RollieTime

Certainly an argument can be made Stearns has tinkered too much but let’s be at least honest: Eric Thames, Jesus Aguilar, Ji-Man Choi, Jonathan Villar, Moustakas, Grandal (short timers but he brought them in and they were terrific), Brad Miller, Stephen Vogt (good player couldn’t stay healthy), Manny Pina, Granderson was great as a bench player, Kolten Wong, and the aforementioned Cain, Yelich. He drafted and developed a TOR arm and traded for another. I don’t think Stearns is some genius but he’s done enough to demonstrate he knows what he’s doing. Every GM makes mistakes at times. For example, it was Doug Melvin who included a player as a throw in on the Carlos Lee deal, who has played 17 years in the majors and has 425+ homeruns He let Aguilar go for free basically, same with Choi. I guess Grandal could count, but if I knew I could have $20 million to give to one player, I could pick a good one too. Miller was a decent player before and after us, but not with us. Vogt played 45 games for us and did okay at best. Cain had one great season out of 4 so far so that’s not exactly a big win. That contract could certainly be detrimental though.

Stearns just hasn’t targeted guys to actually improve the offense and that’s on him. People can say dumpster diving all they want, but you can find good quality players cheaply and Stearns has allocated resources to the wrong players. There are plenty of players signed to small contracts that go on to have very good seasons. I was clamoring for Jose Iglesias before 2019 and he went on to hit .288 for something like $5 million or under. Wilmer Flores got $3 million to hit .268 with some pop for the Giants. Asdrubal Cabrera was discussed and he’s hitting .289 this season and making under $3 million. Some of us here wanted Renato Nunez who would certainly be an improvement over what we’ve been trotting out in 2021. This is just some of the guys I was pushing for recently. I know people will say it doesn’t mean we could have gotten them. But if you pay them a little more than the next team, they will most likely come play for you. Especially when they are making these small contracts. The opportunities have been there and Stearns has picked the wrong guys. The coaching staff certainly isn’t bringing the best out of the players given, but Stearns has been striking out himself.

I am fine with that but the Brewers probably not. Maybe something like Small, Lindblom, Lazar and Bradley for Donaldson and $5m. That gets it rather close and the Twins still get two decent prospects in Small and Lazar. Probably not the best idea to spend that much on an aging and injury prone Donaldson but at least he will provide some offense at 3B or 1B or DH if that becomes a thing in the NL. We should just sign a bat in free agency for that price and not give up the few prospects we do have. Donaldson is already 35. If we are fine giving out a big contract, there are a number of great free agents this offseason that we could throw $20-$25 million at if we are serious about doing that.

I agree in that baseball is getting unwatchable. It’s boring to watch the current product. This is the first year that I can remember where I sat and contemplated whether or not I would make some trips to Milwaukee to watch some Brewers games. After seeing how awful and boring the Brewers offense has been, we decided we won’t be making a trip this season. Driving 12 hours over two days, spending hundreds of dollars, just to watch 3 hits and one run score with 25 K’s between the two teams, it’s just not entertaining.

This is fantastic.

He’s a well spoken kid. It’s nice to see he put on some muscle and was able to get some work in on the diamond during Covid. Thanks!

Korry Howell is sure off to a hot start. I wonder if he’s growing more into his frame or if he changed something mechanically. He’s pounding the ball.

I love seeing TLR lose the clubhouse. He’s completely disconnected with where the game is going and how the players act. I heard he also made a statement like “Lance has a locker. I have an office” in regards to Lance Lynn disagreeing with him. LaRussa is the biggest douche in baseball.

I’m not convinced this is all on the players though. Haines is here to help players make adjustments. How many times have we had players come in and stink? Play below their career numbers? Sogard, Smoak, Shaw, Aguilar, Holt, Bradley Jr., Garcia and Narvaez possibly. Hiura possibly, Cain possibly, Yelich possibly. Guys like Shaw and Aguilar were good hitters and stunk once Haines was hired. When they went to another organization, they bounced back some. Same with Sogard multiple times. Yelich and Cain were fantastic before Haines got his hands on them and walked them through adjustments. Who’s to say he didn’t mess them up in some way? They may have kept their approaches they did from their prior organizations for their first year or two, but then Haines may have had them do something different. Hiura may have been asked to make adjustments by Haines and it has been a total failure. The dude raked his whole career. And then one offseason with Haines and 2020 happened. And now it carried into 2021. Narvaez and Garcia struggled horribly. Maybe they said screw it and went back to what they’ve done in the past. We don’t need to write it off as the players needing to do better. Once players come here or are here for a number of years like Yelich and Cain, he certainly could have had them switch something up which has led to them struggling with the adjustment, trying to adjust back, etc. It’s way too long of a track record of players have some level of success or a lengthy career of good success to just end up in a Brewers uniform and have their career worst seasons for us. It’s not just a fluke.

I agree in that I would rather lose games 7-5 and watch an entertaining game with an offense driving the ball and getting some hits than to lose 3-1 and have great pitching while watching a snore fest on offense. We fall behind 2-0 and the game feels well out of reach. In the past, it could be 4-1 in the 5th inning and feel like there’s plenty of game left to make a run at it. I think having a dominant pitching staff provides a team a better chance of winning a World Series, but you at least need a middle of the road offense to get it done. This group of guys certainly isn’t enough offensively to get it done. They could be a roughly .500 team, but that’s not a great place to be.

How about Jeimer Candelario from the Tigers? They are still rebuilding and Candelario is controlled through the 2023 season. I imagine he wouldn’t be too expensive to acquire.

Good for Counsell standing up for the guys. Avi getting tossed too. Umpires this season are the worst I’ve ever seen.

Reminds me of Melvin Gordon getting 408 (in three quarters), then Perine breaking the record the following Saturday. Wisconsin can’t have nice things. Evidence of both of these happenings

I'm not sure I am following this...Yelich's contract will hamper the team's ability to spend, but we also should look at signing one of our stud pitchers to a long term deal 3 years before he reaches free agency? Sure, if Woodruff is willing to sign a Peralta type of deal then absolutely...probably wishful thinking though considering his age and the likelihood that this will be his only contract to really cash in. It leads to an interesting discussion as a fan, what are your goals for the team? Personally, I am willing to accept a couple 60-65 win seasons, if between those, we have 3-4 year stretches of being a top 5 team in baseball and have a legitimate shot to win the WS. Not a sneak in the playoffs like we did last season, but a true top team in baseball and amongst the handful of teams that is favored to win the title. This strategy probably doesn't align with extending players long-term because the risk of the player declining in performance or having a significant injury would create too big of a burden to overcome for a market like ours. Additionally, trading your top players is the unfortunate part of the process that is necessary to reload for the next cycle. On the other hand, I also understand the fans who would rather be competitive every year and have a shot to make the playoffs, like last year, even if the team doesn't have a real shot at winning it all. Long-term contract extensions are probably more feasible within these expectations. The point I was making is that Garcia’s contract coming off the books is basically replaced with Yelich’s significant bump in pay. And the other big hurdle in the way of doing anything significant this offseason if Bradley opts in and gets $9.5 million. The contract structure is awful in that if he opts in for next season, he will get that money plus an $8(!) million buyout prior to the 2023 season. I understand it to a point because of Covid, but that is a bad use of resources when that day comes and we are stuck eating that cost while trying to be competitive. The extension to Woodruff wouldn’t need to be a big salary increase right away. We are kind of in a payroll crunch with Yelich getting his $12 million bump, Cain and his final year at $18 million, and Bradley Jr. absolutely opting in at this rate. To your point about rebuilding, I was 100% pushing for a one year rebuild last season during Covid. Basically because it was only a 60 game season and even if we somehow won the World Series, it isn’t exactly the same as a full season grind and winning it all. I thought that was the time to see a step back during a season with no fans and quite frankly many regular fans probably didn’t care much about. Also, I was hoping for a trade of Hader for some young pieces and possibly looking at moving other guys not named Woodruff or Burnes. Then for 2021, we would have had more money to spend instead of competing in 2020, while having more money in free agency to use if Hader plus whoever else was moved. I actually think Stearns is stuck in a bad place. The minor leagues are barren of high end talent with little to no bats coming up to help. With Yelich getting more expensive as well as Burnes and Woodruff’s control dwindling (okay 3 years, but still), a rebuild now would be awful in that it’s arguably the best pitching staff the Brewers have ever had that is still mostly relatively cheap. Rebuilding now for two years would have their years of control down to 2 seasons and being much more expensive by then. I think the Brewers missed their chance at taking a step back and are now basically forced to patch it all together with having very little in the minors to pull off a big trade to upgrade the MLB roster while having no hitting on the horizon to help out either. Plus the money on the big league roster is being spent on guys that are basically slightly below average offensively at this point.

What do you think of these new Marlins uniforms? I’m not a fan of the jerseys at all, but I think the hat is very well done. Might need to look at getting one that I will assuredly never wear.

The big 3 at the top of this rotation are sensational. I think they should approach Woodruff with a contract offer this offseason and see if they can strike a little bit of a deal locking him up 3 years prior to free agency. One thing to remember is that Yelich’s contract next season goes from $14 million up to $26 million. That’s going to put a big hamper on the money we have available to spend next offseason. If Bradley opts in, it will most likely be a very bland offseason for signings. A trade would be the most likely avenue to upgrade the roster.

Wow what a catch JBJ!

Nice first inning for Freddy. We had a grand total of 3 hits yesterday, 2 from one player that went 2-2. Guess who’s not in the lineup today?

Lol, I’ll be working afternoons all summer. I only get to watch a game or two each week as it is. If this is what they will trot out there and put out for a performance, I won’t need to worry about missing games. I chuckled when I saw Ian Anderson had a no hitter into the 7th inning. It’s basically expected at this point. The game basically feels over once we fall behind 1-0.

I mean they are due for a massive offensive explosion of 5 runs here at some point.

Where’d Wong go in this scenario? I can’t imagine them signing the best defensive 2B just to move him out of position. Whoops my bad. Wong would stay at second. Urias can become the utility guy that plays all over then between second, short, and third. Maybe he could even take over as the everyday guy at third if a big bat is brought in for SS. If not, Urias stays at short and target a bat at first or third.

You're not making a good argument against a trade here. Yeah, if that’s all it takes to get a perennial All-Star in his prime for $25 million per season and only through his age 35 season, that’s not bad at all. It’s not like the contract runs through his late 30’s or into his 40’s. I do think we will see Stearns target a big time bat whether it’s one at the trade deadline with multiple years of control or this offseason in free agency. It’s a loaded SS class and we could explore that avenue and moving Urias to 2nd. There’s some nice bats at 1st and 3rd as well.

Why not give Zach Green that opportunity? He's hit 29 HR in his last 80 games in AAA. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if a move is made shortly for Green to come up. I’m not sure what the corresponding move would be though since Vogelbach is a lefty unless they are fine with moving on from him and replacing him with a righty bat. I think they are fine left handed with Yelich when he’s back, Shaw, Narvaez, and Bradley Jr. getting a lot of playing time. Would Green take over at 1st or would Shaw slide over to first with Green taking over third?

Ace level pitchers that are still under cheap team control for multiple seasons? The return ask is "sky is the limit". Guys like that just aren't dealt. I really can't think of a close match when it has ever happened. Starting pitching is still gold. Something close to Blake Snell might be a realistic trade. I imagine they are similar in value. Woodruff does have 3.5 years left at this point compared to Snell’s 3 years at $39 million total at the time of the trade. Woodruff is making a little over $3 million this season, but will be getting some significant raises. Maybe something close to $30 million the next 3 years for Woody?

I’ve seen this elsewhere in this thread, with various posters commenting about why we didn’t try to acquire Arenado. The question I have is, how do you know that we DIDN’T? Don’t you think that Stearns did his due diligence and at least called the Rockies and checked in during the off-season? I HAVE to think that he did. Maybe they were close to a deal. Maybe nothing materialized at all. Maybe the price was laughable from the Brewers’ point of view or, worse, from the Rockies. We just don’t know. And we never will. It is nice being an armchair general manager but the real thing is nowhere close to the same experience. I am sure he did his due diligence on Arenado. I just meant that he’s a target that I would have been after. Which I’m sure many others were in discussions with the Rockies for his services.