BrewerFan

I like Durbin a lot. He's a...cliche, but a winning player. Just as a utility player. Maybe he could hit enough to start at 2B, Turang to SS, just give Ortiz a couple weeks, but I see some signs he's coming around. I'm looking for the players the Brewers have to either add to the 40 or expose to the rule 5 this year(so we don't have another Shane Smith situation...which would be 10X worse if the Brewers weren't pulling pitchers out of hats like a magician). But there are some clear players that are...nearly untouchable. Pena, Made, Misi, Chourio(despite Steve "the Homer True" imploring the Brewers to just eat 20M of it if they can find a team to take him)...Quero, Payne, Letson...hell, just...most of their young prospects. I know of that group, minus Chourio, many will never be more valuable, but I don't want to trade even Bitonti and then watch him become a Cody Bellinger-esque player. Or worse, Made/Pena and whatever the hell they can become(2 SS's with their upside...Made/Pratt/Pena could be a dynasty core). Luke Adams is another guy I think is really under the radar. If he can be a .220/.340 type guy who hits 25, steals 15 and he should play good defense at 1st, or Wilken, his power is showing up in a big way. I think once it starts with these prospects, it's just going to start pouring. It's one reason I would give Turang an offer for a 6 year 40M extension with a couple options and if he passes it up...no harm. That's a guy who is on pace to put up ~10 WAR over the '23 and '24 seasons.... But Ernesto Marinez? I'd imagine he'd be picked and is he going to be added? Perhaps, but someone of that ilk is about as much as I'd give up....as things currently stand.

Miz is going to give you... maybe 60 more innings this year and while his stuff is electric, he's not a finished product. Henderson, same thing, though he's over-performed. He's a good #3 who also has maybe 60-70 innings left. They could be pushed a bit, maybe 140, but they're not taking the ball every 5 days. Myers is in AAA because he wasn't throwing the ball well. Patrick is throwing the ball well. Probably not wise to expect him to maintain this level of performance as a rookie and as HE gets closer to a career high in innings. Quintana was a cheap back of the rotation pitcher who is a nice innings filler. Hall hasn't been a trust starter. Any plans to turn Ashby into one appear to be on hold for yet another year. Rodriguez...back of the rotation arm. And Woodruff, I hope he comes back like Ashby did lsat year and is back to throwing 97 later in the year, but he hasn't started a game yet. Gasser won't be back as a starter this year. He may come back and pitching in some capacity, but expecting him to be a starter, much less an effective starter...he's MAYBE going to be back in August in SOME capacity, Sept or '2026 if there is ANY issues. As for Cortes, should they be lucky enough to get him back and he's healthy(so the same thing that he went through last year)...you're going to just dump him? ------ Now, onto the Nats. I don't know why they'd want an ace in a trade...other than...who doesn't want an ace. I want more aces. They have to be willing to pay for them. Which brings us to the return. I'm fine with trading Peralta if you get an elite prospect for him. I'm not seeking out the team with the #4 3B prospect per MLB pipeline when we have the #6 and #7....neither of whom are Wilken and going after THAT trade. House has a 50% swing and miss rate at Fastballs out of the zone(43% overall). That's Keston Hiura again. To trade Peralta in the situation the Brewers are in, getting a LIFT from(not being carried by) young arms, you're going to need to be overwhelmed. So from the Nats, I'm going to want Sykora or Susana, House and maybe a Robert Hassell, see if we can get him back on track. And if I'm the Nats, I'm wondering why would I give up on a 3B who has big power when we could try and fix his swing and miss issues and then one of our potential TOR type arms AND a guy capable of being great compliment to Wood and Crews in the OF if he can figure it out when we're 30-40 and out of the race. You really think they're paying going rate for a guy who may be the best arm on the market to what end? They're not a playoff team. Unless the Brewers fall out of the race, I'm not moving Peralta unless it's a guy like Emerson from Seattle or Walcott from the Rangers. The Brewers are finally bringing SS/3B prospects up. They have two guys who have 900+ OPS, 21 year old Luke Adams, he's got a .435 OBP, Bock Wilken, .390 with 16 HRs, then you have just a ton of guys the next two levels below who can play SS or 3rd. Cooper Pratt is also in AA, albeit a SS for now. Bitonti, I'm not sure if he can play 3B or if he just isn't because we had like 4 legit SS prospects on that team. But fine, most of them are further away. But I'll take my chances on keeping Peralta and hoping one of the bats we have coming up works out rather than trading Peralta for a guy with House' swing and miss issues(which I know Wilken and Adams have, but we're not giving anything up for them...and they have been BB rates).

I was one of the last guys who was against calling him up. I wanted him to throw 120 innings in AAA, then maybe be used as a multi-inning reliever... but he really just has two things...to my eye to work on. Control. At 100 with a low to mid 90s slider/cutter, whatever, the command doesn't have to be perfect, but I really with he could develop a change or a CB that was 4-5 MPH slower. But man, that's nitpicking. I've thought he has deGrom like upside(in the way Chourio has prime Acuna Jr upside, rare guys reach it, but it's still THAT high). Also really impressed with how he repeated his delivery.

You're buying. Even if it's "just" a guy like Suarez, you have to buy... based on where you currently stand. If you gain ground, then it's an even simpler decision. If you lose ground and you're...~5-6 games out of the WC by that point in the year, it probably makes sense to stand pat. I wouldn't sell unless you get a ridiculous offer from a contender for Peralta. But it'd have to be...a stupid offer. I don't even know what that'd entail, but...Painter and Miller from Philly(they don't need the depth, but an overpay is the point). Seattle, Minnesota, I don't know that Toronto even has guys I like or think make a ton of sense. Detriot could decide this is it, the year they'll really go for it. Skubal, Peralta, Flaherty is a great 1-3 with Jobe doing on the shelf. McGonigle, Melton and someone else for Peralta and Megill. They reasonably had an insane asking price for Skubal last year. We should have a high(not as high) ask for a closer and if someone overpays, not to take it for granted, but we develop so many good pitchers, I think it's worth it.

Yeah, but it changes literally nothing. Unless you're talking about keeping Jaire, the fact that they chose to have all the money hit the cap this year or half of it hit this year and half it next year, they still have the same number next year. Say the Packers had 40M in space this year. Jaire was due 20M, but after June 1st, 10M would go on this years cap, 10M on next years Cap. If they just ate 10M for this year, you'd simply roll over the additional 10M next year. So the cap number for 2026 doesn't change. If it was going to be 50M, it's 50M no matter how you do this...at this point. Ok...maybe moving Melton is overblown. The complete lack of depth at CB is not overblown. The last time the Packers have been this thin at CB was 2017 when LaDarius Gunter was their #1 CB. Difference is, if this team losses a couple CBs, it's going to be even worse. Yeah, every team has areas they'd like to have more depth. Is there a team that's a contender that has this little depth at a position as important as CB? An Eagles, Lions, Vikings, SF, LAR, Washington, even the Cowboys, Bears? I think they can make up for it, but they'll need LVN to take a big-big step this year and continue to follow in Gary's steps, Gary will need to have a good season, Clark, Wyatt, Brooks, Wooden, other young guys to step up. And who knows, maybe Haden or someone will surprise. But at this point...it's dangerously thin and kinda ugly. I think the Pats won a Super Bowl playing Troy Brown at CB...and you know we're going to play a whole lot of zone this year.

Ben Askren, the former Wisconsin Prep Wrestler, one of the top College Wrestlers of all top(top 15 in an all-time list recently compiled) as well as a former Olympian and maybe most importantly, the leader of AWA(Askren Wrestling Academy) that has helped Wisconsin become one of the top Prep Wrestling States in the Country) has been in critical condition for a little over a week, unresponsive from a freak sequence of events. Most Wrestlers(or athletes for that matter) have Staph in their body, usually lying doormat...similar to cancer. Ben was out in Las Vegas, wasn't feeling well before he left, felt worse out there, checked himself into the Hospital and they quickly realized the seriousness of the matter. He had a raging staph infection in his body causing sepsis. This led to acute pneumonia and apparently a hole in his lung(I've not heard that from anyone close but Amy, Ben's wife has not shared much). There were reports he was "back home," from Las Vegas and there were interpreted as back at his house, feeling better, etc... That's not the case. He was air-lifted back home to be near family and friends. The situation is ...looking a bit bleak. He'll need lung transplants and a litany of other things to go right in order for him, but he's always found a way. Ben Askren quite literally changed the sport with his style of Wrestling. He was not a guy who was quicker, faster, more athletic. He was a guy who was creative, worked harder than everyone else and never quite. You can see that in the Robbie Lawler UFC fight. Anyway, I know there are at least a couple people on here who are interested in the sport...plus, a former Olympian who at just 40 and in...elite physical conditioning and one of the best athletes the states ever produced, I thought it worth noting over here.

That it could even play a decision is a sign of how desperate the Packers are at CB. I've run this down before, but the Packers have 2 established CBs and then a guy who was a part time starter last year. Nate Hobbs-Great start to his career...in the slot. Moved outside, he was terrible. He had his worse Coverage rating of his career at 61.4(down from 79.4 as a rookie). On top of that, he has played 38 out of 68 games in his NFL career. Nixon- was ranked 116th and graded out better as a slot after moving outside full time...5-6 weeks into the season. Carrington Valentine. Started 7 of the 15 games he played-He was good...in limited snaps. Those are our top 3 CBs followed by 7th rd pick Micah Robinson and a 6th(or 7th) rd pick Kamal Haden who was cut. To be fair...he was cut by KC, a team that plays the same type of style Hafley has said he would like to play and he and MLF said they weren't able to play given the personnel. The other slot is Javon Bullard. I hope he can improve, but he had a coverage grade that was just brutal last year at ~48% or so. Just for a point of reference....Eric Stokes ranked #2 on this list last year in terms of coverage grades with a 62.4. He finished the season(last 8 games) much stronger as it was a 55.8 until that point. There's not one particular move that you can really be upset with the Packers for not making. I thought trading up for Mitchell seemed like a great bet, but we'll see how Morgan plays. Cooper DeJean played well. Last year in the 2nd rd, there were a LOT of CBs who were projected to go from top 5 to end of Rd 1 who didn't, seemingly because hey didn't test. But there's no doubt there is a glaring weakness in the Packers secondary and the Packers will once again have to try and rely on forcing turnovers and generating pressure at the right time to help their CBs as well as elite Safety play. -Also, one last note, Jaire Alexander's father came out and said it was absolutely untrue that he would not take a pay-cut to stay in Green Bay. He did say he wasn't willing to take a pay cut to "damn near zero" to play. The Packers also made a bit of a head scratching move. They decided to take the entire cap hit this year rather than spread it out. It's really inconsequential as the money rolls over, but perhaps they just want a clean looking cap next year. Skeptics were saying the Packers didn't want to "make it appear as though they had the 3rd most cap space," which...I don't think they care about(Ken Ingills made that statement). Jalen Ramsey is really the only difference maker currently on the block, but he seems like a bit of a long shot as he'd likely require an extension for ~30M AAV...and he's 30 years old and still very good, not the type of move the Packers often make for a CB who...is showing signs he's slipping a bit.

I think the Burnett play is pretty regularly brought up, but he...picked the ball off. The Packers were still in complete control of that game and Seattle needed an...onside kick. It doesn't get to an onside if a dozen other things happen differently either. The Packers inability to gain a yard(actually lost about 6 next 2 plays). Then a shank by Masthay. Burnett still had a INT ending a series close to midfield(even if he should have kept running), 2 sacks, 10 tackles, 3 TFL and a FR that game. I have no problem with the Packers hiring him as a coach. If your defense isn't blocking and they're yelling at you to get down...hell, up 19-7 with 5 minutes left, returning the ball is probably a bigger risk at that point. Hawk on the fake FG, Clinton-Dix on the 2-point, the two FG attempts from inside the ~5...and Bostick. Bostick's play was bad. Burnett was a good player for us for a while. He hardly cost us that game. That was a team-wide choke job culminating in Bosick just not doing his job and Haha losing all control of his body. But there were probably 7-8 plays that if just ONE goes the other way, it cost us the game.

Bakhtiari was as big of a loss as you could have had from that team OUTSIDE Rodgers. TB had that incredible pass rush. Jaire did what he could, but that sequence of plays at the end of the half just crushed us. There were two SB runs that were probably lost due to Bakh.

I don't think the trade request hurts him. I thought he should have come in and finished this game. If you could get a pick in the 60s, one of those comp picks, I'd be thrilled. I don't know the list of players who need to be added to the 40 or who are MiLB FAs, but maybe a package, try and get back a pick, that'd be a good idea. I don't see a position player that moves the needle, but if you could just reacquire a pick that you lost....or sure, I'd even take Yophery back. I was a big fan and he's struggling(not really a huge need, but you don't "need a need" when looking at a 19year old. Best case if he can go out there and go a few 3-4 inning outings, finish some games after a guy like Hall or whoever and maybe pitch well and move him in the next few weeks.

Little surprised how many are dismissing this out of hand due to small sample sizes of his BA. His salary, sure, but this is the same team that ate a big chunk if Arrenado's contract and don't exactly get maximum value in return. Have the Rockies eat 10M and maybe send them a guy like...IDK, Carlos Rodriguez? Hitting the ball harder, better launch angle, BABIP down ~50 points, very good defender at 3B and a 20 HR a year hitter. His struggling isn't a reason to not trade for him, it may be a reason to try and take advantage of his lower value and the poorly run Rockies. Carlos Rodiquez may actually require the Rox take back more. Maybe it's 14M. I don't know what the Rockies would do, but it's worth checking.

Pour 3 fingers, set the Glass down and take the bottle with me....and drink.

Damn it... watching the game with my Pops who's in town. I even called Bauers coming up and winning this with a 3R HR to start the inning...so I would have still been wrong, but...ya know, not as wrong. Alright, one game. Start another 8 game win Streak tomorrow.

Yeah, there's a strong argument for it. He may be the best pitcher in the game the next 4.5 years...which is how long you'd have him. People saying these packages would be overpaying, I gotta ask, in what context? For the Brewers or for the market? The trade I threw out there is a terrible move for the Brewers. It's insane. They've done all this to build what I think may be the best system in the game, but the question is what would his value be if you have to bid vs other teams. I think...I threw out a fair market value.

I think you could. I actually would rather go for say Pena and Letson over Misiorowski if I were the Pirates. I'd say a reasonable trade(given the market and precedent) would be; Jesus Made+Pratt+Edgar Quero+Wilken+Letson+Knoth...maybe Logan Henderson and add a Jose Anderson/Quintana type Brewers get Skenes+McCutchen I'm not sure that deal gets done and... for the record, McCutchen is just kinda a throw in and I don't know that he'd accept or if he has a NTC. I'm pretty sure he's dedicated to finishing his career with the Pirates, but you could definitely use him as a rental. We just got a real bad year from him. People who don't follow the Brewers real closely(which is most fans) would be thrilled with a move like this... but I think that would be insane. And that package may not even be enough. It IS possible you have to swap out one of the arms with Misiorowski. -We all know this is not going to happen, but Skenes is special. Just to pose a hypothetical, would ANYONE make this trade IF you could get Skenes to agree to a 10/180M deal with 2 options worth 35M a year? An extension worked out like you do in Football at times or even Baseball, I think it's happened. I don't see him signing an extension unless it's closer to fair market value. So 40M AAV for a decade+ but this is just a BS hypothetical.

Eovaldi was a FA. Peralta has over 1.5 years before he's a FA. That's the risk. He could end up in the same situation Burnes is in right now and...conceivably not earn any more money than what is already guaranteed in his contract. Going back to Baseball References similarities scores, the #1 match for Peralta at his age....Rich Harden. He was done. Again, I'm not advocating signing him or not, I was more making the point that this situation is as close to spending on a pitcher as we'll get. And I don't think we need to do it with Freddy, I think we are developing so many good arms that we're going to be fine(and we'll find a couple). But 5/125 feels closer to free market value than where we are right now.

I probably overshot it as I was trying to come up with a team friendly deal that...would also be acceptable to Peralta, not a fair market deal. So make it 4 and 60. If Flaherty is getting 17.5 as a FA, Peralta shouldn't be getting more with 1.5 years of team control. I don't like the Severino comp(I don't love either but I get they're just from BRef). The next deal I'd give a pitcher would be a guy like Gasser. Give him what Ashby got adjusted for inflation. Misiorowski, Henderson, I'd try extending most of them...and maybe we do. Signing them early is rare but can be a huge advantage for the team as we're currently seeing.

Perhaps if they were about 10 games better and a threat this year...it'd be a discussion. Burnes goes down... which hadn't happened when you posted this... and they want to make a run this year. Realistically, the Padres are the team that seems to just constantly trade away future studs to make a run at it. Imagine that team if they don't trade Soto or...I don't know, make most of the trades they made(and still spent the money they did). I'd love someone to make me an all Padres team. Speaking of which...there's another arm who'll be back. Probably not this year in a impactful way, possibly out of the pen, but he should be good to go for next year.

Sure... I would still keep doing it the way the Brewers have. Just hypothetically, if we'd signed Peralta to the same deal and he lost 12-14 months with TJ, it's still a good deal. Ashby...hasn't been a good deal, but there's still time for it to be and it's hardly crippling if it doesn't work out. The next level would be signing a guy like Peralta now or Burnes/Woodruff when they had 3 years to go. Buy out the first FA year and then you get a couple of Team Options. I think that's usually worth it IF the pitcher will agree, but that deal will cost a lot more. What would you give Peralta right now(I'm not advocating extending him, just hypothetically). A 4 year 80M dollar extension? 5 years 88M left? Probably favors the Brewers but...I'd pass I think. Free Agency? The Brewers aren't even in the discussion for a pitcher of that caliber, so it's kinda moot.

I like him...he's a good defender at 1B, he can play in the OF and it's always nice to have LHed bat off the bench. I'd have guessed a higher wRC+....maybe 110 but then he was pretty bad the early half of last year...I think.

Bauers

This isn't that big of a deal unless it comes with "forearm tightness," or something like that in the following days. He'd been dominating. He's taking the mound and pitching regularly. He's maintaining his velo late into games. I'm thrilled with how he's been throwing this year. Coming into this start, he was down to 3.3 BB per 9IP, he had a 7 start stretch in which he gave up just 2 single HRs. I was all on board with keeping him in AAA for the full year, but he was so dominant, I thought he may force his way into the rotation. But I think it's better if he spends the full year in AAA...or at least until Sept, if he's throwing well again, has his 120 innings in and we can use him in a multi inning role. Things could have gone a little better, but...it's been a REALLY good season thus far.

Really? You had "no idea" why I'd talked about Middleton and that statement sounded...."drunk?" And I was "going on" about Middleton's past injuries? This is it. The extent of what I said about his injuries. They were +16 with Giannis+Dame+Middleton+Lopez on the floor.

Oh, and I just found this amusing, but does anyone listen to "Steve the Homer True" anymore? He wants to trade Jackson Chourio because...he doesnt' walk enough and doesn't justify his salary as it could be better used on going out and adding a piece that can help right now. He even added...we'd have to kick in some salary(as if...quite literally EVERY team in MLB would not gladly take on that contract to take him). Now, the later part, fair critique...of a 21 year old budding super, he has not walked enough, he's chased a LOT. Pitchers have the book on him and it's up to him to adjust...as he did last year. Just an aside, off-topic but amusing. Also curious when he became a Milwaukee version of Skip Bayless, but, that's for another thread.

Yes, I agree. I think for the Brewers to get back into it, you'll need to lean on your pitching AND the 3 hitters who've been struggling getting hot and being ~900 OPS guys the rest of the way(Yelly, Chourio, Contreras). Maybe it's .865 or whatever, but the're all too good to struggle too much. Ortiz is as well. He's clearly better than the type of player he's been thus far. But you get Woody back, even throwing ~95(and I suspect he'll get back to 96-97 as the year goes on and it heats up, but he's a bulldog. Civale helps, Carlos Rodriguez, Henderson and then Misiorowski late in the year will help. But I don't want to trade Mears and I don't want to trade Megill. A good rotation and an overwhelming bullpen, defense and just enough offense... And if I'm wrong and those pieces aren't coming together by the ASB...well, then sure. We have Uribe, we have guys like Hardin, we have other pitchers who can step up and step in down the road for, but make them overpay for it if we reach that point. Just the idea of a healthy Hall coming in and taking over for Myers or Priester, whoever...if they're just not on, going 2-3 innings. You have Mears, Koenig, Uribe, Ashby to mix and match until Megill. That's the formula..and we're not on course right now, but I still like this team and I'd viewed this year as when our "window" with this next group kinda starts to open and I even think you could get contributions from guys like Tyler Black.