MNBrew

I get it, but a bummer. I really like Shaw and he seemed to be swinging much better this year than his awful 2019 even though the numbers don't bear it out.... I guess there weren't the same ugly/pathetic ABs as became his 2019 norm. One could also make a case that he'd still be our best defensive 3B & 1B. I love Escobar and am glad we have him. I'll take the positives we're getting from Tellez and kinda were from Vogelbach. It's nothing against those guys. I'm just a Shaw fan.

Cubs only have about 40 million on the books next year for Heyward, Hendriks, Bote & Arrieta's buyout. Their only notable Arby's guys are Contreras & Happ, who will probably come in a little under 20 million combined. Cots has their opening day payroll going from 203 million in 2019 to 148 million this year. Of the 14 Cubs prospects FanGraphs has rated a 45 FV or higher their ETAs are 2021 (3), 2022 (2), 2023 (2), 2024 (3) and 2025 (4), with all of the top 5 and 7 of the top 10 having ETAs between 2023-25. I think the Cubs are in for at least a couple two tree years of lower payrolls than they were running the last five six seasons. I like what I'm assuming your autocorrect did. I'm envisioning Contreras & Happ sitting around in Arby's eating lunch.

Rob Manfred has messed around with a lot of things as if just to tinker -- and with little clue as to their effectiveness. I get his motivation, but his choices are poor and misguided and frustratingly & seemingly endless.

Yuck! I can't stand any of 'em or even the idea of it. (Hat tip for calling out the awful blue Bucks jerseys!!!) Yet it all seems to fall right in line with every hairbrained thing Rob Manfred's doing to desecrate the game (can't stand him, either).

As a Twin Cities resident, I can safely say that Sano hasn't worn out his welcome in MN. Decent trade target? Maybe so. But your hypothesis isn't why they'd consider trading him.

Boxberger's been released & re-signed, presumably to the taxi squad. Perdomo's been optioned already. Milner & Hardy are technically "still in camp" and haven't yet been reassigned to minor league camp or the alternate training site. Feyereisen's pitched well and picking up someone let go by another team would be a very Brewers-like move this close to OD.

I believe what was reported was that he re-signed based on the assurance of being on the taxi squad.

ji-man choi had an option. billy mckinney does not. i still think that one of orlando arcia or luis urias is optioned when the club goes to 13/13. Makes sense & thanks for clarifying. Both Arcia & Urias should be playing as close to everyday as possible. Eventually I think they stick with one of them but it's too soon to know which one it'll be -- and it seems like it could be another year or two before that long-term picture sorts itself out.

With Vogelbach assured of a roster spot, since Counsell says McKinney's situation "could go down to the end," then perhaps McKinney's the 14th position player who would then lose out if they go 13/13 vs. 14/12 (position/pitchers) -- in essence, this year's version of Ji-Man Choi from a couple years ago.

I don't think Vogelbach's not on this team all year unless he regresses to his pre-MIL 2020 numbers and stays there for a lengthy time.

Robertson seemed to be a total lock recently. Is it the perception of folks here that that has changed?

I'm trying to see where that much higher ceiling is for Zimmermann. IMO Feyerisen has a much higher ceiling than a washed-up 35 year old who has absolutely stunk the last 5 years. Give the younger guys a shot and let Zimmermann retire or just DFA him. My point was that Zimmermann has hit heights that Feyereisen can only dream of. The problem, as I noted (albeit perhaps with unclear wording), is that his "ceiling" may be fully behind him. But there's something about pedigree that may mean something (which means it also may mean nothing anymore, which seems to be your focus). If they were to keep him at the start of the season, he'd have to deliver reasonably well to keep his spot. Stearns' history would indicate he likes to start out with good depth. To that point, for as much as it was driving many here batty before the Wong & Bradley signings, the sheer volume of minor signings (40-man or MiLB/NRI) has proved fortuitous since Lopes, Mathias, & Fisher are all out with injuries.

Assuming he doesn't make the OD roster (or the active roster after DL time), couldn't they just outright Nottingham to AAA? I don't recall that happening before & for most guys like him, it can happen once (and only once). Fisher, Wahl, & Black seemed destined for the DL. Urias seems destined for AAA. The guy needs to get healthy & get his game back, and AAA seems like the right solution on all counts in the short term. Boxberger's been about as effective as a RH Alex Claudio, if that. I don't want him to make the team over some others. I'd greatly prefer Zimmermann if only because he's got a much higher ceiling -- though between time & the injuries he's dealt with over the past few years, it's a major unknown if he's capable anymore of re-attaining what his Nationals performance level was. So that puts my current hunch at: C: Pina, Narvaez IF: Hiura, Wong, Arcia, Shaw, Robertson, Vogelbach OF: Yelich, Cain, Bradley, Garcia, McKinney SP: Woodruff, Burnes, Houser, Anderson, Lindblom RP: Hader, Williams, Peralta, Suter, Yardley, Rasmussen, Topa, Zimmermann Which leaves Feyereisen on the outside looking in, but if Zimmermann fails or someone else gets hurt, he's an easy first callup. Zimmermann obvious requires someone else's 40-man spot. The 60-day IL or an outright (Nottingham?) opens that spot.

And the Rays lost to the same team that eliminated the Brewers in 2020. Very similar. Coincidentally, a version of this feat has happened EVERY time the Brewers have made the postseason: The Brewers have lost to either the World Series Champs (5x) or the World Series loser (the other 2x). 1981: Lost to the Yankees, who lost in the WS to the Dodgers 1982: Lost in the WS to the Cardinals 2008: Lost to the Phillies, who won the WS 2011: Lost to the Cardinals, who won the WS 2018: Lost to the Dodgers, who lost in the WS to Boston 2019: Lost to the Nationals, who won the WS 2020: Lost to the Dodgers, who won the WS That's unusual if not kind of amazing.

My 13: For sure: OF (4): Yelich, Cain, Garcia, Bradley IF (5): Hiura, Wong, Arcia, Urias (unless he's injured), Shaw C (2): Narvaez, Pina That leaves room for 2 more assuming the small-ish injuries to Cain & Urias are non-issues by the end of camp. I'd think one spot goes to Vogelbach and if that's so, the other goes to one of Taylor, Lopes, Mathias, or Robertson. Fisher & McKinney have some intrigue to them in terms of their prior prospect pedigree but, at the same time, they're both scrap heap pickups & thus most likely 40-man fringe guys at best -- McKinney was claimed off waivers & Fisher was snagged for low cost after he was DFA'd. Bradley wasn't in the mix when they were acquired, and I think Bradley's arrival lowers the odds that either of them makes the Opening Day roster. Let's not forget, too, that once Bradley's officially added to the roster, someone loses their 40-man spot. Speaking of pedigree, I've always like Jordan Zimmermann & hope he's healthy & has enough left in the tank to be a meaningful addition to the pitching staff, whatever role that lands him in.... A mutual friend of mine & recte44 commented that Boxberger has a way of giving up runs most anytime he sees him pitch. Maybe he makes it, but he seems more like "just a guy" at this point. On the other hand, enough of the young guys have ample options left that it wouldn't be the worst idea to give him a shot and eventually let him go if he doesn't do enough to keep it. Having some viable, even promising, depth isn't a bad thing.

That formula would make me wear #179. That would pretty much make me a borrowed-for-the-day-from-minor-league-camp guy for the Yankees. Edit: OOPS, that's the sum of our ages, not birthdates, though the latter puts us at 109, which is still Yankees minor league camp loan guy -- same end result, just not quite so high.

No, Gabe Gross wore #18.

I cannot disagree that 1B & 3B were our biggest needs entering the offseason and at least some concern about both is justified because the solutions aren't automatic, lead-pipe cinches -- though that doesn't guarantee that Shaw/Urias/Hiura at the corners is a pre-certified failure, either. However, given that players the Brewers targeted at those positions didn't end up in MIL for whatever the reason, Stearns & Co. still did the next best thing: They still made the team better than it was before. I can live with that and, in fact, am quite happy about it. How all the nuances of the resulting plan should/will play out isn't for me (or any of us) to know in advance. But Stearns & Co. being who they are, clearly they have a plan and I faith in their confidence about that plan.

Welcome back, Geno. The 8 threw me off. I was happy to make the playoffs last year, diluted as they were, but that's not synonymous with being content with a losing record. I'd think I'm one of many who was not remotely happy with the regular season record or pretty much any of the things that made it that.

I agree that heading into a season I've never said to myself, "this team is focused on pitching and defense." There have been some exceptions where they ended up good in those categories. Although it was maybe unexpected at the time, the Brewers led the American League in lowest runs allowed in 1992 with just 604 runs against. The next closest American League team allowed 653 runs (Twins). I also think you could qualify the 2018 team as solid-to-good in both categories. That 1992 team was a pitching-SPEED-defense team. They stole 240 bases. Listach's ROY year, Hamilton, Molitor, etc....

Yes 40 man is full with Anderson signing. Technically we would need two 40 man spots... Easy for me, DFA Vogelbach and Black. Let's not forget that McKinney & Fisher were scrap heap pickups, just like Robertson & Lopes, et al. Depth guys. There are lots of guys like them out there (and for a while this winter it seemed like we signed about half of them). Sometimes the GM picks guys like them up with the ultimate goal of no one else claiming them on their way off the 40-man & down to AAA because a better player has been acquired. Stearns has done that several times. A couple of those times, we've lost that guy and it turns out to be a roster shuffling gamble we lost (two come to mind: Adrianza & the reliever who we had for like 2 days who turned out to be surprisingly good for the Angels that year).

There are lots of paths to & descriptions of what makes a good team. If Stearns' FO crew has a plan they legitimately feel will work -- and all the more so if it does work -- I'm all for it even if that choice isn't the style I'd prefer most.

If all three produce at their career norms, considering their total game, Cain's the best of the 3 and it's not even close. Except Cain, is old, and Bradley is younger with more upside today... No contest, I'd take Bradley over Cain today. At age 30 and a mostly unspectacular career offensive output, what upside do you see that's better than Cain's offense? Cain was off to a good start in 2020 -- in line with his career norms before opting out -- and he's not been banged up for over a year. When Stearns signed Cain, his comment about the money & term in that investment was that their analytics suggested Cain's skill set would age well. Maybe we just agree to disagree. No harm in that.

I don't think adding Bradley means another move is coming, with Cain or Garcia out the door sometime this year being the primary assumptions I'm seeing folks make in this discussion. I've long believed that your 4th OF is someone you should feel comfortable starting for 100 games. Three good starters & a prayer isn't good enough. Yelich, Cain, Garcia, & Bradley (in whatever order) is a huge upgrade and great depth -- not to mention that 3 of those 4 have won a Gold Glove, and Garcia's no slouch out there, either.

If all three produce at their career norms, considering their total game, Cain's the best of the 3 and it's not even close.