Brewers sign Travis Shaw- $1.5m Minor League Deal, $1.5 more in incentives, with an opt-out

[trwi7]

His 15 RBI shows he’s been putting the ball in play with men on base

 

He strikes out around a third of the time with men on base. His 15 RBIs are the result of him batting 3rd, 4th or 5th for the vast majority of plate appearances.

 

what’s not to like with Shaw’s second tenure?

 

His .263 OBP and 75 OPS+.

[RollieTime]

He’s 7/45 his last 11 games. That might be accurate that he leads the team in extra base hits with 6, but that’s certainly not much. Also his 15 RBI are propped up with 2 three run homers. Not saying they weren’t big hits for the club, because they were. Him being in the middle of the lineup is why he has quite a few RBI early on.

 

It is too early to write him off. But it’s worth a discussion that if we get to June 1st and he’s hitting sub .200, a change will most likely need to be made. I’m curious what we have internally at AA or AAA currently that could be a possible replacement if needed.

[Thurston Fluff]

When we get to June lets talk about it. It's way too early now. All hitters go through cold streaks. The team is doing fine and he's our best option for at least another month or so.

[adambr2]

As could probably have been expected, Shaw is not nearly as good as he was in '17 and '18 anymore, nor nearly as bad as he was in '19.

 

He's a weak starting option, but not such a black hole that his presence makes an upgrade an urgent matter. But when you're looking at where you can upgrade your lineup before the deadline, you'd probably want to start with the Shaw/Robertson platoon.

[brewers888]

As could probably have been expected, Shaw is not nearly as good as he was in '17 and '18 anymore, nor nearly as bad as he was in '19.

 

He's a weak starting option, but not such a black hole that his presence makes an upgrade an urgent matter. But when you're looking at where you can upgrade your lineup before the deadline, you'd probably want to start with the Shaw/Robertson platoon.

 

At the very least they need a legitimate bat at either third, shortstop, and first base if not two to replace the utter lack of anything from these positions. Hopefully Shaw can be at least adequate but the last week or two hasn't been promising at all.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

As could probably have been expected, Shaw is not nearly as good as he was in '17 and '18 anymore, nor nearly as bad as he was in '19.

 

He's a weak starting option, but not such a black hole that his presence makes an upgrade an urgent matter. But when you're looking at where you can upgrade your lineup before the deadline, you'd probably want to start with the Shaw/Robertson platoon.

 

He was an incredibly streaky hitter even at his peak in 2017-18. Nothing about how he has performed so far is surprising. The key to his success is limiting the cold streaks.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

In any case, I'm not about to go after Shaw, who should have had tempered expectations to begin with, when Keston Hiura exists.

[trwi7]

He was an incredibly streaky hitter even at his peak in 2017-18.

 

This isn't really true and even if he was, he never had a month this bad in 2017-18.

[pacopete4]

He was an incredibly streaky hitter even at his peak in 2017-18.

 

This isn't really true and even if he was, he never had a month this bad in 2017-18.

 

June 2018: .200/.361/.323/.685

[trwi7]

He was an incredibly streaky hitter even at his peak in 2017-18.

 

This isn't really true and even if he was, he never had a month this bad in 2017-18.

 

June 2018: .200/.361/.323/.685

 

Which is still better than what he's at now.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

 

Which is still better than what he's at now.

 

But you said it isn't true that he was incredibly streaky in 2017-18. That's where you are incorrect. He also put up a pretty terrible .698 OPS in August of his breakout 2017 season. He's always been a streaky hitter, prone to extended slumps.

 

If he doesn't have that .OPS up above .700 by the end of May, then we have an issue.

[trwi7]

 

Which is still better than what he's at now.

 

But you said it isn't true that he was incredibly streaky in 2017-18. That's where you are incorrect. He also put up a pretty terrible .698 OPS in August of his breakout 2017 season. He's always been a streaky hitter, prone to extended slumps.

 

If he doesn't have that .OPS up above .700 by the end of May, then we have an issue.

 

I think most players have "slumps" like that over a month. Shaw's slump is now going over three years.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

 

Which is still better than what he's at now.

 

But you said it isn't true that he was incredibly streaky in 2017-18. That's where you are incorrect. He also put up a pretty terrible .698 OPS in August of his breakout 2017 season. He's always been a streaky hitter, prone to extended slumps.

 

If he doesn't have that .OPS up above .700 by the end of May, then we have an issue.

 

I think most players have "slumps" like that over a month. Shaw's slump is now going over three years.

 

Shaw was ok last year. He was atrocious in 2019. All I'm saying is that we might want to get past April before we definitively say he's done.

[clancyphile]

Put it this way... it would be nice to have someone with a better bat than Robertson who could platoon with Shaw and give him breaks.

 

I'm not going to dump hard on Shaw. It's so early in the season a 1-for-9 "slump" over two games can drop an average big time.

 

Hiura is a bigger worry - and I'm close to saying he needs some serious work on his swing. Pitchers adjusted after 2019, and he needs to adjust to their adjustments.

[BillMilton]

Erceg was supposed to have been here by now.

[JohnBriggs12]

Add 3 of Green, Strange-Gordon, Reyes, Peterson

 

Subtract Hiura, Shaw, and Robertson

 

Probably won't happen all at once but if trends continue, that's where we could be headed.

 

Vogelbach hasn't been a huge liability playing 1B.

[pacopete4]

Add 3 of Green, Strange-Gordon, Reyes, Peterson

 

Subtract Hiura, Shaw, and Robertson

 

Probably won't happen all at once but if trends continue, that's where we could be headed.

 

Vogelbach hasn't been a huge liability playing 1B.

 

And then replace those three. That’s actually the trend of this forum. Always trying to replace. Hell, there’s posters here that would probably replace Cain with Taylor for good and then call our front office cheap and stupid when he eventually stinks too.

[RollieTime]

Add 3 of Green, Strange-Gordon, Reyes, Peterson

 

Subtract Hiura, Shaw, and Robertson

 

Probably won't happen all at once but if trends continue, that's where we could be headed.

 

Vogelbach hasn't been a huge liability playing 1B.

 

And then replace those three. That’s actually the trend of this forum. Always trying to replace. Hell, there’s posters here that would probably replace Cain with Taylor for good and then call our front office cheap and stupid when he eventually stinks too.

 

Why is this spot on?

[rickh150]

Add 3 of Green, Strange-Gordon, Reyes, Peterson

 

Subtract Hiura, Shaw, and Robertson

 

Probably won't happen all at once but if trends continue, that's where we could be headed.

 

Vogelbach hasn't been a huge liability playing 1B.

 

And then replace those three. That’s actually the trend of this forum. Always trying to replace. Hell, there’s posters here that would probably replace Cain with Taylor for good and then call our front office cheap and stupid when he eventually stinks too.

 

Why is this spot on?

 

A forum often has an array of opinions. I think we have to remember that those who criticize one decision are usually not the same people to criticize the opposite. Someone else will do that.

[adambr2]

If I criticize one thing I will usually not criticize the opposite of that thing. That is true.

[sveumrules]

Add 3 of Green, Strange-Gordon, Reyes, Peterson

 

Subtract Hiura, Shaw, and Robertson

 

Who's the backup shortstop?

[djoctagone]

both pablo reyes and dee strange-gordon have experience at shortstop.

[sveumrules]

both pablo reyes and dee strange-gordon have experience at shortstop.

 

DSG put up a -21 DRS in about 1,300 innings at SS from 2011-13. He has played about 100 innings at SS in the 7 years since then.

 

Reyes played 128 innings of SS at AAA in 2019, but he was primarily a LF. The only season of his minor league career that SS was his primary position was 2012 in the Dominican Rookie League.

 

They certainly have experience, but I'm not sure the Brewers front office would consider them MLB capable defensively at SS outside of an emergency type situation.

[RollieTime]

Add 3 of Green, Strange-Gordon, Reyes, Peterson

 

Subtract Hiura, Shaw, and Robertson

 

Who's the backup shortstop?

 

*Big Dan Winks*

[wntrtxn21]

Peterson (.227/.317/.650) is worse than Shaw and worse defensively. Reyes has been terrible period. Neither offers anything over what the Brewers currently have. Strange-Gordon would be an improvement over Robertson with the bat, but would be a liability at SS. IMO it's time to see if Green can be a big league hitter. Hiura needs to figure it out and it doesn't seem like the majors is the place for him to do it.