RollieTime

I think it’s more of a discussion on what people would be comfortable doing for a contract than an actual prediction of what they will get. It only takes one team to throw a ton of money at a guy and basically end up bidding against themselves (Moose and Pomeranz notably). I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t any other team even offering Moose $40+ million. In Pomeranz’ case, I know I was hoping for something like 2/$10 million knowing full well that some team would throw a ton of money at him because of just how dominant he was. It just wasn’t going to be Milwaukee.

He has played some first and third and has dabbled in the outfield a little bit. I look at him as being a little redundant this season, but will have a clear path to everyday playing time in the future. I also look at it as insurance of if Hiura can’t remain at 2B and moves to 1B in the future (or DH possibly as early as 2021?). I’m not sure how he rates defensively in other positions, but he does have some experience in multiple spots. They could always have him come over and put him in the minors to play 50 or so games at third or some other position that they feel he will play long term for Milwaukee. Otherwise he could be one of those guys that plays everyday, but moves around the diamond.

Astros are still out there stealing signs. Now? Stealing signs from fans at games. Not gonna lie, I feel like people could start having a case against the Astros in some type of law suit for violating their freedom of speech. If they aren’t stating some type of criminal act or something violent on their sign, I see absolutely no reason they could take somebody’s sign. The Astros and possibly MLB could really be setting themselves up for some legal issues. This will only be the tip of the iceberg too. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28760766/fans-heckling-astros-spring-opener-get-signs-confiscated%3fplatform=amp

I saw an article a day or two ago with Gute saying that he believes the lack of firepower from the offense was from learning a new offense, but also because of a lack of talent at the tight end and wide receiver positions. I fully expect multiple new offensive weapons this offseason. Hooper makes too much sense as a TE target. I also think that one of our first 2 draft picks, hopefully our first, is used on a WR with a veteran wide receiver signing as well.

Just to throw another random proposal out there. I don’t think too many people have mentioned trades involving the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays have a totally revamped rotation and are looking to compete, so why not bring in the best reliever in the game to solidify their bullpen? Blue Jays Receive: LHP Josh Hader SS Orlando Arcia Brewers Receive: 2B Cavan Biggio LHP Tim Mayza RHP Alek Manoah SS Orelvis Martinez RHP Adam Kloffenstein I think this deal tips in the Brewers’ favor, but would shoot for something close to this. I would at least still consider the deal if Kloffenstein were to be removed from the trade entirely, but if he is part of the return package, I think I would definitely pull the trigger on this. Arcia is their stopgap option at second with Biggio heading to the Brewers. The Brewers would get Biggio for 6 years and Mayza would slot into the Brewers’ bullpen. All of Manoah, Martinez, and Kloffenstein are a couple years away from the big leagues, but are very highly regarded.

Or Holt & Gyorko An Urias and Holt left side of the infield would be pretty nice!

I just think it’s pretty remarkable how an organization has handled each and every situation this poorly since that initial incident with the assistant GM. They literally could not have handled all of these situations much worse than they have. And there’s no sign of things getting any better any time soon. They are a PR nightmare.

I wonder if the Brewers were looking at bringing in Severino as part of a Hader trade, but didn’t like the look of his medicals. Severino is experiencing forearm soreness and is scheduled to see a doctor today. There wasn’t anything linking Severino to Milwaukee, but he’s the caliber of player Stearns would look at getting as a return piece. It’ll be interesting to see how serious Severino’s injury is.

Just a little tidbit on this. Your premise is a .320OB but HRs go towards the OB number. If you want your best hitter at #3, if those .320 guys are batting 1/2, what happens when 1 or 2 of them hits 40HRs? What about when combined Leadoff 30HR, 2nd to bat 40HRs or 70Combined before that best hitter? Well my math at a leadoff with 30HRs and best hitter #2 is 28% vs 32. And #3 with 70HRs combined at 27.3% And I think with both bases occupied 7.64% if the multiple of both numbers is what figures that out? In regards to the RBI/PAs with runners one/order batted: Can notice on Yelich's at #2, that's based on him playing less games there right? Which I guess to equal those stats out, you'd have to go on equation on what a 162 game projection? Two of the top 3 in that with runners on base came from the 4th batting spot, even though that spot has 33less PAs in the season than #2. So I think what this shows is you may want to bat your highest HR/PA #4 and your best batter after that #2. High OB #1 after that. Best batter after those figured out #3. If I go by that Yelich goes 4th. Hiura goes #2. I don't know exactly how 1/3 work as after Yelich and Hiura nobody else is an everyday player. Braun probably fills #3 with his OB/OPS combo from last season. I can see your point about not having Yelich hit third if the guys in front of him are hitting 30-40 homers, but that isn’t something we need to worry about. If we had the Dodgers roster with Bellinger, Betts, Turner, Muncy, Seager, and Pederson to a point, then yeah, it would make sense to hit Yelich (or Bellinger) second or fourth. They have so many offensive threats that it’s easy to get good protection of each guy in the lineup with how loaded it is and they all deserve the most at bats possible. That would be like us having Yelich, Prince, Hiura, and prime Braun all on the roster at one time. If we had that like the Dodgers do, then Yelich could hit second or fourth and the example you gave would make sense. But we have guys like Holt, Cain, Sogard, and Urias who would hit in front of Yelich. The most home runs any of them will hit would be 15 or so. Which means there will be a ton of runners on base if Yelich were to hit 3rd. And Hiura would be the guy protecting Yelich in the 4 hole.

I think you’re reading that wrong......3.25 million minimum this season with a 750k buyout if the option. So 4 million minimum......plus incentives. Looks like his salary is in fact $2.5 million. The buyout brings it up to $3.25 million. He also has $750K in possible incentives to bring the total to $4 million including the opt out if he gets at least 450 at bats. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/brock-holt-11509/

I want to bump this thread in that I think this would be a great opportunity for the Brewers to be able to drop Yelich to third in the order and be able to mix and match different guys in front of him that could all have .350+ OBP’s. Holt, Cain, Hiura, Sogard, and Urias (hopefully) all could have OBP’s at or above .350. I feel that being able to put more runners on in front of Yelich early in games and being able to (in my opinion) drop Hiura to 4th to give us a great bat to protect Yelich. My ideal lineup is Hiura 2nd, Yelich 3rd, and a big bat 4th (like Castellanos which is why I wanted him so bad), but since we don’t have one, I hope Hiura takes that spot and we put a couple guys like Holt and a rebounded Cain (or Urias?) in front of Yelich.

Getting a guy of his caliber for $2.5 million this season is pretty remarkable. How he had such little interest is beyond me. He doesn’t have much pop, but can play anywhere and has had a .360+ OBP the last two seasons. He is a guy that you would think every team would love to have as a possible lead off hitter or guy to put in the 7 or 8 hole in the lineup. There are plenty worse options that teams will be using in the bottom third of their everyday lineup than what Holt can provide.

Updated Player List Position Players Braun $14 million ($3 million deferred) Cain $15 million ($1 million deferred) Yelich $12.5 million Garcia $7.5 million Hiura $550K Arcia $2.2 million Urias $550K Pina $1.8 million Gamel $1.4 million Narvaez $2.73 million Sogard $4.5 million Smoak $4 million Gyorko $1 million Healy $250K+ Holt $2.5 million Total $70.48 million Rotation Woodruff $550K B. Anderson $5 million Houser $550K Lauer $550K Lindblom $3 million Total $9.65 million Bullpen Hader $4.1 million Knebel $5.2 million Claudio $1.8 million Suter $1 million Peralta $550K Feyereisen $550K Wahl $550K Phelps $1.25 million Total $15.4 million Other Options (not included on payroll list) Faria $550K Burnes $550K D. Williams $550K Buyouts/Deferred Payments Thames $1 million Moustakas $3 million Grandal $2.25 million Garza $2 million Total $8.25 million $70.48 + $9.65 + $15 + $8.25 = $103.38 Million Current Payroll About $24 million below last year’s payroll. Every time I post this, moves tend to happen. Here’s to the next Brewers transaction in the next day or two

You could tell Manfred knew about it when he began implementing certain rule changes regarding technology. After 2017 with the Astros stealing signs, television delays in the stadium were then placed on 8 second delays other than the replay room. Then in 2018 after the Red Sox cheated and won the whole thing by having someone in the replay room relaying the signs, MLB started having a person monitor the replay rooms to make sure nobody was stealing signs starting in 2019. You think he just happened to put these changes into effect right after these incidents occurred and didn’t know they were happening? Absolutely not. That worthless soul knew it was going on and never brought it to light until he was forced to. He’s a pathetic coward that should absolutely lose his job for letting this happen and sitting on his hands without handing out any type of punishment. He’s an absolute disgrace to the game of baseball.

Bud has been here for exactly one year not including this season. He took a 44-38 7 seeded Bucks team over and brought them 60+ wins in his first season. After doing so in his first season as head coach of the Bucks, Milwaukee is now a destination where veterans come on low cost deals to try to win a championship. In his second season, the Bucks will be pushing for 70 wins. If they lose in the ECF, yes it will be disappointing. But Bud will absolutely not be on the hot seat. If he fails to make the Finals after a third season of 60+ wins, yes I could see his seat getting warm, but he will at least get a 4th crack at making the Finals. At that point if he still can’t make the Finals, something might change. But there is no way Bud will be fired if they lose in the ECF again this season.

All of this. There is so much that the Brewers need to pay for behind the scenes that they can’t just throw every dollar they make into payroll. They also have probably over one thousand employees they need to pay. From food vendors to team doctors, other front office personnel, scouting, field crew (in both Milwaukee and Arizona). They also are much more heavily involved in scouting and international signings recently, which obviously takes more money. Miller Park improvements, all fan give aways, different gift cards and things like that given out during games to fans doing things on the big screen, donations to different programs in the city. It all adds up. I’m not sure why it’s so hard to believe that a team that spent $130+ million on payroll, not including any other expense, is somehow still just raking in money. I think Mark is a pretty honest and straight forward owner. I do believe that they took a loss in 2019. I don’t want to get into this big payroll debate like we did before. But when I went through and tried to find the break even point before, I was thinking it was in the $135 million range when I broke it down last season. Them having a payroll around $133 million and taking a loss once you include all of their other expenses is a very realistic possibility and puts it very close to the number I came up with before.

All of this. There is so much that the Brewers need to pay for behind the scenes that they can’t just throw every dollar they make into payroll. They also have probably over one thousand employees they need to pay. From food vendors to team doctors, other front office personnel, scouting, field crew (in both Milwaukee and Arizona). They also are much more heavily involved in scouting and international signings recently, which obviously takes more money. Miller Park improvements, all fan give aways, different gift cards and things like that given out during games to fans doing things on the big screen, donations to different programs in the city. It all adds up. I’m not sure why it’s so hard to believe that a team that spent $130+ million on payroll, not including any other expense, is somehow still just raking in money. I think Mark is a pretty honest and straight forward owner. I do believe that they took a loss in 2019. I don’t want to get into this big payroll debate like we did before. But when I went through and tried to find the break even point before, I was thinking it was in the $135 million range when I broke it down last season. Them having a payroll around $133 million and taking a loss once you include all of their other expenses is a very realistic possibility and puts it very close to the number I came up with before.

Lauer also gave up 5 in 6IPs at S.F. - 4 in 5 IPs at Ariz - 5 in 4.2 at Chi - 4 in 2.1 at the Mets - and some other poorer outings. I think the biggest thing on Lauer is he pitched in one of the most friendly pitcher's parks in all of baseball and struggled a lot on the road. Still he's probably the Brewer's 3rd best option to start, so maybe you're right. Those were the ones I included above. I took out his 3 horrendous Colorado starts. But I’ll agree that his road ERA of 4.5 (after removing his 3 terrible Colorado starts) is a little concerning. But he is only 24 years old. I do think he will take a step forward this year similar to Woodruff and become the 1B to Woodruff’s 1A. Just don’t make him start at Coors!

Lauer also gave up 5 in 6IPs at S.F. - 4 in 5 IPs at Ariz - 5 in 4.2 at Chi - 4 in 2.1 at the Mets - and some other poorer outings. I think the biggest thing on Lauer is he pitched in one of the most friendly pitcher's parks in all of baseball and struggled a lot on the road. Still he's probably the Brewer's 3rd best option to start, so maybe you're right. Those were the ones I included above. I took out his 3 horrendous Colorado starts. But I’ll agree that his road ERA of 4.5 (after removing his 3 terrible Colorado starts) is a little concerning. But he is only 24 years old. I do think he will take a step forward this year similar to Woodruff and become the 1B to Woodruff’s 1A. Just don’t make him start at Coors!

Love the Holt signing! He is a great addition to this roster. The Garcia and Holt signings were the two I really liked this offseason. The roster construction is a little odd though as it sits. Not including Healy, we are at 14 batters on the roster. Positional Versatility Shown Below 1B: Braun/Smoak/Holt 2B: Hiura/Urias/Holt/Sogard SS: Urias/Sogard/Arcia/Holt 3B Gyorko/Sogard/Holt OF: Yelich/Cain/Garcia/Braun/Holt/Gamel C: Narvaez/Pina Arcia seems way too redundant at this point. Holt can be the emergency SS as well making Arcia essentially roster filler at this point. It is an option to put one of Gamel or Arcia in the minors to make it fit. I feel like Gamel will be the one to make the roster as a defensive replacement/pinch hitter/pinch runner and should get that last roster spot. I think Arcia will most likely be traded for a lower level minor leaguer or possibly be DFA’d prior to the season to get the majority of their money back. A trade seems the most likely at this point as I think some team like the Orioles would give him a shot to try to find himself.

Love the Holt signing! He is a great addition to this roster. The Garcia and Holt signings were the two I really liked this offseason. The roster construction is a little odd though as it sits. Not including Healy, we are at 14 batters on the roster. Positional Versatility Shown Below 1B: Braun/Smoak/Holt 2B: Hiura/Urias/Holt/Sogard SS: Urias/Sogard/Arcia/Holt 3B Gyorko/Sogard/Holt OF: Yelich/Cain/Garcia/Braun/Holt/Gamel C: Narvaez/Pina Arcia seems way too redundant at this point. Holt can be the emergency SS as well making Arcia essentially roster filler at this point. It is an option to put one of Gamel or Arcia in the minors to make it fit. I feel like Gamel will be the one to make the roster as a defensive replacement/pinch hitter/pinch runner and should get that last roster spot. I think Arcia will most likely be traded for a lower level minor leaguer or possibly be DFA’d prior to the season to get the majority of their money back. A trade seems the most likely at this point as I think some team like the Orioles would give him a shot to try to find himself.

I’m honestly shocked that people don’t think Lauer is a lock for the rotation. He had 3 horrendous starts in Colorado last year where he pitched a total of 8 innings and gave up 17 earned runs. You remove those starts and he pitched 141.2 innings of 3.62 ERA baseball. Also in 17 of those 27 starts, he gave up 2 ER or less. In only 2 of those starts, he gave up 5 ER. He keeps you in the game basically every time he takes the mound. Just for reference, Woodruff gave up 2 ER or fewer in 11 of his 20 starts (not including his 2 2 inning appearances late in the year). He gave up 5 ER or more in only 1 start. I think Woodruff, Lauer, and Anderson are 3 locks for the rotation with the other guys fighting it out for the other two. Houser should also probably be starting since he has multiple pitches even though I really like him out of the bullpen. He just needs to be given the opportunity to start until he proves that he can’t. We need to develop our own starters and forcing a guy that has a 4 pitch mix into the pen when he has been a fine back of the rotation arm to date probably isn’t the best long term idea.

I’m honestly shocked that people don’t think Lauer is a lock for the rotation. He had 3 horrendous starts in Colorado last year where he pitched a total of 8 innings and gave up 17 earned runs. You remove those starts and he pitched 141.2 innings of 3.62 ERA baseball. Also in 17 of those 27 starts, he gave up 2 ER or less. In only 2 of those starts, he gave up 5 ER. He keeps you in the game basically every time he takes the mound. Just for reference, Woodruff gave up 2 ER or fewer in 11 of his 20 starts (not including his 2 2 inning appearances late in the year). He gave up 5 ER or more in only 1 start. I think Woodruff, Lauer, and Anderson are 3 locks for the rotation with the other guys fighting it out for the other two. Houser should also probably be starting since he has multiple pitches even though I really like him out of the bullpen. He just needs to be given the opportunity to start until he proves that he can’t. We need to develop our own starters and forcing a guy that has a 4 pitch mix into the pen when he has been a fine back of the rotation arm to date probably isn’t the best long term idea.

Burnes has the repertoire to be a top of the rotation arm. I think last year was a mix of getting unlucky, but also getting shaky on the mental side of things when every mistake was hit 400 feet. He still had elite strikeout numbers and threw some pretty nasty pitches. Didn’t he strike out the first 8 or 9 batters of a game last season even though he only had 4 starts? He has the stuff. I too believe that our success this season on the pitching front will come down to Hader (obviously), Burnes, and Peralta.

So what you’re saying is they’ve positioned themselves to take on a majority of Nolan Arenado’s contract? I would be on board with that! I highly doubt the Rockies would have any interest in including money in the deal, but if they included something like $40 million and could bring the AAV under $28 million for the next 7 seasons and if he is willing to not opt out, I would be all for it. I would expect a slight drop in his production leaving Coors, but he would still be a gold glove third baseman that should still be a .280/.350 hitter with 35 homers. Looking at it financially for next season, his salary would basically replace Braun, Sogard, Arcia, and Smoak on the roster. While also having our C, 3B, SS, and 2B all locked up for 3+ seasons including this season. Cain Hiura Yelich Arenado Narvaez Braun/Garcia Smoak/Braun Urias P