Brewcrew82

Yep. Huge part of why we missed the playoffs. Contrary to popular opinion, it wasn’t the offense…

Thing is, though, is that none of those guys, save for Hader until June, gave us irreplaceable innings. They ranged from slightly above average (Boxberger) to average (Suter) to well below average (Kelly). Strzelecki, Cousins, etc., guys with promising underlying pitch profiles and underlying metrics, getting more innings will help. Granted, this bullpen will be a lot more unproven, but there’s definite talent here headlined by an elite closer in Devin. The 2012 bullpen didn’t even have that…

Honestly, it seems like Gasser is being groomed to be Lauer's replacement. There's very little upside to extending Lauer past his two remaining years of control, with a significant amount of downside. If it were up to me, I would've cashed in on the value he's built up over the past two seasons (surface-level wise) and traded him to a pitching-desperate team like the Orioles. The only starting pitchers we should be offering extensions to are Corbin and Woody due to how difficult it is to develop frontline pitching and how crucial frontline pitching is to a successful World Series formula. Corbin is obviously highly unlikely at this point, but I think Woody can and should be done.

Tournament starts March 7th. Here are the Brewers participating: I think the winner is going to come down to the US, the Dominican Republic, and Japan. Gotta say I'm kind of disappointed in the starting pitching staff the US put together compared to those teams. Our lineup is probably the best, but compare Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Merrill Kelly, and co. to Alcantara, Javier, Garcia, Ohtani, Darvish, etc...That could very well prove to be the difference. Too bad because DeGrom, Burnes, Scherzer, Cole, etc. would blow everyone out of the water (though, I'm obviously glad Corbin and Woody are bypassing it). Think this could be a really good opportunity for Devin, as he has started really slow over the past couple of years. He could very well end up as team USA's closer.

Home record matters very little to the NCAA Selection Committee compared to road/neutral record and wins vs. Quad 1 teams. Badgers are in good shape with their quantity of Quad 1 wins (particularly road wins against Marquette and Iowa), though their profile is dragged down by their relatively lackluster efficiency metrics. Which is why they are where they are right now, somewhere in the last 4 in/first 4 out.

So Quero, but not Chourio? That’s interesting.

With pitchers and catchers due to meet this coming week, I thought it might be fun to make some season predictions before spring training and then do the usual predictions right before Opening Day. Here are some of the categories I had in mind: Spring Training MVP: Christian Yelich Surprise OD roster inclusion(s): Sal Frelick Surprise OD roster omission(s): Mike Brosseau Breakout(s): Sal Frelick, Jake Cousins Disappointment(s): Garrett Mitchell, Eric Lauer Bounceback(s): Jesse Winker, Freddy Peralta (165 innings, 3.00-3.25 ERA, 200+Ks) Season MVP: Willy Adames Cy Young: Corbin Burnes Reliever of the Year: Devin Williams Rookie of the Year: Sal Frelick Bold Prediction: Chourio debuts in August, becomes mainstay at top of the order a la 2018 Juan Soto... Brewers Record: 90-72 Postseason? Yes (Wild Card)

They’re two all star hitters who represent clear upgrade over the guys they’re replacing in the lineup. That’s not something to minimize… Is there risk? Of course. But you could say the same thing with virtually any non-established superstar in the majors. I’m on the record as being very optimistic about Winker. This is a guy who, previous to last season, was a top 10 hitter against RHP in MLB. And even last year, when he was dealing with injury and playing in one of the least hitter friendly parks in the majors, was still an asset at the plate (109 wRC+) due to his elite walk rate. Easily better than McCutchen, who saw the majority of plate appearances for us at DH last season. We’ll see how the power looks coming off surgery, but the Brewers are optimistic, and I see no reason not to be considering he’s only 29. At the very least, he represents an upgrade over McCutchen, with the potential to be much more. As for Contreras, the Braves were hesitant to part with him and wanted us to take D’Arnaud instead, but we held out. The main reason why they traded for Murphy is because they wanted an upgrade on defense. They gladly would have held on to Contreras as their DH and part-time catcher if we hadn’t been adamant about him being part of the return. After all, he only was the starting DH for the NL in the all-star game and posted the highest OPS for a C last season…Will he repeat those types of numbers this season? Probably not, but he still represents a clear upgrade with the bat over what we received from the C position last season. Defensively, he was below average, but so was Omar Narvaez when we acquired him…And he’s still only 25. I get you like to be a contrarian, but these moves inarguably upgraded the roster.

So, it will be a “miracle” if a team that’s won at least 86 games the last 5 full seasons wins above 83? Interesting take. You not a fan of the William Contreras/Jesse Winker trades?

Agreed. I like him AT MINIMUM in that he can get on base and put the ball in play, the two areas where the offense struggled the most last year. Hopefully the power comes back now that he's healthy, and we'll really be in business.

Clancy is what you call a Suter stan. Even going back to when Suter was in the minors and he'd consistently rank him as the team's #1 prospect. In reality, though, Suter has basically zero overall value, which is why a trade didn't occur.

He’s not wrong though…Darvish would clearly be the #3 starter on the Mets, Braves, Phillies, Brewers, etc.

Yeah. We just lacked the star power of the other NL playoff teams. Guys like Harper, Machado, Betts, Freeman, Goldschmidt, Arenado, etc. Still should’ve been enough though if our pitching didn’t decline due to injuries and underperformance.

Disagree on Klesmit. He's fine as a Gasser/Showalter type. He's also probably our best defender on the perimeter. Though, I'd love to know why he's suddenly decided to stop being the 80% FT shooter he's been over the course of his career. It comes down to Wahl being more efficient on offense like he was last year. Tonight was a good start. Would also be nice if Chucky would hit a better % of his twos. They have some good opportunities coming up to get themselves on the right side of the bubble. Nebraska is a must win on Saturday.

1. Chourio 2. Frelick 3. Wiemer 4. Turang 5. Quero 6. Mitchell 7. Misiorowski 8. Gasser 9. Brown Jr. 10. Black 11. Uribe 12. Mendez 13. Rodriguez (P) 14. S. Cruz 15. Small 16. Moore 17. Cam Robinson 18. Junk 19. Henderson 20. Avina

Shame that we won’t see Corbin and Woody over as many innings as Sheets and Higuera. Granted, pitchers aren’t going as many innings these days and Corbin and Woody started off in the bullpen…But either would be safe bets to surpass Sheets and Higuera for total impact.

Shame that we won’t see Corbin and Woody over as many innings as Sheets and Higuera. Granted, pitchers aren’t going as many innings these days and Corbin and Woody started off in the bullpen…But either would be safe bets to surpass Sheets and Higuera for total impact.

Let's funnel this into the bball program as well. Pay Wahl to stay for one more year, keep Essegian happy, and purchase a high-level transfer.

1. Burnes (6.0 WAR) 2. Adames (5.4 WAR) 3. Woodruff (5.1 WAR) 4. Yelich (3.5 WAR) 5. Urias (3.3 WAR) 6. Contreras (3.1 WAR) 7. Peralta (3.1 WAR) 8. Ashby (2.9 WAR) 9. Frelick (2.6 WAR) 10. Williams (2.2 WAR) Looks like 90 wins to me.

Hmm, I thought Chourio would get a look.

I'd take a comp draft pick for Stearns. But do the Astros even have any to trade??

Good. Assuming they'll be still missing some players and the crowd will be on the low side. Time to kick some butt and pick up a Quad 1 win and regain our standing on Ken Pom.

Bowman is a legitimate reason, too imo. Kid had some personal challenges that made staying in Madison impossible. While he's not exactly lighting the world on fire right now for Oakland, he still showed a lot of promise in the brief time he was on the court, particularly with respect to his shooting. We'd be better off with him instead of McGee.

I saw that quote and wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the direction they went in. However, I do think the conversation shifts if Frelick lights it up in spring training, which he is quite capable of doing.

They really should trade for a premium fielding talent such as Garrett Mitchell or Brice Turang and give us Edward Cabrera in return…