2020-21 Brewers Offseason Thread: JBJ Signed - 2 Years $24 Million, 1 Year Opt Out

[humanrefutation]

Interesting to see what kind of roster turnover we'll see, especially with the pandemic hitting baseball in the books. I imagine Hader will be shopped. Cain as well. But we also were a near 0.500 team with lots of trash on offense, so I don't think it's far fetched that we'd have a solid season next year.

[MickeyDavis]

I think we'll see plenty of turnover but it will be shuffling around scrubs from one to another. We drop Braun's $20 million but I don't see Attanasio spending that on another player(s) given the revenue drop this year (and next year).

I also expect Hader to be dealt for prospects.

[leroyjw10]

Hader needs to be moved for offense (some actual prospects who are ready/close to contributing would be nice) and the hitting coach needs to be sent packing.

If I see more washed veteran retreads I'm going to lose my mind.

[WeekapaugGroove]

While I understand the reality of the financial situation it's going to be frustrating because with the current young pitching it would be a great time to add some bats and go for it for the next couple years.

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[Kerb Hohl]

I do think Mark's going to spend a little bit this year, up to league expectations. Everyone had a revenue shortfall.

He's not going to rebuild fully with prime Yelich (we had this conversation with prime Braun ~10 years ago).

I think Hader will be dealt.

The free agent market kinda sucks. I wonder if they'll absorb some salary in a trade.

If Narvaez, Lauer, Urias get up closer to even lower end reasonable expectations, I don't think we'll be that bad. I really thought we dominated those trades and it shows how much I know, those guys were arguably 3 of the worst players on the team, save for Urias, who was disappointing but showed some OK bat skills.

I could see Braun coming back for like a little bit over his buyout price. Buyout is $4 million and he's Mark's buddy, maybe he comes back for a swan song at $7m total ($4 + $3 or something). If the DH is still here, he's not terrible to have around.

I think if healthy and not having their worst seasons (basically everyone on the offense) and maybe with some luck on Cain coming back to life, the offense will not be that bad even without additions.

[tski1972]

Anyone willing to guess the type of package they can expect for dealing Hader?

[blazza18]

1. Move Hader for some good young bats.
2. Have the young bats become stars.
3. ???
4. Profit

[jute2003]

I think adding at least one decent bat along with Cain coming back and not sucking would probably keep them pretty competitive. That is of course, as long as the promising young pitching wasn't a fluke and the horrible bats up and down the order was.

Pretty competitive in this context to me means .500 ball. They'll either need to add another couple impact players on top of the other stuff or get really lucky to be a strong playoff team.

[Gianstoppable]

I do think Mark's going to spend a little bit this year, up to league expectations. Everyone had a revenue shortfall.

He's not going to rebuild fully with prime Yelich (we had this conversation with prime Braun ~10 years ago).

I think Hader will be dealt.

The free agent market kinda sucks. I wonder if they'll absorb some salary in a trade.

If Narvaez, Lauer, Urias get up closer to even lower end reasonable expectations, I don't think we'll be that bad. I really thought we dominated those trades and it shows how much I know, those guys were arguably 3 of the worst players on the team, save for Urias, who was disappointing but showed some OK bat skills.

I could see Braun coming back for like a little bit over his buyout price. Buyout is $4 million and he's Mark's buddy, maybe he comes back for a swan song at $7m total ($4 + $3 or something). If the DH is still here, he's not terrible to have around.

I think if healthy and not having their worst seasons (basically everyone on the offense) and maybe with some luck on Cain coming back to life, the offense will not be that bad even without additions.

According to Stearns they will likely have to trim payroll next year. ugh. Mediocracy is a bitch

Definitely think we should and will trade Hader. If there is one thing Stearns really excels at it's getting pieces to make a good bullpen.

If they keep the DH we need an actual bat there, like a Braun or a guy who not only can hit for some power but average. Way too many guys on this team still that lack consistent hitting. At this point give me a solid .800 OPS guy there and I would be happy.

[MickeyDavis]

Stearns is unsure whether the Brewers can maintain the 2020 payroll, which ranked 24th in the majors.

"I think budgets are tighter everywhere right now, for most businesses," Stearns said. "You know, over the last two years we've run the two highest payrolls in the history of this organization. And I think it's uncertain at this point, as we look forward, whether our payroll next year would be at that same level."

Cash isn't the only issue. Stearns said this year's abbreviated schedule is making it more difficult to evaluate his roster as he tries to make offseason improvements. The uncertainty surrounding next season creates additional challenges.

"Everything about this season, everything about this year has been messy," Stearns said. "It's been unusual. It's been inelegant. So wrestling through all of that and sort of tying a bow on top of it becomes a little bit more challenging than it would over the course of 162 games.

"That's part of the process that we have to go through as an organization -- determining how best to evaluate what was such a unique season, such a different environment and such a competitive landscape."

Stearns cautioned there's no guarantee everything will be back to normal next season, due to the pandemic.

"We don't know how packed ballparks can possibly be next year," Stearns said. "We don't know what sort of access players may or may not have to their customary video libraries and in-game video access and video rooms. So, many of the same variables that came into play this year in some respects may still be around next year, and we have to recognize that."

The first step to boosting Milwaukee's lineup is a return to form by 2018 NL MVP Yelich, who hit just .205 this season after winning back-to-back batting titles in 2018 and 2019. His 2019 season had ended early after he fractured a kneecap in early September.

"I think we're going to look back at this and recognize it was the perfect storm for Yeli," Stearns said. "I think we're going to look back at a player who hadn't played competitive baseball for 10 months, who didn't then have a normal ramp-up spring training time, who was then competing in an environment that was very different than he's ever competed in before, whether it's lack of fans, different travel arrangements, different clubhouse accommodations, different video access. And we're going to remember that it was a shortened season where he never really had a chance to climb out of what was an early-season slump."

"Our philosophy is if we do that, if we continue to compete year in and year out for playoff spots, you give yourselves numerous bites at the apple and you give yourself a greater chance of having that truly special season, where you get to a World Series and ultimately win it," Stearns said. "So our goal is to keep our organization in a spot where we can continue to compete year in and year out for playoff appearances."

[BUCKnation]

It'll be nice to get Braun's contract off the books, I'd still bring him back though if he was interested as he is still relatively productive. No one on the team was this year, so I kind of throw that out.

[raysbookclub]

Still a lot of questions about next season as a whole for MLB. All the franchises are losing money; in a normal year, most teams aren't very much over in the black (acc to a friend who works in the business office of a MLB team, not the Brewers), so the possibility of having 2 consecutive seasons without fans...

If they trade Hader, they'd need some current MLB talent back, whose salaries are low, so must be young guys. I doubt they'd trade Hader for prospects, even AAA ones, while they have Yelich, Cain, Hiura, and two studs leading the rotation.

[Kerb Hohl]

Still a lot of questions about next season as a whole for MLB. All the franchises are losing money; in a normal year, most teams aren't very much over in the black (acc to a friend who works in the business office of a MLB team, not the Brewers), so the possibility of having 2 consecutive seasons without fans...

If they trade Hader, they'd need some current MLB talent back, whose salaries are low, so must be young guys. I doubt they'd trade Hader for prospects, even AAA ones, while they have Yelich, Cain, Hiura, and two studs leading the rotation.

FWIW, I'd be very surprised if they had no fans.

Allowing sellouts? Maybe not. But I'm guessing some capacity will be allowed in most stadiums by next year. I think most teams/cities were ready for this at the end of this year but the season was basically over and the PR of it might not have been the best.

[humanrefutation]

It all depends on the release of a viable vaccine along with people actually taking it. I actually think it'll take a while until we get some level of herd immunity, which requires ~80% of the population taking the vaccine. At the very earliest, we're probably looking at next summer before the vaccine becomes wildly available, and probably another year to get up to that 80% threshold.

They won't wait that long to get fans back in the stadium, and I think a full offseason of preparation will allow them to implement some social distancing strategies. But I think there's a good chance they'll start with zero fans and then maybe steadily progress to having full house by the end of the season.

[Buckfan76]

I also think Hader will be dealt. Like many have said hopefully not for prospects. I'd love to get a decent SP, and a decent field player for him. Man I'd talk to the Mets possibly. Get D. Smith or someone like that and a SP from them.

I doubt Braun is back, I see him signing in LA.

[Kerb Hohl]

I also think Hader will be dealt. Like many have said hopefully not for prospects. I'd love to get a decent SP, and a decent field player for him. Man I'd talk to the Mets possibly. Get D. Smith or someone like that and a SP from them.

I doubt Braun is back, I see him signing in LA.

I like Stearns more than Melvin, though I was not too harsh on Melvin, he was fine given his win now directive...

That said, this is turning into the same situation Melvin had. Mark wants to win now and I think the Brewers have done pretty well wit hthis. I think their chances to win a title with Stearns in 2018 and probably one more run coming up in the next few years with Yelich are just as good as we'd have had if we tanked/blew it up, but we're in the same spot.

I can't remember the specific trade that Melvin was always ribbed for, but he kept citing wanting "MLB-ready prospects" in the trade instead of getting better, younger prospects. Well, Stearns may be faced with the same thing.

I actually would be cool with them deepening the farm system a bit and getting some high ceiling younger guys in return. Those guys can still get up much quicker than we think.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I also think Hader will be dealt. Like many have said hopefully not for prospects. I'd love to get a decent SP, and a decent field player for him. Man I'd talk to the Mets possibly. Get D. Smith or someone like that and a SP from them.

I doubt Braun is back, I see him signing in LA.

I like Stearns more than Melvin, though I was not too harsh on Melvin, he was fine given his win now directive...

That said, this is turning into the same situation Melvin had. Mark wants to win now and I think the Brewers have done pretty well wit hthis. I think their chances to win a title with Stearns in 2018 and probably one more run coming up in the next few years with Yelich are just as good as we'd have had if we tanked/blew it up, but we're in the same spot.

I can't remember the specific trade that Melvin was always ribbed for, but he kept citing wanting "MLB-ready prospects" in the trade instead of getting better, younger prospects. Well, Stearns may be faced with the same thing.

I actually would be cool with them deepening the farm system a bit and getting some high ceiling younger guys in return. Those guys can still get up much quicker than we think.

I think it was the Carlos Lee deal where they got back cordero, mench and nix.... But the real kicker was they threw in Nelson Cruz who is still hitting bombs at like 45 years old.

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[JayMKE]

Oh man, I hated Kevin Mench's giant ass head. Dude must wear like a size 9 hat, I always think about him when I find those discounted official fitted hats at stores that no normal human could possibly wear.

[Kerb Hohl]

I think I was at the game where Mench debuted. There was a standing ovation when he arrived mid-game in the dugout and I think his roided ass hit a homer either in that game or early in the next one...that was the high point of the Mench era.

[trwi7]

I think I told this story before but when the Lee trade happened I was way the **** up north visiting my dad and I was watching I think it was still called Cold Pizza at the time and they broke the news and I saw the return and I was like, wait, what? That can't be it, that's **** awful and then they brought on Keith Law who had just started at ESPN and he was trashing the trade and didn't know wtf the Brewers were doing and then I got even more pissed and then I just went outside for a few hours and started tossing the tennis ball to the dog so I wouldn't have to think about the trade.