Ron Robinsons Beard

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/10/nationals-acquire-kyle-barraclough.html#comments He was one of the guys I pinpointed as a potential pen arm for next year. Too bad considering it appears it was only slot money going back to the Marlins. This tells me the Marlins are throwing in the towel on 2019 and probably 2020-21 as well. If I were Stearns, I'd get on the horn about a deal for Realmuto. They have a few other pieces that I like as well – Brian Anderson, Urena, Steckenrider.

I agree with you that the Brewers could definitely use an upgrade to the line up. I just have a hard time paying the prospect price for Realmuto. He's a great player- probably the best catcher in the league right now. It's just tough for catchers to hold up offensively for multiple years. I'd rather spend the cash on Grandal than the prospects on Realmuto although I think both are unlikely to land in Milwaukee. A bat at second base or corner OF would be nice. That bat could be Santana though. I think the team's regular 2B is already on the team. It's going to be Shaw if they re-up Moustakas, or Schoop if they don't. I suppose they could take a chance on someone like Dozier, Murphy or LeMaheau on a short, cheap deal. There looks to be quite a few solid 2B options on the market this year.

I think you are pretty close. Freddy and Davies threw bullpens yesterday, so that makes me wonder if Davies will be on the roster and be making a start. Not sure who he would be replacing, though. The only answer I can come up with is Woodruff, and that would be surprising and unfortunate, as he's been lights out lately.

I guess I said yes on Vogt without really taking the price into account. You may be right though. I doubt there would be much competition for him out there, so there is probably a good chance he is non-tendered and brought back as a non-roster guy. They really seem to value his presence and leadership. That injury is a rough one for a catcher, though. I think he eventually ends up back in Milwaukee, though, if his health is good. I was actually kind of a toss-up on Jennings. It will be interesting to see how they view Quentin Torres-Costa and Ramirez. If either of those guys are added to the 40-man this offseason, then Jennings may be gone.

Brewers (15) Jonathan Schoop – $10.1MM - Depends on their decision with Moustakas. If Moose stays, I think Shaw plays 2B, and Schoop may be gone. If Moose leaves, though, I think Schoop is back. And we aren't going to see Hiura until August/Sept. at the earliest. He's got ton to improve on, and is not close to ML ready. Travis Shaw – $5.1MM - No brainer yes Corey Knebel – $4.9MM - No brainer yes Jeremy Jeffress – $4.8MM (has a $3.175MM club option) - No brainer yes Jimmy Nelson – $3.7MM - No brainer yes Stephen Vogt – $3.065MM - Yes, with caveats. I think Kratz is likely to retire, and if Vogt makes a full recovery, he will fill the veteran back-up catcher role if they decide Nottingham isn't ready yet. Hernan Perez – $2.7MM - Yes, that positional flexibility is too valuable Junior Guerra – $2.7MM - Yes, because if he doesn't make the rotation, he will likely be a multi-inning bullpen arm Zach Davies – $2.4MM - Yes, especially at this price. He may be dealt Domingo Santana – $2.0MM - Yes, for sure. I think he's given another shot at being the every day RF next year. It also wouldn't surprise me to see him dealt Manny Piña – $1.8MM - Yep, good price for an average offensive and above average defensive catcher. Dan Jennings – $1.6MM - Yeah, he was good enough to come back at this price. Xavier Cedeño – $1.5MM - Yep, I want to see more, even though he's been a little up and down Erik Kratz – $1.0MM - Sure, if he wants to come back. I think he hangs it up after this season, though. If he continues to get clutch hits and play good D, he'll achieve folk hero status soon enough. Tyler Saladino – $1.0MM - Ehh, probably not. That 40-man spot can probably be used more effectively, and he and Dubon have redundant skillsets.

That is very flawed logic. Villar wasn't playing, and it was obvious he wasn't going to play. This has been pointed out countless times in countless threads. Villar was ready to come off the DL for at least a week when he was dealt, yet the Brewers kept him there. For whatever reason, Counsell was done with him. Looking at his stats with Baltimore, and saying he would have done that in Milwaukee, is comparing apples and oranges. Villar was the definition of a "throw-in" in that deal. I hope Villar plays well for the Orioles and becomes a good Major League regular. I loved the energy and enthusiasm he brought. He was never going to achieve that with the Brewers, though.

Hard to be an MVP of anything when you never play. Not saying he should be playing, but it sure seems like the trade we made for him was not a good idea. I don't see the package we gave up even amounting to much of anything, so I think the deal will end of being a wash at worst. Schoop pretty much beat the Giants and Bumgarner with one swing a few weeks back, and considering where we finished in the standings after #162, that game was pretty huge in hindsight. I personally don't think the full story on Schoop's Brewer career has been written yet, though.

I guess I'll be the 4th or 5th guy to agree on keeping Guerra. I'd like to get Anderson or Davies onto the roster, but definitely not at the expense or Guerra. You know what's awesome? We have too many quality pitchers to choose from! Several good pitchers are going to get the shaft, and while that sucks for them, it is great for the Brewers. This team is nobody's underdog.

I agree completely. He is probably more valuable than Cedeno or Jennings as is, handedness withstanding. That's why I think Cedeno perhaps replaces Peralta, but that is probably about it for swap-outs.

I don't think that moves the needle for any team - who's going to want to add $20MM+ to their payroll and take on three guys that were platooned & didn't even make the postseason roster? I team that realized Thames lacked playing time to be consistent, Schoop is a year removed from being really good and the same is true for Davies and Anderson. I dont think you would include all of those guys and think one of our young trio - Peralta, Woodruff, Burnes - would need to be included. But I do think Thames, Schoop, Davies or Anderson could have value to quite a few teams. We forget how deep we really are. Anderson had a pretty solid ERA and a good WHIP this year. He just gave up an insane amount of home runs which isnt the norm for him. Davies is young and has only had one bad year out of 4. His numbers overall would play on most rotations. Thames when playing regularly was putting up great numbers - then he got hurt and Aguilar went off and he just couldnt get on the field and struggled. Thames had an OPS of .900 the first half of the season and of .877 last year. Average that to .890 over a year and a half and he is the 15th best OPS in baseball. He just had a terrible second half. GMs are smart and will look closely at those players. Just like Stearns is smart and will look to see if other outside candidates have the same value and upside as our current guys. Honestly, I like Chase and Davies more that almost all FA pitchers this coming year. You are 1,000% correct. All of those guys will have a fair amount of value if made available.

Well, to be fair, none of them really have that many at bats against them. The one that has the most at bats against him has a pretty solid line: Braun- .289/.308/.421/.729 Hometown team ... national stage ... going against multiple lefties. I predict Braun tears the cover off the ball this series. I think he puts the team on his back and carries them to the World Series

I highly highly suspect that Peralta was pegged for game 4 action in Colorado. I also think he would have been used sooner except pretty much everything with pitching went optimally all series. No starter got pulled super early, and Woodruff/Burnes bridged the gap perfectly that first game. I believe Guerra and GG also didn't see action, which means we used 8 pitchers the entire series. That said, I think Peralta was kept due to his success against Colorado and his experience pitching in altitude this year...I would be very surprised if he wasn't swapped out for someone. I'm expecting Broxton and Peralta to go for Cedeno and either Anderson or Davies. I believe Guerra and Gio both were warming in the pen at times through the series, which tells me they were next up. You are right, the pitching really couldn't have gone any better for the team. I think Broxton stays somehow. I think they value his defense and baserunning too much. Probably between Schoop and Santana as to who doesn't make it.

I think the roster changes will be minimal. They probably say Happy Trails to Freddy Peralta in favor of Anderson, Davies or Cedeno. The fact that they didn't throw Freddy at all against the Rockies tells me that he's pretty low down the totem pole right now. That is by no means saying that he's not valuable or a future contributor, only that he likely won't make a contribution from here on out. It's possible Broxton or Santana is swapped out as well for a pitcher, but I wouldn't bank on it.

Decent article, but any sort of research who have told him that Domingo Santana wasn't squeezed out by Christian Yelich, and didn't start the year in AAA. If anything, Ryan Braun was squeezed out by Christian Yelich. Domingo was squeezed out by Domingo.

Well, Puig is a well-proven idiot, so ...

AMEN!!!! The post season has been FAR MORE FUN without the Cubs trying to rain on our parade. But think of how glorious sweeping the cubs in the playoffs would feel As far as I'm concerned, beating them in the one-game tiebreaker was a playoff sweep. Sure felt like it at least. That was the most nervous I've felt before a game, and most exhilarated I've felt after in a long, long time.

Not surprising. Besides Lindor and Ramirez, that lineup the Indians are trotting out there is pretty underwhelming.

I wonder why they have the logo blacked out on the flags they hung up in the visitor clubhouse?

Great to see JJ right in the middle spraying champagne.

Isn't that kinda how the playoffs work?

I love that this is absolutely wrong. LOVE IT!

I wholeheartedly agree. And I typically like nicknames. Not this one, though.

I'm guessing Arcia will be the first guy in on a double switch when Chacin leaves. Probably 5th-6th inning. I expect Chacin to get through 4, but an optimistically hoping for 5.

Makes sense. Extreme ground ball pitcher going at Coors. I hope he has his command. Last couple starts have been a little more iffy.

I think that was a case of Counsell maybe getting a little too cute with matchups. It isn't like Broxton is a pitcher-type up there like Gore, though. The guy hit 20 HRs last year. I would have rather seen Granderson there, but it would have been lefty-lefty and Counsell has been very careful not to put Grandy in that situation. Could hit Kratz there as well I suppose, but then you're not covered if Pina gets hurt. Grandy is awful (I mean really awful) against lefties at this point in his career. Broxton is pretty good against lefties. Either decision can be defined as "too cute" because if you put Grandy in for his slightly better plate approach you're doing it knowing the fact that he cannot hit lefties at this point in his career. Yep ... it was really a no-win for Counsell. He played matchup. There's only going to be so many bench options to choose from now. I think we got a little used to September baseball with all those expanded roster guys. Brox is likely going to get several more opportunities. He's gonna have to produce, or he's gonna be done for the year in favor of someone like Thames or Saladino. I doubt any team has a great option as a 25th man.