Moderators: paulpressey25, MickeyDavis, humanrefutation
M-C-G wrote:CC on a two year deal would be good.
coolhandluke121 wrote:trwi7 wrote:85 win season was the worst thing that could've happened to this franchise.
I have to imagine your hat wasn't too happy about it either.
stellation wrote:What's the difference between Gery Woelful and this glass of mineral water? The mineral water actually has a source."
I Hate Manure wrote:We look to be awful next season without Beasley.
coolhandluke121 wrote:I've said many times that I won't riot if it's Arrieta. At least you know you're probably getting a huge upgrade. With guys like Suppan, Wolf, and Garza, by the end there were many times they would have just been better off with a long reliever (Parra, Estrada, Suter). Lohse gave them a few good years but even he was way below replacement level by the end. I wouldn't be as worried about that with Jake. Several of those guys were a little older when the Brewers got them than Jake, too.
trwi7 wrote:85 win season was the worst thing that could've happened to this franchise.
trwi7 wrote:
I don't own any hats.
WeekapaugGroove wrote:trwi7 wrote:
I don't own any hats.
Wait what.. you don't own any hats?!? Thats wild. Are you just firmly anti-hat or do you have some large wild hairdo that inhibits your ability to wear a hat?
Sent from my SM-G930V using RealGM mobile app
stellation wrote:What's the difference between Gery Woelful and this glass of mineral water? The mineral water actually has a source."
I Hate Manure wrote:We look to be awful next season without Beasley.
trwi7 wrote:WeekapaugGroove wrote:trwi7 wrote:
I don't own any hats.
Wait what.. you don't own any hats?!? Thats wild. Are you just firmly anti-hat or do you have some large wild hairdo that inhibits your ability to wear a hat?
Sent from my SM-G930V using RealGM mobile app
I just don't like wearing them at all. I would literally try to play Little League without a hat in the field because I hated them so much.
[/url]jakecronus8 wrote:Attanasio trying to convince Stearns to spend a quarter of the payroll on Arrieta..
coolhandluke121 wrote:Just saw something really important on brewerfan.net. There are roughly 10 absolute must-protect guys coming up in December of 2018. I've been coming around on the idea of better free agents on multiyear deals but I didn't realize just how precious roster spots will be soon. I'm going back to my original plan of sticking to 1-year deals no matter what. That probably rules out some of my favorite targets like Addison Reed and maybe Alex Avila, but there are more important things to consider.
You can't just count on being able to clear roster spots when you come to that bridge. I'd hate for them to have pressure to trade prospects next summer instead of being able to wait for favorable trades. If they find some really good prospect trades (Yelich?) this offseason, I won't complain... but don't sign a bunch of 2nd-tier free agents to multiyear deals until you've done something about the impending roster crunch. This free agent class is not worth it.
Fortunately they can afford to pay ridiculous sums to guys on 1-year deals, thus competing with the multiyear offers those guys get elsewhere.
Kerb Hohl wrote:
Are you factoring in Vogt, (maybe) Villar, Perez probably all being non-tendered either this season or next? There are a ton of guys like Bandy, Jungmann, Drake, etc. that could/will all go as well. A ton can happen between now and then but I don't think they'll have a huge problem with it.
coolhandluke121 wrote:Kerb Hohl wrote:
Are you factoring in Vogt, (maybe) Villar, Perez probably all being non-tendered either this season or next? There are a ton of guys like Bandy, Jungmann, Drake, etc. that could/will all go as well. A ton can happen between now and then but I don't think they'll have a huge problem with it.
I wouldn't want to be obligated to non-tender Perez or Villar. I also don't really think there's a ton of other guys that could go. Who's the "etc" after Bandy, Jungmann, and Drake? I don't see a lot of them. You're right that they would probably be able to make it work, but like I said I don't know if this fa class is worth the risk of running out of spots for young guys. The other thing I was implying is that next year's fa class could be worth it. I didn't really articulate that, but it was my original reason for wanting 1-year deals all along and this knowledge of needing lots of spots on the 40-man next year just reinforces that.
Kerb Hohl wrote:
I really don't think the Brewers can get any of the big name guys so I don't think next year's FA class will be "worth it" in the end, either.
Perez can be non-tendered because he might cost $4 or $5 million to be a utility man. Villar if he falters this year would cost $5 million and also be expendable.
"etc." is Susac, Aguilar, Guerra, Lopez, Webb, Wilkerson, Wang. Some of those guys may be useful but I'm not so sure. If Jeffress is ineffective this year he may be too expensive as well.
The Brewers added four minor-league prospects to their 40-man roster on Monday, protecting them from being snatched away in the Rule 5 draft in December.
The Brewers added pitchers Freddy Peralta and Marcos Diplan, infielder Mauricio Dubon and catcher Jacob Nottingham to the 40-man roster, which stands at 39 players. All are ranked among the organization's top 30 prospects, and Brewers general manager David Stearns said the choices were not difficult.
"Every year, you feel like you have more players to protect than you do spots, and you're always worried about roster crunch," Stearns said. "I do think the grouping that we protected this year separated themselves a little bit. We had the space to add them, and these were very deserving recipients."
Players who must be protected basically are high school draft picks and international signings from 2013 as well as college draft picks from 2014. If not on the 40-man roster, other teams can take them in the Rule 5 draft but must keep them in the majors next season.
Though he left one space open, Stearns said that did not mean he had an external move pending.
"A lot of clubs do that at this point of the year because it gives you added flexibility," he said. "Obviously, we have a lot of off-season left, so I imagine there's going to be more 40-man roster movement. That doesn't end today."
Dubon, 23, was part of the Travis Shaw/Tyler Thornburg trade with Boston at the 2017 winter meetings. He split the 2017 season between Class AA Biloxi and Class AAA Colorado Springs, batting .274 with a .330 on-base percentage, .382 slugging percentage, 29 doubles, eight homers, 57 RBI and 38 stolen bases.
Peralta, 21, was one of three teenage pitchers acquired from Seattle at the 2015 winter meetings in a trade for first baseman Adam Lind. He had a breakthrough season at advanced Class A Carolina and Biloxi, going 3-8 with a 2.63 ERA in 25 games (19 starts), with 169 strikeouts in 120 innings and a .178 opponents batting average.
Diplan and Nottingham also came to the organization via trades but struggled during the 2017 season. Diplan, 21, scuffled at Carolina (7-8, 5.23 ERA in 26 games) and it would be a big jump to the majors if he were to be taken in the Rule 5 draft, but he has a good arm with potential.
The Brewers saw right-hander Miguel Diaz plucked away from Class A Wisconsin in the 2016 Rule 5 draft by the rebuilding San Diego Padres, so there is precedent for taking a young, promising arm from that level.
Nottingham, 22, acquired from Oakland in a February 2016 trade for slugger Khris Davis, struggled at Biloxi, batting .209 with a .695 OPS, nine home runs and 48 RBI. It would not be easy to keep a catcher in the majors who hasn’t played at the Class AAA level, but the Brewers have high hopes for Nottingham and didn't want to risk losing him.
"We're living in new world with the Rule 5 draft now," Stearns said. "Rule 5 selection behavior has changed over the last couple of years. Players are now selected from lower levels, as much due to their prospect status as much as their most recent production. We had to take that into account in determining who to put on the roster."
On another topic, the Brewers have been reported to have interest in some of the top-tier free-agent starting pitchers, such as Jake Arrieta and Lance Lynn. Stearns was asked if there was fire to go along with that smoke.
"I don't know where exactly they're getting it from," Stearns said. "I think there's a lot of speculation going on at this point. I've made no secret that starting pitching is something we're looking at this off-season, so that's no surprise. We've been honest about that.
"In terms of specific names, I think there's a lot of speculation going on from a variety of sources."
coolhandluke121 wrote:Kerb Hohl wrote:
I really don't think the Brewers can get any of the big name guys so I don't think next year's FA class will be "worth it" in the end, either.
Perez can be non-tendered because he might cost $4 or $5 million to be a utility man. Villar if he falters this year would cost $5 million and also be expendable.
"etc." is Susac, Aguilar, Guerra, Lopez, Webb, Wilkerson, Wang. Some of those guys may be useful but I'm not so sure. If Jeffress is ineffective this year he may be too expensive as well.
I'd much prefer to err on the side of keeping guys like Susac, Wang, Webb, Lopez, etc. I sort of expect to Perez and Villar to have a pretty good year. I just like the idea of 1-year deals until something really good comes along. Maybe I'm over-estimating the benefits of that flexibility (lots of fringe roster guys could end up being worthless, free agency next year could be worse than this year) but I don't see huge benefits to spending a lot in free agency either. The expected value of either decision over the next 5 years could be roughly equal when you factor in the inherent risks of free agency and the opportunity cost of not having roster spots to pick up guys like Thames, Hughes, and Aguilar.
I understand how expensive great players get in free agency, but I'm still not convinced that they can't just save all their money and pay Machado $45m per year instead of signing, say, Reed, Walker, and Arrieta. The benefit of having such a deep system is that you don't have as many needs and you can go for high impact moves like that and fill your other needs from within the system.
coolhandluke121 wrote:How about I just choose to live in an alternate universe where they actually traded Braun for Puig? Then they could have done it easily. Also, they would definitely trade Thames and move Shaw to 1b in my dream scenario.
I know I've said I don't want to be obligated to non-tender Perez and Villar, but I would do it for a chance at this. Dubon and Sogard can hold you over until Diaz and Hiura are ready. I'm definitely not paying Jeffress in 2019 and frankly don't even care if he's on the roster this year. I think he sucked last year and he's on an early decline because of his bad health habits.
Then you just keep bringing up young guys like Diaz, Burnes, and Ortiz to avoid arbitration salaries for mediocre relievers. And I'm not convinced Nelson will even be tendered in 2020. It's a torn labrum, and he only has one good year on his resume.
Kerb Hohl wrote:
I'm not sure I'd say it would've been easy to make that trade, but sure, the rest is alright. I still don't think we'd beat out the big dogs for someone like Machado, but you never know. I'm also not sure if Mark wants to leave Machado making $40-50 million/year at age 33-35 on his books 7-8 years from now.