Putting Yelich on Waivers

[rickh150]

2 hours ago, Robocaller said:

If they waived Yelich, no one would claim in on waivers, but several might want to sign him after he clears.  

They'd only have to pay the league minimum.

The Brewers would be paying the remainder of the $30M!

So there is NO upside to waiving him. Other than giving an opportunity to our young OFs. 

We'd still be paying him. 

Yelich isn't worth $30M a year, but he is worth something. Whatever that value is, we'd be giving it away.

 

Yes, I think the new CBA covers this. Good call. Back in the day guys were put through August waivers often and pulled back or were never in danger of losing the player if not claimed. Like you say, I think we would lose Yelich FA and would pay him.  Sorry for the thread.

[Playing Catch]

I think Yelich's contract is tradeable. The Brewers would certainly need to take on some of the salary in some fashion, but they could shorten the financial commitment timeframe and lessen the annual commitment if they traded prospects with Yelich.

[edfunderburk]

18 hours ago, Robocaller said:

If they waived Yelich, no one would claim in on waivers, but several might want to sign him after he clears.  

They'd only have to pay the league minimum.

The Brewers would be paying the remainder of the $30M!

So there is NO upside to waiving him. Other than giving an opportunity to our young OFs. 

We'd still be paying him. 

Yelich isn't worth $30M a year, but he is worth something. Whatever that value is, we'd be giving it away.

 

$30M total or the entire contract?

If only $30M, I would waive him immediately

I assume - if waived & not pulled back - Milwaukee would owe him his full salary for the extent of his contract … correct?

 

[edfunderburk]

18 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Eighth best MLB LF according to FanGraphs.

Even an elite prospect would struggle to top that in his rookie season and Frelick is nowhere near an elite prospect. I wouldn't even call him a great prospect. He's good, has a solid chance to become a good MLB starter.

Yelich has an absolutely terrible arm in LF + he has no power left … he is exceptional on the base paths - speed & first to third, etc. 

That said - What a joke for Yelich to be listed as the 8th best LF in MLB … that’s ridiculous & must be factoring in his golden years … no way he is currently 8th 

[edfunderburk]

19 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

No, it's not worth the money we're paying him, but his WAR this year is among the best in the majors for left-fielders...

This is stunning news … I had no idea how bad MLB left fielders are these days IF Yelich is among the best … so surprising

[Playing Catch]

7th, according to fWAR.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=lf&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2022&month=0&season1=2022&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2022-01-01&enddate=2022-12-31&sort=22,d

[edfunderburk]

20 hours ago, igor67 said:

I miss the old way of just putting everyone through for the August trade deadline. Given his bounce back I'd think really hard about letting him go if that were the case and with the number of OF prospects we suddenly have in AAA.

Is “the old way” no longer an option or no longer popular?

[Brock Beauchamp]

5 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

Yelich has an absolutely terrible arm in LF + he has no power left … he is exceptional on the base paths - speed & first to third, etc. 

That said - What a joke for Yelich to be listed as the 8th best LF in MLB … that’s ridiculous & must be factoring in his golden years … no way he is currently 8th 

No, that's this season. And arm counts very little in the OF - especially LF - compared to speed and route-taking. An arm comes into play maybe once a week while speed and range come into play multiple times every game.

A big reason why Yelich is still valuable is because he's way above average at getting on base, which is literally the most valuable thing a batter can do.

[edfunderburk]

20 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

I am sorry for breaking your heart. But it's most certainly not a given that Frelick would immediately give us superior production to Yelich. Despite his continued power drought, Yelich, just by virtue of his ability to get on base and run the bases well, has been one of the most valuable left fielders in baseball this year by WAR. Frelick, while a great prospect, is entirely unproven at the MLB level and would likely experience his fair share of growing pains. 

This is likely true - thanks for a balanced perspective

Frelick would not cost $30M so a drop off in production until he establishes himself would be worth it to me

[edfunderburk]

48 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

I think Yelich's contract is tradeable. The Brewers would certainly need to take on some of the salary in some fashion, but they could shorten the financial commitment timeframe and lessen the annual commitment if they traded prospects with Yelich.

I would be delighted if this is true & Yelich was traded in the offseason - even if Milwaukee needs to pick up some of the salary … I would not favor including prospects (as was required in moving JBJ)

After watching this 2022 team struggle for three months, I’m ready to refresh the roster in 2023 with some of these top prospects - Frelick, Turang, Ruiz, others TBD

I understand that we have “a window” with quality starters (Burnes, Woodruff) that is closing soon but a significant roster turnover would be welcomed by me

[monty57]

Yelich is owed $26M per year through 2028, with a $20M option ($6.5M buyout) in 2029. The Brewers are obligated to pay this. 
 

Revocable waivers went away when they changed the trade rules. If they waive him, it would be irrevocable, so if no one claimed him, he would be a free agent and the Brewers would still have to pay him his entire contract while he was playing elsewhere. This is not going to happen. 

[edfunderburk]

3 minutes ago, monty57 said:

Yelich is owed $26M per year through 2028, with a $20M option ($6.5M buyout) in 2029. The Brewers are obligated to pay this. 
 

Revocable waivers went away when they changed the trade rules. If they waive him, it would be irrevocable, so if no one claimed him, he would be a free agent and the Brewers would still have to pay him his entire contract while he was playing elsewhere. This is not going to happen. 

This is the clarity that I needed that has been missing from the start of this thread

Based on these facts - I agree that it is too risky for Milwaukee to waive him

I’m quite sad by this news - we simply have to swallow hard & endure a “bad” contract that hamstrings a small market team & prevents us from reallocating those dollars in a more efficient way … bummer

[NBBrewFan]

2 hours ago, edfunderburk said:

This is the clarity that I needed that has been missing from the start of this thread

Based on these facts - I agree that it is too risky for Milwaukee to waive him

I’m quite sad by this news - we simply have to swallow hard & endure a “bad” contract that hamstrings a small market team & prevents us from reallocating those dollars in a more efficient way … bummer

Well he may not have the power, but he is on pace to possibly hit 3 WAR for the season.  That puts him at about $8M/WAR which isn't horrible.  I would even say it isn't bad. It needed to be a HR and it's more like a single/walk, but it isn't an out. The concern is will he have the same rate of success he had this year (after he was moved to the leadoff) for an entire 2023 and how fast he drops off as he ages.  I was afraid he'd be a 1.5WAR hitter this year and then go from their down, but a better 2022 makes the entire contract a little better than it seemed 3 months ago.

[UpandIn]

22 hours ago, trwi7 said:

His "bounce back" is basically just hitting .300 with no power.  Given that and poor corner outfield defense, still not even close to being worth the money, especially for us.

Yeah, but...the thing here is you always know the backend of those deals, you're not getting the same player. So the fact that he's still producing, just sans the power...that's a good thing.

 

 

What's that? This isn't the backend? This is the FIRST year of said extension and we'll be paying him through 2042?

 

 

(Getting that acid taste in my mouth right now...just give me a moment....)

[UpandIn]

23 hours ago, Robocaller said:

If they waived Yelich, no one would claim in on waivers, but several might want to sign him after he clears.  

They'd only have to pay the league minimum.

The Brewers would be paying the remainder of the $30M!

So there is NO upside to waiving him. Other than giving an opportunity to our young OFs. 

We'd still be paying him. 

Yelich isn't worth $30M a year, but he is worth something. Whatever that value is, we'd be giving it away.

 

I assumed this was a hypothetical based on the assumption revocable waivers still existed.

Obviously there's no upside to doing this without revocable waivers. If there WERE revocable waivers...I'm pretty sure he'd go through and the Brewers would be popping champagne bottles IF he were claimed...

 

(Edited...should have added the "if he were claimed" to the last part).

 

23 hours ago, JefferyLeonard said:

My god what a foolish thread. Everyone wants to clear up his salary, for what?? The Brewers have shown they won't go out and spend big $$ on a free Agent(Yelich was acquired via trade). So what's the point?? And don't even come at me with "so they can extend Woody/Burnes". Doing that should have NO effect on whether Yelich is on the roster or not. You either want to be a "big boy" baseball team or you don't. It's that simple. Besides, they clear 17million with Cains contract off the books next year. Can't wait to see how they use that...oh wait. 

This is getting more than juuust a bit grating. 

First of all, extending Burnes/Woody...doing that should have NO effect on whether Yelich is on the roster? So how much money you're spending shouldn't have any effect on how much money you can spend? 

Go buy a 10 million dollar lake house like the guy making 1M a year does despite the fact that you're making 100K a year. Live like a "big boy?" 

That's the Brewers. Mark A isn't just sitting there like an old miser hoarding money. The Brewers get literally about 1/10th the money the large market teams do in their local TV money alone.

So no, it's not "that simple," unless you choose to ignore...little things like facts. Also...I don't get how it matters that Yelich wasn't a FA? They gave him 200M+.

They gave Cain 5/80

They're payroll isn't why they didn't add a bat, but there are realities that exist that...ya may not like, but it doesn't make them any less real. You also don't have to like MLB and the way the system is set up, but the one thing I'm absolutely certain about...if you complain about it enough, it'll get back to Mark Attanasio and he'll just find another 70M a year so they can extend Woodruff AND Burnes long term. 

[SeaBass]

I think it's much more likely the Brewers would just approach Yelich, to let him know they're looking to move on from him and they'd prefer to trade him rather than DFA him. Then ask him if there's a team or handful of teams he'd consider waiving his no trade privilege for. It's probably well within reason the team they send him to would take on more money than the vet's minimum and the Brewers would get some low level lottery ticket in return.

I think it'll be at least a year or two before the Brewers would do this though.

[UpandIn]

6 hours ago, edfunderburk said:

Yelich has an absolutely terrible arm in LF + he has no power left … he is exceptional on the base paths - speed & first to third, etc. 

That said - What a joke for Yelich to be listed as the 8th best LF in MLB … that’s ridiculous & must be factoring in his golden years … no way he is currently 8th 

WAR doesn't take into account anything in the past.

I don't think people appreciate how much offense is down across the league. 

You get on base, you've got value. If Yelich is going to have a ~.370 OBP for the duration of this contract, I'm never gonna love it, but he'll always have SOME value. 

[Robocaller]

14 hours ago, edfunderburk said:

$30M total or the entire contract?

If only $30M, I would waive him immediately

I assume - if waived & not pulled back - Milwaukee would owe him his full salary for the extent of his contract … correct?

 

$30M per year, for the rest of the contract.

 

[Jopal78]

17 hours ago, edfunderburk said:

This is the clarity that I needed that has been missing from the start of this thread

Based on these facts - I agree that it is too risky for Milwaukee to waive him

I’m quite sad by this news - we simply have to swallow hard & endure a “bad” contract that hamstrings a small market team & prevents us from reallocating those dollars in a more efficient way … bummer

Talent costs money, and there’s no way around it. Otherwise, a team simply has to turn over their entire major league roster every 4-5 seasons. 
 

Even the mighty Rays have given out contracts that seemed like a good idea but they came to regret like Evan Longoria, and they’re probably squirming a little about the 170+ million they guaranteed to Wander Franco. 

[jerichoholicninja]

While he's certainly overpaid, he's been (unfortunately) pretty much the best hitter on the team all year. He leads the team in OBP by a wide margin and batting average (if you care about that). He also leads the team or is near the top in all the advanced offensive and baserunning stats. For a team that has struggled offensively for years, just dumping him doesn't seem like a great idea.

[Pugger]

Even though he isn't what he once was why would you let a guy like him go and get nothing in return?  That would be stupid IMO.  

[Samurai Bucky]

Hey -- why not simply move the team to Nashville?  If they are looking to do something crazy...

 

[Axman59]

38 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

Hey -- why not simply move the team to Nashville?  If they are looking to do something crazy...

 

 

Well Nashville has a larger media market than Milwaukee...

 

 

I wonder if any other MLB teams have a minor league team with a larger media market.

[monty57]

1 hour ago, Axman59 said:

 

Well Nashville has a larger media market than Milwaukee...

 

 

I wonder if any other MLB teams have a minor league team with a larger media market.

I think Nashville will be getting a team in the near future. Thankfully, it'll be the A's or Rays and not the Brewers.

[Brewermania101]

Remember, when talking about Brewers payroll each year, you need to included deferred payments in each year count towards payroll

Braun 1.8 mil a year until 2031

Cain 1 mil  a year till  2027

Yelich will be on the Brewers payroll till 2042  2.3 mil from 2031-2042