Looking ahead to 2023 Brewers

[wiguy94]

18 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

How do we get Rowdy to play less 1B and more DH? 

By giving Yelich a 1B glove in the offseason and telling him to take 500 grounders a day.

[reillymcshane]

1 hour ago, wiguy94 said:

By giving Yelich a 1B glove in the offseason and telling him to take 500 grounders a day.

I'd give it a try. Yelich still has value as a hitter (not a ton, but at least he gets on base and is a good baserunner). He played 1B in high school, if I recall. Maybe he'd be good with it.

[Robocaller]

1 hour ago, wiguy94 said:

By giving Yelich a 1B glove in the offseason and telling him to take 500 grounders a day.

I meant someone who could play a better 1B than Rowdy.

[wiguy94]

Just now, Robocaller said:

I meant someone who could play a better 1B than Rowdy.

Who is to say that couldn't be Yelich? Not very difficult to be better than Rowdy over there.

[Robocaller]

2 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Who is to say that couldn't be Yelich? Not very difficult to be better than Rowdy over there.

Maybe. I also meant a guy who could also not hit in the bottom 1/3rd for the position.

[trwi7]

1 hour ago, wiguy94 said:

By giving Yelich a 1B glove in the offseason and telling him to take 500 grounders a day.

Shame he needs to find a guy to hit him grounders since he's perfected it.

[sveumrules]

Best bet for 1B is convincing Jose Abreu to come 100 miles North.

Looking at the trade market, the only real “needle mover” I see possibly being dealt is OAK catcher Sean Murphy.

[superfly]

Since there probably won’t be any needle mover deals can we just skip past the part of everyone whining about Yelichs contract and start spring training? 

[Brewcrew82]

17 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Best bet for 1B is convincing Jose Abreu to come 100 miles North.

Looking at the trade market, the only real “needle mover” I see possibly being dealt is OAK catcher Sean Murphy.

Danny Jansen is another candidate...

[trwi7]

1 minute ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Danny Jansen is another candidate...

If we're trading for Danny Jansen, he's not going to be playing 1B.

[Brewcrew82]

Just now, trwi7 said:

If we're trading for Danny Jansen, he's not going to be playing 1B.

I thought we were talking about "needle-movers" cause we desperately need a catcher, too. Him or Sean Murphy would qualify as that. 

[wiguy94]

1 minute ago, Brewcrew82 said:

I thought we were talking about "needle-movers" cause we desperately need a catcher, too. Him or Sean Murphy would qualify as that. 

I wouldn't qualify Jansen as a needle mover. He has the potential to be, but he's far from a sure thing. Murphy has a much more proven track record at the plate and he's amazing behind the plate. 87th percentile in framing and 96th percentile in 2B poptime. Jansen is 34th percentile in framing and 46th percentile in 2B poptime. 

[Brewcrew82]

2 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

I wouldn't qualify Jansen as a needle mover. He has the potential to be, but he's far from a sure thing. Murphy has a much more proven track record at the plate and he's amazing behind the plate. 87th percentile in framing and 96th percentile in 2B poptime. Jansen is 34th percentile in framing and 46th percentile in 2B poptime. 

Right. I'm just saying they're both high-quality options that are within our range and which would represent a significant improvement from this past year. Developing defense at the catching position is our specialty, too, so we should definitely target a guy like Jansen who is producing at a high level on offense. Jays have a roster crunch at catcher and will likely need to trade one of them this offseason. 

[wiguy94]

Just now, Brewcrew82 said:

Right. I'm just saying they're both high-quality options that are within our range and which would represent a significant improvement from this past year. Developing defense at the catching position is our specialty, too, so we should definitely target a guy like Jansen who is producing at a high level on offense. Jays have a roster crunch at catcher and will likely need to trade one of them this offseason. 

Yeah Jansen is definitely an upgrade and I have little doubt we would be able to improve his framing (just look at Narvaez framing numbers before he got to Milwaukee). Murphy's poptime is super intriguing though with the bigger bases and pitch clock coming next year having a guy with a cannon behind homeplate would be awesome.

[monty57]

15 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

The eagerness of some on here to rid ourselves of our only above .800 OPS hitter and veteran outfielder at a relatively low cost likewise perplexes me....

I agree. I'll add that while this year's team was filled with high SLG/low OBP guys, where Renfroe's skillset was a bit of a redundancy, if we add Frelick and Turang along with Yelich and Mitchell, then all of a sudden at least 4/9 of our lineup profile as higher OBP guys, where Renfroe's bat is a bit more of a diversification.

Barring further additions, the current lineup could look something like:

Frelick (L) .331 / .406 / .477 / .883 - minor league career numbers

Yelich (L) .253 / .356 / .385 / .741 - 2022 numbers

Adames (R) .236 / .297 / .458 / 755 - 2022 numbers

Tellez (L) .219 / .306 / .457 / .763 - 2022 numbers

Renfroe (R) .255 / .315 / .492 / .807 - 2022 numbers

Mitchell (L) .273 / .382 / .419 / .801 - minor league career, .310 / .365 / .466 / .831 in 64 PA with Milwaukee

Urias (R) .241 / .338 / .408 / .746 - 2022 numbers

Caratini (S) .197 / .298 / .338 / .636 - 2022 numbers (we need to find a starting catcher)

Turang (L) .269 / .362 / .371 / .733 - minor league career numbers

Looking at that, Renfroe also is a much needed RH bat, and it is another reason to hold onto Taylor, who has proven to be a solid 4th OF who also happens to hit right-handed. Brosseau is also a nice bench bat for this squad.

[Playing Catch]

10 hours ago, superfly said:

Since there probably won’t be any needle mover deals can we just skip past the part of everyone whining about Yelichs contract and start spring training? 

Is it too early to start the 2023 Optimism Thread? (I'm looking at you, Torts).

Unless the Crew completely does the unimaginable, and sells off the whole team, they should be pretty good again next season.

[clancyphile]

15 hours ago, NBBrewFan said:

While Clancy has proposed some "interesting" position changes he hasn't gone so far as to propose a batter change from hitting left handed to right handed (or vice versa). I called it first if he does.

Probably "platoon" wasn't the right word, but I'd consider Taylor the "veteran" option in terms of splitting time in right. I also would anticipate Taylor splitting time with Mitchell in center. In essence the starting three would be Yelich-Mitchell-Wiemer, with Taylor as 4th OF, and Ruiz as 5th OF.

I'd have Frelick at AAA, getting some work in at 3B and 2B, maybe even shortstop - he played those positions at the summer league in college, and perhaps he could be an answer at the hot corner.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=frelic000sal

Think Ryan Freel with much better offense.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/freelry01.shtml

[NBBrewFan]

1 hour ago, clancyphile said:

Probably "platoon" wasn't the right word, but I'd consider Taylor the "veteran" option in terms of splitting time in right. I also would anticipate Taylor splitting time with Mitchell in center. In essence the starting three would be Yelich-Mitchell-Wiemer, with Taylor as 4th OF, and Ruiz as 5th OF.

I'd have Frelick at AAA, getting some work in at 3B and 2B, maybe even shortstop - he played those positions at the summer league in college, and perhaps he could be an answer at the hot corner.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=frelic000sal

Think Ryan Freel with much better offense.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/freelry01.shtml

But at Catcher, oh my. Frelick is way ahead of Wiemer and Ruiz.  Put him in the outfield and let the others "earn" a promotion.  Ruiz could barely get the ball out of the infield on his short stay with the Brewers and Wiemer needs to work on a few things.  No reason to move anyone until they are forcing the situation and I hardly think anyone on the Brewers is thinking we got to get Ruiz in the lineup in 2023 so we'll take our best prospect and move him.  Guaranteed.

Also, Yelich is a bad defender.  He needs to spend 90% of his time at DH.  No reason to keep him in the field at this point when every prospect grades out better at defense.

[owbc]

My biggest reason for 2023 optimism has nothing to do with us, but rather because of what the Cardinals are losing. They are going to have some work to do to get back to a 90 win projection...they over-performed at 93-94 wins this year. 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

1 hour ago, clancyphile said:

Probably "platoon" wasn't the right word, but I'd consider Taylor the "veteran" option in terms of splitting time in right. I also would anticipate Taylor splitting time with Mitchell in center. In essence the starting three would be Yelich-Mitchell-Wiemer, with Taylor as 4th OF, and Ruiz as 5th OF.

I'd have Frelick at AAA, getting some work in at 3B and 2B, maybe even shortstop - he played those positions at the summer league in college, and perhaps he could be an answer at the hot corner.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=frelic000sal

Think Ryan Freel with much better offense.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/freelry01.shtml

Sal Frelick has played a grand total of four games at 3B as an 18-year-old in the Futures Collegiate baseball League. Just ... no. 

[Jopal78]

2 hours ago, owbc said:

My biggest reason for 2023 optimism has nothing to do with us, but rather because of what the Cardinals are losing. They are going to have some work to do to get back to a 90 win projection...they over-performed at 93-94 wins this year. 

That's a fools game. There were posters here who denigrated the Cardinals pitching talent back in June, yet they allowed the 4th fewest runs and their offense scored the 3rd most runs in the NL. 

Outside of the COVID year, they haven't won fewer than 90 games since '18 and they will be returning all their best talent.  Arenado most likely returns, along with Goldschmidt, Edman, Donovan, Helsley, Mikolas. Plus  Jordan Montgomery, Nootbaar, Gallegos and I'd bet Wainwright is probably back too.

No question they will be the favorites to win the NL Central in '23. 

[Brewcrew82]

18 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

That's a fools game. There were posters here who denigrated the Cardinals pitching talent back in June, yet they allowed the 4th fewest runs and their offense scored the 3rd most runs in the NL. 

Outside of the COVID year, they haven't won fewer than 90 games since '18 and they will be returning all their best talent.  Arenado most likely returns, along with Goldschmidt, Edman, Donovan, Helsley, Mikolas. Plus  Jordan Montgomery, Nootbaar, Gallegos and I'd bet Wainwright is probably back too.

No question they will be the favorites to win the NL Central in '23. 

They'll be the favorites for sure given that they ultimately won the division. However, they're not out of the Brewers' reach by any stretch. Goldschmidt is also going to turn 36 next season, so you wonder how long he'll stay at his current level. And their rotation continues to be underwhelming. 

[Jopal78]

27 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

They'll be the favorites for sure given that they ultimately won the division. However, they're not out of the Brewers' reach by any stretch. Goldschmidt is also going to turn 36 next season, so you wonder how long he'll stay at his current level. And their rotation continues to be underwhelming. 

The Cardinal starters have allowed 7 fewer runs than the Brewers (388-395). Talent wise one would say they're underwhelming but results wise, they weren't underwhelming St. Louis starting pitchers were really good.  Plus, the Cardinals were by far better offensively and defensively (the Cardinals  starting pithcers allowed 17 unearned runs compared to the 41 allowed by Milwaukee--tied with LAD as most in the majors) than Milwaukee.

I agree St. Louis is not beyond the reach of the '23 Brewers because pitching wins games and the Brewers have some really talented starting pitchers, but the sum of the parts is better in St. Louis right now and the Brewers have to find away to get better offensively, defensively and in the bullpen, a tall task.  

[monty57]

41 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

The Cardinal starters have allowed 7 fewer runs than the Brewers (388-395). Talent wise one would say they're underwhelming but results wise, they weren't underwhelming St. Louis starting pitchers were really good.  Plus, the Cardinals were by far better offensively and defensively (the Cardinals  starting pithcers allowed 17 unearned runs compared to the 41 allowed by Milwaukee--tied with LAD as most in the majors) than Milwaukee.

I agree St. Louis is not beyond the reach of the '23 Brewers because pitching wins games and the Brewers have some really talented starting pitchers, but the sum of the parts is better in St. Louis right now and the Brewers have to find away to get better offensively, defensively and in the bullpen, a tall task.  

Yep. Next year should once again be a race between the Cardinals and the Brewers. The Cards will always put a quality team on the field, so the Brewers have to use the offseason to build a winner. They can't expect the Cardinals to roll over for them.

With the contracts of Cain, McCutchen, Wong (probably), Hader, and Narvaez off the books, and maybe others traded, we should have some money to shore up some positions. This is especially true if we are going to start the season with Mitchell, Frelick, and Turang on the roster and fill the DH with in-house options like Yelich, Renfroe, and Tellez. 

I'm always excited to see what the Brewers do in the offseason, and this year is no different. Now we just need to get the playoffs out of the way so the real action can begin ?

[Brewcrew82]

4 minutes ago, monty57 said:

Yep. Next year should once again be a race between the Cardinals and the Brewers. The Cards will always put a quality team on the field, so the Brewers have to use the offseason to build a winner. They can't expect the Cardinals to roll over for them.

With the contracts of Cain, McCutchen, Wong (probably), Hader, and Narvaez off the books, and maybe others traded, we should have some money to shore up some positions. This is especially true if we are going to start the season with Mitchell, Frelick, and Turang on the roster and fill the DH with in-house options like Yelich, Renfroe, and Tellez. 

I'm always excited to see what the Brewers do in the offseason, and this year is no different. Now we just need to get the playoffs out of the way so the real action can begin ?

At the very least, Pujols and Molina won't be there any more to torture us....