adambr2

1). I think Nelson will fit well into our new presumed model of short starts and heavy bullpenning as a 5 inning guy. 2.) Agreed. And I think some of these guys will end up as relievers by default, which is a good thing. When we're talking about trading away guys like Anderson and Davies simply because we may have better options, that's a good thing too IMO. 3). I think Dubon is a possible Opening Day option. Waiting 2 weeks to ensure an extra year control wouldn't be bad. Keston appears to be a certain July callup. 4.). Totally agree. For the right price, I want Ramos. Realmuto is probably out of our price range in trade. But we need more offensive production and catcher is the place to start.

It's not so much that they don't trust them, it's a lot more that the analytics that this team uses has determined that this is the best approach to playoff games. Very few pitchers don't get more susceptible the more times they see a hitter. Even DeGrom does. (.420, .523, .606, and .742 OPS against the 1st-4th times through the order). Even as constructed our pitching was good enough to win a pennant. If we had hit in the NLCS, we'd be going to the World Series tomorrow. Next year we've got a whole wave of new options for the rotation and the presumable return of Jimmy Nelson. Plus, you may see guys like Brown, Diplan and Supak step into the late season roles that Burnes, Peralta and Woodruff had this year. So I say hang onto the bats, particularly the right handed ones. That's what is going to take us to the next level. The pitching is already there.

According to B-R.com, the Brewers were 5th in MLB in Team Position Performance by Wins Above Average at 1B. I think "wish" is a better word to use here than "need". Yep. What we had was actually well above average. Of course all things being equal I'd like to have Paul Goldschmidt or Freddie Freeman, but all things aren't equal. Any significant 1B upgrade if even available will either be very expensive or cost a substantial amount of trade capital. Aguilar costs neither, and he was good. We've already got a shortage of productive RH bats and IMO jettisoning our most productive one isn't a good place to start fixing the problem.

Don't know why he would say he likes coming in games late if he doesn't actually mean it. If he wanted to start but wanted to be a team player too he could easily just say "I'm on board with whatever is best for the team" and no one would give it a second thought.

I'm guessing it wasn't very good. I'm guessing he was probably the best 1B in baseball before July 4th, though, or close to it. Both contributed to our regular season performance. Edit: Just looked it up and he had a .760 OPS in the 2nd half. Not great but not outrageously awful by any means. In Overbay's best season he hit 15 less HR than Aguilar. They're not very comparable. Just because he's 28 doesn't mean he's going to decline. He had a decent 2017 and improved on that in 2018. Yes, he declined in the 2nd half and we need to evaluate why. But that doesn't necessarily mean his first half was just a total fluke and the 2nd half guy is just who he is.

Aguilar was the 7th ranked 1B in baseball in WAR, 4th in OPS, 2nd in HRs.. I think he's certainly a real option for 1B. He did fall off in the 2nd half, but that doesn't take away from what he did betore then.

I hadn't heard that. I guess if that's the case then I'm for just leaving him where he's at. I guess it's not the full blown endorsement of relieving that I remember but still sounds to me like a preference: “I’m just trying to stay here and pitch as long as I can in the big leagues. If that’s starting or relieving, I’m in for whatever. They said I’ll stay with the role I had. I like coming in late in games but anything works for me as long as I’m able to pitch. https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2018/01/28/notes-brewers-decide-leave-left-hander-josh-hader-relief-role-outset-season/1070177001/

No, no, no no, no. In baseball there are always free agent bats available. They can always go buy a bat. They can't go buy pitching. Moustakas could have been had before the season started. We're not talking a Moustakas though. We're talking a Yelich.

For who?

I do appreciate what the 1982 team accomplished. But I also do long for a day when making it to a single World Series and losing it isn't the pinnacle of our organizational accomplishments.

"Broxton Jesus Chase Schoop and minor league arm for Realmuto." I'd love Realmuto, but there's no way the Marlins go for this. Any chance of Realmuto still being traded will have to center around Hiura, no way around it. And while I get why people want to list Schoop in trade proposals he is worth nothing. Or less. The decision is ours whether to get off the hook and let him walk, or pay him $10M, but no one is giving us anything for that. They all saw the same thing we saw the last 2.5 months.

I like the concept, but I would prefer a 4 man rotation of an 80 pitch limit or so with Hader and Jeffress in the pen. Don't like limiting them to a rigid role. I do think it's entirely possible that we enter 2019 without a traditional 5 man rotation.

It's really got to be RH bats, too. We still don't really know what the real Aguilar is. I'm willing to find out with another offseason of work and conditioning, though. I hope Hiura is ready. I hate to rush him, but we're going to need his bat. Schoop as others have said is really at the root of everything that went wrong offensively. If he had been close to who he was for Baltimore, we'd be playing in the World Series. He was an enormous letdown. Aside from Cain who is more of an on base guy, our best righty bats are Aguilar and Braun, and that's just not good enough. I've mentioned Aguilar already. Braun...he's just not that great anymore. He has fantastic stretches that he matches with equally bad stretches. All in all, he's about a league average corner OF bat at this point in his career. There's nothing wrong with that, but he's simply not capable of carrying us anymore. It would be huge if Arcia can build on what he did in the postseason. We'll see.

Hader's role almost certainly isn't changing, and he has said himself he prefers his current role over starting.

Some combination of Eduardo Escobar and Shaw is my choice at 2B. I totally forgot about QTC. I'd say him in, Barnes out.

Yeah I'm not interested in extending Yelich, especially at the very high end of his value. He is controlled through age 30 already. So you are extending a 31 year old with no idea of what will come in the next 4 years and no way of getting out of it if stuff happens like it did with Braun and it ends up being a mistake. My guess is it would take at least 5 years and $130M after what he did this year to extend him. I just don't see the wisdom in that. Let's just enjoy having him through 2022 and by that time we'll have a pretty good idea of what the future beyond that looks like.

SP - So many great options, especially if Jimmy is back at full strength. Burnes, Woodruff, Nelson, Peralta, Guerra, could all be full blown starters or tweener types. As I've said with so many options they may get very creative with their staff in 2019. RP - Basically everyone will/should be back. Really would help if guys like Taylor Williams take that next step. Albers will get a shot to make the team out of ST, but it won't be guaranteed this year. OF - Pretty well set. Santana may get a shot to work his way back into the fold next year. I wouldn't mind seeing Granderson back for depth if on a cheap deal, but I don't think it happens. IF - Hiura needs to be up by July 2019. His bat will be ready, and we need it. I don't see Moose back. He's a poor man's Shaw with less versatility. I think we can find better ways to spend our money. Also don't expect Schoop back. Maybe for $3-5M it would be worth taking a rebound flyer on. For 10M, I think it would be best to just move on. I like both Dubon and Perez to make the 2019 Brewers. Their positional versatility really allows us to focus on bats for the bench. My priority free agents are Wilson Ramos and Eduardo Escobar. Getting some offensive contributions at catcher would be a huge boost for this team, and Escobar fits the need of a switch hitting, slugging player with a versatile glove. Opening day roster 2019: SP/RP: Nelson, Woodruff, Burnes, Chacin, Miley, Peralta, Guerra, Hader, Williams, Knebel, Jeffress, Cedeno, OF: Yelich, Cain, Braun, Santana IF: Aguilar, Shaw, Escobar, Arcia, Ramos, Pina, Perez, Dubon Anderson, Thames, Broxton, and Davies all traded.

Hader going in early was fine. He did his job and pitched 3 clean innings, it didn't really matter when those innings were. We did not give him any run support at all, that was the problem.

Yeah, the Cubs might roar back and win the division next year. Or we might win a Wild Card and lose the WC game. There's just so many things that fell into place for us last month that simply might not next year. The future may be bright, but it still offers no guarantees. Tonight was our chance to win a pennant. We didn't get it done.

I'm sad. I'm not as mad as I thought I'd be.

Alright, so lock the optimism thread.

He did win Game 1 of the NLDS for the Crew... That was an awful pitch by Ottavino, but yeah he did. However the overall body of work hasn't been impressive. He doesn't get on base, and his power since coming here wasn't all that much to write home about.

Don't blame Jeffress. The game was over as soon as Bellinger went yard in the 2nd. It's the offense.

We kind of overrate Moose. He's been an enormous letdown in the playoffs.

3-4-5 in the order is 1 for 12 with 7 Ks. That will lose you a pennant.