atomiczap

The Brewers have built the best team AND farm system in baseball by doing something other teams aren't willing to do: trade away talent for value before a player starts to decline. Burnes. Hader. Freddy. Williams. All traded before their team control ran out. The only notable exception was Adames, who they let walk for a Comp Pick. But they have never had to decide if they should trade a World Series MVP before. For what it's worth, I don't think they will, I think they go the Adames route with Contreras, play out the final year, and hope comp picks are still a thing. Trading him would be too big of a PR and possibly locker room hit this offseason. But I'm doing it anyway. It's what got the Brewers here, and it is the type of hard calls they need to make to stay on top for the long haul. "But they have no other catcher options!" I can already hear you say. May I introduce you to the left side of the infield the Brewers trotted out after letting Adames walk? Oliver Dunn, Vinny Capra, and SS Joey Ortiz. And then just one year ago, they looked at that left side of the infield and said "ya know what? We don't need ANY major league third basemen!" and dealt Durbin, Monasterio, and Seagler all in one trade! The Brewers don't need to have a set plan of succession. They will do what they always do: give a ton of guys legitimate chances until one proves they deserve it. It's how they got Bauers, and Mitchell, and Turang, and Ortiz, and Megill, and Priester, and Harrison, and Koenig, and Drohan. All guys that other teams gave up on, or the Brewers REFUSED to give up on. They will find Contreras replacement the same way, and frankly, Catcher is the position (other than pitcher) that I'm most confident they can do it. Atlanta traded Contreras because they didn't think he could stay at catcher, and the Brewers made it happen. Before him, the Brewers got Manny Pina, Yasmani Grandall, Omar Narvaez, and Victor Caratini playing some of the best baseball of their careers. They will probably sign someone I've never heard of for 2.5 million and get 4.5 WAR out of them, Naylor, and Quero. So, I'm assuming the Brewers find a trade partner for Contreras that will give up a top 40 prospect, another top 100 prospect, and a 24 year old post hype former top 50 pitcher who the Brewers will get 50 innings of 3.0 ERA from this year. Because that's just the kind of thing the Brewers always do. In other moves, I'm giving Blake Burke the call to Platoon with Vaughn. I'm leaving Lara in the 4th OF spot, but in reality he is a starter, and it is Mitchell and Frelick (mostly Frelick) who are sharing playing time. The one "big" signing of the offseason is a pitcher, because you can never have too many pitchers. Casey Mize was amazing to start last year and tanked his free agent value with the Padres to end the year. A 1 year deal with a 2nd player option year so he can try FA again in a year hopefully gets the job done. Going into the season with Miz, Henderson, and Mize locked in, and Gasser, Drohan, Harrison, Priester, Patrick, Hall (I really hope they give him another shot to start), Crow, Hardin, and maybe even Woodruff competing for the final 2 spots is exactly the sort of situation the Brewers want. Speaking of Woodruff. I love that man. I've got 2.5 million dollars for him, I don't care if he wants to take it to coach or try one more pitching comeback. Turning to the bullpen, you've already got all the guys above competing for spots, along with McGee, Stallings, Koenig, and the couple of low risk FAs they bring in. I'd love to see them "Splurge" to keep JoJo Romero, especially in this scenario where they move on from Contreras. The last move is offering Bauers the QO (if that's still a thing in the new CBA), but I hope that man goes and gets 4/100 from someone, he's earned it. Just go out of the division, please. On a final note: The Brewers could potentially have a rotation of Miz, Henderson, Harrison, Priester, and Gasser turn into an absolute, murders row, best rotation in baseball... for a grand total of 5 million dollars... That is why they trade guys away. It works. C: Bo Naylor ($1.25M) 1B: Andrew Vaughn ($8.00M) 2B: Brice Turang ($9.90M) 3B: Joey Ortiz ($2.00M) SS: Cooper Pratt ($3.50M) LF: Jackson Chourio ($8.00M) CF: Garrett Mitchell ($3.40M) RF: Sal Frelick ($1.50M) DH: Christian Yelich ($22.00M) 4th OF: Luis Lara ($2.00M) Utility: David Hamilton ($2.30M) Utility: Blake Burke ($0.8M) Backup C: Jake Rodgers ($3.0M) POS: Add Dead Money Here ($0.00M) SP1: Jacob Misiorowski ($1.00M) SP2: Quinn Priester ($1.00M) SP3: Kyle Harrison ($1.00M) SP4: Logan Henderson ($1.00M) SP5: Casey Mize ($14M) RP: Trevor Megill ($7.50M) RP: Abner Uribe ($1.00M) RP: Aaron Ashby ($7.50M) RP: Grant Anderson ($1.50M) RP: Shane Drohan ($1.85M) RP: Chad Patrick ($1.00M) RP: D.L. Hall ($0.95M) RP: Robert Gasser ($1.00M) POS: Add Dead Money Here ($0.00M) Payroll is 22.89% under budget