What should be the top priority in the off-season

[clancyphile]

The Brewers obviously had some issues this season - the first playoff miss since 2017. the offense was... anemic overall, with some good days, but a lot of falling short. The team couldn't stay healthy. The bullpen was not up to the standards of Brewers bullpens. We have some real payroll problems. And it also seems like some basics have been neglected.

What should be the top focus for Stearns/Counsell in the offseason?

For me, the top three are:

1. Fundamentals - the team needs to be able to do things like the hit-and-run, scoring a guy on third with less than two outs, and even hitting the other way - if for no other reason than to keep other teams honest, even with the shift being banned.

2. Health - This team needs to keep its players healthy.

3. Offensive production - Preventing runs matters, but if Corbin Burnes ain't gonna be around, then the Crew needs to score a ton of runs.

[14thinningwalkoff]

The window with our current core is closing fast. Burnes, Woodruff, Adames each have 2 years left, arguably the 3 best/most valuable players on the team. So I voted that we need to nurture a new young core of controllable, affordable talent to have any chance of continuing to contend. That said... I could go for any of the options you posted, with the exception of extending Burnes. Would  be great to have Burnes around longer, but the chance of it happening is 1%.

 

Fixing the bullpen shouldn't be too difficult at least.

[wibadgers23]

I voted for playing the young guys. Not saying we need to run out an entire team of rookies but all of these guys are high draft picks and have had successful minor league careers. There’s not much else they can do in AAA. There is going to be some struggles for sure, especially early on but their time is now.

[DR28]

We need to extend Burnes and Adames... Build this team around Burnes, Adames and Yeli.

[Hopper]

2 hours ago, DR28 said:

... and Yeli.

That ship has sailed.

All we can do with Yelich is damage control at this point.

[wibadgers23]

12 minutes ago, Hopper said:

That ship has sailed.

All we can do with Yelich is damage control at this point.

Yeah move him to full time DH and just pray that he can at least come close to matching his production when he was a Marlin.

[DR28]

14 minutes ago, Hopper said:

That ship has sailed.

All we can do with Yelich is damage control at this point.

He isn't going anywhere, so he's apart of our core... Thus building around him.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I'd love to see the fundamentals improve--shortening up when appropriate, going the other way--but I fear the shift ban will work against that. Let's say you're pull-happy. Now, instead of three INF on your pull side, there's only two. That's going to make you go the other way, or shorten up with 2 strikes? I'm skeptical.

The best chance of that happening IMO comes from the youngsters, because I think they do that more naturally anyway. Mitchell needs to tone down the K's obviously, but his contact has come largely up the middle & oppo. So I think 2,3, & 6 kinda tie in together.

Health is a given, with any team. As far as the pen, putting together a group that can perform has been something they've done often in the past, and by & large their off-season pickups have generally worked out pretty well.

[mtsportsfan]

Voted for fundamentals. This whole HR or nothing is just boring baseball. Now with the shift being altered maybe we can get back to a older form of baseball. Thought that fundamentals tied in to more run production !  Health and bullpen follows.

[Sixtolezcano]

54 minutes ago, DR28 said:

He isn't going anywhere, so he's apart of our core... Thus building around him.

That’s like saying build around JJ Hardy. Yeli is a minor piece/player not very significant ( except for his salary).

[nate82]

22 minutes ago, mtsportsfan said:

Voted for fundamentals. This whole HR or nothing is just boring baseball. Now with the shift being altered maybe we can get back to a older form of baseball. Thought that fundamentals tied in to more run production !  Health and bullpen follows.

Unlikely as the players are going to try and pull more.  Left handed batters are going to be pulling even more than they have in the past with the elimination of the shift.  There maybe more hits that will land because of this but I think pitchers will start pitching left handed hitters away more and watch them weakly hit an out to the 2B who will be in the hole with the SS being more over 2B and the 3B playing where the SS would be normally.  It would leave a hole down the line but the left handed hitters are not going to change their approach in pulling everything.

Eliminating the shift was a dumb idea and still is a dumb idea.  

[Brewcrew82]

36 minutes ago, Sixtolezcano said:

That’s like saying build around JJ Hardy. Yeli is a minor piece/player not very significant ( except for his salary).

Right, "he's not significant"; except he's very significant. If we're going to be successful, he's going to have to be a key part of the equation. His contribution is that he's a high OBP hitter on a team that is otherwise severely lacking in that department. The key is the hitters behind him actually doing something other than striking out or hitting weak grounders. Keep it up, though!

[Robocaller]

1 hour ago, wibadgers23 said:

Yeah move him to full time DH and just pray that he can at least come close to matching his production when he was a Marlin.

I don't think he'll be a full-time DH; McCutchen played 50 games in the outfield. Yelich will play at least that much.

[Hopper]

2 hours ago, DR28 said:

He isn't going anywhere, so he's apart of our core... Thus building around him.

Players you build around are core, producing players that have a bright future.  Yelich is none of those things.

He is just a guy, a guy that is going to suck all the life out of this team financially for the next 6 seasons.  He is 100% NOT the type of player you build around, but rather the type of player you hope and pray we can unload, some how, some way.  (I know, not going to happen)

[MrTPlush]

Figure out if you want to seriously compete or trade Burnes and Adames. Woodruff too if we can’t agree on an extension.

If all we are going to do is plug in a bunch of rookies and rearrange deck chairs I would rather just trade these guys while they still have multiple years of control to garner massive returns. Not saying they can’t compete or even win the division, but good chance we miss the postseason or just get quickly eliminated as a weak WC team.

Something tells me 2023 is very likely to go similar to 2019 or 2022 after we puts around this off-season…and we are going to wish we just blew it up.

Burnes/Woodruff/Adames aren’t going to be riden to FA. While we could still get value next off-season, if someone has a major injury or a big down year it could really cripple their trade value. Can you imagine if Hader had been terrible the entire first half instead of just the month leading up to the deadline? Just something to consider. I actually think it is highly possible one of the aces gets shipped out this off-season if neither will take an extension. Not sure we want to be attempting to trade two elite starters at the same time.

[wiguy94]

1A. Impact Bat

1B. Bullpen upgrades

2. Catcher

[pitchleague]

This was tough.  I legitimately could have voted for any one of these options and been able to give a small dissertation on why I felt that way.

instead, I chose the fundamentals element.  With the rule changes going into place, it’s going to be even more important to play ball the “right” way—the way these players were brought up their entire life to play.

 

 

[Robocaller]

They need to improve the pen and offense as much as they can (while also promoting 2-4 rookies who weren't on the opening day roster) and hope the starting pitching stays healthy and performs to 2021 levels or better.

If they aren't a contender around the trade deadline, they need to dump as many guys about to be free agents as they can (for a reasonable return), for controllable players or those who can come up in 2025 or earlier and be a part of the Frelick-Mitchell-Turang-Ruiz-Wiemer wave (while expecting one of those players to be expended in a trade).

 

[Robocaller]

3 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I'd love to see the fundamentals improve--shortening up when appropriate, going the other way

I think the fundamentals have changed due to analytics. Most guys are best served by grip it and rip it in every circumstance. I'd just like them to hit it in the air when a SF is needed.

 

[nate82]

Just now, Robocaller said:

They need to improve the pen and offense as much as they can (while also promoting 2-4 rookies who weren't on the opening day roster) and hope the starting pitching stays healthy and performs to 2021 levels or better.

 

There are a lot of decent FA relievers this offseason.  Some that will be out of the Brewers price range but there are a lot of them.

Chapman, Jansen, Kimbrel, Britton, Diaz, Knebel, Hand, Fulmer, David Robertson and others.  It is actually a pretty good year to look for relief pitching this off season.  Some of the top guys will get more than what the Brewers should spend but Robertson, Fulmer, Hand, Rogers, Rosenthal and Kimbrel should all be within the Brewers budget.  Could even get two or three from that list and still be below $15m annually.  

[torts]

Sign our lort and savior Aaron judge 

[Robocaller]

16 minutes ago, torts said:

Sign our lort and savior Aaron judge 

I really want Arenado to decline his option, and we pay him 4yr $144M.

 

[michael1960]

Getting a good hitting coach. Find another Chris Valaika. Someone like that is a lot cheaper and will bring greater production than spending a ton on a free agent.

[torts]

Break open the piggy bank, mark.  Break. The. Piggy.

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, Robocaller said:

I think the fundamentals have changed due to analytics. Most guys are best served by grip it and rip it in every circumstance. I'd just like them to hit it in the air when a SF is needed.

 

I think most guys feel they're best served by that approach. I don't think their teams always are though.