monty57

I guess they'll be able to add their RH back-up catcher without dropping anyone.

Well that sucks. Hopefully with it being the end of ST, some team will trim the roster and Stearns can find a replacement on waivers.

I think they did fine. According to Cots, their opening day payroll will be $129.3M (with Houser still pending an arby hearing). That is the highest opening day payroll in team history, surpassing 2019's $122.5 mark. Stearns worked magic by not only getting out of Bradley's contract, but adding the "lateral move" to land Garcia's replacement in Hunter Renfroe. This move not only replaced Garcia's production in the offense, but also gave the team some payroll relief that allowed them to sign McCutchen to a one-year deal that will not hamper them next year when payroll will be even tighter. We had a 95-win team last year and it doesn't look like we've taken any steps back. Management knew that the arby increases would make payroll tight, and they were still able to replace their biggest loss (Garcia) and improve in their biggest weakness (hitting vs LHP). They are the odds-on favorite to win their division, and MLB.com recently placed them #4 on their pre-season Power Rankings. Not bad for a team that lost one of their best offensive contributors to free agency and had no money to spend going into the offseason.

The rosters are expanded to start the season, so I think Hiura's ST play has probably already earned him a spot. My guess is that he will get a lot of early season PAs vs. LHP at first base and vs RHP at DH. If he's "found it" his bat will play, and the expanded rosters and addition of the DH have given the Brewers a chance to test him out to see if his spring heroics are for real. McCutchen isn't a DH-only guy. He'll get reps in the corner OF spots as well, and Counsell is pretty good at making sure all the guys who deserve PAs get their fair share.

Is someone saying there wouldn't be a spot for him? I don't think there's much question that if he were a Brewer Counsell would find PAs for him. I doubt the Brewers are going to go multi-years, so I think the hurdle is whether or not he's willing to accept a one-year deal to play the '22 season and go into next year without the QO stigma. If he's willing to do that, and if the Brewers have the ability to push payroll higher, then I think he's worth giving up the draft pick for a one-year deal in a year in which we could use some more offense. Of course, if there is also a shoulder injury concern, then there's that too.

With the expanded 28 man roster, it doesn't hurt to have another arm in the pen who can pitch multiple innings. With the shortened ST, starting pitchers will probably be on pretty strict pitch counts. It's good to have a few multi-inning guys in case there are a couple days in a row where the pitcher hits his limit in the 4th or 5th inning. Plus, he's good at inducing ground balls, which can make him a good situational match-up. I hope he succeeds and plays a role in a successful Brewer season. But, as jerichoholicninja said, he's a veteran who can fill some innings early on and get unceremoniously dumped if he isn't successful.

Ran this through Baseball Trade Values, and Kim has negative value (I didn't look at his contract, he's guaranteed $23M over the next three years). It'd be more like Mitchell and Turang, which seems low. If the aforementioned trade package is accurate, the Padres may be getting Reynolds a lot cheaper than I thought he'd go.

I'm not really good at this, but Weathers, Kim and Hassell look to me to be similar value-wise to Ashby, Turang and Mitchell. The thing is, the Padres have a deep farm, so trading these guys won't empty them out, and they have deeper pockets for payroll. If the Brewers traded away those guys, they'd be very thin prospect-wise, and they would be adding to the glut of arby guys they have on the MLB roster. I already think it'll be hard to pay for everyone next year, and Reynolds would make the '23 arby raises all the more expensive.

It would probably come down to whether he thought he'd be better off taking a one-year deal from a team willing to give up the pick to have him for one season, or whether he thought he'd get a big, multi-year deal from a team once the draft pick compensation is gone. It seems at this point that no team is going to offer a big, multi-year deal and give up the draft pick. The Brewers did the one-year deal with Grandal, but that was to be the starting catcher, so the draft pick was worth it. Don't know if they'd give up the pick when the OF is already set and they signed McCutchen to be the DH. To answer your original question, I doubt he'd accept a two-year deal. It'd probably be one year (to get rid of the QO and be a free agent again next year), or longer-term.

That should give them a nice window to see Hiura in action. If he's "found it," then he is without a doubt an everyday player. If he's still the '21 version of himself, then he can get sent down to AAA and probably released after the season. Reyes is the easy pick to get sent down, and will probably be the guy sent packing when Urias is ready (which I hope is long before the end of April). When the roster goes back to 26, if Hiura is playing like we all hope he will, it would come down to which of Peterson or Brosseau makes more sense to keep at the MLB level. If Hiura is playing like he did in '21, then he has no reason to be on the MLB roster.

There is little doubt that Beaty should outhit Peterson, but they are very different players. The question is what the team is looking for. If they feel they need someone who can play all over the field and not embarrass himself at the plate, Jace is your guy. If they're comfortable with their utility guys, and are looking for a little more offense and someone to help improve the 1B situation, then Beaty makes more sense. I think that Hiura is building a case for himself to get more playing time. That probably lessens the urgency for the Brewers to look at someone like Beaty. With Hiura's spring, and the injury to Urias, the final bench spot will probably be used for a versatile guy who can play some SS in a pinch, also known as Pablo Reyes. Hiura will get some PAs at DH vs RHP and 1B vs LHP. Peterson and Brosseau will platoon at 3B, and Reyes will be an extra utility guy who probably won't see much playing time, but can start just about anywhere on the field if necessary.

On a minor league deal, there's really not any risk. Adam McCalvy puy up an article recently where he interviewed Trevor Gott, who said: “What I’ve loved about being here is it’s not just, ‘Hey, here’s what you’re good at, go do it,’” Gott explained. “It’s more, ‘This is what you’re good at, this is why you’re good at it, and this is when and where you need to use it.' It’s been great so far.” I think the Brewers analyze pitching differently than others, and that's part of why their pitching staff has been so successful. If someone like Urena can get a little help from the lab, he could be a great guy to have in the bullpen. It's always nice to have someone you can bring in with runners on base who is very likely to induce a double play. Bring in specialists and put them in situations where they will succeed.

On a minor league deal, there's really not any risk. Adam McCalvy puy up an article recently where he interviewed Trevor Gott, who said: “What I’ve loved about being here is it’s not just, ‘Hey, here’s what you’re good at, go do it,’” Gott explained. “It’s more, ‘This is what you’re good at, this is why you’re good at it, and this is when and where you need to use it.' It’s been great so far.” I think the Brewers analyze pitching differently than others, and that's part of why their pitching staff has been so successful. If someone like Urena can get a little help from the lab, he could be a great guy to have in the bullpen. It's always nice to have someone you can bring in with runners on base who is very likely to induce a double play. Bring in specialists and put them in situations where they will succeed.

On a minor league deal, there's really not any risk. Adam McCalvy puy up an article recently where he interviewed Trevor Gott, who said: “What I’ve loved about being here is it’s not just, ‘Hey, here’s what you’re good at, go do it,’” Gott explained. “It’s more, ‘This is what you’re good at, this is why you’re good at it, and this is when and where you need to use it.' It’s been great so far.” I think the Brewers analyze pitching differently than others, and that's part of why their pitching staff has been so successful. If someone like Urena can get a little help from the lab, he could be a great guy to have in the bullpen. It's always nice to have someone you can bring in with runners on base who is very likely to induce a double play. Bring in specialists and put them in situations where they will succeed.

On a minor league deal, there's really not any risk. Adam McCalvy puy up an article recently where he interviewed Trevor Gott, who said: “What I’ve loved about being here is it’s not just, ‘Hey, here’s what you’re good at, go do it,’” Gott explained. “It’s more, ‘This is what you’re good at, this is why you’re good at it, and this is when and where you need to use it.' It’s been great so far.” I think the Brewers analyze pitching differently than others, and that's part of why their pitching staff has been so successful. If someone like Urena can get a little help from the lab, he could be a great guy to have in the bullpen. It's always nice to have someone you can bring in with runners on base who is very likely to induce a double play. Bring in specialists and put them in situations where they will succeed.

I agree with Jopal that Peterson and Brosseau will platoon at third until Urias is back. Hopefully Urias isn't out long, so I'd expect Adames to play every day until Urias is off the IL. Therefore, we'd only need an "emergency SS" which Brosseau and/or Peterson should be able to cover.

I doubt that Hiura will ever be used as an everyday 2B again, so I think Wong's job is safe. I think the PAs would come at DH vs RHP and at 1B vs LHP, basically platooning with McCutcheon at DH and Tellez at 1B.

In the one ST game I have been able to watch, they started Brosseau at SS. I don't know if they plan on using him as the backup SS once the season starts, but he's getting reps there this spring.

I guess it depends on if that .938 OPS, 139 w RC+ guy we saw back in 2019 still exists. If the holes in his swing are too big, and the pitchers have figured him out, then the upside could be gone. However, that player did exist, and if Hiura can "find it," then that nearly .400 OPS improvement would be a lot of upside. I'm glad that the Brewers aren't counting on him to be good, but it would sure be nice if he could figure things out.

Keston may have an uphill climb. He's really a 1B/DH at this point, and they traded for Brosseau who probably entered spring as the favorite to be a RH backup first baseman (as well as playing multiple other positions), and signed McCutchen who will probably be the primary RH-hitting DH. Hiura has a lot of upside, so it'll be interesting to see if he forces his way onto the roster.

With a subset of only 30, and probably less than that because not all teams will have a qualifying player at every position, it's easy for some numbers to be swayed in the short-run by a few really good players. In the long-run, I'd bet that SS, 2B and C will remain at the low end of the spectrum, while the "corner positions" will be at the upper end of the spectrum. At the end of the day, if you have a SS who hits like a LF, then you're probably doing pretty good, even if he doesn't happen to be the best hitting SS in the majors at the time.

Yeah, I'd love to see the Brewers win a World Series, but even though that hasn't happened yet, I'm still much happier with the way the franchise is being run than I was during their 25-year stretch where they couldn't even crack the .500 barrier. Right now, even without any more additions, we have one of the best teams in the history of the franchise. We can all go into this season knowing that the Brewers have a legitimate shot at winning it all, and that has definitely not been something I've been able to say for most of my fifty years of Brewer fandom. Anyone being realistic knew that we weren't going to sign anyone for $20M+ this offseason. Stearns has made some moves to improve the team, I think he'll make some more tweaks, and we will go into the season as the odds-on favorite to win our division.

A lot of people yet to sign and the early ones are coming in higher than projected. Leads me to believe that we won't see any more FA signings this year, and the odds that our arby guys' raises next offseason will push us beyond our budget keep going up.

No, we won't have any chance to keep Burnes and Woodruff. That chance was a few years ago. I'm sure they tried extending them at the same time they extended Peralta, but Burnes and Woodruff turned the offers down. Be thankful that we got some extra service time out of Peralta, but realize that Burnes and Woodruff are pricing themselves way out of the Brewers' payroll range. They'll probably be too expensive in their final arby year, much less their free agent years. So, with that on the table, the question is what the team will do going forward. They can either hold Burnes, Woodruff, Hader, Adames, etc. to free agency in hopes of getting hot at the right time and winning it all, or they can sporadically trade the pending free agents off prior to them reaching free agency in an attempt to continue to add talented youngsters in order to maintain continued success. Most fans (and media) hope for the former, and think the best chance of a ring is with our current player plus a few added pieces, but I hope for the latter. Trading good players always hurts, but the return we get back can keep us young and talented, which is the recipe for the recent string of playoff seasons. If you continue to put playoff teams out there, eventually you are going to be the team that "gets hot at the right time" and walks away champions. I'm a bit surprised we haven't traded one of Houser/Lauer for a young player at a position of need, but I think we're going to start seeing some big names traded after this season, and it will become a normal thing for the next few seasons. I just hope that Stearns (or whoever is in charge at that time) is able to bring back a lot of good young talent. We all seem to feel good about the aftermath of last year's Adames trade, so hopefully that will continue with the multitude of young, talented guys we'll get back when we eventually trade away some of today's favorite Brewers. It stinks that MLB accepts an uneven playing field, but rather than get depressed about what we can't do, I try to get excited about what we can do. I love what Stearns has done, and I hope the Brewers continue with the current strategy into the future, whether that's with Stearns or with someone else.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/rangers-to-sign-brad-miller.html Brad Miller to Rangers 2 years / $10M ($6M in '22, $4M in '23). I know several posters here have been hoping for the Brewers to sign him. This could've been a good signing for the Brewers. Can't hit lefties, but has a career .780 OPS vs RHP. Not a great defender, but plays five positions and could have made a decent platoon option on a lower-value contract.