Jopal78

I really hope the Brewers’ GM is burning up the phone lines to get Soto, the trade evaluator website says the Brewers are giving up too much here (a pitcher who gives up too many homers and has a major shoulder injury, a CFer who can’t stay healthy, and a middle infielder who can’t hit MLB pitching) but I’d be so excited to get Soto throwing in Lutz seems worth it!

Must be some good stuff you’re smoking. Soto is arguably the best hitter in the NL and has a year of team control remaining. There’s slightly greater than zero chance he gets traded. Even assuming he did, the Padres would receive much better offers than this package, especially Ethan Small, a 26 year old relief pitcher walking 5+ batters per 9 in AAA… I bet teams are beating down the door to get him.

Straw Man, I can’t keep up with your Logic 101 skills! Hey! Guess what Matt Moore, Jurickson Profar, Andrew Benintendi and a Jackson Chourio have in common?….. They were all #1 prospects

Where’s the civility police? Anyways, i’ll leave it at this. Anyone who thinks that the Rockies would trade McMahon this July and not get premium talent in return isn’t being realistic.

It has nothing to do with equivalency, it’s stating an observation; most poster’s here love the Brewers prospects then build them up in their minds to something beyond reality. Where even a mediocre prospect for a major league veteran is somehow an overpay. Just for laughs here’s some comments about Antione Kelly when he was traded last July.

Like I said, when Renfroe is 0.4 WAR and 12 million dollars, Joc Pederson is 0.6 WAR and makes 19 million dollars, what does it cost to buy a 3 WAR player? Like it or not, that’s where the value comes from. Go buy a 3rd baseman who plays great defensive, hits and puts up an 3 WAR every year, it would be a 100 million dollar guarantee. Now a player like McMAhon the value goes even higher in a trade because the Rockies hold all the cards. He’s under contract through ‘27 they have zero reason to move him except for being blown away. Nonetheless, I do get a chuckle out of reading posts every July which state: “The Brewers should trade for X player, and they should be able to acquire him for chea/these 2nd rate Brewer minor leaguers/ etc. because X player isn’t really that good/valuable”.

I know, the prospect love here is off the charts. The reality is in a league where Hunter Renfroe is a 0.4 WAR player and making 12 million dollars good players cost a lot of money or talent to acquire. There was a lot of love around here for Antoine Kelly and in the end he was worth Matt Bush, a guy who put up an era of 6 as a Brewer and got released.

Bryant has a full no trade clause, even if the Rockies would pay to get rid of him and he wasn’t made of glass now, he controls where he will play. Ditto Charlie Blackmon he has 10/5 rights, and gets to choose where he plays. Ryan McMahon is a perennial 3 bWAR+ player and is signed through 2027 at a AAV of less than 15 million. The Rockies wouldn’t be unjustified asking for Chourio in exchange.

Braun played 19 out of 1500+ games in his career at 1B. Even in Covid Ball which turned out be his final year he was in the outfield more than he was at DH.

Still better than another “where’s Hiura” thread.

I understand the point: the original topic was “we got good players for Hader it was a massive success”. I guess my point is: when trading a superstar relief pitcher, the expectation is to get good players in return. So meeting expectations doesn’t make it “a massive success” and depending on your perspective and belief that trading Hader caused or contributed to cause them to miss the playoffs it’s probably like most trades more of a push.

Incorrect, check the stat sheets. Hader blew two saves for the Padres. Took one loss. As mentioned a moment ago, 14 of 18 appearances were scoreless. Of course a relief pitchers ERA is going to be bad if they get blown up for 6 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning. The Brewers missed last year, not solely because of Hader, but changing the composition of the bullpen did play a role. To suggest otherwise and congratulate them for getting good players in return for a 5 time all star pitcher, is kind of silly.

I disagree. Hader had 2 bad outings for San Diego, including one where he gave up 6 runs in 1/3 of an inning (50% of the earned runs he allowed with the Padres). 14 of his 18 appearances last season with the Padres were scoreless. If you want to call that “bad” it’s your right, but it’s not being honest. Hader is the best left handed reliever in the game, maybe the best relief pitcher. I would hope and expect the Brewers to land quality players in return when trading away a superstar, especially one who was controllable. I’m not going to denigrate Hader to clap them on the back for doing what they’re supposed to do, and I won’t overlook that the timing of the trade caused or contributed to cause them to miss the playoffs, at the same time they publicly declare they want as many “bites at the apple” as possible.

If only the calculus were that easy. With Hader gone, everyone in the bullpen moved a step back, Williams from 8th inning to closer etc. Williams ended the year with a 1.93 era, which hides the fact his era was 2.85, and blew 20% of his save chances after becoming closer. Taylor Rogers pitched to a 5.48 and took 3 losses, Matt Bush blew 2 saves and took 3 losses, and the Brewers missed the post season by 3 games. Would they have made the playoffs with Hader, who knows? But the point is, the bullpen, post Hader trade, was a major reason the Brewers missed the postseason, players who didn’t succeed in their new roles, players who performed poorly overall in replacing Hader.

Depends on your perspective. It’s not just that they missed the post season, it’s wasting a year of the once in a generation starting pitching staff. Indisputably the air went out of the balloon when Hader was traded and they sleep walked the rest of the season into mediocrity. While Contreras is a good hitter, a Top 2 catcher is an exaggeration. It’s been a track meet when he’s behind the plate this season including de La Cruz stealing 3 consecutive bases (which is why Atlanta was okay dealing him). There’s a half dozen catchers who are better all around. Same deal with Payamps he’s been better than expected given he spent most of last year as freely available talent, but there’s not a GM in baseball that’s taking Payamps over the premier closers in the game.

Peguero, Junk and Seminaris for Renfroe, what a trade. Elvis already has a higher bWAR then Renfroe and Seminaris could still be somebody .

Turner has an .831 OPS and a 13.4 million dollar player option for ‘24. To begin with, the Red Sox probably don’t trade him, they’re 1.5 games behind Houston for the 3rd wild card and 2.5 games behind Toronto for the 5th spot. Even if hypothetically they crater and break up their team, Turner won’t be to Milwaukee they’re not going to commit that kind of cash to a 39 year old player. Same deal with Hader, I doubt they sell because it likely means Preller gets fired at long last. Even if they sell Hader there are 12 teams that would want him and the Padres would do better than some rookie and a ball players not amongst the Brewers best

Randall Grichuk- plays all three spots in the outfield, hits with more power than Tapia, Perkins, etc. Hits lefties better than righties, 32 year old rental could likely be acquired for the salary relief and minor league depth type players Moustakas/Escobar and Tommy Pham for many of the same reasons. Low cost additions, marginal upgrades fits the narrative of the front office not trading from tomorrow Although I’m not sure if those players are in the “Top 50”

Looks like you have a philosophical difference with Counsell, as he certainly uses the DH spot to get his regulars off their feet in order to help stay fresh. Whether in the long run, that philosophy is better than having a player who DH’s every day is anyone’s guess.

The Brewers are going to need at least 2 40 man roster spots soon for Woodruff and Justin Wilson. Plus additional room for anyone they acquire at the trade deadline. That is probably why Black is not being thought of as a contributor to Milwaukee right now.

Maybe the Brewers could pick up Eduardo Escobar. No doubt a rough year at the plate this season, but an .809 OPS against LHP and has hit lefties better than righties his entire career. He also has been a decent hitter at AmFam with a .772 OPS there. The Angels would probably be happy to move him for no other reason than to get out from under the remaining 3-4 million left in his contract.

Ok, I don’t know what the point is in relation to my post? Could they upgrade their hitters sure, never said they couldn’t. What matters is when the GM says most improvement is going to have to come from within, and they do not intend to trade from tomorrow. That means, to me anyways, they’re going bargain hunting at the deadline: players they can get in exchange for offering some salary relief and 2nd tier prospects Are they going to get starting caliber position players when that’s what they have to shop with? Time will tell, but I’m not holding my breath.

“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”…

But their situation is no different, they add arms every year. Why? Exactly for the reason you cite, so not to burn down the reliable back end guys, and to not have to count on Uribe, Strzelecki, Lauer or players like Ashby potentially coming back from a major arm/shoulder injury. If you really believe they are going to drastically remake their lineup at the deadline, I can only say prepare to be disappointed you haven’t been paying attention to how the team truly operates.

It’s not pessimism, it’s realism. Who did the Brewers add at the deadline last year? Matt Bush and Trevor Rosenthal were picked up for essentially nothing. They added Taylor Rogers as part of the Hader deal. In ‘21 they added Escobar for essentially nothing again, and Daniel Norris for Reese Olson, who has been a nice surprise this year, but at the time was a High A pitcher without eye popping stats. So in my opinion expecting them to land a big name player or two is a little unrealistic in light of how they have operated in the past and their own GM’s recent comments. As to Canha the argument is not that he’s controllable for ‘24, its price. He’s still owed 5+ million or so this year and a 2 million buyout (That’s not cheap for a team like Milwaukee). Second, because he’s not a rental, it is not the same as the typical situation where non-contenders are shipping out expiring contracts to avoid cost. It’s not pessimistic, the reality is there doesn’t seem to be much surplus value there. As for Hernandez, check the stat sheet the Brewers have Tellez, Turang, Adames, Wiemer, Perkins and Tapia as regular or semi-regular players all with OBPs under .300. Tellez, Adames, Turang and Wiemer are all striking out at or close to a 40% clip. That’s half the line up. Elloy Jimenez a 26 year old with 83 homers in 378 MLB games and under contract through 2026 is going to have incredible value even if he’s hurt almost as often as Buxton in Minnesota. That’s why the White Sox aren’t likely going to move him, he’s part of their core and they’re going to retool for ‘24 not tear it down. As for the final comments, if you don’t think the Brewers are shopping for relief pitching then I wonder how closely you follow baseball. All contenders shop for it and the Brewers specifically add it every July when they’re a buyer: Bush, Rosenthal, Rogers, Norris, Curtiss, Lyles, Pomeranz, Gio Gonzalez, Soria, K-Rod, Broxton, Linebrink etc etc. Finally, of course they’re going to look to add contact hitters because they already have too many players that have trouble making contact.