Jopal78

They’re about the same. Murphy will get 15 AAV for his three post arbitration years. Contreras gets 17 AAV. Braves might get lucky on the first half of the deal covering Murphy’s arbitration years for 24 million, but then again Realmuto in a slightly earlier era made 18 million in arbitration. So not to far off the going rate of comparable players. Bottom line is if a team wants to pay market rates they can sign and extend just about everyone .

Seems like a market rate deal to me. 28 million for his three arbitration years, then three successive seasons at ages 31, 32 and 33 at 15 million per year. Grandal got 3 years and 18.25 million per as a free agent for the same aged seasons, and was a more accomplished hitter

In today's baseball game, the manager is well aware of players' stats, splits, metrics, etc. In fact, all the teams employ people to have that information at their disposal. Yet despite being aware of the stats and metrics with Hiura, they played other players most of the time. Thus there was a reason he didn't play more which trumped his OPS vs. RIH pitching, and it's too bad none of the journalists on the beat ever asked the reason.

In the real world, teams don't trade for a player hoping to "flip" him later and come out ahead. Somebody very well could want to take a shot on Hiura, given his draft status and homerun total, but since he'll likely be freely available talent before opening day, it's hard to see the Brewers getting anything but "cash considerations" or the PTNBL.

Right!, No team is going to give the Brewers assets in exchange for Hiura, when the odds are pretty good he will be DFA'd by Milwaukee at some point. Hiura doesn't have a path to regular playing time, and is out of options which I'm sure he knows is not a good position to be in. Since arbitration salaries are not guaranteed until opening day there is no risk for Milwaukee bringing him to camp as depth. In defense of Hiura it's also worth noting that so far the 2017 MLB draft is shaping up to have been sort of thin on hitting talent, and especially from College. Hiura has the most at bats of any player in that draft class, followed closely by Pavin Smith. Hiura's career rWAR is 1.3 to Smith's 0.4. Hiura's rWAR is 7th to date of all players taken in 2017 regardless of position. Looking at the other college hitters taken in the first round: #4 overall pick-Brendan McKay (TB) drafted to pitch and hit, solely pitched in the majors, tore his UCL in his 13th game and was released (then ultimately resigned to a minor league deal). #6 overall pick-Austin Beck (Oak) is still spinning his wheels in the minors with a .252/.303/.384 #8 Adam Haseley (PHI) was traded to the White Sox in '22 for a minor league pitcher and former 14th round pick in 2019. #10 Jo Adell (LAA) similar to Hiura has nothing to prove in the minors, but has struggled even more to produce in major leagues (.215/.259/.356 in 557 PAs) #17 Evan White (SEA) won a gold glove at 1B his rookie year, but produced .165/.235/.308 so far at the plate in the majors before suffering a hip injury then missing half of 2021 and all of 2022, and seemingly losing his spot to Ty France in the process. #22 Logan Warmouth (TOR) is 27 and has produced .243/.335/.355 in 1700 minor league PAs. #23 Jeren Kendall (LAD) will be 27 in February and has yet to reach AAA with a minor league slash line of .209/.303/.390 #32 Jeter Downs (CIN) has been traded twice and was recently put on waivers by Boston. #33 Kevin Merrell (OAK) is 27, has yet to debut in the majors and is with his 3rd organization (MIN). #34 Brian Miller (MIA) will turn 28 next August and in 2200 minor league PAs has a slash line of .285/.341/.375. #34 Brent Rooker (MIN) has also been traded twice and was recently acquired by Oakland off waivers from Kansas City.

I bet that’s all 100% made up by some fan. A player a “casual racist”? No way that wouldn’t have been in the media to generate clicks and views.

The vote for a salary cap would be 30-0 anyways. That’s what the strike in ‘94 was about. I don’t recall exactly anymore but I believe the players walked off not because of a salary cap but because the owners would not also agree to a salary floor. That ship has sailed now, and baseball finances are fundamentally different, and the players control the narrative in the media on labor issues.

Escobar has a 9.5 million dollar salary this year, with a club option of 9 million for 2024, with a 500K buyout. So it's really just 10 million, and you're right the Mets may decide its a worthwhile expenditure to have the depth, but we can hope I suppose. Heck, the Brewers should try to pry away Luis Guillorme. Not much in the slugging department, but a .354 career OBP in over 700 career plate appearances, 103 career strikeouts against 80 walks, and plays 2nd, 3rd and SS.

In part I agree, players have always gone where the money is; and the new labor deal especially stacks the deck against teams without huge local broadcast revenue. But extreme payroll discrepancy is really a creation of the last 25 years or so. In fact, the Brewers had the highest paid player in baseball, some 30 years ago.

Now Eduardo Escobar and his $10 million dollar salary find themselves on the bench. Maybe there’s a phone ringing in Milwaukee.

If Carlos Rodon is getting 6 years/162 million dollars, that is probably a comparable deal for Woodruff and Burnes would be selling himself a bit short at that price. Burnes and Woodruff are as good as gone, because I don't think the Brewers are ever going to have two players making 25+ million dollars per year. Maybe they can get Adames to take a little less, but the free agent signings this winter have pretty much doomed any realistic chance the Brewers had for extending any of those three players.

I find these sort of topics interesting that players would not "like" a particular city or franchise. The reality is professional baseball players go where the most money is 90+% of the time. They play for money, and the earning capacity of being a pro baseball player is fleeting compared to the rest of the working world. If Apple moved to Wausau, Wisconsin would Tim Cook resign his 100 million a dollar year position with Apple because it's Wausau? Hell no, and he'd actually have to spend more time in Wausau than any baseball player does in the city they play for (which is probably about twelve weeks a year, and when they're working most nights, including every weekend). Moreover, there may have been a time when players weren't thrilled with the notion about playing for Selig, on his irrelevant teams in a dump of a stadium, but those days are long gone. All the clubhouses and workout facilities in MLB are the best you can find anywhere in their industry, and with a few exceptions all of the stadiums are modern and well maintained. To be sure, there most likely a sub-set of players who's wallets are already fat and would like to win or be in a particular geographic area, and there are those with branding and advertising interests that are best served being coastal, but those are really the exceptions and not the rule. As for Justin Turner, we'll likely never know if the Brewers were interested and if they talked any sort of numbers with him this time around. I am surprised he left LA though.

I don’t know if that’s true. Renfroe is gone because of the organizational depth they have who will play for the league minimum, as opposed to 11+ million dollars. Wong was reportedly shopped at the deadline in ‘22, which tells me he was no longer in Milwaukee’s plans but had some value based on a favorable contract situation. Those trades are re-allocating financial resources more than anything. I sure hope the Brewers go out and sign a quality veteran hitter and a couple of relief pitchers because otherwise they’re kind of spinning their wheels.

Trea Turner’s OBP and SLG have gone down each year since his “mythical age 27 season”. Some teams might think it wise to decline handing out a 10 year contract to a player with those trends, but what do I know?

Well, at least with Acuna and Albies it helps to sign kids from the Dominican for bonuses in the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands instead of millions that American draftees get. The Brewers until recently didn’t have much of an operation in the islands. Then again with the money being thrown around now, any agent worth his salt will tell these kids they’d be suckers if they sign an extension that postpones their free agency.

You need to read more carefully. Betts had already been a Dodger for months when he was extended. Facts are facts, the Dodgers do spend a lot of money but it’s on their own guys and they do not typically run wild signing top price free agents. Other than those two previously mentioned LA’s free agent spending is typically on bullpen arms and bargain buys: Tyler Anderson, Andrew Heaney, Syndergaard etc. The 4th largest free agent contract ever doled out by the Dodgers is still the one given to Kevin Brown and he hasn’t pitched in the majors in 17 years. They very well may be trying to get their luxury tax situation under control, but anyone expecting them to have gone hog wild for free agents hasn’t been paying attention.

The Brewers gave their 2nd round CBA pick in '20 for Narvaez. The Reds used that pick in 2020 to select pitcher Connor Phillips. Phillips was then traded to Cincinnati in the spring of '22 for Jesse Winker. Next Seattle traded Jesse Winker in late '22 to Milwaukee for Kolten Wong. What a merry go round.

I don't know if 1 year/8 million (or 2 years/15 million with player option) for Narvaez is surprising . He made 5 million last year with the Brewers, and likely wasn't going to get a pay cut as a free agent. Then he had the good fortune that the supply of free agent catchers is thin this year, and he hits free agency at a time when even mediocre players are getting 8-10 million per year.

one must look at the history to get a full perspective. How many mega contracts have the Dodgers given out recently to players from outside their organization? Bauer and Freeman. And in both cases each player just won the top award for their position. Bauer the Cy Young and Freeman the MVP. Also, Freeman is deferring a ton of money into the future so they’re only paying him 20 million per year now and it drops down to 15 million in 2025 giving the Dodgers plenty of flexibility. Just because LA runs a huge payroll doesn’t mean they’re the Phillies or Mets building nearly half a team with high priced free agents.

This has been hashed out ad nauseum in other places. When 11 of your 35 hits against RHP go over the fence, the OPS should be sky high. To wit, if Hiura is capable of putting 31% of his hits over the fence for a whole season, he'd be on his way to Cooperstown.

Yes I can read. Perhaps you're not understanding me: my comment is when a guy like Boxberger is let go (and not for unreasonable reasons-- rough 2nd half in '22 and closing in on 35 years old) he goes and gets himself a raise in pay by a half million dollars. If that is in fact the new normal, then there really is not a reason for any other quality player to sign an extension, or exercise their half of a club option.

Yes, I am aware. The point being, the Brewers declined his club option because they didn't feel a $3 million salary in '23 for Boxberger was a bargain. Yet, if you add his buyout from Milwaukee (750K) his salary with the Cubs (2 million) and the buyout on his mutual option for '24 (800K) he is set to make 3.55 million for '23... a raise from what the Brewers didn't think was a good bargain.

The money is insane right now; why would any quality player consider signing an extension or exercising a player option in this climate?

I don't know if Longoria is over the hill, the last two years he's hit .252/.333/.466 and was an okay defender. Longoria's problem is he can't stay healthy, In 2022 he missed all of April with an injury then most of July. In '21 he missed all of June, July and nearly all of August with injuries. In '19 he missed half of July with an injury, and he missed over a month in '18 with injuries. I like his chances at producing in '22 better than I like Justin Turner's, but it's pretty much a given Longoria will a chunk of the season with an injury too.

I don't know about that. There have been some long threads debating Hiura in the past. The Brewers didn't non-tender him, so anything is possible, but his big 2019 season keeps receding further and further in the rearview mirror.