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

[trwi7]

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?

 

Haudricourt probably thinks the players get paid in JuJu Coins.

[MNBrew]

My initial thoughts on the signing:

 

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

I agree that heading into a season I've never said to myself, "this team is focused on pitching and defense." There have been some exceptions where they ended up good in those categories.

 

Although it was maybe unexpected at the time, the Brewers led the American League in lowest runs allowed in 1992 with just 604 runs against. The next closest American League team allowed 653 runs (Twins).

 

I also think you could qualify the 2018 team as solid-to-good in both categories.

That 1992 team was a pitching-SPEED-defense team. They stole 240 bases. Listach's ROY year, Hamilton, Molitor, etc....

[OldSchoolSnapper]

This lineup is in desperate need of at least one more big time bat

 

Who do you recommend?

[MrTPlush]

Guessing in 8 pages someone has brought it up, but Garcia has played 3B in the past. Is that a possibility? Also, Garcia or Yelich could play some 1B I would think?

 

He has 0 innings at the MLB level at 3B.

 

At 30 years old he isn't about to log an inning there now. I will bet on Hiura at SS before Garcia at 3B.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

This lineup is in desperate need of at least one more big time bat

 

Who do you recommend?

 

He was advocating for Yoenis Céspedes last week.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

This lineup is in desperate need of at least one more big time bat

 

Who do you recommend?

 

Wouldn’t matter. If we are “closer to 30th than 15th” in their eyes, one bat won’t make a difference.

[brewers888]

This lineup is in desperate need of at least one more big time bat

 

Who do you recommend?

 

I would have taken a flyer on Cespedes who will be a lot cheaper than Bradley.

[Warning Track Power]

Does this open the door for Vogelbach to stick as the backup 1B/PH/DH if we only need 4 outfielders?

 

C - Narvaez/Pina

1B - Hiura/Vogelbach

2B - Wong

3B - Shaw/Robertson

SS - Urias/Arcia

OF - Yelich/Cain/JBJ/Garcia

 

That roster has a lot of flexibility and I like the ability to have Vogelbach as a power option off the bench every game, DH during interleague games, and keeping him on the roster for the future when the DH is likely in place.

Keeping Vogelbach would be a nod to the Brewers teams of lore and not the current iteration of pitching and defense.

 

Vogelbach aka Russell Branyan aka Rob Deer aka Gorman Thomas. Let's keep him around for old times sakes!

[brewers888]

Kyle Seager on a salary dump from Seattle is another gamble I would have been willing to take instead of signing another defensive outfielder who swings a whiffle ball bat most seasons.

[RollieTime]

This lineup is in desperate need of at least one more big time bat

 

Who do you recommend?

 

I would have taken a flyer on Cespedes who will be a lot cheaper than Bradley.

 

Then what do you do the rest of the season after his 127 at bats are up (his 4 year average)? Or 64 at bats for his 3 year average? Then you’re back to square one after the first month when all the other relevant free agents are signed and he’s done for the year once again.

 

I would have no issue still bringing in Cespedes right now and seeing what he has left in the tank. But banking on him getting 400 at bats at this point is a pipe dream. He can be the 5th outfielder and play first with Hiura as he hits both lefties and righties well. It would need to be something like $1 million base with an incentive of $1 million for each 100 at bats he receives.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Kyle Seager on a salary dump from Seattle is another gamble I would have been willing to take instead of signing another defensive outfielder who swings a whiffle ball bat most seasons.

 

35 year old Cespedes over a GG-level defender who's averaged 20 home runs a season for the four years before Covid. No thank you. And preferring Seager to Bradley is...well I'm just glad you're not in charge.

[owbc]

Seattle isn't even shopping Seagar anyway.

[bergstein24]

Guessing in 8 pages someone has brought it up, but Garcia has played 3B in the past. Is that a possibility? Also, Garcia or Yelich could play some 1B I would think?

Yelich was drafted as a 1B/OF, so it's not entirely out of the realm to see him get 1B reps towards the end of his deal.

 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/423301-scouting-florida-marlins-2010-first-round-draft-pick-christian-yelich

[torts]

Guessing in 8 pages someone has brought it up, but Garcia has played 3B in the past. Is that a possibility? Also, Garcia or Yelich could play some 1B I would think?

 

Guys, Ryan Braun can play 3B, this signing does not prevent Braun from his final season. #ryanbraunforever

[adambr2]

This is basically a 1 year/13M deal. Unless Bradley totally tanks he's not picking up 1/11 on himself next year. Even if he got less annually, he's probably going to want a multi-year deal.

[markedman5]

This lineup is in desperate need of at least one more big time bat

 

Who do you recommend?

 

I would have taken a flyer on Cespedes who will be a lot cheaper than Bradley.

 

I think this pretty much sums it up.on Cespedes

 

https://calltothepen.com/2021/03/03/new-york-mets-buyer-beware-yoenis-cespedes/

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

The real question now is ... what uniform number is Bradley gonna pick as a member of the Brewers? I have a feeling that his traditional #19 ain't gonna fly.

[Eye Black]

Just to illustrate the potential importance of run prevention a little further, I looked at the last full regular season, 2019, in terms of runs allowed.

 

In 2019 there were six teams that were clearly better than everyone else in total runs allowed. Those were the Dodgers (613 RA), Astros (640 RA), Rays (656 RA), Indians (657 RA), Cardinals (662 RA), and A’s (680 RA). Everyone else was greater than 711 in runs allowed, and the league average was 782 runs allowed. Of those six top teams, five made the playoffs. The Indians were the only team among that group that missed the playoffs, and they won 93-games.

[trwi7]

Seattle isn't even shopping Seagar anyway.

 

And if they were, it wouldn't be as a pure salary dump. Outside of one tough year (where he was still a 1.5 WAR player), he's consistently been a 3-5 WAR player for several years. It's not like Seattle is swimming in bad contracts and a ton of salary that they need to just get rid of a good player for nothing just to free up money.

[MVP2110]

I'm confused. To those who say that we can't count on our offense because of what happened last year, then isn't signing Bradley a great move because he was awesome last season? Are we using last season or not? You can't have it both ways

[bergstein24]

The real question now is ... what uniform number is Bradley gonna pick as a member of the Brewers? I have a feeling that his traditional #19 ain't gonna fly.

He was #7 in AA, but #19 in AAA and in college. So I would venture it would be #7 which has been vacated by Sogard.

[MadThinker88]

Just to illustrate the potential importance of run prevention a little further, I looked at the last full regular season, 2019, in terms of runs allowed.

 

In 2019 there were six teams that were clearly better than everyone else in total runs allowed. Those were the Dodgers (613 RA), Astros (640 RA), Rays (656 RA), Indians (657 RA), Cardinals (662 RA), and A’s (680 RA). Everyone else was greater than 711 in runs allowed, and the league average was 782 runs allowed. Of those six top teams, five made the playoffs. The Indians were the only team among that group that missed the playoffs, and they won 93-games.

 

Yep, more evidence of MKE becoming a Bizarro (wish I had thought of that term earlier instead of using warped) version of CLE...

 

 

On a different topic: We really need a way to like/ react to posts of a member instead of having to reply with a version of Like/ Agree/ etc

[SandyTolan]

Guessing in 8 pages someone has brought it up, but Garcia has played 3B in the past. Is that a possibility? Also, Garcia or Yelich could play some 1B I would think?

 

Are you sure Garcia has played 3B? I just looked him up in B-Ref and don't see any record of him playing at third, in the major or minor leagues.

[patrickgpe]

according to baseball reference he hasn't played the IF at all in the MLB. I am not saying you are incorrect because maybe in the minors, but not in the last 9 years. I do not think this is what the brewers were thinking

[Bnowell4evr]

I just love the balance that Stearns has brought to this team. Do you remember when Prince was literally the only LH bat in our lineup? Tough RHP used to carve us up. Stearns has put together a roster that could play 6 LH bats against a RHP with Narvaez, Vogelbach, Wong, Shaw, Yelich and Bradley. Now, pitchers are going to have to work a lot harder when people aren't chasing sliders 2 feet off the plate.

 

That's another thing. Stearns has really put an emphasis on walking. The guys he's acquired really have a knack for taking pitches.