In terms of run production, the Brewers offense surged in the second half of the season. While the trade acquisition of Jonathan Schoop did not boost the offense as expected, GM David Stearns hit on Mike Moustakas and Curtis Granderson, which induced benefits at second base with Travis Shaw (who posted a .223 average / […]
Category: Articles
Murky Up the Middle: Weighing Middle Infield Options
After coming within one win of the World Series, expectations in Milwaukee will no doubt be high for the 2019 Brewers. But the franchise enters the offseason in a peculiar place: they “arrived” slightly ahead of schedule, and will now defend their NL Central championship with a roster that, on paper, still looks a piece […]
Zunino-Smith Trade Test
Yesterday I published an analysis of five potential trade surplus markets for the Brewers for the 2018-2019 offseason, in an effort to demonstrate the types of prospect and payroll costs that could be associated with Milwaukee meeting their roster needs outside of free agency. The Mariners and Rays obliged a laboratory for testing a surplus […]
Fun With Trade Value
Much of the focus for the Brewers offseason is potential free agency targets, given the excitement of the opening of the “hot stove” and the chance to dream about improving the roster with nothing more than cash and pricing risk: there are several fantastic free agency options that Milwaukee can sign without surrendering a draft […]
Tender Expectations
The Brewers are entering uncharted territory as a franchise, and also as an Expanded Wild Card Era playoff team: Milwaukee will attempt to be the third 96+ win team to improve during their season following 96 wins and deep playoff run. Thus far, most analysis of the Brewers, and therefore most discussion of fan expectations, […]
Weighing Schoop in 2019
The deadline acquisition of Jonathan Schoop was not met with great excitement by the Brewers fanbase. Neither his regular season .202 batting average /.246 on-base percentage /.331 slugging percentage slash line, nor his 0-8 postseason batting line, further endeared him to already resistant fans. Schoop’s anemic performance at the plate led to increased playing time […]
Taylor Reaches Roster
Once upon a time, Tyrone Taylor was considered to be one of the best prospects in all of baseball. The 2012 second-round draftee was rated as Milwaukee’s Number Two overall prospect prior to the 2014 season according to Baseball America, and he was ranked as the organization’s top prospect and baseball’s 93rd overall before the […]
Spending Expectations
The Brewers enter the 2019 season in relatively uncharted territory. Their three year progression in operating revenue, estimated by Forbes (prior to interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization), totaled approximately $150 million entering the season and exhibited fantastic growth prior to a 200,000 person spike in attendance and a deep playoff run. Given spending on the Carolina […]
Organizational Audit: Catcher
Catcher has been an oft-cited area of need for the Brewers over the last several seasons, starting with the trade of Jonathan Lucroy and leading to plenty of speculation over names like J.T. Realmuto, Wilson Ramos, and, in some sectors… Jonathan Lucroy. More recently, some of this speculation has turned to free-agent-to-be Yasmani Grandal and […]
Free Agency Analysis: LHP SP
For the 2018-2019 offseason, the Brewers could send the roster in several different directions to defend their National League Central title and attempt to return to the League Championship Series. The direct challenge to any potential “win-now” move is that the Brewers could justifiably spend much of 2019 developing many of their high-floor (and some […]