RollieTime

Can’t fault Tatis. Throw strikes if you don’t want to get into that situation. You’re a big league pitcher on an MLB team. This isn’t little league. You’re grown men making millions to play baseball. If you can’t handle professional hitters swinging the bat, then I don’t know what to tell you. Pitch better and don’t put your team in that position to be down by a bunch of runs.

This is for you Clancy! You would be proud! I’m on your bandwagon. #Braunbacktothird2020

Thank you. I’ve never been a fan of Counsell, but this type of lineup construction multiple days per week where you’re scratching your head shouldn’t happen. Analytics play a part in it as well as past performance against a guy, but you also need to look at who’s hot and play them. We basically had the majority of our quality bats this season on the bench.

How was most of that 2018 team's success thanks to what he started with? Wasn't HE responsible for the trade of Yelich, the trades that brought the players he traded Yelich for, the signing of Cain... Who were the significant pieces on that team that he started with vs the players who he acquired? He also brought in Aguilar and Shaw, who may not be with the Crew now, but did have 67 homeruns combined that season.

Moving Keston to DH would basically be them giving up on Keston at 2B and telling him that he will be the DH the next 5 seasons. I don’t think him moving to DH is an option at this point. Could he be our first baseman heading into 2021? How about left field? For reference, Prince and Hiura are both 6’ so it’s at least something to consider. But no, I don’t see them moving him to DH. See if he continues to improve at 2B the rest of the season. Consider a position change to 1B after the season. That’s at least what I would look to do at this point. It would be big to be able to hit the free agency pool with the DH spot open. It at least gives you the option to bring in guys like Cruz, Encarnacion, possibly Castellanos, guys like that to improve the lineup that may be better suited as a DH.

Here’s a little bit of a different idea: Brewers Acquire: RHP Zach Plesac 3B Nolan Jones (MLB Prospect #46) Indians Acquire: LHP Josh Hader Plesac has caused a rift within the Indians organization and they may look to move on from the young pitcher. He is controlled for 5+ more seasons and would be a staple in our rotation for a long time. Jones is a big lefty bat that is in the upper minors and plays 3B. Extremely patient hitter that will draw a ton of walks. The Brewers would quite possibly have their third baseman of the future and have 3 of their 4 infield spots locked up for 5+ years all making the minimum. Not sure if the Indians would have any interest in Hader, but a trade like this would set the Brewers up extremely well for the future. They would be able to spend big elsewhere as their core is all extremely young and cost controlled. If the Brewers could move Cain at some point this offseason as well since he will only have 2 years left, they would have a TON of financial flexibility to make significant moves this offseason. I would pull the trigger on this trade.

I mean if they want to permanently move on from Plesac because of his decisions, I would gladly take him on the Brewers. If it causes enough of a rift where players despise him and refuse to play with him again, a trade may happen. It may sound unlikely, but it’s a possibility. I imagine that he absolutely learned from his mistake and won’t try anything like that again whether that’s with the Indians or another organization.

Is this allowed on this board? Might need a time out to think about what you said.

I love Urias!

I love Urias!

Narcannon strikes again!

He jumped on that first pitch strike. I would love to see the Brewers do more of that.

#RyanBraunForever

I love Urias!

Where there’s Smoak, there’s doubles in the gap!

Can we just relegate Sogard to the bench and put Braun at third (half blue)? Where is Clancy when you need him? Maybe he’s been right all along. This is one big master plan of getting no production from third so then when we throw Braun there, it’s not a big shock and people are open to the idea. Braun began his career at third base with the Brewers in 2007, he will finish his career (possibly) in 2020 at third base!

If he was good, he would have 20 K’s... Peralta is really starting to look like a weapon out of the bullpen. I do hold out hope that he is given another shot in the rotation and can form a strong nucleus of Woodruff, Houser, and Peralta with the next wave of Small, Kelly, and Lazar possibly knocking on the door in 2022 to fight for a rotation spot. I can’t recall a time where the Brewers had so much promise with their pitching. That doesn’t even include all the youth they have in their bullpen and other guys knocking on the door of the big league roster.

I certainly have not lost any confidence in Stearns. The Brewers reportedly were in on Rendon at the Winter Meetings this past offseason. After Rendon decided to go a different route, Stearns pivoted to a bunch of one year guys. Not only did they try to avoid black holes from multiple spots in the order, but it kept financial flexibility going forward. The one year guys would hopefully help keep us in contention. If we were out of it in late July, most if not all of the rentals would have been flipped for some low end prospects. Regardless of how the season went, financial flexibility was kept for the 2020 offseason. Stearns is certainly willing to spend big on big time guys (Yelich, Cain) along with the Rendon rumor. Not to mention the Moose and Grandal signings. I imagine we will be in the mix for a nice bat or two this offseason as well. Take a look at the list of free agents. It’s a pretty strong group of bats this year. And the Brewers will once again have the room to make a big splash if the opportunity presents itself. Possibly heading into the 2021 season knowing in advance that the DH will be in the NL will also play a large impact on the guys Stearns will look to bring in and how he will construct the roster this offseason. Hopefully that is something that gets set in stone soon.

Hard to fit a guy on the roster who is hitting over .300 when you have a whole pile of guys hitting over .150.

I've never been a big fan of platoons, but Counsell and Stearns have leaned into that idea in a big way this year. It's annoying. Platoons work when you have a ton of talented bench players like the Dodgers have. That's not what the Brewers have, though. As meh as it sounds, Gyorko should probably be taking the vast majority of the ABs at 3B. Urias at SS, Hiura at 2B. Get them in a routine. I’ve hated it for the last few years. Glad to see that others view it as a detriment to the productivity of players. Guys just can’t get hits because they are playing sporadically. Hot bats ride the bench and typically cool off because of taking them out of the flow. Lineups are constantly different and guys don’t know whether they are playing or not until they are at the park. You always hear players talk about how huge it is for their confidence, especially during a rough stretch, that their coach has confidence in them to keep playing them even if they are in a 1-18 stretch. Also, it’s tough to hit a pitcher that throws from the same side that you bat from when you rarely if not ever face them. Get your best guys in the lineup and leave it. If someone is struggling for a bit, maybe switch it up. If a guy is hot (Pina), ride the hot bat. Way too many times the last few years you’ll have a guy who will go 4-7 in a two game stretch or have a 3-4 game and then get benched. Just ask Pina who is 4-7 in his last 7 at bats, riding a 5 game hitting streak and hit 2 home runs in his last game, only to be benched the next two. Are you trying to win games? This is just one of a ton of examples through the years of this and it’s absolutely dumbfounding.

Completely agree with this. If we knew we would have the DH, the offseason most likely would have played out much differently. The money can be spent more on quality over quantity.

With Boston open to trading anyone on their roster, would the Brewers have a shot at bringing in someone like Xander Bogaerts to man shortstop for the foreseeable future? He has 6 years and $120 million left on his deal, but does have an opt out after the 2023 season. If he is willing to opt in, I would be much more inclined to bring him in. How would a trade like this sound to you? If he were to opt in, it would take him through his age 33 season. Braun’s money is off the books after this season. Plus Bogaerts would add that big bat to pair with Yelich and Hiura for a long time. It would also allow Hiura to become the DH full time. 2B Urias DH Hiura LF Yelich SS Bogaerts RF Garcia C Narvaez CF Cain 3B 1B https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2020/08/red-sox-trade-rumors-boston-has-been-engaged-in-talks-with-other-clubs-considers-no-one-untouchable-ahead-of-aug-31-deadline.html

Pina has to be in the lineup tonight right? Gotta play the hot bat. Wouldn’t mind seeing Pina or Narvaez as the DH. Narvaez has a hit in 4 of the last 5 games and an OBP north of .340.

Unpopular opinion, but I much prefer Narvaez to Grandal catching. I don’t miss watching Grandal drop strikes seemingly every game which leads to them being called balls or his frequent passed balls. Narvaez also frames pretty well from what I’ve seen. The bat hasn’t come around quite yet, but it will in time. Narvaez looks comfortable back there. Edit to add that Grandal also is ranked 26th out of all active catchers with a 26% caught stealing percentage. He certainly didn’t pass the eye test and his low caught stealing percentage and being one of the leaders in passed balls in the league, it’s crazy how he somehow ranks so highly defensively.

When you add the $29 million between Cain to sit out and Braun not playing, plus the $8.25 million for random deferments of prior contracts, plus the $8.5 million owed to Sogard and Smoak combined, you’re looking at $45.75 million of our payroll tied up right there. Not looking to start a payroll debate by any means. Just pointing out that we have a massive amount of our payroll contributing little to none for us this season. Obviously we aren’t paying Cain for this season, but you get the point. It limited our offseason moves.