Trevor Bauer

[wibadgers23]

Just looking ahead to free agency this winter, I feel like Bauer would be a great fit here. He admittedly likes the city of Milwaukee and according to mlb.com, is interested in signing only one-year deals. Seems like a perfect fit for how Stearns likes to handle free agency. I wonder how much it would take to get him? A rotation of Bauer, Woodruff, Burns, etc would look excellent heading into next year.

[brewers888]

Never gonna happen. If Bauer does go year to year which I doubt will happen he will probably make 30 million next season which is way out of our budget.

[DHonks]

if he only wants 1-year deals, that's actually something we can look into.

[sveumrules]

In 2018, opening day payroll was about 91 million.

 

In 2019, opening day payroll was about 122.5 million, an increase of 31.5 million dollars.

 

Yaz & Moose accounted for 28.25 million of that 31.5 million increase.

 

If Bauer can be signed for 1/30 and is interested in pitching in Milwaukee and Stearns & company think its a prudent addition, I'd imagine Mark A could maybe be persuaded to scrounge up the necessary funds.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

The question then would be whether having a solid #1 (I wouldn't call Bauer an ace) is more valuable than using those funds to find a way to fill likely 2021 lineup black holes at 3B and 1B? Perhaps those holes could be filled through other means, though, such as a potential Hader trade. I'm not sure I am very interested in watching another season of Eric Sogard and Justin Smoak ... although Jedd Gyorko has maintained enough production to inch into "pleasant surprise" consideration.

[pacopete4]

If for one season, maybe. But I don't know. He does some pretty annoying things. But again, for one season... maybe.

[tmwiese55]

I don't see why he would possibly sign 1 year deals. As a pitcher that is straight up crazy. Put your 100 mil in the bank. So, I don't see this happening.

 

But, yea in theory it would make sense to kick the tires if he would.

[adambr2]

I don't see why he would possibly sign 1 year deals. As a pitcher that is straight up crazy. Put your 100 mil in the bank. So, I don't see this happening.

 

But, yea in theory it would make sense to kick the tires if he would.

 

He actually did say he only wants 1 year deals for the rest of his career.

[tmwiese55]

I'll believe it when I see it. It would be ridiculously stupid and I'm sure he'll realize it.

[nate82]

I'll believe it when I see it. It would be ridiculously stupid and I'm sure he'll realize it.

 

He really does mean it he will only sign 1-year deals.

 

https://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/mccoy-bauer-not-committed-reds-any-team-long-term/YbEf1LblOwcjwREWyZGu2I/

[tmwiese55]

We'll see come next spring. you can go find tons of articles of athletes saying stuff that they never do, in all sports. That all sounds good in his head until the reality of 1-150 million dollars sets in.

 

Hey i'd be happy to be wrong. It would be a cool interesting career to kind of be a mercenary. And it would put MKE in the talks at least. But it would colossally stupid, especially for a pitcher. But after speaking so bluntly like he does in that article there could be some "don't back down" to do it, even if he realizes how dumb it is.

[nate82]

We'll see come next spring. you can go find tons of articles of athletes saying stuff that they never do, in all sports. That all sounds good in his head until the reality of 1-150 million dollars sets in.

 

Hey i'd be happy to be wrong. It would be a cool interesting career to kind of be a mercenary. And it would put MKE in the talks at least. But it would colossally stupid, especially for a pitcher. But after speaking so bluntly like he does in that article there could be some "don't back down" to do it, even if he realizes how dumb it is.

 

But he doesn't see it as dumb he sees it as being a better and smarter option and it looks like for him it is not about the money but more about being somewhere he wants to be which for him it sounds like it can change each year.

[tmwiese55]

Yea we'll see. Kevin Durant wasn't leaving OKC either. Every player is happy where they are don't plan on leaving, and so on and so on.

 

He will realize how dumb it is, or he is really dumb himself. Every person around and in his life, especially agents and managers, I'm sure will be telling him he should not do this.

 

Maybe since he's talked so tough he could do the Lebron 1+1 type thing to get a middle ground a bit. So the 2nd year is a player option. I mean, just sign with a good team if that's what you care about so much

[umphrey]

It’s never been tested that I know of, 1 year deals get very high AAV so in the end it could work out the same or better career earnings for good players who stay healthy

[tmwiese55]

It’s never been tested that I know of, 1 year deals get very high AAV so in the end it could work out the same or better career earnings for good players who stay healthy

 

Yea because if he gets tommy john or a rotator cuff he goes from 25/30 mil a year down to nothing the next year and then next to nothing after that until he proves himself. Or, if you have a bad year you're down to 5-10 instead the next year. So once you get to say age 32ish when most guys start tailing off then he won't be making much, if he signs long term he'd still be getting 20-25 mil as he ages. He should ask Jordan Zimmerman what he thinks on signing the long term deal, then call Jimmie Nelson too. Dallas Keuchel would probably be another quick call.

[jerichoholicninja]

Provided he hasn't been stupid with his money, he could retire today and never have to work a day the rest of his life. If he takes a 1 year deal for $30M and blows out his arm and never pitches again or signs for like 6 years and $150M he still never has to work a day the rest of his life. I really hope he follows through on what he's saying. I'd find it refreshing for a guy to bounce around to wherever the money is the most instead of signing a long term megadeal with some crap team and lie about how much he wanted to be with said team and is excited to play there.

[tmwiese55]

Yea I'd love to be wrong, it would be cool to see.

 

However, you also don't have to sign with a crap team. Take a bit less and sign with the Dodgers or Yankees if you want to always be winning. 6/150 to sign with say the Rangers or 6/120 for a good team, just sign with the good team, no need to do a 1 year deal. There is no reason a pitcher should ever consider doing what he's talking about.

 

But, if you can get a team to do the 1+1 deal with a player option on the 2nd I could see the experiment. Keep doing that so you always have a buffer year for injury or rebound from a poor year or a year messed up by small injuries. And of course you're locking in double the money you would on a 1 year.

 

A guy like this also doesn't seem to have any problem speaking his mind and being a jerk. Sign the long term deal and if the team goes to crap in a few years, but you're still good, just stomp your feet and get traded. Happens all the time in sports now. But your money is locked in. He can also negotiate a no trade.

[Eye Black]

Yea I'd love to be wrong, it would be cool to see.

 

However, you also don't have to sign with a crap team. Take a bit less and sign with the Dodgers or Yankees if you want to always be winning. 6/150 to sign with say the Rangers or 6/120 for a good team, just sign with the good team, no need to do a 1 year deal. There is no reason a pitcher should ever consider doing what he's talking about.

 

But, if you can get a team to do the 1+1 deal with a player option on the 2nd I could see the experiment. Keep doing that so you always have a buffer year for injury or rebound from a poor year or a year messed up by small injuries. And of course you're locking in double the money you would on a 1 year.

 

A guy like this also doesn't seem to have any problem speaking his mind and being a jerk. Sign the long term deal and if the team goes to crap in a few years, but you're still good, just stomp your feet and get traded. Happens all the time in sports now. But your money is locked in. He can also negotiate a no trade.

I actually believe Bauer when he says he’s planning to sign all one year deals since he’s talked about it for quite awhile now. I do think a longer term contract that’s laden with player opt outs (similar to Castellanos deal with Reds) may also be something that entices him to forego the straight one year deal plan.

[3and2Fastball]

The Brewers should absolutely sign Bauer to a 1 year, $30 million dollar contract. It’s a perfect solution to being a small market team. It’s similar to Grandal plus Moose, right? Except it is a TOR arm which is much much more valuable and based on the entire history of the franchise, much more difficult for the Brewers to acquire.

 

I don’t think they’ll do it though

[wntrtxn21]

The Brewers should absolutely sign Bauer to a 1 year, $30 million dollar contract. It’s a perfect solution to being a small market team. It’s similar to Grandal plus Moose, right? Except it is a TOR arm which is much much more valuable and based on the entire history of the franchise, much more difficult for the Brewers to acquire.

 

I don’t think they’ll do it though

 

The way the current Brewer team is set up they won't even think of signing Bauer. When Smoak is your 1B, Sogard is your 3B, you need help desperately at the corners. Pitching can always use an upgrade, but Stearns won't have the money to throw at Bauer and still upgrade all the holes on offense.

[TURBO]

The Brewers should absolutely sign Bauer to a 1 year, $30 million dollar contract. It’s a perfect solution to being a small market team. It’s similar to Grandal plus Moose, right? Except it is a TOR arm which is much much more valuable and based on the entire history of the franchise, much more difficult for the Brewers to acquire.

 

I don’t think they’ll do it though

 

The way the current Brewer team is set up they won't even think of signing Bauer. When Smoak is your 1B, Sogard is your 3B, you need help desperately at the corners. Pitching can always use an upgrade, but Stearns won't have the money to throw at Bauer and still upgrade all the holes on offense.

 

Judging by last off season, he probably doesn't plan to spend any more $ on the corner infielders than he did last year. I don't think we are going to magically have a bunch more money show up... He'll just plug in 2021 versions of Sograd, Smoak, Healy, etc.

 

I hope I'm wrong, but that is what I expect to happen.

[brewers888]

I think you guys should start preparing for another cut to the payroll. When you consider that Attanasio cut payroll last offseason fully anticipating big crowds he sure isn't going to spend next offseason with this much uncertainty. Expect another round of Sogard type acquisitions with Sogard in particular having his option picked up.

[3and2Fastball]

I think you guys should start preparing for another cut to the payroll. When you consider that Attanasio cut payroll last offseason fully anticipating big crowds he sure isn't going to spend next offseason with this much uncertainty. Expect another round of Sogard type acquisitions with Sogard in particular having his option picked up.

 

I would say that yours is the most likely prediction I’ve seen so far. In fact the payroll might be slashed so much that we don’t see Sogard’s option picked up. It’ll be mostly young guys like Urias in the lineup, with whoever else we have as minor league depth.

[tmwiese55]

On the other hand, if Woodruff and Burnes are legit like they look right now. You have two young cheaply controlled starters along with what seems like a strong backend of the pen, assuming Hader is still here. It would seems logical to fill out the staff the same way they did the last few years which has been yielding good results and focus whatever money they can drum up to fixing the offense, which has been a problem the last few years. So it might not be out of being cheap, but that it just makes sense to focus on hitting.

 

Of course if you don't spend on hitting either due to a hitter not making sense like happened this year, then it will look bad. But if you strike out on hitting and Bauer is still sitting there and willing to do this you have to kick the tires just like Moose Grandal.

[TURBO]

If we continue trolling the bottom of the barrel free agents, how soon before Yelich wants out and demands a trade?

 

Odds are, he was convinced we would remain competitive, and have a genuine shot at the playoffs yearly, and possibly a world series at some point.

 

That just isn't going to happen if we throw together a team like we did this year on a regular basis.

 

I know he seems like a great team guy, but when push comes to shove, and we trot out Smoak/Sogard like players every year, how long before he grows tired of it, and wants a real shot at winning a world series?