Indians acquire Jay Bruce

[Brewcrewin07]

 

Meanwhile, DS sits idly by and watches this punchless offense flail away in the middle of a pennant race. Don't tell me guys aren't out there to acquire right now either. August deals almost never require major prospects either.

[MrTPlush]

Where was Jay Bruce going to play?

[OnaBadger58]

Where was Jay Bruce going to play?

Their corner fielders are Almonte, Guyer, and Austin Jackson. So, in the outfield.

[MilwaukeesBest]

Where was Jay Bruce going to play?

Their corner fielders are Almonte, Guyer, and Austin Jackson. So, in the outfield.

 

Not his question. He'd slot right in to our open DH spot

[OnaBadger58]

Reading is tough. Yeah, not taking games from Santana or Braun.

[jerichoholicninja]

Bruce has played a bit of 1B and Braun is good for missing random weeks all the time. If all it took was some random no name minor leaguer I don't see why not make a deal. You can figure out the playing time later.

[OnaBadger58]

Bruce has played a bit of 1B and Braun is good for missing random weeks all the time. If all it took was some random no name minor leaguer I don't see why not make a deal. You can figure out the playing time later.

He's played 14 games in his career at 1B and has 4 errors. He's strictly a corner OF

[adambr2]

To echo what others have said, Bruce is strictly limited to the corners. He isn't going to start over Santana and as long as Braun stays healthy (knock on wood), he isn't going to start for him either.

 

Obviously this was strictly a salary dump for the Mets, but no matter how little you have to give up in terms of players/prospects, doesn't make much business sense to pay $4.2M for less than 2 months for a player to sit on your bench. You'd basically have to split the playing time evenly 3 ways (2/3, 2/3, 2/3) to justify it, and at the end of the day would that really make us any better l?

 

Good deal for the Indians, wouldn't make much sense for us.

[Ennder]

These posts are getting just silly at this point. Jay Bruce isn't worth anything to this team. The Brewers are not pushing for the playoffs right now, just learn to live with it. There is almost nothing worth giving away to try to push for an unlikely division win just to lose in round 1 of the playoffs. This is not a contending team for the World Series and there are no moves that DS can make that turns it into one without heavily mortgaging the future. The only reason the Indians even made this move is because Brantley got hurt and their OF wasn't amazing pre injury.

 

A bad GM makes these types of moves with this roster and that isn't what we have right now.

 

To put something into perspective lets look at the Dodgers roster vs us at each position and which team has the advantage.

 

C - Dodgers

1B - Dodgers

2B - Dodgers

SS - Dodgers

3B - Push

LF - Brewers

CF - Push

RF - Brewers by a tiny bit

Bench - Dodgers

 

SP1 - Dodgers

SP2 - Dodgers

SP3 - Dodgers

SP4 - Dodgers

SP5 - Dodgers

CL - Dodgers

RP1 - Push

RP2 - Dodgers

RP3 - Dodgers

 

 

You could do the same with the Nationals and it would look much the same. This Brewers team is 4 or 5 guys away from really being a competitive playoff team. Not one marginal guy.

[Boomer5]

Fangraphs has us as the 5th worst roster in the game going forward. Pretty much we have been in the bottom 5 all year long.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=23

 

Our guys way over achieved and while it was fun to watch, it was fools gold. To compound the problem, we have a lot of guys that are ok, but not great or even good. So other than 2B and CF, we really don't have a black hole where a guy like Bruce can fit and be enough of an upgrade to spark this team.

[CheezWizHed]

[sarcasm]If Kotsay could play CF, I think Bruce could... Or maybe try him at 2B. He has zero career errors there.[/sarcasm]

[monty57]

I wouldn't call this year "fool's gold." I thought going in that they could be a .500 team, and that's pretty much where they are. The reason they're in the playoff hunt is that the Cubs seriously under-performed their expectations. There has been a lot to like about the Brewers this year, and they have shown that they are probably going to be in the playoff picture sooner than most would've guessed.

 

That said, I think Stearns was prudent this trading season. He shored up the bullpen without giving up too much, and held back when the price tag for the bigger pieces got too big. Bruce wouldn't have helped us, but I'd guess that if there is a 2B sitting out there to be had for nothing more than salary relief, we'll try to get him.

 

We have a much better picture of what needs to be done now than we had six months ago. I have no doubt that Stearns will make some moves this offseason and those moves, along with our young guys getting a year older, will make us a more talented team next year than we are this year.

 

Until then, let's hope the guys we have can remember that they are decent hitters, and that the Cubs continue to stumble. We can still win this division.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I think there's a very definite fallacy to think that Stearns is being "idle" just because he doesn't go out and get a player or players that we want him to get.

 

Just because he's not getting the players doesn't mean he's idle. I think it's fair to say he's been very active searching for deals and seeing what's available, probing for the cost of those vets and such. Just because he doesn't pull the trigger is not an indication of activity.

[JosephC]

Chances are pretty good that Stearns would make a deal if he could get a second baseman/leadoff hitter or centerfielder/leadoff hitter for the same price that the Indians paid for Bruce.

 

Bruce has been a productive player this year but is a free agent at season's end and the Mets save 3.7 million in this transaction. Apparently there are a lot of New York fans that aren't pleased about this because the Yankees made a better offer in terms of prospects but wanted the Mets to eat the rest of Bruce's contract, but the Mets decided to take Ryder Ryan because Cleveland was willing to take on the 3.7 million dollars. Pretty amazing that these big market teams will quibble about a few million dollars after most of them end up wasting 10's of millions on bad, long-term deals.

[monty57]

Chances are pretty good that Stearns would make a deal if he could get a second baseman/leadoff hitter or centerfielder/leadoff hitter for the same price that the Indians paid for Bruce.

 

Bruce has been a productive player this year but is a free agent at season's end and the Mets save 3.7 million in this transaction. Apparently there are a lot of New York fans that aren't pleased about this because the Yankees made a better offer in terms of prospects but wanted the Mets to eat the rest of Bruce's contract, but the Mets decided to take Ryder Ryan because Cleveland was willing to take on the 3.7 million dollars. Pretty amazing that these big market teams will quibble about a few million dollars after most of them end up wasting 10's of millions on bad, long-term deals.

 

The Mets' owners lost a bundle in the Madoff deal, so a few million to them is probably substantial.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

 

Meanwhile, DS sits idly by and watches this punchless offense flail away in the middle of a pennant race. Don't tell me guys aren't out there to acquire right now either. August deals almost never require major prospects either.

 

At least the Packers start their preseason schedule tonight. Enjoy the game!

[Thurston Fluff]

These posts are getting just silly at this point. Jay Bruce isn't worth anything to this team. The Brewers are not pushing for the playoffs right now, just learn to live with it. There is almost nothing worth giving away to try to push for an unlikely division win just to lose in round 1 of the playoffs. This is not a contending team for the World Series and there are no moves that DS can make that turns it into one without heavily mortgaging the future. The only reason the Indians even made this move is because Brantley got hurt and their OF wasn't amazing pre injury.

 

A bad GM makes these types of moves with this roster and that isn't what we have right now.

 

To put something into perspective lets look at the Dodgers roster vs us at each position and which team has the advantage.

 

C - Dodgers

1B - Dodgers

2B - Dodgers

SS - Dodgers

3B - Push

LF - Brewers

CF - Push

RF - Brewers by a tiny bit

Bench - Dodgers

 

SP1 - Dodgers

SP2 - Dodgers

SP3 - Dodgers

SP4 - Dodgers

SP5 - Dodgers

CL - Dodgers

RP1 - Push

RP2 - Dodgers

RP3 - Dodgers

 

 

You could do the same with the Nationals and it would look much the same. This Brewers team is 4 or 5 guys away from really being a competitive playoff team. Not one marginal guy.

 

Not to pick on you specifically for this but I just don't understand why people keep saying if we make the playoffs we have no chance against the any of the other teams. The Cardinals won a World Series with an 83 win team and Jeff freaking Suppan as their ace in the hole. They also beat the Brewers who were the better team a few years later. I think if you go back and look at playoff history you will find a lot of teams that make a deep run that do not have the best overall talent. It is fairly common for lesser teams to beat better teams in both the regular season and the playoffs. Then there is the fact that player roles, especially on the pitching side, change in the post season. You need three, maybe four, starters instead of five. That makes your bullpen longer. For a team who's pen is thin that is huge. It takes a shorter staff to win when there is no worry about tomorrow, let alone the next couple months. There is also something to be said for teams like the Brewers who seem to be more or less feast or famine on offense. If guys like Broxton and Thames get on one of their hot streaks they can carry a team for an entire series. Once teams get to the playoffs everything changes. While the odds might still be against us it isn't like we'd only have a 5% chance to win a series. I'm just guessing but I'd say it would be at least 30%, possibly higher.

[Humans Need Water]

Fangraphs has us as the 5th worst roster in the game going forward. Pretty much we have been in the bottom 5 all year long.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=23

 

Our guys way over achieved and while it was fun to watch, it was fools gold. To compound the problem, we have a lot of guys that are ok, but not great or even good. So other than 2B and CF, we really don't have a black hole where a guy like Bruce can fit and be enough of an upgrade to spark this team.

It's only fools gold if you can't see the actual talent/ability these players have. The offense has hit a massive rough stretch going on 3+ weeks now due to inconsistency. Some guys will hit while others won't then it'll flip flop but it all amounts to guys getting on base but not getting that clutch hit to drive them in. They've also had plenty of games where they've hit the ball hard and had good ABs but nothing is coming of it. It is what it is. There's only so much you can do as a player - if you square up the ball you did your job as you can't control what happens once the ball leaves the bat.

 

Again, Stearns knows what the price is for Kinsler/Phillips/Granderson/etc. If he's not comfortable giving up what we'd need to then he's not going to pull the trigger. He also believes in this team that they can turn it around as a collective offensive unit and start putting runs up again.

[StearnsFTW]

Yeah, I'm so sad we missed out on Jay Bruce.

 

Such a strange thing to complain about considering there's nowhere to play him.

[JohnBriggs12]

For the next 6 weeks I'd take my chances with Bruce over either Braun or Santana. What have either Braun or Santana done the last few weeks?

[reillymcshane]

For the next 6 weeks I'd take my chances with Bruce over either Braun or Santana. What have either Braun or Santana done the last few weeks?

Ryan Braun has hit .333 over the last 21 days.

[chuckiehacks]

For the next 6 weeks I'd take my chances with Bruce over either Braun or Santana. What have either Braun or Santana done the last few weeks?

 

Huh? Last 6 weeks (since July 1)

 

Braun - 300/374/570

Santana - 294/380/487

Bruce - 228/273/491

 

Just for fun, your other man-crush Denard Span - 213/267/352

[pacopete4]

Man Briggs, do some reasearch before posting. Not a good look for ya.

[tmwiese55]

And Braun's been doing that with bad luck. He's been smoking the ball, that average should actually be even higher without some of those great hits that ended up as outs.

[Boomer5]

Fangraphs has us as the 5th worst roster in the game going forward. Pretty much we have been in the bottom 5 all year long.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=23

 

Our guys way over achieved and while it was fun to watch, it was fools gold. To compound the problem, we have a lot of guys that are ok, but not great or even good. So other than 2B and CF, we really don't have a black hole where a guy like Bruce can fit and be enough of an upgrade to spark this team.

It's only fools gold if you can't see the actual talent/ability these players have. The offense has hit a massive rough stretch going on 3+ weeks now due to inconsistency. Some guys will hit while others won't then it'll flip flop but it all amounts to guys getting on base but not getting that clutch hit to drive them in. They've also had plenty of games where they've hit the ball hard and had good ABs but nothing is coming of it. It is what it is. There's only so much you can do as a player - if you square up the ball you did your job as you can't control what happens once the ball leaves the bat.

 

Again, Stearns knows what the price is for Kinsler/Phillips/Granderson/etc. If he's not comfortable giving up what we'd need to then he's not going to pull the trigger. He also believes in this team that they can turn it around as a collective offensive unit and start putting runs up again.

 

You must be firmly in his head to "know" he believes that. Because if he truly does, he killed this team by not trading what was most likely an out of or just barely one of our top 30 prospect to pick up the contracts of Kinsler/Phillips/Granderson.

 

The season is fools gold unless you believe Thames was the player we saw in April, Sogard was the player we saw in April-June, the bullpen was marginal until the July full on collapse, Pina at 30 is a legitimate 4 war player going forward,and Shaw is really Mike Schmidt. Just like Junior and Villar werent real building blocks, these guys arent either, though I have some high hopes for Shaw being a repeat performer.

 

Stearns is an analytics guy and the analytics all year long said we were looking at a mirage. At no point did fangraphs have us ranked in the top 20 WAR rosters, let alone a play off team. In fact we were securely positioned in the bottom 5 teams most of the season with tiny jumps to 6th worst.

 

Stearns isnt making any moves because the analytics say this is a bad team that wont win even a weakened division and certainly wont do any damage in the playoffs.