Impulse Buys or Cheap Needs?

[rickh150]

Check out this article from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

 

Haudricourt: Brewers GM David Stearns stuck to team's trading strategy and avoided impulse buys

 

https://jsonl.in/2wvqMVK

 

I have a different take based on the low cost of some of the rentals going back in trades this year. We have HOLES in CF and 2B, and I have to read about how disciplined we are in not getting back something to fill these areas that won't come close to damaging a rebuild?

[3and2Fastball]

“We’re always going to have to balance near term with long term,” Stearns said. “That’s true now, it’s going to be true next year and it’s going to be true the year after that. Our goal here is to have a team that is in position for us to add at the deadline year after year after year."

 

I like that. I think the strategy they are using is smart. It is important to avoid being impulsive in judging the trade deadline. 3 years from now we can look back and see how valuable Brinson & Hader were in '18/'19/'20 and look and see how valuable Gray & Quintana were in those years too.... if we were two trades away from being in a position to blow out the Dodgers that'd be different, but we're not.... yet

[rickh150]

“We’re always going to have to balance near term with long term,” Stearns said. “That’s true now, it’s going to be true next year and it’s going to be true the year after that. Our goal here is to have a team that is in position for us to add at the deadline year after year after year."

 

I like that. I think the strategy they are using is smart. It is important to avoid being impulsive in judging the trade deadline. 3 years from now we can look back and see how valuable Brinson & Hader were in '18/'19/'20 and look and see how valuable Gray & Quintana were in those years too.... if we were two trades away from being in a position to blow out the Dodgers that'd be different, but we're not.... yet

 

If we are just going to dance around cheap, fixable problems at 2B and CF, why even bring Hader/Brinson up? Pretty near jerk reaction there, DS... zing. Coulda brought them up June 2018 to save a year of Arby's down the road.

[Never Outhustled]

Check out this article from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

 

Haudricourt: Brewers GM David Stearns stuck to team's trading strategy and avoided impulse buys

 

https://jsonl.in/2wvqMVK

 

I have a different take based on the low cost of some of the rentals going back in trades this year. We have HOLES in CF and 2B, and I have to read about how disciplined we are in not getting back something to fill these areas that won't come close to damaging a rebuild?

 

Perez is just as good as Kinsler. Broxton is just as good as Granderson. We need one more stud in the lineup, not just another mediocre guy.

[pacopete4]

Check out this article from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

 

Haudricourt: Brewers GM David Stearns stuck to team's trading strategy and avoided impulse buys

 

https://jsonl.in/2wvqMVK

 

I have a different take based on the low cost of some of the rentals going back in trades this year. We have HOLES in CF and 2B, and I have to read about how disciplined we are in not getting back something to fill these areas that won't come close to damaging a rebuild?

 

Perez is just as good as Kinsler. Broxton is just as good as Granderson. We need one more stud in the lineup, not just another mediocre guy.

 

Perez might be a little better with the bat right now but overall Kinsler might be better. Phillips might be an upgrade over both. IMO, Perez loses his value in any starting spot. He still doesn't get on base enough for that role and his versatility is huge for a bench.

 

Granderson is still way better than Broxton. Broxton doesn't get on base and he strikes out 40% of the time. He's just bad. Granderson would be a definite upgrade.

[JohnBriggs12]

Check out this article from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

 

Haudricourt: Brewers GM David Stearns stuck to team's trading strategy and avoided impulse buys

 

https://jsonl.in/2wvqMVK

 

I have a different take based on the low cost of some of the rentals going back in trades this year. We have HOLES in CF and 2B, and I have to read about how disciplined we are in not getting back something to fill these areas that won't come close to damaging a rebuild?

 

Perez is just as good as Kinsler. Broxton is just as good as Granderson. We need one more stud in the lineup, not just another mediocre guy.

 

 

In a stretch where every game is meaningful guys like Perez and Broxton can feel the pressure and not perform to their normal levels. This team could certainly use another vet who's been through it. The acquisition of Vogt didn't mean they were giving up on Bandy but they knew his experience was valuable. Same goes for a guy like Granderson or a Phillips. It's a race to the finish line now. It's not development time.

[Boomer5]

"Our goal here is to have a team that is in position for us to add at the deadline year after year after year."

 

This is one of those empty statements that at this point is almost a parody of what a leader should say. Of course that's the goal. That's everyone's goal. But how often do you have a year when most players are having career years while the entire division has fallen way short of expectations?

 

Being able to add is one thing. Being in a postion where adding would matter and it being a buyers market at the same time is quite rare. Take advantage. Or in his words, leverage the market inefficiency.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Granderson would be a clear upgrade over Broxton at this point. Even just using the numbers, he'd probably be a full win over a third of a season.

 

Kinsler and Perez might be a wash, but Perez has value being able to play everywhere. If you nail him down to 2B, he loses some of his value.

 

Phillips isn't as good defensively as he used to be, and I don't know if he's an actual upgrade over Perez. I'd rather have Kinsler.

[Ennder]

I can't read the article because jsonline is terrible. We can still trade for Kinsler if we want to. Broxton and Granderson are pretty close to a wash and at the deadline we still had Brinson in the mix. I don't really think Granderson does much other than adding a lefty bat. I mean I wouldn't be against them getting him but I wouldn't pay anything at all for him.

[superfly]

"Our goal here is to have a team that is in position for us to add at the deadline year after year after year."

 

This is one of those empty statements that at this point is almost a parody of what a leader should say. Of course that's the goal. That's everyone's goal. But how often do you have a year when most players are having career years while the entire division has fallen way short of expectations?

 

Being able to add is one thing. Being in a postion where adding would matter and it being a buyers market at the same time is quite rare. Take advantage. Or in his words, leverage the market inefficiency.

 

Just like those empty statements when the deadline expired of "We were in discussions with teams for position players and pitchers" blah blah blah. Placating the fans until/unless the make a deal.

[adambr2]

"Our goal here is to have a team that is in position for us to add at the deadline year after year after year."

 

This is one of those empty statements that at this point is almost a parody of what a leader should say. Of course that's the goal. That's everyone's goal. But how often do you have a year when most players are having career years while the entire division has fallen way short of expectations?

 

Being able to add is one thing. Being in a postion where adding would matter and it being a buyers market at the same time is quite rare. Take advantage. Or in his words, leverage the market inefficiency.

 

Just like those empty statements when the deadline expired of "We were in discussions with teams for position players and pitchers" blah blah blah. Placating the fans until/unless the make a deal.

 

What is he supposed to say? "Yeah, we almost had Quintana, and we almost had Gray, and this is what we were offering."

 

We did leverage the market inefficiency on rentals by adding Swarzak. That was a pretty important need.

 

Other than that, I don't know what you want. Adding another mediocre bat like Granderson isn't going to get everyone out of their funk. Our starting pitching since the deadline has been phenomenal; adding Gray or Quintana wouldn't have made a bit of difference right now.

 

They have stayed within a half game despite the storm. They do need to weigh both the present and future.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'll agree that I'm glad he didn't go after the big names or even the 2nd tier names, but looking at what those guys got I'm thinking upgrades at our 2B/CF black hole would have been pretty cheap and not effected our future in any way.

[Humans Need Water]

You're all talking about a guy who, in less than 2yrs, made the MLB team competitive for a division title while turning the farm from a bottom feeder to a top 5 (prior to Arcia/Hader being up) without making one irrational, illogical, emotional move. What you're discussing day in and day out on here is typically the opposite of that.

 

This board called Guerra the ace in March, wanted Santana out of the lineup at the end of April, Arcia in AAA in May, Davies out of the rotation in June, Garza never in the rotation to begin with then wanted a rotation arm at the deadline because we desperately needed one (the rotation has been this team's strength for several weeks now).

 

The pen has always been the biggest issue and he brought up Hader then added Swarzak and Jeffress at the deadline. He made this team better.

 

Please proceed....

[splitterpfj]

Fair enough, I'll proceed ....

 

The Brewers should pursue a trade for a second baseman, if there's one they can get without giving up a significant prospect.

 

In CF, at least there's a chance Broxton gets hot, or Brinson or Phillips do - at second base, I have no faith that Sogard or Villar will get it done - barring using Perez there, and thereby messing up the bench, I'd like to see a deal for a second baseman, and I would consider immediately to be an acceptable timeframe.

[Never Outhustled]

Check out this article from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

 

Haudricourt: Brewers GM David Stearns stuck to team's trading strategy and avoided impulse buys

 

https://jsonl.in/2wvqMVK

 

I have a different take based on the low cost of some of the rentals going back in trades this year. We have HOLES in CF and 2B, and I have to read about how disciplined we are in not getting back something to fill these areas that won't come close to damaging a rebuild?

 

Perez is just as good as Kinsler. Broxton is just as good as Granderson. We need one more stud in the lineup, not just another mediocre guy.

 

Perez might be a little better with the bat right now but overall Kinsler might be better. Phillips might be an upgrade over both. IMO, Perez loses his value in any starting spot. He still doesn't get on base enough for that role and his versatility is huge for a bench.

 

Granderson is still way better than Broxton. Broxton doesn't get on base and he strikes out 40% of the time. He's just bad. Granderson would be a definite upgrade.

 

Granderson has lost it defensively. Any boost we gain with the bat is negated in the field. Broxton could get hot at the plate, but Granderson cannot physically get hot in the field.

[KeithStone53151]

 

Perez is just as good as Kinsler. Broxton is just as good as Granderson. We need one more stud in the lineup, not just another mediocre guy.

 

Perez might be a little better with the bat right now but overall Kinsler might be better. Phillips might be an upgrade over both. IMO, Perez loses his value in any starting spot. He still doesn't get on base enough for that role and his versatility is huge for a bench.

 

Granderson is still way better than Broxton. Broxton doesn't get on base and he strikes out 40% of the time. He's just bad. Granderson would be a definite upgrade.

 

Granderson has lost it defensively. Any boost we gain with the bat is negated in the field. Broxton could get hot at the plate, but Granderson cannot physically get hot in the field.

 

That is the biggest thing for me as well. How much has Granderson lost defensively? That should be factored in. I think having the plus defense in CF outweighs the modest increase Granderson offers in offensive production. If you look at Granderson's number this year, they are not all that great. The OPS is decent, but he's only hitting 225 and his OPS is not that much greater than Broxton. You could talk me into adding Granderson to the roster as a 4th OF type, and sending Sogard back to AAA. He could get a couple starts a week and PH(which he has excelled at this year). The cost would have to be extremely minimal obviously from a prospect standpoint. Something similar to what we sent to Texas. We'd be on the hook for a portion of his $15 million this year, so us paying that down should be worth it enough for them to move him. Sogard has cooled off and doesn't belong on the active roster currently, so we don't currently have a quality LH bat off the bench most days. Sogard getting sent down/cut is more of a WHEN not IF.

 

Kinsler I'm less on board with. I think the Granderson move makes more sense. Perez has been heating up of late and can fill that spot. I think you have Perez play 2b most days and hope he stays hot the rest of the season. Plus I'm not sure how you create a spot for Kinsler if you make the Granderson move without going down to a 12 man pen.

[TJseven7]

But how often do you have a year when most players are having career years

 

Can someone please explain why people keep saying this?

 

Arcia santana are young and maturing

Shaw has shown he's capable of this is sections and put it all together so far but theres nothing saying he can't repeat this.

Villar vogt bandy braun broxton brinson phillips are not.

This is thames aguilars 1st year

 

Sogard Pina.... ok you got me.

 

Nelson changed his mechanics and its made him this. Why is that vanishing?

Anderson has improved over time as well. Why is that vanishing?

Davies career year... he did this last year too.

Guerra peralta espino... no.

Suter took over for anderson and kept Andersons numbers going. It's a bonus or a wash if anderson stays healthy... whatever way you want to take that.

Corey... possible also possible he's blosdomed into this.

The rest of the pen.... swarzak who we just got sure! and no one else is close to a career year.

 

Garza...ok you got me again.

 

So this spree of career years is due to Pina, a period of Sogards season, Garza and just overall negativity towards the team?

 

This over performing career year talk is very confusing to me. Yeah projections didn't see some guys maturing as fast or fixing their mechanics... get over it. Projections miss.

[owbc]

We all know what we're getting with Stearns this year, it seems like beating a dead horse to discuss it further.

 

The more interesting point is that they will always stick to the plan, which means this thread might come up again in 2019 or 2020 if a hypothetical first-place Brewers team mimics the 2017 Astros and does nothing at the trade deadline. Presumably the Astros didn't make any trades for similar reasons--not willing to sacrifice the future even though they are the best team in the AL this year. This decision might end up being the right one for the long haul, but it didn't come without complaints including very harsh public criticism from Dallas Keuchel.

 

It seems like the Astros went after Britton but found the price too high. In retrospect, the trade that the Brewers made for Swarzak would have looked great for the Astros, especially considering how well Swarzak has performed so far.

[Ennder]

They won't always stick to the plan. This is just not the year for the Brewers to make impact moves. The Dodgers and Nationals are too far ahead of us in talent. If we wanted to be serious World Series contenders this year we would have to trade away multiple major pieces. Trading guys who might be rule 5 guys for fringe players is fine but one or two more fringe players isn't going to save the offense. The guys who have been good in the past just need to start hitting again.

[82brewcrew82]

This board called Guerra the ace in March, wanted Santana out of the lineup at the end of April, Arcia in AAA in May, Davies out of the rotation in June, Garza never in the rotation to begin with then wanted a rotation arm at the deadline because we desperately needed one (the rotation has been this team's strength for several weeks now).

 

And this is the reason Stearns is the GM and the folks on are.., well, not. You can add Nelson to the list as most were reluctant to give him a starting spot out of spring training. I don't remember a strong furor over the possibility that Villar would fall this far. Where would this team be if each of those things had come to fruition when the popular opinion was to do so? It just proves that Stearns is really, really good at his job and most of us would pretty much suck at his job. You can't be a GM and react emotionally.

[rickh150]

This board called Guerra the ace in March, wanted Santana out of the lineup at the end of April, Arcia in AAA in May, Davies out of the rotation in June, Garza never in the rotation to begin with then wanted a rotation arm at the deadline because we desperately needed one (the rotation has been this team's strength for several weeks now).

 

And this is the reason Stearns is the GM and the folks on are.., well, not. You can add Nelson to the list as most were reluctant to give him a starting spot out of spring training. I don't remember a strong furor over the possibility that Villar would fall this far. Where would this team be if each of those things had come to fruition when the popular opinion was to do so? It just proves that Stearns is really, really good at his job and most of us would pretty much suck at his job. You can't be a GM and react emotionally.

 

 

Agreed..... Stearns has been good. We are glad that we have him.

Yet, there Seems to be a lot of OF and bullpen shuffling going on... can't believe emotions aren't involved there (most I'm ok with). If you believe roster stability is a key to being a good GM, then Stearns wouldn't be your guy. Seems every other day a roster move is being made. Look, We have a fairly deep group; some of the popular moves to get guys out of the lineup/rotation might have been the better move at the time. Some guys also stunk it up royally before being sent down, and one (Villar) is seemingly stuck here til 2018.

[FVBrewerFan]

Yet, there Seems to be a lot of OF and bullpen shuffling going on... can't believe emotions aren't involved there (most I'm ok with). If you believe roster stability is a key to being a good GM, then Stearns wouldn't be your guy.

 

Why do you think emotion is involved? When it becomes obvious to Stearns a reliever stinks, they get replaced. Other huge part of it is managing guys who have options vs those who don't. I don't see how any emotion is involved with any of that.

 

And no, I could care less about roster stability- especially now. They are rebuilding, and that means taking a look at a lot of players.

[82brewcrew82]

This board called Guerra the ace in March, wanted Santana out of the lineup at the end of April, Arcia in AAA in May, Davies out of the rotation in June, Garza never in the rotation to begin with then wanted a rotation arm at the deadline because we desperately needed one (the rotation has been this team's strength for several weeks now).

 

And this is the reason Stearns is the GM and the folks on are.., well, not. You can add Nelson to the list as most were reluctant to give him a starting spot out of spring training. I don't remember a strong furor over the possibility that Villar would fall this far. Where would this team be if each of those things had come to fruition when the popular opinion was to do so? It just proves that Stearns is really, really good at his job and most of us would pretty much suck at his job. You can't be a GM and react emotionally.

 

 

Agreed..... Stearns has been good. We are glad that we have him.

Yet, there Seems to be a lot of OF and bullpen shuffling going on... can't believe emotions aren't involved there (most I'm ok with). If you believe roster stability is a key to being a good GM, then Stearns wouldn't be your guy. Seems every other day a roster move is being made. Look, We have a fairly deep group; some of the popular moves to get guys out of the lineup/rotation might have been the better move at the time. Some guys also stunk it up royally before being sent down, and one (Villar) is seemingly stuck here til 2018.

 

No, I'm pretty convinced that everything Stearns does is shrewd and calculated. I think him not making a stupid deadline trade is pretty fair evidence that he is not operating under any emotional need to react.

 

The roster churn angle is a new one on me. I think the idea that a team has a set starting 8 is pretty antiquated. Almost every roster features positional flexibility and every team seems to have their fair share of churn. I'd expect a building team to have more.

[adambr2]

Really not sure where the roster instability theory is coming from. We have been almost entirely stable at every position besides CF and 2B. Broxton hasn't built on his 2nd half last year as hoped, but he's not the awful black hole that people like to make him out to be. Brinson and Phillips unfortunately haven't shown readiness to produce at the MLB level, yet.

 

Villar has been pretty bad, but they did a good job calling up the right guy in Sogard and taking advantage of his bat while it lasted, which unfortunately looks to be gone now. But coming into the year, given how good Villar was, we appeared to be well set at 2nd.

 

The rotation has been rock solid. There hasn't been much instability there in months, other than Guerra being demoted which I think we can all understand. Any other instability has simply been the result of injuries.

 

The most unstable part of the team has beem the pen, for obvious reasons, and I think most are in favor of the roster churn there.