Brock Beauchamp

I'm far more excited about DL Hall after reading this piece. As always, excellent work @Smichaelis9!

Done!

Welcome to Brewer Fanatic!

If something changes, we can wipe out votes and do it again. I’m including Hall with the expectation he’s going to be a starter and he will drop off the list during our next voting period.

We own the Twins and Cubs sites along with this one. Fish On First is our first partner site. Ely Sussman - he does great work over there - owns the site and runs content. He's far more capable in that role than any of us could be. We provide tech, support, and assistance where needed. Personally, I have no interest in running a site for all teams. I'm a Twins and Brewers fan. I'm also a Padres fan, would love to start a site for San Diego. The Cubs site was borne out of Matt Trueblood's fandom. We may start other sites but only if the right opportunity arrives and we can find someone passionate about the team to have a stake in its success. I never want to become SB Nation; I've seen the way they treat their content creators and the top-down approach they take. We want impassioned people at the helm of each site and we want them to be rewarded as we grow. That approach takes time and selectivity in our decisions. We try to isolate the sites due to trolling. We want people invested in the Brewers on this site and to foster a Brewers-centric place without aggravation. So I don't foresee us doing much in the way of integration beyond the occasional link-sharing or cross-writing. For example, should the Brewers and Twins make a trade, we'd probably swap writers on sites to write up the players coming from each team, rarely more than that.

Done!

Fish On First is a partner site of ours and wrote this up. I wanted to give it a little more pub, what are your thoughts on this? https://fishonfirst.com/news-rumors/miami-marlins/willy-adames-brewers-marlins-trade-proposal/

Well, yesterday was wild and it shook up the Brewers farm quite a bit. So let's rank the new guys against the old guys. Some of the players on the list are probably gone. If someone needs to be removed, just tag me with the name and I'll get rid of it. 1. You must have an account and be logged in to vote. If you don't have an account, click here. It literally requires 60 seconds to create an account. 2. Review our current top 20 prospect list, catch up on stats, rankings, etc. (you can do so from the voting page link below) 3. Have your prospect list in your dirty little paws? Then flip on over to the new prospect voting page (after reading the rest of this, please). https://brewerfanatic.com/prospect-voting 4. Voting is super simple, you drag and drop players in the order you wish them to be. After you move a prospect, the list automatically renumbers so you don't lose track of the order. This works on mobile devices but it's a *vastly* better experience on desktop. Sorry, that's just how this kind of thing works. There's no great way to make something like this be as awesome on a phone screen. 5. Each prospect has a comment section where you can add any commentary you have on that player. At the bottom of the list, there is a general comment section to explain over-arching things you wish to mention. 6. Don't see a prospect you want to put on the list? Just pop back here and give me a mention (in a comment, start typing @Brock Beauchamp and then select my name when it appears). Mention the prospect you want added and I will do that asap. 7. Once you're done with all of it, click Save. You've now voted! 8. When the voting closes, a new thread will automatically generate in this forum with all of your rankings and comments for everyone to read and talk about. 9. You can only vote once. If you have voted in error, pop back here and again tag me, asking to have your vote deleted. I will remove it and you can vote again. Voting will close at end of day Friday, February 9th!

Well, this is quite the shock. I don't even have an opinion on this yet, there's so much to process.

This is bonkers. All of this happened within five minutes of me putting down my phone and putting my kids to bed. I come back 45 minutes later and ALL HELL HAS BROKEN LOOSE.

Welcome to Brewer Fanatic! I'm also concerned about the state of the Brewers rotation beyond this season (and even somewhat this season). The Stearns/Arnold era produced so many great starters in a short period of time but we've yet to see anyone materialize in the past several years. Is Ashby that guy? I hope so but I'm skeptical. A lot is banking on Misiorowski.

The moment it became obvious Contreras was a different catcher, I wanted the Brewers to extend him. Sigh. Now it's going to be very difficult to do that.

Thanks for posting this, I always miss this kind of stuff and will update the AmFam guide later to reflect these additions.

Thank you, I never use that view!

I only mean "hide" in the sense of reducing his workload where possible. He's a legit center fielder, for sure. And maybe that's where he should be playing, I'm only leaving the door open to "well, if you don't have to play him there, should you?"

I agree but most teams don't have the center field options the Brewers currently do, either. Personally, I'd probably try to hide Chourio in right and let someone else play center, if only to let Jackson focus more on adapting to hitting MLB pitching. I also don't feel strongly about it.

They've never really had a problem working this out on their own so I don't feel a pressing need to help them along in the process.

I am 100% okay with opt-outs in the current baseball landscape. I wish the baseball landscape was wildly different with younger players earning a lot more money and aging veterans less, but that's a conversation for another day.

Mauer owned nearly 50% of all catcher batting titles in baseball history when he retired. That goes well beyond the territory of "rare". Also, I think he was the first catcher MVP since Bench in the early 70s. People still don't properly evaluate catchers and the rigors of the position. There is a reason why catchers don't win things like home run titles, batting titles, MVPs, etc. The position grinds them to a nub. So when a player like Mauer, or Posey, or I-Rod comes along, we need to appreciate just how special they are.

I’m torn on Urshela. I think he’s a decent option at third but I’m almost at the point where I’m in favor of slotting Black there and letting the chips fall where they may. Take the upside risk over a middling veteran. Of course, this all depends how they feel about Black’s arm at third.

With the recent Rhys Hoskins signing, General Manager Matt Arnold has firmly committed the Brewers to contending in 2024, and that's a good thing. The projected payroll is still roughly $20 million lower than it was in 2023 and there is no indication whether the Brewers are lowering payroll amidst television broadcast uncertainty or if they're still in the market to add more players this offseason. But the general consensus among the rumor-mongers is that trades of either or both Willy Adames and Corbin Burnes are increasingly unlikely to happen this winter. Every Burnes rumor thus far has stalled out before it gained traction. Willy Adames has been even less connected to specific rumors, only speculation. In the case of Adames, if the Brewers were truly in the market to deal him, we'd likely hear significant rumblings about it, as the shortstop free agent class this offseason was the worst we've seen in several years. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, possibly the best shortstop on the market, signed only a two-year deal with the Blue Jays and is a pale comparison to Adames, whose glove guarantees a relatively high floor for the 28 year old. Burnes is harder to predict. He has stated he plans to explore free agency after the 2024 season and the pitching market has been slow to develop. High-profile free agents Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery are still available while Dylan Cease and Shane Bieber are being offered in trade. Whether the Brewers are truly interested in trading Burnes or not, the timer might run out on Spring Training before a market materializes for the 2021 Cy Young Award winner. View full rumor

If they moved Houser and Taylor to clear payroll space, it makes me wonder about their ultimate payroll and/or what plans they have for the rest of the offseason. I try not to judge the offseason until a clear picture presents itself. If the Brewers are truly going to be $20m under their 2023 payroll, that's pretty disappointing. If this is just one step in a plan yet not complete, I'm interested to see what that plan is.

Yet another reason why the voters' annoying stance on PEDs is so frustrating. It had a cascading effect that hurt a lot of interesting conversations about Hall-worthiness. Guys like Johan Santana and Kenny Lofton (and Joe Nathan) didn't get the conversation they deserved. Even if voters decided PED guys aren't worthy - and I think that's a bad stance given the hall's current occupants - voters then electing Ortiz to the hall basically shredded whatever little credibility they had left.