Brewcrew82

They're just as important. If you blow a lead in the 6/7th inning, which our non-leverage relievers are wont to do, then it doesn't matter what happens by the 9th inning. Particularly when our offense isn't particularly adept at scoring runs and retaking leads.

For an "overpay", the most I would give up is Frelick/Quero and Black. One top 50 player and a borderline top 100 player. They're not going to get much better than that if they wait.

I would give up Frelick for Goldschmidt. That's a major overpay according to BTV, which would probably be necessary for an intradivisional trade like that.

No... BTV has Frelick alone as a major overpay for Goldschmidt and Alonso. Mets can say they want Chourio, but they're not getting him for 1.5 years of Alonso.

Honestly, if we're going to buy, I'm of the perspective that we should actually buy and push some chips in. Not do some half-hearted nonsense like last year. My wish list in order: 1) Bellinger 2) Thomas 3) Turner 4) Candelario 5) Pham 6) O'Neil 7) Santana 8) Canha Would also ask about Alonso and Goldschmidt.... And then seems clear that we'll need a bullpen arm or two. Not from the top of the reliever market, but arms who can help solidify the back-end of the pen and not repeatedly blow up when one of our "Big 5" isn't in the game. Only "untouchables" from the farm system would be Chourio and Misiorowski.

Wonder what it would take for the Cardinals to give us Goldschmidt..That's a 1.5 year solution for the 1B position.

As many as it takes to get him his 200 wins lol

Both

If there was any doubt about the Cardinals and their priorities…They’re donezo

DFA'd by Colorado with an ERA above 11. Red Sox taking a flier on him.

Obviously, mathematically they don't have a 0% chance. I'm just saying they're not making the playoffs this year, and I feel fully comfortable making that statement.

This isn't even correct. The Cardinals were 8.5 games out of the WC on 9/1/11. Give me a link for the fangraphs% you got from 2011 because I haven't been able to find it.

You're one of the few remaining holdouts, a la. the Japanese in the 1950s/60s. The math isn't there, nor is the pitching.

I'm ready to call it. 2023 St. Louis Cardinals, TOD: 6/29/23, 21:30 CST. The Cardinals don't have the pitching to make the sort of run they'd need to at this point.

I'm feeling a lights-out second half from Corbin and Freddy, too!

Brewers in 1st place at the mathematical half-way point of the season...

Considering 1 WAR is worth around $8 million, you'd be wrong.

Did you know that something called "development" occurs with prospects? Fact of the matter is, as @sveumrulespoints out, he's walked 5 over his last 6 starts while striking out 40 (8.0 K/BB) over 36.1 IP with a 3.22 ERA. He's not the same pitcher he was earlier in the year, when the Brewers signed Teheran, who is literally the only pitcher you can say they signed off the street and brought directly to the major leagues.

I see you haven't been paying attention lately...

Robert Gasser

Woah. Let’s take a step back here. Especially since I remember you talking about how big of a threat the Pirates were little more than a month ago. Krall may have said that, but the Reds would be incredibly stupid to start mortgaging their prospect capital at this stage of their rebuild. Bieber? As we saw last night, he just isn’t a difference making arm anymore. Giolito is probably a solid #2, but there will be a ton of competition for him seeing as he’ll be pretty much the only top of the rotation arm available at the deadline. Teams that are far more desperate to make and do something in the playoffs than the Reds. And then Greene and Lodolo are currently on the IL, with neither throwing more than 120 innings in a season. Lodolo isn’t set to return until August at the earliest. Not to mention Ashcraft has taken a huge step back. Then you have their lineup which, while producing at a high level at the moment, is still composed largely of rookies, unproven players, and well past their prime guys. De La Cruz is going to be a stud, but his K rate is also bordering 30% and his xStats are pretty mediocre. McClain’s are a little better, but not the greatest. Friedl and Fraley are unproven and soaring past their career norms. And Joey Votto has suddenly risen from the dead to OPS at 1.500. Bottom line is there’s regression coming on this end… Overall, Reds are in really, really good shape for the future, but it’s way too premature to start talking about them as World Series contenders. They’re not even shoo-ins to finish above .500. Could they win the division? Of course. I just have a hard time seeing it happen with how young they are and how bad their starting pitching has been.

They're not just going to bring him up without anymore AAA at-bats...

Goldschmidt and Arenado are also playing significantly below the level of their career years from last season. Who could have seen that coming with those two being in their early to mid 30s...

Defense and base-running matter

Yep. The back-end of the Brewers bullpen has been largely responsible for torpedoing the Brewers' run differential.