Brewers sign Jackie Bradley Jr. (2-year/$24M with player option after first year.)

[areacodes]

Do you think Haudricourt wakes up on a morning like this and pages back to his "the Brewers have no money to spend" article and cries a little bit?

 

They signed two players for what Braun made last year, and a handful of other free agents with multi-million dollar deals walked. Haudricourt still isn’t wrong.

 

Bingo!! While people want to see this as "the Brewers spending money", it's basically just replacing a contract you had on the books last year(Braun). That's not INCREASING the $$ you spent last year. truly spending money to me, is increasing the payroll consistently, and never dropping it down below a certain level

 

[Outlander]

Of course Tom was wrong, not sure why anybody would defend him regarding that silly comment.

[Jopal78]

Of course Tom was wrong, not sure why anybody would defend him regarding that silly comment.

 

People have attacked that guy left and right on this board for 15+ years. Add up the guaranteed salaries of the players who were here in 2020 and subtract it by the guaranteed salaries of those who just arrived for 2021, and I bet it will come out with a positive number.

 

Nobody hangs around the major league clubhouses for 30 years and doesn’t know as much or more than the fans on a message board. But he writes for the main Wisconsin arm of the USA Today (Gannett) a name synonymous with generalities and painting in broad strokes.

[SoCalBrewfan]

I don’t want to make assumptions but one doesn’t make this signing if Cain is expected to start 140-150 games.

 

I think there's two important aspects to this.

 

One, flexibility and depth are going to be the name of the game in 2021 MLB. I think we'll see the pitching staff and roster as a whole used in that Counsell and Stearns many plates spinning way all season long. Cain is older and missed most of last season so having a complementary piece in Bradley makes a ton of sense. Counsell loves to play matchups and Bradley and Garcia both would benefit from a soft platoon. I think it's not all about Cain, but fits with the whole Brewers approach to have multiple options to put the best team on the field for any particular matchup.

 

Two, their theory of the offseason seems to be that the best value to be found this year was in run prevention. I can't think off the top of my head of a player the brewers were linked to that didn't fit that; Turner is a good defender too even if most posters were drooling over his bat.

[PeaveyFury]

Off the top of my head they’re down 40+ million from last year... Haudricourt still has the math right, even if you don’t like him.

 

Unfortunately, your 'off the top of your head' numbers are incorrect. Per Fangraphs:

 

2020 Final Payroll: $102 million

2021 Payroll: $105 Million

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/brewers

 

Obviously the reader isn’t supposed to take him literally when he says they aren’t “going to sign anyone”.

 

Says you, I suppose. Obviously, the article meant 'of significance' or 'for significant dollars'. We can go line by line through the article, if you'd like to actually analyze Tom's intent. Point is, Tom put out an article that was almost immediately disproved. Trying to spin it as otherwise at this point is just a puzzling attempt to explain away bad journalism.

[homer]

Feels like Brewers are going the route of the 2015 Royals - stellar defense, stellar bullpen.

[pacopete4]

I shouldn't be surprised about the nonsense in this thread but I just can't figure out how this move would upset you or lead you to the path of being upset with how much the Brewers are spending. COVID hit and destroyed a lot of their income and yet, here we are, spending more money than a season a go. Not only that but they just got better. What else do you want? Seriously?...

[brewers888]

How many outfielders does this team need with below average offense. Between Cain, Garcia, and now Bradley we are spending over 40 million on outfielders that don't hit all that much.

 

This team is likely to be amongst the worst offenses in the league yet we have four outfielders accounting for almost half of the teams payroll. Defense is great and all but when you consistently struggle to get a hit much less score that defense doesn't matter all that much.

 

Yelich needs to be the MVP level player that he can and Hiura has to be a star with the bat to carry what will be a terrible offense. Shame that Stearns doesn't seem to care about offense at all.

[PeaveyFury]

Defense is great and all but when you consistently struggle to get a hit much less score that defense doesn't matter all that much.

 

That's really not true, though. Quality defense and pitching means you need to score less runs overall. It's not a competition on what offense can score the most runs in total. It's what team can score more runs than the opponent each night. Allowing fewer runs means you need to score less runs to win.

[wallus]

The team got better today and that is good news in a division that should be pretty tight. This signing should pretty much close the door on Garcia getting enough ABs for his option to kick in which is good news as well.

 

Also, I thought I was told that if it leaks that we are interested in a player that the player doesn't sign with us.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

 

Sounds like deferrals are in the deal. Much like Wong who has $5 mil of his 2021 salary deferred.

 

Random question. Does having deferred money really benefit a team? Seems like every year we are always paying someone’s deferred money. Why not just pay fully then not have to deal with it. Feel like we were paying Loshe, Rameriz, etc for years. Not sure I get it as each year it’s just a different name.

[Warning Track Power]

My initial thoughts on the signing:

 

1. I have never seen a pitching and defense Milwaukee Brewers team and I am 38 years old.

 

2. I love the player culture the Brewers have developed recently. Everything you read about the team as constituted, but then the signings of high character guys like Wong and JBJ make this team easy to root for.

 

3. On the baseball side, I think this is Garcia's last year with the Brewers. Unless he comes out and hits .300 with 20 HR, I don't see his game profile as fitting with the team.

 

4. I doubt JBJ will live up to the offensive side of the deal in 2021 (say he hits .250, 15-20 HR) to warrant NOT exercising his end of the option. This will be 2 years at $24m.

 

5. The Brewers will either have two FA OF after 2021 (JBJ & Garcia) or three after 2022 (Cain, JBJ & Garcia). Regardless, they have positioned themselves well to possibly replace JBJ with Garcia if JBJ explodes in 2021.

 

6. The signing allows for the Brewers to continue to try and rebuild OF depth in the Minors via the draft or International Free Agency. By the time they will truly need more OF in 2023, hopefully Mitchell, Lutz, etc. are ready and the OF system has been somewhat rebuilt.

[wallus]

Who plays CF when JBJ and Cain are in the field?

[StearnsFTW]

Lol Haudricourt is a complete and utter hack.

 

He used to be a good reporter. Unfortunately that was like 30 years ago.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Defense is great and all but when you consistently struggle to get a hit much less score that defense doesn't matter all that much.

 

This statement is 100% false. In fact, it doesn't even make sense.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

At the end of the day, having Cain, Bradley or Garcia as your 4th OFer is an enormous upgrade over Fisher, McKinney or Taylor, or even someone like Gamel. This significantly adds to the overall quality of the 26-man active roster. You can't have too many good players.

 

I don't even look at anyone as a 4th OF. They just have tremendous flexibility to play matchups now without sacrificing any defense in the OF. That and at least one of them is bound to get hurt.

[wallus]

I would assume our 5th outfielder is Arcia now? I can't see a 5th outfielder getting much PT with the 4 guys we've got.

[brewerfan82]

1. How can you say the Brewers don't spend unless you have unrealistic expectations?

2. DS is way more patient than so many of us. And he has gotten rewarded with some nice deals by operating the way he does.

3. Being a Brewer fan now is so much more fun than being a Brewer fan 20 years ago.

 

2018

January 25th - Trade Brinson, Diaz, Harrison, and Yamamoto for Christian Yelich

January 26th - Sign Lorenzo Cain to a 5 year, $80M contract

 

2019

January 14th - Sign Yasmani Grandal to a 1 year, $18.250M contract (incl. mutual buyout)

February 19th - Sign Mike Moustakas to a 1 year, $10M contract (incl. mutual option)

 

2020

March 6th - Sign Christian Yelich to a 7 year, $188.5M contract extension

 

2021

February 5th - Sign Kolten Wong to a 2 year, $18M contract

March 4th - Sign Jackie Bradley, Jr to a 2 year, $24M contract w/ player option on 2nd year

[Jopal78]

Off the top of my head they’re down 40+ million from last year... Haudricourt still has the math right, even if you don’t like him.

 

Unfortunately, your 'off the top of your head' numbers are incorrect. Per Fangraphs:

 

2020 Final Payroll: $102 million

2021 Payroll: $105 Million

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/brewers

 

Obviously the reader isn’t supposed to take him literally when he says they aren’t “going to sign anyone”.

 

Says you, I suppose. Obviously, the article meant 'of significance' or 'for significant dollars'. We can go line by line through the article, if you'd like to actually analyze Tom's intent. Point is, Tom put out an article that was almost immediately disproved. Trying to spin it as otherwise at this point is just a puzzling attempt to explain away bad journalism.

 

I don't have the time to look all this up, so let's just go to the article in question and the source of your ire ("With economic 'realities' limiting moves, the Brewers look internally for improvement in 2021").

 

The Brewers’ payroll commitment for 2021 stands at about $73.5 million, including buyouts of contracts, with a projection of about $80 million once every player on the 40-man roster is signed. Before the pandemic resulted in prorated salaries last year, the Brewers’ payroll was about $95 million, down from about $125 million in 2019, when principal owner Mark Attanasio said his club lost money while advancing to the wild-card game.

 

I am wrong that payroll, is down. But you're leveling a criticism at him based on your misinterpretation of what he wrote. As evidence by the quote above Haudricourt never actually said it was going to be down in 2021, only where it was at as of the date the article was published.

 

Then as for "not signing anyone", again this is another criticism of "his bad journalism" based on your misinterpretation of what he wrote.

 

The relevant portion is

 

Stearns said he continues to look for ways to improve his club. But, with obvious budgetary restrictions, he said much of the offensive improvement must come from within the current roster. He fully expects star outfielder Christian Yelich to rebound from his 2020 fall-off, and young Keston Hiura as well, while counting on Avasaíl García and Omar Narváez to prove their awful showings were pandemic aberrations.

 

In fact Haudricourt even included a direct quote from the General Manager of the Brewers in his article:

 

"We continue to evaluate external options to improve our team in every capacity, including offensively, but we do believe a good portion of that improvement needs to come from our internal options.”

 

It's okay to criticize the Brewers beat writer if you want. I think we all are ignorant of what his editors expect in terms of scope and depth of his reporting. However, there's nothing inaccurate in this piece, only a misinterpretation of his writing perhaps from a quick skim of the article initially which is what the USA Today stands for.

[clancyphile]

At the end of the day, having Cain, Bradley or Garcia as your 4th OFer is an enormous upgrade over Fisher, McKinney or Taylor, or even someone like Gamel. This significantly adds to the overall quality of the 26-man active roster. You can't have too many good players.

 

I don't even look at anyone as a 4th OF. They just have tremendous flexibility to play matchups now without sacrificing any defense in the OF. That and at least one of them is bound to get hurt.

 

Of they can play the hot hand and maybe eke out another win or two above expectations.

[SoCalBrewfan]

TomH is like a lot of us in that new technologies mean our jobs have changed a lot since we started. Now there are hobbyists and fans providing analysis that is much deeper than what you could read in the newspaper when I was first reading brewers news. There's so much free information of varying quality out there that it's worth asking what a beat reporter should be doing now. Whatever it is, it's different than in was in 1990 and some reporters have adapted more successfully than others.

[homer]

I'll go back to my 2015 Royals comp. They were maybe just above league average on offense (guessing). Everyone goes one way, might be a smart move to go a different direction. We shall see.

[liveforoctober]

How many outfielders does this team need with below average offense. Between Cain, Garcia, and now Bradley we are spending over 40 million on outfielders that don't hit all that much.

 

This team is likely to be amongst the worst offenses in the league yet we have four outfielders accounting for almost half of the teams payroll. Defense is great and all but when you consistently struggle to get a hit much less score that defense doesn't matter all that much.

 

Yelich needs to be the MVP level player that he can and Hiura has to be a star with the bat to carry what will be a terrible offense. Shame that Stearns doesn't seem to care about offense at all.

 

Using baseball reference numbers...

 

Over the last 3 seasons, Lorenzo Cain has an offensive WAR of 5.1. He is an above average offensive player.

 

Over the last 3 seasons, Avisail Garcia has an offensive WAR of 2.5. He is an above average offensive player.

 

Over the last 3 seasons, Jackie Bradley Jr has an offensive WAR of 5.6. He is an above average offensive player.

[StearnsFTW]

My initial thoughts on the signing:

 

1. I have never seen a pitching and defense Milwaukee Brewers team and I am 38 years old.

 

2. I love the player culture the Brewers have developed recently. Everything you read about the team as constituted, but then the signings of high character guys like Wong and JBJ make this team easy to root for.

 

3. On the baseball side, I think this is Garcia's last year with the Brewers. Unless he comes out and hits .300 with 20 HR, I don't see his game profile as fitting with the team.

 

4. I doubt JBJ will live up to the offensive side of the deal in 2021 (say he hits .250, 15-20 HR) to warrant NOT exercising his end of the option. This will be 2 years at $24m.

 

5. The Brewers will either have two FA OF after 2021 (JBJ & Garcia) or three after 2022 (Cain, JBJ & Garcia). Regardless, they have positioned themselves well to possibly replace JBJ with Garcia if JBJ explodes in 2021.

 

6. The signing allows for the Brewers to continue to try and rebuild OF depth in the Minors via the draft or International Free Agency. By the time they will truly need more OF in 2023, hopefully Mitchell, Lutz, etc. are ready and the OF system has been somewhat rebuilt.

 

1. 1992 Brewers. So you were a kid. One of my 3 favorite Brewer teams. Edit for clarification: Brewers offense was pretty good, 5th in the AL in runs scored despite hitting a whopping 82 HR as a team (!). Different world. Pitching-wise 1st in ERA, 2nd in ERA+. Fielding hard to say. They were pretty good though from memory (FWIW). Above average.

 

 

I agree with everything else you said...good points.

[brewcrewdue80]

The overlay on MP looks like 5-6 doubles that result in HRs. Possibly 2 outs become doubles. That outfield in Boston if I recall the fence is basically player height so easy to "rob" a HR. But at same time in MP it may just bounce of wall or still be caught.

 

You now have 2 LHB and 2 RHB to start consistently vs the opposing day's pitcher. And any nicked up injury for one OF youve still got all positions covered no concerns defensively. No Garcia/Yelich in CF. Bradley has improved vs. RHP last 2 seasons. And he does better vs LH SPs than his overall splits show vs LHP. Like JBJ vs Garcia a lot. Boston typically batted 6-9.

 

Edit add. Espn milw radio top 8 at 8 was highest year contracts in franchise history. JBJ is now tied for 7th. Cain is on it. So is Yelich. So Brewers now have 3 players on team that rank in top 7 single year contracts in Franchise history.