Ron Robinsons Beard

That is interesting. The overall sample for Suter in the majors is small. We have more of an idea in the minors, where he had some very good years in 2015/2016. How much of that was the rotator cuff strain in August? Could he do better with more pitches if he is stretched out as a starter instead of being bounced between the pen and the rotation? Even with the very good numbers he posted 2015 and 2016, there was that bouncing between the rotation and bullpen. In 2017, he bounced between the rotation and the bullpen AND between AAA and the majors. Did that have an effect? That said, if the Crew wants a lefty in the rotation, Brent Suter is the only option. Meideros was in A+, and still not impressing. the other options are Drake Owenby and Cameron Roegner, and both were at full-season A. My opinion? For 2018, put Nelson on the 60-day DL. Go with a rotation of Anderson, Davies, Woodruff, Suter, and Jungmann. I'd take Garza's option and let him pitch in spring training on the chance that some other team will need a starter and MAYBE the Brewers can get a lottery ticket or two for Garza in that eventuality. Otherwise, cut Garza loose as one of the last cuts in spring training. Josh Hader is giving you a hair flip while saying "Hi". Also, is there really a chance that Nelson isn't going to be ready for the 2018 opener? I sure hope that isn't the case. I haven't really seen much on his expected recovery time. As for Suter, I know you love him, but his ceiling is at most as a #5/swing guy. The role he is in right now is likely where he'll be next year. That is still very valuable. He has proven this season to be dependable, and I'm sure his willingness to take the ball whenever asked, and in any situation, is much appreciated by Counsell and Stearns. Finally, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that the team uses some of the minor league depth they've built up to make a trade for a controllable starter in the offseason. Someone like Matt Moore or even Bumgarner or Stroman may be possibilities.

Yay for best-case scenarios! I know this is shooting for the moon, but it sure is nice that we have the potential for a young, solid rotation for years to come. Just think about the potential here had Wily not flamed out! I still say they make a big trade for a #1-#2 type rotation piece, though. Granted it would likely kick Hader to the pen, but that certainly isn't a bad thing in the long run.

Dom is not a fan of playing rookies when he has other options, especially early in the season. I hate to sound like the "small sample alert" police here, but come on. It's one game into the season! As far as drafting for need over BPA, who says King wasn't ranked higher than Watt on the Packers' board?

It has nothing to do with the fact that he's young. I don't think there's ever been a topic where so many assumptions have been made about other posters' motivations. "You think he made a mistake because he's young". "You wanted to give up the farm for Gray". Why can't people just read what is written? I can only speak for myself but I wanted Gray for two reasons. 1) The Brewers could use another quality starting pitcher. Nelsons injury pretty much comfirms that. And 2) The Brewers are a lot closer to competing and trading from minor league depth to acquire an established, controlled major league talent wound help the rebuild along even faster, which is ultimately the goal. You're absolutely right. Hindsight is a great gift to have. But obviously the people who wanted Gray used a little foresight too. We saw the need for another pitcher.....because there is almost always a need for another pitcher. Woodruff has been lights out and it would have sucked to have to give him up but that's how trades work. But then again who knows if Woodruff would have even been included. As far as whether Stearns made a mistake.....who knows. It depends on so much that I don't think we will ever be able to know for sure. He did seem a little hesitant to make the big move. If it's because of age, experience, inside information, it's anyone's guess. At this point I guess it doesn't really matter. I too would have loved to see Gray in the team's rotation, but not at the price of giving up multiple high-end prospects. We weren't talking about a trade for Greinke or Sabathia here. Granted Gray wasn't Marcom or Jimmy Haynes either. He probably falls somewhere in between. The "young" comment was aimed more at the other poster who was bashing Sterns for not making the move. Knowing now that this team has the capability of being competitive sooner than thought, I would imagine that we may see some big moves during the offseason, with the aim of competing for a division title in 2018. It wouldn't surprise me to see a move for a big name starting pitcher in January/February.

Milwaukee Brewers success >>>>>>>>>>> Colorado Springs Sky Sox success. That's the way the minor leagues work. If the top players for the Sky Sox can help the big club, even in a reserve roll, that trumps AAA playoffs every single time. I would say Brinson getting hurt probably was the biggest factor. He was the biggest star power on that team ... although he'd likely be up with the big club right now if here were healthy.

Or how about just giving up the Gray stuff altogether? Enough already! We get it. You think it was a missed opportunity, and you think Sterns made a mistake because he's young. Not you, Joseph. The Gray guys in this thread. The gift of hindsight is a great one.

I know it's difficult to remove the Wisconsin homer glasses, but I think we should wait until the end of the season before making the determination that Watt is more valuable than King/Biegel. Heck, they are one game into the season, and Biegel hasn't even played a down for the team. Watt would have had a ton of pressure on him had he gone to GB. Plus he wasn't exactly known for his durability while in Madison.

If that's the case, at this point I hope it's Suter, and he can provide an efficient 4-5 innings. It certainly is nice having a decent to good swing-man at the team's disposal. I have the sinking feeling that it will be Garza, though. If that's the case, I hope the team packs the bats they brought Saturday.

You have no idea who. Would you have given up Woodruff and/or Hader? The package the Yankees gave up is the equivalent of the Brewers trading Ray (although Fowler is closer to Brinson than Ray numbers-wise), Diaz and one of Burnes/Woodruff/Hader for him.

OMG, this again? By all accounts, Beane wanted Brinson+ or bust for Gray. There are still 19 games left, and the team is right in the thick of things. How about showing a little faith before writing them off as being done?

Wow, pretty cool to see Stokes get the opportunity to play in the playoffs with the Sky Sox. Perhaps he is considered a future building block. He's made a steady climb up the ladder and is only 21 years old. Glad to see Wilkerson get the call, too, even if it is to provide insurance after the Brewers made their call-ups last week.

Im confused, who was the 31 year old they kept? I'm confused, who was the utility man they cut? If the 31-year-old is Sogard, that is wrong, because he was sent to the minors. And calling Gennett a utility man is akin to calling Yuni Betancourt a utility man. Just because they are physically able to stand at a different defensive position doesn't mean they should.

I'm not really tracking that logic. We've never had an abundance of OF depth before and it's also fairly common for power hitters to move from the OF to 1st base as they age. Santana's 24 years old and Braun is starting to age, but we finally had viable 1st base options. I think the reason it wouldn't happen(especially with regard to Braun) would be more because of what we have at 1st base rather than any trepidation to move him. And with regard Santana will improve a little bit in RF. It shouldn't be that hard with his athletic ability. He makes some nice plays out there. So at 24 I wouldn't write him off as being a career abyss defensively in the OF. 1B has been a black hole for years and Braun has never really been a good OF. If there was any chance of him playing there, they would have tried by now. Someone before posted that the Astros tried Santana at first at it was a disaster. Stearns would have been there at the time and knows it's not going to work. I wouldn't say it's been a black hole. More of a revolving door. Carter hit a lot of HRs last year, but that was about it. Lind was solid, if unspectacular in 2015. Reynolds was a whiff machine in 2014, but did hit 22 HRs and played good defense. The 2013 Fransisco/Betancourt combo was frightening. Hart was good there in 2012. Hopefully one of Thames/Aguilar take the bull by the horns and lock down the position for the next several seasons. I don't see Braun or Santana moving there anytime soon.

This is a forum for opinions. Because mine don't agree with yours shouldn't make me an object for personal ridicule. I argue facts and use my experience watching baseball since 1958. I don't degrade those who disagree. Gennett has been great. I saw his value. Stearns and 90% of the posters on here didn't. They were proven wrong. I haven't posted anything on it in months. Others brought it up apparently upset because I was right. Have I been wrong at times? Sure. But in this case I was right on the money. Gennett > Villar. It's pretty simple. Deal with it. Notice I didn't stoop to a "snowflake" reference? Lies! Pure and simple. You've brought it up in several other unrelated threads over the last month. I am willing to admit that you hit on this one, but don't paint yourself as the innocent victim here. You've been rubbing other posters' noses in Gennett's success for quite a while now.

Umm, isn't the whole goal of a rebuild to get young, controllable assets? Davies is 24, and has arguably been the team's best pitcher this year. Trading him for prospects would be taking a HUGE step backward. You have a #2-3-type starter locked in for the next four seasons. Why in the world would you give that up, even for a "huge" return? In my opinion, Davies IS the huge return. Davies and Broxton? You better be getting a young MLB All-Star caliber player back, plus a MLB Top 10 prospect.

It also means they'll have excess trade currency to try to find those Travis Shaw types that have ability, but have maybe been a little soured on by their current organization. The team is at the point where they can trade 2-3 high upside pitchers without taking a huge hit to the overall strength of the system.

If there was any argument here, it's that the Brewers straight up cut Gennett, rather than trade him. But that's also a indicator that the Brewers had his value pegged pretty close to right on the money. No one would even give up a low-level lottery ticket for get him. That says a lot, career year aside. Sometimes a change of scenery just works wonders.

I was wrong. Garza is dunzo. The only value in continuing to pitch him is improving the value of 2018's 1st round pick. Of course, this means he'll sign a minor league deal with the Cardinals and throw up a sub-3.00 ERA next year. Because that would be the Brewers' luck.

That's not even taking into account guys like Yhonathan Barrios and Sean Nolin at AAA. Definitely a pretty cool and unfamiliar position to be in.

It's certainly an odd feeling being in this situation, with multiple high-upside arms at nearly every minor league level. It has been a LONG time since this organization was in this position. It will make for an interesting offseason, as the high amount of high-level pitching prospects should make this team players for big-name trade candidates this offseason. I get the idea that there may not be ace potential, but I'd argue that what Woodruff has shown in his brief MLB time, and the breakout Burnes is having puts both of them on the cusp. Derby's breakout as a 23-year-old is pretty dang great, too. He's positioned himself as a potential #3-4 as early as next year. He's been very effective in a tough environment at CS. What more does he really have to prove?

Two of those three were so god awful they got released, yet we were supposed to go out and get them and just assume that they were going to turn into decent relievers again? Your right, just trot out Drake/Torres and hope for the best. Those guys are proven. Why would it have been a big deal to try giving them a fresh start? Sure seems to be working where they are now. You are kind of contradicting yourself. You are saying the team should have taken on Romo and/or Dyson, who were pitching worse than pretty much anyone in the Brewer bullpen. The team was looking for bullpen upgrades. I highly doubt those guys were thought of as that. Yes, they are both pitching better now, but it still would have been quite the risk to pick them up with the hope that a change of scenery would do the trick. Like I said, hindsight is 20/20.

I don't know about that. Diaz is still a Top 100 prospect, Arcia has the look of a long-term star at SS, and Rogers netted some nice pieces in Broxton and Supak in a trade. I'm still holding out some hope for Coulter as well. Morris I suppose belongs in the "What Ever Happened To" file. As for the pitchers, Woodruff looks to be a long-term rotation piece at the very least, with the potential of a #1-2 down the road. Lopez has scuffled, but has looked better as a reliever, and as this season has proven, you cannot have enough talented bullpen arms. Nelson has been arguably the team's top starter this year. Injuries ruined Hellwig's career. Burgos is still surprisingly kicking around the system.

I would think that his "name" alone would be worth something on the trade market. Of course, I never thought they'd release Josh Sitton outright either. Releasing Cobb wouldn't be completely out of TT's wheelhouse, although at 27 he's younger than the typical TT surprise cap casualty.

You're right ... I was looking at his 2016 numbers. Carry on.

Condescending like you know the future of any of these players or how the season would've played out. While I list three pitchers that were picked up for cheap this season that possibly could have helped our season. One of which I was told by another poster that he was done, finished. So I guess the future doesn't always come true. No one thought the Brewers would contend this year. If you did, you're lying. If the team would have gone out and grabbed a bunch of rental relievers, people would have been up in arms about it being a waste of money. But I guess hindsight is 20/20