Branyanisthegoat

Im not sold on Paredes still being an option, Pena is hurt. Houston says its minor and hell be back close to the minimum, but hes been hurt all year and Houston is the worst with injury reports. Even if they get to the deadline with a healthy Pena, Jim Crane forced Correa's contract on that team, and hes an IL stint waiting to happen. TL;DR, the Astros are gonna need Paredes and Jim Crane is a meddling idiot.

I have this wild theory that the sinker/slider pitcher should start throwing the occasional slider. He is at 70% sinker, and that number is trending up, especially after he spammed them his last game. I noticed he kept shaking off William in that game, id love to know if he was shaking off sliders. I still have faith, lots of wbc relievers are struggling, and sometimes it takes guys awhile to adjust to a new team.

That Correa trade was so strange, has Crane meddling written all over it. They liked Paredes enough to have him be a centerpiece for Kyle Tucker, and now need to move him so they can shove Correa's carcass out there.

I get why people say you can never have too much pitching, but you can only have 13 on the roster. Id much rather see them give that 5 spot to a young guy with some upside, than roll out a mediocre veteran for depth just to have a repeat of last year where guys like Patrick & Henderson are stuck in Nashville. A guy like Montgomery would be good, he won't block anyone right away, or id love to see them trade for a guy w options if they're really worried about depth there.

Have been refreshing this site for this article since I saw the deal, great work as always Jack!.

Cam Smith becoming an all-star for us right after Tucker leaves Chicago would be pretty hilarious.

The only thing that makes me nervous is how hard they leaned on Abner last year, and how that could affect his durability in 26. Still think they should take the right deal for Megill, just getting ready to be irrationally nervous if he is moved.

Walker Buehler was laughing at Brewer fans for ever thinking the great Justin Turner would sign with a mickey mouse operation like Milwaukee. People say forgive and forget, I dont do either, dont want him here on any salary.

Easton McGee seems like the perfect shuttle long man for us at a minimum. He doesn't walk guys, zips projects him at 1.94, 1.90, and 1.81 bb/9 over the next 3 years, with a respectable FIP. For anyone he belongs on the 40, with the Brewers defense, I think he could put up a nice season if pressed into action.

Last year was the year to lock up Turang, this would seem like buying high to me. OTOH, I really want them to lock up Contreras, and no way they are doing both, so perhaps im reaching.

Not that rp is a pressing need, especially RH, but if teams aren't crazy about Tyler Rogers, would be stoked to see the Brewers pick him up. Dude is as rubber armed as the come, and seems like our defense would compliment his style very well. Almost guaranteed to soak up 70+ innings with soft contact and few walks.

Im generally inclined to not use a PR, but plenty of teams carry a guy just for that in the playoffs. If the Brewers actually go with 11 pitchers, I could totally see Lockridge making it. Lockridge has 99th percentile sprint speed per statcast, and I suspect a playoff PR role is a part of why they targeted him in the trade.

Id trade Freddy, pitchers are too risky, and he has piled up innings the last few years. Burnes was a model of health, until he wasnt. Convert that surplus value into something else. Not necessarily related to Freddy, but really wanted the Crew to push for Casas from Boston this off-season when his name came up in trade rumors, would love a buy low on him now coming off back to back injury marred seasons, maybe he can be had for pennies. They will need a 1B regardless to compete with Vaughn, if he goes through arb the contract isnt fully guaranteed, and prefer its a LH w power. Add a utility piece that can compete with Joey, get Woody back, and add a slew of pitchers I never heard of but turn out to be great, and call it an off-season.

"The Rangers haven’t had a problem scoring runs." Got to disagree here, they are currently 27th in team OPS, and 24th in runs per game.

Unless they think he can be a good OF, wouldnt he be buried there? Julien and Clemens can both play 1B and fake it at other spots on the IF.

I dunno, speed/defense/contact guys don't typically age like wine, and it's my understanding that arbitration doesn't reward defense appropriately. I guess if Turang suddenly starts hitting like Arraez they'll be kicking themselves, but I don't see how that's a good bet.

Love the DeJong pickup, relatively cheap source of power for the lineup, can play anywhere on the infield, and he even caught in college. In a perfect world he's the backup, but he gives them a decent floor at 3B, and allows them to rest Ortiz & Turang.

He doesn't strike out vs lefties much, and has a career 98wrc+ against them, so I guess they could do worse for a bench bat. Feel like this is a guy you get after plan A,B,C,D & E fail though. Don't think you'd want to lock this guy onto the 26 before pursuing alot of different options

I'm assuming payroll is at best staying roughly equal to 2024, so am limiting myself to 115 million. For trade(s) I made sure the values lined up on BTV. I don't pay for a sub there, but searching for the big pieces in the trade forums generally brings up the player with their surplus value(just gotta check the date.) And only if the trade makes sense, all players rumored to be available and team rumored to be looking for that position. Trade MIL gets A. Barger & LHP Adam Macko TOR gets Devin Williams Free Agents Paul Dejong 3yr 14m(spotrac estimate) Wade Miley 1yr 2m With the payroll constraints a big name 3B wasn't viable, whether a FA or trade. Buying high on Alec Bohm wasn't that exciting to me anyway. DeJong seems like a relatively safe weakside platoon option there while being able sub in at other spots when needed, and he has some power to hopefully cover for a few of Adames missing homers. I still like Oliver Dunn, and think that between him and Barger you have 2 solid bounce back candidates w some pop, good defense, and cost controlled for a long while. Mauricio from the Mets is my dream 3B for next year, but didn't see a trade fit. Went with Black to fill Bauers spot. Really like Brett Baty for that spot, and he adds another 3B option, but feel like they have to give Black a real shot before moving on. Not much money to work with, so really couldn't attack SP. Wade Miley is maybe the sneakiest low 3's era guy ever, so hopefully between him, a late Gasser return, Macko, the prospects, some minor league free agent signings/trades and pitching lab magic they have enough coverage. If payroll really isn't going up at all, Rhys opting in kind of backs us into a corner. Wasn't really money to do anything, even Paul DeJong was stretching it. C: William Contreras ($7.60M) 1B: Rhys Hoskins ($18.00M) 2B: Brice Turang ($0.80M) 3B: Addison Barger ($0.80M) SS: Joey Ortiz ($0.80M) LF: Jackson Chourio ($4.25M) CF: Garrett Mitchell ($0.80M) RF: Sal Frelick ($0.80M) DH: Christian Yelich ($24.25M) 4th OF: Blake Perkins ($0.80M) Utility: Paul DeJong ($4.00M) Utility: Tyler Black ($0.80M) Backup C: Eric Hasse ($1.80M) SP1: Freddy Peralta ($8.25M) SP2: Aaron Civale ($8.00M) SP3: Tobias Myers ($0.77M) SP4: Brandon Woodruff ($5.00M) SP5: DL Hall ($.80M) RP: Trevor Megill ($2.00M) RP: Nick Mears ($0.90M) RP: Jared Koenig ($0.80M) RP: Hoby Milner ($2.70M) RP: Joel Payamps ($2.80M) RP: J.B. Bukauskas ($0.80M) RP: Aaron Ashby ($3.45M) Payroll is 15.79% under budget

Probably no way to add every realistic option, but maybe some names for trade block could be helpful, 3B guys like Bohm Baty Barger Josh Smith etc. Dunno, looks good to me anyway.

West Coast teams have such a huge advantage in landing NPB/KBO free agents because of travel and their timezone makes phone contact a bit more convenient. Assuming his small market comments are genuine, Seattle covers his checklist as well. According to Google Seattle has over 53k Japanese residents, with over 13k being people born in Japan/Japanese citizens. If he came to Milwaukee, him and his translator would be nearly the entire Japanese population here.

In addition to everyone mentioned in the article and comments, Josh Jung could be a long shot if the Rangers sign Bregman. I do like Josh Smith though. Brett Baty isn't so highly thought of anymore, but could be an interesting fallback option. Blue Jays probably arent wild about letting Atkins deal long term assets, but Addison Barger is another cheap, somewhat expendable 3B prospect w some pop.

Jacob MisiorowskiJeferson QueroJesus MadeCooper PrattRobert GasserTyler BlackBrock WilkenEric BitontiBrett WichrowskiYophery RodriguezJosh KnothBishop LetsonLogan HendersonBraylon PayneCraig YohoLuis PenaLuis LaraMike BoeveJose AndersonLuke Adams

Ortiz is most valuable at SS, and hes shown he can be an asset there with the glove. Adames leaving takes alot of the pop from this lineup, but power should be cheaper at 3B than what Adames will command. I'd like to see them trade for someome like Brett Baty. Baty is not far removed from big time prospect status, and has the potential to be the LH power bat while filling the 3B hole. Id also be happy to see them target a right handed utility option that can play 3rd everyday if neither Baty or Dunn prove capable of being a strong side platoon 3B Both Devin Williams and Sal seem like obvious trade candidates. We won't be extended Devin & have alot of high leverage reliever options. Sal's value is in CF, and he doesn't have a clear path to CF with us. So 3B that can hit for power, established RH utility guy if we can't find a surefire 3B with pop, and some SP depth. Really not alot of holes to fill.

Given how dominant Yoho has been, his age, and his injury history, I'd call him up yesterday. Yoho is only ever going to be a RP, and seems more likely than most to have injury problems, so get some great airbendy MLB innings when you can. Given Mis' youth, innings limit, and ceiling, I'd wait unless he breaks down the door. Calling him up now means burning an option next year, or losing a year of service time to keep him up. Given how few innings he'll be able to pitch, you better be damn sure those innings will be better than the alternative.