Jopal78

The Cardinals also now have a quarter of a billion dollars guaranteed to those two players covering well into their 30s. Goldschmidt has been good not great for St. Louis. If Arenado is good but not great, the money aspect will come back to bite them.

Well, if Braun decides to play in 2021 the market is kind Of set between 7 million (Joc) 8 million (Rosario) and 10 million (Schwarber)

I'm sure he'll get claimed by someone before Milwaukee based on his age and results from 2019. However, he topped out at 89 MPH in 2020 add that to shaky command, and he's a a fringe major leaguer.

No on Ashby. He and Small need to stay put! It wouldn't matter if they include Ashby and Small, its still a pile of garbage. Surely the Pirates would be able to get one Top 100 prospect for BOTH Frazier and Moran. (FWIW Keith Law on The Athletic has just two Brewers prospects in his Top 100: Mitchell at #95, and Turang at #96).

The problem is 10 million per season in today's MLB isn't that much. Role players like Avisail Garcia, James McCann, and back of the rotation starters like Drew Smyly are now getting ten million per year.

Why would Justin Turner take a 30% pay cut and play for 14 million dollars a year? His non pro-rated salary last year was for 20 million dollars. Moreover, Marcus Semien just got 18 million dollars per year, Michael Brantley got 18 million per year. Light hitting Andrelton Simmons got 10.5 million, and career back up catcher James McCann got 10 million per year. 99% of these players don't care where they play, and will go to whatever team will pay them the most. An established vet like Turner is most likely content to wait it out until such a time he is sure he's not leaving any money on the table in negotiations. Neither of those two fact makes him likely to wind up with Milwaukee on a cut rate deal. If he was willing to take a one year deal and a huge pay cut, I imagine he would have already resigned with LA.

It's always tricky with players who had really long careers Were they the best of their era, or does the stat sheet look really good because of how long they played? Wins are now devalued, but even so Schilling's 216 career wins is nothing special. Kenny Rogers also pitched 20 years and had more wins. While Schilling was a big time strike out pitcher at one point in his career with 3 season in excess of 300; his contemporaries Pedro, Maddux, Clemens, Randy Johnson were more prolific. Sabathia was also better with 25 less career strikeouts but over only 19 seasons. Schilling's career strikeout total will be passed by Verlander and Scherzer. Greinke and Kershaw will also likely pass him. Cole Hamels and Jon Lester with outside shots depending on how much longer they continue to play. Schilling also amassed 3261 innings across his 20 seasons. He was bested by his contemporaries: Tom Glavine (4413 ip/22yrs) Kenny Rogers (3302 ip/20yrs), Andy Pettite (3316/18), David Wells (3439) and Sabathia (3577/19). Plus several non-HOF caliber pitchers demonstrated better durability and pitched more innings in fewer seasons: Mark Buerhle (3283/16), Bartolo Colon (3461/17). Schilling also does not have Cy Young Hardware his HOF contemporaries have: Randy Johnson (5 CYA), Greg Maddux (4), Pedro Martinez (3), Glavine (2) and Smoltz (1). If not for the Boston-centric media and the bloody sock, Schilling would viewed as a very good but not great pitcher.

The reality is the Brewers probably have had discussions with multiple players at a 5-6 million dollar/season price point. Those same players are most likely shopping themselves around to see how much more they can get elsewhere before beginning to make decisions where they will work in 2021.

This quote says it all to me: “I think Vogey is best suited as a hitter, and that means he’s probably best suited for the DH,” What more do you need to hear? The Brewers do not view him as a full time 1B, and rightfully so. Can he fill in there in a pinch, probably, but there is no way they go into 2021 with Vogelbomb as a full time 1B. Just not going to happen, and if it does, we are in trouble. They're going to be in trouble anyways. Unless the Brewers intend to spend 8-10 million dollars on a free agent (which I give zero chance of happening), they are not going to get any players with any prowess. It will be more of the same as last year: aging veterans coming off a down season, or players looking to make a comeback after a major injury/injuries. In that context, why not see what Vogelbach can do? He's got the pedigree, some big league experience and is on the right side of 30.

Chris Archer? While it’s more than likely due to waiting for the chips to fall with Bauer, etc., there have been zero rumors on Jose Quintana. There’d be an excellent veteran arm for the Brewers to add should a market fail to develop for him.

Other than Bednar all the players going to the Pirates haven’t played above A-ball. Musgrove isn’t a difference maker, and the Pirates will be lucky if one of those players makes an impact on their big league roster.

This seems to have been in response to my saying "...a nice guy to add on a minor league deal," and "He has a shot to make the MLB roster as a utility guy, or he could be good minor league depth to cover multiple positions." How many teams have star players as minor league depth or MLB utility guys? Every team needs guys like this. I get that you want to see something big happen. We all do. However, we also need to make signings like this to fill out our AAA roster and our MLB bench. Most moves that teams make are minor ones, and this fits into that category. Our biggest "upgrade" this offseason will be in having our good players hit better than they did last year. If that doesn't happen, we're in trouble for a long time, because we can't afford to pay Yelich his contract if he's a AAAA player. However, in the likely scenario that guys like Yelich and Hiura remember how to hit, we have a pretty good team that really just needs a corner IF or two to be the odds on favorite to win the NL Central. My guess is that they brought in Reyes to fight for the utility spot, so that when they add a third baseman, they will be able to trade Arcia and make Urias the everyday shortstop. There is absolutely no way that they signed Reyes to be an everyday player, so I wouldn't get too worried about this signing. Every year the Brewers sign guys just like Pablo Reyes. Players like Will Middlebrooks, Jake Elmore, Nick Franklin, Saladino, Corey Spangenberg, etc. They all get 100-150 at bats then get released when a roster spot is needed. I wouldn't sleep on Arcia either. He's still just 26 years old, and while the 2020 season was a strange one, Arcia did strike out less, barrel up more balls and improved his exit velocity. There's a chance he could become an average hitter which with his defense would give them a nice player with multiple years of team control remaining.

I’d look more at the Chris Archer types. Like Kluber with terrific career numbers but recent ineffectiveness and injury problems. Difference being Archer is substantially younger and won’t be able to demand the money Kluber will.

What does anyone truly expect? The Brewers have never historically been big players in free agency. Since Stearns was hired to run the team, all of their free agents outside of Lorenzo Cain have been either value signings or more of the spare part variety than core player. They are more active in trades; however since they intend to compete in their division, the major league roster features players who are arguably more valuable to the Brewers than what they could get for those same players in a trade. As for trading minor league talent for major league players; the moves to bolster the major league roster the last three years with Yelich, Swarzak, Moustakas, Schoop, Soria, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Lyles, Pomeranz, etc. has left their minor league system virtually devoid of premium talent which is an impediment to making a trade to bring aboard an established veteran. If the 2021 season does start on time there will likely be a flurry of activity at the end of this month and into February, and I'm sure the Brewers will be on the look out for value signings like the vast majority of free agents they have signed in the last half decade.

Hader won’t be traded this off-season. With the glut or relief pitchers currently available as free agents. A team could get 70% of Hader’s production without giving up anything besides money. Not to mention the Brewers are going to want premium talent not just lottery tickets in return.

Ryan Braun 1 year deal Travis Shaw 1 year deal Brett Anderson 1 year deal C: Narvaez/Pina 1B: Vogelbach/Shaw/Braun 2B: Hiura SS: Arcia/Urias 3B: Shaw/Urias LF: Yelich CF: Cain/Garcia RF: Garcia/Braun SP: Woodruff SP: Burnes SP:Anderson SP: Lindblom SP: Lauer Brewers are going to be a pitching and defense team in 2021 anyhow. May as well fill some holes cheap while allowing younger players an attempt to establish themselves and bring Braun back if he decides to play.

Candelario is pre-arbitration eligible, is coming off a season where his OPS was .872, he's a switch hitter and plays multiple defensive positions. Even considering Candelario's 2020 BABiP is not sustainable, the Tigers are a rebuilding team in a very strong division why would they be motivated to move Candelario now? Further complicating matters, why would the Tigers move Candelario for a collection of junk from the Brewers? Lutz= hasn't played above A ball, and there are questions about his game. Zack Brown= was Rule 5 eligible, and any team could've selected him and didn't. Ethan Small? Who knows what they have there? Definitely a project. With fringe major league velocity, will he be able to maintain his collegiate and low minor league success as he pitches against better and better players. Candelario had a good abbreviated 2020 season, but the two full seasons before that he hit .219/.312 .698 OPS. He's projected to hit .235/.320. He's not worth much more than those you mentioned. Then why trade for him in the first place, then?

I agree with you that it's very hard to win in baseball. period. However, I don't think any GM would get fired for acquiring veterans in the here and now for A-ball players who develop into star players years down the road. As mentioned, there are exceptions to every rule, for example you don't trade Bryce Harper away when he's in A-ball. However, even in the best organizations the number of players in A-ball who even reach the majors is probably around 10%

Candelario is pre-arbitration eligible, is coming off a season where his OPS was .872, he's a switch hitter and plays multiple defensive positions. Even considering Candelario's 2020 BABiP is not sustainable, the Tigers are a rebuilding team in a very strong division why would they be motivated to move Candelario now? Further complicating matters, why would the Tigers move Candelario for a collection of junk from the Brewers? Lutz= hasn't played above A ball, and there are questions about his game. Zack Brown= was Rule 5 eligible, and any team could've selected him and didn't. Ethan Small? Who knows what they have there? Definitely a project. With fringe major league velocity, will he be able to maintain his collegiate and low minor league success as he pitches against better and better players.

Even if "young" for their respective league their A+ numbers were from playing against other fresh out of high school kids or newly turned pro college kids. I hope all of these players develop as anticipated and the Brewers have a pipeline of talent keeping the major league team competitive. The reality however is nearly all players in A+ ball will ultimately wash out of professional baseball before making the major leagues because the level of competition improves as they move up the ladder closer to the majors. Obviously there are exceptions to any rule, but a good way for a GM to get fired is to overvalue players in the organization who are years away from the major leagues.

It may not be a “salary dump” with Contreras. His value will never be higher as each game he plays takes him closer to free agency. I’m also sure the Cubs have don their due diligence and approached their core players about extensions and the ones who intend to go year to year and/or test free agency will likely be traded.

Gallo is just another version of Chris Carter, hits a pile of homers but not much else and will strike out close to 200 times. Not the type of player The GM typically goes for. Besides that, the aforementioned package of players are more valuable in the eyes of Brewer fans than they likely are to other clubs. Lutz and Lazar haven’t played above A ball and have legit questions about their skill sets. Ray is already a draft bust, and not ready for the majors despite being an advanced college player. Turang is a fringe top 100 prospect who may develop into a player but could also wind up being overmatched offensively as the competition gets better

Franco is garbage. Two clubs in successive seasons decided he wasn’t worth the potential future pay and dumped him. May as well sink or swim with Urias than run out a player, like Franco, who has a significant amount of major league at bats and has shown to be a below average hitter.

Not surprising. From the press reports at the end of the year it didn’t sound like he particularly enjoyed COVID ball. With the uncertainty if the game is back to normal or is COVID ball part 2 in 2021; what’s he really have to discuss?

David Wendzel, a collegiate power hitting 3rd Baseman who hasn’t really played much in the minors was the Rangers choice with that Comp Balance Pick. He’s their #12 overall prospect. Their system is ranked above the Brewers. Claudio pitched a lot and was just ok for the Brewers, given their system and it’s holes for corner infielders they probably should’ve kept the pick and selected Wendzel themselves.