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Technically I don't think the Astros can do that. Verlander can choose not to answer the guy's questions but Astros can't block him from entering the room. I checked out the guys twitter and he has trolled Verlander pretty hard for a while. Just idiot stuff. Even so...just ignore or dont answer his questions. You're right, the troll keeps putting out stuff that is partly true and adding a ridiculous spin to the story. Verlander refused to answer the questions of a Detroit Free Press reporter because of what Verlander calls unethical reporting the guy did.

This brewers team has a much better core of high quality players to build around than 2015-16. Grisham Hiura Woodruff Houser is a strong group to build around. Sign Grisham and Hiura to 8 year deals. That gives us a full 6 years with them before traded with 2 years control left, to get another re-tool going. Plan A.) Trade Cain Yelich Hader Davies Anderson Shaw Thames jeffress Guerra this offseason, if that’s too many players to trade, keep Anderson and Shaw and Thames And jeffress And Guerra Trade them at the deadline, that’s at least 7-8 top 100 players added to 1 or 2 already in the system, and while there is a dearth of position prospects, there is an abundance of pitching prospects that should be ML ready over the next 2 years. Put Burnes Peralta in the rotation with Houser and let them develop. Of the 7-8 top 100 prospects, 2 or 3 should be talented ML ready, and inserted to the lineup joining Hiura and Grisham and Braun. Including Braun the payroll should be less than 40 million. The following offseason trade Knebel, and with a still top 5 farm and young core up to 6-7 talented, add more of the ML ready prospects to the core, and or start trading for talented veterans. We should be highly competitive in 2021, with an Ace in Woodruff, and solid rotation with Houser and possibly Burnes or Peralta among others. Bullpen with Rasmussen Williams Wahl Black among many others. And with the accumulation of 8-10 top 100 prospects some of which will be stars joining Hiura Grisham. No Braun and a 2021 payroll under 40 million again. 2022 start the big time spending to win the series. Plan B.) Keep Yelich, Trade Cain and Hader And Shaw pay down Cain’s contract for a quality prospect to go with the 3 top 100 prospects from the Hader Trade. Use the money saved from the Cain contract to improve elsewhere. Payroll, without Cain’s contract would be ~ 90 million, leaving ~ 50-60 million to upgrade SS 3B CF pitching staff. ~ 19 million extra revenue for 2020, 9 million to every club(Fox National)and ~ 10 million(local Fox). Of the prospects received 1 ML ready > insert into the lineup. Bullpen, especially the 2nd half should be quite strong without Hader. Knebel after the all star break, Wahl, Williams Jeffress Black possibly Rasmussen and possible trade acquisitions among others. Woodruff Houser veteran trade acquisition Anderson Davies should make for a solid rotation. Upgrade at SS 3B Will help the offense, Freitas should hit 275-300. Improvement from Grisham and Hiura will also help the offense. This should be a contender, then at the deadline go for it big time. Not sure yet which way I’d go, back and forth on this one. You gut the team and HOPE that some of the prospects pan out and at least help the team. You want Burnes and Peralta in the starting rotation even though neither has shown even a semblance of being anything close to a starter in the big leagues. If you trade for talented vets you have to use some of the top prospects you aquired. The veterans will also have higher salaries. You have gained little and if few of the prospects pan out, you've guaranteed a long string of losing seasons.

A minor leaguer makes about $3300 for every game he is with the big lg. club unless his contract is more. They have to be on the 25 man roster to get the pay unless the club agrees to something else. Per diem went down from $99 to $33, but every team has a buffet table after the game, so that's basically for breakfast and lunch.

I am thinking they will get stuck with him by default just because they have so many holes to fill and not a crazy amount of money to do it. I figure the only way they make a change at SS is if they rearrange deck chairs and sign someone with better offense, but not as good defensively. If you are going to get stuck with a black hole offensively no matter what Arcia probably isn't the worst because he really good on defense usually. That being said if they say resign Moustakas, but let Grandal go that is some scary offense on the lower half. Pina/Arcia/Pitcher? Yikes...especially when Thames having a down year isn't exactly a shocking possibility...or Braun/Grisham disappointing. Maybe there is a decent offensive utility guy to pick up incase we really are dying for the offense over defense. Which probably isn't a bad plan when they keep getting sick of Arcia and try to get someone else in there...well news flash Saladino and Co. suck offensively and aren't any better defensively. Thus, we always find our way back to Arcia. If not Forsythe, maybe Brock holt-although a righty to platoon with Shaw would be needed Neil Walker is a SW and only $2M or so and would be a nice option off the bench at 1B-2B-3B. Jose Iglesais a possibility at SS if he doesn't re-sign with the Reds. .274/.319 career and a good glove.

I see him DFA'd immediately after the game. They have a need for spots on the 40 man roster and losing Wilkerson won't be any loss.

Peralta has a little-league, big sweeping, frisbee type curve. Easy to spot for a hitter and hard to throw for a strike when he needs it. He has to learn a slider or an over-hand curve (12-6 rather than side-to-side) and a change-up. I too think he came up way to fast due to the Brewers' great need for pitching. I think you're right about keeping him down in AAA all of 2020. He has to learn how to be a pitcher and how to throw his off-speed pitches.

I don't see Hadar or Peralta as doing their jobs. Hader has blown 6 saves and he has 6 losses. That's terrible, especially for a guy like Hadar. Peralta has been awful since late July. 7.2 IPs - 10 hits - 12 ERs - 12 BBs. He was beyond horrible tonight again. CC may look to send him back to AAA soon. I think IF Knebel and Wahl come back well next year, add Black, D. Williams, Hadar, Pomeranz (in place of Claudio), Suter and 6th starter as the long men. Faria is a long shot. Peralta and Burnes in AA or AAA as starters. Gio-Davies-Anderson-Woodruff-Houser/Lyles plus an acquistion would vie for the 5 starting spots.

Do you really believe a 31 yr. old, career minor lg. catcher will hit .350 in the big leagues? There is no way Stearns signs a 34 yr. old 3B to a multi-year contract worth $23M plus per year. I think there is a better chance he signs Moustakas to a 3 for $33M type contract and hopes Hiura and Grisham continue to improve and help the offense that way. I totally agree that Iglesias would be a nice addition. Based on his $2.5M salary this year I would hope they could get him for less than $10M. Either way he would help a great deal. I think Stearns will look to spend money on pitching rather than on big contracts for position players.

The Cubs are trying to give it away, but so are the Brewers. Houser pitches a gem and the pen (Guerra) implodes once again. Another total collapse by the offense too. 12 Ks including the 2,3,& 5 hitters whiffing 8 times. 13 LOB and 2/10 w/RISP. This was a game a playoff contender should have won. Both the Brewers and Cubs have to hope the Cards start faltering again, or they both will be going home instead of going to the playoffs.

They can easily just start with Faria and Black as their swing man and deep bullpen guy, respectively. If both or either struggle, they can be DFA'ed. They may both clear waivers and go back into the Brewers' system. That's about the caliber of Aguilar and Dubon. Yes, Dubon can be optioned which would've been nice but Aguilar was also out of options and might not make Tampa's cut next year, either. If Stearns picks up a starter I don't see Faria in the mix. Woodruff, Davies, Anderson, Gio, new = starters I wouild put Knebel-Wahl-Black-D.Williams-Hadar-Pomeranz (because he's LH)-Suter-Lyles-Peralta-Houser all ahead of Faria right now. It certainly is a possibility if Stearns does nothing, but I'm optimistic he'll do something.

I liked his plate discipline just from seeing the numbers, but did worry about the hit-for-average tool. I had Stokes higher than him for the most part in the past. His dominance at AA/AAA, splitting the levels, gave him a two-spot edge in my latest ballot, but. Wait, what? You question Grisham's hit-for-average tool, but give Stokes a pass? Not only is Stokes nine months OLDER than Grisham, his career minor league average is worse. IMO, barring a Grisham-level jump, Stokes may be in danger of losing his 40-man spot this offseason. With the guys the Brewers need to add to avoid rule 5, I think Stokes is a guy who will be dropped. Wilkerson also is a prime candidate. Faria looks like he'll be gone next year because he's out of options.

I would quibble with this a little bit. They certainly have a bad track record, no issue with that. Gallardo was a good pitcher whose career was derailed by an early injury. He was never the same after that injury against the Cubs, never had close to the same command from that point on. He still posted an ERA+ of 108 or better for 9 of his first 10 seasons. He certainly is better than Woodruff at this point. I don't think the pen was a big weakness way back in spring training. Jeffress has been bad and Knebel got hurt which really diluted it. This was a really bad trade deadline to go for it hardcore, people don't like it but it is true. Not making big moves was the smart approach here. I still don't like what we did mind you. Aguilar is better than his stats suggest this season and Pomeranz is just not a good target even if Dubon doesn't turn out to be much. Jeffress see,so to have turned a corner recently. I’d trust him with more save chances, allowing Hader to be deployed when several lefties are coming up, whether 6th or 9th inning I don't see your liking Jeffress to get more save chances. In his last 8 opportunities: 12 hits and 9 runs allowed in 9 innings. He is pitching more like a mop-up guy than a closer.

I don't think you need to intergrate Hiura into the 2020 team. He's already locked in as their 2nd basemen. Grisham's position is a bit more up in the air. I'd like to see if he could play CF at least as well as Gamel as that would allow him to play 50 or so games for Braun, 10-15 for Yelich and the same for Cain. Though at that point you'd be better off just moving Braun to 1st. I'm not really on board with giving Mouse a 2-3 year extension. I think we're seeing him regress back closer to his career norms. He's not at .328 OBP which is still about 20 points above his career average and has been slumping pretty significantly since the ASB and even a bit before it since he was at a season high of .281/.360/.588 .948 OPS. I guess in both scenario's, it matters what they'd plan on doing with the ~28 million in payroll that'd be gone. If that went to...lets say Gerrit Cole, I'd be fine with Pina behind the plate, a significant downgrade from Grandal offensively(though a nice upgrade offensively) and I guess just hope that Shaw bounces back. We need to get more out of our starting pitching and if we could throw out Cole and Woodruff, hope Burnes can figure it out but start with Houser and make Burnes earn his way back in and then even Davies and Anderson, I think we could be a better all around team. Especially since as of now our pen should look outstanding on paper. Knebel, Wahl, Hader, Houser(if not in the rotation), Peralta, D. Williams and then probably 8-10 more really talented arms that should be ready to start next year or be ready at some point into next year, Rasmussen, Sanchez, Daniel Brown could be a nice loogy potentially. We don't know how Zach Brown or someone like Webb develops. In short, I'd prefer in this one extremely rare situation the Brewers spend the money to try and go out and get that proven ace, especially while you have this window that's open with Yelich signed for 3 more years at a relatively cheap number. Would a lineup with Cain/Yelich/Hiura/Braun/Shaw/Grisham/Pina/Arcia be good enough offensively? That's a pretty big question mark and you'd really be counting on some unknowns in how big of a run producer Grisham would be, how Shaw could bounce back, how Cain could bounce back, if Arcia and Pina could hit well enough to be more than just glove 1st players? That'd be the risk in that particular plan. But at least in this scenario, you'd have some young talent, and you'd have guys like Gamel and Thames coming off the bench and at that point, it's a lot easier to trade for a rental bat than it is to trade for an impact starting pitcher. If they don't go after Cole...which we all know is unlikely, I hope they don't give a guy like Ryu a 3/45 type deal or go after one of the other older or more injury prone "aces" like Strusburg, Arietta, Quintana, etc..etc... More likely they'll try and bring Lyles back, maybe give Roark a deal for ~2/20 or even bring back another former Brewers we traded away in Odorizzi, though he'd be a pretty expensive signing. Offensively, this is a really bad year for position players and unless you're going to try and go and get a guy like Dedi Gregorius, I don't see a whole lot out there that makes a big difference. Rendon and Donaldson are FA's, but I'd rather spend that money and hope Shaw can rebound. So I think we try and run it back with Mouse, a couple bargain FA's pitchers and hope that we just get more out of our young players already in the system. I don't think they would even consider Quintana an "ace" type pitcher, and not worth throwing big money at him. Odorizzi since June 9: 56.1 IPs (11 starts) - 63 hits - 33 ERs - 23 BBs..... Right now he's no better than many of the options the Brewers already have and much more expensive. I think you are right about Moose. I don't see Grandal back, but Stearns could re-sign Moose, not hurt the budget much, and not have to worry about 3B or Shaw regaining his stroke. I see Stearns making a run at a guy like Wood or maybe trading for a Lance Lynn. Both would be well withing budget considerations. The pen should improve greatly w/o any influx of outside talent. Stearns has to worry about upgrading the offense too. I think Pina and maybe Freitas could replace Gradal adequately although w/o the power. Cain has been well below avg. this year and Arcia has also been disappointing with the bat. Those are two big holes in the lineup. Is Grisham the answer for Braun or Cain? Does Stearns look to upgrade 1B or keep Thames ($7.5M) and Braun at 1B?

I mean Chase Anderson has always been homer prone and his personal HR rate didn't spike to the moon. Is a juiced ball really making the ball fly 40 feet farther? It isn't like Hader is giving up wall scrapers. He should probably worry about not throwing his fastball knee high down the middle of the plate. That is probably a bigger issue for him. John Smoltz said on tv that "Hadar has fallen in love with the fastball and has become virtually a one-pitch reliever". Every hitter knows what's coming and is sitting dead red. Unless he can come up with a better slider or a change-up, he's going to get smoked more often than not.

Burnes has been so awful he is quickly pitching himself out of the picture. He just got demoted to AA, and is now nothing more than a pie-in-the-sky candidate to even make the big leagues next year. Nelson is in danger of non-renewal and still unable to pitch. I think Stearns may use Davies as part of a deal for a #2-3 starter over the winter.

Please find somebody with an ERA and FIP under 5 in their last 300 innings the next time you talk about trading away Davies or Anderson or Burnes (much less a combination of them plus prospects to boot). I was really high on Dylan Bundy two years ago but have come around to the idea that the guy just isn't very good. Late bloomer at 27? Definitely could happen. But I'm not trading away anything of significant value in order to find out. I'm sure you would have made a similar statement when Orioles traded Jake Arietta to the Cubs at about the same age during a 7.23 ERA season with a 5 FIP. Bundy has a much higher ceiling than any of the mediocre arms I proposed trading. Sometimes you need to take a chance on talent, rather than cling to guys that are not difference makers, IMO. What is Bundy's "higher ceiling"? He tops out at maybe a #4 IF he gets better. Certainly not any more of a difference maker than what the Brewer's already have. I'd rather have an Anderson who is doing very well, than let him go for a guy who has shown absolutely nothing and has pitched much worse than any of the three you'd trade for him.

Your plan only seems make the rotation worse...which I give it to ya, that's pretty hard to do. What exactly is your plan to improve the rotation? Because all you have said is keep Woodruff, let the trash walk, then trade anyone with a hint of value, put Peralta back in (downgrade), and mention (mostly) a bunch of garbage as possibilities. Your wildcards can't possibly be filling 2/5 of the spots (as you mention Woodruff in, probably a FA signing, and Peralta in your rotation). Seems, at best, similar to this year...likely worse 1. Sign MadBum as Free Agent 2. Trade a combination of Davies/Anderson/Burnes and prospects to Orioles for Dylan Bundy 2020 Rotation 1. Brandon Woodruff 2. Madison Bumgarner 3. Dylan Bundy 4. Freddy Peralta 5. Jake Faria Swingman: Brent Suter Rotation Depth: Whoever we don't trade of Davies/Anderson/Burnes Jimmy Nelson Adrian Houser Prospects on the way... Ethan Small Aaron Ashby Drew Rasmussen Trey Supak Zack Brown etc. Replace Moustakas and/or Grandal with cheaper options so we can afford to sign MadBum or Ryu, perhaps You were being facetious right? Madbum and Dylan Bundy!! The same Bundy who has an FIP of 4.70-4.38-5.17-5.06 the last 4 years. Both Davies and Anderson are much better options than Bundy. Burnes would be a wash as bad as he has been this year. Bumgarner is nowhere near the pitcher he once was and will command way too much money for the Brewers to be in the running. The Brewers could do much better than M.B. throwing around the kind of money he'll get.

You're right that it's highly doubtful Bickford is even on most team's radar. Since 2017 he has pitched a grand total of 72.1 innings and will be 25 and just getting to AA ball. The Brewers won't lose him to rule 5.

Imo, the correct player optioned down, wrong player brought up. The correct player would have been Freitas, even if only for this weekend. With Grisham Williams Faria brought up recently, was hoping Stearns mismanagement of the roster was a thing of the past. Why would they bring up a 3rd catcher leaving themselves with only 4 infielders? An injury to anybody other than 1B could easily cost them a game. CC isn't going to sit Grandal and if a lefty throws, Pina is hitting lefties well. Zero need for a 3rd catcher.

I'm not as drunk on bloated and likely useless AAA stats as some others, but I think it might be time to see what he can do at the big league level. Leash certainly doesn't need to be long on a 30-year-old journeyman, though. Bring him up and give him at-bats for 4-5 games, and if he doesn't produce, see-ya. He's already on the 40-man, so it would be a pretty easy move. Who do they cut to bring up Freitas? Pina is killing it against lefties. Thames? Do they cut Gamel to keep 3 catchers?

1. No, he will rebound. It's not a TON of money in this case. There's also NO real option in the minors. Erceg would be worse. Shaw at least has the track record over his career. 2. Yes. He's the primary 1B. 3. Bring both Grandal and Moose back. Grandal would be worth the money on a three-year extension, if only to bridge to Feliciano/Fry. 4. If Moose comes back, and Shaw rebounds to norms, the Crew has a good starting infield offensively. A three-year extension buys time for Turang to arrive from A+. 5. At this point bring back Gio, and open the last slot to one of Houser/Suter/Burnes/Peralta/Supak. 6. Keep the option for Jeffress, but be willing to DFA if he struggles in spring. I can see keeping Shaw to play 1B along with Braun and to play 3B when resting Moose (re-signing Moose) Let Thames and his $7.5M contract go (Shaw and Braun at 1B) Bring back Moose but use Grandal's money for a starting pitcher and/or SS Gio is a lefty and unless they pick up a FA lefty (Wood?) bring him back Jeffress and his $4.3M contract are history. Knebel-Wahl-Ray-Faria-Pomeranz-Hader-Suter-Peralta-Burnes-D.Williams-Perdomo are all options I'd put ahead of Jeffress.

Pomeranz has been great out of the pen. As a starter he is a 5 inning max guy. Better to leave him in the pen where he is highly effective. The Brewers bullpen has been up and down with a lot more downs than ups lately. I think Pomeranz can do more good there.

If Bellinger falls back 30-50 points in OPS while yelich maintains, that might do it also. It's truly a 2 horse race in my opinion. The triple crown actually appears somewhat attainable. He's only ahead in HR, but he's only 1 point behind in average and 5 rbi at the moment. A strong finish could get him there. In my opinion 50-30 is amazing, but more of a fun fact elite stat. I just don't think it is going to get hyped. The Triple Crown is like the grand daddy of league domination. I can't see some with the later losing the MVP. I don't really like his chances though, the competition is way to dense in RBIs and to some extent AVG. If he pulls it off with all the competition any writer voting someone else should be smacked. He is going to need a sizeable gap to win without the triple crown and missing the postseason. He is notably BEHIND Bellinger in WAR...not really a good look. Can't see him winning with a lower WAR and not in the postseason. Yellich being behind anybody in WAR shows you what a joke war really is.

Peralta has now allowed runs in his last 4 appearances. Hader is even worse. He has allowed 10 runs in only 13 IPs since July 1. Right now the bullpen is an absolute mess. CC has no viable options in late inning situations.

assuming none are optioned for more than 20 days in 2019, josh hader and bobby wahl will each enter 2020 spring training with two minor league options and alex claudio with one. They will never option Hader. I believe they re-sign Pomeranz as a lefty in the pen next year and say adios to Claudio. Wahl is iffy even assuming he's on the opening day roster. As horrendous as Jeffress has been and given he will be owed $4.3M next year, I doubt they keep him too. They almost have to keep Faria and Ray or lose them for little or nothing. Many internal options for the pen next year if Knebel comes back as good as ever. Starters are a totally different story.