Brewers/Dodgers NLCS - Game 4 Friday - 7:38PM CST

[coolhandluke121]

Assuming the website data is correct, from 2021-2024 we are +28M/year average operating income.

So essentially instead of signing Adames (for example) and breaking even, we opted to keep operating well enough in the green.

There was a time when this meant that they were saving the money to take advantage of opportunities to fortify a contender. For example, they went well over their normal payroll and (I think) in a deficit to sign Grandal and Moustakas when they were getting stiffed in free agency. They were very open about their strategy and about how their budget was a loose guideline that could be adjusted when opportunities like that presented themselves.

This year, I'm not sure who I would have even wanted them to sign in free agency, so I can't complain too much about that. I'm going to wait and see if they address some glaring needs this offseason before I completely vilify them. We didn't know this team would be anywhere near this good, and it actually turned out to be a good idea to give all the young players so many chances to establish themselves as core players. Ortiz was really good most of last year, so how can we blame them for not paying a SS?

This offseason, expectations for spending will be much higher, as they should be. If they don't pony up, it will be impossible to defend them.

[MVP2110]

This is almost always a bad strategy in MLB. Part of the reason the Brewers are as good as they are is because they dont do this often

I'm not saying you do it on a regular basis but if our minor leaguers are as good as they people say they are then trading Turang, Contreras and/or Frelick would be the right move within the next year or so. Or spending some money to extend some guys and trade the minor leaguers. That's how we got Yelich. Or Hopefully those kids can take the next step. We'll see. It's not crazy to think spending a reasonable amount of money could make the team better.

This is a textbook case of "both can be true." It's a bad team-building strategy to trade away young, controllable talent, and a low payroll is justifiable IF you just have so many young players under team control that you're not even sure where you NEED a more expensive upgrade. BUT when you have an obvious hole or two on a clear inner-circle contender, part of not being cheap means being willing to trade young players.

I don't blame them for not spending much in free agency - none of us knew they would be the best Brewers team ever - but I think it's fair to blame them for not being willing to trade prospects. Prospects are basically commodified as "surplus value" correlated with their remaining years under team control, so not being willing to trade them can become a different form of being cheap.

When I proposed trading Pratt or Pena with other prospects for someone like Abrams or Perdomo, nobody really supported it because of prospect-hugging. It's wise to be reluctant under normal circumstances, but SS was such a glaring need and this year was such a great opportunity to chase a title that it would have been more than justifiable under the circumstances. Abrams or Perdomo would make a lot more than Pratt or Pena and then would be free agents much sooner, but this was the year to make a win-now move like that. You can go back to trading away guys like Contreras, Freddy, Megill, Turang, and Sal once you've faded as contenders again, and you can still draft and develop.

The thing is I dont think they didnt trade for Perdomo or Abrams because of cost, Abrams was still pre arb this year & Perdomo was making $6 million. Neither would have been a huge addition to the payroll. Rather that they didnt think it was a good trade to make if they have to give up Pena or Pratt. And I agree with them on that

[Lippo]

Yeah it kinda like a road race, one teams spends 120k on their car, the other spends 1.5 million, who’s gonna win.
Baseball is for getting out of the house and enjoying a night out, it’s not for getting emotionally invested. It’s not fair competition. It’s Georgia vs Ball State in a best of 7.

[paulpressey25]

Quintana ($4 million) versus $700mm. (is Ohtani confirmed to start?)

[neiLz]

Overall talent gap IMO, good season though.

[Ron Swanson]

Quintana ($4 million) versus $700mm. (is Ohtani confirmed to start?)

I like "$4 mil vs. three quarters of a billion dollars" or "$4 million vs. the combined GDP of Tonga and Micronesia" much more. Yeah, start tweeting this at every baseball writer and MLB apologist.

[humanrefutation]

The silver lining is that this is a relatively young team whose best players are on the younger side, and it appears their farm system will bare some more fruit.

On the other hand, I can't imagine how it must feel if you're a player on a team that just won 97 games, had HFA, and beat your biggest rivals in a tough series, only to get decisively beaten by a team with a payroll 4x your own that largely cruised through the regular season. To see you trying your best to patch together a pitching staff to figure out a way to get 9 competitive innings, when they can throw out four ace-quality starters who will buzz down your hitters like nothing.

I can't help but feel that you risk diminishing returns in future seasons from your guys when that happens. It's hard to grind through a 162 game season when you know you're at such a competitive disadvantage. I hope I'm wrong on that front.

[coolhandluke121]

The thing is I dont think they didnt trade for Perdomo or Abrams because of cost, Abrams was still pre arb this year & Perdomo was making $6 million. Neither would have been a huge addition to the payroll. Rather that they didnt think it was a good trade to make if they have to give up Pena or Pratt. And I agree with them on that

My point was that the REASON they don't want to give up Pena or Pratt is because they're talented young players on team control, meaning that it's just another way to save money. You can just make a reasonable estimate of their surplus value and say they're not willing to trade them because they're not willing to spend that value.

Not trying to be too assertive in tone here, but I just could not disagree more about not wanting to give up one of them for Abrams or Perdomo. The Brewers haven't been to the WS in 43 years and have never won it. At the deadline, they had the best record in MLB with one of the worst offensive starters in MLB. If you're going to prospect-hug at times like that, what's the point of being a fan or owning a team? And Abrams and Perdomo are both under team control for a few more years to boot.

It would have taken Pena or Pratt plus a Henderson/Patrick plus a couple more good prospects, and that's where the dilemma comes in. But Pena, Pratt, and Made can't all be the SS of the future. They should definitely do their best to figure out with one is the most likely Lewis Brinson/Matt LaPorta/Mat Gamel dud and trade him for immediate help IMO.

The Marlins have two titles by being like the Brewers while also knowing when to truly go all-in. This should have been the year that the Brewers did that.

[MickeyDavis]

Chourio back

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[Iheartfootball]

One game at a time.

[MVP2110]

The thing is I dont think they didnt trade for Perdomo or Abrams because of cost, Abrams was still pre arb this year & Perdomo was making $6 million. Neither would have been a huge addition to the payroll. Rather that they didnt think it was a good trade to make if they have to give up Pena or Pratt. And I agree with them on that

My point was that the REASON they don't want to give up Pena or Pratt is because they're talented young players on team control, meaning that it's just another way to save money. You can just make a reasonable estimate of their surplus value and say they're not willing to trade them because they're not willing to spend that value.

Not trying to be too assertive in tone here, but I just could not disagree more about not wanting to give up one of them for Abrams or Perdomo. The Brewers haven't been to the WS in 43 years and have never won it. At the deadline, they had the best record in MLB with one of the worst offensive starters in MLB. If you're going to prospect-hug at times like that, what's the point of being a fan or owning a team? And Abrams and Perdomo are both under team control for a few more years to boot.

It would have taken Pena or Pratt plus a Henderson/Patrick plus a couple more good prospects, and that's where the dilemma comes in. But Pena, Pratt, and Made can't all be the SS of the future. They should definitely do their best to figure out with one is the most likely Lewis Brinson/Matt LaPorta/Mat Gamel dud and trade him for immediate help IMO.

The Marlins have two titles by being like the Brewers while also knowing when to truly go all-in. This should have been the year that the Brewers did that.

We just arent going to agree on this. I would have been absolutely livid if the Brewers made that trade and I suspect a majority of the baseball community would agree that would have been a massive overpay. Abrams specifically was one of the worst defensive SSs in baseball. I'd rather not be the Padres who gave up a top 5 prospect in baseball just to lose in the playoffs

I also really dont think we're an Abrams or Perdomo away from beating the Dodgers

[humanrefutation]

You just have to believe the Brewers are extremely high on the future potential of their top prospects. My fear is that by the time they make the majors, the rest of the roster won't be good enough to win it all. And then we'll be faced with the same (or a worse) situation than we are right now - wondering whether we should trade our next wave of top prospects to chase a title.

At some point, we have to push the cards in.

[MickeyDavis]

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[ReasonablySober]

Well, **** it.

[blazza18]

Chourio missed one on that first pitch and he was pretty annoyed by it.

[MickeyDavis]

Good job Yeli

[Matches Malone]

Ohtani is just going to blank us. Cool cool.

[RubberSoul]

This has no hitter written all over it. Pathetic at bats again they’ve just totally collapsed under the pressure of the moment.


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[Matches Malone]

**** off.

[MickeyDavis]

Lol