Dadbauer

With an injury to Vogt, it's at least within the realm of possibility we may upgrade at catcher. Vogt's biggest downfall is his throwing arm, and after working on it all winter he is now out 2-3 weeks with a shoulder strain.

They already confirmed they are going with an 8 man pen. That COULD change, of course, with an acquisition, but I think they would really rather an extra arm at the beginning of the season.

At this point, I'm sky high on Hiura - I think he will be starting in 2019. I'm either giving Walker a 1 year deal or letting Villar take charge this year and try and salvage his value.

Yeah, if anything I now expect them to trade him even LESS. The only way it makes more sense to trade him is if they get some guys who will be around longer but are not too far away (like Woodruff.) The only way they are MORE likely to trade him is if they feel this injury pushes back their window a year and Archer no longer fits in it.

Rays top pitching prospect Honeywell needs Tommy John. Doubt that changes anything regarding plans for Archer, but perhaps.

I have a hard time expecting much of anything out of Nelson upon return - he was GREAT last year, but I have serious doubts after this injury that he will get back to that level. Anything he does provide is gravy, but we cannot bank on him being the ace he was last year.

I get the sense from Pirates fans that their owner is pretty adverse to spending money - look at how they were a few years ago and instead of adding anyone they really just stood pat and hoped for the best. I don't think Cole was all that great (sure, he'd be good to have, but he's not an elite arm or anything) and they probably didn't want to extend him and sent him out to at least get some prospects. I really don't see them as "tanking" even though I doubt they are serious about competing. They didn't do horrible last year, there was a time when they were in the wild card conversation.

McCutchen was the face of the franchise, yes, but also making 10 million more than Dickerson who was only slightly worse offensively last season.

Pirates aren't really tanking - they just added Dickerson. They have a chance to be sneaky good.

No, that just trades one quality starter for another - we need to add not lose Davies.

Rays got Gomez. Now they REALLY don't need/want Santana.

Rays just signed Gomez - if they DID need an outfielder at the ML level, they don't anymore. Santana watch is down to just Cleveland and Oakland at this point?

I still don't see them wanting Santana - he's only going to get more expensive. I hate to lose Hiura or Burnes, but if we can get a guy like Archer without giving up Santana, think of how good we are in 2018 and we STILL have money to spend. Maybe that spurs them to get Arrietta or even Cobb and Neil Walker. I always thought it would take losing Santana to upgrade the pitching, but maybe not.

Souza is now gone - and he's making league minimum so salary cutting isn't the factor for them right now. Archer has to be available and I bet he is NOT happy.

Before people start jumping on the HH bandwagon, it is very easy to look at teams looking at outfielders and make things up about things that almost happened and there's no way to prove either way.

We can be successful, yes, because we were last year. Our guys are underrated and actually performed really well last year. The problem is, a lot went right last year, and even more has to go right last year. In my opinion, no starter we have is a sure thing. Anderson - Really good last season and the half season before, but a late bloomer. Hard to sustain how good he was last year. Davies - Inconsistent last year but really came along. Doesn't have the stuff to overpower hitters so he really need to be "on" with his command. Chacin - Don't know too much about him, but looks like his floor is high and his ceiling is low - an average to good pitcher who is consistently average to good. Nelson - Last year was the only year he was really great AND he's coming off a major injury. Impossible to predict. Beyond that, we have a lot of youngs (Wilkerson, Woodruff), unprovens (Suter), reclamations (Gallardo) and one year wonders (Guerra). We can go into the season with what we have and do really well, but a lot has to go right. If things DO go right, we can compete. In my opinion, adding a starter isn't a necessity in that we need to improve TALENT, but we DO need to add more stability. We have a lot of ifs, and every proven talent we add just makes it more likely we succeed. Look at the Astros last year - they were cruising to a division title with a pretty good rotation. On paper, Fiers was ok, and he had some decent stats in the past to back them up. IF he was on, things would be good, right? But the Astros saw and opportunity to get Verlander. Did they need him? No. Were they bad without him? No. But did he make them a better team and help win a World Series? Yes. This offseason, that rotation still looks pretty good, and they have options like McHugh and Peacock to fill in the back end of the rotation. Sounds fine right? Both guys have past success, and CAN succeed at the major league level. They should stand pat, right? NOPE! They go out and get Gerritt Cole. Did they need him? No. Were they bad without him? No. Does he make them a better team and will they win a World Series? We will see about the WS, but it certainly makes them more dangerous and even if Cole isn't as good as his reputation may lead you to believe, he's an impact pitcher.

Lohse was 34 when the Brewers signed him and pitched GREAT for two years. Lynn is is 30. If we signed Lynn and got anything close to the production we got out of Lohse for two years it is well worth it.

Again you are incorrect. It wasn't because of the rotation that the Brewers missed the playoffs last year it was because of the offense. The offense fell off a cliff a few times last year and the Brewers as a whole only had a WRC+ of 93. No team in the modern era has had a WRC+ lower than 98 win a world series. Majority of playoff teams have had a WRC+ of about 100 and there usually very few teams that make it who are below that mark. The worst xFIP to win the World Series for starters belongs to the Royals at 4.48. A staff of nothing but #3 pitchers has about the same chance as a team with multiple #1's to win in the playoffs. The Nationals didn't make it to the World Series again last year they only made the playoffs and were beat by a team that didn't really have a #1 type pitcher. The Cubs pitching staff last year was a bunch of #2's and 3's that beat a staff that has an ace and an almost ace. Yes, the offense was a big factor that the Brewers didn't get into the playoffs as a whole, but down the stretch they suffered big time by not having a consistent rotation. They missed by ONE game, and maybe if they didn't have to start guys like Guerra, Jeremy Jeffress, and Aaron Wilkerson they could have done it. I'm not saying the Pitching right now is terrible, what I am saying is we have the resources to improve - we should take major steps to do it. The outfield was decent last year too - and we took a major step forward to improve it. We can do the same with pitching rather than recycling the same guys and "lesser" guys.

The thing is, yes they were good last year, but it was a bunch of guys who were not as good in the past having great years. Is it possible that they having taken a step forward and will not regress? Yes. But when you have the resources that we do, you BOLSTER a good rotation with more good pitchers. I can't be the only one who is not content going into the season as is in the SP department.

Has to be speculation at this point, but it makes sense. I'm not very fond of having to deal with Boras in the case of Arrieta.

You don’t remember correctly. Our offense was really to blame for missing the playoffs in the second half and Stearns cheap approach to the bullpen created losses in the first half. Our starters were really good a year ago. Top 10 good. There were a LOT of factors for missing out, my bad for saying SP was the only one - but starting Jeremy Jeffress and Anderson on three days rest and bullpen day every 3rd start certainly didn't help us out. And I agree, Stearns did have a cheap approach to the bullpen last year - and we suffered. Let's hope he doesn't have the same approach with our rotation this year.

Brewers aren't going anywhere with a rotation full of 3's and 4's. Anderson has been good but it took him a while to get there. Davies can be inconsistent. If you want to compete you need proven starters. IF they can get to the playoffs, they will get shellacked. Not necessarily. If this were true the Nationals would have back to back to back championships but they don't they barely have a series win. The Nationals for the last couple of years have had the best rotation and a pretty good offense but yet they have not won a single world series. The Nationals at least had a shot at the world series last year - they were in the playoffs. If I recall correctly, we didn't make the playoffs and the reason why isbecause our rotation was in tatters. As it stands now, we are in the exact same boat as the end of last year - except with Chacin who is a 4 at best and Gallardo who is years removed from being even decent.

That is not the "secret weapon" that will take us to the playoffs. If Hader is in the rotation this year, get ready for some growing pains and struggles. Get ready for hitters figuring him out by seeing him 3 times a game and him struggling to make adjustments because he's young. Also get ready for him to not pitch in the playoffs because he will be on an innings limit.

Brewers aren't going anywhere with a rotation full of 3's and 4's. Anderson has been good but it took him a while to get there. Davies can be inconsistent. If you want to compete you need proven starters. IF they can get to the playoffs, they will get shellacked.

Right now I think best Case Scenario is keeping Santana and signing a TOP guy like Darvish (if possible.) Your platoon at first base of Braun and Thames as they both MASH lefties and righties respectively and is probably a better option than Thames and Aguilar while your outfield is certainly better. Then they could potentially move Aguilar and either Broxton or Phillips for some kind of help elsewhere (another arm, or a 2B upgrade.)