Matt Breen

I saw this trade presented this way (well, not exactly this way, but close). Look at it as two trades: Trade 1 Mets get Cano (owed $120M) and $20M Seattle gets Swarzak (owed $8M) and Bruce (owed $29) No one thinks Cano is worth $120M for the next five years. But with this deal, the Mets unload $37M in salaries they don't want, plus get back $20M to pay down Cano's deal). It's like they are paying him $63M over five years - which is not far off what a lot of people pegged Cano's value. Trade 2 Mets get Diaz Seattle gets Kelenic, Dunn and Bautista This is trading one of the best relief pitchers in baseball for Kelenic, who will probably fall in the 50-100 range on most prospect lists, and Dunn, who will likely be on a lot of Top 100 lists this winter, but more in the 75-100 range. Bautista is a fringe guy - big arm with control issues - nothing special, but still with potential. I guess my question is - if Diaz was on the market, what would he cost? Would two Top 100 prospects - both in the 50-100 range - get the job done? With his season, it seems light to me. I like Kelenic and Dunn, but Diaz was as good as Hader last year. He's got four years of control left as well, so it's not a simple rental. But also, relievers are hard to attach too much value too. I do like the deal for Seattle as they shed salary, and add some good prospects. The longer they waited to move Cano, the harder it would become. And they probably moved Diaz at his peak. Relievers can be so volatile.

I have a really hard time looking at the Mets' starting rotation and saying they are not potential contenders. What the Mets need is health in the starting rotation, a decent 1B (not difficult to find in FA), a decent 3B (Moustakas), and some bullpen help. Cano's bat can certainly play at 1B solving that issue, and Diaz helps the bullpen deficiency big time. Add Moustakas and 1-2 more bullpen pieces and I think they are a legit contender. Thor, DeGrom, Wheeler, Matz -- that's pretty sweet. Not sure about rotation depth, but if they can stay healthy, it's a formidable rotation. Like you said, there's still work to be done, but if they could add some pieces, it might work for the Mets.

Voting is now closed. Thanks to all who participated. Watch for results in the next week or so.

I am skeptical the Giants will get a big return (such as a Top 50 prospect) in return for Bumgarner. Injury, declining production, one year of control, etc. just don't make him that enticing. The Giants are supposedly interested in a major league ready starter in return for Bumgarner. That's tough for many teams to give up for one year. I doubt the Brewers even consider Burnes in any deal. Woodruff and Peralta offer alternatives - but again, if the club sees these guys as solid starters - they're probably not going to move them for one year of MadBum. If the team doesn't want to give up any of their trio of on-the-cusp pitchers, they could consider building a deal around Corey Ray or Zach Brown. Neither is quite major league ready - but could be within a half a year. And each would fit a need. Ray would, especially, offer some upside - but big risk. Plus, you could include some major league ready assets that might help the Giants. Wilkerson, Broxton, Santana and Houser are a few names (not that you give up all of them). The idea being that the Giants could take any of those four guys and put them into their major league roster and let them play. A guy like Wilkerson could go into the rotation, and if he figures things out, perhaps he becomes a back-of-the-rotation arm for a few years. There's value in that. Broxton would play great in the OF in San Francisco - assuming they can live with his strikeouts. But they may be okay with that - and given a full time gig, Keon might turn in some .250, 25 HR seasons (with good defense). Or he could just get worse. But the Giants are winning, so why not give some guys a chance. The Brewers did the same thing with Keon and he provided some nice moments in his time. In the end, I'm skeptical Bumgarner gets dealt. Teams are just reluctant to give up too much for a guy in his position. The Giants can wait it out - and hope he has a kick-butt 2019, and still trade him at the deadline. Or at least get a comp pick. I just don't think SF will give up such a beloved player for an okay prospect and some fringe guys.

Last day to vote! Get your picks in now.

No Cameron Roegner?

Show off.

Rangers gave him 8 million reasons to change his mind.

This is exactly what I expected with Kratz. I'm betting that no one - not even him - expects him to make the roster. But the Crew give him a nice salary (300k) to be in the minors and be ready in case there are injuries (always a concern with catchers). It works out nice for everyone. The Brewers have a trusted veteran down at AAA if the need arises. Kratz gets a guaranteed deal worth at at least $300,000 (probably more as he would have a chance to get called up if there was an injury and in September when rosters expand). He plays a couple of times a week, stays in shape, maybe helps teach Nottingham the nuances of the game. It's a good plan. In the end, Kratz can have one more season with a solid payday and even get some time on the big league club if needed. Not bad for a guy who turns 39 next season. Of course, maybe I'm wrong and the team wants him on the roster all season in 2019. But I doubt that.

Regarding when to start drawing social security, most financial advisors seem to say wait until age 70. The reason is you ultimately get a bigger payout if you live long enough (which is a big 'if'). I saw this rough example: Retires at 62: $1500/month = $324,000 at age 80 Retires at 67: $2000/month = $312,000 at age 80 Retires at 70: $2600/month = $312,000 at age 80 As you can see, by the time you reach age 80 or 81, they all end up roughly netting you the same payout. The reason financial advisors like waiting until age 70 to draw on SS is that it pays out more as you move into the 80s. This means more money in the long run. You live to age 90 and you can net $130,000 more than if you had started at 62. Also, this can be critical as other savings may be dwindling as you get into your 80s - and the extra $1,100/month could be really helpful. That said, the decision on when to take social security is also really dependent on your health and financial situations. A person might not be able to wait to take social security due to financial needs. And even more critical is a person's health. A person with health issues may not expect to live past age 80 - so why not just take social security as soon as possible. By the way, the average life expectancy in the USA is 76 for men and 81 for women. Of course, all this is one scenario. How much you make, marital status, etc., etc. all come into play. Each person's situation is unique and should be treated as such. And we have recognize that social security benefits (and the age they are available) may change in the future.

Voting ends soon. Get your ballot in now!

That's a very nice pillow for Donaldson.

Brewers added Supak and Stokes. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/11/players-added-to-the-40-man-roster-4.html

3166 hits, 5 gold gloves, 95.7 bWAR, 84.0 fWAR - should make it into the HoF without much issue. He had some up and down seasons, but it was a heck of a career. After careful consideration and many sleepless nights, I have made the decision to retire from what I’ve been doing my whole life, which is playing baseball, the game I love. I have thought about it a lot and although I appreciate all the opportunities and everything that baseball has given me, it’s time to call it a career. I have enjoyed the privilege of playing professional baseball since I was 15 years old. I have been blessed to have played 21 seasons at the highest level in Major League Baseball. I want to thank God, my amazing wife Sandra for your unwavering and unconditional love, support and understanding throughout my entire baseball career, my three awesome children, Cassie, A.J and Camila for being the best baseball kids, my parents, and my entire family for all your love and support. I also want to thank my agents, Scott Boras, Mike Fiore and the entire Boras Corp. for always believing in my talent. A huge THANK YOU goes to the numerous teammates, managers, coaches, and staff members from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and especially the Texas Rangers. These past eight seasons playing in a Rangers’ uniform have been the best of my career and were made possible thanks to Rangers’ owners Ray Davis, Bob Simpson, and Neil Leibman, General Manager Jon Daniels, Nolan Ryan, and the late Don Welke. I also owe a huge part of my success in Texas to the amazing Rangers’ fans. You guys are the best! I also have to acknowledge and thank Tommy Lasorda for believing in this young kid from the Dominican Republic when others thought I was too young to be called up to the Big Leagues. To all my fans in the Dominican Republic, the United States and Latin America, my sincerest THANK YOU for your continuous support throughout my career. While I will forever cherish the memories from my time playing the greatest game on earth, I am excited to become a fulltime husband and father, and I am ready to take on the next chapter of my life. It’s been one hell of a ride! Muchas gracias, Adrian Beltre https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/11/adrian-beltre-retires.html

Welcome, ARobsBrewCrew, to the Board. Quite the first post. Well done.

Actually, I think the Yankees giving up their top prospect is a sign they are going to go all in for 2019. That will mean Corbin as well. I bet they go as high as $25M a year for him. Severino, Paxson, Corbin, Tanaka, Sabathia - that's pretty good (I'm guessing Gray is traded). There's some age and injury issues in the Yankee rotation - but Jonathan Loaisiga is a nice arm they can work in as needed. Or they can make another FA signing of a swing type guy. Now, that gives them three lefties in the rotation - but if you look at the Red Sox, they had an OPS of .817 vs right handed pitchers, and .719 vs left handed pitchers. Perhaps the Yankees are going to take specific aim at Boston (although that may be overthinking things on my part).

Never really understood that concept. Why limit yourself when you're not going to be good. I guess I'd sort of understand if they were planning on being competitive but not in the state they're in. Good for the rest of the teams wanting to acquire him I guess I can understand it if you think you'll be competing against these teams in the next couple of years. But there's little chance that the Marlins are in the playoff race the next two years, so who cares if a former player is beating you. In fact, trading him within your division weakens a division rival down the road - since the guys you acquire won't be helping that team - and Realmuto (or whomever) has moved on as a free agent in two years. Sure there's a chance Realmuto signs an extension and he haunts you further down the road - but those are the risks you take. It's just as likely that he leaves as a free agent in two years. Oh well. Shortsighted in my opinion.

One of the better catching options off the board with Suzuki going to Washington on a 2-year, $10M deal. Nats really needed a catcher (or two) after enduring Wieters the last couple of seasons. Suzuki is viewed as a superior bat (for a catcher) but nothing great behind the plate. The move affects Milwaukee in a few ways. One, it takes a decent catcher off the market. Whether we had any interest in Suzuki (or even if we want to add a catcher) is unknown. But Suzuki would have offered a solid platoon option with Pena. Two, it likely takes Washington out of the market for Realmuto since they probably wouldn't sign Suzuki and then go trade for someone who will catch 120-130 games. How exactly this really affects Milwaukee remains to be seen. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/11/nationals-sign-kurt-suzuki.html

At the end of the day, no one really know what packages are being offered, and how the Marlins value each of them. Judging by who the Marlins chose in the Yelich deal, though, I would imagine that they are going to focus more on tools and upside than prospects that are MLB ready. But just because a team offers a theoretical package of multiple guys on some arbitrary Top 100 list doesn't mean that the Marlins don't put a higher value on a different package. I think this is very true in the fact that the Marlins will assess each package based upon their own criteria. For their own reasons, they are going to value specific players differently than other teams. In 2017, the White Sox were supposedly not enamored with Lewis Brinson - thus making him a less attractive trade chip in our quest to get Quintana. When the Crew got Greinke back in 2010, the Royals were looking for some very specific types of players. They wanted major league ready players at SS, CF and pitcher. Milwaukee was able to measure up well with them (Escobar at SS, Cain in CF, Jeffress at P - plus Odorizzi). Many people thought the Royals missed out at the time - feeling they didn't get any great players in exchange for an established great pitcher. It was more of a quantity for quality trade - but it worked well for KC, so they won't argue. I will say that, generally, when you have a premium talent - like Realmuto - a team will try and get a premium prospect(s) back. In this league, it's difficult to acquire young talent that you believe has all-star potential. It usually takes quality to get quality. But whatever works, if the team wants Realmuto, they should make their pitch and see if it works. If not, move on.

Marlins are reportedly putting an even higher price on Realmuto than they did last winter since he had an even better year in 2018 than 2017. Plus he's cemented himself as one of the premier players at the catcher position by having another really good season. No matter what people offer for Realmuto, the Marlins will have a lot of suitors. They should get a very nice package of players back.

Two of the three guys you mentioned don’t really fit the pattern, but it seems as if the Brewers were quite willing to sacrifice floor for ceiling this draft. Along with the focus on prep and JuCo players, I believe the first four four-year college picks they signed all had aspects that significantly raised their risk but also potentially left them undervalued: a pitcher with major injury problems, a catcher who has barely caught, a DII pitcher and a pitcher who is, if I remember correctly, 5-6. Wow, that's really young.

I will agree with others in saying the the deal is not unreasonable when you look at exchanging value. The big issue is taking on $35M a year in salary for Milwaukee. Would the team even raise payroll that high? And maintain it for three years? And as noted, I think it removes any payroll flexibility for the club - at least for the two years of Braun's remaining deal. It probably means letting go of Schoop - or having the ability to add a decent 2B in FA. It means living with Pina/Nottingham/Kratz or some other low level catcher. That might be okay - but just pointing it out. I'd love Greinke on our team, but I also think payroll flexibility is a huge advantage for us right now. This would shoot all of that with one bullet And again, if we could even get our payroll raised to a level to take on Greinke is questionable.

My kids didn't have air conditioning or the option of air conditioning at UWSP (he graduated in 2018) or UWEC (she's a senior now). I don't think all the state schools offer AC in their dorms. They may not. I think I assumed most had started to do so since Madison built that palace on near the Lakeshore dorms. I thought it was a hotel when I drove by last summer. My son doesn't have AC in his dorm.

Zack Greinke has thrown 200+ innings the last two years. His ERAs have been 3.20 and 3.21. His FIP has been 3.31 and 3.71. His bWAR has been 6.1 and 4.2 and his fWAR has been 5.1 and 3.5. Even at 35 he's still a really, really good pitcher. Also, he's one of the better hitting pitchers in baseball, and fields his position exceptionally well. No doubt he'll reach a point where he's not effective anymore, but we still haven't gotten to that day. Do I want to pay him $90M+ over the next three seasons? No. But he's easily worth $65-70M.

Oxy, what Garcia are you referring to with vote #23? I'm guessing Eduardo Garcia, but would you clarify as there are other Garcias in the Brewer org. Thanks.