Ron Robinsons Beard

Brewers - 92 Cardinals - 89 Reds - 83 Cubs - 81 Pirates - 74 Gonna be a dogfight between the Cards and Brewers right up until the end. Reds and Cubs hang for awhile but the Cubs injury woes in their rotation are their Achilles Heel, and the Reds are going to be vastly overrated. Pirates continue to be the Pirates. Also, Steamer is a steaming pile of dung

If it is the Reds, I hope they sell off their future for him. Hopefully several of their top prospects. C'mon Jeets, clean them out!

True, but that ignores how the Brewers will use Perez/Spangenberg, vs LHP, RHP respectively: .277/.304/.479/.783 .261/.332/.393/.725 (in a pitchers park BTW) Every reason to believe this platoon can put up above average numbers at 2B, and .750ish is actually very realistic. Yep. Both theoretically at their peak, too. Will both turn 28 just before the season begins. Much rather them at rock-bottom price than committing $15-25m to some 33-ish ticking time bomb who has not been consistently good in the first place. Once again, I think the opportunities they don't pounce on will eventually say even more about their competence than they ones they do. (See the starting pitcher free agents last year as an example.) I don't know about that. I would have loved to have Jake Arrieta take the ball a couple times against the Dodgers in the NLCS. It may be arguing on a thin hypothetical line, but it can be argued that, despite getting better starting pitching than predicted, this team was one solid starting pitcher away from being in the World Series. Regarding 2B, I just don't like the idea of hoping for a ceiling of average with Spangenerez, while depending on a guy who hasn't seen a AAA pitch to be the mid-season savior. If the team didn't have high expectations, that would be one thing. That isn't the case, though.

I personally don't think it has anything to do with payroll. I'm going to continue to believe that they have a plan in place that is not Spangenerez, and are just waiting for it to play out. Maybe Marwin Gonzalez? Maybe Josh Harrison? Moose? Dietrich? Trade? It would be pretty disappointing to go into the season with the Poo Poo Platter Platoon, regardless of how close they think Hiura is.

I do. That doesn't mean I don't recognize flaws when I see them. A .240 average, .320 OBP and 30% K rate from a 23 year old prospect with that being by far his best season isn't worthy of a top 100 spot as I said before and you strongly disagreed with. As far as Florial, he was probably on the list in 2018 because he had just hit a combined .298/.372/.479 as a 19 year old between A and A+ in 2017 while also holding his own in the Fall League and probably having tools that made it look like he could be an above average starter or star if/when he got to the majors. But your choosing of Florial is weird because he had a terrible 2018 and is no longer on the top 100 of either Baseball America and dropped around 40 spots in Baseball Prospectus. But I guess they're still hugely pro Yankee what with the zero top 100 prospects on Baseball America and two in Baseball Prospectus. Florial is at #57 according to MLB Pipeline. Callis has said that Ray is at #101 ( ). Nothing to shake a stick at, and he will likely easily be Top 100 if he starts well in AAA. So while you were technically correct when calling me out for believing Ray would be a Top 100 prospect, he is obviously right there. Still, if Ray was a Yankee prospect and Florial a Brewer, I could easily see them reversed on the list.

Really? You must really like Spangenberg, because its hard for me to see "far better" than what they had in 2018, which was Villar (who had a very good season to his name) and Sogard (who was good in 2017) along with Perez. If you are comparing Villar straight up to Spangenberg, I would have to think you would take Villar. Villar at least had MLB success on his resume.

Pretty disappointing that a World Series-contending team has seemingly decided to go this route. They could have, and should have done better in my opinion. I'm not asking for All Stars at every position, but there were plenty of solid options out there, several of which signed very affordable contracts. I don't have much faith that Spangenberg and Perez can provide even replacement-level production ... and to tell you the truth, I am doubtful that Hiura is going to be anymore than replacement level if/when he comes up. I really, really hope I'm wrong on this one, but I just don't have much faith in that spot being productive. If Arcia starts cold again, they will looking at the same problem they had much of last year, with a poor-hitting lower third of the order as the Achilles Heel.

Correct. Those deals went down Jan. 25 of last year. That makes tomorrow Yelichmas!

That is a great deal, especially is second year is a club option.

This move makes all the sense in the world. Surprised it took as long as it did.

*buzzkill

For the last several years, it seems like the Brewers have made a big player move in the couple of days leading up to their On Deck event. Last year was obviously Yelich and Cain. I know they announced the Garza signing a few years ago as well at On Deck. I know there has been others too. Attanasio seems to like to make a splash at this event every year. That said ... the 2019 version of this event is 3 days away. I get the feeling the Brewers are going to make an acquisition of some sort in the next day or so that they can "announce" at On Deck. In my opinion it is extremely cheesy that they do this, but at this point, it seems to be more than just coincidental. So, what do you guys think will happen? I have two guesses: 1. Sign Mike Moustakas to a 2-year/$22 million deal. or 2. Sign Marwin Gonzalez to a 3-year/$30 million deal.

The only thing I can figure is that they feel his progression in 2018 was a fluke. Hopefully he continues to build on it in San Antonio this year, along with cleaning up his K issues and maybe getting that average and OBP up a bit. When you really look at Ray's minor league opportunities, one can easily argue that his 2016-2017 seasons were more than likely the fluke compared to 2018. Drafted in summer 2016, Ray's 1st minor league assignment later that year came at High A+ Brevard County - not Rookie level Helena, not low A Wisconsin. Brevard County is an offensive graveyard, and that was Ray's 1st taste of professional level baseball. Then he hurts his knee in fall instructionals and has to spend his first full offseason rehabbing a meniscus tear surgery. He then repeats A+ to get a full season there, this time with Carolina, and has what we all can consider to be a poor offensive year. However, by all accounts he was still impacted by recovering from that knee injury. After actually getting a full and healthy offseason to work on his craft prior to the 2018 season, Ray almost puts up a 30/30 season during his 1st stint in AA and is the Southern League player of the year - yet now he's outside the top 100 prospects when prior to the 2017 season following a knee surgery and a rough 2016 pro start he was easily in the top 50? Hi K rate has hovered around 30% the past two seasons, which needs to drop a bit but in reality not too much for him to be a quality major leaguer offensively if he maintains the level of pop in his bat that he showed in 2018. I'm eager to see what Ray can do in a hitter-friendly league, particularly with it being AAA. Me as well. Ray has been a tad snake bit early on in his career, but the guy really started to show what the Brewers saw when they chose him at #5. And if you look at that draft, there aren't a ton of guys there that have made a ton of noise. Of the top college picks, Senzel is knocking on the door. Puk was looking like a sure MLB contributor last year before getting hurt. Cal Quantrill has underwhelmed. Zack Collins has treaded water. Kyle Lewis has arguably been more disappointing than Ray. Matt Thaiss has been solid offensively, but loses some value moving from catcher to 1B. If they had to do it all over again, maybe they draft one of the HS pitchers like Garrett, Manning, Groome or obviously Whitley, but I think its way too early to write of Ray.

The only thing I can figure is that they feel his progression in 2018 was a fluke. Hopefully he continues to build on it in San Antonio this year, along with cleaning up his K issues and maybe getting that average and OBP up a bit.

I hope your description of the Angels in your initial post was sarcasm. Mike Trout doesn't give the Angels an identity? Lol Wasn't there a whole argument last year that Trout should be way more marketable than he actually is? He doesn't have a ton of personality. The Angels have star power, but that isn't the same as identity. That team is a listless ship right now.

It would be awesome to watch Trout and Harper, but I don't see it happening. If that dang Pujols contract wasn't weighing them down for another 3 year, then perhaps. I think they will stick with Upton, Trout, and Calhoun as their OF'ers. Agree. And with Ohtani you have DH covered too. I did see an article trying to narrow down the mystery team on Machado and it made a strong case for the Angels. Could be forgetting something, but essentially move Cozart from 3b to 2b and play Manny at 3rd. I don't think they really have a 2B now. Don't rip me if I'm wrong, going off memory. Then you have Pujols money coming off soon to re-up Trout with. They're still massively weak on pitching but I could see it. They traded for La Stella. Does he count as a 2B?

In my opinion, if you are going to sign a player to that kind of contract, he should be a solid ambassador for the game and for your team. Machado isn't even a solid ambassador for himself. Yeah, he's probably going to put up good numbers wherever he goes. He's a top 5 offensive player in the game. But his shenanigans in the playoffs last year were not isolated incidents. He's a douche.

LOL I see what you did there

That is a great deal for a solid bounce-back candidate. Would have liked to see Stearns take that chance.

I wonder if this is greasing the wheels for Matt Arnold to eventually receive a "promotion" to GM? Similar to the arrangement in Chicago with Epstein and Hoyer.

Now this is good news to follow up on yesterday's "meh" news!

There are still many top names out there on the market as we reach the end of January. I get the feeling these guys are going to start going pretty quick now. I thought it might be fun to guess where they are going to end up. 1. Bryce Harper - Angels: The Angels seem so generic, so they sign a guy that will provide some identity. 2. Manny Machado - Phillies: The team with "stupid money" uses a crapload of it to make a stupid signing. 3. A.J. Pollack - Dodgers: Uncertainty in the OF filled with a versatile, albeit injury-prone player. 4. Dallas Kuechel - Yankees: Cashman and the Yankees LOL at those who believed they'd spend smartly and be budget conscious this year. 5. Craig Kimbrel - Phillies: More "stupid money" on overpaying for a reliever. 6. Mike Moustakas - Padres: I could easily see the Brewers signing him too, but for some reason the Padres think they are going to compete this year, so I could see this too. 7. Marwin Gonzalez - Brewers: The longer he sits on the open market, the more I believe he's a Brewers target. He just makes so much sense on this roster both currently and in the future. 8. Gio Gonzalez - White Sox: Seems like the perfect White Sox pitcher (i.e. a vet they can sign to a cheap, short-term contract, then flip at the deadline) 9. Adam Jones - Indians: This makes so much sense, which means it probably won't happen. 10. Wade Miley - Braves: So much talk about the Braves awesome pitching prospects, yet they are continuously shopping for cheap starters. I could see him re-upping with the Brewers too, especially if Anderson is moved. 11. Jose Iglesias - Pirates: Solid defense and blah offense. Seems like a Pirate to me. 12. Josh Harrison - Dodgers: Signs a cheap deal to chase a ring. There are obviously many other free agents out there that will sign in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to watch.

why? Is Davidson the guy who also wants to pitch this year?

Because he won't be cheap and he reaches base about 30% of the time. And he adds little versatility. For the money we're likely to spend on Moose, I'd prefer we go after Marwin Gonzalez. Especially since Hirura is likely to be ready in the near future, and Gonzalez is a switch hitter who can put up decent numbers vs lefties(not great, but better than Moose) while covering basically every position on the field. You're also asking Shaw to become a full time 2nd basemen and while it worked OK last year for a couple months, I don't like the move long term. We've already got a good left handed 3rd basemen. We don't really seem to have the luxury of adding another one IMO. I agree with you completely regarding Gonzalez. He checks so many of the boxes that Stearns and Counsell seem to care about. While I'd much rather have Marwin, I'm not opposed to adding Moose should his price fall into a palatable range, though.

If Ray were in the Yankees system, he'd be a Top 25 prospect. No doubt in my mind. And that sucks. It shows how arbitrary these lists are. Give me a break. For a guy who seemingly loves prospects, you sure do seem to not like some of them, but thanks for the condescension. I'd love for someone to explain to me what makes Estevan Florial such a higher rated prospect than Corey Ray. It certainly isn't numbers or K rate. Perhaps saying that he'd be Top 25 is a bit strong, but I don't think anyone would argue that if he were in the Yankees system, he'd no doubt be a Top 100 prospect. He made a huge jump after a disappointing 2017. He put up a 30-30 season and was his league's player of the year and the team's minor league player of the year. Yeah, he has his warts, but all prospects outside maybe the top 10 guys do.