MLB 2018 Season

[jsglow]

Can he play short??

Also it does plug a hole if Moose leaves in free agency.

Sultan has it.  This is about a hot bat now and 2B next year.

[Jockey]

Schoop has played 22 innings at SS in the MLB. He played SS in the minors for a while but made 67 errors in 224 games. The Brewers better hope he can hit.

5.2 WAR last year. After a slow start this year, he has been as good as  last year over the the last 5-6 weeks.

[🏀]

Schoop is a player, big fan.

[jsglow]

5.2 WAR last year. After a slow start this year, he has been as good as  last year over the the last 5-6 weeks.

Yep.  Every day 3 out of 4 play.  Arcia, Moose, Shaw and Schoop.  Got an All-Star for the price of a #7 prospect plus the marginal guy he replaced.  I'm good.

(I think it's clear Moose isn't back next year.)

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Saw a tweet from Haudricourt that Arcia is going to play every day and that one of the other IFs will sit.  Not sure if that's true or not. 

[Lennys Tap]

In the hindsight view, both the Pirates and Rays are big losers in that trade today. Two organizations that moved a year too late.

Year ago:

Archer to Cubs for Jimenez/Cease
Quintana or Sale to Pirates for Meadows/Glasnow

Oof.

Oof if it's Sale, not if it's Quintana - the two are not comparable

[Dish]

Oof if it's Sale, not if it's Quintana - the two are not comparable

I think you're missing the context here. Throw in the awful return they got for Gerrit Cole, and the Pirates end of the trade today looks even worse.

[cheebs09]

I saw Brewers are 28th in GB rate, so their good defense is mostly due to a strong outfield rather than a strong infield. Could be why they are willing to sacrifice some defense there in order to upgrade offense.

[chapman]

Shoop is a better defender than Villar, Shaw (obviously), or Saladino at 2nd.  Another right-handed bat will be nice. 

Gives some flexibility for next year - don't pick up Moustaka's option (assuming he will opt in) and it'll net out to $8M in savings or so, or trade Shaw or flip Shoop in the winter.

Not big on a rotation with Miley / Peralta as the 4/5, but kept all of the prospects I was high on.  Always a chance to pick up a Harvey in August trades if needed.

Lineup still has a hole with Arcia and the catcher's spot, but fingers crossed they'll show some improvement.

[MUBurrow]

It comes down I guess to what you think of Schoop, and I'm not nearly as big of a fan as most here. I hope I'm wrong. I just don't see this deadline as a success for the Brewers:

In:                                                                    Out:
Rental Soria                                                       Medeiros (#13 prospect)
Rental Mous (w/ position change)                        Perez (just a guy)
1.5 seasons Schoop ($10M next year)                  Phillips (#10 prospect)
                                                                         Lopez (fringy top 30 prospect - had been as high as #2)
                                                                         Ortiz (prospect #7)
                                                                         Carmona (prospect #14)
                                                                         2.5 seasons Villar ($3M next year)

I just don't see it. Looking at the O's return, you arguably could have used Medeiros, Lopez and the $7M next year that the the Braves are absorbing in O'Day, and gotten Gausman - who is no worse a candidate for positive regression than Schoop, is under arbitration through 2020 and plays a position the Brewers actually need!

[Lennys Tap]

I think you're missing the context here. Throw in the awful return they got for Gerrit Cole, and the Pirates end of the trade today looks even worse.

Didn't know that was your context - my point is that Archer may turn out to be every bit as good (or better) than Quintana. Of course he's not close to Sale.

[Lennys Tap]

Brewers got no help where they needed it most - starting rotation. Looks like they decided to go with the 12" softball plan - all mashers. Hope they have a lot of fly ball/strike out pitchers.

[wadesworld]

The Brewers starters are 8th in the MLB in ERA and 1st in the NL in quality starts.

The Brewers don't ask their starters to carry them. They ask them to go 6 solid innings and then hand it over to a stacked bullpen.

Stearns has shown he's willing to "ignore" team "needs" and load up in positions that are already "loaded" and it has paid off.

[MerrittsMustache]

The Brewers starters are 8th in the MLB in ERA and 1st in the NL in quality starts.

The Brewers don't ask their starters to carry them. They ask them to go 6 solid innings and then hand it over to a stacked bullpen.

Stearns has shown he's willing to "ignore" team "needs" and load up in positions that are already "loaded" and it has paid off.

Not sure of your source but according to Baseball Reference, only the Reds and Rays have fewer Quality Starts than the Brewers' 34.

[TallTitan34]

It would be great if MLB would show the angles they have in New York that neither the home and visiting teams have.

Addison Russell was the tying run with no out and called out on third despite no angle on either broadcast showing him undisputably off the bag.

There was a similar call in the Brewers game Monday where Cain was ruled safe at first base yet the call got overturned despite no angle showing he undisputably got tagged.

It's not that hard to get the New York angle to both teams broadcasts.

[MUBurrow]

Not sure of your source but according to Baseball Reference, only the Reds and Rays have fewer Quality Starts than the Brewers' 34.

ESPN's got em listed second in baseball, nine behind Houston - http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/pitching/sort/qualityStarts/order/true

That being said, they're 15th in IP by starters, so while that lends to Wades point, it also speaks to the miles on the bullpen. Bullpen has the 7th most IP in baseball, with the Dodgers in 5th and the Cubs in 8th as the only winning teams close by. Rest of the teams that lead in bullpen innings are among the worst in baseball.

[TallTitan34]

Follow up... where do these New York angles come from?  If neither team's broadcast has them, who is operating these cameras? 

[TallTitan34]

I agree with both of you that ESPN and Baseball Reference have very different numbers for quality starts.

What would cause that discrepancy?

[MerrittsMustache]

Follow up... where do these New York angles come from?  If neither team's broadcast has them, who is operating these cameras?

I'm typically not a conspiracy guy but I honestly don't believe they have other angles. Putting that out there just takes the pressure off when they make awful calls like the ones mentioned earlier.

[wadesworld]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/pitching/league/nl/sort/qualityStarts/order/true

I heard it on the radio today (and believe somebody mentioned that the Brewers led the MLB in QS but it was at least a month ago), and ESPN has them as #1 in QS in the NL.  Not sure what the baseballreference number is from.

[MerrittsMustache]

I agree with both of you that ESPN and Baseball Reference have very different numbers for quality starts.

What would cause that discrepancy?

Interesting. Do they define Quality Starts differently? I thought it was a standard 6+ IP, 3 or fewer runs.

BR: "Pitcher pitched at least 6 innings and allowed 3 or fewer earned runs in a start."

Fox Sports also lists the Brewers near the bottom of the league with 34 QS.
https://www.foxsports.com/mlb/team-stats?season=2018&category=PITCHING&sort=6&time=0

[🏀]

Doing a review on Fantrax:

Chase has 9.
Guerra has 8.
Chacin has 7.
Davies has 3.
Peralta has 3.
Miley has 2.
Suter has 2.

34 QS.

[buckchuckler]

Boy, Kintzler was really holding the Nats back apparently. 

[mu03eng]

I think CC goes with the hot hands and/or match ups for the IF. It's a home run and strike out league plus they shift so much it's not going to be a huge liability.

Basically it's the Wojo approach I can't fix the D so I'm going all in on offense.

Lastly, this hedging the bet on Moose since he'll leave in FA

[buckchuckler]

In the hindsight view, both the Pirates and Rays are big losers in that trade today. Two organizations that moved a year too late.

Year ago:

Archer to Cubs for Jimenez/Cease
Quintana or Sale to Pirates for Meadows/Glasnow

Oof.

I don't quite get what you are saying here.  The return the Rays got seems quite comparable to what the Sox got for Q.  Both Meadows and Glasnow have been rated as top 10-15 prospects, maybe they have fallen off a bit, but they are less risky than Eloy and Cease as they are both ready right now to contribute at the major league level.  The Rays aren't doing a complete teardown and maybe wouldn't be as big on getting guys that were in A ball at the time, like Eloy and Cease were.

For the Pirates, the return is again, pretty similar.  I would prefer Q to Archer, because he is (or at least was) more predictable.  But Archer comes with an additional year of control, and objectively better stuff.  But they are remarkably similar pitchers in terms of results. 

At this point, as a Sox fan, I am much happier with the return the Sox got for Q, that if they had gotten Meadows and Glasnow, but at the beginning of last year, Meadows and Glasnow were certainly the higher rated duo, and likely rated higher at the All Star break, heck, Cease is just starting to get into top 50 discussion now, and Glasnow was a consensus top 10 guy.