MNBrew

Still-potent bat & an excellent glove. I'd do something similar to the originally-proposed (in this thread) Hoskins trade for Arenado. If Goldy would sign for something reasonable, just maybe we could afford both?

For too many stretches last year, Gary Sanchez just wasn't good. I never liked it when we signed him, and I'm glad someone else signed him so we can't be tempted to get him back. Sure, someone's (foolishly) paying him $8.5M, but he's hardly an $8.5M (or $7M) player. Yuck.

Decades ago there was no need for a pitch clock. I know that wasn't your focus, just an example you mentioned.

There's nothing good about either. It's like asking a parent to pick their favorite child, except at the opposite end of the spectrum. They're both galatically stupid. Rob Manfred's tenure cannot possibly end soon enough. What an absolute idiot . . . yet again!

Thank you. The Trade Rumors/Proposals forum has been separate from the main forum since I started reading here, which was before I joined, and that has to be close to 15 years ago. Activity will pick up as the Winter Meetings and general hot stove activity get going. MLBTR has been pretty light on most "legit" trade & FA signing rumors since the World Series ended, too -- it's not just here -- and why?. . . . because there's not a whole lot actually happening yet. Non-tenders, Rule 5-motivated 40-man additions, & other contract-related moves? Yes, but definitely not much trade action or FA movement unless you call Kyle Farmer signing with COL a big-deal move.

I'd do your #4 trade. Toby's gotta have value to someone. He had it here in spades for a while, but not anymore. I'm surprised he's still here -- though maybe not by week's end when the tender deadline happens.

Please keep. I read this one more than all other BF.net forums combined.

A couple thoughts -- more points of view on current Brewers than outside acquisitions, but still pertinent to the offseason: - Not sure the financials work, but I'd love to see Paul Goldschmidt in MIL. He & Hoskins could split 1B & DH. Huge upgrade over Gary Sanchez. - Eric Haase as the backup catcher makes a lot of sense if he'd be willing to return on MIL's terms. I doubt too many other teams would pay his estimated arby number & give him a 40-man slot. Having him would also take any immediate pressure off Quero as he returns from a injury-lost season. - Andruw Monasterio v.2023 would be nice to have, while v.2024 didn't do a whole lot of anything. I wonder if there's a budget-friendly upgrade from him. - I don't understand dumping Colin Rea and wonder if it was his decline over the last 6 weeks that raised red flags for the FO. Durable arm. If not him for 2025, then who? Maybe Civale essentially replaces Rea. A healthy Miley is good & I'd say worth a low-base, incentive-laden deal if he'd be up for it -- a bonus if he actually contributes. - As for outside SPs, the Bieber idea is intriguing -- esp. if both he & Woodruff would regain their pre-injury form. - To the idea of trading one of our OFs, I'm not crazy about that. We have 5 bona-fide MLB OFs. One won a Gold Glove and another was a GG finalist. One's potentially a future superstar. One's a former superstar who had regained that form. One has lots of potential & adds a lot if he can stay healthy. . . . All are solid contributors. All have excellent speed. Most are good hitters, though they don't have have the same offensive strengths. Between Yelich & Mitchell, there are injury histories, so really, trading any of the five doesn't seem prudent at all. Wiemer was the only realistically expendable young OF and we've already traded him.

I could see Jay & Hicklen with enough upside to keep, but they're still fringe 40-man guys at best. Dime-a-dozen fits Capra to a tee and there are 100 guys just like him just as available -- and Monasterio's still on the roster, too.

I don't love me a slow offseason -- and it's not like the Brewers ever "win" the offseason -- but when the games start for real, if the moves they made were the right moves and we're a better team as a result, I can deal with that. . . . Maybe that's the same kind of thing you're saying. I don't know what moves to expect, though a Williams trade, while disappointing, wouldn't be a surprise. My one "I hope we don't..." move is re-signing Gary Sanchez, whose performance pretty strongly justified my never wanting him in the first place last year. On a menial note, you do know Colin's last name is Rea, not Rae, right?

Any of these 3-for-1 proposals where we're giving up valuable assets to a once-hyped prospect who can't stay in the majors (productively) and has clearly been surpassed by Vientos seem like a ludicrous overpay to me. If Baty's *that* blocked and proven to be *that* unproductive, the most you give up is a Peguero or Bryse Wilson type, and instead maybe more like a ... hmmm ... whoever a Joey Wiemer type of equivalent would be (and I'm not convinced that's Tyler Black yet). Last year, Stearns was happy to get Taylor & Houser for an injured guy with upside the Brewers really like (forgot his name), but that's also because those two guys weren't likely going to be Brewers in 2024 anyway, and at least we got something for them. However, trying to get Baty doesn't equate to that deal at all. I really liked Baty before and he might be a shrewd pickup at the right price. I just don't see that price involving more than one commodity of any value.

Assuming the budget works, I'd love to have Goldsmith regardless, and even if Hoskins stays, as long as it means no more Gary Sanchez. If it's only Hoskins or Goldsmith, that's not all bad, though I'd hope Black gets a chance to outperform Bauers' ever-shrinking production.

Whether predictable on some level or just frustrating, it doesn't look great on either of them when these two activated/promoted guys are the ones who give up the eventual game-winning hits in the two games immediately after they return to the active roster. Of course, the offense being in skid mode (horrid RISP numbers, very little hitting in general) magnifies any pitcher's hiccup in a stretch like this, which didn't help those guys. Anything close to their season-average hitting rates by the Crew likely ends both these last two games in regulation. So it's not all on Peguero & Milner, but when they also were anti-clutch, they (& the team) were doomed.

Freddy's raise is already clearly specified in his contract, just like all the other guys already on long-term contracts. I'm not good at guessing, let alone this far in advance, but... 1) I hope they don't trade Devin. 2) Freddy's greatest consistency this year lies in two areas: availability and inconsistency on the mound. I think he's been mostly way too ordinary. He's probably still here next year, but his relative durability, his potential despite too much ordinary-ness, and his affordability may also make him a candidate to be moved for the right return.

Milner at least HAD value. This year it seems like an endless case of one step forward, two steps back -- an ERA approaching 5.00 and having a real hard time not giving up runs (or inherited runners) compared to his norms as a Brewer. If Ross has value, I'm not sure what it is. He didn't come in with a great track record and has pretty much lived up to that when he wasn't on the IL.

That might be a reasonably good deal for Skukbal, as good as he currently is. That said, I think Skubal was never going to be available and all the chatter was purely the media's speculative creation (great player + playing for a bad team = "must be available" deal to be made). The formula's logical, but not the automatic all the pundits wanted to think. It's like the years when everyone figured the Brewers would trade Burnes, Woodruff, Fielder, etc.: The Brewers would listen, but that's all they intended to do & thus not the same as them trying to trade those guys.

If the price were remotely reasonable -- or even just not an utterly ridiculous stretch -- I'd take any of those guys given how thin the Brewers' rotation depth is. Aren't we getting into the Matt Garza signing timeframe? You'd think eventually some paycheck is better than none. They (or Boras) can scream collusion or whatever all they want, but I'm glad to see ownership exercising some common sense and not paying through the nose "just because" (that is, "just because greedy Scott Boras overshot & consequently messed up the entire market for some of these players").

Quality is better than just depth, though that comes with an obvious cost. I think it'd be something if the Brewers snuck in & signed Montgomery or Snell -- not that it's likely or without risks, just that it's intriguing. Of course Lorenzen or Clevinger seems more realistic (and Lorenzen can hit decently in a pinch).

The Brewers' FO has shown a willingness to act when the right deal comes along. I don't have a hunch that something's happening, but there's good reason to believe they're at least out there still working the possibilities.

I doubt Stark's just making this up when it's a survey of team execs, but as we've learned many times over the years, there's a big, big difference between "we'll listen" and "we're shopping (player X)."

Rosenthal posted an updated tweet that Nola's KC deal is a major league contract.

Maybe it just a word choice thing, but this makes it sound like you're confusing silence in terms of updates vs. a lack of urgency. Clearly the issue(s) they found in the wrist was(were) concerning enough to force a restructuring of the deal. I'd guess there was no lack of urgency at all, just the proper due diligence re: the medicals and then renegotiating accordingly.

Thanks!

There's obvious risk on the Brewers' part with this move, and I'm glad as heck that they did it. If Woody can return anywhere close to form, the fact that we have him through '25 is huge. I'm curious about the money but in the end, I don't care about that, just that we may essentially already have Woody potentially as this year's "bonus" late season/trade deadline addition who's also around for next year, too.

I'd far rather see them pay Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell -- potentially for a handful of years -- and give up no prospects vs. give up nice prospects for 2 years of Dylan Cease. . . . I'm not saying I think they would or could sign either of those guys, just I'd rather see that vs. giving up anything of substance for Cease. If they actually did sign an upper-end FA SP (however unlikely), then the theoretically expendable assets they didn't move to get Cease could be used to acquire someone else to fill a bigger need -- or, of course, just not get traded at all.