2020 Brewers Position Players

[wntrtxn21]

2020 salary ‘s (approximation)

 

First the pitching staff: if everyone retained but Gio and Lyles > 36.7 million

 

Lineup & Bench:

 

Grisham > 600,000

Hiura > 600,000

Yelich > 12.5

Shaw > 5

Thames > 7.5

Cain > 16

Pina > 2

Arcia > 3

Braun > 17

Freitas > 600,000

Perez > 3

Gamel > 2

Utility > 600,000

 

70.4 million + 36.7 million = 107.2 total with zero upgrades to the team.

 

This year’s payroll at 127. If Attanasio decides to keep the profit approximately the same next year the same as this year, with every team in baseball getting an additional 9 million from the National Fox deal with everything else being equal, next year’s payroll could be 136.

 

So that leaves approximately 29 million to spend on upgrades, potentially more if Nelson Perez Shaw let go.

 

If we go for it in 2020, imo, we need to improve this offense more than the pitching staff. So how?

 

Get some better plate approach hitters into this lineup.

 

SS > Iglesias > 10 mil. - 3 mil.(Arcia) = 7 mil. Added.

3B > Donaldson type hitter > 23 mil. - 5 mil.(Shaw) = 18 mil. Added.

Bench > 600,000 + 3 mil.(Pérez) save 2.4 mil.

 

That leaves 6.4 million to upgrade the pitching staff. More if Davies traded or Guerra traded or Nelson let go.

 

Lineup:

 

LF > Grisham

2B > Hiura

RF > Yelich

1B > Thames

3B > Donaldson

C > Freitas

CF > Cain

SS > Iglesias

 

Bench:

 

Braun Gamel Pina Saladino Spangenberg

 

This lineup is packed with good plate approach hitters and good defenders with the exception of Hiura and Freitas. But they more than make up for below average defense with their offense.

 

Freitas plays the whole year with 350-400 AB’s, imo, he’ll hit .300 .350

 

Do you really believe a 31 yr. old, career minor lg. catcher will hit .350 in the big leagues? There is no way Stearns signs a 34 yr. old 3B to a multi-year contract worth $23M plus per year. I think there is a better chance he signs Moustakas to a 3 for $33M type contract and hopes Hiura and Grisham continue to improve and help the offense that way. I totally agree that Iglesias would be a nice addition. Based on his $2.5M salary this year I would hope they could get him for less than $10M. Either way he would help a great deal. I think Stearns will look to spend money on pitching rather than on big contracts for position players.

[Brew crew 92]

2020 salary ‘s (approximation)

 

First the pitching staff: if everyone retained but Gio and Lyles > 36.7 million

 

Lineup & Bench:

 

Grisham > 600,000

Hiura > 600,000

Yelich > 12.5

Shaw > 5

Thames > 7.5

Cain > 16

Pina > 2

Arcia > 3

Braun > 17

Freitas > 600,000

Perez > 3

Gamel > 2

Utility > 600,000

 

70.4 million + 36.7 million = 107.2 total with zero upgrades to the team.

 

This year’s payroll at 127. If Attanasio decides to keep the profit approximately the same next year the same as this year, with every team in baseball getting an additional 9 million from the National Fox deal with everything else being equal, next year’s payroll could be 136.

 

So that leaves approximately 29 million to spend on upgrades, potentially more if Nelson Perez Shaw let go.

 

If we go for it in 2020, imo, we need to improve this offense more than the pitching staff. So how?

 

Get some better plate approach hitters into this lineup.

 

SS > Iglesias > 10 mil. - 3 mil.(Arcia) = 7 mil. Added.

3B > Donaldson type hitter > 23 mil. - 5 mil.(Shaw) = 18 mil. Added.

Bench > 600,000 + 3 mil.(Pérez) save 2.4 mil.

 

That leaves 6.4 million to upgrade the pitching staff. More if Davies traded or Guerra traded or Nelson let go.

 

Lineup:

 

LF > Grisham

2B > Hiura

RF > Yelich

1B > Thames

3B > Donaldson

C > Freitas

CF > Cain

SS > Iglesias

 

Bench:

 

Braun Gamel Pina Saladino Spangenberg

 

This lineup is packed with good plate approach hitters and good defenders with the exception of Hiura and Freitas. But they more than make up for below average defense with their offense.

 

Freitas plays the whole year with 350-400 AB’s, imo, he’ll hit .300 .350

 

Do you really believe a 31 yr. old, career minor lg. catcher will hit .350 in the big leagues? There is no way Stearns signs a 34 yr. old 3B to a multi-year contract worth $23M plus per year. I think there is a better chance he signs Moustakas to a 3 for $33M type contract and hopes Hiura and Grisham continue to improve and help the offense that way. I totally agree that Iglesias would be a nice addition. Based on his $2.5M salary this year I would hope they could get him for less than $10M. Either way he would help a great deal. I think Stearns will look to spend money on pitching rather than on big contracts for position players.

 

.350 on base.

Moose isn’t that good, overrated, imo.

Donaldson for 2 years at 40-45 million would be a good deal, short term for a great player.

Need to change the offensive dynamic of this team, and these moves do that. Lower K, high on base, good hitting team.

 

Lots of good pitching in this Organization, lots of good potential pen arms.

[torts]

I'm okay with pina catching if the talk about grandal not calling a good game is true. I'd rather have a catcher who can help pitchers perform than a catcher who can sorta hit.

 

Sign moose for a couple years, and have Shaw platoon during his arb years

 

Spend money on SP

[MrTPlush]

Our TV contract ends after the year with Fox (rumor has it). We currently sport one of the lowest in baseball...which to some extent is expected as we are the smallest market in baseball outside of Cincy. However, the current contract was signed before the explosion of TV deals that saw notable increases. Comparatively speaking we should have quite an increase ourselves signing a new contract.

 

That being said the only teams lower than us are also set to get new contracts. I would guess we will end up close to the Cardinals on the new TV deal which is around #35mil per year...about a $10mil increase. You can see a Fangraphs article below that details how we and some other team are a bit outdated at the bottom and all are pretty much up for renewal.

 

So I think it is reasonable payroll is still on the up and up.

 

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/estimated-tv-revenues-for-all-30-mlb-teams/

[Brew crew 92]

Our TV contract ends after the year with Fox (rumor has it). We currently sport one of the lowest in baseball...which to some extent is expected as we are the smallest market in baseball outside of Cincy. However, the current contract was signed before the explosion of TV deals that saw notable increases. Comparatively speaking we should have quite an increase ourselves signing a new contract.

 

That being said the only teams lower than us are also set to get new contracts. I would guess we will end up close to the Cardinals on the new TV deal which is around #35mil per year...about a $10mil increase. You can see a Fangraphs article below that details how we and some other team are a bit outdated at the bottom and all are pretty much up for renewal.

 

So I think it is reasonable payroll is still on the up and up.

 

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/estimated-tv-revenues-for-all-30-mlb-teams/

 

Great post.

 

Forgot that the local tv deal was up. I’ve been using the extra 9 million from the New National Fox tv deal when est. 2020 payroll at 136. Add on 10 and the brewer payroll should/could go to 146 opening day and the team could make the same profit as 2019.

 

If Attanasio/Stearns really want to win WITH Yelich, that payroll should get Stearns the Ammo to compete for a title next year.

[Jopal78]

Our TV contract ends after the year with Fox (rumor has it). We currently sport one of the lowest in baseball...which to some extent is expected as we are the smallest market in baseball outside of Cincy. However, the current contract was signed before the explosion of TV deals that saw notable increases. Comparatively speaking we should have quite an increase ourselves signing a new contract.

 

That being said the only teams lower than us are also set to get new contracts. I would guess we will end up close to the Cardinals on the new TV deal which is around #35mil per year...about a $10mil increase. You can see a Fangraphs article below that details how we and some other team are a bit outdated at the bottom and all are pretty much up for renewal.

 

So I think it is reasonable payroll is still on the up and up.

 

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/estimated-tv-revenues-for-all-30-mlb-teams/

 

As an initial matter, the Cardinals market is substantially larger than the Brewers. Not only is the St. Louis Metropolitan Area (2.8 million) nearly twice as large as the Milwaukee Metro Area (1.6), if you spend time in Central Illinois (Peoria, Bloomington, etc.) the Cardinals game is what is typically on television down there. Whomever buys the Brewers local broadcast rights are purchasing the potential number of eyes that will see the ads they run during the games nothing more nothing less. Therefore using St. Louis as an expectation of what said contract could be worth is flawed logic.

 

As for 2020, I do think next year will be a step back while the Brewers "re-tool". They have a good number of players who are going to start getting somewhat expensive: Knebel, Shaw, Davies, Guerra, Gamel, Arcia, Suter. Couple that in with the fact that Grandal and Moustakas are likely to depart, and the offense needs to replace their production (what will likely end up being around 170+ Runs, 60+ Homeruns and 160+ RBIs). Even at the current level of payroll their is not going to be a whole lot of room.

 

I think its entirely possible they spend a year allowing Houser, Burnes, Peralta to pitch out of the rotation in an attempt to develop them into quality MLB starting pitchers. Likewise, with Braun's contract ending after 2020 I can see them playing Grisham all over the outfield for a year to make sure his skill set is for real, then when substantial payroll is cleared after 2020 they can add some pieces and make a run at 2021.