Where do we go from here?

[mtrebs]

With any hopes for the 2019 season fading quickly, where do the Brewers go for 2020? There are a lot of holes on this team and if they want to take advantage of Yelich’s time here and really have a chance at a World Series, then I think they need to be major players this offseason.

 

Assuming they move Braun to first to platoon with Thames, we need another outfielder, although it may just need to be a 5th outfielder. We need to replace Moose at 3rd and Grandal at catcher. They need to decide it Arica is the direction we want to continue to go at SS. Probably need to sign at lest one mid-to-top of rotation starter and a couple decent bullpen arms.

 

It sure seems like there are too many gaps to overcome. Hopefully Stearns can figure something out and get us there before we lose Yelich.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I alluded to this a little bit in the IGT but next year looks like more of the same to me. Of course, you can always get better luck. Is Knebel healthy? Is Suter? Woodruff? Can Shaw play? Do we have Grandal? Moose? Nobody knows this stuff. But I think 2021 will be more of that pressure cooker season than 2020. That off-season seems like the one there could be a real loading up to give it one big shot.

 

But nobdoy saw last year coming. It's easy to feel like things are dire when you're having this kind of season. Things tend to go north or south much faster than we think.

[treego14]

Does this team have a heartbeat? If so, I don't see it. There's no anger ... no emotion to speak of ... they just show up to have fun ... BUT you're the division champs! Show some pride! Play with a chip on your shoulder! Let's get angry! Hustle Braun! Show you care!

 

Without heart, this team is going to the land of mediocrity. Give me some gamers that care! Give me some fighters! Give me some brawlers ... not just baseballers!

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Sounds like you miss the Frosty Boys.

[StCroixCtyBrewer]

I am pretty pessimistic. Stearns's refusal to get this team a top of the line starter is going to continue to weigh them down among other things.

 

The problem is, I don't see a lot of realistic impact arms available on the FA market this winter and the farm system is so depleted that I don't know how he gets an impact player via trade either. I think next year is going to be a rough one as well.

[stoutdude04]

I am pretty pessimistic. Stearns's refusal to get this team a top of the line starter is going to continue to weigh them down among other things.

 

I see this often. What frontline starter was available that Stearns refused to go after?

[MNBrew]

Stearns went after 'em all, reportedly, to at least some degree, and several of them very aggressively. Thankfully he didn't heinously overpay or make some other version of a seemingly bad deal.

 

Trades, like FA signings, take a willingness by both parties to make a deal work.

 

I don't know if it was ever close to happening, but I'd have taken Zack Greinke for most of the cost of his contract (thus at least somewhat lessening the needed return). He may not have made all the difference the '19 Brewers may end up needing, but his track record, ability, and performance would be a nice help this year & beyond, age notwithstanding.

[HiAndTight]

I am pretty pessimistic. Stearns's refusal to get this team a top of the line starter is going to continue to weigh them down among other things.

 

The problem is, I don't see a lot of realistic impact arms available on the FA market this winter and the farm system is so depleted that I don't know how he gets an impact player via trade either. I think next year is going to be a rough one as well.

 

 

This is one of the strongest groups of pitchers that's been available in a while. Assuming nothing changes from now until the end of the year and guys like Strausburg do in fact opt-out.

[clancyphile]

At this point, the best option is to see if there is any sign of life in Shaw.

 

That, as well as figuring out how to get Burnes and Peralta back to 2018 form, as well as the health of Woodruff and Suter, will decide a good chunk of the offseason.

[HiAndTight]

Stearns went after 'em all, reportedly, to at least some degree, and several of them very aggressively. Thankfully he didn't heinously overpay or make some other version of a seemingly bad deal.

 

Trades, like FA signings, take a willingness by both parties to make a deal work.

 

I don't know if it was ever close to happening, but I'd have taken Zack Greinke for most of the cost of his contract (thus at least somewhat lessening the needed return). He may not have made all the difference the '19 Brewers may end up needing, but his track record, ability, and performance would be a nice help this year & beyond, age notwithstanding.

 

 

I'd rather see them go after Cole. They're in a bit of a unique situation with Yelich cheap, Hiura, young pitching that's up in the air. Go out and splurge once on the marquee FA pitcher and then you have to hope some other things can fall in place.

 

I still believe in Corbin Burnes. He's too talented to not get it going, Woodruff is a stud. Lots of power arms coming up to put in the pen. But you'd have to sign Cole knowing it's going to severely hamper your ability to make other moves in the future and that you'll be paying for him for at least a couple years when he's not that good anymore. Or at least expect it. If he had a CC type run, as in when the Yankees signed CC, how good he was before he started falling apart, I'd take that.

 

Teams haven't been paying 30 million over 6-7 years for starters since..I don't know, whenever the D-backs signed Grienke. Even the Yankees are being more fiscally responsible. So while I'd imagine he ends up in NY, if there's one guy who's worth it, it's him. I would definitely not spend on Strausburg or pay Ryu a bunch of money.

 

 

Otherwise, a pitcher like Hamels on a shorter deal, or Odorizzi are possible options.

[geargroy]

I am pretty pessimistic. Stearns's refusal to get this team a top of the line starter is going to continue to weigh them down among other things.

 

I see this often. What frontline starter was available that Stearns refused to go after?

Any starter type hopeful like Yelich was a shock. But Stearns spun for Yelich so no more spins for a while folks.

[NYChez]

Between the 2008 and 2011 playoff runs, with essentially the same core, were two losing seasons. It happens. With a little more health, young pitchers figuring things out, and an acquisition or two, the Brewers can be back in the mix.

[pacopete4]

Hopefully Stearns doesn’t overreact and make dumb moves to try to have quick fixes. Continue surrounding the core players with as much depth as he can. If Moose/Grandal can be had for their options, great. But don’t be tossing them multiple years. Continue searching for younger-controllable players.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

Expectations lead to disappointment. That’s what we had this year. A team filled with a bunch of individual talent that never played like much of a team. Yelich, much like Aaron Rodgers, has covered up so many flaws of this team.

 

There is still a good core. But the lack of emotion on the team is astounding.

[Zad Fnark]

plenty of high end pitching on the market after this year.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

plenty of high end pitching on the market after this year.

 

Which “high end” talent are you seeing? As the top 3 starters won’t be Brewers. Which difference makers do you see us having a legit shot at?

[ThisIsMyCrew]

plenty of high end pitching on the market after this year.

 

Which “high end” talent are you seeing? As the top 3 starters won’t be Brewers. Which difference makers do you see us having a legit shot at?

[Zad Fnark]

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/free-agents/starting-pitcher/

 

2020 Free Agents:

 

Stephen Strasburg

Cole Hamels

Dallas Keuchel

Yu Darvish

Rick Porcello

Hyun-Jin Ryu

Rich Hill

Gerrit Cole

Tanner Roark

Alex Wood

Jake Odorizzi

Trevor Cahill

Ivan Nova

Kyle Gibson

C.C. Sabathia

Jason Vargas

Jhoulys Chacin

Corey Kluber

Madison Bumgarner

Drew Smyly

Michael Wacha

Zack Wheeler

Tyson Ross

Julio Teheran

Jose Quintana

Michael Pineda

Wade Miley

Chris Archer

Clay Buchholz

Clayton Richard

Wade LeBlanc

Matt Moore

Jordan Lyles

Edinson Volquez

Gio Gonzalez

Adam Wainwright

Drew Pomeranz

Brett Anderson

Ervin Santana

Erasmo Ramirez

Hector Noesi

Kendall Graveman

Felipe Paulino

Homer Bailey

Ross Detwiler

Edwin Jackson

Rubby De La Rosa

Ricky Nolasco

Brandon Beachy

Henderson Alvarez

Drew Hutchison

Shelby Miller

[JohnBriggs12]

I alluded to this a little bit in the IGT but next year looks like more of the same to me. Of course, you can always get better luck. Is Knebel healthy? Is Suter? Woodruff? Can Shaw play? Do we have Grandal? Moose? Nobody knows this stuff. But I think 2021 will be more of that pressure cooker season than 2020. That off-season seems like the one there could be a real loading up to give it one big shot.

 

But nobdoy saw last year coming. It's easy to feel like things are dire when you're having this kind of season. Things tend to go north or south much faster than we think.

 

I think you nailed it. There's a lot of luck involved in guys staying healthy, continuing to perform close to their peaks, etc. I think they need to add talent when and where they can, and not make stupid deals like unloading Aguilar for a fringe arm. Those kinds of deals are dumbfounding. There's a lot of work to be done shoring up the bullpen. Jeffress and Albers need to be replaced. I don't think they can count on Knebel until the second half of next year at best. They need to rethink their take on starting pitching and actually look to acquire an arm or two that can give them 6 solid innings.

[Brew crew 92]

Fire Stearns and hire Chaim Bloom, senior vice President of the Tampa Bay rays.

 

Fresh perspective from another brainiac. Already proved he could win 90 games with a 70 million payroll, I want to see what he can do with 140 million.

[tmwiese55]

I am pretty pessimistic. Stearns's refusal to get this team a top of the line starter is going to continue to weigh them down among other things.

 

I see this often. What frontline starter was available that Stearns refused to go after?

 

and pretty much hasn't every frontline starter who was a FA essentially flopped on their new contract? But hey, at least we can say we had a high payroll and were trying!!

 

I guess the one to really look back on would be Verlander when he was traded. Had a massive contract though and hadn't been doing so well, tough to see this resurgence happen. Plus, he had a no trade and almost didn't even waive it for Houston, so strongly doubt he waives it for MKE.

 

ETA: no issues for Pat Corbin yet. We'll see how that ends up though.

[adambr2]

Fire Stearns and hire Chaim Bloom, senior vice President of the Tampa Bay rays.

 

Fresh perspective from another brainiac. Already proved he could win 90 games with a 70 million payroll, I want to see what he can do with 140 million.

 

Again, you were praising Stearns as a genius back in February, and when I brought this up yesterday, you said you didn't want Stearns fired.

[tmwiese55]

I'm sure Stearns would be viewed strongly throughout the league and would have a GM/VP job this offseason if he wanted it.

 

Rewind 10ish months ago when the Mets were after him and I'm sure he, like everyone, had the opinion that we have to keep this guy, pay him the money and toss him whatever title he needs. Some things go badly and you change courses and fire the next season, yea that's a great way to manage a team. Keep in mind even in this 'disaster' of a season they're still several games above .500, remember just 13ish years ago we were having statewide celebrations for winning the last game of the year just to make .500.

[MrTPlush]

This season is ending up exactly how it was constructed, it is not shocking in the least. David Stearns created a rotation that was destined to be a massive failure:

 

1) Jhoulys Chacin - Little consistency over his career

2) Freddy Peralta - Shaky at best as a starter last year, zero track record

3) Corbin Burnes - Impressive as a *reliever*, no experience starting at the MLB level, zero track record

4) Brandon Woodruff - Horrid as a starter (only 4 starts last year), but impressive in relief, zero track record

5) Zach Davies - Was horrible/injured in 2018, some track record, however really low ceiling.

6) Chase Anderson - Okay, we had a decent #6 starter waiting in the wings

7) Adrian Houser...going into the season not a great #7 guy

 

Then you move onto the bullpen. Right off the bat we were losing three MAJOR arms from our run. Knebel to injury and Burnes/Woodruff to the rotation. Then Jeffress was due for obvious regression after an insane season he could never repeat. The writing was on the wall the bullpen was about to fall off a cliff because little was done to replace all the talent leaving it.

 

Of course you could add to it the fact they also lost their pitching coach...but personally I am not sure the effects that had.

 

There you have it, a pathetically constructed pitching staff. Stearns didn't have the guts to make a big move anywhere along the line. He also didn't have the guts to not stick every single one of those young starters into the rotation immediately, which he most surely didn't have to do to give them all a chance this year as injuries/failure happen to open up an opportunity. He also could have traded one and sold high so to speak, but he kept them all to roll the dice.

 

Maybe Stearns didn't like this years team, maybe he planned it to be a rebuilding year all along. Really he made some zero risk moves in Moose/Grandal and then rolled the dice magic would happen in the pitching staff. It was a flailing attempt at trying to be a WS contender. It was not a very impressive showing by Stearns, hopefully it was apart of the plan for the next few years...but not like 2020/2021 is a ton more optimistic.

[Brew crew 92]

Fire Stearns and hire Chaim Bloom, senior vice President of the Tampa Bay rays.

 

Fresh perspective from another brainiac. Already proved he could win 90 games with a 70 million payroll, I want to see what he can do with 140 million.

 

Again, you were praising Stearns as a genius back in February, and when I brought this up yesterday, you said you didn't want Stearns fired.

 

After thinking about it, I want the most forward thinking, innovative, non- risk averse leader > this guy is it. The Rays, imo, are incredible in what they do, to annually compete on a 70-80 million payroll is really astounding, but’s it’s the way they do business, re-tool in half year cycles, selling high on players no matter the circumstances, the constant adding of young talent to the farm. Astute free agent signings(Charlie Morton).

 

I know nobody’s perfect, but imo, Stearns has made fundamental mistakes that to me, has led me to want this change.

 

We can’t change ownership, so we need a leader that can win it all with a payroll max at ~ 150 million at some point in the near future, and because he’s already proven to be one of if not the most forward thinking leader in baseball, he’s the man I want for this job.