What's Next

[TJseven7]

I just watched a link to Ken Rosenthal breaking down the trade and signing. He indicates that he thinks Milwaukee wants to hold onto Santana and use other means to find a pitcher. Video is on MLB Network’s twitter page.

 

PLEASE BE TRUE!!!!!! I'd love cobb, oh and call it an offseason. People ask if we can contend with blah blah blah... I dont think we can truly contend without Santana in the 3 hole.

[TJseven7]

If we keep Santana, Braun is either gone or at first base. And if it’s first, Thames has to go. Right??

 

We keep the 4 braun has to play 1b. There's as little as 25 games for him in LF.

 

Thames doesn't have to go.

 

Pina vogt, (braun) thames aguilar, villar sogard, arcia, shaw perez, yelich cain santana (braun) with Phillips in AAA is workable.

 

Having sogard who can play 2b SS, perez 3b 2b LF, and even Thames with some LF makes many things possible. You also can't discount the fact that yelich can play cf and cain has enough arm for rf.

 

Aguilar is braun insurance and #1 ph but that's valuable.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

Maybe they would trade Thames and move Yelich to 1st?

[tmwiese55]

It's feasible and all, but after what HH said the Santana trade seems inevitable. I'd put more stock in what he said than Rosenthal at this point. Weird to say, I know.

[TJseven7]

It's feasible and all, but after what HH said the Santana trade seems inevitable. I'd put more stock in what he said than Rosenthal at this point. Weird to say, I know.

 

So true.

[MrTPlush]

How many ABs does a 4th OFer usually have? Isn’t Braun already a 4th OFer? Make him the 4th OFer and maybe he ends up healthier and more productive? Why burn him out playing s month straight to sit out a few weeks due to injury?

 

Add that to the pile of crazy things that won’t happen, but maybe not the worst of ideas.

[TJseven7]

Maybe they would trade Thames and move Yelich to 1st?

 

Current GG LF is not the guy I'm moving to 1st.

[TJseven7]

How many ABs does a 4th OFer usually have? Isn’t Braun already a 4th OFer? Make him the 4th OFer and maybe he ends up healthier and more productive? Why burn him out playing s month straight to sit out a few weeks due to injury?

 

Add that to the pile of crazy things that won’t happen, but maybe not the worst of ideas.

 

Yelich cain missed 7 games last year each. Santana missed 8. If they stay healthy there's not enough ab to justify having phillips in the majors. There's not enough for Braun unless he splits 1b.

[adambr2]

Yelich needs to play left or center IMO. You lose a lot of his value in right or at 1st. I know this means Braun has to go back to right, but RF isn't where Yelich carries defensive value.

[TJseven7]

Yelich needs to play left or center IMO. You lose a lot of his value in right or at 1st. I know this means Braun has to go back to right, but RF isn't where Yelich carries defensive value.

 

Braun needs to go to 1b and get it over with already.

[3and2Fastball]

Braun at 1B and keeping Santana makes this offense very very dangerous. Then it'd be time to sign Darvish or Arrieta

[JosephC]

I wouldn't like to see Yelich move to first but that's what he was before the Marlins got him. Baseball Reference Prospect Handbook's indicate Yelich was a first baseman as a amateur and the Marlins converted him to the outfield. Again, I wouldn't want to see Yelich at first base but his background indicates he makes more sense there than Braun does.

[tmwiese55]

Braun when healthy is still a top level hitter as we saw in 2016. And his advanced stats supported it last year too before the injury at the end of the year that turned him to trash. Regardless he's going to miss at least one day a week for rest and a couple stretches on the DL. And Phillips can be late game defensive sub. I also read that Yelich played 1B in HS so he could be a fill in at first if Thames gets hurt so more ABs there for Phillips. So I'd have Phillips as my 4th all year if he's still here and Broxton can hit the bricks, he had his shot.

 

this is all assuming Santana is gone and Braun isn't training to play 1st. I agree it would be nice to have Braun start putting in some work on it and see how it looks.

[3and2Fastball]

There is a better chance of Craig Counsell coming back and playing 2B than Yelich playing first. I mean come on! Have you seen Yelich play LF? He is a Gold Glove LF.

[Jose Cardenal1]

What's next:

 

Likely move:

Santana (with or without prospects) for Salazar/Archer/Fulmer/Duffy/Strohman

 

Possible moves:

Broxton (again with or without others) to SF in a deal for Panik or Will Smith (build a dominate Bulpen)

Re-sign N.Walker (not if we acquire Panik)

Take on Ellsbury and a portion of his salary & get a good prospect like Abreu for doing so - someone mentioned that Stearns seems to be adopting the Astros philosophy of reducing K's, Ellsbury fits that profile and as we know Stearns likes athletic CF type OF's

 

Maybe move:

Sign a one of the FA SP

 

Dream move(as in not going to happen but we can at least dream):

Braun to Arizona for Greinike

AZ gets RH power bat to replace JD Martinez while shedding significant salary

Brewers get a #1 SP at reasonable net $$ cost and open up LF for Yelich which is where he should be playing

Braun goes to a team/city that he must somewhat like given it was one of the teams not on his no-trade list when that was in place

[pacopete4]

What is better?

 

LF- Yelich / CF- Cain / RF- Santana / 1B- Braun w/Thames on the move

OR

LF- Braun / CF- Yelich / RF- Cain / 1B- Thames & Aguilar w/ Santana on the move?

 

-It is a tricky situation because Santana is just so dog poop as a defender but his bat is really nice to have.

-Braun when healthy (can playing 1B keep him healthier?) is still a great bat in the middle of the lineup.

-Does Thames & Phillips bring back a quality enough pitcher? I think we can assume that Santana + does.

[mlloyd10]

LF- Yelich / CF- Cain / RF- Santana / 1B- Braun w/Thames

[tmwiese55]

There is a better chance of Craig Counsell coming back and playing 2B than Yelich playing first. I mean come on! Have you seen Yelich play LF? He is a Gold Glove LF.

 

Phillips is supposedly at that level of D too though so you're not losing much on D. Again, it's assuming Braun can't do it, if he can it's a moot point. And all I meant is here or there, not that he was brought in to play 1B. Have to pop Thames on the DL for 10 days, some days vs righties you have Phillips in instead Jesus. Of course assuming Phillips looks like he did to finish the year and you're looking to get him some ABs. Jesus could also massively regress since he came out of nowhere last year. And we all know how much CC loves playing the L/R stuff.

[buckybrewer232]

Braun at 1B and keeping Santana makes this offense very very dangerous. Then it'd be time to sign Darvish or Arrieta

 

Honestly, this is what I'd like to see. I just don't know if it's realistic. I would imagine they have at least entertained the idea, but I would be surprised if it happened. 1st base production was not good last year after April and a core lineup of Cain, Yelich, Braun, Shaw, Santana would be amazing.

 

Brewers could then trade Thames or Aguilar or both for bullpen help or low minors prospects. Sign a guy like Arietta, Lynn, or Cobb and I think you have a staff that could win. Anderson, Lynn/Cobb/Arietta, Chacin, Davies, Woodruff.. Guys like Wilkerson, Yo, Suter as depth. Nelson coming back at some point, Burnes could be ML ready at some point.. Not to mention they may still be planning on having Hader as a SP (I would).

[mlloyd10]

Cain

Yelich

Santana

Shaw

Braun

Pina

Sogard

Arcia

 

Thames

Villar

Phillips

Vogt

Perez

 

That is one dangerous Offence

[gebc1997]

How about Woodruff, Broxton, Aguilar and Freddy Peralta for Archer

[TJseven7]

LF- Yelich / CF- Cain / RF- Santana / 1B- Braun w/Thames

 

100% agree. I don't think thames phillips pulls any pitching upgrade... just depth. Moving those 2 gets you in solid 2b territory, not arm. If im wrong I'll be thrilled.

 

We really have about 18 mil open. Adding 1 solid pen arm, a starter upgrade and a 2b will not come prospect cheap for that amount.

[TJseven7]

Cain

Yelich

Santana

Shaw

Braun

Pina

Sogard

Arcia

 

Thames

Villar

Phillips

Vogt

Perez

 

That is one dangerous Offence

 

I love Mavrick but with Braun our 3 heavy start OF and Perez there really isnt much regular use for him unless someone gets hurt. If we keep all 4 of, even if braun moves to 1b... phillips is in CS. Keep Aguilar as a bench bat.

[SRB]

Maybe Stearns is keeping Santana because he's going to flip Yelich for pitching.

 

[brewcrewdue80]

I think the notion last night of Brewers looking to move Santana and Phillips for a SP is not a knock on Phillips, but that his value is more than Broxton's who has upside to gain more value. Phillips may not gain a whole more value than where he stands. If he does it's because he's exceeding the expectations that we and Milw even have for him.

 

It's a great point on Santana's value not losing in this trade with 2 options removed for the other teams. Grichuk was moved. On the other side though is that if you are moving him to an AL team for SP the options are low. Including Phillips makes one of the best options so confusing as Tampa needs 0 OF much less 2 in an Archer trade imo at the moment.

 

HH did make mention of Santana to an AL team and a "hot" move with another player....which rather than being a seperate 2 trades, what if that meant a 3 team move?

 

Go on a Tampa sends Archer to Milw

Cleveland sends McKenzie to Tampa

Milw send Santana to Cleveland

Milw sends Phillips and Thames to Tampa.

Cleveland sends Will Benson to Milw.