Matt Breen

Option 2 is what I want. If things break our way, we can be in the race. It's about trusting the development of the players you believe in. It doesn't mean we can't make any moves, but I don't want to overreact to what others are doing. I'm good with going to good arms like Taylor Williams and Houser in the bullpen - even if I wouldn't mind the signing of a good reliever. I'm good with giving Villar another chance at 2B. And keeping with Thames/Aguilar at 1B. And Pina/Vogt behind the plate. Sure we can upgrade many of these positions in FA - but I'm good with what we got going forward. I think the big area we will try to yet address is starting pitching. I'm guessing we make a play for one of Arietta/Darvish/Cobb/Lynn. Or make some deal (probably not Archer) for a decent starter (without giving away too much minor league depth).

I am too. Thought RRR definitely deserved(deserves) another shot to be a manager. I never thought he was that bad to be honest. I think Roenicke had his chance and is by the wayside. He's unlikely to get another chance - unless he happens to be in an interim situation and his club catches fire. RRR's problem was that he was just 'meh.' He was just kind of uninspiring. During his stint with Milwaukee, no one talked about him as a genius or as a great strategist or inspiring or whatever. It was just sort of - not bad - but nothing special. Unfortunately, that's not going to get you another gig in this day and age. At 61, Roenicke had his chance and things just didn't align. I think people respect him (he hasn't been out of work since he was fired), and they probably appreciate his experience and knowledge. But I doubt anyone thinks they are going to gain an edge with RRR.

At 37/38, how much more were people expecting him to get? The wheels have to come off at some point, right? Maybe he is immortal. I'm guessing he could have gotten couple of million more elsewhere. I was thinking he'd get a two-year deal - around $16-20M.

Mitch Moreland has resigned with the Red Sox for 2-years/$13M + incentives. It's a modest contract, and may demonstrate the that some of the 1B-only bat guys are going to struggle to get big deals (like last winter). It also probably takes Boston out of the Hosmer bidding. Sooner or later some of these big chips are going to sign. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/red-sox-re-sign-mitch-moreland.html

I think a lot of people had the same feel about Last Jedi. The Casino stuff was just not necessary. I liked the Rose character, but what she and Finn did was essentially pointless to the story. It just became weird CGI-fest of stuff that really just didn't matter. I think they just didn't have anything for Finn's character to do - so they made up some plot line for him. I will add that the failure of Finn and Rose to shut down the beacon thing was actually kind of fun. I mean, it's classic Star Wars - sneak into the big ship and disable the (insert device) and everyone escapes. It was cool that it just failed miserably. Killing Snoke was cool. The fight with the Red Shirts was great. I think it was good they made Kylo Ren the bad guy for the next movie. No more waffling. Yeah, Laura Dern's character was annoying - then she gets to make up for it with a great death scene. That was not needed. It should have been Admiral Akbar. Why introduce a new character that you don't like -- why not let one of the other characters we already know take one for the team? It would mean a lot more to the story if we actually liked the character that sacrificed him/herself. As I said, Admiral Akbar would have been perfect. Instead he just got sucked out into space in a perfectly random and generic fashion. As I said earlier, I still really liked the movie. The Rey/Luke stuff was good. As was the Rey/Kylo stuff.

Realmuto would be a really nice addition - but I think he will cost a ton. The guy has a ton of positives. He's a good hitter and defensive player, he doesn't really have big splits, and he's in his prime (27 next march). Also, something that could really be interesting is that he's played half of his games in Miami - which has hurt his offensive production. For his career, in Miamii he has a .645 OPS. On the road it's .845 - a 200 point difference. As I said, a really good player - and will cost a lot.

This was a crazy day. There were rumors for days about Greinke, but no one thought he'd approve a trade to Milwaukee. Then on Saturday afternoon at 3:45 this post came through: From Jim Breen, "Source tells me #Brewers have traded SS Alcides Escobar, CF Lorenzo Cain, and RHP Jeremy Jeffress for RHP Zack Greinke, SS Betancourt + $2M." "Still has not been confirmed w/in organization, but the rumor is the deal will be announced on Monday. #Brewers" Odorizzi was not part of the initial report. Here was the blog post with the news: http://archive.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/fanblogs/112137964.html viewtopic.php?f=66&t=22157&start=460#p650312 For the next 10 hours or so it was a roller coaster for Brewer fans as no one would confirm the deal. Just go through the thread and you can see everyone freaking out. It's kind of fun. There was lots of skepticism that the trade was for real as the return seemed like. The inclusion of Odorizzi changed that perception by many. In the end, I have to give KC credit. They targeted several players who would be core contributors to their WS run. A lot of people lament this trade as it emptied our farm system (along with the Marcum trade). But even with these guys, our system was pretty weak. Oh well, no use worrying about what can't be changed. I encourage people to read the Greinke trade thread. It's pretty fun.

This was pretty spot on for me as well. It was like they were trying to figure out something 'cool' for Finn to do - and they made up some thing that ultimately didn't really matter much. I liked the movie a lot - but I came away a little underwhelmed. Perhaps because I had heard a lot of good things about it. I enjoyed the Luke/Rey stuff a lot. And the story wasn't just a rehash - there were a lot of fresh ideas. Plus some nice surprises.

Folks, I deleted 13 posts that were not relevant to this thread. I've said this before - if you want to talk about Khris Davis or Scooter Gennett or debate the moves of David Stearns related to those ideas - go make a thread. Do not hijack threads to bring up a topic that has been discussed ad nauseam in other threads - most of which weren't related to those subjects either. I apologize if I've deleted something anyone thought was relevant to a trade with KC, but I was just trying to remove any discussion not on topic and didn't want to leave any hanging posts. Again, I encourage people not to reply to off topic posts. If you find a topic is constantly brought up that is not on target, please PM a moderator. If we find a subject is being brought up repeatedly, and out of context, we can delete it. Thank you.

I suspected the Brewers would bring in a one-year contract innings eater type player - someone like RA Dickey or John Lackey. I guess Gallardo is sort of that guy - just not as healthy and not as good (which means pretty bad). I'm not thrilled at the move - primarily since it's a guaranteed deal. The team is obviously trying to fill a rotation spot for cheap, but I wish they had done a minor league deal. Just said to Yo, 'hey, the spot's yours if you look okay.' But now we'll feel compelled to keep him even if he stinks. Hopefully, it's a low, low salary so we can cut bait if needed.

That's what I heard. It was going to be hard to lure him away from NY. And hey, with the team they are putting together, I would like to pitch there too.

This was well-written but to me, it was written on behalf of the 1%'ers. Someone like you that is well-read in terms of baseball statistics it makes a lot of sense and you probably can use the numbers to help back up your claims/arguments. But there are just so many others, again to me, that don't have a flippin clue what they are using or why they are using it when they begin to express themselves on certain players. That's my issue with it. I do go there myself for things you mentioned above as I do find some things very interesting though. The funny part is that I really don't know that much about calculating WAR. I periodically have to look at exactly what it is calculating to remind myself - and even then, I don't really remember the specifics. I will say that - on the whole - I like the end result. I can look at players and sort of look at it and say, "Okay, that makes sense." When I don't agree with something, I can look a little deeper, and try and understand why it is the way it is. It doesn't always work. I think Archer is a great example. I see a high ERA and wonder how he can be as good as Fangraphs says - or as poor as Baseball-Reference says. But in the end, I just trust that the stat is going to - roughly - give me a value on a player that I can live with as a reference. But you know, I totally get that many people don't care for using WAR. And that's fine. There's lots of stats out there that help define a player's value (not to mention other factors that aren't necessarily a 'statistic'). And I really like it when people try and use a combination of stats when discussing a player. WAR is not the final word in a player's value. But I think it's an okay thing to discuss. And if people use it as an easy reference point - that's okay as well. Again, the idea is that it's encompassing a player's full production value - and that makes it easy to use. But as I said, it's not the only thing.

The trade for Moore did not cost much, so it may be more of a salary dump on SF's part. Just a guess - but perhaps they are looking to go with a big splurge and sign JD Martinez. SF was rumored to be trying to unload Hunter Pence (and his $18.5M salary) as well.

Texas will get left handed starter Matt Moore from SF for minor leaguers Sam Wolff and Israel Cruz plus 750K of international bonus money. Moore was once a highly thought of starter, but he struggled the last few years - even more in 2017 (5.52 ERA in what is generally considered a pitcher friendly environment) https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/rangers-to-acquire-matt-moore.html

I don't think I've ever read anything on this site that I disagreed with more. That's okay. We all have opinions. I'm just in the camp that thinks the majority of fans see a lot of these numbers, uses them in arguments, and really have no clue what they are using them for. In many ways, I guess I disagree about this. The nice thing about Fangraphs (really WAR - whether Fangraphs or BP or BR) - is that it tries to take all the aspects of a player and put a value on a guy. I honestly think most people like that - understand that - and appreciate having that single, all-encomposing number. Most people know it incorporates the elements of offense and defense. However, I do think you are right in that most people don't really understand exactly how these elements are put together to come up with the number. They have a vague idea - but they really don't know the formula. But in the end, that's okay. People will look at all the data out there and appreciate that there's a 'value' being assigned by running of all of this data through a system. Now, is that system good? That's a different question. If you dig into how these things are calculated - people will see things that give them pause. But one important thing about WAR is that I don't think any of its creators ever say it's a perfect system. It's been tweaked many times over the years. And like any statistic, it's just one thing that people can look at in evaluating a player. I think the reason it's used a lot is because it is fast and easy. You don't have to go into nuances - walk rates, batting ave, etc., etc. It's just a nice, simple answer. Yes, that's probably a bit lazy at times - but that's okay. Not everyone has the time or energy or desire to dig deep into the analytics. WAR gives them that easy answer. I'd rather people embrace WAR than RBIs. I should also point out that Fangraphs isn't just about WAR. People say they hate Fangraphs and it seems to be they don't like WAR or don't understand it. But the site has a lot of great info. Just the data is pretty cool. Finding a place that shows you percentages of pitches a guy throws, the velocity, etc. - that's pretty cool. I appreciate the work that they do. I get a bit frustrated when people dismiss them just because they don't like WAR or whatever. The site is so much more than that.

Yeah, Hosmer has got to be loving it. Six years, $150M? That's nuts - but someone will probably pony up the cash. Just don't want it to be us.

I think that infield has a great chance of being below average offensively. Should be outstanding defensively. At least those three guys should. 1B is another question. They may be throwing the statue formerly known as Albert Pujols.

The low price of Cozart probably does not bode well for guys like Walker. If Cozart - who is a vastly superior defender at a more difficult position - only gets 3/$38M - Walker is probably lucky to get 2/$20M.

Getting Ohtani changed the whole complexion of the team. The offense looks fine - but like you said - the pitching is painful beyond Ohtani. And who knows how good he will be.

Just hit the newswire. 3 years/ $38M, Cozart probably heads to 3B. A Cozart, Simmons and Kinsler IF is pretty nice. Seems like a pretty low payout for Cozart. I thought he'd get more. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/angels-sign-zack-cozart.html

3-years and $60M for the former Cleveland DH/1B. Bit of a surprise going to Philadelphia as most people thought Rhys Hoskins would slide in at 1B. I guess he's staying the OF. Money is pretty good for Santana. The move takes a good bat off the market. Also a fourth year option worth $17.5M. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/phillies-agree-to-terms-with-carlos-santana.html

So sorry to hear this. I went through this exact thing with my Golden Retriever two years ago. Sadly, the inability to go up and down the stairs was a sign things were close to the end for her. PS - you could try different food for your dog. It worked for us in the last six or eight months of our Golden's life. We'd cook a big batch of hamburger, mix it with rice and cottage cheese. That was great for her as regular dog food would get her sick. This really helped her eat well to the very end. Anyhow, perhaps some different food would get her to eat more - which would give her more energy, etc. Good luck. No matter what, it won't be easy.

The one thing that the Cubs are doing with signing these relievers is avoiding long term contracts. Everything is two years - except Chatwood - which is three. One of the nice things about signing relievers - even to decent sized contracts - is that they aren't long-term drags on your salary structure. It's why I would be fine with Milwaukee adding one or two guys at this price and term. We can afford them now, and they won't be around in a couple of years to muck up your salary structure. I thought we'd sign someone from the second tier of relievers (tier one being Davis and Holland) - but most of those guys are gone. Tony Watson and Addison Reed are the two main relief arms left outside of the big closer types. Reed is going to cost the most - probably $10M a year - so I don't know if we'd splurge on a guy like that when we passed on other effective, but cheaper, arms. Watson would make sense if the team was serious about putting Hader in the rotation.

Personally, I'd love to see Williams break camp with Milwaukee in the bullpen. He's old enough and been through enough that he should have the maturity to make the transition. And I love his stuff. And the areas he struggled with - control - is something that started to come around in the 2nd half of 2017 (not a shocking thing to happen after two years removed from playing). There will no doubt be some rough times - but he can easily start in the lower leverage slots of games - and if he responds - move up the ladder of responsibility. My big thing is to not jerk the guy around. Give him a job (assuming he earns it in camp) and tell him not to freak out if he has a bad outing or two. Just let him grow and get comfortable. With luck, perhaps he can be an impact arm by season's end.

2-years, $12-14M Relievers are coming off the board at breakneck speed. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/cubs-to-sign-steve-cishek.html