Interesting Read: Milwaukee Brewers: How this offseason could be trouble for them

[TURBO]

https://reviewingthebrew.com/2019/12/17/brewers-offseason-trouble/

[Fear The Chorizo]

So because the brewers dont have a quarter billion dollars to pay a 30ish year old free agent, this offseason is going to hurt them?

 

I'd argue had they spent what was necessary to land a Strasburg or Rendon, and actually convinced them to sign here, it would have been a far worse move for the fate of this franchise and far worse offseason for them - which by the way isnt close to being over.

 

Also, was this article penned before or after they signed Ryon Healy;)?

[liveforoctober]

Thank you for posting.

 

Last line of the whole article: "That said, the Brewers have a favorable three year window left before Christian Yelich is eligible for free agency. They need to make the most of that. That means they must be willing to spend on this team."

 

I guess this is my issue with opinion pieces like this and this overall thought in general. "They need to make the most of" and "Must be willing to spend" are used together as if the latter is the only correct way to satisfy the former. It's a simple correction, but just changing the verbiage to "the Brewers must find the right pieces to capitalize on the window they have with Christian Yelich, even if that means spending more than they are accustomed to" acknowledges there are different ways to build a team but also offers your opinion. It opens the window for conversation/discussion rather than argument.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

There are plenty of MLB teams who have proven over the years that the solution to all their problems in fielding a competitive ballclub is not simply to "throw money at it".

[JohnBriggs12]

I agree with the general sentiment of the article. The Brewers have lost a ton off their 2019 team and while they've added bodies, most come with qualifiers like "could be", "might be", and "hopefully". In all my years of watching baseball the teams with a lot of "if this guy comes through" usually end up losing a lot more than they win, especially now that only the Pirates aren't doing everything possible to win. Even some the guys they have coming back, like a Hauser, who's supposed to be a integral member of the rotation, has yet to prove it over an entire season and could turn the other way. There's some reason for hope certainly, but the chances it blows up big time and they are looking to sell in July, is higher than it's been the last few seasons.

[pacopete4]

Did Bart Winkler write that article? It is kinda funny as the Brewers have been one of the more active teams in both free agency and trading. A lot of teams haven't done a single thing for their clubs. Yes, we haven't had a headliner but one can argue a pretty great case that those headliners were just way overpaid in regards to what the Brewers can do financially.

[3and2Fastball]

Narvaez, Garcia, Urias, Lindblom, B Anderson equal up to more than one top free agent... 5 very solid players who will really help the team...much better than one Rendon and 4 replacement level players in those other spots

 

The other thing we need to remember, and apparently this cannot be repeated enough, it is still just mid December. There are all kinds of moves the Brewers can still make before Spring Training.

[TURBO]

There are plenty of MLB teams who have proven over the years that the solution to all their problems in fielding a competitive ballclub is not simply to "throw money at it".

 

True, very true, but how about a happy medium? It has been a very underwhelming off season as far as free agency goes. Yes, we have made some moves, none of which are sexy to the average fan.

 

I still believe that we are going to acquire a real 3B, more than likely some out of left field trade, but when we cleared all that cash, I really thought we'd land one big name guy.

 

I'm still holding out all judgement until I see what the entire off season brings us.

[tigerbrew]

I agree with the general sentiment of the article. The Brewers have lost a ton off their 2019 team and while they've added bodies, most come with qualifiers like "could be", "might be", and "hopefully". In all my years of watching baseball the teams with a lot of "if this guy comes through" usually end up losing a lot more than they win, especially now that only the Pirates aren't doing everything possible to win. Even some the guys they have coming back, like a Hauser, who's supposed to be a integral member of the rotation, has yet to prove it over an entire season and could turn the other way. There's some reason for hope certainly, but the chances it blows up big time and they are looking to sell in July, is higher than it's been the last few seasons.

 

The Brewers lost two all-star players this offseason in Grandal and Moustakas, they lost Lyles who was huge for the Brewers in the stretch run, and they may also lose Thames. These four guys played a vital role for the Brewers getting the wildcard. I think the author is concern that the Brewers are going to be worse than last season.

[pacopete4]

I think the author is concern that the Brewers are going to be worse than last season.

 

Concerned and writing clickbait stories in December. He, much like a lot of fans and current Brewerfan.net posters should probably wait to see the final product of the offseason before making a judgment. The same ownership/GM/Manager won 96 games the season before without having those two "Allstars" and Lyles wasn't even included in the playoff roster. There are just too many variables still out there to jump to a conclusion.

[True Blue Brew Crew]

That article wasn't interesting in the least. Did the article completely omit the acquisitions via trade? I didn't see the names Urias, Narvaez, and Lauer mentioned at all. Just because they weren't signed as free agents doesn't mean they don't exist or that they can't be significant adds. Hard to take an article seriously when it ignores everything but free agency. Especially when the Brewers have been one of the most aggressive teams this winter. The reads as: the Brewers didn't blow their wad on one of the "big name" players we've heard of so it will be a wasted year of Yelich. Real deep thought there.

[DuWayne Steurer]

This seems to be the running theme this off-season. "the Brewers aren't spending the money I want them to spend on the guys I want them to spend it on, therefore David Stearns is a poopy-head stupid-face".

 

The Brewers are, and always will be a franchise with limited financial resources, *No matter how much people don't want them to be*.... even when we have a star player like Christian Yelich. When we have a Yelich, or a Braun in his prime, or whoever, that doesn't mean the owner is suddenly obligated to lose money for three years to field whatever some blog writer thinks is his (or her) version of a "competitive team".

 

Stearns has shown in the last three years that his method gets the Brewers into the realm of competitiveness. We were ONE game from the WS. That's all you can ask. The Dodgers spend money hand-over-fist and haven't won a WS despite 7 straight division titles. Once you get to the playoffs it's a straight-up crap shoot, so I honestly don't care about the "well the Brewers haven't won it all" argument.

 

It's December. December. What does the dude have to do to earn people's trust that he has a plan? He's probably/possibly got more moves up his sleeve, eh? Yep. Rendon is off the board. He was NEVER on the table for us. Strasburg was NEVER on the table for us. I won't say that the Brewers will NEVER sign a guy like Rendon....... but, they shouldn't. If they're being wise with their cash, they shouldn't sign a Rendon. Or a Strasburg. Or anyone to a 275 million dollar plus contract when they're going to be 38 and putting up a .3 WAR.

 

If Ryon Healy is our opening day 3B I'm gonna be disappointed. That means Stearns mis-read the market. Or one of many trades he had in the works didn't materialize. But I'm probably 75% sure that's not the way the rest of this off-season is gonna shake out. I think it's too early for these kinds of reactions. I know blog writers/sports rags have to fill their quotas, but this off-season is just full of people screaming about Stearns to "DO SOMETHING" and I feel like he's been pretty busy, and he's honestly been following the MO that he's set all along since he's been our GM.

[homer]

Grandal signed on Jan 14th. Moose signed on February 17th. Cain signed on Jan 25th, Yelich trade was Jan 25th.

 

It's December 18th.

[StearnsFTW]

This seems to be the running theme this off-season. "the Brewers aren't spending the money I want them to spend on the guys I want them to spend it on, therefore David Stearns is a poopy-head stupid-face".

 

The Brewers are, and always will be a franchise with limited financial resources, *No matter how much people don't want them to be*.... even when we have a star player like Christian Yelich. When we have a Yelich, or a Braun in his prime, or whoever, that doesn't mean the owner is suddenly obligated to lose money for three years to field whatever some blog writer thinks is his (or her) version of a "competitive team".

 

Stearns has shown in the last three years that his method gets the Brewers into the realm of competitiveness. We were ONE game from the WS. That's all you can ask. The Dodgers spend money hand-over-fist and haven't won a WS despite 7 straight division titles. Once you get to the playoffs it's a straight-up crap shoot, so I honestly don't care about the "well the Brewers haven't won it all" argument.

 

It's December. December. What does the dude have to do to earn people's trust that he has a plan? He's probably/possibly got more moves up his sleeve, eh? Yep. Rendon is off the board. He was NEVER on the table for us. Strasburg was NEVER on the table for us. I won't say that the Brewers will NEVER sign a guy like Rendon....... but, they shouldn't. If they're being wise with their cash, they shouldn't sign a Rendon. Or a Strasburg. Or anyone to a 275 million dollar plus contract when they're going to be 38 and putting up a .3 WAR.

 

If Ryon Healy is our opening day 3B I'm gonna be disappointed. That means Stearns mis-read the market. Or one of many trades he had in the works didn't materialize. But I'm probably 75% sure that's not the way the rest of this off-season is gonna shake out. I think it's too early for these kinds of reactions. I know blog writers/sports rags have to fill their quotas, but this off-season is just full of people screaming about Stearns to "DO SOMETHING" and I feel like he's been pretty busy, and he's honestly been following the MO that he's set all along since he's been our GM.

 

 

Also, I'm glad I trusted my gut and didn't read it.

[bigredrobbo]

Careful what you wish for from Santa. Last time we acquired a "name" around Xmas, it was Jeff Suppan!

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Thank you for posting.

 

Last line of the whole article: "That said, the Brewers have a favorable three year window left before Christian Yelich is eligible for free agency. They need to make the most of that. That means they must be willing to spend on this team."

 

I guess this is my issue with opinion pieces like this and this overall thought in general. "They need to make the most of" and "Must be willing to spend" are used together as if the latter is the only correct way to satisfy the former. It's a simple correction, but just changing the verbiage to "the Brewers must find the right pieces to capitalize on the window they have with Christian Yelich, even if that means spending more than they are accustomed to" acknowledges there are different ways to build a team but also offers your opinion. It opens the window for conversation/discussion rather than argument.

 

Yeah, I'm really exhausted of this "they gotta win now because Yelich" take. Having one superstar player doesn't mean you start sloppily tossing cash at every shiny thing you can see. It seems people forgot how they got him the first place, how little they are paying him, and how divisive the initial trade was.

[SeaBass]

I think we're witnessing Stearns doing what he does best, finding value in the market where others aren't looking for it. Just because there aren't pretty fireworks flashing in the sky after each of his transactions doesn't mean they're bad moves or won't pay off in the same way or better than some people perceived re-signing Grandal or Moose would have.

[sveumrules]

Yes, we have made some moves, none of which are sexy to the average fan.

 

I'm not a member of the Brewers front office, but I can virtually guarantee that Stearns & company give zero regard to how sexy their moves appear to the average fan.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I think we're witnessing Stearns doing what he does best, finding value in the market where others aren't looking for it. Just because there aren't pretty fireworks flashing in the sky after each of his transactions doesn't mean they're bad moves or won't pay off in the same way or better than some people perceived re-signing Grandal or Moose would have.

 

That's a good point. Signing Cain in 2018, then following up with the signings of Grandal and Moose last year has given a lot of people in this fanbase what almost seems like a sense of entitlement. The Brewers are what they are, though. They are extremely value-based when it comes to player acquisition. Everything is cost vs. reward. That obviously doesn't mean that they will never acquire "big name" guys, or hand out large deals. But they do those type of things very conservatively, because if that acquisition is a failure, the Brewers cannot simply eat it and easily move on.

 

I get the feeling that even if David Stearns had a $200 million payroll, he'd be operating in a very similar fashion building the team as he is now. Perhaps you'd see a few more higher-value deals, but value is value, whether you are shopping at Tiffany's or Walmart.

[A Swing and A Drive]

Grandal signed on Jan 14th. Moose signed on February 17th. Cain signed on Jan 25th, Yelich trade was Jan 25th.

 

It's December 18th.

 

This offseason can not be compared to those offseason's IMO.

 

There are no Grandal or Moose out there to sign at all, let alone on a one year or short term deal.

 

There is also no one comparably to Cain still on the FA market IMO.

 

If there is a Yelich on another team to trade for (Lindor,Betts, etc), the Brewers don't have the farm system to be able to acquire them.

[homer]

Grandal signed on Jan 14th. Moose signed on February 17th. Cain signed on Jan 25th, Yelich trade was Jan 25th.

 

It's December 18th.

 

This offseason can not be compared to those offseason's IMO.

 

There are no Grandal or Moose out there to sign at all, let alone on a one year or short term deal.

 

There is also no one comparably to Cain still on the FA market IMO.

 

If there is a Yelich on another team to trade for (Lindor,Betts, etc), the Brewers don't have the farm system to be able to acquire them.

 

Point being, it's early.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

 

If there is a Yelich on another team to trade for (Lindor,Betts, etc), the Brewers don't have the farm system to be able to acquire them.

 

I don't think this is accurate. He wasn't that highly regarded, certainly nowhere near where Lindor and Betts stand, at the time of the trade. He exploded after coming to MKE. He was a good, young player, I don't think anyone thought he was a cornerstone guy at the time of the deal. If they traded for another Yelich you wouldn't be able to tell it.

[DuWayne Steurer]

 

If there is a Yelich on another team to trade for (Lindor,Betts, etc), the Brewers don't have the farm system to be able to acquire them.

 

I don't think this is accurate. He wasn't that highly regarded, certainly nowhere near where Lindor and Betts stand, at the time of the trade. He exploded after coming to MKE. He was a good, young player, I don't think anyone thought he was a cornerstone guy at the time of the deal.

 

Fair point. Some people even hated (or disliked) the Yelich deal, and thought we gave up too much. Some still do! :D

 

Point is, of course, there's still trades out there to make.

[A Swing and A Drive]

 

If think this is more accurate than the suggested "poopy-head stupid-face"".

[cesser000]

Careful what you wish for from Santa. Last time we acquired a "name" around Xmas, it was Jeff Suppan!

I beg to differ. 9 years ago tomorrow we acquired Yuni B...

 

...and some dude named Greinke.