The Brewers are in “advanced” talks with free-agent outfielder Avisail Garcia, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweeted on Saturday that Milwaukee was “trying hard” to complete a contract with the 28-year-old.
Garcia spent the 2019 season with the Rays, hitting .282/.332/.464 with 20 home runs, 25 doubles and a pair of triples in 530 trips to the plate. It was the second above-average offensive season from Garcia in the past three years, as he also turned in a career-best .330/.380/.506 line with the White Sox in 2017 (albeit with the help of a sky-high .392 average on balls in play). Garcia’s hard-hit rate and exit velocity both deteriorated in 2019 but were still better than league average. And while most wouldn’t expect it based on his 6’4″, 250-pound frame and middling stolen base totals, Garcia rates among the game’s best in terms of sprint speed, per Statcast.
Milwaukee’s outfield is already rather full, with Ryan Braun, Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich lined up from left to right field. But Braun has seen time at first base in recent seasons, and a more permanent move in that regard would open some at-bats for Garcia in the outfield, perhaps setting up a platoon with the left-handed-hitting Ben Gamel. The right-handed-hitting Garcia was a bit better against righties than lefties in 2019, but his career platoon splits suggest that he’s been much better against southpaws (.296/.352/.456) than against righties (.264/.312/.418).
Braun, Cain, Keston Hiura and Luis Urias give the Brewers four right-handed bats on whom to rely in 2020, and backup catcher Manny Pina has also been serviceable against lefties in his career. The Brewers, though, look like a club that could struggle to match up against left-handed starters — particularly if Cain doesn’t bounce back from a lackluster 2019 season at the plate. At the very least, Garcia would give manager Craig Counsell some extra thump against lefties, but he’s still a relatively young option who has more than held his own against right-handed pitchers over the past three seasons as well, creating the possibility that he could occupy a more regular role.
From a payroll vantage point, the Brewers have trimmed off quite a bit of money with an aggressive slate of non-tenders, the trade of Chase Anderson and the departure of free agents Yasmani Grandal and Mike Moustakas. After opening the 2019 season with a club-record $122.5MM payroll, they currently have about $67MM committed to 10 players (plus pending arbitration raises for Omar Narvaez, Josh Hader and Brent Suter as well as pre-arbitration salaries to round out the roster). Even if owner Mark Attanasio prefers not return to last season’s level of spending, there should still be room for Garcia and others to be added to the mix for the 2020 season.
Im quite concerned with having Braun/Huira over there defensively if this is the route they go.
With that being said, I like Garcia, would be a good bat to add to the lineup
I still think they will add a 1B. I know Belt has been mentioned (SF would have to eat some of that contract). I also could see Thames or Smoak being options since the brewers need another lefty bat or two.
Braun will miss his usual 40ish games and Cain will need days off too. That mixed with Braun playing some at 1B should open up a decent amount of at bats in the OF for Garcia
I agree. How do you feel about Frazier at 3rd? Dont think the Brewers are going to get Donaldson. With Rendon gone, Braves/Nats will overpay for him.
I wouldn’t mind Frazier especially because he can be had pretty cheap. If bird is willing to sign a 1yr prove it type deal that would make all the sense in the world for Milwaukee too. If he’s not a guy like Moreland might not be a mad option as well
I hear Greg Bird is available.
I think hes a steal for a team like the Brewers. If hes healthy, his swing would play well in Miller Park.
I would love them to take a chance on Greg Bird. He still has minor league options available too.
Yea he should play well in Miller park
Thought he played very well for the Rays! They will miss his bat!
Yes, he did do well.
Good fit for both parties.
How long are there gonna be articles coming out saying that the brewers are “ingaged” or “having advanced talks” with Garcia, how cheap is the brew crew trying to go?
This is a valid point and there’s no reason for it. The Brewers might have the lowest TV revenue out there but they’re always in the Top 15 in attendance and have a very loyal fanbase. They are not broke. The idea that the team needs to get to Miami or Tampa levels is ridiculous hogwash and Milwaukee writers need to be called out on it.
The bigger issue is the pitching. Last year in lieu of getting a single solid starting pitcher to get the Brewers that one game better that they needed to be to get to the World Series, they signed pretty much nobody, relied on the guaranteed to regress Chacin, counted on Nelson’s injury somehow not bothering him upon return, expected Burnes (who is a spin rate darling but to a negative extreme at times) and Peralta and Woodruff to carry the rotation with Chase Anderson (who had never proven himself ultra reliable) and Zach Davies coming off a terrible year. The results were as expected. The rotation was horrendous outside of Woodruff who’s injury really hurt the team later on and Davies pitching well above his head in the first half of the season.
Look at this team right now. They let their best hitters not named Yelich go so the offense isn’t going to save them again. The pathetic inaction on picking up reliable arms meant overexposing Hader and he got rocked a lot more last year. Now instead of bringing his usage back to a normal rate where he can be more valuable again they’re trying to trade him to avoid paying him next year. Trading Davies and Chase Anderson as well as letting Nelson go in the year where his rehab situation should improve left the rotation in tatters… Brandon Woodruff and who, exactly? They got a guy from Korea. Last year they gave up a guy who is starting in the infield for SF and all they have to show for it now is Rob Black who was not good last year. They traded a clear bounceback candidate in Aguilar for a soon to be DFA pitcher to Tampa who ended up posting a 12 ERA and getting rocked repeatedly.
I’m just not at all sure what the real plan is here.
They were a hair away from the World Series in 2018 and an outfield miscue away from winning the Wild Card game against the eventual World Series champions this year. Right now, they’re probably worse than every NL Central team not named the Pirates.
The Milwaukee Brewers actually lost money last year as a Franchise. So yes, even with great attendance they can cry poor. It also shows that Attanasio does whatever it takes to win. Not to mention no one ever said they had to get to Tampa or Miami levels, but they also can’t operate a business by losing money every year.
How many years were they in the bottom quarter of the league, payroll-wise? They didn’t spend when they weren’t contending which is like 75% of the past two decades. So no, they can’t cry poor. The years when you’re in it, you SHOULD spend more.
There needs to be a MAJOR distinction here. Baseball teams, SPORTS teams in general are not businesses in the sense that there NEEDS to be a profit made every single year. The teams are a VANITY purchase for the wealthiest of the wealthy. They are buying their way into an exclusive club… a club that other club members have to vote on letting them in on. When you own a team the expectation is you have a filthy amount of wealth to buy the asset in the first place and that if you do want to own a team you want to win. Which means you’re explicitly saying you will go for it – regardless of the year to year profitability of the team, which by the way the more you win, the more merch you sell… the more your TV deals are worth… the more profitable you are. So it goes hand in hand.
So I dismiss this operating like a business nonsense out of hand. They hand a number of years consecutively that as their peers spent $75… $100… $150… $200 million in payroll, they stayed in the $40-60 million range and stayed plenty “profitable” while tanking.
This is the moment you spend… yes, on consecutive years. And if that’s not doable, sell the team to someone who will.
So Nate, where do you get your insider financial information on the Brewers? I have never seen an actual P&L statement released for any MLB club. The Brewers PR staff want you to believe Attanasio is losing money. When was the last time you saw an owner not make a gazillion dollars when the club was sold. The only legitimate question is whether Attanasio has the personal means to raise the Brewers budget. Given that he is reportedly worth $700M and is ranked as the 20th richest owner in MLB, I would assume he could easily afford investing in a higher player payroll!
I think you are thinking about the Selig years and not just since Mark A has taken over.
Robert, how exactly do you think this elite group of billionaires are in the position to buy a sports franchise? It’s by taking calculated risks and being fiscally responsible. Not burning money to appease their stockholders or fans in this case. From everything I’ve read Mark A has never squashed a signing or trade proposal due to cost and Stearns a has gone on record saying just that.
I would be interested in you listing the years they had a payroll in the $40-60MM range while tanking under Mark A. I’m guessing it’s a small percentage of years.
So fans think owners should continually lose $10-20MM every year because their net worth is $700MM. His net worth is calculated based on what he owns, all of his personal assets and bank accounts. If Mark A lost $20MM per year since he bought the team his net worth would be cut in half. But hey, he can recoup all that money when he sells his team like the Wilpons just did, right?
You lost all credibility when you mentioned they had a payroll of $40-$60 million. They haven’t been in that range since 2006. Only exception being in 2016 when Stearns took over for Melvin in late 2015 when they began a true rebuild. I think you’re the kind of fan who thinks it’s all about splashy FA signings and you were excited about the Lohse and Garza signings, especially the Garza one. And to mention selling the team to someone who will take on payroll? I hope you’re never allowed in Miller Park again for that ignorant sentence.
Anyone reporting the Brewers lost actual money is just wrong. MLB Media profit sharing alone would cover a huge chunk of payroll. Now if they wanted to shift their ledger around to make it appear that way for some temporary tax purpose..whatever.
David Glass just sold the Royals at a 1,000% profit. That should tell you what sound business entities believe the teams are worth. Side note…Glass would also claim to lose money, while paying to stadium vendors….which HE OWNED. It was slight of hand. Owners have for a long time laundered the money right off the team ledger in many cases.
Recently reported in the journal sentinel
Well if they lost or made money I just know they are always trying. Now it may not always be on players they are spending money but they spent money on spring training facility along with buying a couple of their minor league affiliates so people cant say they aren’t trying
Nate, reported or not doesn’t mean they lost actual money. They likely pushed a bunch of depreciation through.
People just can’t seem to comprehend that ticket sale income is just a drop in the bucket after all the expenses that go with it compared to most teams’ media contracts that are mostly profit.
I still don’t buy the losing money side. Even if you average $75 a person (ticket, food, parking) $75 x 2.8M still puts you over $200M. That’s not counting revenue sharing, TV deals (yes I know it’s smaller for MKE but still revenue) and merchandise sales. Realistically the Brewers had to of brought in at least around 400M right?
With a a payroll at 135M where’s the other $250M going? Yes I know it costs money to operate but you can’t tell me it’s $250M.
You are forgetting to subtract out the payroll spent on parking attendants, security, concessions, marketing, maintenance, groundskeepers, front office employees, scouting, player development and medical staff. If you consider the sheer volume of people an organization has to employ just to operate a successful business there is a lot of money spent on things other than just the players.
Payroll is the only expense here?
Do employees working for the team not get paid? Travel costs not covered? Hotel costs? Do they pay rent to the stadium or do they own the stadium too? What about part-time concession workers in said stadium? How about stadium security? Don’t scouts get paid? Do the Brewers pay their minor league affiliates? Stadium upgrades somehow comped?
How much is all that?
So let’s shoot high and say 500 employees work games (no way it’s that high). 500 x $13 hour = $6500 a game. That’s 500K a year on employees (concessions, parking, security, janitors, ushers and so on). Most of the stadium was actually paid by Miller. Miller paid quite a bit just to have the stadium be named miller park. Minor league affiliates also have tickets, concessions, marketing at stadiums companies pay for to offset most of their expenses. Let’s shoot the high side and say scouts, medical and front office guys bring in 20M total. Of everything I just listed you’re looking at what 50-70M on a high side? Travel I am not sure of but if it’s over 175M there’s problems.
I did 500 employees assuming its closer to 200. If everyone works 5 hours let’s say that’s actually $32,500 a game x 82 gets you 2.5M in employees cost on a high end. Never was good at math clearly but 2.5M for employees, 20M (high) for scouts/front office guys still only puts you are 22.5M. If miller pays you millions (which they do per year) that will offset stadium maintenance. The rest is travel essentially.
Have you ever attended a Brewers game? You’ve got 100 employees just in the parking lot and another 200 at the gates. I’d bet you are looking at closer to 3000 employees per game. My guess is front office staff accounts for the 2nd largest payroll expense em because you aren’t even paying the secretaries for these executives less than $40K/year.
Miller paid $2 million a season. AmFam is paying $4 million. Not a lot.
I attend crew games all the time. You can’t tell me they have 3000 employees working…even so if you take my math times four you’re still only looking at 10M in employee expenses. I also estimated 20M for front office staff. That leaves you 30M. Heck I’ll even give you $40M. That plus players salaries total 160M. Brewers made that in ticket sales, concessions and parking last year. Where’s the funds from revenue sharing, TV deals, marketing, merchandise sales going? Brewers won’t admit it but why I think they are saying they “lost money” is they overspent in Arizona on the spring training facility. Rather than admit to that they will just say they lost money this year because Mark A forked out millions for that.
First off there are well over 500 employees at each game. On busy games there are around 3,500 per game according to the Milwaukee Journal. Secondly, Miller only paid $2.06 mill per year for the naming rights and that was paid upfront at $40mil for 19 years, so they’ve had no naming rights money coming in for the last 19 years. Concessions are run by Deleware North, not the Brewers so you can take out that money. (though that eliminates probably 1/3 to 1/2 of the employees too) Lets not forget the 21% corporate tax rate, plus the state tax rate. Utilities. Stadium repairs. Hotels. Travel. etc, etc,
What maintenance was needed at Miller? 2-4M probably comes pretty close to canceling out a leaky sink or busted light bulb.
The Angels estimated $4 mil in maintenance last season, which while a small expense all those things add up. Not to mention the $1 mil a piece the roof bearings at Miller are every time one of those goes out.
No I’m agreeing there are a lot of expenses but for it all you’re going to have a hard time convincing me it’s over 250M. Which If you factor in the 200M from game day parking, tickets and concessions, and lets say 200M from revenue sharing, tv deals, marketing and merchandise you brought in 400M as a team. I know the that’s estimates but subtracting payroll from that leaves you about 250M. Can expenses really total that much?
Are you forgetting other costs such as utilities and upkeep on a stadium.
It’s all about the TV revenue, not the attendance, in terms of the Brewers’ ability to spend. (And last year they spent at a record level.) Because of the proximity to Chicago, they simply don’t generate the audience size of other smaller-market clubs like the Cards and Reds with bigger regional followings. This is just the economic reality. The Brewers have proven they are willing to spend $125 million but will never be able to compete payroll-wise with the $150 million+ club.
That’s not entirely true either. That proximity to Chicago guarantees sellouts at MUCH higher ticket and parking price points for 9-10 games per season. It’s not the Chicago proximity hurting them there, it’s actually helping them. The TV deals have been poor in part because Fox Sports Wisconsin (and other potential bidders) don’t know what product they are spending on. There’s very little value in airing a 70 win team 9 out of 10 years on a TV deal. If the team was going for it and building a consistent winner, they’d get more out of their TV deal annually as well. Not Boston, NY, LA or Philly money… but way better than they get now.
Boy, how long have you been holding this in. Lol
You are complaining about the Brewers going into last season with seven pitchers who at some point have shown they are capable of consistently getting outs but you then fail to mention that the money saved on not signing a “proven” starting pitcher was then used to bring in the second and third best hitters last season.
I also find it amusing you later talk about how the Brewers were hair away from the WS and outfield miscue away from winning the WC game but given zero acknowledgement that both teams did so with these make shift/patchwork rotations you keep complaining about. Not sure how you can talk down about guys like Miley, Chacin, Gonzalez, Davies, Lyles, Burnes, Peralta and Anderson when these are the same starters who got us one game away from reaching the WS.
Bring a small market team means having to concede something when spending heavily in other areas. And it’s been proven over and over again that the majority of these big free contracts (3+ years/ $15MM AAV) wind up being negative value for the teams.
I’m sorry you are looking for flashy signings but the way teams are overpaying for the top two tiers of free agents I’d prefer to let Stearns continue to find value signings which improve our roster without hamstringing the future.
So you’re willing to ride on luck rather than proven results year to year? Because luck got that pitching staff going in 2018. Hitting got them to the Wild Card in 2019. You can’t apply one off luck when you claim to be all about the advanced metrics as Stearns claims to be. Everyone who saw his stats knew Chacin’s year was an anamoly. That Peralta and Burnes hadn’t had enough big league success to depend on them entirely in the rotation without additional depth. That the peripherals on Davies and Anderson weren’t very good. That Nelson’s injury usually takes a while to not just recover from but to return to form.
People before the season were very vocal about this. Acting like it’s some disgruntled marks that just want flashy signings is nonsense but they clearly could have gotten someone like Keuchel who is at the very least, good for reasonably solid innings at a relatively inexpensive pro-rated number post draft (when it was already glaringly obvious how many of the hopefuls from the year prior were imploding). Losing Knebel for the year should have triggered a better bullpen response as well.
It’s like Stearns wasn’t super happy his rebuild was interrupted by early success and he wants to go back to it at all costs.
Yet everything that you just stated went “wrong” and the Brewers still made the playoffs. It’s a rebuild because the brewers didn’t want to commit 34M a year for 4 years to grandal and moose into their mid 30’s? Or pay Pomeranz 32M over 4 seasons? Outside of those 3 the brewers haven’t lost much of anything. Shaw, Guerra and Thames are all replaceable. Stearns isn’t even done adding either. If he were to add a LH 1B, Frazier and garcia plus maybe another arm how are the brewers any worse than last year?
I don’t understand why Brewers fans continue to call these move lucky when Stearns a has proven time and time again he can get the most out of the players he has targeted. I can count on one hand the number of moves he’s made which could be considered bad moves.
So keep calling it luck all you want but you cannot deny his ability to find significant production in players other teams have either given up on or don’t see value in signing.
Btw not once did I ever say the Brewers got lucky the past two seasons. I believe Stearns is an great GM and has found trends in the analytics which help him identify and place a value on players he is targeting.
He has been known to check in on all available players but is also quick to step away if the player’s agent to current team value their player higher than Stearns does. This isn’t being cheap, it’s called being disciplined and fiscally responsible. Like it or not, small market teams need to be both if they want to have sustained success in the league.
I wasn’t meaning you bdpecore I was talking about Robert and his view on the offseason being “Stearns trying to go back to a rebuild at all costs”
There is very little luck over the course of 162 game season. And good call on the brewers hitting led them to the playoffs in 2019. They entered September 4 games behind the Cubs and team ERA for September, when they overcame the cubs and almost caught the cardinals was 3.22 (2nd in the NL in that span) Stop trying to pull the BS when you have no facts to back it up. We all wanted them to get an ACE to assure them another deep run. But it takes prospects or money to bring those in and reaching too far when you don’t have the market, payroll when that can hamstring you for years. Look at Phillies from 10 years ago and there are a lot of teams/contracts you can point to to say ‘whats what did them in.’ Stearns and the Brewers are avoiding those types of deals so they can put a quality product on the field year in year out
. And you don’t know that they weren’t in on Keuchel last year. It’s not up to the rest of the league to see if Milwaukee wants a guy first and then decide if they want to get in on it. Which is exactly what your comments indirectly say.
Wake up and just be happy they aren’t throwing in the towel, they are finding ways to reinvent themselves every year as keep us competing for the Central
this guy gets it
Doesn’t help their ratings when they black out Iowa over mlbtv and then refuse to broadcast there. Lived in eastern Iowa for a decade and it’s like the Brewers didnt want fans.
Who hangs up first?
Boston sends Price + $20 MM per year + JBJ
Milwaukee sends Hader + Cain + a prospect
Benefit to Brewers: upgrade rotation, escape from having to pay Hader (which they seem to want to avoid), only make a slight downgrade at CF this year while saving a bunch of money overall in escaping the back end of Cain’s contract, bullpen should still be pretty solid so they can tell their fans with a straight face that they’re still trying to win and dealt from strength to shore up their biggest weakness
Benefit to Red Sox: fixes bullpen, escape Price & JBJ contracts without having to punt on 2020, and adds a prospect to the thinned out minor league system, depending on the exact number Hader gets in arb, this would be close to luxury tax neutral
The Brewers hang up in under a minute
They have no issue paying the best reliever in baseball less than 5mil this year. It was suggested they could trade him because his value is at a peak and his salary will go up in future years. It would also make sense if they could trade him to fill a couple other holes in the roster.
I mean sure I don’t work in a front office so I’m just trying to think of big ideas that might be workable and fun to think about, it would obviously take the FO people to work out the finer details required to get it done like exact dollar amounts to be sent, which exact minor leaguers they like enough to even out the value, etc. So maybe it takes another young player or two on Boston’s end, but I think the overall framework is an interesting idea.
The Brewers may not have an issue paying him this year, but the fact that they’re exploring trading him now shows they are clearly uncomfortable with where his earnings trajectory is headed. Sure, they can trade him for multiple smaller pieces to plug several holes, or they could do something like this to land a guy to front their rotation since they seem unwilling or unable to land that fish in free agency.
Is Price a Gerrit Cole sized fish, of course not but in a world where Rick Porcello makes $10 M and factoring in a performance bump moving to the NL, DP has enough left in the tank to be a very good pitcher for them at a decent price.
maybe use the word “engaged” moron.
I just read a tidbit today suggesting that someone in Garcia’s camp leaked that the 2 sides were talking, because Stearns and co very rarely tip their hand when negotiating anything with anyone. Also that they may have discovered something while performing a physical.
If it’s something to do with an injury, that would explain the brewers possibly “being cheap.”
I was thinking the same thing. When they signed Lindlomb, the first time anyone heard anything was the team announcement.
This had definitly been released from the Garcia side
Garcia certainly played above his 3.5M salary last year, but I’d have doubts he’d out-perform a bigger one. Slightly above average offensively; slightly below average defensively; nothing on the bases. Even without the super-ball, he’ be moving into a more HR-friendly environment, so that would help.
He’ll help, but it depends on the Benjamin’s……
They say he’s actually an above average baserunner. There are things besides stolen bases you know, getting home from second on a single etc.
Good add for the Crew if it happens. Re-sign Thames and have him platoon with Braun at 1B. Garcia fits nice in the 5-6 spot in the order, should be plenty of opportunities for him to drive in runs with Yeli/Hiura in front of him. This would leave 3B as the most glaring position. Frazier makes sense and would be a great clubhouse add. He’d be a popular player in Milwaukee just for his personality and would provide more depth at 1B.
Trade for Wil Meyers, Padres will eat alot of the Salary. Done. 1B Solved
If you mean by “solved,” “having a warm body who can stand at 1B”, then yeah, sure.
What is it with fans thinking Myers is an attractive addition to a ball club?
He flat out sucks, so no thanks.
I think he would hit great at Miller park. Huge salary though. No thanks.
I hear Travis Shaw is available.
I think they should move Braun to 1B. He came up as a 3B so he shouldn’t have a problem fielding a groundball, even though he produced one of the worst defensive seasons in MLB history as a 3B almost a decade ago. I think the problem was more of his throwing accuracy and overall range, if I’m not mistaken- something that shouldn’t plague him as a 1B. Garcia would be a nice pickup at a reasonable salary for the small market Brewers. The most intriguing point made is this article was Garcia’s sprint speed. He doesnt strike me as “fast” when you look at him or watch him play. Still think Corey Dickerson would have been a better option for them and I’m surprised he hasn’t garnered more attention on the free agent market. Got an up close look at him as a Phillie last year and he is a super underrated player. Great bat and average to above average outfielder, without looking at any data. Think the BrewCrew still need to add one more arm and a utility infielder, if not a solid regular that can play up the middle.
They tried Braun at first in ’18. I think there’s more than 1 reason we didn’t see him there in ’19. (Mainly cuz Braun himself didn’t like it, poor was uncomfortable). I personally just don’t see him playing there much, if any.
Brewers lost a ton of production from the left side:in Moustakas, Grandal and Thames, and only offset some of the with Narvaez. While Braun can move to 1B, they still badly need some pop from the left side. Perhaps they can get Seager from the Mariners, re-sign Thames or get another lefty 1B bat to split time at 1B.
People freaking out over the loss of thames. There are Thames types of bats all over the place. Hes not that hard to replace.
I’m also not sure why people thing Kyle Seager is the answer either. You can get the same production out of Travis Shaw if needed. Low BA/OBP, and comes through in clutch situations very seldom. They’re essentially the same player.
This Will Myers to the Brewers has been going on for 2 seasons now. Keep him and his garbage contract
Good offensive move for the brewers in my opinion
To Steve Adams: What does the Brewers payroll look like, with the recent additions and arb-eligible players like Hader? How much room do they still have to maneuver, in your opinion, if they want to come close to last year’s spending? They still need 1B, 3B, bullpen arms and arguably one more starter.
Right now. The Brewers have $89 MM on the books. This includes the MLBTR projections for the arbitration eligible players and $600K place holders for 1B, 2 bench spots, 1 SP and 1 BP spot.
So there is still room for a higher-priced 3B and SP and still be below last year’s record payroll. Just guessing that the Brewers will be well north of $100M when they hit the field next March, just not all the way back to $125M. Gives them more mid-season trade/payroll flexibility than they had last year. Thanks.
I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes but I’d like to see the Blue Jays in on Garcia, he’s fairly young yet, decent all round player, and the Blue Jays need help in the outfield.
The Brewers starting pitching is the worst in the NL central except for the Pirates. Signing hasbeens, wannabes and cast offs may make sense financially, but without some significant moves for high level talent, the Brewers will be headed straight down hill. If I am Garcia I don’t want to go to the Brewers and have reduced at bats compared to his recent seasons.
First off you’ve said this about the brewers staff the last two years. How’d that work for you? They were exactly middle of the MLB staff wise in ERA last year as a team. Not to mention how are you assuming Garcia loses at bats? Braun will miss at least 40 games, Cain will probably get at least a day a week off and Braun will play some at 1B. I could easily see Garcia playing in 90-100 games next year plus pinch hitting appearances.
You just basically made his point for him. Garcia playing only 90-100 of 162 is losing a lot of at-bats. If they sign Garcia it’s a very average signing and he could easily regress to the player the White Sox were eager to let walk.
Precisely.
Don’t drink the kool aid
BrewCrew – Did Cincy, Cubs and Cards have better ERAs than Milwaukee? If so, Karlander is correct.
And I too do not know why Garcia is going to Milwaukee unless he’s been told he’s the starting LF with Braun moving to 1B.
You’d make a horrible low budget team GM.
No he’s right, you’re just a deluded Brewers fan who is watching his team GUT all their productive players for the sake of saving a buck. Brewers may lose 10-15 more games next season based on what they’ve lost so far this offseason. Cardinals and Cubs love what is going on up in Milwaukee these days.
Productive players sure but at what expense? Overpaying a player for below average production at a rate of $15-$18M a year. Brewers haven’t had the best of luck with players and FA signings in the past. Look at Lohse and Garza, especially their last couple of years. Brewers couldn’t give Garza away and basically paid him to stay home. That’s a killer for a small market team. What have the Cubs and Cards done to improve their team?
Right. They could be in for a rude awakening in 2020.
For as much as people have been continuously dogging the Brewers starting pitching last season it was only slightly worse than the Nationals (Brewers starters: 4.40 ERA, Nationals: 4.27). Knowing this can someone please explain to me why Stearns should be paying $86MM like Washington will be in 2020 for a rotation which ranked 12th in the league last season?
I had really thought the Rangers would be interested in Garcia since the departure of Mazara. Maybe Rangers front office have other interests. Maybe picking up C.J. Cron to replace Guzman at 1B.
It does not look like the Brewers are going to sign any splashy FA contracts. As it seems the Brewers should sign Dickerson or Garcia for the OF, Frazier for 3rd get Bird to platoon 1st w/ Braun and trade Tyrone Taylor and Payton Henry to the Pirates for Chad Kuhl and Kyle Crick. These moves save them money which they can use to pick up another SP from FA to provide the depth that they lacked last year. Julio Teheran and Taijuan Walker seem to be undervalued in the market and at least one or not both should be signed.
In other words, signing mediocrity to fill significant holes.
That’s what she said
Brewers lineup has lost a lot of their 2019 production so far this offseason. This is quite a transition year for them. Right now, I think they are worse off than last year but there’s still time to fill in some holes. Not sure what to expect from Luis Urias. I think it would be unwise to expect an offensive explosion from him. Risky moves so far, I’m not a big fan of what they have done so far. I don’t think they have replaced what they’ve lost.
I agree there’s still time and Stearns could surprise us. But with every mediocre add it makes it less likely top talent is brought in , even in terms of room. I won’t be surprised to see the Hader deal go down. They still have gaping holes at SP, 3B etc. The Braun/Hiura thing at 1B will not be sustainable.
Will both Karlander and Moneyballer post that you were wrong when the Crew wins 90+ games this year and wins the NL Central?
There are plenty of options out there that can improve the current roster, which has 3-5 potential All-Stars already in place: Yelich, Woody, Hader, Hiura and you heard it hear first…Adrian Houser.
No no no. In order to compete they should’ve signed Rendon, Strasburg, and Bumgarner by now because everyone fan knows you need splashy name players like a Harper or a Machado to get to the playoffs.
Back to reality. People forget this team still has some talent. The 5 you mentioned above makes a solid core plus a bounce back season from Cain? Also calling it now. Burnes will be back in the rotation by May and will be the #2 behind Woodruff. Last year was an anomaly and his problem was between his ears. Kid has too much talent to fail.
LOL, good to see Stearns writing in.
I’m starting to believe, more and more, that you’re a Cubs troll with all the nonsense you post.
It’s not nonsense at all. Their off season is, but there’s still plenty of time. I am a Brewers fan for over 30 years. Attend 20 games every year with friends and family. I think they are presently going backwards to the past two seasons and everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Then you need to pay attention a little more during those 20 games you attend a year if you think they’ve been going backwards the last two seasons.
Who said Hiura would be playing 1B? Also I’m not sure what production you are referring to but Narvaez’s offensive production is only a slight downgrade from Grandal and Garcia has put up similar numbers to Moose over the past 3 seasons and will now be moving to a hitters park. If they resign Thames, have a full season of Hiura at 2B opposed to Shaw’s horrid production their offense should be quite comparable to last years. This doesn’t include the offensive upgrade at SS which was a complete black hole last season.
Btw they also still have about $30MM to fill their “gaping holes” at SP, 3B and 1B. So I’m not worried about the current state of the roster until I see the finished product come opening day.
You are right. As dismal as some of the adds are, if you add even one more top SP to their rotation, it’s a wholly different ballgame IMO.
Why the heck are comments turned off on the Jay Bruce article? Talk about weird.
I don’t know, it’s not like he did something unlawful or it included a player that did so, such as Felipe Vazquez, Josh Lueke, Matt Bush, Roberto Osuna, Addison Russell, Odubel Herrera or Jose Torres. Of course that’s just a short list, but what those guys did was not good at all.
Right, so why the comment board blackout?
My guess would be that there is basically nothing to comment about.
Why not leave it up to the readers to decide? Slow news time, I’d think readers would come up with something to talk about.
It’s probably because of one of his old agents, Matt Sosnick and his domestic violence charge.
Got it. That’s it. THANK YOU.
FIRE BILLY INEPT-PLER PLEASE….
Boof Bonser
His offense numbers seems like a good fit for Miller Park, but haven’t seen this guy play. Anyone know how’s his defense?