Brock Beauchamp

Welcome to Brewer Fanatic!

It was hard to see where Hiura fit into this roster and then the Brewers went out and signed Brian Anderson. Now I simply don't see a path for Hiura to make the Opening Day roster.

Wrote up a quick piece that I'll edit more in the morning. Righty bat with reverse splits a la Keston Hiura. Strange.

The Brewers have come to terms with the 29-year-old third baseman and outfielder, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Can the former promising young player get his groove back in Milwaukee? Reports are coming in that the Milwaukee Brewers have come to terms with third baseman and right fielder Brian Anderson, formerly of the Miami Marlins. Anderson, still only 29 years old, looked to be a rising star with the Miami Marlins, posting a .811 OPS and 114 OPS+ over the 2019 and 2020 seasons but has fallen back to earth the past two seasons, posting just a .681 OPS and 90 OPS+. It wasn't only Anderson's offense that slumped in 2022. Formerly a solidly well-above-average defensive third baseman, according to DRS (Defensive Runs Saved), Anderson slid into below-average territory last season, posting a -4 runs number over 371 innings played at third base. Nonetheless, this could likely see Luis Urias shift over to second base for the Brewers on Opening Day while Anderson handles the hot corner on a near-daily basis. On the surface, the acquisition looks like an upside play by Milwaukee to rehabilitate a formerly promising infielder still on the right side of 30 years old. Miami has been notoriously poor in developing hitters over the past several seasons, so the Brewers may see something to unlock in Anderson's bat. Last year's defensive slide could be an aberration or a longer trend of decline but given Anderson's age, he should remain acceptable on defense for at least one or two more seasons. Even more strangely, Anderson, a right-handed hitter, also carries reverse splits similar to Keston Hiura. Throughout his MLB career, Anderson has a .766 OPS against right-handed pitching and only a .702 OPS against southpaws. As a result, over the past few seasons, Miami has shielded him against left-handed starters, and he has faced over three times as many right-handers in his career as lefties. This move also puts into question the future of Keston Hiura, who has become even more redundant on this roster with the addition of another infielder who hits righties better than lefties. Anderson's deal with Milwaukee maxes out at $5.5 million, a relative bargain if performance escalators are met. Information in this article will be updated as it becomes available. View full article

It'd be cool to see, for sure! I spent a few weeks in Nicaragua a year or two before their civil war. To say that country is poor understates the word "poor". Lovely people, lovely country, abject poverty even by central American standards.

Four pitchers from Nicaragua? That's wild. That country isn't exactly a hotbed of MLB talent.

I stared at that thing for awhile but according to the press service, it's Quero so I threw up my hands and moved on.

Oh, I'm not crying for mid-tier players but baseball would be better if more revenue sharing happened, coupled with younger players getting paid a lot more with older players getting paid a lot less. The sport would do better for itself if players were paid commensurate with their on-field ability at the time. The sport would be more compelling if Juan Soto made $25m right now and Xander Bogaerts didn't have a guaranteed eleventy-seven year deal.

To add to this a bit, this is why you so often see players like Kolten Wong or Gio Urshela dished off via trade in their final year of arb. Some team might need one year of a player at that price but even though it’s a solid value for the team that controls said player, the system doesn’t properly rate and value that player so they move on. Yet one more way MLB bites mid-tier players in the ass and devalues them into a lower tier. The entire system is so broken.

It's not likely, that's the situation. Baseball arbitration is an archaic system that is based on rather strict rules and outdated modes of evaluating players (it's a union arbitration that is not baseball specific, so you get arbitrators who know nothing of baseball's intricacies). If you're arb 1, you basically get X% of your free agent value. If you're arb 2, you basically get X2% of your free agent value. If you're arb 3, you basically get X3% of your free agent value. At the far end of the spectrum, you occasionally see a player get something close to their actual free agent value in their arb 3/4 years (usually 4th year if that player happened to be super 2). The entire system is based on number of arb years with actual talent being a distant secondary part of the equation.

Yeah, but the fact Garlick has done it at the MLB level a couple of times now inspires a lot more confidence in me.

Yeah, but the fact Garlick has done it at the MLB level a couple of times now inspires a lot more confidence in me.

Kyle Garlick has been a part-time and oft-injured part of the Minnesota Twins for the past two seasons. He's limited to corner outfield and doesn't even play that very well. In the wake of yesterday's Carlos Correa deal, the Twins waived Garlick off the 40-man roster. But what he does is pound left-handed pitching beyond what anyone with his skillset should be able to do. In his brief MLB career, he has a .538 slugging percentage against southpaws and an .839 OPS. As good as he is against LHP, he's equally bad against righties, posting an abysmal .582 OPS against them. But he's cheap and fills a very specific role the Brewers could use in 2023. View full rumor

Yeah, I honestly don't see them moving a starter, particularly Houser, because I don't see the return being significant enough to warrant the move. In some ways, I'd be less surprised to see them move Burnes than Houser.

Yeah, I honestly don't see them moving a starter, particularly Houser, because I don't see the return being significant enough to warrant the move. In some ways, I'd be less surprised to see them move Burnes than Houser.

I think it's definitely something to keep an eye on but after being traded and having a bad season by his own standards, frustration isn't surprising. I mean, we all have our moments of acting like asses when stress levels rise. We'll see whether Winker learned anything from his 2022 season soon enough.

I believe this can be true for front office personnel but aren't managers always publicly extended? Or is this just a thing that has flown under my radar and gone unnoticed over the years?

On paper that's a pretty fair deal IMO but the Twins aren't looking for Houser-leveal talent. They have Gray, Mahle, Maeda, Ryan, and Ober along with several AAA prospects. If the Twins acquire a pitcher, he almost needs to be as good or better than Sonny Gray for it to make an impact.

On paper that's a pretty fair deal IMO but the Twins aren't looking for Houser-leveal talent. They have Gray, Mahle, Maeda, Ryan, and Ober along with several AAA prospects. If the Twins acquire a pitcher, he almost needs to be as good or better than Sonny Gray for it to make an impact.

With the Brewers looking at seven starting pitchers after the Miley trade, MLBTR speculates a Houser trade is possible. Houser could easily be the odd man out and if a trade happens, it could be late in the offseason or even during spring training. Personally, I'm leaning away from the Brewers trading any of their possible starters but it's a definite possibility. With so many to choose from and all of them legit candidates to start MLB games, GM Matt Arnold could decide the team is better by trading a pitcher for another asset at a position of more need. View full rumor

Yikes. BTV sure spits out some weird numbers at times.

Yikes. BTV sure spits out some weird numbers at times.