RollieTime

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+ Total $67.98 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 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 $67.98 + $9.65 + $15 + $8.25 = $100.88 Million Current Payroll About $27 million below last year’s payroll. If I am missing a player, let me know. Otherwise this is at least a ballpark guess of about where the Brewers are at financially. They are in a good position to add at the deadline (or still prior to the start of the 2020 season) as well as take on a contract another team is looking to rid themselves of in return for some good young players.

Manfred stated that players that throw at Astros players intentionally will result in “more severe” suspensions. An unnamed player came out and stated essentially that players will get suspended for pegging a player, but you can cheat and win a World Series and not get suspended? It’s nice how Manfred is getting out front now to protect the cheaters after not even giving them as much as a slap on the wrist. But now it’s time to lay down the law and suspend anyone trying to get retribution. And make the penalties MORE SEVERE to protect the cheaters while having lesser suspensions for players of other teams getting thrown at. What a joke. This is going to lead MLB down a path that they absolutely wish they weren’t going down. Letting a team cheat to win it all, but now come out and protect the cheaters without letting their opponents get any type of payback while also giving the Astros added protection with the harsher penalties on their players getting hit. There is going to be brawls between the Astros and other teams and the Astros deserve everything that is coming their way whether that’s hit batsmen, brawls, and suspensions from in-game fallouts. Manfred is a joke. There will not be a worse commissioner to ever run MLB.

The dunk contest was pretty impressive tonight. Aaron Gordon got robbed though. Nothing against Derrick Jones Jr. as he had some pretty impressive dunks as well. But Gordon absolutely deserved to win the dunk contest.

I do think that if they reduce the years of control and/or have all players reach arbitration after 2 years instead of 3, MLB would need to do some type of revenue sharing to keep small market teams relevant. I do think that could also be a reason for the attendance dropping as fans know that their team won’t compete with the big boys and don’t want to waste their time and money on entertainment that people may feel puts their team at a disadvantage already. If Manfred works toward removing the luxury tax or greatly increasing the tax line to something like $250 million without adding revenue sharing, then MLB will be digging their own grave. There would be absolutely no way for small market teams to be able to compete with less cheap control and more open spending for the big markets. The interesting part is, the players might find this type of thing appealing as it adds more money for the big market teams to spend AND the players get paid earlier in arbitration AND reach free agency earlier. The most logical thing to do is revenue sharing and putting in a minimum payroll for teams like $100 million and have that number increase by $2 million each year. Then if they bump the luxury tax to $250 million or so, it would be manageable for a team like the Brewers who could year in and year out spend $150 million on payroll by receiving money through revenue sharing. But we shall see.

You have to be designated as a pitcher for a certain number of games right? its all about the designation. when you are designated as a pitcher you won't be able to go play the field and vice versa. After the player has the right number of games at both positions they can be designated a 2-way player. Ahh, no rule against playing a pitcher in the field. So that player would have to count as a pitcher until he hits 20 innings and 20 starts with min 3 PA. Yeah jeez. Come on, this is the way baseball is meant to be played. With rules on top of rules to govern rules so much that nobody even knows what is what anymore. So when a team is down 7-1 in the 9th and has mustered something like 1 or 2 hits all day, they are forced to waste a pitcher even though the game is essentially over. I hate all these rule changes. There is so much going on it’s hard to even keep track of everything like how many appearances 2 way players have for the year, mound visits, 3 batter minimum, different IL stays depending on if you’re a pitcher or position player, what can or can’t be challenged, roster pitcher limits, when position players can pitch, etc. Can’t wait until the pitch clock is added next as well as pick off limits, time limits per inning, and foul ball limits where after 3 foul balls, you’re out. This is the game we all fell in love with.

That is such a gross thought it’s not even funny. But it’s a very realistic scenario that we could be looking at a few short weeks from now...

That kid is 16? Man oh man! Definitely jumping the gun, but we might have one of those generational talents that comes up before he’s 20. He sure is highly regarded.

I have a hard time believing that the Brewers would not be interested in a Pederson/Stripling trade. This is one of those moves I feel like Mark would have no issue with and knows that getting those two guys would be a pretty significant upgrade to the roster. Whether the Dodgers have much interest in what we have to offer, we shall see. But I definitely think that Stearns is looking into this. There will be plenty of at bats to go around. I think the playing time dilemma here is way overstated. Having one of Braun, Garcia, Cain, Pederson, and even Yelich on the bench to come in later in games in a big situation or when a reliever is required to face 3 batters and can’t be pulled, is definitely not a bad thing to have. Cain, Braun, and Yelich will all have 15+ days off during the season. With Braun more around the 50 mark. Pederson could easily fit on this roster and get 400+ at bats even with Garcia on the roster. Injuries are inevitable as well where we should be happy to have someone like Garcia and Pederson to get significant time instead of guys like Perez, Saladino, and Gamel. I’ve seen people in the past also mention using the 26th roster spot on a 3rd catcher so we can use Pina to pinch hit sometimes. Which do you prefer. Pina pinch hitting and needing to use a roster spot on Freitas as a third catcher or Pederson/Braun/Garcia as a pinch hitter and not wasting a third spot on a catcher? Not saying this is what most people want. Just that it was mentioned by some earlier in the offseason. I would rather have a great bat or two off the bench every day than guys struggling to hit the Mendoza line like we’ve been accustomed to recently.

The biggest folly I've seen thusfar is how much people are minimizing potential contributions from Burnes/Peralta. Most people see them as upside depth, whereas I expect at least one to force his way into the opening day rotation. Those guys both ranked ahead of Woodruff heading into 2019, primarily for stuff reasons. For whatever reason, Burnes was way too hittable. Peralta was bad in the rotation and much better in relief, likely due to his 1.5-2 pitch arsenal. I can't really explain Burnes, but I would be shocked if the Brewers and him didn't heavily invest in figuring out the problem and identifying a solution heading into 2020. Maybe he added or adjusted a pitch, maybe he was simply tipping pitches...whatever it is, I would find it weird if he was bad again. The stuff is just too good. Peralta went from his 1.5-2 pitch arsenal and from what I read...was throwing 4 distinct pitches in winter league(I'm sure everyone saw the results). Imagine if even one of them is as good or better than 2019 Woodruff. And then imagine we have 2 guys like that the whole season. And then pair those 2 with Lauer and never let him see the mound in Colorado again. Lauer is a good number 2 pitcher if you remove his handful of truly awful starts pitching in Colorado. It wouldn’t shock me if Lauer takes a step forward and gets his K/9 above 9 and drops his ERA to the 3.6 range or so.

Not really sure where to put this, so I figured I would create a new thread to discuss prospects within the minor leagues that are from Wisconsin. John Sechen signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies on January 30th, 2020 and will be reporting to Spring Training today. Sechen is a catcher that I played baseball with and I was really hoping the Brewers would draft him in the 2019 draft or sign him at some point in the following months, but it never came to fruition. He played all 4 years at the University of Illinois-Springfield and hit .338 with 11 home runs with an OBP of .497 and slugged .579 his senior season. Sechen is fantastic defensively. If he can hit a little bit, he should be able to stick around for a while. I’m excited to keep up on him this season and see how he’s doing within the Rockies organization. I provided a few links below if you have interest in reading about him. https://uisprairiestars.com/sports/baseball/roster/john-sechen/2027 https://californiawinterleague.com/2020/02/06/cwl-catcher-john-sechen-signed-by-colorado-rockies/ https://newschannel20.com/sports/content/former-uis-baseball-player-john-sechen-signs-with-rockies

This just made me think that this wouldn’t help with more teams spending to be competitive. It would cause teams that are in that 85 win area to not spend (only talking about certain owners) knowing that they will probably make the postseason as it is so why spend more? Save the money, get the postseason revenue, add to the bank.

This is exactly why I wouldn’t like the new format. Having half the league make it into the postseason and having sub .500 teams make it as well? It’s tough to make the postseason in baseball. That’s why it’s so exciting when you do make it in. The thrill of the MLB postseason could quite possibly lose its luster until the championship series just like the NBA if they go this route. It does give worse teams a chance to knock off a better team because of the randomness of baseball, but making the postseason itself, in my opinion, would become much less of an achievement. You would only need to strive for 80 wins and have a real shot of making it in. It would be a given that certain teams would make it in for 20+ years in a row. Heck, the Brewers could make it 7-10 years in a row no problem if that’s all you need. This all comes down to money and adding more playoff revenue instead of the betterment of the game. Letting 79 win teams make the postseason and being rewarded the chance to win a championship from their “performance” during the regular season is gross all the way around.

Manfred sucks. That is all. Once again, he tries his best to destroy the game of baseball. I know it’s been discussed in the past, but I always thought that players wouldn’t want a bunch of time off after being used to playing almost every single day and then needing to play in the biggest games of the season while now being “out of sync” in a way. Isn’t that the reason the Wild Card round is only one game and not a series of 3 games? If Manfred is now fine having top seeds sit out a round, then just turn the Wild Card round into a 3 game series, with no days off between the games, and the other 3 teams all get to rest. Instead of adding more teams to the postseason, I would much rather see a Wild Card series implemented. I also wouldn’t have an issue with having the top seed getting to pick their opponent after the Wild Card game as I think that would be an interesting idea. But expanding to 7 teams is just watering down the entire regular season. You can’t be letting half of the league into the postseason.

All things equal, it should really have been Thanasis. But Dragan Bender isn't worth pissing Giannis off. I always thought it would be wise for the Bucks to bring in Giannis’ brothers to fill the end of the bench. Heck, bring them all in if it keeps him happy. I remember watching the 2018 draft and hoping the Bucks would buy a 2nd round pick to draft Kostas, but they decided not to. Philadelphia then went on to draft him with the last pick.

Bucks will be waiving Dragan Bender to make room for Marvin Williams.

Jeffress is a perfect example of this. He was throwing what, 85 MPH last year in actual game action? And that wasn’t in early February like it was for Walker. It’s definitely a concern, but he could realistically get back to 90-92 after a couple more months of throwing and building the arm strength back up.

Depends if you want the instant gratification of (possibly) making the postseason one more time with Yelich and only receiving a comp pick or looking long term by bringing in a 4 WAR outfielder for 5 years to replace him with other quality prospects coming along that are in the upper minors. Not saying that Verdugo is on Yelich’s level, but bringing him in sure isn’t waving the white flag for a rebuild. So I guess to answer you, yes I would punt on the postseason for 1 year (IF we even missed the postseason) to get 5 years of Verdugo. But don’t forget that the $15 million saved could be used to bring in another impact bat to pair in the lineup with Verdugo, Hiura, Urias plus whoever else we have on the roster at that point.

This is basically where I am. You offer Yelich a big contract like 6/$180 million. If he has no interest in signing an extension, you look to trade him with 1 year left. This was quite the haul for Boston who attached a bad contract with Betts and is also almost twice as expensive as Yelich will be in his final season under contract. If we could get 5 years of Verdugo plus a couple other highly regarded guys in the upper minors for one season of Yelich, I would hop all over that. Holding onto Yelich through the final season is what would set an organization like the Brewers back by not bringing in the type of talent they could get for one year of a player and just riding it out. Verdugo would really help ease the blow as he’s a middle of the order bat himself with probably multiple all-star appearances on the horizon that would still be cheap for 2 more seasons. 2 seasons of an all-star caliber outfielder making the minimum, with 5 years total of control, while also opening up $15 million to be spent on other improvements to the roster? Not too shabby.

First thought after seeing this trade is “well, all that’s left to do now is trade for Hader”. Red Sox did extremely well here. 4(?) years of an All-Star caliber outfielder in Verdugo and a very highly regarded pitching prospect for just one year of Mookie Betts at $27 million while also clearing a good portion of Price’s contract. Moving Joc in a separate transaction made sense with Bellinger and Betts playing every single day and Pollock most likely playing everyday as well. Rengifo plays SS and 2B and comes with 6 years of control. You could look at it as Pederson only having 1 year left on his contract and being redundant on their roster. But you could look at it a different way and see the Rengifo acquisition pointing toward them possibly moving Lux in a trade for someone like Hader while already having the replacement on the roster. The Dodgers are already all in. Why stop short of having a dominant bullpen? Finish the offseason off and get the prized reliever in the game.

Pat Connaughton will be participating in the dunk contest during the All-Star festivities.

Supak doesn’t need an NRI because he is on the 40-man. Barker has to be the biggest surprise to me. It seems weird to invite 90% of the likely AAA roster and not Barker. Perhaps Barker is the new version of Nate Griep .... i.e., the pitcher who puts up great numbers in the upper minors, but the front office determines would get lit up like a Christmas tree if he had to face an actual MLB lineup? Tough to develop your own pitching if you never even give them the opportunity. Not saying that Barker will end up like Griep, but it’s frustrating when you have a guy that has done extremely well every step of the way and you don’t even give them a chance. Knowing that you have 6 years of control of them if they pan out, I don’t see why they couldn’t get a chance to prove themselves. With some of the players that touch the big league mound for us every year, his results couldn’t be any worse than some of the other guys that pitch.

I really like Winston as a basketball player. I don’t think he will ever be an All-Star at the next level, but I feel like he will be a similar player to Brogdon. Nice complementary piece and a great third option on a good team.

I was thinking this too watching how dominant they were in the first half. Maybe he was more of a distraction to the team and causing some issues within the clubhouse. It’ll be interesting to see how they play the next couple weeks. Could be pretty telling.

https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-one-astros-fan-quest-to-do-the-unthinkable-prove-his-team-cheated-sign-stealing-155724616.html Interesting article of an Astros fan going back and proving that his beloved team was cheating. Pretty good read that shows when the trash can incident really took off and how frequent the trash can bangs were for certain players. With Altuve using a buzzer, I’m not surprised his number was so low.

I don’t think filling the DH spot would be too difficult. You retain someone like Thames (if it were implemented this year) and you got your 30 homer guy right there. Not saying he’s a DH only guy, but it’s an example to show how it could be filled pretty easily. Even if it were to be implemented right now for the 2020 season, it wouldn’t be hard to find a halfway decent player to sign that you could just plug into the bottom third of the lineup and be a decent hitter. Sign someone like Wilmer Flores or Brian Dozier or Kevin Pillar tomorrow for $5 million or less and we would be just fine.