christian yelich injury thread

[Sixtofan]

Barry Bonds - lots of folks went to games just to see him play

[MrTPlush]

Yelich provides value past his performance, but it will never surpass the money spent on him. As someone else said part of it is the prestige of just saying you have him or were able to lock him up for basically the rest of his career.

 

I am not overly worried about the contract. I looked it up yesterday and when the Braun contract started he was just outside the Top 20 salaries in baseball. #20 was about $21.5mil and Braun's contract averaged $21mil if I recall correctly. Right now Yelich's $26mil would have him in the Top 20 salaries, but with signings this offseason he probably gets nudged out. Of course both have/had deferred money which makes the contracts more favorable for the Brewers. Yelich's deal should be similar to Braun's when it comes to impact on the payroll.

[adambr2]

The 1998 Cardinals were a third place club, the Brewers were a 5th place club. Yet near the end of the season from September 18-20 the Brewers drew 150,000 fans for a 3 game series against the Cardinals. Everyone was there to see one guy play.

 

Wasn't that right when that historical McGwire/Sosa homerun chase was going on? That's some pretty crucial context to that. If anybody ever chases a single season HR record again I'm sure fans will be flocking to the stadium to see it.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Yelich provides value past his performance, but it will never surpass the money spent on him.

 

How do you even know this? Nobody here even knows how to begin quantifying that. The fact is that these teams don't dole out these contracts from the goodness of their heart. There are so many things you'd need to know to quantify this and attendance is just one. There is value he provides in winning/attendance, then there is retail merchandise, there's community outreach in which he's very involved, there's sponsorships, not just his own, but when Associated Bank or Gehl or whoever partners with the Brewers, you can bet that Yelich doing a 30-second read or posing for a poster they can throw in the lobby is the reason why they do it. It's really easy for Brewerfan to dismiss it and say "nobody opens a checking account because of Christian Yelich," but the fact is that these companies are making those deals because they know it's worth it.

[Jopal78]

The 1998 Cardinals were a third place club, the Brewers were a 5th place club. Yet near the end of the season from September 18-20 the Brewers drew 150,000 fans for a 3 game series against the Cardinals. Everyone was there to see one guy play.

 

Wasn't that right when that historical McGwire/Sosa homerun chase was going on? That's some pretty crucial context to that. If anybody ever chases a single season HR record again I'm sure fans will be flocking to the stadium to see it.

 

So what? Those people turned out to see McGwire play. Sure he was doing some memorable things, but the point is nobody was going to those games for the experience of seeing two 2nd rate teams play out the string.

[PeaveyFury]

The 1998 Cardinals were a third place club, the Brewers were a 5th place club. Yet near the end of the season from September 18-20 the Brewers drew 150,000 fans for a 3 game series against the Cardinals. Everyone was there to see one guy play.

 

Wasn't that right when that historical McGwire/Sosa homerun chase was going on? That's some pretty crucial context to that. If anybody ever chases a single season HR record again I'm sure fans will be flocking to the stadium to see it.

 

So what? Those people turned out to see McGwire play. Sure he was doing some memorable things, but the point is nobody was going to those games for the experience of seeing two 2nd rate teams play out the string.

 

So you cited a then once in a generation homerun chase, the definition of an exception to a rule, as proof of your argument, which seems more than a little unfair.

[MrTPlush]

Yelich provides value past his performance, but it will never surpass the money spent on him.

 

How do you even know this? Nobody here even knows how to begin quantifying that. The fact is that these teams don't dole out these contracts from the goodness of their heart. There are so many things you'd need to know to quantify this and attendance is just one. There is value he provides in winning/attendance, then there is retail merchandise, there's community outreach in which he's very involved, there's sponsorships, not just his own, but when Associated Bank or Gehl or whoever partners with the Brewers, you can bet that Yelich doing a 30-second read or posing for a poster they can throw in the lobby is the reason why they do it. It's really easy for Brewerfan to dismiss it and say "nobody opens a checking account because of Christian Yelich," but the fact is that these companies are making those deals because they know it's worth it.

 

That is my opinion. Sure, there are non monetary gains...but whether that is worth the contract or not is somewhat subjective to ones personal opinion on the value that brings. Who knows, maybe Attanasio just likes flexing a MVP player and will lose millions just to have them on the team for the rest of their career.

 

Much like the Braun contract I think the Brewers are dishing it out hoping/betting that he can keep it together long enough to be a HOF talent. That's where the long term value lies and probably what would make a huge difference. If he ends up cratering like Braun and missing the HOF he probably doesn't end up like Yount and live on for decades. Is he a stream of revenue for the next 8 years or the next 50 years?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Non-monetary value is, in the end, monetary value, it just is harder to quantify with dollars.

 

The community foundation is ultimately an arm of the business even if on its own it doesn't generate revenue. Every arm of the club works together to make money. I don't think anyone on this site has the ability to actually know what the Brewers recoup over the life of the contract from the $200m investment. There is just too much information we don't have. You can't take a balance sheet approach to something that has a bunch of intangibles and things that aren't easily quantified with a monetary value (by us anyway).

 

The foundation is a form of branding that makes the Brewers an attractive corporate partnership. Do you want Christian Yelich out in front of that or Gary Sheffield? It's entirely possibly that Attanasio just wanted to do something cool and fell in love with him, but all of these things are factors when you sign a player for a decade.

[Thurston Fluff]

I will say when going to a game back in the day, if Sheets was pitching I'd be a little more excited to be there than otherwise. Brewers haven't really had that ace to add that little extra that makes watching a game in person special. If Burnes and Woodruff continue to pitch high quality baseball that is something I would think makes a fan really want to be there for their starts.

 

That's a good point. A starting pitcher might draw in more people than a batter. I'm not going to pay that much to see a guy get four ab's no matter how great he is. I will pay to see a great pitcher pitch six or seven innings.

[RollieTime]

One exception to the rule is that I did go to a Brewers vs. Angels match up back in I believe 2016 to be able to say that I’ve seen Trout play live. He’s an all-time talent that will retire as a top 5 player if he continues to produce like he has for the last decade.

[Surhoff5]

I will say when going to a game back in the day, if Sheets was pitching I'd be a little more excited to be there than otherwise. Brewers haven't really had that ace to add that little extra that makes watching a game in person special. If Burnes and Woodruff continue to pitch high quality baseball that is something I would think makes a fan really want to be there for their starts.

 

That's a good point. A starting pitcher might draw in more people than a batter. I'm not going to pay that much to see a guy get four ab's no matter how great he is. I will pay to see a great pitcher pitch six or seven innings.

 

This for sure. Its hard to pay for to see a hitter when as great as one is, it can just be so variable from night to night. However, I will pay to see Sheets, Woody, Burnes, etc. when on the bump for the Crew. I also enjoy watching guys like deGrom, Kershaw, etc when they come to town.

[KCBrewerfan34]

Is Yelich eligible to come off the IL now?

[SeaBass]

I think today is the 10th day for Yelich, with them being able to backdate him 3 days and going on the IL on the 17th. So tomorrow, maybe?

[adambr2]

I think they've said either way they don't expect him to come off immediately when eligible.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Adam McCalvy

@AdamMcCalvy

Christian Yelich is still making progress but he won't be activated tomorrow, when he's first eligible to return from the IL.

[SeaBass]

That wouldn't surprise me. Ideally, if he were going to come back this week (in the next 7 days), I'd hope he can get back playing by Monday, the start of the home series with the Marlins. That would give him 3 games to hopefully shake off a little rust before the 4 game series with the Dodgers.

 

Still, obviously he shouldn't come back until they're absolutely sure he's ready.

[KCBrewerfan34]

Unless it’s an oblique being out this long with a back seems a bit odd

[timpep]

The fact this went from not putting him on the IL because he might be good in a day or two, to putting him on the IL and knowing 10 days won't be enough is bad. Combined with the Yelich quote about how this pops up once or twice a year its starting to worry me.

[Simba2020]

I agree it's an awfully bad sign to go from day to day to not even being ready in two weeks. I want to hope his contract doesn't turn out to be a complete disaster but I'm definitely losing the faith.

 

Edit: I have lost the faith with his latest injury update. I have expressed concerns in previous threads about his back becoming a chronic thing and I'm just more convinced then ever that will be the case.

[markedman5]

Yuck

 

[adambr2]

I wonder how much this guy could have brought in trade in the fall of '19.

[Jopal78]

I wonder how much this guy could have brought in trade in the fall of '19.

 

Less than they gave up? Look at Realmuto, not an MVP but plays a premium defensive position and had two years of control remaining when dealt. He brought back an average major league catcher (Alfaro) a nice pitching prospect (Sanchez) and a low level pitching prospect.

 

Teams giving up huge prospect hauls for veterans are becoming increasingly rare

[adambr2]

I wonder how much this guy could have brought in trade in the fall of '19.

 

Less than they gave up? Look at Realmuto, not an MVP but plays a premium defensive position and had two years of control remaining when dealt. He brought back an average major league catcher (Alfaro) a nice pitching prospect (Sanchez) and a low level pitching prospect.

 

Teams giving up huge prospect hauls for veterans are becoming increasingly rare

 

That's because MVP level players in their prime generally don't become available.

 

You're telling me that when Yelich has two MVP level seasons AFTER acquiring him, he would have been worth LESS? I'm sorry, no way. In a hypothetical world where we made him available after '19, a prospect loaded team like the Padres is not going to offer up a better headliner than what Lewis Brinson was?

 

Realmuto is not and was not post-19 Yelich. And Yelich had 3 remaining years of low cost control which is not insignificant.

[markedman5]

[Thurston Fluff]

Realmuto is not and was not post-19 Yelich. And Yelich had 3 remaining years of low cost control which is not insignificant.

 

Why would a team trade someone like Yelich with three years left on a very team friendly contract? It would be like Trading Woodruff or Burnes this offseason. I supported the idea of trading Yelich with one year left but not three.