RollieTime

This is the idea that's been running around in my head for a while. Staying out of this free agent class is like going to the car lot, and just deciding you don't like what's on the lot at that particular time, or lot, and deciding you don't have to buy a car today, at that particular lot. It doesn't mean you are choosing not to spend money, you're just not spending it today, because nothing was the right fit or the right price. I think a lot of fans want their teams to max their budgets EVERY SINGLE YEAR! and even though it means every now and then we'll have a year like this, where we fill the roster with a bunch of value deals, I don't want a GM who just spends spends spends spends to max the budget and makes fans happy with name moves. If he has the foresight to see the future deals that make sense in 2021 or 2022, then sit one off-season out and do your very best to still build a contender. A lot of fans are going to be frustrated by that approach, but when you're operating with a less-than-RedSox budget, it's really not a bad way to be. This is where I am as well. The Brewers are setting themselves up nicely for next offseason when other teams won’t have the buying power or aren’t going to hand out another large contract multiple season in a row. DJ LeMahieu, JT Realmuto, Justin Turner, George Springer, Marcus Semien, Yuli Gurriel, Mookie Betts, Michael Brantley, Joc Pederson, Trevor Bauer, Robbie Ray, Masahiro Tanaka, Marcus Stroman. With that many good to great talents on the market, I see no reason the Brewers couldn’t land one of these guys, maybe even two like last offseason. Especially with Braun’s money coming off the books. And most likely somebody like Knebel’s money as well. Some of these guys are older veteran options, but if Turner, Gurriel, LeMahieu and Brantley continue to be great, I wouldn’t mind them on a nice one or two year deal. Even someone like George Springer could be in play for us since we could be looking at $50-$60 million free again next offseason. Isn’t it at least reasonable to do something like bring in Turner on a 1/$18 million deal, Springer on something like 5/$130 million, and still have $15-$20 million to play with? I don’t see why not. We could realistically be in play for anybody next offseason outside of Betts. But he’s going to get $200+ million from somebody and take them out of the sweepstakes for the other guys. I feel like some fail to realize that if Donaldson is signed now, Donaldson, Cain, and Yelich will be our core for the foreseeable future, two of those guys getting into their LATE 30’s, with them all receiving $55 million or so combined. Cain isn’t exactly a big bat either and is making quite a bit of cash. And this would all but eliminate us from making additional significant acquisition signings during this window. In my opinion, Donaldson is not the guy to cap yourself financially on during this Yelich window. Stearns and Attanasio are always looking at the future. I am sure Stearns knows who is in the free agent pool next offseason. Stearns could have his eye on some targets next offseason already. With what we saw this offseason for the signings and hearing about us linked to Rendon, and prior significant signings of Cain, Grandal, and Moose and Garcia to an extent, I am confident we are players on these type of players and will not be surprised to see us land one or two of the guys listed above next offseason. We are undoubtedly setting ourselves up to make that a real possibility in 2021.

I have always been a Mike Fiers fan and I like Fiers even more now than I did before he spoke out. Good for him for having the courage to put his name out there and lead the charge to help clean up what’s been going on in the game. I would love to see him back in Milwaukee as a mid to back of the rotation arm if there is mutual interest in the future.

Logan Morrison seems to be spending a lot of time posting about things he knows nothing about. So in addition to the Dodgers and Yankees being suspect (He didn't play for either), he's now passing around rumors about the Astros, who were just investigated by MLB. Is LoMo a teenage girl? Maybe this detail from his fangraphs page is the key: Logan Morrison Age: 32 Bats/Throws: L/L 6' 3" / 245 1B/OF Birthdate: 8/25/1987 (32 y, 4 m, 19 d) Drafted: 2005 June Amateur Draft - Round: 22, Pick: 16, Overall: 666, Team: Florida Marlins I see what you’re saying. You’re Logan Morrison!

This could end quite horribly. The Brewers were also accused of sign stealing at Miller Park. https://www.brewcrewball.com/2019/11/14/20963825/milwaukee-brewers-mlb-sign-stealing-controversy-houston-astros There were a number of accusations against the Brewers last year that went to the Commissioners office for review, and no wrongdoing was found. Both the Pirates and Cubs made accusations against the Brewers that were found to be baseless. I wouldn't be concerned about this. Every team steals signs. As long as you’re doing it yourself by noticing the pitcher tipping pitches or a runner on second base relaying signs to the hitter, it’s not a big deal. The deal breaker is using technology to decode signs and gain an advantage instead of using your eyes and noticing things yourself without the aid of technology. Just for an example and discussion purposes, if the Brewers’ bullpen guys were relaying signs to the hitter, would you consider that crossing the line? I would say no as long as they aren’t watching a monitor to acquire the signs. If they are positioned in a place to see the signs with their own eyes and do something to relay it WITHOUT technology, that’s not a big deal. It is being done by players with their own eyes without the aid of technology. That is of course only my opinion. Visiting teams’ bullpens at Miller Park are also in a place where they could try to look in and steal signs. So I would say that wouldn’t be an advantage in any way since both teams are positioned to do it. Not saying that this is or isn’t what other teams could be hinting towards with what the Brewers were doing, but if that’s all they are doing, that’s not using technology in any way. Players all throughout history would use their eyes to try to see signs and relay them in someway without technology. If both the picking up and relaying of signs is done without technology, it’s fair game.

I’m glad they laid down the law and gave some pretty severe penalties. I was still hoping for something like a 2 year postseason ban. Not only could that lead to players asking for trades knowing that they are playing for money and no chance at a championship, especially older veterans, but the fans wouldn’t come out in droves, leading to less money coming in, and as a result the owner’s pocket book taking a big hit. You do the game dirty, you get dirty repercussions. The overall penalty in my eyes is still light as $5 million is nothing compared to the money brought in during the postseason. The picks hurt, but they also already have a roster filled top to bottom with all-star talent and a pretty large payroll at their disposal. A postseason ban would have really set the bar and made teams reconsider their shady ways.

I learned two new things tonight: 1. You can now legally clothesline quarterbacks in the NFL 2. After the referees review a play on the field and make their call, they can now receive “additional footage” to do another review of the same play to change a call.

Just an absolute joke. Eliminate replay completely instead of using this pathetic system. I could live with the mistakes live, but if you’re looking at a replay and still get it completely wrong, be done with it. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. Both teams and the entire country know whose ball it really was. Only the refs involved see it otherwise. That tells you something.

I really liked Sano as a target for the Brewers even outside of a Hader trade with them. I was really hoping the Twins would spend on Donaldson and look to move Sano. Too bad that didn’t happen.

I really liked Sano as a target for the Brewers even outside of a Hader trade with them. I was really hoping the Twins would spend on Donaldson and look to move Sano. Too bad that didn’t happen.

I agree that Arcia is very likely gone. Gyorko and Sogard can cover SS, 2B, and 3B with Hiura being the everyday 2B guy and Urias (probably) opening the season at SS. We will have an upgrade at SS and an upgrade at 2B production for the season. With a downgrade at 3B and C. The catching position won’t be a large downgrade though offensively. Narvaez can rake. 1B will probably be a wash with Smoak and Braun. The outfield will be a wash with Garcia replacing most of Braun’s production with Braun moving to 1B. With all the atbats that went around for guys like Arcia, Aguilar, Shaw, and Gamel to an extent, I see no reason that Urias, Garcia, Sogard, and Gyorko couldn’t exceed that production. Against Lefties: CF Cain SS Urias LF Yelich 2B Hiura RF Garcia 1B Braun C Narvaez 3B Gyorko P Against Righties: CF Cain SS Sogard LF Yelich 2B Hiura C Narvaez 1B Smoak RF Garcia SS Urias P

I wish we could bring in an arm like Liberatore’s into our system.

It is an interesting loophole, if you were up by say 2 TD's with 10 minutes left with 4th down at the opponents 40 couldn't you run the clock all the way down to 5 minutes? At worse you force the opponent to burn a timeout. Yeah you give up field position but considering you are probably playing prevent D to make the other team burn clock why not burn it yourself when you have the ball? I guess the refs could just step in and call unsportsmanlike conduct and put an end to it after a couple of penalties. Always happy to see Belichick's shenanigans thrown back in his face. I believe it’s an unsportsmanlike conduct if a team takes more than one delay of game penalty without running a play. Not sure if the play clock would continue after that penalty or not, but it would move them back 15 yards. If they didn’t care about field position and the clock would continue to run after the penalty, I could see a team doing that. But you would be moving back pretty quickly at 15 yards per clip. Would the coach get ejected then for multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties then if they did it a couple times? Interesting...

I was a shocked they didn’t. You go for it on 4th and 27 instead of trying something like a 59 yard field goal. Even if the probably of making the field goal is 25% or something, what’s your chances of converting a 4th and 30?? I would bet way less than that.

Still holding out hope for Wilmer Flores as an option as well. I wouldn’t mind signing him to a 2 year deal with a possible third year as a team option. He’s only 28 and is a much better Hernan Perez. Definitely not a world beater, but he’s a guy that could start for you and be a solid bottom of the order bat. If he played 140 games, there’s no reason he couldn’t hit 20 homers and hit .275/.320 for you. Maybe something like a 2 year deal worth $8 million with a third year team option for $5 million? That might be enticing enough for him.

That touchback/touchdown for the Bills call out of the half was blatantly wrong. I’m honestly surprised they ruled it a touchback for the Texans. The ball either needs to bounce in the end zone, go out of bounds through the end zone, or the player needs to take a knee. You can’t just put your arms out to the side and call it good. That’s only a signal to your blockers that it’s not being returned. By the letter of the law, that’s a fumble and should be a touchdown for the Bills. I know he clearly wasn’t returning it, but that’s not the point. There was no actual result in the play that would make a ruling of a touchback the correct call. If a player catches the ball on a pass, but doesn’t get two feet down in the end zone to score, why can’t we give him the touchdown anyway? I mean, we know his intentions were to get two feet in for a touchdown. So just give it to him. Just a weird, weird call. I understand the point I guess, but rules are rules. Make the correct ruling of touchdown for the Bills and make some change in the offseason I guess. But I don’t really know why the rule would need to change because it’s pretty easy to figure it out to knee it or let it bounce.

Berger is coming to Wisconsin! Per himself

That’s a good point. He may have been waiting to see if Taylor declared. If he did, he would pick Wisconsin seeing that he would have a good shot at being the starting running back.

I thought he would do better than that in this market. I wonder if he just wanted to return to Washington and took a discount to do so. I don’t see any way that this was the highest he could get. I definitely would have brought him in for that.

I agree that this doesn’t seem like a team friendly deal at all. Kind of strange that they would even offer it. Instead of getting a guy for near minimum for 3 years and then going through arbitration, where he would probably max out at $50 million or so even if he’s an All-Star a couple times, they risk it by giving him a guaranteed 6 years now before he’s ever faced a pitch at the MLB level. The two options are nice on the back end of it, but this seems like a deal that did not need to happen. Kris Bryant is one good example to look at. He’s a 3 time All-Star already, won rookie of the year, and was the NL MVP in his second season, right before he was going to hit arbitration for the first time as a super 2. Just about the strongest resume you could expect from a guy. He’s earned around $26 million in his first 4 season and is projected to get around $18.5 million this go around. I’ll give him around $23 million for arby for next season. So he will earn around $67.5 million. If he didn’t qualify for super 2, his earnings would be under $50 million. Even by qualifying for super 2, with how he was the rookie of the year, 2 time All-Star, AND MVP before even hitting arbitration (as a super 2), and he’s only getting that much more? Maybe it’ll work out for the White Sox and Robert will be an absolute beast, but this is quite the risk from their side. Robert and his agent are wise for taking this deal.

I would love to see Taijuan Walker brought in as the 5th starter, pushing Houser to the bullpen. We add a mid rotation arm with upside and bump a guy to the bullpen who pitched very well out of the pen last year. This also adds another starting pitching option to the mix and allows Houser to compete with Peralta to be the 6th starter, while letting Houser dominate out of the pen. Would 1/$4 million be enough? Add something like another $3 million in incentives, $1 million at each 20, 25, and 30 starts for a possible $7 million total?

Love this, thanks! I mentioned this before, but after you laid this out, I want to bring the proposal forward again. It also might depend on if the Twins can get Donaldson. Twins Receive; LHP Josh Hader Brewers Receive: 3B Miguel Sano RHP Brusdar Graterol (MLB #53) RHP Jordan Balazovic (MLB #76) OF Trevor Larnach (MLB #77) Both Larnach and Balazovic could make their way into the top 50 by midseason 2020 by continuing to produce. Graterol can help in the bullpen now, Sano gets the everyday 3B gig (with 2 year of control), Balazovic continues his work in the minors and could open the year in AA, and Larnach could have a real shot at knocking on the door of the majors by the end of 2020. He would be the guy with a real chance to be Braun’s replacement and open the 2021 season with him as one of our starting outfielders. I feel like this is a trade that both teams would explore doing. The Twins get to keep their top couple guys, but get the rest of their promising prospects raided. We don’t get a top 10-25 prospect like you might expect in a trade like this, but getting that 3rd guy in the 50-80 range might be enough to offset it instead of getting one in the top 15 and one in the 50-60 range. The Brewers get their 3B for the next couple seasons, a guy that can slot into the bullpen to replace Hader (or possibly go into the rotation?) that has 6 years of control, and 2 very promising prospects that are both on the rise. The Brewers will probably ask for a little more than this, but I could see them settling on something like this in the end. I would be pleased with this return and very excited for the future with how much true young impact talent we would have both on the MLB roster (Hiura, Urias, Woodruff, Lauer, and Narvaez) as well as the upper minors (Graterol, Brusdar, Larnach, and possibly Lutz if he opens in AA). A trade like this could really put us in a position to field a competitive team for the next 6+ years just with this group alone. That doesn’t even include who else we will draft in that time or have come through the minors to make a lengthy impact on the MLB club.

Totally agree. I feel like since they have Cruz at DH already, that if they sign Donaldson, Sano will be on the trade market. The Twins are going to look to continue improving during this competitive window and adding Hader to the back of their bullpen would be huge for them in shortening games, especially come playoff time. I would take Arraez over Sano if they wanted to go that route. I just don’t see them doing that since he has at least 5 years of control left compared to Sano’s 2. Even if the Brewers hold onto Hader, I could see them laying the foundation to a trade now with the Twins and revisiting a trade come midseason. I think the Brewers and Twins match up nicely as well -- however I think the original proposal - 3B Miguel Sano (2 years of control), OF/1B Alex Kirilloff (MLB #15 prospect), RHP Brusdar Graterol (MLB #53 prospect) OR RHP Jordan Balazovic (MLB #76 prospect), and OF Trevor Larnach is really heavily in our favor. I think it's overvaluing Hader. I realize we can overvalue Hader as we hold the cards in any such deal. But Kirilloff is a top 20 player. Graterol, Balazovic and Larnach are all top 100 players. To get three of those guys - plus more - is a lot. And I doubt the Twins give up so much considering they will need cheap players in the coming years. No matter, it doesn't mean something couldn't be worked out. I think something like Arraez, Larnach and one of Graterol or Balazovic would be fair. Arraez goes into our IF rotation, while Larnarch is a good looking OF bat, and Graterol or Balazovic would be a nice upside arm for the system. We get a player for now (Arraez) and a couple of guys for near future. Perhaps we can get more, and the club should certainly try. I agree it’s probably a little much as I think Larnach could really shoot up prospect boards in 2020 and is already ranked right around Balazovic. It’s at least a starting point of what I would shoot for and settle on something a little less. If we can’t pry Kirilloff away, I would almost demand Graterol, Balazovic, and Larnach at that point with Sano coming back as well. That might be a little closer to a fair trade, but it’s a little disappointing that they couldn’t even say they got a top 50 prospect for 4 years of one of the premier relievers in the game. 3 players in the 50-80 range isn’t a bad return though as I think two of them could be top 50 players by midseason. I just feel like the Brewers will wait until mid season to make a trade when teams tend to be more willing to deal top prospects for playoff pushes. Not saying the group we would get back in this trade wouldn’t be valuable because I would probably pull the trigger on a trade like this. It’s just starting to feel like a mid season trade is more likely. I’m eager to hear from a solid source at some point names involved in a trade for Hader and what the likelihood is of players like that being involved in the trade. Just for reference, the Andrew Miller (1.5 years of control) and Chapman (.5 year) trades brought back a top 30 prospect. Diaz brought back a couple top 100 with neither in the top 50, but moved a terrible contract with it that definitely ate into the return.

Totally agree. I feel like since they have Cruz at DH already, that if they sign Donaldson, Sano will be on the trade market. The Twins are going to look to continue improving during this competitive window and adding Hader to the back of their bullpen would be huge for them in shortening games, especially come playoff time. I would take Arraez over Sano if they wanted to go that route. I just don’t see them doing that since he has at least 5 years of control left compared to Sano’s 2. Even if the Brewers hold onto Hader, I could see them laying the foundation to a trade now with the Twins and revisiting a trade come midseason.

Trade Idea Twins Receive: LHP Josh Hader Brewers Receive: 3B Miguel Sano (2 years of control) OF/1B Alex Kirilloff (MLB #15 prospect) RHP Brusdar Graterol (MLB #53 prospect) OR RHP Jordan Balazovic (MLB #76 prospect) OF Trevor Larnach For the Twins, they clear Sano’s ~$6 million to help their pursuit of Donaldson and open up 3B for him to slot right in. They also get Hader for 4 years to solidify the back of their bullpen. For the Brewers, Sano is a big bat to add to our lineup that will fill our 3B hole that we also control for the 2021 season. Kirilloff is the big ticket prospect that showed well in AA in 2019. One of Graterol or Balazovic is included depending on Stearns’ preference (I prefer Balazovic as he seems to have TOR potential and could start in AA this season). If Balazovic has another good first half in 2019, I could see him being a top 40 prospect or higher depending on how dominant he is. Larnach is a nice 4th piece that has a high ceiling and was the Twins’ first round pick in 2018.

Totally agree! Bring Josh Turner in, let him continue his singing career, and take those funds he makes from concerts to put toward a higher payroll! This is a great outside the box idea to help give a big boost to the payroll! I agree in that the Dodgers have much better pieces to get in a return package. Ruiz, Gray, and Gonsolin is a great start to a package jackailius. You get your catcher of the future (hopefully) that is in AAA, a lively arm in AA that has been pretty dominant since being drafted, and a starting pitcher in Gonsolin that you control for 6 years that can be slotted into the rotation right now. if they could pry those three away and get a flier or two thrown in, I would love the trade. I would target Edwin Rios as a piece in the return package as well. He’s on the cusp of the MLB and is third baseman that can move over to first as well. That solves our third base vacancy right now. Then sign a guy like Flores as a utility infielder that can take over the everyday 3B roll if Rios isn’t cutting it early on in 2020.