Jopal78

We’re talking about the 40th man on the roster, not much separation in terms of talent. It’s Likely the decision was simple as Williams is a hold over from the last regime, and Stearns prefers the guys he has added to the 40 man over ones he inherited.

Except that the Dodgers added an elite former MVP thereby increasing their chance of winning in 2020 and only gave up players they didn't need in the first place. Especially since the Joc Pederson deal collapsed, Verdugo would have been a 5th outfielder on the 2020 Dodgers, if Pollock is healthy maybe even on the shuttle between the Majors and AAA. Maeda is a pitcher they removed from their rotation down the stretch the last 2 seasons. With Kershaw, Buehler, May, Stripling, Urias, Alex Wood, Jimmy Nelson and now Price all capable of starting games, they don't need Maeda and got some real nice talent in return. The real beauty of this trade is the Dodgers doing player acquisition and development better than anyone else in the game. Verdugo was a late 2nd round pick (62nd overall), Jeter Downs was a former first round pick they acquired from the Reds in the Kemp, Puig, Alex Wood salary dump, and Maeda an international free agent signed to a ridiculous 8 year/24 million dollar deal. In return get a former MVP, a former Cy Young Winner, Top 100 prospect in Graterol and they re-acquire one of their own prospects (Luke Raley) they shipped to Minnesota last year for rental Brian Dozier.

I think I explained that Braun had two lost seasons due to injury and suspension. They happened to be 2013 and 2014 so I left them out. To your point, Braun wasn’t paid during his suspension so whatever he did get paid in 2013 was a bargain for 2.0 across 60+ games. 2014 it’s fairly well documented he had a nerve injury in his hand and was playing through it, like Cain in ‘19 at far less than 100%.

This could derail this whole topic but it always kind of bothers me when people dog Ryan Braun's contract. Pound for Pound he the best player the Brewers have ever had. 2007-2012 he hit .313/.374/.568 with 202 homeruns, 223 2Bs, 29 3Bs and 126 stolen bases. ...admittedly had two lost seasons with the combination hand injury and PED suspension (yet his numbers were still above average) but since then.... 2015-2019 he's hit .281/.345/.502 with 114 homeruns, 134 2Bs, 11 3Bs and 79 stolen bases and this despite being ages 31-35. On top of that he's never been amongst the top 25 highest paid players in the game. Sure there might be players someone would have rather had in 2017 for 20 million dollars instead of Ryan Braun, or you can argue there are tons of players who could put up a 0.9 WAR in 2018 for less than 20 million dollars. But I don't think you can say he has not earned or deserved every penny of the contract he signed; and I'll always be grateful that such a great player hung around in Milwaukee for the virtually the entire career.

Milwaukee's Top 5 for games played are: 1. Yount 2. Molitor 3. Gantner 4. Braun 5. Cooper There's a reason that 4 of the top 5 in terms of games played are from nearly 30 years ago. The economic disparity between the clubs has increased, and players almost universally go to where they can make the most money. It's not unique situation and leads fan bases to essentially be rooting for laundry.

Luc as in Jonathon Lucroy? He hasn’t hit in years. Since the end of 2017: .237/.297/.338. There’s no interest in him because his bat sucks and his defensive skill set has eroded. He’ll be lucky to get an NRI deal. Back to the point: I’m sure the Brewers have identified available players they like but they have to get them at the right price. Mathias, Ronny Rodriguez, Yardley etc. probably have a tenuous grip on their 40 man spot to begin with

Didn’t former Brewer prospect break his hamate bone and his career fizzled out afterward because he never regained his power. Of course that has to be about 15 years ago which could mean better medicine now in treating such fractures

They upgraded the overall talent level of the roster. I'd anticipate that 7 out of the 8 position players will have an OPS+ of around 100 or better. Not giving 1400 at bats to hitters with an OPS+ of less than 90 should translate into a better offense. Their starting pitching wasn't very good last year, but a healthy Woodruff, Houser with significant major league experience, Lauer was a former first round pick with upside.

Let's not lose sight of what is really going on here. Since Dick Williams took over as the head of Baseball Operations in Cincinnati the teams has gone 278-370. They've finished last most often and no better than fourth during his tenure. Their annual attendance has been no better than 13th out of 15th, and they've had three managers. Despite the fact his family has a minority ownership interest, he's likely fighting to save his job. He's brought on a bunch of talent regardless if it all fits together because if they lose another 85 games in 2020, he likely won't be there in 2021 anyways.

Looking at the career WAR for that draft class really illustrates what a poor defender Ryan Braun has been. Braun has the highest career WAR from his draft class (48.2) Troy Tulowitzki is 2nd with 44.2. Tulowitzi hasn't really played at all the last two years and only appeared in 66 games in 2017, yet his career WAR is second to Braun's, despite Braun besting Tulowitzi in career OPS+ 135 to 118, Stolen Bases 215 to 57. Braun has hit into only 28 more double plays despite having had 1700 more at bats. Even giving Tulowitzi an adjustment for playing shortstop, you would think their career WARs would not be so close when Braun is so far superior offensively. After looking at the 2005 draft class, its hard to believe that even with all his injuries and suspension Braun has been the most durable player from the 2005 draft class. Additionally, but for McCutchen experiencing a late career renaissance, Ryan Braun will go down as the best player from the 2005 draft, which makes it even more amazing that the Brewers picked him and managed to hang on to him all these years.

Frankly I kind of like what Stearns has done with this lineup. Three premium hitters are gone in Grandal, Moustakas and Thames, however the 2019 Brewers gave over 1300 plate appearances to hitters with an OPS less than .715. In 2020 I think it is reasonable to expect that all their new acquisitions: Garcia, Smoak, Sogard, Gyorko, Healy and Navarez to produce an OPS in excess of .750 (I'm not as convinced with Sogard but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt). So there might not be as many elite hitters in the lineup in 2020 but the aggregate talent level of their hitters more likely than not is greater than in 2019. Stearns also got a club option on Smoak, Sogard, and Gyorko. If those hitters have big seasons and the team takes a face plant, the GM has some nice trade capital as none of those players would be a pure "rental". Secondly, if those players fall flat in 2020, they simply decline the options and move on. Garcia is a key acquisition because he will potentially replace Ryan Braun in the outfield if Braun decides to play elsewhere after the team declines his 2021 option. Plus, the signing of Garcia would have made Grisham a surplus part. Stearns had the foresight to cash in Grisham in for a much needed infield prospect. Finally, Stearns remade his pitching staff with pitchers offering upside: Brett Anderson, Lindblom, and Lauer. Obviously, Stearns had seen enough of Chase Anderson to know his anticipated production would not have been equal to the pay his contract called for. Gonzalez missed 6 weeks with an injury and was exclusively a 5 innings plus SP. Lauer is probably less than Davies, but does throw left handed. More importantly these deals potentially fill the pitching staff, yet Freddy Peralta and Corbin Burnes could still win spots in the rotation. Obviously, the GM knows that to remain competitive for extended periods of time he needs to develop starting pitching from within. These moves solidify his rotation but doesn't block to of his young pitchers who have legit talent to be above average MLB starting pitchers.

Does it really matter? The Report from the Commissioner states that Beltran helped create the sign stealing system which most Astros players knew was wrong. With the way MLB turned a blind eye to steroid use twenty years ago, did anyone think that Beltran would keep his job after that fact came to light? Since their steroid epidemic MLB has a knee jerk reaction to any sort of criticism, therefore Beltran was a dead man walking the minute the report was published.

I'm sure someone mentioned it earlier, but perhaps overlooked in all this is the sheer number of at bats the Brewers wasted in 2018 and 2019 on terrible hitters: Hernan Perez 548ABs .243/.279/.383 Tyler Saladino 183ABs .202/.265/.278 Cory Spangenberg 95 ABs .232/.277/.358 Orlando Arcia 842ABs .228/.277/.333 If the plan was to improve the team by raising smoothing out the peaks and valleys between their best hitters and their worst hitters, it just could work in their entire batting order being more formidable day in day out. They've also added three starting pitchers which they're banking to offer better results than the Davies, Anderson, Chacin trifecta, another real possibility.

I hate to be "that guy", but the value of the franchise is significantly more than it was in 2018. According to Forbes the brewers franchise was worth 1B in 2018 and 1.2B in 2019. Avg salaries have increased too in the last 2 years. I think, fans should be able to expect, atleast a minor increase in payroll. And how many homeowners see a jump in equity in the property and then go out on a spending spree from their checking account? Team value doesn’t equal team revenue. In fact, similar to real estate, team value is mostly a product of location and comps.

I hate to be "that guy", but the value of the franchise is significantly more than it was in 2018. According to Forbes the brewers franchise was worth 1B in 2018 and 1.2B in 2019. Avg salaries have increased too in the last 2 years. I think, fans should be able to expect, atleast a minor increase in payroll. And how many homeowners see a jump in equity in the property and then go out on a spending spree from their checking account? Team value doesn’t equal team revenue. In fact, similar to real estate, team value is mostly a product of location and comps.

Nice, who is your source? Look at what we have done this offseason. Nearly every move we have made has brought in cheaper talent. I am not saying that things can't work out and Stearns has done solid work every year he has been our GM but this team has a ton of question marks right now. If you work hard enough you can spin any individual move that we have made as one with the potential to work out. If this guy plays like he did two or three years ago or this one does the same we are ok. With that said we are banking on a lot of questionable talent like Sogard and Gyorko while losing guys like Grandal and Moustakas who have been good players for a long time. I think counting on a Sogard/Gyorko platoon is complete insanity. You have to be a complete optimist to spin this offseason as being positive for this team. Hopefully things will work out but I just can't get excited by moves like this which have pretty much dominated our offseason. Obviously, the team didn't think Grandal was worth a multi-year commitment for 18 million dollars per year, or they could have signed him to such a contract back in January of 2019 instead of the one year deal he received. In fact, Grandal didn't even get a raise in AAV from with the White Sox over what he made in 2019. In essence Stearns did not want to gamble that Grandal would remain productive as a catcher into his mid-30s. I can't argue with a pragmatic approach. Moustakas is sort of similar to the way the team has added free agents this year. He was back with the Brewers in 2019 only because it was a value signing. He got an AAV of 17 million per year with Cincinnati. Depending on what the numbers for Gyorko turn out to be Stearns was able to sign: Garcia, Smoak, Sogard and possibly Gyorko for 17 million dollars, and there's no question the aggregate production of those players will far exceed what Moustakas can deliver at his best. They could be okay in 2020 if their run prevention is better in 2020 than it was in 2019, even if their runs scored tails off a little.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop but this is probably getting pretty close to being "it". All of these guys are on major league deals but for Healy: Navarez Smoak Hiura Arcia Sogard/Gyorko Yelich Cain Braun/Garcia Gamel Urias Healy Pina That's 14 players, which seems about right with a 12 man pitching staff and the new pitching requirements.

Don't forget the resolution of Kris Bryant's grievance with the Cubs, he could still be traded but no team is going to do so until they know if he has one year of control left after 2020 or two.

Back to Medeiros... it doesn't really matter now, but the 2014 draft was laden with talent, the first round in particular which only emphasizes how bad the Brewers missed on this pick. Still available at the time the Brewers took Medeiros 12th overall: Trea Turner, Sean Newcomb, Matt Chapman, Jack Flaherty, Luke Weaver, Michael Chavis, Justus Sheffield, Touki Toussaint, Erik Fedde, Michael Kopech, Tyler Beede, Brandon Finnegan, Bradley Zimmer. Kudos again to Stearns for cashing in Medeiros for something before his 'prospect status' fizzled out completely.

Kodi Medeiros designated for assignment to make room for Encarnacion. Another Melvin first round pick goes bust, at least the Brewers were able to get something out of him before he completely failed.

I love how people keep assuming MKE needed to pay bigger arby number to avoid sour grapes feelings by the players forcing them to sign elsewhere. You're telling me you are going to pass the best offer on the table because they didn't offer you more and you feel disrespected? Please. How petty do you think these little guys are? Playing baseball in the MLB is the same no matter the city. If one city offers you a 5/1 prove it and another offers you a 4/1 prove it, you better have family ties, value venue stability (which works against them leaving MKE) or something pretty legitimate forcing you away from the 5/1 prove it. Players don't just give up 1 mil over hurt feelings that they didn't get 6.5/1. As for Nelson, he went for the best offer. MKE didn't wrong him in any way by keeping him around when he was rehabbing and paying him quite well while recovering. He looks done. MKE could think he's done. It's a terrible injury to rebound from and this deal could be a 1 and done oops for Nelson, and Nelson could still have something left in the tank later on down the road. It's a long long road back from that shoulder he injured. I'd be stunned if this deal is a big win for the Dodgers. It's either a cheap flop or it's likely a push. Does anyone really think he's seeing year 2 at 10 mil? I also wouldn't be surprised if Nelson stays healthy and shows he's got something left in the tank when he's 34-35 before age catches up to him completely. Last year, he didn't seem close to back and he really has to take the long road back to what he was or figure out a new way to use what he has. That injury changed him. Well, you can't simply turn off your common sense either. The Brewers would be a pretty pathetic franchise if they non-tendered a bunch of talent without first informing the player of their intentions with respect to arbitration, and inquiring if they could reach an agreement at a lesser price before the deadline to tender a contract (or even informing the player the organization is going in a different direction all together). In fact, we know that does happen, because it was reported the Brewers did that very thing with Travis Shaw before ultimately non-tendering him. I would surmise that if a player rejects taking a pay cut from the Brewers and is subsequently non-tendered, the ship has probably sailed on a potential reunion regardless if a market for that player subsequently materializes or not. Again, there are exceptions to any rule, but that's what seems logical.

And ignores the fact there was no way possible for the Brewers to bring the non-tendered players back for the amount they ultimately signed for elsewhere. Claudio was willing to take a pay cut to resign after being non-tendered but I suspect his case is the exception not the rule.

No team is under any obligation to give a player a raise in arbitration, and can offer a reduction of up to 20% of that player's prior salary: http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/salary-arbitration Right, hence the second part of my post about lowballling him and going to an arbitration hearing.

So really at the end of the tunnel Tyler Thornburg was traded for Ray Black. Shaw is an example of the arbitration system being broken. Players in their 20s with a couple of 30+ homer seasons under their belts don’t typically “lose it” overnight. Yet, based on service time/arbitration rules the Brewers were supposed to give him a raise even after the egg he laid in 2019. The other main alternative was lowballing him and going to a hearing and ripping him in front of the panel. They may have won their case and got Shaw at their price for 2020 but most assuredly would have caused hard feelings. So the team took the only palatable option they had and non-tendered him.

Gonzalez isn’t big (6’ 205lbs), doesn’t throw real hard, and is in his mid-30s with a lot of major league innings on his arm. He’s a good pitcher but his demographics as an aging small, finesse pitcher make him risky.