MLB Hot Tub

[Robocaller]

On 3/29/2022 at 12:39 PM, dlk9s said:

It transforms people into the Best Fans in Baseball.

If the only teams you are considering are the Cards and Cubs.

[nate82]

17 hours ago, pitchleague said:

Maybe I missed this elsewhere in the thread, but tonight I heard on mlb radio  that Conforto is having trouble signing because he hurt his shoulder diving for a ball while doing some drills in January.  Scott Boras told him not to sign until he’s healthy so he can get the best deal that he can at that time.

Sounds made up.  I wasn’t able to find anything on this, but I am on my phone at work so can’t really do that much research on it.  
I believe Boras is just covering up his screw up by advising Conforto not to take the QO.  He is coming off a bad season.  He was probably looking at a 1 or 2 year deal.  

[brewers888]

This idea that there is no spot in this lineup for Conforto is laughable.

[mtrebs]

I see that Brock Holt has been released. I wonder if it’d be worth picking him up again because of his versatility since Urias is injured. I’d definitely rather see Holt out there than Reyes.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/brock-holt-granted-release-braves.html

[DR28]

Mark A said Cutch is one of 3 target FAs that we were able to acquire... Really curious to know who the others were?

[pitchleague]

4 hours ago, nate82 said:

Sounds made up.  I wasn’t able to find anything on this, but I am on my phone at work so can’t really do that much research on it.  
I believe Boras is just covering up his screw up by advising Conforto not to take the QO.  He is coming off a bad season.  He was probably looking at a 1 or 2 year deal.  

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/michael-conforto-suffered-shoulder-injury-in-january.html

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

13 hours ago, brewers888 said:

This idea that there is no spot in this lineup for Conforto is laughable.

Between being a soft platoon partner with Renfroe and being a LHH DH option, he'd likely play nearly every day. It's been a couple years since he's played in CF, but perhaps he could spell Lo Cain out there as well. This is the exact type of late Spring Training move that the Brewers have pulled off in the past. Stack talent, and things tend to naturally work themselves out.

[monty57]

14 hours ago, brewers888 said:

This idea that there is no spot in this lineup for Conforto is laughable.

Is someone saying there wouldn't be a spot for him? I don't think there's much question that if he were a Brewer Counsell would find PAs for him.

I doubt the Brewers are going to go multi-years, so I think the hurdle is whether or not he's willing to accept a one-year deal to play the '22 season and go into next year without the QO stigma. If he's willing to do that, and if the Brewers have the ability to push payroll higher, then I think he's worth giving up the draft pick for a one-year deal in a year in which we could use some more offense.

Of course, if there is also a shoulder injury concern, then there's that too.

[brewerfan82]

Just for reference, here are 2019-21 splits for the potential outfielders + Conforto:

2019-21 vs. RHP:

#	Name	Team	G	AB	PA	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SF	SH	GDP	SB	CS	BB%	K%	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+
1	Christian Yelich	MIL	286	750	902	216	131	36	3	46	152	126	140	18	211	8	4	0	9	33	7	15.5%	23.4%	.288	.404	.528	.932	142
2	Michael Conforto	NYM	305	787	935	212	117	49	1	45	135	133	125	8	203	16	7	0	14	9	3	13.4%	21.7%	.269	.378	.506	.883	138
3	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	95	190	216	44	21	11	3	9	24	39	18	1	43	7	1	0	4	3	1	8.3%	19.9%	.232	.319	.463	.783	106
4	Hunter Renfroe	- - -	296	748	814	166	78	43	0	45	108	122	55	0	235	3	8	0	10	7	1	6.8%	28.9%	.222	.275	.460	.735	91
5	Andrew McCutchen	PHI	246	643	748	138	80	30	0	28	100	96	96	1	174	1	8	0	9	9	2	12.8%	23.3%	.215	.314	.392	.706	88
6	Lorenzo Cain	MIL	214	606	668	160	115	33	0	12	77	59	51	0	115	8	2	0	13	15	8	7.6%	17.2%	.264	.328	.378	.706	88

2019-21 vs. LHP:

#	Name	Team	G	AB	PA	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SF	SH	GDP	SB	CS	BB%	K%	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+
1	Andrew McCutchen	PHI	151	275	329	80	44	15	2	19	55	47	50	1	61	4	0	0	6	3	0	15.2%	18.5%	.291	.407	.567	.975	157
2	Hunter Renfroe	- - -	193	335	391	83	41	14	1	27	63	60	49	1	86	2	5	0	5	1	1	12.5%	22.0%	.248	.343	.537	.880	130
3	Christian Yelich	MIL	210	338	400	85	44	19	3	19	57	44	56	5	96	4	2	0	8	10	0	14.0%	24.0%	.251	.363	.494	.857	122
4	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	61	101	108	29	20	4	0	5	16	11	5	0	25	2	0	0	3	3	0	4.6%	23.1%	.287	.333	.475	.809	115
5	Michael Conforto	NYM	224	370	425	88	65	12	0	11	47	45	42	0	107	13	0	0	17	2	2	9.9%	25.2%	.238	.336	.359	.696	97
6	Lorenzo Cain	MIL	118	231	262	58	40	11	0	7	42	27	28	1	41	0	3	0	7	16	2	10.7%	15.6%	.251	.328	.390	.718	89

And defensive stats 2019-21 (min. 100 innings):

#	Name	Team	Pos	Inn	rSZ	rCERA	rSB	rGDP	rARM	rGFP	rPM	rTS	DRS	ARM	DPR	RngR	ErrR	UZR	UZR/150	FRM	OAA	RAA	Def
1	Lorenzo Cain	MIL	CF	1814.0	0				-3	6	23		26	-4.1		15.0	0.9	11.8	9.7		20	18	14.9
2	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	CF	155.1	0				1	0	1		2	-0.7		1.4	0.2	1.0	8.0		1	1	1.2
3	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	LF	239.1	0				-1	0	3		2	0.4		1.6	0.3	2.3	13.2		1	1	1.1
4	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	RF	246.0	0				-1	0	4		3	-0.8		2.4	0.3	1.9	10.9		2	2	0.6
5	Hunter Renfroe	SDP	LF	478.1					3	1	2		6	-0.5		1.7	0.1	1.3	3.0		2	2	-1.2
6	Michael Conforto	NYM	CF	268.0					-1	0	-3		-4	0.3		-2.5	0.3	-1.9	-15.2		-1	-1	-1.4
7	Hunter Renfroe	- - -	RF	1955.2	0				7	0	4		11	7.1		1.1	-3.0	5.3	3.1		0	0	-4.8
8	Christian Yelich	MIL	RF	1064.1	0				1	-2	-3		-4	-0.6		1.2	-0.2	0.4	0.5		-4	-4	-5.0
9	Christian Yelich	MIL	LF	1356.0	0				-5	0	-1		-6	-4.4		3.0	1.3	-0.1	-1.0		0	0	-7.1
10	Michael Conforto	NYM	RF	2407.0	0				6	-2	-5		-1	3.3		-9.3	1.7	-4.4	-2.2		1	1	-16.8
11	Andrew McCutchen	PHI	LF	1803.1	0				-3	-1	-5		-9	-2.0		-7.2	-0.5	-9.8	-9.0		-10	-9	-19.0

[tmwiese55]

Not sure best spot for this, but have MLB on and they're doing some Don Mattingly segment.  After they get into HOF and basically acting like it's a travesty and no way he shouldn't be in.  I get the point that at his peak he was one of the best in league, MVP level etc.  But I looked up his stats and he just shouldn't be in,   Just over 2K hits, only 220 HRs. No WS titles. He essentially had a 4-5 year window where he was top notch and that was it.  Its unfortunate as his injuries are probably what held him back from getting to that level but unfortunately that's the way it goes.  If he was on any other team besides NYY, or probably Bos, I don't think it would be a discussion. 

[sveumrules]

1 hour ago, tmwiese55 said:

Not sure best spot for this, but have MLB on and they're doing some Don Mattingly segment.  After they get into HOF and basically acting like it's a travesty and no way he shouldn't be in.  I get the point that at his peak he was one of the best in league, MVP level etc.  But I looked up his stats and he just shouldn't be in,   Just over 2K hits, only 220 HRs. No WS titles. He essentially had a 4-5 year window where he was top notch and that was it.  Its unfortunate as his injuries are probably what held him back from getting to that level but unfortunately that's the way it goes.  If he was on any other team besides NYY, or probably Bos, I don't think it would be a discussion. 

Yeah, Mattingly's peak was great, but that was essentially his whole career. He'll inevitably get in on some Veteran's Committee or another, but guys like Will Clark or John Olerud matched him on peak, exceeded him on career value & also had postseason success to boot, but yeah, neither played for the Yanks or had to cut their sideburns that one time, so...

Mattingly 6YP: 147 OPS+ | 33.0 WAR (CAR: 127 OPS+ | 42.4 WAR)

W Clark 6YP: 152 OPS+ | 32.0 WAR (CAR: 137 OPS+ | 56.5 WAR)

Olerud 6YP: 136 OPS+ | 31.3 WAR (CAR: 129 OPS+ | 58.2 WAR)

[wallus]

Interesting trade 

 

[wallus]

6 hours ago, brewerfan82 said:

Just for reference, here are 2019-21 splits for the potential outfielders + Conforto:

2019-21 vs. RHP:

#	Name	Team	G	AB	PA	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SF	SH	GDP	SB	CS	BB%	K%	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+
1	Christian Yelich	MIL	286	750	902	216	131	36	3	46	152	126	140	18	211	8	4	0	9	33	7	15.5%	23.4%	.288	.404	.528	.932	142
2	Michael Conforto	NYM	305	787	935	212	117	49	1	45	135	133	125	8	203	16	7	0	14	9	3	13.4%	21.7%	.269	.378	.506	.883	138
3	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	95	190	216	44	21	11	3	9	24	39	18	1	43	7	1	0	4	3	1	8.3%	19.9%	.232	.319	.463	.783	106
4	Hunter Renfroe	- - -	296	748	814	166	78	43	0	45	108	122	55	0	235	3	8	0	10	7	1	6.8%	28.9%	.222	.275	.460	.735	91
5	Andrew McCutchen	PHI	246	643	748	138	80	30	0	28	100	96	96	1	174	1	8	0	9	9	2	12.8%	23.3%	.215	.314	.392	.706	88
6	Lorenzo Cain	MIL	214	606	668	160	115	33	0	12	77	59	51	0	115	8	2	0	13	15	8	7.6%	17.2%	.264	.328	.378	.706	88

2019-21 vs. LHP:

#	Name	Team	G	AB	PA	H	1B	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SF	SH	GDP	SB	CS	BB%	K%	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+
1	Andrew McCutchen	PHI	151	275	329	80	44	15	2	19	55	47	50	1	61	4	0	0	6	3	0	15.2%	18.5%	.291	.407	.567	.975	157
2	Hunter Renfroe	- - -	193	335	391	83	41	14	1	27	63	60	49	1	86	2	5	0	5	1	1	12.5%	22.0%	.248	.343	.537	.880	130
3	Christian Yelich	MIL	210	338	400	85	44	19	3	19	57	44	56	5	96	4	2	0	8	10	0	14.0%	24.0%	.251	.363	.494	.857	122
4	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	61	101	108	29	20	4	0	5	16	11	5	0	25	2	0	0	3	3	0	4.6%	23.1%	.287	.333	.475	.809	115
5	Michael Conforto	NYM	224	370	425	88	65	12	0	11	47	45	42	0	107	13	0	0	17	2	2	9.9%	25.2%	.238	.336	.359	.696	97
6	Lorenzo Cain	MIL	118	231	262	58	40	11	0	7	42	27	28	1	41	0	3	0	7	16	2	10.7%	15.6%	.251	.328	.390	.718	89

And defensive stats 2019-21 (min. 100 innings):

#	Name	Team	Pos	Inn	rSZ	rCERA	rSB	rGDP	rARM	rGFP	rPM	rTS	DRS	ARM	DPR	RngR	ErrR	UZR	UZR/150	FRM	OAA	RAA	Def
1	Lorenzo Cain	MIL	CF	1814.0	0				-3	6	23		26	-4.1		15.0	0.9	11.8	9.7		20	18	14.9
2	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	CF	155.1	0				1	0	1		2	-0.7		1.4	0.2	1.0	8.0		1	1	1.2
3	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	LF	239.1	0				-1	0	3		2	0.4		1.6	0.3	2.3	13.2		1	1	1.1
4	Tyrone Taylor	MIL	RF	246.0	0				-1	0	4		3	-0.8		2.4	0.3	1.9	10.9		2	2	0.6
5	Hunter Renfroe	SDP	LF	478.1					3	1	2		6	-0.5		1.7	0.1	1.3	3.0		2	2	-1.2
6	Michael Conforto	NYM	CF	268.0					-1	0	-3		-4	0.3		-2.5	0.3	-1.9	-15.2		-1	-1	-1.4
7	Hunter Renfroe	- - -	RF	1955.2	0				7	0	4		11	7.1		1.1	-3.0	5.3	3.1		0	0	-4.8
8	Christian Yelich	MIL	RF	1064.1	0				1	-2	-3		-4	-0.6		1.2	-0.2	0.4	0.5		-4	-4	-5.0
9	Christian Yelich	MIL	LF	1356.0	0				-5	0	-1		-6	-4.4		3.0	1.3	-0.1	-1.0		0	0	-7.1
10	Michael Conforto	NYM	RF	2407.0	0				6	-2	-5		-1	3.3		-9.3	1.7	-4.4	-2.2		1	1	-16.8
11	Andrew McCutchen	PHI	LF	1803.1	0				-3	-1	-5		-9	-2.0		-7.2	-0.5	-9.8	-9.0		-10	-9	-19.0

 

If Conforto is healthy and open to a one year deal, that is a risk that we should be willing to take.

[markedman5]

 

[MVP2110]

If I'm not mistaken this basically sets our Opening Day roster. Milner and Gustave get the final 2 bullpen spots. Brosseau will be the backup SS to start

[bensheeps]

Am I correct that these current cuts leaves the 40-man at just 39?  (since L. Perdomo didn't need to be added)

 

Stearns to look to add before Opening Day?

[MVP2110]

3 minutes ago, bensheeps said:

Am I correct that these current cuts leaves the 40-man at just 39?  (since L. Perdomo didn't need to be added)

 

Stearns to look to add before Opening Day?

That's correct. The 40 man sits at 39

[nate82]

Meadows to Tigers.

 

[TURBO]

On 3/31/2022 at 8:22 PM, DR28 said:

Mark A said Cutch is one of 3 target FAs that we were able to acquire... Really curious to know who the others were?

Not tough to acquire a guy no one else wanted...

I find it extremely disappointing that one of our TARGET free agents was McCutchen to begin with...

[sveumrules]

13 minutes ago, turborickey said:

Not tough to acquire a guy no one else wanted...

I find it extremely disappointing that one of our TARGET free agents was McCutchen to begin with...

Who would you have targeted & how would you have fit them in the Brewers budget?

[wildcat83]

On 3/31/2022 at 8:22 PM, DR28 said:

Mark A said Cutch is one of 3 target FAs that we were able to acquire... Really curious to know who the others were?

Nelson Cruz?  Brewers were linked to him in some rumors.

[sveumrules]

5 minutes ago, wildcat83 said:

Nelson Cruz?  Brewers were linked to him in some rumors.

Cruz was very likely one of the other targets.

Even at his age Nelson is probably a better hitter than Cutch, but he can’t run the bases or really play the field at all anymore.

Also cost 6.5 million more so would have required stretching payroll farther  (likely limiting in season flexibility) or cutting that money from elsewhere.

[JosephC]

I really like the Meadows pickup by the Tigers and wish the Brewers would have been in on that price.

Lots of people down on Meadows, and yeah, over the last two years he has only been at .228/.311/.440/.751.  But he is still only going into his age 28 season and is a lifetime .333 OBP/.822 OPS hitter.  Good for 6.3 bWAR and 6.0 fWAR over the last three years, and since 2020 was only 37% of a season, that still puts him at an annual 2.6 WAR player.  That park in Tampa definitely favors the pitchers, but the home/road splits has not been that dramatic for Meadows, so I'm not sure if moving him out of there proves to be a great benefit like it seems to have been with Adames.

Unlike Meadows, lots of people are high on Isaac Paredes.  But while Paredes was always considered a good prospect, he was never considered a great prospect.  He currently sits at a miserable .215/.290/.302/.592 in 193 major league plate appearances.  He can play multiple infield positions, but looking at the scouting reports it sounds like he only has a chance to become an average fielding third baseman and is likely, at best, a below average fielder at 2B or SS.

...and a comp B pick.  Well, Stearns traded a comp A pick for Alex Claudio so it's pretty unlikely the Brewers would place prime value on a comp B pick.  I'm guessing in terms of value the Brewers would put a comp B pick on a player in the #20-#25 range on an organizational top prospects list.  Would the Tigers place more value on a comp B pick?  Probably, but likely not all that much more.

But I also would really like Meadows because he'd put another lefty bat on the roster.  The Brewer roster construction, and questions with so many of the lefty bats, really kind of has me wondering.  Currently there are seven lefty bats on the 40-man roster.  Two are Corey Ray and Brett Sullivan.  I know Sullivan now has a chance to make the opening day roster, but I'm betting if he does that it won't be for long because I think the Brewers will make a move to bring in a more experienced catcher.  So that leaves the team with 5 lefty bats.

Wong = No problem with him, a pretty safe bet to be a solid top of the order hitter.

Narvaez = Last season was a year of extremes but when 2022 ends he will likely be in the top half of the league in terms of hitting catchers.  No problem there.

Yelich = Still can get on base but a SLG of under .400 in his last 722 plate appearances could mean that if he isn't hitting leadoff, he might be a 7-9 hitter in the lineup (assuming Counsell and the Brewers like the best hitter in the #2 spot, which it sure seems they do if you've been watching them the last few years).

Tellez = Lifetime .307 OBP player that ended up getting traded because there is a history of him having stretches where he has trouble getting on-base (had a .272 OBP in 151 plate appearances in 2021 when the Jays made the trade).  I'm as convinced with him as I was convinced with Vogelbach a year ago (which means I'm not).

Peterson = Turned the offense around in 2020 and will be a good offensive player going forward?  I have my doubts.  Will be going into age 32 season and has a career .230/.322/.336/.658 slash line.  Want a pretty incredible number, Peterson is actually over 5 years of service time (even if you subtract out the service time that he was credited with in 2020 when only a partial season was played), and in those 5 years he has totaled a fWAR of 0.4.  Amazing that he stuck around into 2021, but he certainly ranks pretty high on Counsell's versatile infielder grit factor chart.  I'm as convinced with him as I was convinced with Eric Sogard a few years ago (which means I'm not).

So I would have really liked to see the Brewers pick up Meadows.  It seems like Detroit got him for a bargain price and I think he would have fit nicely on the Brewer's roster.  Time will tell if the doubters on him are correct, the offensive numbers have certainly dropped the last couple of years, but I look at his age and his full MLB history, and he still seems like a nice roster addition.

[nate82]

We can end any Jose Ramirez trade ideas as he has signed an extension with Cleveland.

 

[Roderick]

On 3/28/2022 at 2:39 PM, Robocaller said:

who's going to be the better signing, Pujols or McCutchen?

 

Doubt McCutchen will be able to top this.?

 

Tue, April 5, 2022, 11:46 AM

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols said Monday he’s filing for divorce from his wife, Deidre, who had a brain tumor removed just days ago. 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/albert-pujols-says-hes-divorcing-154654189.html