long ball

Feeding a fed horse time Players added by the Brewers between 1/9/18 and opening day: JJ Hoover Boone Logan Ji-Man Choi Christian Yelich Lorenzo Cain Matt Albers Nick Franklin Wade Miley Dan Jennings That's 9 players who played in the big leagues in 2018 for the Brewers. No not all of them were good, but Stearns has been more active this off season so far than he was at this point last year. The only players acquired before 1/8/18 to play in the majors for the Brewers in 2018 were Chacin and Zagurski.

For the NL, some of these "feel" low but it's shaping up to be a competitive league so we could see a lot of teams clustered between 78-88 wins.

I don’t know much about him. I wonder if he’s worked on a new pitch or something that makes him attractive other than a minor league option. On the surface his peripherals aren’t very exciting. He does have mid 90s velocity though. 40 man roster is filling up.

Still kinda early to say anything definitive, but if the season started today this is what I think it would look like: Anderson Chacin Davies Woodruff Burnes Nelson Guerra Hader Knebel Jeffress Claudio Houser Albers Top group is guys I'd sorta expect to get stretched out as starters in spring training. I know Guerra has stated he expects to be a reliever in 2019, but I still think it makes sense that he's stretched out. Bottom group are your more traditional relievers with Houser being the one who might get stretched out too. Obviously Houser and Albers are the two guys who are most likely to change over the next couple of months, but if we learned anything from the Oliver Drake experience last season we are likely to see those guys break camp with the team unless they're moved in trade before then. And like 2018, they might option one of these guys to start the season for a day or two with an extra position player like they did with Ji-Man last year. Off the top of my head, the rest of the 40-man pitchers have options so they'll be in the minors to start with Peralta, Wahl, Williams, and Barnes being the initial shuttle crew.

Take this with a large grain of salt, but... Morosi is co-hosting on MLB Network radio this afternoon. In their opening segment they talked about a potential Bumgarner trade. Morosi speculated Ray + Woodruff would be "more than enough to get Bumgarner". Whatever that means, I agree that's more than enough? I'm not exactly sure these insiders are the best gauge of trade value, especially on declining veterans.

What's the hesitation to include Erceg? I don't follow the farm system like I used to, but he's on the older side and hasn't hit as well the past two years.

Yikes. That is pretty rough. Maybe shifting would help? Is he a future DH? Hit swing and approach are nice to see. I'm not sure range is his issue. Admittedly I didn't watch a ton of Yankees games in 2018 outside of Sunday Night baseball and the playoffs, but I just read up on his issues and what they're working on. Seems to be a foot work issue which is causing him issues with fielding cleanly and putting himself in a good position to throw.

The first few pages of this thread were about Burnes and Woodruff as possible trade chips for Bumgarner. I would be steadfastly against that as many here were also. If the speculation has fallen to Corey Ray as the center piece that would be good. I don't know that Ray alone is enough, but if he's the best piece going the Giants way I'd say that's a good trade for the Brewers.

Ray sorta has the same issues as some of the guys Stearns traded for Yelich. He's got hit tool issues so I would not be surprised to see the Brewers move him. I'd be fine with giving up Ray for Bumgarner even though I don't think Bumgarner is an Ace any more. He's still probably the Brewers best SP in 2019 of this acquire him.

I think “a crap ton” is a bit of an exaggeration. There are like three or four. Also “walking distance” is a bit of a stretch too. I’ve made that walk before and have regretted it about halfway through. If you’ve never actually walked from Bluemound to the stadium it’s a lot further than it seems. And on days when it’s either really cold, really hot, or raining making that walk is absolutely miserable. If you have young kids? Forget about it. Ok crap ton was exaggeration, but how many bars do you think they’d be able to put into this hypothetical ballpark village? The walk to blue mound is barely further than the walk to the Molitor Lot. About a mile from the stadium to Kelly’s bleachers according to google maps. I don’t know where you’re going to build up anything much closer than that and even if you do you’re going to be pushing parking lots back just as far. People hang out with their young kids at bars after Brewers games?

This off season so far has been all about keeping the overall depth of major league talent similar without having to lose the roster flexibility they had in 2018. As others have said, all of the moves they've made so far are at the margins of the roster and all of those players they've required come with at least 1 option. Claudio, Gamel, Wahl, and Spangenberg all have at least one option left. Saladino was tendered likely because he has an option left while Jennings and Cedeno were non-tendered and an option-able lefty was acquire to replace them. On the surface, I don't love giving up Broxton because I think he has a role on a contending ball club. I also understand Stearns' concern about being able to keep him on the 25 man roster all season. A combination of Taylor and Stokes can probably fill the role of 5th outfielder when needed, but will likely be in AAA most of the year.

If you're worried about Arcia being playable (fair concern), then I think Jose Iglesias isn't the worst guy to consider. He's probably what we hope Arcia turns into at this point. He's an elite defender at short and hits about as well as Arcia did in 2017, but has done it consistently for several seasons. He will be 29 all of next season and has been pretty healthy. I think Iglesias probably gets a multi year deal to be a starting SS, but he isn't a bad idea if he's willing to play 2b. He's still better offensively than what they got from the position last season.

Want bars close to the stadium?There's a crap ton of them along Bluemound that are within walking distance if you want or they all have shuttles. I don't think building up around Miller Park is feasible or necessary. People coming in from out of town don't need a hotel right next to the stadium (teams don't either). That hotel becomes pretty pointless once the season ends. I do like the idea of more gathering/social areas. Most ballparks I've been to have these and while I don't think I'd use them I definitely think they'd be popular with the locals.

I just looked up the ride share info for Miller park and you’re right. That seems like a horrible spot for it. I avoid parking on that side of the stadium when I drive. It’s a little bit of a hike, but I’ve found that the Molitor lot is the best parking lot as far as getting in and out with little trouble.

The area to wait for shuttles is such a cluster for weekend games. If there was a way to organize it better that would be great. Other than that, I sit in my seat when I’m at Miller park and don’t go wondering around. So I’m easy and find Miller park sufficient in that way. Maybe they can buy the home run statue from the Marlins

I wouldn't call Gray a "reclamation project." He's a good pitcher--when he's not pitching in Yankee Stadium. Thankfully the Brewers don't play their home games at Yankee Stadium. Just like Tyler Chatwood was a good pitcher when not pitching at Coors field.

I can not express to you how disappointing that would be to go into the season with that as our plan... Ya I totally agree. The only way I’d be ok with it is if they spend on Grandal, an elite reliever, or acquire a SP/SS via trade/FA. Even then the Pérez Spangenberg platoon only makes sense if the Brewers believe Hiura (or less likely Dubon) can be ~league average offensively in 2019.

I don’t buy that the Red Sox will actually look to trade him, but if he’s available he should be a target. He and Gregoriois are both FA after 2019. If Arcia doesn’t bounce back to ~ his 2017 numbers the Brewers should be serious bidders on those two next off season.

With a back to back this weekend and 3 games in 4 days, I would be surprised to see Giannis get Friday off. The Saturday game against the Raptors will be important for possible tie breaker scenarios. You might see a little of that Christian Wood run on Friday if that ends up happening.

Not Stokes. Nuh-uh... Stokes is too good to be given up for a reclamation project like Gray. Grisham, too. Thames is the most, and I'd expect a lottery ticket or two to be thrown in. I generally agree with you here with regards to including prospects. I don't want Gray, but by swapping the salaries of Gray and Thames at least it's only a net ~$3mm increase in payroll.

I think Fangraphs is a good resource. I generally prefer Baseball Prospectus now that they've ditched TAv as their primary offensive stat in favor of newly developed DRC+, but I like Fangraphs because I think the site is more navigable. As far as projections, they all have limitations. As others have mentioned, Steamer has some limitations especially this early in the off season. I was actually joking around with some of Brewers twitter a couple days ago about steamer projections for 2019 currently having the Brewers as a last place team. Once zips and pecota roll out and rosters fill out we will have a better idea of what the projections are. Anecdotally, I think some of the strengths the Brewers have don't get measured effectively by projections. I don't think depth is accurately quantified by just innings pitched, plate appearances, and defensive innings. Example: the Brewers played their best baseball in September 2018 and in hindsight it was very predictable. Counsell was able to deploy his 35ish players in the best possible position to succeed and eke out extra situational value. Now the Brewers roster isn't as deep right now as it was in September 2018, but by continuing to improve at the margins (ie Gamel, Spangenberg, Claudio as complements to the returning roster and with minor league options to help over the course of April-Aug) the Brewers could reel off a similarly impressive September in 2019. I also don't think it accurately accounts for an elite (or awful) bullpen. The replacement level used for relievers is different than that used for starters which makes sense in a traditional model, but as the Brewers continue to "blur the lines" between relievers and starters that replacement level becomes less applicable. In summary, I wouldn't get too worked up about what steamer shows as the standings right now and even if zips and Pecota peg the Brewers finishing somewhere other than 1st or 2nd in the NLC.

At the very least, he will probably be better than 2018 Sogard and Miller. He’ll cost less too.

If possible, I’d rather have Miley back at $9mm than Gray at $9mm+prospect

This was cool. I’m sad they didn’t have the NLDS celebration and the final highlight of Shaw scoring on a wild pitch was kinda anti climactic, but overall it was awesome.

I saw the mlbtr post too and got a chuckle but I understand why someone who doesn’t follow the brewers thinks Chacín, Davies, and Anderson are all #5 type starters. They don’t strike out a lot of hitters so ERA estimators don’t project them to be very good. It is amazing though that people still have such silowed views of starting pitchers, relief pitchers, and defense. Additionally how undervalued depth is in both projection systems and written narrative. I’ve come to grips with national publications not understanding what the Brewers do and I’ve decided to no longer let it bother me.