BrewerFan

Well, 17 million dollars over 5 years if Matt Chapman is agreeable, but that seems unlikely, so nowhere. I wouldn't make a significant investment in any position in free agency as I said. We had the highest payroll we've had this year. We both know their limited in what they can do. So no Ohtani, no Chapman...as nice as he'd fit, and then you've got guys like Joc Peterson and guys who are normally players you take a flier on, not guys you build your off-season around as FA targets. So I don't think they'll invest anywhere, BUT if they decide to, OF is the least likely. That's all I've said. Of all the area's of the team, OF is probably the most set moving forward. They have good young, cheap players who were highly regarded. LHed, RHed and elite defenders. 3B is hardly settled as there are obvious questions about Black playing there and I wouldn't say Wilken is quite on the doorstep, but sure. Unless you can get a real difference maker, I wouldn't invest in either of those positions this year either. If there happens to be a great trade in which Turang has some value and you get a big bat at 2B...sure. As it stands, he's coming off a .585 OPS at 2B. The point was I wouldn't spend money and ADD an OFer. Feels like that's the one position you can...pretty safely rule out the Brewers using their resources to invest in. There's also the fact that Black has gotten considerable time in the OF. I suspect if the Brewers didn't have 4 top 100 prospects+140M invested in the OF already, he'd still be playing out there. But they need help at 3B and 1B(or DH) more...which is why he's playing there. Obviously I can see them trading from their OFers, but who has value right now? Chourio obviously has significant value. He's also the core for the next chapter of Brewers baseball and feels like he's pretty much off the table. Frelick- I guess it's possible, but again, he seems like he's exactly the type of player the Brewers have been trying to develop. An elite defender with elite bat to ball skills, speed and he's also a fan favorite in a very small sample size due to how he plays and the energy he provides. Similar to Adames...IMO. Wiemer, Mitchell-You'd be selling low. Taylor or Perkins-Maybe Taylor has some value, but I don't suspect it's much. Same with Perkins. Yelich-I'd be all for trading Yelich and I've said as much...but I don't think it's very likely. But there's two realistic directions the team goes. Keep Burnes, Woodruff and Adames, OR trade at least Burnes and realistically, you'd probably deal Willy as well(and I'd include Williams in that list as I think Uribe is the future). So playing that out, if you choose to run it back with Burnes, Woodruff and Adames, where are the resources to add payroll coming from? There is probably close to ~25M in payroll just via arbitration. If you choose to trade Burnes, Adames and company, then it doesn't really make sense to invest, particularly in THIS Free Agent class as it looks like scraps right out of the gate and you're realistically not really going to contend next year, so the urgency to add makes less sense. Which is why I ended up with the Brewers are building from within. I think the smartest and most likely direction is the Brewers try and get as much as they can for their pitching. Probably hold onto Woodruff at this point and see where we are next year at the deadline. By ~2025 our lineup could very easily have a whole lot of young talent; DH/1B-Yelich OF-Chourio/Mitchell/Wiemer/Frelick/Perkins/Taylor 3B/1B-Wilken, Black, Boeve, Adams on the verge...and hopefully Pratt, Bitonti, Baez and some of the younger players have better give us a better idea of what we'll have. SS/2B-Turang and maybe EBJ or Monasterio C-Contreras, Quero That's a lot of talent. Looking for a big bat...obviously if there's one available and you can make a trade, that always makes sense, but if we're looking toward the future, not the past, we need pitching. THAT is what I'd invest in.

Yes he did. He's not THE reason they lost, he IS an elite manager, he's proven that repeatedly, he's a huge net positive...but he was not good in this series. He made some baffling decisions, Winker twice, Frelick with the bases loaded over Wiemer, he made bad decisions. I know there feel like two "sides" right now. There are some tantrums being thrown and just a wide range of responses to a sh*** lost series, but you really can't say the decision making in that series or even the roster management for that matter was great. Winker is the most egregious. The 2nd at bat in particular. He should have gone to the IL and Tellez added. This is feeling like a political argument where you want to scratch and claw for every point because you don't want to cede any points to the "other side." You should be able to say, "that was a stupid move, but he's still a really good manager." Also, your post just lent itself to this response, I really didn't mean to dump it all on your. It's just a place to respond to it all. I haven't seen you posting a lot, so it's definitely just a general comment, not trying to tee off on your particular take.

What's the difference between being a 90+ win playoff team and a .500 team? Is that the question you're asking?

C'mon...Counsell isn't an idiot. He understands why Stearns had to "saddle" Craig with aging players at some spots and that this PROBABLY wouldn't be an issue in New York. I don't think Counsell has any negative feelings about the type of players Stearns was able to acquire for him or at the very least assigns some malice to it and is holding a grudge. They worked well together, we saw them talk about it regularly, Counsell was a part of the decision making process, he'd worked in the front office. He's not reacting like Eric Lauer to these moves. Stearns to NYM is just a perfect fit, it's like Friedman to the Dodgers. If you take that job, I think there's a pretty good chance that maybe not next year but by '25-'26, you'll be on a team that's regularly winning 90-100 games. I'm still skeptical that CC wants to leave and go manage baseball in New York, but I don't know the guy. We're all viewing this through our own lens. Give me the choice between managing a well run team and I get to keep my family in place, I don't need to uproot them, I get paid 5M instead of 10M a year, maybe we're not as good of a team, but we're still a competitive team...I'm staying home, sacrificing a little money.

I think Frelick is the least likely to get traded. I wouldn't trade Wiemer either. Maybe Mitchell if teams have a positive view of him, but lets say they trade Frelick and Taylor...for arguments sake. Aside from really pissing off Brewers fans by trading away one of those young hit over power bats the Brewers have been trying to develop and then trading him after 57 games where he provided energy, pretty good on base skills and magnificent defense in the OF. But hypothetically, lets say they trade him, Perkins and Taylor. I still think it's unlikely they invest in the OF market. I think it's unlikely they invest anywhere. They'll either run it back and have too much payroll or they'll move on and it'd be silly to bid for FAs in this market if you are losing Burnes and Adames. So I'd expect a transition year. Ideally it'd be with Counsell, but it could be a short transition depending on the trades they make and the young prospects. But I think it's pretty unlikely to expect to get a power bat...anywhere but from within the farm system. Which is good as we've got several potential options who are still very young.

Look at the FA class. That's why I've been suggesting Yelich. He'd probably get close to what we owe him on the open market. I think you're very limited, but SF I think signs Ohtani and then...seem as likely to be interested as anyone. CC not coming back, perhaps he'd accept a trade. LAD, LAA...both seem less likely for opposite reasons. AZ had two good young rookies in the OF, Walker at 1B. So, I don't know, you'd be dealing with ~8 teams. I think you could find a suitor, but expecting anything back is unlikely and you would at least have keep the deferred money. So 5/110 if you eat the deferred money and the 6.5 buyout. I think that's certainly reasonable and...then it's finding a match he's happy with. That may not exist or he may be fine with it.

And Caleb Williams is gonna stay at USC if that happens! It's alright...you could still come out of the draft with a franchise LT and Maye...who's similar to Luck(physically). Though...Detroit figured it out, so...at SOME point Chicago has to accidentally figure it out, right?

You have to pretty much take OFers off the table with Frelick, Mitchell, Wiemer, Yelich, Chourio and then the fringe players like Taylor and Perkins. It'd be kinda silly to spend there. Matt Chapman is a good player. That's pretty much the only big difference maker in this class other than Ohtani and I'd guess the bidding for him will get a little silly. The Brewers are building for their farm system. That's...just what they're going to do. The people upset about their 140M payroll are yelling at the Moon. They don't have the financial resources to compete for top FAs. We're just starting to see the benefits of a LA scouting dept, hopefully that continues. That's how they improve offensively. I'd be all for Chapman if his 'market value' was ~17M. But I suspect it'll be closer to 25 and 7 years? Maybe 8.

Pick a different team then kid. If you are really under this delusion that the Brewers will be able to spend with the Mets...I don't know what to tell you. STILL haven't heard who the FA signing was that they should have made, but...I don't expect I will.

Since they went to the WS and then had a couple of 100 win seasons? LOL...alright.

I'll let the Rays know.

Right. I do find the "I'd rather not be in the playoffs than lose in the 1st round," line kinda funny. I remember the fans who were happy they went .500. This team needs some of the young guys like Turang, Wiemer, Mitchell, Frelick to just grow, the premiere prospects like Chourio, Quero, Misiorowski to hit and they need their young pitching to step up. It's just kinda that simple. They could have and should have played better and this is extremely frustrating, but they do have help coming.

Again, it seems pretty clear the easiest place to vent is the guy who owns ~1/3rd of the team and complaining he's tried to "improve the fan experience." Obviously you'd want to maximize revenue... The problem isn't the 140M payroll...waiting for some fairy tale where a guy worth 20 billion comes along and buys the team seems...fantastical. The problem is the Brewers offensive prospects didn't line up. It's that simple. They couldn't hit. Just give me the guy they really should have signed that would have changed the Brewers offensive outlook?

Yeah...AGAIN, this wasn't some great insight you had. The Mets asked for permission THREE times. Stop acting like you had this great foresight that nobody else did. https://www.mlb.com/news/mets-request-on-david-stearns-denied-by-brewers All you did was add a ridiculous level of conspiratorial nonsense about how Stearns was working against the Brewers and colluding with Eppler at the end of last year. You want credit for a take, that's the one you had before everyone else...and probably for good reason.

Yeah...I'm not blaming Burnes pitching poorly or most of this on Counsell. A couple moves I didn't like, but...c'mon.

I don't think anyone is. This is just the time for angry venting about the guy who owns 39% of the team in the smallest market like there was just a FA available who'd have made these ridiculous seeing eye singles fall for AZ and the Brewers hit into comically bad luck.

You have GOT to be ******* kidding me.

No...he does not. He's hitting under .200 vs lefties with maybe a .600 OPS. I don't know why you think he "destroys," LH pitching.

A hitting coach can't just make good hitters. We've gone through a few hitting coaches now and...I don't think that's the problem. We just haven't developed hitting and we're a year or two behind on the hitting to line up with the pitching. I guess the hope is that the next wave will have enough pitching, but...who knows. I do love CC, but I cannot wrap my head around Winker getting ABs. What is a hitting coach supposed to do with that? I don't think it's like Barry, but it's so much easier to see in another sport.

Yeah, I don't need to read past the headline. I've been a hardcore Turang fan, I've compared him to a poor man's Trea Turner, I still think he can approximate that, but he's not now, it's obvious. His based loaded AB last night with 0 outs was just terrible, he was overpowered on 3 fastballs. Monasterio has to start.

I didn't know which reaction to use here...the sad or solved it reaction! Just a blown chance!

We should probably afford him the same benefit of the doubt we're saying should have been afforded to Bauer. I'm gonna assume he didn't realize she was going to take it all the way...unless someone has seen all the texts. Bauer is kinda reading these like they're a group chat and I don't know that they are. It could have just as easily been her telling him she's linking up with a guy with a monster deal and he makes a joke? What a dirtbag he'd have to be to know the whole story and roll with it though. Even if he hated Bauer...I can't think of anyone who I'd let go through that KNOWING it was a lie.

I thought it was a game where Kotsay hits a HR and has a good game at the plate. Whichever that one was. My recollection(and I've tried to forget) was that there was a single that fell in front of him that a decent OFer would have gotten and then two more hit in the gaps that would have been....fairly easy outs for Morgan and routine plays for Gomez. I may have exaggerated the defensive impact he had, but I thought he gave up 3 runs? Lets just all keep that in mind when thinking about Jessie Winker as a DH. If this was Ron, he may be in RF for this game.

Assuming there was the level of planning and literal talk of theft from the text messages as represented? No...she should not. But a DA going after her would look awful and they'll be far more concerned with that. The LA District Attorney already said he's not filing charges. They'll say it'll discourage victims from coming forward and the like...I think in reality it does the opposite. When you so brazenly lie and you're caught in that lie and it's just ok, nothing happens other than a guy loses ~100M and the potential to earn much-much more.

That's fair. The details when they came out were...wild, shocking and outraging. But this video and a lot of these details leaked a WHILE back. Her actually texting that she was going go do this for money and his net worth and being asked by another women(her AA sponsor) if she ever felt guilty, I didn't see that, but at the very least, anyone who didn't kinda pause after this video came out and think, "MAYBE I got this wrong," I don't think they ever will. The Quintez Cephus case was another time I just assumed a guy was guilty because...why would they proceed if they had video evidence that disproved the story? I don't know, I tend to believe there are very few people out there targeting a man for his money, so this probably shouldn't inform our opinions moving forward...other than maybe we don't dig in so quickly to take sides and then just refuse to ever move an inch irrespective of the facts that come out.