Jopal78

I hope they still add some quality instead of quantity in the bullpen, as some of these guys have question marks. Payamps is out of options and has now been with 5 different organizations since over the last two years, and was probably a DFA candidate for Oakland anyways. Same deal with Yeager, he was left unprotected by the Braves in the Rule 5 draft last week and went unclaimed. Javy Guerra is also out of options and with his 3rd organization of 2022. Certainly, no harm done in trying to find lightning in a bottle, but I do hope they still add some pitchers with more proven track records.

I’m not in disagreement, it’s a good trade getting a starting caliber catcher by dealing from an area of depth. However, the original posters statement “paraphrased” was this trade was bigger than any thing Stearns did. They traded for a guy with less than 600 PAs in the major leagues. Maybe he’ll end up being a middle of the order slugger for the next 5 years, but first he has to go out in ‘23 and do it again. The biggest/best trade since 2015… a guy with 500+ PAs? Nah.

Law not very high on Ruiz. He wrote, Ruiz can run and make contact but his hard contact is lacking and Ruiz has not been one of his 100 prospects (nor were any of the prospects in this three way trade).

Murphy might be the best catcher outside of Realmuto; he can hit and play defense and the Braves won a pennant 14 months ago. While Contreras had a big year and they have d’Arnaud this move was adding a premier player and clearing the logjam they had at catcher

Come on, it’s not like they traded for Mickey Mantle. There’s not a team out there that wouldn’t have the other Contreras brother’s production, so it’s definitely adding a promising player to a position of need but not some franchise altering trade

Well, Langeliers was the #9 overall pick three years ago, and has put up good minor league numbers, I don't think the A's wanted another starting caliber catcher. The Braves already had a log-jam with Pina, d'Arnaud and Contreras. Sometimes a team like the Brewers is in the right place at the right time, with a stack of MLB ready outfielders and a need at catcher.

Maybe some front office folk in Atlanta do use it to "check their work". hahaha

If teams shifted against Tellez 80% of the time and it was an effective strategy against his bat, I assume they would just go with a two man outfield, put the shift on him with the outfielder and take their chances because he's not much of a runner should he hit one the other way.

The 2021 team which had Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta, Houser and Lauer won 95 games. The 2022 team had Peralta, Woodruff and Houser all miss time with injuries. In their place Jason Alexander, Chi Chi Gonzalez Ethan Small and Andy Ashby make 32 starts for the Brewers. Those four combined for a WHIP of 1.56, they allowed a total of 26 homers in 158 innings (1.48/9). Next, their bullpen just wasn't as good as it was in '21 and they had several relievers pitch a significant amount of innings and perform poorly: Taylor Rogers, Matt Bush, Trevor Kelley pitched a combined 69.2 innings allowing 61 hits, 30 walks (1.31 WHIP) and allowing an astronomical 21 homeruns (2.71/9). Thus I don't think Matt Arnold's task in putting together the 2023 roster is complicated. They intend to rely on the same starting pitching from '21 to win games for them in '23 and are banking on having better health. That they jettisoned Suter, (66 IP) Boxberger (64 IP), Gott (45.2 IP), Gustave (28 IP), Perdomo (23.2 IP) along with Rogers leaving as a FA means the Brewers are making nearly wholesale changes to their bullpen and hoping for improvement there. Certainly, the Renfroe trade appears to fit that narrative as Junk, Pegeuro and Seminaris could all be competing for bullpen spots in '23. I would also assume the Brewers will be shoppers for free agent relievers once the closers have signed and set the market. As someone else pointed out, they also appear to be moving away from the "all or nothing" type of hitters who rip 30 homeruns and struggle to reach an .800 OPS. Further, as would be expected of any team without a 200 million dollar payroll, their prospects and bonus babies who reached AAA (Mitchell, Frelick etc.) will be given a crack at making the major league team. I would also expect the Brewers to be bargain shopping for 3B, C and even 1B and are willing to wait out players like Drury, Justin Turner, Jorge Alfaro, Gary Sanchez, Brandon Belt, Evan Longoria, Wil Myers Edwin Rios etc.

I don't know if there is Feliciano "love" per se. Rather, he's a player the Brewers added to the 40 man roster when was in A+ ball and have not taken back his 40 man spot, despite other curious moves. Him getting a shot at the major league roster would at least make the other moves seem logical (trading a player for Alex Jackson, then Jackson is outrighted off the roster, Severino being sent packing, outrighting Luke Maile, etc. )

Yep, depends how you want to define it I suppose. Suffice to say Toronto has played someone else at catcher most of the time since '20 In 2022--Kirk had 74 starts at catcher, Moreno made 19, and Zack Collins made 14...107 games started by someone besides Jansen. In 2021--Reese McGuire had 69 starts at catcher, Kirk made 41... 110 starts made by someone besides Jansen. As you pointed out in 2020, Jansen started most the games with Reese McGuire making 12 starts, Kirk with 7 starts and Caleb Joseph with 2. In 2019 - Luke Maile made 41 starts and Reese McGuire with 25 starts, Jansen getting the rest In 2018 Maile made 57 starts, Reese McGuire with 10, and Russell Martin with 70, with Jansen third on the depth chart this season. For comparision sake... Manny Pina and Martin Maldonado would typically make about 75 starts a year for Milwaukee when they were the #2 catcher.

Yep, depends how you want to define it I suppose. Suffice to say Toronto has played someone else at catcher most of the time since '20 In 2022--Kirk had 74 starts at catcher, Moreno made 19, and Zack Collins made 14...107 games started by someone besides Jansen. In 2021--Reese McGuire had 69 starts at catcher, Kirk made 41... 110 starts made by someone besides Jansen. As you pointed out in 2020, Jansen started most the games with Reese McGuire making 12 starts, Kirk with 7 starts and Caleb Joseph with 2. In 2019 - Luke Maile made 41 starts and Reese McGuire with 25 starts, Jansen getting the rest In 2018 Maile made 57 starts, Reese McGuire with 10, and Russell Martin with 70, with Jansen third on the depth chart this season. For comparision sake... Manny Pina and Martin Maldonado would typically make about 75 starts a year for Milwaukee when they were the #2 catcher.

You're right about Jansen, he has been a back up his whole career and prior to this season-certainly didn't turn a lot of heads with his play (.690 OPS). As to your hypothetical, 2 years of Lauer, 6 years of say Garrett Mitchell plus another player for 2 years of a part time catcher is a pretty big gamble for Milwaukee. Moreover, I don't know if that trade even really improves the '23 Brewers as they would then have to find someone to cover the 158 innings Lauer pitched. As much as I would like them to wind up with Vazquez, the money these players are getting is insane and probably makes it unrealistic that Milwaukee signs a front line free agent. Rather, I would expect them to be shopping in the bargain aisle (Alfaro, Gary Sanchez, Narvaez), or swinging a trade to get Manny Pina or someone of that ilk to pair with Caratini. The Brewers also have Feliciano who will be using his final option in '23

You're right about Jansen, he has been a back up his whole career and prior to this season-certainly didn't turn a lot of heads with his play (.690 OPS). As to your hypothetical, 2 years of Lauer, 6 years of say Garrett Mitchell plus another player for 2 years of a part time catcher is a pretty big gamble for Milwaukee. Moreover, I don't know if that trade even really improves the '23 Brewers as they would then have to find someone to cover the 158 innings Lauer pitched. As much as I would like them to wind up with Vazquez, the money these players are getting is insane and probably makes it unrealistic that Milwaukee signs a front line free agent. Rather, I would expect them to be shopping in the bargain aisle (Alfaro, Gary Sanchez, Narvaez), or swinging a trade to get Manny Pina or someone of that ilk to pair with Caratini. The Brewers also have Feliciano who will be using his final option in '23

One thing to not overlook about Jesse Winker, he's hit well against the Brewers chief rival for the division as well as the other teams in the NL Central, and not just at GABP but their home stadiums too. Career vs. St. Louis: .351/.423/.600 with 11 homeruns in 208 PAs. Career vs. Pittsburgh: .333/.419/.590 with 10 homeruns in 180 PAs Career vs. Chicago: .238/.363/.400 Career OPS of 1.108 at Busch Stadium Careeer OPS of .938 at Great American Ball Park. Career OPS of .868 at Wrigley Field Career OPS of .808 at PNC Park.

I doubt there are too many players who sell themselves short financially because they're afraid of the possibility of injury. Next, given the competitive drive one has to have to even make the major leagues in the first place, there are even fewer who would sell themselves short financially because they're worried their on-field performance might not last. It's a nonsense proposal because the player would be a fool to defer that amount of money over that period of time. Second, I don't think a cost conscious team like the Brewers would ever really contemplate deferring 90 million dollars in salary.

Burnes would be an idiot to defer 90 million dollars in pay over 30 years, when he could get it all up front from some other team anyways.

Will be interesting to see about Kimbrel. He had that really good first half with the Cubs in '21 but was awful for them in '19 and '20. Then after being shipped to the Southside, he was bad for the Sox in '21 and didn't pitch well for the Dodgers in '22. Like McCutchen he's still a "name" in the major leagues, but what will the market bear for a 35 year old reliever with an up and down track record recently? I do hope the Brewers stay away though no matter the cost.

Why would the fact that someone is from Wisconsin make any bit of difference in that regard? 99% of players go wherever the most money is. Plus with their life style they can live anywhere they choose to begin with.

No other team would take the financial commitment owed to Yelich. The Brewers do not pay significant cash to move bad contracts. There's your answer. Nice click bait though ?

I'm curious, have you seen Wiemer play? I haven't, but from the stat sheet he's listed as 6'5" and 215lbs, that is way bigger than Sosa, (6'0", 165 lbs), and an all together different body type than Greg Vaughn (6'0", 195 lbs), and is lithe compared to Corey Hart 6'6", 240 lbs. If not from in person observation, are your comparisons based on the minor league stat sheets and photos? Because in his first 2000 PAs in the major leagues Sammy Sosa had an OPS of .704, and wasn't really a good hitter in the minors either. Greg Vaughn was a terrific hitter in the minor leagues .295/.391/.569 which is significantly better than Wiemer's .274/.367/.506 and Vaughn was almost exclusively a left fielder. With Corey Hart, the minor league slash is similar .296/.355/.498, but Hart was seemingly a better athlete having played 1B, 3B, LF, CF and later RF as a farm hand. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just wondering what lead you to draw the conclusions you did.

I don't know, but I kind of doubt it. In terms of WAR (according to Baseball Reference) the Brewers have gotten 7.1 WAR of value from Adames. The Rays have gotten 6.6 WAR from Rasmussen and Feyereisen, but have each of those guys through 2026. Absent injuries the WAR from Rasmussen and Feyereisen in TB will be > than Adames' WAR with Milwaukee. It would be the same with the Dodgers, Adames is a fine player but two MLB ready top 100 prospects and a third player to boot likely ends up with significantly more WAR going to Milwaukee. If a team is desperate to plug a hole I could see it, but that isn't how the Dodgers do business. If they believe those two guys can play, they'll plug Pepiot and Vargas into their roster and simply sign someone to play SS.

I like this blue print as I do think the Brewers will make some major changes to last year's group. However, I don't think Milwaukee would get 2 major league ready top 100 prospects (Vargas and Pepiot) plus a third player for Willy Adames. If they could they should pull the trigger on that trade every single time (6 years of WAR from Vargas and Pepiot most likely > than 2 years of Adames). From the Dodgers perspective, it doesn't make them better in the short run or the long run especially when they could simply sign Correa and keep the prospects. Also Sixto Sanchez has not pitched at all in two years due to shoulder injuries. I don't think any team would take on a player with that kind of red flag.

There's always an excuse isn't there? Despite being "emptied out" prior to trading for Matt Olson, the Braves somehow still had likely '22 ROY Michael Harris (5.3 war), Vaughn Grissom (0.9 war in 41 games) and Spencer Strider (3.7 war). It's the "veteran for prospect" game. You don't know what you're getting until the minor leaguers actually "make it" in the majors. Sometimes a team will come out ahead but probably 50% of the time they don't work out for the team getting the prospects.

The Chapman/Olson era ran in Oakland from '18-21 during that time the Athletics won 316 games. By comparison the Brewers won 306 during that time frame. That A's group was a good team but couldn't reach the top of the mountain during their window. Their farm system isn't any different than Milwaukee's in that when you win a lot of games like the A's and Brewers you pick near the bottom of the round where the odds of hitting on a player are less. Also the trades of Olson and Chapman illustrate the dangers of trading quality major leaguers with remaining team control for prospects. They destroyed the major league roster and those prospects they received haven't lived up to their billing yet (Braves #2, #3, #10 and #15)(Toronto's #4, #8 and others). When the Brewers ultimately swap off Woodruff and Burnes they will be heading down a similar path.