RollieTime

Here is an update on the current payroll situation. Brewers 2020 Payroll Batters Lorenzo Cain- $16 million Christian Yelich- $14 million Avisail Garcia- $10.5 million Omar Narvaez- 2.5 million Orlando Arcia- $2 million Manny Pina- $1.65 million Daniel Vogelbach- $1.4 million Keston Hiura- $600K Luis Urias- $600K Tyrone Taylor- $600K Luke Maile~ $600K Jacob Nottingham- $600K Total: $51.05 million Starting Pitchers Brandon Woodruff~ $3 million Josh Lindblom- $3 million Corbin Burnes- $600K Adrian Houser- $600K Eric Lauer- $600K Total: $7.8 million Josh Hader~ $5.5 million Brent Suter- $1.55 million Freddy Peralta- $1.2 million Devin Williams- $600K Eric Yardley- $600K Drew Rasmussen- $600K Justin Topa- $600K Total: $10.65 million Deferred/Buyouts Ryan Braun- $4 million Matt Garza- $2 million Jedd Gyorko- $1 million Eric Sogard- $500K Total: $7.5 million Total Current Payroll: $77 million

Glad to see him back in 2021. Him rebounding to his 2018-2019 form with Cain coming back and a guy like Urias taking a step forward, this offense will be just fine.

Nunez makes way too much sense for the Brewers. Based off that, I am sure that we will end up going a different route. He will be turning 27 early in the 2021 season and should theoretically be entering his prime years. 4 years of club control taking him through his age 30 season, power bat, position of need, he’s a perfect fit. His current offensive production is similar to Moose at a fraction of the cost and has the potential to keep maturing as a hitter.

All of this. Augustin should have a nice bounce back year this season and the addition of Portis is a big step up from Robin. I’m hoping we can still somehow work out a deal for Bogdanovic. If we could somehow pull that off, I would view the offseason moves as basically perfect given the circumstances.

Bring back Connaughton and Korver, draft Cassius Winston at 42, and a big at 60, and let’s go!! I also expect a couple veterans to sign for the minimum to fill out the rest of the roster with quality options.

Bogdanovic is another big get that can truly take us over the top. He and Holiday will complement Giannis perfectly. Glad to see the Bucks pick up a couple second round picks tonight to bring in some young talent. Hopefully Cassius Winston falls to the Bucks or they are able to trade up and draft him. I think he could be a Brogdon 2.0 type of player that can produce right away, do all the little things right, and hit some big shots. I remember checking a couple months ago and he was projected in the 40’s. Just checked again today and it looks like he might be a very late to early second round pick. He would be a nice get to spell Holiday.

Absolutely love this deal if Giannis and Holiday both sign extensions. I imagine that the Bucks are confident in not only Giannis signing a new deal, but Holiday willing to stick around beyond 2021.

A different idea I could see the Brewers doing and a much more plausible scenario instead of Morton would be bringing in a guy like Mike Fiers on a 1/$5 million contract to get a good quality innings eater type starter that keeps you in the game and has pitched 165+ innings the last three seasons prior to 2020. The other $5 million could be used on bringing in a relief pitcher like Kintzler for $3 million with the last couple million going to some guy late in the offseason looking for work. Someone like Eric Thames if we have the DH spot would be a solid get. Jordy Mercer is another option. He’s a professional hitter that could start a bunch of games for you and not hurt you.

Brewers’ Offseason Plan The Brewers’ current payroll is in the neighborhood of $85.5 million. I would look to trade/DFA Arcia, saving $2.7 million and slot Urias into the everyday SS role. Vogelbach and his $1.5 million would be gone. Knebel would be non-tendered, freeing up his $5.1 million. Claudio and his ~$2 million will be DFA’d as well. I would also look to shop Hader, but will keep him on the roster for this exercise as I don’t think teams will be knocking down the Brewers’ door to add a relief pitcher who will be getting large pay increases after having a season without any fans. This would lower the current payroll to roughly $74.2 million. I would look to add switch hitting Carlos Santana as the first baseman for 1/$5 million. He adds some pop to the lineup which we lacked last year and will take his walks. Next would be Tommy La Stella for third base at 3/$18 million. Not a ton of power, but will make solid contact, carries a minuscule K rate, and walks quite a bit. Nice leadoff hitter to add to the lineup the next few seasons. Gyorko would be brought back on a one year deal for $2 million to play some first and third and be a nice bat off the bench. And finally, I would add Charlie Morton on a 1/$10 million contract with $2 million deferred to keep payroll down, while moving Houser to the pen where he has pitched extremely well. Batters OF Lorenzo Cain- $16 million OF Christian Yelich- $14 million OF Avisail Garcia- $10.5 million 3B/2B/1B Tommy La Stella- $6 million 1B/3B Carlos Santana- $5 million C Omar Narvaez~ 2.9 million 1B/3B Jedd Gyorko- $2 million C Manny Pina~ $2 million 2B Keston Hiura- $600K SS/3B/2B Luis Urias- $600K OF Tyrone Taylor- $600K C Jacob Nottingham- $600K 2B/SS/3B/OF Mark Mathias- $600K Total: $61.4 million Starting Pitchers Charlie Morton- $10 million, $2 million deferred to 2021 Brandon Woodruff~ $3 million Josh Lindblom- $3 million Corbin Burnes- $600K Eric Lauer- $600K Total: $15.2 million Josh Hader~ $5.5 million Brent Suter- $1.55 million Freddy Peralta- $1.2 million Devin Williams- $600K Adrian Houser- $600K Eric Yardley- $600K Drew Rasmussen- $600K Justin Topa- $600K Total: $11.25 million Deferred/Buyouts Ryan Braun- $4 million Matt Garza- $2 million Jedd Gyorko- $1 million Eric Sogard- $500K Total: $7.5 million Total Payroll: $95.35 million I tried to keep the payroll in the $95 million range as I feel like they will look to run a payroll in the $90-$95 million range.

I wanted them to sign him a couple years ago too. He’s exactly the type of bat they need. I wonder if Avisail Garcia could learn first base and spend some time between first and the outfield instead of Brantley? Garcia is 6’4 and could probably transition to first pretty easily. A top of the order of Brantley, Cain, Yelich, and Hiura would be pretty nice.

WOAH SOLVDD

I think this might be an idea to start to explore when he’s 32 or 33, but he’s still only going to be 29 for the 2021 season. I doubt Stearns signed him with the plan to move him right away and pay a first baseman 20+ million. His bat would play there, but he still has great speed and seems to have good instincts in the outfield.

Carlos Santana would be a nice addition to this lineup and won’t break the bank. After watching what we saw last year, we need some thump in the lineup. Santana can provide that while also drawing a ton of walks.

I have put together a roster of their current players to give an idea of where they are at financially as of today. Let me know if I am missing someone or have something incorrect. Brewers 2020 Payroll Batters Lorenzo Cain- $16 million Christian Yelich- $14 million Avisail Garcia- $10.5 million Omar Narvaez~ 2.9 million Orlando Arcia~ $2.7 million Manny Pina~ $2 million Daniel Vogelbach~ $1.5 million Keston Hiura- $600K Luis Urias- $600K Tyrone Taylor- $600K Jacob Nottingham- $600K Mark Mathias- $600K Total: $52.6 million Starting Pitchers Brandon Woodruff~ $3 million Josh Lindblom- $3 million Corbin Burnes- $600K Adrian Houser- $600K Eric Lauer- $600K Total: $7.8 million Relief Pitchers Josh Hader~ $5.5 million Corey Knebel~ $5.1 million Alex Claudio~ $2 million Brent Suter- $1.55 million Freddy Peralta- $1.2 million Devin Williams- $600K Eric Yardley- $600K Drew Rasmussen- $600K Justin Topa- $600K Total: $17.75 million Deferred/Buyouts Ryan Braun- $4 million Matt Garza- $2 million Jedd Gyorko- $1 million Eric Sogard- $500K Total: $7.5 million Total Current Payroll: $85.65 million

Feliciano and Barker are the two I would add to the 40 without question. Let’s not let Barker walk like we did with Griep. That’s one I still can’t wrap my head around.

Lol, this is funny and sad at the same time. Funny that they would sign him and sad that they would even consider going this route

If I was Stearns, I would absolutely pick up Hand. Let Knebel walk and pick up Hand. Then you can look to trade Hader for the right price and basically have Hand replace him. If not, you have a back of the bullpen of Hader, Hand, and Williams. Moving on from Knebel and adding Hand would add about $5 million in payroll, but that can be mostly offset in other ways such as letting Arcia walk. Or just look at it as Sogard and Knebel are gone and we brought in Hand.

I do think this is the time to cash in on Hader. The emergence of Williams, the lack of bats in the lineup, Hader starting to get quite expensive and pair that with a shortened season with no fans and it’s quite the perfect storm to offload a guy like Hader. I love the Twins as a trade partner and could also see enticing packages from the White Sox, Padres, and Dodgers (if they don’t win the whole thing). I do think clearing Hader’s salary and bringing in an MLB ready prospect at one of the corner infield spots while filling in the other spot with a nice signing would be a solid offseason. You move Hader’s salary, bring in someone like Kirilloff from Minnesota to get your 1B of the future that could have an impact as early as 2021 and use the extra payroll space to sign a guy like Justin Turner for third. I’m a huge huge fan of Larnach and would love to get him in the deal as well, but I imagine the Brewers would need to add another piece to pull that off. Kirilloff and Larnach would be the two big gets with a couple other nice pieces thrown in. Maybe someone like Peralta?

You can say that again! For real though...

Wow was his swing in 2019 smooth compared to what we saw in 2020. I have to imagine someone was in his ear to adjust his swing to what we saw in 2020. Could Haines have told him to work on elevating the ball? Certainly a reasonable possibility. I don’t see them cutting bait on him at this point. His strikeout % for his career went from around 21% up to nearly 40% in 2020. His OBP was north of .350 the last two seasons prior to joining Milwaukee. His bat is legit. He needs to scrap his approach from 2020 and go back to what he did well in 2019,

I think Braun will be back in Milwaukee for one more year. He was still a productive hitter and would be a nice bat to have in the lineup. I also do not see him playing for any other franchise. He will either play another year in Milwaukee or retire. I think not being able to have a proper goodbye with the fans as well as being close to 2,000 career hits will give him that baseball itch one more time. Braun is a Brewers great and should have one more season to show us all who the most clutch man in Brewers history is. I think something like a 1/$5 million contract would be fair and well worth it. As a 5 or 6 hole hitter, we could do much worse. He is still a good hitter. Edit to add that I fully expect the DH to remain in the NL with Braun hopefully being able to play 5 or possibly 6 days per week with not needing to play in the field.

Narvaez, Nottingham, Pina, Gyorko, Hiura, Arcia, Urias, Yelich, Cain, Garcia, Gamel, Taylor is twelve position players. Burnes, Woodruff, Houser, Lindblom, Lauer, Suter, Yardley, Peralta, Topa, Rasmussen, Williams, Hader is twelve pitchers. I'd guess around 20 of those guys will be on the 2021 opening day roster. Would you consider 6 new players major roster turnover, or do you expect there to be more? I expect there to be quite a bit more than that. I forgot about Cain honestly and would view him as an addition lol. But outside of that, I could see Arcia and Gamel as being solid options to be moved. Narvaez is a tough call as I don’t think they will give up on him after a poor shortened season, but he’s a guy to keep an eye on. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see someone like Hader used to acquire a young bat +. Garcia is a guy who could also be shopped to try to clear his salary. Whether anyone would want him at his salary, who knows. He might be a guy you package with another MLB player to move him or he is included as a piece in a large trade.

This is exactly right. He isn’t good enough to be on the roster all season, but becomes a cleanup hitter in an elimination game? Yikes.... Hopefully the Brewers pull off a miraculous victory tonight, but this lineup would have a tough time scoring runs against a AAA squad. I expect major roster turnover once again this offseason.

Time to shock the world! Let’s goooooo!!

I certainly don’t think it’s a given that we see Peralta in any meaningful innings after his last appearance. If we are down in one of the games he might cover some innings. But they might be hesitant to throw him in there for 3 innings after Suter if we are tied or have a small lead.