Ron Robinsons Beard

Looking at the Cardinals roster, hard to see where this works. They have a bunch of overpaid guys that brings negative value like Fowler and Carpenter. Jose Martinez maybe? But he kinda sucks too. He is 31 and can't play defense.

Wow, your batting average just took another jump. Nice work.

It's a flyer on a veteran LH bat who hit 38 HRs for the Rays a couple years ago. I don't see anyone calling it a joke. I mean, it's likely a minors deal, so what's the harm?

I imagine this is a minors deal, but considering the lack of depth we have at 1B and the corner OF in the system, it probably makes sense.

I think this idea is really overblown. Look at the innings the last couple years. Barely any of those September roster expansion guys touched the field. A few of the pitchers got mop-up innings. I suppose there is some trickle down with your main arms not having to fill those innings, but by and large, it was the guys that got them there, along with a few trade acquisitions, that were pitching the vast majority of the innings in September.

I don't know if a potential Hader trade is necessarily contingent on getting a 3B back in the deal. Sure it would be nice, but I'd prefer they take the offer with the most value/upside, regardless of position. Also, I imagine that the teams that are going to be most interested in Hader are playoff squads, and how many of them are going to have Major League or near-Major League-ready 3B pieces that they are willing to deal? Perhaps this would be a case where you get a third team involved in the deal?

This would make me mad to no end. It is crappy that the Cardinals have a chance to acquire two elite pieces two years in a row via trade. And the Cubs are crying poor. How are they going to take on that contract?

From the horse's mouth: Adam McCalvy @AdamMcCalvy · 3h David Stearns on the potential for more acquisitions by the Brewers: "I would be surprised if we are completely done." Adam McCalvy@AdamMcCalvy ·3h Does Craig Counsell expect more moves this winter from David Stearns? "Yes." Then he added, "I always expect that. Yeah. Every day of the year. As long as there are players out there, we'll be pursuing them." Although I have a feeling that your definition of "big" may be different than mine

Agreed. This was a mess largely of the Brewers' own making. They needed to option him to the minors and keep him there. This was a year for him to rebuild, and to come back in September. Instead, they did what they did, and as such, they had to non-tender over the season. Wait, I thought the Brewers tried to do that and he signaled that he would refuse assignment? They missed their window where they could have optioned him without his consent early in the season. They tried to option him a few weeks later, and he refused the assignment, which was his right under the CBA. Probably a blunder on the part of the Brewers, but Nelson refusing the assignment when he clearly needed the work and was harming the big league squad looks bad in hindsight as well.

Wow, this guy is a tool. I went after him this morning after he went on another supposed "insider's" page and ripped them for their Hader prediction not coming true. Went back and forth with him a bit, then got this PM: Paul Juliano @pjuliano1689 17 circle rd tuckahoe ny 10707 u are a sad story for a man and i pity u.. either we can settle thisn2 ways I'll help link u to a dr. Or come over and talk to my face I ain't the one hiding... but we all know ud never do that so just stop man I mean, the guy is literally making stuff up, and calling himself a "source". Then gets defensive when called out for being wrong and a hypocrite.

Are we seriously going to get a Brett Anderson mention in every thread?

Same reaction I had when I read it. It gave no info or details. Basically just saying, don't believe them, keep demanding them to do more. With no actual data supporting it as to why. Sounds like a complete copy of Winkler's twitter lately. Still waiting to see those numbers that show the Brewers have just as much revenue as the big market teams. The more I listen to Bart Winkler, the more detestable he becomes. He's what happens if Brewers and Packers twitter is given a mouthpiece. Just one terrible hot take after another.

That's the part where we disagree. The 25-28 mil on Donaldson over the next 3 is pushing this team to the top of their spending capabilities. (if you assume they can't/won't blow past last year numbers) Seager's 18 19 15(vesting question) puts you 1 piece from the same mark. Guys are going to slip into arby and be worth their arby cost. Narvaez Hader are going to increase in cost and Braun's money will get eaten up quickly. I think either of those 3Bs pushes us right up against maxed out with little flexibility in the next 3 years. I don't see that gain being enough to offset the looming problems they have with the pitching staff that I don't see the farm being able to completely remedy until 2021 at the earliest. The pen right now is scary and the depth of starters is teetering on the edge as it currently sits. With the pen being where it is, pushing Suter and/or Peralta into the rotation would risk melt down in the early season. Just like last year and unlike 2018. I don't like that, not 1 bit. I don't think the gain Donaldson should provide at 3b is enough to allow for that level of weakness in our pitching staff. I don't think Seager moves the needle enough to be considered over scrub options. As I said, I believe there are thresholds in their metrics and gains beyond a certain point lose impact and come at a high financial cost. I believe they are constantly trying to walk a tight rope in a sweet spot where money wins impact all cross paths. They aren't exactly trying to be the BEST team in baseball. They are trying to be a playoff team with a combination of pieces that could steal a WS title. Basically, they are the Royals. It seems to reverberate all the way through the organization. The way they spend, the way they draft, the pieces they acquire. There's a type/expectation in the SP adds they make. Right now, from the looks of it the pitching staff depth is the soft part. That can be fixed, without giving up long term deals and without blocking anything the farm can add in 2021. It's the most flexible cost effective way and adding a big ticket 3b ties their hands enough that 2020 becomes murky and 2021 becomes farm dependent. I don't think that's the 3 year window idea they have. The middle ground here is Castellanos. There is theoretically decent amounts of upside left and the price tag is considerably less than Donaldson. That’s where I’m a bit frustrated, it’s not that we’re not “buying” Donaldson, it’s that we’re seemingly content in an entirely mediocre 33 year old mini-mite with a career sub 250 batting average at the hot corner. I really like Sogard as our utility, but starting? Gross. It’s like Ted Thompson drafting defense in the 6th and 7th round every year and expecting them to be quality starters. Brace for the "but Castellanos isn't a 3B" posts in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... I get it, he isn't a good 3B. But you know what ... Travis Shaw and Mike Moustakas aren't 2B, and this team made that work successfully. I believe that with shifting and late-game substitutions, they can make Castellanos's defense work too. The opportunity to get a 27-year-old bat who is primed for a Yelich-like breakout (in my opinion, of course) would justify it.

THis is about the Brewers by proxy. The Cubs will not be able to replace Chisek with a reliever as effective. It hurts the Cubs' chances of winning the division, which in turn helps the Brewers chances. You are correct that signing a guy like Chisek would likely have helped the Brewers bullpen substantially. But it didn't happen, so the next best thing is the team's chief rival losing him to an AL team. I could care less what the Cubs are doing or not doing either. The cardinals are a much more consistent threat year in and year out for ages. To each their own. I'm happy that a good reliever is no longer a Cub.

THis is about the Brewers by proxy. The Cubs will not be able to replace Chisek with a reliever as effective. It hurts the Cubs' chances of winning the division, which in turn helps the Brewers chances. You are correct that signing a guy like Chisek would likely have helped the Brewers bullpen substantially. But it didn't happen, so the next best thing is the team's chief rival losing him to an AL team.

That has nothing to do with the White Sox signing the Cubs' best reliever, though.

This makes an already suspect Cubs' pen even worse. Which is fine by me.

Moose definitely had some nice moments as a Brewer, but they aren't going to do a bobble of the current Cincinnati Reds' 2B.

With this deal, the only remaining major league player who was Brewer property at the end of the 2019 season and has yet to find a 2020 deal is Matt Albers.

Derek Dietrich might be an interesting buy-low candidate for a minor-league deal. Bats lefty, can play all over the field (albeit not very well according to defensive metrics), and while his batting average cratered in the second half of the season last year, he did hit 19 HRs.

All this really proves is that it's pretty obvious, all things considered, that the Brewers think Jimmy Nelson is done. They could have very easily hung onto him without a huge commitment. I guess we'll see if they're right.

I hope you're here to eat all the crow if/when Anderson pitches well this year. Also, the Brewers signing Brett Anderson has absolutely nothing to do with jimmy Nelson.

You can't. As far as prospects go, Small and Ashby are substantially ahead of Sunitsch in both pedigree and upside.

I hope they do. If Nelson gets right, that's a lot of upside. Part of me wonders if there was some bad blood there in the organization because Nelson refused to go to the minors when it was obvious he wasn't right and was hurting the team.

Agreed. I would have brought him back, but comparing him to Anderson is apples and oranges, and just another odd way for this particular poster to rip on the Anderson singing.