If you could add any player from MLB history to the Brewers roster today....

[nate82]

If you could add any player from MLB history to the Brewers roster today who would it be?  A few rules: 1. No player who has played for the Milwaukee Brewers or the Milwaukee Braves. 2. No current players. 3. No players who have retired in the last 5-years. 

For me I am going with Stan Musial to play RF for the Brewers.  He would be the perfect #3 hitter in the lineup for the Brewers.  I was also thinking either Reggie Jackson or Mickey Mantle but I am not sure how well Mickey could play RF.  Manny Ramirez was another thought but Manny in RF would be a disaster but a fun one to watch. 

[wiguy94]

Mike Schmidt. Arguably the best 3B in MLB history. Great glove and career 147 wRC+. Added bonus is he had one hell of a mustache. This addition allows Urias to move to 2B.
 

I trust out OF rookies and Tyrone to at least put together 2 WAR at both CF and RF. I don’t feel the same confidence towards Toro or Turang at 2B.

[brewcrewdue80]

Alex Rodriquez at 3b. Brought all the batting you want to see at #3. BA, HRs, OPS.

[Oxy]

Huh? This is a joke, right? 1919 Babe Ruth hit .322/.456/.657 (543 PAs) with a 2.97 ERA (133 IPs). One has to disqualify the Babe in questions like this....(unless you want to include Ohtani...)

[Jim French Stepstool]

Schmidt by a hair. I thought of Honus Wagner to play SS but you'd need to be confident of Adames moving to 3B plus Wagner wasn't a big power guy despite swinging a telephone pole.

Or, add Walter Johnson & trade Burnes for a haul.

[Robocaller]

No one should suggest anyone other than Babe Ruth. Whomever is second isn't very close.

 

[Robocaller]

4 hours ago, nate82 said:

If you could add any player from MLB history to the Brewers roster today who would it be?  A few rules: 1. No player who has played for the Milwaukee Brewers or the Milwaukee Braves. 2. No current players. 3. No players who have retired in the last 5-years. 

For me I am going with Stan Musial to play RF for the Brewers.  He would be the perfect #3 hitter in the lineup for the Brewers.  I was also thinking either Reggie Jackson or Mickey Mantle but I am not sure how well Mickey could play RF.  Manny Ramirez was another thought but Manny in RF would be a disaster but a fun one to watch. 

so you're saying Garrett Mitchell might displace prime Mickey Mantle from CF? 

[Robocaller]

I guess my second choice would be Walter Johnson and pitch him on 3 days rest. Our other guys would fill in around him.

[damuelle]

I’m just using this as an excuse to watch old Expos highlights (e.g. first half of this video):

 

[JimH5]

Willie Mays is in the discussion for the greatest player of all time.  He had a long career as a perennial MVP candidate.  He was charismatic off the field.  He seemed to have no weaknesses.

He's my guy.

[brewcrewdue80]

I'm a little hesitant towards older players with the current pitching era of velocity spin rates and shorter SP outings with RPs finishing games.  Why I chose Rodriguez because he's a great who's not long removed from baseball. Could have chose Bonds but he'd just be walked and our hitters would strand him.  

[Devinep]

The answer depends on if you get an older player as productive as they were at that time, or an older replayed having to adjust to todays game. Just like Jesse Owens wouldn’t be an Olympic runner today, the Babe would‘nt dominate like he did then. But if they’re gonna be as good as they were at their best, it’s pretty easily Ruth. Let him pitch too

[sveumrules]

Give me Josh Gibson. I’d buy season tickets for that.

I’d also be tempted to go with one of those crazy old reliever seasons like 1960 Lindy McDaniel (65 G | 116 IP | 195 ERA+) or 1964 Dick Radatz (79 G | 157 IP | 170 ERA+) or 1983 Quiz (69 G | 139 IP | 210 ERA+) to give CC a lockdown bullpen weapon.

1884 Old Hoss Radborn would really take a burden off the pitching staff with 73 GS | 73 CG | 205 ERA+.

[MrTPlush]

Babe Ruth probably wouldn't last a month without getting demoted in today's baseball. 

I would take Barry Bonds...too good to pass up. A-Rod would be next up. 

[nate82]

8 hours ago, Robocaller said:

so you're saying Garrett Mitchell might displace prime Mickey Mantle from CF? 

lol no.  This wasn't supposed to be a serious topic.  You are kind of taking this a little bit to serious. 

[Outlander]

I would go with Mays, provides defense, speed, slugging and another right handed bat they desperately need.

[patrickgpe]

15 hours ago, Oxy said:

Huh? This is a joke, right? 1919 Babe Ruth hit .322/.456/.657 (543 PAs) with a 2.97 ERA (133 IPs). One has to disqualify the Babe in questions like this....(unless you want to include Ohtani...)

The only correct answer 

[jay87shot]

Do they keep their skills or just there dominance? To me, Ruth is the easy answer buy if you make him hit against today's pitching 95 mph vs pitching 100 Yeats ago maybe 85 mph that changes my response. If you don't adjust for game changes I would go with a recent great pitcher like Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, or Nolan Ryan.

[rickh150]

3 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

The only correct answer 

Stats, sure.

Actual player NOW?  No way…

 

[wiguy94]

I went Schmidt because I didn’t want to pick any known steroid users and any players that played before integration. Plus went by team need which imo has 2B/3B as the biggest weakness.

[Brock Beauchamp]

It depends. Does the player carry over their ERA+/OPS+ from their era or are they adjusted for modern day?

If the former, Babe Ruth. No brainer.

If the latter, Shohei Ohtani. Also no brainer.

[Oxy]

If Babe Ruth was born in 1995 instead of 1895, my guess is that with today's nutrition and coaching and etc, he'd still be the best ballplayer of all-time.  Obviously, if you take everything out of context, Babe would suck today swinging a 42 oz bat against today's pitchers. But it is clear that his talent is transcendent of time...

[BrewLongma34]

I’ll take Pedro Martinez.  Combine him with Burnes and Woody.   Game over

[Robocaller]

20 hours ago, Devinep said:

The answer depends on if you get an older player as productive as they were at that time, or an older replayed having to adjust to todays game. Just like Jesse Owens wouldn’t be an Olympic runner today, the Babe would‘nt dominate like he did then. But if they’re gonna be as good as they were at their best, it’s pretty easily Ruth. Let him pitch too

Babe Ruth's hand-eye coordination was freakish (there have been studies); he'd dominate in any era, and just think what he'd have done with contemporary workouts to improve his build. The guy didn't even lift weights and played hung over for much of his career. 'Roided Barry Bonds is his only competition.

 

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

On 1/14/2023 at 9:15 PM, Oxy said:

If Babe Ruth was born in 1995 instead of 1895, my guess is that with today's nutrition and coaching and etc, he'd still be the best ballplayer of all-time.  Obviously, if you take everything out of context, Babe would suck today swinging a 42 oz bat against today's pitchers. But it is clear that his talent is transcendent of time...

His talent is likely transcendent but it's highly unlikely he'd be the best player of all time. Highly unlikely, to the point where it's a very small number.

When Babe Ruth was born, the American population about about 60 million people. It's 330 million today.

When Babe Ruth played, Black Americans couldn't compete. When he played, Japan, Korea, and the Caribbean weren't factors in American baseball while Americans currently constitute only about 70% of MLB's players today and the best players are even a smaller percentage than that.

When you mash all of that together, Ruth's competition was less than 10% of today and that's not even factoring in money and how much that has driven more to attempt to compete in the sport.