Having already trimmed a laundry list of notable players from their 40-man roster — some through free agency, others via trade, yet more through non-tender — the Brewers now face a wide open remaining offseason. Just what course it’ll take isn’t really evident from the outside; no doubt it’s also something of a mystery from within.
It emerged recently that the Brewers are actively engaged in trade discussions regarding ace reliever Josh Hader. It’s not a given he’ll be dealt, but that’s now a distinct (and somewhat surprising) possibility for a repeat postseason team.
Hader isn’t the only veteran who has been bandied about in talks. The club is also amenable to discussing center fielder Lorenzo Cain, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports. Market demand for center fielders remains strong; perhaps the Brewers see an opening to moving some of the remaining money owed Cain.
Unlike Hader, Cain isn’t a positive-value asset at this stage. He turned in a big first season in Milwaukee after his surprise signing but stumbled in 2019. His contract calls for $51MM more in the next three campaigns — a big bill for a player coming off of an 83 wRC+ effort and demonstrating reduced foot speed (by measure of Statcast). But defensive metrics still love Cain’s glove and there’s reason to hope he can bounce back offensively.
Moving Cain would open yet more payroll space, but the end goal here isn’t yet quite evident. Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that the prevailing expectation around the game is for the Brewers to pare back payroll after opening the 2019 season at a franchise-high $122.5MM. While that may be what others teams are thinking in the wake of the team’s recent moves and trade talk, however, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel suggested in his latest podcast (audio link) that there’s no directive to cut payroll and that the team will likely spend to address some notable holes on the roster (corner infield, catcher, starting pitching). The extent to which they’ll spend, of course, can’t be known; the Brewers appeared headed for a modest payroll in 2019 until late opportunities to add Yasmani Grandal and Mike Moustakas on short-term deals surfaced unexpectedly.
At a minimum, there’s now ample flexibility for GM David Stearns to work with. Haudricourt covered the comments on the matter yesterday from Stearns. (Links to Twitter.) The club’s top baseball ops exec acknowledged the money-saving effects of the moves but didn’t really commit himself to one course of action or another, beyond making clear that the team “intend[s] on being competitive once again next year.”
Stearns cautioned fans not to judge the roster based upon its present status, saying he anticipates “invest[ing] in players throughout the course of the offseason.” And at least some of the open payroll space will be put to use. “I’d say that payroll flexibility helps, and isn’t a bad thing as we evaluate potential acquisitions throughout the offseason,” says Stearns. “It’s helpful to have payroll room.”
dcrising
Paring back current payroll to make a run at a Yelich extension?
kevnames42
So I guess they’re done trying to be competitive if they’re open to moving these guys? Unless the return gives multiple MLB-ready players they might as well trade Yelich too.
hiflew
I know it’s hard for Yankee fans to understand, but that how small market teams have to operate. Not every team can just spend and spend and spend and then spend some more.
kevnames42
Lol I am more than aware how small market teams operate, but the Brewers are not the Rays. They can afford to spend a bit and those guys are not putting them over the edge. Hader is in his first year of arbitration (therefore still cheap if you don’t understand).
canocorn
Brewers are a pony keg market.
brewcrewenthusiast
At the same time, its not hard to argue that haders value is at its peak. when hader gets hit he gets hit hard, couple that with counsell having no idea how to manage him and it kind of makes sense
dray16
the Brewers aren’t small market, doubt they’re in the bottom half of revenue without looking, they have to be at least middle of the pack. They sell out a ton and have good fan support. it’s more of the owner being cheap, they can afford to pay these guys, just choose not to. TB has to operate that way having 8,000 fans a game.
eddiemathews
TV revenue is among the lowest in MLB, which is more important. But the Brewers aren’t done building their roster yet.
brewcrew08
According to Forbes the Brewers are valued at 1.175B which is 24th in baseball. Why not let Stearns work and see what he does? I can’t think of a trade to date that he’s lost. Also if we doesn’t think we can win a title with this current group (which we’ve proven we can’t) why not change it up. There are still a lot of free agents to be had. Forming opinions on what teams look like 4 months before the season isn’t exactly smart.
dray16
my opinion is of the owner, not the roster
mkeyankee
Milwaukee is the smallest market in mlb.
dray16
they’re not even close to the smallest, the Reds for one is smaller
pdxbrewcrew
In 2018, the Brewers were 16th in revenue (that includes revenue from the extended playoff run). Milwaukee is 27th in market size.
jbeerj
@brewcrew08- he’s won more trades than he’s lost, but he has lost some. Most notably the Will Smith deal.
ForestCobraAL
Cincinnati is the smallest market.
daveineg
But they were 5th in the NL in attendance out of 15 teams and drew 1.1 million more than the Reds who just gave Moustakas $64 million and 1.3 million more than the White Sox who just gave a boatload to Grandal., not to mention 800 thousand more than the D-Backs who just broke the bank for Pomeranz.
They’re making room for a bigger splash somewhere. I look for them to make some value plays ans sign both Cron and Moreland to platoon at 1B. That fills one hole, but the other big holes are at 3B and starting pitcher and that matches up with Rendon and Strasburg perhaps? Just sayin. Might as well think big.
beerncheese
There are a lot of factors that determine market size, but by most calculations KC, Cincy and Milwaukee are probably the three smallest MLB markets.
I am hoping Stearns is trimming salaries of marginal players in order to pay up for some quality that will help the crew to contend for the remainder of the Yellich era. We’ll see. I also think trading Hader for the right return that includes some good MLB talent and a top prospect makes sense. Lots of holes to fill.
toddkirchenberg
They have the lowest tv contract in baseball. The owner last year spent $60 million of his own money upgrading the spring training facility. They spent more money last year then ever before. Attanasio hates to lose. In anything. If you don’t understand that you don’t understand him. He purchased the Brewers to win because he loves baseball and his dream his life has been to win a World Series Trophy. Read his biography.
toddkirchenberg
Then you don’t know the owner. He spends. Spent $60 million on Spring Training Facility last year. Read his biography or many articles written about him. He does not put an amount to spend on Stearns. He wants to win that is his only thought. He hates losing. If you have a problem with our owner you definitely don’t remember a Wendy Selig. That comment whenever I see it doesn’t know what they are talking about.
azjack68
Jonathan Schoop., Khris Davis trades….bad
pdubs2907
How many fans you draw isn’t really important for revenue. TV deals are a much bigger thing. The Crew’s isn’t very big. The big spenders like LA, NY, Cubs etc have massive TV deals.
toddkirchenberg
School hit a huge homer in that won us a game the last week of the season that got us into the playoffs. We lost Villarreal big deal. Kris Davis asked to be traded. He said he didn’t want to play in Milwaukee because of the fight with the radio station.
Packerboy60156
DFAing Scooter Gennett who goes on to win a batting title in Cincy.
Jonathon Scoop.
Sending away Jonathon Villar.
The Yankees lefty bullpen arm that last 1 or 2 appearances.
Watching Wade Miley sign a $4m in Houston.
…..he’s won “bigger” than he’s lost, but he’s not undefeated.
eddiemathews
The Reds don’t want Gennett now, and every team had a chance to claim Scoot but passed.
Schoop’s grand slam that won a game and propelled the Brewers into a division championship.
The Orioles don’t want Villar back…it wasn’t completely performance issues that sent Villar away.
Miley’s second half stats declined precipitoulsy, to an xFIP of 4.74. His K’s went down, walks went up, and homers went up. His Sept. was especially bad.
hiflew
Maybe the Yankees can get Hader for like Andujar + and pick up a few other relievers and just eliminate starting rotations altogether. Collect all the dominant relievers in one place and see if it works.
That was mostly tongue in cheek, but Milwaukee is definitely a possible good landing spot for Andujar now that they have gone from what seemed like 7 third basemen down to zero.
Marytown1
You’re not going to get dominant pitching for a position player. Sterns has stated many times Something to the effect of—you don’t get pitching without giving pitching back.
hiflew
That’s why the plus is there.
Although the Yankees got Gleyber Torres for Chapman. And Clint Frazier for Andrew Miller. So it is possible to have the lead guy be a position player for a dominant reliever.
pdxbrewcrew
The Yankees also got Sheffield in the Miller trade. He was the #69 prospect at the time. Plus more.
So the Yankees would have to include Deivi Garcia, who is #62 currently and the only Yankee pitching prospect in the top 100, in addition to Andujar. Plus a couple other players.
Marytown1
Looks like the brewers of old when they get players to the peak and trade them off from this fans perspective. However, Sterns has done a great job of steering this ship the past few years so I give him the benefit of the doubt to see how he patches this thing together. Hope we don’t get to full rebuild mode?
CrewBrew
Brewer fans should be happy this is what they are doing. They do not want to suffer long term competitiveness for short term gain. Thats why they are looking to sell guys like Cain and Braun, and did not bring back Moose/Grandal. Teams like the Brewers cant have expensive declining assets.
I say go for it. Sell Hader while his value is at a peak and many many years of control left. Sell Cain who still is a pretty solid talent.
I know this is a tough pill to swallow, but do you really want to end up like the Royals and Reds??? Few postseason years then a MASSIVE rebuild for 5 seasons? Because I sure as hell dont.
Build around Woodruff, Huira, and use some money to extend Yeli. Their farm system is shot. They will need to do a MASSIVE rebuild if they did not do what they did so far this offseason.
Just my two cents though.
CrewBrew
Also, could you imagine the haul you could get back for Hader/Cain/Braun. I know Braun/Cains contracts are a little much but they could get back many many MLB ready dudes and potentially would not lose a beat.
If this was Doug Melvin i would say we are screwed but Stearns knows what he is doing and has a massive plan in place im assuming.
bencole
This comment is bizarre to me… Braun and Cain have negative trade value unless there is substantial money eaten by Milwaukee. Both are aging, declining assets and are quite expensive. Teams don’t give up young, controlable, MLB ready talent aging, declining, expensive assets. All they have is name recognition now, really. Teams don’t fall for that anymore and neither do fan bases. I doubt anyone would take either of those two guys for free at their salary. If you want to eat half of it, you may get a second tier prospect or two.
brewcrew08
Your comment makes no sense to me. Cain had a 2.8 WAR last year even with a terrible year at the plate. He bounces back even slightly that number jumps to the mid 3.0 range. To say 3/51M no team would take for free is crazy.
pdubs2907
They’d get a haul for Hader. Cain and Braun, not so much.
enricopallazzo
Rebuilds don’t usually take 4-5 years anymore either, 2-3 years and you can be/often are competitive again. I don’t think they are rebuilding or plan/want to. Some people need to relax, it’s December 3rd. Just happens that 3 of the biggest free agent signings early on are all off the Brewers 2019 roster. I believe they intended to keep Moustakas and Grandal, Stearns even stated this publicly after the season, but I don’t blame them for wanting to go 4 years on either player.
I highly doubt Cain and a lesser extent Hader are moved, more open to dealing Hader for the possible haul you could receive and that pitching by nature is fickle.
SalaryCapMyth
How many teams can you name that took 2 or 3 years to rebuild. Give me start and end dates to validate this because I think you are setting yourself for dissapointment. Two of the most successful rebuilds, the Cubs and Astros took 5 years each.
Stearns is right to caution fans because after watching Moose and Grandal sign with other teams and now talk of trading Haden, I can see how Brewers fans could be concerned. It wasn’t that long ago that they EMERGED from a rebuild. How are they going to replace the production they lost with Grandal and Moustakas? You can try and trade Hader for a major league producer but those are difficult deals to make. Contending teams won’t be interested in trading away players already contributing. That’s why trades are so often future talent for present talent.
realsox
Your comments reflect the fact that MLB is broken. Shall we now add the Brewers to the list of teams that are not competing for a championship in 2020? Revenue-rich teams will attract the best players on the open market, small-market teams will have to hustle to fill their rosters with replacement players, and teams that make mistakes signing unproductive players to long-term contracts will find their payrolls so bloated that few personnel moves are possible. All of this means an endless cycle of rebuilding. If Yelich continues to perform at the same level as the last couple of years, he will command a huge contract on the free-agent market, the Brewers will be forced to trade him for “prospects,” and the rebuild will go on and on. MLB has become a two-tier enterprise. A few teams compete for the championship, while the others serve as player development machines. The only solution to the imbalance that I can see is revenue sharing along with a hard salary cap. Good luck, right?
enricopallazzo
Again, it’s 12/3/19, the season doesn’t start tomorrow. If it did, the Brewers would have a pretty thin team. Good thing we have 2-3 months. They aren’t fitting with your narrative quite yet, nice try though, your opinion isn’t invalid but this isn’t a good example of it.
Mendoza Line 215
Realsox-That is how MLB wants it.They get panicky if at least one of the big market teams is not in the WS due to TV revenue.
There has been one small market team win the WS since 1991.At those odds the 8 small market teams have about a 0.5% chance of winning in any one year.They usually have at most a three year window to win any playoff series.
WS odds is once every 200 years.
Most aim for the wild card at least and try to get lucky but with the monopolies enjoyed by the big market and well run medium market teams luck now has little to do with it.
This is not whining it is the truth and small market fans need to understand that it is what it is.
pdubs2907
One small market team? So the Marlins and Royals aren’t both small market? They are.
Mendoza Line 215
The one small market team was obviously the Royals.
Pirates,Brewers,Reds,Indians,Twins,Royals,Athletics,Rays
Miami is medium size although at the low end.
eddiemathews
Miami is a small market?
kripes-brewers
Well reasoned post Realsox. Can’t really argue with any of it. I think the intrigue is in which smaller market team can get the recipe right each year to hang in there against the large market teams. It’s better this way than the old dynasty teams of the past in my opinion, but it certainly is far from true parity.
Nate 16
Tell that to the rays and A’s
Mendoza Line 215
Nate-Do you really think that the Rays and A’s have any chance to get into the WS let alone win it?
It is not absolutely zero but it is very small.
eddiemathews
Don’t see anything about selling Braun. He has value and is on the last year of his deal.
GarysOldeTowneTavern
As long as Bob Uecker is coming back, my Milwaukee Brewers laundry list for 2020 is pretty set, not much bandying about needed.
dynamite drop in monty
Hahaha love the username
Cheeseman Forever
The Brewers shed payroll but many of the team’s core assets — Yeli, Hader, Suter, Woodruff, Hiura — are still intact. Yes, I wish the team had kept either Moose or Grandal (or both) but it’s way too early to assume the Crew is in rebuild mode. They have three more years of “lightning in a bottle” (aka Yelich) and have the financial resources to take advantage of it.
Spend $20 million on 1B, 3B and catcher — then spend $30 million on two starters — and you still have $10 million to spend on your bullpen without reaching last year’s payroll. No, the starters won’t be Cole and Strasburg but will represent a needed upgrade.
CrewBrew
They are doing this to ensure a core is in place for the future, and they have enough payroll flexibility to make moves down the road. This will help to NOT have a full rebuild. Any person that does not understand what the Brewers are trying to do, truly does not know how small market teams operate.
We should be grateful that our GM is taking steps now to ensure a full rebuild does not need to happen.
Cheeseman Forever
Agree, this is not a rebuild and Stearns already proved that his semi-rebuild worked fast prior to the 2017 season. This is mostly shedding salaries (will anyone really miss Jimmy Nelson or Travis Shaw?) and clearing the decks to improve the starting pitching.
CrewBrew
finally someone gets it. Sucks not getting moose/grandal so we will have to go to whatever plan B is for those positions but id rather spend money on quality arms than pay 33-34 year old guys 16-18 million in a few seasons. We already have that with Braun and Cain no reason to add more
Vergil9000
I would say get a second tier pitcher or a zach wheeler if you feel like you can get him and make him better for years to come.
ForestCobraAL
Lorenzo Cain = Mini Ellsbury
brewcrew08
Expect Cain actually stays healthy?
CrewBrew
Cain has done very well in his time with us. He got MVP votes in 2018 and was a force in the lineup. 2019 was injury ridden more for him and that took a toll on his offense, but his defense cant be over shadowed.
Stupid comparison.
ohmy
It’s sickening that most MLB writers continue to fall for the BS that the Brewers need to drop their payroll. Attanasio has made a TON of money over the past few years and the Brewers should actually be increasing payroll. Last year’s payroll should be a minimum that they easily afford, especially after their non-tenders and losing Grandal and Moose.
ForestCobraAL
FOX wants the Cubs in the playoffs, not the Brewers.
brewcrew08
I agree. According to Forbes again the Brewers made 66M as a franchise last year. The fans will ALWAYS show up if you put a decent product out there. Cutting payroll could honestly cost the Brewers. Keep the payroll the same, bring in another 3M fans and Mark A can still pocket 50M.
toddkirchenberg
They also spent that money by using it on a new spring training facility. The Brewers always spend. They aren’t cutting payroll just to cut payroll.
ForestCobraAL
Josh Hader for Gleyber Torres.
CrewBrew
LMAO
kevnames42
GAG! I hope that was a joke
BostonFern
What would the appetite for a deal involving Betts and more for Hader, Urias, Braun?
brewcrew08
Brewers would not trade for Betts. No chance they shell out the money to resign him. Not moving Hader and Urias for a rental.
firstbleed
The appetite of a crack addict.
eddiemathews
Cain’s loss of speed could very well have been due to nagging knee and ankle issues, but he might be done, too. His Gold Glove felt like a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The White Sox offered more years for Grandal than Stearns was willing to, and the Reds gave more money and years to Moose than anybody predicted. Both are overpays that may work out for those teams, but Stearns isn’t willing to bid up on how he values players. I’m hoping that the Crew is targeting Castellanos, Didi, a lefty hitting catcher to pair with Pina, and Cron or bringing back Thames. They also need to sign two starting pitchers (Lyles would be nice as one), and a couple of mid level relievers. If Knebel can return between the start of the season and the half-way point, they can compete. Maybe.
BrewCrew82
Well they definitely aren’t going for Didi after trading for Urias and resigning Arcia. Castellanos I have no idea where you would field since his glove is crap. Cron has a question mark as for how injured he is so anything long term would be a terrible risk.. Really the opposite of what brewers fans should be looking for.
mikeyst13
They could consider trying Castellanos at 1B since there is a glaring hole there, that’s about the only way he would make sense……
eddiemathews
Urias can play third, but he is no sure thing. He’s a prospect. Arcia is one of the worst hitting shortstops in the game. Braun platoons at first with Thames, after he is re-signed. leaving Castellanos and Yelich as the corner outfielders with Gamel as a defensive replacement.
mikeyst13
They put a lot of stock into OF defense in their decisions, hence the Santana and Davis trades. Not sure they would even be willing to entertain the kind of deal he’s going to get with the lack of defense he provides.
eddiemathews
He’s better than Braun, who has been the primary leftfielder.
mikeyst13
Yeah but they are stuck with Braun, they’d have to make a conscious decision to bring in Castellanos’ bad defense.
eddiemathews
Last season on Braun’s deal.
BrewCrew82
Castellanos in the corner outfield is about the equivalent of Thames trying to play in the outfield. The bat wasn’t worth the cost in the glove.
eddiemathews
He’s not great, but he’s not as bad as you portray. His UZR was -4.9/150 last year, which isn’t good but isn’t awful, but he had 16 outfield assists. His bat most definitely will outweigh that.
frankf
Because that’s relevant to anything.
pdxbrewcrew
Resigning Moose and Grandal would have been nice, but not for four years. The non-tenders were just dead wood.
I got no problem with what the Brewers have done so far.
stubby66
AMEN !!!! By the end of three weeks we will be retooled and still competing for a world series and a bunch of writers will look stupid.
throwinched10
Keep Yelich, Hiura, Urias, Woodruff and build around them. Try to get value for the rest and begin a quick/short rebuild. Hader especially could bring back a ton of value. The Cubs, Cardinals, and quite possibly the Reds are ahead of them right now in that division. Their weak rotation combined with missing out on Grandal and Moustakas should be the rebuild signal.
BrewCrew82
Yeah people said the Cubs, Cardinals and Reds were ahead of the Brewers last year too. How’d that work out? Cardinals won the division by a game and the Cubs and Reds….don’t remember them being in the wild card game……
jbeerj
Nightengale is NOT a credible source.
DocBB
Rebuilding year unless they make some moves. Already lost Grandal, Moose, Davies….
DocBB
…and then they also lose Thames, Shaw and Aguilar.
blwcubsblw
Good chance thames comes back for less, Aguilar wasn’t on the team post allstar break, Shaw spent half the season in AAA because he was awful, davies never pitched a third time through a lineup, and when he did, he got shelled. He had 1 good month followed by crap.
stubby66
If people really think about it every team should win 60 and lose 60 so that takes you to 120 games , so now you gotta figure out how to win the most games out of the last 42 games. Then at the same time construct your roster through out the season to be able to take full advantage of the playoffs. Now that being said our FO learned a valuable lesson in letting their loyalty to a point for some guys to cloud there judgement. I think right now they are taking a little bit of a hard line on themselves to make sure they keep it more on the business side
moody
Let’s hope they have more in the works. The Brewers are suddenly very light in the power dept, playing in a hitters park. They might be tanking, without saying so.
tigerbreak
Hader is hard to replace, especially for a team with designs on the playoffs. Shipping Hader for an ace starter would make sense, but seems unlikely unless a third team got involved.
I think at this point Cain is a neutral asset, and Braun is a negative one.
MLB teams make money hand over fist, so sick of franchises claiming poor. (My own Cubbies included)
gregstruth89
How is Ryan Braun a negative? I’d take him over Schwarber everyday.
gregstruth89
You get back to me you typical cubs fan
Nate 16
The negative value he’s referring to, I’m assuming, is based on Brauns ability vs Brauns salary
And you could quite possibly be the only baseball fan in the world that would take Braun over Schwarber
pdubs2907
I’m a Brewers fan. Braun has negative trade value. Not terribly so since he only has one year left on his deal, but they’re not getting anything for him
azjack68
Trade a reliever for an Ace…. tell me when this has ever happened.
bdpecore
Stearns has always said he is open to discussing any player in the Brewers organization. Why wouldn’t you want your GM to consider any and all avenues to improve your team in both the present and future? Now this doesn’t mean he’s gonna just blow things up for the sake of blowing things up.
He has shown a knack for evaluating undervalued players and has a good track record for getting the better of most trades he’s made in his tenure with Milwaukee.
So if he believes trading Hader at his peak for a king’s ransom is better for the organization long term than holding on to him and possibly paying him $9MM in his first of four arbitration eligible years then I’m all for it. There are several bounce back candidates who could be had on a incentive laden one year deal (i.e. Trienen, Strop, Betenaces, Jeffress, Hultzen and even Aaron Sanchez). Also Knebel could easily slot back into the closer role.
Am I hoping Hader gets traded? No. But I do see the logic of this notion and how doing so could set the Brewers up to remain a contender for the next 3-4 years depending on the return.
drewm
Quite a bit more speculative than most articles. Nothing of substance here.
MoRivera 1999
“Rumors” is the operative word.
cecilcooper1
“no doubt it’s also something of a mystery from within.” I don’t get what this means.
Karlander
Fans have thrown alot of cash at the Brewers organization in recent years so the expectation was not to lose all the team’s top free agents and also not to undergo a rebuild. In some ways, the Brewers have mis-led their fan base by claiming they were all-in for 2020 and then subsequently executing a wholesale dismantling of the successful 2019 team. Dealing fan favorites may be good for bean counters but perhaps not for 2020 ticket sales.
As Stearns says, there’s plenty of off season left but using that time to simply add cast offs, rejects and MLB hopefuls will not make them competitive in the NL next year. Yet once again, the Brewers are going cheap and just in time for Christmas!
mikeyst13
People need to learn that attendance income is nothing. A lot of that goes back into the day to day operations, park up-keep, stadium employees, etc. After that, sure there is some take for the team, but it’s a small drop in the bucket especially with Milwaukee’s ticket prices. The BIG spending money for these teams comes from media deals and the Brewers have the worst TV deal in all of baseball by far and possibly in all of sports.
pdubs2907
You want them to overpay for Moose because some other team wants to?
Karlander
Fans have thrown alot of cash at the Brewers organization in recent years so the expectation was not to lose all the team’s top free agents and also not to undergo a rebuild. In some ways, the Brewers have mis-led their fan base by claiming they were all-in for 2020 and then executing a wholesale dismantling of the successful 2019 team.
As Stearns says, there’s plenty of off season left but using that time to simply add cast offs, rejects and MLB hopefuls will not make them competitive in the NL next year. Yet once again, the Brewers are going cheap and just in time for Christmas!
Vanilla Good
Are you kidding me? “Wholesale dismantling?” Not signing two free agents is not a dismantling in any way. Or are you talking about Shaw and Nelson, who in no way contributed to the “successful 2019 team?” I can’t believe how many people are spewing this illogical mindset in the first week of December. How about you wait until we get a bit further into the off-season before waving your white flag? At this time last year (and the year prior) there had been almost 0 action. This year has been a bit more interesting, yes, but holy cripes am I glad that you and your ilk are not in charge of the Brewers right now. You’d already be done with the off-season, have an identical team as last year’s, and your sights set on opening day and another early playoff exit. Hasn’t David Stearns earned even an ounce of your trust by now? Your comment about the Brewers going cheap are just simply untrue. They have had record payrolls in recent years. Please understand this before you post lies and garbage again.
Karlander
Good to see Stearns writing in.
toddkirchenberg
The last two years are big moves were all after January 20. Some of you are clueless about baseball. Oh yeah sign these guys for four years and two years down the road your stuck in crappy contracts. You can replace their numbers. If you don’t think they have a plan become a Cubs fan.
Vanilla Good
Great rebuttle. I’m actually not David Stearns, just an informed fan.
batboyslim
Finally, someone who gets it. All this panic is insane. It’s soooo early in the offseason and people think our current roster is what we are going to trot out on Opening Day. Our culture is a “gotta have it now” one and people have 0 patience. I fully trust Stearns knows what he’s doing.
Nate 16
No they haven’t misled their fan base. That’s ridiculous. Who has announced a rebuild in Milwaukee? Not overpaying for their free agents and cutting ties with other when there are cheaper options available should lead to a sigh of relief rather than the blasphemy your spewing. Waiting to add value led to signings or Moose and Grandal the past couple of years and finding value where others couldn’t is a lot of the reason the Brewers have made the playoffs the last 2 years. Relax people, What has Stearns done to make you lose trust in him? Trust he has a plan and isn’t blindly leading the organization
Karlander
Good to see Antabasio writing in.
Don’t worry Brewers fans, there’s cheap players just around the corner in time for Christmas. And when they trade Hader and Cain , the saps will still be declaring this isn’t a dismantling of last year’s team.
LOL, there’s a sucker biorn every minute.
augold5
Retooling and rebuilding are two different concepts. The Brewers will never have the payroll to blindly give every player with an expiring contract an extension. At least Stearns is being proactive and trying to build a consistent contender rather than hoping for similar production from aging players. All of their non-tenders minus Claudio and Guerra, were not significant pieces to last year’s team. Thats not being cheap, thats called being resourceful. Call me naive, but I would be absolutely stunned if payroll isn’t north of 100M by March 1st
mikeyst13
Antabasio??? You mean Attanasio? All credit lost when you don’t even know the name of the person you’re trying to complain about….
Karlander
Typo. Like any fans thought their path was to let all their free agents go ( inc 100 HR) and to consider trading Hader and Cain. That is a major dismantling of last year’s success. But don’t worry fast spending fans, the Brewers are all in for 2020 but at 25 million less in payroll!
augold5
They never said they wanted to trade them, just are open to the idea if it benefits the team. I don’t get how thats hard to understand.
toddkirchenberg
Karlander is that your big joke. You wrote it twice. Glad to see Stearns writing in. Wasn’t funny the first time. Last year at this time we had no catcher and third baseman. Both signed in late January. Winter meetings haven’t even started yet. Please become a Cubs fan because you have the lack of baseball knowledge like them.
Dorothy_Mantooth
Was anyone else surprised that the Brewers non-tendered Jimmy Nelson? Is his injury issue that bad where he cannot come back to form this year? I had him penciled in as a big part of their rotation next year.
augold5
Had a terrible time controlling his pitches, and wasn’t worth his arb. Wouldn’t be surprised if he comes back on a less risky incentive deal
mikeyst13
Labrum issues are notoriously hard to come back from. I still see him coming back on a smaller deal since I don’t think he gets a guaranteed MLB deal anywhere.
nealer
Off season plans, salary dump and go cheap