Moose is back! [1 yr/$10mm guaranteed; $11mm mutual 2020 option -- post #186]

[clancyphile]

My take is. Thames is a casualty and moved or just waived. Gamel makes his OF ability a non-factor and the combo of Shaw/Moose makes Perez the 5th OF in a pinch. One poster mentioned his PH stats below Mendoza line and that makes sense with his K-issues. I wouldn't save him to play the majority PH role. Perez has got to be the emergency SS right? So I'd probably expect him as a late inning Defensive replacement vs Starter, which honestly is how I see him. Shaw is right in that he should be the starting 3b. It'll be interesting how Moose transitions to 2b. Saying that kinda makes you wonder about the move. I almost have that this ensures depth for an Aguilar decline feeling. Turning to Shaw at 1b more often, and now you have 3b protected, with SS still covered with Perez.

 

Or, they bump Cain to 4th OF...

 

cf: Yelich

lf: Thames

rf: Braun

3b: Shaw

1b: Aguilar

c: Grandal

2b: Moustakas

ss: Arcia

 

Or maybe Arcia sits, and...

 

cf: Cain

1b: Thames

rf: Yelich

lf: Braun

3b: Aguilar

ss: Shaw

c: Grandal

2b: Moustakas

 

No defense... but POWERFUL offense...

[nate82]

 

Or maybe Arcia sits, and...

 

cf: Cain

1b: Thames

rf: Yelich

lf: Braun

3b: Aguilar

ss: Shaw

c: Grandal

2b: Moustakas

 

No defense... but POWERFUL offense...

 

Congratulations Clancy you have now made Yuni B the second worst defensive SS in Brewers history. Not sure why you want to do this but you did it.

[3and2Fastball]

As long as Shaw sits when we are facing a LHP, I don't care who plays where

[Roderick]

interesting

Tom

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@Haudricourt

46s46 seconds ago

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I consider this a hint as to where Mike Moustakas will play with #Brewers: Travis Shaw just said he expects to play third base.

 

Shaw probably has a little more range than Moose, but maybe not quite the throwing arm.

 

Moose is much better moving forward to get those swinging bunts.

[jerichoholicninja]

interesting

Tom

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@Haudricourt

46s46 seconds ago

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I consider this a hint as to where Mike Moustakas will play with #Brewers: Travis Shaw just said he expects to play third base.

 

He will be listed at the 3B on the lineup card but will play where the 2B (generally) plays.

[bill hAll Star]

Counsell confirmed that Moustakas will play some 2B so I'm assuming that either he's taking over 2B and Shaw will be 3B or at least will look to take the lion's share.

[DHonks]

Good to read, I like it when I'm occasionally right with my suggestions (Moose at 2b). Good thing we signed Grandal, or Clancy would have Moose catching.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Good to read, I like it when I'm occasionally right with my suggestions (Moose at 2b). Good thing we signed Grandal, or Clancy would have Moose catching.

 

The possibility of a Aguilar/Shaw 3B platoon is still a possibility. With Braun and 2B and Moose at SS.

[clancyphile]

Good to read, I like it when I'm occasionally right with my suggestions (Moose at 2b). Good thing we signed Grandal, or Clancy would have Moose catching.

 

The possibility of a Aguilar/Shaw 3B platoon is still a possibility. With Braun and 2B and Moose at SS.

 

Or maybe just use that in the top of the first, then sub in afterwards. Remember what the Cards did with McGwire for a while? The Crew's deep enough to try that move once or twice...

 

Get a big first inning...

[josh]

OF safe bets

Yelich

Cain

Braun

Gamel

 

IF safe bets

Shaw

Aguilar

Arcia

Moustakas

 

C safe bets

Grandal

Pina

 

On the fence:

Perez

Spangenberg

Thames

Saladino

Kratz

Nottingham?

Dubon?

 

Perez seems like a safe bet to stick around for his positional flex. Good option at 2B against LHP.

 

I'd probably pick Spangenberg to get the next roster spot after that, as he plays all over and has a LH bat.

 

That's the 13th spot for Thames, I guess. I have a feeling his ticket out of town may be punched.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

OF safe bets

Yelich

Cain

Braun

Gamel

 

IF safe bets

Shaw

Aguilar

Arcia

Moustakas

 

C safe bets

Grandal

Pina

 

On the fence:

Perez

Spangenberg

Thames

Saladino

Kratz

Nottingham?

Dubon?

 

Perez seems like a safe bet to stick around for his positional flex. Good option at 2B against LHP.

 

I'd probably pick Spangenberg to get the next roster spot after that, as he plays all over and has a LH bat.

 

That's the 13th spot for Thames, I guess. I have a feeling his ticket out of town may be punched.

 

I think Thames makes it over Spangenberg, simply because Spangenberg can be optioned. I don't know if I'd necessarily put Gamel in the "safe bets" space, though. He has an option as well, and could be sent down if they determine they have enough OF coverage with Perez and Thames behind the starters. I think they'll sign a veteran OF to a minor league deal too, as they are pretty thin there in the upper minors. Someone like Austin Jackson or Denard Span makes some sense.

[homer]

Hmm... or, if the Crew wanted to go "Jumbo Ding-Dong Package"...

 

Uh...

[long ball]

Whoever it ends up being at second base it doesn't really matter to me. I think Shaw and Moustakas are both good defensively at third with neither being the clearly better defender at third.

 

I'm also cool with either one of them playing 2b because it's not like they're replacing a strong defender at the position. Neither Perez nor Spangenberg grades out as a plus defender at 2b so the offensive boost is worthwhile.

 

If they go with a 5 man bench, perhaps Saladino or Dubon might be better options for that last bench spot as a stronger defensive infielder than Spangenberg. However, maybe they'll hang onto Kratz as long as possible before needing to DFA him and pretty much all of the other candidates have minor league options.

[RollieTime]

Hmm... or, if the Crew wanted to go "Jumbo Ding-Dong Package"...

 

Uh...

 

[stalton]

First we had the "Brewers signing Grandal is everything that is wrong with free agency" article, so naturally there is a follow up with the same argument after Moose agreed to terms:

 

https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2019/2/17/18228655/mike-moustakass-brewers-royals-free-agency-middle-tier-revenue-offseason

 

Great article. Mid-tier free agents are getting screwed because they are not getting the 80 million dollar contracts that Mike Leake and Wei-Yin Chen just got a few years ago.

 

Since signing the contract, Leake has a 4.32 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 1.30 WHIP and 95 ERA+ and Chen has a 4.75 ERA, 4.38 FIP, 1.28 WHIP and 80 ERA+. Leake will probably be about a 1 bWAR/season player over the life of this contract and Chen could easily wind up in negative bWAR territory.

 

If anything this shows that MLB owners and GMs have stopped drinking the mid-tier free agent Kool-Aid with many of these players.

 

Another thing I noticed in the article is that his groupings only have 40 contracts over 5 years. One big contract or a couple of hometown discounts (Re Moose) will vastly alter the numbers. He talks about a 50% dropoff in 2016-2017 when there was only 4 contracts that meet his criteria. 4 contracts does a trend not make.

 

Edit Also, his range of 1.5 to 3.5 WAR is a big gap. If players closer to 3.5 WAR sign those numbers should be a significant higher than players closer to 1.5 WAR

[trwi7]

Hello Jacob Nottingham

 

They have a whole starting team at AAA that could possible make a MLB club! Not saying they will.

 

Nottingham C

Gatewood 1B

Huira 2B

Dubon SS

Ecreg 3B

Stokes OF

Ray OF

Grisham OF

 

hello 67 wins!

 

Not even sure that lineup could get to 67 wins with 5 Chris Sales starting.

[josh]

I think Thames makes it over Spangenberg, simply because Spangenberg can be optioned. I don't know if I'd necessarily put Gamel in the "safe bets" space, though. He has an option as well, and could be sent down if they determine they have enough OF coverage with Perez and Thames behind the starters. I think they'll sign a veteran OF to a minor league deal too, as they are pretty thin there in the upper minors. Someone like Austin Jackson or Denard Span makes some sense.

 

Great points, all. Thinking back to last year and the OF glut, I think the team is very comfortable riding with more depth than it will look like they're gonna need. Because stuff happens. Guys get hurt. These things work themselves out sometimes, for sure.

[pacopete4]

Sounds like Braun played a role in getting Moustaskas back. MVP!

[SRB]

Sounds like Braun played a role in getting Moustaskas back. MVP!

 

I'm just going to go ahead and give him credit for the Grandal signing too, since they are both University of Miami alumni

[KeithStone53151]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/02/mike-moustakas-could-play-second-base-for-brewers.html

 

This article questions why we'd pay Moustakas more than the $9 million that Brian Dozier got. Ummmm Moustakas is better......? At least with the bat.

[homer]

With all the position shifting I'm not sure range at 2nd is everything it used to be (if it ever was?)...particularly with Arcia manning SS.

[gregmag]

People mostly seem to love this, and it's good to see some of the reasons why. The most persuasive argument to me is that resigning Moose was the least bad available 2b option that still improves us overall.

 

I'm still not loving it. I see a pretty pedestrian offensive player whose low OBP makes him a big-inning killer and whose vaunted fit for Miller Park didn't materialize last year, a guy who adds nothing defensively behind a staff that's going to depend heavily on young pitchers, and a great clubhouse guy which is nice but doesn't actually move the needle.

 

But I'm glad Mark was willing to spend another $10m, I trust that we didn't have any better way to spend it, and $10m for one year isn't going to hurt our flexibility; hell, it's an easy contract to move if Moose is good and the team isn't. I also like that he appears willing to play 2b, because I really didn't like the idea of jerking around Shaw, who I think matters a lot more to the Brewers' medium-term hopes than Moose does.

 

I can't see keeping Thames around, unless they want to reduce Aguilar's playing time substantially. I would think, as someone said above, that the team will shop Thames and Anderson. I completely approve of what the team did with Anderson last fall, but if he isn't bitter then he has to be the most zen guy ever to play baseball.

[danzig6767]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/02/mike-moustakas-could-play-second-base-for-brewers.html

 

This article questions why we'd pay Moustakas more than the $9 million that Brian Dozier got. Ummmm Moustakas is better......? At least with the bat.

Only if the Dozier of last season is the hitter he'll remain going forward. Instead, it could have simply been a bad season for him.

 

The two seasons prior Dozier posted OPS totals of .886 and .856, with much better OBP numbers and he's only 31, not in his late 30's.

[pacopete4]

Sounds like Braun played a role in getting Moustaskas back. MVP!

 

I'm just going to go ahead and give him credit for the Grandal signing too, since they are both University of Miami alumni

 

Can’t speak to that but wouldn’t doubt it.

Ryan Braun helped keep lines of communication open between Brewers, Mike Moustakas

[Devinep]

So Moose as a 2B at 10 million is better than Dietrich at 2B for 2 million?