Brock Beauchamp

*whistles softly* That'd be a hell of a deal.

Struggles breed frustration which breeds discontent. We'll see if going back to a more hitter-friendly park and a clean slate does for Winker. And either way, it's a one-year deal and a contract year for him. If he's going to be on his best behavior and perform at his highest level, now is the time.

Not really, though. The Brewers can guarantee Burnes a boatload of money today while otherwise, he risks things going badly over the next 24 months waiting for that hypothetical money. We all love Corbin Burnes but he was bad as recently as 2019. Then there was a shortened 2020 season. It wouldn't be insane for him to take deferred money today as risk mitigation for tomorrow. Some guys bet on themselves and lose. Others take the money today. Either option is fine and I have no idea what Corbin himself is thinking right now.

Bumping this because I'm an idiot and accidentally published it retroactively instead of publishing it tomorrow.

I fully agree the Twins won't get a top flight starter for Arraez alone. It's going to require someone else in the deal and that player will need to be legitimately promising. And the more I think about it, Kirilloff just isn't a good fit for the Brewers anyway. He's left-handed, plays meh LF, and is really a good first baseman. That's not a profile the Brewers really need right now given their plethora of OF prospects and the fact something will need to be done with Yelich.

That's a pretty fair deal and I would snatch that up if I was the Brewers. I think the Twins would be more likely to balk at that because Kirilloff is in the deal. He has had some freak IL stints (his wrist bone was literally too long and had to be shaved down). While he's certainly an unknown quantity - wrist injuries can really be hard to overcome - if you saw this guy hit while he was healthy, you'd badly want him on your team. He's just an all-around incredible bat. Good contact, good average, decent discipline, good power. He has the potential to perennially be one of those .290/.350/.450 guys we just don't see in baseball much anymore.

Welcome to the site! The Twins aren't going to have much interest in Lauer. They already have a rotation full of pitchers of his caliber. The Twins are aiming higher than that, they already have the depth.

Eh, I don't really have a strong rooting interest in one over the other. I guess I lean Twins a bit but seeing the Brewers win their FIRST World Series would be awesome. And at this point, I'm really just pulling for the Twins to win ONE playoff game. And in deals like this, I try to evaluate the players objectively and find comparable value. Canterino's a fine prospect and all but I think he's more likely to become a good bullpen piece than a good starter.

Well played, sir.

Wow, okay. I expected Correa to go off the board first.

Yeah, I do not understand how BTV is grading out Burnes and Woodruff in comparison to one another.

Yeah, I'm not sure that makes the Twins all that much better. Really depends if they get a top SS or not. But I think the Twins would be loathe to sell so low on Kirilloff. He's a top flight prospect if he ever gets his wrist sorted out.

This sounds about right in Kirilloff. I think the Brewers would have to really like what they see in Canterino to do that deal. Personally, I'd want a nicer second piece than Canterino.

And that means the Twins will need to offer more than just Arraez. Which could work out for both teams, really.

Woof. I hope they fail spectacularly in their pursuit of such a player.

No way does Lauer get the job done for Arraez. The Twins already have a slew of guys like Lauer, they're looking for a step above him.

I think people are over-stating the effect of the RoY rule. It was well-placed mainly due to its proximity to the 2020 Covid season. I think the effect of so many prospects being called up as an effect of this rule is going to be minimal going forward. The rule saw a big benefit from "lost" 2020 prospects being escalated through systems in 2021 and then promoted immediately in the 2022 season because they literally lost a year of development but not physical ability. I don't expect that to happen again.

Exactly... but it should be noted the White Sox gave away Tatis Jr just a few months previous. As I keep repeating, the Brewers were amazing at developing Burnes, Woodruff, Hader, Peralta, Lauer, et al. Can they do it again? That I do not know.

Yeah, that part of the roster gets murky, which is why I hope there are still trades coming down the pipeline. Winker is a terrible defender. Yelich appears to be slipping every year. Hiura is a terrible defender. Tellez is a bad defender. And all of these players hit righties better than lefties. There's a lot I don't really like about this roster right now and I hope its current makeup is temporary.

Agreed across the board, even moreso because Winker is a lefty. He's not a great fit for this roster's needs. That doesn't automatically make it a bad trade but it's hard to get too excited about it, either.

That's also my hope for Winker but man, it doesn't help that he's left-handed.

Oh, in no way am I saying they'll be worse. And the Winter Meetings haven't even happened yet, there's a lot of offseason left to go. But to this point, we're seeing a lot of lateral movement with payroll in mind first and foremost. If they use that payroll to become substantially better later this month, great.

I feel like the Brewers have made a lot of lateral moves lately but nothing that immediately improves their 2023 product on American Family Field. Which may turn out great in 2024 and beyond but I'm not seeing a lot of upside in the here and now, which is kinda needed given the clock is ticking on Burnes, Woodruff, and Adames.

After picking up Wong's 2023 option for $10m, the Brewers have now traded the second baseman to the Seattle Mariners for left fielder Jesse Winker and third baseman Abraham Toro. Ken Rosenthal reports that the Brewers have traded one year of second baseman Kolten Wong to the Mariners for a pair of underperforming Mariners players, Jesse Winker and Abraham Toro. Wong had his $10m 2023 option picked up by the Brewers last month, which was, in essence, an $8m addition to the roster due to a $2m buyout cost. Jesse Winker, a former standout Reds player who joined Seattle before the 2022 season in a multi-prospect deal, comes back from Seattle, and Abraham Toros, an infielder who has struggled to hit at the Major League level but has several years of team control remaining. Jesse Winker, a 29-year-old left-handed left fielder, was a top 50 global prospect in the Reds system before breaking out in 2017 and 2018, posting a 128 OPS+ over 471 plate appearances. He continued to be a well-above-average bat for the Reds until he was traded to the Mariners last offseason. He regressed offensively last season in Seattle, losing nearly 100 points of batting average and 200 points of slugging percentage. While some of that regression is likely due to leaving the Great American Ballpark and playing instead in the more cavernous Seattle park, it's reasonable to expect some bounce back from a player with good career stats (123 OPS+ in 2070 career plate appearances). Given that Winker played much of his career in the National League Central division, he has played in American Family 32 times, posting an absurd 1.032 OPS. Winker, like Wong, will become a free agent following the 2023 season. Abraham Toro was more intriguing in this trade, drafted by the Houston Astros before being traded to the Mariners during the 2021 season. Toro, like Wong, is viewed as a flexibility infielder, having split his MLB time between second and third base. Toro had a breakout season as a prospect in 2019, posting a .938 OPS split between AA and AAA (note that some of that time was spent in the Pacific Coast League, a hitting haven) but has since faltered with the bat, posting just a 74 OPS+ over 913 career plate appearances. While only 25 years old without even 1,000 career major league plate appearances, there is still upside left in Toro's bat; now it's just a question of whether the Brewers can exploit the potential of the switch-hitting infielder. Which the Brewers will have the time to figure out, as Toro still has four years remaining of team control before becoming a free agent. View full article