ClosetBrewerFan

Its a lesson in not posting on message boards when you have had too much to drink or smoke (or whatever he was on). Or maybe its a reflection of our educational system.

You are correct. There is a $12M mutual option for 2023 with an $8M buyout. That is highly unlikely to be agreed upon. I read it as a player option

Fangraphs article proposes to change the MLB draft to something more similar to the international signing rules. Eliminates the draft and allows teams to sign anyone but with a limited pool of money (cap). Its an interesting read: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/corollary-damage-kumar-rocker-the-mlb-draft-and-a-better-way-forward/ Pros: Eliminates the issue Kumar Rocker has. He can sign with anyone now, not just limited to Mets. More fair to the players - they currently have no say in what team they get stuck with Drives competition - would improve working conditions for teams to stay competitive Could potentially drive up minor lg salaries if MLB would allow it. Teams could offer higher salaries to entice players to sign. Cons: Probably will hurt small markets like the Brewers. Top prep players will go to the big markets/warmer climates. Likely to take less $ to do so. To some degree this already happens in the current structure as players still fall due to signability issues. I like the idea because it encourages teams to treat players better. A org that has bad facilities, poor pay, bad development/training will not be able to sign the best prep players. Biggest downside is it will benefit the big market teams. They could offset this some by including a competitive balance feature in that small market teams get a larger pool to offset that (replicates the effect of competitive balance picks). Its unlikely to happen though. No motivation for MLB or players union to do this. Would need legislative, legal, or public pressure for change to occur. Still, its an interesting idea.

Sept callups are not going to be like years past. It means two more players. I think dedicated PR will be a thing of the past. One extra hitter and one extra pitcher seems likely.

Yes….So many deals of Stearns are about player control and paying less salary to free up $ for other parts of the team. Often goes unnoticed. You can almost say the Brewers won this trade because of the extra money they saved to spend on other parts of the team. Unless that money is spent on JBJ. The ineffectiveness in the OF in 2020 (and having few other options, due to trading away Grisham) resulted in us signing JBJ and now likely stuck with him for 3 years. I agree with you in principle just that it was not realized

Me too. I knew he played for us but didn't recall he was our closer and a good one... for that year. Here is his BRef page for those who want to go down memory lane. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hendeji01.shtml I find it highly offensive that Bref's picture of him is in a cubs uniform. Not sure why it bothered me so much, but he never played for them in the majors (just AA/AAA before he played for the Brewers). If not a Brewers uniform, at least show him in a Mets uniform since that was his last organization. I mean the guy is our AAA pitching coach.

That's a fun read. The only issue I have is the author does not talk much about his drastic BABIP splits between TB and MKe this year. Nearly 100 points difference this year. A 361 BABIP with the Brewers does not seem sustainable and probably involves some luck meaning he will regress. However, his BABIP from 2018-2020 is 348, so maybe it is not too far off from his career. Is it reasonable for a player to have a career BABIP 50 points above league average? His career average exit velocity and Hart hit % are right around league average (88.6 and 38.7%). I keep waiting for him to come down to earth but I am starting to think he has turned the corner. He was a top 100 prospect so expecting a 800+ OPS from him is not unreasonable. If he can continue to lower is K% and increase is BB% (both career bests with the Brewers), his production will only continue to improve. Maybe I should have posted this in the optimism thread.

A little surprised these college picks did not go straight to low A. I'm they will move fast if they do well. Also odd not to see Tyler Black get an assignment.

That could be, but they gave Cousins, Sanchez, and Gustave a chance this year. You could argue Barker has as good as or better numbers. Barker has a 0.643 WHIP this year. In 2019 he had 0.646 between two levels. K/9 above 9 in both years. Career walk rate at 2.2 per 9. Crazy good numbers. Seems odd to not try him.

It was nice to see Axford in a Brewers uniform again. Let's never do that again... I think Stearns got robbed in that trade. Maybe he can get his dollar back. Its not like we did not have options at AAA. Luke Barker says hello

Its encouraging that Holton has a number in mind. $1M is steep. That's 2nd / 3rd round money. Is he worth that? Maybe there is still a shot he will sign and his "Will not sign" statement was just a negotiating ploy. It'll be a shame if they don't use up their bonus pool money.

I was excited to watch the dismantling of this "dynasty" but am not thrilled they got such a prospect haul. Cubsinsider https://www.cubsinsider.com/2021/07/31/ranking-10-new-prospects-cubs-acquired-during-deadline-fire-sale/ ranked the return as follows, not including Madrigal and Heuer. That's a nice start to their rebuild. 10. Bailey Horn – LHP The 2020 fifth-round draft pick out of Auburn is probably more of a reliever than a starter. His fastball can touch upper 90s at times, but usually sits in the mid 90s. 9. Daniel Palencia – RHP This kid is pretty much the definition of a lottery ticket and he will be with Myrtle Beach for the rest of this year. It’s unclear at this point how the Cubs will use him, but my guess would be that he would start so that he can work on an arsenal that includes a fastball the tops out around 100 miles an hour. He is still fairly young at 21 and is still learning to control his pitches. 8. Bryce Ball – 1B I’ve been watching him play in person all week in Davenport and he looks like he’s more relaxed at the plate. Nerves may have been a factor as he started out 1-for-20 with what seemed to be 900 walks (17.4% walk rate). He has a great plate approach and has the potential for big-time power, though I would not be surprised if the Cubs try to shorten his stroke a little bit because of his size. 7. Greg Deichmann – OF Out of all the prospects the Cubs acquired at the deadline, Deichmann is probably the closest in terms of helping out at the big league level. He was hitting well in the Triple-A West League with an on-base percentage well over .400 for the year. He has been known to have power outbursts from time to time, but he really seems to struggle against left-handed pitching. Some see his ceiling as a platoon player at the major league level. 6. Anderson Espinoza – RHP Like Palencia, Espinoza has a pretty big arm. He’s already had Tommy John twice, but he’s coming off of July at High-A in which he had an ERA of 1.86 in limited innings. He’s made 12 starts on the year but only has thrown 28.2 innings. His 37 strikeouts during that time make it a little easier to overlook the elbow surgeries. 5. Alexander Canario – OF Canario is blessed with incredible bat speed and he is another guy the Cubs seem to be coveting because he has some loud tools. He just hasn’t put them all together yet as he continues to fill out physically. He was a top 10 prospect in a Giants system that was pretty deep and we should get a look at him in Myrtle Beach this weekend. 4. Alexander Vizcaino – RHP As with two previous players, Vizcaino has an upper 90s fastball and is stationed in the lower part of the system. He was a top 10 Yankees prospect who just needs to learn how to control and command his gifts, so we’ll see whether and how he’s able to do that in South Bend over the remainder of the season. 3. Caleb Kilian – RHP The 24-year-old out of Texas Tech is probably the one player most fans are underestimating right now because he was ranked 30th in the Giants’ system coming into this year. However, he’s just destroyed High-A and Double-A in 11 starts with a combined 2.35 ERA that comes from commanding four pitches for strikes. Kilian has walked only 11 batters in 100.2 innings as a pro and he added a lot of muscle to his 6-foot-4 frame over the winter. He might be a guy we could possibly see in Chicago at some point next year. 2. Kevin Alcantara – OF The 6-foot-6 19-year-old who signed for $1 million in 2018 will be joining the Cubs’ rookie league squad in Mesa. He only weighed 188 pounds when he signed, but he’s a little bit bigger now and has the potential to become an impressive hitter as he continues to get bigger and improve his discipline to take full advantage of his incredible bat speed. 1. Pete Crow-Armstrong – OF – Mets I was hoping he would fall to the Cubs in the 2020 draft and he did, but the Cubs took Ed Howard instead. Armstrong is an excellent defender in center field and, while he may not be a power producer at the major league level, almost everyone thinks he’s going to be able to hit. In a small sample size this year, Crow-Armstrong just demolished Low-A pitching by hitting .417 before he needed to have surgery to fix a torn labrum and articular cartilage in his non-throwing shoulder.

2 months. He's a free agent at the end of the year. I like the Curtiss trade better than this one. Not sure this makes our bullpen better as he will be replacing Gustave or Sanchez. It is definitely deeper so there is value there as long as he pitches better than he has this year. Olson is no world beater at this point but I would rather have kept him. Stearns is surely banking on Norris pitching better down the stretch but it seems like we could have gotten him cheaper than this. I assume we are picking up the rest of his contract ($2M+) so not cheap but reasonable.

Bet the cubs claim Vogelbach if we DFA him. Seems like they have a few holes on their roster now. He was originally drafted by them in 2011.

You are including Lobstein, correct? If I count the number of players on the Brewers website https://www.mlb.com/brewers/roster/40-man, I get 39. Lobstein is not listed, but there is no history of him being DFA'd on the transaction page. The Sounds roster still lists him on the 40 man roster https://www.milb.com/nashville/roster. Clearly he is flying under the radar even in the Brewers eyes. Either way, I think Lobstein is likely to clear a space (if not already done) and Tim Lopes to make room for Yelich/Peterson. Shaw will be DFA'd as well as Vogelbach to make room for File when he is done with his rehab. They still have plenty of others if they want to go a different way that could be cleared: Milner, Reyes, Yardley, & Ray. Maile is an option, but they will wait until Feliciano is in full health first so we have a 3rd catcher.

Fully expect the Dodgers to claim him now

This is his 10th year with the Brewers. And he is under control through the 2026 season (5 more years). That does not seem right but he had a weird path to the majors. He could very well be a career Brewer and never get to free agency. He was signed as an 18 year old and will hit free agency at 33. I'm not convinced he is a starting corner OF, but he is fine as a 4th OF and occasional spot starter. you never know though. If he continues this pace, he could easily replace Avisail next year.

You forgot to list Cooper Hummel!

If true, this would be quite the haul for 1.5 years of Gallo. Trevor Hauver (#23 per MLB pipeline), Ezequiel Duran (#15), Everson Pereira (#17), Randy Vasquez (UR), Glen Otto (#28). MLB trade rumors says the other player is Josh Smith (#14). That's a lot even if Smith is not included. Yankees have arguably a top 5 farm system.

This is a good trade for the Brewers. Adds some depth - switch hitter with pop. He hits LH better than RH but not dramatically so. Not ideal platoon for Urias (though Urias is about even this year). Gives Counsell some options. Hummel has hit well in AAA but the Brewers seemed intent on not giving him an opportunity. Feels like another Garrett Cooper situation. I hope he does well, but not too well. Alberto Ciprian (not to be confused with 2018 draftee Albert Cipion) has been crushing it in the DSL this year as an 18 year old 3b. I dont know what he signed for or when he signed but I dont think it was a significant amount. Clearly a lottery ticket and hats off to Arz if they pick a winner with him. We wont know for years on him. Seems like a light cost for a serviceable versatile infielder. Maybe now we don't have to see Pablo Reyes in Milwaukee anymore.

For the Yankees this is more about clearing some $ and opening up two 40 man roster spots. Getting out of Wilson's crazy contract cost them Cessa.

Tellez - 1b Woah Solvdd

With Anderson's scoreless outing tonight, all 14 pitchers have an ERA under 4.

Baez is a complete jerk. Here is some video of his behavior. https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2188975 I'm not sure if MLB can fine for unsportsmanlike conduct but this is textbook definition.

Wes Clarke was also drafted by the Brewers in 2018, 40th round. He chose the college route instead. Looks like the Brewers have been sweet on him for a while.