Oso planning to go pro
At some point do they actually 'buy' a reliever and try to dance this year? Look, I give up no prospects but if they're still in first in 3-4 weeks.......
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
Not a rumor.And overdue.
Brewers should be (and I trust Sterns is smart enough that he will be) in sell mode.
Haven't been watching the Crew a lot lately, but who's @ the top of list to try to sell off, and who are the current ones to build around?
The MLB trade deadline isn't until July 31. If the Brewers are still in contention for the division, or even a WC place, they shouldn't sell.
No WCs are going to be in play for teams west of the Rockies this year. The NL West has them more or less locked down. The Cubs are 8.5 back as LAD, ARI, and CO are all at least 19 games over .500.There's a lot of baseball to be played between now and July 31, and the Brewers have none of the things that lend themselves to staying power, i.e. a thin rotation that doesn't go deep often and a bullpen full of hacks (Knebel excluded).I hope I'm wrong. I don't think I will be.
I agree with you on all counts. I have no illusions that the Brewers will make the playoffs.I just am saying that if they are still in contention in a month, then they can't be sellers unless they get a real good offer. (For Braun for instance.)
I'm a huge Brewers fan. I'm overjoyed that they're in 1st place in late June. That being said, their position is all about Milwaukee overperforming, and the Cubs WAY underperforming. The phrase of the 2nd half is going to be "regression to the mean" kids.In a twisted way, the best case scenario is for the Cubs to get a little hair of the dog and shake this post WS hangover and start playing like the absolutely loaded team they are, overtake the Brewers by the deadline so the Brewers can feel free to sell off some pieces.As a short effort at 8:20 a.m. here's a start:Sell:Braun -> LAD. The NL West is insane, and LA is one of about two places Braun will waive no-trade to go to. If the Brewers can get ANYTHING up to and including a sandwich for him, they should take it.Garza -> There's a sucker born every minute. Hey, he hasn't pitched THAT badly. If there's a buyer out there, sell him for anything at all.Thames -> Someone needing pop at 1B. Hey, sell high right? (although he's a ton of fun to watch, so I actually want him to stick around).Shaw -> He's raking at 3B. Same as Thames, he's WAY outperforming his contract. The brewers have prospects to spare on the IF and Shaw is worth more as a piece than on the field. (On a human note, his newborn daughter is under the care of the saints at Children's, one of whom apparently specializes in her condition, so again, I don't want him to leave).Untouchables:ArciaChase Anderson (team friendly deal, club control through 2020ish?)Josh Hader (practically still a prospect, but on the big club)KnebelBrinson
I don't know about dealing Shaw. I don't think the Brewers have any decent third basemen in the system. Same with first base. Granted, they could be acquired in trades, but it is a little more risky. Especially since Shaw and Thames are under control for a few years.
Agreed with pretty much all of this. Obviously if someone offers you something you can't pass up anybody can be traded, but reasonably the only guys I wouldn't touch that are on the MLB roster are Arcia, Hader, and Brinson. I enjoy Shaw and Thames so I'd like to see them stay, but their value certainly isn't going to get any higher in the future. The Brewers have had giant success trading away bullpen pitching at the deadline recently, and Knebel could be next. Nobody will trade for Braun with his injuries, but I'd love to see it. And Chase I'm not sure you get much more value at any point in the future than you do right now. I'm still skeptical that he's a true top end starter, but he appears to be that right now...
I get the value argument for trading away assets but then you are assuming you are getting equal or greater value on the assets you get in return....and at some point all these new assets need to be returning that value all at the same time so you can be a contender at a minimum, and go win the whole f'in thing at maximum.At what point is a bird in the hand worth more than two in the bush?
The problem with Milwaukee is that everyone knows their path. They did it a few years ago and it takes hitting on a handful of stud prospects and getting them to the show and All-Star caliber performances *all at the same time* and then adding one or two cheap/veteran/roll pieces via free agency, and lastly, when all that's going right, sell out with a trade to "go for it."The more shots at stud prospects coming together the better. A good/outproducing his contract Shaw and Thames is not the same as having 6 shots at another Braun/Fielder/Gallardo combo.As much as it sucks, I just don't see any other path to post-season contention for a team like the Brewers.
If expansion actually happens, do they expand the playoffs?
I'm trying to remember when exactly it became common for fans of a baseball team to sell off decent players and intentionally tank a season. Seriously. It's been a couple decades at least, it seems, but I don't remember when.I remember when the White Sox did it in the '90s and most fans were outraged. So it's at least since then.It's a weird thing. In basketball, a team that tanks is rewarded with a high draft pick who could start right away; plus, there is a salary cap. Same with football, although the cap is more strict - kind of like hockey. So it makes sense that a team in those sports can fix cap problems and position themselves for high draft picks who might have an impact the following season.In baseball, there is no salary cap. No owner "needs" to dump salary. And draft picks, even the highest-rated ones, have a high rate of failure. Even the best ones usually take several years to reach the majors.And yet Brewers fans seem to be rooting that their first-place team - a team ahead of the "Flubs" the fans purport to hate - go into the tank in June.
And yet Brewers fans seem to be rooting that their first-place team - a team ahead of the "Flubs" the fans purport to hate - go into the tank in June.
Do you want a single playoff run for one year where your going to get erased by the NL west in the divisional series? Or would you like long success over a few years? Cause we can have a repeat of the Brewers last playoff run.