BrewerFan

So do you mean Suarez or O'Hearn then in the last line? I'd be alright with either, Suarez fitting the team better, but Hoskins is hurt. O'Hearn hitting vs righties would be a big boost.

Well... to be fair, he's only played in 3 playoff games... but yes, this is kinda the point. But obviously Ortiz is the weakest link right now with Durbin looking like a good player, so the biggest upgrade would be at SS. It's very hard to acquire a good SS though. A 3B or OF may be easier. Hypothetically, Adolis Garcia, you think he's going to revert back closer to his averages. He goes to RF where he's solid, Frelick to LF, Collins to 2B, Turang to SS. Someone would need to know more about Collins ability at 2B than me to know how good he is defensively. CJ Abrams was mentioned, but I don't think that's realistic...and hell, if we're giving up a deal to get a Nats hitter, give me Woods. I'll make the lineup fit. It's been two different types of Ortiz. Super passive and then soft contact with 2 strikes OR super aggressive. Needs to find the middle ground.

I'll take him after he clears waivers... maybe. He'd been crushing the ball in June, but...pass on this. Yeah, it's a little frustrating with the injury and him not being able to keep it going when he has gotten hot for one reason or another, but I still think he can be a big bat down the stretch and in the post-season.

Well...it's really like do I think Hader would have made a 3-4 game difference since we were eliminated on Oct 3rd(3rd to last game) of the year and actually finished 2 games out of the WC having lost the Tie-Breaker to the Phillies(no more game 163 that year, head 2 head decided it). The Phillies then sat most of their starters for the final 2 games and got their rotation set up for the run...so it's really more like 2 or 3 games. Do I think Hader who put up a 7.31 ERA and a -1.0 WAR after the trade would have made up that difference? The same Hader who put up an 8.82 ERA the final 18 games he pitched for Milwaukee? No,I really don't he would have.

Well, I don't know what Durbin is like at 2B. He's a helluva 3B though. I think Ortiz and Turang are...at worst a push at SS. So maybe Durbin is a better 3B or maybe I'm wrong. I've always been big on Turang. I thought was a Trea Turner lite IMO with a better glove. And again, he was set to be the shortstop. It's really hard to see them touching Bregman as that'd destroy your payroll for the next two years if he gets hurt. I think that has to be enough for the Brewers to not touch him. I don't know what it'd take to Suarez, but it's haf a year and we have a pretty deep system. It also feels like Murphy has soured on Ortiz a bit. I'm actually just fine with the way it is. I think Chourio will have a big 2nd half, Contreras should as well after he gets some time off to let his body heal. Hopefully a year from now we'll have several more options and 4-5 more players who CAN contribute in Wilken, Adams, maybe Pratt, Black, Lara and Murray has looked good. Yup. Same here. EVERY year. And it was even before HS playing travel ball. I couldn't throw the ball playing catch the first couple weeks of the season unless I threw it hard. It's 100% like the Major League 2 catcher(though they didn't have me memorize the same thing). We were really good my Jr year, supposed to be good again, but we had a new coach who didn't know me. About a week into the season and I don't remember why, but as we were playing a scrimmage early in the year, I short hoped the pitcher on the mound and as he kinda turned away, I for some reason was jogging toward the dugout, and I still remember this guy saying, 'this is our ##### catcher? Kid can't throw the ball back to God..... pitcher. JC!' He apologized...way too much for it(he was right at the time) and even in the years since when I've ran into him like I was traumatized. I'm like...'yeah, I was thinking the same thing.'

Speculation that he doesn't want to. Some have speculated it'd be worse for his health(that makes sense now, it did not make sense when he was playing LF). Also, a move like that would have to be a whole off-season thing and by that time, you have Luke Adams, Brock Wilken and Cooper Pratt all knocking on the doorstep, making him playing 1B less valuable.

-He's been making them all his life. I think dead arm is just...dead arm. I don't think it's akin to moving Travis Shaw to 2B when you could shift or anything else crazy. 9 days before the season, he was set to start at SS, he had a tired arm. To me that makes complete sense. On the lowly level of HS Baseball, I used to have that every year. Now sure, I was an idiot and didn't build up(also wasn't good enough for anyone to care) but... It just seemed normal. This is also predicated on finding someone who makes it worthwhile. Alex Bregman for example. If you traded for him...the choice would be Durbin or Ortiz. I feel like Murphy would make that choice pretty easily. Sure... but who is playing LF or DHing at that point? Yelich does one, preferably DH. Who plays LF? It IS easier to trade for an OFer. Adolis García? He was way up on that list with Bryan Reynolds for unluckiest hitters of the year so far. Another guy just crushing the ball and not getting hits. But it seems like very few people want those guys when they've got bad numbers despite good underlying metrics. Seems like you could shift Collins to 2B, Garcia could play RF, Frelick LF or he plays LF. Taylor Ward? I don't know if any of these trades are worth upsetting the dynamic of the team...and then you also have the fact that if Ortiz is your worst hitter and he's coming on, you just stick with what's working. I don't know if this is all worth it unless it's a BIG upgrade(looking at you Cleveland).

You sure it's not just the health you don't trust? He's 27...and I get he was expected to be further along by this point, but we still have several years of team control and he's pretty nasty. If he can just...stay healthy and get into a rythem, I absolutely trust him. That 99 MPH sinker and CB? As long as he can stay out there and he's available in the post-season, he should be a big part of this staff.

Right...and it's not like they're not going to use him more aggressively in a division race or in October. He's also been injured for part of the year, and they've clearly had a plan for how to use him in his 12 outs(when this topic started, now 13). I believe they've said that includes starting again in the future. I'd love to see a rotation with Peralta, Misiorowski, Ashby...Henderson, and...hell, take your pick. Patrick, Myers, Gasser, Priester(probably Priester). That's assuming Quintana, Woodruff aren't back. DL Hall needs to stay healthy and lock in. And by next year, there are 3-4 more relievers who should be ready. A guy like Manfredi may be your power lefty or... maybe we claim a guy out of nowhere like Koenig. He's been pretty good for the most part as well. It's a long season though ...and the one thing Ashby hasn't been able to do recently is stay healthy and on the field for the whole season. I'd imagine that plays a role as well.

Being abnormally talented with big velocity isn't a reason to move a guy to the pen...otherwise Skubal throws triple digits, deGrom, Randy Johnson(the last two are both pretty good comps for him)...Hunter Greene...who signed an extension that could be used as a jumping off point. deGrom because his delivery and stuff look most similar, Johnson because he was a young guy who threw hard and was a bit wild at times. You can't eliminate the risk, but you can mitigate it. If he needs TJ, you're losing two years... and that could happen to anyone, anytime. Power arm, soft tosser. Miley and Gasser are the last two guys who needed TJ from the Brewers. He has 4 NASTY pitches... we can let the season play out, but I'd do it at that point. 6/75+2 TOs at 20 or 25. But...that's just me. I'm also not worried about him becoming a reliever with 4 pitches and if he does, I think he'll be an elite one. I thik the only real risk would be injury, but he's got such upside, I'd be willing to overpay early on to keep THAT type of talent around when he'd otherwise price himself out of Milwaukee...2, maybe 3 years in.

The front office came out and said they underestimated the clubhouse impact. I don't actually think the loss of Hader made a difference... but now talking about Peralta after they effectively said they wouldn't do it again? This MIGHT be the team that wins it. I mean, chances are it doesn't, but that's the thing about Baseball. You have no idea when things will come together. You just throw out a talented team. Chourio, Contreras, Hoskins are all under-performing. Yelich is...performing closer to what you expect, but even he's not there for the season. Turang, Frelick, Durbin and Collins get on base, play defense and even Ortiz has been hitting. Woodruff, you hope can keep gaining(or even just maintaining) that 95-96 MPH FB, with that movement on his sweeper, cutter and change, his location, he looked nasty. I don't know what you get from him, I thought he'd struggle. The 2nd time out can be tough. But he has half a season, just like when Ashby was struggling last year to get his Velo back...except Peralta, Misiorowski is...ridiculous. The Pen, Mears, Ashby, Uribe, Megill and then Koenig, Hall, I'd expect Priester would be In short series, these are the types of things that can help you upset teams. I can't think of a good reason we'd be trying to trade anyone who is a contributor short of a godfather type offer. Also, we have a loaded farm system. We don't need to trade guys as badly as we did when we had Hader(speaking of which, Gasser is another guy who could come back and throw out of the pen.

Yeah... it's pretty nuts, BUT if there's a team where it's a good idea, it's this one with Misiorowski and Woody coming back. We have multiple guys who can go multiple innings in the pen, so a bad start doesn't ruin the pen. I'm not so much worried about TJ. Some guys you almost wish they'd just get it and you'd know you'd be clear for the next 10 years, but the shoulder. But we really do have a good record with keeping pitchers healthy. I'd guess as good as anyone when it comes to TJ/Shoulder injuries. Not to nit-pick, but he's just turned 30 earlier this year. So not yet 32 and the final year of his deal, he'd be 35 through it and I... really think it's hard to say he's on the downside. We're more analytical, right? A guy who was having the luckiest season in baseball, we wouldn't want him, right? This guy is having the 2nd most unlucky season in all of baseball. He's been a really good hitter every year and I love the player and I love the bat, I just think the Pirates are going to value him closer to where they have in the past. I think he's the type of player who winds up in LA. But if Collins looked like Ortiz at the plate, I'd be jumping at this deal and I would give up Logan Henderson and a good bat. I'm not sure what it'd take.

But they literally were. You didn't mention any negatives that weren't being discussed.

I did not think you could save money on a buyout. I know MLB has rules against it, I thought the NBA was even stricter. In the scenario you laid out, I just thought it was 10M less the team owed, but still counted against the cap. It was just dead money. Some of these buyouts are bigger than I ever remember them being reported. Ayton for example. I didn't think it'd be that hard to move a guy like Ayton.

Yeah, the "think it through," may be intended to be, but it's... pretty condescending. Turang was an elite defensive SS coming up. To say there's "no way" he'd be moved... just makes very little sense to me. He was set to be the opening day SS this year until he had arm fatigue. That's...nothing. Very normal early in the season. If...Jazz Chisholm was available in a trade, they'd definitely move Turang to SS to accommodate him. Hell, even a realistic move like DJ LeMahieu, if he came back healthy, it's hardly a stretch that they'd take the guy who had all but won the starting SS job in Spring Training over the guy currently in Murphy's clubhouse. Even if they were to just trade for Suraez...at this point, Durbin is the guy you'd prefer to keep in the lineup. Suarez 3rd, Durbin to 2nd, Turang to SS. I don't think people remember what he looked like at SS coming up.

He literally cited his negative War. He's been extraordinarily unlucky. He's the same player he's been most of his career as I pointed out; 15M AAV for a player of Reynolds caliber should NOT be the reason the Brewers don't make this move. This would probably be the best time to trade for Reynolds...IF you were a team that needed a good #2 hitter who played LF or a good LHed bat. He's hitting the ball harder than ever, barreling it up more often than ever and having worse luck than ever. That doesn't usually hold up. If he WAS hitting ~.275 with a .~500 SLG, you'd be paying top of the market for him. This would be a chance to get him cheap. I wouldn't do it ONLY because I still think he'd be expensive... other GMs look deeper a small and very unlucky sample size. I just think Collins is playing well enough, I wouldn't give up the players it'd take.

I've seen this not just shot down, but shot down hard...and it doesn't make sense to me. It's kinda rough as the OF is really playing well, but Reynolds is clearly having a bad year mixed with bad luck. His xBA is .276, xSLG is .503... exit velo is up this year(LA down). 2nd more unlucky player hitter https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/expected_statistics?type=batter&year=2025&position=&team=&filterType=bip&min=193&sort=13&sortDir=asc I thought he was a better defender than he is and the issue to me is you'd be sitting Collins. Before Collins came on, I'd have been a bigger fan of this move...but this is pretty much just adding another Yelich. Hardly a negative(assuming he reverts to the norm) but I'm not sure he adds a ton at this point. If Collins could play 3B...and you had more versatility, maybe, but I don't think Reynolds is as good of a fit to this roster. I'd like Bednar... I also like Soroka as a reliever. He should be cheap. But probably Bednar or Chapman would be more ideal. I'd say Bregman as I've seen people speculate that he'll opt out of his deal, but way too much risk that he gets hurt or struggles and you're stuck with it. Maybe if he were on the Rockies... but he's not.

Yeah, I really don't have a problem with how they're using him. Maybe the Minnesota game, but he started out coming back from injury, they like using him in the middle innings, which are huge or a couple innings to close out games, save the pen and keep him throwing multiple innings...usually. I think the "Average Leverage Index" is...flawed. A .40 for coming in vs the Cubs in the 6th inning(in what ended up an 8-7 game, though I realize that's not included)? He came in vs the Padres down 2-0 and 1-0 and the ALI was .22 and .90. Those are important innings. The Brewers get leads and have pitchers that usually go ~5 innings(I'd guess our starters are close to 5 innings per outing). So a dominant reliever who takes over from there or who can finish out the game...especially in a pitcher you still want to become a starter, I'm alright with it. Alexander on the other hand, he was used as a starter when we were just trying to get innings and then early in the year before Uribe had established himself AND multiple extra innings games when we were just trying to survive, but far more in blowouts. But even if you did want to make Ashby a one inning reliever and use him like you use Koenig or Uribe...I don't think that's means you don't try and add another BP arm who can push Mears down a rung on the ladder. Mostly I just like how he's covering multiple innings, giving the Brewers a chance to add to the lead or in most instances, shutting the other team down so we can come back from a run or two down, staying healthy and saving the BP more than we were earlier in the season.

Are we still talking about Abrams? I don't think that gets it done. He's a young SS they're building around. Him, Wood, Crews...Gore.

That'd probably mean things haven't gone great. Cortes is a nice pitcher, but he's a soft tossing lefty. If he's ahead of Peralta, he's fallen off and if he's ahead of Mis, they haven't managed his innings or he's hurt. If he's ahead of Woodruff...well, same. I expect him to get stronger as the year goes(but probably not have that level of command/movement).

Why not? I mean, it's one start for Woody, but he was locating so well. Misiorowski looks like a dominant, overpowering pitcher(innings is a concern there). This is the type of year a team like the Brewers ends up winning it. They're young, have a ton of talent, a very good rotation...that can get better still(Logan Henderson). I like the idea. I agree with the following couple replies, but a guy like Abrams would be HUGE. He's not the type of guy you bring in to light a fire under anyone, he's just your starter, but that'd be a big upgrade. But, even if you were alright with making it...Made/Pratt/Pena+Wilken/Adams+ Boeve+Wichrowski/Hardin/Hunt, a fair deal, I don't know that the Nats would do that. They think they can compete soon and are going to be spending money(according to recent reports). Rizzo got hosed IMO, they fired him after he loaded the system and set them up for success, but thy're preparing to spend and try and make their own trades to compete next year. So I don't think he's untouchable...but I think he's 'you've got to overpay,' type available and I think even Made+Adams+Henderson+Boeve is just about fair value.

What's been wrong with how Ashby has been used? He's been used PRIMARILY in close games and in high leverage situations with a couple times coming in like last night, vs a deep and dangerous Dodgers lineup up...I believe 5-0. Alexander was brought in almost exclusively when they were losing bad. I've also...not seen a team that has too many power arms out of the pen. It's how threads organically evolve. It's just talking about baseball... it's not like a 3rd grade math class(though it feels like it at times...guys, I will lock this thread if you don't talk about Priester!)... Kinda...half kidding.

1-I think someone who slights in ahead of Mears would be a big upgrade. Chapman would fit a couple of needs. 2-Catcher? Contreras, Haase, Siegler, and then Quero in AAA? Seems like we'd have to give up a lot for...what probably wouldn't be an upgrade. 3-A big bat is always nice. Suarez fits the lineup, Durbin becomes more of a PHer. Especially with Hoskins out.

I'm really not seeing a ton of difference between he and Priester other than one was basically free and not a Brewer and the other cost us quite a bit and is a Brewer. If he were to be headed back to the Brewers with THIS staff...well, for starters, Quinn Priester is still in Boston and we still have Rodriquez, the pick. and an interesting reliever. THEN... you factor in the White Sox have -18 DRS and the Brewers are +14 and I think it's likely you'd see with a bit better ERA. But...these are pretty similar pitchers. Smith has struggled, giving up 5ER vs LAD and COL on the road, then 5 vs SLT and I believe AZ. Priester has pitched better after struggling earlier. I don't think there's any doubt we made mistake. If nothing else, Smith would have gotten us through now and on a playoff team with great depth in the rotation, he'd likely be on his way down, but he certainly looks like a future maybe #3 on a good team. Another thing that's pretty obvious... if Smith was a Brewers, we'd have pulled him in the 3rd or 4th a couple times as we did Priester.... because we're in a competition. But here is it. Two guys who are a few months apart in age. If Quinn Priester becomes a really good #2/3, I will be happy with the trade. If Shane Smith becomes an ace... well, it'll suck, but... I'm not seeing the need to trash the FO over and over. I mean, we have a SECOND group of 5 pitchers who would be a...passable MLB rotation. Especially when Gasser comes back. Peralta Misi Woodruff Patrick(he's been better than either) Quintana You ALSO have Henderson Priester Cortes in about 3 weeks Tobias Myers Coleman Crow Ashby would probably be starting in a lot of places....DL Hall. Carlos Rodriguez Tyson Hardin And we've got a few other guys who we could and in the past CERTAINLY would be really banking on to be impact pitchers like Wicrowski, Kuehner and and that's just guys who could start right now. So... Smith, bad move. Maybe lets give it a few months, but at the end of the day...this is the worst move the Brewers have made in a WHILE IMO....and they have a dozen pitchers either already up or with early '26 expected debuts that look like really good pitchers. So PROBABLY not the end of the world! Also, this conversation isn't going anywhere! Guess who else isn't? This happens to good teams all the time. I mean, I guess we only have FIVE early picks instead of 6, but I'm pretty confident they'll find a guy from Miss. St with a 5.50 ERA as a reliever and turn him into a fun starter in AA in a year and then a Juco Arm early and he'll be the next deGrom...or Ashby...or Braddock, somewhere in that range! I swear, this is like a millionaire complaining because they didn't honor his 2 dollar off coupon at the Car Wash... sure, they should have, but he's still pretty comfortable! He's not going to miss a meal.

Man, that's... pretty far off. Somehow those years just blended together. It's a little hard for me seeing Fiers being real highly thought of, but he was really effective. Davis had huge power. Though, he was only going to hit .247. Not .246, not .248...247! I guess, it's just hard to see how we pull of a deal for basically Tarik Skubal with that group of prospects, but... I guess we came close. And maybe Yo or Lucroy was headed to another team to make that deal work. Thornburg was a fun kid to watch. We got a nice haul back for him...and it made me look up Pomeranz. That's the type of dude we need to add at the deadline IMO. Also a HOF pitcher in his prime...if possible(aside from the one we just called up).