fondybrewfan

I will be disappointed if they can't at least win the Central division. Based on talent they are better than the Pacers or Cavs in my opinion. Celtics are far and way the best team in the East when you consider they get Gordon Hayward back next year. I like Lopez as a pick up; now only if they could get a taker for Henson they could maybe fill some other needs including another shooter.

I would agree, Miller Park is the perfect size in an ideal location that has been updated well. So long as no structural issues arise I hope it sticks around for a very long time. But 10 years from now maybe Mark A sells the team and a new owner sees a 30 year old stadium and wants a brand new shiny toy in Milwaukee or somewhere else.

Milwaukee might be only 10-15 years away from the stadium being an issue again; I hope not but by that time Miller Park will be 30ish years old and that is probably old by today's standards. I like to think that since they have been doing so many updates annually that Miller Park can be around for 40 years, who knows.

I am still trying to figure out how the Atlanta Braves financing with Cobb County basically go approved behind closed doors with no public input of any kind. That deal looked and still looks awfully sketchy.

So these pro athletes have to file income tax return in like 20 different states every year? Yikes.

I would feel so much better about this if this were a 2019 contract instead of 2018. Does Machado really give us enough to beat the Cubs in a 7 game series this year? How long can Peralta, Guerra, and Chacin really keep pitching like this? To bad you couldn't get Machado to agree to a 1 year $25-$30 extension to get a little bit more out of the guy. Getting Machado alone I don't know if that is enough unless the price is cheaper than expected, if you get Machado you also need to get some pitching because I just don't know how long are unsung guys can keep this up. I am loving it don't get me wrong but it makes me nervous that these guys can't keep pitching like this for another 3-4 months. Speaking of the O's, holy crap has Alex Cobb been a trainwreck.

Pursuing Machado this year is giving me a similar vibe to CC. A couple month rental we had no illusions of signing long term. Hopefully what we could potentially give up will be similar to CC. However in 2008 I don't think anyone had any illusions of actually making the WS, but this year would be quite different. I have never seen and might never see again a 15-20 start stretch of performance from a Brewers starting pitcher like CC had on short rest most of the time. I loved that fat man. To bad that he simply ran out of gas. As time goes by its amazing to think what could have been if Sheets had stayed healthy and we had both of those guys in the playoffs as well as a more rested CC since he wouldn't have needed to pitch every 4 days.

Back issues. Pulled a muscle and wasn't able to get off the floor for 2 days. This happens to me about twice a year. Thankfully only a muscle/tissue issue and not disk related but back injuries are just so debilitating that you are basically useless. Crawling to the bathroom was an adventure.

Clayton Richard kind of sucks as an opening day starter, hopefully this is a W. Of course we had Guerra starting opening day last year.

I am not sure why everyone thinks Barnes is a lock. I was not overly impressed with him last year

Why do people waste so much time creating these alternate personas on Twitter? It is literally just ego so you can say you have X number of followers? Man I got better things to do than make up crap on the internet to pump up my own self worth. Back on topic I was half expecting once Arrieta signed that Cobb would sign right away after that. I am curious what the hold up is with him; by now he knows what the market is and who is interested and I don't think it is worth it to wait and hope a starter gets hurt here in the next couple weeks. Just sign and get to camp so you can contribute before May.

The wife and I love This is Us. It is a tremendous show but at the same time a very depressing show. Other than sports that is really the only thing I try to watch every week.

How can anyone say for certain a particular player is going to sign a contract 4 weeks from now? I thought HighHeat said Cobb was going to sign like 2 Monday's ago and the Brewers 100% were going to sign him. How did that work out?

Going into last year everyone was pretty confident Villar would be a upgrade over Scooter. Obviously that didn't turn out to be the case but his release last year was faced with indifference for the most part. Obviously some fans like him a lot more than others did but with Villar's strong 2016 it wasn't an unreasonable decision.

Basically any signing at this point will carry risk. If Stearns has the payroll to do it I would just assume go with the highest upside guy in the near term and I think that is definitely Arrieta. I would give Arrieta the same deal Martinez just got; frontload the crap out of it. But really I won't be upset either way if it is Cobb or Arrieta. If it is neither or Lynn I will be disappointed.

My guess is a 4 year deal with an opt out after 2 years and maybe a vesting option for a 5th year if certain innings and production limits are met. 4/90. I would probably front load it a bit: 24,23,22,21. I would guess some deferred salary in there as well; maybe $2 Million a year.

At this point Arrieta might just try for a 1-2 year deal and try again later. If he wants 5-6 years he still might be available at the trading deadline.

First time posting in this thread. I am pretty shocked the AAV is as low as it is here. The 6 years is to long but even if he sucks at around $21 Million I don't know that it will effect the Cubs a ton. Of course they will have to pay up for Bryant and a lot of their cheap offensive players within the next 2-4 years though. I honestly would not have been all that upset if the Brewers signed him to this same contract although secretly I would have hoped he exercised his opt out after next year.

This is the way I see it assuming by some miracle we trade for Archer with HH's package ands sign one of Arrieta or Darvish Starting Rotation - Our Top 4 is locked in for no less than 3 years (Archer, Nelson, Anderson, Darvish/Arrieta) and in the background you still have Davies, Chacin, Woodruff, Ortiz, Bickford, Ponce, Suter, and Supak who could be reinforcements over the next 3 years plus obviously the new draft picks. With that said some of our top pitching prospects like Burnes or Peralta would be expendable. Archer and Darvish/Arrieta are what we would only hope Burnes or Peralta would eventually become 3 years from now. IF Mark says he can afford this then god bless him. Also keep in mind that Hader is a wildcard, he obviously has the potential to be a very good SP should the organization feel the need to push him that way in the future. Position Players - Basically everyone but 2B is settled for quite some time with Braun being a bit of an unknown on where he would play. We could stand to upgrade C at some point but its not bad. Again I don't know that we will need a ton of prospects to supplement the offense but Huira, Erceg, Lutz, Ray, Grisham, Gatewood, Dubon, etc. are likely to at least produce a couple MLB players out of that group. Basically where I am at is Stearns is trying to put together a core group of players that will be signed for 3+ years which makes us far less reliant on our current prospects who are more advanced (AA+). Yes we still need depth but I think it is still there even if we trade the HH package for Archer. And unless the Darvish/Arrieta contract is just outrageous we probably would still only have one untradeable contract in Braun if everything falls apart. My excitement going into the season would be off the charts and I couldn't imagine how much better the Atmosphere will be at Miller Park

If Chase Anderson is our opening day starter I will be disappointed big time. To substantially improve the OF and not address the far bigger question mark of the rotation would be inexplicable. Hopefully Stearns eventually gets some sort of upgrade one way or another.

Just because the value of the franchise has maybe doubled since he bought it doesn't mean the team has boatloads of cash around to justify a $200 Million payroll. The money Mark A has made to this point is entirely intangible; he probably doesn't make much of anything until he decides to sell the team. Yes it will be a lot if/when that happens but its anyone's guess how profitable the actual day to day operations are.

I really don't think Jeffress is guaranteed anything. If we sign someone else he probably is the first one gone. Also don't forget we have JJ Hoover as depth as well; he has had his moments in his career.

All of this is really too much to believe. The Brewers have never won a bidding war for an elite FA and I don't think it is going to start now. I don't think Stearns is dumb enough to start throwing around $30 Million AAV deals to pitchers. Trading for an Archer or Stroman or whoever and signing someone who would be a bit cheaper (Lynn or Cobb) is the way I think this eventually plays out. Would the Brewers really give a $120 Million + contract? Maybe the Brewers are a widely profitable franchise that can sustain a $130 Million but at least I don't think that is the case. Yu is using the Brewers for leverage; well at least that is my opinion. Once Yi signed somewhere I am sure Stearns has a backup FA plan for one of the other 3 guys.

I like this is well for 2018 but I think you are setting yourself up for a major payroll problem starting next year to the point that someone with a high dollar value would need to be traded. Some pre-arby and arby guys are going to continue to get much more expensive.

Is there a lottery for opening day tickets anymore? The brewers website has a page up for a 2017 lottery but nothing for this year. Never been to opening day and would love to go but I am not going to get a season ticket package.