Vogelbach signs with Brewers 1.4 million

[markedman5]

[djoctagone]

only $233,333 of that salary is guaranteed.

 

considering that a waiver claim costs $100,000, it's a relatively low-risk move if mlb and the mlbpa do not agree to a designated hitter for 2021.

[PeaveyFury]

Also a no-brainer deal at that price.

[brewmann04]

YES like this signing.

[folly412]

A bargain!

[long ball]

If there's no NL DH, it will be interesting to see if they keep him around. They should a little willingness to play him at 1b last year.

[Lathund]

He's not a good 1B but it's not as if he's unplayable there. Some 1B, some pinch hitting. And hope for the DH. What a wierd thing that is for me to say; I prefer DH-less baseball, but if it's inevitable (and it looks like it is) then just have the DH for 2021 already. To go DH, no DH and DH again makes no sense and creates uncertainty for both players and teams.

[monty57]

He's not a good 1B but it's not as if he's unplayable there.

 

He's not the worst defensive 1B, but his offense hasn't shown to be good enough to make up for the defensive shortcomings. Basically, his negative defense negates his positive offense. As a 1B, he's "passable," but won't add a lot of wins over the course of a season.

 

My hope is that by finding a 1B/DH for only $1.4M (along with a SS for $2M), they will have some resources to acquire a solid 3B. We all expect a lowered payroll this year, and 3B is their area of greatest need, so I'll take "passable" at 1B if it gets us a "core player" at 3B.

 

With the limited payroll, we're going to have guys who are league average or below. If we're going to win in 2021, it's because guys like Yelich, Hiura, Narvaez, Cain, and Garcia remember how to hit, while our pitching remains strong. Today's signings (Vogelbach, Arcia, Pina) are guys who you hope can get you league average play for a relatively cheap cost.

[JackNicholson1974]

If this guy is getting meaningful at bats this year, even as DH, then I think the off season is a massive fail. He isn't good.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

If this guy is getting meaningful at bats this year, even as DH, then I think the off season is a massive fail. He isn't good.

 

Stats seem to indicate that he can provide some value ... and not just the stats from last season's short Brewers trial. He put up All Star numbers in the first half of the 2019 season, before falling off significantly in the second half.

 

Regarding last year, at least he went up to the plate with an actual plan, which is more than we can say for Yelich and Hiura. At $1.4 million, it would have been stupid for the Brewers not to see if the 70-ish plate appearances he had for them were a fluke.

[sveumrules]

If this guy is getting meaningful at bats this year, even as DH, then I think the off season is a massive fail. He isn't good.

 

In his lone full season he posted a 111 wRC+ & 1.6 WAR. If he can approximate those numbers in 2021 it would be perfectly cromulent production for 1.4 million dollars.

[MrTPlush]

If this guy is getting meaningful at bats this year, even as DH, then I think the off season is a massive fail. He isn't good.

 

In his lone full season he posted a 111 wRC+ & 1.6 WAR. If he can approximate those numbers in 2021 it would be perfectly cromulent production for 1.4 million dollars.

 

Sure, you could look at it that way. Maybe not the most accurate if you want to make the postseason though.

 

We aren't going to get very far if we are loading up the roster with guys 'worth' their salary, but are 1.5 WAR (or worse) players and absolutely miserable defensively. I don't think Jack thinks the price is bad, but that the player isn't really that good...especially at 500+ ABs.

 

You could make the most +value roster in MLB and win 60 games...is that what we want? Probably not.

[sveumrules]

In 2019 there were only three AL teams who exceeded 1.6 WAR from their DH, in 2018 there were seven, in 2017 there were two, in 2016 there were five.

 

If there is a DH in the NL & the Brewers get around 1.5 WAR that will likely be enough to crack the top ten, which would be pretty good for 1.4 million dollars.

 

During Stearns & company's tenure Brewers batters have posted a dead nuts even 100 wRC+ & are 15th in WAR, you can't get any average-er. It hasn't stopped them from winning the 11th most games.

 

I'd love to have a roster full of good players, but the reality of MLB economics make it difficult for an organization like Milwaukee to do that. Stearns & company have a pretty good track record of countering that reality by trying to extract some value from all 26 roster spots & this move seems to fit that strategy.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

If this guy is getting meaningful at bats this year, even as DH, then I think the off season is a massive fail. He isn't good.

 

In his lone full season he posted a 111 wRC+ & 1.6 WAR. If he can approximate those numbers in 2021 it would be perfectly cromulent production for 1.4 million dollars.

 

Sure, you could look at it that way. Maybe not the most accurate if you want to make the postseason though.

 

We aren't going to get very far if we are loading up the roster with guys 'worth' their salary, but are 1.5 WAR (or worse) players and absolutely miserable defensively. I don't think Jack thinks the price is bad, but that the player isn't really that good...especially at 500+ ABs.

 

You could make the most +value roster in MLB and win 60 games...is that what we want? Probably not.

 

I get not being excited about Vogelbach, but it makes perfect sense, and the reality is Yelich and Hiura + pitching depth is the whole plan for 2021. If this team makes the playoffs, it'll be because those guys hit and the pitching locked it down.

 

Might as well hope for over-performance on buy-low guys, especially given the financial uncertainty. I wish the budget and the farm were in better shape too, but I think the kinds of tender moves we're seeing make a lot of sense.

 

My evaluation of the offseason is going to be about how this team handles Hader. It's not an easy choice, but everything else is about low-risk, high-reward moves until we see if we can find a buyer on him.

[Thurston Fluff]

If this guy is getting meaningful at bats this year, even as DH, then I think the off season is a massive fail. He isn't good.

 

In his lone full season he posted a 111 wRC+ & 1.6 WAR. If he can approximate those numbers in 2021 it would be perfectly cromulent production for 1.4 million dollars.

 

Don't really have anything to add. I just wanted to commend you on the use of the word cromulent.

[monty57]

If this guy is getting meaningful at bats this year, even as DH, then I think the off season is a massive fail. He isn't good.

 

In his lone full season he posted a 111 wRC+ & 1.6 WAR. If he can approximate those numbers in 2021 it would be perfectly cromulent production for 1.4 million dollars.

 

Sure, you could look at it that way. Maybe not the most accurate if you want to make the postseason though.

 

We aren't going to get very far if we are loading up the roster with guys 'worth' their salary, but are 1.5 WAR (or worse) players and absolutely miserable defensively. I don't think Jack thinks the price is bad, but that the player isn't really that good...especially at 500+ ABs.

 

You could make the most +value roster in MLB and win 60 games...is that what we want? Probably not.

 

But that's not at all what they're doing. They have "core" players in guys like Yelich, Hiura, Burnes, Cain, and Woodruff. We don't have the funds to fill the roster with star players, so we need other guys to fill out the roster. If we can get league average out of these guys without spending too much money, that's probably the best we can hope for.

 

I'd love it if we had more players coming up from the farm to fill more holes, but we've been trading prospects to help the MLB team over the past few years. After a while that comes back and bites you. Without league minimum guys coming from the farm, you need to pay more for all the guys, including the "filler" players.

 

We now have C, 1B, 2B, SS, LF, CF, RF covered, so hopefully by saving some money in the deals made yesterday, we can find another "core player," or at least an above average guy, to play 3B.

[Roderick]

If this guy is getting meaningful at bats this year, even as DH, then I think the off season is a massive fail. He isn't good.

 

In his lone full season he posted a 111 wRC+ & 1.6 WAR. If he can approximate those numbers in 2021 it would be perfectly cromulent production for 1.4 million dollars.

 

Don't really have anything to add. I just wanted to commend you on the use of the word cromulent.

 

My question is how long has he been holding on to that word to use?...

[MrTPlush]

Sure, you could look at it that way. Maybe not the most accurate if you want to make the postseason though.

 

We aren't going to get very far if we are loading up the roster with guys 'worth' their salary, but are 1.5 WAR (or worse) players and absolutely miserable defensively. I don't think Jack thinks the price is bad, but that the player isn't really that good...especially at 500+ ABs.

 

You could make the most +value roster in MLB and win 60 games...is that what we want? Probably not.

 

But that's not at all what they're doing. They have "core" players in guys like Yelich, Hiura, Burnes, Cain, and Woodruff. We don't have the funds to fill the roster with star players, so we need other guys to fill out the roster. If we can get league average out of these guys without spending too much money, that's probably the best we can hope for.

 

I'd love it if we had more players coming up from the farm to fill more holes, but we've been trading prospects to help the MLB team over the past few years. After a while that comes back and bites you. Without league minimum guys coming from the farm, you need to pay more for all the guys, including the "filler" players.

 

We now have C, 1B, 2B, SS, LF, CF, RF covered, so hopefully by saving some money in the deals made yesterday, we can find another "core player," or at least an above average guy, to play 3B.

 

Problem is one of those core players was horrendous last year (Hiura) and the other one probably got his AARP card in the mail while he didn't play this year. It would also help if Vogelbach was average...but he is really far from it. You hope his bat is average, but playing the field he is definitely not an average player. Don't even give get me started about RF and SS.

 

Not sure if I would call the offseason a massive failure if we fill up the offense with similar garbage we had in 2020 because of the disastrous offseason/financials...but I could certainly see why someone would be unhappy with Vogelbach getting 500+ ABs next year...it probably is not a good sign to the overall offenses success.

[torts]

I'm stoked this beefcake is back can't wait to get a vogelbach shirsy

[djoctagone]

i'm glad he's back because it gives me someone to think about every time someone posts "lightening in a bottle".

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

i'm glad he's back because it gives me someone to think about every time someone posts "lightening in a bottle".

 

I'm glad he's back because he gives all of us with glorious dad bods an MLB player to live vicariously through.

[TURBO]

He was a fun replacement last season when things were going wrong with Smoak, but I think we all know that in 2021, he will come crashing back down to reality, and by June, he'll be gone.

[MrTPlush]

i'm glad he's back because it gives me someone to think about every time someone posts "lightening in a bottle".

 

Is that a good thing? We did that with Sogard and the first time we did it he hit to the tune of a .406 OPS the next season. We were then dumb enough to fall for it again and he hit to the tune of a .560 OPS. Seems we were getting struck by that lightning more than catching it in a bottle.

 

I think I have said it before, but he basically gives me Eric Thames vibes...but slightly worse of a player. He is going to go beastmode for about a month and then be below average to terrible most of the time.

[sveumrules]

He was a fun replacement last season when things were going wrong with Smoak, but I think we all know that in 2021, he will come crashing back down to reality, and by June, he'll be gone.

 

What do you think reality is?

 

In his lone full season, 2019, he posted a 111 OPS+. Entering 2020 he was projected for a 121 OPS+. He posted a 98 OPS+ in 2020, but it was only 136 PAs, he was unlucky by xwOBA & his walk/K rates were steady so I don't see his projection going down too much for 2021, maybe to around a 115 OPS+.

 

For reference, here are league average 1B/DH wRC+ the last three years...

 

1B | 2018: 108 | 2019 : 111 | 2020: 108

DH | 2018: 110 | 2019: 104 | 2020: 97

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

He was a fun replacement last season when things were going wrong with Smoak, but I think we all know that in 2021, he will come crashing back down to reality, and by June, he'll be gone.

 

Not only is your glass half empty, it's got a crack on the bottom, and the leaking beer is ruining the coffee table LOL.