True Blue Brew Crew

Yoho should be in there because the Brewers are in a pennant race and he's better than half the guys in the current pen. I still don't think many here understand how filthy that dude's stuff is

It's no exaggeration to say that not only is Chourio the Brewers best player, he's playing like one of the best players in all of baseball since mid June. Take a look at his batting numbers then add in the defensive runs saved and stolen bases and tell me how many other players are even in the conversation over that span. And doing it at the age of 20 is outrageous. I don't even want to post his numbers since the All-Star break because I don't think anyone would believe them

Could you simply just chill out with the absurdly lopsided trade suggestions? I have a feeling it would greatly decrease the amount of testy replies you get back. It's legit bringing down a subforum that should be very interesting to peruse this time of year

Was Yoho in their top 30?

I counted 100 wRC+ or above to get to that above 25% figure. That's an average MLB hitter, no? Getting one for free ain't a bad deal. And a 1 in 4 chance at zero risk is definitely worth the try

So what you're saying is that when the Angels picked him up for nothing they had a 1 in 3 chance of getting a productive MLB hitter? And a better than 25% chance of getting an above average hitter? Because that doesn't sound so bad

There's a reason you try to insert Wiemer into every trade proposal and every trade discussion. It's because he's been terrible this year and you're down on him. MLB GMs aren't stupid. They're aware of his struggles too. And they're aware that his reconstructed swing might never be MLB quality. He's a throw in at best right now.

Sounds a lot like 2023 Brice Turang

This was my first thought as well. What is this guy gonna have left in the tank at the end of this season? And with the way the White Sox are abusing the heck out of him with these pitch counts, what are you getting out of him next year even if he holds up in 2024?

Ho hum just 5Ks in 2 innings for non BF Top 20 prospect Craig Yoho in his AA debut

Weirded out by the lack of Craig Yoho on this list. That guy could get MLB hitters out at a decent clip today with his stuff. Barring injury, I know that guy is going to get to the majors. There's zero chance that every one of the current BF Top 20 makes the show. I don't care that he's a reliever. A surefire major leaguer is more valuable than toolsy prospects who each need about twenty things to continue to go right to get to the bigs. Either way, having a guy well on track to be a high leverage MLB reliever who can't crack your top 20 is a good problem to have.

The "always take the most money" narrative is silly. I'd bet we've all made at least one choice in life to take less $$$ in exchange for something else on the whole. And now we can also toss the narrative that Counsell needed to be close to his kids. That was kept alive by Chicago's relative proximity to Milwaukee. Cleveland being where Counsell would be right now if not for Chicago blows up all remaining narratives. Counsell was not returning to Milwaukee. And toss the notion of taking a year off too. The question we all should be asking is why was Counsell dead set on managing elsewhere?

Still think this is first and foremost about creating leverage in trade talks in their current or future trade talks with regard to their surplus of OFs. What logjam? But, I think it's time to at least consider Frelick is naturally talented enough to be a legitimate major league infielder.

No doubt Cleveland would have stung less. But the real boat people are missing and have been missing from the start, is that Counsell really, REALLY wanted out of Milwaukee. That should be clear by now but I get the sense that it's not

I think people have to start coming to grips with the fact this wasn't just about money. Counsell wanted to be elsewhere...period. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2024/02/25/mlb-free-agent-rumors-scott-boras-cody-bellinger/72732176007/

Jayson Stark polled MLB execs, scouts, and coaches and after Dylan Cease, the next most likely players to be traded this Spring among those polled were Adames and Williams. Given most of those polled are currently employed by MLB teams, you can safely gather that their names are being discussed more than usual... https://theathletic.com/5290024/2024/02/22/mlb-players-trade-predictions-spring-training/

Not only am I in front of a computer all day, most of my time is spent posting and viewing on Twitter/X via a monetized account. PM sent

Updated the thread title from the one put forth by whomever merged the two threads.. They're having Frelick learn 3rd every bit as much as 2nd. It's 2B/3B as my original topic title indicated. One could even argue that 3rd is the more open position presently. Frelick IS working on both 2nd and 3rd. He's been working on it with Dustin Pedroia at the Brewers prompting and direction. The Brewers came to Frelick with this, not the other way around.

The article goes into how this is more than simple "emergency" prep which the Brewers routinely do with multiple players. What the article doesn't go into is what would trigger the move to the IF. A trade opening up an IF need? A trade opening up an IF need and the logical 1st option falters? Or a dream scenario where all of Yelich, Chourio, Mitchell, Frelick, and Wiemer all not only produce and stay healthy, but all perform so well that they need a solution as to how to get all 5 in the everyday lineup. Could be as simple as that somewhat hopeful and slim scenario. That's a lot of lucky health and achieved potential though. Finally it could all be about building trade leverage by demonstrating they have places to put this glut of OFs and thus don't need to sell any of them at a discount due to a perceived logjam. Honestly, this would be my guess.

Anticipating somewhat of a logjam in the OF Frelick has been working with former Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia... https://theathletic.com/5281943/2024/02/17/milwaukee-brewers-sal-frelick-infield/

Sure. Are you suggesting however that because something happens once, we should expect it will work out the same way again? There's no denying that this current rotation is paper thin and full of question marks.

Definitely paints an exciting potential picture for Hall. But it's based on Hall refining a weakness on every pitch (elevating the FB vs RHB, command of the slider, sheer results with the changeup, and trust in the curveball). All that on top of needing to refine command. If Hall was at the point where confidence was very high that he had made the leap on all of these offerings, the Orioles wouldn't have had the need nor desire to trade him for Burnes. It's fun to dream of what this guy could become, and the Brewers pitching lab is a great place to make it happen, but it's still a long road to travel to get anywhere near that point. Seems like a safe bet to be a useful reliever at the very least. And fans have to be comfortable that the odds rest with that being the most likely outcome.

This isn't really true at all. If I had a dollar for every fan of neither team who crapped on the Brewers for this trade, I'd be a very rich man. Not saying I agree with them, just pointing out that fans and baseball writers around the game have been very critical of what Milwaukee did. And many have rightfully questioned the Hoskins signing if this is what they were going to do so soon after. To me, it only makes sense if they've got something in the works to address the now frighteningly weak rotation. I saw a post early in this thread that the 12 years of team control with Hall/Ortiz plus the draft pick make this a great deal for the Brewers given Burnes 1 year of control. Ummm, that's not at all how this works. If every prospect automatically gave you 6 solid years of MLB production, you'd never see a prospect dealt for a player this close to free agency. There is a much better chance that Hall and Ortiz provide negligible production than there is of them both providing 6 years of significant major league production. Especially given their age. Becoming full time major leaguers at 25 makes them exponentially more likely to be middling performers than becoming everyday, permanent major leaguers at 23. I get that we all want to see things the Brewers do in the best possible light. To me, in this case, that means hoping the Brewers see something they can unlock in both players. Because the data points don't look good to the neutral observer. From an outside perspective, it looks like the Brewers closed their window a year early on the hopes of 3 pieces of which individually the most likely outcome is middling performer at best. The Brewers obviously expect more than that and hopefully what they've spotted in at least one of them (or the pick outcome) is right.

Signing a starter with the money saved on Burnes is the only way the Hoskins signing makes sense. Otherwise that was flushing money right down the toilet with this rotation.