Other moves??

[jerichoholicninja]

What about trading for Quentin? He's coming off a down year (.599 OPS) but holds a career (.831 OPS). He is owed $8M in 2015 and has a $3M buyout in 2016. The Padres need to move someone since they now have JUpton, Myers, Kemp, Smith, and Maybin to go along with Quentin. If the Parders would cover $7M of his remaining salary ($5M) and buyout ($2M) I would be interested in acquiring him to back up the both corners.

 

Quentin is a decent hitter but should never, ever play the field. His body is made of glass. The Brewer would be lucky to get 40 games out of him.

[brewcrewdue80]

Hasn't been posted anywhere here. MLBTR posted the Indians have a desire to move Nick Swisher and chimed Milwaukee being a team(of many) whom the Indians could pawn him off to.

 

Honestly, wonder if this is a guy to be a Veteran pickup move that may pay off? High OB. Thing is, when you look at his Splits for his career, he's really turned out as being consistent. He doesn't Excel but he's also not below average pretty much everywhere.

 

RISP OPS-.812

Men on OPS-.839

2 outs OPS-.796

2 outs RISP OPS-.783

Late and Close OPS-.824

High Leverage OPS-.834

 

LHB vs RHP OPS-.795

RHB vs LHP OPS-.829

 

Now for whatever reason he was awful last season. He appeared in 97 games, so injuries? How about a bounceback with moving to a hitters' ballpark?

 

20+HRs hitter for his career prior to last season. Batting from both side with experience at 1b and the OF? Could see him getting time for Davis in a platoon situation or Braun if injured. Plus obvious 1b platoon partner for Lind?

He's owed 30mil for 2years. Can the team get 10mil maybe 14mil paid for by Cleveland and take a chance on him?

 

I don't know his injury list of last season so maybe like my non-belief in Craig, Swisher has an ability concern due because of it?

[pete]

My go to site for checking injuries is Baseball Prospectus. It looks like he had sore knees and a wrist during the season and had debridement done to both knees after the season.

 

I'm not sure what that's all about, but a quick check of a medical dictionary tells me its the removal of non-living tissue.

[reillymcshane]

Hasn't been posted anywhere here. MLBTR posted the Indians have a desire to move Nick Swisher and chimed Milwaukee being a team(of many) whom the Indians could pawn him off to.

 

Honestly, wonder if this is a guy to be a Veteran pickup move that may pay off? High OB. Thing is, when you look at his Splits for his career, he's really turned out as being consistent. He doesn't Excel but he's also not below average pretty much everywhere.

 

RISP OPS-.812

Men on OPS-.839

2 outs OPS-.796

2 outs RISP OPS-.783

Late and Close OPS-.824

High Leverage OPS-.834

 

LHB vs RHP OPS-.795

RHB vs LHP OPS-.829

 

Now for whatever reason he was awful last season. He appeared in 97 games, so injuries? How about a bounceback with moving to a hitters' ballpark?

 

20+HRs hitter for his career prior to last season. Batting from both side with experience at 1b and the OF? Could see him getting time for Davis in a platoon situation or Braun if injured. Plus obvious 1b platoon partner for Lind?

He's owed 30mil for 2years. Can the team get 10mil maybe 14mil paid for by Cleveland and take a chance on him?

 

I don't know his injury list of last season so maybe like my non-belief in Craig, Swisher has an ability concern due because of it?

 

If Milwaukee liked Swisher, they should have just looked to acquire him before getting Lind. He's a switch hitter, and doesn't have big platoon splits (he tends to hit for more power from the left side, but for a lower average/higher strike outs). He could have played 1B full time. If they could have gotten Cleveland to take on 1/2 of the $30 million owed, he would have cost about the same as Lind.

 

Again, that's if the team liked Swisher. The guy was awful last year. He's 34 - not exactly young. He had surgery on both his knees in August. I suspect that all those factors are scaring most teams - including the Crew. Even at $15M it seems like a lot of risk.

 

I look at it this way - if he were a free agent, what would he be worth? I think of the deal Morse signed last year with the Giants - 1-year/$6M. Corey Hart got a similar contract coming off a a major injury ($6M plus incentives). To me, that's probably about what I'd risk on a guy like this.

 

While the Indians may be open to moving Swisher now (especially if freeing up payroll is important), I would think it would best if they sit on him until spring training - wait and show off to the baseball world that he's healthy again. If so, they'll probably get a better return - especially once other teams have injuries (and failures) and positions become open. Of course, this gambles on Swisher coming back healthy.

 

The surgery was on the meniscus in both knees. If I'm correct, it's like a shock absorber in the knee. The issue was caused by simple wear and tear - nine straight years of averaging around 150 games a year will take its toll on a guy.

[superfly]

What about Wilin Rosario at 1st base (and backup C)? Seems the Rocks are looking to deal him, he's a LHP masher & would allow us to throw him behind the plate if Lucroy needs rest without having to sacrifice a bat. Limited sample but he has hit well at Miller Park over his career as well (.375/.400/.583/.983 in 25 at bats).

[jerichoholicninja]

What about Wilin Rosario at 1st base (and backup C)? Seems the Rocks are looking to deal him, he's a LHP masher & would allow us to throw him behind the plate if Lucroy needs rest without having to sacrifice a bat. Limited sample but he has hit well at Miller Park over his career as well (.375/.400/.583/.983 in 25 at bats).

 

Everything I've read about his defense behind the plate is that it is atrocious and he has no business being back there. I can't imagine he would be much better at first. He also has a .690 OPS away from Coors. That's not too inspiring.

[JohnBriggs12]

If you wanted to add a catcher who's offensive enough to allow Lucroy to play 1B regularly vs. LHP, then make a play for Dioner Navarro who's expendable in Toronto. Navarro's got a career .769 OPS vs. LHP and while his OPS vs. RHP is a modest .660, he'd still have value as a bench bat on days Lucroy is catching.

[SRB]

I don't understand trading for a catcher, we already have Maldonado and shouldn't be taking away Lucroy's defensive innings anyways.

[JohnBriggs12]

I don't understand trading for a catcher, we already have Maldonado and shouldn't be taking away Lucroy's defensive innings anyways.

 

You don't want perhaps your best offensive player catching 135 games. You want him strong down the stretch. Lucroy hit 1 HR after August 1st, and slugged just .389 in September. Posey caught 111 games, and posted August OPS of .951 and 1.043 OPS for September. You also have a need for RH half of a platoon at 1B, a position he can play. I'd rather have Lucroy catch about 110 and play 45 or so game at first base. It's not critical but it's an option worth exploring.

 

Once SF replaced offensively challenged Hector Sanchez with the better hitting Andrew Susac, their lineup got better and they could play Posey more at 1B.

[superfly]

I don't understand trading for a catcher, we already have Maldonado and shouldn't be taking away Lucroy's defensive innings anyways.

 

 

You don't? Maldonado can't hit, is 28 years old so there is likely no hope of him becoming a good hitter, and we need to start finding ways to get Lucroy off full time catching duties if we want him to be a good/great offensive player for us as long as possible. Rosario is 25 years old, fits the other half of our 1st base platoon well, allows 1 more LHP masher in there on the days Lucroy might play 1st, and isn't that terrible of a cost. Not to mention he's only in 1st year arby.

 

I'd eat the defensive liabilities in exchange for more offense & the positional flexibility to get Lucroy off catching duties a few more games at a reasonable cost. Would you rather have Swisher? Some minor leaguer in our system who is marginable? (Clark, Rogers, etc). I'm sure Lucroy could help Rosario out on his defensive deficiencies.

[pete]

I agree that Lucroy caught too many games, but that's what Lucroy wanted and RR seems to defer to vets. I'd hope he'll spend more time at 1st, but that was Reynolds' spot last season.

 

Maldonado's hitting was discussed elsewhere. I don't agree that he's as bad as made out. For a worthwhile comparison, what is Rosario's slash line as a PH? I'd be surprised if its much different than MM and a big downgrade defensively and you have to make two trades to make it happen. There's also the question of taking Rosario out of Colorado.

 

Setting aside his obnoxiousness, if you can spin the Earth backwards really fast and get Swisher of a few years ago, he might be all right. I'd guess his career is fundamentally over.

 

What Rogers or Clark are is unknown.

[Roderick]

I'm not sure what that's all about, but a quick check of a medical dictionary tells me its the removal of non-living tissue.

 

It seems to me that we can win quite a few games this year if we have some zombies chasing the other team around the diamond.

[brewcrewdue80]

Rosario's Home/Away Splits:

.305/.346/.540/.886 vs. .242/.266!/.424/ .690

 

Now for more fun with numbers. Of his Away numbers, Miller Park was his best ballpark away from home in the NL: 8games: .333/.353/.606 Good

The Bad? The other 4 NL Central ballparks he didn't crack the Mendoza line batting a combined .165/.200/.252 in 26 career games.

 

He's a negative run factor defensively as a Catcher. Which then relegates him to 1b as the Rockies have begun doing. Can somebody explain to me how his numbers away from Coors is anywhere worthy of a 1b hitter? Maldonado has a home/away split of .228/.308/.381/.688 home and .223/.273/.338/.612 away.

 

Maldonado hasn't flashed anything offensively like Rosario's Coors numbers to see his pricetag get to be too much in the next 3 years. Maldy will be a very strong defensive catcher with a know what you're getting bat. It's above the Mendoza line. Rosario's away from home .690 OPS? being poor defensively? Based on Rosario's career on the road and Maldonado's you're looking at a little better BA, worse OB and stronger Slg that translates between the two's career as being 4.5 more doubles and 5HRs in a season. Now are those 10-12 extra base hits by Rosario/19 more Bases worth the added Runs offensively over what Rosario costs the team defensively over Maldonado?

 

I don't get the point to make a move for a Catcher with Maldonado doing an excellent job defensively as a backup. Lucroy is an All-Star Catcher and as I start at Maldonado's 200 game career on BREF, he's been worth 2.2WAR. What more do you want from your Backup Catcher? He's the perfect homegrown Backup that should remain that way so long as he can remain a good defensive catcher.

For other reference I look to the other 4teams in the division:

StL: had Tony Cruz -1WAR and AJ Pierzinski -.6WAR as backup Catchers

Pitts: Chris Stewart .6WAR and Tony Sanchez .1WAR as backup Catchers

Cincy: Brayan Pena -.5WAR and Tucker Barnhart .2WAR as backups.

ChiCubs: John Baker -1WAR as backup.

 

Maldonado is not a problem needing to be solved. If/when Lucroy or Maldonado himself go down for a lengthy period then it's time to address the Catcher situation. Personally, the team has more to be concerned with a backup at SS/3b and maybe 2b for 2015 than trying to remove games caught by Maldonado while Lucroy either rests or plays the RH bat of a 1b Platoon.

 

Also, what of the Ryan Braun to 1b suggestions? How about getting him in some games at 1b as the RH bat as a slow progression to that position?

The team as options for the RH Bat at 1b. and are held up strongly with their backup Catcher imo. Their need is a super utility who bats from both side effectively honestly. (of course I say this after the Swisher suggestion but that's a buy low much more proven hitter than Rosario situation)

 

And Emilio Bonifacio went to the White Sox for 3mil+4mil option, he one who's been chimed here many a time.

 

Again, if I ran the office, I'd give up something solid to get Arismendy Alcantara from the Cubs. due to batting from both sides and his super utility abilities. He's young team controlled and to me more valuable than Tyrone Taylor's future worth to the Brewers will be. I'd cash in on the #1 or #2 prospect value Taylor holds today because in a couple years he's going to fall behind the likes of Harrison/Medeiros/Lara/Gatewood and who knows what other surprise prospect overtakes him(pick from 2015 draft?) I don't believe Taylor will be in MLB in 2015 obviously but also not in 2016(not as obvious but good chance) so you're looking at entering 2017 season with him ranked where on your prospect list? To me behind those 4=#5 at best. Use his #1 prospect status today to get something of true value before he becomes a player traded for 1 or 2 years of a mid-tier ML RP.

[jerichoholicninja]

Catch Lucroy 140+ games and run him into the ground. Then let some other team overpay for his inevitable crash and burn. Such is the career of a catcher. Use 'em and abuse 'em.

[pete]

Just to throw in another factor, I've heard the claim that Coors hitters have bad home and away splits because the environments are so different that the hitters have a hard time adjusting. After they're out of there a while they lose that factor. Holliday was an example cited, noting his suckage in Oakland and eventual really good hitting for the Cards (bah!). Dunno how true it is.

[pacopete4]

Catch Lucroy 140+ games and run him into the ground. Then let some other team overpay for his inevitable crash and burn. Such is the career of a catcher. Use 'em and abuse 'em.

 

I agree with this to some extent. I also think you have to keep catchers like Lucroy fresh because otherwise his bat will suffer quite a bit in the second half (and playoffs if we were to make them).

[DR28]

I would still like to see Craig added and some bench & bullpen pieces added.

[JohnBriggs12]

Joba Chamberlain anyone? He bounced back some after two horrendous years in New York. Wouldn't be a budget buster either.

[DR28]

Joba Chamberlain anyone? He bounced back some after two horrendous years in New York. Wouldn't be a budget buster either.

 

He would be a nice bullpen addition... Surprised hasn't been signed yet.

[reillymcshane]

Joba Chamberlain anyone? He bounced back some after two horrendous years in New York. Wouldn't be a budget buster either.

Here's an article about how Joba would fit with the Crew:

 

http://www.brewcrewball.com/2014/12/24/7445329/dumpster-diving-for-relievers-part-1

 

The author likes Joba due to his ability to induce grounders as well as strikeouts. He predicts a contract of between $2.75-3.75 million.

[reillymcshane]

Braves designated Tyler Pastornicky today. Can play SS and 2B. Right handed hitter. Good success in the minors - has hit for .297 BA at AAA over the past four years. Was once seen as starting caliber guy by the Braves, but has only hit .243 in the big leagues (239 ABs - most of those in 2012).

 

Not sure how his defense is at either SS or 2B, but he might be a potential utility guy.

 

Stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pastoty01.shtml

[brewcrewdue80]

Tough to say on Pastornicky. If you look at the Range Factor he seems to possess for both 2b and SS, by the numbers he appears to have 25% less range than your typical SS, and 20% below your typical 2b. So that makes him a defensive liability fielding. His bat is also quite soft in terms of power. I think he appears to be relegated to being a single defensive position and that is 2b. If that's the case, his utility value lacks quite a bit for what he offers. No Power Bench bat, not good defensive metrics and can only be relied to play 2b, would be hard to pick up. He'd have to possess some belief he can backup at SS to have value. I think I'd rather stick with Hector Gomez who provides at least a little Power with SS backup ability and find the Super Utility elsewhere.

[JohnBriggs12]

I wouldn't get carried away with Gomez power. I don't necessarily want backup middle infielders with marginal power swinging for the fences. Pastornicky makes better contact and has a considerably higher OBP in the minors than Gomez (.343 to .295). While Pastonricky's no defensive whiz at SS, neither is Gomez. Both are adequate in reserve there. Pastornicky's stolen a ton of bases in the minors too, though not in Atlanta.

 

It seems Brewers like Gomez who's also out of options. I doubt they pick up Pastornicky unless it would be on a minor league deal to provide an alternative.

[pete]

Just a quick perusal of a Bing search of Gomez defense produces comments like "phenom," "sparkling," and "dazzled" along with comparisons to Tulo in fielding with a better arm.

 

I'd say the argument for Pastornicky is that he is less likely to be hurt and profiles as a utility player although I don't know why the Braves don't see him as that any more.

 

An unknown is who will be SS in AAA. If they had some confidence in that player to fill in then they could keep a player like Pastornicky who doesn't look like a regular at SS at this point.

[pacopete4]

The more I've thought about it, the more I want to see Gomez get an opportunity. A highly touted guy that kinda flamed out getting another opportunity after making his way back? Sounds like a perfect player for the Brewers. Who knows... honestly, who knows what this guy could maybe be.