Yasmani Grandal signs with Brewers - 1 year, $16 million. Mutual option for 2020.

[Ricky_Bobby]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think Grandall is worth 18.56% of our (current/pre-arbitration) 2019 payroll. We could have made the Bumgarner trade and signed Lowrie and still have money left over. Way too much money and players in the clubhouse are all (except Braun) going to know how much less they make then this 30 year old catcher...

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/payroll/

[owbc]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think Grandall is worth 18.56% of our (current/pre-arbitration) 2019 payroll. We could have made the Bumgarner trade and signed Lowrie and still have money left over. Way too much money and players in the clubhouse are all (except Braun) going to know how much less they make then this 30 year old catcher...

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/payroll/

 

What does that have to do with anything? Maybe they should have learned how to play catcher.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think Grandall is worth 18.56% of our (current/pre-arbitration) 2019 payroll. We could have made the Bumgarner trade and signed Lowrie and still have money left over. Way too much money and players in the clubhouse are all (except Braun) going to know how much less they make then this 30 year old catcher...

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/payroll/

 

Pretty sure that most MLB players at least have a general concept of how baseball economics work. Those in the Brewers' clubhouse are no different. You are picking an odd hill to die on here.

[KeithStone53151]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think Grandall is worth 18.56% of our (current/pre-arbitration) 2019 payroll. We could have made the Bumgarner trade and signed Lowrie and still have money left over. Way too much money and players in the clubhouse are all (except Braun) going to know how much less they make then this 30 year old catcher...

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/payroll/

 

Based on your logic...Josh Hader is probably pissed off at everybody in the clubhouse with his league min salary with the production he provides.

[xisxisxis]

In theory the entire Twins organization could fold halfway through the 2019 season (more likely the Marlins [laughing] ) and not field a 2020 team. The organization would still owe those already-guaranteed salaries.

You're absolutely correct, if the Marlins or Twins default and are sold to SEARS the Twins would only owe $300,000 to the guaranteed contract. That hasn't happened since 1969 so not likely to happen anytime soon... But sure, there's a infinitesimally small chance the Twins don't make it to 2020...

 

I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but their are way too many articles by "sportswriters" who are connected to agents that always understates a teams salary, etc. They like to go with the smallest number possible to make an impact and the impact is always the players are being short changed. What the Twins are only on the line for $300,000 and the Brewers are spending $100M!!!! Twins fans storm Target field and revolt! Actually the Twins deserve it as they are in a much larger market than the Brewers and have often spent less than the Brewers on salary so their fans should be unhappy with the teams ownership, but the fact they only are projected to have a payroll around $30M for 2020 is still pretty bad (even though it doesn't look as dramatic as $300K)... /rant

 

I guess this is just my "GET OFF MY LAWN" topic...

[Humans Need Water]

Yeah that sounds fine and dandy in theory but in reality that's not how it works.

 

Eh, that sounds a lot like the kind of thing people said about the way the Brewers used their staff this past season. I predicted a lot of those things last off season during the "should they sign a big name starter" arguments and was often dismissed, but I'm pretty sure they're not done making dramatic, evidence-based changes to the way the staff is used. There's a lot of moving parts when you do what I'm suggesting, but I think they're more than capable of handling it all. In fact, I think they actually enjoy the challenge. I think it will be very rare that they feel they need 13 pitchers this year.

 

In any case, I certainly don't think this means it's a given that Thames is gone. Gamel has an option, doesn't he? I think he'll be up and down a lot.

I have no idea what you predicted last year about signing a big named starter or not but I certainly recall saying the staff was much better than the typical person here thought and it wasn't a necessity to have a big named starter. I also have no idea how that relates to this discussion. The Brewers used their staff as a traditional staff outside of the final 2wks and playoffs because that entire span was basically the playoffs. Chacin, Chase, Davies, Wade, Guerra, Suter, Peralta, Gio were in true starter roles and they combined to start 157 games and 73% of those games they went 5+ innings. The vast, vast majority of the rest of those games they were pulled in 4th or 5th inning due to struggling - it wasn't because of some strategy involving seeing their order once. So not exactly sure what you're referring to when you say there were dramatic evidence-based decisions all last season. Again, the playoffs don't count because that's an entirely different animal.

 

If Burnes/Woodruff assume their same roles as the 2nd half of last year and perform similar you're out of your mind if you think they're going to be shuffled back and forth for the likes of Williams/Barnes/Houser. Also, as mentioned by someone else recently, anybody optioned stays there for 10 days unless there's an injury recall. So people can get off this shuffling nonsense. If someone's injured they'll go on the DL or if not performing they'll be optioned. If there's a 7-10 day stretch in the schedule an extra bat is needed (AL road trips) someone can be optioned. That's not shuffling back and forth though.

 

Now, back to the Grandal thread...

[PeaveyFury]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think /

 

Just FYI as you're new, stuff like the above sentence isn't a good idea here.

[BrewCrewForever]

I could not be more excited about this deal. Was a great bit of news to read on twitter right before I was getting ready to hit the pillow. This is such a big offensive upgrade at the Catcher position, adding this to the three trades Stearns has made this offseason has be even more in awe of how good he is at his job.

[wallus]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think Grandall is worth 18.56% of our (current/pre-arbitration) 2019 payroll. We could have made the Bumgarner trade and signed Lowrie and still have money left over. Way too much money and players in the clubhouse are all (except Braun) going to know how much less they make then this 30 year old catcher...

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/payroll/

 

How much would you like to bet that Lowrie won't sign for less than 6 million dollars?

[adambr2]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think Grandall is worth 18.56% of our (current/pre-arbitration) 2019 payroll. We could have made the Bumgarner trade and signed Lowrie and still have money left over. Way too much money and players in the clubhouse are all (except Braun) going to know how much less they make then this 30 year old catcher...

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/payroll/

 

Why do you say "this 30 year old catcher" as if a 30 year catcher doesn't deserve good money?

 

This 30 year old catcher is one of the best catchers in baseball. Our division rivals are paying $20M annually to a 36 year old catcher. What's wrong with a 30 year old?

[Zad Fnark]

Regarding draft picks and such, do players in MLB have an undrafted free agent route available like in the NFL?

[Humans Need Water]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think Grandall is worth 18.56% of our (current/pre-arbitration) 2019 payroll. We could have made the Bumgarner trade and signed Lowrie and still have money left over. Way too much money and players in the clubhouse are all (except Braun) going to know how much less they make then this 30 year old catcher...

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/payroll/

 

How much would you like to bet that Lowrie won't sign for less than 6 million dollars?

How much you wanna bet Matt LaFleur can throw a football over them there mountains?

[istanbultaye]

Regarding draft picks and such, do players in MLB have an undrafted free agent route available like in the NFL?

 

My understanding is that the lower minors (Rookie - A ball) will fill out rosters with some undrafted free agents. But, we rarely hear about them since they would get very little playing time and chances of moving up the ladder are extremely low.

 

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/best-undrafted-players-in-mlb-history/c-278967168

[TURBO]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think Grandall is worth 18.56% of our (current/pre-arbitration) 2019 payroll. We could have made the Bumgarner trade and signed Lowrie and still have money left over. Way too much money and players in the clubhouse are all (except Braun) going to know how much less they make then this 30 year old catcher...

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/payroll/

 

Make the Bumgarner trade and give up some key pieces of the farm, or our starting roster. I'd much rather spend the money for one season than mortgage our future by trading away controlled talent.

[sveumrules]

Regarding draft picks and such, do players in MLB have an undrafted free agent route available like in the NFL?

 

Yes. Here's an article from MLB.com listing the best UDFAs of all time...

 

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/best-undrafted-players-in-mlb-history/c-278967168

 

You'll notice the most recent guys on there are Mike Redmond & Kevin Millar.

 

MLB organizations have gotten really good at mining every last nugget, but guys still slip through the cracks for different reasons.

 

I believe Eddie Silva & Aaron Wilkerson are UDFAs currently in the system.

[Zad Fnark]

 

My understanding is that the lower minors (Rookie - A ball) will fill out rosters with some undrafted free agents. But, we rarely hear about them since they would get very little playing time and chances of moving up the ladder are extremely low.

 

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/best-undrafted-players-in-mlb-history/c-278967168

 

Thanks. I didn't know if a team was completely scrooched once their draft picks were used up. I wonder if the Brewers fill their A-ball ranks with guys from their Dominican program.

[Eye Black]

Didn't see this article posted yet...

 

Yasmani Grandal Is Better Than This by Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs.

[xisxisxis]

Y'all are crazy if you guys think Grandall is worth 18.56% of our (current/pre-arbitration) 2019 payroll. We could have made the Bumgarner trade and signed Lowrie and still have money left over. Way too much money and players in the clubhouse are all (except Braun) going to know how much less they make then this 30 year old catcher...

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/payroll/

I am crazy!

 

Lowrie wants a multiyear deal in the Zobert ballpark. Will he get it, I doubt it. If he is willing to take a 1 year deal @ the QO offer price, I bet Stearns has the flexibility to get it done. Bumgarner will cost more than he's worth - the Giants can't afford the PR of trading the face of the organization for what he is worth on today's market and Stearns doesn't overpay. Grandall only costs money and a #100ish pick. Neither is a big price (just money and a chance).

 

I will go out on a limb and state emphatically that Grandall will have a MVP like year for the Brewers.... I think you read it here first.... Mark it down and bring it up next fall...

[Underachiever]

Regarding the thought of trading Thames...is there a market for him? And if there is, is there any chance that a trade wouldn't require Milwaukee sending money along with it? That would negate some of the $6 million salary relief talked about.

 

Apologies if already mentioned. I haven't combed the entire thread. I am just not real high on Thames.

[sveumrules]

Regarding the thought of trading Thames...is there a market for him? And if there is, is there any chance that a trade wouldn't require Milwaukee sending money along with it? That would negate some of the $6 million salary relief talked about.

 

Apologies if already mentioned. I haven't combed the entire thread. I am just not real high on Thames.

 

Justin Bour is 31 & put up a 126 OPS+ between 2017 & 2018 in 930 PAs. He is getting 1/2.5 million for 2019.

 

Matt Adams is 30 & put up a 110 OPS+ between 2017 & 2018 in 704 PAs. He is getting 1/3 million for 2019 with a million dollar buyout on a 2020 option.

 

Eric Thames is 32 & put up a 119 OPS+ between 2017 & 2018 in 829 PAs. At 1/6 million for 2019 plus the million buyout for 2020 he probably has slightly negative value with guys like Lucas Duda (33, 109 OPS in 858 2018-18 PAs) & Logan Morrison (31, 110 OPS+ in 960 2017-18 PAs) still out there looking for teams.

[KeithStone53151]

Regarding the thought of trading Thames...is there a market for him? And if there is, is there any chance that a trade wouldn't require Milwaukee sending money along with it? That would negate some of the $6 million salary relief talked about.

 

Apologies if already mentioned. I haven't combed the entire thread. I am just not real high on Thames.

 

Justin Bour is 31 & put up a 126 OPS+ between 2017 & 2018 in 930 PAs. He is getting 1/2.5 million for 2019.

 

Matt Adams is 30 & put up a 110 OPS+ between 2017 & 2018 in 704 PAs. He is getting 1/3 million for 2019 with a million dollar buyout on a 2020 option.

 

Eric Thames is 32 & put up a 119 OPS+ between 2017 & 2018 in 829 PAs. At 1/6 million for 2019 plus the million buyout for 2020 he probably has slightly negative value with guys like Lucas Duda (33, 109 OPS in 858 2018-18 PAs) & Logan Morrison (31, 110 OPS+ in 960 2017-18 PAs) still out there looking for teams.

 

In fairness to Thames, he does have flexibility to play OF. I don't think any of those guys do. I think Thames is closer to Bour/Adams in talent than the other two, and frankly I'm a bit surprised those guys took the deals they did. Adams had a solid year...he probably could have done better than $3 million, Bour had a bit of a down year but clearly is talented. Morrison frankly was a 1 year wonder and was basically trash his entire career aside from 2017. Overall I'd rank these guys Adams, Thames, Bour, Duda, massive gap, Morrison in terms of bat talent. Thames versatility is a bit of a bonus.

 

In Thames favor is he's probably the best LH 1b available as Bour/Adams have signed. I'm not trying to say he has significant surplus value, but I think we could get someone to take most or all of his salary and give us someone interesting in the low minors. Probably not quite as much as the lind deal, but maybe 1 or 2 players in return instead of 3. Would you give Thames and $2 million for 2 rookie ball pitchers with promise similar to the lind deal?

[Humans Need Water]

But WAR is supposed to tell everyone that Thames is valued at 7.65M after last season and he's making 6M so yay for us

[topper09er]

Chacin, Chase, Davies, Wade, Guerra, Suter, Peralta, Gio were in true starter roles and they combined to start 157 games and 73% of those games they went 5+ innings. The vast, vast majority of the rest of those games they were pulled in 4th or 5th inning due to struggling - it wasn't because of some strategy involving seeing their order once.

 

CC was on record saying he was only looking for 17 outs from the SP or something along those lines. Before the game started CC already knew when he was going to pull the SP independent of how the game was going.

[anglotiger]

Back on topic here...

 

If anyone has doubts about this signing, this is a pretty interesting article...

 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/during-slow-offseasons-the-brewers-keep-finding-deals/

[KeithStone53151]

Chacin, Chase, Davies, Wade, Guerra, Suter, Peralta, Gio were in true starter roles and they combined to start 157 games and 73% of those games they went 5+ innings. The vast, vast majority of the rest of those games they were pulled in 4th or 5th inning due to struggling - it wasn't because of some strategy involving seeing their order once.

 

CC was on record saying he was only looking for 17 outs from the SP or something along those lines. Before the game started CC already knew when he was going to pull the SP independent of how the game was going.

 

Frankly, I can't believe CC would say something so stupid and ridiculous. So if one of our pitchers was throwing a perfect game through 17 outs...he's pulling him anyway. No way would CC back himself into a corner like that. Unless you have a source, I wouldn't buy that for a second.