adambr2

Travis Shaw is a bad, flawed hitter? Aguilar is a bad, flawed hitter?

Also, I think Shaw is a really solid, underrated player. He's been a 4 WAR player the last 2 seasons and proved 2017 wasn't flukey. He's kind of like our Whit Merrifield, with a different skillset obviously. Sometimes we seem to treat Shaw like he's a spare part when he's definitely a main component. It would take a huge return for me to ever want to part with Shaw.

Was there anything really other than rumors and our own speculation to indicate Shaw was being offered in trades?

Not much margin for error now. We can, and probably will lose in New England, as the division is doing us some favors, but we have to start winning after that. Minnesota is an absolute must-win game especially given that will decide any tiebreaker between us and them.

I don't get why we want to work Braun back in at 1st. He doesn't stay healthy enough to be playing there regularly (he said it's much harder on him physically), and his bat barely plays well enough as a corner OF. He's going to be a below average 1st baseman with little upside. I'm not opposed to Brantley but if we went that route I'd be more inclined to see if the Dodgers want to take Braun off our hands for salary relief. Which they probably wouldn't.

If your interpretation is correct, then it’s hard to see why he would be kept on roster going forward. I don’t like calling for people’s jobs, and nobody deserves to be hated like Brian “Buckner” Bostick, but that’s inexcusable. What a snakebitten tenure for Ty Montgomery in Green Bay. Promising athlete and reputation as a willing and intelligent player as a rookie, left with no position after switching positions in good faith due to roster construction shortcomings, suffering an endless string of injuries and now that horrible play to smother a comeback in a huge road contest. What a sad story. I'm paraphrasing a bit but it went like this: McCarthy: "Yeah, the plan there was to take a knee in the endzone, keep the clock north of the 2 minute warning and take the ball at the 25. We even talked about that before the kick. I didn't see how deep the kick was. You trust your players though, I think Ty was just trying to make a play." Intervlewer: "But shouldn't it have been said to Ty, hell or high water, do not return that kick out of the endzone?" McCarthy: "I think I've already answered that, that was the plan."

McCarthy said in his press conference in as subtle terms as possible that Montgomery was told prior to the return, not to return anything out of the endzone.

Ty Montgomery is about as useless as they come. Not a receiver, not a RB, not a returner. Why is he still here? And why in God's name did MM or Zook not order him to kneel down the second he caught that in the endzone? The first stupid move was blowing the extra timeout by running out before the 2 minute warning, then he compounds it by fumbling. Just an awful, awful football play.

I hope you are right and he's our 2B for years to come. Yet..... Hiura hit .272 with 6 HR at AA in 73 games. What makes you so confident that he can hit well in the majors? As minor league hitting prospects, they are in the same world as another has noted with rankings, if not with milb stats, where Brinson has the edge. Brinson would have the edge with defense, as well, until Hiura proves himsellf at 2B. I'm pumping the brakes until Hiura show me a good 2019 at AA or AAA. You may be right with him, but I need to see more. That .272 is 30 points better than the league average. And would have put him in the top ten of batters in that league. But to answer your question is that it is the way the ball jumps off his bat. I remember the sound even in spring training games. It’s just different. He’s going to hit. Hopefully it will be in Milwaukee. For what it's worth, I do agree with you on Hiura. I love the guy, think he is going to have a very special bat at a position we need. He's destroying the AFL right now. He's about ready, at least bat-wise. I just have a ton of faith in Stearns where even if I didn't agree if they moved Hiura, I'd be thinking, "They HAVE to know something we don't." . That's all.

Heck, having a 4-0 lead in the 1st was a curse for us at one point this season.

Puig with some huge postseason HRs. He would have looked good in our lineup. (Ducks)

They were pretty similar in prospect ranking and trade value, however. Very similar, actually. And I'd say Hiura definitely has some red flags of injury as well. Again I am not saying they should trade Hiura for Merrifield, or even trade Hiura at all. I love Hiura. But I like to think that this FO always keeps every door open. For all we know their feeling after 2018 is that Hiura is a DH only in the future who will require TJ at some point and they'd prefer to trade him high. They are a lot better able to evaluate these guys in depth. We just don't know.

Yes, but.... Much of the foundation of this team was built on trading for controllable MLB players like Shaw and Yelich. I'm not comparing Whit to them, just saying lf you think he can be the player he's been the last 2 years for the Royals for the next 4 in a Brewer uniform, there is certainly precedence for it. If it includes Hiura, they’re idiots. Purely simple. I think regardless of what they do, the current regime has proven that they are not idiots. I'm not saying they will or should include Hiura on anything. But I am saying I would trust thelr judgment completely. I think a year ago the idea of trading Brinson as one piece for Yelich would have been a pretty silly concept to most. Brinson was our CF of the future and the only way he was being traded was for controllable pitching.

It's not. They have already said he'll enter 2019 in the same role.

According to Stearns, should be full go for spring training.

Yeah I mean Whit just might be a case of a year too late. It's been nice to get these guys before they break out (Shaw) or before they really become huge. (Yelich).

This team is such a disappointment.

Yes, but.... Much of the foundation of this team was built on trading for controllable MLB players like Shaw and Yelich. I'm not comparing Whit to them, just saying lf you think he can be the player he's been the last 2 years for the Royals for the next 4 in a Brewer uniform, there is certainly precedence for it.

The only way I think you could add Whit without Hiura is including one of Burnes/Peralta, adding Ray plus a pretty darn good 3rd prospect. If you could get it done with Peralta+Ray+Erceg, I'd consider that to be realistic, but on the light side and fortunate to get it done without Hiura.

Merrifield is going to cost way more than people think. He's averaging almost 5 WAR per season the last 2 years, guys with that kind of value and control don't come cheap, even though he's 29. You probably need to headline with Hiura. Maybe not much else, but better be sold on Whit being your guy at 2B the next few years if you go this route.

I know we have some individual threads for these guys but I thought I'd mention what Stearns has said about several guys in the organization and their future here. Obviously decide for yourself on what is genuine and what is GM speak. https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2018/10/23/notes-brewers-chase-anderson-same-page-2019/1733631002/ On Anderson: ""We made sure we talked to Chase and got on the same page before he took off," Stearns said. "Chase is a competitor. Frankly, he pitched pretty well for the majority of this season. "I know he was disappointed he didn’t get a chance to pitch on the big stage in the postseason. We understand that completely. We would expect nothing less. Chase is also a good teammate and he’s ready to get back and contribute next year." On Hiura: ""Look, I think it’s a possibility. (Hiura up in 2019) I think we also have to recognize Keston hasn’t played a day above Double-A. So there’s a lot of growth left there for him. What we’re most pleased with Keston is he got through a full season and that the defensive growth and maturation on that side of the ball was there, and we have confidence he’s a second baseman going forward." On Thames: ""Eric had a season that was a challenging season," said Stearns. "He started off really well, he had an injury, and the guy behind him played really well and in many ways took his job. But (Thames) is a really talented player. He proved he was a talented player in this league for about a year and a half. That’s exciting for us. He’s going to come to spring training with a chance to gain meaningful playing time. We know that when he is in the lineup, he provides a really impressive, powerful force." On Schoop: ""That’s a discussion that we’re going to have to continue to have here over the next couple of weeks to a month," Stearns said of Schoop, who just turned 27. "Obviously, Jonathan has proven that he is a quality major-league player. "He has had really impressive stretches throughout his career, and unfortunately for both him and us, we didn’t see one of those stretches when he was a Brewer. We’ll sit down to see if we can determine why, and then we’ll go forward."

This last part is so true. I see it during Brewer season, I see it during Packer season. So many Wisconsin fans have a perspective that they are just so hated by well-known national commentators and that they have nothing good to say about us. It's funny because I went on Dodger boards in the NLCS and they just talk about how much these guys are drooling over us. The reality is that most of these guys are pretty neutral with praise and complaints of both sides. Yet both sides somehow end up feeling jaded.

I don't think anyone is suggesting giving Houser away, but eventually space limitations do come into play no matter how much we don't want to lose guys. Figure on a max of 13 open day pitchers. Figure Chacin, Burnes, Hader, Jeffress, Knebel are all locks, that leaves you with 8. Figure on just one of Anderson and Davies, and three of Jennings, Cedeno, Williams, Barnes or Albers, that leaves you with 5. Figure that 2 of Woodruff, Guerra and Peralta are going to make it leaves you with 3 spots, and way more candidates than that to fill them. And that's only 3 if they don't keep more of the aforementioned players, they don't bring back Soria, and they add nothing in free agency. Yes, you do need 9 or 10 SPs to get through a season, but that's more of an argument against Houser, not for him, because he can't be optioned and they typically like to preserve flexibility with those last few spots. How many young (0-3 year service time) pitchers with no options remaining made the roster last season?

I'm interested to see what the market is going to be like for Andrew Miller coming off such a down year after being dominant for so long. I wonder if he will take a 1 year prove it deal like Holland and try to cash in next year or just try to get as many years as he still can.

One of the reasons I think Dubon could be a big part of the team next year. Between Dubon, Perez and Shaw, you have one guy who can play either corner OF, two guys who can play 3B, 1B, CF, and SS, and all 3 can play 2B. Really gives you the option of carrying extra pitchers or going bat heavy on the bench.