monty57

But what does Vogelbach do this season? Ride the bench, get 15 starts and be a pinch hitter? Hiura is a potential star player, while Vogelbach is a journeyman who is probably best suited as a DH. Vogelbach is fighting with guys like McKinney and Robertson for a spot on the Brewer bench. If he makes the team, he will see an occasional start at 1B when Hiura needs a rest and will be the primary LH bat off the bench.

So there will be a new CBA before opening day? He said he thinks Hiura will play at 1st base this year, and he believes the new CBA (prior to the 2022 season) will institute a universal DH, at which point Hiura will be a DH. I hope Hiura surprises people this year and plays at least average defense at first base. Even if a universal DH happens starting in 2022, it will make it easier on the Brewers' future plans if Hiura can stay at 1B.

I get that you don't like our offense. Instead of signing Bradley today, who would you have signed to upgrade the "weak left side of the infield?" Sign Braun and put him at third? There is no one left out there at this time. The team tried to sign the biggest name at third base, but missed out because he'd rather stay in LA. Stearns isn't magic. He needs to have a player that's available to sign, and that player has to sign. Other than possibly Odorizzi, I don't see a name on the board right now that would "move the needle" as much as Bradley. Might not be an ideal signing, but he makes the team better, and the signing shouldn't have long-term negative effects for the team financially. At worst, he flops and the team has to pay him more than they'd like next year. The Brewers and Cardinals are the likely front-runners to win the NL Central, and the Brewers just got a little bit better.

400 ABs? Goodness, for 12M a year plus an opt out I would sure hope so. Hernan Perez got 400 ABs. Well, our OF consists of Cain ($17M), Yelich ($14M), Bradley ($12M), and Garcia ($10.75M). They are the four most expensive players we'll have on the team in 2021, and one of them has to sit at the start of every game.

Well, this topic just took a sudden turn. Yelich, Cain, Garcia, and Bradley now get almost all of the starts. The question now becomes: "Do we need a fifth OF, or do Arcia and Robertson cover OF the few times the fifth OF is needed?" I can't think of a position (okay, maybe 1st base) that might need a defensive replacement, so I hope they look for bats over gloves on the bench.

I brought this quote over from the thread in the "Rumors" forum, because I thought it was pretty good. We don't know how injuries will affect things, but everyone will need days off, especially coming off a 60-game season in which Cain only played five games. Bradley knows what he's getting into, so he has to be alright knowing that he's not playing every day. Cain is going to need quite a few days off with his age and having not played in a while. Garcia won't be asked to play CF, and will get a lot of his plate appearances against LHP. I think Counsell will do a good job of keeping everyone fresh, and keeping everyone happy. Plus, we will have an injury or two, and will still field starting-caliber players when that happens. On paper, signing another OF might not seem to make a lot of sense, but our team is undoubtedly better with this signing, and there really wasn't anyone else out there who could have significantly "moved the needle" any more than Bradley.

Just a hunch, but do you work for the government?

But his bat just doesn't play. Hoping last year was the real Arcia offensively, but I've seen his act before. Plenty! If we have to settle for him pinch hitting late in games, that will not be ideal. If he is a defensive replacement late in games, and somehow gets meaningful at bats, also not ideal. We should have other guys on the bench for late-inning pinch hit appearances, or just to pinch hit for the pitcher. We really shouldn't have a lot of guys who need defensive replacements, so his biggest role would be to get spot starts here and there at SS and maybe 2B. I guess that if Urias is batting 8th then Arcia could also be a double-switch candidate with the pitchers hitting again this year. It's not a bad thing to have a "defense first" guy on the bench who can play every position. It may be the reason we can keep a "bat only" guy on the bench. We should have a five-man bench, and Arcia will probably be choice #3 as a pinch hitter vs lefties and #5 as a pinch hitter vs righties. He will, however, be choice #1 to play SS if Urias gets hurt or needs a break, as he's the only other guy on the roster we should probably trust to play shortstop for more than an emergency inning or two. Bottom line: I'd bet that there are plenty of teams that would trade their utility infielder for Orlando Arcia. He's not that expensive, and he's a pretty good insurance policy.

But his bat just doesn't play. Hoping last year was the real Arcia offensively, but I've seen his act before. Plenty! If we have to settle for him pinch hitting late in games, that will not be ideal. If he is a defensive replacement late in games, and somehow gets meaningful at bats, also not ideal. We should have other guys on the bench for late-inning pinch hit appearances, or just to pinch hit for the pitcher. We really shouldn't have a lot of guys who need defensive replacements, so his biggest role would be to get spot starts here and there at SS and maybe 2B. I guess that if Urias is batting 8th then Arcia could also be a double-switch candidate with the pitchers hitting again this year. It's not a bad thing to have a "defense first" guy on the bench who can play every position. It may be the reason we can keep a "bat only" guy on the bench. We should have a five-man bench, and Arcia will probably be choice #3 as a pinch hitter vs lefties and #5 as a pinch hitter vs righties. He will, however, be choice #1 to play SS if Urias gets hurt or needs a break, as he's the only other guy on the roster we should probably trust to play shortstop for more than an emergency inning or two. Bottom line: I'd bet that there are plenty of teams that would trade their utility infielder for Orlando Arcia. He's not that expensive, and he's a pretty good insurance policy.

Arcia as everyday 3B... You gotta be kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if I'd read much into anything that a manager says concerning positional battles on March 2. Yeah, it's too early in spring for anything conclusive, but it looks to me like they're grooming Arcia to be a super-utility guy who can play almost every position on the field. He's a naturally good defender, so I'd guess that with a little practice he'll be able to play anywhere on the field.

Arcia as everyday 3B... You gotta be kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if I'd read much into anything that a manager says concerning positional battles on March 2. Yeah, it's too early in spring for anything conclusive, but it looks to me like they're grooming Arcia to be a super-utility guy who can play almost every position on the field. He's a naturally good defender, so I'd guess that with a little practice he'll be able to play anywhere on the field.

My guess if Wong gets injured is that Urias would move to second with Arcia at SS. Urias came up as a second baseman, so he'd probably be the long-term solution. Otherwise, I'd think that Robertson or Arcia should be able to fill in there for a day here-and-there. If Pablo Reyes makes the team, has also played all over the field. His defensive numbers anywhere but corner OF don't look all that great, but he could probably fill in here-and-there as a utility guy. I think McKinney's best shot at making the team is due to his versatility. He's a LH bat that can play corner OF & first base, so he could be the LH backup first baseman, making Vogelbach unnecessary. Shaw being able to play 1B helps out as well. We all know that Stearns likes versatility on the bench.

That's true. I'd guess from your last season example that it was because Counsell likes his starters to have a set position. When Cain opted out, Garcia became the de facto starting center fielder, so he just kept him there and made the bench guy play the other position. Garcia only played five games in RF last year, and those were the five games Cain played before opting out. Garcia will likely be the starting RF this year, so he may just want to keep him in RF rather than bouncing him to center when Cain sits. But I think you're right in that as long as Garcia is on the roster, they don't absolutely need someone else who plays CF. If they choose to go that route, he can be the backup CF. I think that if it's a close decision, they will take the guy who can play CF, and I think Counsell would rather just let Garcia play RF. Since they traded for Fisher (not just a waiver wire pick up), I think he has the best shot to be the 4th OF, and he has played every OF position. Despite the video clips of fly balls bouncing off his face, he looked to be an okay fielder prior to 2020 in Toronto. I wouldn't mind seeing a RH backup OF, because Yelich will probably need 20 or so games off and it'd be nice to let him get his rest against lefties (even though he can hit lefties as well as righties). Taylor probably deserves a spot, but his option will allow Stearns to keep another player so he might just be a victim of having an option. Since it makes sense to keep McKinney (if he doesn't completely stink in ST) to be the backup 1B/5th OF, I'd guess that on the days Yelich sits against a lefty they'll just let Robertson or Arcia play left field for a day.

I pretty much agree. Shaw/Robertson platoon at third base. Urias starting at SS. Arcia the Utility guy, who can now also play some outfield if needed. I think Vogelbach will probably be gone, and they'll keep someone like McKinney because he's a lefty with more versatility (corner OF/1B).

For sake of reference: RH: Garcia, Cain, Taylor, Reyes, Arcia LH: Yelich, Fisher, McKinney, Ray, Cozens Looks like Reyes has played all over the field, but not very well. He's mainly a corner OF. Cozens is a corner OF. McKinney has some time in center, but looks to be mainly a corner OF/1B. Fisher has played all three OF positions. Unless they plan on bumping Garcia over to CF when Cain gets a day off, they will probably want to keep someone who can play center field. That would be Taylor, Ray (not likely) or Fisher if they believe he could handle CF. Arcia is a wildcard here, because you'd have to think that if he's an outfielder, he's a center fielder. If they use him as the 5th outfielder/utility guy, that would leave a spot open if they want to keep someone like Vogelbach as a bench bat. Even then, Vogelbach might be gone if they decide to go for the versatility of someone like McKinney over the "should be a DH" Vogelbach. My early-in-Spring-Training guess is that they keep Fisher and McKinney. Vogelbach will be gone, and Arcia will add "outfielder" to his list of utility positions with Urias getting the starting SS job. Taylor will lose out due to his having an option, and they'll try to slip Cozens and Reyes through to the minors. Fisher will be the regular "4th outfielder," while McKinney will get some OF time, while also being the LH backup first baseman.

I agree with this. There's a lot of data in baseball, and generally using the most aggregate data yields the best results. However, in baseball there are two leagues with different rules. Having a pitcher bat 9th instead of a position player makes a significant difference. Plus every team is different, so teams should take their specific roster make-up into consideration when making up their lineup. For example, if you have two guys in the lineup with OBPs over .400, it might make sense to have them at the top of the lineup in front of your best hitter. Also, alternating L-R-L can effect how the opposing manager utilizes the bullpen, especially now that relievers have to pitch to three hitters. Bottom line is that a lot of things go into making a lineup, so one "Bible" isn't there to say that every team should do things one specific way.

I hope Yelich can just forget 2020 ever happened. Outside of an all-around horrible 2020 (offense and defense), and 115.2 innings in center field in 2018, Yelich has been a decent fielder. He's no Cain or Bradley, but hopefully he won't be a bad defender as a corner outfielder going forward. Hiura was never a good second baseman. He's moving to an easier defensive position that is on the same side of the infield that he's used to, so I have hopes that he can be a decent defender at first base. He's being replaced at second by one of the best defenders in the league. Narvaez is the opposite of Yelich. I hope he forgets everything except 2020 when it comes to defense, as he seemed to take a big step forward from being a horrible defender to being around league average to slightly positive defense. Garcia is a good corner OF, who was playing out of position in CF last year. Replace that with Gold Glover Cain, and put Garcia back in RF, and they should both bring positive defense in 2021. I look forward to this season, and one of the things I'm most looking forward to is seeing our defense. Maybe I'm just an optimist, but I think it could be pretty good.

I'm sure there was very little chance of this happening, but it would have been awfully funny if someone had swept in with a big offer and the Dodgers lost Turner because they were playing games with their 40-man roster.

I don't disagree with you, I was saying that if the Brewers sign him, that would seem to be their line of reasoning. Taylor has some potential, but he's probably not the type of player that you go out of your way to find playing time for. The Brewers can't be too optimistic about Taylor's ability, or they wouldn't have made so many moves to acquire "bounce back candidate" veteran outfielders. Edit: I generally like giving prospects a chance, as the Brewers need to have a number of pre-arby guys on the roster if they want to be able to fit some expensive guys into their budget. I too would like to see Taylor get a shot, but he's far from a "top prospect." They really need to strengthen their farm.

"Garbage for garbage" might work in a situation where one team has an overpaid veteran blocking a prospect at one position, and they find a team that has an overpaid veteran at a position where they need help. I agree with you that it doesn't make sense here, because Cain is only "blocking" someone if the Brewers were to sign another high-priced veteran (Bradley). They'd be creating a "jam" simply to trade for someone else's garbage... doesn't make sense. If the Brewers were to sign Bradley, I think all four of the OFs would remain Brewers to start the season. Garcia would likely see the biggest decline in playing time, but all four of them would get some necessary days off, so there would be PT for all of them. As it stands right now, someone like Taylor is probably going to get quite a few starts this season. The Brewers have some extra money to spend, so they'd rather see those starts go to a better player, while at the same time filling the hole that will arise next offseason when Garcia is gone.

I think this sums things up nicely. Our 4th OF is going to get quite a bit of playing time. None of these guys are young, and Yelich has had some minor issues that make me think he'll be better off with some days off every now and then. 145 starts is probably a good guess for him if we want to get peak production. Having four good OFs who split up the playing time is probably not a bad idea. It would really be a rotation of four starters more than having a traditional "fourth outfielder." Plus, with Garcia gone next year, getting a solid replacement now when they might get a bit of a discount might make sense. It might hurt a bit to see a $10M player sitting on the bench opening day while Travis Shaw is playing third, but over the course of the season, I think adding Bradley would help out and there aren't many other options out there right now that would help as much as him.

Wasn't the mishandling of the specimens the reason the arbitration panel voted in his favor? If I recall correctly, the collector took the samples from the stadium, and instead of delivering them directly to FedEx as he was supposed to, he brought them home for the weekend before delivering them to FedEx on Monday. Anything could have happened to these samples over the weekend. Because the chain of custody was blatantly breached, the evidence wasn't valid, and the arbitration panel voted in Braun's favor. I'd bet that any police officer, lawyer, or judge would tell you that chain of custody is pretty important for evidence. Everyone involved in this proceeding (MLB, the players union, Braun) should be upset over how the collector mishandled evidence. He had a simple task and he failed miserably, and that's why Braun won his hearing. The arbitration panel is apparently made up of three people. One is named by MLB, and that person has never voted in a player's favor. One is named by the union, and that person has never voted against a player. One is "independent," so that person is really the one who makes the decision. The person in Braun's case had done a lot of cases and had never voted in a player's favor until he voted in Braun's favor. Selig didn't like the verdict, so he fired the "independent" judge after his decision in the Braun hearing. But Braun didn't get "convicted" for that instance, he won his hearing and was allowed to continue playing. He got in trouble when his name was found on a piece of paper in the Biogenesis proceedings. The Miami Herald, which broke the story and who had all of the data from Biogenesis, left Braun's name out of their story because after looking at all of the information from Biogenesis they didn't think he was guilty. Selig found out about Braun's name, threatened a lawsuit that would bankrupt the owner of Biogenesis, and only called off the lawsuit when the owner read the statement MLB prepared for him. After this, Braun had to make his apology and serve his suspension, or he probably would have been banned from baseball for life. I have no idea if Braun did HGH, he probably did. I do think that Selig used "mob tactics" to do everything he could to make sure that Braun was suspended, and I lost a lot of respect for how he handled this whole thing. This is all from memory of events that happened a long time ago, so fire away if my memory is off, or I'm forgetting something.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/02/mets-sign-taijuan-walker.html A lot of people wanted him as a Brewer this season. Probably not a bad deal at $10M/season for the Mets. Lot of potential, just don't know what you'll get out of him.

I think they were in a holding pattern until Justin Turner made his decision. I'd bet that Attanasio was willing to go over budget to sign Turner, but his signing would have meant that there was no extra money for anyone else. When Turner went back to LA, the Brewers had a few million dollars left in the budget, so they signed Shaw and Anderson. I just wonder if there was a better "Plan B" out there that signed with someone else while we were stuck waiting for Turner's decision. I'm fine with the Anderson signing. It really seemed like we needed to get another starting pitcher, so Anderson will help the team. I would've liked Odorizzi, but he was probably out of the Brewers price range for a "non-superstar" signing.

I hope the Brewers are looking for what's best for the team, not what's best for PR. If they think they will get the most long-term value out of Urias by sending him to AAA, then they should send him to AAA. I hope he earns a starting spot at the MLB level this year, but I really don't want to see him getting the small side of a platoon vs LHP. That to me seems like a waste of a year of his service time. If they decide to start Arcia at SS and Shaw at 3B, then I'd rather just see Urias go to AAA until the team feels that he is ready to be a full-time MLB player. Robertson should be a fine platoon partner if they decide to go with Shaw at 3B. Both Arcia and Urias are "former top prospects" who have yet to hit in the majors. Which former top prospect do you start, as neither of them really fit the bill as a MLB third baseman? Urias was labeled "top prospect" more recently than Arcia, and Arcia has had a lot more of a chance at the MLB level to try to prove himself, but Arcia also showed some life at the plate last year, while Urias hasn't done much of anything in his short stint in the majors. I don't think it would be the end of the world if Urias starts the year at AAA and Arcia is given a shot to see if his 2020 season was the beginning of a "breakout." As to Shaw, his numbers in the majors in 2019 were terrible, but he didn't forget how to hit. When given everyday playing time, he destroyed AAA after being sent down. I went to a game in San Antonio and he hit probably the longest home run I've ever seen. I think/hope the Shaw of 2017-2018 is still in there. The question will be how much "rope" the Brewers give him. I didn't go into the offseason thinking "boy, I hope we sign Travis Shaw to be our everyday third baseman," but if Stearns & Co think he can rebound, then I'm definitely rooting for him. He's played well in a Brewers uniform in the not-too-distant past.