Stearns' deadline approach

[brewtank34]

Moderators feel free to lock this if necessary as I was unable to locate the thread regarding our opinions on David Sterns.

I was wondering if there has been any chatter or opinions on David Sterns and the ongoing reports that his asking prices are too high for our players. With the example of Rodney recently getting dealt to the Marlins, and the reports of the prospect dealt was on the table for Jeffress but that DS's asking price was prospect ++....I'm worried that this is just another example of DS asking too much for our players and we'll lose out of some potential nice trades because the other GM's are thinking...."Who the heck does this rookie think he is driving up the price tag on me?! I'm not going to deal with no matter what."

 

I hope I'm way off base here but I just have this feeling that there are some more established GM's in the league the may be feeling this way towards DS. Other examples are his asking prices being extremely high for Lucroy. I personally like the fact that he's holding his ground and not being taken advantage of by other GM's, but again, just worry that he's sending the wrong vibes towards other GM's.

 

Thoughts?

[BrewCrewBlueDevil]

The trade deadline is well over two weeks away. I think Sterns is holding out for the best deals and is willing to go down to the wire. In a worse case scenario Jeffress, Smith and LuCroy get traded over the winter or are on next years roster. All are affordable in 2017 and make the team better. I for one am not looking forward to seeing Martin Maldanado catch four times a week or watching Thornburg or Boyer close out a ball game. Let the bidding begin!

[FVBrewerFan]

First of all, it's Stearns. ; )

 

I don't see any signs of teams not willing to work with him, heck he just got a deal done with the Red Sox. Several others during the off-season.

 

The fact he asked for more for Jeffress is a good sign in my opinion. He should be worth more than Rodney. I've said it several times, but I don't believe Stearns is too stubborn to take a good deal. It doesn't have to be perfect, just fair enough to pull the trigger. And that's how it's supposed to work.

 

Like it or not, these deals usually go down at the deadline. We ask for your patience.

[brewtank34]

First of all, it's Stearns. ; )

 

I don't see any signs of teams not willing to work with him, heck he just got a deal done with the Red Sox. Several others during the off-season.

 

The fact he asked for more for Jeffress is a good sign in my opinion. He should be worth more than Rodney. I've said it several times, but I don't believe Stearns is too stubborn to take a good deal. It doesn't have to be perfect, just fair enough to pull the trigger. And that's how it's supposed to work.

 

Like it or not, these deals usually go down at the deadline. We ask for your patience.

 

Works for me.

[Boomer5]

Stearns has certainly made a lot of moves so teams dont mind working with him.

 

Most of his moves in the offseason and with Hill to Boston (Villar move aside, that was a great trade) seem to be more the churning type rather than the blockbuster Melvin made with the Astros last year.

 

It makes sense he sets his price high with assets as big as Braun and Lucroy, and to a certain degree with Smith and JJ.

[MrTPlush]

Wait to freak out till the evening of August 1st. Till then sit back,grabs beer, and wait.

[pacopete4]

Judging a guy who still hasn't been out GM for a year yet is probably not needed. It's going to take time, years, for anyone to have a fair assessment on what he's done.

[JohnBriggs12]

There's been nothing earth shattering either way with Stearns yet. The jury's out on a lot of his moves. The jury's even still out on the Villar trade until we see what Sneed turns into. Carter signing was a definite positive for him. Broxton looks like a swing and miss (pun intended) but Rogers is back in AAA too. I still think the Davis trade was a year early and return a little light though we won't know for a few more seasons there either.

 

I see nothing wrong with driving a hard bargain for premier players because you rarely if ever get back anything close to value to your franchise that those players have provided. In the long run, even if he holds on to Lucroy because offers weren't strong, and settles for draft pick compensation after 2017, he will have shown teams that he's prepared to go all the way to FA or the final months before FA with a player rather than give him away for less than he's worth. In future years with other players, that strengthens his hand. Teams are undoubtedly testing him now, throwing weak offers out there thinking this inexperienced GM will eventually panic and take them. I hope not. Those kind of offers will likely be out there a year from now.

[BuckyBrewer61]

Wait to freak out till the evening of August 1st. Till then sit back,grabs beer, and wait.

 

Ah the life of a Brewers fan, where the season peaks in July while we wait and hope we trade our best players.

[monty57]

This is an interesting year, because the only situations I can think of where we traded our best player were Sexson and Greinke, and it's arguable whether Greinke was our best player.

 

I'm all for trading Lucroy because he's a FA after next year, and I don't think we'll be good next year, so trade him while he has the most value. I'm also up for trading Braun, but only if they can get good players back for him. Again, I don't think we'll be good next year even with him, and age/injury will probably start to slow him down by the end of the contract, so if we can get some good prospects for him, I'd trade him.

 

I'm a little less on board with those who want to trade everyone who has value. I think we will probably trade a reliever, but we'd better get a great offer, as we have the valuable guys under team control for years. I'd have no problem if we hold onto all of Thornburg, Jeffress and Smith if there aren't "blow me away" offers for them. I also wouldn't mind holding onto Carter, as we don't have anyone else at first base, and I don't think we'd bring back anything substantial for him. With the exception of Garza, I hope we don't trade any of our starting pitchers, as we will need a rotation next year, and I doubt we'd get more for any of them right now than we'd get a year from now.

 

If Stearns trades Lucroy and Braun, we will not be good, but we will at least have the early foundation of a team, and our current farm plus the guys we'd get back in trade should allow us to start building on that foundation, getting out of the downward swing and into the upward swing of the rebuild. Trading those two doesn't mean we should give up everyone. That could lead to some really bad times.

[MadThinker88]

Stearns has been doing a solid job so far. Some moves have already paid off handsomely (Villar, Carter, Segura) others are too soon to tell (Lind, Hill).

 

That said this period leading up to the trade deadline is very important. The "tear down" of the major league team is not yet complete and properly finishing it will give the Crew a great chance of keeping the rebuild to 5 years and not stretching into 7 or more years...

Threading water is not in anyone's interest and with the structure and strength in this Divison (Cubs, Cards, Pirates), incomplete tasks will lead to problems later..

I give him the benefit of doubt at this point but will be watching closely and keeping the fingers crossed.

[MilwaukeeBeers]

Can't think of a move that has absolutely blown up in his face. So he gets a grade A from me especially with how many deals he has swung. However, I am in the tanking boat so we'll see how successful this deadline will be for him in regards to that. I do respect that he sticks to his price... sets a great precedent for future deals.

[paul253]

Still an incomplete. Most of the major leaguers he has acquired have been "blah". Villar has been good but Anderson, Flores, Broxton have all been disappointing. The prospects have been ok like Diaz, Nottingham and Peralta. But obviously time will tell on them.

 

The real key is Lucroy because that move could make or break this franchise for a few years. If he gets two or three legit high end prospects then it'll be a job well done. If his asking price is too high and he walks away with a comp pick for Licroy that will be a major fail.

[BuckyBrewer61]

Still an incomplete. Most of the major leaguers he has acquired have been "blah". Villar has been good but Anderson, Flores, Broxton have all been disappointing. The prospects have been ok like Diaz, Nottingham and Peralta. But obviously time will tell on them.

 

Certainly an incomplete, but you're forgetting his biggest acquisitions in Santana, Phillips, and Hader (and hopefully Houser too?). Also, Anderson was always just going to be a stopgap pitcher for the rebuilding years, and look at the stats of who we gave up for Flores, Supak (who has done well in limited innings), and Broxton - Sardinas has somehow been even worse than Flores, and Jason Rogers has spent most of the year in AAA while doing nothing of value for PIT.

 

Again, much more time is needed, but I'd say early returns on Stearns' deals are promising.

[MilwaukeesBest]

Still an incomplete. Most of the major leaguers he has acquired have been "blah". Villar has been good but Anderson, Flores, Broxton have all been disappointing. The prospects have been ok like Diaz, Nottingham and Peralta. But obviously time will tell on them.

 

Certainly an incomplete, but you're forgetting his biggest acquisitions in Santana, Phillips, and Hader (and hopefully Houser too?). Also, Anderson was always just going to be a stopgap pitcher for the rebuilding years, and look at the stats of who we gave up for Flores, Supak (who has done well in limited innings), and Broxton - Sardinas has somehow been even worse than Flores, and Jason Rogers has spent most of the year in AAA while doing nothing of value for PIT.

 

Again, much more time is needed, but I'd say early returns on Stearns' deals are promising.

 

Santana, Phillips, Hader, and Houser were all acquired by Doug Melvin. In fact, if you really want to start splitting hairs, you could say he was a lead in acquiring Gomez and Fiers for Houston as he was the Assistant GM at that time. I think it's best for the sake of this argument to keep it to Milwaukee transactions.

[BuckyBrewer61]

Whoops, yep you're right

[Boomer5]

The team has pretty much treaded water and has lived off Braun and Luc for the most part.

 

We will find out what Stearns is or is not with the Luc trade.

 

But to the OP, MLB teams seem to like dealing with Stearns based off the fairly large number of trades he has made in his short time.

[brewmann04]

we see maybe by Aug 1 or then we wait till the offseason.

[gregmag]

As everybody is saying, there are a lot of judgments we won't be able to make for a while. If you grade transactions by ultimate productivity, that information obviously isn't available yet.

 

Without arguing which kind of analysis is more important, we can make certain present judgments about a GM's approach. Thinking about Stearns' transactions right now, I'm a fan. I'm a big advocate of diversification in any uncertain process. Stearns has taken a very diverse approach to transactions. He trades for players up and down the range of ages and levels. He isn't afraid to deal younger players for slightly older ones (Villar, Flores). He'll take on salary to get the prospect he wants in the right deal (Hill). He shops not just his obvious trade assets but also less obvious ones (Rogers). Without making stupid, big-splash free agent signings, he bargain shops the major league free agent market (Carter). He mines nuggets (Guerra).

 

Not one of his transactions looks bad so far. Would anyone here trade Freddy Peralta for Adam Lind right now? How about Peralta plus the other two guys we got? Maybe Cy Sneed emerges as a star, but Jonathan Villar is playing close to that level already, and he's only 1.5 years older than Sneed. Maybe Jean Segura has a great career, but I don't know a single person here who didn't want to deal him last winter. Stearns turned 2015 Segura, plus some cash and a 25 year-old with a so-so minor league K rate, into two (one soon-to-be) MLB rotation experiments and two well-regarded (one very well-regarded) middle infield prospects. He traded Khris Davis after his strong age-27 season, which right now looks like an outlier among his full MLB seasons (OPS+ 2014-2016: 106, 123, 103).

 

Maybe some of these deals go south long term. But Stearns' approach, judged from the present, looks to me like a smart one.

[Ennder]

I really like what Stearn's has done so far. It is too early to see the results of the trades but I think that is a bad way to look at things anyway. The process can be great and still have bad results it doesn't make the process bad.

[trwi7]

Broxton looks like a swing and miss (pun intended) but Rogers is back in AAA too. I still think the Davis trade was a year early and return a little light though we won't know for a few more seasons there either.

 

Broxton wasn't the key piece in the Rogers trade, Supak was. Broxton was a throw in who maybe turns into something. Davis has been horrible this year.

[MrTPlush]

Broxton looks like a swing and miss (pun intended) but Rogers is back in AAA too. I still think the Davis trade was a year early and return a little light though we won't know for a few more seasons there either.

 

Broxton wasn't the key piece in the Rogers trade, Supak was. Broxton was a throw in who maybe turns into something. Davis has been horrible this year.

 

Horrible may be a little harsh. After his rough start he rebounded nicely in May/June. Not what the Athletics were hoping for, but then again it has been half a season. They still have 3.5 years left of control

[adambr2]

Khris Davis is the Chris Carter of the outfield. Below average defense, great power, and not much else. Actually, at least Carter can draw a walk.

 

If Nottingham can stick at catcher, this trade will be a win. I don't think Davis has added any trade value since April.

[BuckyBrewer61]

Broxton wasn't the key piece in the Rogers trade, Supak was.

 

Was Supak hurt to start the year? Couldn't find info on it. Looks like he just started playing again in late June. Very small sample size (5G, 18 IP) but decent results so far (1.50 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 14K/3BB)

[homer]

In retrospect it's kind of obvious that Davis was not a Stearns guy just because he can only play left field and only bat right handed. If he was a switch hitter or had the arm to play right he might still be on the team.