the front office merely gave up too soon (.252/.343/.501 in 400 at bats since being released by the Brewers).

A big chunk their preferred starters are on the DL (Burnes, Anderson, Narvaez, Yelich) they’ve had a tough schedule to start the year, and Miami can pitch... they’ll be okay

Because of cash, sadly. Ochoa made $245,000 with the Brewers in 1999. He was due a huge raise in 2000 through arbitration (ultimately made $862,000 with the Reds in ‘00) so they traded him off for the Sween-Dog who was under contract for $500,000

Versatile player, who is sound fundamentally and knows what he is supposed to do in the field and can’t hit a lick. Every year they shuffle through a stack of utility infielders. As mentioned the leash on Pablo Reyes is probably quite short at this point. HP is probably 3rd man up for utility infielder after Jace a d Robertson. Maybe even 2nd depending on if theyve seen enough of Robertson.

Nobody will claim him, but if he's still interested in playing what team needs help at 1B? It'd be cool just to have Pujols on the Brewers so his plaque in Cooperstown stated he played for Milwaukee. The difference between Vogelbach and Pujols in the here and now isn't so great.

Yeah, it’s probably just a matter of time before Logan Forsyth is up. Reyes doesn’t offer anything with the bat. Funny how McKinney was red hit and now is ice cold

They’re going to get hammered tonight and burn up the bullpen for tomorrow

Why not pray for the Nationals to get buried by July and raise the white flag? They have a ton of nice players coming out of contract: Scherzer (10/5 rights), Brad Hand, Lester, Joe Ross, Daniel Hudson, Josh Harrison, Ryan Zimmerman (10/5).

That’s kind of funny, claiming he doesn’t understand the lack of interest in his services. He did not pitch well for Milwaukee in 2019. His peripherals with the Cubs weren’t any better in 2020, and he’s going on 34 years old. The demand for his services this past offseason were insufficient for him to land a guaranteed contract, and that was before there was some behind the scenes revelations which lead the Nationals to release him from his NRI deal.

I’d like nothing more than Braun to return, but really he made 12 starts at first base in 2018. Not really an option to be an everyday first basemen even if he decided to play in 2021.

I knew before even reading this that you would take issue with the 5 names I gave you, you asked me to name 5 so I did. My guess is they would all be capable of more or less performing at the same low level. It's not especially hard to find replacement level production, I disagree, particularly at a position like 1st that is pretty easy to fill. I could have just as easily named 5 marginal AAAA guys from selling teams who have played 1B. I don't know what you were looking for when you asked the question. I don't care about a guy's cut, I care about a .572 OPS at a position that requires offense. You may as well have said Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. The players you mentioned have just as much chance of playing for the Brewers as the ones you mentioned. Sure there’s players who could replace Vogelbach. But what does it matter if the Brewers can’t get them on their team, it’s otherwise all nonsense.

I guess you’d have no problem giving me 5 names of first basemen better they could acquire tomorrow? I get it he’s not a sexy player, but the reality is unless you’re a yankee or dodger fan they can’t all be. Vogelbach is cheap, left handed, has hit 40+ homeruns in about a season and a half worth of games. That’s looking at the stat sheet. The Brewers brass have all sorts of information on players besides the stat sheet and their photograph. Gyorko if he's actually available, Braun if he's actually available, Hiura was about the same, Matt Adams probably would have been a better sign, Edwin Encarnacion....that's without speculating into names they could acquire in trade if they really wanted to and without considering the numerous guys at other positions that could probably move to 1B without much concern. I'm not even saying we should actually actively move to replace him right now, but if Hiura doesn't do enough to eventually take that spot back, this offense is in trouble. And I'm not even saying that there aren't guys like this on rosters, I understand that there are, but we have too many that get regular reps on this roster while guys like Brad Miller sign in Philly for 3-4M. All I was saying about Vogelbach is that he's totally replaceable and if he retired tomorrow they would find someone else and it would have no negative affect on the offense. But yes, somebody has to take the reps there. Really? Just admit you don’t like the cut of the guy’s jib and move on. In a sport where money talks loudest, you suggested three guys who are either retired or sitting home (ie. nobody wanted them or nobody made an offer worth their time) and Adams was sitting at home when the season started too for the same reasons before catching on with one of the NL’s worst teams. Then Hiura who they gave the job to and he literally played his way off the team. I’m not implying Vogelbach is a long term building block; it’s just not as easy to find someone who can do better as implied.

I guess you’d have no problem giving me 5 names of first basemen better they could acquire tomorrow? I get it he’s not a sexy player, but the reality is unless you’re a yankee or dodger fan they can’t all be. Vogelbach is cheap, left handed, has hit 40+ homeruns in about a season and a half worth of games. That’s looking at the stat sheet. The Brewers brass have all sorts of information on players besides the stat sheet and their photograph.

That’s not true either. Only Detroit has scored less than the Mets and that is with their stars, Lindor, Conforto, et al mostly healthy and available all year

Vogelbach is absolutely terrible. He can't defend at a major league level and the one tool he is here for has been a nonexistent one this year. He generally gets ignored because he's fat and jolly and reminds everyone of their beer guzzling buddy when he probably doesn't belong on an MLB roster much less hitting 3rd and starting in an MLB game. I’m glad there are competent professional’s running my favorite team instead of knee jerk reactionaries. The whole team is scuffling but these are pro players at the major league level and 99% of them would have jobs with another pro club if the Brewers suddenly dropped them

1) It's not about knowing anything. It's just about the risk/reward of a small market taking on the age 30+ seasons at a huge cost of a great player. It didn't work out great with Braun and Father Time is still undefeated. I don't want to be right about anything. I want Yelich to stay relatively healthy thru 36 and continue to perform at an MVP level. But that was never incredibly likely. There was a minority of us here who felt that, maybe the best play in the long-run would be to take advantage of Yelich's massive trade value at some point rather than seek a long-term deal. Generally, we were treated like crazies. 2) I'm just responding to your own post. You said "most bargain-bin contract for a star player in all of MLB." Your words, not mine. And frankly, I don't even agree that comparing him to his peers like Lindor and Trout is favorable to the Brewers. Trout is an otherworldly generational talent and if my investment choice is Yelich at 26M per or Trout at 35.45M, Trout is worth the extra 9.45M a year every time. This is the age old debate. Talent costs ever increasing amounts of money. If a team doesn’t want to pay market rate for talent, all they can do is shuffle the roster every two or three years and hope to get lucky. It’s all an individual preference as to what you want to see as a fan.

That’s the Brewer way. I’d be willing to bet they are the worst team in baseball scoring runs from 3rd with less than two outs, or bases loaded with less than two outs

This almost sounds like when Sheffield had a broken foot and the Brewers medical team couldn’t find the fracture and had him play on it, until Sheff went to see his own doctor who promptly diagnosed he in fact had a fracture in his foot. Yelich is hobbled with a back injury and the Brewers medical team can’t see anything wrong on an MRI. Time for him to see his own guy not the team’s.

To your point, there's no reason to include cash to trade Garcia. No team is going to give anything of value for Garcia ( an under-performing impending free agent), nor has there been any indication the Brewers are so desperate to get out from under Garcia's contract that they will pay another team to have him play against them.

Established veteran meaning Avi Garcia has been a major league regular for a long time. He's not yet 30 and has 842 games played in the major leagues. His numbers are pretty average maybe even a bit underwhelming when power numbers across baseball have never been higher, then again his numbers are why he's playing on a two year/24 million dollar contract with the Brewers in the first place. If he was 29 with 840 games in the majors yet had a slash line of .285/.355/.485 he'd be in the middle of a multi-year deal paying him 17-18 million dollars per year. (As an aside he is the Brewers team leader so far in 2021 in the old Bill James Power/Speed Number and was 5th last year. Perhaps providing explanation why the team signed him up in the first place). Anyways, I agree with you losing him doesn't have much impact on the big picture, however the Brewers simply don't pay cash to other teams to take their players, and I wouldn't expect them to begin to do so with Garcia. They're more likely to give him time to get going at the plate.

But they're really not at all. Trent Grisham was the 15th overall draft pick in 2015 out of high school. Whatever his struggles were initially in the minors, he forced his way onto the major league roster in 2019 about four years after he was drafted and in essence went right into the everyday lineup. Taylor on the other hand was a 2nd round pick out of high school. He didn't get to the majors until 2019, 7 years after he was drafted and he was a September call up used almost exclusively to pinch hit, pinch run and play defense. Think about it, they're both CFers. Taylor was in the organization 3 years before Grisham was even drafted. Despite Grisham's own struggles he still blew by Taylor in the organization. Again who knows what will happen in the future, but the notion of finding a diamond in the rough with Taylor isn't something that I'm buying into right now given his history as a pro.

I don't think putting perspective around this signing is being dismissive at all. Heck, I said it wasn't a bad take-a-chance signing even. If LeBlanc can come in and contribute, great! But the likelihood of it happening is not that high. Again, he hasn't been a good pitcher in quite a while, is older, and needs to do a lot to get himself in a position to contribute. I guess you do not see how high the bar has been set for the bottom arms on the pitching staff. Let's take a closer look at the numbers. Lindblom, Yardley, Bickford, Zimmermann, and Godley have combined to throw 28.2 innings (approximately 11% of the total innings so far this season). In that span they've combined to give up 35 hits, 25 earned runs, 8 homeruns, 20 walks and 18 strike outs. That comes out to a WHIP of 1.91 and ERA of 7.84, HR/9 of 2.5, with a K:BB ratio of 0.9. It's not going to take much from LeBlanc to contribute given what's come before him. Frankly given the truncated 2020 season and their expressed desire to protect their premium arms in the rotation and bullpen, that 11% pitched by the bottom members of the staff is only going to grow larger as the season goes on. Therefore, it's not so much a question of being "good" or "valuable" because nobody in the Brewers organization is going to ask a pitcher like LeBlanc to be a front line starter or set up man for them. Rather, it is a question of pitching innings and competing to alleviate the necessity of over taxing the arms of the pitchers in the rotation and pen who are good and valuable.

Well, he throws with his left hand for starters. Secondly, even with the arbitrary date of opening day 2019 he's thrown 150 innings, given up 183 hits and 41 walks; that's approximately a 1.46 WHIP. He also had a strike out to walk ratio of almost 3:1 with 111 strike outs against 41 walks in those 150 innings. A world beater for when the game is on the line, of course, no. A pitcher who might give you a couple of clean innings once or twice a week, absolutely. While you want to be generally dismissive, the reality is the Brewers are not going to have Woodruff, Burnes, Peralta and Houser all throw 180+ innings this year, so they need arms to pick up the slack. Frankly, getting a pitcher with 900 career innings who "hasn't been of any value" since 2018 despite putting up a WHIP of 1.46 and a K:BB ratio of 2.7:1, on a minor league deal is a pretty good find.

Wade LeBlanc is a .500 pitcher with a career era 4.59 and whip of 1.35. An experienced major league pitcher with career numbers that are average. Once he’s out of the protocol he very well could be up as the long man out of the pen. To navigate their prized arms through this season after the truncated 2020, there will likely be more of these type moves for long time veterans with average results with the hope they’re no worse than their Career numbers and maybe even have a little juice left.