Michael Brantley

[RollieTime]

One player that I’ve had floating in my mind the past couple months that Stearns may show interest in is Michael Brantley. Brantley is a spark plug that could really give a boost to this offense.

 

He is a guy that will hit around .300 with some pop. Putting him at the top of the lineup with Cain and Yelich should help the offense become more consistent than it was this season. He is also a guy who rarely strikes out. For his career, he has struck out in only 11.8% of his at bats. Last year, he struck out only 60 times in 570 at bats! He does bat left handed though which may turn some people away.

 

He primarily plays left field, but has played center field some a few years ago. He can be an everyday left fielder alongside Cain and Yelich.

 

Brantley is a guy who can shave nearly 100 strikeouts off of our total from last season as well. He has a strong arm in the outfield, but gets bad jumps on some balls that other outfielders might get to.

 

All in all, I feel that adding Brantley at the top of the lineup with Cain, Yelich, and Braun or Aguilar batting 4th. If Moustakas comes back, him and Shaw would follow.

 

Braun would be the 4th outfielder and fill in when a guy needs a rest day or if/when one of our outfielders gets injured during the season. Him and Aguilar will platoon at first when everyone is healthy.

 

He is 31 and will turn 32 midseason. Would a 4/$60 million deal get it done?

[trwi7]

So we're going to have 3 outfielders in their 30s, all owed at least $40 million and only 2 will be starting? I'm going to go ahead and say no on that.

[reillymcshane]

I love Michael Brantley's bat, and if we had a big black hole in LF and a lot of money to spare, he'd be great. But we have neither, so I'd pass.

 

I would also concerned about Brantley's health. I believe he's had on and off back issues for several years, and missed most of 2016 and half of 2017.

 

Also, Brantley is limited to LF at this point of his career. His range is diminished and his arm isn't good. And all of that isn't going to get better.

 

Again, I love Brantley's bat. I can see why we'd want someone who gets on base, makes contact, etc. A team that could put him at DH on occasion would be a good fit.

 

The exception might be if he just doesn't get any offers in FA, and you can get him for a reasonable price. I wouldn't bet on it - but you never know. We've seen some good hitters not get very good offers the past few years.

[MadThinker88]

I would be stunned if the Indians did not attach a Qualifying Offer to Brantley (otherwise they get zero compensation for Dr. Smooth signing elsewhere). As an organization the Indians cannot lose all of Brantley, Andrew Miller & Cody Allen for zilch. Of those 3, Brantley is the 1 guy that might decline the QO (the other two would take it for a massive pay increase while trying to rebuild their value).

 

So beyond his slipping defensively and getting paid a chunk of money to sign in MKE, there will be some sort of loss in draft pick/ signing pool money. Ultimately its the choice of DS to pursue & offer, but I think he would pass.

[markedman5]

Yeah this ain't happening.

[anglotiger]

While I agree that this isn't happening, there's something slightly amusing to me about re-acquiring yet another player given up in a playoff push several years ago...

[brewmann04]

yes i don't see it happening more worried about his health but again it won't happen

[long ball]

Brantley has an attractive offensive skillset. I’m not sure he fits positionally on the Brewers though without a couple of other moves.

 

I remember him playing first base as a minor leaguer for the Brewers. If the Brewers were interested in doing something at that position he might be an option.

 

I wouldn’t want to commit more than 2 years to him though.

[RollieTime]

I am curious what players you’re all looking at the Brewers acquiring to make an impact next season? The roster construction as is needs a makeover as we all saw last season. Cain and Yelich were big for us all season, but the others were fairly inconsistent.

 

Brantley would be a big addition to this lineup. He strikes out at a very low rate, takes a lot of walks, has some pop, plays adequate defense, and most importantly he is a spray hitter. Stearns seems to value low strike out spray hitters above all else. I feel that the roster next season will have a couple guys missing that will be involved in offseason moves that many people will be surprised about.

[Jose Cardenal1]

I suggested a Brantley signing last week in another thread so I am with you Rollie. I wouldn't do it though if it took 4 years.

 

To me it opens up the ability to trade high on Aguilar by moving Braun into a platoon at 1b with Thames.

 

Aguilar could be a big piece (with others) in a trade for a Wheeler, Merrifield or Realmuto.

[RollieTime]

I suggested a Brantley signing last week in another thread so I am with you Rollie. I wouldn't do it though if it took 4 years.

 

To me it opens up the ability to trade high on Aguilar by moving Braun into a platoon at 1b with Thames.

 

Aguilar could be a big piece (with others) in a trade for a Wheeler or Realmuto.

 

That’s along the lines of what I could see Stearns doing. Thames and Aguilar will be moved. Braun will go to first base and fill in in the outfield when needed. I see Aguilar being traded as either part of a package for a big name player or for prospects. If we go the prospect route, those prospects would then be used to restock the farm after a separate trade for a bat or big name starting pitcher. Only 8 guys can bat (outside of the pitcher) so somebody will be on the move to make a spot for the new addition(s).

[adambr2]

I don't get why we want to work Braun back in at 1st. He doesn't stay healthy enough to be playing there regularly (he said it's much harder on him physically), and his bat barely plays well enough as a corner OF. He's going to be a below average 1st baseman with little upside.

 

I'm not opposed to Brantley but if we went that route I'd be more inclined to see if the Dodgers want to take Braun off our hands for salary relief. Which they probably wouldn't.

[trwi7]

Aguilar could be a big piece (with others) in a trade for a Wheeler, Merrifield or Realmuto.

 

We've seen 1B/DH types sign for basically nothing in free agency but ours is going to headline a better player at a position of need?

[clancyphile]

Aguilar could be a big piece (with others) in a trade for a Wheeler, Merrifield or Realmuto.

 

We've seen 1B/DH types sign for basically nothing in free agency but ours is going to headline a better player at a position of need?

 

Aguilar has four years of control, and would be cheap for 2019, and relatively cheap in 2020. That would be worth something.

 

Thames becomes a backup 1B/OF, Braun takes over first. Or Brantley to first. Heck, Yelich's played first.

[DuWayne Steurer]

 

Aguilar has four years of control, and would be cheap for 2019, and relatively cheap in 2020. That would be worth something.

 

Thames becomes a backup 1B/OF, Braun takes over first. Or Brantley to first. Heck, Yelich's played first.

 

 

When, in high school??

[DHonks]

My first bought initially was that he played mostly 1b in he minors for the Brewers. It would be interesting to see his hit chart overlayed with Miller Park to see how many more homers he would hit. The problem is that Aguilar is cheap, a key cog in the clubhouse, and probably more valuable to us than others. If someone would overpay for Aguilar, then this could make a lot of sense.

[MNBrew]

I get the idea behind this, and I'm on the same page re: the desirable attributes you're after, but it sure seems a lot of dominoes would have to fall to make this work. The first red flag to me on your idea is I don't see the Brewers relegating Braun to a 4th OF role. He's still a starter, albeit one who misses about a month's worth of games over a season the past few years.

 

For the record, according to Baseball-reference.com, in the minors with the Brewers, Brantley played 53 games at 1B (32 games in 2007 and 21 games in 2008) -- never before that (starting in 2005) and never in the 10 years since including never in the big leagues -- vs. over 500 games in the OF in the minors w/ the Brewers. If we signed him, I'm not sure expecting him to play 1B for MIL is any smarter an idea -- or any more likely -- than expecting Braun to play regularly & primarily at 1B the next two years.

 

Braun-to-1B didn't play out as much as initially projected and he's still a decent LF. This year was also very un-Braun-like, though of course time will tell if it was more of a fluke or a new norm. In past offseasons I would've been pretty convinced it was a fluke, although his hard-hit-ball rate was so high -- whatever the name for that stat is -- that I'd guess there's some rebound that'll happen in his 2019 numbers. If he can get back to improving his quality-of-swing rate, he'll be a good deal more productive overall that he was in 2018. Just how he ratcheted up his focus through September and (most of) the playoffs tells me that he still has plenty of game left.

 

Anyway.... On the whole, taking position out of the equation, the guys Brantley's desired hitting attributes would most significantly improve on are Moustakas, Arcia, Santana (v.2018 & who I think is mostly likely the 4th OF in 2019), Shaw (maybe, although he walks a lot), Perez (not usually a starter), and Pina (kind of, maybe? -- 1st half Pina, anyway). But you can't take position out of the equation and Brantley's not switching to any of those positions.

 

I like the idea of a Brantley-type hitter. But I can't see it actually being Brantley.

 

I don't have any better ideas yet because I haven't paid much attention to prospective FAs. My hunch is that a greater percentage of any roster turnover would be to address some of 2018's glaring offensive deficiencies. If that's the case, there are tons more players possibly available via trade (at least conceptually) -- WAY too much to think about right now.

 

(Edits to correct brain cramps in last night's very late writing.)

[Boomer5]

I suggested a Brantley signing last week in another thread so I am with you Rollie. I wouldn't do it though if it took 4 years.

 

To me it opens up the ability to trade high on Aguilar by moving Braun into a platoon at 1b with Thames.

 

Aguilar could be a big piece (with others) in a trade for a Wheeler, Merrifield or Realmuto.

 

We all love Aguilar but he is a dime a dozen and would be a throw in for a trade for a key player.

 

I like Brantley but at his age, cost, and injury history, is he the guy we should be looking for?

[clancyphile]

 

Aguilar has four years of control, and would be cheap for 2019, and relatively cheap in 2020. That would be worth something.

 

Thames becomes a backup 1B/OF, Braun takes over first. Or Brantley to first. Heck, Yelich's played first.

 

 

When, in high school??

 

I thought I had seen he'd played first early in his career with the Marlins. I was mistaken - might have crossed it up with another player.

[3and2Fastball]

If only Doug Melvin had gotten the Mets GM job, I would have put money on him signing Brantley. But first he would have given Josh Donaldson a 5 year $110 million contract, and signed Gio Gonzalez for 3 years $60 million.

[MadThinker88]

Well the cost to acquire Brantley dropped a little bit.

It appears the Indians are NOT placing a QO on Brantley..

smh

[RollieTime]

Well the cost to acquire Brantley dropped a little bit.

It appears the Indians are NOT placing a QO on Brantley..

smh

 

Very surprising in my opinion. I felt that he would of turned it down to get a long term 3 or 4 year deal around $15 million per year. Makes him an even more appealing option for us. He’s the main guy I am interested in acquiring this offseason. Perfect guy to put in the leadoff spot and drop Yelich down to the 3 hole where he should be for the next 4 seasons.

[long ball]

I love Brantley’s bat and I think adding a corner outfielder is an underrated way to improve this position player group for 2019. Brantley isn’t a particularly strong defender. -4 in outs above average and DRS has his arm rated as roughly average in LF.

 

So I’m not thrilled about playing Yelich in RF full time where his arm doesn’t really play.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I’d be excited if they signed Brantley, but it might not be the most effecient way to improve.

[RollieTime]

With the way that baseball is played these days with so many homeruns and strikeouts, I wonder how much of a difference there is in runs scored against an outfielder with an average or slightly below average arm compared to an above average arm over the course of a season. Also, the outfielders play so deep that most deep fly balls are a flyout or homerun. Is there a way to compare the amount of runs given up by an outfielder with an average arm such as Yelich compared to another right fielder with an above average arm such as Jay Bruce?

[long ball]

Fielding bible had Yelich at -7 runs defensively based on his arm. (He graded out above average overall due to range).

 

You do make a fair a fair observation that OF arm may be less important in today’s game due to lower OBP and fewer balls in play.

 

For the brewers though, doubling down on run prevention through defense is probably a good route since they don’t really have the payroll space to add TOR starters.