PREDICT which players off Brewers 25 man roster will be traded by August 1st

[MrTPlush]

I am guessing not many teams will be too interested in Carter looking at his road stats. Pretty obvious he has enjoyed his time hitting in the friendly confines of Miller Park. He is nothing more than a power DH who won't give much in the form of an average.

 

I'd rather hold onto him because he is pretty fun to watch. Gotta have something interesting on the team.

[JohnBriggs12]

As the deadline nears, my prediction on who gets traded:

 

1. Boyer

2. That's it.

 

Boyer has almost no value.

 

Either Jeffress or Smith but probably not both and Torres are almost sure bets. Torres has picked an excellent time to be shining with all the scouts I'm sure that are looking at him.

[reillymcshane]

As the deadline nears, my prediction on who gets traded:

 

1. Boyer

2. That's it.

 

There will be pitchforks

Yep. No one wants to see Boyer go. He's an icon.

 

[dacrew101]

As the deadline nears, my prediction on who gets traded:

 

1. Boyer

2. That's it.

 

There will be pitchforks

Yep. No one wants to see Boyer go. He's an icon.

 

 

Ha

[LouisEly]

Something big will happen in the next two days. How do I know? I'm going on vacation for the weekend up to the northwoods where I will likely have no connectivity. It never fails. When I get back Sunday night or Monday afternoon I will have 22 pages of a thread to catch up on.

[JackNicholson1974]

I'm worried my Boyer prediction may be off. No chatter on him at all.

[MNBrew]

My guess:

 

EITHER at most, one of Boyer/Torres and, less likely, one of Jeffress/Smith (I'd prefer Smith).

 

OR more likely, no one.

[And That]

T-6.5 hours until the deadline. Bit surprised that Torres is still on the team.

[MillerParkSouth]

I'm guessing (hoping) that once we get closer to the deadline that Boyer, Torres, etc will be moved. I think those are the types of guys that teams will seek out after exhausting all of their other needs.

[brewerfan82]

I have a feeling there may be a couple reliever deals as soon as Lucroy is dealt. They may be holding onto them as options to add to that deal in the meantime.

[JohnBriggs12]

I had Lucroy, Torres, and Jeffress, so didn't miss by much.

 

Torres still looks like a logical guy to go in August along with Nieuwenhuis and maybe Boyer.

[And That]

I don't think Torres gets very far on the waiver wire, so I doubt he'll be traded. Still has a few years of team control left. Could be a good offseason trade piece, or hope he replicates his 2016, and could be a valuable deadline piece next year.

[LouisEly]

I think what we learned this year is that what is valued is great relievers/closers and not necessarily good relievers. What teams want is lights-out material for the 7th, 8th, and 9th. Good relievers like Torres aren't needed, but great relievers are.

[adambr2]

I think what we learned this year is that what is valued is great relievers/closers and not necessarily good relievers. What teams want is lights-out material for the 7th, 8th, and 9th. Good relievers like Torres aren't needed, but great relievers are.

 

I dunno. I don't know if Will Smith is 'great' but we sure got a great return.

 

But I get what you're saying. 'Guys' like Boyer, Marinez, Torres, without much of a great track record, don't give you much.

 

If Thornburg seizes the closers role, I'll think he'll be a valuable chip this time next year.

[And That]

I think what we learned this year is that what is valued is great relievers/closers and not necessarily good relievers. What teams want is lights-out material for the 7th, 8th, and 9th. Good relievers like Torres aren't needed, but great relievers are.

What teams also want is cheap talent. Torres isn't getting through waivers unless he has a crappy next few weeks.

[MNBrew]

I think what we learned this year is that what is valued is great relievers/closers and not necessarily good relievers. What teams want is lights-out material for the 7th, 8th, and 9th. Good relievers like Torres aren't needed, but great relievers are.

Funny how cyclical baseball can be. We're not far from a several-year stretch where, in the eyes of many, closers were "highly overvalued" and very highly overpaid. Many on this board talked regularly about how closers were interchangeable and how you really didn't even need one. When the Brewers lost Francisco Cordero to CIN on a 4yr/$48M FA contract, most were glad to see him go in spite of how generally good he was because of the AAV of that contract (it didn't hurt that he, like several FA SPs the Brewers subsequently signed, stunk terribly in the last year of that deal -- the trend had been there previously for FA catchers the Brewers signed, but that's a different discussion). Anyway, by then the mantra of "closers are highly overvalued" was oft-repeated. Fast-forward to this year & look at what was most coveted and paid the highest price for at the deadline: proven, elite relievers! We're not exactly back to where we started (contracts don't match those at the start of this cycle - not yet, anyway), but all of a sudden high-quality late-inning RPs are a must-have all over again - and worth a high price if you have to acquire one or have one to deal.

 

I don't believe the value of those guys to a team truly ever changed, only the widespread perception of their worth/value. I've said for many years that it was no accident that the original K-Rod acquisition put the Brewers over the top and into the playoffs from the time of his arrival in 2011. It helped align an already-good bullpen even better, with Saito & Hawkins for the 7th, K-Rod for the 8th, and Axford for the 9th. That bullpen shortened most Brewers games from that July onward to 6 innings before the bullpen would take over and close things out.

 

As a side note, I tend to think the reason Jeffress on his own didn't help net a Chapman- or Miller-esque return on top of what Lucroy netted isn't that he wasn't super good this year, but that didn't have the track record that Chapman & Miller did -- he didn't have significant longevity in the role going for him.

 

To Louis Ely's last sentence, I'd suggest that good relievers like Torres actually are quite needed, but at this year's deadline they weren't coveted like the elite relievers/top closers - who also fetched incredibly strong returns.

[MKE81]

Not only does Jeffress not have the track record of Chapman/Miller he's also nowhere near as talented. Jeffress is still very, very good though

[LouisEly]

To Louis Ely's last sentence, I'd suggest that good relievers like Torres actually are quite needed, but at this year's deadline they weren't coveted like the elite relievers/top closers - who also fetched incredibly strong returns.

This is a better way of saying what I meant - "coveted" and not "needed". Obviously they are needed, but I meant "needed to acquire" which means "coveted".

[MNBrew]

To Louis Ely's last sentence, I'd suggest that good relievers like Torres actually are quite needed, but at this year's deadline they weren't coveted like the elite relievers/top closers - who also fetched incredibly strong returns.

This is a better way of saying what I meant - "coveted" and not "needed". Obviously they are needed, but I meant "needed to acquire" which means "coveted".

I knew you weren't trying to trash Torres, etc., and I'm in full agreement. In past years, it was the Blaine Boyer & Carlos Torres types who got moved in pretty good quantities. This year, the market on those guys was very quiet, especially compared with previous years, and also especially compared to the movement of proven, elite relievers.

 

Hopefully the August transaction action on those types of players will be good -- partly because that's fun anyway, and also because it can positively divert a bit of the attention when needed from the on-field results during this rebuild.